getting the goods

while my nearest supplier (I thought i'd use drug terms sometimes to draw the parallel between the addictions that one can have...

mine? paints, fabrics, wire, paper, yarn, wax, wood, thread, ribbon, sequins, ric rac, glue- hot, mod podge, yes paste, etc…) of fabrics would be the universal JoAnn Fabrics. while the locality and generality of it’s chain store conveniences are nice, where I could lose the house at is a little fabric store in Bainbridge. I made dirk miss a movie one day when I told him I’d be “right back” and in so doing, came back waaay to late to still make our movie. (New York, I Love You was showing. when we finally did see it, it was fabulous) this little fabric store has it all- the vintage calico prints, hip patterns (I hate using the word hip, by the way.), and an expert waiting in the wings to give you advice and lessons on the sewing machine they have handy for just such occasions. the store is called Esther’s Fabrics. check it out- along with a movie and a bite at the vegetarian noodle place on the corner.

i want to make some skirts for adelaide with this fabric:

cranberry orange chocolate chip bread

i used the Betty Crocker recipe for Cranberry Orange bread, with a few alterations:
the best EVER chocolate chips to use are milk chocolate chips (semi-sweet works too) of the Guittard brand. Check out their website to see more about them: http://www.guittard.com/.

3 cups fresh or frozen (thawed and drained) cranberries

1 2/3 cups sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons grated orange or lemon peel
4 eggs
3 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose or whole wheat flour
1/2 cup coarsely chopped nuts
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1. Move oven rack to low position so that tops of pans will be in center of oven. Heat oven to 350ºF. Grease bottoms only of 2 loaf pans, 8 1/2x4 1/2x2 inches, or 1 loaf pan, 9x5x3 inches.
2. Stir together cranberries, sugar, oil, milk, vanilla, orange peel and eggs in large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into pans.
3. Bake 8-inch loaves 50 to 60 minutes, 9-inch loaf 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Loosen sides of loaves from pans; remove from pans and place top side up on wire rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours before slicing. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days.

i left out the nuts, and chopped the cranberries and chocolate so that every bite is filled with perfection.
also, for an extra orange-y flavor, i subsitute orange juice for milk. then i added 2 tbsp. plain yogurt for some tart richness.

i wanted to give them away, but didn't know what to wrap them in, besides plain 'ol plastic wrap. here's what i came up with. (i love the egg stickers)

adelaide, you inspire me

for some reason, having a girl brings out all of these crazy ideas in me. maybe because with a boy, i wouldn't expect him to like a book filled with glitter, or twirling skirts.don't get me wrong,  reed gives me a fare share of that sort of joie de vivre, but i know adelaide will bring something different to the table. a whimsicality of girliness that each woman has at heart. no matter how old we are, we still love to play dress up in baubles and shiny shoes, eat petit fours like Alice in Wonderland, and have the imagination to hope for a life more... well, more colorful and fanciful.

So, i have started sewing (kind of)

just because i bought an old vintage Kenmore doesn't mean i know what i am doing. nor does that mean i will improve over a reasonable amount of time. what it does mean, however, is that i will be all the more tempted to nickel and dime away my small budget on textiles of any sort. fabric, i have found, can be irresistible and frivolous even when you don’t have an idea on how to put it to use. yards of fabric can be gathered while you mumble in your head “ooh, this would make a perfect skirt…” “OH! this would make a perfect throw pillow…” “this fabric is so unique and vintage, surely I could do something with it!”

let's get rich and buy our parents homes in the south of france

I awoke this morning to Reed's exclamations and babbling. When the baby comes, he will surely be out of the crib and into a "big boy bed". Until then, he wakes me up from a distance with the sweetest disposition I have ever known of. How can someone wake up smiling and laughing? Surely, that did not come from me.

Dirk insisted I stay in bed while he got Reed and went to make breakfast. I arose lazily an hour later to Amaretto coffee in the pot, Reed running to and fro with a full belly and Dirk sipping coffee while reading the Saturday paper. Ahh... If every day started like this, there would be no need for grumpiness. I lit a few candles, wiped down the counters, plugged in my glowing pumpkin and settled in to join the crew. The coastal rain (more like drifts of wet fog swept through) trickled and I could hear the chickens clucking right outside. They were low on food, so I let them free range today. There is nothing more satisfying than pouring your cup of coffee and looking outside your kitchen window to see them squaking and eating windfall pears and apples that littered the ground.

