A few things I've learned

I'm still no Martha Stewart. Though the closer I get to being married, the more I seem to be aiming for that kind of perfection. Perfection isn't the right word, of course- I'll never be perfect, and certainly never do it all and look good doing it. But I think I'm taking a particular brand of domesticity to heart. And the domesticity? Definitely I have more of a drive for it than ever before. I guess love and impending marriage can do that to a girl. For the record, none of it has improved my cleaning abilities, or my desire to do any cleaning. Too bad about that. So these are the things I've learned lately, in the domestic sphere. Very Martha Stewart. Maybe you know them already?

1: Baguettes can be sliced into chunks, or into little slices, and stuck in the freezer. They probably should be in foil to begin with, so they don't get freezer burned, but I just threw mine in a plastic ziplock. Pull out just what you need for dinner, wrap in foil, and stick in the back of a hot oven for maybe 20-30 minutes while dinner is cooking. They come out nicely toasted, warm, and incredibly delicious. Almost as good as fresh baked. I think I'll do this FOREVER now I know about it, because I used to waste a lot of baguettes because I know I shouldn't eat too much bread. Now I can buy one baguette, and enjoy it at least 3 times. This counts as a money saving tip, as well as a domestic cooking tip. After all, fresh hot bread makes everything better.

2: Another money and time saving tip that I probably knew about, but didn't bother with, was to immediately process grocery items as soon as I get home. Specifically, I like to buy multi-colored pepper packages at Costco (CHEAP!), and cut them up for use in chili, stews, frittatas, etc. I like a blend of every color, so I cut all the peppers up and blend them together. One package of Costco peppers fills 3 or 4 reusable plastic containers, which is probably a cup and a half or two cups of cut peppers in the end. Exactly the right amount for my favorite black bean chili, or I can take out just a little bit at a time for frittatas and omelettes. I toss the plastic containers in the freezer, a little freezer burn frankly doesn't seem to hurt them. And I don't bother defrosting- the peppers defrost and cook beautifully straight from frozen.

3: Toss leftover chicken carcasses (ie, from rotisserie chicken from the store), leftover veggie bits (celery stalks, carrots, etc), etc., into plastic baggies and shove in the freezer. On a quiet Sunday afternoon, make chicken stock. That's my plan for this weekend, in fact.

4. The very oldest recipes are often the best recipes. Plain old roast beef with carrots and potatoes, ziti casserole, and homemade lasagne with the long-simmering meat sauce are still three of my very favorite meals. And when you eat them, it's like childhood all over again. There are also days when all you can muster the strength to cook is Kraft Mac and Cheese. And that's a perfectly fine option.

5. The very newest blogosphere recipes can be just as fun, though. For example, after sampling Gym Buddy's AMAZING chocolate cookies from that infamous 24-hour recipe... well, let's just say I'm on the bandwagon. And speaking of cookies and baking? Bridesmaid J gave me the smartest tip. Spray pam on a 1/4 cup measuring cup, and use that to scoop up your batter for muffins or whatnot. So effective!

6. I take the idea of going green, at least making an effort, very seriously. And we're making some strides! I've switched to using bamboo utensils at work (cute little package, I can wash them in the restroom after each use, and no more take-out plastic forks). We started using fabric napkins at work, and the cheap ones from Target seem to be holding up just fine. I'd like to make fancy ones but... these will do for now! We also are using cheap-o Costco bar towels for almost everything we used to use paper towels for. Good for the environment, and frankly the house looks nicer without all that paper and trash.

Here's my black bean chili recipe. The general idea seems basic enough, but I did steal the gist of it from All Recipes. It's marked in my recipe box as "G loves!" and he definitely does. I like it best with a bit of shredded cheese and some sour cream, but the dish is vegan on its own. G likes to add some hot sauce, and I sometimes add a little bit myself. It's probably kid-friendly- definitely not too spicy without the added hot sauce. You can substitute almost anything of course- this is chili, not rocket science. The original recipe calls for a jalapeno pepper, but I've still never cooked with them, so I give that a miss.

George's Favorite Black Bean Chili
-1 tbsp olive oil
-1 yellow onion, diced fine
-one package mixed frozen peppers, OR 2 red bell peppers, seeded and diced
-1 small can sweet corn, drained
-6 plum tomatoes, diced OR 1 can diced no-sodium-added tomatoes. (I use the can, usually)
-1 tsp ground black pepper- cheap stuff is fine
-1 tsp ground cumin
-1 tbsp chili powder
-2 (15 oz) cans black beans, drained and rinsed (you can substitute other beans as needed)
-1 can low-sodium chicken broth, or 1.5 cups homemade broth
-1 tsp salt

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Saute the onion for a few minutes, then add frozen or fresh bell peppers, tomatoes, and corn for 10 minutes or until the onions are translucent.
2. Season with black pepper, cumin and chili powder. Stir in the black beans, chicken broth and salt. Bring to a boil. Simmer for at least ten minutes.
3. Serve hot by itself or over rice.

