Catch Up comments: 83

I slowed to a wander on Sunday. It felt good to be so lazy and slow. The weather has been gorgeous. Bright and dry and just generally so pleasant. Our yard has been suffering the drought. It's been months since it's rained, I think. I was watering a bit through the summer and then I got busy and stopped. Andy spent the day moving the hose around from place to place. He did an imitation of a hydrangea before and after watering that was spot on — I wish I had a video. "Before" was this sad, parched, drooping, reaching thing; "after" he was bouncing in place and looked like he was on his way to a birthday party. :-) Pretty cute. I think the yard is a bit happier now, but honestly, I'd be relieved to stop worrying about it. A good rainy day would be most welcome, but all week we're supposed to be mid- to upper-eighties, and clear as a bell.

Before the slow, we packed and shipped orders, cleaned the fridge, got some groceries, did some laundry, watched television. Every night lately we've been falling asleep before 10 p.m. I made the blueberry cake again with marionberries, and a version of this pasta for dinner, but with sage instead of rosemary. I need to get it together, and get back into my cooking routine. I feel like this happens every year at this time! I need to sit down with my cookbooks and get inspired to cook for fall. Maybe actually plan [shivers involuntarily]. I suck at that. I don't mind the cooking; it's the thinking of what to cook every day that hinders. "What should we eat?" "I don't know. What do you want?" "I don't care. What do you want?" "I don't know. Pizza?" And pizza, because unless I'm actually looking at a cookbook or a recipie or a restaurant menu it's the only food I can seem to remember. I have the palate of an eighth-grade boy now. Hrrmmmm.

Making a new little preppy-hippie quilt. It's very yang. Thinking about maybe putting together a little quilt kit this winter. I think that would be really fun.

Puppers worries so when her Andy is down in the front yard without her. . . . What if he should fall down? Or need help with the sprinkler? Or someone should walk by? Or someone and A DOG should walk by? "Could you open this thing please?"

Last year (or maybe the year before?) the dahlias were $2.50/bu. Inflation. Still, a bargain.

Old and New comments: 104

Another day, another hippie dress. Not like I don't have fourteen other things I should be doing. There is so much hand sewing on these things. The bodice lining is stitched in by hand, along with the entire hem, and the sleeve hems. Two entire afternoons of hand sewing. Good thing I like — love — that sort of thing. Especially because we have a new sofa. With the chaise lounge thing. Best invention ever. Except you can't get out of it. Literally; it tilts backwards (need wedge). Finally, we have enough seating. Comfortable seating. It's not the nicest sofa in world — kind of scratchy (compared to our old microfiber one), and from Ikea (it's the Kivik). But it's kind of frumpy in a way that is really appealing to me right now. We are very hard on our furniture. We wear it out. It serves us well, but we live hard on it. Now I have three offices: the studio, the office, and the chaise lounge.

My first hippie dress was Bloomsbury. My second one (which I guess I never took a picture of), Hefeweizen. This one, guest lecturer in medieval studies at Reed College. Last night I was thinking the next/fourth one would be Sigur Ros groupie but then I changed my mind to Joanna Newsom groupie (because I was watching her on TV last night [it was TiVo-ed], and took a picture of the TV). I wore the second one to the mall the other day. I took my extraordinary, luminous niece/goddaughter shopping for some school clothes. I got some interesting looks while wearing the dress. I think some people thought I was on my way to my handmade-soap booth at the Oktoberfest. Cool!!! Or about to serve them a hot pretzel and a pitcher. I said to Andy that I thought it might be a bit too "bar maid." He said, "You say that like it's a bad thing!"

There was a barbecue with lovely new friends, there was more curried soup, there are now eggplants in the garden, there was brown sugar–banana ice cream good grief. There has been almost no reading. I thought this was going to be my summer of reading and it's been my summer of no reading. I don't know what the problem is. I picked everything up and put everything down. And then I fell asleep. Summer kind of wears me out, I think. It was good to have the long weekend of lazy. I think I needed that.

The best part of this summer were the afternoons we spent sitting in the river on our chairs together, watching the rapids and the hawks. I think of those afternoons every day. I hope there's a chance to go back one more time before it gets cool. I really, really, really, really enjoyed those afternoons.