I am just about ready to take on a new media for my art. I won't disclose the materials just yet, because I am cautiously curious to see if the medley of forms will take shape. Just wanted to encourage everyone else out there to bask in the simple fall rain, coffee in your hand, and family that surrounds. If you don't have any of those, come over here, we've got lots to share.

Dirk is fully engrossed in the UW vs USC game and I am eager to be a cliche little wifey and make bratwurst with sauerkraut and carmel apples. To be honest, the food is an afterthought for Dirk, as he laments UW's defense. He humours me, though and gobbles it all down. Happy All Day Saturday Morning.


**A little P.S.: after reading this I basked in the fact that we may be poor, but we sure are blessed. While running errands this morning, the Ingrid Michaelson song: You & I was blaring through my car. I thought I'd share it with you. It makes me happy because I love spooning, the south of France, and dancing. Listen if that all sounds like incoherent babble.

Ratatouille Tart- First one I've ever made!

Here is the recipe I found in one of my new summer issues of Cuisine At Home. It's wonderful because you can put to use all those extra zucchinis you have laying around to good use. As said in an earlier post, I added some of my Patipan squash (Jaune et Vert) cut into thin discs to layer with the other squash. With some of my Red Delicious' littering the ground, I couldn't help but add a bit of sweet to the layers also. Two other additions were sauted mushrooms (don't crowd them in the pan- says Julia Child!) and honey drizled with the olive oil at the end. Add a glass of wine and Voila! Happy Creating. I loved it.

1½ hours

25 min prep
SERVES 4 -8

Pillsbury ready made pie dough, ready to bake

1 1/2 yellow squash

1 small, soft apple unpeeled, but cored and sliced

a few slices of smoked ham- to integrate with the vegetables

1 1/2 zucchini

1/2 red bell pepper

1/2 onion

1/2 sliced white or cremini mushrooms

3/4 cup cheese, shredded, your favorite (mild is best) t

2 tablespoons thinly sliced basil

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp honey

salt and pepper

1.Press pie dough into 9” tart pan. Press dough into pan’s fluted edge, trim excess. Cover dart shell with aluminum foil and fill with dried beans or baking weights. Bake according to package instructions. Let cool 5 minutes and remove weights. (you may do this earlier in the day, and hold at room temperature til needed).

2.Slice veges into 1/8” slices – a mandoline is very handy for this. Pat dry with paper towels. Sprinkle cheese and basil over bottom of tart.

3.Arrange vegetables around the edge of tart shell, repeatedly overlapping 2 slices each of zucchini, yellow squash, red bell pepper, apple, ham and onion. (the onion tends to fall apart – just use a generous pinch of shreds.) Arrange a smaller circle inside the first. Put onions in the center, covered by more squash.

4.Drizzle the tart with olive oil & honey. Season with salt and pepper. Bake until tart is golden brown around the edges, about 30 minutes.

Golden Eggs

Blondie, my favorite hen laid the first of many eggs. Beautiful little brown jewels sitting in a pile of woodchips each late morning. A few times I have had to maneuver it from underneath her downy plumage, but usually she is out playing by the time I come to collect. It seems to be sitting there almost with my name on it, like "Here, Ashley. Happy Egg eating." Yesterday we held her, and she is the most docile of them all, but also the smartest. She is also the rooster's favorite gal. He seems to keep a close eye on her out of all the others. Someone told me that having a rooster gives them incentive for them to keep producing. Whatever she is doing, I want her to keep doing it! It sounds funny to say, but they taste so much more delicious and hold their shape compared to store bought organic eggs. Now, I just want the other hens to get on board and start producing! I am especially excited for our Araucana to start popping out blue eggs!

Jams, Jellies, Preserves

Here is the final outcome of all my canning. I took joy in creating the little labels, too. Too bad this year is less about gifts and more about hoarding the accomplishments for my family. Have you ever done that? Tried to can or make things homemade and end up giving more away and buying store bought for your family? Last year I gave almost all my jams away and by fall we were buying Fred Meyer value brand jams and syrups. Not this year. I am going to try and be a bit more stingy.

Here are the recipes for the jams:
Vanilla Peach Jam- The little bit of Bourbon in this makes it rich.
Vanilla Plum Cardamom Jelly:


Ingredients



3 lbs plums, seeded, and chopped with skin left on (use food processor)


1 cup water


1/2 cup brandy (can use water)


1 lemon, juice of


16 cardamom pods, crushed


2 tablespoons powdered fruit pectin


1 teaspoon vanilla


3 1/4 cups sugar


Directions


1Prepare jars and lids by sterilizing in hot water.


