Easter bread.........a bit late........

Today I made my Nani's Easter bread recipe.  Yes, I'm late but at least I made it this year, there's many a year I have plans for it but never do.  This is an anise bread that starts with 5 pounds of flour - yep, 5 pounds!  And is it ever tough to mix and knead that much bread dough.  But I've got 10 loaves of bread to put in the freezer.   Well, 9 loaves since I've already sampled and since this picture was taken, just minutes ago, Sam attacked the loaf I started.  It's great toasted for breakfast.

I used to help my grandmother make this bread each year.  For all us kids we would make smaller braids, form them in a circle, put a dyed hard boiled egg in the center and 2 thin strips of dough to hold the egg in place. They were so pretty and we each got our own little loaf.  I can't remember what that hard boiled egg was like but it was already cooked and then cooked again in the oven - must have been like a golf ball.

So, we're set for Easter bread for a while...….minus a couple that will be saved for family.

Eureka.......I've found gold!

 I found this box in the guest bathroom cabinet - it's like finding gold.  We keep these in our vehicles but only have a handful in them at anytime.  And that's all the wipes we have since there have been none to be found at the store, no bleach either. I'm ecstatic. Funny how such a thing as Wet Ones could make me so happy. So now we can carry them with us in case they're needed...…..since we aren't going anywhere they should last us a while.

 An update on the barn quilt wall hanging project. I now have all 12 blocks done and am working on the corner stars - there are 4 of them up on the design wall so far.  There are 2 blocks I'm not thrilled with my workmanship so once the stars are all made, the sashing and borders cut, if I have enough fabric I'll remake those 2 squares. It really is fiddly working with these tiny pieces but I'm enjoying it. Now I wonder how do those that make the mini quilts, I mean really small, handle all those seams allowances on the back.

Friend Yvonne gave me a recipe for bread using quick rise yeast, which I have, so this afternoon I made these 2 loaves. This is the pic before Sam and I cut into one of the warm loaves and ate slices with butter. Dinner plans have totally changed to grilled cheese sandwiches on this yummy bread alongside tomato soup. 

A relaxing 4th

 We spent the last 5 days on the coast, it was great to escape the heat although it's not horrible here in the valley at the moment, but still 70 with an ocean breeze does good for the soul. I finally finished warping the loom over there - a towel warp has been wound on the back beam for months. I got the heddles threaded, then sleyed the reed and tied on.

 I only wove 2 towels to get it started as I had other things I wanted to do - like reading and stitching hexxies…....and relaxing. I can't remember which draft this is other than it came from the Strickler book - my notes are over at the beach cottage. I'll have to get a picture of the hexxie sections I've sewn so far - great  handwork for while riding in the car. I do have a problem though - I can't seem to wear a thimble and I did so much stitching the pad of my middle finger on my right hand is irritated. Maybe I'll put a small bandaid on it for the next round of stitching......which won't be until my finger is no longer sore.

We went crabbing one day - how relaxing can it get just sitting out on a dock throwing the crab ring and pulling it out...……..well, having Sam throw the crab ring and pull it out...…….and put the stinky fish head baits on the hook while I watched birds diving for fish and watched the sea lions watching us throw out bait.....we did lose a bit of bait to them. We caught a ton of Dungeness crab but they were all just a bit too small so they had to go back but we did get to keep the red crab....which we ate for dinner. Being a smaller crab they are a pain to pick but they were yummy. 

Yum

Yesterday a friend came over for our occasional lunch/Netflix/knitting get together.  We were to binge watch the second half of the new season of Grace & Frankie but I had gotten Book Club movie DVD via Netflix by mail so we watched that instead. Lots of laughs. With what's going on in the world and our country it's so nice to watch something that's light and entertaining.

I made a sausage, kale & potato soup.  It's based on Zuppa Toscano at Olive Garden, my favorite soup there.  I've made this recipe several times and it's a winner - it's from The Pioneer Woman's website.  And I had enough leftovers to send some home with my friend and for our dinner tonight. It's not a heavy soup but it's also not a low-cal soup as it's loaded with whole milk, half & half and a splash of cream - but it's oh, so worth it.

