Someplace in between

Orange (and chocolate) you glad for s'mores?

celticred63@comcast.net — 2010-09-01T21:04:08-05:00

After my first go 'round applying peanut butter and jam to s'mores, I tried s’mores with orange marmalade and Trader Joe’s 56% dark chocolate. I lovelovelove orange and chocolate, and on a s’more this combination is almost more exquisite than the blackberry-chocolate pairing. I don't think I'm in a position to choose one over the other just yet. The orange-chocolate combination is elegant, the blackberry-chocolate heavenly.

Orange marmalade is formidable stuff, with shavings of tart--sometimes even bitter--orange peel mixed throughout sweet orange flavored jelly. It's easy to understand why some people wrinkle their noses at it. I grew up with and acquired a taste for orange marmalade, and yes sometimes even paired it with peanut butter! Only when I was desperate for a pbj--it's not very good with peanut butter (and even less appealing with peanut butter on heavy-duty Brownberry Bread), but it's tasty on really good toasted (buttered) bread, and goes well with cream cheese too. I like it because of its sweet-bitter-orangey-ness. And because I'm the only one at home who eats it, I know will last indefinitely.

Unless I keep making these. Whoever thought to combine orange with chocolate was a genius! And whoever thought of throwing in graham crackers and gooey toasted marshmallow was, well ...

This one definitely calls for dark chocolate, because orange goes best with dark (I used one of Trader Joe's darks). I recommend you don't char the marshmallow if you use marmalade--soft and toasty will complement the other bold flavors in this fancy sandwich.

Don't forget the cold glass of milk!

These adventures in campfire snacking have spoiled me a bit -- the traditional s’more might not be quite enough for me from now on.

What say you -- have you tried anything new on your s'mores lately?

Some more s'mores.

celticred63@comcast.net — 2010-08-29T15:49:41-05:00

Were you able to celebrate National S’mores Day on August 10? This festive occasion passed me by! I’ll never let that happen again. I learned about it while preparing to make S’mores Cupcakes, which were a monster hit in the house and definitely a treat I’ll be making again.

The exact history of s’mores is vague, but the history of marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate bars is not. Apparently a s’mores “recipe” first appeared in the 1927 publication Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts. I’m just dying to get my hands on a copy of this vintage handbook. I bet the text and pictures are wonderful.

The classic s’more is snack perfection: gooey toasty marshmallows, melting-but-not-quite-melted Hershey’s milk chocolate (for me the chocolate still has to have some solid toothiness to it), and crispy graham crackers, all in the same messy, crumbly bite. It almost can’t be improved upon. Almost. Yet several years ago a Country Living article showed s’mores oozing over with marshmallow, melting chocolate ... and gorgeous purpley blackberry jam! I was intrigued. I am a (certain kinds of) fruit-and-chocolate kind of gal, so my mind and tastebuds were wide open for trying this.

For the first time in my life I had all the ingredients for ANYthing in the house at the same time. Miraculous!

As I pulled together ingredients, I spied the peanut butter and decided to do a side-by-side comparison of peanut butter and blackberry jam s’mores.
No need to get too fancy. Safeway brand blackberry preserves did just fine for me.

As a peanut-butter-and-chocolate lover (although give me Peanut Butter M&Ms over Reese’s cups any day), I thought I’d go absolutely mad for the peanut butter version.

It was good, really good, but I took just one bite and saved the rest for my son, who proceeded to make several more of the same spread with a thick layer of peanut butter.

The blackberry s’mores, on the other hand, made me positively swoon! Even this store-brand blackberry jam has a depth of flavor that complemented the chocolate elegantly.

A rapidly dwindling blackberry s'more with the requisite cold glass of milk.

Blackberry-and-chocolate is my new favorite fruit/chocolate combination, easily surpassing strawberries and chocolate. I’m imagining these made with dark chocolate next time. (I just happen to have a supply of Trader Joe's Belgian dark chocolate, and still have plenty of marshmallows and grahams.)

This one disappeared quickly!

Let me know if you try these flavored s'mores or come up with your own concoction. Or do you think the classic s'more is too pure to be tampered with?

Stay tuned for another s'mores pairing, this time dark chocolate and ...

