Happy Anniversary, My Sweet

Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Secret Holiday Project: Complete

Now that it has been opened, here is the cryptic mystery gift that I've been working on: A painting smock for Polyhymnia.


Polyhymnia is artistic and, in particular, quite talented with watercolors. Hopefully this smock, with it's geishas in artistic pursuits, will help keep her creative juices flowing and her paints from flowing onto her clothing.

Merry Christmas from Five Muses

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Twas the Night before Christmas...

And all thru the Kitchen,
The aroma from the oven,
Smelled finger-lickin'

Or not. Sadly, last night the oven threw a tempter tantrum and stopped working. Again. Thankfully, it did not stop us from completing our Santa's Kitchen project.

Here it is: our gift of peanut brittle, truffles, caramels, spiced nuts, peppermint bark(on top) and limoncello.




Season's Eatings!

Santa's Kitchen: Molten chocolate

Today Santa's Kitchen focused on chocolate confections. First, we made peppermint bark, which is very easy but incredibly tasty.


Basically, you melt dark chocolate and spread it onto a sheet pan in a thin layer and let it cool. When it has solidified, melt an equal amount of white chocolate, add some peppermint extract and spread it out on top of the dark layer. Then sprinkle broken pieces of candy cane or other mint on top. I was in charge of melting the chocolate. Phineas was in charge of hacking the peppermints to bits.

Next, we made truffles, a more complex operation. First you make a ganache (dark chocolate and cream) and let it cool until firm. Then you form your truffles and freeze them for about 15 minutes until they are solid. After that, you give them a bath in melted chocolate and toss them into cocoa. Voila! Truffles.

Feast of Seven Fishes

Orpheus was the official photographer at the Feast of Seven Fishes on Saturday, which meant lots of pictures of people and pets, and none of the actual feast. Oh well. However, the ravioli was a big hit (no leftovers), and everyone had a good time.

Polyhymnia, Calliope and Terpischore

Me and Linus

Uncle Phineas

Magenta, DugDug, Me and Orpheus with the beagle pack, Jerry and Casey

Another new recipe that was a success was the spicy parmesan cheese straws from the blog of Eric Ripert, exec chef at Le Bernardin. They were excellent!

Before being popped in the oven.

After

Nuts in Santa's Kitchen: Take Two

I'm having a real crisis of confidence in the spiced nut department. On Wednesday night, I made another batch, this time using a recipe by Emeril, which I thought would be a little more main-stream than my spicy version. The only change I made was to replace the cumin with more cinnamon.

I am going to have some victims - I mean, testers - try the nuts out over the weekend. I definitely don't like them as much as the spicy ones. So, we'll see.

If this batch doesn't work out (and even if it does), I am planning on trying the recipe Mar-Mar posted to my comments. Maybe I will find a recipe that pleases all pallets.

Feast of Seven Fishes

My second holiday cooking project is a Feast of Seven Fishes for my family. Instead of doing this annual seafood extravaganza on Christmas Eve, as is traditional, we are doing it on Saturday, when everyone can make it.

This year I am changing the much loved pasta course to a homemade lobster and crab ravioli that Phineas and I tested last week. The seafood flavor is the star of the show. I think the 50/50 ratio of seafood to mascarpone allows the sweetness of the crab and lobster to shine.

Phineas really has this down to a science

Ravioli production took place on Monday night. Phineas rolled out sheets of pasta and I stuffed them with the mixture of lobster, snow crab, mascarpone and a reduction of leek, brandy and white wine. (Note to self: I need more recipes in my collection which call for lighting things on fire. I love any excuse to flambe. It's exciting and dramatic. And I managed to do it without burning down the house or injuring innocent bystanders.)

I may have over-stuffed some of them

So now we've got a bunch of the ravioli in the freezer.

Flying Saucer shaped ravioli

Next up: antipasti.

Happy First Blogday to ME!

Today my blog turns one! And this is my 179th post. Who knew I had so much to say?!?!

Pants: Still a WIP

Christmas is really eating into my Craft Lounge time. But I did manage to make another round of changes to the fit of my pants over the weekend that evolved rather spontaneously.

I actually have a little wardrobe crisis happening at the moment. There is a bit less of me to love these days, and the pants I own are starting to look "very not good". So, I decided to see if I could do something to help my pants fit better without a major overhaul. Since my waist and butt seem to be shrinking faster than anywhere else, I took one pair of pants in by altering the back center seam. This solved the waist and butt bagginess in one simple alteration without disrupting any pockets (the pants have pockets on the side seams). Now the pants look good - a nice smooth fit. Perfect.

The pants that I am making have 2 darts on each side in the back to account for my small waist but wide hips. But there was something just not right about how the back was lying, and I was hesitant about moving forward with the project until I figured it out. Since the altered pants fit so nicely, I decided to try the same alteration on the pants-in-progress. I took out one set of darts and instead took in the back center seam, tapering it so that the waist was smaller and the hips had more ease. Voila! Now the pants really fit well!

