Suddenly, Pickles

Occasionally, market farmers will give me some vegetables with bad spots on them; they know my reputation.

Recently, a market farmer gave me a whole bag of bell peppers, about 10 in all.  Free.

Then, the next week, he told me he had pickles for me.  An entire half-bushel of pickling cucumbers, it turns out.  I did some rapid calculations involving time, hauling capacity, and dill. He saw the dismayed look on my face and kindly told me to just take what I thought I wanted. Again, free.

I took a bag and canned 10 quarts of dill pickles.  I discovered in the process that I didn't have enough apple cider vinegar or dill seed in the house.  I screeched out the door to pick up the kids (late) with the kitchen steaming, salty, and littered.  I was definitely out of the canning rhythm!

But the pickles look lovely.  I experimented with putting some green tea in the pickle brine to see if the tannin keeps the pickles crisp.  I used grape leaves for their tannin this past summer and the pickles are remarkably crisp.

Love this bumper sticker from Marilou, although the canning in this post wasn't with local stuff!

And next time I went to market, I took a carefully-wrapped jar of pickles to that farmer to say thank you for all the free veggies.  We were both pleased.

June Days

I've stopped counting how many days off from school my children have due to bad weather this winter.  These are not "snow days," I tell my children, but "June days" because these days will show up on the end of your school year in June.  Buy now, pay later.

Ben with his collar popped, eating breakfast.

We don't drive anywhere on June days, but we do walk downtown to run errands or go sledding in the park.  Sometimes we have playdates with friends.  We've cooked and baked together and I've been working on my job search, taxes, health insurance, and photo storage at the odd times I can snatch at the computer.  We do not have cabin fever and we have plenty of projects yet to explore.  In fact, one of my goals this week is to tidy up my sewing space because there are several interesting projects spread on top of each other and I  work more effectively if my space is tranquil.

I'm happy with the weather - it's wintry as it should be in these parts, not like the mild, wet winters we've had for a few years.  I'm not juggling a job with childcare, so altered schedules simply mean slower mornings and pajamas at home.  When the kids fight, I send them outside, separate them, or get on the phone with a friend (using my lifeline - isn't that from a game show?  My scant TV knowledge is showing.).

Keeping Ben company at breakfast while sewing on a button and discussing the straightest thing I ever saw (his question).

Are you at home because of bad weather? What are you doing?

International Ice Cream for Breakfast 2014

My husband asked me why we weren't walking downtown to the ice cream shop to eat ice cream for breakfast there.  Because every other morning of the week, I am cajoling people to get up, get dressed, look decent and then, get out the door at some agreed-upon (or contested) time.  I like a holiday from that routine.  I like to wear my pajamas and let my hair run wild as long as I want to for just one day a week.

So.  I made hot fudge sauce, ice cream, and waffles for International Ice Cream for Breakfast Day.  Most of us also ate bananas.

Everyone was happy, except for Genevieve who does not care for vanilla ice cream. She celebrated International Hot Fudge and Waffles for Breakfast.

 I considered making a new Jeni's flavor, but really, simple vanilla seemed kindest to our breakfast palates.

The Tablecloth That Needed Some Length

I bought another length of home dec fabric, terracotta colored, to make into a tablecloth.  This one, however, shrank so much during its initial washing that it wasn't long enough for the table!  Plus, a 5" section had unraveled badly.

I was dismayed for several weeks and then I thought: why couldn't I add some more fabric on to it?  I had nothing suitable in my fabric stash and I am only buying dress-lengths of fabric right now, so I turned to my scrap bins.

I pieced together a long enough swath and backed it with muslin, so the raw edge of the original terracotta fabric is encased between the muslin and the patchwork.

Then I made up the difference in the frayed area with more patchwork so I wouldn't have to trim down the whole edge and lose width.

Whew.  I'm quite pleased with the rich, whimsical look.  It cost $15 plus scraps and thread.