Autumn in the Air comments: 73

Autumn is around here somewhere. You can just tell. Things have a russet undertone. The light is lower. The yard looks frizzle-frazzled. In the morning we take quilts out to the back porch with our coffee. A wind comes up in the late afternoons now and blows dry stuff around. It's been cold at night with the windows open. Perfect sleeping weather. I may have to put the down comforter back on the bed now. I think I was cold last night. Joy!!!

I made the soup again last night, and while I was at the grocery store I realized that I forgot to tell you about the creamy part of the one can of coconut milk that we added to the soup at the last minute (recipe amended)!

I also forgot to tell you about the blackberry breakfast cake I made with this recipe that one of you sent to me (though naturally I can't find the email so I can't remember who it was, I'm sorry!). That was the best coffee-cake type thing I have ever had. I keep one of those little containers of powdered buttermilk mix in my fridge and frozen berries in my freezer so always ready for something like this.

Also, remember how you asked me about the macrame bracelets and necklace I was making a few weeks ago? I used this book to learn how to do it. I'm not very good at it but I might keep doing it. It was a fun thing to do while watching the Olympics and waiting for the car to be repaired (yes, I brought all the macrame stuff with me to Les Schwab).

And while I'm at it I have been meaning to tell those of you who have asked about my pretty crocheted pebble that I often photograph: It was made by the lovely Julianna McDuffie and you can get your own here. I got mine a few years ago and I love that thing.

And yes, she is the cutest, sweetest, jolliest, most special and lovable kissable dear little black dog in the whole entire wide world. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxxxxxoooooooooooooooooooooo

Some Recipes I've Been Meaning to Share comments: 80

For many, many years I have loved my favorite chocolate cake recipe. But my sister Susie's is even better. This cake is awesome. It's dense, moist, perfectly chocolatey, and, I don't know, but there's just something really sophisticated and steady about this cake. It tasted as good as it did on the third day as it did on the first day. I agree with Susie. This is the

Best Chocolate Cake in the Whole Wide World

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (we used Cacao Barry Extra Brute, which she says is the best)
1 1/4 cup hot water
3 cups brown sugar
2 2/3 cups cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
9 oz. butter, at room temperature
3 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup (warmish) water

Preheat oven to 350 F, unless you have a convection oven. I have a convection oven and we baked this at 315 F and it came out perfectly. Grease and flour (or use cocoa powder instead of flour if you aren't going to frost the sides) two 9" round baking pans, and maybe throw a few cupcake papers in some cupcake tins in case there is more batter than you need. (Note: I use this 6" x 3" cake pan for my little cakes. The baking time is almost twice as long. I slice the cake into thirds when cool.)

Mix the hot water with the cocoa powder and let it sit for a few minutes until the cocoa is dissolved. Combine the brown sugar, cake flour, baking soda, and salt — paddle (we used a Kitchen Aid mixer, but you could use a hand mixer on low) until it is all combined and looks consistent. Add the cocoa water to the dry ingredients and beat on low until combined. (Side note: She was not happy with how fast my lowest Kitchen Aid speed was — we had to put a big dish towel over the mixer to keep the batter from flying out of the bowl everywhere, so be careful.) Cut up the butter into smaller pieces and add to the batter. Paddle for about 3 minutes on low. Scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple of times. Beat eggs lightly and mix them with the warmish water and the vanilla. Add these wet ingredients to the batter in thirds until just combined. Scrape down the bowl a lot. Pour batter in the cake pans until they are 2/3 full. Bake for 22 minutes and then check them; a toothpick poked into the center should come out clean. The cake might take 15 more minutes, but you don't want to overbake it. Let the cakes cool in their pans, then remove and frost with Cloudburst Frosting. (Please also read my notes there about this frosting; you have to beeeeeeeeeat it a lot lot.) Decorate to your heart's content! I used crazy-good fresh blackberries and mint leaves.

 

I also made up this soup. I almost never make up any recipes but I have to confess I was super happy with this one, and everyone else seemed to like it, too (including my brother-in-law, who ate it out of a glass dish that Andy and Susie brought to him at the bar where they were meeting after he got off work to play pinball [in his suit, unless they brought him a t-shirt, too, I don't know]. I just thought the image of him eating this in a bar was so hilarious).

