Still Waiting For Spring

Our groundhog, General Beauregard Lee, predicted an early spring. But that Yankee groundhog was right. It's winter here. Lilah and I have started some plants indoors, and this weekend, we were going to plan our raised beds for our tiny yard, which is covered in snow. We have planted carrots, thyme, basil, fennel (for our Swallowtail caterpillars), parsley, and some flowers Lilah picked out. The herbs and fennel will go in one of our front landscaping beds. The carrots will go in a raised bed out front. I think we're going to do at least one other raised bed, in the back, and plant some sunflowers in the landscaping beds as well. We have a sort of strange looking rose bush that sprawls on the ground. I'd like to move it, but that seems like a production. Once the raised beds are set up, we'll plant broccoli rabe, the carrot seedlings, zucchini, and who knows what else. Lilah is particularly excited about the carrots, and the fennel for the caterpillars. We used a biodegradable egg carton, along with some peat pots we picked up when we bought seeds. Lilah was thrilled to do the entire project. She scooped in the soil, made a space for the seeds, dropped in the seeds, and "tucked them in to be so cozy", then watered. She checks on her seeds every morning after she gets up. The flowers, thyme, and fennel have all germinated, and the carrots are just barely starting. We also did an avocado pit in a jar of water. That's taking forever, of course, but she hasn't lost interest.




Knitting: I sucked it up and ripped back on Hjalte's back (after finishing the front...yay!!!!). Just one more pattern repeat to the neckline. I'm nearly finished with Tomato. Just the sleeve edging and neck edging to do. I love the top-down, in-the-round construction with no seaming! So nice and easy. This has been my purse knitting, and it's been a blast. I love Calmer, and I love the pattern. I expect to have modeled shots of this by the time it's warm enough for modeled shots of the Two-Fisted Tank. Meanwhile, here is some of my knitting out in the snow. My Tesla Scarf:

On my hands are fingerless mitts crocheted by my talented SIL.

And Lilah's hat, mittens and scarf:

She loves wearing them! Most kids avoid bundling up, but Lilah really likes her special things I knit her. That's so awesome.
Lilah's preschool is a co-op, so parents volunteer in the classroom a couple times a month, bringing a healthy snack with them. My dad gave us a cute muffin/cakelette pan with bug shapes, so I decided to use those. Lilah loved helping to make bug muffins! I took an already healthified version of an apple bread recipe and tweaked it. These were the most moist, flavorful healthy muffins I've made. Even Matt liked them. My apple butter was my homemade version simmered with lots of spices. You could substitute drained applesauce, but you'll want to add spices to the batter or it will be bland. Lilah's school is nut-free, so I chose to add granola for a bit of crunch in place of the walnuts I'd normally use.

Reading: Not much of note lately, but I did just receive a review copy of Alan Bradley's second Flavia deLuce mystery, The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag. The first, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, is well worth picking up if you enjoy mystery and/or precocious heroines.

Writing: Nothing really in the way of page number progress, just more noodling. But that's better than nothing.

Cooking:


Apple Granola Muffins

1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup apple butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
4 cups peeled, chopped apple (Granny Smith makes for a nice, tart muffin)
1 cup granola (I used Back to Nature apple blueberry)

In the bowl of an electric mixer, add oil, apple butter, and sugars. Beat until combined. Add eggs one at a time, then vanilla. Whisk together flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add slowly to liquid ingredients. Stir in apple and granola. Pour into muffin tins and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes (shorter for smaller muffins) or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Makes 16 large muffins. Get your own bug muffin tin here.

And now it's autumn!

Let the sweater panic begin! Will Hjalte be ready for cold weather? Will I fix my Simple Knitted Bodice in time? Do I have a prayer of casting on for Twist and Shout, much less finishing?

I *did* go shopping for layering shirts, and found a camisole to go under Simple Knitted Bodice and a couple of thin, long-sleeved t-shirts to go under short-sleeved things. Amy, I have to say, I am SO glad I'm not the only one who waits for the trends established by the fourteen-year-olds to be widespread before jumping on board. I'm going with grey underneath the Somewhat Cowl. And I really think the white tank is fine under Marie Louise. BUT. I did some blocking of sweaters, and I blocked the HELL out of Simple Knitted Bodice (I counted it as 20 minutes of cardio, seriously), but it is still too short and too snug across the bust. Here's what I'm thinking, though. Instead of ripping out and starting over (which I considered, actually), I'm thinking I could salvage the sleeves up to the armpits and put them on a holder AND maybe even save the below-the-bust part of the body. To make this wearable for me, I need more length below the waist detail AND more length above the waist detail. So I'm almost thinking I can remove the sleeves and set them aside, then rip out to just above the waist detail and set the bottom part aside. Then re-knit the top part and put the sleeves and body back on, rip out the very bottom edge and knit it longer. Does that sound insane? I really, really like this yarn and this sweater; otherwise, I would never consider re-knitting any part of it. It'd just go in the closet with the other sweaters I don't like. I'm not sure if it would be better to just start over...it's not like it's a tough knit, and it went pretty quickly the first time. It's just that I have Hjalte and Twist and Shout and I'm not sure I want to add an entire sweater plus ripping-out time to the mix. If I do the rip-out-in-pieces strategy, I will do photodocumentation!

I keep going on the Malabrigo scarf, which I love. Perfect purse knitting. And Hjalte is ALMOST to the armholes. Did I say that last time? This sweater may be the death of me...

Reading; I have to stop re-reading HP and get to some other stuff. I have Pride and Prejudice and Zombies for book club, two books coming out this winter to review, and a backlog of review copies. Plus the new 39 Clues and the latest Bobbie Faye :) I am on Book 4 right now, and every time I read it, I can tell more that Rowling was tired and on a tight deadline. The main plot twist drives me NUTS and it's so long and rambling and the subplots are out of control. It's still a Harry Potter book, so it's fun, but it's my least favorite of the series.

Writing: Not much at all, really. Matt was out of town, and being the only parent is tiring.

Cooking: Ah, Amy, Romesco Sauce! Yum. This is a Spanish sauce based on stale bread, almonds, and roasted red peppers traditionally served in the Catalonian region in the spring with charred baby leeks (yeah, I know weird stuff). It is delicious. I really ate some with a spoon one day. It was nice with polenta wedges. Camping food was pretty funny - most people think S'mores and hot dogs on sticks, but we're a gourmet book club, so even camping we had fancy stuff. The group in charge of making dinner made carrot soup (yummmmmm...) and to-order grilled cheese (choice of three breads; choice of three cheeses). My book club pretty much rocks.

Romesco Sauce (Allison's probably-not-traditional interpretation)

6 Roma tomatoes, peeled and seeded*
4 red bell peppers, roasted**
4 cloves garlic, peeled
3/4 cup blanched almonds
4 oz. white, French, or sourdough bread (I used my leftover sourdough), sliced and toasted
1/4 tsp smoked Paprika
1/8 tsp (or more) crushed red pepper
1 tsp salt
2 TBL sherry vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil (or more)

Place garlic, almonds, and bread in the bowl of a food processor and process until finely chopped. Add peppers, tomatoes, and spices. With motor running, drizzle in oil and vinegar. Taste and adjust seasonings.

* To easily peel tomatoes, make an X at the bottom of each, then drop into boiling water for 30 seconds. Plunge into ice water. Skins will slip right off.

**You can do this under the broiler or over a grill or gas range. Place peppers under broiler or over flame until blackened, turn 1/4 turn and repeat until skin is completely charred. Let sit at least 15 minutes. Very, very carefully (pepper has steam inside), peel off skin and remove stem, seeds, and membranes.

Mostly Cooking, a Little Knitting

I will try not to post pictures of Clapotis constantly, as it advances inch by inch, but I'd made enough progress to post another picture.


