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Happy Halloween!

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10_30_ringLast night I spent the evening snipping and ironing a "Black Knight" t-shirt for spirit day at school today. We got up extra early this morning so there’d be time to apply black makeup and hairspray- it took quite awhile to get it all done but I think he was happy with the result despite the ho-hum look on his face. The ring is his latest art metals project which involved cutting out the shapes with a jeweler’s saw and soldering the pieces together. The finished ring was then polished. His outfit will be completed with a plastic crusader sword and a borrowed helmet.

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In between the snipping and the ironing I made the slightly delayed taco salads for dinner. There’s ground pork cooked with onions, salt, cumin, chili powder, granulated garlic and granulated onion. I warmed the tortilla chips then topped them with the meat, refried beans, lettuce, tomato, avocado, cheddar cheese, green onions and a homemade version of ranch dressing. It was very quick and easy, just what I needed on such a busy knight, err night.

Just what the doctor ordered

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10_29_chicken_noodle_soup_cI’d already been to do my shopping in the morning but when I got a request late in the day to do chicken noodle soup because someone was feeling a little under the weather I couldn’t resist. The taco salad can wait a day. This is one of my favorite meals to make now that I’ve found a source of chicken I’m happy with. Daniel thinks my food photos are getting boring (always top down… the center one is mine) so he stepped in to spice things up and I think he did an excellent job.

Chicken Noodle Soup

1 large sweet onion, chopped
5 ribs celery, chopped
4 carrots, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 pound cremini mushrooms, chopped
1 whole chicken
cold water, to cover
1 bunch thyme
1 tablespoon peppercorns
3 or 4 bay leaves
salt, to taste
1 bunch parsley, chopped
1/2 pound egg noodles

Heat the olive oil in a stockpot over medium heat and add the onion, celery, carrots and mushrooms to the pot as you chop them. Continue to cook for 5-10 minutes or until vegetables are softened and slightly browned. Add the chicken to the pot and cover with cold water. Raise the heat to medium high and bring to a simmer. Add thyme, peppercorns, salt and bay leaves and simmer gently about 90 minutes or until the chicken is quite tender. Remove chicken to a large cutting board and pull the meat from the bones, returning the meat to the pot. Add the egg noodles, bring to a simmer and cook noodles to desired doneness. Taste and add more salt if necessary.

Argh

10_29_2_am_wakeup_callJason changes the batteries in the smoke/CO alarm like clockwork when the time changes twice a year. I guess the mucking about with the timing of the changes has taken us past the life of the batteries as we were awakened at 2 AM by the peeping of the alarm wishing to be fed a new battery. After all the ruckus I was wide awake but at least I had some nice library books to keep me company.

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Earlier in the week Gwen felt in the mood to pose (or maybe she was just studiously ignoring me and my camera). It can be tough to get a nice picture of a black cat that doesn’t wash out the eyes but if she sits still long enough I can eventually accomplish it.

Keeps on blooming

10_26_moonflowerThe moonflower has really outdone herself this year helped by the continuing warm weather. Some years we’ve had snow on the pumpkins but this year we have yet to have any frost so the moonflower has been blooming away like crazy. The buds are almost as pretty as the flowers and I’ll be sad to say goodbye when the frost finally does descend.

Saturday Sky


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Originally uploaded by Stoneview

Just for Sandy here’s our gorgeous Saturday evening sky. It’s been raining all day (much needed!) and as we were unpacking the day’s shopping I noticed a golden glow and ran outside to see what was up. Low and behold a lovely double rainbow in the East and beautiful backlit clouds in the West. It was a good sky day Sandy!

In search of alternatives

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10_25_003_zigzag_edges_and_tie_threI’ve really enjoyed the Greencraft (This only works for members at the moment but hopefully it’ll be open to the public soon.) group on Ravelry which has provided informative discussions on books, websites, and tips for green living in general. We talked about reusable shopping bags and then I thought why not reusable veggie bags. I picked up some netting at the fabric shop and a pack of 1/4" elastic. I bought either 2 or 3 yards, folded it into what looked like a convenient sized rectangle and cut the lot all at once with a rotary cutter and ruler. I counted the pieces and then divided my elastic in much the same way. This is such light airy stuff that the sewing machine will suck it up into a tangle if you’re not careful so I used a piece of tissue paper as stablizer. A single piece of tissue paper is enough to sew 10-15 of these bags. I used a zigzag stitch along the edge, catching the elastic as well, and then tied an overhand knot before trimming the thread ends. For about $5 I have enough supplies to make 25 reusable veggie bags.

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We’ve recently opted to stop getting most of our cooking magazine subscriptions keeping only the fine cooking. I find myself creating things entirely out of my own head a little more often without the magazines for inspiration. Sometimes that works better than others but last night I was very happy with the result. I’d bought a pumpkin last week thinking I’d make pumpkin bread but the sweater ate up more time that expected and I didn’t get to it so last night I started out by thinking how can I use a pumpkin for dinner. ETA: This is my submission to Sweetnicks ARF/5-A-Day Tuesday for next week.

Pumpkin and Sausage soup

1 pie pumpkin, peeled, seeded, and cubed
1 large sweet onion, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup white wine
4 cups chicken stock
1 tablespoon turmeric
1 cup brown rice
1 bunch sage, chopped
1 pound medium Italian sausage
1/2 pound cremini mushrooms, cleaned

Sweat the onion in olive oil and butter in a large Dutch oven over medium low heat until softened. Add the pumpkin, wine, stock, turmeric, rice and seasonings and bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer gently about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally so rice doesn’t stick. Remove from heat.

Meanwhile, sliced the mushrooms and remove sausage from it’s casing. Heat a medium saute pan over medium high heat. Crumble the sausage into the pan, add the mushrooms and cook over medium high heat for several minutes or until sausage is cooked through and mushrooms begin to brown. Remove from heat.

Puree the pumpkin mixture with a stick blender until smooth. Stir in sausage mixture and taste, add more salt and pepper if needed. Stir in all but about 2 tablespoons of sage. Sprinkle remaining sage on top as garnish. Serve with hot crusty bread.

Second Sock

10_25_second_cuffThe brown socks haven’t been abandoned. Here’s the second sock moving right along after a long wait at the allergist yesterday. They were behind schedule to begin with and while I was there a mortar and pestle was broken and the computers were rather uncooperative which lengthened my appointment a fair bit. This meant a good deal of progress on brown sock since it took quite awhile for me to get the shots and then I had to wait a further 30 minutes to be sure I didn’t have a nasty reaction. Sock was good company and I was especially glad I’d brought it since things took twice as long as expected.

Fresh Top

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WalkwayYesterday’s excitement was a fresh top on the drive and walkway. It had settled and developed sunken spots and cracks over the years since we moved in and it was definitely time for more than just sealant and crack repair. Now we should be all set for a good while.

Minty fresh

Mint_cutMonday morning we managed to sqeeze in a bit of soapmaking before it was time for Madame Purl to head home. I’d been meaning to do a batch with mint essential oil added after the trace since I’ve noticed that my skin is less itchy when using mint soap during the winter. This batch turned out very nicely and this morning I cut it into bars for curing.

The Haul

Fleeces
R_purchasesThe grey and white fleeces in the front are the two Mme Purl nabbed for me and then the back row are the ones she picked up for herself (two of those were purchased on Sunday). I also managed to find a few other things to bring home with me including some lovely fall color sock yarn for a friend who couldn’t be there. Hope she likes what I chose!