Anyway, inspired by my double success, I can finally get on with finishing the pants portion of the project and move on to the jacket.

And, over the holidays, you can bet I will be tinkering with all my trousers. I also have a stack of tops that I really like that are also getting too loose. So, there will be a good amount of wardrobe refashioning going on.

Santa's Kitchen: Playing with Hot Sugar

On Saturday, Phineas and I got candy making underway with 2 sweet treats - peanut brittle and caramels.

Boiling sugar, soon to be peanut brittle

Boiling sugar is not as easy as boiling water. For one thing water doesn't burn. And it also doesn't form crystals. Last year, I really struggled with making peanut brittle until I turned to Mark Bittman, one of my favorite food writers, for his guidance on this tricky treat. This year I really hit my stride with getting the sugar boiled but not burnt.

Add the nuts and toss to coat.

Spread on a greased pan and when it is cool, crack into pieces.

In addition to the brittle, Phineas has been wanting to make home made caramels for ages. So, this was our second project, and again we turned to Mark Bittman. It was easier than the brittle, and the results are wonderful. Homemade caramels have a lovely texture - softer than store bought - and a rich, buttery vanilla flavor. We sprinkled a good amount of sea salt on the caramels to really enhance the sweetness. It's a lovely contrast. MMmmmm.

Sugar, butter, cream

When it gets to the "softball" stage (245 deg) pour into a greased pan

Once cool, pop in the fridge to firm up and then cut.

The only pesty thing about the whole process was wrapping the candies, which we did in front of the tv. But I think it was worth it just to see a bowl of shiny candy wrappers.

Good JuJu For Dr Kiang

This is my home buying juju dance to bring Dr Kiang and Ivan some luck with the appraisal, etc. of their future home.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Can't Believe I Didn't Post about this Sooner!

I was going to call this post "Best Use of a Thanksgiving Leftover" but then I completely forgot to write the post. Or maybe it was my health-conscious side blocking out all memory of this tasty death-bomb.

Not Phineas' stuffing. But I forgot to take photos...

I never really gave much thought to what to do with leftover stuffing other than reheating it with leftover gravy. However, I was watching the Food Network during Thanksgiving week and was inspired by this recipe for "Stuffing Bites". I ask you: what could be better than fried bread? Nothing! So, while at my parents' house on the Saturday following Thanksgiving, I tossed their leftover stuffing with an egg, rolled it into balls, and breaded them. Phineas shallow fried the breaded stuffing balls until golden. They were insanely - perhaps even immorally - good.

Our other very excellent use for stuffing this year was to make a crust for a turkey pot pie. In fact, this was my only contribution to Phineas' excellent pot pie. We just patted a layer of stuffing into the bottom of a casserole dish (like you would do to a graham cracker crust) and then added the turkey and veggies in gravy on top, and then topped it all with leftover mashed potato. Mmmmm....

Nuts in Santa's Kitchen: Literally and figuratively

First try: Indian spiced nuts

Phineas has suggested, on more than one occasion, that I may have "a problem" with nuts. A cocktail lounge has only to offer nut mix to secure my good favor. And I eat more peanut butter than any adult I know who does not have children as an excuse. And don't even get me started on Nutella. But I digress...

On Saturday, I took a first stab at spiced nuts for our holiday gifts. I used a recipe that was heavy on the spices - garam masala, cinnamon, cumin, and cayenne. I didn't tinker with it because I have suffered several spiced nut disasters in years past when trying to add hot almonds to room temperature egg white. Not good. And this recipe avoids that entirely.

Anyway, I did a double batch, and midway thru discovered that I had overloaded the pan. So, they are not the prettiest spiced nuts. However, the real test was the taste. I brought a batch over to my parents for a family gathering on Sunday. My aunt, a fellow indian food enthusiast, loved them. So did I. But Calliope and Erato thought they were "a little strange". Hmmmph. I guess that garam masala is not for everyone.

My next attempt will be more of a glazed nut, sticking to the more familiar territory of brown sugar and cinnamon.

Pants in Progress

I feel like my blase posts don't really do justice to how happy I am with this project. Maybe that is because I am going really slowly and carefully.

Or maybe it is because black fabric with black thread
doesn't make for an exciting photo.

Over the weekend, I took the pants in a little more at the waist and narrowed the leg. As I suspected, after these alterations I had to trim and refinish the seam allowances. Oh well. Lesson learned. However, if I make duplicates of these pants, I will probably finish the allowances first, since it definitely is easier than finishing after sewing.