It's fun! Everyone who said this pattern was fun is absolutely right. It advances row by row in a quick, pleasant fashion, a perfect balance between interesting and simple. I'm on the straight section now, on the second ball of yarn. I expect to use six in total based on Ravelry comments. This leaves me plenty of brain power to muse on my next project. I rarely get to the new issue of Knitty until the next issue is imminent (another change from pre-Lilah knitting when I would check daily for the new issue), but I'm glad I got there, because I *have* to make the Shipwreck Shawl. I had a few decisions to make, and I'm getting there. The designer calls for knitting the entire shawl (beaded, no less, with 5000 beads) in Knitpicks Gloss Bare, then dyeing it. I am SO not crazy enough to do that and risk ruining a completed shawl, even if I did a few dyeing projects to be less of a novice first. So I'm left with pre-dyed yarn, and I had to decide on a color. I think I would use a grey shawl a lot more than a blue one. Then, I thought, do I put expensive yarn on my Christmas list or go with Knitpicks Gloss so I can make it now? It's a rustic-looking shawl, I think, and would be fine in Knitpicks, plus the beads add a lot, so I don't think expensive yarn is needed. So I'm thinking grey Knitpicks Gloss, with maybe a blue mix of beads. Also, I'm a bead newbie, so I'll have to figure out how many (since they seem to be sold by ounces, not by number of beads) and if blue mix will look okay with the grey. Good story, huh? Aren't you glad you read the whole thing? Anyway, any input is always welcome while I work this out in my brain.

Reading: I finally read The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian, who wrote Midwives quite a while ago. I think I liked Midwives okay, because I don't really remember it that well, so it's unlikely I either loved it or hated it. I had to really force myself to slog through the first 100 pages, which were disjointed and full of endless exposition (because why not introduce an irrelevant character with a scene of action or dialogue, when you can just summarize their life in paragraph after paragraph?). There was a "surprise" ending that I saw coming (though I didn't get all the parts of the surprise) and felt cheated quite a bit with internal inconsistencies (all conveniently explained by the twist, argh). And a ridiculously brutal depiction of violence that seemed way out of place. A disappointing read. But I did read the forthcoming fourth book in the Sam Acquillo mystery series, Hard Stop, and I really just love this series. And now I'm reading The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe, a novel about a graduate student who cleans out her dead grandmother's house and finds clues about Deliverance Dane, a woman who may have been a witch during the Salem Witch Trials. It is a fun, fun read so far! It sounded similar to Interred With Their Bones (which was Shakespeare instead of Salem Witch Trials), which I did NOT like, but this one is an absolute blast. I think it'll be a great summer read.

Writing: Nope.

Cooking: Oh, I have some fun stuff here. For my birthday, my mother-in-law gave me Wine Bar Food, a cookbook by Cathy and Tony Mantuano (he's the chef at Spiaggia in Chicago) that does little dishes from all over the Mediterranean and pairs them with wines. She also gave me a pound of Caciocavallo, a cheese called for in a baked appetizer in the book. So we had friends over and I made:

Crispy Parmesan Flatbread (Milan)
Red Grape Focaccia (Florence)
Baked Caciocavallo (Forence)
Nonna's Broccoli Rabe (Naples)
Moroccan Vegetables (Seville)
Chickpea Puree With Flatbread (Nice)
Almond Cake (Milan) with Amaretto Whipped Cream

Everything was great. No duds here. The broccoli rabe was fantastic, and I'll have to snag more at the market so I can make it again. I had Moroccan Vegetables over couscous as leftovers for lunch, and that was great. We also sliced leftover focaccia and stuffed it with mozzarella, then baked at 350 until the cheese melted for really yummy sandwiches. Anyway, I've been asked before to post food photos, but since my photography is extremely basic and our lighting is yucky, I usually don't bother. But Matt said I *had* to get pictures of this meal. I actually like the one of the cheese before baking--I like the herbs scattered on top! I forgot to get dessert pictures, though.




I also made Hedonistic Fudgies. They are so good. There are a couple of things missing in the recipe, so I decided to type it up because I use Lee's recipe printed out with a bunch of my notes on it, so this will be easier. But this is NOT my recipe, it's entirely Lee's.

Hedonistic Fudgies
(from Lee Davenport
Makes 4 dozen

4 cups chocolate chips, divided (I use two bags of Ghiradelli 60%)
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 350. Heat 2 cups chocolate chips and chopped butter together in a large saucepan over medium-low heat until chocolate begins to lose its shape. Remove from heat; stir until smooth.

2. While chocolate is heating, beat together eggs, sugar, and vanilla into a medium bowl. In a small bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking powder. Whisk egg mixture into melted chocolate mixture, combining well. Stir in flour mixture until smooth, then add remaining chocolate chips.

3. Spray cooking sheets with nonstick spray and, using a teaspoon, place mounds of batter an inch apart. Bake for 7-9 minutes, or until cookies are dry around the edges. Repeat with remaining batter. I make these small and get about 4 dozen using a teaspoon. That makes them approximately 2 Weight Watchers points each, a nice treat.

On the Needles

Thank you to everyone for your kind comments on Hemlock Ring! I am so delighted with it, and even better, Lilah has made it her treasured blanket, wrapping her favorite stuffed animals in it so they are "so cozy." I'm not sure when exactly it happened, but she's a child instead of a baby, which is very odd! How did that happen???

I could actually do a WIP post since I have, count 'em, two knitting projects in the works. Since Lilah was born, I've really gotten to be a one-project-at-a-time person, but Matt's Hjalte is a little too fiddly to be car knitting (not really fiddly, I just have to pay attention to the chart) or television knitting (unless it's something I've watched before that doesn't need all my attention), so I looked around for a project to use my birthday present Noro Matsuri. Ravelry was, as usual, very helpful, and aside from small projects (I have 8 skeins) and sweaters I didn't think would suit me, there were several lovely Clapotis. Yes, I am so late for the bandwagon on Clapotis that it's ridiculous, but it's a lovely, fairly easy pattern, and I can add more increase rows to make it more of a shawlette than a scarf. I was struck by how gorgeous it looks in the Matsuri, too. Since Ravelry has been so helpful to me, I've making an effort to at least put my new projects in my own account and adding new stash yarn. I'm not sure I'll be motivated to take the time to enter my whole stash and past projects, but I might start trying to do a bit here and there. I'm allisonmariecat there, too.

So, here is the beginning of Clapotis:



I like it so far. It's pleasantly easy and I love the color changes on the Matsuri. The Matsuri is nice and soft, but I'm less than halfway through the first skein and I've already hit the first of what Ravelry users suggest will be a LOT of knots. Honestly, for yarn that expensive, that's ridiculous (one user reported 9 knots in a single skein, so I hope mine won't be that bad). I just did my usual knit with both yarns for a few stitches join, but I may need to revisit the Russian join if there are really going to be knots in every skein.

And here is my Hjalte progress:




The first picture shows the color better, but the second shows the pattern better. I really hope the cable pattern shows up okay in the darker yarn. I didn't even think of that. I like the cables that are carried through the waistband up into the body. This is the bottom of the back piece. I like the cabling and the pattern is interesting. Matt chose this pattern, and I hope he likes it. I really enjoy cabling.

Reading: Lots and lots, as usual. I'm reading my book club selections for this month. One member suggested The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, and it's very good so far. It's from the point-of-view of an autistic boy, and is also quite short, so I suggested a YA novel, Rules by Cynthia Lord, to accompany it. Rules is from the point-of-view of the sister of an autistic boy, and it's an interesting contrast. It was a really well-done book, and in the author interview at the end, the author says that she has an autistic son and she wrote the book in response to her daughter asking why she never read about families like theirs in books. I read a creepy, modern Gothic novel, Darling Jim by Christian Moerck, that was excellent. I also read the second in a mystery series (I loved the debut), Death and the Lit Chick by G. M. Malliet, a really fun mystery. Malliet pokes gentle fun at the conventions of the classic mystery, but the mystery itself is engaging and complex. I also started the Sam Acquillo mystery series by Chris Knopf. The first is The Last Refuge, and it's edgier than the mysteries I usually read, but the characterization is fantastic, the setting (The Hamptons) very well fleshed out, and the mystery is tricky. I read the second in the series, Two Time, as well, and it was equally good.