 

I've seen several recipes lately for roasted chick-peas. I've had a recipe from Two Peas and their Pod's blog along with a can of chickpeas sitting on the counter for a week so I decided to make those yesterday too for us to critic and snack on. Another winner recipe. I had some Moroccan spice blend in my pantry so that's what I used on these. The entire can of them is gone as of 5 minutes ago.  Next time I make them I'll have to try a different spice blend.

Have had no time for weaving for a few days - maybe tomorrow afternoon. I really need to get back to weaving or sewing so I can settle in to listen to my current audio book which is book 5 in the Outlander series - The Fiery Cross. I'm halfway through the 47 discs.  Is anyone else hooked on Outlander?  I know the books have been out forever but it really gained popularity again when Starz started airing an original series based on the books. The 4th season recently ended, it was based on book 4.

This and that........

Been missing in action again - I have been busy, just haven't had much to share.  Been busy unpacking the last of the boxes (other than holiday stuff). My two studio rooms are set up ready to work in - all that's left is to put some pictures on the walls in those rooms, and the rest of the house.

I went to the American Sewing Guild meeting on Tuesday and friend Kathy taught us how to make fun visors. I love it and will be making more.

I did sew bathroom café curtains. I have family arriving next week and figured they'd probably appreciate a curtain in the guest bath. The bath is ending up black, white and gray with bits of other colors due to the black & white marble countertops. It's hard to see this fabric but it's little dashes of gray and black on a white background. Ignore the filthy windows - we haven't had time to wash them since moving in this house and I don't think the previous owners ever washed them in the 4 years they lived here. 

Here are the cafes in the master bath toilet area. I had bought a vintage table runner to make them but then found this cute dragonfly fabric in my stash - I love it, it makes me smile. We will need these once the plum trees outside lose their leaves.

And here's the café over the tub area. it also has dragonflies and is a coordinating fabric to the other one.

We have a couple apple trees at our new place so yesterday I made spiced applesauce for the freezer - it is yummy. I need to make more as we have a number of apples. I also made an apple pie. When the fridge Pillsbury Crust in the box says 'best by July 2018' believe it. It's edible, especially with vanilla ice cream, but really the crust is past it's prime - pretty heavy, not flakey at all.

And this final picture is yet another fire but this is old news. This was from Friday afternoon looking out our back door. If I hadn't known exactly where it was I would have thought it was just blocks away - it was on the other side of town, which isn't far but not a danger for us. Since then a fire broke out not far from our old house (which we still own, another story) but not close enough to be a danger but it is a danger for many others including friends. I have heard of one house that burnt but there are apparently others, no official news on the numbers yet. Hoping they get that fire out within the next few days and hoping those I know and others still have their homes once the fire is contained. And then today when driving home we saw a plume of smoke close to the fire from Friday - sounds like it got snuffed out quickly.  I am so done with fire season this year - it gets worse every year. And the story on the old house which we still own - it was close to the huge fire which is now ok on our side of the fire but kept anyone from looking at it. Just this past week a few realtors were out with prospective buyers, unfortunately none of them were interested in our house.......but at least it's getting shown now that the fire is under control and we aren't socked in with smoke.....just need the perfect person for a really nice home to go look at it.

Salmon Celebration

First off - an apology that these pix are sideways. I took them with my phone - they were correct when downloaded to the computer. I then saved them again as new pix and they were fine, but I uploaded them to my blog and they're turned. This only happens with pix taken on my phone. Does anyone know how to remedy this issue? It's beyond me, I can't figure it out.

Anyhow, on the coast this past weekend we attended the Salmon Festival put on by the local Indian tribe. The salmon was baked indirectly on wooden sticks beside a wood fire. It was incredible tasting. It was basted with a huckleberry jam - oh my gosh - to die for.

Here is the menu for the meal although I noticed it did not mention the basting with huckleberry jam or that they served another little container of huckleberry jam with it. We are definitely going the next time they hold this event.  I took no other pix but there was story telling, historical talks, prayers by a wise elder and dancing. There were dug out canoe races although they weren't going on while we were there. Many booths showing flint making, canoe making, etc. Then booths where one could try their hand at traditional Indian crafts. We didn't stick around for the release of the salmon to the river - I'm assuming they are the farmed salmon from the hatchery.

