Dawn Brocco's Life & Design Blog

Well, apparently, I can't help myself.

I said I wasn't gonna cook yesterday, but when I went into the kitchen to dig up some dinner, I thought to myself, there's a bunch of leftover chicken from the roasted chicken he cooked on Saturday?, now what can I do to it to mess it up?!

Well, that wasn't exactly my thought. I do aim to improve on what's there, and what was there was just some basic cooked chicken. (But when I mentioned what I had done to hubby, when he called me, as he does every night, he laughed, knowing full well I could have made that great chicken inedible!)

So, I dug out that chicken cookbook again and found an apricot chicken dish - simple - onion soup packets and fresh apricots.

OK - we never do onion soup from packets, so the pantry will never have that tucked away, but what is onion soup but onions and beef broth - which I have, but I decided to use chicken broth instead.

And though I haven't got fresh apricots, I did have 14 remaining dried apricots in the fridge, from a large package I've been nibbling from for weeks.

So I boiled a bit of water, turned off the heat, cut the apricots in half and tossed them in to rehydrate, and for good measure added 1/2 c marsala (which I love in chicken dishes).

While they were soaking, I sauteed 3/4 a large onion in a little olive oil and butter, then tossed in the apricots and the liquid, sprinkled on 2 packets of low sodium chicken broth powder and let that simmer a bit, adding a bit of salt, pepper and all-seasoning.

Then finally a small amount of cornstarch to thicken the sauce, which I should have dissolved in cold water first, but it did dissolve with a bit of stirring.

I was just Googling for French Onion Soup and found, what I thought looked like a great recipe, yet the first comment made was such a series of no-no's of the non-Frenchness of the recipe and how one shouldn't bother unless one began with making beef broth from scratch, and ordering the correct cheese to use, etc, etc, and wondered how many people would cook at all, if every thing you made had to be done from scratcharoo or Else!

Nope. Sorry. We don't live in those bygone days when someone, usually the woman of the house, was home all day to cook and clean. Not to mention that doing it all from scratch can get costly. We spend too much at the store as it is each week.

I don't think of my cooking as being restaurant-worthy (I'm not delusional!), and if I want to spend only 30 minutes preparing something different for dinner, do I have to flog myself with wet noodles in repentance?! There's A) cuisine, which one pays big bucks for, and then there's B) home cooking, which is creative use of what's on hand. I will forever defend a cook's right to follow plan B!

PS
I just heard some folklore that says no eating chicken on New Year's. Never heard of this, but, there's something about chickens scratching backwards? Anyway, it's bad luck.

Considering this past year, I don't think I wanna give the New Year any opportunity to mess up, so it looks like a piece of meat for NY's dinner, though I'd be happy with homemade pizza!

Knitting
Still making those socks for brother. 1 down, 1 to go.

If I don't write again in the next coupla days, Happy New Year to All!

(Wowza - 11 degrees with a wind advisory - brrr!)

Another recipe I've been wanting to try, though I have never tasted it, is Limoncello, the after dinner liqueur to settle the stomach.

Now, as I know it's not likely I'll ever have a full bottle of vodka hanging around, and 80 days to wait on the recipe to age! (though Giada's recipe doesn't take quite that long), I thought, what the heck, maybe I can do a faux limoncello that's quicker.

So, using what I had, I made a small batch of simple syrup - sugar, water and added 6 TBL lemon juice (1/3 c). I had no lemons to peel, just lemon juice. Cooked it down a bit as one does with syrup, and let it cool.

I then poured half syrup to half Vodka - whooo! Too strong for me. Tried 2 parts syrup to 1 vodka - nope, still too strong. The ratio I like is 1 TBL vodka to 3 TBL syrup. Not bad. It will do 'til I can make the real thing.

As I made this a week or so ago, I've been trying to remember exactly how much sugar and water. It was 1 c water and the lemon juice to probably 2/3 c sugar?

No other cooking today - there's enough food in the fridge for now. And I feel like having light food today, anyway - so I made a big batch (in my new blender!) of fruit smoothie - a container of vanilla yogurt (8 oz? 6 oz? those containers are getting smaller every day), 2 bananas, about 8 frozen peach slices, 4 ice cubes and a couple glugs of 2% milk. Whizz til smooth.

So I had a small amount of leftover cheese filling. And I remembered I had leftover pie crust dough in the freezer, and thought, ravioli-like pies. What the heck. If it doesn't taste right, it's no big loss.

Experimenting with food is great for the fearful and easy for the fearless. What's the worst that can happen? It doesn't come out quite right and you do it different next time. Before you know it, you've built up a huge amount of confidence.

As you can see, my first 2 (lower left) came out OK, but after that, it was all downhill! They're OK, hubby's eating them. I had 1.5. The dough wasn't right, but it's not stopping him - he likes them I guess!


The crust really needs to be a savory, not sweet, crust. Next time! Less butter (or maybe no butter and use olive oil instead) and no sugar in the crust (yup, I always add sugar to pie crust - can't stand bland unsweetened crust), and will add basil, oregano, onion powder, salt and pepper to the dough - so it compliments the gently flavored cheese filling. Mini 3-cheese pies!

I think a spinach crust would be really good too with the cheese filling...

I was watching Lidia's Italy on PBS, as I do every Sunday, and she was making strangozzi - a rustic, handmade pasta. So, guess what I made today? And a tomato sauce with bacon, olives, onion, olive oil, red wine, and all the requisite herbs and fresh parmesan.

