i had been painting out on the fire escape for several hours last night, not intentionally gold leafing the great outdoors, but hey, it happens. it was such a beautiful twilight in the city after the humidity had started to be noticeable again yesterday with the return of sunshine in the city. as the day wore out and started to fade, the humidity broke again, and it got downright chilly out there. i painted on.
my project for the fire escape was terra cotta planters for my yuccas and diffenbachias. i found that for less than an additional dollar per planter (home depot) i could buy plain terra cotta planters that had already been glazed externally in great colors like chartreuse green, royal blue, white, puss yellow and an orange-red that matches nothing red i've got. so, instead of buying plain orange terra cotta in need of doctoring, i bought the pre-glazed ones for doctoring. i thought gold leafing and/or silver leafing the unglazed rim would be a great color contrast against the blue and the white pots that i'd bought. i also leafed the top edges of the drip catchers to put under the pots. what a project. it started out simple enough - a small bottle of leafing agent in silver and another in gold, an empty pudding container with clean water in it, and a couple of empty pudding containers for the leafing agent, and of course, the kitchen sponge that i cut up after i finished the dishes. turns out that dipping and dripping is messy, and my climbing in and out of the kitchen window is work, so having forgotten my workshop towels under the sink, i found myself totally coated in flecks of gold and silver....then there was the danger of flying sponges....angela, downstairs, never did catch on to my escapade with the black enamel (1/2 a quart poured very quickly between the slats of my fire escape and coated her pepper and basil plants.) maybe she her plants had very LARGE scale....anyway, now her plants have flecks of gold and/or silver on them and somewhere in the mess that is her fire escape, are my golden and silvered sponges. boy those are slippery suckers once it gets a little too dark to see your target....i know they hit her fire escape because they left a trail where they had hit and bounced, but no sign of where they landed....i did manage to grab another chunk o'sponge from inside without doing the window climb again, so i finished the planters, and i think they look great. i had extra gold in the bottom of my pudding cup so i of course gold leafed my handrail outside the kitchen window. i think it will give a nice shimmer in the sun and will definitely be different from anyone else's in the barrio!
having worked up my appetite for as long as i did out there, i was craving chocolate. i have been cooking proper meals lately, so chocolate wasn't really something i've had around. sure, i've got an eggplant, and yellow and green squash, vidalia onions, red onions, red, green and yellow peppers and tomatoes too boot, but not a pirate to be seen here -- after all, the corn is a buck-an-ear!
i scrubbed down and then scrubbed up again, then for good measure, i soft scrubbed myself as well as my bath tub. turns out that leafing stuff is harder to get off than i remembered. the mildew in the tub, a breeze to get rid of, but finger nails and cuticles coated in silver and gold? not so much....
sometimes when you have worked so hard on your home, you just have to break down and have something chocolate. so i made scratch fudge brownies. i measured and i poured and i put it all into my largest bowl only to find before i added the eggs that my largest bowl wasn't big enough to mix it....where the heck are my revereware mixing bowls with the snap on lids? they must be at mom and jim's house - note to self, find them this weekend....well, i'd already put the dry ingrediants together and there's no saving them here....so i did what needed to be done. i got out my 20 gallon stock pot out of the cabinet (if only i could find the regular sized soup pot that i know i own...ed.) dumped all the goods in and added my egg. mix, mix, mix and the i realize i don't have an 8x8, 9x10 or 9x12 baking dish here. what the heck, i normally have the best equipped kitchen of anyone i know! luckily, i saved the entemman's tin tray last time i bought something at the store (they used to have all entemman's 2 for $5.00 which is a great deal, suddenly since i got back from wyoming, they've gone back to retailing all of their items for actual price...entemman's, it was good knowing you!) i had been using the re-washed disposible tray in my toaster over to make bacon, since i like to do my bacon in the oven - it doesn't splash or get grease all over that way. unfortunately, the oven is too hot lately, but the toaster oven doesn't heat up the place and i think it cooks the bacon quicker somehow.
as i was almost ready to bake the brownies in the regular oven (which i also leveled last night, finally!) i realized i could make them better than my regular extraordinary brownies, as i've got a bunch of raspberries and blackberries in the fridge. i found them for two pints for $2.00 the other night. that's such a deal, i bought a lot, thinking i might freeze them, but then forgot to get the containers or bags to put them in. that said, they turn really quickly so i've been making myself eat them by the handful. so i tossed a handful of raspberries into the batter and folded them under. they baked to perfection and what a sweet treat with all this heat! now they're in the freezer, they're going to toast up nicely in the future. add a scoop of rockyroad ice cream to the top of a hot toasted brownied and you've got the perfect reward for finishing the laundry!