Nothing much creative happening here - just not inspired these days about anything much. In spite of lightning that came with thunderstorms the second half of last week starting new small fires the weather was an immense help to the fire fighting efforts. Fire growth slowed giving fire fighters more time to access and build more containment lines. It also gave some temporary relief from the smoke. Unfortunately temperatures have gone up again and fires are more active. I'm just hoping the region can hold on, without too much more fire damage, until the fall/winter rains come. There are numerous fires in our region but the closest one to us is the Chetco Bar Fire which is now up to 184,292 acres with an 8% containment perimeter line - it started on July 12th.

Does anyone else watch Outlander? I've got the first new episode of this season dvr'd and will watch it later today or tomorrow. Although I've already read the book that this season is based on I don't want any spoilers of what happens in the first episode.

 

Pastels and food

 The pastel scarves have their fringes twisted and are ready for sale in my etsy shop. Pastel is not something I usually think of for a handwoven scarf but they turned out lovely. This one has a pale lavender weft...........

.........this one has an ecru weft. A customer of mine requested a pastel scarf in these colors, one of these may or may not fit the bill, it's her decision.

Today I met friend Theresa over in Medford to shop Top Stitch, our local Bernina store, that was having a fabric sale - yikes. Then to lunch at The  Ram Restaurant and Brewery - I had a great Asian salad with macadamia crusted chicken. It doesn't look like a big salad in this photo but believe me, it was huge........and good. The Ram is a chain that recently opened in our region, I have regularly eaten at one of the other locations up in Salem. They brew beer too but I'm not a beer person so I can't review that - the food is wonderful. Theresa gifted me with a box of bamboo from her late father's stash, so in turn, with trying to make room for the bamboo I gifted her with a bag of linen which she loves.

Big storms yesterday afternoon and evening - many fires being chased down today from the lightning strikes. Have I said yet this year that I hate fire season???  And the wind did a number on my fig trees - sure hope it didn't hurt them because they're loaded with figs this year.

Yum....preparing for family

I'm trying to get ready for family arriving the middle of next week, cleaning house (argh), baking ahead of time, and thinking on menus. It's a little overwhelming for some reason, probably because I'm overcommitted as usual, but I'm plodding along. The other day I baked some muffins to put in the freezer. You see, I don't cook breakfast so everyone is on their own. Muffins, bagels with fixings, cereal, fruit........I will make oatmeal though as it's a staple in this house.

These are two of my favorite muffins to bake. Blueberry Streusel Muffins, these made with berries we picked this summer and froze. Here's the recipe.  Banana Nut Muffins with Oatmeal Streusel, mine are minus the nuts as I like to eat nuts on their own but don't want them mixed in with my baked goods or ice cream......yes, I suppose that's strange. Here's the recipe for these.  It killed me not to sample but straight to the freezer these went.

I'm trying to decide if my pumpkin streusel cake would freeze well. I know my lemon blueberry bread will so I'll bake some of that up in the next few days.

Fresh pesto

I almost let the summer go by without making pesto for the freezer......which would have been crazy since I grow lots of basil in pots on the deck just for this purpose. I started on this chore the other day but ran out of olive oil........tell, me how can an Italian run out of olive oil??? To be exact, I'm half Italian.  So, more olive oil in hand I set off to make many batches of pesto this morning......until I ran out of cheese......but that was to be expected with how much pesto I made.

The basic recipe I use is from an old Sunset Italian cookbook - it doesn't include pine nuts but we love them so I add them.

