Beginning the stash reduction project

So here we go.  I've joined a couple of threads on the Stash and Burn group on Ravelry.  They are posting stash burning challenges which I will follow to the extent that my stash fits.  So far so good.  The January challenge is to use recent stash or a precious yarn.  While I can probably name quite a few precious yarns (aren't they all), I chose a Manos Maxima yarn, bought too long ago at Spun Fibre Arts.  I haven't made anything with it yet partly because one forgets stash yarns but also because it is so soft and I felt it needed just the right project.  I've decided that the project is nyx from Norah Gaughan collection, Volume 9, seen here.  It is a cabled cowl in worsted weight yarn.  I think the Manos should work as a nice substitute.

The second challenge is for the first quarter and is to complete a sweater.  I am choosing my in-progress kaide that I blogged about when taking inventory of in progress projects a couple of months ago.  I've made some good progress on it in the last couple of days to the point that I'm now about halfway up the back.  I've been knitting with so much fingering weight yarn of late that I'd forgotten how quick a bulkier yarn knits up.  

Only one small problem that I'd also forgotten.  My formerly recurring wrist pain which doesn't seem to bother me as much when I'm doing small projects with lightweight yarn has cropped up again.  I can keep going on the project, I just need to pace myself a bit better.  Several hours constantly on a car trip might have been over doing it.

Now it is sort of organized but there is far too much of it

I spent a weekend or two a little while ago organizing my yarn stash and taking inventory on Ravelry.  There was a great deal of satisfaction in getting that done but also a realization that I have a problem.  And it isn't limited to yarn.  I have collected fabric with about as much abandon as I have collected yarn.  I also have collected cookbooks in about the same way.  What to do about this.  Well, it just happens to be New Years resolution time and here is what I have decided (gulp!).  Apologies to yarn and fabric stores who will see a dip in their sales if I'm successful.  Here goes …

1.  I am not going to buy any yarn or fabric in 2014 unless:

• I need it to finish a project (narrowly defined as batting or backing fabric for a quilt).  
• I completely deplete my stash (hah!) - then I can shop for project specific items.  
• I am on a trip to somewhere foreign and see yarn to bring back as a souvenir.  Since I generally try to pack very light these days, the amount of yarn I can bring back is pretty limited so this shouldn't be too bad.  There are no trips currently in the plans so this probably won't come in to play but I needed it in the rules just in case.
• I have already signed up for the Sweet Georgia yarn club and will have some incoming yarn for three months - this has already been done so I'm stuck with it (rats!)

2.  I am not going to buy any craft books in 2014:

• I will use the books that I have on my shelves, the patterns I have snipped from magazine articles (which I will continue to get because I've already paid for them) and patterns I own on Ravelry. I guess free patterns would be fine too but technically I don't want to expand my pattern universe so think I need to stop collecting these as well.
• An exception here - if I can't find something to make with my existing resources, I can buy a pattern on Ravelry  (or at a store but it might be best to avoid going to one at all).  But I must cast on the pattern immediately and start knitting.  
• If I really, really want a book, I'm going to add it to my 2014 Christmas list.

3.  I am not going to buy any cookbooks in 2014.

• If I see one I can't live without, I'm going to add it to my 2014 Christmas list.  At the same time, I'll also examine why I want that particular cookbook and see if I can't find a recipe in one of the hundreds I already own.  The local library seems to order most books that hit my radar screen so I can peruse to my heart's content to answer the above question.  

4.  I will erase games from my iPad that I spend too much time on and use the time to exercise, work on projects, read, continue to organize my life.  Tetris Blitz, your days are numbered.

5.  I am going to read all of those half-finished books on my shelves:  the Knitters Life List, the Omnivores dilemma, the Happiness Project and others that don't come to mind at the moment.  Not to mention the cookbooks that contain good technique or ingredient information.

6.  I'm going to blog about this experiment.

They look messy but these might be the ones

A few unrelated thoughts in this post:

1.  I love the Chocolate Aroma cookies at my local coffee shop, Aroma.  They are chocolate, with icing sugar and are almost perfect.  And the best thing, when you feel like a small sweet with your coffee, they are a small sweet.  They aren't the as-big-as-your-head cookies that Starbucks sells which provide a meal in a cookie and don't actually taste very good.

I've tried a few recipes over the last few weeks to see if I could recreate them and I think I've finally come close.  Since this recipe was passed to me as being a possibility by another cookie-loving friend, I should have tried it first.  They are called chocolate crackle cookies and are from Martha Stewart's website.  As I went over there to get the link, I notice there are several other chocolate crackle cookies that would also be worth a try.  But in the meantime, I have these.  And they are delicious.

2.  Outside today we have a blanket of ice.  Thankfully our power hasn't gone off, despite trying to a few times (touch wood).  I stuck my head out earlier to look around and could hear ice crashing down off of the trees.  It looks pretty but treacherous.  So we're hibernating today.  I baked the cookies above.  We had squash soup from the freezer for lunch with garlic bread made from some leftover baguette and a glass of Chardonnay.  Can't get much better than that.

3.  I made another hat for the Warm Hands Network.  I have discovered that I quite enjoy making hats but am less crazy about wearing them.  My already flat-as-a-pancake hair does not need the added influence of a hat.  With Warm Hands I get to enjoy the making and someone gets to enjoy the wearing. A winning solution all around.

