handmade christmas: socktopus

It's kind of funny to me that the main reason I haven't done any knitting these past several months (my baby) received the only knitted gift I made this year.  

This little socktopus is a fun pattern from knitty.  I put a couple of bells in the head/body so it softly jingles when the baby is whippin' it around the room, but mostly it just gets sucked on. All those feet are good for wee teething gums. 

*my ravelry deets

handmade christmas: cross stitch

Life in pixels!

My family got pixelated portraits this year for Christmas. This was my first attempt at cross stitch since high school and I am hooked. When I had completed my family, I kept going with one for the in-laws. (Thanks to good ol' Martha Stewart for the idea.)

The stitching is very therapeutic. (Unless of course you are stitching while bouncing on an exercise ball with a sleeping baby strapped to your chest. I can't recommend that too much.)

But actually I had the most fun with the design phase of these. Trying to capture an age and stage in just a few pixels was fun, even though I went through quite a bit of graph paper to get the details right. In some cases I still fell short (that darn baseball cap! glasses look like unibrows!) but I'm happy with the results overall. Hairstyles make a big difference, as does choice of shirt.

But man, you think you know someone until you try to remember the details... what colour are their eyes? what colours do they usually wear? on what side of their head do they usually part their hair?

I have one more in mind to make for another sweet family, but then I'm not sure where to go with this new addiction. I don't really like a lot of the cross stitch patterns I see. I mean, I love the stuff Wee Little Stitches does, but what to do with all of it when you're done? I don't really see myself with lots of cross stitches hanging on my walls. So watch out family and friends, that means I'll be giving it away.

my brother's sweater vest, my favourite detail 

for the love of cardamom

I love cardamom and I like butter so I tried to make these cardamom shortbreads. I must've done something wrong  (not measure out enough butter?) because my dough was a crumbly mess.

I ended up pressing it into ball-like shapes, rolling in powdered sugar and baking that way because the dough just laughed and fell into a million pieces when I took out my rolling pin. Even though the flavour was fantastic, the texture of the final cookie was still disappointingly crumbly and dry. Sad.

Still, I'm excited to try other recipes on that Remedial Eating blog -- lots of beautiful pictures of stuff I want to eat.

My craving for cardamom cookies not yet satisfied, I went for this Martha Stewart recipe. To quote my now-three year old, 'That's what I'm talkin' about!' Now I have a recipe that I can haul out year after year.  Happy. 

cruciferous veg

Have you ever hearrd a two year old ask for more brussel sprouts?

Yeah, neither had I. In fact, I had never asked for more brussel sprouts. But we received some little beauties from our farm share and I was forced to try them again. Dee-licious. (Have you ever seen brussel sprouts growing on their stalk? Funny looking things.)

Okay, boiling or steaming is absolutely not the way to prepare these in my opinion. Not after you've tried them roasted in a little lemon juice, minced garlic and plenty of salt (Elise's recipe here). This is much like the cauliflower recipe on the same recipe blog, which we've made a few times.

Sorry, no pictures. We ate them too fast -- and that's the honest truth.

Head on over to Simply Recipes to see 'em and make 'em.

pomegranates

Pomegranates are in the stores again. Happy day. 

You probably know this trick already, but to seed a pomegranate without getting squirted by juice, immerse the halves in a bowl of water and gently pry the seeds out while they're under water.  No mess, no fuss. 

pita crisps

I thought I had mentioned these pita crisps before, but I guess I haven't. Shame on me, because they are deserving (and so are you!) 

I prefer the British terminology of crisps for chips and chips for fries. I don't necessarily use the terms myself, but they makes more sense to me. Crisps are what they are. And these, my friends, are pita crisps. Extra crunchy.

I can attest that these are great with bean dips, with otherwise boring bowls of soup, and with a hunk of cheddar in the middle of the night.

pita crisps

pita bread

olive oil

sea salt

dried thyme, or other dried seasoning of choice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Halve the pita bread, if it's the kind with pockets, to make thin flat pieces. Cut with scissors into strips or triangles or go wild and make free-form shapes for the kids.  Spread out in single layer on un-greased baking sheets. Brush with olive oil. Sprinkle with sea salt and crushed, dried thyme. (Black pepper would also be good.) Bake until crispy and golden, about 10-15 minutes. Check frequently, as they burn easily. Can serve immediately or after they've cooled to room temperature. Will keep for a day in an airtight container.

brown-bread-muffin bread

I was looking for just a little something to make our faux minestrone soup go down a little easier. A couple of warm, buttered slices of this bread did the trick.

In the cookbook, this is called 'hearty brown bread.'  I was thinking it would be kind of a dark-rye, healthy bread, but it isn't really. I mean, I'm sure it's not unhealthy, but it's more brown-bread-muffin-like. It's nice and moist (apologies too all that can't stand that word) and the recipe is so darn easy -- no rising even -- I'll be making it again.

But enough talk about bread.

hearty brown bread

Albertina's, a restaurant in Portland

1 loaf

3 C whole-wheat flour

1 1/4 teas baking soda

1 teas salt

2 C buttermilk

1/2 C molasses

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.  Stir in wet ingredients. Pour into well-greased loaf pan. Bake until tester comes out clean, approximately 1 hour. (Mine took closer to 1 hour 20 minutes.)

for the record - 2012

Getting my annual canning accomplished this year was definitely a team effort. Jeff played zone defense with the kids while I was in the kitchen. Buying, cleaning, prepping, canning -- everything takes way longer with a baby in the house! I'm stoked that we managed to get so much done (I just won't tell you how many weekend days we had to devote to the task!) 

30lbs blueberries in freezer

bunches and bunches of fresh basil, pureed with olive oil, frozen in ice cubes

17 quarts canned roma tomatoes (from 27 lbs)

21 pints canned peaches (and one warm peach crisp from 17.5lbs) 

plum-apricot jam

blueberry-strawberry-raspberry freezer jam

9 pints spiced, chunky applesauce 

I want just one more day of canning this year  -- for plain pear-sauce and applesauce for the babe -- and then I can put away the supplies for the year. 

the theme is pumpkin

Happy Thanksgiving, to all you fellow Canucks. We kicked off the holiday weekend with pumpkin pancakes. I can recommend these spiced flapjacks, especially to those that have to wait another month for turkey and trimmings.

This recipe was scrawled on a post-it note so I have absolutely no idea where it recipe came from. My apologies.

pumpkin pancakes
serves 4

2 1/2 C flour
4 Tbs sugar
4 teas baking powder
1 teas cinnamon
1 teas ground ginger
1 teas salt
1/4 teas nutmeg
1/8 teas ground clove
1 egg
1 egg white
3/4 C pure pumpkin puree
4 Tbs butter, melted
2 C milk

Whisk together dry ingredients in large bowl. In medium bowl, whisk together egg, egg white, pumpkin puree, melted butter and milk. Fold wet into dry. Cook on buttered skillet.

***

Also on the menu this weekend, standing in for turkey and stuffing are my go-to roast chicken and a new wild rice pilaf. And for dessert, pumpkin ice cream and ginger cookies.

The food is prepped so all that's left to do is sit back, relax, and wait for our company to arrive. The artist among us may also want to put some finishing touches on her table decorations.

photography

I'm really enjoying a couple of photography sites right now. I know I've mentioned habit before, but have you seen dear photograph?