Pix from a very good day

I organized the main dishes

While the table waits to be charged with food!

The coffee table is set up till Handsome Son arrives with the cheeses and crackers and breadsticks

Which he does

Ready for a prosecco toast and the appetizers

And we enjoy a great meal, good company, very relaxed.  Videos with dessert of cookies, chocolates, eggnog, large pot of tea. No pic, photographer overcome by food coma..


Very nice holiday. We put a bit out for the birds, too.

Christmas Eve

Wishing you all who celebrate it,  a Merry Christmas! Whether quiet or crowded, have a wonderful day.

Today there's cooking chez Boud, and celebrating because we're here, we're well, and what could be better? We wish the same for you and your family.

Cheers!

Today's crochet caper

I did this, stitching along, today, to creative grandma's tutorial. Never did treble posts before, nor stitching round the posts, so that was interesting. I did have to pause the video now and then to get my bearings. This is a mosaic stitch, designed for four colors but I only had two compatible ones. I was mainly interested in in the stitches. But for the best effect you really need the color changes

And I found that though this is the official right side

I really liked this one at least as well, the official back.

H

grey day well spent. And I now realize I was so excited I put it in the wrong blog, doh. Should be in Art, the Beautiful Metaphor. Oops.

Interesting bread finding

Take a look at this

Chicken sandwich, made pita bread style. Except that it's not pita bread. Last time I made bread I was a bit slapdash with measuring the flour, and probably ended up with maybe three quarters cup less than I shoulda. I noticed the dough was much wetter and less formed than usual, even after I added in a bit more flour, but decided to see what happened. I was making bread rolls anyway.

And, as expected, they spread quite a bit, took a bit longer to bake, 25 rather than the usual 29 at 450f. And I found it was a way to make my own pita bread. The crust is crisp, and you can insert a knife, split and stuff the roll. This is great.

It's not often a baking goof works out. But this one is worth revisiting.

protests and partying

Arrived today: splurge on candy from long ago, because it's Christmas

And my part in the resistance.


 My life has many parts.

Lasagna and why it's rare around here

I've been noticing for ages at the back of the high kitchen cabinet, half a box of lasagna noodles, and been vaguely planning to use it up.

Several obstacles, the ground beef which is a meat never on my radar, or any other beef for that matter. The mozzarella which is a summer thing here, eaten with fresh farm tomatoes. Not lasagna weather. The ricotta, ruhgahda as the younger Mrs Soprano used to say it, just never in my kitchen. The tomato sauce likewise.  The only things I had were the noodles, sausage and tomato paste.

And then there's the cost, more than Christmas dinner when you add it up.

The actual cooking is okay if you have time. Which I did today. And realized that my hot Italian turkey sausages, the kind you can skin, to use the meat, would work fine. And it went from there. First finding a pan the right size. Why do recipes specify the size in inches instead of capacity, since that's the measurement incised into the pan? So the recipe also involved finding a ruler.

Shopping trip. Rationalizing that it's only once every few years, as I see the checkout totals. I went to an expensive store, only the best, since it's only once every few years.

A lot of prep, boiling the pasta,  and cooking on the stove, chopping and sauteing, mixing,  long simmering of the sauce, then assembly, then baking, and finally it emerged smelling pretty good. And then you have to wait for it to be ready to cut.

This is dinner today, then a series of future meals, including a couple of meals for handsome Son's freezer. And there's spare ricotta, must find recipes, and spare tomato sauce, in the freezer. And it's only once every few years.

And then I found another half box of lasagna noodles, arghghg.

But here comes the cook's first taste. This really shouldn't wait a few years before I make it again. It's waaaaaay good.

Birthday fun

Handsome Son arrived with wonderful seafood lunch, home baked chocolate chip cookies, and general goodwill for the day.

After we had eaten ourselves to a standstill, we brought down the Christmas decorations and proceeded to transform the big book case into Christmas Central.

All the old ornaments, from the needle pointed ones handsome partner loved, made by a workmate, to gifts from friends, including the Snow Leopard stars, souvenirs of handsome son's childhood,  three creches, all the dolls, from Dollivers to button dolls to tiny porcelain ladies. And the Dolliver Kennels turned out in style. Teddy bears.  Along with cats and mice.

