Who'd 'Uv Thunk - Pumpkin Ice Cream

Well we tried something new this year - Pumpkin Ice Cream.

My daughter had her tonsils removed 6 days before Thanksgiving. So I was not able to make my traditional ice cream pumpkin pie (see previous blog) because the pie crust would have been too scratchy for her healing throat. So I decided to make pumpkin ice cream.

I found a good and very easy recipe (see end of post for recipe). Basically you blend everything in a an old-fashioned blender. All ingredients can be mixed ahead of time except for the liquor. When you are ready to make the ice cream, just add the liquor before adding to the ice cream machine.

I then prepared some toppings for the rest of us with healthy throats. We had spicy candied pecans (we made ours, but you can buy some superb ones at Trader Joe's) and Nestle's morsels. For the final topping, I took several ingredients that would normally be mixed together for the pie crust....crushed ginger snaps and powdered sugar.


Dessert was served and everyone was able to choose their toppings. Grandma opted for candied pecans only, I chose the ginger snap mixture and chocolate chips. "YUM-O" as Rachel Ray would say.

I am definitely planning to add the recipe to my family recipe book.

Recipe found on www.elise.com Simply Recipes

Easy Pumpkin Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups canned pumpkin (1 15-ounce can)
• 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• Pinch of salt
• 2 Tablespoons brandy (optional)

Directions

1. In blender place pumpkin puree, sugar, spices and salt. Puree until smooth.
2. Slowly add the cream a tablespoon or two at a time, pulsing after each addition.
3. Chill for 15 minutes or longer, this part you can make ahead.
4. If you are using brandy, mix into the cream mixture right before churning.
5. Churn in your ice cream maker for 20-25 minutes.
6. Keep in freezer until ready to serve.
7. Makes about 1 quart.

Give Away - Holiday Gift Tags

I just wrapped up my very first giveaway on www.the-giveaway.com. It was a huge success and we have a winner! Nancy from Greensboro, NC won a $25 gift certificate good at www.fineline-antiques.com. Congratulations to Nancy and thank you to all the others who entered - I loved your comments!

Since my first give away, hosted by another site, was such a huge success, I decided to try one on my own.

So in anticipation of the big Holiday Gift-Giving Season, I am offering a set of ten (10) darling Vintage-Inspired Silhouette Holiday Gift Tags.

Prize:

Holiday Gift Tags - Vintage-Inspired Silhouette Christmas tags. A set of ten (10). There are three designs to chose from -it'll be your choice as to the combination of styles.

To Enter:

Go to www.fineline-antiques.com, take a look around and find a favorite item. Then come back to this blog post and leave a comment mentioning your favorite item and why you like it. Please also leave your email address so I can contact you if you are the winner! If you have already commented, please post your email address now. Thanks.

Additional Entries:

You can do any of these things for an extra entry. You can get up to six (6) extra entries!!

1. 1 additional entry - Subscribe to my blog.
2. 1 additional entry - Blog about this giveaway with a link back to my site. Be sure to post your link in your comment so I know where to find it and make sure your email address is on your profile.
3. 1 additional entry - Email about this giveaway to two (2) people and cc me at jen@fineline-antiques.com
4. 3 additional entries - Buy from www.fineline-antiques.com before the end of the give away. Be sure to provide your email during checkout.
   

Fine Print

• You must have a valid email in your comment or available in your profile so I can contact you if you are the winner!
  
• Giveaway starts 8:00 am November 23, 2008. It was scheduled to start at 8:00 am CST November 27, 2008 (yes that is Thanksgiving Day!), but I had so many eager responders, I upped the start date.
• All entries must be received by 11:59 pm CST December 1, 2008.
• Winner will be drawn at random using Random.org
  
• Winner will be contacted by email and will be posted here on the blog. Winner will have 48 hours after the winner has been announced, to respond or contact me. Otherwise, another winner will be chosen.
• Give away open to everyone worldwide.

Good Luck and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Virtual Food Drive

As I made my daily Starbucks run, I was listening the radio. There was an interview with a person from the Greater Chicago Food Depository. They were talking about the need for donations, particularly in today's economy. Apparently more people are turning to soup kitchens and food depositories for help; people you wouldn't expect, even those with college degrees.

Here are some stats from the Greater Chicago Food Depository:

• Thirty-nine % of the households who receive food from the Food Depository include at least one employed adult
• About 33 % of the people the Food Depository serves are children under 18
• 10 % of study respondents were 65 and older
• 25 % of households served have at least one family member in poor health
• 22 % of clients surveyed live in the suburbs
• 10 % own the place where they live
• 9 % of clients are homeless

In the past my daughter and I would do a door-to-door food drive in our neighborhood that I would then take to a local food pantry. As the kids have gotten older, life has taken me in every other direction and we have gotten away from that tradition – it’s time to return course.

