I Can and I Can Complete Something

I was excited to see sour cherries at our farmers market this week.Last year due to strange spring weather there were virtually no cherries here in Michigan… a very sad thing  -no cherries… It’s really true that absence makes the heart grow fonder.

I brought some home and thought a while before settling on turning them into a simple syrup to mix in drinks. Just washed and pitted them and chopped them up and mixed in half as much sugar. I filled two-pint jars. I’m going to let it sit a while in the fridge before I start adding it to just about everything under the sun….Manhattans, Limeade. Sangria… This is where I go for Canning inspiration.

I also brought home some pickling cucumbers and had my first go at making pickles.

I used the recipe  for “Bread and Butter Pickles” that was on the back of the Ball Canning Cos. pickling salt package.  Simple and straight forward- they turned out pretty good for a first try.  The directions say to let them stand for 4-6 weeks before sampling so the flavors blend- well I had a little dish of leftovers and they tasted wonderful – sweet and spicy and crispy.

I also finished up the rainbow hap shawl this week. 

Somehow- probably due to a glass of wine I was drinking-

I managed to knit an extra repeat of the 24 row pattern.  I should have realized something was up. I used some 1200 meters of yarn where the pattern calls for 826.  That meant and extra 72 stitches to be bound off- a total of 495 stitches- which is a lot of stitches when it’s 92 degrees out and you don’t have air conditioning, but you are still determined to get the job done. The sewn bind off is a lesson in patience and perseverance- two stitches back – one forward- all the while drawing a massive amount of yarn carefully through the stitches.

So doing the extra repeat was a good thing in the end because I really like the extra yardage- I’m sure I’m a little larger than Kate Davies- so I could use the extra yardage. The shawl was to measure 63-inches in the wingspan and 24 inches from nape to tip. Mine measures 98 inches in the wingspan and 36 inches from nape to tip.

I used all of 2 -150 gram balls of Kauni and ran out in the second to last row- not to worry though- did I mention I have way more of this stuff on hand than anyone really should.

So mission accomplished- I used 2 balls of the Kauni and had the joy of knitting a Hap Shawl!

The photo above was before soaking and blocking.

You’ll have to trust me that the fabric turned out beautifully. I’ll try to post a modeled photo soon – need to secure a photographer…

Sending Birthday Wishes to my Mom this week! XXXOOO Will be looking forward to a visit to Cleveland in the next couple of weeks!

52 Weeks of Happy 3/52

Happy Stuff happening…

Random sweater picture I saw on Pinterest.You can find the sweater here but it looks like it’s not available.

I decided my recipe cupboard was making me crazy.

I not only wanted to organize in there but try some new recipes. So I looked into a recipe organizing app and downloaded “Paprika”’. I’m loving it! I can browse recipes right from my page – save them- make grocery lists that are then available on my phone.I am working on a healthy repertoire of soups and slow cooker meals. One of the best things I’ve made so far was a Cuban pork and sweet potato stew from the Weight Watchers website.I added an extra sweet potato, a can of vegetable broth, and a can of black beans to make it more like a soup. It was incredibly delicious- spicy with a hint of sweetness.

I’ve talked myself into thinking of my aerobic DVD as dance time. I'm listening to probably THE weirdest playlist you could imagine, but it gets me moving and that is making me happy.

Figuring out how to neaten up the heel of my moccasin socks with a wrap and turn made me happy! I used the techniques on page 124 of Interweaves “Knitter’s Companion”. (If you don’t have that little book you should get it – it will make you happy.

Swatching is making me happy. I’m getting geared up to make the aran cardigan from Knitter's Almanac, and Elizabeth very sensibly recommends making a gauge swatch cap. My hat turned out a little silly...

but I feel much better about moving forward with my project.

I hope there's lots making you happy this week too!

Good Old Porridge/ Oatmeal

After the feasting that comes with the Holidays it feels good to get back to basics.

Oatmeal- why yes- I actually like it.

Of her children and oatmeal Elizabeth Zimmermann wrote…

“Poor things, they certainly were stuffed on it as children, but I was convinced then, and still am, that it is the very best form of food for children, and one should get as much as possible into them before they get wise to it. They had it in bread, soup, cookies, and even pudding., for which I would sweeten it up, and let it set. At breakfast it was, “Now eat up your nice porridge, and if you are good, you may have sugar on your second plateful.”

