Denise for Sale!

My original Denise shawl is now for sale on Etsy!  

Shawl-jauntyjpg

 

Filed under  //  fundraising   pattern  
Posted

Denise at the Paradise

My first ever for-sale pattern is now live!  I am selling this shawl pattern on Ravelry to raise money for Children in Need.  I've also put the pattern here for free, in case people want to preview before buying, or are themselves In Need.  Happy hooking, everyone!

Shawl-back

Here is the pdf:

Click here to download:
denise-pattern-small.pdf (719 KB)
(download)

Filed under  //  fundraising   pattern  
Posted

What's for Dinner? (Thursday)

Thursday's dinner is leftovers.  

Photo-49

I had the pasta from last night, and for Jamie I put the last of the lentil stew in a pie tin with the last of the mashed potato, grated some cheddar on top and dubbed it "Hippie Pie."  

But for dessert we had individual apple crumbles in adorable apple dishes Jamie's mother gave us for our wedding anniversary.  

(download)

Apple Crumble for Two

For the topping:

1/4 C oats

1/4 C flour

little cinnamon and nutmeg

2 T brown sugar

2 T butter

Pack the apples into two small or one medium oven-safe dish.  Sprinkle evenly with vanilla and brown sugar.  (Few drops of lemon juice optional at this stage.)  In a separate bowl, rub the topping ingredients together with your fingertips until they are homogeneous.  Layer topping carefully into dish(es).  Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 20-25 minutes, or until topping is brown and apples are soft.  Serve with custard.

Apparently, crumble in Scotland has oats and in England does not.  This is because of Samuel Johnson.

Filed under  //  recipe   whatsfordinner  
Posted

Baking with Sheena

Photo-47
I found this recipe in Gran's recipe box.  I have no idea what a melting moment is, but the Rural seems to, so I have a batch of them in the oven. They smell like custard, which is both unsurprising and delightful.  I've copied the recipe verbatim from Gran's notecard:

 

Melting moments (S.W.R.I)

3 ozs. S.R. flour

3 ozs. marg.

1 oz. custard powder

1 oz. sugar

METHOD  Cream marg. and sugar.  Add flour and custard powder.  Form into balls, put on to a well greased tin.  Score on top with flat end of fork.  Bake in a good hot oven.  15-20 mins.

 

But I don't have margarine or self-raising flour, so I made some substitutions.  I also had to guess about exactly how hot a "good hot oven" is.  

 

Melting Moments (Em's first try)

3 oz plain flour

1/2 t baking powder

3 oz room-temperature butter

1 oz custard powder

1 oz sugar

Cream butter and sugar.  Add flour, baking powder, custard.  Form into 12 balls, shape like peanut butter cookies.  Bake 15 minutes at 180°C with the fan on. 

Photo-48

Mmmm.  They are very short and very crumbly and not too sweet.  They would be very nice half-dipped in chocolate.  Next time I think I'll double the recipe.  Same amount of work for twice as many cookies?  Done.

 

Filed under  //  cookies   recipe  
Posted

What's for Dinner? (Wednesday)

 

Wednesday's dinner is baked pasta. 
Photo-45
I always make my own pasta sauce.  This is a holdover from when I first moved to the UK and couldn't find a brand of sauce in Tesco that was worth the price.  Now I find pre-made varieties both too salty and too sweet.  And they never taste enough of vegetable. 

Spaghetti Sauce

1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T oil
1 small onion, diced
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1/2 C water
1 bay leaf
1 T basil
1 t oregano
pinch sugar
salt & pepper
Fry the onion in the oil until translucent; add the garlic and fry one minute more.  Dump in the tomatoes, herbs, salt and water.  Bring just to a boil, then turn down to low and simmer, half covered, at least 20 minutes.  When the sauce looks thick and delicious, fish out the bay leaf and add two turns of pepper.
Photo-46
In this instance, I added yellow pepper and chard stems for extra nutrition.  The former went in with the onions, and the latter with the garlic.  When the sauce was done, I boiled the pasta, adding the greens to the water for the last 30 seconds.  The drained pasta was mixed with sauce and covered with cheese and oregano, then baked in the oven for a few minutes until the cheese started to bubble. The timings were all screwed up, though, because I decided to make cookies at the same time. 

 

Filed under  //  recipe   whatsfordinner  
Posted

What's for Dinner? (Tuesday)

Tuesday's dinner is broccoli chowder and last night's brown bread.

Photo-44
Now, what I call broccoli chowder is basically just potato-leek soup with broccoli added in at the last minute.  And I never peel a potato if I can help it (like Mom says never to truss a chicken.)  The excuse I use is that all the nutrients are just under the skin, but really I'm just lazy.  