Curried Potato-Shrimp Chowder

2 slices of bacon, cut into 1/2" pieces
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 stalk of celery, diced
2 Yukon Gold potatoes, diced
2 gloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons good yellow curry (I use Dean and Deluca's)
Salt and pepper
1 quart chicken broth
2 ears fresh corn (you could use frozen; I'm not sure how much that would be, maybe 1 to 1 1/2 cups?)
1/2 pound fresh shrimp, cut into bite size pieces
1 cup fresh or frozen peas, thawed
A handful of fresh basil, chopped
1 or 2 little ripe tomatoes, peeled and de-seeded, then chopped up, just 'cause I had them
*1 can coconut milk

In a large stock pot, fry the bacon until it is crispy then remove it from the pot and let it drain on some paper towels. Pour out the bacon grease and then add the olive oil to the pot. When it's hot, add the onions, carrot, celery, and potatoes and sautee until the vegetables are starting to brown. Add the garlic and the curry powder and the salt and sautee for a few more minutes until it's really fragrant. Add the chicken broth and simmer the soup until the potatoes are tender (I like them quite tender, almost mushy). Add the corn, fresh shrimp, peas, and bacon (thanks for catching this JenW!) and simmer until the shrimp are cooked and the corn and peas are heated through. Add the basil and some chunks of fresh tomato and chow down (at the bar).

Hopefully I got these recipes right [bites nails nervously]! I get very nervous posting recipes!!!

*DRAT: I was just at the store getting ingredients to make this again and realize that I forgot to mention: We also added the thick part of one can of coconut milk, too! You could leave it out but it's really good with it in. I am really sorry I forgot about this!

Late-Summer Slow comments: 59

The air conditioning was on, and then it was off. We sat in the river almost all day on Friday (the hottest), but by Saturday it was strangely cool and weirdly gray and wanted to rain (though it never really did). I sat in the dining room working and drinking hot chai in a long-sleeved blouse with the breeze blowing through all the windows so insistently that I was cold (and pleasantly confused, and pathetically relieved).

I made pasta with our gorgeous little tomatoes, pasta with olive oil and a little garlic, swirled around with the fresh tomatoes (which were so easy to peel, even raw, without blanching), a handful of basil (also from the garden), and big chunks of fresh mozzarella. Mama mia, that was some good dinner.

I keep forgetting to write out the chocolate cake recipe and the soup recipe! Okay, this week.

I did eat some Indian rice pudding. I could eat rice pudding every day if given the chance. I got mine from a take-out restaurant this weekend, but sometimes I make it.

Alicia's Kheer

4 c. milk
1/2 cup basmati rice
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cardamom

(I don't know if this is really a traditional kheer, but I like it.)

Rinse well and then soak basmati rice in cold water for a half an hour. Combine milk, rice, condensed milk, and sugar in a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepot, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until milk is reduced by half and pudding is thick (or however you like it). Add cardamom, stir, and let cool to room temperature before serving.

I have a sleepy puppers on my lap right now. I wish I could lounge with her (actually, I wish I was that girl on the black pony up there) but we are in full ornament-kit production mode, so it's time for bad Lifetime movies, gallons of iced tea, and several hours of repetitive motion arranging little piles of wool felt. Love it!!!

Summer Sweetness comments: 98

August has a glow. There was twilight birdsong all around us in the field. I cried in the sunset. My sister's visit has been wonderful. The world spins and spins. The flowers. The nights. The years.

High Heat comments: 54

Hot, hot heat this past weekend. We sat in chairs in the river all afternoon. Best day I've had in ages. Leaves fell from the trees on the bank and flashed silver as they spun toward the dark water. Even in the heat there was a glimmer of autumn. My sister made grilled peaches glittered with lemon zest and mint. August in a bowl. We've watched hours and hours of the Olympics. Coolest sport = trampoline! The electricity went out last night for several hours. I macrameed a bracelet until it was too dark to see. Needless to say, at 102 degrees no baking or oven cleaning has happened. Though we did make a trip across town to buy pearl sugar for yeasted waffles. Priorities.