They called this the appetizer

Usually when they call for snow in our area, we wake up in the morning, look out the window, don't see snow, turn on the TV and see that Buffalo got slammed with it instead.  Not today.  For a change the weather forecasters were correct.  The snow we shovelled this morning was called the appetizer.  Based on the continuation in snow all day, I think this was a good description.

So what did I do instead of my normal Saturday running around?  Baked cookies … Now that's what I call an appetizer.  Three new recipes. The chocolate espresso cookies and the ginger spice cookies at the front are from the latest issue of the LCBO Food & Drink magazine.  The shortbread are from In the Sweet Kitchen and I made macaroons, currently cooling in the fridge, from the Toronto Star's annual cookie advent calendar.

So to earn a taste of these cookies, it's back out for the next round of snow shovelling.

I have always liked it as a spice

Last week I was bouncing around iTunes when I discovered a new app.   It is an app that costs money but it intrigued me enough that I did a bit of research and decided to buy.  It is called Paprika and it is great.  I have recipes saved on many websites and Paprika lets me copy them into one app.  So once I copy the recipes from these various websites, I'll be able to search all of the recipes in one place and won't have to remember where I saw a recipe when I want to make it.

The copy process is dead easy and my favourite part of this was getting saved recipes out of the terrible Bon Appetit recipe box and into something much more user friendly. I have only begun to copy recipes into the app but I think I know what I'll be playing with over the Christmas holidays.

One thing I really love about the app is the shopping list feature.  I decide to make a recipe, click the shopping cart box and it makes a shopping list … sorted by section of the grocery store.  I am somewhat irrationally happy about this app.  But after years of trying to figure out how to best sort recipes cut out of magazines, trying a bunch of different methods (file folders, binders, copying into Word, saving on magazine websites), I think I've finally found just the thing.

My kind of shopping

I am not the world's biggest fan of shopping.  I generally like to go to a store for a specific reason, buy what I need and get out.  But I do love craft shows.  And I went to the biggest in the city last night, the One of a Kind Christmas show.  Every year I have to psych myself to go because before I go I think … it's so big and takes forever, do I really need to go this year … and every year I go.  And I don't regret it.  Sometimes I go with a friend and sometimes I go by myself.  Sometimes I see a million different things I want to buy and sometimes I don't.  But I always find a gift or two and my husband really likes the one of a kind Christmas tree we've built up with the ornaments I pick up every year.

Here are just a few of the things I found last night.  I bought much more but can't include photos or stories since they must be kept secret from the prying eyes of others in the household until December 25th.

So, I know.  The cat is 18 and gets fluids for a kidney problem.  But I think that is when you really need a new bowl.  And it was either this or a monster pottery cup from Julie Richard.  

Not that a monster cup would have been a bad idea.  It's just that, despite adding a boatload of extra cupboard space, our kitchen cannot support many more dishes.

Next are linens from Rain Goose Textiles.  I've bought a few things over the years from this artist.  A yoga bag, oven mitts, tea cozy…  This year I bought a new tea cozy and these placemats and hand towels.  I love her stuff.  Simple designs but just enough to make them stand out as different.

Last of the ready-to-blog items purchased are lip balm and soap from Olive Authentique.  Their lip balm is perfect.  I lost the one I carry around in my purse a few months ago and finished the one I had beside the bed around the same time and have been missing it ever since.  Truth be told, this is probably the number 1 reason I got myself to the show this year.  I knew I could order it online but that just didn't seem sporting.  I haven't tried their soaps before so picked up a couple of those too.  Just before I was going to check out, the fire alarm went off and I kept thinking, please don't make us exit the building before I do my transaction.  Clearly there wasn't any sort of real emergency because the show went on.

So all-in-all, I'm glad I went.  I would say that this was one of the better shows I've been to.  Much more in the Christmas ornament line than in some years and lots of other really great things too.

If you are in the Toronto area, try to get there.  If nothing else, you'll be inspired by all of the hard work these artisans put into their craft.

But next time, for $27, I'll buy a tree

I've been reading about quince (the fruit) in a bunch of different places lately.  And specifically, quince jelly.  I wasn't sure you could buy quince here but I took myself off to Longo's to see if they had any.  They did.  I picked out six and continued on with my grocery shopping.  When the cashier rang me through, she entered 7 quince at $27!  Yikes.  Fortunately, I was only buying 6 so we corrected that and I went on my way, thinking that I probably should have paid attention to the price in the veggie aisle and sincerely hoped that I would enjoy quince jelly.

This weekend, I cooked up the quince and made the jelly using guidance from Clotilde at Chocolate & Zucchini.  I ended up with 1.5 L of liquid after cooking down the quince so added an additional 400g of sugar.  I only had one lemon but is was larger than average and gave me 6 tablespoons of juice (normally I seem to get 4 out of one lemon) so I went with it.

The jelly seems to be jelling although I'm not sure I love the taste of the bits I got on my fingers.  We'll see.  On toast might be a better taste experience.

But I have decided that if I like quince jelly, I'll buy a tree.

More purple hats

I'm still knitting hats for Warm Hands Network.  And using up stash.  The difference in light makes these look like two different yarns but they are both made from purple Debbie Bliss Merino Aran.

The first is a pattern from Hunter Hammersen.  A very nice pattern and slightly different techniques from those I've run into before.  Nothing complicated, just a little different.

The second is the standard hat pattern that I could have made up on my own but I tend to refer to a pattern when knitting.  It takes less time than doing the math.

I think I'm almost finished the balls of Merino Aran and then I'll move on to some more stash to reduce.