I also began assembly of the lining, which is exactly like making a second pair of pants, but on much lighter fabric. I haven't yet sewn the seam that I altered. So, that is the next step. Then I will be ready to attach the lining to the pants and do all the finishing work like the zipper, waistband and hems. I plan to do some work on it this weekend, but probably won't finish then. As I said, I am going very slowly and carefully.

Cryptic Enough for You?

Geishas in artistic pursuits

Well, I had pretty much given up on the idea of making Christmas gifts (or at least the non-edible variety). I just don't sew fast enough. However, I picked up this fabric while I was sewing machine shopping to make something for someone... and that is all I can say.

Shopping for a New Sewing Machine

My possible future machine

On Friday, I began shopping for my next sewing machine, which will be an enormous step up from the introductory machine that I have been learning on.

The first stop was my local fabric shop. They exclusively sell Bernina sewing machines. After seeing pretty much the full Bernina line, I decided that the Activa 230 is the machine to beat in this competition, with the 220 as a good option if I decide not to spend quite so much. The 230 is computerized, sews beautifully (I've drooled over one in class), has several button hole styles, tons of stitches including many decorative ones, plus alphabet stitches, really good lighting... and a host of great features. But really, it is the "sews beautifully" part that is most important, and the Activa can handle lots of different fabrics well. Really, this machine and my current Brother are only related in the same way that a BMW and a Trabant can both be called cars.

I am going to do some online research to see if owners are generally happy with the 230, but right now this seems to be the best bang for the bucks (and it really isn't cheap, although my sewing shop has frequent sales).

Next, I am going to check out the comparable machines offered by Viking and Janome. Keep you posted...

Santa's Kitchen

With Thanksgiving behind us and Christmas rapidly approaching, Phineas and I are in the planning and testing phase of Christmas cooking. We have two major cooking projects coming up. One is our annual Christmas Eve seafood dinner with my family, which (long story) we are doing on the 20th. More on this in other posts. The other, and the one I am going to blog about today, is a project I like to think of as Santa's Kitchen.

Santa's Kitchen started innocently enough with a recipe for homemade chocolate truffles. After the first time Phineas and I made them, demand grew and they became an annual project. Last year, stumped for gift ideas for a few people, I decided that a box of handmade candy would be a thoughtful way to go. So we made extra truffles and I also tried my hand at peanut brittle. It was tricky, but, after several pounds of nuts and sugar, I finally made a successful batch around attempt #5.

Anyway, this year we decided to expand our list of recipients (if you are reading this, you stand a good chance of being "on the nice list" and if you are worried, you are free to petition or bribe us, whichever approach suits your personality and you think we will fall for). We also decided to ambitiously expand the offerings. Here's what we plan to include:

• Chocolate Truffles
• Peanut Brittle
• Caramels
  
• Phineas' Limoncello
• Spiced Nuts
• Peppermint Bark

Despite all my recent posts about Lyle's, I don't really get to play with hot sugar too often. So, I am really excited. Anyway, tomorrow we are going to take a first stab at some of these recipes. Hopefully I will have good news to report. But if it is anything like the peanut brittle, this may be a long series of posts!

Stash report

My latest pattern acquisitions

I recently visited the top floor of Mood Fabrics. Usually, I hang around the main floor for the cottons. But upstairs they have wool... beautiful suiting fabrics, gorgeous knits, cashmere, coat weight wool... one more beautiful than the next. I was initially overwhelmed, but my mind immediately began planning all the beautiful clothing I will make myself.

Anyway, I am taking time off over the holidays, so I figured I should stock up on patterns/projects. When my pants and jacket come out beautifully (note how I said when and not if), I will probably want to rush into other similar projects, so better to be prepared with the above patterns. And then, of course, it will be back to Mood.

And All I Have to Show for it is an Injured Finger

I spent the whole weekend in either the kitchen or the craft lounge, but somehow, I have absolutely nothing to show for it except a cut on one finger from a careless moment with a sharp knife and a burn on my thumb from a careless moment with an iron.

Somehow the idea of taking a picture of any of my pies (now eaten) did not occur to me. And my pants-in-progress are hanging in the craft lounge, also unphotographed. Oh well.

This was not my best weekend in the craft lounge. The pants are coming along. I cut and marked all of the lining pieces for the pants and the jacket. For the pants, I took the advice of this book
and finished all the seam allowances before assembling the pieces, rather than as I go. It was tedious. Then I moved on to making all the darts, also on the advice of this book. I'm really not sure whether this is going to work out. Once I had sewn the front and back pieces of the pants together and tried it on, I decided it might need some further adjustments. I may end up taking it in at the seams, in which case I will probably trim and re-do the allowances. And I may change some of the darts.

Anyway, it was a frustrating weekend in the craft lounge. But to get back into the swing of things for the holidays, I am taking this Friday off to shop for my new sewing machine and will finish my pants over the weekend.