Basic Pesto

2 cups lightly packed fresh basil leaves, washed and thoroughly dried

1 cup (3oz) freshly grated parmesan cheese

1/2 cup olive oil

1 or 2 cloves minced garlic (optional)  I definitely use the optional garlic

I add 1/2 cup of pine nuts

Place everything in a food processer and process until finely chopped. Use at once, or place in small jars and add a thin layer of olive oil to each jar to keep pesto from darkening. Refrigerate for up to a week, or freeze for longer storage. Makes about 1 1/3 cups.  (I freeze mine in small Ziploc bags and it lasts until next summer when fresh basil is available again - I put around 2/3 cup of pesto in a bag which is enough for a pasta dish or to use on pizza)

Not much happening on the fiber front. I did get a black chenille shawl warp on the loom and am ready to start weaving but life has been getting in the way. I have a number of ice dyed shawls to get photographed but not sure when that will happen. I've got handwoven notecards to get listed in the shop, photographs done, just need to sit down and list them. Getting a little panicked as I've got a towel warp to get on for an order and gifts and our holiday card fabric........time just flies these days........

Sunrise and other tidbits

 Sunrise this morning was spectacular although our trees are growing too much and obstructing the view of Mt Sexton. You'd think there were a new fire in the area with those colors in the sky.

 Saturday we put up my spinning group's fair display, the fair opens tomorrow. None of the finished items or skeins are in the fair for judging, they're for display only. The fleeces will be judged tomorrow morning and ribbons awarded. For the next 4 days we'll all be sitting in a big circle in front of this display spinning, carding, knitting, felting, whatever. It's always a great time visiting with the public........and each other. It's hard to believe that we can sit there for 4 days and never run out of anything to talk about.  Unfortunately tomorrow looks to be the only day below 100, forecast to 'only' be 99 tomorrow - the following three days will be anywhere from 105-108. We're in an air conditioned building but we have to walk back and forth from our cars to get there which will be a killer come afternoon. I wonder how this heat will affect fair goers.

 When I met friend Linda at the fairgrounds today (to add the tablecloth I forgot to bring on Saturday) she brought me some of her home grown tomatoes. On the way home I stopped at the Ft Vannoy Farm Market to pick up other veggies. I made one of my favorite kinds of sandwiches, fresh tomatoes, banana peppers and fresh sweet onion. Ft Vannoy has the best corn around here - it's still not as sweet as corn back east but it's pretty danged good - at least it's not field corn to feed the pigs, as my father would call the rest of the corn here. We'll be having fresh corn tonight with a tomato basil salad (my homegrown basil) and northwest salmon.

It would have been perfect if the farm had the hot banana peppers but they only had sweet so I added hot pickles to my sandwich. Yep, I know this would kill some people's stomach's but not mine. My Dad used to make sandwiches like this - I come by it naturally.

Yum

Today for a lunch get together I made a recipe from Taste of Home for Thai Chicken Pasta Salad. It's always a gamble making a recipe I've never made before but it worked out great today - this is definitely a keeper recipe. Yummy and easy. It called for shredded Chinese or napa cabbage but after going to Costco yesterday and then Trader Joe's which didn't have the cabbage I went with what I found there - some regular shredded cabbage and some shredded kale/brussels sprouts mix - it was great. I have a limit on how many grocery type stores I can go to in a day.....or week for that matter. This dish tastes great hot or cold. It makes a lot so we had leftovers tonight for dinner.  Click on the dish name above to find the recipe on the Taste of Home website.

Blueberry season

Gotta love blueberry season.......it's my favorite berry although this year's crop of local strawberries was exceptional. Today I made 3 batches of blueberry jam and a loaf of lemon blueberry bread. I have a bowl of berries in the fridge for eating and have several bags in the freezer for smoothies, muffins or whatever. I posted the recipe for the lemon blueberry bread once before - it can be found HERE.  Next up is some apricot jam, cousin Jim's neighbor gave him a bunch of apricots so he's sharing - I'll get enough for one batch which is plenty of apricot jam for us - will get to that on Friday. Blackberry season will be here soon - haven't made blackberry jam in forever.  Yum, can't wait to slice into this bread after dinner.............

Back in the nest........

We are back in the nest again.......yes, I realize none of you knew I was gone.  Hubby, Bailey and I took off on a road trip to visit friends in Northern Idaho and then on to visit family in Big Fork, MT. There was a lot of driving involved. We had a great time but alas, I took practically no pictures.........this trip was all about visiting.  So, the only pix I have to share is when I churned butter in Idaho - very fun and even more tasty.

