February 8, 2010

Lucky Number 3

Sometimes I like to look for patterns in my life. More often than not, whatever I pick up on is arbitrary or a bit of a stretch, but it’s still kind of fun to think about—as if there’s some underlying cosmic  order making sense of my seemingly random endeavors. On that note…

I’ve decided that 3 was a good number for me this weekend. After attending a welcome reception with Kyle at Harvard Business School on Friday night, we went to my favorite burger place where I devoured my go-to meal:

I almost always get the same 3 things at BGood: Westside burger, sweet potato fries, and crisp veggies.

But the best 3 of all was my 3 cousins who visited from St. Louis and Providence:

Amy, Erica, Charlotte (sister), Jamie (and me).

Such gorgeous ladies ;) We spent Saturday night out on the town, from drinks at Eastern Standard to delicious Mexican food and margaritas at La Verdad (where, incidentally, I got the combo of 3 different kinds of tacos) and more drinks at the Foundation Lounge. Cousins are just marvelous.

As for Sunday, well, as far as I’m concerned the Superbowl = an excuse to eat chili and get in some quality knitting time. By the end of the first quarter, I had completed my 3-block hat:

I don’t have the size 1 circular needles that the pattern called for so I improvised with size 5 and a 3×3 rib. Somehow, despite the fact that I totally winged this and didn’t count stitches/check gauge/measure my head…it fits! And, as luck would have it, my stash of Cascade is still relatively plentiful. I may have even cast on some socks to keep me occupied for the rest of the game. How I love football.

I also added the 3rd layer to my onion quilt. At Sewfisticated (incidentally, owned by the mother of the guy who owns BGood–how random is that!) I found this green plaid fabric, which does and doesn’t match to just the right degree:

Now I’m working on adding long running stitches to hold it all together.

Finally, I kicked off my Monday with one last 3. Much to my own surprise, I have registered for a triathlon. A super short (and hopefully easy) one, but a triathlon none the less. I’m equally terrified and excited. I’m one of those people who actually enjoys working out (sorry) so I happen to be decent at running and swimming (biking…not so much, though I manage to pant my way through spinning classes every now and then). But I’ve never competed in any kind of athletic event so my goal is quite simply to complete this crazy endeavor without any major mishaps or embarrassments.  My boss somehow pursuaded me, and while my first instinct was a big fat resounding ‘no,’ the idea is really growing on me. Either way, I don’t plan on coming home with any medals which takes some of the pressure off ;)

So far, all I really know about training for these types of events is that you get to ‘carbo load.’ I know, I have many months before I really need to be doing this, but isn’t that just the best excuse to re-devote some attention to my bread baking? I think so.

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February 5, 2010

KISS

Up until two days ago, I was sure that I was going to a wedding in Baltimore this weekend—an anticipated 20″ of snow put an end to that (which is sad, I love weddings!)

 Any amount of travel requires me to make some adjustments to my fabric-related goals. Obviously, I don’t expect to get much sewing done—and even my recent hand sewing obsession would be hard to whip out on an airplane. In other words, travel = knitting.

But when I realized I wouldn’t be traveling this weekend, I instantly started making all kinds of plans—Saturday night dancing, Sunday brunch—and all kinds of crafting goals. Maybe I’ll finish my onion quilt! Maybe I’ll start another, even bigger onion quilt and complete the first layer! Maybe I’ll also finish my giant Mexican napkin pillow…I can be a bit overambitious.

Then I try to remember a simple little phrase: Keep It Simple Silly. Or, KISS. Yes, I know, this is rather hokey—but worth keeping in mind as well. Productivity is certainly gratifying, and Lord knows I’ll enjoy some sewing time this weekend. But perhaps I won’t make any goals. Perhaps I’ll stick to the original plan, which was to slowly work away at my latest knitting project.

I’ve been making the Three Block Cap from Vivian Hoxbro’s “Knit to be Square”, using my own color combinations, of course. I love the funky construction of domino knitting (even though I’m rather mediocre at picking up stitches) and this hat is put together in a particularly odd way. It’s basically composed of three nine-patches which are connected into a bowl-like shape:

 

 Right now, it looks like some kind of weird octopus creature. I’m in the process of filling in those gaps.

And, oh, the colors!

 

I seem to have a never-ending supply of leftover Cascade yarn. Not that I’m complaining.

 

 I’ve been working on this hat for months—it’s the project I squeeze in at odd moments on the subway, in line at the grocery store, etc. And I have no real ambitions about when I want to complete it. So, inspired by Soule Mama’s Slow Knitting, I’m going to stick with the original plan and take it easy this weekend. Oh, sure, I’ll probably pay a visit to Sewfisticated and squeeze in some hand stitching–and I wouldn’t mind finding the time to make Jessica’s Creamy White Bean Dip; this girl and her amazing recipes are my latest blog crush–but I have no goals. I’m just going to knit, one triangle at a time.

Come to think of it, KISS could also be: Knitting In Slow Steps, Knitting Is Slow & Steady… or something like that…

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February 2, 2010

It Doesn’t Get Much Better

On Saturday night, I was in my pajamas by 5 o’clock and sleeping by 10. On Sunday, I was out until midnight, started and ended my evening with cocktails, and in between consumed a glass of champagne and three bottles of this (amongst four people, that is):

 

Hmmm, not entirely sure how that happened. You see, it was double date night with my lovely older sister, Char:

 

I’m very excited in this picture because she bought me gummy fish oils; so much more fun than swollowing those big fishy-smelling pills! (This is the beginning of the evening, so I really am just excited.)

