Purling Oaks

Fiber Fair recount

The Midwest Fiber and Folk Fair was great.  Vendors were both inside and outside of the McHenry County College facility.  Charlynn and I were able to catch up with each other as well as engage in some quality fiber shopping.  Charlynn purchased her first spinning wheel.  *evil laughter*  (Yes, Stacey, she blames me.)  She also started knitting her first pair of socks.  Here's a summary photo of Charlynn's purchases (minus her Kromski Minstral wheel)  My work here is complete.......

Oh, well, you want me to tell you what I bought at the Fair?  I did spend quite a bit of time with Elf and Sandy at Red Fish Dye Works.  Two fun, yet incredibly calm women.....as well as talented in the dye department.  Here's the bed-full of my loot. 
My camera doesn't do justice to the Red Fish yarn and roving (oh, and hankies).  I love the llama cookie cutter.  The Rust Tex tube and CD are a kit for dyeing with metals.  The booth had some lovely results; I hope I can come close to reproducing them.  Stitch-markers, silk roving, alpaca black and white fiber, cotton fiber for towels, weaving tool, and a few other items. 

The new Crocs performed well and my feet were happy despite walking all day on Saturday.  We had some fun fair food including a funnel cake.  YUM.  Charlynn's neck and shoulders seized up so we also enjoyed the chair massages offered.  It was a fun visit that was far too short.

DH had some fun in a local trout stream on Saturday so tonight we enjoyed brook trout for dinner.  Delicious!  I'm living right, I suppose.

Saturday surprise

For all my list-making, Saturday had a surprise waiting for me.  Early in the morning, DH walked out to the shed to find something and spied a red cherry on the drive, quite a ways from our "orchard."  He came back in with the news that the cherries were ripe.  If I were Martha Stewart, "watch for ripe cherries" would have been on my list and one of my minions would have picked them.  However, I'm not Martha.  So, I grabbed a bowl, found some shoes, and heading out the door to our cherry trees.  We have one mature tree and two just-planted-this-Spring trees.  All three had cherries!  I came back into the house with a bit over two quarts of harvested cherries.  It is nice to get some before the birds get the majority of the fruit. 

I pitted the cherries and contemplated what to make with them.  I love a pie but I think that will have to wait a week or two until my nephews arrive to help eat it.  Then I ran across this recipe and decided it would be perfect for Sunday's breakfast.

The Cherry Clafoutis was very good.  I had not made it before, and, frankly, I've never made a custard before either, but this was very simple.  I used two cups of pitted cherries in place of the plums referenced in the recipe I linked to.  Otherwise, I followed the instructions exactly.  (I skipped the rum.)  I used pitted cherries.  I don't care if the pits do add flavor, I like my teeth!

Remember to enter the contest!

Roses, dinner, and a waiting blank slate

I had to dispense with my denial today.  Not too much was lost in the studio....thank goodness for plastic bins.  Boxes were packed and toted upstairs and the studio is essentially a blank slate this evening...well, once it dries out. 

The roses are starting to bloom...perhaps I'll find time to make some rose petal jelly. I wonder if these are the right kind of roses?  Maybe it doesn't matter?  They are certainly organic......since I've been ignoring them.

Tonight's dinner was easy to prepare.  We had broccoli rabe sauted with olive oil, garlic, white wine, and a bit of red pepper flakes.  Then we had pork chops marinated in Cardini's Caesar Dressing for about 45 minutes then dredged in panko bread crumbs.  The thick chops were baked at about 400 degrees in a shallow, foil-lined pan coated with just a little olive oil for 50 to 60 minutes.  I wasn't paying close attention but the instant thermometer read the right temp when I pulled them out of the oven.  DH made some rice and we enjoyed a simple meal.

I was a bit "frazzled" today as described by DH but I'm calming down.  Mother Nature is making herself known around here and she definitely has the upper hand.  DH and I believe we have had about fourteen inches of rain here at the house in the past week, with most falling this past weekend.  This estimate was based on the completely scientific *bucket* rain gauge.  There's not much left for me to do at home so I'm on the road to Nora's city tomorrow.  Forest Canopy is going to be my companion.

Friday's fiber fun

Friday found me in the Jeep with my DSIL Anne, Anne's SIL Meg, and Meg's Aunt Kathy venturing North seeking yarn.  Our first stop was at Yarns by Design, in Neenah, and my mom met us there to join the fun.  This shop is one of my favorite fiber merchants and the customer service is wonderful.  A few cones of Maysville cotton rug warp jumped in my basket along with Deborah Chandler's Learning to Weave.  Then I saw this sample by/from Sivia Harding.....

