Now I Understand

Now I understand why retired people always say they are so busy.  I took a week off, made a to-do list that looked achievable, was very productive and only got half of it done.  Granted, other things came up and my primary goal was gardening which I feel in control of now.  But I could use another 3 weeks just to finish everything else on my list.

Well one last glass of wine tonight before it's back to the salt mines.  One good thing, my boss is now off for two weeks so while going back will have all of the usual return to work busy-ness, there will be one less person to worry about.

More Flour

I'm really loving this cookbook.  In fact, it could be one of those cookbooks that I'm motivated to make most, if not all, of the recipes.  I really don't like Creme Brulee and most pies so might skip those chapters but everything else looks awesome.  And so far, the book hasn't disappointed.

Yesterday's dessert of choice was Oreo cookies.  There were several stages of letting the dough sit but these were very easy to make and yummy.  So much better than the commercial version.

The cookies followed a very good dinner of Beef Tenderloin steaks with Blue Cheese from Chef at Home and a salad with squash, toasted almonds and pears from Bite Me.

Another satisfying day in the kitchen.  I really don't want to go back to work.

It looks like rain this morning but I'm hoping to get in the garden today to finish planting my tomatoes which are now officially hardened off.  It is supposed to be relatively hot tomorrow so I'd like to plant them today to give them a bit of time to adjust at cooler temperatures in hopes they won't get to baked tomorrow.  Even if it rains today, I'll have to bite the bullet and get out there.

I also need to finish my planters.  I picked up a few more things yesterday and that should be it.  The rest of the summer will be about weeding and relaxing, not necessarily in that order.

Field Trip

Yesterday I made a trek into Toronto to get my stitches out - new gums are in place.  Yay.  Since I had to go in on a non work day, I decided to make a bit of a field trip out of it.  First stop, mainly because it was the only place on my list open at 9:30, was David's Teas where I replenished my Earl Grey supply and a few others and bought this Timolino travel mug.  It is vacuum sealed and has a little filter for loose leaf tea.  The best part, it also has a little hiding place for extra tea so it can take you far!  I think I'll use it at the office but that might mean that I need to buy another to have at home for road trips.  Such a dilemma.

Next stop was The Workroom.  I have been wanting to go back and check out their book selection since it seemed quite interesting the one time I was there before with insufficient time to do it justice.  Since they didn't open until 11, it was not the world's biggest crisis that I took the street car too far because I was fighting with the Rock Island shawl and completely didn't hear the stop called.  I am firmly convinced that it wasn't called.  The streetcar driver had a good laugh at my expense.

Anyway, I stopped for a latte at a coffee shop that was recommended by the Toronto Star a little while ago.  I can't remember the name but it wasn't very interesting.  The latte was fine with a nice fancy leaf design in the milk but no better than Aroma in the Standard Life building.  They do a nice design in the milk, you get a piece of chocolate with it and the ambiance is nicer.  And given that it is in the concourse which has no ambiance, you get my drift.  I guess I'm getting too suburban to appreciate Queen West ambiance.  Oh well.  The coffee, combined with the hilarious Revenge of the Spellmans, the third in the series by Lisa Lutz, passed the time until 11 when I browsed The Workroom.  A nice place.  I didn't actually buy any fabric to my surprise.  Not enough fat quarter choices, I guess.  Also, I'm trying to limit my purchases to black and white fabrics or brown and blue ones.  That helps limit the insanity.

I also made Rhubarb Raspberry muffins from Flour.  Also good in the cakey muffin style which is more the husband's thing than mine.  Unfortunately, now that he has discovered that they have rhubarb in them, he probably won't be eating them beyond the one he scarfed down before he realized they contained his hated rhubarb.

Inspired by City Park

 I have been admiring a quilt called City Park for a while now.  It is made up of solids and big blocks with a navy or dark blue as the main centre piece.  I picked up the pattern and didn't find it terribly helpful so drew up my own version with the pattern as inspiration.

I used mainly Amy Butler's Soul Blossoms, with a few Love and possibly earlier lines thrown in too, and am really happy with how it turned out.  The solid blue is from Amy too.

I think the secret to a quilt using Amy Butler fabric is to include a solid or a relatively tame pattern to offset the craziness of the Amy Butlers.  I find this new one and the one below make sense because they have a solid as a kind of anchor point.  It helps your eye take in the patterns by giving it a break from the busy-ness.

I have no idea if what I'm talking about makes sense to anyone with artist training but it makes sense to me.