Hubby thinks this is just a kick I'm on from watching *that movie* too many times. I don't think so. I think watching *that movie* just reminded me of how much I like to cook. Sometimes we need reminders to inspire us.

With all the house-selling nonsense I've been dealing with, all my creative energy had been put on hold, to the point where I had no desire to cook or knit or design. Making the Christmas cookies didn't even bring back the thrill, as I was just too depressed and disgruntled over those buyers backing out at the last minute.

It threw me. So much energy had been extended to them and their demands. All I can hope is that it's true - what goes around comes around. But when you're at the receiving end of it, it does take time to recoup yourself and feel joyful again. (But heck, ultimately I'm not gonna let anyone take away my joy!)

It hasn't helped that my body spent days feeling low and drained. Had to take extra diuretics, which drained my potassium levels too much. Amazing how a simple mineral is the difference between being able to get through the day and wanting to curl up into a ball and sleep.

This is SO a new way to live, for me. I'm used to pushing that envelope, always to the edge and then some more, in order to accomplish what needed accomplishing. Not any more. At least not for as long as I'm constantly being drained of potassium. If ever this darn edema would go away (9 months and countinggggg), maybe my old energy could return.

So, I cook, and am knitting some socks. Want to get a thick wool pair done to send to the eldest of my 3 brothers before Epiphany. He lives the furthest away from the rest of us and I try to do something special for him each Christmas.

I googled and found several different ways to make the pasta dough - all egg, no egg just water, and I thought I saw someone in Umbria use just egg white?, so I decided to go somewhere in the middle - 1 extra large egg and about 1/2c+ room temperature water to 2.75 c wheat flour. Don't know if it's semolina, as I took it out of the bag and put it into a secure canister months ago, but it's definitely not AP flour.

Sanitize the table. Wipe with clean water and dry it.

Flour onto the table. Make a well in the center, add 1/4 tsp or so salt, the egg and a bit of water and begin mixing the flour into it. Add water as you go, til you get a kneadable ball. Knead 10 minutes or so then let it rest with a clean towel over it for an hour. One of these years, I'll get a KitchenAid and IT can do the kneading for me!

I then cut it into 4 even pieces and rolled each piece out into as close to a long rectangle as I could. Dust with flour as you go and I flipped the piece over several times. Repeat with remaining dough.

I got pieces about 5" wide by about 18" long.

I draped 2 clean kitchen towels on the countertop and laid the stretched pasta on the towels. I let them sit about 40 minutes, as I had a showing coming and needed to get everything cooked, otherwise they say to let it rest an hour, but the 40 minutes was enough so that when cut they didn't stick.

Bring a sheet to your flour-dusted work table, roll up a sheet from the short end into a fat roll. Slice with a wide knife into thin rolades, about 1/8-3/16" wide. Open up the strands and dust with flour. Puddle them onto the kitchen towel and do the next sheet.

When they're all cut and opened up, pop them into salted boiling water. When they come to a boil, pull one out to taste - they should be al dente. I like that they're's no need to cook them for 10 minutes.

Scoop them out and into your sauce and stir.

The sauce I made also wasn't bad for a non-Italian!

I first cooked a package of bacon then drained off the fat to a jar to save, leaving just a film in the pan. Put the bacon on paper towels to drain.

Add olive oil and 1/2 a chopped onion to cook, lowish heat. Add 4 cloves sliced garlic, toss a bit. Add 1 small can tomato paste, blend well, add 1 small can tomato sauce (I would have preferred diced tomatoes, but he didn't buy any, so one makes do with what one has!), 2/3 c water, stir well to dilute the paste,

Add 1/2 c red wine, a handful of green olives - 12? - generous sprinkilings basil, oregano, parsley, a touch of salt, not much, a touch of pepper.

Break up about 6 pieces of bacon and toss in. Last is about 1/4-1/3 c rough shredded parmesan (the holes 1 size up from the grating holes). Stir and simmer just a little while. I don't take to the sauce-cooked-all-day method. I like it tasting fresher. I turned off the heat and covered it while I finished making the pasta.

Here it is. I like it. We'll see what hubby says when he has it for lunch tomorrow.

I'm gonna try this again, but after being sure to get semolina flour. I'll try it with the egg and water like I did this time, then just egg whites, then just water, and see which pasta tastes best/handles best.

Mangia!

Julia Child began her married life living in, what turned out to quickly be, her most favorite place in the world, Paris.

I could easily imagine her chagrin at having to move, to follow her husband's job. Who would EVER want to leave Paris. Not voluntarily. Heaven in Pink Light. Pass a croissant, s'il vous plait.

Our life seems to be working in reverse, place-wise. From several apartments to a small, cold house, to a huge, cold house!, to? Well, to be fair, it's not cold in the rooms we live in, just the rest of the house. If our fridge ever gives out, our food could live happily in any number of handsome rooms. Dare I hope for a perfectly-sized warm house?

Which I have found, btw. A perfect house, with perfect gardens and outbuildings and kitchen and, and... It's charming beyond words, a little piece of tasteful, yet completely warm and homey, antiquity. It's calling me, through the Mist and the Fog. Dawn, Dawn, you belong here. Don't I know it!

My mind and heart are perched on the edge of a dream. An idea. A sunny, sandy confluence of light and bright images of a new life. Lit by Hope. I am an Adventurer. I know that Reality will dull those lights a bit, as Nothing is ever as perfect an idea as we dream it. But. The anticipation. The Hoping.