It is the scarf size of the Norwegian Woods pattern, knit with Sea Silk.  (I posted this photo with permission of the designer.)  The flash of the camera accented the pattern but it washed the green/gray of the yarn.  I fell in love with it.  The designer describes the design as depicting a forest progressing from winter into spring.  The pattern and some more Sea Silk came home with me.  How ever did I come to this position of having Forest Canopy and Catharina Faroese shawls on the needles, Icarus and this pattern in waiting, plus the Stacey Lace Along yarn in waiting?  I think I have a few people of influence in mind.  Thanks, really. 

See how happy I am?   That's happy not hysterical, by the way.  Here is our happy group just before leaving for lunch at the great Mexican restaurant down the block.  (clockwise, from upper left:  Meg, Kathy, Mom, Anne, Moi)







We explored a local soy soap and candle shop, then hugged Mom goodbye so she could go home and let the dog out.  The four of us then hopped in the Jeep and impulsively headed North again, this time to Iris Fine Yarns in Appleton.  This is another great yarn store, also with great customer service.  IFY carries different yarns than YBD, so visit both when you are in the area.  I came home with a little HABU silk & stainless steel yarn to experiment with as well as a complementary bamboo crochet hook!  How cool is that? 

It was a fun day filled with great conversations about knitting, blogging, Ravelry, books, and even natural dyeing.  We were able to wish Anne a happy birthday, too!  Of the five of us, I'm the only (admitted) blogger and raveler, although I think Kathy may soon join the blogging community.  I'm looking forward to our next outing.

DH has been working in Fort Lauderdale recently and has been influenced by the foods he tried during his travels.  Last night, he made picadillo and it was very tasty.   It was a nice finish to a full and fun day.

Just tell them

I've been dreading writing about this but if I blog about it now, I won't have to dread it any longer, will I?  Well, remember Nora telling us about her friends that live in Richland Center with the Icelandic Sheep?  Remember how I drove over one Saturday, took the goat trail, visited with the sheep and picked up two fleeces?  You do?  Good. 

One of those fleeces, the lovely chocolate brown fleece, is safely in a box traveling to Stacey under the tender mercies of the U.S. Postal Service.  The other fleece was safe in my garage, waiting for me to wash it and proceed with all the other fun processes one does with a fleece.  Did you notice the "was" in the previous sentence?  You did?  Very astute of you. 

Sometimes we forget to tell our spouses things, important things.  Things like, "don't touch that bag with my fleece in it, even though it is in a garbage bag, it isn't garbage."  Yes, while I was learning about lace in Neenah last Saturday, Artemesia's fleece was (accidentally) taken to the township garbage drop-off and, well, dropped off.  I didn't realize it was gone until yesterday when I had to move a ladder for the A/C guy to go up into the attic and noticed the bag that used to be next to the ladder, wasn't. 

DH is very sorry and I'm feeling pretty bad on several levels.  A waste of money and precious materials, the missing out of doing an activity with a friend, feeling dumb because I should have showed DH the fleece, and feeling a bit of "why didn't you look in the bag before you pitched it?" feeling.  He even went to the drop-off but the bins were empty so it couldn't be recovered.  (Not that I would have asked him to go dumpster diving...ewwwww!)  He has amassed so many "husband points" that this little snafu is nothing.  Besides, there is no lasting harm....there will be more fleeces and no body or animal was hurt.  I just hope that Etta Mae's fleece has better luck.

The Slow-Rise (No Knead) Bread

The bread was well-received last night with a nice romaine salad and seafood stew (from Trader Joe's).  I'm pretty pleased with it but the crust wasn't as crisp as I would have liked but I love the crumb and the taste was good.  Look at all those cool holes!  I *heart* holey-bread.  I nabbed this recipe from the comments on Amazon.com from a book review.  Yes, a little risky but all the recipes looked about the same.  Here it is:

3 cups of bread flour, I used King Arthur's bread flour
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon yeast (I used a 1/2 t.)
1 and 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 and 1/2 cups water, room temperature

I added the ingredients in the bowl (two quart size) water first, then yeast, flour, and salt.  Stirred to mix the ingredients (no dry flour pockets) then covered and let the dough sit to double in size.  Here is where I had a problem because my kitchen wasn't warm enough.  I finally put the dough in a cold oven with the light on and there was enough warmth to encourage the dough to double.  Once it doubled, I put it in the 'frig and it stayed there for about 18 hours or so.  You could leave it for several days, I believe.

The next day, I took the dough out of the 'frig (it was a bit jiggly and had lots of bubbles) and set it on the counter to come to room temp, about 3 hours before I wanted to bake it.  Your time may differ.  It was a chilly spring day yesterday. 

