High Octane Ice Cream

 

Friday and Saturday were warm enough that I was inspired to try my hand at another flavor of ice cream. Coffee is Phineas' favorite, so that was next on my list. Also, it would serve my other goal of perfecting a recipe for an ice cream base that I could use for a variety of flavors.


The starting point for this recipe is the vanilla ice cream I made over Labor Day. If you recall, I thought it wasn't creamy enough. So this time I increased the amount of cream and reduced the amount of milk. Then it was on to the coffee. After surveying a bunch of recipes, there seems to be 3 different ways to add coffee flavor: using instant coffee or espresso, using strong brewed coffee, or steeping whole coffee beans in the ice cream base. I decided to go for the bean approach since steeping seemed to work very well for the vanilla ice cream.

Coffee Ice Cream

1 vanilla bean

1 1/2 cups milk

1 1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup sugar

3/8 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon Cognac

1 1/2 cups whole coffee beans

So, I basically brought my milk, cream, sugar and salt to barely a simmer, added in the coffee beans, vanilla and cognac, popped on the lid, turned off the heat and let the whole thing steep for 90 minutes. I strained out the beans and vanilla before refrigerating overnight and then churning for 15 minutes.

On Saturday evening, Phin and I tested the ice cream. The bean method made for a very richly coffee flavored ice cream. Yum! And the creaminess was much improved from the vanilla version. It didn't occur to me until late on Saturday night, as I tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep, that this was also a very highly caffeinated ice cream. Doh! Next time, I'll use decaf beans!

I'd Like to Thank the Academy...

As I mentioned last week, Faye of Faye's Sewing Adventures nominated me for two lovely awards.

I love champagne! This award is right up my alley.

Aww, shucks.

Both awards come with some "rules and responsibilities". The rules for the first award are: 1. Tell us what you like about YOUR blog, 2. Then send the award to 10 other blogs that you read. And, the rules for the second award are: 1. Tell us 10 thing about yourself, 2. Then Send the award to 5 other blogs that you read.

Like Faye, I am going to do a mash-up of the rules for both. So, here are 5 things about me, related to my blog.

1. Why Clio? Once, my pop decided to assign everyone in the family a code name for when we travel abroad. My major in college was history. Hence, Clio, muse of history. It stuck.
2. Why Five Muses when there are actually nine? My blog's url is http://fivemuses.blogspot.com because I am one of five sisters (yes, all biologically related. nope, no brothers.). My sisters (Calliope, Polyhymnia, Terpischore and Erato) have done more to shape who I am than anyone else or any other experience in my life.
   
3. Why blog? My very excellent friend Magenta encouraged me to track my sewing projects when I first picked up needle and thread. Over time, I started adding posts about travel, cooking and my other pursuits and, well, I'm hooked!
   
4. What is my favorite vegetable? Broccoli a la Phineas. This has nothing to do with my blog, and I am now guilty of breaking my own rules, which is something else you should probably know about me by this point anyway. heh heh heh
   
5. What is my favorite sewing project to date? It's almost always the most recent one I've completed. Right now it's a tie between my pants and my sarong pants (mostly because I am proud of posting the photo of them). But the most meaningful project was my nephew's Christening ensemble.

OK, enough about me! Now on to you... There are so many great blogs and bloggers who write about sewing and other crafty pursuits. But, I've decided to pass these great awards on to 5 ladies - Muses each and every one. And the nominees are:

Weekend Crafting -  Reethi sews up a storm, does all kind of crafts and cooks amazing vegetarian food. Also, she is a fun fabric shopping companion.

A Sewn Wardrobe - Rachel has a great eye for fashion and spent a year sewing all her own clothes rather than buying.

Sheilaz - CTK - Sheila is another renaissance woman who sews, crafts, crochets and knits at a pace that leaves others in the dust.

Making the Seam - One look at her Burda rock star jacket  should convince you Karin is the real deal when it comes to sewing. (Seriously, is this jacket hot or what!?!?!)

Li'l Miss Muffet - Li'l Miss Muffet (Heather) sat on her tuffet, sewing up all sorts of fun and fabulous lingerie, the likes of which I am dreaming of sewing for myself.

Now, you may have noticed that Sheila and Miss Muffet have already received the Beautiful Blogger award, which you may think would put them out of contention. However, does Meryl Streep have more than one Oscar? Absolutely! So, there.

