Thrifting Scores! More Winter On The Way? Citrus Angel Food Cake

Thrifting Scores!

It's definitely a good time to go thrifting! Between a lot of people donating right at the end of the year, and the Marie Kondo craze, there are lots of things at thrift stores. I did read the original Marie Kondo book a few years ago, which I liked, but I'm not quite that OCD personally. Now that she's on Netflix a lot of people are talking about it at work, etc. The local news even reported donations are way up right now! Win win. Either way it makes for a lot of great items going into the stores. I was running some errands yesterday right by a Goodwill so I went in. I'm working on a project to reorganize some of my small craft supplies. I have craft supplies stuffed in a closet and it all gets mixed together. I wanted to get some plastic totes that were small. I found three of these perfect size and they're clear, $2-

Then I found a like-new angel food cake baking tin for $3.00 since mine was falling apart. Now that I have lots of eggs so I can start making angel food cakes again, recipe below. I found the great clock above for $5, it reminded me of the curvy Swedish Mora clocks-

Nordicstyle.com

It's 15" high and is probably considered a mantel-type clock, battery operated. I may paint it, not sure yet but I will definitely do something with the finish. The nice thing is you can open up the entire clock from the back. Someone did a little bit of spray paint on the glass. It's battery operated and will look nice in the house.

I also found a fun little wooden Valentine's Day item made out of a 2 x 4, for $2-

Perfect for my front entryway

Winter On The Way?

The weather has been very mild lately, actually 54 degrees yesterday! Too warm for this time of year but what can you do? I feel so terrible for all the people back in the Midwest and the East Coast who had such terrible blizzards and Sub-Zero temperatures. I've actually been in that kind of weather in the Dakotas and it was awful. I was in an area once where it was 10 below zero, with 50 mile an hour winds. I don't actually know what the windchill was, but it was bad. Yesterday we had the rain set in, rained all day, woke up to pouring rain again this morning-

soaked maple tree with Poesy the neighbor kitty

Sun is out a bit this afternoon. More in the forecast, then the temperature will drop and go into a rain/snow mix. Hard to tell if it will actually snow here in the valley, but it's really great news to get a lot more snow up in the mountains. We always need that for a water table and snow pack!!!

Grungy Valentine's Day

I was looking on Etsy a few weeks ago to try to find something interesting for Valentine's Day that was affordable. I found this little set of handmade fabric primitive items at Etsy.com.  I really love them! They also inspired me to make something of my own along these lines, but larger. Since I have a larger white enameled basin on my coffee table I needed some bigger ones. The basin above is smaller than mine. I have some red and white checked cotton fabric and some cream colored burlap. This week I'm going to cut out some larger hearts, stuff them and put them in the basin with the ones I bought. Photos coming! For $5 at Joann's Fabric I bought a bag of crafter's poly fill which should do the trick-

So basically this will be free craft items out of my recycled fabrics. At Joann's I also found some fun herb stakes! When I tell Dave to go out on the deck and bring me in a hand of thyme he always has to ask me which is which? These should solve that problem, about 6" across. I am going to polyurethane these to make them more weather resistant, $3 each-

And my back-ordered mini-wind vane finally arrived! It was back east stuck in the blizzards-

Love it!

Citrus Angel Cake-
I finally had enough eggs to make this, and a new thrifted pan! The link I had is dead so here's the recipe-

Makes: 12 servings, Prep: 30 minutes, Bake: 40 minutes

Ingredients:     
Nancy Note- I added 1/2 teaspoon pure orange extract, since I like a more intense flavor. And I only sifted the flour and sugar once, since it's pre-sifted. Came out great!

1 1/2  cups egg whites (10 to 12)
1 1/2  cups sifted powdered sugar
1  cup sifted cake flour or sifted all-purpose flour
1  teaspoon cream of tartar
3  tablespoons frozen juice concentrate (limeade, lemonade, or orange juice), thawed
3/4  cup granulated sugar

Directions- In a covered large bowl, let egg whites stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Sift the powdered sugar and flour together three times; set aside. Preheat oven to 350°F.
Add cream of tartar to egg whites in bowl; beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form (tips curl). Add juice concentrate. Gradually add granulated sugar, about 2 tablespoons at a time, beating until stiff peaks form (tips stand straight).

Sift about one-fourth of the flour mixture over beaten egg white mixture; fold in gently. (If the bowl is too full, transfer mixture to a larger bowl.) Repeat, folding in the remaining flour mixture by fourths. Pour batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan; spread evenly. Bake on the lowest oven rack for 40 to 45 minutes or until the top springs back when lightly touched. Immediately invert cake (leave in pan); cool thoroughly. (If the cake has risen higher than the pan, invert it over a jar or bottle so the top of the cake does not touch the counter top.) To serve, loosen side and center from pan with a narrow spatula; remove cake. Using a serrated knife, cut into wedges. You could add a glaze if you like!