Recipes, Reading, Refurbishing Clothes

A picture from last month's trip but it's expressing how I feel.  A toast to figuring out how to get back into my blogging groove, particularly as I start the internal debate about Meta and the oligarchy. Not that I'll ever be a whiz at blogging or anything tech but persistence pays off.  First, as promised, recipes or links from my last post about our dinner party. 

Menu:

shrimp, mango, avocado salsa

cheese coins

soup de poisson and rouille 

no knead everything bread

Beef carbonnade

mashed potatoes

sticky toffee pudding

This recipe is so old that I could not find the original link on the internet.  Darn google

Cheese coins on YouTube

 https://youtu.be/oB8-pUQkKMs?si=vSAic-FscsyLvWbx

I combined a few French fish soup recipes but this one most closely matches how I made mine.  We use a potato ricer with three removable plates...using the two largest, to squeeze all the deliciousness but keeping it light.

Soupe de Poisson

I used this rouille recipes since I dislike peppers in the recipe above.  It calls for some of the fish soup as liquid but I make it with just some lobster "better than bouillon." Vampires don't visit us when I have this in the house.

And King Arthur baker, Martin, gave me the tips I needed to make this bread turn out consistently wonderful.  I just made a plain loaf last night to enjoy with soups as the polar vortex sweeps through this week.

No Knead Everything bread

Beef Carbonnade America's Test Kitchen 

Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes America's Test Kitchen

One of the side benefits of the potato recipe is a whole lot of russet baked potato skins left over.  I froze mine and they are thawing now.  We will turn them into stuffed potato skin appetizers to take to a Ravens game pot luck tonight.  Maybe they too fit in the category of refurbishing.

Sticky Toffee Pudding America's Test Kitchen

With cold and snow in our forecast, I'm especially glad to live in Maryland which I think has the best library system in the US.  Between Baltimore's famous Enoch Pratt Library (whose former head librarian is now the current Library of Congress 14th librarian and first woman and African American in that role) and the Baltimore County library which lead the nation decades ago in widening the scope and breadth of library services, I have everything I need to stay home, stay safe and watch the snow fall while I read a good book.  My latest favorite is this touching, moving, suspenseful and thought provoking book from 2018.  Leif Unger can't write a bad book and I heartily recommend this 2018 one.  I may have to recommend it for book group when we meet on Wednesday night.

 

And now let me show you my small refurbishing projects before I start to prep a new to me sewing pattern for my upcoming sewing retreat.

I own a 12 needle Babylock Embellisher because I love the look of wool and roving embellish onto fabric.  And I am a member of a Buy Nothing Facebook group in my area where we can give away (that's my main goal, divesting) or ask for something.  The year before last, in "closet change season" I asked for any men's wool sweater with stains or moth holes.  I wanted to attempt refurbishing wool sweaters (my favorite fiber) by re sizing them and mending them.  This year I finally tackled the two that were gifted to me and I'm thrilled with the result.  I could have done "visible mending" on the moth holes in both of these sweaters but since I cut them down to my size (using the Pamela's Patterns T Shirt makeover pattern guide) I decided to see if my embellisher could meld small mending pieces set behind the moth hole.  Wow, it blends right in to the naked eye.  It's not perfect and purists would show me those labor intensive hand mending techniques that I admire.  But I quickly and easily redeemed two cashmere sweaters from the waste land of old clothes and will happily enjoy their warm and comfort for winters to come.  Of course they are somewhat plain, deep navy and warm medium blue, sort of typical "guy clothing" colors but I'll be adding scarf each time and am happy with these new additions to my wardrobe.

Can you tell where I embellished the sweater?  It has a slightly different texture from afar and the closeup shows it better. 

The color is actually the pretty blue but these pictures came out grey. 

