Things aren't slowing down around here.  Thankfully so because it makes the days go so fast.  I was supposed to get on a plane Monday back to China to visit Butch, but I decided to postpone.  Work is busy and I wasn't ready to leave Rocker.  On the other hand, it was a little sad because I miss hubs terribly.  Speaking of hubs, I didn't mean to go this long between posts, but I had some billing issues with Typepad saying my address didn't match the card on file.  Hmmmm?  After three days of trying to solve the mystery with emails to Typepad and phone calls to the bank, Butch called this morning and asked what I was doing.  I said, "being frustrated with our bank or Typepad or both." I explained the situation and then he said, "oh, I changed the address awhile back on-line."  Ah ha!  I'm glad I finally mentioned it to him.  Isn't it weird the telephone banker didn't have that in her records though? 

I promise, I'm going somewhere with this blueberry theme.  Things are coming along on my book.  I am so excited and nervous about this it.  Tomorrow, I'm shipping a box of my hand collected treasures down for the photo shoot.  It's neat to have the opportunity to add another personal element to the book besides the projects.

The past three weekends Grandpa and I have made our way to the Farmer's market.  I truly look forward to it every week.  The one thing I cannot leave behind is blueberries.  Lately I've been freezing them and eating them like popcorn.  So yummy.  Last weekend I made a batch of muffins to take to some folks, and that was fun.  I've missed doing that while living in China and I've got a lot of catching up to do.  You know, nothing says lovin' like fresh muffins straight from the oven…or so I've heard.

-Grandma's Summer Blueberry Muffins-

The thing I love about these muffins are A: they're grandma's homemade blueberry muffins and B: they are not ultra sweet, but more of a delicate sweet…like not steroid sweet.  Know what I'm sayin?

Makes 2 Dozen, Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees

Sift together: 3 C. flour, 1 C. sugar, 4 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp salt

Mix in: 1/2 C. shortening, 2 eggs, 1 C. milk

Gently fold in: 2 C. blueberries

Fill muffin cups at least 1/2 to 3/4 full and sprinkle with a bit of sugar.  Bake 20-25 minutes.

Yum.  That's all I can say.  Obviously because once those babies were pulled from the oven I was eating them…forgot all about taking a picture of a cute little muffin on a summery napkin like I'd planned. Ha! Next time.  Maybe.  ;-) 

Clone of a Cinnabon is the start to this story…  I don’t know if you can tell, but we’re a little deprived on the dessert front over here.  No cupcake bakeries, Amish bakeries (like near our old house back home) or even Cinnabon’s in the mall.  We got nothin’!  I’ve been hungry for a cinnabon, so when I found this, I immediately sent it over to my friend with a note:  “do you want to make these?”.  2 minutes later I got a response:  “Oh, yes! Oh,yes! Oh, yes!”  We’re dangerous together, I said.

Kris, the neighborhood knitting teacher came over to pitch in and she ended up rolling out the dough and showing me this neat string trick.  We used thin fishing line or nylon filament.  Now, that’s a good thing!

Love those spirals! 

Cream cheese frosting on golden brown cinnamon buns…..Sinful!  The best part of a cinnabon is the middle, don’tcha think? Super gooey, soft and still very warm.  Yes, yes, we enjoyed those very much.  And did you know the Cinnabon people have a whole list of recipe ideas for how to use their buns….as if they weren’t fabulous enough on their own?!?!  Hope you’re all gearing up for a fun weekend!  Happy Fourth!

I've been curious about mango chutney ever since I tried some at the Indian restaurant.  Mangos are IN season here, so yesterday afternoon, my friends and I gave this recipe a go. 

After a lot of measuring, we got the pot going and discovered we were 7 cups shy on mangos—took 16 cups total!!  So I scurried down to the store and bought 10 more pounds and ended up adding all of them except 2.  2!  I wish you could have seen them all. This is our friendly, emergency mango chopping assembly line.  The recipe makes 240 servings by the way, but I think it was even more after we made it.

Everything simmering away here…bubbling in all it's glory.  I learned a lot yesterday, but the most valuable lesson is this:  It's not a good idea to stand over a pot stirring constantly with 5 chilies in it, taking the vapors in all the while.  911!  My nose was on fire.  My face was on fire.  Not to mention, I got chili oil under my thumb nail from chopping.  Though they are so small and cute and I love the color of them, chilies can be kind of vicious.  But, I'm pretty sure breathing in those spicy vapors warded off that sinus infection that's been lurking.

Now don't these jars look perfect and tidy, like we made just the right quantity to fill each one.  Ha! Yeah right! We had chutney coming out our ears!  Totally unprepared for this, we scrambled to find more jars and tubs—not a drop went to waste.  Does anyone want some?  I've got a load of it in the fridge and it is Yummy! 

