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i baked, i sewed, i slacked off

August 30, 2009 at 12:23 pm | In FO, crafts, food, sewing | 3 Comments

the only breads i’ve baked before have been quick breads (banana, zucchini, beer – you get the picture) and no-knead bread. but now, thanks to bob’s red mill, i’ve been able to make a kick-ass loaf of potato bread!

it was delicious. and look at that crumb!

i cut big, thick slices like the little rascals kids used to eat.

and i finished up a little sewing project yesterday. vogue 1290 – yet another pattern that’s been in my stash for years. i tried out view c, using muslin fabric.

i adjusted the seams at the waistline but completely spaced on adjusting for my rear end.

turns out my butt is too big! hilarious! i’ll just chalk this up to experience, and be thankful that i used muslin instead of something pricey. maybe i’ll turn the finished garment into an experimental art piece or give it to the goodwill or something.

29 may

May 29, 2009 at 3:12 pm | In FO, collage, crafts, food | Leave a Comment

everyday_small

whoops – i missed another day! i spent yesterday afternoon with another birthday celebrator, and this active little doglet:

and here are the last two cards in that batch i made:

and here’s some baked sweet potato falafel i made earlier this week. YUM.

before baking:

after baking:

not a big difference in color there after baking.

ok, one more look at the puppy (his name is maté):

14 may

May 14, 2009 at 5:27 pm | In food | 1 Comment

everyday_small

i made tortillas today.

corn tortillas, very simple.

when i was little, i used to help** my babysitter make flour tortillas. they were full of lard, but DAMN, were they tasty.

** and by “help”, i mean “i rolled a little piece of dough around in my hands for a few minutes, then i ate loads of warm-from-the-griddle tortillas slathered with margarine.” yeah, back when my young tiny heart and digestive system could properly handle all that fat. those were the days.

some fava beans and a nice chianti

February 15, 2009 at 9:38 am | In food | Leave a Comment

i need to find a no-fail, EASY set of instructions for cooking these dried fava beans. the first batch i tried… well, let’s just say they ended up as a flavorless mush. blech. i may have had the heat too high, and i’m thinking i should have removed the skins before i soaked them, or something. i keep running into directions that contradict each other, so i have no idea.

do any of y’all have a tried-and-true method? please and thanks!

hot tamale

December 22, 2008 at 4:56 pm | In food | Leave a Comment

our family friend mary was busy last week, making a boatload of tamales for her family’s christmas dinner. she was nice enough to include us heathens in her holiday menu planning, yay! she set aside a dozen cheese (queso fresco, that is) and a dozen pork with mole sauce for us, and they’re currently making the transition from frozen and uncooked to steamed and ready-to-eat. they smell SOOOO delicious and i can’t wait to dig in.

i approve of this dip

December 19, 2008 at 3:54 pm | In food | Leave a Comment

no photos today (we dug into it way too quickly to think about slowing down to take photos), but HOLY MOLY, is this carmelized onion dip ever delicious! nom³.

i really like the 101 cookbooks blog, and have found a lot of really great recipes by reading it regularly. my husband thought the recipe sounded especially good, so he gets the credit for last night’s successful rendering of the recipe. we made it using 1.5 cups of lowfat greek yogurt instead of the yogurt/sour cream combo. we also used white onions instead of yellow. and did we ever cry our eyes out while my husband was chopping the onions. [note to self: next time, just use the darn food processor!]

it was a really easy recipe. the biggest part of it is just getting to the point where the onions carmelize, and that’s not even hard – it just takes some time.

next time, i think we’ll double the recipe so we have enough left for the second day. or maybe we just won’t be so piggy about it. hee.

perks, part deux

November 21, 2008 at 9:21 pm | In FO, food | 1 Comment

a few words about the coffee concentrate:

if you make it in a french press, good $*%#ing luck pressing that plunger down.
it’s going to take awhile to separate the liquid from the used-up grounds, so don’t try to do it in that last five minutes before you’re supposed to leave for work in the morning.
the one-part-concentrate-to-three-parts-water ratio is right on the nose.
an observation my husband made: your water needs to be really hot or really cold, otherwise some disturbing separation may occur.
it was smoooooth and tasty.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

perks

November 19, 2008 at 5:22 pm | In WIP, food | 2 Comments

following the lead of my pals over at tiny choices, i started a batch of cold-brew coffee.

mmmmm, sludgy coffee goodness.

i calculated my coffee/water ratio based on their instructions. there’s 4.5 oz of ground coffee and just over 3 cups of water in my 32 oz french press. it JUST fit, thank goodness.

tomorrow, i’ll have some (hopefully) yummy coffee concentrate, ready to go! i wonder how long it’ll stay fresh in the fridge…

crawfish first, embroidery later

August 2, 2008 at 2:52 pm | In crafts, embroidery, food | 1 Comment

this weekend, the crawfish are cookin’ in long beach.

i forgot to take a photo of my pile o’ crawfish until i’d started eating. if you’ve ever eaten crawfish, you know it’s a messy activity. i’m pretty sure i didn’t get too much of the spicy crawfish brine on my camera.

and here’s the aftermath:

nom, nom, nom.

bonus festival photo for fans of engrish:

now that my hands are clean and my brine-splattered clothing is soaking in the sink, i can get started on embroidering some (organic cotton!) dish towels i picked up at target.

what i really want to do is a little Arts and Crafts style embroidery likethis or this. i have a book on the subject, and a million more places to look on the internats.