Tuesday, December 31, 2013

New Year

I rarely make resolutions for the new year but I do make plans. My husband says that I make plans for everything, that he lives his life by accident and I have a plan. That's pretty true. Besides running through ideas about future quilt projects, I plan my days, plan driving routes, think of the best order for accomplishing certain tasks. Right now I am thinking about the books I hope to read in 2014 including Richard Powers' newest one. That inevitably makes me think of good books I have read previously so I thought I would make a short list on this blog. On my Kindle I have the newest book by Robert Stone, Death of the Black-Haired Girl waiting to be read. I like his use of language and his point of view. I particularly like his Outerbridge Reach although there are numerous others worth your time and effort. Another favorite of mine is A Frolic of His Own, by the late William Gaddis. This book takes some getting used to as it is entirely dialogue but without any quotation marks or specific identification of the speaker. So one must pay attention early on to distinguish one character from another, but in the end this is one of the funniest books I have ever read. If you have any young girls in your house, there is a series by a man named Alan Bradley that is intended for young adults. They are mystery novels with an engaging heroine named Flavia de Luce. Even though these are supposed to be for younger people, my husband and I find them delightful. Another series we both enjoy is by Ian Sansom featuring a hapless librarian in Northern Ireland. Another author I recommend highly is Simon Mawer, His first book, Mendel's Dwarf, with its blend of science, morals, and ethics knocked my socks off and I have read everything he has written ever since.

When my sister lay dying in the hospital her most profound regret was that she wouldn't get a chance to finish Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel. Now that I am older than she will ever be, I feel similar regrets about all the books I will never read even if I live another forty years. My paternal grandmother lived to be 102 so there are certainly genes that might get me close to that age.

What a depressing thought to end on. I am not a sad person so I will now wish you peace and joy in the New Year to lift the tone. 

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Planning Ahead

I am sure that I am not the only quilter who has visions of future quilts running through her mind. It doesn't even matter if I like the project I am working on because hand quilting itself is meditative, at least for me. Now that I am quilting Froggy, a project for which I don't have many positive feelings,  thinking about my next project gains more urgency. I do want to like my next project and I do want it to be "pretty", however one might define that idea. Right now I am leaning toward learning how to do trapunto. I have put a little trapunto in a couple of projects in the past but I think a white on white center with an appliqued border with trapunto in the center section might be nice.

Update: I had another idea for the next project--make something with my French material (see posts) and use a pieced center with an appliqued border based on the laurel wreath on the floor around Napoleon's sarcophagus (see posts).

New Year's is this week. My husband and I always hew to tradition on New Year's Day when we make lunch. Since he is Japanese-American we eat o-zoni, a soup with gobo (burdock root) and mochi (rice paste patties). It's supposed to be good luck. Years ago I asked my mother-in-law what it's called if it doesn't have gobo or mochi. Her answer--"Chicken soup."

We also try to do those activities on New Year's that we want to do for the rest of the year, an idea that is easier now that our sons are adults themselves, although the two who live nearby usually come for lunch so they can have good luck soup, too. So I hope everyone has a fabulous New Year's Day--be nice to those you love and do a good deed for a neighbor.

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Froggy With Some Embroidery

I finished the applique and began the process of outline stitching around some of the elements of the Froggy quilt top. So far I have outlined the green parts of the frog, his fly, and parts of the dragonfly. See if you can tell the difference from the photo below.
 I am still not crazy about this piece--doesn't seem to have any rhythm or something--so I am not going to go ahead and add a border but I will complete this as a small piece. I am sure I will find someone to give it to. The fish and the sun will need outline stitching as well, but I have to finish the dragonfly wings first. You can see the needle and floss up there.

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

White Chocolate Bread Pudding Recipe

This is our traditional Christmas dessert. It is incredibly rich and indulgent so it's a good thing we only eat it once a year.

1 pound loaf of French bread (I think cheap store bread is best) cut into 1 inch cubes.
Toast these at 275 Fahrenheit for about ten minutes until they are lightly browned. Then turn the oven up to 350 Fahrenheit. Put the bread cubes in a 13 x 9 greased baking dish.

10 ounces white chocolate
7 egg whites
2 whole eggs
3 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
Dark rum,  kahlua, vanilla extract.
In a large glass bowl, melt together in a microwave set at pretty low (white chocolate burns easily), 10 ounces of white chocolate, 3 cups heavy cream, 1 cup milk, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon dark rum, 1 tablespoon kahlua or similar liqueur, 1 teaspoon vanilla. At my house this is about 5 minutes on power level 6 but microwaves differ. Just be cautious with the white chocolate.

While that is melting separate 7 large eggs, saving the whites for another use. When the chocolate/cream mixture is completely melted, whisk the egg whites and two whole eggs into the mixture. Pour about half of the mixture over the bread cubes and let sit for ten minutes. Then pour the rest of the liquid over the bread cubes, pressing the cubes down so that everything is covered and soaked. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the aluminum foil and bake another fifteen minutes.

Serve warm with the following sauce.
8 ounces white chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
Dark rum, kahlua, vanilla extract.
Melt the white chocolate with the heavy cream and 1 tablespoon  of rum, kahlua, vanilla. Stir vigorously to combine into a smooth sauce.

The funniest story about this dessert is that my chef son did a private chef gig for a famous rock star's manager a couple of years ago. He cooked for this fellow and his extended family for a week, knocking himself out with fabulous breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. I helped by making several of the desserts he served including this one. The only recipe the guy wanted after the week was over was this one. He even ate it for breakfast the day after it was served.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Merry Christmas To All

Merry Christmas everyone. Pork roast stuffed with apricots, prunes, shallots, and sage with roast potatoes and brussels sprouts for dinner here. Then there is white chocolate bread pudding and Kentucky butter cake for dessert. My daughter-in-law has some psychiatric issues involving OCD and anxiety syndrome some of which center around food so we always have to make that Kentucky butter cake.

 I wish your families the best--peace and joy to all.

Monday, December 23, 2013

Guess Who Just Got Married!

I have been involved in the lgbt rights movement for more than a decade, coaching a lgbt swimming team, serving on the boards of two international lgbt rights athletic organizations, traveling all over the world promoting equal rights, etc. The state I live in, Utah, is not only dominated by one religion, but it also is known for very conservative politics. Nevertheless a federal judge ruled that the state's constitutional amendment that declared marriage to be solely between a man and a woman ( ironic given Utah's history) and declared the state also forbade any form of equal rights that approximated marriage (civil unions, equal benefits, you name it), was unconstitutional by federal standards. so Friday afternoon hundreds of couple went to various county clerks to get married. This morning two dear friends, Mike and Mark, a couple who have been together for years, got legally married. Congratulations!

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Helicopter Parents

About a month ago I scored a set of essays for a couple of classes of sophomores responding to a prompt about sustained allusion to "myths, the Bible, or other works of literature" as a way to enhance meaning. The novel they were studying was The Grapes of Wrath and one young lady wrote an essay about Steinbeck mentioning John Dillinger. Now this essay wasn't badly written, but try as I might I couldn't accept John Dillinger as a sustained allusion to myths, the Bible, or other works of literature. I wrote a note on the student's paper indicating that she had not addressed the prompt meaning she didn't answer the question she was asked.

