my Sunday

I spent my Sunday quilting.  I got a quilt all quilted in one day.  That is first.

It is a gift that I hope to get to the Tall Short Person by Halloween. Which may or may not happen.  I put in DVDs and an audiobook and spent the day at my sewing machine. 

There was much tea.  

I had all these grandiose plans about what I would do.  I would get up and take a short walk when I was through with a quarter of the quilting.  Every quarter.  I would make my self a simple dinner when I was three quarters through.  

Yep.  Whatever.  I got obsessed.  I was a wreck when I got up from my machine and then more obsession happened when I wanted to find another DVD.  I wanted to sit and crochet.  

Sunday was an interesting day!

cozy shawl

Friday was not a good computer day.  I could not get anything started here.  The rest of the weekend was a lot of pain.  I just took care of myself and worked on things were I could sit.  I did not wish to talk, let alone write!  I keep feeling like more and more of a hermit.  Which I do not have a problem with.

I finished this shawl in Tahoe.  I had picked the fiber up at NW Yarns in April.  When I would get a chance, I would sit and spin.  Then the shawl started.

It is really soft and warm.  I finished it while it was raining and cold in Tahoe so it fit.  Now, I have to wonder.  I like the soft.  I like the warm.  I wish it was solid.  I have been drawn to more solids recently.  It is all I wish to wear.  But it could be a good thing under a waterproof. 

I will give it some time before I decide.  I may eventually gift it to someone because the colours are making me uncomfortable. Every colour in the shawl, I like.  It is just the multi-colour.  I am strange and know it.

Oh well. 

not Massimo's ragu

Yesterday was not a good day for me.  I felt so lucky that I did not have a job to go to because I could barely move.  Yesterday was all about self care.  Moving slowly.  Drinking copious amounts of ginger tea.  Actually, just copious amounts of tea.  Trying to move a stretch some of the pain away.  Today, I just ache which is a fast improvement!  Yesterday, I wished I had some of this ragu in the freezer but I did not.

The wonderful cookbook I picked up the last time I was in the Pacific Northwest, which has all the recipes for family meals, had a picture of Massimo Bottura's ragu in it.  I have watched documentaries on the man and saw what he did at the Rio Olympics about trying to put feeding people who have nothing in the spotlight.  I like what he does.  In documentaries and Instagram, he makes me laugh.  He seems to live life with joy which is important to me.  Well, long story short, in the cookbook for family meals there was a picture of his ragu.  Rich, meaty.  No recipe.  But I knew where to find it.

Off I go to the grocery store which has a decent meat department.  Not wonderful but not bad.  I had to change most of the meats used in Massimo's recipe.  Even doing that, the ragu turned out lovely.  I also did not use his techniques because I do not have a sous-vide.  I will be making this again.  Might be easier in a larger pot with larger quantities.  It is good.

ragu

Note:  I used the ragu recipe in Never Trust a Skinny Italian Chef as a starting point.

1 yellow onion, peeled and diced

1 carrot, peeled and diced

1 celery stalk, washed and diced

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 dried bay leaves

1 sprig rosemary

4 ounces beef bones with marrow or just marrow

2 ounces pancetta steccata (I could not find this style so I used a different style of pancetta), diced

4 ounces mild italian sausage meat

4 ounces veal shank (go up to 8 ounces if you can afford it)

4 ounces beef shank

4 ounces beef flank steak

4 ounces grape tomatoes

3 ounces white wine

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

4 ounces vegetable broth or water

A bit of port to moisten

pasta, I made homemade pasta and got teased about the thick noodles.

In a pan over medium low heat, gently cook the onion, celery, and carrot in the olive oil.  Remove from the heat and transfer to a bowl.  Stir in the bay and rosemary.

Blanche the bone marrow in boiling salted water and drain.

In the pan you used to cook the vegetables, sweat the pancetta.  Add the sausage meat and cook until brown.

Add the other meat and the tomatoes, keeping everything large.  Brown them.  Add the wine and cook a bit.

Remove from the heat and put the vegetables and meats in a slow cooker.  Add the 4 ounces of broth or water. 

Cover and cook until everything is tender.  Watch the liquid level toward the ends.  You do not want burnt bits.

Remove the meats from the slow cooker.  Remove bones and cut up into bite size.  Transfer to a pot on the stove.

I did not have much cooking liquid left so I moistened with port.  Not more then 4 ounces but I did taste a bit as I went.  Season with salt and pepper.  This to your taste.  It may be fine.

Serve over pasta.

Like I said, I wished I had it in the freezer yesterday.  With a salad, lovely comfort food.  Life is good.

Going to need to make this again soon.  Supposedly it will be cooler soon and then that would work well.

dress form

So I am back.  The move to Reno is off.  We were unable to find a living/working situation that was acceptable for many reasons.  I needed to be able to afford it on the new hourly rate that I was going to receive.  Which was possible but everything that we found that fit our requirements was either falling down or in a neighborhood that was hugely questionable.  Especially since I would be there by myself most of the time.

It is time to look at different opportunities and paths.  There are even a few classes I would not mind taking.  The observation was made by more then one person that everything was happening very quickly.  Maybe much too quickly.  Time to take a deep breath and move a bit slower with more consideration.  It is actually very good for me.

The Sunday before I left for Reno, a friend helped my make a dress form.  Now, I know the picture looks pretty bad.  But I ran out of polyfill so it is not finished being stuffed.  There are end to cover and another layer of duct tape to add.  But, having my own dress form is exciting!  I am working on a sweater right now which I can already seeing me walk up to the dress form to test widths and lengths.

It is probably one of the best decorations for the season I have ever had.  It is a headless, armless, legless body.  That matches mine!  It should get along really well with the ghosties in the house.

stitching

This has been a week of a lot of time at my sewing machine and my spinning wheel.  I have been trying to finish projects.  I am out of yarn for the shawl I am making and I wish to start more for a sweater.  I have three family quilts I am working on plus nine squares and bag for the shop.  I am enjoying it so much!

Next week, I am off to Reno.  We are looking for a place for me to live.  There are options but we do not know what will be the best choice.  It is why we will be exploring.

Today is full of computer work.  I rearranged the shop due to helpful suggestions from a friend.  I do hope to end up back on my sewing machine before the day is out.  But . . .   There are errands to run for such things as thread!  It is hard to sew when there is no thread.  It all takes me away from my wheel and machine.  

But life is full of joy and laughter because this is what my work is currently.  I am enjoying it immensely.

I will not be posting next week.  I might get a few updates in the shop this weekend.  I am waiting to see what the next curve ball is because they have been very interesting so far.