 Ready for the polar vortex.  Cozy clothes, cozy reading and cozy dog

Me Make May 2018

I have been wise foolish unrealistic enthused enough to participate in several past Me Made May celebrations.  Nice to know that I have a large self-made wardrobe now although I still buy RTW.  It was useful to see pictures and how I styled the garments I have sewn since I think accessories and styling really do matter in an outfit.  I also participated to make sure that the older generation of sewing enthusiasts are represented.  But the photo taking is such a chore so I usually fade out by mid-May as life and other interests take over.  So this year I will be watching the Me Made May pics from the sidelines but am calling my month Me Make May. 
It's been several months since I have been spending any quality time in my sewing room and that is going to change soon.  I didn't bring any machines to Florida in February and March.  Since we have been home much of the creative time has been spent on gardening work and hosting a major dinner party  in the middle of the month.  So now it's time to pull out the project list and see what I want to tackle.
This month's sewing will be dominated by another wonderful travel adventure.  Mr. Lucky and I are heading back to the UK for another set of walking trips.  I originally put together these plans based on the anticipated return of the Great British Sewing Bee expo which was scheduled back in London in early June.  From that date I found two terrific walking trips with our new to us favorite trip company, HF Holidays UK, one along the South Downs on the southern coast and the other in Scotland at Glen Coe which will include walking Ben Nevis.  But then, major disappointment, no GBSB expo this year!  Oh well, our four day South Downs trip turned into a seven day trip....with one free day so we can explore the local area.  Do any British friends know of a fabric store in perhaps Chichester or Brighton?  Of course the best news is that the GBSB will be returning to television so perhaps next year there will be an expo visit on my travel itinerary.
What this means is that I am planning a few garments for this return visit.  Now, let's face it, I could easily pack tomorrow for a trip like this.  Mostly sporty outdoors stuff that I have already and then the travel layered basics of bottoms, a few lightweight tops and third layers.  But since we sew....
So here are my plans for a few sewing projects to accompany me on this trip and to fulfill my own Me Make May pledge.  My travel colors this year are the ubiquitous black with blue as my secondary color (last year it was brown.)  As always, the British Isles in June....weather and temps all over the place. I hate being cold more than anything so I have a few long cardigans and am making two new tank tops for layering.  If the weather is warmer in London and the south then I am making two new rayon knit tops that can stand on their own.  I am also going to try my hand at hand rolled hem on a bright silk scarf square.  I like hand sewing and my only challenge there will be doing a decent job on the corners.  Of course, there's always the cheater serge rolled edge in a pinch.  I also have plans for another project but will surprise you, sweet readers, and see if that comes through.

Fabric for a travel wardrobe

So, no sewing pictures for this post, just a fabric shot of things to come.

Although I don't have much sewing to report, I will share some recipes which, like my reading list, I have not done in awhile.  Two weeks ago Mr. Lucky and I hosted another of our church auction dinners.  In previous years we have put together a Downton Abbey tea party and a Floribbean dinner.  This time our offering was a dinner for six others based upon our European bike and boat trip last year with beers, wines and food from Belgium, Holland and England.  People were in a generous mood since it was the highest per person bid so we felt some pressure to make it special.  

Here are a few pics and the recipes that we used.  No pics of the people attending or "plated" food since I have to admit that we were having such a good time that photo taking didn't cross my mind.  
The menu: five cheeses from France, Holland and England and asparagus wrapped in German ham

The soup course was based on the exquisite fish soups I ordered for the first three nights we spent in Belgium.  I love soups and was determined to recreate it.  I used Anthony Bourdain's recipe and it was fabulous: soupe-de-poisson  Mr. Lucky did the tedious food mill work:  

I used the rouille recipe (a garlic-y saffron aioli) from Cooks Illustrated to serve with toasted bread and it was a big hit.

My immersion blender is my new can't do without kitchen tool.

The main course was a Carbonnade a la Flamande or a beef stew with Belgian beer.  It is a go to recipe that is great to make for a pot luck.  The longest part is nicely browning the beef before combining the ingredients and letting it bake.  Ugly in the pot but yummy in the mouth:

Carbonnade: Belgian Beef, Beer and Onion Stew
adapted from Cook’s Illustrated

3 1/2 pounds chuck roast, cut into 1-inch pieces  vegetable oil 

2 pounds yellow onions (about 3 medium), halved and sliced about 1/4-inch-thick (about 8 cups)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 medium cloves garlic, minced (about 2 teaspoons)
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups low-sodium beef broth
1 1/2 cups beer (12-ounce bottle or can)
4 sprigs fresh thyme leaves, tied with kitchen twine
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon cider vinegar 

Preheat oven to 300 F with a rack in the lower-middle position.