To be continued!

Nectarine pie.

celticred63@comcast.net — 2010-08-26T21:33:18-05:00

Nectarines are the fruit I look forward to each summer, more than cherries, watermelon or plums. Perfectly ripe, slightly toothsome (al dente?), juicy nectarines are like ambrosia to me. Nectarines are basically naked peaches -- they're genetically equivalent, minus the fuzz. Although I always loved ripe juicy peaches, the fuzz gave me the willies. And without fuzz nectarines can show off their pretty peachy rose complexions.
No fuzz on these beauties!

When the price drops to $.99 a pound (if they’re cheaper at your grocery story, farmer's market or fruit stand, I will envy you) I know they’re at their peak and buy them by the sackload. That’s when I pull out my tattered, yellowed nectarine pie recipe.

It looks almost like an antique now.

My copy was cut from the Chicago Tribune’s food section some years ago. It is aged and speckled with the flotsam of pie preparation from days gone by, but is still readable for that once-a-year time when nectarines go one sale and I make my annual pie. (Although last September, after nectarines peaked, I must have made an exception to my on-sale policy so I could make this gorgeous nectarine sorbet.) The Trib site doesn't seem to have the recipe, but Cooks.com has the exact same one.

Usually I’m content to use the Pillsbury pre-made pie crust, which I have found to be both tasty and flaky -- and a big time-saver. I’ve been cheating with it using it for years as a shortcut in the pie making process. This year I was inspired to make my own, which is actually quite easy.

I always feel like a farm wife when I’m working the pastry blender into a bowl full of flour and butter, then rolling chilled circles of dough into thin drapey crusts.

This year the crust had a nice, rustic, cobbled-together look!

The recipe calls for toasted almonds, almond extract and nutmeg, along with flour, sugars and lemon juice. I've learned over the years that nutmeg is not a favorite flavor of the kiddies (at least mine, anyway), so in deference to them (I want everyone to enjoy this pie) I leave out the nutmeg. I've also learned that children don't have the same appreciation as I do for a variety of textures in food, such as the contrast between soft, juicy-sweet nectarines and crunchy, toasted almond slivers. So, alas, I've been leaving out the almonds as well. But they are an excellent and tasty addition to the pie, so if your family will eat them, put them in. And please do leave out the almond extract! I've never used it in this pie and I have to believe the true taste of the nectarines shines through, instead of an artificial taste of almonds.
No almonds or nutmeg this year. And never any almond extract.

Flour helps thicken the pretty rose-colored juices nicely while the pie cooks.

Mound that fruit high in the crust.

I used a small bumblebee cookie cutter to make shapes with the excess crust. Some egg white and water brushed on the top -- along with a sprinkling of sugar -- glaze, brown and sweeten the crust while baking.
Ready for the oven! Bzzzzzz.....

Looks like the crust wasn't tightly sealed before baking and it split open. Do you think anyone will mind?

It's heavenly served warm, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

But no one will blame you for having cold nectarine pie for breakfast or a snack!

I recently discovered I'm not the only one who adores nectarines. Check out Nectarine Scene for all kinds of information on this luscious fruit, including knockout recipes like the white nectarine pavlova recently featured. Oh I'm drooling! I'm making that next.

S'mores Cupcakes.

celticred63@comcast.net — 2010-08-20T10:42:23-05:00

I personally invented S’mores Cupcakes a few weeks ago when I was munching Trader Joe’s dark chocolate with graham crackers, which reminded me of s’mores minus the marshmallows. (I was at work, so it would have been too messy, not to mention dangerous and dismissal-worthy, to add a campfire and toasted marshmallows to this mid-afternoon snack at my desk.)

This was my vision!

I envisioned a graham crackery cupcake spread with a layer of chocolate ganache and crowned by marshmallow frosting. I'd never seen a recipe for graham cracker cake before. I Googled.

Which is when I discovered that, indeed, I had not invented the S’mores Cupcake. But while I found a number of nice sounding recipes, I didn’t find my S’mores Cupcake -- with a simple graham cracker cupcake base and the chocolate ganache layer. Many of the recipes sounded too fussy, with chocolate chips (too provincial) and mini marshmallows (too sticky!) or frostings with a dozen ingredients (too MUCH). So I pulled together several recipes and DID, sort of, invent my own version of this s’moresy confection.