Epic Muslin: Will I Ever be Done?

On Saturday I got down to work on my Lady Grey Coat. And I worked on it more on Tuesday. And again last night.

My first big decision was choosing what size to make. If, like me, your bust, waist and hip measurements direct you to three different pattern sizes, you understand that this is not ever an easy choice. Should I go by my largest size (ie: hips)? That would definitely make the coat too large through the shoulders, which I find difficult to alter. Waist size? No, the waist is easy to fix if it is off. So, I decided to go with my full bust measurement over clothing, since this is a coat and will be worn over clothing - so a size 10 is what I am making.

Mirror, mirror on the wall: Am I an 8, a 10 or a 12?

I also made a controversial decision about alterations. I did lengthen each piece by 2" above the waist, which is "the usual" given my height (5'9"). BUT, Given the cut of the coat - flared from waist to hem - I decided NOT to grade the pattern out to a size 12 in the hips. I may regret this decision.

Do you think this style will hide flatter my hips?

I'm gambling on the fact that the style lines of the coat (namely, the flare) will have enough ease to fit my hips. But just in case, I've decided that I ought to do the super extended version of muslin making that Gertie posted about last week, enlarging the seam allowances to 1 inch in order to have extra room for any alterations. This is a tedious process. Very very tedious, and involving drawing seam lines onto the pattern pieces, using huge swaths of transfer paper (I *heart* the FIT bookstore!), drawing new cutting lines onto the muslin, then cutting, and finally sewing along the seam lines! TEDIOUS!!!!

My muslin pieces

Anyway, the whole point of this post is to say that by last night I was ready to commit hari-kari; I am only half way done cutting out my muslin pieces. Luckily for me, the only weapon in my home is a hot glue gun. And it wasn't even plugged in. Or loaded with glue. So, the worst case scenario, should I reach the breaking point, is that I glue my fingers together or give myself a burn on my thimble finger, so that I can't sew.

Tonight, as a mental health fun social break, I'm meeting up with Erato, Terp and Poly, for a bit of fabric shopping and chat. I may even relent and buy fabric for this project before I finish the muslin. That might encourage me. Either way, I think a trip to Mood will do wonders for my own mood. Stay tuned.

Lingerie Update

Well, my panties have been altered and will soon be worn again. I will report back with (fingers crossed) better news.


In addition, one of the things I did on Saturday was cut a muslin for the KwikSew 2589 camisole. Since I am in a muslin-ish mood, I figured that it's better to work out any fit issues in a cheap cotton (less than $2yd) than in my pretty silk charmeuse. The KS instructions seem incredibly straightforward and easy. So, I should be able to report back soon.

Zombie Pie

Before anything else, let me say that "Zombie Pie" is, without a doubt, the ugliest thing that has ever oozed out of my kitchen.


Let me begin at the beginning. On Saturday, I had a very full day planned: sewing, running and baking a dessert that I would serve after going out to dinner with Dr. Kiang and Turg.

I decided that I would try a new-to-me recipe: Clafoutis. My good friend MarMar, who is a wonderful baker, mentioned that it is one of her favorite recipes from the King Arthur Flour Bakers Companion, our mutual favorite book on baking. Clafoutis is a French dessert which IMHO is the fritatta of the dessert world, as far as cooking method goes. Basically, you pile up a bunch of fruit in a pan, pour a sweet egg, flour and milk batter on top, and then bake until it is set. Kind of like a pie without the hassle of a crust. Very homespun. Although traditionally made with cherries, I decided on a blueberry-peach version of clafoutis, since I had both in the freezer - leftovers from a binge at the farmer's market.

Here's where things started going awry. Given how much I had planned to do on Saturday, I was somewhat pressed for time: the fruit was thawed, but still pretty cold when it went into the pan. Also, I didn't have the 10" dish that was called for, so I settled on using a 9.5" inch pie plate. When I poured the batter over the fruit, not all would fit in the pan. I figured that my clafoutis would just be a bit extra fruity and probably would take a bit longer to set, which was fine with me. However, it turned out that it was so juicy that there was no way to tell whether the batter was set, so after an extra half hour (nearly double the baking time), I decided that I would just have to call it done. At this point it looked like a bubbly mass of fruit - not too different from a crisp or cobbler. Homey.