So I have decided to hold a Virtual Food Drive with Greater Chicago Food Depository (a charter member of America's Second Harvest national food bank network). You can:

• donate whatever you want
  
• spend however much you want
  
• you don't even have to leave the comfort of your desk chair!
• it's tax deductible!
  

Food Drive - Click Here

When you click on the link, you will be taken to a secure server where you can shop for the foods you want to donate. You money goes a long way because the The Greater Chicago Food Depository gets a special rate on the items you select; your money goes farther with this process that it would if you shopped for the food yourself.

So if you, like me, have a very crazy life, but long to help others, together,let's get out the virtual wheelbarrow... please consider donating to the Greater Chicago Food Depository with me. Tis the season.

Pen Names

My daughter has been really inspired this year to read high-level books (think the Hobbit), to do creative writing, and to creative funny and inspirational posters.

Last evening over dinner, I was telling her I would set up a blog for her to start storing her short stories and other creative works. (She makes posters for her teacher to hang in the classroom - I am not sure where she got this art, so I don't know to whom to give credit. if it is yours, comment and I will attribute it to you) .
However, she is young and she is my daughter, so I don't want to put any personal information out there, particularly her name. So we talked about a pen name. I asked he to come up with a pen name that reflects something about herself with out being too personal. While she was hhhmmming and haw-ing, her 6-year-old brother shouted out, "Mrs. Um Um Like".

He was dead on. As a 10-year-old girl (who seems more like a 13-year-old), she has a difficult time explaining things or verbally telling a story orally without every other word being "Um" or "Like". Her brother was brilliant when he said her pen name should be Mrs. Um Um Like.

I think we may keep it.

Getting Something for Free – Really!

Give-Aways – Getting Something for Free – Really!

FineLine Antiques is Announcing it's First Ever Give-Away!

I just learned about this online phenomenon called “Give-Aways” in which many online stores and blogs participate. Give-Aways are essentially akin to entering a contest or drawing in order to win a prize. But instead of getting a ticket to be placed in a hat to be drawn at said time, you have to enter an electronic comment to be added to the drawing. Many Giveaways ask that you go to a particular website (usually the Sponsor’s site) and find a favorite item. Then you are to come back to giveaway website, log in to a special form and post your favorite item along with some comments. When the contest time is up, a winner is drawn randomly from all entrants and the prize is awarded.

Online stores host it’s giveaways (like Martha Stewart Living used to do), blogs may offer a giveaways, and there are even websites that specialize in running giveaways. Bottom line for you is that you get a chance to get something for free. Well almost free, really all you pay is your time to peruse a cool website.

Sounds like fun…. So, my first foray into this is on a giveaway website called www.the-giveaway.com. FineLine Antiques’ giveaway starts today and runs until November 20^th.

The winner gets a $25 gift certificate to www.fineline-antiques.com.

So head on over to the-giveaway and enter!

Be sure to tell your friends!!

Tell or Not to Sell - That is the Question

As an antiques lover and an antiques dealer, I often find good pieces to sell.The problem is, I often love these pieces and have a difficult time selling them.

Such is the case this week. I found two small-ish occasional tables of distinctly different styles, yet with equal "love-ability". I had committed to the idea that I was gonna sell these; I purchased them with the intent to sell. There was really no question.......

......that is, until my family chimed in.

As I was setting up attractive vignettes to showcase these tables, my family would walk by and say how nice it looked. What is interesting and unusual about these comments is that they were coming from a 10-year-old girl, a husband who hates when I drag home more stuff that ends up in our house and 6-year-old rough-and-tumbly boy!! Since when do they compliment me on my purchases and creative decorating? They never do this!

They were suddenly involved in my work, supporting my creative energies, complimenting what I was doing..... I was all a twitter. Then I thought, maybe I shouldn't sell these tables. They are just too cool and the vignettes I made work so nicely.

But wait, I bought them with the sole intention of resale, so that is what I shall do. I will sell them

....I think

.....YES - I WILL

......maybe

If you, like my family, like these tables you can purchase them from my store.

Fall Color Falling Leaves Decoration How-To

A week or so ago, while watching the Martha Stewart Show during my lunch, I saw a fancy-schmancy designer talk about doing the décor for high-end parties. He and Martha were discussing décor for a fall-themed party. One of the décor elements was to simulate falling leaves right in the party venue. This was done by taking real, fallen leaves and gluing them to mono filament (fishing line),then hanging them from tacks in the ceiling.

