Paper weaving, and food, surprise!

Yesterday was all about wondering what to eat since the larder was about bare in anticipation of a big Misfits box tomorrow, all being well.

While I was thinking about it, I thought I'd make a broth from the frozen bag of veg trimmings and chicken bones. I just found out that the difference between a broth and a stock is that one has meat related items and one doesn't.

In the background there is the water boiling ready for the bag of gnocchi I found in the freezer when I was getting out the bag of trimmings.

So that decided a couple of lunches. 

Dressed with a bit of Vermont butter and shredded parmesan. 

Meanwhile back on the stove, I figured I'd use the broth to make mushroom soup, long time since I did, using the white mushrooms in the main event, blended, and some leftover baby bella in slices. 

While I was pawing through the small freezer in search of frozen curry leaves for the soup, I found the dried seaweed which I've had for years, and forget I have it, broke a bit off to add. It looks like black grass then when it gets in the liquid, opens up into beautiful green fronds, mermaid hair. 

Then it vanishes on blending leaving a flavor of the ocean.

Among all this I also remembered to follow Chris's prompt about the scallions, and got out the sprouting garlic sections

And planted them in the hopes of scapes soon.

Then to the paper tubes and the proposed bathroom basket thing.

I quickly learned two things. One is that paper tubes are as strong and resistant as willow to manipulate. An unsuccessful attempt at starting a basket persuaded me to rethink.

So I rolled them flat with my heavyweight rolling pin, yet another kitchen tool conscripted into the world of art, and hope I can handle them better now.

Then I needed cardboard for the base of the basket, and in the course of recycling found a very nice perfectly clean folder, glossy card stock.

And traced the outline of the base of the plastic basket for which I have other plans

And this morning laid out the skeleton of what might be a basket, put the second base on top, weighted the whole thing down with a plant watering container. Water is a great material for weighing things down 

Then I got breakfast and a victory cup of tea. The doings will need drying time while I get on with Barking to the Choir, which is very good stuff. 

Gregory Boyle is a Jesuit, and I've had good personal encounters with them, rule breakers all, including the one who married us in defiance of his parish priest, a story for another post if you're interested. 

Anyway, I'm well disposed to the SJs I've known.  They didn't let religious rules get in the way of doing the right thing.

It's possible knitting might happen while I'm waiting for the glue to dry.

There's a title for a collection of essays or poems. Waiting For The Glue to Dry, the Power of Radical Patience.

Happy day, everyone!

More power to Ukraine.

 

Royal noshing

This was one of those chance viewings that come up on your YouTube feed, the algorithm having decided that since you watched a couple of cooking and a couple of royal videos, you want all of them, particularly videos about royal food.

Interesting recreations by great chefs some of whom have worked for royals, of dishes made for them for Ascot, the Coronation and suchlike calendar events.

Here's the notebook of recipes they based a lot of their programs on, from Mildred D. Nicholls a cook in Buckingham Palace.

Since they're heavy on meat, I'm not likely to pursue, but it was great to see the elaboration they practiced. The public events are more about knife and fork diplomacy than actual dining, using the best homegrown and raised ingredients to impress the furriners.

Coronations give the best opportunities for show and expertise. Here's George IVs coronation dinner setup

And a more modern one

I think this is at Brighton Pavilion, his elaborate confection of a building, everything in excess.

And the space in the kitchen at some castle or other. All the copper pots!

The daughter of a famous TV cook who presented food for the home audience to make ahead of the present queen's coronation in June 1953 appeared recently to commemorate the event and the food. Avant garde melon balls! Avocadoes, too, both pretty much unknown to most home cooks at the time, very exotic.  

She's in the background here, the BBC lady is in the green dress, funny choice since it would enable it to be blanked out and replaced with other designs, but maybe the green screen wasn't a thing then.

She's seen in her house, decorated 1950s style. The furniture! The wallpaper!  mainly the wallpaper, daring postwar styles.

The idea was to serve food to the neighbors who would be invited to watch the daylong ceremony on the minute tv screen.  I remember watching at a neighbor's house, jammed, not many people had a set then.

Back to the future and yesterday's lunch, gnocchi with a lot of Parmesan crumbled over, chopped peppermint and chives, Irish butter. The combo of peppermint and chives is really good even without a cadre of chefs. I forgot my tiara.

Tea and Textiles, it must be Tuesday

But first, gnocchi made from bolted wheat flour from Breadtopia, potato, egg, mixed with my lovely Polish beater. 

I learned about bolted flour from Breadtopia. It's wholegrains with some of the husks, but not all, winnowed out. So it's the best of fine grain and the wheat germ.

It makes a fairly sticky dough, and I added in a bit of flour while I worked it. And the resulting gnocchi are very good.

They hold together without being tough. I have a supply now, rolled, cut, ready to boil, in the freezer.  

Lunch was the last of the pasty filling with a handful of gnocchi, plenty of parmesan, and black pepper ground over. The gnocchi are pretty freeform, because I don't like handling dough too much, it can get tough that way.

Yesterday Handsome Son visited, and among other business, presented me with my mother's day card, postponed repeatedly in May. I love it.

I feel seen!

He also polished off the crackers, after brushing off the seasalt to adjust to his requirements. I may have to make more.

