And the winner is...

... Nonna of Mommy's Doll Club!

Nonna is the lucky winner of the meal from Winter at Faux Real Foods:

•A ham sandwich 

•Potato chips

•Eggnog

•A mummy pumpkin tart

•And a boxed lemon pie - complete with tiny bite marks

Thanks Winter!!! It has been an honor and a privilege to host this giveaway!

Nonna, please email your mailing address to me at steampunkaddie (at) gmail dot com

BTW, Mommy's Doll Club is another excellent blog to check out at: http://mommysdollclub.com

Dreamy Great and Grand Luncheon

Whee! I finally got a story!

Tea Time with Melody Q is one of my very favorite blogs since it combines two of my favorite things: tea and dolls. 

Melody Q's mom Xyra has been very kind to us over the years, and even more so since The Fire. 

However, I changed the rules, so anyone who comments is entered to win, but I had to share this funny story. (I have an excellent consolation prize for Xyra, Kirsten, and Melody if they don't win!)

Winner to be announced tomorrow!

###

"Hey, Mel! I have to tell you about this dream I had!" Kirsten said, laughing. 

"I hope it wasn't a nightmare, Kirsten."

"No, no, but you'll get a kick out of it because Gramma Enne AND Great Aunt Lanie were involved."

"Really? Spill!" said Melody. 

"Okay, so I was in the kitchen making my favorite sandwich for school..."

"Ham and cheese, right?" Melody giggles. 

Kirsten giggles. "Yes, but don't interrupt. The dream is fading."

"Okay."

"So I'm making my ham and Swiss sandwich. It's perfect little bit of ham, cheese, lettuce, maybe some tomato, a dab of mustard."

"Oooo, did you paint on the mustard like the guy on Sesame Street who painted the number on the bread in ketchup?"

"Seriously? You have to let me finish...but yes, I painted on the mustard." Kirsten giggles. "Anyway, I had it ready on my plate when the doorbell rings and who's there but Great Aunt Lanie. She sees the sandwich and says, 'I'm just in time! You have to have some chips with your sandwich!'

"We sit down at a lovely little square table with a navy blue tablecloth and I give her half of the sandwich and she pours chips on both our plates. While we're eating the door opens and in pops Gramma Enne. We all hug and go back to eating; a third half-sandwich appears on a plate, the table is now round with three chairs, and the tablecloth is lavender...."

"House elves..." whispers Melody. 

Kirsten's jaw drops and she stares at Melody. 

"Sorry! Continue, please."

"We finish up our lunch and Enne says, 'What shall we have for dessert?' Lanie adds, 'Yes, we must have dessert, but not chocolate; it's after 2 p.m.'"

Melody giggles. 

"I go to the kitchen. 'Well, we have this lemon pie we can share.' I open the box and jump, 'There's a bite out of it!'"

"'Oh, no!' they say."

"Lanie pipes up, 'Oh, I forgot. I pulled this little mummy danish out of the freezer. I had saved it for you.'"

"I say, 'Oh, that's sweet. Looks tasty too. Shall we split it?'"

"'Yes, there is enough for three.' Enne says, 'You know what would be perfect with that?'"

"Lanie and I turn to her with questioning eyes...  'Egg nog!'"

"Egg nog?"

"Sure, the last egg nog of the season."

"'Well, okay.' We split the pie in three and the egg nog too...and that's when I woke up."

Melody laughs. "Well, if you're going to lunch with anyone in a dream those two are the ones to do it with; you won't go away from the table hungry."

"But I woke up hungry and wanting a mummy danish! Where am I to find that in March?!" complains Kirsten. 

"I'd be more worried if you wanted the egg nog!"

The two girls head off to the kitchen laughing.

###

Make sure you check out Tea Time with Melody Q at  https://teatimewithmelodyq.blogspot.com

Second chance

Apparently, I asked too much of you, My Gentle Reader. 

I did not receive One. Single. Story. describing the Pictured Meal by Faux Real Foods. 

Sigh. 

So I need to change the rules.

Comment below or on my Facebook page.

The contest deadline is Midnight on March 21, 2017. The winner wins the pictured meal!

•A ham sandwich 

•Potato chips

•Eggnog

•A mummy pumpkin tart

•And a boxed lemon pie - complete with tiny bite marks

The lucky winner will be announced Here (and on Facebook) on Wednesday, March 22, 2017. 