I cast on for a baby blanket with some Rowan Cotton yarn I bought a very long time ago.  As I think about it, it might have been more than 10 years ago.  Talk about deep stash as the podcasters like to say.  I needed a simple project to work on between games at a bonspiel I was in this weekend so am working on this.  I made a bit of progress on the blanket and our team won the bonspiel.  Quite a good result.  But after 7 games in 6 days, I'm ready for a nap.

Have I mentioned that I love podcasts?

1.  The Yarn Harlot based a whole talk (and some of her last book) on the benefits to mental wellbeing from knitting and other crafty activities.  I was reminded of this again today while listening to the Ewe University podcast.  The host was talking about the benefits of craft in lifting depression.  So I did a little Google search to read more and found this article.  Very interesting and it makes a lot of sense.

2.  I was listening to an NPR podcast the other day that talked about an oversupply of sheep in the US.  There is an article here.  It talked about this from both a food and clothing perspective.  I, of course, thought that this is a challenge to knitters to get those needles moving faster so we can support the farmers.

3.  I just finished listening to A Tale of Two Cities on Craftlit.  I have just recently discovered this podcast and am liking the podcast in general and really loved this book.  This is a book I've picked up several times over the years to start reading and never make it beyond the first chapter because I found it hard to get through from a pace perspective.  Fortunately Heather, the host of the podcast, promised up front that things would improve after the first few chapters.  And they did.  

Let's see what else I can pick up as I listen to podcasts while cleaning up from the tasmanian devil that just went through my kitchen leaving cookies, meatballs and muffins in her wake.

It's that time of year

I'm in the soup mood lately and have made two really good ones in the last couple of weeks.  The first was a Sweet Potato Mulligatawny soup from the Flavour Principle by Lucy Waverman, my new favourite cookbook distraction.  I amended it slightly to leave out the coconut milk, didn't have any cilantro or lemon juice and it was still absolutely brilliant.  I sprinkled some pumpkin seeds on top and enjoyed.

Yesterday I made my favourite butternut squash soup.  While butternut squash is one of my favourite veggies, I really dislike wrestling with the peel so, when making soup, I generally cut it in half, drizzle some olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast it for 45 minutes to an hour.  The peel comes off easily and the caramelization of bits on the surface of the squash only add to the flavour.   Here is what I do for my squash soup:

1 large butternut squash
olive oil, salt and pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 apple, roughly chopped
4 cups chicken or veggie stock or water
1 tsp (or more) curry powder
pepper

Preheat oven to 400F.  Cut squash in half and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with pepper and salt.  Roast squash for 45 minutes to an hour.  It might not be quite cooked through but it will finish in the stock.  Remove squash from oven, let cool until it can be handled without pain; peel and roughly chop.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in soup pot, add onion and cook gently until soft.  Add apple and squash to the pan, stir around a bit in the oil and onion to mix.  Add stock.  Bring stock to a boil then reduce to a simmer.  Add curry powder and pepper to taste and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.  Puree using favourite method (immersion blender is mine) and enjoy.

And drizzle this a few pumpkin seeds too.

Free style cooking

Keeping with the cottage theme, cooking is always a bit unstructured at the cottage.  And while I often bring a cookbook or two with me, I tend to free style things.  So two notable recipes from the weekend.  One made while there and one made with leftovers last night at home.

I'm still eating yummy goodness from the garden and brought a sugar pumpkin and some pears donated from a local farmer that my husband did some work for and made soup.  The onion that had been in the fridge seemed to have left with the in-laws who left before we did so I made do frying a bunch of green onions (including about half of the green parts), a clove of garlic, the pumpkin, the pears and some rosemary.  No chicken stock, so I used water and a bit of orange juice, turmeric, pepper and cinnamon. Very tasty as an appetizer to the barbecued steaks, also simply done with salt and pepper before grilling and a dab or rosemary butter after grilling.  With a side of foil roasted potatoes and Moose Tracks ice cream for dessert, we were happy and the fridge was that much further to being empty for the end of the season.

We had a bunch of leftover ham from Friday's dinner so I decided to make a ham and mushroom risotto.  I fried up a chopped onion until very soft, added garlic and celery, fried for a couple of minutes more, then added the mushrooms.  Once the mushrooms were mostly cooked, the rest of the process was standard risotto, toast the rice in the olive oil in the pan, add liquid in small amounts and keep stirring.  I used 1/4 cup sambuca instead of white wine as the first liquid added and then chicken stock after that.  When the rice was almost done, I added chopped up ham and finished the rice with parmesan cheese before serving.  The flavour of the ham (which had been baked with a maple mustard glaze) and the mushrooms went very well together.  I think I'm actually overcoming my general dislike of ham.  I really enjoy the things I have made with the leftovers.  The ham and cheese sandwiches on the griddle for lunch today were also fantastic.

Tonight, it is more simple pleasures with a roast chicken and roasted vegetables picked from a big dig in the garden this morning.  I'm really looking forward to the leftovers at lunch tomorrow.

Fall Relaxation

We had a very nice few days at a family cottage this weekend.  We threw the cat into the car and off we went.  The cat travelled very well and seemed to be content with the cottage.

