Hello Monday - Slow Simmer

It's a rainy Monday, the perfect sort of day to slow simmer something delicious on the stove, perhaps bake some bread, and think on plans for the coming days.

My work room/studio is nearly back together and well organized. Thank goodness as I am itching to do some stitching again. I'm planning some makes; like this Negroni Men's shirt from Colette Patterns in this handsome Kaufman lightweight cotton plaid. I'm planning a test shirt in some calico I have in my stash, then on to the plaid.

Whilst unpacking and organizing, I came across a few unfinished projects from days gone by, so those are on the to-stitch list as well.

Well, I'm off to brew a cup of tea, listen to some Debussy, contemplate cooking, peruse bread recipes, and make the most of this rainy Monday.

3 Easy Pieces

Drama is very important in life: You have to come on with a bang. You never want to go out with a whimper. Everything can have drama if it's done right. Even a pancake. - Julia Child

Recently, Pony Girl started attending a cooking class. Oh man, what a great thing! She loves it and comes home so excited to tell me all about what they have made that week. She tells me all the the ingredients they used and how they prepared the food. 

It has even sparked a new trend of her and I cooking together with me teaching her some of the classics. Our lesson on French Toast was a delicious success!

My girl told me she needed me to sew an apron for her, "something special," she said. "Of course," says I! I had just the inspiration, this little vintage apron needed recreating Pony Girl style. The apron is just 3 easy pieces, plus straps and handy dandy pockets.

Basically, I sort of simply traced the lines of the the original pieces along the seams. One center piece and one side piece that you cut twice from the fabric. Then I made adjustments in width and length to fit my girl and added seam allowances.

Since I was at it, why not make it reversible? 2 aprons in one is the best! So, happy retro polka dots on one side, and cheerful hibiscus and hula girls on the other.

Yes, an apron with plenty of drama... just like my girl! I love her new passion for cooking and I'm looking forward to many years of spending time together in the kitchen! 

On measuring twice, sewing pirate pants, and camp cooking

After my pleasant morning spent sewing for a baby, it occurred to me that I haven't sewn much lately for my own baby. Though hardly a baby anymore and growing like a weed of course, Pony Girl's closet is dwindling in the handmade department. So yesterday I dipped my toes back in the water and set about making her a pair of easy-peasy pants.  As she was away at school, I took a pair of pants from her dresser and set about making a pattern. I pulled out some fabric, that for the life of me I can't remember where it came from, nothing fancy, just a bit of stripey loosely woven cotton. Whipped them up in a jiffy I did. Wisely, I waited until my girl returned home from school to finish the waistband and hems. A quick try on and it was clear, a size too small. Well, someone will be getting a pair of piratey pants for a present.

The old adage, "Measure twice, cut once." is ringing in my ears. Of course even measuring once would have been helpful in this case. So, come this weekend I will need to wrangle that girl of mine and play a game of Statues. I do hope I can get a full set of measurements before she tires of the game.

As an...um... collector of patterns, I thought I should go through my stash of kid's sewing patterns and it was with a small bit of shock that I realized my girl is about to grow beyond the sizes I have collected. Looks like I better get cracking. I've added this pile to the "MAKE" list. I wonder how far I'll get before Pony Girl is taller than me.

On other creative fronts, we have been doing a bit of demolition in the kitchen. The old stove and oven had to go. Though they were full of retro charm, they did not function quite so well. This meant taking a sledge hammer to a hunk of cabinetry as well. Now, there is a gaping hole where it all once was. Now we wait for the professional to come and run a gas line, do a bit of electrical work and so on.  Being without a stove has been a challenge, there is only so much one can make with an electric tea kettle. So, by day three of no cook-top, I had had enough and broke out the trusty camp stove.

You know, I have always been a rather good camp cook. The funny thing is, this old camp stove cooks a treat better than the stove we tore out! So there you have it, and it's only Wednesday!

All about a sandwich

Yes, that's right. This post is all about a sandwich; and why not? My blog title is "Lola Nova - Whatever Lola Wants" and right now Lola wants a sandwich. This sandwich! Are you thinking to yourself, 'Is she really doing an entire post all about a sandwich, really?' Oh yes I am indeed. It is my new favorite lunch and lunches can be tricky for me, so I get a little worked up when I come up with something good. And this is good.

It goes like this:
Get yourself some farmer's cheese, the spreadable kind. The type I can find locally looks like this...

If you can't find any, you can substitute Neufchatel or Cream Cheese. Then you want to add fresh herbs and... well here, I'll just give you the recipe.

