Mexican Rice

I have a friend who grew up in Mexico teach me how to make Mexican rice, so it is authentic! The only thing was, when she was teaching me she didn't give any specific measurements. She would hold up a spoon and say, "One spoonful of butter." Ha! I loved that! I love cooking like that. However I made up my own measurements so you could have a real recipe.
The special ingredient is chili con limone (pictured above). The brand I found was Tajin. It was sold by the fruit, though I personally wouldn't put it on fruit. I really think this is what made it taste really good! Here's the recipe:

Mexican Rice:
3 TBSP butter or margarine
1 cup long grain white rice
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 cups chicken broth
1 8oz can tomato sauce
3/4 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili con limone (see description above)

1. Melt butter, add rice and raw onions. Stir frequently until rice is browned. While browning add in seasonings: garlic salt, cumin and chili con limone.

2. When rice is browned immediately add in broth and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil. Cover and turn to low.

3. Cook for 20-25 minutes, until water is evaporated. Fluff and serve!

Frosted Pane Skirt

Sewing in no man's land is such a great blog! This is my Frosted Pane Skirt. I like to call mine the Cotton Candy Skirt because of the colors of the fabric I used. Here is a link to the skirt tutorial. I thought I would include a picture of how I added on the lining with tulle. I actually sewed my lining into the waist seam. I just liked it better there. I also didn't do the tiering.

My word of advice is to cut really long strips of tulle. Mine were shorter and I ended up making a fourth layer of really long tulle because mine wasn't gathered enough for my taste. I think it turned out so cute!

Enchantment

 

Our book club read Enchantment by Orson Scott Card. First off, this is a PG-13 book. While reading we probably skipped a total of about 5 pages. It frustrates me to no end how authors add in inappropriate stuff to a good book.
That being said, I liked this read. It takes a few chapters to really get into it but once you do, the plot moves along well. If you haven't read Card before, know that his imagination is wild. There are some crazy things in his book and you wonder why he wrote them. I take Card with a grain of salt.
Things I liked:

•  It is a good romance book--one where the couple has to learn to like each other. At the same time it wasn't too much romance, my husband is not a romance novel kind of guy AT ALL and he enjoyed the book.
• It has a great antagonist--Baba Yaga. I have never met an evil character quite like her. It is so funny to read about her reasoning for why she is evil and little things she does.

The ending is brief. There is a war and it is over quickly but I was alright with that. The story proficiently built up to the ending.
Activity
I made a list of quotes. I read a quote and as soon as someone knew who said it they raised their hand and said their answer. If they were right they got a point, if not I kept reading and someone else could win the point. Sometimes a person could guess who the character was but not the name. If someone else could guess the name I gave both people a point. I had the people keep track of their own points. Most points wins!
Here is a link to the quotes I used and who said them, sorry I don't have page numbers. I forgot to do that and didn't want to go back to find the quotes again.
Treats
I made "Molotov coctails" with IBC Rootbeer, a rubber band and a white piece of cloth. I went to the fabric store and found the cheapest white cloth they had. I rubber banded one end of the cloth to the bottle then flipped the cloth over the other side so you couldn't see the rubber band.

Another idea, though I didn't do it, was to make a cake and put a toy wasp or bee on it.

Chocolate Dipped Rice Krispie Treats

The easiest dessert to make is rice krispies. They are good by themselves but dip them in chocolate and they get even better and look pretty.
-Here's the recipe to rice krispies (I add about a 1/2 to 3/4 cup extra marshmellows).
-After cooled, cut them into bite sized pieces and put in a toothpick.
-For the chocolate I melt about 2 cups of semi sweet chocolates with 2 TBSP of shortening (to give it a glossy look) on low heat until almost all of chocolate chips are melted. Turn off heat and keep stirring until all chips are melted.
-Dip rice krispie treats in chocolate and set on wax paper to cool completely. Serve treats with toothpick in or out, you decide!
Tip: I gave some away to a friend and froze them for about 10 minutes right before I left so the chocolate wouldn't melt.

Felt Flower--Different Color!

 

Remember this felt flower? The tutorial is here. I made a blue one and wanted to show what a different color looks like.

Sheering Measurements & How To

I read many how to's on sheering but none of them included the length of fabric to cut when you want to make a skirt. So I figured out the math and that is mainly what I wanted to share today. I also included a brief how to on sewing sheering.

How to measure cut of fabric around waist:
1. Measure largest part of hips/waist--elastic needs to get over this part.
2. Take that number divide by 3
3. Add that answer to the largest area of your hips/waist (from step one)
4. Add 2" for side seams (or less if you want to make side seams smaller).

Here's an example:
1. 36" waist
2. 36"/3 = 12.
3. 12+36=48
4. 48+2=50
So, the example skirt would be 50 inches for the waist and you would make the length however long you wanted the skirt to be.

These measurements worked out perfectly for a skirt I made for me and a dress I did for my daughter (which I will share soon--for a dress I measured her shoulders, since that was the largest part the dress needed to get over).

How to sew sheering (after sewing up side seam, hemming bottom of skirt, and hemming or serging top):

1. Wrap elastic around bobbin loosely. Use your normal thread on top. I kept tension at what it always is when I sew and it turned out great.

2. Sew around top of waist like you do with normal thread, about a half inch down from the top of waist. Remember to back stitch at the beginning and end--DO NOT CUT THREAD when you have gotten back to where you started.

In this picture disreguard the lining on the right hand side of the picture, it did not work out well and I will not do it again, pick a fabric that isn't see through, or if it is, I will have another tutorial on how to sew a skirt with sheering and lining--I figured out the right way!

3. Release presser foot and slide fabric to where you want to start your next line (I do it about 3/8" apart). Back stitch, go around, back stitch then go to the next line again.

4. Repeat the process until you have enough rows for your liking. I did about 14, don't do less than 5.

Behold! A Royal Army

I just finished up my SATB choral piece of "Behold! A Royal Army." I am putting it on my blog before my website because I'm having some issues with my site. Anyways, here is the sheet music.