boogaj

Reading

I recently finished David Mitchell's Number 9 Dream, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I'm a bit sad though because I have now finished reading all his novels and fear it may be a few years before his next book is published.

Here we have a book that blurs lines between dreams and reality nicely.  A young man is on a quest -- wanting to know the identity of his father.  Along the way he has some wild adventures, many involving the Yakuza. 

I have a feeling this book was inspired a bit my Haruki Murakami -- it had a bit of the feel of his writing, and Mitchell refers to Murakami and his book The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle within the book. 

I also read Paulo Coelho The Alchemist -- a quick little read that was enjoyable.  I don't know that I'll rush out to buy any of his other books, apparently he has written many, but it was a nice break from some of the longer, heavier stuff I've been reading. 

Basically it's a short fable, or fairy tale -- perhaps a take on a parable from the Bible.  A boy is on a quest to find treasure and along the way he encounters different people who help and hinder him on his journey.  Simple, straightforward, perhaps a little too focused on "God" but a thoughtful tale nonetheless.

Two very different quest novels.

Now I'm onto a guilty pleasure read -- Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby. 

Gluten Free Thanksgiving

I made gluten free Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday and I have to say, it went pretty well.  Of course we will all be going to my mom's on the actual Turkey day, but since there is a lot of gluten involved in the traditional meal, Maddie and I will be unable to truly stuff ourselves.

For our mini Thanksgiving I made a half turkey breast, stuffing (made with gluten free bread), mashed potatoes, gravy and fresh cranberry sauce.  The turkey cooked in about 1 1/2 hours and was quite moist for being just white meat, and the stuffing was reminiscent of my mom's stuffing, although not as good.

As for the cranberry sauce -- make your own if you have 10 minutes to spare.  Really, that's all it takes and I think it's quite a bit beter than that canned stuff.  Here's what you do... get a bag of cranberries, boil a cup of water + a cup of sugar.  Add the cranberries, bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes.  The cranberries will pop, so may I suggest one of those spatter screens.

One bag of cranberries resulted in this much sauce -- enough for our mini gluten free Thanksgiving, a small jar for the freezer and another jar to take to my mom's for Thanksgiving.

Oh, and remember that lemon curd I made?  I made some mini gluten free scones and we ate them this past weekend too.  Super yummy!

DIY Vanilla Extract (or Vanilla Vodka) & Some Homemade Lemon Curd

Did you know that vanilla extract is super easy to make?  Like, super easy.  And even with good vanilla beans and decent vodka, it's probably going to be way cheaper to make your own than to buy it at the grocery.

First get some vanilla beans, not those pathetic and ridiculously expensive ones from the grocery though.  Instead, may I suggest the internets.  I bought mine from Beanilla.com and they arrived quickly and were lovely, plump and fragrant.  And in case you are curious, I'm using the Bourbon variety.

Next, get yourself a bottle -- I just used a pint canning jar which I ran through the sanitize cycle in my dishwasher (probably not necessary because of all the alcohol).  Then cut your beans to fit.  I cut mine in half and sliced them open lengthwise.  Use three beans per cup of alcohol.  I used absolute vodka because I couldn't imagine using my pricey Ketel One, but I didn't want a half bottle of super cheap stuff getting dusty in the liquor cabinet. 

Now I wait.  I understand it takes about 6-8 weeks to mature.  But look at all those lovely vanilla bean seeds floating around int he vodka!  Oh, and if you want vanilla vodka for holiday beverages, just use sooner -- I'm guessing about 2 weeks will get you some lovely vanilla flavor.  Oh, and you need to keep it in a dark place -- especially if you are using a clear glass bottle.

Since I was sanitizing jars anyway and had a big bag of lemons in the fridge, I decided to make some lemon curd.   I used David Lebovitz's Lemon Curd recipe because it was easy, used one pan and had a lower sugar to lemon ratio -- and I like my curd lemony.  From what I have heard (via my Googling) lemon curd freezes well, so the two smaller jars will be saved for future lemon fixes in the deep darkness of winter when they will be much appreciated.

“Come join the fun at the My Baking Addiction and GoodLife Eats Holiday Recipe Swap sponsored by Beanilla.”

 

Now Leaving Westeros

I've been spending a lot of time in Westeros, having read the first four books in George R.R. Martin's massive A Song of Fire and Ice series.  We're talking over 4000 pages since May.  Whew.  Before I read the fifth book, I thought I'd take a break and branch out.

Up first was Bohumil Hrabal's Too Loud a Solitude. A thought provoking but strange little book.  Absurd, dystopian, comedic -- a story about a book lover who's job it is to destroy books. 

Now I'm reading Mitchell's Number 9 Dream. He's one of my favorite authors, and I'm enjoying it quite a bit.

A little quilting...

I finally finished up piecing the top of this little log cabin quilt.  Now I need to find some backing fabric, and determine if the two fat quarters I have will be enough for the binding. 

Other things I've been doing:

Making granola -- I don't think I ever posted my new and improved granola recipe.  Maybe tomorrow.

Eating Chocolate -- specifically Vosges Holiday Truffles.  See my review at the Chocolate Blog.

Sprucing up the house.  Went to IKEA and got some new things like this Matisse print for the vacant dining room wall.

I've also been reading, baking and watching too much Battlestar Galactica.  Thank you Netflix.

Wool Sock Weather

I just finished knitting a pair of wool socks for Maddie, using Wendy's Toe-Up Sock pattern.  You know the one, right?  It was easy to follow and makes a nice fitting sock, plus the toe and heel are pretty much the same, so it's easy to remember what you're doing.

Next time I'll make the toe a tiny bit more pointy -- maybe one more wrap stitch on each side.  You can see they are a bit squared off here.

The yarn I used was Regia 6 fadig in the colorway 5265.  I purchased this yarn at the (very) local yarn store that shut down a few months ago.  It was run out of the basement of a local woman's home only a few blocks from where I live, right in the middle of a old neighborhood.  Sadly, she got lung cancer and moved out to the west coast to be with her son during treatment -- she has since passed away.  So, it is a bit sad to be knitting with this yarn.

Next up was a Super Simple Dish Scrubbie because my old ones are getting pretty faded.  And now I'm projectless, but itching to start something.  Time to pull out the stash!