Creating

There's been a good deal of creativity going on around here. Stuff getting baked, built, knit, and grown.

On Sunday, since he had nothing else going on for a change, Joe baked the family recipe Easter bread. This yeast bread recipe has been in the family for ages. Nowadays Joe does almost all the family baking, but years ago this bread was my project each year. Back then, this bread won the blue ribbon for yeast bread in the state fair for four years running. Here, the big bowl of dough rising in the sunlight.

A couple hours later, the finished product. I think there were seven or eight loaves once he was finished.

Most went into freezer. Not this one. Who can resist fresh, warm yeast bread slathered with butter?

I'm still working on the first Express Lane sock. Since this is toe-up, and there's plenty of yarn in the skein, I'm seeing how far the yarn will go. If I were knitting a regular length sock, I'd have been well into the second one by now, but instead I'm fooling with calf shaping and wondering if the thing will stay up once it's worn. The sock always seems to look a bit knobby to me, but when I try it on the fit is perfect.

When I get tired of the little DPN's, I switch over to the Icarus shawl. It's growing slowly but surely.

Another project is underway in the back yard. We decided to get the back patio redone and covered over. The concrete work got done last week and the old wooden overhang was removed from the roof. Things were stuck at this point waiting for the lumber to arrive from Tucson; I'm happy to say that the order was delivered this afternoon while I was at the LYS buying more DPNs and circulars. Now the back yard smells and looks like a lumberyard and the new construction starts bright and early tomorrow morning. We anticipate the work will be done by this time next week, we hope, and we'll have a lovely shaded patio to enjoy this summer. For me, it will mean a good place to knit and spin.

This is not a project we're doing ourselves, heaven forbid; there are companies that do excellent work and one of them is doing this construction for us. And when it comes to the flowers growing in the yard, there is no better workman than the Master Gardener Himself.

Kitchen Projects

Last week Joe's new KitchenAid mixer showed up, and he took advantage of this last weekend to put it through its' paces. On Sunday he mixed up a chocolate cake that turned out very light and moist. On Monday it was time to make sausage. My maternal Polish grandparents made homemade kielbasa every year; my grandfather taught Joe how to do it and now we are the only family members who keep the tradition going. About ten pounds of pork butt was purchased and cut into cubes. Some of the heaviest fat was trimmed off but a fair amount of fat is needed to keep the kielbasa from being too dry.

Four cloves of garlic were crushed with salt, marjoram, and ground black pepper.

The casings (dried sheep intestines - we are nothing if not traditional sausage makers) were soaked to remove the salt they were packed in.

The cubes of pork were ground up using the grinder attachment on the mixer.

The spices were thoroughly mixed into the ground meat, and a bit was fried up and tasted to make sure the proportions were correct.

The casings were threaded onto the stuffing attachment and the mixer did its' job admirably.

Five long kielbasa, a little over a pound and a half each. About a pound was packaged and frozen in a chunk to be used later in stuffing the Thanksgiving turkey.

Dinner's ready!

Random Ramblings and a Recipe

I may be a few days late, but hey! Thanksgiving went very well chez Pumpkinknitter. The turkey master cooked up two turkeys, one in the traditional oven format and the other in the deep fryer in the backyard. All the local kids showed up to stuff themselves and Nana was allowed a four hour pass from the care center. I was up at 4:30 to go to work for eight hours, then I came home and helped with dinner and the massive clean-up. I also finished the first of the Mystery socks while I was boiling up turkey carcasses for stock that is now in three big containers in the freezer. Buddy enjoyed the day as well, since it was the first year anniversary since he came to stay with us.

Friday evening it began to rain and turned quite cold. The next day we could see snow in the mountains which has lasted so far through today. I can't recall having snow in the mountains this early. Perhaps we will have a colder, wetter winter than we've had for a while now. Saturday night we had the first fire in the fireplace. This, too, is an early first. Usually this cold weather doesn't start until after the first of the year.


One thing good about being laid up with a bad back -- and the ONLY good thing -- is that I'm halfway down the leg of the second Mystery sock. Too bad I can't show it to you until January.



Tonight I made fried rice and bulgogi, a Korean barbecued meat. I meant to take a picture of the bulgogi, but I forgot until nothing was left on the plates except bones. But I did take a picture of the fried rice, and I will tell you how to make it here. I learned many years ago from Barbara's godmother, who is from Thailand and taught me how to make a number of Oriental dishes.


I take three cups of uncooked medium grain rice and cook it in the rice cooker. I then heat up the electric wok to 350 degrees. I dice up 12-16 ounces of bacon and toss this in the wok. As it cooks, I toss in any leftover pork I have around. (I will dice up and freeze leftover pork chops or pork roast just to add to fried rice. No pork gets wasted in this house.) When the bacon is cooked, I toss in about a half tablespoon of minced garlic. I then clear a space in the bottom of the wok and add three or four beaten eggs. (The bacon grease is NOT drained. It makes very flavorful fried rice.) When the eggs are about halfway cooked, I toss in some of the cooked rice and stir everything up together. Once the eggs are all stirred into the rice, I add the rest of the rice as well as frozen corn, peas, and carrots or any other vegetables I want to add. (Edamame, diced green beans, etc.) This is all frequently stirred and cooked for another 5-10 minutes until everything is hot. Depending on what you toss in here, it can be a complete meal all by itself. We will be eating this during the week with sweet and sour meatballs. Yumm!!