Handsome Son set up a can light and we're set.

After that came a delivery of flowers, perfect timing. Thank you, dogonart, sister Irene.

Lovely day, just eating sponge candy, drinking tea and loafing now.

This has been a grand opening day for my new decade. Wheeeee!

Follow up on Mike's Butternut squash soup

So as promised, I checked with Mike for the recipe, and, as expected he said well, there isn't one really. Just be sure to roast the squash to tender, add chicken broth, grated Parmesan, minced sage leaves, salt, pepper, blend, eat.

So do that! I think the combo of Parmesan and sage was a big part of why it's so good.

Quinn, if you try it, please let us know how it goes.

Boud vs Squirrel update

As you see, the squirrels continue to get more than their fair share of the suet.

But they have been completely unable to steal the container, so birds are getting a look in. I'm calling this a draw.

That giant begonia I used as a hide to shoot from is the one I blogged about a while back, part of which I started from a single leaf stuck into potting soil then left alone. Now taller than I am.

Bean fritters

New invention I think. Can of habichuelas, white beans, simmered 20 minutes, drained, mashed, egg broken in, rolled in a mix of panko, cayenne pepper, and grated Parmesan, sauteed. One can makes two meals.

The idea of simmering came from Jack Monroe. I always like frittered foods, and you can mix and bread practically anything. Hp was partial to salmon fritters, but anything that can be mashed can work.

Cleared up the last of the garden this am. Cut back the dead bits of thyme, which still give off a lovely scent when cut, and the sage, lemon balm, chives and various other dormant plants. This way they're ready for spring. Aren't we all.

And lunch was interrupted by handyman/cook/artist/friend Mike bringing over a sample of his butternut squash soup, with some sage in it from my garden, a bunch of which he has in the freezer.  Tomorrow's lunch will be this soup with bean fritters part two.

Afternoon tea with Christmas cookies

Little pre Christmas gift of homebaked cookies. Can't let them go stale!

The shortbread pig seems very appropriate.

Hot supper for a cold December day

More of that bitter cold grey weather with nothing happening. So when I got home, I did this.

Potato scrubbed and cut into chunks, in a glass pan which was sprayed with olive oil, then layered with shredded Parmesan cheese. Then shake of cayenne, grind of black pepper, biff of seasalt. Put the potato, you've dried the pieces, in firmly,  so they wedge into the cheese layer.

Roast at 400f for 40 minutes. Then take the dish out, rest it on top of the stove and do nothing for five minutes. This lets the cheese set a bit. You separate the potatoes with a spatula, and turn them over to serve so all the lovely crisp side is up. Dab of ketchup.

Like this

Then serve and enjoy. The pic shows one medium spud. It works best if you use glass. That releases the chunks while leaving the crisp crust in place.

If I'd been feeding handsome son, there would have been chicken and other veggies, and the potatoes would be shared. But I just fancied a one item supper. And there it is. I didn't invent this, but I highly recommend it.

Reading, there's always reading

A lot of mental activity in these short days. Curtains drawn soon after four in the afternoon, so outdoor items need to be done by then.

I like to use all the available forms of delivery for my books. Here a book on color, by Kassia St.Clair, not an artist sort of study, broader than that, taking in history, origins, significance of the spectrum. It's physically lovely, with great color printing separating the essays, recommended.

And How we got to now, by  Steven Johnson, on the Kindle, essays on inventions and discoveries that escalated far beyond their original concepts to influence all the life on the planet. Written in conversational style but well researched, you just keep finding stuff out that keeps you going. 

I didn't know the invention of the Gutenberg press led to a quick need for eye glasses, once a lot of people found they were too farsighted to read up close. Didn't matter before they were reading. And so on. A lot of ideas. Some inventions worked out quite differently in use than intended, too. Read it, you'll see.

Then there's Portrait of the Artist, by Joyce, which I have in this ancient paperback edition, and in audio form on my tablet, so I can crochet those meditative little pieces you see there. They are reminding me more and more of bacteria seen on slides. A bit of a slog this time, this not being my favorite Joyce. Less accessible than Dubliners, a whole lot less engrossing than Ulysses. It's a book club choice.