Broccoli Chowder
4 small potatoes, small cubes
1 large or 2 small leeks, thinly sliced
1 head broccoli, including peeled stalks, tiny pieces
1 T butter
1 T stock powder
1 bay leaf
1 T flour dissolved in a little boiling water
some milk

Fry leeks in butter until soft.  Add chopped potatoes, stock granules, and bay leaf.  Pour in just enough boiling water to cover the vegetables.  Simmer this, covered, until the potatoes are tender (20 minutes).  Throw the broccoli in and let that cook until only just done, then add the flour-water paste and stir until it starts to thicken.  Add the milk and let simmer for a few minutes, uncovered, stirring often.  When it is as thick as you'd like it, remove the bay leaf, and taste for salt and pepper.  If it gets too gloopy, add some more milk.  Blending optional.  
Photo-43
I started chopping at 6:45 and it was ready to eat at 7:40.  We had the rest of last night's brown bread with it, and it was delicious.  

Filed under  //  recipe   whatsfordinner  
Posted

MAKE-LEARN-GIVE: Fourth Week of October

This week has been brought to you by pop culture. 

I MADE a lace shawl based on one I saw on TV:
Photo-41
I LEARNED to play the Hobbity theme from Lord of the Rings on the tin whistle, which is way more interesting than playing scales. (This was the twelfth take:)
(download)

I GAVE my beloved Ravenclaw scarf to a younger woman.  It will now have a long life keeping someone else warm and nerdy.  In memoriam:
39

Filed under  //  crochet   makelearngive   music  
Posted

What's for Dinner? (Monday)

Monday's dinner is lentil stew and brown bread.

Photo-40
Lentil stew is a standby in this house.  I make it at least once a fortnight in the winter months, and it is a perfect good-for-you chaser after a weekend of eating out.  Even better, it is made out of cupboard ingredients and fridge-stable vegetables, so if there's no other food in the house, there's always enough to throw this together.  Sometimes I don't have a pepper on hand, and the result is always edible, but disappointing.

This is the recipe as I wrote in the cookbook I gave Jamie on our wedding day:

Lentil Stew
1 tin tomatoes
1 C lentils, any colour but red
2 C water
2 carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 green (etc) pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 bay leaf
1 T cumin
1 T stock

Put everything in a cold pan and bring it to a simmer on high heat.  Turn it down to low and simmer covered until the lentils are tender (30-40 minutes, depending on variety).  If it still seems too watery, turn up the heat and cook uncovered for a few minutes.  Taste and add salt, pepper, and/or Worcestershire sauce.

I have altered the previously-linked brown bread recipe from Farmette:

Brown Bread
10 oz wholemeal flour
6 oz strong bread flour
1 t salt
1 t baking soda
~400ml milk
1 T vinegar
1 small egg
2 T honey

Preheat oven to 200°C. Whisk the egg in a measuring jug.  Pour in milk to bring it up to 450ml.  Add vinegar and whisk again.  Let this sit until the oven is heated up.  Measure all the dry ingredients into a large bowl and fork them together to approximate a uniform distribution.  Generously butter a loaf tin.  When the oven is ready (and not before!), pour the wet ingredients, remembering the honey, into the dry.  Stir to only just mix, pour in tin.  Bake at 200°C for 30-40 minutes.  

I tend to under-bake, which leaves the inside a bit soggy, so I'm now trying giving it another five minutes after I think it's ready.

Tonight I started making the bread at 5:45.  When it was in the oven (about 6) I started chopping things for the stew.  I took the bread out to cool at 6:38.  The stew was ready at 7:05.  A lot of the time in the middle was spent writing this post or doing other housework.  Oh, and playing Letterpress.  That game is awesome. 

Filed under  //  recipe   whatsfordinner  
Posted

Weekend in Dublin

Autumn was in Dublin for a few weeks in October, so we popped over to visit her.

The Man in Seat 61 provides this calculation of travel emissions, in kilograms of CO2:

London to Edinburgh

Flight: 3.5 hours, 193 Kg 

Rail: 4.5 hours, 24 Kg = 87% less


London to Dublin

Flight: 4 hours, 174.8 Kg

Rail: 8 hours by train & ferry, 46.8 Kg = 73% less

So we took the ferry (which was not as awesome as the ferry to Belfast.)

Photo-37

And we went to the seaside.

Photo-38

And we listened to live music at the Cobblestone.

Photo-36

I like to consider this my first trip to Dublin, so it didn't matter that the two days didn't allow for all the things I'd like to do and see there.  Next time I'm going to get some nice wool, go to the castle, and visit the museum of modern art.  This time, though, I enjoyed spending time with people I love, even if some of them still refuse to wear hats.

Photo-39



 

Filed under  //  carbonfootprint   travel  
Posted

MAKE-LEARN-GIVE: Third Week of October

It's been a productive week.  I MADE a gingerbread in honour of Gran, and ate it with butter and Earl Grey.  

(download)

I LEARNED that Irish brown bread is a type of soda bread that is leavened with the combination of baking soda and buttermilk, which is slightly acidic.  It is more like cake than bread, and takes next to no prep time.  I found a lovely recipe online that I've made twice now, most recently with fish chowder.   

Photo-34

I GAVE half of my nice muddy carrots from the Farmers' Market to my mother-in-law, since she appreciates their superior flavour.

Photo-33

Filed under  //  makelearngive   recipe  
Posted