Good luck!

Hubba boba!

One of the things I love about Winter is her generosity in sharing craft tutorials. Not only does she make the best dolly drinks I've found, but she shares how on her blog! 

http://fauxrealfood.com/2017/01/07/doll-drink-tutorial-american-girl-dolls/

Apparently her secret is two-step epoxy - not the acrylic water used by so many. 

We have some of Faux Real Foods milk, eggnog (complete with nutmug!), and boba tea and they are all beautiful, tasty ... and sturdy. 

Boba, or bubble tea, is a Taiwanese tea-based drink invented in Taichung in the 1980s. Most bubble tea recipes contain tea mixed with fruit, milk, tapioca balls, and/or fruit jelly.

Now, Momma and I both love tea, and Momma adores tapioca - but tapioca in tea?! No, thank you!

That said, Winter's boba tea is about the prettiest (and tastiest) we've ever seen. 

Don't forget, you can win a Faux Real Food meal - complete with eggnog! Read my post for more details: https://steampunkaddie.blogspot.com/2017/02/tell-me-story.html?m=1

Check out Winter's website at www.fauxrealfood.com. View tutorials, reviews, and sign up for the newsletter to receive special offers. Free shipping until March 15 with orders over $15. Use code FEBFREE17 at checkout.

Faux food, real quality

Momma and I love chatting online with Winter, owner of Faux Real Food. She's smart, funny, and compassionate - and LOVES custom requests.

Knowing this, we had to ask her some questions. 

Steampunk Addie: What is your favorite doll food to make? 

Faux Real Food: My favorite doll food to make is anything I haven't made before. I love my customers, they consistently request unique and fascinating menu items and accessories. I feel very fortunate to be able to do interesting work.

SA: What was your favorite (or most memorable) custom request?

FRF: My favorite custom request? This is a tough question, there are so many I've enjoyed. These leap immediately to mind; I had a great time making a complete menu for a Mexican food cart, very detailed and time consuming but so cool when finished. Corned beef and cabbage dinner was a terrific challenge, Caroline's fish and Lima bean dinners turned out very well. I did a series of giant cake cookies with different themes for each month, those made me hungry! There are so many others. 

My most memorable requests so far have been a squid shaped tumor in a tiny glass jar filled with moonshine, an everlasting gobstopper based on the early 1970s movie and an old-fashioned slop bucket. Some dolls have more interesting homes than I do! 

Ooh, Momma just told me she asked Winter to make my birthday cake! Whee! April 9th can't get here fast enough!!

Check out Winter's website at www.fauxrealfood.com. View tutorials, reviews, and sign up for the newsletter to receive special offers. Free shipping until March 15 with orders over $15. Use code FEBFREE17 at checkout.

Tell me a story

I'll continue to review some of the yummy foods from Faux Real Foods this week, but now I want to unveil the contest and the rule(s). 

What do you, My Gentle Reader, need to do to win this Most Excellent Repast?

Tell me a story. Don't worry! It can be a short story!! I just want your ideas tying this yummy ideas into one Cohesive Meal. 

Okay, so tell me why one would eat at one meal:

•A ham sandwich 

•Potato chips

•Eggnog

•A mummy pumpkin tart

•And a lemon pie, complete with bite marks - I couldn't resist trying it!

The contest deadline is in two weeks, by midnight on March 14, 2017.  Momma, My Big Sister, Winter (and I!) will read them all and the Best Short Story (heck, I'll take a Rough Draft) wins the pictured meal!

The winner (and your amazing story) will be announced on Wednesday, March 15, 2017. 

Submissions can be sent to me at either steampunkaddie (at) gmail dot com or through my Facebook page. 

Happy Writing!

She sells sushi

One of the items I proudly offer in my Tea-Key Room is Faux Real Food's sushi. 

Sushi has been served in Japan for hundreds of years. It originally had fermented rice and fish, but evolved into "modern" sushi about 100 years ago.

According to Wikipedia, the Oxford English Dictionary notes the earliest written mention of sushi in English in an 1893 book, A Japanese Interior, where it mentions sushi as "a roll of cold rice with fish, sea-weed, or some other flavoring." However, there is an earlier mention of sushi in an 1873 Japanese-English dictionary, angd an 1879 article on Japanese cookery in the journal, Notes and Queries.