Her mother came in to the school to raise holy hell with the teacher. "I teach writing at the university and this is a good essay!" The teacher said that after she got rid of the parent she took the essay to a department meeting to solicit other opinions on whether my judgment was correct or whether the mother's wrath would necessitate a change in the score. The faculty agreed with me that the parameters of the prompt were specific and the student had strayed too far outside the lines. Well, this week the teacher brought more essays to my house and told me what had happened. That probably wasn't such a good idea since the first action I took was to pull out the student's current essay on the use of setting in The Scarlet Letter to enhance meaning. Once again, the student wrote something sort of out of sync with the prompt though not to the same degree as the previous essay. This time her claim is that Hawthorne uses New England and England as primary settings to show that harsh judgments stifle humans. I had not read The Scarlet Letter in a couple of years (I do try to re-read all these texts periodically to refresh my memory), so I dragged out my copy because I couldn't remember any action taking place in England. Sure enough, Hawthorne makes references to England but the characters do not reside in England during the action in the book. It is a setting but the exiguous references treat England more as a notion of a utopia than a physical place. The student never indicates that at all, writing as if the characters were in England at least some of the time. Beyond that there are more obvious and apposite settings that fit with Hawthorne as a Romantic novelist and a transcendentalist with a strong bias against Puritan views. This student could have written a stronger essay making a different comparison. Still, given the mother's reaction to the last score her daughter received I was torn between scoring this essay as I thought it should be scored or puffing up the score a couple of points. Deciding that the extra points would not mollify the mother I gave it the score I thought it merited but if I hear that the mother complained again I think I might just resign my position. Since my husband and I are lucky enough to have plenty of money for our retirement, I don't do this job for the money. My net pay for scoring essays after our tax bite is well below $7 per hour and the tutoring I offer is free.

Anyway, another frustration is the Froggy quilt. My husband picked the background fabric and I don't think there is enough value difference. I will have to add a great deal of embroidery to make everything show up. Besides that it seems to lack sparkle. Look at the picture and let me know what you think. There is still one flower and a large fish in the water to add to what is here already.


Monday, December 16, 2013

Coming Along

I have been working on the Froggy Went A-Courting quilt at odd moments during this busy time. I had the frog more or less complete when my husband suggested that he have a tongue out to catch something (not the giant dragonfly over his head). So I redid the mouth and made a tongue but I haven't added a bug yet. Nearly everything in this quilt will have tons of embroidery to add detail and to make the images stand out more even though in real life most flora and fauna camouflage themselves. So the frog will be different when the quilt is complete but you get the idea. Still many plants and animals to add to what is here. After that there will be a border too. The temperature hasn't risen above 25 Fahrenheit in a while so this little fantasy land is soothing.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

She Got In

For those who may be interested in the young lady who got the most recent quilt, she got in to MIT early admission. While it is her first choice she is still not sure that is where she will end up. Having skipped sophomore year, she is younger than most seniors. I don't know what her decision will be nor do I have any influence whatsoever--I am just a mentor.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Batting

I was looking at a magazine a couple of days ago and a quilting blog today and both had some information about batting so naturally I thought I would add my two cents. This two cents is not for machine quilters since I don't know anything about that. But for those who are still hand quilting or are just beginning to quilt I have two warnings and some personal experiences. Quilting stitches are judged as much by their evenness as they are by their smallness so if you can't quite achieve more than ten stitches per inch but your stitches are  evenly spaced and evenly sized, front and back, then you are doing fine. One way to force yourself to keep everything even is to quilt with colored thread that stands out from the background of your quilt instead of blending in. This can be in small places at first, say the veins on a leaf, or you can make an Amish style quilt with contrasting thread and work on your skills over the entire surface.

I have used pretty much every kind of batting that there is except the new green batting made from soda bottles. They vary in many ways but the most obvious one experienced first is how easy or hard they are to needle. Polyester batting is easy to needle, comes in many sizes, doesn't shrink, washes well, but beards a lot. There are many purists who would never use polyester batting at all--it will certainly last longer than either the surface or the backing of your quilt. Cotton batting or 80/20 blends are both harder to needle than polyester and both shrink more as well. Lots of people like the look and feel of cotton which washes well but takes longer to dry than polyester alone. Wool battings vary tremendously by manufacturer. Some are very fluffy, shrink like crazy, shift even as you work on them. Hobbs wool is easy to use and easy to quilt--one of my favorites to work with. I don't dry my quilts in the electric dryer--at most I spin them for only five minutes to get out excess water--so if it shrinks at all I wouldn't know. Wool filled quilts are lightweight but warm.  Silk is similar to wool in its ease of needling. It needs more caution in washing and drying than wool so if you give one as a gift you should send the care instructions with it. That's a good idea for most gift quilts anyway. Silk is lightweight so not as warm as any of the others.

Finally, the two battings I will never use again--bamboo and bonded polyester. Bamboo sounds like a great idea and perhaps if one machine quilts it is, but for a hand quilter it is a nightmare. I made a full sized quilt with bamboo batting, broke 46 needles doing so, couldn't get the stitches smaller at all, suffered through the worst bearding I have ever seen. Never again. The bonded batting wasn't that bad but the bonding layer made small stitches hard to achieve and made needling hard as well. It was supposed to minimize or eliminate bearding and it did do that so there was one positive note.

First Steps

Maybe it's the outside weather (6 degrees Fahrenheit and snow on the ground) but this scene looks so inviting right now. The sun circle is only partly sewn, the top of the tallest leaf is loose, and there is one spot in the flowing water that is waiting for another stem to  be inserted.

Monday, December 9, 2013

Cold But Sunny

The thermometer barely rose above 15 degrees Fahrenheit today but it was very sunny. That's a good enough combination to make being outside bearable. A friend and I took a long walk with our dogs today, up into a canyon near my house and then down toward the city and then back to my house. My terrier refused to go with us--the snow between his toes makes him crazy-- but the other two dogs and the people  behind them had a good time. The humans even got a little overheated since the walk was vigorous and we wore multiple layers of clothing. There isn't that much snow but what there is will probably hang around until Christmas because it is so cold.

I will post pictures of the progress on the new quilt tomorrow. It is moving quickly so far but I am only doing the features that are in the background at this point so pretty straight forward applique. Tomorrow some of the more intricate elements will get some attention. I will probably start with the sun and the dragonfly but it might be the fish.

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Sarah's Quilt Finished

For some unknown reason this looks very crooked. Could be the way I held it up but it looks odd. Since I simply used a length of fabric, the width from selvedge to selvedge (in this photo the top and the bottom) is the same. I am not a perfectionist but I am picky so I apologize for the strange photo.

Anyway, Sarah's quilt is complete. I ended up calling it Catenaries and Anomalies. Early admissions announcement will be next Saturday so after she finds out she will come tell me and pick up the quilt. Given the vagaries of the admissions process there is no guarantee she will be admitted so I wanted to finish it either way before the day or way after. 

My next project is going to be an intricately appliqued piece inspired by the painted wood furniture of Helen Heins Peterson.
This is more or less the central portion of the quilt. It will have a pieced and appliqued border making the finished project approximately 48 x 42 inches. Other than knowing that there will be many bright batiks in the elements I haven't finalized the fabric choices yet. I am also going to add another animal to the bottom left in front of the large fish. It might be a smaller fish, it might be a crayfish, it might be a turtle.

I make my applique with freezer paper so the Sharpy pen bleeding through to the back side of the paper is a good thing. Saves me drawing it out again. 


Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Cold, Cold Weather

Last night the temperature fell to 8 degrees Fahrenheit. We never got the predicted seven inches of snow, more like two, but what fell stayed. The forecast indicates slightly warmer, at least into double digits, but more snow on Saturday. I don't know if that means a white Christmas but I am glad I had my furnace winter checked.

So with this cold I had to break out my mink jacket. Now this jacket is about 30 years old but still in good condition. It is a long haired mink designed by some well known designer in New York. I picked it up at a second hand store. It was stuck on a hanger with some old clothes. I took it to the owner and asked how much it was. I hadn't even tried it on at that point but it was clearly a quality product. She said, "Oh it's expensive." "How expensive?" I wanted to know. "$200." "I'll take it!" I have had it about ten years now. If I get killed in a car accident while wearing the jacket I might get misidentified since another woman's name is embroidered on the lining. Funny occurrence though--last year when we spent a weekend in NYC in December, we were walking back to our hotel when what did I see coming toward me but a young woman with a long haired mink jacket nearly identical to mine. Wonder how much she paid for hers?

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Total Bedlam

Went to a local quilt store, Quilts Etc., yesterday. It's a long drive from my house but one of the best quilt stores in the country. First I have to drive on the interstate where everyone is driving at least 80 mph while also on their cellphones. Then I find out when I arrive at the store that it is their 25th anniversary so they are having a 25% off everything sale.