Pat the beef dry with paper towels, then season on all sides with salt and pepper.  Heat 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until very hot.  Add about 1/3 of the beef to the pot – don’t crowd the meat, you want it to have space to brown properly.  Brown for about 3 minutes on the first side, then flip the meat over and cook until the second side is well browned, about another 3 minutes.  Transfer the beef to a bowl.  Continue browning the rest of the meat in batches, adding 2 teaspoons of oil for each new batch of meat.     

Once all the meat has been browned, reduce the heat to medium and add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil to the pot.  Add the onions, 1/2 teaspoon salt and the tomato paste.  Cook, stirring occasionally and scraping the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to loosen the browned bits, until the onions are lightly browned, about 15 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook just until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add the flour and stir to coat the onions.  Cook until the flour is lightly browned, about 2 minutes.  Stir in the beef broth, scraping the bottom of the pan again to loosen any remaining browned bits.  Add the beer, thyme, bay leaves, vinegar and beef (along with its accumulated juices) to the pot.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Raise the heat and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally.  When the stew reaches a simmer, cover the pot partially, then transfer to the oven.  Cook until the beef is fork tender, about 2-3 hours.

Of course we had to have a Brussel sprouts dish so I made a shaved Brussel sprout salad with pistachios, dried cranberries and grated gruyere with a little vinaigrette dressing.
Dessert was a reminder that we finished our trip by spending four days in London.  I made our favorite (out of so many) British dessert, hot sticky toffee pudding, also from a Cooks Illustrated recipe.  The puddings are ugly also and here they are without the buttery rich toffee syrup and real whipped cream....so you'll have to trust me that they are scrumptious.

A few French wines and it was a lovely evening after an exhausting few days of shopping, cleaning, cooking.  
Our reward, in addition to a great night with friends, was a two day mad cap trip to New York City.  We saw three shows, ate at various places, from Lidia Bastianich's Becco to lamb and rice "street meat."  

The FIT Museum exhibit on Norell had just closed the previous weeks, shucks, but I did get to see the 

It was another reminder that our definitions of "attractive" have changed over centuries.  For me, it means sew for the body I have today, enjoy my creativity and the fact that I have a body that carries me through life. Just a few pics to share:

Who knew that boning was used in the upper back garment in these Jane Austen era garments.

Yes, it was thrilling to see Christian Siriano's spectacular red dress for Leslie Jones.  

And when undergarments became less restrictive there was always the hobble skirt fashion to shorten a woman's stride...significant to me since I am such a long distance walker.

And if you do fashion sewing, you know important it is total accurate measurements.  here's the perfect dress for our sewing room outfit, right.

It was a whirlwind trip since we drove up, stayed at a New Jersey hotel on the Hudson River and took a ferry both days into NYC.

Which one is not like the other?

One addition reason for this visit was to give our new Rover.com pet sitter a trial run with Lucky in prep for a longer trip this summer.  He had a fabulous time in a beautiful home with three little pugs.  
So let me close with a gratuitous dog picture and then get into my sewing room to work on those travel garment fabrics.  

Here's hoping you have great plans for some fabrics in your stash.  And I will be watching for your Me Made May '18 photos.


SaveSave

New Mock Up, Old Traditions

Ah, now I remember why trying out a new pattern is so frustrating.  It's a pain to work out the adjustments that you need on your own, transfer them to the paper pattern properly and then sew up another mock up.  I'm at the first stage in this Vogue pattern and with holidays and our construction project starting shortly, I'm packing it up to head north for sewing retreat help.  But here are the pictures of Vogue 1262 and I'd love your opinions.

I was quite unhappy with the pulls at both shoulders since that armhole is very tricky to adjust and I'd like to avoid it and/or a bust dart if I can.  Then I looked at the pattern picture and those sames lines are there so maybe I'm just getting too picky:

As for the back, I may extend those back pleats further down the back since I am narrow there but then add some width in the back side seam area.
I've sewn it up in an old sheet and haven't decided yet what I will use for the final jacket.  

