Scribbles and Scrambles ~ A New Adventure Afoot...Or Uhhh....CHALLENGE

My teacher moved me into a new violin book. I am so excited and so terrified. 

After a few weeks (I lost count, hmmm, let's say three and let's guesstimate 500 minutes) of practice and the nine notes played endlessly during my lesson last week, I got to leave behind my minuet and the William Tell Overture. And they were the end of the first book I got way back in December. 

EXHIBIT A

So. Look at the difference between these two books. Both are pictures of Page 13. 

Exhibit A is the book I'm done with. Look. Jingle Bells. I was working on that around Christmas...how nice. Ehhh? 

Exhibit B is some crazy practice book written in 1905. He read the introduction and I made a mental note to look up a full quarter of the words he was spewing. They were wicked smart with words back in the day. Note to self: vocabulary word a day app pronto. 

EXHIBIT B

So part of my lesson yesterday was passing my test with the minuet and William Tell Overture. He only made me repeat a few rough patches, deemed it good, told me to slowly play my other thorn-in-the-side song (which I'm still working on for another week) while he ran upstairs to the music showroom. He came back down with a gleam in his eye and my new book. He kind of played the new book as a really big exciting deal, read the intro then showed me the first page. 

He asked for my violin and showed me what I'll eventually be doing with all those TEENY TINY closely spaced dots and lines. And showed me some fun things they did with music back in 1905 when they didn't have video games. Ways to practice creatively to learn new skillz and discover how music can change radically with just a tiny bit of change. I may not be moving to a new book in this decade. I did enjoy watching and listening to him give a mini-concert. Sure hope he's ready to listen to my "art" for a very long time. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Shirt Off My Back...

Tuesday I ran to a thrift store and found a cute top. As I'm so inclined to do when I go shopping, I washed my finds and laid them neatly in a pile waiting to be put away upstairs. 

& brings the girls, Lily and Lola over to my house when she's going to have an abnormally long day away since she works in the neighboring city and my work day is generally kinder to their bladders. 

So I got a text with this picture. And the words. "For me?"

"Well, it's my size so it's going to be too big for you. Do you want it?" 

I get a text a few hours later with a selfie, wearing my shirt and the words. "Well, this is awkward!" 

So. I guess she did. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ A Little Step Forward..

Around Thanksgiving I began my violin journey. 

I remembered precious little from my short violin career nearly four decades ago. I knew there was a bow, that the strings had names, as did the little dots on the page. I remembered the combination of fingers on the strings and sliding the bow across the strings made sounds. Some not so pleasant, some amazing depending on who played them. 

In February, when I barely knew a dozen notes and couldn't count to four and play at the same time, and couldn't recognize anything I was playing beyond the occasional kid song, I went to my teacher's concert. 

They played William Tell Overture and I was amazed. So fast, so crisp, so entertaining. And as I watched their fingers fly I thought I'd never be able to play that song. 

Rusty. Rough. Squeaky and HARD... here is what I've been working on. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ A Few More Memories

The last flowers from my grandma's funeral bouquet...

My grandma's grandmother's coffee grinder...

My mom's metronome passed to Grandma and then to me. I used it in one practice session and then I did something to make it no longer work. Sigh.
Anyone know a metronome-smith? 

One of my favorite childhood memories...the hourglass. I don't know that I ever visited my grandparents without flipping the hourglass over. 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Jacksalad Salad Sandwich Ring

My second experiment with jackfruit -- Jacksalad

I drained one can of immature unsweetened Jackfruit and dumped it in a crockpot with two cups of vegetable broth. I cooked it on low for 7ish hours while I was away. It darkened and softened enough to shred with a fork and the inside was nicely white. It looked a lot like shredded chicken. 

I let it cool and drained off the broth. 

To the Jackfruit I added approximately 1/4 each of the following:

Craisins (or diced fruit of choice such as apples or grapes)
finely diced celery
finely diced onion
chopped cashews (or other nuts of choice)

I made a dressing of :

3 TBSP Vegan mayo
1 tsp of brown mustard
1/8 a teaspoon each of 
salt
pepper
garlic powder
onion powder
dill weed
agave

Mix all together. This is great on crackers or bread. But, to make a ring, do the following:

Two cans of Vegan crescent rolls (I found some that just list "wheat" on their allergy labels). Not healthy ingredients, mind you, but this is for an occasional treat like the picnic I took them to. 

I didn't try to make it a beautiful wreath because I was going to just cut it into slices. Separate each triangle and place them side by side, touching with the flat end in and the points out. Press together very well. Scoop the Jackfruit salad onto the flat inner ring. Then fold the point over the Jack mixture and fold under or twist, overlap and tuck. 

Bake at 350 for 28-30 minutes. The dough will get golden. If you don't bake it long enough (the package says 12 minutes, but that's unstuffed bread) the bread doesn't cook all the way through. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ More Memories...

I needed to take a dessert somewhere last night. So I pulled out a few necessary ingredients. 

And a few of those were my grandma's and they have recently found their way into my home. 

Her metal, well-used 9 x 13 fits my life perfectly. And my cake, just as well. 

She would be pleased that I filled it up and also would have enjoyed the treat. 

I don't know if these bowls are the exact bowls I remember. It's been a few years since I curled up with a metal bowl full of grandma's freshly popped corn. Even if they aren't the ones I happily munched out of they remind me of the times I spent chillaxen at her place. 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Simple Fruit Salad

A few years ago a friend told me how to turn frozen, somewhat bland fruit, into delicious fruit with a perfect glaze. I had tried tried various other attempts at glaze...like orange juice, jam, sugar. None of them did it for me. 

Her recipe was so simple. Vanilla instant pudding. Just enough to cover the fruit and leave a delicious coating. Let's say, 1/2 a small box to a medium bag of fruit. Sprinkle, stir, let sit. Stir. Brilliant. 

However, trying to avoid super processed, super unnatural, dairy, etc made this no longer an option. 

But at an Arbonne spa party my mom had some frozen fruit and a terrific idea. Why not try the Arbonne Vanilla Protein Powder as a glaze. So we loaded a few cups in a bowl and sprinkled a tablespoon or two of protein powder over the fruit and stirred. 

Win!!!! Win! Win! Fabulously delicious.