Sassenach

Greetings friends,

Just a quick pop in post to see what you thought of the premier of Outlander? I know there are a bunch of you out there who are Outlander fans -psst! you're safe here, come geek out with me! If you're not a fan, please pardon my indulgence. This might not be the post for you because I'm about to go full-on fangirl.

My friend Lorna hosted a little mountain shindig, and we watched the first episode, Sassenach on her ginormous, awesome TV, felt like the actors were right in the room with is, too cool! We had a great night chatting about the stories, we'd all read all of the books and several (if not all) of the shorter novels and supplementals, or as Diana calls them, "the bulges" and they go deep! There are SOO many layers. Anywho.. we munched, we discussed, we drank whiskey! It was a good night...

Just touching on a few key points here mixed in with the few pictures I took at the party...
I'd love to know what YOU found interesting, please share!

How great was the opening scene, Claire during 1940's wartime, under pressure, fixing someone? Claire is grace & ruthless efficiency under fire - over and over again through out these stories. What a woman!

I put together a little goodie basket for our Outlander evening, a sort of thank you gift for my friend since without her prompting I probably would have never read these stories and happily sunk so deeply into Diana Gabaldon's world. I am forever grateful. ♥

Whiskey, ale, short bread and jam - and more importantly, JAMMF! I made Lorna a Pocket Jamie of her very own. I was also given a few small Outlander posters from a lovely gal in an Outlander FB group I belong to so I passed a couple of them on to Lorna. And neatest of all, I snagged a couple of hankies which were given away as swag at ComiCon this year - eBay is still awesome - sometimes.

It all began with a reuniting-honeymoon WWII was over... Claire & Frank.

I know lot of folks don't like Frank, I do. I think that like all of Gabaldon's characters, he's human and therefore flawed, and that's part of what makes these stories so amazing. He's not a perfect man, but I do believe up to this point (and maybe ever after - I have mixed feelings - but we'll find out more about that later on...) he's a good man. That's just my opinion. I know others have different opinions... bottom line, he loves his wife. What happens further on in the story gets complicated...

Let's go see the witches! Druids, actually...

I liked this scene, it wasn't how I pictured it in the books, it was better!

Here's a little picture of our spread! I popped into my local cheese shop (my town has a cheese shop, ha! So fancy.) and picked up a couple of nice cheeses (a sharp English cheddar and a lovely little herb chevres) , to go along with the fresh oatcakes that I made for snacking. I used this recipe and this one. Each of these rendered VERY different results. I wish I'd taken pictures... generally speaking, I think the second recipe was more enjoyable and versatile. 

 Claire, can you hear the stones?

You're not Frank! Uh-oh, here comes trouble! 

Black Jack Randall, what a cad. I thought Tobias Menzies has started these two very different roles with a bang! To my eyes, these could be totally different actors, although related generations apart, Frank and BJR are nothing alike.

Look what Lorna made for desert, a Craigh na Dun cheese cake! The standing stones were made out of rice crispy treats! 

Here we are in the little cottage where Claire meets Dougal and Jamie for the first time - great scene! Nearly word for word from the book. Loved it. 

On the road with the McKenzie clan, after being unceremoniously dumped from a horse, Claire makes a break for it.

But of course Jamie finds her and gets his first taste of her feisty willfulness. 

And Claire's first taste of the famed Fraser stubbornness, I liked this scene too. Actually, there weren't any scenes I didn't like. I know I'm going to love the entire series!

And before we know it, we've arrived at Castle Leoch and the end of episode 1! 

*wistful sigh*

Episode 2 is this Saturday - which incidentally is my birthday, what a great pressie! I'm so glad that this story is being made into a beautiful, visual feast, and so grateful that the people who are making it are doing so with such love and devotion. We're in for a rollicking good time!

So tell me! What are YOU looking forward to? I have a whole list! I'll answer in the comments so we can all be a part of the conversation!

oxo,

Lisa

Let's Bounce

Hi Y'all!
Hey, it's Friday! And boy howdy, it's been one of those weeks! How about we relax with a cocktail?

Going back to some Christmas makings, I bring to the table Vodka Cherry Bounce. Really this goes back to the 4th of July, 2013 because that's when I started this cherry infused vodka. 

Cherry infused vodka? Sounds intriguing, no?

I was inspired to make the "bounce" after learning about it on Outlander Kitchen. Lacking the original ingredients, sour cherries and whiskey, I used what I had on hand, Rainier cherries and vodka. 