In the meantime, I've had some lovely days with friends this week (which nicely counter balanced the infuriating experience with an acquaintance earlier in the week.)  Wonderful lunch with sewing friends on Wednesday and then a fun movie discussion night last night at our Cineclub gathering.  We watched Shall We Kiss?, Shall We Kiss?  a romantic comedy with an interesting perspective on our friendships and relationships.  We carried over the discussion about men, women, friendship versus physical attraction and romance all the way to the dogpark this morning and had many laughs and revelations along the way.  Last night we brought a plate of cookies and I thought I'd share the recipes with you.....and keep them here on my blog as a reminder to me in the future.  These are some of my favorites from The America's Test Kitchen Baking Book  baking cookbook

Molasses Spice, Mexican Wedding and Chocolate Chips cookies 

Molasses Spice Cookies (Adapted from Cooks Illustrated, January 2002 and America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook)

1/3 cup granulated sugar (about 2 1/2 ounces)
2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (11 1/4 ounces)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice (I had whole allspice which I coarsely ground)
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon table salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar (about 2 1/2 ounces)
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup molasses (about 6 ounces), light or dark

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.

3. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low-medium heat. Stir in cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice, and pepper and cook until fragrant (about a minute). Pour the mixture into a large bowl and cool slightly.

4. Using a whisk, mix in the white sugar, molasses, brown sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla into the butter until smooth. To easily pour out molasses, I spray the inside of a measuring cup with cooking spray before measuring the molasses out. It makes cleanup a lot easier.

5. Stir in the flour mixture until combined.

6. Pour some white sugar (about 2-3 tablespoons) into a shallow bowl or plate. Take a heaping tablespoon of dough and roll it into a ball. Then, roll the ball lightly in the sugar until well coated and place it onto the baking sheet. If the sugar doesn't stick, you can lightly moisten your hands when rolling the dough into a ball. Space the balls about 2 1/2 inches apart.

7. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 9-12 minutes until the edges are set and beginning to brown, but the centers are still soft. Rotate the baking sheet halfway through.

8. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack 

Mexican Wedding Cookies (Pecan or Walnut Crescent Cookies)

2 cups whole pecans or walnuts, chopped fine, divided

2 cups bleached all-purpose flour

¾ teaspoon table salt

½ pound unsalted butter

(2 sticks), softened

1/3 cup superfine sugar (see note)

½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1½ cups confectioners' sugar for rolling cooled cookies

Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 325 degrees. Mix 1 cup chopped nuts, flour and salt in medium bowl; set aside.

In work bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, process remaining chopped nuts until the texture of coarse cornmeal, 10 to 15 seconds (do not overprocess); stir into flour mixture and set aside. (To finely grind chopped nuts by hand, roll them between two large sheets of plastic wrap with a rolling pin, applying moderate pressure, until broken down to coarse cornmeal-like texture).

In bowl of an electric mixer at medium speed or by hand, beat butter and sugar until light and creamy, about 1½ minutes with an electric mixer or 4 minutes by hand; beat in vanilla. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl with rubber spatula; add flour mixture and beat at low speed until dough just begins to come together but still looks scrappy, about 15 seconds. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl again with rubber spatula; continue beating at low speed until dough is cohesive, 6 to 9 seconds longer. Do not overbeat.

Working with about one tablespoon of dough at a time, roll and shape cookies into balls, crescents, rings or cigar shapes. Bake until tops are pale golden and bottoms are just beginning to brown, turning cookie sheets from front to back and switching from top to bottom racks halfway through baking, 17 to 19 minutes.

Cool cookies on sheets for about 2 minutes; remove with metal spatula to wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes. Working with three or four cookies at a time, roll cookies in confectioners' sugar to coat them thoroughly. Gently shake off excess. They can be stored in an airtight container for up to five days.

Before serving, roll cookies in confectioners' sugar a second time to ensure a thick coating, and tap off excess.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Note: You can buy superfine sugar in most grocery stores. Or you can process regular granulated sugar to superfine consistency in about 30 seconds in a food processor fitted with a steel blade.

- Source: America's Test Kitchen

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies (from Cook’s Illustrated May/June 2009)

I made mine slightly smaller and baked them for about 11 minutes.

1¾ cups (8¾ ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
14 tablespoons (1¾ sticks) unsalted butter
½ cup (3½ ounces) granulated sugar
¾ cup (5¼ ounces) packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon table salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1¼ cups semisweet chocolate chips or chunks
¾ cup chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted (optional)

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.