Yesterday, we went to our friends house to cook—a fun Sunday lunch get together.  We made Cambodian Chicken Soup and Navajo Fry Bread.  More on the fry bread tomorrow.  We liked the soup—-it was light so it's good for summer.  Always looking for new soups to try and this was a fun one because it had so many ingredients.  *It says to add the rice to the soup, but we served the soup over the rice which I liked better. 

For dessert, my friend baked me a birthday raspberry cream pie that was oozing with whipped cream and tartness.  Am I lucky or what?!?! It was DEEEEEEEEEE–Viiiiiiine!  I can't say as I've ever had raspberry cream pie, which now seems like a crime.  Two left over pieces await us in the fridge for a late afternoon treat with some coffee.  Lovely on this rainy day!  And now for some links from the bead bloggers…

Naughty Secretary Club
No need to wear a necklace when your T-shirt already has one built in!

Linda at BeadStyle Magazine
Check out the necklace that inspired Stacy to get creative.

Katie's Beading Blog
It's Ornament Thursday again and this month's theme is Insectica. Check out Katie's sweet little beaded dragonfly and butterfly.

Savvy Crafter
Candie puts her jewelry making skills to work, raising money for Earthquake relief in Sichuan. Read all about it on her blog.

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Jean has a cute pair of earrings in BeadStyle magazine for July, and she promptly sent them off to Kim Miles, fab beadmaker!

About.com Jewelry Making
Chandelier earrings are still super popular, but sometimes they are just a little too much for every day wear, unless you scale them down like Tammy did in this chandelier earring project.

Art Bead Scene
Guest Editor Lynn Davis had a happy accident in clay one day – yummy bon bon beads to whet your beading appetite!

Jewelry & Beading
An easy way to create a base for building an assemblage-style necklace!

Here Gram, I made you some oatmeal!  Every time I'm home, Gram and I have this discussion about how we fix our oatmeal.  It all started because of this yummy porridge mix she sells in her store:  Three Bears Porridge.  I always bring a couple of bags home in my suitcase.  There are also some nice oatmeal recipe ideas on the internet.  Generally, I make mine with cinnamon, honey, raisins, and fruit be it mango, a baked apple or banana.  Sometimes I even slap a dollop of yogurt on top.  You can add dry instant oatmeal to plain yogurt–like muesli kind of.  Very tasty with mashed berries.  Now I'm starting to sound like Bubba Gump, berry and yogurt oatmeal, banana oatmeal, oatmeal with dried fruit and almonds….I could go on and on.  I've always been a "flavored instant packet" kinda gal, but I think I'm hooked on "from scratch."  Anyway, Gram,  I was thinking about you today. I hope you like your oatmeal, made with love.

B-A-N-A-N-A-S!  Yesterday, I was on the hunt for a fun breakfast idea.  Botch left Thursday for Nanjing and got home late Saturday night so I wanted to surprise him with something different.  And now for something completely different (for us anyway):  Banana French Toast from Mr. Breakfast!  We're big fans of banana pancakes so I thought this might be a nice variation.  It's a mixture of pureed bananas, eggs, milk and I added in some cinnamon instead of dusting it on after.  I was a little leary at first, but it was so simple and had no sugar.  I will admit that I took a picture of the prettiest corner of the batch, because I was having troubles getting them evenly browned.  Luckily, the hod podge look didn't affect the taste because they were yum-meee!  We stood in our cracker-box kitchen and ate them right off the skillet.  No soggy French toast for us!  Sliced strawberries on top might be nice, but that idea will have to wait until November which is when strawberry season starts here.  Mr. Breakfast is my new best friend—check out the DIY stuff like print your picture on a cereal box and gift jar mix recipes. 

About.com Jewelry Making
Tammy was having some major deja vu while reviewing this mainly metal jewelry making book.

Art Bead Scene
Do you love stamping? Check out Art Bead Scene for a review of metal stamps and a link to a tutorial!

Jewelry & Beading
Get your "Mental Gears" working…and win a free pendant!

Naughty Secretary Club
Anyone headed out to BEA (Book Expo of America) in Los Angeles next weekend? Stop by the F&W booth (#1351) to keep Jen company and to score a free Naughty Secretary Club T-shirt. You are going to need one for a project in The Naughty Secretary Club: The Working Girls Guide to Jewelry.

Savvy Crafter
Burn Baby Burn! Thinking about trying soldering? Candie tells about a great torch option…

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Jean explains why she loves a certain necklace she made for summer, and looks forward to writing about jewelry in the upcoming month!