sweat, or tears, or the salt sea

"'Do you know a cure for me?' 'Why yes,' he said, 'I know a cure for everything. Salt water.' 'Salt water?' I asked him. 'Yes,' he said, 'in one way or the other. Sweat, or tears, or the salt sea.'"

—from The Deluge at Norderney

by Karen Blixen, writing as Isak Dinesen

This photograph has hung in our bathroom(s) for fourteen years now; I like it (alot), but I was ready to change things up a little bit.

I found an oil-painted seascape on canvas at the Village and traced chalk letters onto it.

White acrylic paint to fill in the tracings.

Ready to display.

Other examples of quotations painted on thrifted canvases:

1. A Beautiful Mess
2. Style By Emily Henderson
3. Southern Belle Soul
4. Young House Love
5. Six2Eleven

By the way, didn't Karen Blixen have a crazy-interesting life? 

Any artwork change-ups going on in your spaces lately? Do tell!

Thanks for reading.

Linking up to:
The Cottage Market

p.s. you can make these images larger by clicking on them, but you probably already knew that, clever you!

thanksgiving pretzels

My kiddo has a deep, abiding love for our red KitchenAid mixer. I hadn't planned to do much baking for Thanksgiving, but he made a special request to bake today, so we got the mixer down and pulled out the old BHG New Cook Book intending to make rolls . . . and somehow ended up deciding on pretzels instead.

And since kiddo wants everything to be green lately, he asked for food coloring to be added while we were kneading the dough.

Recipe similar to the one in the cook book can be found on the Better Homes & Gardens website.

Combine 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour and a package of active dry yeast in mixer bowl.

In saucepan, heat 1 1/2 cups of 1% milk, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and 1 teaspoon salt and whisk until warm (between 120 and 130 degrees F).

Add warm milk mixture to flour + yeast in mixer bowl; beat on medium speed for 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes.

Add up to 3 cups of all-purpose flour. (I used my white paddle attachment rather than the whisk attachment to my mixer for this step.)

Turn onto floured surface, add food coloring, and knead for 6—8 minutes. Roll into a ball then place in a greased bowl. Make sure top of ball is greased too, then cover with a towel and let rise for 75—90 minutes (till double in size).

Preheat oven to 475 degrees F. Punch dough down, then leave on a floured surface and let rest for 10 minutes.

Start a pot to boiling 3 quarts of water + 2 tablespoons of salt.

Roll dough into a 12x20 inch rectangle, then use a pizza cutter to cut 20 half-inch strips.

Twist into pretzel shapes, then bake on greased baking sheets for 4 minutes. Reduce oven temp to 350 degrees F.

Boil partially-baked pretzels in water for 2 minutes, flipping once, then drain on a towel. After putting back on baking sheet, brush with beaten egg white and sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes, until golden brown.

Taa-dum! These are best hot from the oven.

Here's hoping your Thanksgiving was a happy one, American readers! Happy Thursday, everyone else!

Thanks for reading.