Dr K was a near-permanent fixture at my folks house during our high school and college years. So, the plan was to head there for dessert with my parents and two of my sisters. Anyway, when my mom unwrapped my clafoutis, it was a shock. As it had cooled and settled, it went from homey to homely. It looked like the zombie version of a blueberry peach pie (human: zombie::blueberry pie: Clio's clafoutis). No amount of powdered sugar could pretty this monstrosity up. Fortunately for me, my close friends and family have no problem eating zombie for me, and everyone agreed that, despite it's homely appearance, it was rather tasty. How can you go wrong with baked farmstand fruit draped in a sweet custard-like cake?

Anyway, as usually happens with my kitchen endeavors, when faced with a setback, I have to try-try again. So, expect to see a (hopefully less homely) clafoutis from me soon.

Friday Mishmosh And Progress

I had a lot to post about this week, but Blogger has been very non-cooperative. I keep getting error messages. So, I hope you won't mind too much if I mosh it all into one progress report post before the weekend.

Lingerie: Welcome to Wedgieville
First, I wore my newly sewn panties this week. It did not all go according to plan. Midway thru the morning, the panties began to creep up. Um, in the front. Um, a lot. And it was all downhill from there (or uphill, to be totally frank). Sorry, this is definitely TMI! Anyway, I think the problem is that they are too long in the crotch and the front is riding up, so I am going to take them in a bit and will report back. I sometimes have this problem in RTW panties too.

High hopes for my low riders

A note on the style of these panties: by "Brazilian," what Jalie means is that they are a tanga - basically the love child of a boy short and a thong -i.e. lots of cheek-peek. If you don't like panties that fit like this in the back, then these are probably not for you. Resistance is futile: wedgies are inevitable.

Pants: Fabric Love
I've still got some work ahead, but these are really coming together nicely. Details are done (darts, pockets, fly/zipper...) and I am ready to do seams and then drop in the linging. May I just say that it is so nice to sew with such a beautiful fabric? It is. I need to give myself a promotion. Whenever I've sewn with really good quality (read: more expensive than I normally allow myself) fabric, I have been thoroughly happy with the results. So, I think I am just going to have to allow myself a larger budget when it comes to fabric.

Here is a peek inside the pocket. The pocketing really is just right for these.

Lady Grey Coat: Muslin Time!
I am mostly done amassing the notions and a few tools for this project. It is time to work on the muslin. Actually, first I have to trace, alter and cut the pattern.

I still haven't bought fabric, and I may actually wait until I decide that I like how the muslin comes out. You see, since I'm only planning on making this jacket once, I am not going to use a cheap fabric or lining (see above pants comments). I've narrowed it down to 4 different wool or wool/cashmere blends, the least expensive of which is $25/yd. The silk charmeuse I am contemplating for the lining is $12/yd. So, given the yardages that I will need and depending on my final choice, this is going to cost roughly $150-$250 for the fabric. So, I think waiting until the muslin is sewn before buying is probably wise.

Other News: I'd like to thank the Academy...This week I was nominated for two lovely blog awards by Faye of Faye's Sewing Adventures. I am touched and tickled. Thank you, Faye. I'll post these awards next week!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Momofuku you!: An evening with Chang and Bourdain

On Monday night, Erato and I went to see two of the most notorious bad boys of the culinary world - Anthony Bourdain of Kitchen Confidential, A Cook's Tour and No Reservations fame, and David Chang, maestro of the ever-growing Momofuku restaurant empire - on a double billing at the 92nd Street Y. Their chat was an irreverent and insider look at working in the industry, the NY restaurant scene and their culinary experiences around the world.

To me, the most interesting comments that they made dealt with the intersection of food and culture - and America's lack of a real food culture, except perhaps in the South. Tony Bourdain's best point was that the quickest way to learn about a culture is to eat their food. If you've read any of my posts about travel, you know that Phineas and I embrace this ethos. And David Chang, or at least the way he cooks - mixing east and west, modern and traditional, high end and down home - absolutely reminds me of how Phineas (with his Chinese-Jamaican-American background) cooks. In other words, I tend to share both of these interesting chefs world views when it comes to food.

Since some professionals have already summed up the evening, I thought I would give you a taste of this duo from their first on-air appearance together. I should add that Erato and I started the night with dinner at Momofuku Ssam Bar, and you will get to see some of the things we ate in this clip (pork buns, spicy sausage with rice cakes...)