And More Pockets

Well, it's back to the treadmill day for me, since my neck and shoulders are feeling back to normal. However, I have enjoyed evening stints in the craft lounge over the last few days. It was fun to see the incremental progress I made on this diaper bag.

Front side of the bag, pattern nicely matched up.

The outside of the bag is nearly complete. Pockets are made, and I'm in the process of sewing the pieces together to be the outer shell of the bag. Next, I will work on the zipper and inside of the bag. Before putting it all together.

Side pocket, attached to (pocket-less) back of the bag.

I probably won't be able to devote much time to sewing until over the weekend. Hopefully, I'll be nearly done by Sunday night and ready to begin my next projects.

Muses and Monsters

Today is the day that Erato and I were supposed to be off from work to go museum-ing and shop for fabric. But it has been a bumpy week for the Muses. Erato is laid up with a respiratory infection, and I am stiff from being rear-ended on Monday evening. So, we have postponed our date until next week.

However, since I am taking it easy on Dr Kiang's advice (she says 'heating pad... no running and lots of chocolate'), I am finding time for weekday craft lounge visits. And it seems to be all about babies. Here is my latest.

The colors look a bit washed out in this photo.

And further work was made on diaper bag #2. It is at the point where it is still all flat. Basically, I am in the pocket-making phase. Lots of pockets.


I am also working on the organizational phase of my Fall Wardrobe project. It is rather ambitious, and I might have to refine my plans (read: rein in my expectations). Right now, I am planning 4 tops, a skirt, a sheath dress, 2 trousers and a bag. We'll see.

Lastly, I am thrilled about another craft lounge date that I have next month with Magenta and Dr Kiang. As Magenta put it, we will get together for a "pre-holiday jewelry making party with a box of stuff we have 'hanging around' our drawers and craft rooms". I don't make jewelry, but I'm sure I'll find something crafty to do!

Chinese BBQ

One of my pantry staples is a chinese barbecue sauce that is made almost entirely from other pantry ingredients. This sauce is sweet, spicy and garlicky, and goes equally well on ribs as it does on chicken. I've made it so many times, that I don't actually measure ingredients anymore, but over the weekend, I took the time to measure amounts so that I could tell them to you. Here goes:

Chinese BBQ Sauce
6 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (more or less to taste)
1 tbsp canola oil
1 tbs rice wine vinegar (cider, sherry or other is ok)
1 bottle hoisin sauce (20oz or so)
1/3 cup soy sauce (I use some dark and some light)
2 tsps honey
1 tbsp sesame oil

Saute the garlic and pepper in canola until fragrant and starting to brown. Add vinegar and bring to a boil. Add next 3 ingredients and simmer until sauce thickens to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and wisk in the sesame oil.

Last night, Phineas and I made a bunch of chicken wings to go with Monday night football. Just cook the wings either on a grill or under the broiler until nearly done. Slather on sauce for the last few minutes of cooking, and you are ready to dig in!



And then today, leftovers became part of a bento lunch with fried rice, bok choi (hidden under wings) and cucumber.

Baby Cakes!

The reason I called Mar Mar last week, was to ask about cupcakes. Since she is a mom and loves to bake, I figured she would have a go-to recipe. She did! We both love the King Arthur Flour cookbook, and she directed me to their Devils Food Cake recipe (here).

The cupcakes were for Dr Colin and Mandie's house warming/Jack-n-Jill baby shower, which Phineas and I went to on Saturday. I used the same vanilla butter cream icing that I made for Dr. K's shower, but this time remembered to take pictures!

Store bought decorator icing makes dressing up cupcakes so easy!

There are a few secrets to success for the Devil's Food Cake - and for baking, in general - that should not be ignored. First, your butter and eggs must be at room temperature. You can gently warm the eggs in a bowl of tepid water. You can cut the butter into small pieces to speed it along, but please do not use the microwave. If it melts, you've just wasted your butter because melted fat cannot hold air the way solid ("plastic") fat can. Use the melted butter and you risk a flat cake. (Letting it re-solidify doesn't work).