“Knitting Around” P. 124

My first project of the New Year- EZ’s Baby Surprise Jacket- is off to a great start.  I worked it in an oatmeal colored Paton’s Classic Wool. (All yarn was on sale at Joann’s this week!)

Looking like nothing but a wobbly rectangle-I pressed on through decreases and increases and pick-ups. Before I knew it - it was time to bind off- then a couple of deft folds- and Voila! – the cutest baby sweater ever appears.

Over the weekend I’ll stitch up the shoulders and try my hand at adding an i-cord edging. Brown or cream for the edging- what do you think?... I also need to rustle up some buttons…

The BSJ pattern is found in “The Opinionated Knitter”. Pretty bare bones as far as instructions go. Folks will tell you not to try to read too much into the pattern- and not to try to figure out how the thing will end up as a sweater. Well -thank goodness for Ravelry groups and WIKIs. There is help out there for any question that might arise. In fact I had to stop myself from trying to read all the notes and just get to the knitting.

Garter Stich and some honest wool- Like Oatmeal- 
It’s good for the soul.

I’m sharing a favorite bread recipe. Unfortunately I have no idea where it came from. I’ve been making it for a while and I copied it out on a card- never noting the source. It makes a good transition from all the cookies and coffee cakes we’ve been eating to something a little more sensible- but still yummy.
Hope you enjoy it!

Oatmeal Bread

6 ups flour

2 ½ teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons butter

½ cup orange marmalade

¼ cup honey

1 cup rolled oats

2 cups boiling water

2 packages yeast

1/3 cup lukewarm water

Pour boiling water over oats and let sit ½ hour

Proof yeast in a small bowl with the lukewarm water

Add salt, marmalade, and honey to oats and stir

Stir in yeast

Stir in 2 cups of the flour

Incorporate in the rest of the flour

Kneed and put in a greased bowl to rise – about 2 hours

Punch down and shape. I use 3 small bread tins, which I grease.

Let rise again for about an hour – then bake at 350 for about an hour.

I Can

My sister Jenny is a canner extraordinaire- turning out massive quantities of beautifully prepared applesauce, apple butter and other various jams. My last visit home got me thinking I’d like to give some canning a try.

Both Jenny and my friend Katie have mentioned the Food In Jars blog as a wonderful resource for canning inspiration, especially small batch canning inspiration.I also checked out the Ball Jar website and found this handy chart. And with berries on sale last week I gathered my supplies- jars, lids, bands, lifter, funnel, an assortment of kitchen towels and a ginormous pot. Then I got to work.

Some things I didn’t really know…

Massive quantities of sugar are involved. The Ball Chart does gives alternative “low sugar” quantities, which I used. Jenny tells me using less sugar makes it more difficult to get the stuff to jell.  But she reassured me -how much jam do you really eat in a sitting?- like a spoon full – not the whole jar….

Another thing I really didn’t know about was the foam that appears. Recipes will mention to skim it off.

Do you know MFK Fisher? 

In the “The Gastronomical Me” she wrote-

“The first thing I remember tasting and then wanting to taste again is the greyish-pink fuzz my grandmother skimmed from a spitting kettle of strawberry jam.”

I'll pass along this bit from the forward to recommend her writing to you-

People ask me: Why do you write about food, and eating, and drinking? Why don’t you write about the struggle for power and security, and about love, the way others do?

The easiest answer is to say that, like most other humans, I am hungry. But there is more than that. It seems to me that our three basic needs, for food and security and love, are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others. So it happens that when I write of hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it, and warmth and the love of it and the hunger for it… and then the warmth and richness and fine reality of hunger satisfied… and it is all one.

Jenny says you can add a tad of butter – that will cut down on the foam- if it bothers you.  Or do what I did and enjoy tasting it.

Blueberry-Lime, raspberry, strawberry and all three berries together-

We’ve spent the week tasting them on oatmeal- over yogurt and ice cream and most fun of all … mixed with yogurt and frozen.

I’ll need to make more if there is to be any saved for next winter

            Happy first weekend of Summer!

