Mes Amis Vintage Antique Show in Roseville

My friend Sandy used to be "Tattered"

And she was happy to be so

But now, she is venturing into a field by herself--

http://theoliveandrose.blogspot.com/2011/08/mes-amis-vintage-antiques-show.html

She will be hosting a show in Old Town Roseville on

September 17  8-4

We have done a show at the same location that was sponsored by

"The Tattered House" before and it was so much fun

be sure to visit Sandy's blog at

http://theoliveandrose.blogspot.com/

And, if you do comment, say "hey" from Helen to her also.

Bread Machine Banana Bread



Well, I had some leftover bananas that needed using, so I pulled out the trusty bread machine.

I have had two bread machines and this one is my favorite. I got rid of the other one (to B)

This one is made by Regal and has a "quick bread" setting. It works great for banana bread.

The only thing about bread machines is that you have to play by their rules, you can't decide to add another egg or put a little more/less sugar or flour. It HAS to be by the recipe.

My recipe calls for:

3 medium ripe bananas, mashed (do you ever wonder if they mean "medium ripe" or medium sized?)
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 egg, slightly beaten
3 Tablespoons sour milk (1 Tbsp vinegar & 2 Tbsp milk)
2 1/4 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 C sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sal
1/2 - 3/4 C chopped nuts
1/2 C chocolate chips (I don't use chocolate chips because Mr wants raisins with cinnamon) So:
1/2 C raisins
1 tsp cinnamon

Everything MUST be put into the machine bread pan in order. Bananas, butter, egg and milk.







In another bowl, combine the dry ingredients and add to bread pan.

Select the "quick bread" setting and start the machine.

I like to watch the first mixing because I want to get my spatula in there and make sure that the flour on the edges gets mixed in. That means that I have to dodge the paddle in the middle. It just makes it more interesting to dodge, scrape, dodge, scrape until I know that there is no flour on the bottom. Then, the "Good Fairy" takes it away and about an hour and 45 minutes later, you have the finished product. You will have to dig out the paddle from the bottom (and it makes a hole in the bread, but hey, you didn't heat up the kitchen and you have a banana bread)



If you don't have a bread machine, this recipe works for regular baking...

And, in case you haven't noticed, I could really use a class on photography and arrangements...

Cutco Love

I don't know how many of you have nice knives. To cook with a sharp knife is like having the perfect spice to complete a dish, to sail through a difficult task, or almost as nice as a great find at an estate sale!

Long time ago, (I seem to start many stories now days with these words, hmm) Well, anyway, when I was a child, more than 50 years ago, yes, more than that, we had a set of knives that were almost worshiped... We children were NOT allowed to touch them, they stayed in a case in a drawer and only adults were to use them. That much was impressed on my mind. Now, I understand why.

CUTCO is a company that started around 1949 in New York. The knives that they sell cannot be purchased in a store, but only through distributors that probably did in-home demos and my parents bought into the sales pitch.

I found some knives at a yard sale. 3 cases, 3 forks, 7 knives. They were all CUTCO. I was talking to a gentleman that came to one of our shows and he asked if I had any more knives than what I ususally sell ( a few pocket knives, one or two collectible knives) I said I had some CUTCO at home but didn't know what to do with them because they were pretty rough (the handles were kinda dried out and the knives had chips, some were bent..., etc).  He told me about the Forever Guarantee. Send those knives in to the company and they would either replace or sharpen them with no charge... WOW! I didn't even need a sales receipt - just ownership constituted me getting the warranty!

Here is what I had, my find, plus another knife I had found at another time. 11 pieces in all.

I decided to send in the knives without the cases. The cases were cumbersome and I didn't even know if I wanted to keep them. About two weeks later, my package arrived from the company.

Here are the knives, refurbished, resharpened and ready to go - there is also a ladel that I remembered that I have. I love these knives, in fact, now I realize why my parents were so adament about only adults handling them...

Yep! only a few minutes and I found out. I didn't even know I was cut until I saw bleeding.

(I got to use a bandaid because it was bleeding - No blood - no bandaid rule at our house)

Here are the turning forks, a pleasure to use.

I decided to use two of the cases and hang them in my kitchen. After last night's slip with one of the knives, I don't want them anywhere near the grandchildren...

As you can see, I am missing the small paring knife. And, for those of you that can count, they are not all in this case, there were a few duplicates and one was in the dishwasher...

This catalog came with the returned knives...

I now know that for the investment at the yard sale of about $5

I have a returned investment of around $900!

(so kids, when you go through the estate - don't throw these out -

at least try to sell them...)

Long story short -- if you run across these at sales, buy them up. Even if you are in love with the

knives you have at home, you can sell them on ebay for a profit.

You can go to the CUTCO website and find out more and to find a distributor if you want.

And, sadly, I was not paid to do this blog on CUTCO (although if someone wants to pay me, I will take it into consideration....)

A great chalk paint giveaway

I have seen a lot about this paint, but I have never tried it. Now, perhaps, If I Am Very, Very Lucky...I will be a part of the giveaway.

Go on over to the button on the right and see what there is to offer. I got the link from

http://www.myuncommonsliceofsuburbia.com/

Go ahead and visit her blog also, you never know what you may find.

A taste of this and a taste of that

I am enjoying Kensington Cottage's Blogstastic Extravaganza. There are many prizes to win and so many sites to visit if you want.

I have been hopping around and have enjoyed looking and "tasting" a little of this and a little of that.

Try it. Go on over to

http://kensingtoncottage.blogspot.com/2011/08/my-blogtastic-extravaganza-giveaway.html?showComment=1313556327978#c9068711433755485501

So much to see and so much information with the other bloggers.

See you all later. I have to get back to my taste testing.