Writing: Not a thing.

Cooking: The pear-caramel sauce was very nice, though thinner than I had planned. The lavender and vanilla are very nice additions. I also made brownies, inspired by this recipe of one of my favorite food bloggers. I made several changes. Though the original recipe calls for mixed nuts, I decided to play off the almond butter by using only almonds. To that end, I also added Disaronno, since chocolate is always good with booze. I doubled the recipe but didn't double the sugar (I like bittersweet chocolate the best). I would reduce it even further next time. I baked them in mini-muffin tins (4 dozen) and didn't feel like cleaning the mini-muffin tins to use them again, so I also made one dozen large brownies in my regular muffin tins. The small muffins took about 10 minutes, while the larger took about 25. As promised in the original recipes, these are very chocolatey (not chocolatey enough is my usual brownie complaint), and I liked the triple almond component.

Chocolate Almond Brownies (adapted from Luxury Brownies

1 cup unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1 pound bittersweet chocolate, chunked
2 1/4 cups flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup almond butter
1/4 cup Disaronno
2 cups sugar
8 eggs
1 1/2 cups sliced almonds, toasted

1. Melt chocolate and butter together in a bowl set over simmering water, stirring often. Set aside. (I used the bowl of my stand mixer to save time/washing dishes.)

2. Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt in another bowl.

3. To the chocolate mixture (slightly cooled so as not to cook the eggs), add almond butter, Disaronno, and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Slowly incorporate flour mixture, then stir in nuts.

4. Pour batter into buttered 9 x13 pan OR two 8-inch square pans OR four dozen mini-muffin cups and one dozen regular muffin cups OR 6 dozen mini-muffin cups OR 3 dozen regular muffin cups.

5. Bake at 350 until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with only crumbs clinging to it (30-45 minutes for 8x8 or 9x13 pans, 10 minutes for mini-muffin pans, and 20-25 minutes for regular muffin pans). Let cool 10 minutes in pans on wire racks, then remove to cool completely on wire racks.

Knitting Along

Gathered Pullover is really moving along. The body is finished, and I'm half-done with the first sleeve. I wish I'd known how fun and easy cables are! They always seemed so mysterious, but like lace, it turns out that you just follow the directions. This is obviously a simple cable motif, so we'll see if I still like them when I try something more complex. I'm a little afraid I've made the body of Gathered Pullover too long--I was just happily knitting along and knit it longer than I had planned (I'm making the body and sleeves longer than called for, and knit an extra inch or so above the cable to move the placement down a bit. I'm also doing hemmed edges, though I haven't decided if I'll modify the neckband or do it rolled. I think I want to do it in the round, at least.

Reading: Lots. Of special note are Savvy, a YA tall tale/coming of age story by Ingrid Law, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart, and a really fantastic novel called The Disappearance by Efrem Sigel.

Writing: Nope.

Cooking: I got inspired by the freakishly cold weather (relatively speaking; in Wisconsin, this would be a warm spell) to make a pot pie. I quickly shifted my interest to shepherd's pie, which is crustless and topped with mashed potatoes, when I realized I was not inspired to make pie crust. I had in mind something akin to Amy's Organics frozen Shepherd's Pie, veggies and chickpeas in a tomatoey broth, with mashed potato topping. But Matt actually volunteered a suggestion of using...tofu. I know! Weird. So I thought of Amy's Vegetable Pot Pie, which has tofu and veggies in a creamy sauce. Hey, I can make that, but without crust and with the mashed potato topping, I thought. I googled around, not liking to reinvent the wheel, and found this recipe at Mollie Katzen's site. (You can find the mushroom sauce recipe in a crepe recipe if you go back to the recipe index.) But that wasn't quite right. I didn't want the sauce on the side, and the vegetable hash seemed overly involved, so I winged it. What else is new? You could make any or all of the components ahead of time, or assemble the whole thing and bake later. If you don't like my mashed potatoes, make your favorite recipe instead. I really liked this, but it was pretty liquidy, so I have you use half the sauce as a gravy on the side.

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

Mashed Potato Topping:
About 6 medium Yukon gold potatoes, scrubbed and diced
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 cup milk (more if needed)
1/2 tsp salt (more to taste)
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Place potatoes and garlic in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Drain. Add milk, salt, and Parmesan and mash well. Set aside.

Mushroom-Tofu Filling:
1 TBL olive oil
1 onion, minced
2 ribs celery, minced
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried thyme
1 pound mushrooms, washed, trimmed, and quartered
1 pound frozen mixed vegetables (mine had carrots, peas, corn, and green beans)
1 package tofu, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 tsp salt (more to taste)
black pepper to taste

Heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add onion, celery, bay leaf, and thyme. Cook until onion is translucent. Add mushrooms and cook on medium heat until mushrooms begin to give up liquid. Stir in vegetables, tofu, salt and pepper. Set aside.

Spiked Mushroom Sauce (you will use HALF in the casserole dish and half on the side):
1 TBL butter
1 pound mushrooms, washed, trimmed, and very thinly sliced
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp salt (more to taste)
3 TBL vermouth (you can substitute sherry or brandy)
1 1/2 cups milk, warmed
3 TBL flour
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Melt butter over medium heat in a medium saucepan. Add mushrooms and cook until mushrooms begin to give up liquid, about 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add bay leaf, salt, and vermouth. Cook 5 minutes. Whisk the flour into the milk; add to mushrooms. Cook 5-10 minutes over low heat, until slightly thickened. Add black pepper, remove bay leaf, and stir HALF into Mushroom-Tofu Filling. Serve the other half, warm, on the side as gravy. (Or just cut the recipe in half if you don't want extra sauce.)

Place in a large casserole dish or 9x13 pan. Top with mashed potatoes. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes, until top is golden brown and edges are bubbly.

Catching Up

I've been plugging along on my Green Blanket, not that it's interesting enough for another photo right away. I had a vague thought of knitting washcloths as Christmas gifts and giving them along with fancy soap, so I looked up a few patterns. I was intrigued by this Octagonal Crest-of-the-Wave Washcloth and decided to try it with some Bernat Organic Cotton KnitPastis had sent me along with some fancy soap (see where I got my idea?). It was an easy enough pattern, and pleasant to knit. Mine curls and doesn't lie flat the way the picture with the pattern does. Blocking might fix that, but blocking a washcloth seems absurd to me. I also should have cut off the last wave pattern, since I used the thicker yarn and bigger needles, but I forgot as I was doing the pattern. It's soft and attractive and bumpy enough, I think, to be a good washcloth. I'm thinking of using it as a facecloth since it's so large (the diameter is bigger than the space between my pinky and thumb when my hand is splayed). All in all, a nice quick knit. I can see why people knit them, and I think I'll enjoy mine. I may pick something less elaborate for actual gifts, though, or at least something that doesn't look as funny lying flat.

Pattern: See above
Yarn: Bernat Organic Cotton in color 43244, a nice spring green, just about one skein (I have a bit left)
Needles: Size 6 dpns and 16" circular (at this size, it was pretty cramped at the end, but I couldn't find my 24")
Notes: See above.

Reading: Hmmm. Lots. It's been a while since I posted. Head to On My Bookshelf for my reviews. I'd been reading Christmas-themed mysteries, which are really fun!

Writing: Nothing but addressing Christmas card envelopes :-)

Cooking: I have been inspired, let me tell you. One night, I decided to make pasta (not that this is unusual for me). I wanted something that could come together quickly, and I had roasted vegetables in mind. I decided to do something different from my usual, toss-chopped-veggies-in-olive-oil-and-roast method. I had eggplant, zucchini, and red peppers on hand for this purpose, but I ended up deciding to do a puree, and the zucchini didn't fit my new plan. You can roast the eggplant and peppers together, and let the peppers steam while the eggplant finishes roasting. By then, the oven should be hot enough for the garlic. I made the veggies a couple of hours before I was ready to make dinner, so they were cool by the time I pureed. You could prepare the puree a day ahead and refrigerate until you're ready to make the sauce. I happened to have fresh mozzarella on hand, which was lovely, but goat cheese pairs nicely with roasted vegetables. The basil adds a nice touch, but I could eat this sauce plain with a spoon, so don't worry if you haven't any on hand.

