Happy Easter!

We have made these hot cross buns for a very long time now and I thought that I would pass the recipe on. It comes from an old cookbook published by the Vancouver Sun called "Edith Adams Bread Book". Good ol' Edith Adams was a ficticious character. I hope you enjoy them.

This image is from a Victorian book called"Children's Songs With Music". The inscription on the inside reads "Dear Irene, with Grannies best love. Xmas 96.

Spicy Hot Cross Buns

Sift together 4 cups all-purpose flour with 2 teaspoons cinnamon, ½ teaspoon allspice, and ½ teaspoon cloves.

Add ¾ cup washed raisins, 1/3 –1/2 cup of mixed peel, ½ cup chopped cherries (opt.)

Dissolve a teaspoon of sugar in ¼ cup warm water; sprinkle with 1 package yeast. Proof for 10 minutes and then stir well.

Heat 1-cup water; add 1-teaspoon salt, ¼ cup sugar, 2 tablespoons soft shortening, and 1 beaten egg. Mix well. When lukewarm add yeast.

Pour into well in flour, stirring until liquid disappears. Form into a ball and knead for 2 minutes. Brush top with melted butter, cover with damp then dry towels. Let rise double. Punch down. Put ball of dough on lightly floured board; cover; rest 10 minutes. Cut in two; form into cylinders. Cut each cylinder in to 9 parts. Form into slightly flat balls. Put in 2 greased 9” square pans or 2” apart on baking sheets. Cover and let rise. Cut crosses in tops. 

Bake. After 15 minutes brush with glaze of 2 tablespoons sugar and two tablespoons of hot milk or hot water. Finish baking. Reglaze. Cool on racks. Frost in creases if desired. Makes 18 buns. BAKE: 375 deg. F for 20 – 25 minutes.

My adaptation to the recipe

I use whole-wheat flour. It does make them denser but they are very tasty. Add 1 tablespoon off fresh lemon juice for every 4 cups of wholewheat flour and it will make your wholewheat bread less dense.

Any time it mentions sifting I put the flour and /or spices into a large bowl and incorporate them with a French whisk. Using a whisk to fluff up the flour is so much faster and tidier.

I use ½ a cup not 1/3 of peel, plus I use candied citron. I make a quadruple batch of buns so when I measure out the mixed peel I measure 1 cup candied citron and 1 cup mixed peel. The raisins must be washed, it helps to plump them up when baking so that they are soft otherwise they tend to be hard. I do a mix of 1 cup golden raisins, 1 cup dark raisins, 1 cup sultanas, and 1 cup currants.

I don’t like to use shortening so I substitute it with butter. We try to use honey in place of sugar. The hot cross buns are baked in two large pans. One pan is left unglazed and the other I glaze with the sugar/milk solution. I like the sugar for glazing. Have fun baking.

EHAG and The Spring Window.

I won't have a piece ready for this months EHAG Emporium. I have been very busy cleaning the studio and doing display work and consultations at the shopping centre.

I am getting the props together for a new Spring window. The large window that had the Christmas display will have a ornate chair, frame, and column in an outdoor setting that are being consumed by the Spring garden.

I am constantly on the look out for inexpensive but good quality and good looking faux flowers. Faux flowers can be very expensive and unfortunately there are no florist wholesalers on the island any more. Buying wholesale can still be prohibitive if you are on a limited budget but need a large number of flowers. I like to buy at thrift stores and any place that has a deep discount. Most of these flowers were bought at Superstore. They must have been last years flowers that did not sell but I bought a huge whack of them.

I picked up this chair from the side of the road about 6 months ago. It looked sort of interesting and the fabric that was on it has been taken off and washed to be used later on another project. I was going to send it off to Salvation Army but realized I could use it in the Spring window.

After stripping the chair down to the frame I nailed a thin sheet of pressed wood to the bottom of the seat and the back of the chair. Florist foam for dried flowers is held in place against the wood with wire mesh. The chair has been spray painted watermelon pink and left unpainted where the flowers and upholstery will going.

I am working in the living-room at the moment because the area that I was working in at the shopping centre is now occupied. The yellow column will be used in the window. I am using bright colours for the column and the chair as a counterpoint to the realistic looking flowers. Those pots of narcissus are some of the flowers that I bought at the Superstore. They cost $2.44 each, an amazing buy for the number of stems in each pot.