Plum Cake

I made Smitten Kitchen's Dimpled Plum Cake recipe over the weekend. I used golden plums (orange? whatever they are), instead of the deep purpley gorgeous plums she used. I also used my KitchenAid for the very first time while mixing the dough. First, I have to mention my love for that appliance. The KitchenAid is the best thing ever. The dough came together, with zero effort on my part, in a beautiful harmony of flavors and ingredients and oh my goodness is it fast. Also? I found the whole thing delightfully easy to clean up afterwards. I can't believe I never used it before. It was a gift before I moved in with the fiance, and when I moved back it somehow ended up in our pantry in the basement. He brought it up for me to play with this weekend, and it is now installed in a corner of the kitchen counter, where it will stay in all its breast-cancer-pink glory until I die. Or at least until we remodel the kitchen.

I didn't take any photos of the finished cake. I wasn't sure it worked at first. I thought it seemed a bit undercooked, and it didn't really look like the picture from Smitten Kitchen. I thought I'd destroyed it by using the KitchenAid, instead of mixing with a hand blender. But two nights ago, we braved it. Tried the plum cake, with a little bit of whipped cream on top.

It's heaven. Make that recipe, now. It took me literally ten minutes to throw together (with the KitchenAid's mixing help), and only forty minutes or so to bake. Even using different plums, it is the most delectable sweet treat I've had in ages. It tastes of caramelized fruit, and summer. It tastes like George's love for me, and my love for him.

In other words, it came out differently than expected, but absolutely perfect in the end.

Cranky vs. Quilt

Everyone's been a bit cranky around here lately. Going to bed early, sleeping late, but not sleeping. I think we figured out the reason though- it's rough living in the almost suburbs! A huge pothole on the other side of the street in front of our house has been causing cars to bottom out and fwap their way past, making incredibly loud (louder than average) street noise all day, every day. So it makes sense that it's been waking us up all night! They finally came and patched up the hole, so I am very hopeful for a sound sleep tonight.

The yummy crockpot chili that was all ready for eating when I got home from work has also helped my attitude. I need more long-cooking recipes, however... I am always gone 10-10.5 hours, so recipes that are done in 8 end up burning up a bit no matter how much extra fluid I add. The hunt for VERY long cooking recipes is on!

Now, the quilt show. I picked up a really cute kit to make a baby blanket out of flannel, with a super-soft backing. It even comes with the embroidery thread to knot it (as opposed to quilting it). Woo! I spent the last few evenings ironing fabric, and am so ready to get cracking on all these projects. Here's some of the inspiration I found at the quilt show, to boost me on in my quest for productivity in the sewing room. Amanda loves the modern circles, but I was drawn to the 30s prints and to the mariner's compass quilts. Among others!









I love the quilting on that one. So much to aspire to! But I'll tell you a secret... my points line up SO much better than so much of what I saw on Sunday. Shh... If only I could hand quilt, and not just piece like a pro!

An Annual Tradition

Last year I had the flu the week leading into Christmas. It was rotten. This year I don't have the flu (hurray flu shot!), but I did catch the cold that's been roaming around my office. All the herbal remedies and cold meds I've been taking haven't licked it yet, but it has given me a nice opportunity to slow down and enjoy the season. Albeit with a red and runny nose. I keep over-booking myself- and when I'm sick I just back out of everything (as politely as possible). And suddenly I'm faced with free time.

Free time to be festive. The gifts are wrapped on one of my chairs (being Jewish and treeless, a chair works). The ones headed off to the midwest have already been mailed. The new bright blue LED lights are strung up on the balcony, with these nifty white circles hanging beneath them. My house is Chanuka-festive, and I even found the candles that fit in my newest menorah before I go to light them.

Free time to watch TV. Last night I finally caught the first episode of True Blood, which I adored. And I am showing serious devotion to the significant other by not watching a bunch more tonight while I'm home alone. Instead, I'm watching the Muppet Christmas special. I'll never really grow up.

Free time to cook more- last night I was treated to a delicious Hungarian paprika-laced chicken soup. Spicy and perfect for my head cold. Monday I cooked The Pioneer Woman's stellar Pasta alla Vodka. Some people thought it had a bit too much vodka. I thought it was abso-fallutin-tastic. It made a great lunch the last few days, too. And tonight I tried a new recipe for vegetable stew with herb dumplings. I'm not sure it came out so much as stew as a very soupy veggie mixture, but I was extremely pleased with the dumplings for my first time ever making them. It was a pretty easy recipe, and very tasty!