Seemed like every quilter in the area was there with at least nine bolts of fabric that needed cutting. If I had known about the sale I probably would have avoided the store like the plague but naturally since I was there I just added to the mayhem with my own nine bolts. I also picked up a giant refill of Mary Ellen's Best Press and some quilting betweens.

Good thing I went yesterday though since it is snowing pretty heavily right now. We are supposed to get about seven inches today. Must be time to hunker down under one quilt while working on another.

Monday, December 2, 2013

Three Chilis

I am sort of from Texas since I lived there from sixth grade through high school graduation. My father was the real Texan--a few generations worth so I knew the difference between a real Texan and me. That's sort of like these three chilis--not real Texans either.

Red Beef Chili

1 pound of beef stew meat.
Very coarsely chop the stew meat in a food processor by pulsing half a pound at a time. Aim for small chunks (half inch cubes) mixed in with some smaller grind (chili grind).
In a large pot heat a couple of tablespoons of neutral oil (canola or similar) until hot, then add a third of the meat at a time. Brown each smaller batch, remove with a slotted spoon to a bowl, cook the next batch, and so on. When you have all of the meat browned lightly, put it all back in the pot with any accumulated juices.

While the meat is cooking prep the rest of the ingredients.

Depending on how hot you like your chili, break three to five dried chilis or more(guajillos or Californias or a mix) into pieces, discarding the tough stems and the seeds. Put the pieces in a microwave safe container and put in enough water to just cover them.Microwave on high for one minute and then let sit until you are ready to put them in the food processor and blend.

One large yellow onion or two small ones cut in half crosswise and then each half cut into eight pieces.
Two or three fresh  Anaheim peppers, seeded and cut into pieces.
One or two garlic cloves sliced.
One jalapeno seeded and sliced.
Two tablespoons fresh oregano chopped.
Half a bunch of cilantro chopped stems and all.

Two to four tablespoons of dried ground cumin (some people like cumin less than others)
Two cans of undiluted beef broth
One 28 oz. can chopped tomatoes
One can red kidney beans optional.

Add the fresh vegetables to the pot with the beef and cook until softened, about ten minutes. Stir in the cumin and then add the broth, the tomatoes, and your chili slurry from the food processor. Add two cups of water and a teaspoon of salt. Bring to a simmer and then cook with the lid on  for an hour. Take the lid off and cook for another hour. If you want the kidney beans, add them at the second hour. Taste. This might need more cumin or more salt at this point. If you want it thicker, you can stir in a quarter cup of cornmeal with the cumin at the beginning or you can thicken it with a flour/butter roux or with cornstarch.

Vegetarian Chili

One eggplant peeled and cubed,
One zucchini, cubed.
Two or three anaheim peppers seeded and sliced.
One bell pepper, cubed
One jalapeno pepper seeded and sliced.
One large yellow onion cut into small chunks.
Two garlic cloves sliced
Two tablespoons fresh oregano chopped.
Two tablespoons chili powder
Salt and pepper to taste
 One or two tablespoons ground cumin
One 28 ounce can chopped tomatoes or equivalent fresh tomatoes chopped
One 14 oz can of red kidney beans or pinto beans

In a large pot heat some canola oil to hot and then add the vegetables as you prep them. There is no particular order. Stir in the seasonings before the tomatoes and cook for about five minutes, then add the tomatoes and one tomato can of water. Cook for about half an hour. Add the beans and cook until they are heated through. Taste and adjust the seasonings as necessary. We always eat this over baked sweet potatoes. That sounds weird but it tastes good.

White Chicken Chili

One whole boneless chicken breast cut into chunks  or three or four boneless chicken thighs cut into chunks.
Brown the chicken in batches as for the red chili. While that is cooking prep the vegetables.
One whole onion cut into one inch chunks.
Two anaheim peppers seeded and sliced.
One jalapeno pepper seeded and sliced.
One or two garlic cloves sliced.
One small can green salsa.
One or two tablespoons ground cumin.
One tablespoon chopped fresh oregano.
One 14 ounce can pinto or cannellini beans

One quart chicken broth.


8 ounces sour cream.

After the chicken is browned, add the rest of the ingredients except the sour cream. Cook for about half an hour and taste and adjust the seasoning. Add the sour cream and cook another fifteen minutes. This can be thickened with your favorite method.

Serve white chili and red chili with corn chips. Serve all chilis with grated cheddar cheese, some choppped cilantro.

My favorite method of thickening most dishes is to make a roux. Melt some butter, say about two tablespoons. Stir in an equal amount of flour. Now you have a roux that you can keep in the refrigerator and use as needed. Just scoop out a spoonful and stir into your chili--or your pan juices or whatever and heat until thickened. I wouldn't use this for Chinese food because of the butter but it thickens everything else up nicely and if you stir it in quickly you won't get any lumps.

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Layered and Basted

Sarah's quilt is moving quickly. My husband thinks it should be called Reach For The Stars because of her educational aspirations. The quilting will be simple arced lines moving from the points of the outer compass and crossing before curving back slightly. I am not going to put a hanging sleeve on this one since there is no up or down or sideways to the design.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Leftovers

While my husband thinks I am the best cook in the world, the area where he thinks I really shine is leftovers. I always have many different ways to cook what is left over from meals with my aim generally being to make the second meal different in multiple ways from the first meal. My family does like turkey cottage pie with Thanksgiving leftovers. No one really needs a recipe for that since it's essentially cut up meat, leftover gravy, some peas or green beans, covered with mashed potatoes and baked until the potatoes are browned and the filling is hot. The following recipe is almost as easy with instructions that are nearly as flexible. It is my variation of a Chinese recipe for "noodles both sides brown".

One package Chinese noodles cooked and drained. One brand is Wel-Pac Chow Mein Noodles in the 6 oz package. Many grocery stores sell fresh noodles now but the dry ones are just as good and if you can't get them you can always fall back on plain old spaghetti.
Toss the noodles with 1 tablespoon sesame oil and let wait while you prepare the rest.

Some leftover cooked meat such as turkey (light or dark meat), chicken, pork roast, duck breast, even beef if that's what you have, cut into small pieces--about 1/4 inch thick and about 1 inch by two inches long. For 4--6 people one and a half or two cups is more than enough.Let sit in 1 teaspoon soy sauce and one teaspoon rice wine.
Assorted fresh Chinese vegetables such as bok choy, snow peas, shiitake mushrooms, bamboo shoots. You can also add western vegetables such as sliced onion, fresh green bean pieces, broccoli, carrot, bell peppers, even celery. Just aim for crunch and color. All pieces should be the size to pick up with chopsticks.

Seasoning sauce--Two tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon rice wine, 1 tablespoon chili paste with garlic, 1 tablespoon fresh ginger grated, fresh garlic to taste, 1 tablespoon rice wine or white wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon sesame oil. If you want this sauce a little thicker you can stir in a teaspoon of cornstarch. This will thicken up at the end when it is poured over the hot mixture in the pan.

In a large nonstick frying pan, cook the drained noodles until one side is browned lightly. Using a pizza pan as a lid, flip the noodles over and cook the other side. Slide the noodle cake on to a large serving platter.

In the same pan, put a tablespoon of cooking oil and cook the vegetables. I usually cook the onion and the mushrooms together for about five minutes and then add the meat and cook until that is warm. Then add the other vegetables and cook very quickly 1 to 2 minutes until the snow peas are bright green but still very crisp. Pour in the seasoning sauce and stir to coat everything. cook until cornstarch thickens,  then pour everything over the noodles and serve.

You can fool around with this recipe endlessly, changing the meat, the vegetables. add black bean and garlic paste to the mixture, more hot chili sauce, oyster sauce, etc. It's not authentic Chinese, it's just leftovers.

