Do you recognize these?

Where are they from? They appear to be very old! Are they?

Could they be from Egypt? (That is what my professor of Anthropology thinks)

Or could they be from the Far East?
The figures are only 7 inches tall.
They are made of wood.

About 35 years ago, an elderly, very well dressed couple, brought these figures into a Santa Barbara consignment shop. The owner of the shop was not interested in purchasing them.

Could I purchase them? They sold them to me for under $10, all of them.

The silver haired couple didn't look like they were needy. Why did they risk rejection? And for so little!

Gina

Sinfully Good

Christmas Cookies that will melt in your Mouth

My Family has been baking these Christmas Cookies for several Generations

Even better when you let them "age" for a month

Recipe
Cream together 1 cup unsalted butter
and 2/3 cup sugar
Beat in 1 egg, 1tsp vanilla, pinch of salt, 1 Tb of orange rind, 1 Tb of fresh lemon juice
Add 2 and 1/2 cups of sifted flour
Mix until well blended
Cool (not chill) dough for 1 hour
Cut out 2 cookie shapes, same size, cut center hole into one cookie
stack cookies and fill with preserves
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes at 350 degrees or until barely colored.
Makes about 2 dozen cookies

Gina

Why Art and Alfalfa?

We live in the middle of a very large Alfalfa field, that's why!

First came the house (building on left), then my "Folly" (building to the far right) which consists of guesthouse, greenhouse, workshop and garages all in one.

And then we built the Barn, my favorite Building.

When I say "we built" I mean it. We studied Andrea Palladio's small villas in Italy; and this is what we came up with. The main house was first, then the "Folly" and then the Barn.

It made a nice courtyard design with a large horsetrough fountain in the middle. All in all about 3 years in the making. We designed, we laid marble floors, we executed all of the paint finishes, I painted all of the tiles, we stuccoed walls and posts and we loved every minute of it. We had help, of course.

We were thrilled and sad at the same time when everything was finished.

Gina

Hand Block Printed Toile de Jouy Paper Ribbon

Print your own - 180 feet of ribbon

Block printed on 6" wide masking paper

Roll out the masking paper and stamp with dark blue acrylic paint

Wrap packages with plain brown paper and decorate with "ribbon"

Stamps from "Rubber Stampede"

Pretty as any 18th century French Toile de Jouy fabric

Gina

At the Art Gallery

It was my turn to mind the store at the Spring City Art Gallery. May I show you some of my favorites?

If I had lots of money I would buy this painting from Randall Lake. Randall was the "Best of Show" winner of the 2008 Plein Air Competition.

Susan Gallacher Oil. Susan is also known for her fine watercolors.

Sheep by Osral B Allred. It is Sheep that make Spring City the town that it is today

M'Lisa Paulsen, a fine artist and special friend and I am so lucky to own one of her paintings

A painting by Kathleen Peterson, always different and always an original

You have seen many of my ceramics, so I will not post them here. There are a few of them featured at the Gallery.


I did not sell any paintings yesterday, however, I sold all of my hand painted Christmas balls. Not only that, I sold all of them to one person, a friend of mine who is one of the most talented, the most respected, well known Interior Designers. I was flattered.

Gina

Streussel Kuchen

Not Kirschwasser Torte, not Sacher Torte, not Croquembouche, not Linzer Torte but I go weak at the knees for

Streusel Kuchen

Anita's Streusel Kuchen, just looking at this picture makes my mouth water

Recently, Forbes Magazine published an article "America's top 25 Towns to live Well". Our little Spring City was listed as one of them. Spring City was settled by Mormon Pioneers in 1852. The entire town of Spring City is listed on the National Historic Register.

Because we are a Historic Town, we celebrate each May by opening our doors to visitors from far and wide.

Anita, the baker of the fine Streusel Kuchen (above and below) lives in one of those beautiful historic stone houses. Her little son was so bored with all of the visitors he begged his mother to bake her famous Streusel Kuchen. It would give him something to do and he could make a little money on the side.

Now, a few years later, every year , on the Memorial Day weekend, the line for Streusel Kuchen gets longer and longer.

And, if you would like Anita's recipe, please let me know. I don't know if she will part with it and I don't know if yours will turn out as well. It takes a special talent to bake this simple cake. Many a Baker, in the old country, has been banished from his home town for not being able to bake a decent Streusel Kuchen.

Gina