I placed my clay covered chicken cooker (from Pampered Chef, in case you, too, did the PC parties at one time or another), both pieces, in the cold oven.  I turned the oven to 475 to preheat.  Once everything was to the right temp, I took a sheet of parchment paper, removed the top of the clay cooker carefully, set the parchment over the bottom of the cooker and poured my dough onto the parchment.  Then I replaced the lid of the cooker, closed the oven door, and reduced the oven temp to 450.  After 30 minutes, I removed the cover and reduced the oven temp to 420 and let the bread brown and finished cooking....about 15 or 20 minutes.  I removed it from the heat when the internal temp was just 200 using an instant read thermometer.

Next time, I'll wait for an internal temp of 210 to see if the extra time will improve the crust.  This is a variation on the New York Times No Knead bread.  I am not comfortable putting my le Crueset lid in the oven at such a high temperature so I just used the clay cooker as a cloche.  Other folks have used a cast iron dutch oven and lid with success, as well.

Arugula Pizza Night

Remember the chicken and arugula toast tapas we had on, hmmmm, Sunday?  Well, we had a bunch of arugula still left in the 'frig today, so a little Google search revealed arugula pesto pizza!  I didn't make pizza crust from scratch but I did the next best thing and pulled a box of this out of the pantry.  (It's locally made.)  I mixed it up and let it rise in the oven with the light on.  It is just too cool in the house to get a decent rise on dough in a hurry. 

Then I made about a cup of arugula pesto.  I blanched the arugula first, squeezed out all the water, and made a basic pesto with pine nuts, garlic, olive oil, and parmesan cheese. The dough doubled in about an hour which isn't bad for a day when it is 20 degrees (F) for the high temperature outside.   After rolling the pizza dough...(no photos of that, please.  My transferring the dough to the pan could have been inspiration for an I Love Lucy episode script.).... I spread the pesto and
added thinly sliced tomatoes.  DH shredded some mozzarella cheese........

and about 15 minutes later we pulled this out of the oven.   It was pretty good, definitely not your typical pizza but pretty tasty!  DH liked it but he's craving meat right now...  *g*

 

C is for.......

Catching up?  I'm running a couple days behind for the "C" entry for the ABC-Along but I'm catching up today with this entry.

C is for Coffee.  DH and I drink it every day...yes, we're addicted.  I consume about two cups and I'm happy but one will do if I'm busy and don't fill my cup a second time.  I now drink it black but I miss having sweet creamy coffee.  I just use those calories somewhere else.  We've graduated to a burr grinder, which does produce a more uniform grind.  (Thanks to Vicki and Ann for making me aware of burr grinders.)  We also perk our coffee on our stove top but we may soon go back to the drip method. 

I burned the coffee today.  I was busy with putting away laundry in another part of the house and forgot I had the coffee on.  I heard this weird noise and came running, thinking the washer was overflowing.  Nope, just the coffee pot boiling all over.  So, I'm washing the kitchen rugs today for good measure.  (And I used the dreaded mop.)  Any suggestions of a favorite drip coffee machine?  (Apologies to Stacey for my topic today.)  Mug from Jennie the Potter.  Oh, we also tend to stick with the coffee beans in the red bag, especially now that our Piggly Wiggly carries them consistently.   We must reward appropriate actions!

C could also be for chicken on toast tapas since that is what DH made for dinner last night.  We had chicken livers chopped and cooked in a yummy sauce with chopped green olives on top.  He also made teriyaki chicken on chopped arugula.  Yum.  

Mom Update:

Mom's air travel finished yesterday about midnight with her in a hotel room in Green Bay, Wisconsin.  She traveled from LAX to Detroit to Minneapolis then BACK to Detroit then finally to Green Bay.  Northwest canceled all their flights to Appleton so we were very lucky her rescheduled flight plans took her to Green Bay.  Otherwise, she would have been spending two days in Detroit waiting for a flight (at her expense).  I'm still tired from all her traveling, I cannot imagine how she felt last night.  I hope today is better with some good sleep behind her.  My uncle is going to pick her up today in Green Bay and take her home.   Whew. 

The roads are still really horrible here and it is still snowing.  DH had a dental appointment this morning and said Highway 51 had about 3 inches of snow on it and Highway 22 had 4 inches while our country roads had 4 to 5 inches.  At least there doesn't appear to be as much ice under the snow as we feared.  Our trees are covered in ice and some are drooping in ways trees normally don't bend.  I have the day off and I'm not going anywhere.

Sun, Snow, and Mussels

Today was a beautiful and sunny, though rather cold, day. I climbed into the Jeep and drove to Madison for my first lesson at the Apple store on my new MacBook. There are a bunch of new and nifty features in Leopard and Apple has made this level of the OS even more consumer friendly. I'm not a new Mac user so it isn't all new but the improvements are pretty nifty. The Apple Store is in the West Towne Mall so it is quite a drive for me but today was worth the drive. On my way back home I just happened to stop at Stitchers Crossing for some thread but a few other items came home with me. I haven't been in there in a while and I definitely felt the urge to enhance my stash. I kept the enhancement to reading material and a cool purse implement. Oh, but the new fabrics and there is a new Trekking sock yarn! /sigh.