The weather this weekend was fabulous and I went kayaking twice.  Saturday morning, the lake was quite glassy for the most part and I was out for at least an hour, exploring a bay I hadn't really plumbed the depths of before.  It was so peaceful and makes me forget why we don't go to the cottage more often (the horrendous traffic).  The leaves are about 1/2 down and the lake was covered with pine needles.  There were other people up there but it was not crowded with signs of habitation at about every 4 or 5 cottages.  That early in the morning, the only motorized boats are those of the fishermen moving from one spot to the next.  The sound of a passing train across the quiet lake sounded like the train was going to run me over it carried so well.  I saw (and heard) a few loons enjoying the morning and had a conversation with some cottagers outside on their deck doing some repairs.  It was fabulous.

This morning was even quieter.  It rained last night and the sky was still cloudy with further threat of rain.  But I went anyway.  As the husband says, I love kayaking and only get to do it very periodically so I went.  While the weather wasn't as nice, the cloud cover makes the colours more saturated and even nicer to look at.  I spent more of my paddle this time floating and looking at the scenery.  Fantastic.

We came home this afternoon to avoid the Monday traffic and get a few things done here and I'm trying to remember that relaxation for at least a few more days.

Friday crafting

My husband brought home a new set of frying pans that were on sale at Canadian Tire the other day so I decided to make little quilts to keep them from getting scratched when stacked.  I used leftover pieces from the Christmas quilt that I made for my dad.  I quite like them.  The execution isn't perfect but I think they turned out well enough.  

I also got my favourite bread made and the best bran muffins from the Flavours of Canada cookbook.  These are the only bran muffins I will ever bother making.  They don't dry out if you stir a little too much or bake a little too long like others I've made.  I can mix it up with different ingredients.  I like using bananas, walnuts and a few chocolate chips but pieces of apple and dried cranberries taste great too.  

And on the knitting front, I switched my purple project, partially begun in the last post's photos back to the Norah Gaughan pattern, kaide.  I bought the yarn to make this in the first place, then waffled and started a different sweater.  Today when I was making the pot quilts, I looked at the swatch I made for kaide and decided that the pattern really looks nice.  So, I ripped out and started again.  

This puts a damper on the startitis ...

I think I'm finally finished with my stash inventory.  I say I think because I found a bin that I didn't realize was there and more sock yarn than I remember buying so there might be more.  

Now, I know I don't have as much stash as some ... there is no yarn in the piano, for instance ... and I don't have stash that I hold on to because I can't bear to knit with it.  But I have realized that I have a good amount of stash.  And the inventory process has been getting my imagination going.  Until today when I decided to take stock of my projects in progress and realized that I'd better focus on the projects already in progress before I got too far ahead of myself.  

At the top, I have a market bag from Weekend Knits that I started using some of my Lopi collection on.  Up next, a cardigan I started making for my niece for last Christmas.  The selling feature of this cardi is the rather large collar that I had to frog after being mostly done because I had completely messed up when starting it, joining one side properly and the other side completely wrong.  Because I left starting it too late, I had no hope of getting it done for Christmas.  If not for stash inventory, I might not have had a hope of getting it done for this Christmas either.  I was very happy to discover that I had corrected the error and all I had to do was start knitting.  I'm about half way to finish.  Then the button band.

The third is a sweater that I started a while ago.  I actually don't mind the knit but find I'm currently more interested in accessory knits so have been slow to finish.  

The next item is a shawl made with left over sock yarn.  As I was sorting, I realized, despite having made two baby blankets and a scarf with the stuff, I have a great deal of leftover sock yarn.  So, I cast on to make this shawl.  

Then there is the pair of socks that I put the pedal down and finished this afternoon.  These are for my dad for Christmas.  Hey, I'm actually farther ahead for Christmas than I usually am.  One pair of socks and progress on my niece's sweater.  That's positive.

Onward ... next up, I started a pair of mittens from the Alana Dakos book, Botanical Knits, which I really like, especially the accessory patterns.  I'm not 100% certain about the sweaters but the accessories are very appealing to me and I'll likely knit most of them.

Then, there is the pair of mittens from the Debbie Bliss magazine that I started ages ago.  I really like the yarn but the pattern is taking me forever.  Mainly because I work on it in bursts and the bursts aren't all that regular.

 Finally, I cast on for a new sweater this week.  I bought this yarn a couple of weeks ago at Stix and Stones in North Bay and have switched projects about 10 times.  I was going to make a Norah Gaughan pattern but couldn't get 100% sure about it.  Then, when I went to Lettuce Knit last week, I saw this pattern and decided it was the right pattern for the yarn for me.

Phew.  I think that's it.  Bye bye startitis, at least for today!

I couldn't help myself

As mentioned, I'm working on an inventory of my stash, plotting things to make with said stash - which is bigger than I thought, mainly because I forgot about all of the Dream in Color Classy that I bought because I like it so much.  And I vowed that I did not need to buy anymore yarn (after I went to Stix and Stones in North Bay last weekend, that is.  I like to support my favourite businesses - I'm hoping that will sound good to my husband when he reads this post).  Of course, in going to get the link to the Stix and Stones website just now, I read Rae's post and she is going to be at Creativ this year which might push my "should I go, should I not go" debate in favour of "go" but we'll see.

Otherwise, I'm in a no-more-yarn-buying-make-things-with-what-I-have mood.  Really.  Honestly.