This picture frame I bought for $25.00 at Jacklin Trading Post. It was damaged and didn't sell but I like it's Rough Lux qualities. Originally it was to be used in the Christmas window but it didn't work. Except for the narcissus at the top of the group of flowers almost everything else I picked up at Salvation Army.

It is raining and overcast here so the colours in the photo are rather dark but it gives you an idea of what the chair looks like. I dislike flash as it tends to flatten everything.

Just so that you don't get all mushy and romantic about the chair this is what you don't see! It certainly looks trashy doesn't it?

I will post pictures of the finished window sometime next week.

Spring has sprung...

Spring has sprung,

The grass is riz,

I wonders where the birdies is?

That poetic gem came to mind as I was looking at these pictures. The animal life is definitely getting down to business around our neighbourhood in the last few weeks.

The fishing creel on the front door had a few tiny branches sticking out of the lid a while back so I pulled them out of the top of the basket.

I had to take the basket down to get them out and found this inside. At first it looked like a bunch of debris that someone had picked up off of the ground and put in the basket as a joke. I realized that the depression on the right was a bird's nest.

Trish, my wife, moved the basket off the door and onto the wall 10 feet away. Undaunted the bird kept on with building his home. We soon realized that the basket and nest would get very wet when it rained, so I put a nail in the wall under the upstairs overhang so that it would stay dry and moved the basket yet again. We weren't certain if the bird family was around or not but I saw him/her today. All is well in bird-land.

Last week a raccoon wandered across our yard and onto the neighbour's fence.

It wandered along the fence directly opposite one of the living-room windows. Raccoons are so cute.

I love Spring and this bird's nest shoe is my tribute to all of those busy birds. Go to my Etsy shop to purchase my "Spring Time Bird's Nest Shoe".

A Little Tour of My Brain, Part 16 - Children's Easter Cards

This little chick's basket folds into place under her arm to give this card a three dimensional effect. The back of the card says "To Dids From Nana and Grampa XX April 13/41."

The bath tub on this card is separate and tabs at either end of the bath tub slide into slots on the card. This card is to Dids from Mummy April 13/41.

This little rabbit certainly has a mischievous look and maybe that is why Auntie Leen and Uncle Alex sent it to Robert.

This 1950's card is really sweet. It is written on the inside "Love from The Easter Bunny".

Unused, this card is the size of the small Valentines cards that were exchanged between classmates.

Another of the small Easter cards depicts a baby chick surprising this lamb as he is about to paint eggs for Easter.

Number three of the small cards shows a small duck admiring her Easter bonnet.

Four baby chicks and two more decorated eggs to go; this mother hen looks a little flustered. Number four of the small Easter cards.

The fifth and final small card features none other than the big boy himself , "The Easter Bunny", painting eggs for Easter morning.

A lamb, two chicks, and a wreath of violets, all of the colours and animals of a Spring morning at Easter.

The colours on this card are vivid and the design is strong and simple, I love it.

The card pivots open to reveal the Easter chick inside and the message "Happy Easter".

A postcard style Easter card, the envelope is long gone. Like the previous card the colours are vivid with geometric designs. All of the colours are outlined in gold. I like this one very much as well.

Open the lid of the round box that the chick is looking at and inside is this little fellow to wish you a "Happy Easter".

I have opened this hand silk screened parchment paper Easter card to show how the design flows from the outside on into the inside. The colours and design are quite delightful. It is marked "Made in USA" on the back. Unfortunately the envelope that was with it and now long gone has stained the front and back.

Another silk screened parchment paper card. This is an accordion fold card showing two children planting and tending a garden. In the last picture they are gathering a basket of tulips. This silk screened accordion fold card was printed in the USA as well.

A boy and girl bring home a very large Easter egg, carry it into the house, place it on the kitchen table, and it cracks open to reveal a duck and three chicks! The two accordion fold cards are designed to be read the same way as a comic strip in a newspaper or opened as a normal card with the story revealing itself in book format. All of the silk screened parchment paper cards appear to be done by the same unknown company.

A Little Tour of My Brain, Part 16 - Easter Postcards - Anthropomorphic Easter Animals

I have more postcards featuring Easter animals but this time they are more like little humans in animal clothing, the proper term is anthropomorphic.

In this Raphael Tuck and Sons postcard a ewe is proudly showing off some very large chicks while the hen, with coloured eggs at her feet, looks on. I love that fence in the background.

