Cooking is hard without proper tools!

I would love to learn to make pie. ALL kinds of pie. I would also like these pies to be enjoyed by others. I tried a lemon meringue pie the other day it was a disaster. There was tons of liquid at the bottom, the crust was not cooked because of said liquid, and the meringue did not stick to the lemon filling. I don't really understand went wrong other then the fact that I used a cake pan. Oops, maybe, just maybe it all boils down to the cake pan? I want to say that's what it was but I can't even make cake in a cake pan so I think there is more too it then that! hehe. I hope to try again once I get a proper pie plate. So far I know to look for a pie plate that is a little deep thanks to one of the other volunteers at the thrift store. I am going to be on the look out. I think that if the crust was able to turn out it would have tasted good though! The first pie crust I made before this was pretty salty and this time it wasn't soo.... Minor success.

On another brighter side I scored these measuring cups at the thrift store for $1.99

The thrift store I am referring to is the Hospicecare Thrift store on the east side of madison.
I spend a few hours a week there as a volunteer and it gives me an opportunity to look around and see what little gems are available. I was happy to find these! Now if only someone would donate a nice deep pie plate!

I've always wanted to live somewhere I would be able to have a tiny garden. So far we have lived in apartment buildings in cities with no actual green space. The closest we came to having a yard was a private cement 8X10 lot behind our apartment in Philadelphia. Since moving to Madison though, we finally have our own tiny street facing yard! yay! The only problem now is the bunnies. I'm pretty sure those little cuties will eat anything I decide to plant out under the window. So this was my plan. A garden in a large plastic tote with some little fencing around the edge. Luckily this past Saturday I came across the perfect 40 Gallon tote at the thrift store for a steal at $4.99!


I'm having all kinds of wonderful ideas floating around this tote, like starting some herbs in the basement through the winter with proper lights and just starting plants in general so they get a head start before I can re-plant them outside in the spring! Oh the possibilities!