To a great big jar, I added two pounds of Ranier cherries, about a 1/2 C sugar, and two liters of vodka. Pretty hoochy stuff too, Costco brand. Eeech.

Once all together in the jar, I gave them a stir and stuck the whole thing in a dark closet for about 5 months, occasionally swishing the liquid around. Now, I'm not going to lie, towards the end it was looking pretty nasty in that jar, I was worried. My husband scared me into thinking I could blind people with this stuff. I did some research and asked some trusted resources who assured me that I could not in fact blind anyone, this isn't moonshine after all.

To my delight, filtering the bounce (two nights and countless coffee filters) produced a bright, clear liquid devoid of any cherry flotsam. 

I dressed up a few bottles for Christmas, special gifts for friends who love Outlander as much as I do. Gosh that story... takes my breath away. Are any of you fans? Let's chat! You know Starz is making a series out of it, yes? Everything about the production so far is perfection, I am SO excited. Here's a peek at the trailer!

Turn up your volume a bit, it seems a little low in this video.

Isn't that awesome?? Jamie speaks!

So how was the bounce? Well, I've had it twice. It's uhh... unique. I don't think I could drink it straight (then again, I don't drink any liquor straight, those days have long since past me by), but mixed with some fizzy water, a squeeze of lime and a dash of grenadine, it was pretty tasty. I'm going to try making traditional Cherry Bounce as soon as cherries are available this spring. I bought and set aside a bottle of whiskey last year, so I am ready. Je Suis Prest!

 Je Suis Prest for this weekend, that's for dang sure. Now where's my cocktail?

oxo,

Lisa

Velveteen Dream

Top O'the Morning & Happy St. Patrick's Day to you!

I've been a busy bee this week, stitching in every spare moment, trying like heck to get this project done. Why the rush? I dunno... Because I'm a glutton for punishment, because I like a challenge? Maybe I'm just crazy. Sometimes I see embroidery projects as a specific block of time. I can often look at a pattern and guesstimate about how long it might take. I would have said 6-10 hours start to finish on this pattern ... pah! I would have been wrong, it was more like 18-20... but I LOVE the outcome!

This is something I've had in mind for a quite a while, years in fact, since I last stitched on velvet and found it to be such a beautiful background for embroidery. I purchased another finished cotton velvet cushion cover (similar to this one) at Ikea some time ago, and it's been waiting in the wings for its time to shine. 

Since choosing the pattern, I knew I'd want to embroider the whole thing in one color and thought that a soft gold was a perfect contrast to this deep green velvet. I used a lot of floss on this project, five entire skeins of DMC (676 Light Old Gold)! That seems like a lot, but then again, I used all six strands at once because I wanted the knot to be bold, and really stand off the fabric. I did the outlines of the pattern in stem stitch, and the center knots in split stitch, which gives the piece a nice, thick, almost rustic feel.

Getting the pattern onto the fabric was a bit of a challenge, I found some great advice about stitching on velvet and decided to trace the pattern on to tear away embroidery stabilizer, which I found at JoAnn's (make sure to use your coupons, friends, this stuff is pricey!) then basted the pattern onto the cushion before starting the stitching. The stitching itself was easy using the stabilizer, it didn't shift or crinkle at all. My biggest issue seemed to be using all six strands of floss at once, I felt like I was constantly untying knots and re-threading the needle, grr...

After finishing the embroidery, getting the paper off was fairly simple, but delicate work. I just had to go slow and use craft tweezers to pick the little bits of stabilizer from under the stitching taking care not to pull the stitches loose. I took pictures as I went along, and I'll add them to my Flickr photostream if you're interested.

I'm still in the midst of the Outlander series, and loving every moment of it, which I think contributed to my finally getting this project done, Jamie Fraser really lights my... inspiration! Yeah... inspiration, that's the ticket.

So just in time for St. Patrick's Day, I have a lovely new Celtic inspired pillow to decorate our bed, yay decorative pillows!

We don't really "celebrate" St. Paddy's Day, per say, but I'm sure to wear green for a bit of good luck, and making corned beef & cabbage for dinner, one of my favorites! I'm thinking of attempting Irish Soda Bread, too, we'll see. Mainly I plan to take it easy, this was a busy week and I've had a bit of a cold, so I think I'll indulge in a day of lazily catching up on chores and prioritizing my to-do list. That thing has a life of its own and keeps getting bigger by the day, yikes!

How 'bout you guys, anything exciting on the agenda? Do you do anything special for St. Paddy's? 

Do tell!

oxo,

Lisa

p.s. Did you see Google's home page today? These little dancers are so cute!