Friday Sundries

In anticipation of the monthly old time jam, I've been infrequently brushing up on playing the autoharp, and attempting to learn some new songs. Prior to moving to Eugene, I had only Mother Maybelle and Karen Mueller to look up to as autoharp heroines, but over the past year I've been introduced to Mike Seeger, Kilby Snow, Ernest Stoneman, Neriah Benfield, among others through Ryan, the library, and the glorious fruits of the interwebs. While watching the BBC's documentary Folk America, I was surprised to learn that Janis Joplin played the 'harp--how 'bout that?


This week's lesson plan consisted of Freight Train and Cindy. Alas, progress has been slow, but not disagreeable; I love strumming the beautiful and bright 'harp that Ryan thrifted in Bakersfield (for an enviable $40)--it's a pleasant change from my own dusty instrument.

If any Eugene readers with a penchant for antiquated music happen to come across this blog, the old time jam is held at Cozmic Pizza at 7 this eve. Hopefully someone will incite a square dance...

***

Synthetic materials are much too diaphanous to withstand the bitter and damp Willamette winter, and thus I was pleased to find wool skirts and a heavy wool coat at the local second hand shops these past few weeks. This state has hideously long, blighted winters, compared to California, at least, and I essentially live in my coats during the cold weather, emerging to expose my bare skin for the absolute minimum amount of time possible. Ryan had no idea what I looked like underneath my black pea coat until April rolled around. I would highly recommend investing in a $3 wool skirt and a pair of opaque tights as an alternative to jeans this winter. One would be amazed at how warm these items are.

***

Yesterday I held a bag of flour in my hands, sighed, and put it back on the shelf. It still doesn't feel like full-on baking weather yet, although I am chomping at the bit! Here is a little retrospective on one of my last cookie batches: some delightfully puffy ginger snaps I made for my dad's birthday:


Ginger Snaps

2 cups sifted flour

1 tbs ground ginger

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup butter

1 cup white sugar

1 egg white

1/4 cup molasses

1/3 cup cinnamon sugar

Sift flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt into a mixing bowl. Stir the mixture to blend evenly, and sift again into another bowl.

Beat butter until creamy. Gradually beat in sugar, then the egg white and molasses. Gradually sift in the flour mixture, in thirds, and mix together until a soft dough forms. Pinch off small amounts of dough and roll into one inch diameter balls. Roll each ball into cinnamon sugar and place 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven until the tops are rounded and slightly cracked, about 10 minutes.

*I can't recall for the life of me where I found this recipe--let me know if you find the author!

**Also, when I made these for my dad, I cut the sugar in half, substituted the butter with margarine and used less than called for, and added two tablespoons of flax meal to the dry mixture, to very tasty results!