Today's accomplishments

Today I finally finished Sarah's room darkening roman shade for her room. If you look at the closed pic, I took that one at 7:30 pm (the open one at 5:30 pm). Because DH thought that it would be easier to hide the seam where I joined the fabric if I quilted the shade, well, it was a pain. Unfortunately, I learned a trick and discovered that I really needed a walking foot to quilt neatly as I was finishing the shade.

In the summer, sunset is closer to 11:00 pm and sunrise at near 6:00 am, so room darkening is necessity. Insulating is also nice for winter.

Now I need to make one for Sydney (but I will not quilt it the way I did Sarah's).

Ialso made Pine Nut biscotti. It was from Cooking Light, and yummy. I'm having fun playing with the convection oven. Last night it was pizza.

Here is the recipe:

Pine Nut Biscotti

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour (about 13 1/2 ounces)

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 large eggs

Preparation
Preheat oven to 325°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Stir in pine nuts. Combine 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water, rind, vanilla, and eggs, stirring with a whisk. Add egg mixture to flour mixture, stirring until well blended (dough will be dry and crumbly). Knead dough lightly in bowl 7 or 8 times or until a dough forms (dough will be sticky). Divide dough in half. Shape each portion into an 8-inch-long roll. Place rolls 6 inches apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper; flatten each roll to 1-inch thickness.

Bake at 325° for 30 minutes. Remove rolls from baking sheet (do not turn oven off); cool 10 minutes on a wire rack.

Cut each roll diagonally into 15 (1/2-inch-thick) slices using a serrated knife. Place slices, cut sides down, on baking sheet. Bake at 325° for 15 minutes. Turn cookies over, and bake an additional 10 minutes (cookies will be slightly soft in center but will harden as they cool). Remove from baking sheet; cool completely on wire racks.

Yield 2 1/2 dozen (serving size: 1 biscotto)

Nutritional Information
CALORIES 94(21% from fat); FAT 2.2g (sat 0.3g,mono 0.6g,poly 0.9g); PROTEIN 2.2g; CHOLESTEROL 21mg; CALCIUM 14mg; SODIUM 84mg; FIBER 0.4g; IRON 0.8mg; CARBOHYDRATE 16.6g

Julianna Grimes and Ann Taylor Pittman , Cooking Light, DECEMBER 2007