A note to eggplant-haters: eggplant can be rubbery and/or bitter if prepared wrong. I think 95% of eggplant-haters have never had it well-prepared. Roasted eggplant is completely different, mellow and earthy and a bit sweet. I've converted many eggplant-haters to the joys of the purple vegetable by serving it roasted.

Roasted Vegetable Pasta

1 pound rigatoni
2 medium eggplants
2 red bell peppers
1 head garlic
1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
2 tsp dried basil
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt (more to taste)
1/4 tsp black pepper
6 oz. goat cheese or fresh mozzarella, sliced
fresh basil, chopped

1. Roast the eggplants: Preheat the broiler. Place eggplants on a foil-lined baking sheet and broil about 15 minutes, or until skin is charred. Turn 180 degrees and broil 15 minutes more. Skin should be blackened. Let cool. Trim ends and remove skin (it should peel off easily). Set aside in colander to drain excess liquid.

2. Cut peppers in half, discarding stem, seeds, and membranes. Place on foil-lined baking sheet and broil until skin is blackened (don't jump the gun or skin will be hard to peel). Carefully transfer to a large baggie and let steam at least 15 minutes. Remove skin.

3. Preheat oven to 425. Remove outer papery skin from garlic, but do not peel or separate cloves. Wrap in foil and bake until soft, about 45 minutes. Let cool slightly, then squeeze out roasted cloves.

4. Heat tomatoes in a large saucepan. Add seasonings.

5. Place prepared eggplant, peppers, and garlic in a food processor or blender and puree until fairly smooth. Add to tomatoes and simmer 15 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings. Meanwhile, prepare pasta according to package directions and drain. Toss with sauce and serve with basil and cheese.

We had friends over for dinner, and I made Tuscan Chickpea Soup from the Cooking Light archives, Ciabatta from Cooking Light, a Fennel-Orange Salad with pomegranate seeds, and tartlets with goat cheese and Bosc pears. I knew what I was going for with the tartlets, but I didn't find an exact recipe I wanted to follow. I ended up using the crust recipe from here, but the filling wasn't exactly what I had in mind. And I wanted bigger tartlets, not the bite sized ones. I liked the approach here, but I wanted cardamon instead of cinnamon (I'm a bit obsessed with the cardamon-pear combo), and I wanted to use honey, mixed with the goat cheese to take off the tangy edge. Anyway, I was really pleased with what I ended up with. I think this would be a nice filling for filo squares pressed into mini-muffin tins, too. I was actually going for 6 tartlets, but found I had plenty of everything for 8.

Goat Cheese and Pear Tartlets With Honey and Pine Nuts

Note: I used 8 10-cm tartlet pans from Williams-Sonoma, and I found a Tupperware container that was slightly larger, and the perfect size for cutting out the circles.

Crust:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3 tablespoons (or more) ice water
2 tablespoons chilled whipping cream

Spray pans with nonstick spray, or grease liberally with butter. Mix flour and salt in processor with blade attachment. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 3 tablespoons ice water and cream. Process just until moist clumps form, adding more ice water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic; chill 30 minutes. Roll into a rectangle large enough for 8 tartlet crusts (I rolled mine out, cut out 6 crusts, then re-rolled the remaining dough for an additional 2 crusts). Cut out circles appropriate to your tartlet pans and press gently into pans.

Filling:
10 oz. goat cheese, room temperature
1 TBL honey, plus more for drizzling
3 Bosc pears, cored and diced (do not peel)
1 tsp cardamon
2 TBL pine nuts

Mix goat cheese with 1 TBL honey. Place in pastry (you may have a bit left over). Toss pears with cardamon, mound on top of goat cheese. Sprinkle with pine nuts and drizzle with honey. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until crust is lightly browned on edges and pine nuts are toasted. Cool in pans on wire rack before serving.

Makes 8 10-cm tartlets. (You could also use muffin tins, mini-muffin tins, or a large tart pan.)

Now we're cooking!

Lilah's friends, all dressed up with nowhere to go.

I keep trying to find a time when I can get a photo of this sweater on Lilah, but she's not been cooperative. The only sweater she likes is her Baby Gap zip-up sweater. Maybe I can bribe her with a cookie when she wakes up. Anyway, here it is:



Details: Placket-Neck Pullover from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts (Duh, do I knit anything else?), size 2-3 years
Yarn: Rowan Baby Alpaca DK in Blossom
Needles: Size 6
Notes: You hear about this pattern from me all the time: easy, fun, cute. I LOVE this squooshy soft yarn. I love Kitchener stitch (weird, I know). I love the easy finishing. Unless, of course, you foolishly do a striped version...

Just for fun, since I haven't gifted the other two Placket-Neck Pullovers, here they are ensemble:


I just started a toddler blanket in Cascade 220 in GREEN. And I do mean GREEN! It's about an inch of seed stitch at the moment, so I'll save posting a photo. Despite my laments that I never learn that winging it doesn't work for me in knitting...yes, I'm winging it. I think it'll be Big Bad Baby Blanket-ish, but with more squares. Or something. We'll see.

Reading: I re-read all the Bunnicula books (actually, the most recent three I'd never read before), and thought they were great fun. I just finished the Ulysses Moore series, a fantasy series about 11-year-old twins who move into a strange house with a mysterious door. Enjoyed it. I'll have the review up soon. I'm now reading Death by Cashmere, the first in a new knitting-related mystery series by Sally Goldenbaum--I was actually contacted and asked if I'd like a review copy, which makes me feel special.

Writing: Nothing. Tomorrow is November 1, the beginning of National Novel Writing Month. The official goal is to begin and finish a novel in November. MY goal is to write SOMETHING every day in November, even if it's just a sentence. I have to get back into my groove of finding time for this.

Cooking: Here's where the content is this time!

If you've been to a southern California restaurant in recent memory, you know that all restaurants are required to display the grade they got from their inspection. This is not without controversy, since some traditional ethnic cooking/food storage methods fall outside what detractors call paranoid American standards of food safety. I'm told that lots of fantastic spots get Bs for this reason. But I like seeing on the window that the place I'm about to eat has conformed reasonably to cleanliness/food safety standards. At any rate, LA County had a neat promotion to build awareness about kitchen safety in your own home, so they offered an online food safety quiz. If you passed, you got one of these in the mail to put on your fridge:

I got an A! I'm such a food nerd, I immediately filled out the test and put this up on my fridge as soon as it left the envelope. Fun stuff!

Crockpot Peanut Stew (adapted from Cooking Light)

I had a couple of requests for this recipe. I don't normally reprint recipes from magazines or cookbooks, but I made so many changes to this, it's hardly recognizable. The recipe called for reduced-fat peanut butter, which I don't think of as food, so I used my standard natural peanut butter (The ingredients should say peanuts and salt. Period.), which adds so much more flavor the little increase in fat is worth it. Add to that--reduced fat peanut butter makes up for the loss of flavor with plenty of sugar and/or high fructose corn syrup, so I think it's a wash, nutrition-wise, and when in doubt, I go for the less processed option. The taste here is a HUGE difference, as is the mouth feel. Trust me, get natural peanut butter (I use Smuckers). The amount of salt you need depends entirely on your stock. I make my own vegetable stock (see below), with no added salt, so I need a bit more salt. If you use a canned full-sodium broth, you will need very little. Taste after a couple of hours and see. I doubled the recipe to feed a crowd, but didn't double the liquid. You need less in Crockpot cooking, anyway, but I wanted more of a stew than a soup. This is really nice in the winter, very warming!