Another book club choice on the Kindle is The Rights of Man by Tom Paine, which I just should read, one of those cornerstone documents that you tend not to get around to. He spends a lot of time and energy snarking at Burke, but finally does some interesting analysis of the French revolution and politics. One point leapt right out at me: his insistence that people must assert not only rights for themselves, but the obligation to make sure everyone else gets their rights, too. Very apropos right now.

Other books in progress too, why read one at a time when you can read a lot..but these are the most worth their energy.

So that's me, improving the shining hour.

Boud vs Squirrels Round 36,578

So tired of obese squirrels swiping all the food, including ripping down and carrying away the feeder. I secure them with hinged split rings so they can't open the cage and carry off the suet. They just take the whole container.

Finally figured out an idea. Repurposed breadboard with hole already drilled, good because drill needs to be recharged. Well, found, and then recharged, but moving right along. First plan was to staple the cage to the board, which ran into a hitch when the heavy duty stapler went MIA. Soooooo duct tape ahoy.

Stay tuned. We'll see if the birds accept this strange new thing. There was a wonderful mass of birds yesterday before the squirrels half inched (rhyming slang for pinched) the feeder. All at once, red bellied woodpecker, Downy woodpecker, chickadees, mourning doves, Carolina wrens, tufted titmice, white throated sparrow bullying the juncoes, bluejays, white and redbreasted nuthatches.. Even saw a flicker at the feeder, very unusual, since they prefer tree stumps rich in insects.

I got carried away and hung a second feeder out front, to see from the kitchen window. No breadboard though.

Bread rolls happened, food talks back

I made a recipe of whole wheat bread rolls, which taste fine and made a nice small meal, toasted with Longhorn Colby melted over.

However they seem to be unhappy about coming out of the hot oven.

Take a look at their facial expressions!  I know yeast bread is alive, but I never had it talk back before. A couple of them look like sharks planning to attack.

The last of the game hen

The game hens were a great idea. Enough to share one on T day, here GH day, some to go home with HS, the rest for picking and snacking. The bones and bits of meat, with the rest of the vegetables and chicken broth, onions thrown in, simmered for about an hour and a half.  Then,  bones amd meat removed, the liquid blended,  made a very good clear soup.

And,  once again, the appearance of the stuffing, now playing the part of croutons. With all the herbs I used for the birds, and the flavoring in the stuffing, this ended up being really good, no further seasoning needed.

Here's tonight's supper, and three more helpings in the freezer. I do like to have soup in the freezer ready for when it's cold and I just came in and can't be pestered to cook

Post- Thanksgiving stuffing for breakfast

Stuffing goes on giving. Fried in olive oil, egg broken over. No need to season, since the stuffing was already herbed and additionally seasoned with homegrown sage.

Good breakfast with English breakfast tea, on a freezing morning.

More from the Pym file

Deep in a biography of Barbara Pym, by her longtime friend and colleague and excellent writer Hazel Holt. This is so worth reading, both because it disinters a lot of the origins of Pym's characters and settings, and it leads you on to other writers Pym loved, worth seeking out.  It's more interesting, probably because more frank, than Pym's own autobio, which is too reticent to tell you much.

I now have a book on hoopla patiently waiting till they let me in to download it -- nine titles a month is the ration -- by Denton Welch, had never heard of him, he died very young, but was a great writer and a fine painter too. Look him up and you'll see. If Pym recommended him, I'll try him.

 I have my tablet by when reading Holt on Pym because I keep realizing that a lot of her expressions are in fact quotations, usually biblical, and I hadn't picked up on that, not being well versed in the old testament. Tracking these down via tablet also illuminates some of Dorothy Sayers' titles and comments that are taken from the OT.  The legal and Latin references I'm okay with. Sayers too, was of a theological turn of mind.

Anyway, back to Pym, as a character in Heyer comments, yes, I thought we'd be back to her sooner or later. You'll note that the jacket cover is in the same style as the recent paperback Pyms, a nice touch. And I thought Barbara would appreciate the touch of handmade lace under there, too. Ironic.

So once the holiday uproar quiets, or if it's just a weekend where you are, take a look. I'll let you know about Denton Welch when I get to read him.