I found a nice Graham Cracker Cupcakes recipe at the Gigi Cakes blog, who used the original recipe from Nabisco. If you've got one, use a food processor -- or better, a mini chopper -- to make grinding up the graham crackers easy and a little less messy. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not a fan of graham crumbs flying hither and yon all over the kitchen.

These cupcakes don’t puff up like regular cake, so you can fill the paper liners 3/4 full. They rise but cook flat, all the better for spreading chocolate ganache on top! I refrigerated the plain cupcakes overnight, partly to break up the preparation process and partly to keep the ganache layer and marshmallow frosting from melting on warm, freshly baked cakes. I’m confident these would freeze nicely too, tucked into a ziploc bag. And they are perfectly delicious unadorned accompanied by coffee or tea. Next up: the ganache!

Chocolate Ganache Recipe

3 oz. sweetened dark chocolate (I used Trader Joe’s)
1/8 cup whipping cream or evaporated milk

Put both ingredients into a heavy bottomed pan over low heat.
When chocolate starts to melt, stir ingredients together until chocolate
is fully melted and incorporated with the cream or evaporated milk.
Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.

I spread about two teaspoons (but feel free to use more) of chocolate ganache on top of each cupcake and let it set for a few minutes. The recipe above should top 16 cupcakes with some leftover for dipping your finger into.

While there are plenty of marshmallow frosting recipes, including some that use marshmallow fluff as an ingredient (plus additional sugar and/or corn syrup -- yikes, that's got to be sweet!), Martha Stewart’s Marshmallow Frosting (technically belonging to Trophy Cupcakes in Seattle) has only four ingredients and is super easy to make.

Frosting prep action shot. Note the pink Cook for the Cure Komen Foundation handmixer, in honor of my sister Mary Jane.

I halved Martha's frosting recipe, and quartered the vanilla extract. It tasted perfect! Just the right marshmallow flavor, spreadable, and not too sticky. And even at half the amount there was plenty of frosting for 16 cupcakes, with lots left over.

Look at those perfect peaks! It only took about five minutes to whip up this frosting.

I used a small plastic spatula to spread and shape the frosting, instead of a pastry bag. Even if you want a fancy, fluted tower of frosting, as shown on Martha’s site, half the recipe should still be enough. I refrigerated the leftover frosting in a plastic container, and a week later it’s still holding up well in the fridge. It will make for great peanut butter and fluff sandwiches! Oh boy, yum.

Once the wee cakes were ganached and marshmallow frosted, I broiled them for exactly a minute -- just enough to brown the tops without burning them. I kept them in the cupcake pan to make sliding them in and out of the oven easier. And I kept a watchful eye on them! I tested one cupcake first, to gauge the broiling time and temperature.

Broiling took place in my electric oven, which I’m not terribly fond of. I grew up cooking with real flames, on the stove top and in the oven. This oven is small and narrow -- it just barely held the turkey we cooked for 15 people a few years back, and cookie sheets have to be shimmied in and out. Plus, we have to set the temperature high by at least 20-25 degrees to get anything to cook within the suggested time on the recipe. One of the few positives about this odd oven is that broiling takes place on the top rack and with the door open, so monitoring food under the broiler is much easier than with a gas oven whose broiler is at floor level. Anyway, watch these pretties carefully when you’re broiling the tops. Just a minute or so should do (and maybe less under a real flame). Or if you’re truly fancy, use a creme brulee torch!

Oh my, look at those lovely cupcakes. They turned out quite nicely, if I say so myself.

But of course, the true test is the taste.
Come to me, o vision come true!

Mmmmmmmmmm, they are delish. If I humbly say so myself. A perfect combination of graham, chocolate, and marshmallow.
Careful--it takes only a few seconds to eat one of these things.

They refrigerate well in a plastic container and the frosting stays put. When you’re ready to eat, leave them out at room temperature for a few minutes and dig in. Or, skip the waiting and just dig in!