To tweak me just a bit more, The Cooks Garden seed catalog came the other day. And Burpee's. Aaaah.

How can I plan my garden, til I know where I'll be? How on earth can I start seeds indoors if I might end up moving twice before spring even sets in?
There's a new culinary mix of 7 gorgeous heirloom tomato seeds. These gotta be started early, indoors. Will I be able to do it? Your guess is as good as mine. More than likely, I'll have to wait and order the plants instead.

So, if any of you would like to send good thoughts out to the Powers That Be, please ask him/them/her to send us a good buyer for our house, who actually follows through. No more rugs pulled out from under us, thank you! Merci buckets.

Here's hubby's stuffed shells. He was a bit short on sauce, but they were still delish!

And a shot of son playing with Pickles, when here visiting.

I brewed a half gallon of iced tea last night, as I do 4x a week, every week. and made gravy to go on the roast chicken hubby cooked.

Gravy's so easy, though he doesn't get the roux right (never enough flour), and so, his gravy is always too thin. Equal parts fat and flour (in this case, about 1/2 c total canola oil and some butter and 1/2 c flour), cooked a bit to get rid of the flour taste.

If chicken gravy, add 2 pouches dry chicken broth, (beef gravy gets beef stock powder). Then add some water, and a bit of chicken (or meat) drippings, whisking all the time to blend thoroughly. Keep adding water or broth til the right consistency is achieved. As our broths are low-salt, add some low sodium salt, and a bit of pepper, Use less fat and flour for a small batch of gravy.

On my list - a fat separator.

Son got me a 16-speed blender for Christmas. He was unsure if I needed it. OH! I told him that all my kitchen stuff is from the year of the flood, and not in that nice, antique way. Anything kitchen-oriented would be wonderful for any and all future gifts! There's so much I need still to really outfit my kitchen well.

Today, I decided to do a little experiment - with the leftover cheese mixture from the stuffed shells, which is ricotta, grated mozzarella, parmesan, egg, parsley, salt and pepper. More tomorrow!

My life seems to be all about finding ways to do something when I haven't got all the parts.

Cooking is no exception. I'm always substituting ingredients, as I never have *exactly* what is needed to make a given recipe, and as I can't just pop into the family sedan and putt putt off to the mega mart, or even better, Adams, our wonderful kinda local green grocer, I'm stuck. Either not cooking, or doing the best I can with what I've got.

I always choose option B.

And, gratefully, hubby doesn't mind one bit. How could he? He'd not eat, otherwise!

So, faced with yesterday's chicken not stretching for enough days, I knew I had to find something to cook. I remembered seeing a 1.5 lb sirloin in La Freezer. Now, typically, during the warmer days of the year, I leave meat to the Grill Guy. In general, I don't do meat. It's just easier to have him throw it on the grill than to figure out what to do with it.

So, after seeing Julia's movie, oh, more times than I care to admit!, I thought, Beouf Bourguignon! Heck, I have red wine in the back of the fridgey, so that's half the battle. Of course, her tome hadn't come into our local library branch for me to refer to, so I pulled out the only 2 cookbooks that were likely to be of any help: Betty Crocker's Cookbook, circa 1969, given to us by a now dear departed friend, when we opened the B&B a lifetime ago.

And, one of my fav cookbooks, Recipes from a New England Inn, by Trudy Cutrone, 1992, Country Roads Press.

Betty Crocker. Tsk, tsk. Not a pat of butter in the recipe. Shortening. Ack. And marjoram. Hmm.

Now the Inn cookbook has a "Best Beef Bouguignon" recipe. Why the best? Beef tenderloin tips! Yes for a very special meal, which this surely wouldn't be.

And I see that's how one can avoid having to toss it all into the oven for 2.5 hours, so to beat down tougher cuts of meat. But no tips here, though this cut of sirloin isn't bad. Got it on 1/2 price sale many weeks back and dined on it regularly - what a treat after london broil!

So, I figured I'd give it 45 minutes in the oven. That should do it.

Had the bay leaves, thyme and rosemary - whew. Though hubby doesn't like rosemary, I love it and meat has to have it. There. I just won't tell him, as I let out an evil laugh.

Red wine. Have it.
Butter. Oh Yes, have that.
Beef broth. Got it.

OK, here's where it's gonna go awry. No pearl onions. Not even a big ole coarsely-flavored white onion. Beans.

And no mushrooms. This is gonna be some pitiful Bourguignon. More like meat cooked in a pathetic wine sauce, of sorts.

Salt pork. What, bacon not good enough? But, alas, had used all the bacon doing the Meditteranean Chicken. Gonna really stretch the imagination and use those remaining slices of, gulp, Black Forest Ham. If I was the praying kind, I would have given the dish a moment of silence right then and there, because this could easily be a waste of a decent piece of meat.

And, apparently it rakes more than a million viewings of this movie to get it into my dense skull to PAT DRY the meat first. It did brown, though, so I'm eager to see how much better or easier it will brown when I actually do it right!

Maybe I should write out the steps in big letters on large index cards and tape them to my kitchen wall?

But, onion powder and non-bacon notwithstanding, it wasn't terrible. Quite edible, actually, just not The Real Thing. And hubby loved it.

I immediately made a shopping list that included all the necessary ingredients, as this is one recipe I want to get right!