2Line a colander with cheesecloth and place it inside a bowl.


3Bring plums, water, brandy, lemon juice, and cardamom to a boil in large pot over high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until fruit is soft, about 15 minutes.


4Pour plum mixture into colander. Without pressing on fruit, let mixture drain until all juice has strained into the bowl, about 45 minutes. Add water to make 2 3/4 C juice.


5Return juice to pot with pectin, vanilla and bring to a full boil over high heat until mixture doesn't stop bubbling when stirred.


6Stir in sugar and return mixture to a full boil. Boil and stir for 1 minute. Remove pot from heat. Skim off and discard any foam from top.


7Ladle jelly into hot jars, filling them to within 1/4 inch of their rims. Cover each jar with a two-piece lid. Return jars to canner.


8Process filled jars for 5 minutes, beginning timing when water comes to a boil. After 5 minutes, turn off heat and remove canner lid. Allow jars to rest in hot water 5 minutes.

crushing cardamom

contraption for straining jelly juice

beautiful peaches for jam

Tomatoes

As i mentioned in a previous post, I loved my tomato crop. So I dedicated a post strictly to this year's tomatoes. David Gray sings "This Year' Love".... mine is tomatoes, this crop. I got the two heirloom varities from Tacoma Farmer's Market... Can't remember which stand, sorry. One is called Zebra Stripe- green with yellow stripes and the other is called Cherokee Purples. These big, bulbous things were so wonderful... I gave them to Reed fresh every morning for breakfast with cottage cheese. He loved these about as much as the peaches. Also, my Golden Pear tomatoes from last year came up all over my garden! I should have regulated them more and weeded them out, but they are such cheery little cherry tomatoes. I hope they come back next year. Oh, and I got a "Seattle's Best" meant for our wet and mild summers (ok in my book, but not so flavourful as Cherokee) and a "Siberian" which I say ditto as for both these last two. . Here is a fun site to order heirloom tomatoes.

Au Potager

This year, I was a bit more dissapointed with the produce. I am not sure if it's because last year was my 1st and I was pleasantly surprised and now I expect more, or if my crop just didn't do as well. I think it is the latter unfortunately. ("Ok, Fraiser"- Sarah Silverman) With my morning sickness beginning right when the crucial garden-tending time began (April/May), I slacked a lot. My dad said the reason for my "nubby" carrots was the soil. The reason my Swiss Chard was stunted? The soil. (says my dad) Sooo... next year, I need to actually USE that soil test kit I have to make sure it's not too acidic or alkaline. "But I used lots of good compost and manure (aged, of course)". Correct, says my dad, in his know-it-all-tone... Hence the high acidity. Ok Dad, your garden speaks louder than any words. Granted you use a bit of non-organic "stuff" every now and then, but that doesn't mean I can discount the productivity of your crop. Which, by the way, was amazing. It looked like everything was on steroids. (it wasn't, by the way- unlike Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, A-Rod and the like) Suffice it to say, we still reaped some beautiful beans, squash, a few carrots, cucumbers and lovely tomatoes. The beans were from Seed Savers Exchange, from which I will be ordering from again, along with the cucumbers (will NOT order, this variety was way too bitter) and squash. The problem with the squash was that it was too prolific. If there is one variety to have too much of, this was a fun little guy - an heirloom called Jaune et Vert (french for Yellow & Green) and looks like a Patipan ufo-type of squash. I sautéd them, roasted the big ones with butter & brn sugar and both ways were great. Oh, and I sliced thin little discs for my Ratatouille Tart.That was fun. Anyway, here are some pics from the harvest this year. I learned a lot and hopefully next year will be better. I will have two babies on my hip, so we'll see how that goes.

*Sidenote: This year I leared the difference between a Jardin and Au Potager. Both mean garden in french, but the first means flower garden and the second means vegetable garden. Potager is French, basically a kitchen garden, and traditionally was fairly structured in layout, often with potted plants and ornamental structures as well as herbsflowers. It was separate from purely ornamental gardens, and close to the kitchen (potage itself meant soup). The ingredients for the day were the ones found in the Potager for the evening's soup or dinner. Fresh daily and what you eat is what's on hand? I like that idea!

Bon Apetit!

Another peace of pie

My brother asked me the other day what art I have been working on. Guiltlessly, I responded as I finished the lattice top for another blackberry pie, "pies have been my art". Now,  I only made, let's see here, about 5 pies this summer, but they were glorious works of art. I enjoyed making them. Now that I think about it, only one was to keep for our family. The key was to use fresh ingredients. I made 2 blackberry pies from the berries in our yard and 3 peach pies from my loot from Eastern Wa. peaches. For the tops, I used my new pastry cutter to make the lattice tops and brushed cream and sprinkled baker's (chunky) sugar crystals over the top. One of the peach pies I made for a family reunion and carved the name of the family on the top. Lastly, for the Labor Day picnic, I cut out little leaves (willing fall to come) and "glued" them on with brushed cream again. Maybe when I get some fresh apples, I will finish the summer off with a classic apple pie. Oh, one of the other keys to my pies are the crusts: I used a type of french pie crust called Pate Brisee where cold water and butter are essential. Also- don't over-mix or knead, keep it short when it comes to making in food processor or Kitchen Aid. To me, this makes the pie. You can freeze this dough up to a month and let thaw overnight in the fridge. Happy Pie making (creating, really) or eating!

oh, my aching back!

i finished my first batch of peaches. i must say, they look glorious sparkling in the sunlight streaming through the kitchen window. with some trial and error in peeling the different varities, i decided that the 'contendor' variety is best for canning right now- in that they almost peel themselves. the others took more effort, so i decided to save those toughies for jam, where you won't notice little dings and scratches on the peach flesh.

i made a "canning playlist" for itunes (a little bit of Pink Martini, Brandi Carlile, Joanna Newsom...) and got to work. my mom's words rung in my head "You have to have everything all prepared and laid out." so i hope i made her proud with the kitchen spick and span, a surface for every step in the process (peeling & cutting the fruit, ladeling into jars, pouring syrup into jars, every burner used on stove, and lastly, the cooling area, free of drafts to ensure efficient sealing) and before i knew it, i was in the throes of canning.

water dripping on the floor as i quickly "poach" the skins to peel, lid water boiling, dishwasher whirring to sterlize and steam my jars-in-waiting... it was a tornado of peaches and boiling water...

so i sent my sister out to take care of reed and pick blackberries for my next endeavor. hours went by and i wondered how they were faring. black hands and reed's black face greeted me with a huge vat of plump goodness from our property. how thankful i am that they did that job for me!

so, as i sit here and recount the past few hours, i hear satisfying little *ding* after *ding* telling me that the jars are obediently sealing in the kitchen. ahhh... my (pregnant) body is so tired and just wants to lay down and watch martha stewart on tv, but no, i need to press on. there are more jars, more peaches and much more berries. in my attempt to utilize all these peaches (3 boxes) i have decided to make just as much if not more jam as i do in canning the whole fruit. although canned peaches are a treat (esp. for kids' dessert, like we had growing up) one jar goes so fast and all that hard work goes down the gullet so quickly. our house eats lots of jam, and very seldomly does our homemade summer jam last past fall. so i think i will make big batches of peach & blackberry and this year will selfishly give less away as gifts, but more away to my family at home. :)
i scoured the internet, bon apetit mags, canning books, and even the little recipes in the Sure Jell box to see the best and most interesting peach jam i could make. now, i say "i could make" as some very creative and interesting ones called for vanilla pods, mangoes, oranges, etc., but those i do not have on hand. so after getting ready to succumb to plain ol' sugar and peach preserves, i found a recipe on RecipeZaar.com for Vanilla Peach Jam. i read the reviews and they are rave... even though i meant to use only things i had on hand, i decided that since i was missing lemon juice already, a trip to the liquor store for 1tbsp of burbon might be worth it. it might bring back memories of my mom's rum peaches from when we were little. that sounds weird, doesn't it? eating rum peaches as a kid. we also devoured rum balls during christmas, and we are all the better for it??? hmm. its scary to think how much we pass on to our kids as tradition because "our parents did it with us". "and look how we turned out". yes, look.

speaking of generational dysfunction, i am inserting a picture from last summer's canning escapades with mom & my sis. my husband walked in to the house when we were in the midst of the blackberry "fight". as he didn't grow up with a dysfunctional family, his jaw was very much on the floor and he hustled right through the kitchen to a more sane part of the house. :)
i am putting that picture up until i upload today's sparkling beauties of yellow jars.

au revior, wish me luck in the future batches!