What The Sock Knitter Made

Refrigerator pickles. (You thought I was going to say socks, didn't you.)



To make two quarts (two mayo jars worth):
Thinly slice up English cucumber or Armenian cucumber. Usually about 2 1/2 cucumbers fit into the jars. Slice up some onion with them. I like to use sweet onions. Add liquid made up of:
2 cups sugar
1 cup white vinegar
1 T salt
1 T celery seed
The liquid will not cover all the cucumbers. Cover jars and place in refrigerator for 48 hours. Enjoy! The cucumbers will all be in the liquid by then. The rest of the cucumber can be sliced and added as the level in the jars drops.

There still has been knitting. I have been working on the Brick House sock while sitting at the care center with Nana. She is doing a little better, thank you. But work on the sock is slow. The lighting is poor, and there are interruptions, of course. And I'm always slow picking up the gusset stitches. My personal weak point. But I read somewhere, and I wish I could remember where so I could credit the source, that it is comforting for someone in a hospital/care center to see someone knitting. It means that all is well, or at least reasonably so. I don't know if it is having that effect or not. But it's not hurting the situation. And the nurses are enjoying it. So I knit on.

The Creative Day

So what did I do on my Sunday "Creative Day"?


I went to church in the morning and SANG with the choir.


I bought some herbs and peppers and PLANTED a little garden plot.



I PICKED some plums before the birds got to them.



I started to PAINT a paint-by-number.



I KNIT on squares for afghans.



I teamed up with Michael and we COOKED Joe a Father's Day dinner: red potatoes with butter and parsley, shrimp cocktail, salad, grilled rib eye steak, grilled nectarines.


What I tried NOT to do was brood about job issues. The only other individual applying for the position was flown in from out east today for her interview tomorrow. I still do not have an interview scheduled. I am trying not to let this bother me. I am plugging myself into my IPOD (which the kids got me for my birthday) and am charging on with anything to keep myself busy.


I am only being partially successful.


But I am feeling rather creative in a multitude of ways. Now, if I can just keep Buddy out of the herb mini-garden.

Strawberries, Chili Powder, and Trudy's Romance

This blog entry is brought to you by the color RED.

The local grocery has been selling strawberries at a dollar a pound. When this happens, I get overcome by the urge to load up the cart with berries. I love berries. Strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries. I will even pay exorbitant amounts to have them in my cereal, with my cottage cheese, in my muffins. Many years ago, while living in Germany, I nearly cried when I saw cartons of Michigan blueberries prominently displayed in the German grocery. I bake some heavenly berry muffins and quick breads, but strawberries are for pies. Except that I can't make pie crust to save my life. Now, my mother is the champion pie crust (and pie) maker of all time, and she can't understand why I haven't inherited the pie crust gene. It just doesn't work. I have a bitter and totally unsuccessful relationship with flour and shortening. I can't even get a pre-made frozen crust to work. The ones I used this time were a very well known name brand, and they still fell apart when baked. However, my strawberry filling is to die for.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Buddy has been digging up the flower beds I planted in the back yard. Seems he wanted to help Mom out, or else the soft, well manured soil was simply irresistable. Today Joe was talking to a friend of ours who has had dogs, and she suggested sprinkling the soil with chili powder. So I bought a big jar and sprinkled a tiny bit on my hand, just to see how Buddy would react. He licked every bit off my hand and sat wagging his tail as he eyed the jar. He's a good dog, but obviously a little deficient in the intellectual department. I sprinkled it in the flower beds, anyways. The patio smelled like an explosion in a chili fireworks factory. Will it stop him from digging in the beds? Apparently he tried to dig a bit in the afternoon and gave up pretty quickly. Time will tell, I suppose.




Seems like everyone in spindom has a name for their wheel. Mine has become Trudy, the Ashford Traditional. Trudy was very happy last night, and so was I. We are enjoying the start of a wonderful romance with Laura's "Romance" roving. This is what I spun last night. More spinning will occur this evening. The roving is very easy to spin, and the colors? See for yourself.

Pepper Salad

Today I got out some peppers to make pepper salad. I love peppers, and looking at the three colors on the counter made me decide to do a post about them. I have grown peppers in the yard for several summers, and I have numerous recipes which I use them in. I got this recipe while living in Germany; we had potluck dinners on a semi-regular basis and this salad was frequently brought by one of the German wives.





Remove the seeds and inner membranes from the peppers. I like to use one of each color of bell peppers to make a colorful salad. Chop into bite-sized pieces and salt and pepper to taste.

Add some onion slices as well; I use sweet onions if I can find them. Add a couple cloves worth of minced garlic. Splash with some red wine vinegar and drizzle with olive oil.

Chop about four ounces of feta cheese. This feta I'm using today is a garlic-herb blend; you can use any flavor or type that you prefer. The best cheese for this, actually, is sheep's cheese, if you can get it. Add it to the salad and toss gently. Allow it to chill for at least a couple hours. Toss again before serving.

I have brought this salad to potlucks myself and it has always disappeared. It will keep for a day or two if you should have any left over.

And now Buddy is ready to go for another walk. We have gotten up to 32 miles now since the first of the year. I'm quite certain that I wouldn't have walked this much if we didn't have Buddy. He certainly has been a good addition to the family.