Herb Cheese Spread Recipe
8 oz. Spreadable Farmer's Cheese
2 Tablespoons plain Greek yogurt
A squeeze of fresh lemon juice
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1-2 Tablespoons chopped fresh Italian Parsely
1-2 Tablespoons chopped fresh Basil
1 small garlic clove minced
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all of the ingredients together in a small bowl. Lasts in the fridge for a week.

 Now build the sandwich:
A couple of slices of whole grain bread toasted. (If you are really ambitious and want to bake your own THIS RECIPE is one of my go-to breads. It is very adaptable and tasty.)
Spread a layer of the Herb Cheese Spread on the toasted bread.
Add some thick slices of tomato and avocado. Throw on some sprouts and fresh spinach and voila! Everything a lunch should be, good and good for you.

"Too few people understand a really good sandwich."  James Beard

Oh, and Happy Monday!

Sweet Tooth

For a good portion of the month of November I was dreadful sick. Everything went by the wayside and now I don't know if I'll ever catch up, but I'm trying.

I am now aghast that we are already into the meat of December. The weather cold and wet, the skies dark and brooding. Seems like the perfect environment to get a little crafty. Yet, I find myself in a crafty slump. It looks as though I am over compensating for this slump by cooking up a storm and baking treats.

Even my girl and the Engineer are getting in on the action in the kitchen.

Dig her chef's hat!

How about you? Have you crossed everything off of your holiday making list? What do you do in a slump?

Lying Awake

I have a life long relationship with insomnia. My mother tells me that when I was just a wee thing, I would climb out of my cot, make my way to my parents bedroom at 2 o'clock in the morning and poke them awake with requests for play, stories and the like. As I got older I was called a "night owl", unable to sleep until the early hours of the morning. As an adult, I have passed in and out of days on end unable to quiet my brain from all the thoughts and wonderings. So still, sometimes my head spins and I can not sleep.

Just a sampling of what keeps me awake these days...

Will the sour dough starter work it's magic science and turn into the hoped for source of delicious breads and pancakes?

After ages of not buying any new fabric, have I gone over board with a rare obsession with Lily Ashbury - Trade Winds for Moda?

How long has it been since I made a quilt. Too long. What kind should I make; whole cloth, patchy, stripy? How big? How long will it take, what fabric? Oh my.

How shall I dress 'The Couch that Mocks Me'? It's time for a change, again. Perhaps I should do a blog post about it, a retrospective of The Mocking Couch!

Oh dear school is about to start, I should get those school supplies.
Where should we go on our last camping trip before summer is officially over?
What shall I do with all of the potatoes we dug up today?
Pancakes for breakfast?

How about you? Do you sleep quick and sure every night? Do you lie awake thinking and spinning? What keeps you awake?

Comfort Food

Ah, the rediscovery of an old favorite! Perfect for a rainy day; comfort food that is healthful and satisfying.

Baked Tofu Pesto Sandwich with a salad of mixed greens, pears and walnuts. Delicious!

Want to make it? The recipe is Vegan but I can assure you that meat eaters like it too.

*Baked Tofu Recipe:
1 block (package) firm tofu
1/3 cup vegetable stock
3 Tablespoons Soy sauce
1 Tablespoon dark sesame oil
2 teaspoons brown sugar, or honey, or brown rice syrup
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Drain and rinse the tofu. Cut into 6 equal slabs. Place the tofu on a clean folded tea towel on a flat surface. Cover with another folded tea towel and place a cutting board or other flat object (cookie sheet) on top. Place a moderate weight on the board (a heavy pot or canned food items) and leave to drain for 30 minutes.

In a baking dish just large enough to hold the tofu, stir together the remaining ingredients. When the tofu has drained, place the slabs in the baking dish with the marinade in a single layer. Place in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. Turn the tofu pieces over half way through the marinating time.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (204 C). Place the baking dish uncovered in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes, then turn the tofu over and cook for an additional 30 minutes. The liquid should be completely absorbed and the tofu should have a nice dark "crust."
You can eat this immediately or it keeps in the fridge for a few days.
*Recipe adapted from The Complete Vegan Cookbook by Hadler & Toomay.

To make the sandwich I use a sprouted grain english muffin that is hearty and delicious but, you can use a roll or bread of your choice.
I toast my bread, spread with pesto (I am not including a recipe for pesto since there are thousands available, easy to find if you don't already have your own recipe). Add the baked tofu, a thick slice of a good tomato, some avocado and ta da!
Other additions that are tasty: Sweet bell pepper, sprouts, grated carrot, lettuce, etc.