Second, when a recipe says to "cream" butter and sugar, you really need to go at it for a minimum of 5 minutes. Again, this is about incorporating air into the sugar and fat elements. It will make your cake or cookies rise and have a light texture. Extra beating = extra air.

Finally, since the recipe does not advise on making cupcakes, my final directive (from Mar) is to bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes and that you will get 24 -28 cupcakes. When they are fully cooled, ice and enjoy!

Edited on 11/17: Um, how on earth did I forget to add that this is now my go-to recipe for chocolate cupcakes, too? Well, it is. They were that good.

Married to Mr Freeze (For Mar-Mar)

Last night I has a long chat with Mar-Mar. You see, for various reasons she ended up agreeing to host her family's Thanksgiving at her home while nearly 9 mos pregnant. (Don't ask.) So, she has questions about how much she can make in advance and freeze. Little did she know that I am married to Mr Freeze himself.

From the NY Times article on freezing food.

Earlier this summer, when Mark Bittman wrote an article about how you can freeze most food, Phineas' response was a smug "well, duh!" He will freeze anything. And by "anything" I mean he has frozen all of the following: couscous, beans and lentils, cookies, mashed potatoes, tomato paste, habanero peppers, birthday cake, blueberries, nuts, fresh ginger, cheese, white rice... the list goes on. Actually, in addition to all kinds of meats, dumplings and breads, this is basically what's in the freezer right now (the cake in question is chocolate mousse cake from my birthday.) Between the freezer and pantry, Phin and I could easily survive a 6 month siege by brain-eating zombies before turning to cannibalism. But I digress.

Anyway, in going through the list of everything that Mar wanted to serve, aside from the turkey (ie: stuffing, mashed potato, gravy, squash soup, veggies, apple pie, pumpkin pie) there is only one item we were unsure of freezing: Pecan Pie. However, according to Nestle.com, it's fine. And this truly tickles me, since I have already invested lots of time experimenting with pecan pie. So, naturally, I am now feeling like I should make extra pecan pies this year so that I can cut them into single servings and freeze them.

Gosh, Mar. We really are bad influences on each other! Happy Friday, everyone!

Blue Plate: A Tale of Two Dishes

For the Blue Plate, I like to feature "weeknight" dishes: meals you can cook with pantry items or with leftover ingredients from weekend cooking. This week's Blue Plate is a little of both.

On Sunday, I spent the earlier part of the day in the kitchen cooking for Polyhymnia, who will most likely not have time once my future nephew finally arrives. For health reasons, Poly eschews carbs, but her husband grew up with and loves Italian food. So, to satisfy both of their needs, I made a batch of "lasagna" using eggplant instead of sheets of pasta. I dipped each slice of eggplant in an eggwash before browning in a pan. Then I layered them in loaf pans (a generous 2 person casserole size) the way you would a lasagna - alternating eggplant, sauce, cooked ground beef and sausage, ricotta cheese and a mix of mozzarella and fontina. While I was at this project, Phineas was busy laying in our annual winter store of wontons and dumplings.

Winter bounty: dumplings, wontons and lasagna.

Now there are several mini eggplant lasagnas in the freezer, waiting to be delivered. I used up all the eggplant and meat, but had leftover ricotta. So, for today's Blue Plate, the ricotta and my endless appetite for nuts were the primary catalysts.

Just a few weeks ago, there was a recipe for pasta with walnut sauce featured in the NY Times which called for items I had on hand, plus ricotta. Perfect! All I needed was broccoli raab, which I eat regularly anyway.

Corkscrew pasta with walnut sauce and broccoli raab.
Phin added a 'healthy' amount of black pepper to his bowl.

The sauce requires no cooking and can be made in the time it takes to boil water for the pasta. I used hazelnut oil instead of walnut oil, but using all olive oil would be fine, too. And to make this dish even easier, the broccoli raab is blanched right in the pasta water. I didn't bother shocking it in ice water.

The verdict: this is a keeper. It was creamy and flavorful and not overly heavy. It will definitely be a regular this winter.

Woof woof!

A bib for one of the little ones on the way.