Lamb Cake

Probably 10 years ago I won this cast iron lamb cake mold at a Christmas party as part of a white elephant gift exchange. The lovely lady who gave away the pan thought it was atrocious. It had been found abandoned by the previous owner, in a kitchen cupboard, when she had moved into her home.

I love the pan, but it has just been sitting on the shelf. I think of it as  a wool related decorating accessory.

A few months back I discovered a fun blog called Mid Century Menu.  Ruth features all kinds of fun and kitschy 50’s recipes and her willing husband taste tests them. She posted 10 tips for the perfect lamb cake and then posted eight days of lamb cakes leading up to Easter – that’s eight different cake recipes and eight different frostings.(she is a very brave and dedicated blogger)

I decided that I would give the recipe that her husband liked the best a try- “The Pope Family Recipe” and I went with their favorite “Vintage Birthday Cake Frosting”.

I never would have guessed that to bake the cake you fill the “face half” – add supports in the head and neck then pop the “back half “on top. As the cake raises it fills the other half.  I imagined that you filled both halves- then somehow glued them together with frosting. Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.

I was a little nervous about unmolding the cake-especially when I realized that I had greased, but not floured the pan- as Ruth advised. Still I was able to get the poor thing out without too much trauma.  Thankfully there was enough batter to make some cupcakes because David didn’t want to wait till the next day to try the cake.

I let the lamb rest overnight before frosting it. The process was a little tedious, but worth the effort. A little late for Easter- but a fun and tasty experiment.  

PS- When I checked in on Ruth’s blog this morning I noticed she's running a gelatin recipe contest…Hmmmmmmmm

http://www.midcenturymenu.com/

Treats

I saw this idea on Pinterest, and even though cupcakes aren’t part of my New Year healthy eating regime, a treat now and then keeps things real, and this looked like fun, and besides Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. Really it was kind of a science in the kitchen experience…really.

All you need is a cake mix, a can of pop, some marbles, muffin liners, and a muffin pan. No oil- no eggs. I used Cherry Chip Mix, Faygo Red Pop, Disney Princess muffin liners and little balls of foil…cause I’ve lost my marbles….

 

Any way, as you can see they turned out pretty good. They do look like hearts for the most part. Maybe some look a little more like Pac-Man heads.

I iced them with a cream cheese frosting, and added a sprinkling of coconut, which I would have tinted pink if I had had any or if I wasn’t afraid that they already contain a dangerous level of red food coloring.

I’m no food stylist, but there you have it, a beautiful pin on Pinterest interpreted by  me.

Please Note-While I am pretty good at channeling my inner seven year old this would have been even more fun with some little girls to keep me company. 

still discovering

We have rhubarb growing to the left of our front door. It took me a few years (I’m not going to admit how many) to figure out it was rhubarb. We actually had ancient overgrown shrubs pulled out to start a fresh bed and I didn’t realize the rhubarb was there. It survived the bed remodeling and should have been easier to spot the next spring - crimson alien looking nodules poking their way out of the ground. The leaves looked pretty weed like. I think I went to pull it out and noticed the red stalks resembling celery. I asked some folks – just to be sure- and sure enough – rhubarb. Well I think that year the harvest went to Harriet- her husband had a taste for a pie. The next year it went to Sherm. He had grown up on a farm but was living in a condo. I didn’t know you could continue picking it through the summer...it went to seed and I took an "arty"  photo of the stalk of seeds that appeared when the plant bolted.

Betty gifted me with a jar of her rhubarb freezer jam and included the recipe. Now that’s been a few years ago…. Last January Betty passed away and I promised myself I would finally make her jam with our rhubarb.

Heading in the back door, over to the right, I noticed a plant I thought was a weed needing to be pulled. The leaves resembled the leaves of the rhubarb I was carrying in. Sure enough it was a second rhubarb plant.
Still discovering..........and learning............

Betty's Rhubarb Jam
Mix 5 cups of cut up rhubarb with 4 cups of sugar. Let it sit overnight. The next day boil it for 10-15 minutes. Remove it from heat and stir in a 6 ounce package of strawberry jello. Pour into freezer jars - the Ball company makes some nice plastic ones-enjoy!