my project for the fire escape was terra cotta planters for my yuccas and diffenbachias. i found that for less than an additional dollar per planter (home depot) i could buy plain terra cotta planters that had already been glazed externally in great colors like chartreuse green, royal blue, white, puss yellow and an orange-red that matches nothing red i've got. so, instead of buying plain orange terra cotta in need of doctoring, i bought the pre-glazed ones for doctoring. i thought gold leafing and/or silver leafing the unglazed rim would be a great color contrast against the blue and the white pots that i'd bought. i also leafed the top edges of the drip catchers to put under the pots. what a project. it started out simple enough - a small bottle of leafing agent in silver and another in gold, an empty pudding container with clean water in it, and a couple of empty pudding containers for the leafing agent, and of course, the kitchen sponge that i cut up after i finished the dishes. turns out that dipping and dripping is messy, and my climbing in and out of the kitchen window is work, so having forgotten my workshop towels under the sink, i found myself totally coated in flecks of gold and silver....then there was the danger of flying sponges....angela, downstairs, never did catch on to my escapade with the black enamel (1/2 a quart poured very quickly between the slats of my fire escape and coated her pepper and basil plants.) maybe she her plants had very LARGE scale....anyway, now her plants have flecks of gold and/or silver on them and somewhere in the mess that is her fire escape, are my golden and silvered sponges. boy those are slippery suckers once it gets a little too dark to see your target....i know they hit her fire escape because they left a trail where they had hit and bounced, but no sign of where they landed....i did manage to grab another chunk o'sponge from inside without doing the window climb again, so i finished the planters, and i think they look great. i had extra gold in the bottom of my pudding cup so i of course gold leafed my handrail outside the kitchen window. i think it will give a nice shimmer in the sun and will definitely be different from anyone else's in the barrio!
having worked up my appetite for as long as i did out there, i was craving chocolate. i have been cooking proper meals lately, so chocolate wasn't really something i've had around. sure, i've got an eggplant, and yellow and green squash, vidalia onions, red onions, red, green and yellow peppers and tomatoes too boot, but not a pirate to be seen here -- after all, the corn is a buck-an-ear!
i scrubbed down and then scrubbed up again, then for good measure, i soft scrubbed myself as well as my bath tub. turns out that leafing stuff is harder to get off than i remembered. the mildew in the tub, a breeze to get rid of, but finger nails and cuticles coated in silver and gold? not so much....
sometimes when you have worked so hard on your home, you just have to break down and have something chocolate. so i made scratch fudge brownies. i measured and i poured and i put it all into my largest bowl only to find before i added the eggs that my largest bowl wasn't big enough to mix it....where the heck are my revereware mixing bowls with the snap on lids? they must be at mom and jim's house - note to self, find them this weekend....well, i'd already put the dry ingrediants together and there's no saving them here....so i did what needed to be done. i got out my 20 gallon stock pot out of the cabinet (if only i could find the regular sized soup pot that i know i own...ed.) dumped all the goods in and added my egg. mix, mix, mix and the i realize i don't have an 8x8, 9x10 or 9x12 baking dish here. what the heck, i normally have the best equipped kitchen of anyone i know! luckily, i saved the entemman's tin tray last time i bought something at the store (they used to have all entemman's 2 for $5.00 which is a great deal, suddenly since i got back from wyoming, they've gone back to retailing all of their items for actual price...entemman's, it was good knowing you!) i had been using the re-washed disposible tray in my toaster over to make bacon, since i like to do my bacon in the oven - it doesn't splash or get grease all over that way. unfortunately, the oven is too hot lately, but the toaster oven doesn't heat up the place and i think it cooks the bacon quicker somehow.
as i was almost ready to bake the brownies in the regular oven (which i also leveled last night, finally!) i realized i could make them better than my regular extraordinary brownies, as i've got a bunch of raspberries and blackberries in the fridge. i found them for two pints for $2.00 the other night. that's such a deal, i bought a lot, thinking i might freeze them, but then forgot to get the containers or bags to put them in. that said, they turn really quickly so i've been making myself eat them by the handful. so i tossed a handful of raspberries into the batter and folded them under. they baked to perfection and what a sweet treat with all this heat! now they're in the freezer, they're going to toast up nicely in the future. add a scoop of rockyroad ice cream to the top of a hot toasted brownied and you've got the perfect reward for finishing the laundry!
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