It isn't club sandwiches that's for sure.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Sarah's Quilt



Mathematics being my student's passion made making a mathematics themed quilt harder not easier. I enjoy the mysteries and patterns that mathematics has but I cannot claim enough expertise to be inventive in making a quilt to satisfy someone who lives, eats, and breathes maths ideas. So I took the easy way out and worked on something that wasn't terribly math oriented but will have a Fibonacci sequence incorporated in the design. Originally I was going to make a science themed quilt, perhaps something like the quilts at http://www.fiberartists-looseends.com/BioArtGallery.html but much bigger since those were 18 inches square. That may still happen in the future since those are so wonderful.

Right now this is just a length of fabric with the compass design half pinned and half sewn to it. You can see all the threads clinging as well. This is a Judy Mathieson design from a while ago. I placed it off center so that I could have quilting lines spinning off from the compass with some  fabric circles appliqued along one of the lines. Those circles will begin at 1/4 inch and move up the Fibonacci sequence to 3.25 inches using each color, though not each fabric, represented in this design. It is not quite a rainbow since it only goes through indigo not violet.  It has been fairly fast and easy so far though I don't think I will have it completed by December 15 which is the day most colleges send out their email notifications of the early admission results.

My next project will be another dark background quilt and then a light background one. I have been getting interesting batiks from multiple sources including local stores as well as online sources such as eQuilter and Hancock fabrics. 

Tomorrow will be baking day for Thanksgiving--apple pie, pumpkin pie, Kentucky butter cake. I will probably have time to finish sewing the compass to the background but not much else. Next week my husband is off traveling on business--long story about how the man who was supposed to be retired ended up with two new jobs--but that will leave me even more time to sew.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Mental Tangents

You can never tell where your mind is going to go when sparked by an idea, an occurrence, an event. Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John Kennedy. Like most people who were alive at the time I remember where I was when I heard the news. I even remember from whom I heard it. I had just left physical education class and I was walking to my next class in junior high school. Clark Weldon was running down the corridor yelling that the president had been killed. For the next four days we were glued to the television, hungry for news, hungry for images. Seeing Lee Harvey Oswald get killed shocked and appalled me--it was nothing like the movies I had grown up on.

Simultaneous to everything else that was going on was all the background gossip and investigation about who could have done this thing and why. That's where my memories went with all of the replaying during the week of Ruby shooting Oswald. Several years previous to the assassination, my family and I lived in a small town in western Pennsylvania that was a notorious mob town run by the Mannarino brothers. My father was an officer in the US Army and had nothing to do with the mob, but I was best friends with Dolores Mannarino for a while. One of the rackets that involved the Mannarino brothers was gambling in Cuba before the revolution. Supposedly the brothers were angry that Kennedy was inept at returning Cuba to Bautista and the mob so they were closely investigated as possible contractors for Kennedy's assassination.

Anyway, I used to go to Dolores's house to play after school. She was an only child and very indulged but going there was pretty strange. Her mother always had rough men in the kitchen playing cards, sometimes with guns visible, always with rolls of money on the table. Her father was wanted by the FBI so he was clearly not around. Dolores and I were friends until the day I told her her father was a gangster. I am not sure why I told her that truth--we were both somewhere between seven and nine years old so what memories I have of it are that she was bragging about her father and I wanted to counter those brags. Anyway, she told me to go home so I left. By the time I got home my mother was in the front yard looking pretty frantic. She told me I had to go back to Dolores's house right away and apologize and tell her that I had lied. Of course at that age I was taken aback that my mother was asking me to lie after telling me to always tell the truth no matter what. But she was very insistent that I go back and lie. I never saw Dolores again after that and shortly after my family moved to California, to Monterey for the Army Language School.

Needless to say making Dolores cry was a very bad idea. Her mother threatened my life during my walk back home. The only lesson I learned was that parents couldn't  be trusted.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Quilting Limbo

For one reason or another I am between quilts with nothing to work on. The designs I have been considering for the small gift quilt for the young student I have been working with haven't pleased me enough to get me to the cutting board yet. I ordered some fabric from an online merchant that is arriving tomorrow. Perhaps that will provide that final spark that gets the process moving. Since there is a time limit on that quilt, spring of 2014, I would like to make it before starting any other project although I have several in mind. I am not used to being idle. It reminds me of all the down times I have had after surgeries (neck, both elbows, left thumb twice) when I couldn't sew and those aren't the best memories. There are some very intriguing science based quilts, specifically biology based, but she is more of a math person. I am not a math person which might point to the reason I am having issues. The well known Clifford torus quilt just isn't that interesting to me. Oh well, I will settle on a design over the next few days.

Update: I have been working on a Judy Mathieson compass design on a black background. When I get the center done I will add pictures.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

The Quilts of Christmas Past

I know it isn't even Thanksgiving yet, but if you are a quilter you are a long term thinker and planner anyway. Here are a couple of quilts from long ago in my quilting history.


The first one dates from about two years after I had started quilting so there are numerous flaws both in execution and color choices but I still like it. This quilt was a real lesson in attention to details. Jodi Warner was the designer.

The snowmen quilt was and is just fun. They are comical anyway and the snaps for eyes and fringe and buttons just emphasize the humor. The snowman on the right has a very nice Liberty of London tie. This one was a Red Wagon design. The part that took the longest was sewing on all of the small fake pearls.

It's funny that color choices have changed so much since 1993. Many quilts back then were the muted "country" colors and now everything seems to be discordant neon brights.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Done But Not Completed

Well it's about 4 pm where I live and I have just finished the small Christmas cats quilt. I finished the quilting yesterday and today I made and applied the binding. This picture shows the quilt as it is. There are still some basting threads, still some chalk marks, a little bearding, and it hasn't been blocked yet.

All appearances to the contrary, the quilt is true and square. That bottom corner is tucked in slightly giving the appearance of being both shorter and crooked. When it is blocked, that will disappear. So tomorrow I will make a label and do my quick wash and block. I never used to label my quilts but the more quilt books I purchased that showed family treasures with no provenance (Anonymous Thy Name IsWoman), the more labels I made. Plus foundation piecing can make a label more than just a piece of fabric.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

More Nutcrackers

 This group of nutcrackers is the group lovingly referred to as the family crackers. They include a leprechaun for our shared Irish heritage; a couple of Germans for my German grandfather, one sort of warlike and one holding a stein; a mountain climber for my husband; a golfer for my middle son; a chef for my youngest son; and an array of wild animals playing musical instruments for the son who always marched to a different drummer. There is also a specially commissioned female nutcracker in a swimsuit and swim cap given to me by one of the teams I coached at the time.
 This group of nutcrackers is the Santa group--Santas of all types from St. Nicholas to the toymaker Santa,  and more.
This group of nutcrackers is all the character nutcrackers--native Americans, fishermen, angels, chimney sweeps, skiers, the statue of Liberty, etc.

Once again, even all of these added to the previous photo do not add up to the full number of nutcrackers. There are a couple of different groups of the three kings, a small group of female nutcrackers. For some reason there just aren't many female nutcrackers made but I do have a few including a knitting nutcracker though not a quilting nutcracker.

So the day after Thanksgiving, I will be moving from the first floor to the basement and back again, with the glue gun plugged in for those minor repairs, setting out all the nutcrackers. There are numerous other decorations that have become traditional so those will go out as well. It is weird but it is also like seeing old friends after being away for a while.

Interwoven Exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum

Looking at a friend's blog this morning reminded me of the Interwoven exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC that runs until January. We stayed in the city for two days before going to France and went to the exhibit having read about it in the New York Times. If you plan to visit the city between now and January make sure you see this exhibit. There are only a couple of quilts in the display but that's okay. The other splendors more than make up for that. Exquisite embroidery from 500 years ago--amazing dresses that are both embroidered and hand painted--tablecloths and altar cloths. For me it wasn't just that the pieces were beautiful. The very thought of doing that kind of work with who knows what kind of needle and under candle light bowled me over. Then, one of the points of the exhibit, the various places that the materials came from coming together to enable the making of that wonderful work simply astounded me. There was a bedcover from Mexico where the cotton came from Mexico, the wool from South America, and the silk from China--all in a bedcover made by a woman more than 300 years ago for her marriage bed.  There was a yellow silk gown from Revolutionary America that had a fascinating hem treatment, tucked and pleated silk that was left raw edged on the top and the bottom but cut into points on the bottom side. This whole band of wonderful handwork was sewn to the bottom edge of the gown--yards and yards of pleated silk in wonderful points. Anyway, this is a must see show.

