Responses to Comments

Just a couple of brief things today...

Kate asked what Yorkshire pudding is. Well, Kate, it's not pudding. I mean, it doesn't have the texture of pudding; it's not a milk based squishy substance. Do you know what popovers are? Basically, it's a type of quick bread that is usually served with roast beef (they remind me a tiny bit of dense cream puff shells). The recipe I used (click here or go to my recipe page; the link is there as well) uses six eggs, milk, flour, salt and bacon drippings. Usually, and for best tasting yorkshires, you would use the beef drippings, but today's roasts don't render much in the way of drippings. The oil is heated in muffin cups until almost smoking, then the batter is poured in and it goes back into the oven. The batter puffs up quite a bit as it bakes and the resulting "puddings" are wonderful as an accompaniment to the beef and, especially, the gravy.

Leslie asked me about lip balm. For those of you who've been reading my blog for the last year (yes, I've been blogging for almost 13 months now), you may remember I had another blog about one of my other passions: creams, lotions and natural body care. I no longer blog about it and haven't been making much of my product lately, but I'm slowly getting back into it.

The lip balm in question is made with a blend of healthy oils and beeswax. In this case, I use beeswax, jojoba oil, St. John's Wort oil, mango butter, cocoa butter, emu oil (very good for the skin!) and a couple of drops of peppermint essential oil. It's a very healthy alternative to the store bought lip balms, most of which use a mineral oil base. As my daughters are "addicted" to the stuff, I'd rather they use something I know is good for their skin and don't mind keeping them supplied.

In addition to the lip balm, I also make all of my own face and body creams and lotions and even make some shower gel for myself. It's been a long time since I've spent money of store bought lotions of any kind. There's even one product I make that is a facial soap substitue, made with a variety of ground flowers (rose, lavender, chamomile), ground oatmeal and white clay. It can be used as a cleanser or as a facial masque. It's fun stuff! And at least I know exactly what goes on my skin.

Soap Fibre Gal and Stricken Madchen, thank you so much for your input into the kids' socks. Both of you were very helpful. The second pair of socks in almost finished and I'll be typing up the pattern either later this morning or tomorrow (I'm working this afternoon). If you'd like to test knit it for me, or even read through it to make sure it all makes sense, I'd be most appreciative!

Now, off to finish the toe of the second larger sized kids sock. I'll post a picture later.