Well the overall effect was fantastic. But better yet, I thought it would make for a great Fall project for me and my kids. Plus it would make for a beautiful decoration to bring the outdoors in during one of Mother Nature’s biggest shows! Indeed, I was right on both assumptions!

We had perfectly beautiful Fall day here the weekend of Halloween. We went to the wooded pond near our house and hunted for leaves. What a great time we had! We found Linden leaves, Maple leaves, Oak leaves, Birch leaves, and even Ginko leaves! Believe it or not, we even found wild raspberries still putting out fruit with a vengeance! We even found a dead raccoon! Yikes!

The kids collected until their Halloween pumpkin buckets were full. Then we came home to begin the project.

First We Dried & Pressed the Leaves.

We made our own leaf press by using paper towels, old cardboard boxes and bungee cords. Here is the “how-to”.

1. Take a piece of cardboard and place two paper towels atop it.

2. Then the carefully arranged one layer of leaves, being careful that none touched and none went past the edge of the paper towel.

3. Place a paper towel on top of that layer and arrange more leaves.

4. Repeat until all leaves are accounted for.

5. Take another piece of cardboard and place it on top.

6. Secured the bundle tightly with bungee cords. You could also use a large heavy book, rock or even a canister of flour!

7. Leave alone for several days until leaves are dry and pressed.

Then We Made the Decorations.

I believe the Martha Stewart directions called for some fancy glue and “mono filament” (fishing wire). But we didn’t have either. So we just used good ole' Elmer’s school glue and embroidery floss.

1. Gather your mono filament, embroidery floss, yarn or dental floss…. whatever! Cut it to the length you desire.

2. Find two like-sized leaves. Lay one face down on table. Add a dollop of glue to its back.

3. Next take your mono filament, embroidery floss, yarn or dental floss and place it in the dollop of glue.

4. Then take the other leaf and apply to the first leaf with glue and string.

5. Press down gently to adhere.

6. Move down the string to your next leaf grouping.

7. Repeat until desired length is reached.

8. Put aside to dry.

Finally, We Hung the Leaf Decorations.

We placed the decorations in our door jamb to bring the outdoors inside; to make it look as though leaves were falling in the house.

Looks pretty cool and the kids are absolutely thrilled.

Celebrate Fall Leaves by Bringing Them Into Your Own Home!
If you are looking for more ways to celebrate Autumn and its bounty of beauty, take a look at these cool things I found on Etsy. Plus check out my site for recent additions of fall themed items.

At www.fineline-antiques.com you will find several leaf-themed items:Vintage Vera Neumann Scarf,Vintage Bark Cloth Cutter, and a Hand Made Therapeutic Grain Heating Pad.













There are some really great vendors online that are also offering ways to celebrate Fall.

Here is a really ethereal fine-art print of Autumn leaves falling into a vintage train case. You can find this and other phenomenally beautiful nature photographs at www.irenesuchocki.etsy.com.

Take the Fall beauty indoors again with these great handmade soaps. These chocolaty-brown soaps with maple leaf and acorn adornments look almost good enough to eat!
Soaps by www.ShopDavinia.etsy.com.

Finally take a look at this unique item Autumn Leaf crayons by www.Missing6.etsy.com. Made of 100% non-toxic recycled wax based crayons, these almost look like Raku pottery and embody the color and beauty of Fall.


Whatever you do, be sure to make the most of Nature's Fall display before it resigns to a naked quietness for Winter's sleep.

Okay....

Today is a Mama's Brag Blog.

Yesterday, my 6-year-old son's 1st grade class played pictionary. The catch was that they had to use the site words that were on the wall of their classroom. Naturally, at that age, the words are short and quite simple, like "it" "of" "on" "by" etc.

Well my son had to visually depict the word "or". Where do you start on trying to draw this? As a 41-year-old, somewhat creative adult, I would be at a total loss.

His solution.......draw a line with an arrow at each end.
Simple yet abstract, creative and wonderfully brilliant!!

Perhaps I may not be the most creative person I know (see blog about Creativity), but the next best thing is my offspring are proving to be very creative!

Proud Mama!

The Pot Luck Dinner - Not your usual article about hosting a potluck.

This article about enjoying great food and friends without spending too much money. It is beautifully written, inspiring and uplifting particularly in these uncertain times. It happens to be written by one of my oldest and dearest friends Susan Buchanan. But the fact that she is my friend does not negate the validity of the thoughts or the beauty of the writing. She does a great job of writing about food and painting a vivid mental picture while inspiring and informing you.