I found a picture from the last time we had the nutcrackers on display at our house. Keep in mind that this is just a fraction of the total. The others are in various places in the living room.

 

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Three Corners--Good Progress

I have just been zipping along on the border quilting. I just reached the fourth corner so three sides are complete and the corner on the fourth side is complete too. That means I have to finish the fourth corner, quilt across about three fourths of the bottom side, and then the quilting will be done. Then bind the quilt, make a sleeve and attach that, make a label and attach that, then soak and dry and block the quilt. Ta-da. So barring some unforeseen event, this little quilt will be done before the weekend is over. Pictures will follow when it is complete. I started the sewing on September 19th so that will be just short of two months. Big pieces with little layering on the applique makes a big difference.

Monday, November 11, 2013

Monday, Monday

For some reason, Monday is the day I change the sheets, dust, vacuum, etc. Because of that it is also the day that I change out quilt displays, either the ones on the wall or the ones on the my bed. So what you can see in this picture is the process kind of midway with Max claiming the "Princess and the Pea" bed as his own. You can see, if you look carefully, seven quilts in this photo. What you cannot see is the quilts I removed from that bed and put elsewhere or stacked on the rocking chair just out of the photo range to replace on the bed in order to get the two quilts I wanted from the collection. Also visible is the bottom part of a painting by an American artist named Richard Deyber titled "The Ox-Bow Incident" and the piles of books that stack up in this, my guest bedroom.

Ordinarily the quilts are not visible, except some of their bottom edges. They get layered, then covered with a commercial quilt (to the right in the photo with the pillows and shams) and then some blankets and a large terry cloth towel to protect them from the animals who choose to sleep here. I don't like the look of fold lines in quilts so I either roll them or put them on the bed in this room so they can be flat. Once a week they get shaken out to get the dust off and then covered again. I suppose when I die someone will have to figure out what to do with all of them.

Max is a Maine coon cat. He is mostly hair though certainly bigger than the average house cat at about 19 pounds. He was the runt of his litter so he will never get as big as his siblings or his father. You can just barely see the tufts on his ears, like a bobcat. All of my cats are personality plus but this one is a real character. He thinks he is a dog and can't understand why he isn't allowed on our daily walks with his canine companions. Coon cats don't have much in the way of voices, they sort of warble unless they are very angry.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

One Side Complete

It is almost the middle of November which means Christmas decorating is getting very close. I have just finished one long side of quilting on the Christmas cat quilt so I think it will get done for this Christmas. Not to worry if it doesn't get done since one of the results of having lived in the big house is that I have far too much junk to decorate with. What I do now is alternate years with what is out on display. This year we will go back to the full display of the nutcrackers I have collected--last year it was the Santas. With over 100 nutcrackers it is a little overwhelming in such a small space. In the old house it was  barely noticeable. Once I put everything out I will post a picture.

Friday, November 8, 2013

What?

Dear readers, you have endured many complaints in this blog before but this one is a new one for me. I went into the high school today to make another presentation on essays. The teacher requested this appearance and I spoke to two of her classes yesterday. When I showed up for the class today there was an unfamiliar woman there. At first I thought little of it, people do get sick. But the classroom teacher hadn't even called in sick. She simply hadn't shown up. That meant there was no lesson plan, no work, nothing. To add to that, the woman they found to babysit the students, and that is all it was, told them they didn't have to be there if they had some better place to be, leaving eight students in the room idly chatting.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Will They Ask Questions?

Tomorrow and Friday I am going to the high school to speak to three classes about their essays, those Crime and Punishment attempts, and about essays in general. I always wonder whether there will be good questions. These students are supposed to be the smartest in the city, skilled in math and science, in gifted education since kindergarten sort of idea. What that has done for them is made them confident, even arrogant, but it hasn't made many of them into critical thinkers. That's where good writing begins.

I am almost finished with the block portion of the Christmas quilt quilting. I have a tiny bit more background and a couple of inches of the candy cane sashing. I am thinking of doing echo quilting on the inside side of the light strand and then a diamond grid on the outside side using painter's tape to mark the lines. That way the quilt edges will be more stabilized than they would be if I simply outline quilted the light cord and then did the stars. Since this is intended to hang on the wall stability is important.

(Update 11/7) I spoke with two classes today partly about their essays and partly about what an essay is. One young lady asked how to begin an essay. She asked this smack in the middle of my explanation of what the prompt they responded to expected of them. So I finished my sentence and then asked her, in response to her question (she was directly in front of me and waving her hand so it was hard to ignore), "What does this book mean?" Keep in mind that the class is done with Crime and Punishment.They have read, discussed, dissected, written the essay. The young lady said she had no idea what the book meant. Trying to make it easier on her I told her she didn't have to be right (if there were such an idea); she only needed to articulate some personal notion of what the book means. She said she had no idea.

We'll see if tomorrow brings good questions.

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Pay Attention

I have just finished scoring two classes worth of essay responses on Crime and Punishment. That added up to approximately 65 students though I didn't count precisely. At most ten students answered the prompt correctly. Most provided plot summary with no argument to support, making their papers book reports not essays.

If any of you people out there who read this blog have students in AP English Literature, work with them on reading and understanding the prompts. All forty odd years of open prompts are available online and most of the targeted prompts are as well. Only very rarely do the prompts care about what happens in the book. Many even caution students not to give "mere plot summary". If I were to describe the general thrust of the questions it would be that they want a discussion of an author's skill in using some element of language to enhance meaning. In this case, the prompt from last year's exam asks how does a pivotal moment in a character's maturation process"shape the meaning of the work as a whole"? So the prompt assumes there is maturation. The prompt assumes a pivotal moment in that process. Neither one needs to be proven to exist. "Mere plot summary" does not answer the question asked.

Anyway, I am done now and can go back to quilting my Christmas cats quilt. I have made a lot of progress on completing this project. That's good since I now have a new one in mind. My tutee from last year who just completed her early admission application to MIT came by the other day to thank me for all my help and support. I told her I would make her a science or math focused quilt for a graduation present. There are many examples online if I need inspiration. She raised her SAT writing sample score over a 100 points after working with me. Of course she's smart  and a hard worker anyway so it isn't entirely down to me by any means.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Basting Done, Quilting Begins

This morning I did the final read through of one student's college application essays. This young girl is a breath of fresh air. She is very smart, very funny, completely without irony, cynicism,  or pretense. She skipped her sophomore year in high school because she was running out of math and science courses except for the concurrent enrollment ones at the university. That means she is missing some courses in humanities such as world history and more years of foreign language but she is the kind of kid who will study those on her own. The vagaries of college admissions mean that I cannot guarantee her admission to the school of her choice (MIT), but I have a hard time seeing how they can reject her--good GPA, good college testing scores.

I also finished basting the little quilt and sewed waste strips to the edge for protection and to help with the hoop. A long time ago I made a quilt that had all the colors of the rainbow in it so I still have numerous colors of quilting thread. I am thinking of outline and detail quilting on the pictorial elements and various stars in different sizes and shapes to fill in the black background. The actual quilting is my favorite part of the process so I am simply delighted that I have reached that stage.

Monday, October 28, 2013

Got Around To It After All

Well with the help of my husband all of the work got finished faster than expected. He even washed the kitchen floor and we planted the peonies that arrived in our absence together. That meant I could start basting the small quilt this afternoon after I fixed the irregularity in the "light cord". I know I have the most romantic husband in the world but sometimes he earns the title of best husband, too.
I have already written that I loathe having my picture taken and this photo is an example of why. I look more or less like a garden gnome because of the odd perspective. You do get a good view of my sock monkey socks though. Usually I move the dining room table to baste since the space is bigger, or at least it has less furniture, but this quilt is small enough that I just moved the coffee table in the living room. I am getting too old to do all the basting in one session; my back would give me fits if I did that even on a quilt as small as this. This piece of batting was left over from another project which is why it looks so big for the task at hand. I like to use wool batting and I store my leftovers in sealed bins to divide for smaller projects. This one will almost certainly end up filling three smaller quilts, this one being the second, since there is a good bit left as you can see. The backing is a swirly red.