We started with snazzy cocktails at Davios, then went to The Melting Pot and had quite the night of romantic fondue fun:

 

Then decided that the evening wouldn’t be complete without a heavenly pomegranate martini from Morton’s steakhouse. Not my usual Sunday night behavior, but I crawled into bed thinking life doesn’t get much better than this.

Monday was therefore… interesting ;) God bless Dunkin Donuts iced coffees and espresso ‘turbo’ shots.

You can imagine how amazing it felt to drive home to my apartment and heat up some delicious leftovers for dinner:

 

This is a chicken and prune dish that I improvised on Saturday night in my wonderful Creuset French oven. Basically, it consisted of: chicken breasts, prunes, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, cumin, and fresh ginger, marinated in red wine vinegar for a few hours, and then cooked in the oven for about an hour in chicken broth.

Thanks to their very particular effect on the digestive system, prunes get a bit of a bad rep, but I’m a big fan of the sweet-and-savory combination so, as far as I’m concerned, this dish was heaven. Char happens to be a prune fiend so I also owe her credit for inspiring this medley.

I managed to squeeze in a couple of hours of work on my latest project, which I’ve decided to call my Onion Quilt. If this makes no sense to you, read my previous post. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me sooner.

I’m just going to town with the applique/reverse applique/hand stitching.

But even hand stitching takes a certain degree of mental clarity… so I may or may not have crawled into bed at about 7:30 with my knitting:

 

Not quite sure how long this lasted before I was drifting off to sleep, thinking life doesn’t get much better than this.

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January 31, 2010

A Different Kind of Bread

I started my weekend off right: a Friday night dinner with one of my favorite people, my sister Z, at a delicious, tucked-away restaurant downtown, Troquet. There’s nothing quite like a ladies night.  We had a little sisterly love fest, fabulous wine and bubbly cocktails:

We even made friends with the couple sitting next to us (bit of a long story; like I said, this place has really good wine):

 

There was too much amazing food to recount in detail (think truffle pasta, duck confit, and sticky toffee pudding which is the only dessert that can distract me from chocolate). However, the culinary highlight of the evening was my main course of suckling pig (served three ways) which came with…spoon bread. Now, I’d never heard of spoon bread before so, as a bread lover, I was naturally intrigued.

 

Can you tell which is the spoon bread? If so, I’m impressed because I wasn’t entirely sure until I’d sampled a bite of each. It’s second from the right—and boy was it good.

So Saturday morning I rummaged through a couple of the many cookbooks that I’ve inherited from my mother and discovered that the main ingredient of spoon bread isn’t flour; it’s cornmeal. This means that spoon bread is really just polenta in disguise. And you may know how I feel about polenta. I’m also eager to try any dish involving eggs since I now have a regular supply of freshly laid eggs from my mother’s chickens. Big surprise, then, that on Saturday night, I did a little spoon bread baking of my own.  

I found a very basic recipe and decided to spruce it up with cheese and baby spinach. I’m not being cocky when I say it was 100% successful because, well, I’ll be the first to admit that—in contrast to the slightly more finicky yeast bread—spoon bread is kind of hard to mess up.

If you ask me, it should really be called sponge bread (it got its name from the fact that it is traditionally eaten with a spoon; big surprise) due to its soft, foamy texture. The spinach rose the top in the baking process and formed a crispy green layer while the cheese melted throughout and provided a sharp, subtle undertone. And, of course, it tastes a whole lot like polenta, which can only be a good thing.

Spinach & Cheese Spoon Bread

  • ¾ cups yellow cornmeal
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 cup boiling water
  • 3 tbsp melted butter
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • ¼ cup sharp yellow cheese, grated
  • 1 large handful baby spinach
  • 1 tbsp olive oil

    •  

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Sautee the spinach in a medium sauce pan, coating it with the olive oil and stirring until it is entirely softened.

In a large bowl, mix together the cornmeal and salt. Add the boiling water while stirring continuously, then add the melted butter. The batter should be smooth.

In a smaller, separate bowl, whisk together the eggs. Gently whisk in the milk. Add the milk and egg mixture to the cornmeal mixture and whisk together, gradually adding the baking powder. Sprinkle the cheese and spinach across the top of the batter and mix it in gently with a wooden spoon.

Poor the batter into a greased baking dish, about 8 x 8 inches. Bake for 30 minutes or until firm.

 

The rest of my Saturday consisted of a freezing cold morning at Faneuil Hall and a warm, happy afternoon in the apartment spent—you guessed it—hand stitching. My fingers are a little sore, but I’m powering through. My main focus has been on my reverse appliqué quilt (which needs a better name; I’m still brainstorming). Last night, while watching Inglorious Bastards (oh Quentin Tarantino, I love your movies but they give me some weird dreams), I finished up the zigzag stitching around the perimeters of the reverse appliqué squares:

 

I also added another layer of reverse appliqué with buttonhole stitching to the central square:

 

I keep thinking of Shrek’s unsuccessful metaphor for how ogres are like onions while I work on this quilt because I envision it as having many layers, which I build up (or peel away, as the case may be) as I go. It’s an evolving quilt, not one that I have an entirely clear vision of from the start. Those are often the best kinds…

And I sure am addicted to the hand stitching. You know it’s bad when you’re practicing 90 degree power yoga (as I was this morning) and you keep getting distracted by the stitching along the side of your yoga towel:

 

Yeah, I’m a bit obsessed. Fortunately, I have a wide open day of sewing ahead of me, followed by a double date with my other sister. A weekend of stitching, sister time, and good food; doesn’t get much better than that.

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