Thursday, October 18, 2012

Macintosh Applesauce Mmmmm

Everyone around here seems to be making applesauce, so we decided that in order to be considered New Englaners we should jump on the wagon and try it out.  I had a food mill that my Mom gave me a few years ago and a pressure cooker that I inherited from my grandma so I was excited to finally be able to use them for the first time.

 I got a half bushel of apples at a local farm stand and it ended up being way more than I could use.  I had time to make 6 quarts of applesauce while the kids were in school and I still ended up with enough apples to make 2 more batches of the recipe.
The recipe was so yummy, but we did make a few changes.  I put it through a food mill before pouring it into the jars so it would be fine with no chunks.  (This step is not needed though because I gave some of the sauce that was left in the food mill to my kids and they said they liked it chunky.)

 Then We pressure cooked it for 5 minutes at 5lbs of pressure.  Since I didn't know anything about using a pressure cooker I watched this youtube video so I didn't blow up my kitchen.

I was excited that it all worked out and the lids all sealed.  I think that next time I am going to try to find a recipe that doesn't have sugar in it.

 And here is my helper.  My father-in-law, who was such a good sport about helping me in the kitchen and keeping me company.

 I think the next time that I make applesauce I will buy smaller jars so that I can hand it out as gifts because it was that yummy :)

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Navy Ball 2012

tonight we went to the Navy Ball for the first time in a since 2009.  We had a great time and were so glad that my father in law could come out to watch the kids for us.  I of course worried about everything going okay while I was gone but when I got back he told me they were all angles.
This is the hair do I went with.  It's not my favorite that I've ever done, but I think that style wise it went well with the dress and old fashion look I was going for (It was a cold night so I wore a fur cape with it that added to the old fashion look.)  If I try it again I think I will twist the hair on the side instead of braid it.  I had a hard time feeling like the braids were just right.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rf2oZwSehWQ



Some other hair styles I considered were
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bBblo-8x90
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOTc822hTaM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyr2FJtYllQ
(I read that you can make your own hair padding by folding some tulle into the same oblong shape as in the video then wrapping it in a hair net.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2YYlVuC6_w&list=UUeRF3k69cJnxB87lwk9KbrA&index=4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5VtLMniWzo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGsx2f822fs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOdNneU3djw
http://www.princesshairstyles.com/2014/09/waffle-cone-ponytail-easy-hairstyle.html