Home Sweet Home

I don't know how it happens but my house is always a wreck when I come home. Part of it is, of course, the cats, who don't stop shedding or shredding just because I am not there. Part of it is all of the "mail" that accumulates, only a fraction of which is worth even looking at. We always turn down the heating and cooling systems so the air filters aren't as thorough and dust coats the surfaces of everything.This time the outside suffered as well since autumn blew in while we were out. Oak leaves, maple leaves, and crabapple leaves stand knee deep in the yard waiting for their trip to the compost pile. The cat beds and blankets need washing after a week away; all the clothes that went with us to France that can be washed need sorting and cleaning. I have to go to the grocery store to restock the pantry and refrigerator.

Different kinds of piles built up as well. A couple of the students I am working with on their college admissions sent me stacks of essays to look over. Those are electronic stacks. One of the high school teachers saved her several class worth of essays for reading and scoring. Then there were the phone messages requesting help with writing.

All of that means that I won't get to my little quilt today but for sure some time this week. A storm front is coming in today so the next few days will be good for sitting inside. I am sorry to read that much of northern Europe is also having storm issues. Not even winter yet but winter storms are snarling traffic and downing trees.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Back in the US But Not Quite Home

Once again IcelandAir was a miserable experience from start to finish. The flight from Paris to Reykavik is a little under 4 hours, then there is a layover in Keflavik Airport, then another almost 6 hours to NYC. No free food service at all and from my two travel day experiences, only enough food for purchase to reach the first ten rows. That's not necessarily a bad thing as the food for purchase looks and smells nasty but when we booked our trip there was no indication that this was an entirely budget airline with no frills at all. Every seat was filled and the plane was unbearably hot. Glad to be nearly home at this point. Living out of a suitcase is hard.

I am very excited about getting back to my Christmas cats quilt. I haven't decided if I am going to just improvise on the quilting or whether I will do some marking. Dark fabric is always problematic. I improvised on some other pieces and liked how they turned out but it is much harder on my poor left hand with the collateral ligament problems. Somehow when I improvise I make more dramatic turns which stresses the already stressed repair.

Friday, October 25, 2013

Hotel Des Invalides

We were on our feet for more than seven hours today, walking around, visiting museums. The current show at the Fondation Cartier has been held over since September. The show is very small, nine pieces total, of an artist, Ron Mueck, who makes super-realistic human figures. Some of them are less than life sized, almost doll like, and some are much larger than life-sized. They are incredibly detailed, whiskers, warts, and all, and amazingly compelling. The first piece on the ground floor is Couple Under an Umbrella, one of the larger than life sized pieces. An older man and his wife are at the beach. He is lying with his head on his wife's lap under a brightly colored beach umbrella. My husband and I stood transfixed--the tenderness on their faces, the familiarity with each other, the time they shared with each other. These were inanimate and yet so animate that we felt all the human drama and emotion that long time couples know innately.

While that was the most intimate of experiences in the show, the other pieces are equally compelling--a mother and her baby, a young man who has been stabbed. None of the basic descriptions can begin to cover what this artist achieves. The museum prohibited photography so I am unable to show what these pieces are like but some are probably online and worth checking out.

We walked from there over to Les Invalides to see Napoleon's tomb.
Of course there are many other people entombed in the building but Napoleon's tomb is the focal point of the building now.
Directly under the dome on the lower level in the crypt is the massive stone sarcophagus.
The floor is all stone as well. As a quilter I was fascinated by the laurel wreaths and sunburst patterns. Those would be relatively easy to replicate in fabric. I wonder how many people would realize the source?

While we were there we went to the Museum of the Army. Some very good and very terrible stuff in there.We only had time for 1870-1954 so we didn't see the whole exhibit. The uniforms with the dirt from the trenches of WWI were especially poignant.

Grey Day In Paris

70% chance of rain today so I will carry an umbrella and I will not wear my Lanvin suede shoes with the snake toecap. We plan to walk to the art museum funded and built by the Cartier jewelry company. Supposed to have good shows of contemporary art in a beautiful building. This will be the first full rainy day on this trip. The cloudburst in Versailles was dramatic but short-lived. I live in the high desert so all these streams, rivers, and rain are a welcome change.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Le Rouvray Is Closing



The American woman who started Le Rouvray quilting store in Paris, left bank right across from Notre
Dame, died last year. Her daughter is settling her affairs which means that the store is closing.

That is very bad news for quilters. She is selling all her stock at discounted prices in an Everything Must Go sale. She plans to keep the website open but what form it will take is not determined as yet. I just had to get some fabric from this famous store before it disappears even though the last thing I need is fabric. So I got some 50 centimeter cuts and one longer piece for the background of the planned Winding Ways quilt.







She is even giving away thimbles to each customer to remember her mother with.


Paris is so busy. This is magnified by the fact that we have been out in the country for a week where the loudest noise was the thunderclaps. Quite a difference in the accommodations as well. We are in an enormous business hotel in Montparnasse, nothing antique or ancient about it.

Paris

Safely ensconced in our room in Montparnasse. The weather has been very nice till now with only one cloudburst, but Paris is all grey with low hanging clouds. That's all right, I won't get sunburned. We are only here two nights so not much time, but we have spent time in Paris in the past (the Louvre, Musee D'Orsay,etc.) so we don't have to run around like hamsters in a tunnel. It is unlikely that this will be our last trip to Paris as well.

Relax a little bit and then walk around.



Wednesday, October 23, 2013

On to Paris

Today we drive to Paris. We have both been there before so that isn't new but we have never stayed in Montparnasse before. This is the shortest part of our trip so mad dashes to see things we haven't seen before on the Left Bank. There is a quilt store in Paris, near Notre Dame, that I want to look for.

After that it is home to the United States. I am not looking forward to the flights. This trip was a package deal with the airfare included for IcelandAir. I had never flown that airline before. After this trip I hope to never even see their logo again. A truly terrible airline. We fly back into NYC in the evening on Saturday and spend one night there. Then on to home and all my animal friends. I am looking forward to my own bed and my own routine including quilting my Mistletoe quilt.

My husband has been swayed by Burgundian charm though. Now he is trolling through French real estate websites for property.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Les Quatre Saisons du Patchwork (The Four Seasons of Patchwork)

My husband and I drove to Dijon today to see some more countryside, visit a new place, eat a great meal, and as it turns out, to visit a lovely quilt shop.
Here is a photo of the small courtyard outside the front door of the shop (there is an exterior door on the street). This is me after shopping and buying but I wanted to show how pleasant the entry is with the flowers and plants.


Here I am in the shop checking out the fat eighths bundles. There is a nice selection of fabrics, many sewing aids, and a fair number of embroidery kits as well. It is fun to explore new places and new (to me) quilting shops count as some of the best new places.
This is the other end of the shop with work space and quilts.

 My selection of fat quarters--my husband picked out the first two so I was filling in the blanks from there. I was thinking of a small Winding Way with a floral border.

So if you get to Dijon, France, any time soon you should check out Les Quatre Saisons du Patchwork at 19 Rue Benigne Fremyon. It is just outside the old town center, within easy walking distance of Dijon Cathedral.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Fontainebleau and Burgundy

Today we drove from our first stopping place to our second, stopping at the chateau of Fontainebleau on the way. Although there was lots of over the top decorating, there was still a great deal of the medieval touch to this building. If you happen to be a Napoleonic fan there is plenty of that as well including the bee embroidered throne and many items of clothing. I always knew Napoleon was short but he was also small with very narrow small feet. In modern women sizes I would guess a 5 1/2 AAA. There are some rooms left in the style of Marie Antoinette as well. Couldn't help but think that all the pomp and circumstance never did her any good and at the end she also lost her head.