I think I've also mentioned before that on those rare occasions where I have time, I like to pop up from the office to Lettuce Knit to look around.  These trips don't always lead to purchases but are quite relaxing.  I bring a project, usually a sock, knit on the way there and the way back, get some fresh air and look at yarn.  The other day was one of those days.  A meeting cancelled and I decided to go.  That's where the yarn bundle in the picture comes in.  It was with a bunch of others labelled "Colour Affection bundles".  I thought, gee that's nice but I have already made a Colour Affection shawl and I really don't like making the same thing multiple times (other than the Noro Striped Scarf but that just has some sort of addictive properties that I just can't get away from) so I passed by.  Then on my return trip around the store (wouldn't want to miss anything), I picked this bundle up again.  And looked at the tags.  The yarns are Indigo Dragonfly (which I love) and the names are:

1.  If you really wanted to mess me up, you should have gotten to me sooner (High Fidelity)
2.  I've never been up with people before (Buffy)
3.  People are particularly stupid today.  I cannot speak to any more of them (Gilmore Girls)

Had to buy it.  As a child of the 80s, how could I not.  Now I just have to find another 3 colour scarf worthy of the yarn.

More Jars

Cleaning up the garden this morning, I noticed a bunch of tomatillos (which I was hoping would wait until next weekend) had fallen and several others had split their skins, a sure sign that they were ready to go.  So my best laid plans of continuing the yarn stash inventory were put aside to make tomatillo salsa.  I made this last year and thought I wouldn't be making it again this year because I didn't start any tomatillo seeds in the winter grow op.  Lucky for me, tomatillos seem to be quite happy self seeding and I had the 2 pounds needed for this yummy salsa.

And not to be outdone, the zucchini plants are still producing ... 2 more loaves of chocolate zucchini bread.  I'm sure glad it freezes!

Three More

I have been finishing projects lately.  Starting them too but I'll focus on finishing for the moment.  I have been trying to organize my yarn stash and using the Ravelry stash tracking function to get an inventory.  This has had a nice side effect - a lot of motivation to knit.

First up was the Poet Society tam which I bought yarn for at the now closed Stash in Campbellville.  I bought enough to make the Honey Cowl (which I made) and this hat.  Since I've been in a hat knitting mood lately and pretty much one of the first stash yarns I pulled out was the Madelinetosh Vintage that went with this pattern, I cast on.  I really love the finished project.  It is going to be a hat for me since tams aren't really my thing.  Some would say hats aren't my best look either but I live in Canada so don't have a heck of a lot of choice in the matter some mornings.

Then I found an almost finished pair of French Press slippers.  All of the knitting had been done.  All that was left was sewing up and felting.  I bought yarn for these intending to make four pairs for Christmas one year.  I realized pretty quickly that I find these an irritating little project.  I made one pair which I gave as a gift before I reminded myself that I don't like the seaming and I don't like felting so these languished in the cupboard for at least two years.  But now they are done.  I think they need one more trip through the washing machine - they are a very little bit too big.  So I'll do that this weekend and will hopefully be totally finished.  They are quite comfortable despite the fact that they weren't my favourite project.

My last project was a flannel quilt I made for my nephew for his high school graduation/going to college gift.  I've had the fabric forever and decided to make the quilt for my nephew in April or May but it took forever due to lack of excitement for the project.  Lucky for me, this one had a deadline.  I needed to get it done for his graduation party so made it work.  He is a blanket kid and seemed to really like it - as his mother said he would.

Now I'm going to go finish some fingerless mitts. I think I have enough of that Madelinetosh left to make them.  Fingers crossed.

We went on our seemingly semi-annual tour of the Beamsville Bench today.  The original plan was to go yesterday but the pouring rain made us re-think our plans.  And we're glad we did.  It was beautiful out there today.  Lots of clear skies with little to no smog.  The vines were full of grapes and the wine tasting was great.  This picture is from the patio outside the Flat Rock Cellars boutique.  I love how the straight lines lead all the way to the lake.  

We went for lunch at Vineland Estates.  I would have to say that I wouldn't rave about it but it was good.  I had a mixed green salad with peaches and other fruit to start with a lobster risotto as the main.  Again, good but I found both a bit on the acidic side.  The dressing in the salad could have been a little bit mellower to offset the fruit and I'm not sure what the acidic punch was in the risotto.  

During the drive I managed to finish another hat for the Warm Hands Network.  That makes five adult hats and one baby hat and a bit less stash.  I've spent some time this weekend organizing some of my stash and would have to say that the sense of accomplishment from using stash to make these hats is somewhat dampened by the fact that I've barely made a dent.  The good news is that I have tons of partial balls so will not run out of yarn to make more hats for the next shipment.

I'm also using Ravelry to try to inventory what I have.  Hopefully this will come in particularly handy for hat making (and other projects) to come.

More of the same

Just had to say that the zucchini tomato galette from Smitten Kitchen was awesome.  No more on zucchini for now.

And in summary

As I've blogged about again and again, I have been overwhelmed with zucchini.  So, for those in a similar situation and as a record for next year, the top 20 zucchini strategies in my kitchen this year.  Some I've blogged about already but wanted these all in one place.  I should also note when the recipe calls for grated zucchini, I use the grating attachment on my food processor.  In no universe am I hand grating the pounds and pounds of zucchini that I've processed in my kitchen this year.  So here goes ...

1.  Food 52 zucchini bread - a nice change from the traditional chocolate zucchini bread
2.  Lesley Stowe's chocolate zucchini bread - I think I've made about 10 loaves this summer.  I've taken some to the office and the rest has been sliced and tossed in the freezer - easy to pull out for lunch bags.
3.  Zucchini fritters - made up this recipe myself.  Into some grated zucchini, add one egg, a handful of breadcrumbs, some grated parmesan, thyme, pepper and salt.  Mix and add more breadcrumbs until the mix holds together.  Heat a pan with enough olive oil to cover the bottom and drop the zucchini cakes in the pan.  Cook for about 2 minutes a side (until nice and brown and heated through) and transfer to a plate.  Sprinkle with chopped tomatoes and serve.

