Play Date! Girls' Day In.

I enjoyed a rare "play date" today with my good friend Stephanie and our guest artist Wendy; rare because it included more than one friend; I'm a little misanthropic.  Play date because that's what we did. Here's a little secret: I've always been jealous of friends who had "girls' nights out", or "girls' vacations" (probably because I was never considered one of the "girls".  This is MY kind of girls' play. HA.

First, we played with oils and lye...

Then we played with heat and chemical reactions...

Then we poured it in molds...

And just like that, we had goat's milk soap!  Saponifyingly refreshing (sic).

But that's not all.

We ate, of course (it's tradition); one of the offerings was pork barbecue.  The sauce was a suggestion Stephanie made.  A week or two ago I kind-of burnt the applesauce I was making.  It was a victim of having a guest braider (Peter) helping me with my hair when I was still in a splint; I left the pot for a bit too long and was held captive by my hair.  I canned the sauce anyway, and confessed to Stephanie a week or so later (we're canning buddies).  Her brilliant suggestion?  Barbecue sauce. Genius.

It was awesome. Here's the recipe I used.  I tweaked it a little by adding a splash of vinegar; next time I'll also add some heat.

Note to friends: recycle your burnt applesauce into barbecue sauce.  It rocks.  Then can the barbecue sauce.  Follow a reputable guide for canning times.

And then we solved a jewelry problem (well, Wendy did):

Two gifted artists hard at play. 

A good time was had by all

"girls."

(I know it's not a PC term, but it's part of my personal history. So there it is.)

*To see Wendy's most excellent mural work, click here.