Now we are in Gilly, in the converted home of a Cistercian abbot. The countryside down from Fontainebleau was stunningly beautiful and aggressively rural. Fields of sunflowers, all dried and brown now, emerging fields of what looked like sugar beets, lots of freshly plowed fields, and all the Charolais cattle that the area is home to. Being from south Texas I know the Charolais cattle fairly well. This is also Burgundy so home to many vineyards but we have yet to see a single vine. The hotel offers vineyard tours so perhaps we will do that. The hotel restaurant is supposed to be excellent so I may bring home new meal ideas.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Travel is Enlightening and Exhausting

My husband and I are partway through our trip to France. The weather has been good up until this afternoon when "le deluge" came. We spent yesterday in Chartres ogling the cathedral and marveling at the stained glass museum. There used to be a quilt store in the town of Chartres but it is no longer there, boarded up windows with signs instead.Today we trekked to Versailles, still  home to wretched excess. French decorating has always left me cold but the size and scope of the place is incredible. The gardens are immense with music wafting through the air. Knowing the fate of the favored inhabitants made it hard to even find beauty though I am anti-monarchy and a small "r" republican.

Sunday, October 13, 2013

A Complete Meal

A couple of years ago my husband and I took a trip to Philadelphia to see the Barnes Collection in its new home. This was something of a stroll down memory lane as well since he went to graduate school in the city and our middle son was born there. Of course the city has changed in the forty years since then, most of the changes for the good. One of those positive changes is a restaurant named Little Fish in the Queen City area of the downtown. It is tiny, tiny with no liquor license but the food is wonderful and the service top notch. The focus is on seafood of all types and that's what our meals were from two kinds of fresh oysters as starters to our entrees. I don't remember what my husband had but I had jerk seasoned cobia with beans, sofrito, and coconut rice. I didn't ask for any recipes but since we came back I have made my own attempts at the meal a couple of times. Cobia is difficult to come by where I live and the type of fish is less important than the seasonings and the accompaniment. Last time I just made a grilled halibut and served it with the other three components.

Sofrito is almost like Caribbean ketchup--it is everywhere and on everything. Besides that everyone seems to have their own family recipe. Most recipes make way more than my family can eat in a year so I changed and adapted and shrunk some recipes.  So feel free to add or subtract to the following.

1 yellow onion diced small
1/2 green bell pepper diced small
1/2 red bell pepper diced small
your choice of small hot pepper diced small (if you like it hot use Scotch bonnet or habanero--for milder heat use jalapeno--in the middle there are serrano peppers) The type and amount used controls the heat and a little of the flavor
1 large ripe red tomato peeled and diced
1 or 2 garlic cloves crushed or diced
some salt, some oil, a splash of white wine vinegar

In a small saucepan heat some olive or canola oil until hot but not super hot. Add everything up to the tomato and cook for 5 to 10 minutes until the onions and peppers are softened. Add the tomatoes and cook until their liquid is mostly absorbed. Add the garlic, the salt, and the vinegar (about 2 tablespoons) and taste. Cook for about five minutes and then turn off. You can store this in the refrigerator but the amount is small enough to finish in one meal if four people eat.

Cranberry or Pinto Beans
Soak one cup of dried cranberry or pinto beans in 2 cups of water overnight or do the quick soak by covering with two cups of water, putting in the microwave, cook on high for two minutes, then let soak for an hour. Drain and rinse the beans and put in a pot with 3 cups of water, one or two dried red peppers (whatever kind you like), half an onion sliced into chunks. Bring to a boil and then turn down to simmer for 2 to 3 hours or until the beans are soft. I live at altitude so this takes a while here. Do not add salt until the beans get soft or they will have a very strange texture. When the beans are fork tender, pick out the red pepper pods and most of the onion. Add 1 garlic clove, half an onion diced, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, some fresh or dried oregano (about half a teaspoon dried--a teaspoon fresh minced), Add salt and pepper and taste. Cook another half hour or so until the beans are very soft and the cooking liquid is thick.

Coconut Rice
1 cup Jasmine rice (you can use plain white or brown rice but the flavor is not the same)
1 can unsweetened coconut milk
1 shallot sliced very thin
About two tablespoons grated sweetened coconut
1 garlic clove crushed
Water
Oil
In a pot with a lid saute the shallot in about a tablespoon of olive or canola oil until it is quite soft, then add the grated coconut. Watching carefully, cook the shallot and the coconut just until the coconut begins to brown (the shallot will be browning as well but the coconut is more sensitive to the heat because it is sweetened). Add one cup Jasmine rice and stir to coat and mix. Add one can of coconut milk and one coconut milk can of water and the garlic. Bring to a boil and then stir, turn to simmer, and put the lid on. This takes about 18 minutes where I live but your time may vary.

Your fish can be sprinkled with jerk seasoning (look online for ideas) or just salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Everything else is highly seasoned so putting jerk seasoning on it seems unnecessary unless you want to. Plain grilled halibut was delicious with the beans, rice, and sofrito.

Put the rice on the plate, put beans on the side, place the grilled fish on the rice. Put a small amount of sofrito on the fish and put the rest of the sofrito in a bowl on the table for everyone to add to taste. I like lots of sofrito with everything.

This makes a great meal even if the recipes didn't come from the chef at Little Fish. If you get a chance you should go there though. It is fabulous, inventive, fun. My dessert was strawberry rhubarb tart with black pepper ice cream.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Pork Ragu--My Revised Version

Several months ago the New York Times ran an article and recipe for pork ragu as served at a Manhattan restaurant. That version was more of a carne en brodo meal than the one that I have devised from it. My cooking is similar to my quilting  in that I start with an idea that I see somewhere else and then manipulate that idea to fit my own tastes and needs. So this is similar to the recipe the NYTimes gave out but is not the same in several places, beginning with the very first step.

The original recipe was for more people than usually eat at my table (empty nest couple) and even this version makes leftovers but that isn't always a bad thing. Start this earlier in the day because it needs some cooling time prior to completion. None of the steps is difficult but the whole dish takes time so a weekend is a better bet for most people.

One small pork shoulder or Boston butt. I don't always check the weight but somewhere between 3 and 4 pounds is about right. Don't worry about the skin or fat on the shoulder.
1 fresh fennel bulb, white part only, sliced lengthwise into thin strips
1 or 2 white onions depending on how large they are and how much you like onions
1 or 2 stalks of celery sliced including leaves
1 quart chicken stock
a nice handful of fresh thyme, stems and all and a nice handful of fresh sage leaves tied together with kitchen string
1 or 2 garlic cloves sliced thin
salt and pepper
a little canola oil

Some pasta, some lemon juice, some shaved Parmesan cheese, some fresh arugula or fresh raw spinach leaves.

Preheat your oven to 300 F. In an ovenproof pot (Calphalon or something similar) heat up a small amount of oil. Brown your pork on all sides, and season with salt and pepper. Remove from pan and place on plate while you continue with the recipe.  Throw the fennel, onion, and celery into the pan and cook until softened. Then add the garlic and the bouquet garni (herbs) and cook until you smell the garlic easily from a standing position rather than leaning over the pot. Put the meat back in the pot, add the chicken broth, then put the pot in the oven with the cover on. Let cook in oven for about 3 to 4 hours until the meat is thoroughly cooked. Timing depends on size of shoulder. Remove from oven and remove meat from pot to a bowl or board to cool down.

While the meat is cooling, remove the bouquet garni from the broth and discard. Drain the liquids from the solids but reserve both. Skim fat from the liquid. When the meat is cool enough to handle, pull off the thick skin and fat layer, then pull the rest of the meat apart, stripping it of fat and tendons as you work. You will have a lot of meat and it is up to you how much you put in the final dish.  Place the meat that you will use back in the pot and add enough of the cooking liquid to nearly, but not quite, cover. If there is other meat left, place in sealable bag or similar container and refrigerate or freeze. Then blend or process the soft vegetables and add them to the pot and stir to coat.