I served it over egg noodles, but I'd like to try making Spaetzle. But here's where that recipe is gonna go wrong . Swiss cheese. Neither he nor I can handle swiss cheese any more. Love it. Can't eat it. Wonder if they have a lactose-free swiss cheese? The butter in these recipes is killing us enough, thank you! It's so unfair to have sensitive digestive systems.

And BTW, if any cheese makers are out there, listening - you could make a Fortune if you made lactose-free cheeses. We're not the only 2 cheese-eating fools who end up being sorry we ate the stuff.

OK - this thought just in - how many beouf bourguignons do you think are warmly nestled in American ovens right now?!

Note to Self: As it wasn't the best piece of sirloin, best to give it at least an hour, more like 1.5 hours.

Late Afternoon Surprise
As I'm a stubborn bugger, I refused to accept the fact that our scale had died. I really wasn't ready to get a new one - this one was only a few years old! I had already exchanged batteries, to no avail, and decided to turn it over and see if there wasn't something else I could do to get it going again.

A little switch was set to lbs. I set it to KG and turned it over and stepped on it. Voila! The darn thing worked. Turned it over and set it back to lbs and it still worked. Yay! Cross off getting a new scale. And a point for me for being stubborn.

Of course we also need new sheets, so dreams of Le Creuset will have to wait, as I scour the points pages for halfway decent sheets that won't give out in under a year, like the last set I got, sight unseen.

I am, however, managing to get some parchment paper. They take too many points for a silpat liner, but parchment works just as well, and heck, anything is better than nothing lining these old sheet pans.

Hubby's cooking today, and if I remember, I'll take a pic of his stuffed shells with ricotta and mozzarella ladled with his meat sauce. Everyone at once: Yum!

Merry Christmas To All!

I usually cook in the early afternoons. It's when I have the most energy. So after the past week, when I was cooking for hours every day, hubby gave me license to feel free not to cook for a few days.

But.

That meant there'd be nothing to eat. He needs dinners every day to take to work, and though I can live on bird food for a few days, I prefer not to. He asked me to find the chicken in the freezer and defrost it and he'd make shake 'n bake chicken in the morning.

Eh. It's OK, tasty with the cheese he tosses in with the bread crumbs, but I thought, I can do better than that. And I knew he needed to work on the tractor, so he can be ready for the winter snow onslaught, and wouldn't have time to cook.

So, at 6 o'clock last night, I pulled out the chicken cookbook that my beloved daughter gave me one Christmas past, and because I was several hours post-optimal energy level, I dug in and hoped for the best.

Attempted Recipe: Mediterranean Chicken.

Not too complicated. A few too many steps and fussiness for my taste, which I streamlined, part on purpose and part by accident. Good food needn't be fussily complicated, though most good food is, it seems.

So, into the cast iron pan went the 5 legs I found tucked away in the frosty nether regions of the Frigid Air(e), and had defrosted in my trusty new microwave. Yes, for those that recall my moanings about our Appliances Antique, our big brown box of a microwave has been replaced by a newer, younger version.

And it's zippy like most new young things. Great Care must be taken when defrosting or reheating, well, Anything!

A little olive oil, and, always, the splatter screen. I did have a bit of a tussle with the next part, which was to put the chicken parts into a casserole dish. OK. I have a rectangular glass caserole, too big. I rummaged in my corner cabinet where I keep my pans (NOT displayed joyously around my kitchen like Julia's glorious copper pots!), and saw the bread pans. OK, JUST might all fit in there. Lay them all in. Nope. Too small.

I eyed the cast iron pan. IF ONLY the handle wasn't wood. It would have been perfect. But I daren't put it into the oven with a wood handle.

I could see it now - hubby returns home at 10 pm to a street lit up by lights and, well, Flames shooting out of our kitchen roof. Nope. Don't think he would have been too pleased about that. Though his relief from his frustrations over selling the house might leave him momentarily pleased.

I eventually remembered that Cuisinart stainless pot I got recently from trading in some of those credit card points.

A bit big, but definitely oven safe with those metal handles all well-riveted on. So, now, I'm 4 dirty pots up already and have just begun the recipe.

Into the cast iron pot on low heat (quick, turn down the heat!) goes a smidge more olive oil and that requisite TBL of butter I always add (which wasn't listed in the ingredients, how remiss of them), and a drained (quick, drain them) can of diced tomatoes. Add 4 humongous cloves of sliced garlic, 1/2 cup marsala (had no white wine), my last cube of frozen fresh basil in water, a sprinkling more basil, oregano, salt, teensie bit pepper.

I DO hate those restaurants that think a well-peppered entree equates with well-tasting - Gesundheit! 12, count 'em, just 12, capers and 8 olives. They really want me to count?! Surely, they jest. What's wrong with a small handful? Would 9 olives change the balance or 10 capers instead of 12?

Oh no, they wanted the capers in later. Oh well. And now it says prosciutto. Darn. not in the larder. I did have leftover bacon, which I had cooked for the young 'uns, who hardly touched it. Good enough.

I tear up the cooked bacon and throw it in. Read ahead in recipe. Oh, they want the prosciutto browned and tossed ontop later. What the? Nah. How's the flavor gonna seep into the sauce and the chicken, sitting way on top, as a what, garnish? Fussy.

Ok, legs spread in the Cuisinart pan, splosh over all the goodness from the cast iron pan (which is a heavy bugger when loaded up), cover with aluminum foil (I looked at the glass lid and wasn't sure I wanted to risk putting it into the oven) and gave it 45 minutes at 350.