This afternoon was interrupted by an ocular migraine probably a combo of too much screen time and rapidly changing atmospheric pressure as a gang of thunderstorms suddenly swept across the state. Vision disturbance, partial blindness. But all's well now.

Then teatime and the weekly HGA presentation of fiber artist stars. Today Majeda Clarke, a Bengali Brit, married to a Welshman, whose work honors the fiber arts of both cultures.

I notice that sewers refer to fabric, weavers to cloth.

She's a weaver and designer who is interested in addressing the traditions while introducing new approaches.

She works with the jamdani muslin cloth of Dhaka, her family's home region,  famous for its fineness. The very best, skill level astronomical, is 500, that is not a typo, epi. That's the number of warp threads that fit into an inch. Cotton. Singles. Unbelievably sheer fabric. Unbelievably high level skill in weaving.

The ancient Romans were familiar with this cloth and described it as "woven air".

Here's some of her own muslin work

This is the muslin wealthy young women in the 18th century, and into the Regency period fashionably wore as dresses. 

No doubt there were down market copies, too. I doubt if Austen's heroines' dresses were this high end. But the influence was there.

It was an Indian cottage industry, exploited by the English when they grabbed India and its treasures.

She works now with Bengali weavers to update and find western markets for this lovely cloth, by adapting traditional patterns to the western market, produced by the few remaining home based Bengali weavers capable of these skill levels. 

Jamdani muslin has now received official legal protection by UNESCO, as a culturally unique Bengali cloth. You can't just decide to make it. Like Harris tweed which can only be made on the isle of Harris. Very specific materials and procedures and artisans.

Similarly her Welsh weaving, double weaving, like double knitting, two layers created at once, was originally spun and woven in Welsh wool. But modern life needs lighter blankets, still craftsman made, but with adapted designs 

She works a lot with indigo, creating an almost black effect from the deepest shades.

And she has a lovely philosophy of art and craft: make what you love, not what you're guessing other people will love. Then you'll do good work.

Look at her website, too. It's an artwork in itself.

The Society of Prima Donna Car Owners and other news

So last night, after on and off testing for two days, the mechanic called friend next door to say he could not find anything at all wrong with the car.  Everything checked out. No charge happened, either.  Friend said he wouldn't charge if he couldn't find anything.  However, knowing friend, I would not put it past him to quietly pay the labor and decline to tell me anything about it.  I'm like a kind of honorary mom to him, I think.

So today, after its expedition to the garage and back, more mileage in one run than it's had from me, it's home and smug and working just fine.  Everything lighting up and ticking over and let's hope it stays that way. Meanwhile, the portable battery jumper travels with me.

Friend is quite absent minded, tends to leave vital stuff all over.  I've found his phone in my house, his jacket on the patio, etc.  One time he left his ladder in the loft. So I get in the car, and there on the passenger side floor are his winter gloves, the jumpers from his kit, the carrying case, the lot.  So I returned them, and his partner rolled her eyes, not at all surprised.  He tends to get thinking about the next project, and he's helping people all over the place with different needs, so material stuff tends to fall off the radar.

I now plan to found the SPDCO, see post title, and invite Pam and anyone else with similar automotive issues to join as founding members.  Regular whining is required, as is logging of number of failures to launch.  Dues consist of listening sympathetically as needed.  The prima donnas, in case it's not clear, are the cars, not the owners.

Meanwhile, in other news, food also happened today.  I've been fancying a bit of pasta for a while, and need to eat more greens, so I did both, before the Mischief box arrives tomorrow and refills the freezer.

So I made Fettucini (actually egg noodle, didn't have fettucini in the house) Alfredo.  Didn't make a separate sauce, just minced a ton of garlic, grated Parmesan, and had a chunk of butter ready.  You'll notice the chef's knife, for turning on its side, trapping the garlic so you can bring a mighty fist down and crush it.  Except my fist is not quite mighty enough, so I use the wooden mallet thing to hammer on the knife blade.

The broccoli I boiled right along with the pasta, six minutes did it for both.

And tossed the pasta with the minced garlic, cheese and butter, divided it into two bowls so there's some for tomorrow.  This would be enough for two moderate eaters, I guess. For me it's two meals.

And since there's a ton of garlic, it's good either to live alone or persuade your companions to eat garlic, too, then nobody is felled by your exhale.  Or you could wear a mask, come to think of it.

Mask wearing is good for more than shielding from viruses.  I wear mine no matter whether I'm alone out walking or not, because it keeps my face warm in the winter wind. And today because the landscapers were pruning and blowing dust and molds everywhere with their leaf blowers, which does me in.  And it helps ward off pollen in season, too. All that.

So, fortified by garlic against all kind of demons, including the credit card bill that just arrived, with totals for the jumper kit, the phone, the phone service, and sundry other items,that's where we are right now. 

I also fancy making gnocchi, haven't had them for years, and have no potatoes, also no floury potatoes in the Misfits box, not available in the choices.  So I think I might make them with the yogurt dough and Parmesan cheese grated in.  I also fancy an experiment with cooked drained pumpkin for gnocchi, too, to see how that works.

I really like making items, like potstickers, or ravioli, or gnocchi, which involve a big pan of boiling water you drop things into and when they surface they're done.  More of a game than cooking, really. Haven't made ravioli in an age, either. Must make a note.