My father worked all his life in a automobile factory, as a tool maker. After he retired, he started working with wood in our backyard in Brazil.
He would make beautiful furniture, well finished and very detailed. But nobody wanted to pay for something made by hand, at least at that time, and preferred to buy something made in a factory.
Since he was very good at playing pool(or billiards), he started making pool sticks (I think they are called
cues).
He made everything by hand, using only a few tools, like his drill and made other tools with wood or metal to help him finish these pieces.
What was impressive was that he eyeballed them to be perfectly straight, hand carved the wood and cut different pieces to be fitted with precision in surfaces that were not straight. Then I remember he sanded his pieces attaching the to his old drill.
He also made the bags to store them, cut and sewed them.
They were made with care and perfection, and like other handmade pieces nobody would pay for them. People often said:"If you make them at home, you should give them for free.".
But he continued to make them, until his hands could not work anymore, and because he had to care for my mother, who had alzheimer's disease and passed almost 10 years ago.
These pictures were taken a few days after he passed, about 5 years ago. My sister and I had to donate most of his belongings, and most of these pieces were not allowed to leave Brazil, because the wood was indigenous to the country.
We gathered all our cousins and uncles (we have a lot), and each one kept one piece, including us.
Today I am lucky enough to have these pictures, to have in my memory his technique, the way he executed his craft, and hopefully to inherit and pass along the eye for detail, patient hands, and the love for art.
Thank you Simone Izumi for the pictures.
It is always nice to bring something if you are invited to a friend's house. And today I happened to have the ingredients for a dessert from a book we just got called The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook.
The kids get excited to try the recipes, because they use passages from the book and they give recipes from the food they mention.
This recipe is called 1-2-3 Chocolate Peanut Butter Bonbons for Kids.
You just mix 1 1/2 cup of confectioners'sugar, 1 1/2 cup of peanut butter, 1 tsp of vanilla extract and 1 cup of Rice crisp cereal.
Use a electric mixer for the first three ingredients until it becomes a dough, then combine the rice crisp. After that we made little balls.
Last melt 10 oz of chocolate to dip the balls. I was surprised that the kids did all this process, without major messes or upsets.
After about 10 minutes in the refrigerator, it was ready.
To make a better presentation, I had only a few baking cups that looked like flowers. I figured I also could used some squares of tissue paper to fold like these cups. The squares can be placed on top of a small round surface. I happened to have a Yakult bottle..
If you fold the sides carefully, it will shape like a flower.
And the bonbon will look nice inside.
I had a pretty cookie tin I was saving, I knew I would need one day.
They taste great and now they look very nice.
I can't wait to try other recipes from this book.