There was something about removing the chicken and thickening the sauce. Which I did my way. When cooled enough, I scooped all the solids out of the pan into my food saver bucket, and dug out the cornstarch from my baking drawer, dove my left hand in and scooped out 2 small handfuls starch, tossing it into the remaining liquids in the pan. Turn heat on low, and stir til thickened. Poured it over the other ingredients and refrigerated it. Not giving it all another thought.

The Judgment
Too bad there weren't more chicken parts hiding in the fridgey, as I just gobbled up one leg and a bunch of the *sauce*. He took 2 legs off to work with him and 2 remain for his lunch tomorrow.

I wasn't sure about the bacon getting sodden, and capers? I love capers on fish, but never tried them in chicken. It all worked well together, and the bacon was yummy just the same. At least that's my opinion. We'll see if hubby agrees.

Afternoon Sometime
Still hungry, I pulled out some leftover cooked ditalini and scooped out some of the *sauce* and heated it all up - yum!

Been eyeing what my credit card points can get me. Whaddyathink - a Cuisinart stainless casserole with stainless lid or something Le Creuset? It would be my first Le Creuset, and I admit to having a bit of anticipation about owning a good enamel-coated cast iron casserole pan. Nothing seems to say *I cook* like owning a Le Creuset.

Of course, a decently-sized Le Creuset casserole would cost mega points, which I don't have, but maybe I could find a Le Creuset cast iron grill pan - to grill veggies indoors on our gas stove. Or even a plain frying pan. In red, naturally.

12:15 pm
It's a new day, and that usually means, all previous plans have to be scratched. Why? My bathroom scale decided to leave us. It's gone to some big weightless cloud in the sky.

Which means those points gotta get me a new bathroom scale. Maybe I can still also squeeze in a small kitchen doodad. Like a fat separator. Or some metal measuring spoons. If only the points pages didn't load as slowly as pouring molasses. Will try different browser today - maybe it's just Camino. But I doubt it.

PS
Hubby agreed. To the Mediterranean Chicken. But saved the rest for me and took my Faux Beouf Bourguignon to work with him. More about that tomorrow!

I think the timing of Julie & Julia is perfect. I've watched it 3x already.

No-one can afford to go out and splurge on much of anything. But what a comfort really good food is. Not to mention how erotic it can be. A great sauce, a soul-warming stew, a divine cake. All shared with the one you love. It's no wonder Julia and Paul took "naps" every afternoon after they dined on her culinary feast.

Though, I'm not sure about this scenario. In our house, after a good, pasta-based meal, the sleepies set in. Hubby takes to the loveseat in a sated stupor of fullness, whilst I battle my sleepies as I wash up all the dishes and pots, and put away the remaining food. Then I crash on the other loveseat. But then, that's pasta for you - deliciously sleepy food!

So, although it's romantic to think they made love after lunch, I don't wonder if reality saw her hand washing mountains of pots and pans, while he really took a nap, before she went back to school for more lessons, and he back to the office. Then she came home and practised her lessons and cooked dinner. And *when* did she do the laundry? And ironing? Clean the apartment? Do the daily shopping?

The romantic in me doesn't want to consider the washing up and the errands. The romantic in me assumes he helped with the housework and errands, and they were somehow blessed with at least 6 extra hours in their days.

But whether they had mountains of stamina or the stamina of most middle-aged people, it's nice to know that Love and Food do fill the voids which are left wanting by a lack of funds.

But I keep thinking, what did she do with that mountain of chopped onions? That's french onion soup for the entire apartment building! A frugal, post-war wife would never have thrown out all those onions, just because she needed to practice her chopping method...

Son and girlfriend left today. Guess what I'm doing for a couple/few days? Nothing.

I just wanna recline like the Queen of Sheba, with servants bringing me my glasses of water and iced tea and covering me up with my wool throws, and leaving the clicker with me!

But it was nice having the 2 almost-PhD nano engineer/scientists parked side by side on our loveseat, laptops whirring away, talking finfets, mugfets, mems, cmos, and soi. I shoulda taken a picture of them. But didn't. I never think to use my camera, til it's too late.

His girlfriend is doing mems (micro electro-mechanical systems) research. Son is doing, and I quote, 'cause I had to get it right, "advanced source/drain and contact design for nano scale cmos". (Thanks for the correction. The harder I try to get something right, the more I can mess up!)

Don't ask me what it means, now. I kinda get it while he's explaining it, but it all wiggles its way out of my head after a few hours. I remember that soi is silicon on insulator. The finfets and mugfets have something to do with the architecture of something.

On the House Front
Nothing new.

On the Design Front
Nothing new. This particular area of my life requires focus, which means my mind must be free of, or at least, not totally burdened by, the stuff that is life these days.

Hopefully, one day soon, our house will sell, we can plot out our way to a new home and job, and be able to get my designing energy back in gear. Til then I feel like a flounder.

Maybe someone should cook me, and serve in beurre blanc!? With garden fresh asparagus in hollandaise and small roasted red potatoes, on the side, sloshed back with a few glasses of a good white wine!

Can't wait to read her cookbook...

Today should be the last hectic day for awhile. All 4 kids (kids! haha) will be here for dinner. (Son just asked if he could invite 2 friends - ufda - nope, not nearly enough food here for a small army!)

It's been all about the food this past week - I made 2 loaves of oatmeal bread following a recipe in an inn cookbook, which came out great.

I made oatmeal raisin cookies, which hubby says are the best he ever tasted. Wow! The best, really? Recipe to follow.