Momma developed a love for sushi when she was in Taiwan, and my sushi is displayed on a miniature plate from the National Palace Museum.

Winter is spot-on in her sushi creations. Momma and I especially love the detail in the rice - something which at 1:3 scale is usually a textured white blob.

Now where is my wasabi and ginger? I bet that dratted kitten took it again....

Are you Faux Real?

It has been called to my attention that I have been Dreadfully Remiss and have not reviewed any of the items created by My Dear Friend Winter Boomershine of Faux Real Foods. 

Neither Momma nor I exactly remember when we first discovered her Etsy shop (https://www.etsy.com/shop/FauxRealFood), but I was hooked after my first meal. 

Winter makes some of the tastiest and most realistic doll food out there. 

Last year I got corned beef, cabbage and potatoes just in time for St. Patrick's Day. Both Momma and Grandmomma were squealing over the details in the tiny cabbage leaves. 

(Quick history: beef was fairly rare in most parts of Ireland. Corned (or salted) beef was a luxury item there - but cheap and easily found in the United States by Irish Immigrants fleeing the potato famine.)  

Thankfully, some of My corned beef dinner survived The Fire - although it is a bit smoky.  

How can I ever repay Winter for her kindness, generosity, and yummy food? By reviewing her foods all week AND by (belatedly!) awarding her my Gear of Approval. I'll also be hosting a giveaway of a sampling of Faux Real Foods at the end of the week! 

Details tomorrow!

Hail thee, festival day!

Kindred spirits are not so scarce

Momma just got home from "Betsy's Ray of Sunshine."

Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

The Maud Hart Lovelace online discussion list (Maud-L Listserv) is an electronic mail discussion group focusing on all things Betsy-Tacy as well as conversations of more general interest. 

Momma discovered the Maud-L Listserve many years ago and was instantly hooked..

She loves these old descriptions she found online.

According to Sharyn November,

The Maudlist is one of the best listservs I've seen -- more like a kaffeeklatsch than anything else. Yes, we talk about the books, but we also exchange life stories and recipes and jokes and mutual support. In fact, I even stayed with Carla Kozak when I went on vacation -- and no, I had never met her before. Maudvibes are sent when people are worried and blue, and they work! Trust me.

According to Julie Chuba,

I really enjoy all the little pieces of people's lives--little anecdotes, memories, traditions, different things people notice about books or stories I've read, etc. It's so much fun to hear about them, even though it may not have much to do with Maud Hart Lovelace or Betsy-Tacy. Becky's yummy-sounding meals, Katie's 4th of July, learning about Alice Austen from Diane, Poe's songs of the day, strange names (Dick Trickle finished me), Marsha Q.'s valiant attempts to keep on us on Betsy track, finding out about new books and movies and music--it's just a day brightener for me! I feel as though I a know a bit about a lot of you. Even though we probably have very dissimilar tastes and opinions and lifestyles, it's kind of fun to "get together" this way.

The members get together periodically to actually meet, eat, and explore the country. Betsy's Ray of Sunshine was scheduled from Friday, March 7 through Sunday, March 9, BUT the house party was still going strong when Momma came home to spend time with my Big Sister.

Events included: Happy Hour at Camelback Inn (great view of Camelback Mountain); antiquing in Glendale; desert walks/hikes; Phoenix Art Museum; a desert picnic at The Farm at South Mountain; talking/laughing/games/reading/whatever!

So, are you a Kindred Spirit? 


To subscribe or change your options on Maud-L, send e-mail to listserv@listserver.mtsac.edu. In the BODY of the message type one of the following according to the change you want make:

Subscribe Maud-L (to sign on)
Set Maud-L Nomail (to suspend receiving posts)
Set Maud-L Mail (to resume receiving posts)
Set Maud-L Digest (receive the posts in digest form)
Set Maud-L Nodigest (resume receiving posts one at a time)

Make sure you send the e-mail message from the account that you used to subscribe and that you omit or turn off any signatures in your e-mail message. If you have trouble subscribing to Maud-L, contact Arline.

 

Unshriven

http://www.etsy.com/shop/pippaloo

Momma is in mourning today because it's Shrove Tuesday and she has to work, so no church pancake supper tonight for her.

Shrove Tuesday is the day preceding Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. (Shrove Tuesday is a moveable feast which is determined by Easter.)