Thanksgiving Eve on the Boudian calendar

Once again Handsome Son is working Thanksgiving day, so tomorrow is our celebration.

And, since it's good to be a bit ahead of time, even for a group of two, the table is organized. I found a length of felt when I was looking for something else, usual story, so I added it.

 The game hens are semi cooked, to finish tomorrow, the stuffing likewise, and there will be baked potato, and various simple veggie sides.

HS always brings the cheese and bix for starters, an interesting soda to balance the wine, Pinot grigio this time, and the dessert.  Old family tradition!

I'm certainly thankful we're both well and getting along, and we survived most of the year.
And thankful for blogistas out there, who read even when I'm not hearing from you, and other distant friends.

Cheers!

November 18, 1918 -- November 18, 2018

Today is the hundredth anniversary of my parents' wedding anniversary. Elizabeth Smith married Frederick Ryder on November 18, 1918, in Middlesbrough, Yorkshire, UK. He was finally home from war, having survived the trenches and the battle of the Somme, but severely wounded.

They went on to have nine children and lose three. I, the youngest of the group, and older sister, Irene, whom you know as dogonart online, are the last living.

They left school at twelve and never stopped learning, both great readers, mom an opera fan and a gifted maker, of food, clothing, cake decorating. Both politically knowledgeable and involved. Very little money ever got into the house, hard times, and they left virtually nothing material.

All the family got as much education as they could, before war or work came on, and all had interesting careers all over the globe.

And here's the one item I have from them, the Gresham Comprehensive English Dictionary, which mom bought by installment payments, because education was a priority. She did not have household appliances, despite a large family, when she invested in this in the thirties.

I d say her priorities were right. She would put the occasional family photo in the pages.

And I kept a fern from my sister's wedding bouquet in it, and notes from a brother's self teaching of Russian.

It seemed the right place to keep Handsome Son's newborn footprints and proud father Handsome Partner, then husband's, note on the copy.

I read this book constantly during years of illness as a kid when reading was about all I could do.

So I'd say it's earned its place on the shelf. And my parents more than earned this little tribute today.

The lighting of the ficus 2018

Last winter's experiment with tiny white bulbs was lovely until they gave out after about three weeks. Changing the batteries added about a day to their lifespan.

So this year, bigger lights, plugged in, and the ficus is looking festive.  They have different settings, steady, my preference, slow blink, variegated blink, alternating blink,  insanely rapid drive you nuts blink. Seems to me that LED light are better not constantly switched on and off. And I like a peaceful steady glow over there.

So I'm set.

Chocolate Daisy Bread

This is how posh chefs do it. Fancy names!

It's just a variation on my usual hot biscuits, with less flour, few dark chocolate bits. Flour half and half wheat and ap, less because of a technical issue involving running out of it. Hence the interesting shape. It will break into parts to eat. Baked one minute more than usual. Turned out okay.

Afternoon tea coming up.

Last yellow rose

Frosts are happening now, and the one brave last rose has held up, but now I  think a tropical vacation in the house with begonia and philodendron growing in water is a good idea.

Next year's vegetable garden for Randy

Yesterday's knitting group was show, tell, give, take, and you remember the collection of seeds from friend's sister? I needed to pass them on, and they will be next year's vegetable garden for Randy, our young self-taught crocheter who makes art, is learning to cook and grow his own food. He was so happy!

Nothing to do with knitting and crocheting unless you count connecting with people as part of the deal.

I did keep a couple for my use, and the recipe file thing will be organized in my kitchen.

Everything else went home with Randy.

Exhaling now, at least a bit. Midterms 2018.

It looks as if the Republic will live to fight another day. The work I did, along with hundreds of  others, to gotv and dislodge an entrenched congressman worked. We did it. A good guy will now take that seat. Huge relief and joy. And the House can now put a dead halt on ACA attacks, plundering ss and Medicare to fund the deficit, further tax cuts. All gone. My family can breathe again.

We didn't get everything we wanted, but we will now have proper congressional committees, actually working not endlessly talking about Hillary. All in all, despite Senate losses, enough success to keep us going.

Great public questions and amendments, too, and governorships, at least as important as what goes on in Congress.

