Estate Sales and Homemade Pretzels

It's Monday again. The weekends always go too fast.

Saturday we had fun going to a few estate sales. It's my new favorite thing to do. The best sales are the ones where you can walk through the house and look through literally everything. I enjoy the older homes where you can sort through 50+ years of odds and ends. I'm hoping to stumble

upon some great vintage fabric one of these days.

It's a strange feeling knowing you are looking through someone's life. Everything they used. Everything they collected. Everything they wore. Some things are still in packages, waiting to be used...I feel a sense of respect and am also reminded what we really take with us when we die.

I found this oval mirror. The frame is plastic so it won't be too heavy to hang on our wall and was a perfect find at half price, for just $2.50.

I plan on doing a little mirror makeover like I did with this one we found at a thrift store when we first moved here.

And after a hard day of estate sale-ing, I thought it was time to bake up a batch of soft homemade pretzels...

They were so easy with just 5 ingredients (1 being water). They did require a little elbow grease, since I kneaded and rolled them by hand, but they were a tasty treat for a Saturday night. I got the recipe at Sisters Cafe, a site highly recommended by Natalie.

Here is the recipe (copied from their website)

Soft Pretzels

1 1/2 cup warm water

1 pkg yeast (or 1 Tb)

1 Tb sugar

1 tsp salt

4 cups flour

Add sugar to warm water then sprinkle yeast on top. Let float for a minute then stir to dissolve the yeast. Let sit for 10 minutes as yeast activates and starts to foam. Add salt and flour and knead 5-10 minutes; adding more flour as needed to reduce stickiness. Divide dough in to 12 pieces and roll each piece into a long rope or “snake”. Twist into pretzel shape and place on nonstick baking sheet. Make an egg wash with one egg and a Tb of water, lightly beaten together. Brush pretzels with egg wash then sprinkle liberally with Kosher salt. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

*Soft pretzels just aren’t the same the next day. They are still good but not as soft and fresh tasting. I’ll tell you a secret though… brush them with melted butter, sprinkle on Parmesan cheese, and toss them under the broiler for a minute and you have a delicious cheesy pretzel snack! Yum!!

*Sunday we had 2nds and tried their recommendation to put them under the broiler. With a little cinnamon and sugar they were mmm mmm good.