The apple crisp went into, and came out of, the oven already, and I improvised a great tasting dip for the crudites, Crud Ites, as hubby calls them, teasing me. Recipe to follow!

Then lasagna, meatballs and salad for dinner.

I'm slicing up a lb of carrots to saute with olive oil and a bit of butter (butter makes everything better!), then a touch of low sodium salt, parsley and onion powder. Saute til half cooked then add some water and quick throw on the lid and simmer til done. Optional - sprinkle on a tsp of sugar.

I gotta get a goodly-sized portion of fiber every day. Just call my inards old. *I'm* not old, just my insides are old!

I watched Julie & Julia twice already and requested the 1983 version of Mastering the Art of French Cooking from the inter-library system. The newest release was available in many branches, but not without an average of 10 holds on each book! Patience is NOT my middle name, but fortunately, no-one seems to want the '83 version. I can wait to see the newest version after I plough through some of this one.

I want to read about her mayonnaise recipe with the warm bowl trick, and her Boeuf Bourguignon, and, and!

I really don't mind cooking. SO LONG. As I'm alone in the kitchen. Don't chat with me. Don't ask me questions. Don't wander around aimlessly and get in my way! Sit and watch all you want. Quietly!

When I cook, I'm in my head, just like when I design. I can't be in my head and outside my head at the same time, and have the meal come out well!

It's almost apologetic my statement. As if these days, it's somehow just a touch too retro and non-feminist to admit to liking to do a typical female chore - cooking!

You can keep the vacuuming and dusting, but cooking? It's creative. It's fun to see what a bunch of disparate ingredients will taste like when thrown together in a certain order and when put through certain processes.

so, recipes.

Cheese Onion Dip
about 1/3 c grated parmesan
1 cup plain yogurt (I only had vanilla yogurt, which worked OK, just a bit sweet)
2 huge globs of mayo (don't you love how I measure things!)
generous dashes onion powder
light dashes garlic powder
salt
pepper
Stir it all up.

Oatmeal Cookies
1/2 c flour
1/2 c plain oatmeal - uncooked
1/2 c maple and brown sugar instant oatmeal, uncooked
3/8 c butter, softened
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c molasses
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 tsp cinnamon
optional - 1/2 c raisins

Beat the butter with the sugar til fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Mix all the dries together in a bowl then mix it into the wet mixture. Add a bit of flour at a time if it's too wet. Drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased or silicon sheet/parchment lined cookie sheet. 350 degrees, check them at 10 minutes. I usually end up giving them 12-15 minutes.

With the stresses I've been under lately, all I can handle is simple sock knitting. Sighing should be an art form. It's like the Universe, sensing the end of the year coming, has decided to dump every last crappy thing in its basket, before allowing the New Year in.

Are you all feeling this? Are we gonna make it?!

I did a few rnds on the Kimono Fana, but had to rip them out, as I messed up the super simple stitch pattern! My brain couldn't even handle that!

I've got a bunch of red Briggs & Little 3-ply Atlantic yarn that I had bought to design a cape. Maybe you remember my mentioning it? I did it 3x then ripped it out once and for all. I made some slipper socks held together with a strand of Patons Kroy Socks FX. Now I've got regular socks on size 6 (4 mm) dpns. 36 sts, 2 x 2 rib for 14 rnds, then 20 rnds stockinette. V-heel turn including the Patons, then gusset decreasing back down to the 36 sts, then 40 rnds counting from gusset pick up rnd. My usual 6-point round/star toe.

Later, I'll duplicate stitch the Patons for an inch or so past the heel and the ball of foot area, as I didn't want to have to break and rejoin the yarn for every rnd in those areas.

What's good about today:

The sun is out and making rainbows on the clear plastic frame around the monitor of my (sunflower) Imac.

The kids are gone visiting relatives, so there's peace today, and don't have to rush to feed anyone, or talk to anyone! while I'm not feeling well, as is typical most mornings.

Son picked me up an extra and early Christmas gift - the new Julie and Julia movie, which I watched once already and can't wait for free time to watch it again. Meryl is perfect, as usual!

I'm baking more cookies - just had to take a break to eat my 2 soft-boiled eggs, whilst tippy tapping this keyboard.

Tomorrow's Monday, and the World descends upon us all again. Enjoy today while it lasts!

All I Want for Christmas is to Sell Our House, to Sell Our House...

Not gonna be busy enough for the next week, I suppose. Have another showing tomorrow morning. Yup, wouldn't have if these other buyers would have signed the contract already.

But, no, this year continues to play out as it has been doing - crappily.

They backed out this morning - their other real estate deals are requiring the funds they were going to use to get our place. After an inspection, water test, radon test, and 4 long visits, and they measured rooms, and asked us about furniture, and I shared tips on running the B&B.

After 4 years, we were this close. Heart-wrenching.

I'm not giving up yet, as we so, SO need to change our lives again (which would be extremely difficult to do here), but I do have a plan B, in case it's just not meant to be, yet. And there was a house I found that would be perfect for us. Poot.

On the plus side, son looks good, need to fatten him up a bit. His girlfriend is lovely. And his company-of-choice has created a position for him, after he gets his PhD in May. Gotta go call Dad for his Birthday, before I forget...

Son and girlfriend are flying in tomorrow from Berkeley for an early Christmas. Gotta bake more cookies, and make another big pot of stew, and I'm sure my omelet and french toast pans won't get to be put away for days! And, of course, hubby will be making a huge tray of lasagna, a Christmas tradition in our house.