To read the rest more articles like this, please go to www.VenusRisingMagazine.com

Food for Soul: Spread a Sense of Abundance by Hosting a Potluck Supper By Susan Buchanan of Venus Rising: A Companion for Living

This year we are entering the tunnel of winter during one of the darkest economic moments in recent history. Feeling insecure about the future, many of us are beginning to tighten our belts and think of ways to cut corners. However, in the midst of this economic stress, it is more important than ever to eat well and find ways to feed the soul. In order to do this, we need to remind ourselves where there is abundance in friends, family, and food.

A potluck is an easy and affordable way to enjoy good food and spend quality time with others. A potluck may remind us of an odd mixture of foods that don’t complement each other. In fact, the term potluck was coined to represent the luck a guest would have when she showed up at a neighbor’s house around dinner time. The visitor ate whatever her host happened to be cooking, whatever she had in the “pot” on the stove. There were no special preparations made for the visitor. As such, one may get lucky and have a feast, or one may be stuck eating less than exciting leftovers.

The potluck expanded to its more modern concept – a gathering with everyone bringing food to share – through churches in the late 19th century, when potluck became “potluck supper.” Potluck suppers were also formats for community dinners put on to fund raise. With this newer meaning, the “luck” part may still represent how good the food is that comes to the table, but it is also the recognition of the friends and people we have to share it with.

With a little more control than the church sign up sheet, you can designate a certain number of salads, main dishes, and desserts and create a potluck supper that truly makes everyone feel rich and lucky. You can also make it more interesting by designing a theme that everyone works into their dish such as southern comfort, Italian, Thai, or California fusion. Here are some ideas to give you and your guests inspiration.

Salads - Reinvigorate the potluck salad. Use lettuces that are bright green or red and add additional color with dried berries and red and yellow peppers. Give it an Italian flair with shaved Parmesan or a Greek tone with Feta. Toss with toasted nuts and a simple vinaigrette when ready to put it on the table. Change the traditional cold broccoli salad to an Asian inspired salad by lightly pan frying fresh broccoli until crisp and tender and drizzling with a blend of sunflower oil, a touch of sesame oil, and soy sauce. Toss with sesame seeds and sprinkle some of those seeds on top when you put it out to serve.

Main Dishes - Refresh the dreaded overcooked pasta goulash to a real Italian staple. Serve fresh spaghetti in a large bowl, coated with just a little high-quality olive oil and sea salt. Along side the pasta, have a bowl of freshly-grated Parmesan cheese with a small serving spoon and a peppermill for guests to adorn their spaghetti themselves. Potluck goers will feel like they are in an Italian restaurant rather than a church basement. Alternatively, challenge yourself to redo the dreaded tuna casserole. Add the best quality Italian canned tuna, fresh peas, chopped sautéed spinach, cremini mushrooms, and a homemade sauce, avoiding the canned cream of mushroom soup. A simple cream sauce can be made with butter or oil, flour, and broth or milk. Just Google or look up béchamel sauce and search for a method that seems simple to you. Skip the rice casserole and opt for risotto instead, adding seasonal veggies and using a touch of wine in the cooking. Certainly a good beef stew is still great potluck fare but try chicken instead of beef. Boneless is easiest to serve and eat at a potluck so choose boneless chicken breasts and thighs and stew with sweet potatoes, onions, and rosemary. Serve with crusty bread and you may have found a new potluck staple.

Desserts - For dessert, revive the ambrosia salad. Surprise the potluck crowd with fresh pineapple, fresh clementines, toasted coconut, and almonds and a mixture of strained Greek yogurt and honey as the dressing. If you can’t imagine this grandmother’s recipe without marshmallows, go ahead and put them in too. I doubt anyone will object. Or, on a large plate, display bite-sized pieces of star fruit, mango, Asian pears, and kiwi. Place a small bowl or two of canned lychees or pomegranate seeds on the plate. Aside from fruit, the potluck dessert could entail any matter of bar or brownie. Of course, people will always love brownies but try to optimize your opportunity to make decadent bars, something you might not do for your family. Fancy blondies, with macadamia nuts and white chocolate, would be a not-so-everyday bar exceptional for a potluck. Or, be like the smart lady coveted by the church crowd with her layers of chocolate and butterscotch chips, nuts, coconut, graham crackers and sweetened condensed milk. The seven layer bar may become your signature creation.

With everyone contributing something, prepare your table for the riches that will adorn it. Make it special with a pretty table cloth; use your good table ware and cloth napkins. Make sure you have a centerpiece, whether it is fresh greenery, varying sizes of candles, a plant or a carved pumpkin. Once the people you care about show up and the food is displayed all together, you have a recipe for thumbing your nose at these ominous times, defying them by your mere act of gathering to enjoy a meal together to celebrate your good fortune.