Here friend Diane is demo'ing how I'm to churn the farm fresh milk

She turned the butter churn over to me and after much churning here is my butter sitting in resulting buttermilk

Here the buttermilk is draining off. I don't like the taste of commercial buttermilk, it's great for baking, but not for drinking. I tasted this farm fresh buttermilk and it was heavenly

And here's my butter -  probably around 1 1/2 pounds. I took it on to my next visit in Montana to share - believe me this was incredible tasting. If I had access to fresh farm milk at a reasonable price I'd be churning my own butter from now on......but the cost here is prohibitive as in $10-$15 a gallon.....if anyone reading this is local and knows of less expensive farm fresh milk in our area please let me know.

Today is all about catching up......or as I call it 're-entry'........which usually sucks. I'm hoping to get a warp on the loom in the next few days and get back to dyeing some silk shawls soon.

Strawberry Cake - Yum

Ok, so this isn't the best picture - it was taken quickly before I had to dig into this strawberry bundt cake last night. I saw it the other day on Crazy as a Loom's blog.......and she had the link to the recipe so I printed it out for future use which turned out to be last night.  Here's the recipe. 

Not much happening on the fiber front as I'm dealing with other 'stuff' at the moment but I hope to play with yarn tomorrow..........

Pad Thai Pizza

Yesterday I made Thai Pizza for lunch when a friend came over to knit/spin and watch 3 episodes of The Borgia's on Netflix - we've just finished watching the first season - this is a long term commitment of watching a series.........very fun. (I love period movies/series)  This photo is not very good or necessarily appetizing looking but the pizza/flatbread is outstanding.  Yesterday I tried out the fresh pizza dough from Winco grocery store - it was good but grew - it was like a super duper thick crust pizza which was too bready for me. Usually I buy the Trader Joe's fresh pizza dough but TJ's is 45 minutes away so not always convenient.  This is what's on this yummy pizza.

Start with your chosen pizza dough/crust

Spread a layer of your favorite jarred Thai peanut sauce on top

Next up a light layer of provolone cheese.....

very thinly sliced red onion......

roasted shredded chicken (I make this pizza the day after having chicken for dinner so I use leftover)

Now sprinkle some mozzarella cheese on top - I love tons of cheese on pizza but for this one I go light on the cheese........just enough to hold it together.

Now bake it - I baked mine for around 15 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

After it comes out of the oven sprinkle on chopped peanuts, shredded carrots, bean sprouts and tons of cilantro........if you like cilantro..........I realize it's something people either love or hate - I love it so I add tons of cilantro.

Now dig in. I served it with a salad in a bag - the Asian salad.  Sam was thrilled to come over to leftovers of this pizza and ate a ton of it for dinner last night.

Change of plans

 Change in plans yesterday in the ball of yarn I planned to use for the next shawlette. I was just a bit too worried about how the striping would turn out. I wasted a lot of time fretting over it before I pulled out this ball of Zauberball singles in reds. Yes, this will make a striking shawlette.

Current fruit infused water in the pitcher - mandarins and limes.......very light and fresh tasting......I need to buy some other fruit and some mint soon........

Flavored water

A few years ago at the ANWG weaving conference in Bellingham, WA the cafeteria had big containers of cold fruit infused water. Each container, each day, was something different. Walking in the cafeteria that's where I looked first, what kind of water would there be that day.

I've always put lemons and limes in my water but up until that conference I had never considered using apples, blueberries, strawberries, melons, peaches, etc.  Since that time I've made my own glasses of fruit infused water but when on Amazon one day I saw these pitchers with a separate section in the middle for adding the fruit so you're not fighting with it trying to pour the water in your glass. And lo and behold there are many books out there on the subject.  So, of course I bought myself a pitcher and book.......and bought a couple more for gifts.

The water I made for tonight's dinner & card playing with our neighbors is pear with cinnamon stick. I'm anxious to see how it tastes. It's only been melding for an hour in the fridge so far, a small taste looks like this combo will be a winner.........at least for me.  According to the directions the fruit will last for several days, many fillings of the pitcher - I haven't tested that theory out yet.

I'm not a soda drinker so this will be a nice way to change up my glass of water. I can't wait until we have fresh fruit this summer...........