I paired this with a nice salad of mixed baby greens, sliced pear, and walnuts with a simple vinaigrette.

Yum!

Spanish monks can not keep a secret

And for that, I thank them.

Of course we must thank the Aztecs for chocolate, also acknowledge Columbus, and er...while I don't particularly feel like thanking Cortez for anything, he certainly realized that chocolate was the next big thing.

The Spanish aristocracy was smitten. Spain wisely and quietly began planting cacao in its overseas colonies, which gave birth to a very profitable business. Remarkably enough, the Spanish succeeded in keeping the art of the cocoa industry a secret from the rest of Europe for nearly a hundred years. Cheeky tarts!

So there were these Spanish monks see, who had been consigned to process the cacao beans for the mucky-mucks profiteering. After a night of feasting on chocolate and partaking of aged spirits - I can't say this is exactly how it happened but, it's how I like to imagine it - they got a little chatty with some fellows from the nearby village and spilled the beans. Once the secret was out, chocolate was on everyone's lips.

When The Engineer's folks were here last, my mother in-law spent an afternoon with me showing me how to make chocolates. It was so much fun, and now I have a rather fantastic (possibly dangerous) skill to add to my repertoire.

We made hand rolled truffles with different coatings. The toasted almond were my personal favorite. I don't know that I will ever become a master at the rolling of the truffles, apparently I have hot hands. These 'hot hands' of mine melt the chocolate too rapidly and it all becomes a rather slippery, misshapen mess. Perhaps if I could find me some temperature controlled gloves...anyway they may have looked a little funny but they tasted lovely.

Nancy brought along some chocolate molds and we set about making chocolate cherries, how fancy is that?

At the end there was some chocolate left, and there were strawberries. I'm certain you would have come to the same conclusion we did.

Thank you so much Nancy! What a sweet and messy happy afternoon. You can also be sure that I have been dreaming up new flavors and experiments in my mind for days now.
I have a feeling a few of you who have managed it to the end of this post, are now quietly making your way to the pantry just to check, you know, in case you might need a bit of chocolate for later.

and then along came yellow

Just over a week before Pony Girl's 6th birthday and she 'allofasudden' up and changes her favorite color!

"I loved pink and I cared a lot for purple but then, along came yellow!" She tells me. "It's my favorite color. Oh, and sometimes red."

I wasn't expecting yellow. Blue, green, and sometimes red certainly - but, yellow? O.k. so...those amazing pink curtains I found at the local thrift to re-do your room as a birthday surprise...not gonna cut it.

She's been sick with a fever for a few days now, feeling pretty miserable, so in an attempt to take her mind off the ick, I started asking her about birthday plans.

"I want a yellow lemon cake with yellow frosting all over and maybe strawberries, yes, strawberries." Fine, but I had better give it a trial run as I don't think this girl has ever had a lemon cake in her life. When asked if it would do she said, "It's good but, not those other colors of frosting, only yellow - all over, and strawberries...and not sour."
So, not lemon then. But yellow, definitely yellow.

As she lay in her nest of blankets watching me crochet she asked, "Who is that for?" For you, I answer. "How come it's not yellow?" Because when I started it, pink was still your favorite color. "Oh."

And because she knows that I make her a dress every year for her birthday, she wants a yellow dress. A quick look in my rainbow fabric cabinet reveals a serious dearth of yellow. Oh dear. "Well, it can be Golden then," she says. La dee da!

Oh, speaking of room re-dos for kids, you need to check out the super fabulous and creative room idea that my dear friend over at Schtuff at Home put together for her boys, so awesome!

Well, now that we are firmly in the age of Yellow, I have some pondering to do. And even though it isn't yellow, Pony Girl has decided that her new cardi is good enough to wear to school.



Where Credit is Due:
Urban Girl Cropped Cardigan free pattern by Lion Brand HERE (I added the shell edging on the front to hide my (no matter how hard I try) wonky edges. I used an acrylic worsted wt. yarn in 'Not Yellow'

Lemon Cake Recipe HERE and it is delicious! I did add a squeeze of lemon juice and a tsp. of vanilla extract to the batter which is not listed.

Red Lentil Stew

After the over-indulgence of the holidays, I was craving something a bit healthy, fresh, delicious and comforting. Hmmmm...
As I looked 'round the kitchen, I spied a jar of gorgeous red lentils and had my "AH HA!" moment. I began gathering ingredients and working out the details in my mind. Now, I was ready to create. The end result was just what I was after, it hit the spot.