From the book Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi - so far every recipe I've tried from this man's cookbooks has been delicious and these two recipes are no exception:
4.  Mixed Grill with Parsley Oil
5.  Zucchini and Hazelnut salad

From Bon Appetit magazine, who recently changed their webiste and it is horrible ... slow, my nicely organized recipe box is no longer organized, features don't work ... ugh:
6.  Curried Squash Soup
7.  Squash and Tomato Gratin

From Fine Cooking magazine:
8.  Roasted Ratatouille

From Canadian Living:
9.  Zucchini Pickles - these are really, really good
10.  Zucchini Relish

Quick uses:
11.  Give to friends
12.  Slice and toss in a salad
13.  Slice, brush with olive oil, salt and pepper and grill
14.  Saute with some herbs, maybe a few nuts
15.  Throw into a pasta sauce - ribbons of zucchini with olive oil or mix with tomatoes or other veggies
16.  Add to other veggies in a stir fry
17.  Add slices to a sandwich - really good on a grilled sandwich

Tried but didn't make myself:
18.  Chocolate zucchini cupcakes - pretty much #2, above, in a cupcake form with icing

Haven't tried this year but there's still time
19.  Stuffed zucchini - lots of recipes out there.  I think I like the idea of sausage meat although Ottolenghi has a recipe in Plenty that would likely be a good choice.
20.  Smitten Kitchen's burst tomato galette with corn and zucchini - I think I'm making this for dinner tonight.  Without the corn.  I bought some at the farmer's market on Saturday and we gobbled it down that day for lunch.  Oh well, I think without the corn it should still be tasty.

So there you have it.  My top 20.  Other than the parts of the year with no local produce unless it is from a greenhouse, I am pretty keen on eating food that is in season.  And in a way it is really easy ... I'm pretty sure after eating my body weight and more in zucchini this summer, I will have no interest in eating it out of season.  Although, I really should grate some and throw it in the freezer.  By February, I might be hungry for it again.

I think I may be done ... at least for this week

I had another preserving frenzy day yesterday and I think I need to take a break for a couple of weeks!

We have a huge apple tree in our yard.  I can't even begin to describe how big this thing is or how many apples it produces.  I can estimate thousands; a large number of which fall before they are ripe.  I think in the process of picking up all of the windfalls, we provide endless entertainment for the neighbours and provoke curses from the garbage guys.  Thankfully our town has a composting program.

So, given my new canning energy and my feelings of guilt over the thousands of apples that don't get used by anyone and end up as compost, I decided to get cooking.  I should tell you that I did try to give the better apples away to a food charity a few years ago but by the time the agency came to pick them up (they didn't encourage drop offs), they were rotting on the front porch (they last about one day off the tree).  It should also be noted that the apples in the photo aren't actually at full ripeness but very few stay on the tree until they are fully ripe so I generally use them for cooked applications.

On the bright side, this year there are a large number of apples within my reach so I was able to pick them off the tree instead of the ground which meant fewer bruises and fewer worms.

And just to keep up, the zucchini continues to sneak up on me, becoming massive before I can blink an eye.  Three zucchini went to neighbours and these guys went into more relish, pickles and a zucchini butter from Food 52. I couldn't find the energy to make the muffins I had planned.  Since I'm going to get the oven going tonight for a roasted ratatouille, I think I'll make them then.

Anyway, back to the apples, Food in Jars had quite a few interesting apple recipes and I made two kinds of apple jam and apple sauce.  The first, a honey lemon apple jam, tasted quite nice on toast this morning.  Regarding the second, apple almond honey conserve, I'm still a bit on the fence.  The applesauce tasted quite nice, spicy, sweet and apple-y.

That is all for this weekend.  I have basically been relaxing today, making progress on some knitting, reading and now watching Milos get soundly trounced by Nadal in Montreal.

As for canning, by the time the tomatillos are ripe, I might be ready to get the engine going again.  Until then, I'm listening to podcasts and out knitting on the deck.

Just thought I would check

I have been making bread since we moved back into our new kitchen.  The only bread I have bought from the store has been the occasional baguette.  I like making bread because I know what's in it and nothing tastes like homemade bread fresh from the oven.  But I was also operating under the assumption that baking bread was saving me money.  I finally decided that I should check it out.  So, ala Squawkfox I decided to do the math.  And I'm mostly right.

The kind of bread that I usually buy, the artisan bread from the bakery costs $1.34 more per loaf than my price per homemade loaf.  This doesn't include the impact of the cost of electricity to bake the loaves but my prices assume that nothing is on sale and I'm buying name brands.  The house brand of whole wheat flour at Longo's for example is almost $2 cheaper than the name brand version.


Homemade cost
Yeast                       0.94
Buttermilk               1.12
Honey                     1.08
Canola oil                0.32
Whole Wheat flour  1.22
Bread flour               1.62
cost for 2 loaves       6.30

for 1 loaf                   3.15

Grocery store cost                                                     Savings/cost
Artisan bread from Longo's bakery            4.49 -1.34
Artisan pre-packaged bread                        3.39 -0.24
Pre-packaged sliced bread                          2.99            0.16

So, in addition to really, really liking homemade bread, I feel even better for having confirmed that the price is right too.

