Necessary Chocolate

Some women made Halloween decorations in October

I, on the other hand, made an Isaiah banner.

I've declared "Isaiah Days" as holidays in my class. Anytime we read from Isaiah (as in the Old Testament prophet Isaiah), there will be treats.

I happen to love Isaiah. LOVE. I don't worry about whether I understand it all - I love the language and the imagery that I do get (this is King James Version, of course - none of that modern prose for us). I want the students in my class to feel that same love. Or at least drool whenever they hear him quoted. I've threatened to make them sing "For Unto Us a Child Is Born," but so far they've only had to listen to it.

Today we ate warm apple crisp. They now ask if they can't read a little Isaiah with every class...

In case you like fonts, I used Olduvai for the letters, and Blue Goblet Frames for the swirly frames. I like Blue Goblet ornaments, frames, and vignettes almost as much as Isaiah; they're designed by Cory Godbey, who hosts the Terrible Yellow Eyes site.

(I also made Halloween decorations, but it's a better story if I ONLY made this, don't you think?)

November!

Cliche warning! Cliches to follow!

How is it possible that it is already November????

Oh, well. October treated me well; I'll wave goodbye with grace.

 

I had lots of fun embroidery and silkscreening to do.

And the visit to Utah was so busy - full of family, food (Cafe Rio! Sonic diet cherry limeade! BYU catering -  incredible food, in case you think I'm being sarcastic), and fabric.

 

Even though I couldn't find my cherished alphabet fabric for the dishtowels, I did find some others that'll work just as well. There's no class tomorrow so I have the whole evening to finish them up, send them off, and detox from Halloween candy.

Put down your pencils

Because it's time to claim your reward.

 

This year, to atone for the many times I read before the dishes were done, it's the official 2009 Read For Fun dish towel.

Silkscreen (courtesy of PhotoEZ - love this stuff), a little embroidery, some cool bias trim, and some rick rack.

If you played along (note - I didn't say finish the chart), please let me know in the comments by Tuesday, October 20th. I'll contact you to get your address, and then one will be mailed off to you that week (I hope). I'm off to Utah this week, land of great quilt shops,where I'll be stocking up on the supplies.

So, did you have fun? Any moments I haven't heard about?

Read for fun: share a book with a friend

Nice moments this month? Two friends enjoying "To Say Nothing of the Dog," and Laura of the Arizona kids telling me that "When You Reach Me" is her new favorite book.

Happy times.

More excuses (including chocolate cake and TMBG)

Not only did the doll eat my homework, but I HAD to make chocolate cake* for a dessert auction at the church. Photographed from this angle,

and from the top,

 

you'd never know that it was completely lopsided.

I didn't stick around to see its fate, because a certain band was playing their entire Flood album in downtown Albany, and I had to go be a groupie. By myself, because I couldn't find any friends who weren't attending the auction or had heard of them. Really. It's times like this that I really miss my cousins (at least the Delaware groupie ones). But they were off galivanting with new babies and such.

*made using my revised version of egullet's version of epicurious' Double Chocolate Cake, with The Cake Bible's rasberry ganache filling and light chocolate ganache frosting. The crumbs and leftover frosting were pretty tasty.

Here's my version of the cake recipe:

Double Chocolate Cake

3 oz semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1-1/2 cups cocoa powder (regular or Dutch process - I use Dutch)
1-1/2 cups hot water
1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter, melted
1-1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2-3/4 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1-1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup canola oil
1-1/2 cups buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 300°F. Grease two 9”x2" pans (I used one 8"x3" and one 8"x2"). Line bottoms with rounds of parchment paper, grease paper, then flour pans.

2. Into a medium bowl, pour the hot water over chocolate, cocoa, and melted butter; blend till smooth. Let mixture cool slightly, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is smooth.

3. Into a large bowl sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

4. In another large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs until thickened slightly and lemon colored (about 3 minutes with a stand mixer). Add sugars and beat well. Slowly add oil, buttermilk, vanilla. Add melted chocolate mixture, beating until combined well.

5. Add dry ingredients and beat on medium speed until just combined well. Note -  this is a very liquid batter, and it will seem like it's still a little lumpy. Mine turned out fine anyway.

6. Divide batter between pans and bake in middle of oven until a tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 60 to 70 minutes (watch carefully--timing may vary).

7. Cool layers completely in pans on racks.

8. Run a thin knife around edges of pans and invert layers onto racks. Carefully remove wax paper.

One week more for prizes

I love you all. Really. And I fully intended to spend this weekend developing the prizes for this year's Read for Fun. Then I remembered Howard the doll (whose name is now Junior). Whose owner will have a birthday soon. Whose brother received a sleeping bag, backpack, and sweater for his Archie.

Eeek.

So now there's a another set ready, and I'll work on prizes next weekend.

I'm sorry - it's really so far past summer now. But I hope that the prizes will still be welcome!