So, good day. First one since November 2016. The picture is the Dollivers dressed in suffragette colors in honor of Hillary, and the hope of her election. I finally have the heart to post it.

Curried beanzen rice, voting and helping

Sometimes food doesn't look really photogenic, but it's fine as dinner. Today it's cheap, nutritious, interesting curried beans over brown jasmine rice. The rice is fine, separate grains, but photographed oddly.

I've been following Jack Monroe for years,  brilliant brit food activist, who has known real hardship firsthand, single mom. Witness to parliamentary committees on food and poverty. Multiple cooking world prizewinner, speaker.

She's basically a civic saint. Her latest book, being crowdfunded to donate with food to UK food banks, is Tin Can Cook. It's all about interesting food made out of canned goods you're likely to get at your food bank. The food is interesting even if you can afford food, and I thought I'd try my own take.

This is not from the book, not available in the US, and I think she'd have made it look a lot better. And, it's a long story, but her preferred pronoun is they. I'm saying she here just not to hijack the point of the post.

Anyway, I used a can of kidney beans, and one of great northern, rinsed, simmered, salt, cumin, curry powder, lemon juice, bit of tamarind paste. Scooped out surplus water to freeze for soup, simmer some more. Immersion blender a few seconds.  Served over jasmine rice. A lot better than it looks. And one cup of rice, two cans of beans will make at least three meals. Beans and rice are an ancient pairing giving more complete nutrition in combination than separately.

One other issue is that recycling food cans is  much easier on the environment than frozen food plastic wrappings. This surprised me a bit, having avoided canned goods in general, but now rethinking, since the farmstand seas is almost over.

Also asking you to help your own food bank. I know people working full-time who still need help with food. Over the long run, we need to vote in the US on Tuesday, unless we already did, to put more humane people in power. Short run we can help locally.  And the US is not the only place where there's hardship. We can all do our bit, as they used to say.

Pumpkin walnut chocolate bread

But it's called bread so I can have it for breakfast. But then there are the spices, so I can have it for afternoon tea. And then it will go a treat with a glass of milk last thing at night. It's an all purpose food.

I used half the little sugar pumpkin I had on the step. The seeds are tossed for the birds, and the other half of the pulp is frozen probably for soup.

I'm glad I got two loaves out of the recipe, because it was labor intensive. Baked the whole pumpkin about an hour in a medium oven to soften the thing enough to cut into it. Then all the flour and eggs and spices and chocolate bits and walnuts and eggs. And the search for a recipe that used real pumpkin. This is from Alton Brown, credit where it's due.  Even the ones that want a can of pumpkin don't tell you how much that is. It wouldn't hurt them to just mention it.

Anyway, fyi, my 5lb sugar pumpkin gave me about six cups of pulp, three in the bread, the rest in the freezer. And a big bloof of seeds outside.

My neighbor is very happy I'm all tied up with baking because he had to go to work leaving the fridge man working nextdoor, and he knows I'll be here anyway to see all's well. He will probably get a slice of the bread in the deal, too. Neighbor, not fridge man.

So this is what happens when you frugally use up the fall decoration for food. Not a bit of bother. Hollow ghostly laughter.

Fruit and nut chocolate, deconstructed

Afternoon snack, naming probably under the influence of Eggshells, brilliant novel by Caitriona Lally.

She's taken over my mind!  Set in Dublin as seen through the mind  of a strange and appealing young woman. Like Joyce in Technicolor. A must read, as they say. Seriously.

That and the latest freecycle from friend's estate, a book of seeds. Some will stay with me, some go to friends. Amazing way of organizing them, compared to my stash of lumpy brown paper bags labeled in faint marker, dropped into a kitchen drawer. She even alphabetized them.

Fall, officially, chez Boud

Bit more gardening before winter, cutting and pulling the last of the Autumn Joy sedum. Noticing new rosettes already forming at the roots. And clearing more pachysandra from around the yellow daisies and the struggling little azalea, which was happy to see daylight again. And tripping over a pot and taking a header, but the ground was so soft after rain no harm done.

Then on the way to toss the debris into the woods, found downed oak branches. So one came home to join the sedum to dry.