Mad Hungry

For Christmas this year, Husband and I bought gifts that fell under the umbrella of 'something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read'. All nice, important things in life, without going overboard. For my 'something to read' I asked for Mark Bittman's 'How to Cook Everything'. I didn't get it. Instead, while at the bookstore, Husband spied 'Mad Hungry'. He's a bit of a typography/design junky; here are the two covers, you be the judge...

No contest, huh. Mad Hungry sells itself as a cookbook with men's meals; the subtitle reads, "Mad hungry, feeding men and boys; recipes, strategies, & survival techniques; bringing back the family meal". To me this would be steak, potatoes, and more steak. However, the book is filled with wonderful recipes for all types of meals; breakfast, lunch, dinner, sides, even desserts! The author is Lucinda Scala Quinn, Food Director for Martha Stewart. She has created a wonderful assortment of recipes, photographs, personal content from her family and sons, and guiding words not just about technique, but also about true love of food and family. I've made quite a few things and we have loved them all. My new favorite all time cookie recipe (Oatmeal Chocolate Chip) comes from this book. Seems like these are made at least once a

week around here. Overall a great book, both to browse/read and from which to cook.

Welcome Back

It's been a long time, Internet. I haven't blogged in almost 4 months to the day. Do I know why? Ehhh.... life got very busy in November/December and creativity seems to dry up in the winter. I've been keeping busy recently with different projects, I've been inspired by things I'm seeing others do online, my sewing table is actually clean enough to work. So, all these things have converged and here I am. Lots of posts in the near future, I hope.

Here's a little glance into what was happening while I was away for so long. I made this quilt back in December as a Christmas gift for Husband's mother. The pattern is from Amy Karol's Bend the Rules Sewing (I have made 3 of these quilts. Love the pattern. Made another quilt this month that is actually NOT this pattern! Gasp!). I love the colors of this quilt and it came together beautifully.

And as far as future posts are concerned, I, like everyone else in the blogosphere, have fallen in love with Wendy Mullin's new book, Built By Wendy Dresses. Hopefully I'll be back next week to share my own 'dirndl sloper' [read 'dress pattern']. (And don't google dirndl if you don't know what it is. You'll just get lady lederhosen. Dirndl is a dress shape that I suppose is popular at Oktoberfest. My dirndl will NOT be that sort of dirndl. Sorry.)

Shenandoah

Ran away to the mountains this weekend. Spent some nice time with Husband and our friends Tyler and Gentri. We camped in Shenandoah National Park; the colors and the smell of fall in the air were amazing and I am wishing we could go back right this minute.

New Fall BTR Swap!

To all interested swappers... I've posted on the Bend the Rules Sewing Swap blog to begin a new swap. Please visit and weigh in!

http://btrsswap.blogspot.com

Corsage Shirt

What can you create with two knit shirts and half an hour?

This really is an easy cheater project; start with a shirt you like, buy another (the bigger the better... more fabric to work with), cut circles, and sew. See how easy that was?

I used two different sizes of circles, 2.5 in. and 3 in. I cut about 15 of each. Stack a small and a large circle, crimp/fold to give it a bit of texture (see below), and sew about 1/2 inch across the center (don't forget to reverse at the beginning and end!). Placement is totally up to you. Before I began attaching flowers I put on my keeper shirt and marked a nice start and end location with pins (you can see one below, too). Continue stacking circles, folding, and sewing until the corsage has reached your desired size and fullness.

I love the way this turned out and am thinking about other takes on this idea... how great would a grey shirt with a multi-hued grey corsage look for fall? Gah! Another project!

Accidental Mixed Berry Apple Butter

Canning has become my new obsession. The happiest moment of my day yesterday was when Husband found pint canning jars on the clearance rack of Target and picked them up without even batting an eye. What a man!

A few weeks ago I set out to make apple butter; gathered necessary supplies, purchased Gala apples from the farmers market, de-cluttered the kitchen to make room for all my canning stuff. Ehh... did I mention I did this all one morning before work? So, there I was, in all my canning glory, counting minutes until I had to be at work. All was going well; the apples were simmering, the sugar and spices were mixed, the jars were steaming in the dishwasher.

It was going to be easy peasy... until I realized that I was short on apples and definitely not short on sugar. Lesson learned... measure your fruit BEFORE mixing it with the sugar. Since I didn't set out to make apple flavored candy that morning, I did what I could to spare my mixture. First I spooned out the excess sugar. Then I remembered the berries that had taken up residence in my freezer. I quickly got them defrosted and pureed, mixed them in with my apple/sugar/spice mixture and had the most incredible 'Accidental Mixed Berry Apple Butter'. YUM! I will definitely try to recreate this one in the future.

How do you serve your apple butter? So far we've had it on toast, graham crackers, and waffles. Mom has suggested on ham. Any other suggestions??

Hamburger Dills

You might remember Stephanie, the friend for whom I made this quilt. Steph is a fabulous gift giver and I cannot wait to blog and blog and blog about this one. A few weeks ago an entire home canning set found its way to my house. What a fabulous bday gift! CANNING! and PRESERVING! Seriously. Husband might have shaken his head a few times at me, but when the word 'pickles' was uttered he was on board.

Here it all is; canning salt, vinegar, dill, cucumbers, lids, bands, peppercorns, jars.

Cucumbers (from the Farmer's Market) sliced and ready to go.

The canning set-up; left front is brine, left back is lids simmering, right side is the canner (big, isn't it??).

The finished product. Give me 4-6 weeks and then I'll let you know how they turned out. Recipe is from the Ball Blue Book.