Blue Eyed Soul: Happy Birthday, Dominic

Yesterday, I was Suzy Homemaker. It's an alias I use from time to time. I was either in the kitchen or at a sewing machine from around 1pm until 7:30pm...in a dress and a pink apron :) It's Dominic's 33rd birthday today so I wanted to make a few special things for my special guy.

I made my FIRST pie from scratch! He requested apple. I had bought all the ingredients a few days prior so that I was ready to go as soon as I got home from work (early). The process isn't all that complicated but there's a lot of waiting around for the dough to chill (1 hour) and then for the pie crust to freeze (2 hours) and then for the pie to bake (1 hour) and then to cool (1 hour). That doesn't even include the time it takes to peel and core 7 apples and then cook them with the rest of the ingredients in a pot. I had no idea what a process this would be, but it was SO WORTH IT. When he came over that evening for dessert, I lit some candles in the pie for him to blow out and my mom and brother sang "Happy Birthday" while I laughed. When cutting into it I found that the juices didn't thicken as much as I would have liked, to hold everything together a little better. Next time, I'm going to add a little more cornstarch which should solve that problem. But....the TASTE was amazing. It's definitely the best apple pie I've ever had and everyone else was impressed, too. Of course, we didn't forget a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. I'm keeping half of the pie for my family and the other half went home with Dom for him and his dad.

Now, while I was waiting for the pie to chill, freeze, bake and cool...I sewed Dominic a quilt! Oh wait, a "man quilt" :) He's a fan of anything John Deere...his mom just recently mailed him a John Deere hat and sweatshirt. Well, I found a decent selection of John Deere prints at Jo'Anne's and chose one along with solid yellow and green to match. I started cutting the squares on Tuesday during my lunch break and had everything cut out and ready for me to sew yesterday. I finished sewing the front and the back and even stuffed it, but I haven't closed it off yet or added these little ties that hold it all together. I ran out of time! But I at least wanted it stuffed so I could show it to him after we had pie last night. I'm actually going to put one more layer of stuffing to make it warmer. When he saw it, he loved it! It was a good feeling. I know it will bring a smile to his face when he walks into his room each day and sees it (well, that will last a couple of weeks at least. ha)