Fish soup

In my Italian family (on my mother's side) we celebrate Christmas Eve with the Feast of the Seven Fishes - our first course is fish soup. My grandmother's peasant recipe for fish soup is basically broth, tomatoes, celery, onions and cod. It's yummy but my cousin Jim came up with an even better recipe......sorry Nani, wherever you are but Jim's is better........  I'm not sure if he made it up from combining ingredients out of several recipes or if this was a recipe he found.  This one calls for cod and it's great but tonight in addition to cod I added a bag of Trader Joe's blended shellfish (shrimp, bay scallops, calamari rings). It was outstanding but in the future I'll just buy the shellfish I want to add from the fish market - I'm thinking the shrimp, scallops, clams and crab in addition to cod. We have more than enough leftover for tomorrow's game watching.........yum.   I hope you try it.........

Fisherman's Soup

6 slices of bacon, chopped

2 tbs butter

1 large onion, chopped

3 ribs of celery, chopped

2 cloves minced garlic

3 tsp Old Bay seasoning

3 tbs fresh chopped cilantro

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves (I didn't have any tonight so I used a bit less dried)

1 bay leaf

1 pound tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped (I didn't have any tonight so used a can of chopped tomatoes)

2/3 cup white wine

2-3 cups fish stock (I used a whole box which was a bit more than 3 cups)

11 oz potatoes, diced

1 1/2 - 2 pounds skinless white fish fillets cut into chunks (I used 1/2 pound cod and a one pound bag of mixed shellfish from Trader Joe's)

Fry the bacon until crisp. Remove from pan, drain off most of the fat, leave just a little.

Add butter to the pan and cook onion and celery until soft, add garlic and herbs and cook for one minute. Add tomatoes, stock and wine and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Add potatoes, cover again and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until the potatoes are almost tender.

Add chunks of fish and other seafood and bacon pieces. Simmer gently uncovered for 5 minutes or until fish and seafood are cooked.

Garnish with additional fresh chopped cilantro and a squeeze of fresh lime juice.  You don't have to do this but it really makes the soup.

It's that time of year........

It's the time of year for fresh cranberries. We spent the weekend on the coast where there are tons of cranberry bogs. At the Bandon grower's market there were no 'dry picked' cranberries, only 'wet picked' ones so that's what I came home with. They won't stay as long in the fridge as dry picked so I made cranberry sauce this morning.

Look at these beautiful berries - they're the size of grapes.

Here they are all cooked down with water and sugar. I got 3 containers of cranberry sauce for the freezer.

I made sure to keep out a couple cups to make some cranberry muffins since Sam requested muffins or bread. Gotta love this time of year - cranberries and pumpkin everywhere.

Been working on gifts here and there so nothing I can post to the blog. Also finished up everything for the surface design program I'm presenting this week. East coast brother arrives this week as well as a Seattle cousin and Oregon uncle - will be a busy fun week of catching up and visiting.

Getting close.......

I'm getting close to being able to get back to close up work after eye surgery. I wasn't sure what counted as my first day of back to normal activities, it was either today or tomorrow - since I was out part of today I decided I could wait one more day.  Vision is clearer although not perfect, just a little wonky, especially today, apparently it takes time for vision to dial in. Hopefully I'll pass the eye test at DMV when I renew my license within the next 3 weeks. It's been a boring 7 days of not being able to do the things I need and want to do. I'm far behind on things I have deadlines for - getting a little panicky but trying not to think about it today..........tomorrow will be here soon enough......

On Sunday I decided to bake pumpkin streusel muffins to put in the freezer for when family comes to visit in a couple weeks. See the beautiful muffins in the foreground? Those are the ones that had both the brown and white sugar the recipe calls for.  See the muffins off to the left? Those are the first batch where I forgot to add the white sugar. Stunted little raggedy looking muffins but they taste just fine.

Yesterday I made a pepper relish with apples, pears, red bell peppers, jalapenos and onion.....and of course a fair amount of sugar. It was a big time commitment since after chopping everything up it had to sit with canning salt on it for 6 hours before cooking and canning. I haven't decided if it was worth it or not yet -  although it is pretty tasty over cream cheese on a cracker.........