Filling food and patterned oriental rugs

The weather being cold, grey and dampish, it was time for a warm filling Saturday lunch. Like this 

Roast tiny potatoes, bean and carrot croquettes, with Annie's Ketchup, the best. Since beans and carrots are bland, you can get very generous with spices. 

I used smoked paprika, berbere and home mixed umami seasoning. I mashed it all up with an egg, rolled the results in panko crumbs, and fried in olive oil, very hot. 

This is one of the advantages of partly cooking the vegetables ahead. They still taste good, but are quicker to cook. And there's more for tomorrow, as usual.

Dessert was the favorite blueberries in lime juice and yogurt beaten together with a bit of pure cane sugar. 

I did a session of free weights, leg exercises, before this and the combination of the exercise and the filling lunch caused me to fall asleep a couple of times while I was supposed to be watching a great gallery of Oriental rugs. 

It was a New England Rug Museum event with a couple who've been collecting marvelous suzani, embroidered (?) rugs for years.

As usual with collectors, there wasn't much about the actual rug making, size or material, more about dates and circumstances of their acquisition.  

These are so lovely to see that I just want to show you a few, including a page from a notebook of patterns you might like to take as ideas if you're an embroiderer.

Then later, cake.

 

A loaf of sweet potato honey bread with

cranberries and chocolate chips 

And the cook's privilege, first slice with a spoonful of plain yogurt.

Happy day everyone! It's okay to doze off now and then.  

Sez 

Ted and Big Ursy.

Mme. Fluffapalooza agrees. She should. She dozes off about twenty hours a day.

Cutting out, frittering, Freecycle and flowers

 Yesterday was bean fritters, cannellini beans mashed with an egg, berbere, cilantro, apple cider vinegar, salt, a lot of black pepper, in avocado oil.

Here's the yellow potatoes, microwaved, buttered, waiting

Curry leaf fancy bit. Oh and I made yogurt, using the big jars of hot water, wrapped up in towel and emergency blanket method, and we'll see when the reveal happens today.

And among other business, including his friend's  visiting dog's anal gland issues, don't ask, Gary asked me to freecycle these, which I posted today 

Sunday's a good Freecycling day, people available to pick up, so we'll see.

And from a vague idea about leaf appliques yesterday morning, to a frenzy of picking between showers, tracing, adapting, cutting out and really having a good time, here's the path to my current collection of new stencils and silhouettes, with all kinds of ideas for use.

I also remembered the issues with my xacto knives, the #2 having a completely frozen in place blade, pliers, mansplainers, blogsplainers, kindness, brute force, boiling water, nothing will unlock it, and I have a box of blades to use. 

Then there are my three #1 xacto bladeless  knives , for which it seems nobody sells blades any more. You can buy a knife with a whole two spare blades, I ask you. Cutting paper, I go through at least a blade per session. 

So I cried Uncle and ordered a new #2 knife. I hope they haven't changed the specs and the blades fit, but I'm not holding my breath.

Meanwhile an old pair of embroidery scissors stepped in and work fine. I love xacto, including the history of how they went from surgeon's tools into everyday use, and I'm reluctant to ditch them for sassy upstart new knives. This ole blunderbuss was good enough fer my generation, dangit. And you kids get off my lawn, anyway!

Meanwhile, soothing flowers, mixtures in two color combos of gift and homegrown

Happy day everyone, don't run with tiny embroidery scissors

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.