2. Heat 10 tablespoons butter in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and, using heatproof spatula, transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl. Stir remaining 4 tablespoons butter into hot butter until completely melted.

3. Add both sugars, salt and vanilla to bowl with butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Add egg and yolk and whisk until mixture is smooth with no sugar lumps remaining, about 30 seconds. Let mixture stand for 3 minutes, then whish for 30 seconds. Repeat process of resting and whisking 2 more times until mixture is thick, smooth and shiny. Using rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture until just combined, about 1 minute. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (if using), giving dough final stir to ensure no flour pockets remain.

4. Divide dough into 16 portions, each about 3 tablespoons (or use a #24 cookie scoop). Arrange 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets, 8 dough balls per sheet.

5. Bake cookies 1 tray at a time until cookies are golden brown and still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft, 10-14 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Transfer baking sheet to wire rack; cool cookies completely before serving.

Hope your sewing time is productive and your Decmber holidays of all traditions are a delight.

Simple Start to Simplicity 2313

A few of you got a giggle that it would be a pin shortage that got me inspired to sew rather than dawdle, cut out patterns or spend hours on my blog reader or Pinterest.  Well, the inspiration for this next jacket came from two reviews and bloggers.  I had already purchased Simplicity 2313...how could I not when I'm sure it was only $.99?  But these two beautiful and dramatically different versions were all it took for me to follow suit.  I wanted a new jacket pattern or two to round out my 2011 JAM plan and Simplicity 2313 seems perfect....casual but some feminine details.

Bunny's wool jersey version    Lori's cotton twill version

Before I left Baltimore my dear sewing friend Michele tweaked my muslin for me and I cut out the jacket and fused interfacing to the facings.   Here are the pattern alterations I had to do to make this one work for my body.

Yes, here's how much extra width I needed

Taking in back princess seams and pulling up for swayback and erect posture

Removing too much hip curve and doing front abdomen adjustment instead

The lower front of this zippered jacket needed a full abdomen alteration.  Michele cut up the front section, avoiding that cut side section pocket area, and pinned the extra width I needed, about 1 1/2 inches per side.  

On my pattern I made the same slash with a tiny side hinge to keep the pattern paper flat.  Center front stays straight on grain and I get the extra width (not length) I need in this area.  

Small side seam "hinge"

If you have the book, The Perfect Fit, from Singer, this is almost exactly the alteration for a very prominent abdomen.  (This isn't exactly what I hoped for when I aspired to be "very prominent" in life:-)

It was a delight yesterday to pull out a plastic 2 gallon project bag and start sewing for about an hour.   There's still cleaning and errand running to do here but I'm getting to enjoy a new sewing project and that makes it all worthwhile.  

Two fronts sewn so far...here's one to show you.  I'm making version B in a poly rayon lightweight home dec fabric.  Very easy princess seam pocket technique that I might use on some other jackets.

And now for something new.  Mr. Lucky made dinner last night, a new to us yummy recipe.  Easy and delicious and very seasonal since it uses acorn squash.  We made half the recipe and enjoyed it tremendously.

Jimmy Dean stuffed acorn squash recipe

Ingredients

• 2 medium acorn squash, cut lengthwise in half, seeded
• 1 pkg. Jimmy Dean® Hot Pork Sausage Roll
• ½ cup chopped onion
• 1½ cups soft bread crumbs
• 1 cup packed baby spinach, chopped
• ½ cup dried cranberries
• ½ cup (2 ounces) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• ¼ cup slivered almonds, toasted
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons milk

Directions

1. Place squash, cut-sides down, in 13x9-inch microwaveable dish; cover. Microwave on HIGH 10-12 minutes or until tender. Cool slightly.

2. Meanwhile, cook sausage and onion in large skillet over medium-high heat 8-10 minutes or until thoroughly cooked, stirring frequently; drain. Return to skillet. Add remaining ingredients; mix well.

3. Turn squash halves over; fill with sausage mixture. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes to heat through.

Cook’s Tip: Prepare using 1 pkg. Jimmy Dean® Sage or Regular Flavor Pork Sausage Roll.

Yield:

Makes: 4 Servings