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The Big White Farmhouse

intentional living, little by little

October 12, 2021

No.575: TBR Tuesday // The Booktube Spin, Round Four

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I’m late to the party (as usual) but wanted to participate in the fourth round of The Booktube Spin! With this challenge, you pick 20 books from your TBR and list them by number.  This time, I copied Krista at Book and Jams and chose 10 of the highest rated books on my Goodreads TBR shelf and 10 of the lowest.  My one caveat was that I had to have the book already on my shelf.  Here’s my list:

1. The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise by Cardinal Robert Sarah (4.44 rating)
2. The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom (4.41)
3. The Brothers K by David James Duncan (4.38)
4. This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger (4.38)
5. Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing (4.36)
6. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (4.32)
7. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis (4.32)
8. The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay (4.32)
9. Dear and Glorious Physician by Taylor Caldwell (4.32)
10. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (4.31)
11. The Red Leather Diary by Lily Coppel (3.41)
12. The Wilder Life by Wendy McClure (3.48)
13. Ursula Under by Ingrid Hill (3.71)
14. Hidden America: From Coal Miners to Cowboys, an Extraordinary Exploration of the Unseen People Who Make This Country Work by Jeanne Marie Laskas (3.82)
15. The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier (3.82)
16. Still Life by Louise Penny (3.89)
17. Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson (3.89)
18. What Every Body is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Speed-Reading People by Joe Navarro (3.89)
19. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (3.92)
20. The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey (3.93)

The creator of the challenge spun a wheel and the arrow landed on…number 8!  For more adventurous readers, he spun a second number and it landed on number 5.  The challenge is to read one or both books by December 31.  I’m excited!

October 11, 2021

No.574: Homemaking Notes on a Monday // Vol.15

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The weather outside is //

As I look outside my window // I can see our newest additions to the homestead: four sweet little Berkshire/Tamworth pigs!  They are so darn cute and are slowly warming up to us.  We’ll be keeping two to breed and bringing two to processing late next spring.

As I look around the house // I’m feeling a little overwhelmed – everything seems to be breaking or suddenly falling apart!  Financially, it’s not a great time (is it ever??) but that’s home ownership, I guess.  Hopefully I’ll be able to DIY/Youtube video my way into fixing most of the problems.

On this week’s to-do list //

– call Miss Utility
– bake pretzel rolls
– give the little boys’ haircuts
– find a good shower glass soap scum remover DIY recipe
– wrap birthday presents
– try to figure out what’s going on with the vacuum cleaner
– figure out the dishwasher issue

Currently reading // 

  • Fiction: Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry
  • Nonfiction: Get Your Life Back: Everyday Practices for a World Gone Mad by John Eldredge
  • Religious: Reclaiming our Roman Catholic Birthright by Peter Kwasniewski

On the menu this week //
Monday: homemade nacho burgers and chips
Tuesday:
Sicilian chicken soup
Wednesday: Refrigerator Cleanout Night
Thursday: chicken leg quarters and a side vegetable (TBD)
Friday:
bean and cheese burritos

October 7, 2021

No.573: A Year of Vintage Recipes // Sugar-Top Coffee Cake

When I was a kid, my mom used to bring home from the grocery store one of our favorite treats: Entenmann’s coffee cake!  This recipe from the Farm Journal’s Country Cookbook is my homemade tribute to that happy memory.

Print Recipe

Sugar-Top Coffee Cake

taken from Farm Journal's Country Cookbook
Servings: 6

Ingredients

  • 1 egg
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 1 tbsp melted butter
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1½ cup sifted flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • ¼ tsp baking soda
  • ¾ tsp salt
  • Brown Sugar Topping

Instructions

  • Beat the egg until frothy, then beat in sugar and butter. Cream until light and fluffy. Add sour cream and vanilla; blend well.
  • Sift dry ingredients together; add to the sour cream mixture. Blend well.
  • Pour into a greased 8" square pan. Sprinkle with Brown Sugar Topping.
  • Bake at 375° for 25-30 minutes or until cake tests done. Serve warm.

Notes

BROWN SUGAR TOPPING: Mix ½ cup firmly packed brown sugar, 2 tbsp. flour, ½ tsp. cinnamon and 2 tbsp. softened butter until crumbly.

Previous Posts from the Year of Vintage Recipes
  • a “breakfast for dinner” option: Cheese/Bacon Pie
  • a Good Friday tradition: Hot Cross Buns
  • a hearty bread that is great for sandwiches: Old Fashioned Oatmeal Bread
  • a sweet treat, perfect for hot summer days: Crispy Sundae Crunch

October 5, 2021

No.572: TBR Tuesday // Nine Books From the 1920s I Need to Read

This post contains affiliate links.

It’s happening at a snail’s pace, but I’m still working away on my 20th Century in Literature Challenge!  I have barely touched the books written in the 1920s, so I did some research on possible choices.  Here’s what I found:

This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1920) // This is Fitzgerald’s first novel and is apparently semi-autobiographical.  I wasn’t a huge fan of The Great Gatsby (super unpopular opinion, I know!!) so I’m curious what I’ll think of this one.

The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer (1921) // How about a little romance?  This is Heyer’s first novel, written when she was a teenager, and is set in 18th century England.  Some readers describe it as very fun and very melodramatic – I’m intrigued!

One of Ours by Willa Cather (1922) // This one won a Pulitzer in 1923 and is both a farming/pioneer story and a World War I story.

Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery (1923) // I love Anne of Green Gables with a special love, but I’ve never read any of Montgomery’s other works!  I can’t wait to meet Emily.

So Big by Edna Ferber (1924) // Another Pulitzer Prize winner!

The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham (1925) // I’m a little nervous about this one.  After a husband discovers his wife’s adulterous affair, he forces her to accompany him to the heart of a cholera epidemic.  Will there be forgiveness or redemption?  We’ll see.

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather (1927) // One more Cather novel on the list!  This one gets really high praise.

The Children by Edith Wharton (1928) // This one is a comical, bittersweet novel “about the misadventures of a bachelor and a band of precocious children.”

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner (1929) // Another book I’m nervous to pick up! Some readers say that it’s incredibly depressing and that it deals with a lot of heavy topics.  Others love it all and call it a masterpiece.

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