Free time to knit. I've been working on my cashmere stole quite a bit. I'm halfway through the fifth repeat, of eight repeats total. Not bad! It's still luscious to work with the cashmere; I feel almost guilty it's so sinfully soft. I also cast on for a quick little gift, a new pair of Eunny Jang's Endpaper Mitts for a deserving friend. She picked out some really lovely colors and gave me a chance to re-remember the tubular cast-on. Which I enjoyed much more this time. In addition to the mitts and my never-ending lace stole, I've started working on a baby blanket again. Two of my colleagues from work are having babies in the spring, and I'm excited to have a real reason to play with sweet and cuddly baby yarns.

The only sad part of these few days of chilling at home after work, is that my camera has disappeared again. How am I supposed to document my works in progress without it? I'm sure it's in some purse somewhere around here. You'd think it would be easy to find everything in an efficiency apartment, but not so.

The worst thing that can happen to a knitter

I suspect that the worst thing that could happen to a knitter is losing the ability to knit. I'm not quite so whole-sale gone as all that... but I managed to pull a muscle in my upper back/neck, or some other cause not yet determined, and have spent the last two weeks knitting very little and taking a lot of pain meds. When the pain still wasn't gone by last Friday, I pulled in the bigger guns- muscle relaxants. Boy are these things weird. When I take them at night, I'm out pretty shortly thereafter. Took them this morning, since the pain and discomfort was pretty severe and I don't need to drive or operate machinery today. As near as I can tell they still make me woozy enough that I don't dare drive, but I seem to be awake enough to surf the web with impunity.

At any rate, all this pretty much explains why I haven't yet finished the darn NaKniSweMo sweater. I've been making an honest effort- I finished the front yesterday, and started the sleeves today. About three inches into the sleeves, in fact. But there's no way I can pull out a marathon knitting session the rest of the weekend to finish it on time. So much for that goal. I don't think I want to mess up my back further by trying to knit when my body tells me not to, but it's a hard hard thing to laze around in front of the tv all day and not have needles in hand!

My Thanksgiving this year was quiet and very pleasant. I did a fair bit of baking beforehand- something about the holidays really gets me in the baking mood. I made blueberry muffins, although I should have made the awfully sweet variety instead of the healthy sort. I like the sweet ones much better. I made a loaf of cranberry nut bread, which is nearly gone already between Turkey Day and breakfasts since. And I also made four dozen pecan tassies. I absolutely adore tassies- they're a bit fussy to make, but come out stellar. The winter edition of Bon Appetit has a recipe for chocolate almond tassies that I may try next- there's something absurdly appealing about little mini tarts with a cream cheese and butter crust. Again- not so healthy, but absolutely worth it.

Sunday night

Until recently, my Sunday nights have had a surprising consistency. It's my day to cook. Really cook. Cook the kinds of things I just don't have time or energy to make mid-week... the long-simmering things, the big luscious stews, the soups and desserts and things. The last few weeks I've had other plans- but I haven't minded. I'm a lot like my mom about that- as long as I'm fed, I'm probably going to be happy. So long as it isn't treif, at least.

This whole weekend has been a very selfish weekend, however. A time to regroup, a time to focus in and frankly just putter around the apartment for once. I'm feeling much better as a result, as is evidenced by my making it to the gym and getting in a run before my gym buddy even got there! That may have been because I misread the clock and got there an hour early, but it definitely counts. After I got back I puttered some more, watched some bad tv on my DVR, and did laundry. And I started cooking!

I found a new beef stew recipe to try by checking out my copy of Fix and Forget It- Lightly, a pretty decent slow cooker book. I mainly chose the recipe because I had all the ingredients except two. My neighbor kindly gave me the worcestershire sauce and onion I needed, and it turned out rather delicious! I thought about getting buffalo meat at the market, and this probably would have been good with that... but beef worked just as well.



In addition to stew, I made a Tarte Tatin for the first time in ages. It wouldn't flip over, but it is still delicious. So my low-key weekend continues with apple tart a la française, a glass of cabernet, and Red Sox up by 1. I'm also back to working on my cashmere stole, now that it's cold enough that I wish I had it finished already. Perfection.

Last week I went to a book sale at my work- lots of interesting items were to be had, in addition to a lot of cheap books. This was my literary haul:


Notice the spinning book? And the gorgeous Quilts of Provence book is not only a subject I care a great deal about, having lived in Aix-en-Provence... but it is also a signed copy.


I also purchased some gifts, and the best salt and pepper shakers ever. Smiling sheep!