sitting and stitching

I sat yesterday and finished the binding on the Tall Short Person's quilt.  It got sent off in the mail yesterday.

It was so her.  I am not sure I will ever make another quilt with so many Bone Daddies in it but I may.

The back is all about a hug and the ocean, which is also her.  I was pleased with how it turned out.

Koda Bear likes this hug so I can see him trying to "borrow" the quilt from her.

There are a few mermaids and waves. 

A few sea creatures.

I am working on getting Koda Bear's quilt done.  It is all about being able to sit and stitch.  This time of year is not very conducive for that!

chocolate pasta

My life has been wild trying to get ready for Christmas.  This not unusual for me but when my instigating friend sends me pictures of chocolate pasta, life gets even more crazy.  It is not like I am reading pasta cookbooks anyhow.  Getting a few ideas but mostly looking up "new" cool tools.  Okay, so I like the hand tools best.  Call me crazy.  I have a list!

I found a recipe for chocolate pasta on line.  Basically, it was switch out some of the flour for a good unsweetened cocoa.  Not rocket science.  Or rock science either for that matter.

It was not bad.  There is no sweetness to the pasta.  There is a bit more depth and a bit of a bitter bite so you have to chose the sauce wisely.  I made a gorgonzola cream sauce garnished with toasted walnuts.  The strong flavours worked.  

Would I make the pasta again?  Maybe.  It was not that much better then my other handmade pasta.  I may need to find a better sauce.  But I am writing down what I did for next time.

chocolate pasta

2 1/4 cups flour

3/4 cup flour

3 eggs

water

I am lazy and do not wish to clean up too hard, so I do pasta dough in a bowl to start.  

Put the flour and cocoa in a bowl.  Mix together and make a well.  Crack in three eggs to the well.  Start beating them in from the center and start incorporating the flour mixture until you can stir in as much as you can.  It will probably be crumbly.

Turn out a clean surface and start kneading.  I needed to add a few tablespoons of water to make a stiff dough.  I need it until it is silky with as little added water as possible.  Wrap it and place it in the refrigerator over night.

Before dinner, take the dough out of the refrigerator.  On a clean surface that has a light coating of flour, start rolling it out.  Roll the dough out as thin as you can.  It is work.

Once the dough has been rolled out, roll it up so it can be sliced into noodles.  

As the noodles are cut, put on a baking sheet with flour.  Dust them well so they do not stick to each other.  Let them dry while you continue cutting and make your sauce.

When ready cook, bring a large pot of salted water to boil.  Add the pasta.  Bring back to a boil and boil for a few minutes.

Drain and serve with the sauce of your choice.

I like making pasta so this was fun.  I have a few more pasta doughs I wish to try.  I should not be allowed to shop for new and interesting ingredients alone.  Too much temptation!

crisp waffles

I finished my Christmas present baking yesterday!  This is exciting to me because now I can bake some of those recipes that I have been wishing to try.  There are actually a few sweet recipes that I might be putting off for a few weeks or months.  I am a bit over sweet.  And there is still a birthday cake to bake next week!  That is life.  Christmas themed sweets in the lonely month of February.  I should probably send out those in boxes as well.

My Mom was talking about the waffles they ate at a distant cousins house in Norway.  Crisp, with berries and whipped cream.  The waffles sounded really good.  Then a saw a recipe in passing on Facebook.  I pulled out the tome (The Nordic Cook Book) and looked it up.  Looked like a simple recipe so I decided to give it a try.

Now, I will admit that I usually make yeasted waffles.  But I do not care which waffle it is, waffles just take a long time to cook so I usually save them for weekends.  This waffle seemed to take even longer, especially on the way to crispy.  The recipe is so simple that having good ingredients really count.  Also, I do not have the traditional Scandinavian waffle iron.  It may have helped the process if I did.  I already have too many traditional kitchen tools on wish lists so I did not buy something new.  I would not have any room in my kitchen if I did buy them all!  This is when I laugh at myself.

By the way, my Dad always asks if I make lefse when I am around during Thanksgiving and Christmas.  My lefse rolling pins have an easily accessible home.  I use them at least once a week but I do not think he believes me.  If he could see the picture above.  But my Dad and a computer?  No.

crisp waffles

Note:  This is a traditional recipe taken from The Nordic Cook Book by Magnus Nilsson 

13 tablespoons of water

180 grams of wheat flour

a pinch of sugar

a pinch of salt

1 1/4 cups cream, whipped to soft peaks

melted butter for the waffle iron

Pour the water in a bowl.  Mix in the flour, sugar, and salt to form a batter.

Whip the whipping cream until soft peaks form.

Gently fold the whipped cream into the flour batter. 

Pour onto a waffle iron and bake until brown and crispy.

I served the waffles with powdered sugar since I did not have any extra whipped cream and berries.  Pretty lovely.  Especially if you want waffles and forgot to start a yeasted batter the night before.  

Yes, that does occassionally happen.

a new sewing machine in the house

I am still baking cookies.  So many cookies!  I still feel like I am absorbing sugar through my skin.  I have not even gotten to most of my Christmas sewing.  But there is a new sewing machine in the house.  I am going to start playing with leather.

When I made the prototype chef roll with vintage fabrics, I realized that in actuality that a leather chef's roll would be faster to make because all the edges do not need to be finished.  I had to make a run to get D rings and when I did, I got a chance to play with this leather sewing machine.  I had Koda Bear with me and he could even make it work.  

You pull the lever down.  You have a stitch.  It can go through the thickness of leather you can get under the foot.  It is actually rather simple.

My everyday treadle machine cannot handle this thickness of material or this thickness of thread so this is a win.  I will say I keep giving advice and reading the manual to guide others, but so far I have not gotten a chance to play.  Bright shiny toy!  I will get that chance though.  

The other thing is that when we went looking for thread, I stumbled across an industrial treadle sewing machine.  It needs to be refurbished but someone is planning to do that.  I might just be getting one of that refurbishement ever happens!

prototype chef's roll

The last couple days have been crazy.  Crazy busy.  I baked so many cookies yesterday I felt like I was absorbing sugar through my skin.  I did not even wish dinner but I did eat.  I could have made a meal of just the roasted vegetables they were so good.  

There is more baking going on today.  I also got a bit of time on the computer.  But there are errands to run.  And of course more quilting.  The last quilt for Koda Bear is being a difficult quilt.  Part of the problem with the backing fabric.

When we at Ragfinery in November, we came across some Asian style cottons.  My Beloved started talking about chef rolls and single knife knife rolls.  That is where all the protoypes have been coming from.  With a bit of extra canvas being picked up from Ragfinery and a boat canvas shop, I made the first prototype.

I put the Asian print on the inside flap.  That piece I quilted.  I also put it on the outside and to bind the edges.

I figured out spacing for Chef's knives, utility knives, and paring knives.  I knew I did not wish the blades to touch.

I like it.  Now, there are things that I would change already.  I understand why many chef's rolls have a bit of extra that does not contain knives or the flap.  I also wish to play with some of the finishing.  I would say making a fabric chef's roll actually takes more time then making a leather one.

I am planning on working on a leather prototype after the New Year.  Or February.  It depends on how much work Koda Bear is going to let me get done.  Also, I will be sharing tools and there is much excitement for new tools.  There are gleams in boyos eyes!