A bit of crafting

Although I don't have much to show for it on the blog lately, I actually have been spending a fair amount of time on creative projects. Perhaps not as much as I would like--between my return to the working world, and my frequent weekend trips out of town--but I'm still plugging away.

I've been knitting a placket neck pullover from a 1950s pattern, that just so happens to match my couch. Never mind putting away my knitting, I've now trained it to camouflage into its surroundings.


I've also been sewing. Having unpacked my fabric stash, I'm a bit unhappy with how large it has become--the same goes with my pattern stash. So I'm weeding things out, and have come up with a plan to sew through several things in the upcoming months. I tried out the following two patterns this week, but both ended up as failures-- for the time being.

I started to make this Cynthia Rowley top out of some gingham I bought for super cheap in Thailand. When I bought it, I was pretty sure it was 100% cotton, but now that I looked at it again, it was clearly a synthetic blend--probably like the poly/cotton gingham they sell at Joann. I'm terrible at working with synthetics at this point (and knits, too, for that matter). I just don't have the skill or patience to deal with things that unravel or change shape. So, this top didn't work out this time, but I still plan on making it again in a natural fiber.

I then finally broke out the famous 'walkaway' Butterick dress. I had 5+ yards of uninspiring quilting fabric that I bought for about a $1 at an estate sale. I remembered that I don't like Butterick since they don't print any of the finished garment measurements on the package. And, because of the unique construction of this dress, I found it difficult to determine exactly how I could cut/alter it to get the best fit. After making up most of the dress (which was super easy), I determined that I wasn't going to get a great fit without a lot of tinkering, and quickly decided that I wasn't excited enough about the dress or the fabric to continue.

While it might sound disappointing, this is all progress! I was able to say goodbye to two stash fabrics, and one pattern. On to the next!

CSA Love: Week 3 Recipe Recap

This week was a great week for my CSA:
Pecans (! Now if only I had a nut cracker...)
I'itoi's onions
Green tomatoes
Acorn squash (so pretty!)
Roasted green chiles (frozen for later)
Cantaloupe (unfortunately already over-ripe)
Turnips

Pasta with i'itoi's onion sauce
I followed this recipe meant for scallions. It's a great way to use up a lot of green onions, and turned out well--though I much prefer pesto. I think this is a great idea to play around with.

Roasted acorn squash salad
With toasted almonds, balsamic vinegar, and some roasted turnips tossed in since I didn't have enough to cook on their own.

Roasted acorn squash with maple glaze and almonds
This was freaking amazing. It has just a hint of real maple syrup, rosemary (from my porch garden), garlic, butter, and almonds. It's the perfect mix of sweet, savory, soft and crunchy. I'll definitely make this again with other sorts of winter squash.

Blue dress, again

I had enough of the blue cotton fabric to make a second dress. But this time I carefully followed along with an invisible zipper tutorial to make sure I was doing it right! The extra time and effort paid off, and I have a much more professional looking dress this time around. Next time I'm going to work on adding even more length to the bodice. The 5/8" extra I added this time was definitely not enough.

CSA Love: Week 2 Recipe Recap

This week's CSA haul:
Arugala
Spaghetti squash
Green tomatoes
Anaheim chiles
Melon
Swiss chard
Okra

I feel like I didn't do quite as well with my recipes this week--in part because I had a few more new (to me) veggies, but also because I was sick for a few days, and out of town for the weekend... But still, not too shabby!

Green tomatoes are really pretty.

And quite tasty when fried and stacked up with layers of homemade pesto.

Denver-style chile rellenos
Last time I was in Denver, my Aunt and Uncle made some fantastic homemade chile rellenos. Only they weren't the kind I had seen before. They wrapped theirs in egg roll wrappers instead of batter--and they were great! Perhaps not traditional anywhere but Denver, but they sure are easy to make and very tasty.

Swiss chard and onion quichelettes
Definitely the best of the swiss chard usage to date! I keep making things in muffin tins and freezing them for later (they're easier to thaw in portion sizes that way). I feel a bit like an astronaut eating all these complete meals with the same shape.

Crispy bhindi kurkure
Indian-style fried okra. This was pretty good, but would have been much better if I had a whole spread of Indian food to accompany it.

Spaghetti squash with Moroccan spices
My first spaghetti squash! At first I wasn't too sure about it, but it has grown on me. I added way more spices, some cinnamon, toasted almonds, caramelized onions, and raisins. Not bad!