I'm glad I somehow managed to get the cards all written and gifts mailed out before they arrive. All the while having a 4-hour home inspection and handling a bunch of ebay sales.

I'm really not crazy about selling things on ebay. By the time you get done paying all the fees, there isn't a whole lot left over sometimes, but these days, you do what you have to.

I can almost hear a massive collective sigh of relief and inhalation of hope as we see 2009 pass and 2010 born. The year that tried us. My reasons for being happy to see it go are written on my body. Literally. And yet, there's a feeling of triumph. Look what I can make it through!

Not that I'd like to go through anything similar again, just to feel triumphant. It's an OK feeling but I can do without it.

Speaking of born, I was playing with an awful lot of babies in my dream last night. Not mine, but others' babies. Cooing over them, just having a good ole time. Which is odd, in real life. Babies are cute enough, but I go gaga over puppies much more. Or baby birds, or cubs, or most animals, actually.

The day is beginning to slide on past me, so I should get my ass in gear. The fitness channel has belly dancing lessons, which I've been trying. If I don't manage to throw my back out! I can see it now, hubby returns from work, and there I stand, a statue, stuck in "home pose"!

Tuesday I made a big pot of my Italian-style chicken stew. As I just yummed my way through another bowl of it, I thought I'd share my recipe with you.

Now this is a low-salt recipe, but it doesn't taste like low-salt, as in low flavor! It has great flavor. We gobble it up.


Enough for 8-10 hearty servings

5-6 large chicken thighs
1 lb carrots, peeled and sliced diagonally
1 lb sliced green beans, fresh or frozen (not canned please, canned veg have so little nutrition left in them)
1 lg onion, Vidalia, if you can get it, chopped coarsely
5-6 large cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
1/2 lb Rotini pasta, par boiled (or your choice of small to medium-sized pasta)
1 large can tomato puree
5 envelopes low salt chicken broth
approx. 5 ozs. marsala wine
olive oil
butter
oregano
basil
parsley
low-sodium salt
pepper

Brown the chicken in olive oil on med. high heat on both sides, then put them into a large soup/stock pot.

I use a cast iron frying pan, which has higher sides than my other saute pans - so it will hold all the veg later. I also use a splatter screen - essential if you don't want to spend an hour degreasing the kitchen later!

I always saute my carrots, onion and garlic before putting them into soups or stews. It really brings out the sweetness and flavor. And olive oil with butter are my favorite sauteing fats. The butter adds a bit of richness, the olive oil is just plain good for you, as well as flavorful!

In same saute/frying pan, add more olive oil and about 1.5 TBL butter and saute the carrots. Stir regularly. When 1/2 cooked, add the onion. When mostly cooked, add the garlic, turn down the heat, toss a minute or 2 to keep garlic from burning. Add to soup pot. Sprinkle on the chicken broth (no need to premix it like you have to do with the cubes). Add the can of tomato puree and enough water so all the chicken is submerged.

Add a sprinkling of salt and pepper, and generous dashes of oregano, basil and parsley.

As I managed to freeze a few trays of chopped fresh basil in olive oil this past summer, I also toss in 2 cubes. Add the wine.

Put the lid on and let it simmer at least 45 minutes. Remove the chicken to a plate to cool. If I've gotten to this point and realize I've forgotten the wine, I add it now, no biggee.

Then add the parboiled pasta and the green beans to the stew. Continue simmering.

When the chicken has cooled enough to handle it, strip it off the bone and stir the pieces into the stew. You can let it simmer more, or turn off the heat and let the flavors meld awhile.

Good right away, but even better after being refrigerated even a couple/few hours and reheated. By then, the pasta has absorbed some of the sauce.

Mangia!

Times being what they are, I've been putting a bunch of things on Ebay, one of which is a piece of my husband's jewelry, which he no longer wears. But I don't have a box to put it in, so I knit this little cashmere pouch.


Including the Berroco Glace twisted cord, it weighs just 9 grams. I had a few skeins from way back when that the color hadn't taken as well as I would have liked, so I stripped the color off and the yarn sat in stash, waiting for me to decide what to do with it.

Well, hubby exclaimed, recently, that he'd love a snug cap, so I pulled out the skeins, soaked them in hot water, and steeped a strong pot of tea - maybe a quart of water and 8 tea bags, let to steep a couple hours. Squeezed out the soaking yarn and added them to the tea solution and simmered about 40 minutes, til they came out a nice medium tan color.

The cap took just 1 skein (about 2 ozs of a heavy worsted wt. cashmere, so I'm making these little pouches for the few jewelry items I'm trying to sell.

But it occurred to me, that they would make great Christmas pouches for any precious tiny gift. And, of course, they needn't be in cashmere - a shiny mercerized cotton would be nice or a velvety-textured yarn.

I used size 6 (4 mm) dpns with the heavy worsted wt. yarn, for a fabric that wouldn't let any part of the interior gift poke out. 24 sts, work 20 rnds.

Make an eyelet rnd: (K2tog, yo) around. Knit 4 rnds, then to prevent the edge from curling, BO in k1, p1 rib.

The cord: Take 2 lengths of yarn, about 12" long. Tie an overhand knot at one end. Holding 1 strand out of the way, twist the other strand until it begs to fold back onto itself (more than you think it will need).

Hold the end of this in one hand while you twist the other strand, in the same direction, and as tightly as the first strand.