Pancakes are associated with Shrove Tuesday because they were a way to use up rich foods such as eggs, milk, and sugar. The liturgical fasting of the 40 days of Lent emphasizes eating plainer food and refraining from food that would give pleasure: in many cultures, this means no meat, dairy products, or eggs.

The word shrove is the past tense of the English verb shrive, which means to obtain absolution for one's sins by way of Confession and doing penance. Thus Shrove Tuesday gets its name from the custom for Christians to be "shriven" before the start of Lent. 

Shrove Tuesday is also the last day of "shrovetide," such as Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and the Carnival tradition that developed in Latin Europe and Latin America.

Are you going to Renaissance Fair?

I am whipped - and I don't mean by the Whipmaster Adam Whip.

I want one of these parasols but they won't give me one without a subscription - even though we've had one for 39 years!

I love all the colors at the Renaissance Festival!

We have been buying perfumes and incense from The Perfumed Dragon for at least 20 years!

Yummm, chocolate samples from The Chocolate Maker!

They're correct, these Sky Chairs really do fit about everyone!

Ooh, I found one of the Wee Folk!

One of the things I love about the Ren Fest is all the sellers of snoods.

I love this booth! He has brass keychains just for Me! Decisions, decisions....

I love these tiny Under the Mango Tree journals.

My Steampunkin and I visit Isher Creations and his mummified fairies.

Resting under my Big Sister's VERY stout parasol while watching Adam Crack perform.

I make a friend with a one-eyed armored Dragon Pet.

Visiting Madison at the Storybook Castle.

At last! My very own catapult from Siege the Day!

This guy at the Queen's Kitchen didn't want to give me (Me!) a Turkey Leg! Ooh, Pippaloo....

To be continued!

Cupcake cutie pie

Pippaloo

Ooh, my aching sweet tooth.

My Big Sister wanted a cupcake cake for Sunday's birthday party, and cupcakes for her class today.

The first mention of the cupcake can be traced as far back as 1796, when a recipe notation of "a cake to be baked in small cups" was written in American Cookery by Amelia Simmons. 

The earliest documentation of the term cupcake was in "Seventy-five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats" in 1828 in Eliza Leslie's Receipts cookbook.

Nowadays, some bakers arrange cupcakes in a pattern and frost them to create a large design, such as a rainbow. These can be called either cupcake cakes or cupcake pull-aparts. (My Big Sister likes these since she only likes the icing and she gets more this way.)

I am stuffed.

The devil's food cake made me do it

Pippaloo

Did you know today, May 19, is National Devil's Food Cake Day?

It is!

Do you also remember last month how Pippaloo asked if angel food cake was my favorite and I said that devil's food cake was?

Devil's Food cake is a moist, airy, rich chocolate layer cake considered to be a counterpart to Angel Food cake. 

Devil's food cake has a unique light and moist texture, which sets it apart from other chocolate cakes. The recipe calls for quite a bit of baking soda, and boiling water instead of milk. Both of these ingredients contribute to the fluffiness of this confection. 

Just in time for my Big Sister's birthday tomorrow!

Food of the gods

Happy Mother's Day! 

As you know,  Mother's Day was first celebrated in 1908, when Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother in Grafton, W.V. She then began a campaign to make "Mother's Day" a recognized holiday in the United States. Although she succeeded in 1914, she was disappointed with its commercialization by the 1920s. 

To celebrate, Momma asked if I wanted frozen yogurt.

My reply?

"Frozen what?!"

Yogurt, yoghurt or yoghourt is a fermented milk product produced by the bacterial fermentation of milks of almost any type.

Made for centuries in other countries, yogurt was first introduced to the United States in the early 20th century, and was popularized by John Harvey Kellogg (of Kellogg's cereal fame) at the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan.

Frozen yogurt was introduced in the north-east United States in the 1970s as a soft serve dessert. Frozen yogurt took off in the 1980s and by the early 1990s frozen yogurt was 10 percent of the frozen dessert market.

An early form of an ice cream parlor existed in Philadelphia in the 1800s which sold "all kinds of refreshments, as Ice Cream, Syrups, French Cordials, Cakes, Clarets of the best kind, Jellies, etc."

Being an 1864 kinda gal, my family had a hard time getting ice cream until Poppa fixed an old ice cream churn since we weren't allowed in most stores.

Boy, I LOVE being a time traveler!