When I returned home, DH asked me if I had heard the forecast for Sunday. I said sure, it's snow, right? Yeah, up to 11 inches of snow by Sunday evening. I don't have to travel that day. However, it is a little worrisome since my mom is flying back from warm California on the Saturday redeye flight and is due in Sunday morning. I know she'll be fine but I'll be happy when she's back home and cozy with the dog.

So, with the coming snow in mind, I went outside and looked for the good stuff. Here is our sunset this evening and a temperature check.
In case those of you in warmer temperatures think this snow blogging is just a ruse, I give you piles of snow.
The pile on the left is actually our yard rock and the big pile on the right is about six feet tall and courtesy of the bobcat that had to reallocate snow in our yard so they could continue to clear the driveway. I know I'm not the only Wisconsinite thinking back to the 1960's and the piles of snow we had then. I wonder if this is the first year of the next cycle of big snowfalls? I really need to knit more socks!

And finally, DH made some mussels for dinner. We can highly recommend the Fond du Lac Seafood Company. DH started out with finely chopped onions, garlic, and a bit of salt cooked down in olive oil. Add about four ounces of Fino sherry and when the mixture is boiling, throw in the mussels. When they are open they are done. (Toss the ones that don't open.)

Happy Hearts

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you will all be my Valentine.  *g*

DH and I are going to enjoy a nice venison pot roast dinner with a nice bottle of red wine.  Now, when I say nice bottle of wine, my usual qualifications for a bottle to win that would be to have a pretty label and taste pretty decent.  (Think Trader Joe's)  However, I have friends who have higher standards for the fruit of the grape.  DH and I are lucky enough to have some wine on hand that met their standards (and has a nice label) and goes well with venison.   I'll see about pulling that out of the basement wine cellar.

Once again, snow is falling in my part of the world.  Nature is generously adding an inch or three to the weather people's initial forecast.  (I am so glad I did not go into the field of meteorology for my career!  I am not suited for not hitting the mark, day after day.)  We may get about 8 inches of more snow today.  The drive home was a bit earlier and slower than on a sunny day but uneventful.  Thank goodness.

More Sunday squirrel adventures

At 9 a.m. this morning, the thermometer on our front porch read eight degrees below zero.  The winds are blowing and it looks like we have some significant drifting over the driveway.  However, the sun is shining and the skies are blue with fast-moving white clouds.  A pretty day, too bad it is so hazardous.

DH was able to capture (in photos) White Dot stalking one of our bird-feeder raiders.
White Dot was really thinking ambitiously about his choice of prey.  But he carefully crept through the snow, inch by inch, while his target intently munched away on sunflower seeds, unknowing of the danger that lurked in such close proximity. 

Closer and closer drew White Dot.....to his seed-stealing furry-tailed object of desire.  Then, in a sudden burst of speed, White Dot rushed the little monster squirrel, startling our darling photographer, who missed the action, the fight, the fur flying, the squirrel running safely up the tree. 

Here's our would-be hero inspecting what may be his successful hunting grounds another day.

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After the refrigerator cleaning event on Friday, DH and I took a good look at the freezer yesterday.  To describe the general conditions of the freezer, believe me when I say we needed a running start to add anything to the freezer.  (And I have no yarn or wool in my freezer, just in case someone wonders.)  So, we pledged to start consuming more of our frozen larder.  My efforts to that end this morning entailed using some of our homegrown frozen blackberries and a dough-boy pie crust (also from the freezer) to make a quick little galette for breakfast.   

 

Quite yummy and very easy.  My adaptation from The New Joy of Cooking.

One thawed rolled pie crust

about 1 and a half cups of blackberries or other fruit  (I used my berries in their frozen state.)

Unroll pie crust on a piece of parchment paper placed on a cooking sheet.  Pile the berries in the middle of the pie crust.  Sprinkle the berries with about 2 tablespoons of sugar and dot with about 2 tablespoons of cold butter.

Then fold about an inch and a half to two inches of the crust over the berries, crimping and folding where needed.  Brush the crust with milk (I used half and half) and sprinkle the crust with one or two teaspoons of sugar.  Bake in a preheated 400 degree F oven for 25 to 35 minutes until the crust is browned and the fruit is bubbly.  Cool briefly on a rack and consume while warm.  This galette won't last long and is best eaten the same day.

I have Mr. and Mrs. Smith waiting for me on the TiVo and a shawl to wrestle with so I'm sure my afternoon will be productive.    Late breaking news:  The driveway is indeed drifted shut.  The guys with the plow have been contacted and will be arriving this afternoon when the wind is predicted to scale back.