boogaj

I haven't just been playing Zelda. . .

I've also been riding around Chicago in a limo with my family:

My Mom, sister Kristy, her husband Gregg (hidden), sister Heidi & her boyfriend, Kevin (belongs to my sister Amanda) & Pete


Other end of the limo -- Me and my sister Amanda

We have 3 brother-in-laws in the family and their birthdays are all around the same time of the year (Sept/Oct).  We used to have individual get togethers for each one, but three years ago my mom suggested one fancy dinner instead of three pizza/bbq type things.  It was so much fun that we've been doing it every year.

This year we took a limo so that everyone could enjoy a few beverages and we went up to Chicago to Keefer's.  Very nice place! 

I've also been cooking and baking quite a bit.  Recently I made the Crumb Coffeecake from The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion.  So good!  And it makes 2 - 8" round cake pans, so I froze one for later.

THen today I pulled out Beth Hensperger's The Bread Bible (not to be confused with Rose Levy Beranbaum's  The Bread Bible -- also and excellent book) and made Real Lemon Muffins with the bag of lemons I had in the fridge.  I am completely powerless against lemons and when I see bags of them at Trader Joe's I often will throw them in my cart.  I never know what to do with them, but since trying this recipe I will never have that problem again.  Delicious and very lemony!  I used the whole bag of lemons for this recipe and it only makes 8 muffins, so there you go.

Speaking of Beth Hensperger, I just love her cookbooks and have had great success making everything I've ever tried from them. 

Another thing I've been trying to do on a regular basis is cook dinners from scratch.  I love to cook and bake and got away from this habit when Maddie was little and work was eating up all my free time, but as I step back from work a bit and Maddie becomes independent I find I have more time.  So, I've been trying to cook things fresh, organic and whole. 

I actually find that I'm loving Everyday Food.  From the current issue I've tried 3 recipes and all were a success!  (Well, Maddie wasn't a fan of the mushroom risotto, but it was delicious and turned out just great.)  The whole family loved the Chicken Parmesan recipe and it was so easy since nothing needed to be fried.  Of course, it always takes me longer to make the meal then they say it will, but I plan ahead for that  :)  (The third recipe I tried was the carmel corn -- very good, but I will make more caramel stuff next time I make it.)

So, I have been doing something besides playing Zelda -- really I have.  In fact, I have some book reviews to post very soon!

Corned Beef and Cabbage

My grandmother on my mom's side was Irish, so I suppose I have a good bit of Irish in me.  Growing up my mom often made corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick's Day and I always loved it.  A special treat that only appeared once a year.  Since I've left home, I've tried making this dish a few times, but it was never quite as good as I remembered my mom's being.  This year I brought out the big heavy cast iron pot and started over 3 hours before dinner time.  This heavy pot and the long cooking time did the trick!  It was so good!

I also made some Irish bread.  And while not very authentic, it was delicious.  I made it in an angel food cake pan to cut down on cooking time -- thus the shape.  And if you are interested -- I used the recipe from the The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion.  Sometimes you just need to forego the whole grains. (I also have their whole grain cookbook -- King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking -- which is awesome!)

And you can't for get the beer!  Some nice Irish Stout -- Beamish Irish Stout to be exact. 

I also made a non-Irish dessert -- the Salt Lick Bars that were posted over at Bake and Shake.  Yummy!  (Although I didn't use enough salt on the top.  I only had the fine grained sel de mare and really needed the flaked or larger grained stuff.)

Lots of crafting to photograph and talk about soon!  Knitting and Quilting and Cross Stich -- Oh My!

Grilled Nutella & Banana Sandwich

I've been obsessed with the idea of a grilled Nutella & banana sandwich since I saw a picture on the Nutella website. So I picked up a bunch of bananas at the grocery this week and I have to say that I was not disappointed -- yum!

In other news, the rest of my fabrics arrived today. This means that quiltmaking will definitely commence next week.

I've also gotten a great response on the Pincushion Challenge, so I'll be working on getting together the website for that next week. I can't wait to get that underway so I can see what you all come up with!

Okay, back to work. . .

Chocolate Shortbread

In typical overachiever fashion, last night I whipped up a batch of Chocolate Shortbread from my new favorite cookbook -- Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook.  I wanted to make the brownies, but I didn't have 8oz. of bittersweet chocolate laying about. 

These are very good and well they should be with three sticks of butter going into one pan of them!  And speaking of pans.  I consider myself a reasonably decent baker.  I have *numerous* baking pans and cookie sheets, but no Martha, I do not have a 8" X 12" pan.  I have 4 - 9" X 13" pans and even a 7" X 11" pan, but I do not have an 8" X 12" pan.  Am I the only one?  (BTW, the recipe did just fine in a 9" X 13", thank you very much!)

Conversation in our kitchen as I was feverishly whipping these up while Pete cooked dinner (read microwaved Stouffer's & Kid Cuisine - god love him for putting up with me!):

Maddie:  Mommy, why are you doing that?
Pete:  Because she likes to do that kind of stuff.
Me:  Because I'm having a crisis.
Pete:  And she's eating her way though it.

"Fondly, Charlie Trotter" or my husband went to a seminar and all I got. . .

was this super cool cookbook!

No, it wasn't even a cooking seminar.  It was a business seminar (he's a credit manager for a big Chicago based real estate company), but Charlie Trotter was there giving away and signing cookbooks.  How cool is that?

Update. . . I had a chance to look through this cook book last night and it is *excellent*! It has pictures of everything and explains how to cook and prepare pretty much any food. It's called The Cook's Book and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in cooking or becoming a better cook!

I love my Pfaff and Mac & Cheese too

I felt so domestic yesterday!  As we sat and drank our coffee and ate our donuts, we watched the Food Network.  Rachael Ray was making mac & cheese from scratch and I got it in my head to do the same. 

Now when I want to cook or bake something I usually scour my vast cookbook collection, search the internet and then come up with a hybrid recipe.  However, yesterday I found a recipe that needed little change -- Fannie Farmer's Classic Baked Macaroni & Cheese.  I switched out whole milk for the milk & cream and I omitted the breadcrumbs because I felt lazy.  The mac & cheese got a thumbs up from the whole family.  (How could it not -- did you see the nutrition info -- yikes!!)  The only change I would make is to use a very sharp cheddar next time.

After the mac & cheese was consumed, I decided to take the new sewing machine out for a spin.  Working without a pattern, I came up with this nifty little pouch.  Look at the tiny little seems I can make with this new machine:

Is that cool, or what?  My zippers have never before looked this good!  The pouch is fully lined and I even used bias binding to cover the seems inside.  Bias binding is my nemesis and I still can't get it to look as perfect as I would like.  I'm winning the battle of the zipper though, so I do have some hope that bias tape will eventually yield to my will!

Can anyone recommend some good basic sewing books?