Spring break

It's spring break. I have one week plus one day off school and it's not enough! This early spring weather has forced spring chores to the top of the list so Friday I painted one bedroom, Saturday Patient Husband and I painted the back porch. Me inside, he outside.

Sunday, sore and stiff I resurrected my applique for an afternoon and evening of R & R.

Monday I baked in preparation for next Sunday's Easter dinner. These dinner rolls were so easy (and they involved yeast and STILL turned out (for me.) I made four batches. No way will we eat 4 dozen rolls but my freezer is now ready for anything.

I must tell you about these embroidered squares I received from Friend Elke in Germany. They are absolutely GORGEOUS, they measure 3 inches square, are hand embroidered by women in Afghanistan between the ages of 12-50. I'll share some of what Elke wrote to me about the project.

"The embroiderers are women who were taught traditional embroidery when they were girls. During the 25 year long duration of war, they couldn't practice their craft at all. As permanent fugitives they were mainly concerned with bare surival. The women taking part in the project now have learned the old embroidering techniques anew. Only a few months of handling the needle were required to produce a sellable piece of embroidery. After a time, young girls were also invited to learn to embroider, the older women serving as teachers. The project ensures regular wages for more than 200 women. The embroidered squares must not be bigger than 8 x 8 cm but they can choose whatever motif they want.

"As part of our concept not to sell finished products in Europe the embroidered square is finished as such but cannot be called a finished prodcuct. It is brought as a blank in order to be reprocessed in Europe, thus forming not only works of art but also small practical objects such as bags, pillows and even blankets which are to be completed by those who buy them.

"The finished product is not only a combination of the different techniques involved, but - symbolically speaking - the meeting of two different cultures..."
This project is under the care of Pascale Goldenberg, a free lance artist in Freiburg, Germany and supervisor of the embroidery project in Laghmani, Afghanistan.

I am thrilled to receive two squares from Elke and will think hard about how to use them. Her quilt group used them in a challenge.

On a food note, this is an amazingly simple yet yummy, yummy salad. I can't believe I even tried it in the first place...I don't like canned corn. BUT one of my co-workers brought it to school last week for Potato Tuesday ( we bake potatoes and people bring toppings for a nice lunch.) Anyway, as I walked by on my way to leave for some errands, I heard someone say it was a meatless taco salad. I thought, 'hmmmm'..... so got a spoon and took a taste. I turned around, said, "oh, my gosh!!!" grabbed a bigger spoon and took a bigger taste, left to run errands and hoped no one else liked it so there would be some left when I got back. Well, when I got back someone had LICKED the bowl clean. We followed said co-worker down the hall, pencil and paper in hand and begged for the recipe. Honestly, canned corn, can you imagine?

Meatless Taco Salad

(yet for lunch yesterday I added a bit of taco meat and lettuce and had a real feast)

One whole bag chili flavored Fritos, crushed

2 large cans corn (15 oz. size)

Taco shredded cheese

1 cup Hellman's mayonnaise (NOT salad dressing...use real mayonnaise)

1/2 chopped green pepper

1/4 chopped red pepper

onion optional.

Mix it all together but add the crushed Fritos just when you plan to serve it. And like I said, I added a bit of taco meat and lettuce and it made an amazingly tasty salad amazingly tastier. But it's absolutely delicious without.

Co-worker Kathy said when she takes this to a potluck she is dogged for the recipe and I can see why. We certainly weren't going to let the sun set on Tuesday without this recipe in our pockets.

Tomorrow Elizabeth and Adelaide come for a 2 day visit. Grandpa has an agenda we'll need a week to accomplish.