Hearts on Her Knees

I love patching things.  Lately, I've been patching more than I've been photographing.  I have hopes to do a giant round-up post of all the patching.

In the meantime, here's Genevieve with her patched jeans.  I have sequestered old jeans legs and other denim scraps in a bag in my workroom so that I can patch denim with denim.  Here I used scraps of railroad-striped denim to make heart patches on the knees.  On the inside are flannel rectangles - you can see them outlined with the topstitching.

And Genevieve is holding a Calico Critter.  She and Ben pored over a Toys R 'Us Christmas circular and begged and begged to buy these things.  I think children thrive best on homemade, open-ended toys, so I said no.  They continued to beg, which I took as a sign that Calico Critters were not a passing interest.

So I told them that they could save their money from grandparents and extra chores and only buy the little figures, not their houses or furniture.  So they did.

And now they are constantly devising houses out of wood and cardboard.  And pestering their father to help them.

Ben's friend, tonight, while eating popcorn:  "What's a Calico Critter?"
Ben:  "a piece of crap."

That is a true story.  I'm afraid Ben was quoting his mother.

I need to marshal my thoughts for a post about the children and money because it's starting to get rather complicated in that area.

Genevieve's Macaroni and Cheese

One snow day, Genevieve clamored to eat macaroni and cheese for lunch.  Usually, leftovers in the fridge that need to be eaten take precedence over such requests.  This is good thrifty training.  

However, Genevieve ran and got her dolly kettle and put it on the stove and kept begging to make mac and cheese until I recalled Leila's easy stovetop recipe.  And I typed up the recipe for her and she made mac and cheese for us! She has happily repeated the process several times since then.

Genevieve likes to have help pouring out the hot pasta water and yesterday she complained that her arm hurt from stirring the double batch she insisted on making, but otherwise, she does this recipe herself.  

I stay nearby, though, because she is still learning to read her recipe over and over to stay on track and make sure she is prepared for the next step in the recipe. She is 8 years old, as a point of reference for cook training.

I made my serving into chili-mac.  So delicious.

Here is the recipe as I typed it up for my apprentice cook.

Genevieve's Macaroni  and Cheese (tweaked just a little from Leila)

2 cups small, dry pasta

½ cup milk, preferably at least 2%

¼ cup hot pasta water from boiling pasta

1 Tbsp. cornstarch

¼ tsp. dry mustard

few grinds black pepper and maybe more to taste

1/2 tsp. salt plus more for the pasta water

1 Tbsp. butter

1 1/3 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese or maybe a mix of 2 cheeses

 1.  Fill pan with water half full.  Add 2 small spoons  of salt.  Put lid on and bring to boil.  Put pasta in.  Cook with lid off on high heat for 5-7 minutes until pasta is al dente.

2.  Scoop or pour out ¼ cup pasta water.

3.  Drain rest of pasta in colander in sink.  Return it to hot pan. 

4.  Over low heat, add 1 Tbsp. butter and stir until melted. 

5.  Mix pasta water with ½ cup milk, 1 Tbsp. cornstarch,  ¼ tsp. dry mustard, salt, and pepper.  Pour over pasta and butter in pan, stirring.

6.  Cook and stir until sauce is thick.

7.  Add cheese, stirring until melted.  Taste.  Adjust seasoning if needed.  Serve with a smile!

Burpcloths for Babies

Burpcloths are my standard baby gift because I can make them quickly, play with the colors and customize them to the family, and they are practical for puking babies and then older babies who want a lovey.  I use 2 pieces of 11x17 flannel for each burpcloth, usually piecing at least one side for interest. I sew them together wrong sides, leaving a hole to turn it.  I topstitch the burpcloth, closing the hole in the process.

These are for twin girls born to friends across town.

And these are for a new little guy.

 I took his parents a meal, too, and stopped to snap a photo of the slaw as I made it because it was so fresh looking.  The rest of the meal was chili, buttermilk cornmeal biscuits, and the lemon bars Leila was raving about.