The Butterflies Come.

celticred63@comcast.net — 2010-08-11T13:46:10-05:00

“The Butterflies Come” is a favorite childhood story, written and illustrated by Leo Politi. It’s a gentle story about Stephen and Lucia, a brother and sister living in Monterey, California, where thousands of monarch butterflies rest each October during their southward winter migration.

As our garden grows, we're receiving more butterfly visitors. It’s always a thrill to see even the most common wildlife in our yard throughout the year -- rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels, robins, cardinals, rolypoly bugs. Because of the plentiful catmint, coneflowers, roses and orange milkweed, we also see plenty of chubby bumblebees, the occasional goldfinch, and butterflies.

Lots of flowers in our front yard for butterflies and bees to love.

Recently, as we approached our front sidewalk after a family stroll with the pup, I halted dog and husband as quietly as I could when I saw a beautiful Black Swallowtail butterfly land on a coneflower.

From the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Weldon Springs Wildlife Scrapbook.

A coneflower just like this one in our garden! In fact, it might have been this very blossom.

We frequently see monarch butterflies on our flowers (did you know the monarch is the Illinois state insect?) and those fairy-like pale yellow sulphur butterflies that flit and dance in pairs from flower to flower. Bees and butterflies love our butterfly weed.

I feel honored when any butterfly visits the garden, because I have intentionally planted flowers they are known to enjoy. It’s gratifying to see mother nature’s creatures take pleasure from our garden. And this swallowtail was a rare and magical sight! We stood still and observed for the few moments it sipped at the flower’s sweetness, then it moved on. What a thrill! Do I ever have my camera with me when we get such an unusual visitor? Of course not. But I've decided the pleasure of seeing it with naked eye surpasses the privilege of capturing it through camera lens.

This morning, during another outing with The Pup, I spied a striking Tiger Swallowtail butterfly tasting a neighbor’s potted petunias.
From the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Weldon Springs Wildlife Scrapbook.

I watched for a few minutes, hoping I wouldn’t creep out the homeowners if they happened to see me standing on their sidewalk staring agog in the direction of their front door. When I figured I had stared long enough, we crossed the street to admire some apricot heirloom roses (which smelled absolutely dreamy! I want me some of those) ... and the swallowtail followed! It flitted, it floated, it fleetly fleed and then flew off.

Monarchs always remind me of that dear childhood book, The Butterflies Come, about which I'll share more later. Can you imagine seeing so many gorgeous butterflies in one place? And during October -- my favorite month!

From “In Search of the Monarch Butterfly in Monterey” at InsideBayArea.com.

The Monarch Butterfly Biosphere in Michoacan, Mexico from ScienceRay.com.

Spectacular! But I’m happy with the few that bring simple enchantment to my garden.

Christmas in July.

celticred63@comcast.net — 2010-07-23T15:58:32-05:00

Purchased for $6 at a sidewalk sale, in 95 degree heat under the blazing sun. It's never too early -- or too late -- to acquire Christmas paraphernalia.

The problem with cheap $1 eyeshadow ...

celticred63@comcast.net — 2010-07-14T15:52:13-05:00

... 'nuf said.

I felt SO smug finding an eyeshadow color that I like and that looks good on me, always a challenge with the fair-skinned-red-haired color scheme going on. I mean, I often find colors I like, but which I really shouldn't wear. Anyway, we had a few good weeks together, and now this -- it just falls out in chunks every day. What did I expect from Wet'n'Wild for a buck! Seriously.

I think it's time to invest in some better quality eyeshadow.

I cannot tell a lie ...

celticred63@comcast.net — 2010-07-05T14:07:40-05:00

... I like cherry pie. And cherry cobbler. Especially on July 4th.

While listening to Ray Raphael debunk U.S. history “founding myths" on NPR, I was hatching a plan to make an easy cherry pie for Independence Day dessert.

Since laziness was still on the agenda, there would be no pitting and stewing of cherries, nor mixing/kneading/rolling of homemade pastry, a thing to which I am no stranger but which seems more sensible on a chilly autumn day.

I opted instead to make mini cherry cobblers with (gasp!) canned cherry filling. The stuff is SO easy to use, and makes sense when it's sweltering outside (even if it is considerably cooler inside): 1) remove can opener from drawer; 2) run opener around edges of cherry filling can; 3) pour filling into ramekins; 4) bake. This amount of work barely registered on my lazyometer.