When it is just about dinner time, cook some pasta (broad flat types are good). When the pasta is cooking reheat your meat mixture. When the pasta is done, drain and add to the meat mixture, stir to mix and coat with sauce.To serve, put some fresh arugula or raw spinach in the bottom of individual bowls. Top with the meat, vegetable, and pasta mixture. Let everyone add fresh lemon juice and parmesan cheese to taste.

The original recipe did not brown the meat, threw away the vegetables, and had no garlic. It makes more of a soup course though a filling one. The leftover broth, if any, can be used for all sorts of recipes including hot and sour or wonton soup.  If there is any leftover meat it can be changed entirely into pork enchiladas, or chili verde or something.

Friday, October 11, 2013

Applique Complete

I finished the applique portion of Felix Navidad II(Mistletoe) today. That's good since I have two classes of sophomore essays to score this weekend (The Grapes of Wrath again) and then packing for the trip. I have only read one of the essays all the way through but if that one is an indication of capability it will be a long weekend. As I  wrote previously, if the prompt wants to know how sustained allusion to some other work enhances meaning, the argument in the essay must begin with meaning. Simply writing that the novel has meaning that is enhanced and then retelling the story of Moses doesn't cut it.

Anyway, I still think this is very cute. Sometimes I think I have a good idea. Then I work to produce that mental image, transfer it into cloth and stitches, then view from further away than my hands' length and realize that the idea and the design are both flat. This time, my original idea looks good (to me anyway). There is one small spot in the "wiring" for the Christmas bulbs that needs a little fix (can you find it?). Once that is fixed the top will be done.

I don't think I will layer and start quilting, but I will have a project waiting for my return.

Tonight we are having Pork Ragu, a recipe that I modified from one made by a well-known Manhattan restaurant. It's another one of those wonderful winter meals. I will add the recipe later so come back for updates.  

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Seasonal Fare, Pumpkin That's More Than Just a Pretty Face

Now that Halloween is almost here, pumpkins are showing up at the grocery store. Not just those large ones suitable only for jack o'lanterns but the smaller pie type pumpkins as well. Besides pumpkin pie and pumpkin ravioli, what are these good for? How about Afghan pumpkin, a sweet and savory side dish.

One small pie pumpkin(sugar baby type)
small amount of cooking oil
a little salt
fresh garlic
1 tablespoon dried cardamom
1 tablespoon  dried coriander
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger (or to taste)
one teaspoon dried cumin
one small (12 oz) can diced tomatoes or enough chopped fresh tomatoes to equal 12 oz
1/4 cup sugar

half a cup of Greek style yogurt
fresh garlic
fresh cilantro

In a skillet heat some cooking oil while you peel and cut into one inch by two inch sections one small pie pumpkin (you can also use butternut squash).
Saute the pumpkin until lightly browned on both sides.
Add the spices and as much garlic as you like (I use two medium cloves crushed) with a little salt and saute until the spice aroma fills the air at the stove.
Add the tomatoes and the sugar and stir to combine.
Put entire mixture in an ovenproof baking dish and bake at 350F for about 30 minutes--or as much as 45 minutes--you want the pumpkin cooked thoroughly.

Serve with a mixture of yogurt, garlic, and cilantro.

This is one of those dishes that allow for individual variations. Don't like it so sweet, cut the sugar. Want it more savory, add some red pepper flakes. You get the idea. Afghan pumpkin is good with roast chicken, pork chops, etc. and makes a nice fall addition to the menu.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Getting Closer to the Quilting

Several posts ago I wrote that I wasn't sure if I would finish The Ties That Bind before my husband and I took off for France but I was wrong. Not only did I finish that quilt (it makes me smile to see it on our bed), but I have made huge progress on Mistletoe.
Here is the little top posing with Max. What a ham. The smudgy bottom chalk marks are because I am still deciding where and how to insert my little mouse in the scheme. Everything is just push-pinned so the fabric doesn't have any stability at this point. I don't think I will get to the point of quilting before I head off to France since I have so much to do prior to that, but I do think it will get done for this Christmas not next. I am more or less determined that the mouse goes on the left hand side as you face the quilt. The string of lights will be unplugged with the mouse standing on one end of the line as the plug points to the edge.
 

Cold Weather, Hot Meals

In the summer months, dinners are based on fresh vegetables and some meat for the most part, but as soon as the thermometer reads below 50 F we start making those slow cooked meals or we change from the summer version to the winter version of a favorite. We eat Japanese katsu (cutlets) with raw cabbage and rice and fresh tomatoes when it's hot. Today it is cold so we are having katsudon instead. Most of the time our katsu are made with turkey breast or chicken breast even though pork is the more common meat, especially in restaurants. Now that grocery stores in most urban areas have Asian sections most of the ingredients are easily available.

Katsudon for Four

2 large boneless chicken  breasts cut into thinner scallops (not chicken tenders but cut the breast horizontally across the whole length)
about half a cup of flour
1 or 2 raw eggs mixed with a little bit of water
about a cup of panko (Japenese bread crumbs)
Steamed rice for four
4 cups dashi (If you can't get dashi then chicken broth will do. With all the soy sauce and mirin the flavor is altered anyway)
One or two sliced yellow onions
Roughly chopped raw bok choy
Soy sauce and mirin
Dried seaweed optional

Moving from one bowl to another, dip the chicken into flour, then egg, then panko and place on a plate or cutting board until all the chicken is coated.
Fry these cutlets in shallow hot oil until brown on both sides.

Beforehand, make your udon broth. Where I live I can get dashi "teabags". Dashi is a clear fish broth made with shaved dried bonito that is very common in Japanese dishes. Asian food stores sell many brands but the one I use, because my mother-in-law used it, is Dashi-No-Moto from Hime.  For four people you want four cups of dashi.
In a saucepan, saute one or two sliced yellow onions (depending on how much you like onions) until they are soft but not brown. Add the dashi, and add 5 tablespoons of soy sauce, and seven tablespoons of mirin (Japanese cooking wine). Bring to a simmer.
When all the chicken is cooked and all the broth preparation is done to this point, slice the cooked cutlets into strips. Then scramble five or six more raw eggs and stir into the broth.
Put a serving of steamed rice in the bottom of a decent sized bowl for each person. Top with chopped up raw bok choy, then with the chicken strips. Then using a soup ladle or large spoon scoop the now very eggy onion broth over the entire bowl.  Some of the egg gets very cooked, some is more custardy and some just blends in the broth. You can top this with shredded seaweed if you like. All the flavors complement each other and you get warm from the inside out.

Friday, October 4, 2013

Baby It's Cold Outside

It hasn't dropped to freezing yet but it snowed here this morning. The snow didn't stick at my house but the mountains that are just above my house are covered. It's pretty early in the year for the first snowfall here. All the skiers and ski companies in town must be very excited. I like cold weather better than hot weather but I don't think I am ready for winter driving yet.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Could Be a Glorious Spring

Yesterday my husband dug up our failing euonymus plants, dug up our thriving Karl Foerster grasses, divided the grasses, and then planted them where the euonymus had been. He used some power tools including a Super Sawzall (saw it on Ask This Old House) to do that. Today I planted over 100 tulip bulbs and over 50 daffodil bulbs where the grass had been. The ground was already more or less dug although there were a couple of places where there hadn't been grass. My job was way easier even though I didn't use power tools. Now I just have to wait for spring. It's funny--34 years ago I planted 50 Elizabeth Arden tulips on the day my youngest son was born. I will never forget how beautiful they looked the next spring and they held so many other memories as well. That was the baby in a hurry labor and delivery. When the nurse asked my husband and me why I didn't have a wheelchair I said, "Wheelchair? I didn't even get an elevator!" I don't remember how many flights of stairs it was from the parking level but it seemed like the Empire State building.

Now all I have to do is to put out the deer repellent before everything gets chomped.