CSA Love: Week 1 Recipe Recap

I cooked an unbelievable amount of food this week. I can't stand letting food spoil or go to waste, so my fridge full of CSA veggies was like a time bomb to motivate my kitchen creativity. Here's what I came up with this week:

Green chile
I based the dish loosely on this recipe, but altered the quantities based on what I had on hand. I also threw in some cubed potato, since I had one that needed eating. It came out pretty well!

I'itois onion pancakes
I've talked about these before, made from a Chinese scallion pancake recipe on La Fuji Mama's blog. I made a couple dozen for the freezer (and helped myself to several during the week). They are so amazingly good.

They also make for a decadent little lunch when cut up in bite sized wedges and paired with fried egg and a soy/tahini/chili sauce.

Rustic butternut squash and caramelized onion tartlettes

I like these, though I left out the goat cheese since I didn't have any on hand. As a result the flavor was perhaps on the subtle side, and I would consider increasing the onion the next time.

Toasted butternut squash seeds

Swiss chard sauteed with sunflower seeds and chili-garlic sauce
Based on a Jacques Pepin recipe suggested by my Uncle. I thought this had a really nice flavor, but to be honest, I've got a bit of a textural issue with cooked greens. I knew this going into it, but I was hoping to overcome it. Not so much.

Braising mix gratin

The Whole Foods website promised that this recipe (meant for swiss chard) would make anyone love greens. While the flavor, again, was fine, the prominent texture here was still that of cooked leafy greens, and I suspect that I'm not the only one out there that has this particular food texture issue. But fear not! I haven't given up on greens yet, and thanks to a comment from Farmgirl Fare Susan, I have an idea of how to enjoy the flavor of greens, without having their texture be the overwhelming focus of the dish.

While waiting for the gratin to cook, I roasted the last of the radishes with a bit of olive oil and salt in my toaster oven. So yummy.

Banana nut muffins

Ok, these have nothing to do with my CSA veggies, but I did have a couple over-ripe bananas that I didn't want to waste, so I made these based on this recipe, but subbed walnuts for coconut. I cut the sugar slightly, but would reduce it even more the next time. Great texture though, and it's always nice to have a bunch of muffins in the freezer for when guests are in town.

CSA Love: week one

About 5 years ago, while living in Chicago, I heard about this amazing thing called CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). While I'm sure many of you savvy blog readers have probably heard of this, I was surprised when no one at my work knew what I was talking about. When you join a CSA, you buy a share in a local farm for a set period of time. Each week, you get a selection of the ripe produce from that farm--in whatever quantity or variety there happens to be that week.

I had been wanting to join one for years, but I kept picking up and moving right in the middle of every subscription period. Luckily for me, now that I live in a hot part of the country, farms can grow veggies year-round. I just joined a CSA for a local farm, and today was my first pick-up. I've been excitedly talking about it for two days, and it didn't disappoint! My spoils:

A huge, sweet watermelon
roasted chilis (yum!)
swiss chard
i'itois onions (similar to scallions)
braising mix (does anyone know what I am supposed to do with this bag of leafy greens?)
radishes
tomatoes
butternut squash

I'm so excited--I think it will be a real cooking adventure for me, and I'll try to share any interesting recipes that I come across. I've never cooked with swiss chard (send recipe ideas!), and have only a little experience with butternut squash, so I think this could open up all kinds of new possibilities.

I'd really encourage you to check out Local Harvest, a non-profit website that allows you to search for farms, CSAs, and farmer's markets in your area. For a lot of CSAs you need to sign up pretty early to get a spot, so it wouldn't hurt to start your search soon!

Old vintage, new vintage

I picked up a folding knitting basket a couple weeks ago at a thrift store for $3. The original fabric had a certain vintage charm to it, but it was torn and a bit overpowering with its orange and lime green theme. I took it apart, made a game plan for recovering it, and chose to use some of the lovely vintage fabrics I've picked up recently. For the outside, the "Harwood Steiger" linen I bought at a Tucson vintage mall. I just googled his name and learned that he hand screen printed fabric in his Tubac, Arizona studio in the 1970s. For some other examples of his work, click here, here, and here. For the lining, I used some cream colored linen I found at an estate sale.


I'm really happy with how it turned out. It was a little tricky, and did involve some hand stitching. I'm sure it would be easier if the frame were disassembled first!