Comparing these to the third quilt which was all crazy patterns put together, I think this theory seems reasonable.  Since I'm still very much addicted to these fabrics, I'll probably have further opportunities to test out this hypothesis!

In the meantime, Quilter's Garden Patch is having a 24% off sale until Friday and I need some backing fabric for the new quilt.  Looks like I'll have to go buy some - and at 24% off, why not Amy Butler?


I also wanted to say Happy Birthday to Judy!  Hope your day is fabulous and includes some quilting!

Up and Down, Up and Down, Up and Down

The hardening off of the seedlings has begun as I transfer them from the basement to the deck every morning and back down again later on.  I should be able to leave them outside for about 7 hours today which means the end is in sight.  I hope to plant them on the weekend.

I hardened off everything that I could put in the cold frame last week and most of that has now been successfully planted.  The only thing left were my gigantic tomato plants.  For some reason 5 of about 14 plants grew extra large.  If I had labelled them, I might find they are one variety.  An organized person would label.  I live for the surprise.  The bunny guarding the plants was picked up at a craft sale at Buckhorn Community Centre last weekend.  I thought he would go in the veggie patch and keep the other bunnies that visit company.  Maybe he'll be like a scarecrow and the real bunnies won't eat my pea shoots.  Not likely.

I'm on vacation this week and had a great day in the garden yesterday.  I did worry momentarily that I had bitten off more than I could chew and made the veggie patch too big.  But I quickly gave my head a shake and planted some more greens and beans and have filled it all.  Now I wait to see what sprouts.

Cooking yesterday was also quite successful.  I made the Smokin' BBQ Chicken from the book Bite Me with a Grilled Radicchio and Romaine Salad from the Fine Cooking that just arrived and chocolate chip cookies from Flour, my latest acquisition.  All were yummy.

The BBQ sauce was a little sweeter than it should have been.  Despite having it on my grocery list, I forgot to buy honey and, of course, didn't have enough for the recipe.  So I topped it up with maple syrup.

The salad had the added benefit of using up one of my leftover anchovies from the day before.  I'm not sick of anchovies yet!

I did sub dark chocolate for the milk chocolate in the cookies.  I just can't see a world where milk chocolate is ever chosen over dark and since the recipe was a lot of work for a cookie, wanted to make sure it was as tasty as possible.  The work came from toasting the hazelnuts, grinding some, chopping others.  I also bought chocolate wafers instead of using chips and had to chop those.  I did skip the part where she suggests refrigeration of the dough for 3 hours.  I'll try that next time.  I tend to want to make cookies when I want to make cookies so a 3 hour wait at 6PM is not really feasible.  The finished product was excellent so if 3 hours in the fridge makes them better, I'll be more organized next time; maybe.

Now it's back to the garden.

Not sure which magazine Monday

Yesterday was new recipe day.  It started with some lovely scones from a new purchase, Flour.  These were Oatmeal Maple Scones and were very, very tasty.  A little sweet with the glaze of maple syrup and icing sugar but tasty never-the-less.

For dinner it was fish and potatoes from The River Cafe's Italian Too Easy, a book I picked up 1/2 price last summer.  Likely because it appears to be out of print.  I liked the fish, which is baked with anchovies on top but the potatoes were unexciting.  Despite being boiled beforehand, roasted under the fish for 6 minutes and then poached in white wine, they weren't that tasty.  I think if I do this again, I'll roast the potatoes first and then put the fish on top.  This method has worked well in the past.

Back to the anchovies.  I don't believe that, other than in Caesar salad, I've ever had anchovies.  I'd have to say that it is a shame that I've reached this age and not enjoyed these frequently.  I'll have to make up for that going forward.  Delicious.

Finally, the magazine part was Roasted Sesame and Panko Crusted Asparagus with Soy-Ginger Drizzle.  I have no idea what magazine this was from but it was yummy.  Basically you coat the asparagus in a mayo, soy sauce, rice vinegar mixture and then dip in Panko.  Bake for about 15 minutes in a hot oven and then drizzle with a soy sauce, rice vinegar and chili sauce blend.  Yummy, yummy, yummy.  And likely even better if I had remembered to include the sesame seeds.  And the asparagus was fresh from Rebecca's father's farm.  Can't get much better than that.

Rhubarb!

I love rhubarb.  In fact, in about February, I start to dream about all of the yummy things I'm going to make with it as soon as it pops out of the ground.  And, other than chives, it is the first edible from my garden which makes it even more exciting.

Last weekend I made a rhubarb crisp since I needed something soft and interesting for breakfast until my gums heal.  And last night I made my favourite pie in history - rhubarb pie.  No strawberry rhubarb required.  Straight up, undisguised rhubarb.  For some reason I had trouble rolling out the bottom crust.  But the top crust was fine.  Same mixture, different experience.  Maybe I dumped enough flour on the rolling pin so that by the time I got to the top it was ready to go.  I would rather have a messy bottom crust than a messy top crust anyway.  It is easy to fudge the bottom because only the fruit sees it and is not judgemental.

Next up will be a rhubarb jam recipe from Fine Cooking magazine.

I think I've come up with a reason why some people have to find time to be creative.   A new friend at the office and I were talking about our other, creative lives that we pursue outside the office.  We talked about creative people needing to do these things to feed their souls.  This is very much the philosophy of The Artist's Way.  I guess that's why some people can wait to do these things until they retire where others have to keep at it constantly.

Quilt Show!

After discovering the show was on by chance, I went to the Halton Quilters Guild show yesterday at the Royal Botanical Gardens with my friend Mary.  We had planned a road trip to the Hobby Horse in Georgetown but the quilt show seemed like a much better idea.  And it was.  A number of lovely quilts on show and some very good vendors.  I didn't realize how many quilt stores are within a short drive from Oakville.  I managed to buy a few things, a couple actually for Christmas gifts if I get my act together.

And as I was cleaning out my yarn stash, I discovered a tank that was 95% finished.  All that was left was the sewing up and edge stitching around the neck and the sleeves.  I didn't really forget about the project exactly.  It was more a case of out of sight, out of mind.  This was a pattern from the Vogue knitting 2003 issue and I don't think I loved the project which might be why I dropped it for some other worthy project, no doubt.  But all finished and tried on, it looks pretty good.  Just in time for summer.

Something else that happened a couple of weeks ago.  I was at my annual at the doctor and was working on the May/June socks while I waited and one of the women who works there stopped and told me how she used to knit and she would get back into it when she retired.  I always find this a strange topic of conversation.  I'm not retired and find time to knit. Even my friends who have kids, while they don't have as much time, aren't dropping knitting until they retire.  I know I'm up there with the obsessive crafters but I cannot get my head around the I don't have time at all idea.  In fact, crafting is often what gets me through an otherwise stressful day.  But maybe that's just me.

Soup and Smoothie Diet

I think Periodontists should totally revamp their branding strategy.  Instead of telling people they are going for a gum graft, tell them they are going to lose 5 pounds or your money back.  It is really hard not to lose weight when you can't eat anything but soup and smoothies!  I had the second half of my gum graft surgery yesterday - the first was a year ago - and it is as annoying as I remember.  But after 24 hours of mostly smoothies, some soup and a cappuccino, I feel lighter already.  Hungry.  But lighter.

Rambling Thoughts

1.  Why is it that organizing your stash can feel like an accomplishment when you are no further ahead after such an organization?  In the end, nothing is completed, you have just made room for more stash.  I organized my fabric stash quite a while ago but my yarn stash is all over the place and I really need to find a book that I've put away somewhere that must have seemed sensible at the time but doesn't now.  I'm also winding skeins as I go so I guess that can be considered a legitimate accomplishment and I can pick up a new project at a moments notice when we're hopping in the car for a bit of a drive.
2.  My favourite fend for myself dinner, which I had tonight, consists of a toasted English Muffin, top with a little butter, a nice mustard (honey Dijon today), a couple of slices of prosciutto, a couple of slices of tomato and shredded cheese.  Pop under the broiler until the cheese melts and enjoy.  Simple but the salt of the meat and the sweetness of the tomatoes is such a nice combo.  I also like it with a couple of slices of avocado but didn't have any today.  The couple of pieces of Green and Black chocolate I got from the Easter Bunny was also very satisfying!
3.  I occasionally buy a bottle of roasted red peppers instead of roasting my own.  At the butcher shop Saturday, in an effort to find something resembling a vegetable to go on our sandwiches since I didn't feel like going to both the butcher shop and the grocery store, I bought some pickled roasted red peppers.  Very tasty.
4.  The lunch we actually did have on Saturday was beans, bacon, roasted red peppers (pickled) and cheese on a nice olive bread.  I haven't had beans, bacon and cheese on toast for 100 years but it was really good.  I think it was my mother's version of my English Muffin sandwich because I remember having it for dinner occasionally as a kid and loving it.
5.  I have been awake at 3am the last two mornings unable to go to sleep at all ever again.  I think this explains the complete rambling going on here today.