Ingredients

8 cups (1/2-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash (about 3 pounds)
1 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons minced garlic (about 6 cloves)
1 teaspoon salt (depending on your stock)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
4 cups vegetable stock
3/4 cup natural peanut butter
2 tablespoons tomato paste
mm1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Place all ingredients except for cilantro into Crockpot. Cook on high 4 hours, or on low 8 hours, or until squash is tender. Check seasonings and liquid level and adjust as needed. Yum! Serve over rice, sprinkled with cilantro, to feed a crowd.

I made my annual fall vegetable stock. I make as much as will fit in my stockpots and freeze it in those ziploc containers. I made 11 quarts, which is a whole shelf in my freezer! I love homemade broth for the fat-free, salt-free flavor it adds to the soups and stews I make all winter. If you look to the template on the left, you'll see "My Recipes" under "My Stuff." Vegetable stock is actually the very first recipe I ever posted here. I usually make stock about the same way. This time, I used only the (well-washed) dark green parts of the leeks, because the white and light green parts are so good in other preparations. I used a bit more vegetables overall, because I added a 4-quart pot to the mix.

We had friends over, and I made Curried Butternut Squash Soup and Pumpkin Walnut Focaccia With Gruyere, both from the Cooking Light archives, along with a pesto vinaigrette for salad. I also made Cranberry-Apple Cobbler, also a Cooking Light recipe, and made Cinnamon Stick Ice Cream to go with it. I winged the recipe since I couldn't find one I liked. Those who find my ice milk recipes unsatisfying will be delighted that I caved and used egg in this one--not the NINE egg yolks called for in one recipe I found, but some. I love my ice milk, but it usually doesn't firm up right away, and when it does, it's pretty hard. For company, I wanted something easy to scoop, and this worked beautifully. I thought this was a great accompaniment to fall apple-based desserts. Insane cinnamon addicts might want to add even more--the cinnamon flavor was not exactly subtle, but it paired nicely with the vanilla.

Cinnamon Stick Ice Cream

3 cups whole milk, divided
3/4 cup sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 eggs
1 cup cream

Beat eggs and set aside in a medium bowl in an ice bath. In a small saucepan, heat 1 cup milk, with sugar and all cinnamon and vanilla until steamy. Whisk into eggs (work quickly so as not to scramble the eggs), then return to saucepan. Cook, stirring frequently, until custard is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Return to ice bath, remove vanilla bean and cinnamon sticks, and add remaining milk and cream. Place mixture, ice bath and all, into the refrigerator to chill completely. Churn according to ice cream maker instructions.

Finished Objects and Other Strange Tales

I finished (and almost finished) some stuff while on vacation! Lilah and I headed out to California for our pre-holidays trip to visit the family. We had a great time. When we got back, it was Highland Games time in our area, so we took Lilah. She LOVED the sheepdog trials and the falconry exhibition. Matt and I didn't get to do the kind of shopping we used to at these sorts of things--Lilah wanted to squat on a stump for about 15 minutes watching an ant, and she sees a field of grass and can't help running. It was really fun to watch her enjoying herself, though!

This is a long post, and I have finishing touches to put on Lilah's sweater and the bonus FO, so I will post this now and do FO pictures later in the week.

Reading: I just reviewed Shirley Damsgaard's Abby & Ophelia mysteries, a recent favorite series of mine. I also enjoyed Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer, though I didn't like their first collaboration, Don't Look Down. And I read a plethora of cozy mysteries as well. I have Dewey: The Library Cat... to review (from the publisher! Isn't that fun?) and the new Kate Atkinson that I can hardly wait to read. As soon as I finish Murder Most Maine, the third Gray Whale Inn mystery by Karen MacInerney, I'll read those two. I really should take a picture of my To-Be-Read book piles to shock and horrify you, since it is the Halloween season.

Writing: Still at 12,294 words, and with a subplot to go back and fix. Lilah and I were visiting my parents in California, so I didn't get anything done. Hopefully, the jet lag will wear off soon and I can get us back on a good schedule that allows for writing. November is National Novel Writing Month, and though you're technically supposed to start AND finish a novel during the month, if I can use that to get a jump-start on my current project, so much the better.

Cooking: I am not a particularly good photographer, so I haven't gotten into food photography. That and the lighting in our house is awful and makes food look weird. If I find a way to take appetizing photos, though, I will! I am making apple butter this weekend (until I get my website set up, leave a comment with your email address if you'd like to place an order), so maybe I will try then.

I forgot to post two recipes last time, which is good, as I have not been cooking (traveling). One is for the magical whole wheat scones, and the other is for Spicy Cheese Rolls, a French roll with sharp cheddar and a bit of cayenne, inspired by Stella's Bakery in Madison, WI. Meanwhile, I helped Matt through hosting his coworkers for a dinner thing while I was out of town. We picked an African peanut stew and a pear crumble (both based on Cooking Light recipes). I helped him modify the peanut stew for the Crockpot so he wouldn't be babysitting the stove. And the crumble is nice and simple. I had him substitute cardamon for the cinnamon, which makes it a touch exotic and goes wonderfully with pears. He rounded out the meal with baguette, Brie and goat cheese (rolled in thyme and black pepper), and olives, and a salad with sliced almonds and dried cranberries. He's not very used to cooking, so I was really proud of him for pulling it off!

Amy, I use regular old whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, and white whole wheat flour. Bread is tougher to substitute whole wheat flour in than pastries and such. You're generally not going to get the same light, airy results with whole wheat, no matter what kind. I've had great success in using white whole wheat flour in place of all or most of the white flour in cookies, but there's a slight "healthy" taste (as my husband would say). I usually use whole wheat pastry flour when I'm not trying to hide it as much--that's what I used in the scones, along with regular whole wheat flour (for the nuttier taste). With bread...it's been a while since I've done whole wheat bread. I personally like the taste of whole-wheat flour, so I would just use 100% whole wheat flour, though I used to make baguettes with half bread flour and half whole wheat (along with cracked wheat soaked in hot water and drained...yum). With bread, whole wheat pastry and white whole wheat flours are too low in gluten to make a good substitute in bread. But regular whole wheat flour (which is made from hard red wheat) is fine. But it's always going to be denser than regular old white bread. Oh, and my vegetable stock recipe is linked at the left (My Recipes), but you can throw whatever veggies you want (except very strong tasting ones like cabbage or broccoli) in a pot, cover with water and cook until you like the color :)

And I forgot to respond to you last time--I get a lot of recipes from Cooking Light. You can get a code for online use from one of their books or a newstand magazine (at least that's how you used to do it--it might be open now), or if you're a subscriber, you put in your number. I actually might not renew my subscription. Even though it's not a vegetarian magazine (and those are no fun, I've tried), it's always had vegetarian recipes well-represented. But they dropped their Inspired Vegetarian section this summer, and the last issue had 17 pork main dish recipes in the index and 3 vegetarian. I am a subscriber, and I buy the Annual Recipe collection every year (this is the previous year's recipes--every single one, but indexed, so it's easier to use than 11 magazines), and I'm a bit taken aback by the change. I actually wrote in to ask what was going on, but they're treating it as a letter to the editor submission, so no one's given me any answers. Getting my new Cooking Light used to be a highlight of the month, but the last two magazines, I haven't marked a single recipe as "must shop for ingredients now!" Anyway, enough of that...on to the recipes!

Whole Wheat Scones

4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
12 oz. unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 vanilla bean, scraped (for vanilla version) or 2 tsp cinnamon (for cinnamon version)
1 1/2 to 2 cups whole milk (start with 1 1/2 and then add a tablespoon at a time)
additional sugar and cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or spray with nonstick spray.

