Trick or Treat!

I've been busy baking and thought I'd share!

I hope you have a very scary Halloween!

I'm linking up with Faith Hope and Charity Shopping!

Johnson Brothers Haul

A few weeks ago I once again convinced the long suffering Mr Grumpy to join me in a quick thrift run one town over.  Don’t feel too bad for him though folks, he likes to visit a used DVD shop there and pick up Blue Rays of dubious quality.  Well, the Blue Ray itself is always fine; it’s the content it holds that can be bad enough to make me beg for that hour and a half of my life back!

Ok, tangent over, back to the real news. 

We weaved in and out of the shops, and I tried to speed thrift so that Mr Grumpy wouldn’t become extremely grumpy.  When we walked in one shop I immediately laid eyes on a piece of my desire.  I was behind Mr Grumpy and I started to push him a bit, saying “It’s go time, go, go, go!”  Yes people, I am that insane.  He thankfully held his ground because there was an elderly woman right in front of him that I couldn’t see.  This slight delay didn’t prevent me from grabbing this rather heavy pile off of the shelf.

Wow, was all I could think.  Mr Grumpy tried to bargain down the price of £12.99, but I blocked him a bit.  I’m not really comfortable trying to bargain with a charity. 

So what exactly was in the Johnson Brothers stack?

First up were these beautiful Greydawn large dinner plates.  Oddly, they had two different backstamps and I can't figure out which one is older.  Do you know?

The next two pieces were pretty simular, I  got two serving plates, including one ginormous one.  Its so big that a very large turkey could fit on it! Both plates have the same backstamp.  I thought I took a picture of these together, but I guess not.

I've saved the best for last.  I can't tell you how many times I've bid on, and lost  this Greydawn jug/pitcher.  I can't believe that I managed to find it in the wild.  It was such a rush!

 You can't really see the backstamp, but I thought that I'd share anyway. 

Johnson Brothers is my favourite pattern and I have so little of it that this haul was a definite rush.  I’m so pleased to have it in my collection.  But I am worried that I’m losing it a bit.  After I find something amazing, like the JB haul or the Pyrex piece I found a few weeks ago I just want more, and I want it now.  It’s like I’m a drug addict looking for my next fix.  Anyone else feel this way, or am I alone?

Also, a big thank you to Mr Grumpy, he carried the haul for the next hour so that I could have both hands to search through the remaining charity shops. 

I’m going to link up with Magpie Monday at Me and my Shadow, and Thrift Share Monday at Apron Thrift Girl, and Thrifty Love at Cap Creations.

Bit of a Baking Fail

My mom is an amazing cook and baker and she often sends me recipes that she thinks/knows that I’d like.  This is one that she sent me a while ago and I just got around to trying out, and sort of failing at. We're calling these Bordey Bars. 

First I gathered the ingredients:

- 2 sticks of butter (1 cup)

- 2 cups of firmly packed brown sugar 

- 2 tsp of baking powder

-1/4 tsp salt

- 1 tsp vanila extract

- 2 cups all purpose flour

- 2 large eggs

 

Pre-heat the oven to 350F, or about 180C.  Grease a 9x13 inch pan and put aside.  

Melt the butter and then mix with the brown sugar until totally mixed.

Add the baking powder, salt and vanilla and mix well.

Gradually add the flour and mix, this should make the dough very stiff.

Wisk the eggs in a seperate bowl and then add slowly, mixing well.

Spread the batter in the pan you prepared earlier and bake for about 30 minutes.  The edges should be golden brown and the middle still soft. 

Let it cool completly and then cut into squares and enjoy!

Mine tasted fine, but as you can see they were a bit on the burnt side.  What went wrong?  I think that part of it was that I halved the recipe.  I really think that the first time you bake something you should do it by the book.  I don't think this was my biggest problem though, I think it was the pan size.  I should have used my very functional, but slightly dull clear Pyrex dish.  The dough was just too thick to cook properly and it took ages, hense the burnt edges and top.

Mr Grumpy didn't dislike these bars, but he prefers some of the other things I make so I don't know if this will be on my to bake list again.