Best Weather Ever comments: 129

Mid-70s, sunny, gentle breezes. Perfect, rare, delicious weekend days. Best weekend weather I can ever remember in my entire life. We harvested beets and potatoes from our wee garden plot on Friday afternoon. It was silly exciting — you stick your hand in the ground and come up with a bunch of gorgeous Yukon Gold potatoes. Cube them up, add a couple of the tender onions you also pulled out of the ground, add one of the teensy heads of garlic you also pulled out of the ground, splash on some olive oil, shower with pepper and sea salt, bake at 375 degrees F for 40 minutes, add some butter when they come out and you have the best dinner ever. Oh, and do the same thing (without the butter — or are they good with butter?) to the beets. That you pulled out of the ground. The best dinner to go with the best weather. I almost cried. To think there are probably twenty-plus more potatoes still out there? Oh my stars. Next year I may just grow potatoes, onions, garlic, and beets.

The wee sidewalk garden has been such a good experience. I have loved it all so much this summer. I was sitting out there on the stairs last night, watching the beautiful twilight come on after such gorgeous weekend weather. I thought about how the butternut squash and the cucumbers are now trailing up the teepee where the peas grew last month. I thought about the day we put the peas in, months ago. Having a vegetable garden makes the summer seems different, somehow. I've never noticed all of it, or appreciated all of it — the ground and the water and the sun and the season — quite so much as I have this summer. Cliched but true. I like sitting out there every morning and every evening, watching it all change. I like fussing over the tidy little squares of rows. I don't really know what I'm doing at all but the stuff still grows. It's much different and a lot more satisfying to me than growing flowers and shrubs. I love the flowers and the shrubs, but the vegetables are different. Maybe because it's just a smaller area, with defined boundaries, and it feels like the right size for me when the rest of the yard feels too big and like too much (even though it's really not all that big). The vegetables also appeal to my utilitarian nature. I have always liked to make things that get used.

Also, it's just still so bewildering to me that it all worked. We put it in the ground and then it just worked out. I'm not used to that.

Something's blooming in the woods right now that makes allergic people go crazy but makes me happy. It's some kind of weed that I like the smell of but I don't know exactly what it is. I'd like to bottle the scent. Speaking of, I was thinking of buying some perfume. I haven't bought any in years and years. I want something that smells like the summer woods. Any recommendations?

On Thursday night we went to Edgefield with friends. I sat on the quilt and knit while listening to Steven Martin and his bluegrass band. He was hilariously funny. Our friend's eleven-year-old niece was visiting from Texas. She sat next to me and watched my hands while I knit. She asked me questions: Is it hard? How many things have you made? What's your favorite thing that you've made? Who taught you? We talked through the night and I won't deny that I hoped she might go back to Fort Worth with the spark of an idea about little sticks and string.

Works in Progress comments: 59

I finished my own Alpine Frost shawl over the weekend. I had actually started mine a few months ago and I liked it so much I wanted to make one for Julie's birthday. When hers was finished I immediately went back to mine. And then finished it. It's quite a bit longer than Julie's — mine is about 90" long and about 25" wide. I blocked it like crazy, stretching it in every direction as far as I could. A pin holding every picot point. (I added the picot edging; it's not in the pattern as written, but the details are on my Ravelry page for it.) What I love about this yarn is that it really has no shine at all. It's completely matte. And downy soft. And light as that feather. And tumbles into a copious mound of frothy billows around my neck. Where it sits right now since it's 56 degrees out. Which I don't mind now that I have this thing.

Now on the needles (as it has been since May, also) is Quill, Quill the color of antler, its garter stitch center section complete and on round 12 of its Old Shale border. Fingering-weight yarn feels heavy after so many hours (and hours and hours) or crocheting lace-weight.

It's been a really busy few weeks. I've spent my time alternating between building my new web shop and working on the new ornament kits. Neither is finished. The web shop — it's shocking how many hours it requires. I'll be beyond thrilled when it's finished and functional. Occasionally I have my doubts that it will ever be either. Occasionally I feel that I've taken the DIY thing too far in trying to do this mostly myself. But that's what I can afford. And I want it to be a certain way that doesn't quite fit the standard template. I'm hoping it will be up and running sometime next month. I will be so happy!