Combine dry ingredients. Cut in butter using a food processor, pastry cutter, or forks (I usually resort to my fingers, even though you're not supposed to). Add eggs, vanilla extract, and 1 1/2 cups milk). Stir to combine, adding more milk as needed. The dough should be a bit sticky. Divide into four balls. Sprinkle sugar on a flat surface. Place one of the dough balls on the sugar and turn to coat. Pat down into a round about 3/4 inch thick. Cut into 6 wedges. Repeat with the other three balls. For cinnamon version, sprinkle tops of scones with cinnamon. Bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes, until lightly browned.

Spicy Cheese Rolls

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 TBL active dry yeast
2 TBL sugar
2 TBL olive oil
1 tsp salt
4 cups bread flour
4 oz. extra sharp white cheddar, grated
cayenne pepper

I put everything except the cheese and pepper in the bread machine and put it on "dough." (I love the bread machine!) Divide into 16 equal pieces. Stretch each piece, top with cheese and a sprinkle of cayenne, then fold over. Cover and let rise an hour, until doubled. Bake at 400 until lightly browned, about 12-15 minutes.

Good stuff

Thank you, everyone, on your kind sweater-related comments (and other comments, of course). I get a little frustrated with myself when I don't think things through, which I certainly didn't on this one. I'm actually delighted with the sweater, which I think will be adorable on Lilah's toddler friend. Good catch on the lesson "Intarsia is yucky," Amy :) No action step there, since sometimes I think intarsia is just too cute to avoid. And I like the look of the sweater with the dark blue placket and cuffs. I managed to get all the ends woven in over the weekend, during slow times in my booth at the festival where I actually SOLD stuff I made! One woman indulged in my free samples and then bought ELEVEN jars to give as Christmas gifts in her office. I was delighted. And, though I was concerned a bit that I would hate customers*, I really enjoyed answering questions about my methods and talking about possible future recipes and such. I sold out of nearly everything, and had so much fun. Now I have to figure out if I just want to occasionally sell stuff to subsidize my jam-making and baking habits, or if I want to try to take it further.

*I know this sounds like I should be off in a cabin in the woods somewhere, but my past customer service experience has not been great. While working at a software/internet company, here is an excerpt from a 20-minute phone call:

Old Guy: My internet picture won't open!
Me: I'm sorry to hear you're having trouble. Um, which picture is that?
Old Guy: The internet! It won't open!
Me: The browser? Does it say Netscape or Internet Explorer?
Old Guy: The internet, you know, Netscape.
Me: Do you get an error message when you double click on the icon?
Old Guy: I don't know. Am I supposed to have an icon?
Me: Do you get an error message when you double click the picture?
Old Guy: What about the icon? Do I need one of those?
Me: Don't worry about the icon. Double click on the picture and tell me what it says.
Old Guy: It says Netscape.
Me: Right. Does anything happen when you click?
Old Guy: (click) No! It doesn't do anything! That's the problem!
Me: Sir, you need to double click. Just clicking once doesn't open the program.
Old Guy: I don't have a program. Is that in my Welcome Pack?
Me: Sir, you need to double click to open the internet.
Old Guy: (click, pause, click) Nothing's happening!
Me: Sir, you have to click faster. Click-click!
Old Guy: (click, pause, click)
Repeat the last two lines for about 10 minutes, until Old Guy exclaims, "Oh, I had to DOUBLE click! It's open now!" So you can see that the word "customer" strikes fear into my heart, a reaction that was NOT improved by working for a children's theater company:

Me: I'm so sorry, ma'am, but tonight's show is sold out.
Angry Stage Parent: But my daughter is the star! I NEED 30 tickets for tonight!
Me: I'm so sorry, ma'am, but tonight's show is sold out.
ASP: But I PROMISED everyone! They're coming from out of town!
Me: I'm so sorry, ma'am, but there are no more seats available.
ASP: But my daughter's the star!

Knitting: ANOTHER placket-neck pullover is on the needles, this one for Lilah in pink Rowan Baby Alpaca DK. After finishing the ones for our friends' two children, I decided Lilah needed one, too. No stripes on this one :) I am wondering if the yarn is too nice for the pattern, which is a nice basic pattern, but nothing fancy. But if I wait to find the perfect pattern, I'll never make her anything with it!

Reading: Lots, but nothing especially noteworthy. I have to pick up the new Kate Atkinson book, which I'm really excited about.

Writing: Still stalled at the same word count. Food prep took up a lot of my free time. I hope to get some writing done while I'm in California. Speaking of which, I'd better start packing...

I made a nice Crockpot meal that turned out very well. I also baked up a storm for LakeFest--vanilla scones, cinnamon scones, cherry cornmeal scones, and chocolate chip almond biscotti. For the bake sale, I made pumpkin muffins with pear slices stuck into the batter for ears and put little bear faces on them with chocolate chips. They were so cute! I also made 8 loaves of rosemary focaccia for the bake sale. I'm pretty pleased with the scone recipes--100% whole wheat, and when I doubled the recipe, I forgot to double the amount of butter...and they tasted great! Hmmm, wonder how much fat I can just leave out of other recipes.

Crockpot Red Beans With Vegetables

1 pound small red beans
bay leaf
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 large green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 pound okra, cleaned, trimmed, and sliced
1 14.5-ounce can fire roasted diced tomatoes, liquid and all
2 cups vegetable stock*
1 cup corn, fresh or frozen (no need to thaw)
2 TBL Tabasco garlic pepper sauce (this is milder than the regular Tabasco, and has lots of flavor)
3/4 tsp Liquid Smoke
2 bay leaves
1 tsp thyme
2 tsp salt

Soak the beans in cold water to cover 2 inches above the top of beans overnight or 8 hours. Drain and rinse. Cover with cold water to cover 2 inches above the beans, add bay leaf, and bring to a boil. Simmer until tender, but not mushy, about an hour and a half. Drain and place in Crockpot. Add remaining ingredients and cook on Low setting 8 hours. Check seasonings every once in a while. Serve over rice or as a stew with cornbread.

*I haven't made my vegetable stock yet (I make tons and freeze it to use all winter), so I used 2 cups boiling water and one cube of Rapunzel vegetable bouillon with sea salt.

I Can Can!

It was a toss-up today with which bad joke to give the title: "I can can!" won with a narrow margin over "We're jammin'!" Spurred on by Stefaneener, a very kind jam guru, I finally joined the ranks of canners with two batches of Peach-Pecan-Amaretto Preserves. I fell in love with San Saba River Peach Pecan Amaretto Preserves after receiving them as a gift, but at $8 for a half-pint jar, they're a bit rich for everyday use. It seems I'm not the only one to feel this way, as googling for a peach pecan amaretto preserve recipe turned up this recipe developed by a fellow San Saba River fan. I followed the recipe exactly and then made a second batch using no-sugar-needed pectin with the low-sugar recipe on the box of pectin, then adding the pecans and amaretto after removing from heat. The sugary batch still hasn't set, though the low-sugar batch set almost immediately upon cooling. I know some preserves take longer to gel, but the fact that the second batch has done so already makes me think my first batch will be pancake/ice cream topping instead of a spread. That's fine with me, as it'll be gooooooood pancake/ice cream topping. The first batch produced 11 half-pint jars, and the low-sugar batch turned up 6 half-pint jars, plus a half jar, which I promptly put in the fridge for immediate use. It was really good on toast this morning. Lilah and Matt agreed. The low-sugar batch is much peachier than the first batch, which is crazy sweet, like jam usually is. I like the low-sugar quite a bit, but both are nice. I also used much bigger chunks of fruit in the low sugar batch, and I prefer it that way. I have plans for a mixed berry jam next.

Thank you for the anniversary wishes! It wasn't the best anniversary, with Matt in Scotland and Lilah not sleeping well, but they can't all be winners :)

Knitting; I'd hoped to show you a finished placket-neck pullover, as Matt was home yesterday (yay!), but I was felled by a migraine and did no knitting. I suspect the sleep deprivation during his trip was to blame, as I haven't had one in years. If you've never had an aura-producing migraine, it's surreal. I was reading at the time and became annoyed because the sparkly blurry shape on the page was getting bigger. Then it hit me. Fortunately, Matt was home to take over Lilah care, and I retreated to a dark bedroom.