While I was writing this I remembered a friend who had some antique Easter decorations that are the most disgusting I have ever heard of, three dead chicks. Evidently this was common!? I suppose they were just dehydrated. The chicks could be tucked in an Easter basket, "Oh Mummy aren't they cute?" or on a Christmas tree, "Look Ethyl, little chicks, so charming." I never did see them, I had no desire at all. Well now that I have grossed you out completely lets get on with more pleasant things.

The Cadbury Easter Bunny is only doing what comes naturally to all Easter Rabbits, flying an airplane. This postcard is from 1911.

Miss Ruth Pugh received this postcard from her cousin Inize Berry? on April 9, 1909. She writes, "Ruth what do you think of these big Easter eggs (Easter Eggs is underlined) I go to school everyday and like it some Pretty bad days too (too is underlined) come and visit me sometime your loving cousin"  She may not have used any punctuation in her pencil written message but she did like too underline words.

I like the richness of the colours and the formality in this postcard.

What a delightful rabbit couple out for a stroll. This card may be part of a series, I'm not certain, but it is the second part of a letter written home. It was probably in a package that was sent home because there is no post mark. The back of the card is written on, entirely ignoring the area for the address. The back reads - (there is an underlined 2 at the top of the card) "this Easter in Blighty now but of course one never knows and I may be home sooner than I think. I guess you have Frank at home now and having a rare time plenty of fun etc. eh, I only wish I was at home with you all for here I" and that is the end of the message that would have been continued on the next card or cards. Who knows what was said, thought, or happened in this anonymous person's life. I wish I had the rest of the cards.

Two chicks in their Easter finest are ready for the Easter parade. Chicks are baby hens and roosters but these little guys appear fully grown and perpetually in a state of grown-up childhood.

This a 1920s or 1930s children's postcard. It is cute but the quality of the drawing is not the same as the earlier cards.

Tennis anyone? That is one tough egg that is being batted back and forth over the tennis net. I just noticed that each rabbit is hitting an egg to the other rabbit! That is one difficult game! I like this delightful card it has coloured eggs, Spring flowers, a meadow with blue skies, a home in the distance and you can smell the sweet Spring air and feel the warm breezes blowing on your face.

This last card is cruder in the drawing and the printing than the previous cards which makes all the more charming. I wonder how many rabbits, eggs, and flowers will come out of the magicians top hat?

A Little Tour of My Brain, Part 16 – Easter Postcards with Farm Yard Images

Easter is on the way and to start things off I have some antique postcards featuring farm animals. They are arranged from the least Eastery, such a delightful non dictionary word, to colours and styles that we consider more Eastery.

At the top of this postcard in very pale gold lettering are the words Easter Greetings. This postcard was sent to "Chas. H. Pugh, 100 Price Ave., Columbus, Ohio." On the back Charles has written "Apr. 9 - 1909 From my Sweet Hart Goldie".

The back of this card says -

Dear Friend:- Please except this Easter card. Go careful on the egg question. How are you keeping Willie? I am fine. We are having lovely weather. Had a blizzard yesterday. Write me when you get time. Bye Bye From Willie Gray

To Master William Harvey, R.R. #3, West Monkton Ontario

These cards give us a glimpse into an era where farm livestock was a matter of everyday experience for the greater part of the population.

The postcards picturing farm animals are beginning to look a little more like an Easter image that we are familiar with. Gentian and forget-me-not are in the upper right corner of the postcard.

Baby chicks inside an egg shaped frame, pale blue flowers, and a greeting in King James English, "May thine be a happy Easter", very proper indeed.

This postcard and one previous are part of a series. The flowers in the corner of this postcard are pheasant eye narcissus.

Birthdays fall on everyday of the year. The words written on the back of this card to Miss Augusta Lambert of Logan, Ohio say, “Wish you a Happy Birthday, Mrs Fred Stracke”.

Violets, pussy-willow, and little birds with a metallic silver cross create an interesting colour combination.

A farmyard vignette, a bouquet of violets held in place with a shirred yellow ribbon and an Arts and Crafts design in the background create a very elegant postcard.

The rabbits and chicks in this postcard appear somewhat awkward, as if one of them had said something that was not politically correct.

Three little chicks out for an early Easter morning stroll.

Bunnies, chicks, a basket, coloured egg shells, and snowdrops; it's beginning to look a lot like Easter.

A violet background and coloured egg shells transform an ordinary farmyard image into an Easter vignette.