Now hold onto the ends of both strands in one hand and twist them both together in the opposite direction. Use your leg, if this helps. Tie an overhand knot in this end of the cord.

Kitchener the bottom of the bag. You can sew it instead, if you prefer, but I like the look of knit sts wrapping around from the front to the back. Weave in all tails.

Beginning at the center eyelet, weave in the cord through the eyelets.

I also have a few more knitterly things to destash.


Addi Turbo, 39" long, 8 mm, size 11
Addi Turbo, 31" long, 8 mm, size 11
Addi Turbo, 31" long, 10 mm, size 15
Addi Turbo, 16" long, 8 mm, size 11
Addi Turbo, 16" long, 9 mm, size 13
Balene, 16", 4.5 mm, size 7

The Addis are $10 each, the Balene is $3.50, postage included.

The following yarns are $3.50 each, postage extra:


Patons SWS color Natural Sky
Patons SWS color Natural
Bernat Baby Stretch color Trampoline
Classic Elite Bam Boo color 4947
Patons Silk Bamboo color Orchid
Patons Angora Bamboo color Laurel Leaf


Cascade 220, color 9477, $5
Cascade 220 deeper pink, 82 grams, $2.50
Cascade 220 yellow 82 grams, $2.50

US only, and ONLY Paypal or charge, for this sale, please, no checks nor money orders.

Thanks!

Preparedness is my middle name, and torture is our game, or rather not *our* game, but somehow we're always embroiled in it. Being broiled by others. Yeah, that's what it's been like for oh, let's see now, about a month. On top of the 3 years of house showing torture.

Though we have buyers and are working on the contract details, (and having major amounts of miscommunication, unprofessionalism and attitude), another cash couple wanted to see the place.

Holy beans was my first thought. I didn't think we'd get any more showings, as we hadn't had any in weeks - thank goodness though, as the circus around here was all I could handle.

I had about 1/3 of the house in boxes everywhere, with few of the rooms looking show-worthy. So, I spent hours, the night before, unpacking some things and hiding boxes where I could, so the house looked nice enough to show. Yes, I love wasting my time.

Next day, we were expecting them somewhere between 12:30 and 1:30 (these days no-one can apparently be on time, so all the appointments have a whole hour's leeway for arrival - but that's another gripe.)

But I also know, from vast experience, that they can arrive 1/2 an hour early, and expect to come in - yup living close enough to the NYC buying pool has it's rude downsides.

So, I was going through the house turning on all 50ish lights and lighting 2 candles, for scent, to which hubby exclaims that I needn't do it so early (with visions of the electric meter, not sugar plums, spinning in his head!)

But I hate being unprepared and rushing around at the very last minute, as people are coming up the front walk.

And, dontchaknow, not a minute after I plopped down in my chair, having broken a sweat running up and down 2 sets of stairs and in and out of 13 rooms and 2 basements, guess who pulls into the driveway. Told you so!

I'm ready to go dig a hole in the backyard and bury myself in it.

And BTW, if anyone else is selling their house and thinks that if a cash buyer comes along, everything will go smoothly and hunky dory, (as opposed to dealing with buyers who can't get mortgages these days with the banks being a bit tight-fisted) think again.

The weekend better go better than this. All I can truly hope for is a bit of peace and disconnectedness from the world on Sunday, pookie's and my 22nd anniversary. Thank God for Love.

One of the designer email lists I'm on is a supportive, close-knit group of hand knitting designers who share our trials and tribulations with designing, business and life in general.

Our conversation had gotten rather philosophical this morning, as so many of us look back on 2009 as the year from hell. These are some of the things I've written in reply, and thought some of my blog readers can find something useful in these words.

(In reply to a comment about focusing on the good rather than the crap that happens.)

I've always appreciated the good things in my life, but after this past year, appreciation has been upgraded to treasure. I treasure my husband, without whom I wouldn't have wanted to battle the cancer as much as I did. And I did battle it. No way was this stupid disease gonna put my fire out.

Now that I'm through, I don't care if I have to live in a cardboard box, so long as I have him with me. Rooted in an everlasting love, I can flower and really feel I can do anything I set my heart and mind to.

So, yeah, maybe 2009 was the year to clear out the cloggage, the stuff keeping us from our true lives. But does it always have to be hard?! Maybe we don't really *get it* unless it's hard.

(In reply to a question about next year's goals)

I've never been a goal person, always rather just going with the flow. In the past, I've found that if I made plans, they were sure to get messed up somehow, so I don't make plans, and avoid all the disappointment.

But this coming year, I do have one goal I think I can achieve without anything messing it up! - I'm writing a book. Not a knitting book, though.

Working title: The Adventures of a Modern Day Renaissance Couple

It'll be mostly a series of short vignettes, mostly funny, some poignant or reflective.

I began life in love with words. It's time I celebrate that love again by using it.

I also look forward to doing more photography, once we move. With as much beautiful scenery as we'll be privy to, it would be a shame not to photograph it.

I know that life has its phases. A season for everything. Turning 50 was a big mental glitch for me. It just always meant old to me. 40 was OK, 50 was like hitting a wall. I'm beginning to see it differently.

Instead of focusing on the number, which will only get larger no matter what I do!, I think I'm seeing this phase of my life as the Celebrate Life section. Had the child-rearing section, the work 'til I drop section, now it's time to Celebrate Life. And truly do what I love.

As Joseph Campbell said: "If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Wherever you are -- if you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within you, all the time."

May Bliss find you all!