Yarnthrower, thank you! Long-tail cast-on is exactly what I meant. That was really bugging me.

Reading: I finished Stephanie Barron's latest Jane Austen mystery, Jane and the Barque of Frailty, but I haven't posted a review yet. Since Barron has a non-Jane book out, I was afraid it would be the last, but it seems there's room for more. I really enjoy these! I'm now reading The Matchmaker of Perigord by Julia Stuart and loving it. I've laughed out loud a dozen or so times, and it's a delightful read. I just received my June ARC to review, Lookin' Back, Texas by Leanna Ellis, so that's next. I requested this book based on the description, which left out the (to me) pertinent fact that it's Christian fiction. I'm going to try to read it with an open mind, though, and hope to be able to give it a good review.

Writing: Yeah, right.

Cooking: Besides the jam, I busted out another batch of ice cream. Inspired by this David Lebovitz recipe, I set out. Naturally, I modified the heck out of it. Lebovitz's book, The Perfect Scoop, goes on and off of my wish list, mostly because I understand his recipes almost always include a custard base made with 5 egg yolks. Not really my thing, but it looks like a fun, gorgeous book, and I sometimes think, well, hey, I could modify the recipes to leave out the egg.

Coffee-Heath Bar Crunch Ice Cream

3 1/2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups whole coffee beans (I used decaf Ethiopian)
pinch salt
1/2 cup cream (or substitute another 1/2 cup of milk)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp finely ground coffee (I used espresso)
1 cup crushed/chopped Heath bar*

In a small saucepan, combine 2 cups milk with coffee beans, sugar, and salt. Heat over medium heat until hot and steamy, but not boiling. Remove from heat and let steep, covered for 1 hour. Strain. I lined a bowl with cheesecloth, poured over the coffee mixture, then lifted the cheesecloth, squeezing with clean hands to release as much liquid as possible. You could also use a strainer and press down on the beans. Stir in remaining milk, cream, vanilla, and ground coffee and chill mixture. Pour into the bowl of an ice cream maker and process until nearly firm. Add Heath bar bits and process until mixed and firm.

*I forgot to put Heath bar bits (sold in a bag near the chocolate chips) on the grocery list, but noticed the Heath bars in the "impulse buy" section in the checkout lane. Three Heath bars made about a cup. I finely chopped two of them and broke the third into larger chunks because I like chunks :)

This is delish! It would be nice with chocolate-covered espresso beans as the chunks, or by itself, or with melted chocolate (cooled, but still pourable) drizzled into the ice cream maker as it processes in the last five minutes. Or chopped chocolate. I thought the ice cream tasted just like an iced coffee. I might try a smidge less sugar next time, maybe a 1/2 cup, at least if I'm adding Heath bits or something else with sweetness. I had already modified the recipe to include more liquid, and I didn't increase the sugar, but I think it could use even less.

Knitting Meme (plus bonus ice cream recipe!)

I have a couple of things that are more interesting to post later this week, so I cast around for some content to post along with a fantastic ice cream recipe, and thought...meme! This meme, which String Bean posted, reminds me of a less-intoxicated, G-rated version of a popular drinking game. So, here it is, Knitter's I-Never:

Bold the things you have ever knit
Italicize the ones you plan to do sometime
Leave the rest

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Shawl
Knitting with metal wire
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Drop stitch patterns
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fibre yarn
Domino Knitting (modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting ***Do I even know what this is???
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting ***I have to look this one up, too
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publish a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dyeing with plant colours
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) *** Hahahaha! Other tubular items.***
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cottonc
Knitting smocking
Dyeing yarn
Knitting art
Knitting two socks on two circulars simultaneously
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Entrelac
Long Tail CO
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self patterning/self striping/variegating yarn
Stuffed Toys
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

If you read this and feel like doing a meme, consider yourself tagged. For extra fun, do a shot for every line you bold!

Other knitting: Still going on good ol' placket-neck. My dad has been here, so we've been busy. I did want to announce that I have switched from using cable cast-on for practically everything to the double cast-on. Is that what it's called, the one with the fiddly hand movements that uses both ends of the yarn? So much stretchier, yet still neat-looking. When I first started knitting, I could NOT get the hang of it, so I switched to the (much easier) cable cast-on. But it's often too firm, so I tried the double cast-on and I couldn't be happier. Well, I could if I had a million dollars, probably.

Reading: Lots of Joan Hess's Claire Malloy mysteries. Now I'm reading the last Jane Austen mystery by Stephanie Barron, which I've been hoarding. I might go on to a big pile of juvenile fiction, or I might switch to Jane Austen related fiction.

Writing: Nothing at all.

Cooking: At the totally dysfunctional place I used to work, another employee and I were once asked to leave so the artistic director and executive director could continue their "discussion" (read: shouting match) in our one-room, multi-person office. We ran a couple of work-related errands, then came back. We could hear the yelling down the hall, so we headed to the newly opened Ben & Jerry's. A flavor I liked every once in a while (that I don't recall ever seeing in pre-packed pints at the store) was a coconut ice cream with almonds and chocolate. Yum.

Coconut Ice Cream (Light-ish)

1 can coconut milk plus enough whole milk to make 4 cups
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped chocolate-covered almonds
1/2 cup finely shredded coconut*

Place first three ingredients in bowl of ice cream mixer (make sure they are chilled). Process until almost firm. Add remaining ingredients and process until well-mixed and desired consistency. This, like other light ice cream recipes, freezes rather solid. I just zap it for 30 seconds before serving, or set it out for a few minutes. I might try coconut-flavored rum in this next time, as that would make it a bit softer.

* I actually would leave this out last time. It's coconutty enough without it, and it's sort of chewy and dry. Maybe I could try letting it sit in hot coconut milk to absorb moisture, then chilling the whole thing, but that sounds excessive.

Notes: Use up to 1 cup whipping cream in place of the whole milk if your arteries are too healthy. I happened to have chocolate-covered almonds on hand, but chopped dark chocolate and roasted chopped almonds would be great, too.

And six years ago today:

Channeling "Bulldog" Briscoe

I always liked Frasier, and one of the supporting characters was sports announcer "Bulldog" Briscoe, a loud, uncouth, unforgettable sports fan. He was always a fun counterpoint to Frasier's stuffiness. Anyway, he used to have a knee-jerk reaction every time he was unable to find something he needed: "Who stole my [whatever]? This stinks! This is total BS! Oh, here it is." Now Matt and I use "This stinks! This is total BS!" when we can't find something. Anyway, long story short (too late!)...I sat down with my new Cooking Light, always a treat, and got to the last page. "Where's my Inspired Vegetarian section? This stinks! This is total BS!" It appears they've eliminated it, which really ticked me off. I flipped to the index page and counted...eight main dishes under "vegetarian." Hmmm. I went back and checked a couple recent months' issues...four and six. So, they eliminated my section, but have more recipes for me? That sounds okay. I used to think that Inspired Vegetarian sometimes gave them an excuse to ignore vegetarian possibilities in other sections, so maybe it'll work out. It's kind of weird, though, because usually when they have a format change, they go on and on about why they changed it and how it's better. Aren't you glad you read that whole story? Matt's not home so I can't share it with him, so I get to bore you instead :)

In other news, I have been coloring under duress. Lilah is very into coloring ("ee-book-ah" is what she calls it) and likes it to be a group activity. Everything is a group activity with Lilah. She is clearly an extrovert. My mom says that she used to sit and read while I played happily by myself, but my little brother used to grab our faces and say "Listen" and often hid her books so he'd have everyone's full attention. Lilah and I used to sit and color on opposite pages of a coloring book, and that was fine. But that's not good enough anymore, so I have to use the color she chooses for me (and she'll rip it out of my hands and shove a new one in my hand when she wants me to change colors) and she actually holds my hand and moves it on the paper where she wants me to color. I can tell I need to start my yoga classes after Matt's back, or start going to my alumni knitting group or book club for some "me" time because I find myself resentful of her tyranny and actually thinking, "I don't get to do anything I want! I want to color the duck yellow, not the barn brown!" Whew. Talk about temporary insanity.