I consulted the timeless and reliable Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook for a cobbler recipe, which was also as easy as ... well, easier than pie. And tasty too. Took just a few minutes to stir that together.

Four white ramekins were enlisted to hold cherries and cobbler batter.

Bake at 410 degrees (thank you, central air conditioning! it did get up to around 92 oppressive degrees on the 4th) for 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool, pose by window with natural lighting for photos. Oh my, that stuff really IS red, isn't it?

These were enjoyed after an indoor (it was bloody H-O-T outdoors during the parade! we give frequent thanks and praise to the chlorofluorocarbon gods) picnic of grilled glazed stuffed burgers and savory marinated pork chops, accompanied by refreshingly cold Bell’s Oberon Ale, one of only two beers on this planet I can actually drink (almost) an entire bottle of.

What culinary delights did you indulge in this holiday weekend?

Three days of laziness.

celticred63@comcast.net — 2010-07-03T15:14:59-05:00

Three-day weekend! Three-day holiday weekend. No work or summer school for anyone in this house for three whole days, so we can celebrate our nation’s independence. Whee! On the schedule: laziness. Three days of it.

For someone whose entire adult life has consisted of weeks and years of five-days-on and two-days-off, a three-day holiday weekend is a treat, indeed.

An ordinary work-week weekend is when all the chores, errands, household projects, homemade meals, return phone calls, workouts (if they make it in at all), and ... oh yes, relaxation ... that you couldn’t attend to during the week are squeezed into 48 hours. A holiday weekend is for being lazy!

I started feeling that gotta-get-it-all-done reflex when I woke up today, but I sent it packing. On this July 4th weekend I’m banishing timetables, to-do lists, and unfinished projects. I’m even (mostly) ignoring the clock to make lazing my way through the next three days my main priority.

The weather is perfect for lazing: warm, sunny, and dry, with a lovely light breeze rippling through the trees. The Cub’s game is burbling quietly out of a transistor radio on the deck, a few cicadas have started prematurely buzzing (they’ll really get their buzzers going this evening), and occasionally a fire truck visiting nearby block parties chirps its siren for the kids. Today sounds lazy.

Today is also for anticipating tomorrow’s picnic (even if it ends up being just the two of us), parade (a lazy three-block walk from our house), and Independence Day pyrotechnics (should we bike or drive? our level of laziness might have to be considered there).

So what if we haven’t figured out what’s on the menu -- we’ve got all day to decide! And the grocery stores are open tomorrow anyway (I think).

There are things to take care of this weekend, yes, but luckily they can wait. I’m enjoying this perfect summer day, thinking about grilled hamburgers and mojitos with fresh mint, antique cars and marching bands, leisurely walks with the pup, fireworks, and maybe even catching a satellite flyby (if we can stay up that late).

And if I do only half those things (or even less!) I won’t care. There’s always next weekend. Happy Independence Day!

Ah, spring.

celticred63@comcast.net — 2010-06-07T21:31:00-05:00

I know it's nearly summer, but I'm catching up and want to share some of what's been going on in our yard this spring.

Spring chives. I keep forgetting to eat them! I finally sprinkled some on scrambled eggs. Delish! And those pretty flowers are edible, too.

Spring brunnera ("siberian bugloss"). Their petite blue flowers remind me of sweet little fairies hanging delicately over the big heart shaped leaves. I adore them! And they are super easy to grow.

Spring blanket flower. A few years ago, I thought this was a weed and nearly pulled it up. Now it's blooming like crazy!

Frau Dagmar Hastrup rose -- a "rugosa" (shrub) rose bequeathed to me by a friend-of-a-friend whose yard was too shady.

The Frau is doing well in our front yard and is blooming sweetly. I'm so glad she likes it here.

I'm so very proud of these Joseph's Coat climbing roses -- I planted them only last year and they went wild this spring! The buds are lovely -- orange and apricot. And so prolific!