I thought I would share the recipe with you here. Whilst it may appear to have quite a few ingredients, it is a simple recipe and only takes about 20 minutes of active time and then simmers away. I hope you like it.

Red Lentil Stew

Ingredients:
1 1/2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 lg carrot, diced
1 celery rib, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 tomato, chopped (you can substitute 1 cup of canned diced tomatoes)
1 rounded teaspoon ground cumin
pinch of red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dried red lentils
4 cups broth/stock (I used homemade chicken stock but, you can use vegetable if you want to make it vegetarian/vegan)
1/2 cup white wine
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (you could substitute parsley if you aren't fond of cilantro)
juice from 1/2 lemon

Preparation:
Heat oil in a 4 -5 quart heavy saucepan over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then saute onion, stirring until golden, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, carrots, celery, pepper, tomato, cumin, red pepper flakes, and salt and saute, stirring for about 3 minutes. Add lentils, broth, and wine. Bring to a soft boil then lower heat and let simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until lentils are tender, about 30 minutes. Once the lentils are tender, remove from heat.
Stir in cilantro, lemon juice and season to taste with salt and pepper.

I spooned it over cooked brown rice and served it with whole wheat pita bread. The Engineer liked his with hot chili sauce drizzled on top, while I preferred a dollop of plain low fat yogurt on mine. Yum!

What are you having for dinner?

Eat!

Fresh hand made sheets of pasta. We love our pasta! The deep yellow color comes from our eggs.

The best fresh ingredients. I love having everything ready to go in front of me. Then I can pretend that I have my own cooking show, he he.

Ready for the oven.

Now Eat!

Penny Wise

Upon discovering the sad little balance in our bank account, with a week before payday, I quickly commenced a campaign of the utmost frugality. What that means dear friends, is a long day in the kitchen. There were some lovely peaches that begged for a pie. Two loaves of bread, one whole wheat sandwhich loaf and an egg bread for morning toast and jam (the jam is stocked in the basement from the summer berries). Then there came our famous Pot-O-Beans, simmering for hours on the stove.
Fortunately, we seem to have moved past the heat wave so that a hot kitchen was not too miserable.

As I cooked and baked away the day, I was reflecting on how fortunate we are. Mr. Nova has a secure job, we have a sound roof over our heads, and we are in relatively good health. So many people I know are going through some rough times right now and my heart goes out to them. I was also thinking about simple living, something I believe in but, what does it mean really? Let's see...we make most of our food from scratch, we grow a good garden, we are raising chickens, we make the most of our environment and surroundings, we reduce, re-use and recycle...
There is more to it than that, how to explain it? Well, lets just take a trip over to Wikipedia to see what it has to say about Simple Living, hey that's pretty good for a start.

We have our luxuries to be sure, we splurge on good coffee beans, organic produce and the occasional treat. We live well and I feel so blessed and grateful for my beautiful family and our little cottage.

I am also immensely grateful to have my grandmother's gorgeous old canning jars full of dried goods lining my kitchen shelves. For the lean times, these lovelies are great bounty. Treasure that needs only a little imagination and seasoning to shine, to sustain and to remind us to keep it simple.

Sweet

Are you ready to jam?
Mt. Hood strawberries are a Northwest variety; small, flavorful and incredibly sweet.
I only add enough sugar to help preserve the jam. I am not a huge fan of store bought strawberry jam, it is usually much too sweet for my taste but, our homemade jam is my favorite. Oh goodness, is it delicious!
The start of jam day begins with a good cup of coffee, then the preparations begin. I pull out my grandmothers old cold pack canner, fill it with water and set it on the burner to boil.


Then we wash, de-stem and mash up the berries. They go into my big soup kettle along with the sugar, lemon juice and natural fruit pectin. Only one double batch at a time - for quality control. Our tiny kitchen steams up with a hot foggy humidity and the sweet smell of freshly made strawberry jam fills the air. The jam goes into the jars, the jars go into the canner and come out hot and sealed up tight.
This year we managed 31 jars of ruby red loveliness.


Later this summer we will go pick wild blackberries out on beautiful Sauvie Island and turn them into gorgeous purplely black jars of jam. Oh how I love the berries!

Later that day we get to build great towers out of the strawberry pint boxes, hurray!

Chicken Pot Pie

'Nuf said...