Back to the stash!

Tomatoes and Milk

I haven't quite figured out how to take pictures under florescent light but wanted to show a nifty tomato tip I got from an employee, or maybe she was the owner,  of a nice garden supply store in the Beaches a few years ago.  I have been using her tip ever since and it is excellent.

I can't remember how the conversation came up but think I was buying some seeds and we started talking about growing tomatoes.  I had always had trouble with how fast they grow and the need to transplant.  I wondered if I was starting them too early, thus requiring more frequent transplanting.  Since it is so easy to break them, I never really liked doing it.   In terms of timing, she told me that she generally plants her seeds when Canada Blooms, a Toronto garden show, is on.  But more interesting was how she planted the seeds.

Here's the recipe using milk bags:
 - cut a few slits for drainage at one end of the bag
 - cut the top off of the other end
 - roll the bag to make a little "pot" about 2 to 3 inches high
 - fill this little pot with soil, drop in a few seeds and wait to see what happens
 - as the seeds sprout, thin to one plant per bag
 - as the plants grow, roll up the folded bag and add some more soil

Tomatoes grow more roots along the stem as the additional soil is added, making the plant stronger.  When planting out in the garden (after my least favourite seed starting process, hardening off), dig a deep hole, cut along the side of the milk bag with a knife and gently place the plant and all of that lovely soil in the hole.  And don't forget to scratch in some Epsom salts to reduce the chances of blossom end rot.

Okay, okay, I like them

This one goes out to Kristen and Natalie who, when picking out our sock patterns for our sock-every-two-month initiative insisted that we all do this one.  But, I don't like it, I said.  Too lacy, I said.  I'll feel a breeze on my feet, I said.  Oh be quiet, they said.  So then I thought, maybe I'll use that yarn I ordered from Sweet Sheep 100 years ago that looked nothing like the picture on the website.  I don't like that either.  Then I'll find someone to give the socks I don't like to.  Brilliant plan.

Well, I like the pattern, I like the yarn and I'm keeping the socks for me.  So to Kristen and Natalie ... Oh be quiet.  And thanks.

Baby Shower Gifts Done!

My cousins, who are sisters, are having babies around the same time and the shower is this weekend.  Despite knowing about these babies well in advance, the need for a gift kind of snuck up on me and when the invitation came a few weeks ago, I knew I had to come up with a quickly executed project idea.  While do-able, I wasn't really all that interested in putting myself through the stress of trying to get 2 sweaters done so I decided on raggedy blankets.

These projects are fun.  The one drawback are all of the little bits of flannel that come off in the dryer.  A few years ago, I made 3 large ones for Christmas gifts and I actually took them to the laundromat.  Not sure if that was totally cool but I thought an industrial strength machine was better equipped to handle the lint.

Anyway, the one on the left was my effort to be fancy.  I didn't quite cut correctly and should have run a diagonal line across the smaller pieces because my batting is bunching after washing in a couple of places.  It isn't really that big of a problem and I still think it looks very cute.  The other was my standard with equal-sized squares.  I cut these 7x7 and went to town.  A couple of years ago, I bought some scissors specially made for cutting the borders.  While any old scissors will do, the blades on these are just long enough to cut the rag borders without as much risk of hitting the line of stitching.  And they don't seem to cause my hand to get a cramp quite as fast as regular scissors.

Anyway, I hope they like them.

Magazine Mondays

I'm borrowing Magazine Mondays from Cream Puffs in Venice, a nice cooking blog.  I'm not actually sure how I found her blog in the first place and haven't read it for ages but have always thought her Magazine Mondays was a great idea.  It is a way to cook recipes that I am constantly saving from magazines.  If I never bought another cooking book or magazine, I would still have more than enough recipes to last until I'm at least 105 and wouldn't have to eat the same thing twice.  So with the occasional magazine Monday, I can at least make sure I try a few of the recipes, justifying the cost of hanging on to them.

Tonight it was Grilled Thai Chicken Breasts with Herb-Lemongrass crust.  I actually used chicken thighs but otherwise stayed true to the recipe.  It was from a magazine my friend Pam bought me for my birthday and as soon as I saw the picture, I knew I had to make it.   

As I look at the picture of the recipe, realize that I forgot the limes.  Oh well, it was very good without them.  I also made extra and stuck it in the freezer to see if it still tastes as good post freeze and thaw.  I've got to continue to find strategies for simplifying weeknight cooking.