The fully opened roses turn yellow and pink. It's like having 2 or 3 different colors of roses on the same plant. The leaves have, unfortunately, succumbed to either bugs or disease or both. I'll be fighting that battle for with some organic sprays I'm mixing up with Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Soap, baking soda, horticultural oil, and other enemies of bugs and fungus. My dream is that they will someday climb up and over our flower boxes, like these.

How gorgeous is wisteria? Let me count the ways! Alas, this is not in our yard but on a plain old brick wall surrounding a Northwestern University dorm complex that faces the lake (those lucky students). Every year I keep watch for the blooming wisteria.

So beautiful, like jewels spilling off a vine. And the scent is dreamy! Oh how I wish I could grow this against my house.

Spring Goddess, in repose among the wild ginger. The pattern is from Michelle Simkins. She was a ton of fun to knit and I'll be making more.

Spring Pup, in repose on the front steps.

I think my garden has had enough rain and would like to get on with summer. Let the countdown to June 21 begin!

Happy Veterans Day, Dad!

celticred63@comcast.net — 2009-11-10T23:09:15-06:00

My father is a veteran of World War II. I’m glad he made it through the war, met my mom, got married, and had ten kids (of which I’m the tenth, so ... ) And I’m glad he’s still alive and kicking!

While I was growing up, I was vaguely aware that dad had been in that war, but never knew how he'd been in it because he didn’t really talk about it. Then, when my son did a grade school report about his grandfather, I started learning heretofore unknown facts about my dad -- for instance, he was in the Junior ROTC during high school, and he appears in uniform in his senior year picture (someday I'll have a scan of that); in addition to playing the guitar with a military ensemble over in France (or Germany?), he played the mellophone; although I don’t think he participated in direct combat, he did the scary work of clearing anti-tank mines; and when the war ended he performed occupation service in Germany (or possibly France). Dad has interesting stories of his time in Europe during the War, and he remembers some of those times with a good deal of warmth. If he experienced anything grim, a la Saving Private Ryan, he is not dwelling on it publicly. I greatly enjoy hearing him reminisce, and hope to document some of his memories in the near future.

Although Veterans Day was originally meant to honor those who served in World War I, it now honors soldiers from all wars, including Dear Old Dad. President Woodrow Wilson first proclaimed an Armistice Day for November 11, 1919 -- one year after the armistice was signed between the allied nations and Germany, effectively ending “the war to end all wars.” (The war formally ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919.) In 1938, November 11 became a legal holiday -- "a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as 'Armistice Day'." Then in 1953, a shoe store owner in Emporia (isn’t that a great name for a town!), Kansas named Al King started a campaign to turn Armistice Day into "All" Veterans Day. A year later President Dwight Eisenhower signed it into law, “Armistice” was replaced with “Veterans,” and it’s been Veterans Day ever since, with some controversy over whether and where to put an apostrophe. (Formally, there is no apostrophe.)

Starting in 1971, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Day was scheduled on the fourth Monday in October, in keeping with President Lyndon Johnson's “Uniform Holiday Bill." The bill promoted 3-day holiday weekends for government workers, and enabled them to travel and "and see more of this beautiful land of ours." The change caused confusion and was short-lived -- Veterans Day was changed back to November 11 in 1978 and has been celebrated on this date -- as it is in many countries, where it is known variously as Remembrance Day, Poppy Day, Armistice Day, and Veterans Day -- ever since.

I'm sure dad has a flag flying in front of his house 300 miles from my own, as it always hung in front of our childhood home on similarly patriotic holidays. I've prompted him to look for his Army of Occupation medal and dig out that high school ROTC photo. Perhaps he's doing some reminiscing about his service overseas during World War II on this day. However he is spending it, I'm grateful he lived through it and can pass the remembrances on to his many children. Dad, I salute you on this Veterans Day for your good service to the country!

Happy Halloween!

celticred63@comcast.net — 2009-11-01T20:41:39-06:00

This post is definitely rushed. Something more thoughtful to come in the very near future!

Autumn has absolutely bewitched me these past few weeks -- between the trees abloom in their gorgeous reds, rusts, oranges and golds, and the refreshing chill in the air, I've been wishing I could quit my job and somehow get paid just to walk the streets for hours appreciating each beautiful fall day.

A beautiful maple tree just down the street.

These colorful days also bring the promise of my favorite holiday: Halloween! