persimmon

I was thrilled when my friend Janet asked me to knit her a scarf. I love knitting for my friends!

"Nothing fancy," she said, "Just something to keep me warm during clinic." We discussed color (she actually didn't choose from her usual selection of shades that resemble mud, bruise and shadow) settling on a shade that we both determined was "persimmon" and fibre (something soft, but not itchy, i.e., too fuzzy) and I set off to the yarn store. Over a month ago.

This scarf took much too long to get made. I got all excited and wanted to knit something elaborate with this beautiful luscious yarn. After ripping out a few false starts I decided to go back to the original idea of simple. And this lovely little garter stitch scarf was born.

Perfect for keeping her warm during clinic. Or wearing while sitting in your New England apartment window with a cup of tea.

I woo with ribs.

I was craving Korean style short ribs. I made this once for m on his birthday years ago when we first started dating. It was his birthday. I think cooking this meal for him sealed the deal on the success of our romance. M is definitely a man whose heart can be got through his stomach.

I can't believe I haven't cooked this again since. It's been (holy freak-out!) eight years since I last made these ribs. Tsk, tsk.

Searching around on the internet, I cobbled together the following recipe for the ribs I served tonight. The sides came out a little mediocre*, but the ribs more than made up for it. It's such an easy and delicious dish I'll definitely be making it again.


Braised Korean Short-Ribs
5 tbsp sugar
1 cup of soy sauce
2 tbsp mirin (I used vermouth)
5 cloves of garlic minced
1 medium onion chopped into slivers fajita-style
2 tbsp sesame oil
1tsp cracked red pepper
3 lbs of short ribs with the sides scored

(I forgot to get the following but would include in the future)
toasted sesame seeds
green onions with the white parts halved and then the whole thing cut into 2" pieces

Mix all the first ingredients in a large pot and let marinate for several hours (up to 24 hours, but for at lease 1) turning every once in awhile to make sure the marinade gets nice and soaked into the meat. Put the pot on the stove and add some water so that the liquid comes to halfway/ three-quarters of the way to the top of the meat. Put the heat on high and when the liquid comes to a boil turn down to low and let simmer for 2 hours. Tilt the pot and skim off the fat adding the sesame seeds and green onions. Serve over steamed rice.



*That soup wasn't one of the mediocre sides. It kicked ass. Just good old fashioned Korean kelp soup - if you grew up in a Korean household, that is. Do searches for Korean seaweed soup (also called mee-yeok guk or me-yeok gook) and you'll find a bevy of recipes.

I just made homemade ginger ale

and I love it! I got the recipe from here. So easy. If you normally like ginger ale but don't like ginger or haven't ever tried candied ginger or the like be warned that homemade ginger ale has a kick. It's spicy, but that's what I like about it. The only downside of this is that as an environmentalist I don't feel right about buying bottles of soda water to add to the ginger syrup. I've got a soda siphon that I picked up from a thrift store that needs one extra part and then I should be gold. But until I get my arse in gear to order said part, I might have to indulge with store bought soda water and my homemade ginger ale. In the meantime I'll figure out a way to offset my environmental sins.

I love this skirt

(photo from the Sartorialist)

I love the colors, the exposed seams and threads. I love that she paired it with a bright purple top and even brighter orange headscarf. How awesome and original and ballsy. I could never get away with this look. I think I'd look really messy and sort of like a colorful homeless person instead of cool and laid-back and interesting.

it's not matzoh ball soup

Whenever I have leftover roast chicken I turn it into potpie (check) or soup. Apparently, it's usually matzoh ball soup. Which m requested that I not make this time. Or more precisely (he would appreciate this redaction) he mentioned that he's not as big a fan of matzoh ball soup as I am. Well, that's true. I really love matzoh ball soup. I could eat it every day.

So last night I cobbled something together with the leftover roast chicken. And it wasn't matzoh ball soup. And it was good.

My best soups always seem to be something I come up with on the fly. They all include the roasting juices from the chicken (I think that's what gives the soups a richness) and a variety of vegetables. This time I also wanted rice in my soup so I added some leftover rice+lentil dish I'd made previously. It was a mini-disaster as I'd forgotten to soak the lentils first (the rice was cooked right but the lentils were a mite chewy). But added to the soup the rice bloomed and the lentils were tender. Below is a sort of roadmap of the soup I made last night.

(Leftover) Roast Chicken Soup
1 small onion chopped
4 cloves of garlic smashed
olive oil
3 carrots chopped
2 stalks of celery chopped (I didn't have any celery last night but I usually include it in my soups)
1 small potato chopped
1 bunch of greens like kale or chard (I used both last night) if using chard I like to strip the leafy parts away from the spine and chop up the spine and cook that first and add the leafy bits afterwards
cumin
oregano
1 bay leaf
thyme
red pepper flakes
pan drippings from the roast chicken
homemade stock (I usually cook the innards and the neck in two cups of water for abotu 20 minutes. I throw out the solids and strain any fat and use the water as a stock to flavor soups and other dishes)
additional cup of stock as the homemade batch I used wasn't enough. I usually use Better Than Boullion.
1 3-4 lb whole chicken baked then shred the meat and set aside
about 3/4 cup of cooked rice
ground black pepper to taste

In a large stockpot drizzle olive oil over chopped onions and garlic and sautee until tender over a high heat. Add carrots, celery, potatoes and chard stems stirring occasionally. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add stock, herbs and spices and then cover reducing heat to medium. Cook until vegetables are tender and the herbs have bloomed (about 20 minutes). Add the leafy greens, rice and chicken and reduce heat to low. Serve when greens are wilted and the broth is bubbling. Add ground black pepper to taste.

declan's quilt

Finished! Just in time for the christening this weekend. My house is a mess and I couldn't find any good props for photo-styling. In the background I am trying to hide a basket of laundry (folded) and the catbox.

Luckily I remembered where we put this book. It's not from my childhood, but from my college years. I can't remember how I first saw it but I remember crying every time I read it. The book still makes me weep. And I just got the red+white striped teacup from the thriftstore today.


Are personalized items totally passé? I find myself embroidering all the baby gifts I make. I like thinking about that baby and their name and their new family as I work on each stitch. Also I never got anything personalized back in the 80s when I was a kid when personalized stuff was cool.

As an adult I remember two things I got with my name on it that I was secretly thrilled over. One was pencils from jenn's mom. She's a school teacher. The other was sparkly stickers from natalie. They made me feel like: yeah, way to go! I did it!! I don't think I ever busted that pack of stickers open. They just stayed pinned to my bulletin board at my home office.


I really enjoyed working around this part of the quilt. I thought this color combo of mustard+cream+light blue was particularly pleasing.


As was this neck of the woods of the quilt with the red+grey+light blue.

let's talk about the weather

I'm finding that New Englanders -- or anyone who lives in an area of the US that gets to experience regular-ish seasons -- are serious about their weather. It's the number one topic of conversations, the funnest thing to complain about. As a Californian married to a Bostonian, I learned a while back that you have to be careful with the way you mention the weather to the in-laws. They'll call up to chit-chat and the weather always comes up as a topic of conversation.

"How's the weather over there?" They'll ask.
"Beautiful," I'll answer truthfully.
"I hate you," they'll respond.

I'm confused as to why they ever expect a different answer. True, with the current freak out of global climate change some days I would answer "Beatiful. But hot." But come on. I lived in L.A. It was 78 degrees and sunny pretty much every day.

Sometimes the non-Californian that has engaged me in this weather conversation will try to find the dark side to my response. Like yesterday when I was chatting with a receptionist who found out I'd just moved here from California.

"What's the weather like over there?" She asked me.
"Beautiful," I answered truthfully.

And in an effort to muffle the blow perhaps, she returned with, "Yeah, but when it comes round to the weekend and you have plans, it rains."
"No," I said without thinking, "It never really rains in L.A. Especially with the drought conditions we've been having the past few years."

I ducked to avoid the daggers in her eyes.

I hear the locals endured a pretty long and harsh winter so it's no wonder they feel as if their day is ruined by any chance of cold or wet. I haven't yet adopted the local custom of checking the weather forecast twice a day to see what tomorrow's weather will be like and if today's weather is supposed to change (again).

We've been here since the middle of March and we've experienced light snow, rain, gusty winds and balmy sunny days. Perhaps the novelty of our environment is still enchanting us, but we're not much disturbed by any of it.

I hope I haven't just jinxed myself.

Ladylike...

...or something a little different...

So I need to look ladylike this weekend. I'll be at a church. Attending a christening. And seeing as how I'm not normally church-going, I wasn't sure what to wear

(Aside: I told M that I could swing cocktail party attire, but "church-y" was another business altogether).

I think this outfit is church-appropriate. But now I don't know what to do about the shoes and I need some girlfriend-help. Here are my choices:

Strappy red sandals. Too much red?


I love these yellow flats. But too weird? Too funky for the Lord?


I'm kinda digging these brown old-fashiony ones. But maybe a little off with the red+white combo? Red+white is harder to accessories with than I'd imagined.


Cute peep-toes? I'll have to do something about my toenails. And I'm not sure about the black. Maybe too black?


Black pumps? Again, maybe too black? Too evening attire against the more casual skirt+top combo?

Thoughts?

chicken pot pie

My new dining table is dark. As is our dining area. It's a borrowed table so I'm not going to fret over it, but it does mess with my dinner photography endeavors. Anyways, last night I made a pot pie. It's also part of our regular rotation.

Is it worth it to post about chicken pot pie? I feel like it's sort of a no-brainer. But then again, I might stop making it for one reason or another and then one day I'll want to make it and not have any notes on my methods. So here we go:

Chicken Pot Pie
about 2 cooked chicken breasts meat removed from the bone and cubed (I usually used leftover baked chicken, last night it was the leftovers from two whole chickens I'd had cut up to make oven fried chicken)
1 cup of mushrooms (I used white and cut them up in quarters to be roughly the size of the cubed chicken and potatoes)
1/2 cup of chopped celery (about 1 or 2 stalks)
1/2 cup of chopped onion
1 medium sized russet or yukon gold potato cubed and par-boiled
olive oil to sautee vegetables
3/4 cup or so of frozen mixed vegetables (I get the kind that has peas, carrots, corn and green beans. I do a little dance if I can find the one with lima beans. I love lima beans.)
1 med bay leaf
1 tsp of dried oregano
1 tsp of dried thyme
1 pie-crust (I make my own but a frozen one will do in a pinch)
2 tblsp of unsalted butter
3tblsp of flour
1 cup of lowfat milk
1 cup of chicken broth (when I can't make my own I use a tsp of Better than Boullion)
salt+pepper to taste

Make the piecrust and put in the fridge to rest while preparing the vegetables.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a skillet sautee the mushrooms in olive oil (about 2 tblsp) until tender and most of the water has been released. Pour into a medium sized bowl and set aside. Add another 2 tblsp of olive oil to skillet and sautee onions until tender. Pour that into the bowl with mushrooms and repeat sautee process with celery.

Once celery has been sauteed and poured into the vegetable bowl, reserve the skillet for making the roux. Add butter and heat till melted. Don't let the butter brown or heaven forbid burn. Add flour and whisk to blend. Keep whisking until the butter+flour paste turns a nice golden brown. It'll start to stick to the bottom of the skillet a bit and get really gooey. Add half the milk and whisk to blend. You may need to adjust the heat at this point. You want it to be warm enough so that it turns the butter+flour+milk mix into a nice thick gravy, but not so hot that the milk starts to bubble and boil before it has a chance to get married to the butter+flour. When your roux gets nice and thick, add the rest of the milk. Blend to smooth it out and wait till it gets nice and thick again and then thin out with 1/2 the chicken stock. Blend to smooth it out and then when it gets thick again, thin it out with the remaining chicken stock (again). This time blend to smooth it out and once it get's to that nice thick gravy consistency turn the heat down to the lowest possible. Add the herbs, salt and pepper and stir to incorporate.

Turn off the heat and add the sauteed vegetables, the cubed chicken, the potatoes and also the frozen mixed vegetables at this time to the roux. Mix it all up so that the veggies and chicken are completely saturated with the roux. Pour the mixture into a baking dish. Cover with the pie crust and set the baking dish on a baking tray in case the insides of the pot pie bubble over. You can cut slits into the pie crust too to let some of the steam out. My pies usually bubble over and the insides burble out of the sides of the baking dish pushing the pie crust out of the way. It gets a little messy, but I don't mind because it still tastes good. Bake in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes or until the insides are bubbly and the crust is a nice golden brown. You might want to let it cool for a few minutes before serving, but I usually plate it piping hot while waiting for M to get to the table or getting drinks and such. By the time we've pulled our chairs up to the table the pie is just cooled enough for us to dig into.

the nerdiest

I'm a little behind on my feeds. Today I just learned that one of my nerdiest (and M would like me to say: stalker-i-est) endeavors has come to fruition:

Video here. The socks come in at 2:42.

If you've been following along on this ole blog, you'll remember those socks. If not, you can jog your memory here.

2nd 35th

Today I am thirty-five. It seems a bit surreal. So much so that taking off my shoes to step into wet grass so I can photography my pretty toenails against the pink blossoms seems like a natural thing to do, just cause I felt like it.