changing the nightgown

Coming back from the most recent camping trip, it became apparent to me that all my linen nightgowns had holes in them.  The linen nightgowns are my favourites.  I knew that I would need to be replacing them soon but I kept putting it off.  And off.  The Sitka trip over a year ago made me start thinking about making new nightgowns.  That is how long I have put this off.

This week, I made myself a new nightgown.  It has been years since I have had a nightgown with sleeves so I was also playing with the pattern.  I now have a new piece of favourite clothing.  It is just the A-line dress I like very long.  And in my favourite white linen for sleeping.   I am working on another one so I can play with the pattern.  Then I will make that pattern so I do not have to patch it together for next time.

Maybe it is time to go back to Sitka . . .

black bean dyed ribbon

I checked out the book Natural Color from the library.  The theme was to dye fabrics with foraged or compostable materials.  Oh, I am done with this bit in the kitchen but I can use that bit for dye type of thing  I now own the book.  

I have gone down a rabbit hole when it comes to dyeing.  I am starting to wonder, what will happen if I boil that or infuse this and then add silk.  I am making my own ribbon for my slips and nightgowns.  Well, maybe not nightgowns but I have thought about it.  I like simple white linen.

The last pot of black beans I made, I saved the soaking liquid.  Strained it.  Brought it to a boil and added silk.  I let that boil away for about an hour or so.  I wanted pale colours.

Then I divided the fabric into thirds.  One I left alone.  One I added to black bean water with soda ash added.  One tub had iron sulfate added.  I let this sit overnight.

Three different colours of ribbon.  With interesting tones.  They are varied and I swear in different lights they look pinkier then I expected.  Pink?  Really?  The one that had a soda ash added has a bit of a lavender hue in certain lights.  

It just makes me wish to do more.  I want to walk and find pecans and acorns and see what they do.  I have pumpkins that I am roasting and I am thinking about boiling their innards and left over shells before I add them to the compost.  And then there is purple cabbage.  I really like the color that purple cabbage creates.  

But I have been asked to start working outside.  Due to smell.  I need to clean out the not quite finished tea house for that!  And raise the floor.  Today it would be flooded.  Gravel and a propane bottle are needed to proceed.

I did post some ribbon for sale in my Etsy shop.  It is what I am not going to use in the near future.

went camping

Out of the blue, I decided I needed to go camping.  What is nice about the Texas winter, is that you can decided which warmer winter week you wish to go.  The week before the temperatures were below freezing but during the week we went camping the temperatures were in the 70's and 80's.  

The campground was quiet which was nice.  Many of the trails were closed which was poor timing but I needed to be outside.  The sunrises and sunsets were gorgeous.  The birds were very loud.  It is a place where migratory birds come so watching the birds was fun but I would not call myself a bird watcher.  It is like watching the deer.  Just cool.

I was hoping to come back rested but I came back more tired then I left.  But being outside was lovely.  I learned Koda Bear really likes cheese tacos.  Quesadillas to the rest of us.  But cheese tacos are an easy camp food.  Good for me.  There were bean and cheese tacos and salmon and cheese tacos too.  I think that particular small bear could eat tacos everyday.  Not a hardship!

Mussels and sausage with the corzetti pasta

Yesterday.  Yesterday was a totally odd day.  Today I am grateful that I get a chance to bake some bread, that I am moving, and I have water.  It got the coldest it has gotten in years here.  Not here but up north, I have had broken pipes before.  Not something that I wish to experience ever again but I am also aware that is sometimes the curve life throws at you.  Just like taking it slowly when you do not wish to.  Oh well.  That is life.

This is the rest of the Christmas Eve dinner.  Mussels and sausage which was served with the corzetti pasta.  I got the idea from the Flour + Water cookbook.  Like I said yesterday, I liked the cookbook because of the cool tools.  The recipes not so much.  But one did inspire this combination.

I had some lovely sausage from Holy City Hogs in the freezer.  I had been gifted with this sausage at the boucherie.  So good!  Not a bad trade for four loaves of bread.  I knew there was some type of shellfish at the market but I took the easy way out and used some frozen mussels.  This turned out so good.  Koda Bear liked the pasta and sausage.  Oh well.

mussels and sausage for pasta

1 pound cleaned and shelled mussels

8 ounces very nice sausage

1/2 onion, skinned and chopped

2 cloves garlic minced

1 tablespoon dried basil

1 cup white wine

olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

cooked pasta, I used the corzetti I made

In a large pan, heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil.  Add the onions and sauté until translucent and starting to colour.

Add the sausage.  Brown it with the onions.  Add the mussels, basil, and white wine.  Heat the mussels through.  Taste and adjust salt and pepper.

A lot of the wine will probably cook off as the mussels heat.  There will not be a lot of liquid sauce but there will be a lot of flavour.

Serve over cooked pasta.  

So good.

corzetti pasta

When I am not with my parents or the Tall Short Person, I rarely eat the traditional meals for any holiday.  Usually, I am only cooking for two.  And as much as I like the flavours, there are traditional foods that aggravate my arthritis a lot.  It is not worth the increased pain for a few bites of food.

It is similar to why I have to buy a pair of walking shoes every three months.  It is how fast I go through them and how sensitive my joints are.  I need a walking shoe fairy.  Sigh.  Life with arthritis.

For Christmas day, I decided to make a pasta dish that I had seen in the cookbook Flour + Water.  I would have to say that this cookbookd did not inspire me to make all the recipes.  It did make me want to buy all the tools that were talked about to make pasta.  All the old hand tools.  Like the corzetti of this recipe, there is a stamp that can be purchased to make these in a traditional pattern.  If you do not have it, circles.

I did get a new pasta rolling pin though for Christmas.  Tool geek here.  I currently have six rolling pins in the house.  I use three of those most every week if not multiple times a week.  But then I make dough.  Talk to Koda Bear about that one!

The dough for the corzetti uses white wine.  It has a much softer consitency then I expected but then it rolled out much eaiser then I expected as well.  I am not sure I tasted the wine in the dough much but I liked what the wine did to the wine.  I always have to ask for recommendations for wine purchases.  There are so few i like.

corzetti pasta

360 grams flour (00 if you have it, I used a whole wheat pastry flour)

1 large egg

1/2 cup or 118 ml white wine

I make my life simpler and use a bowl to start my pasta in instead of straight on the counter.

Put the flour into a bowl.  Make a well.  Add the egg.  Start mixing the egg and flour together from the center.  When most of the egg is incorporated, mix in the wine.

Turn the shaggy mess from the bowl out onto a clean surface.

Knead until smooth.  I did not need a lot of extra flour for kneading.

I put the dough in a ziploc now and let it sit for 24 hours.  It just lets everything meld better and makes the dough easier to roll.  The recipe I followed did not do that so I do not know what changes it would make.

When you are ready to roll out the pasta, flour a clean surface.  Roll the dough very thin.  I found it was very elastic and did not need much flour.  Cut the pasta in two inch circles.  I do not have the authentic corzetti stamp but circles work if you do not have.

I sprinkled a baking sheet with pasta and laid the pasta on top of it while I cut and made the sauce I used.  I dusted pasta between layers. 

It was good and tasty and everyone seemed to like it.  I served it with mussels and sausage in a sauce.  I will write more about that tomorrow since I am out of words!