Knitting: This is probably the longest it's ever taken me to do a placket-neck pullover! It's not that I don't enjoy it, but Matt is in Scotland for a conference, so I'm on double parenting duty, and I haven't had any knitting time. That being the case, I might try to set aside a few minutes to finish the sock for the Knitting Olympics (not officially participating), but I'll decide tomorrow. My day right now goes Lilah-Lilah-Lilah-Yay, nap!-Clean-Clean-Clean-Lilah-Lilah-Lilah-Yay, bed!-Clean-Clean-Clean-Crash. Not much room for anything like knitting. Fortunately, my dad is coming for a few days to help me out.

Since knitting content is limited in today's post, I decided to finally get out and take a sock yarn photo. We had a nice sunny day, so the colors are great. (Lilah and I weathered a doozy of a storm Sunday night, losing power for about 5 hours, right at bedtime.)

Clockwise, from left: Lorna's Laces in Vera, Hill Country Yarns Instant Gratification Sock Yarn in Sandalwood, Noro Kureyon Sock in whatever number that is, Instant Gratification Sock Yarn in Mountain Laurel, Instant Gratification Sock Yarn in Indian Summer (yes, two skeins, no idea why--must be Turtlegirl's fault), Sunshine Yarns in Strawberry Banana (it's been so long I don't remember if it's superwash or not), Brown Sheep Wildefoote in Sonatina (almost identical to the Sunshine Yarns, oops), Lorna's Laces in Happy Valley.

Look at all those pretty socks-in-waiting! Since I have two of the Indian Summer, maybe it'll turn into something else. I really love those colors. I also can see that there's no reason for further yarn shopping, as the sock yarn alone should keep me occupied for a while!

Reading: Finished a very disappointing mystery novel (May Day by Jess Lourey--the first in a series. My review is on On My Bookshelf. I retreated back to my Joan Hess mysteries for a bit before starting something new.

Writing: You know the story. No time, no energy.

Cooking: I haven't made anything that interesting, but I did make bread. Not the time-consuming, relaxing, old-fashioned way (partly because it's too hot to use the oven), but in my bread machine. In many ways, I am a big cooking snob (and I do enjoy the full bread experience with the kneading and rising), but I love my bread machine. Just chuck in all the ingredients and wait a while. Bing! Fresh-baked bread. This recipe is adapted from one I randomly found on the internet when I wanted to use some rosemary (we have two bushes growing outside our house) and had it in my head that cornmeal would be a nice touch. You can cut the recipe in half for a smaller machine; just use 1 tsp salt and keep the rosemary the same. Halve all other ingredients.

Rosemary-Cornmeal Bread

1 3/4 cups warm water
2 TBL olive oil
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups bread flour
1 cup cornmeal
2 TBL sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
5 tsp active dry yeast (2 packets; or use bread machine yeast)
1/4 cup chopped fresh rosemary

Add wet ingredients to bread machine. Add dry ingredients. Bake on white bread setting. Voila! (Note: I read somewhere that you shouldn't add fresh herbs until the beep because they can keep the bread from rising properly, but I've never had a problem with this with rosemary.) You may notice that I haven't "healthified" this recipe. I think it's because it's comfort food for me, and it's okay if comfort food isn't particularly healthy. I think about trying to sub white whole wheat flour for the all-purpose, but I've been afraid it'll be too dense. I have also thought about sauteeing rosemary in the olive oil to kind of infuse the flavor throughout the bread, but haven't taken the extra time. When I remember, I sprinkle the top with cornmeal after the final kneading and before it bakes for a pleasant outer crunch.

On the blackboard

I will stop being whiny.
I will stop being whiny.
I will stop being whiny.
I will...

It's just whine, whine, whine here lately, isn't it? Thank you to everyone for your kind comments. It's a bit of a tough time, but I think there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Not to mention so many good things that I could focus on. My car wouldn't start because the crunched-up trunk was preventing a light from being turned off, so once we figured that out, it was easy to disconnect it. I also am able to drive my husband's car, so I don't need a rental (it turns out driving stick is like riding a bicycle. Although I'm not sure I remember how to ride a bicycle...). Our insurance company is awesome and will reimburse us for the deductible for getting the car fixed--it's in the shop now. String Bean, cookies aren't necessary, but always appreciated :) Amy, I wish there was ice cream delivery. When I lived in Chicago, there was a restaurant that delivered that had Ben & Jerry's on the menu. I can't even remember what cuisine it was, but I remember they had ice cream!

Lilah is a terrific source of entertainment. Here is a little piece of artwork I call "Dog Chauffeurs a Penguin (in Little People toys and plush)":


Knitting: I've gone back and forth on the Knitting Olympics. I participated in the official Knitting Olympics during the last Winter Games and really enjoyed it. I chose a difficult (for me) pattern, and I actually finished within the allotted time. However. I now have a toddler and not much free time. I haven't been as into challenging myself recently, and my priorities are different--I can't just tell Lilah to wait a couple of weeks for whatever she needs. I may choose something simple and try just to finish it, but I'm not sure that fits the Olympic spirit, so I may just cheer others on. I have a sock yarn inventory to conduct so I can pick a new sock project. I'll post a picture when I get to it. It was overcast all day, so I didn't have good light. I've decided I don't have to finish the tiger sock before starting a new pair. Knitting is supposed to be fun and relaxing for me, and not add to my stress. Hmmm...maybe I should make "finish tiger sock" an Olympic goal (though it won't follow the rules, which require starting and finishing during the Olympics). Still, it would be a challenge for me, and maybe I could use the Olympics to get that finished so it's not hanging over my head.

Reading: Lots of good reading. I'm going to send you to On My Bookshelf for reviews again. Is that okay? I figure anyone interested in my reviews can see them all there, and the rest of you never need know they exist. It just seems silly to cut-and-paste them, and they take up so much room. I just finished a wonderful little book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, an epistolary novel set just after World War !!, in which a writer begins corresponding (by chance) with several residents of Guernsey, which was occupied by Germany and completely cut off from the rest of the world. The unlikely group forms a literary society to get out of punishment for a curfew violation, and the book reflects on what reading means to people and how a chance encounter can change your life. I found it deeply moving, but also very funny. I knew nothing about the Guernsey occupation, so the history was very interesting (parts heartbreaking, parts uplifting). I will write a full review on On My Bookshelf, but I wanted to mention it now so that you can all order it immediately :) I should also mention The Joy of Spooking by P. J. Bracegirdle, which I did review on On My Bookshelf--it's a delightful children's book in the tradition of classic horror, from the Tim Burton-ish cover design to its delightfully devilish villain. I had a blast reading it.

Writing: Not a thing. I'm trying not to give up hope.

Cooking: Not much. It's been hot and we've had all these things to deal with lately. The night after my car wouldn't start, I threw together an impromptu pasta sauce with some squash from a friend's garden, and it was really nice. If I had gone to the store earlier in the day (instead of being trapped by the lack of a car), I never would have come up with it! If I were to make it again, I think I'd kick up the lemon and skip the tomatoes. And if I'd had it, a splash of cream would have been very nice. And some fresh herbs.

Summer Squash Pasta

2 TBL olive oil
1 medium onion, trimmed and sliced vertically
2 medium to large summer squash (I used yellow)
1 can diced tomatoes, drained (14.5 oz.)
1 cup green peas, fresh or frozen (thawed)
Juice of half a lemon
salt and pepper to taste
1 pound fettuccine, cooked according to package directions

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion; cook until translucent. Add the squash and cook until it begins to brown. Add tomatoes, peas, and lemon. Reduce heat to low and cook until vegetables are tender. Add salt and pepper to taste. Toss with fettuccine and serve with parmesan cheese.