Baking and Making

As in, baking a loaf of cranberry bread.  Mmmm.  I’ve also made a pie crust, with the actual pie to follow tomorrow.  I’ve baked gingerbread, which will be crumbled up into a pumpkin trifle tomorrow, and I whipped up some instant pumpkin pudding with a mix Neil found at the grocery store this afternoon.  It was good (and already gone).

The apple pie is coming with us to Thanksgiving at my in-law’s house.  It’s the first time in recent memory that I haven’t baked a Mrs.Smith’s frozen pie.  Those are always pretty good, and I haven’t felt the need to improve upon them until I was struck with a severe case of the “I can do thats” while watching Martha last week.  What can I say, she made pie crust actually look easy.  And it was, as it turned out, quite easy to make.  Whether it holds together when I roll it out, or tastes any good once it’s baked remains to be seen.  My hopes are high, though.

The cranberry bread and pumpkin trifle are staying here, since we’re really the only ones who would eat either of those things if we brought them with us, anyway. They’ll make good desserts for the next several days.  Or breakfasts.  Same difference 😀

I’m also in the middle of making these guys:

They’re the first four custom ornaments to roll through my production line.  They still need hair and facial features, but they’re getting there.  Any of you recognize your family here?  My goal for this four-day weekend is to finish these first four families and a second batch of four.  Wish me luck – they seem to take longer than I remember…

It’s been a busy day; I spent a lot of time on my feet, and a lot of time hunched over my clay table, too.  Now it’s time to put my feet up, enjoy those fall baking smells in the air, and see if there’s anything good waiting for me on the DVR tonight.  Happy Thanksgiving!