Apologies for the funny alignment of the numbers.  I can't figure out how to cleanly copy tables into the blog.

And it continues

The lovely overabundance of produce in the garden continues.  The garlic in this picture is the leftovers after using 1 3/4 pounds of the stuff to make pickled garlic.  I have no idea what pickled garlic will be like but when you have 1 3/4 pounds plus of garlic, you make it.  And hopefully like it because some of the leftovers will are headed for a fall planting in advance of next year.  The recipe says to use the pickled garlic in pasta, in antipasto platters and in salads.

The other preserving done today was a wild blueberry peach jam.  I was going to make wild blueberry and peach separately but both jams would have used up all of my fresh fruit and I would like to actually eat it as is too.  So I combined it.  Since blueberries and peaches go well in a bowl, in my opinion, I thought a tasty jam was pretty much guaranteed.  And I was right.  Yum.  The only sad thing, is that it only makes 2 1L jars.  Since my dad, who is visiting, spent the fortune on the wild blueberries and helped me with the jam and the garlic, one will be going home with him so I really will savour the one that will be left with me.

Maybe I'll try using the tame blueberries in the coming weeks to make some more.  I can't imagine that it will be as good but it might come close enough to satisfy.

And happy birthday to my dad's cousin Norma who was 90 yesterday and you would never know it.  I hope I got her genes in the lottery and look forward to the future birthday celebrations that my cousins are very good at planning.

Lots of Listening

On my vacation, I've been taking a long walk most days and listening to podcasts.  While I have several standbys (Q, Pop Culture Happy Hour, Stuff You Missed in History Class, The Splendid Table, The Dinner Party Download and I could go on), I recently downloaded a number of knitting podcasts and this has gotten the motivation in high gear.  I've been sampling a bunch but the ones I've been sticking with are:  Prairie Piper (which had a good rating on iTunes so I downloaded it).  She led me to Down Cellar Studio who sent me to Never Not Knitting.  Not sure which of the above sent me to 2 Knit Lit Chicks.  Prairie Piper got me interested in a pattern designed by Alana of Never Not Knitting before I knew about her podcast so it is all quite circular.  Anyway, I find all of  these podcasts have good conversation about patterns and yarns and I have been marking quite a few patterns as favourites on Ravelry lately.  I've also picked up a couple of books at the library based on the 2 Knit Lit Chicks recommendations.  Enjoyable all around.

I'm still not sure I get it

But I do like knitting dishcloths.  I don't really think I want to use them to wash dishes - too bulky.  They seem more like napkins to me. And I have thrown the two I made previously in my lunch bag when I remember which beats using paper towels.

This dishcloth is the often-seen one recreated in Mason Dixon Knitting from a yarn company ball band.  It took no time at all to knit.  Start to finish in an evening.

For some unknown reason (although I think I actually had an idea in mind at the time which I have now forgotten), I bought a bunch of cotton yarn from Zellers when it was going out of business.  The lure of the sale possibly.  This used half a ball of the Peaches and Cream Twist and a small amount of a yarn called Ecofil.  Not sure I need as many dishcloths as the rest of the yarn will make so hopefully that original thought comes back to me.

It was on sale

The Sweet Sheep is closing in it's current format so all items are 30% off.  I just had to order a few skeins of sock yarn.  I couldn't help myself.  And the one thing I don't have too much of in my stash is sock yarn so feel less guilty than if I had purchased something else.  I can't wait until it gets here.

Success at last ... I think that's a good thing.

Under the heading of "be careful what you wish for", I have hoped for a large zucchini crop for years and have had relatively non productive plants.  I'll get just enough to eat but not enough to really go crazy with.  So this year, I planted extra plants.  And this year, they must like the weather, or the bees have been better at pollinating because I have zucchini.  A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about 3 loaves of bread and zucchini fritters from one large zucchini.  This morning, I found five large ones in the garden.  I hope I found them all.  The largest, a 3 pound sucker was the last one I found and it was purely by accident.  As a result, I knew the direction my day was taking.  Fortunately, the weather also agreed that an in house day was not the world's worst idea.

So I've been busy.  First on the agenda was Zippy Zucchini Relish from Canadian Living's The Complete Preserving book.      I have had some very good success with recipes in this book and the relish was no exception.  It is delicious.  Definitely a go to recipe again next year (or maybe next week).  We tried some of the relish on tortilla chips and it also makes a good salsa.  It used up 3 pounds of zucchini.  Which was good because I'm not sure the 3 pounder would have been good for general eating.  In a relish, it had lots of time to soften up but was pretty tough to cut.

Bon Appetit's issue this month has a page devoted to zucchini.  Last night I made up the Squash and Tomato Gratin (because in addition to the bad boys picked this morning, we've had a pretty steady diet of zucchini for a bit now).  Today for lunch I whipped up the Curried Squash Soup.  It was good.  Fairly mild but the curry helps counteract the natural mellow taste of the zucchini.  Served with a dollop of goat cheese, a sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds and one of my whole grain rolls from the freezer.  Very nice.

I made two more loaves of Lesley Stowe's chocolate zucchini bread and zucchini cookies from Food 52.  I tasted the cookies right out of the oven and they are actually more cake-like than cookie.  I think I like them but the true test will be after they have cooled down.  All of that used up 2 more zucchini, I gave one to my neighbour and the other went into the crisper.

Phew.  Now it's time to decide on what to make for dinner.  Zucchini anyone?