I meant to say thank you for all of your sweet anniversary wishes last week. Thank you so much for those! I haven't had a chance to even scratch the surface of the iced tea recipes, partly because the weather has turned so cold again that it makes hot tea more appealing than cold. Not complaining, but . . . it's strange. I suppose it makes for good TV-watching weather, though, with the Olympics coming up. (Actually, there's nothing I like more than all of the programs leading up to the Olympics that explore different aspects of the host city [especially when it's London]. I love those!) The news of the world has been so sad lately (my heart goes out to Colorado this summer) I'm hoping that the Olympics can truly foster a spirit of brother- and sisterhood on an individual and international level.

My own little sister, Susie, comes to stay with us for a two-week visit a week from today. Andy has ordered the sour-cream-and-onion popcorn seasoning and I need to get stovetop espresso maker to cook up her quadruple-shot lattes. I can't wait. We're planning a movie marathon of our individual and family favorites. Obviously, Seems Like Old Times tops the list. Oh I adore that movie. Can't wait to see my sissy.

Summer Eats and Heats comments: 101

Oh, they were good. Thank you again, so much, for all of the wonderful recommendations. It was hard to know where to start because they all looked so good! But I wound up tossing some cabbage and carrots with a lot of fresh lime juice, some chopped cilantro, and a glug of olive oil (and sea salt and pepper); adding three minced (seeds removed) chipotle peppers in adobo sauce to mayonnaise (along with some minced raw garlic, more lime juice, and more salt and papper); making this grilled corn salad; and then these homemade tortillas. Andy grilled some tilapia (in a fish grilling basket) rubbed with a bit of olive oil and a little Mexican spice blend (it was already in a bottle in my spice rack, from Penzey's).

Man, it was good. I think the homemade tortillas were the best part. I highly recommend the whole menu!!!

On Sunday morning, Andy went back to work after being off sick for about a week. I had finished several projects I'd been working on and was amazed to find myself with a whole day alone and nothing to do. I was both excited and confused. I was so excited that I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do (confused). Unfortunately, I hadn't slept at all the night before because it was so hot in our room, so everytime I sat down to think about what I wanted to do, I fell asleep (including during the fourth set of Murray-Federer — I know! — I slept through the entire set! I woke up to Andy Murray crying, which got me really choked up. I had been rooting for him [even though my new favorite player is Tsonga]). Then I made pancakes for myself to cheer myself up.

Swedish Pancakes

4 eggs
1 c. flour
1 T. sugar
1 t. salt
1 c. milk
a little bloop of vegetable oil

Whisk eggs, flour, sugar, and salt together into a smooth paste. Slowly whisk in milk until just combined, then add a bit of oil (just to keep them from sticking) and stir again. Ladle or pour the batter onto the griddle over medium heat, and tip pan to swirl batter into a thin circle. Flip when edges look dry.

That worked. Then I fell back asleep while crocheting on the couch. It got warmer and warmer outside. Unfamiliar with this unusual meterological phenomenon, I failed to register its effect on my already floppy hold on the day. I rode my bike to the grocery store and almost passed out. I think it was 83 degrees (but 83 and hilly?). No, feel free to laugh, seriously. I was in first gear, going about 1 mph. Wearing a dress. People were passing me and I'm pretty sure they were laughing. I would've laughed if I could've breathed. When I got home I stumbled into the kitchen and made an enormous pitcher of raspberry iced tea and drank almost all of it, along with another gallon of water (and limes — I really love limes). Then (somehow) I made a version of this superfood salad (but I made the quinoa with vegetable stock, used the leftover corn salad, and skipped the vinaigrette [didn't need it]). Then I went upstairs and laid directly under the ceiling fan. Outside I could hear neighbors in every direction having barbecues and speaking in normal tones, and not about the weather. I assumed they were also wearing actual clothes out there. HOW??? In bewildered awe of them, I fell asleep during Inspector Lewis. When Andy got home he said I looked flattened, like the cats, trying to expose as much surface area of my body as possible to the overhead fan breeze. My contacts had turned into dried up little shards of plastic. I think my hair had dreadlocked itself. I was a hot mess.

I'm not sure if it's because I slept nine or ten hours last night or if it's because it's currently only 59 degrees, but I seem to have recovered all my faculties today (so far). It was really only one of our first hot days here all summer (it did get up to 88), and that was enough for me. I honestly don't know how anyone survives temperatures in the 90s and 100s.