Day Trip

I had to go into Toronto yesterday to go to the dentist and to get my hair cut.  Since I work down there, my practitioners are all there too.  I pretty much made a day of it.  Romni was having their annual sale so I popped over there after the dentist.  Since I was early for their 11 am opening time, I had a Latte at a local coffee shop.  It was one of those shops with a lot of earnest looking people typing away on their Macs.  Were they writing books or articles, surfing the net because they had nothing better to do on a Thursday at 11?  Who knows.  I was knitting my sock.

I came away from Romni quite lightly.  Four balls of Noro Silk Garden because I can't resist and the Inspira Cowl looks great in the Ravelry pictures using Silk Garden.  My only other purchase was some Rowan Tweed of the DK variety to make these gloves.  I'm generally a mitten person but I have admired these for a long time so thought I should make them.

The best part of the day (and it wasn't yarn shopping) was lunch at Pangea, my favourite restaurant in Yorkville.  I just had their turkey sandwich but it was fantastic with a nice leaf lettuce salad dressed in a lovely, light dressing.  This with a glass of Chardonnay and I was set.  I also treated myself to the blueberry tart which was good but I did have an issue with the crust - sort of shortbread style and hard as a rock.  Tasty though so I forgave them.  Not to mention they provided a spoon and fork so I was able to muscle through without making too much of a mess.

Bread!

 I'm finally relaxing into my stay-cation.  We aren't going anywhere again this year.  Partly because we're letting our bank account recover from the kitchen reno and partly because we had 2 sick cats.  One I wrote about the other day but the other still needs us to be around.  We give her sub-coutaneous fluids for a kidney problem and it works.  Very well.  We thought she was gone 2 years ago and she is still doing great because of this treatment.  It does put a damper on our previous travel-the-world lifestyle but we'll get back to that and in the meantime we're glad to have our little buddy with us.

Anyway, I felt a little at loose ends on Monday (my furniture refinishing project was delayed a bit because I couldn't pick a colour of stain and I felt a little lonely since my husband isn't off this week).  Tuesday was better.  I committed to a stain colour, which I think is a little light but it might be the quality of the stripping of the old stain contributing.  I also spent some time chatting with the neighbours so was less lonely.  Today, I made bread and the electricians came to put in our chandelier, finally.  Not finally because they were slow.  Finally because we were.  First we needed to get a table (which we've had for a couple of months now).  Then we needed to call the contractor to get his electrician here to put it in.  That took rather longer than it should have but now it's in and we're done.

Not much of this relates to bread but I'll go there now.  I love making bread.  I love baking in general but the eating of said baking is not so great for the waist line that seems to know only one direction so I try to avoid eating too many sweets.

I made three different types of bread today.  The buns in the picture here are from The New Whole Grains Cookbook, a book with a lot of good grain recipes including these buns.  I've made them once before, did not embellish and thought they were excellent.  The recipe calls for bulgur or another cooked grain and I guess I used the bulgur the last time I made them because it was nowhere to be found.  So, I cooked up some Quinoa (of which I have a rather large collection for some reason) and off I went.  I decided to add a little cheddar cheese and walnuts after the first rise since I also have a bit too much of both in the house.  The result, just finished for lunch with a glass of chardonnay (I am on vacation and although I vowed not to drink at dinner during the week said nothing about lunch).  So very, very, very tasty.  I had 2.  One as a sandwich and the other just plain because I couldn't help myself.

The bread is my new go-to whole wheat bread recipe from Williams Sonoma's Bread cookbook.  It is a very satisfying bread.  Rises properly too (which I think might have something to do with the proofing feature on my new oven because I've never had such success with bread ever before).

Finally, I made some whole grain biscuit mix from the Whole Grains Cookbook.  I've made these before and they are also fantastic.  The last time I made them was for a dinner party and the recipe went home with both couples.  The recipe calls for whole wheat pastry flour which I had never seen before and when I specifically looked at my local Longo's couldn't find.  I was in Whole Foods yesterday (still on vacation so decided the expensive store was acceptable) and saw some.  So of course, I had to make these.  The biscuit dough gets mixed, stored in the fridge or freezer and baked when ready.  I love the combo of rolled oats, wheat germ and whole wheat flour.

I've always thought I should try to make baguettes but I really prefer the whole wheat bread varieties. Maybe sometime when I have my very plain eating niece and nephew over I'll make them.  Until then, I'll stick with these richer, earthier flavours and enjoy.

Now, I just have to find room in the freezer with the zucchini bread and bran muffins that I have also made this week.

A new project ... surprisingly fun

Lousy picture but I took it with my iPod and so it is but it shows my latest project. We bought a new table with our kitchen reno that has a much darker stain than our original furniture.  It is also a much different style but I think we're ok with that.

We were going to see about selling the previous stuff or giving it to a niece (but she isn't in a big hurry to move out of her parent's place).

We talked to a guy we know who refinishes furniture professionally and the price for him to do it was more than we paid for the furniture in the first place.

So, I thought, to quote Mag Ruffman how hard can it be?  Let's do it ourselves.  We've sanded (the girl at Rona didn't like using stripper and a few less chemicals can never be a bad thing).  Today I mixed two stain colours and applied two coats to two shelves and the backs of two doors.  The result, pretty good.  A little lighter than the ultimate goal so I'll be a little less conservative with the stain tomorrow and off I go on the parts that people will actually see.

And if the niece ever moves out, we've still got a table and two chairs for her to take.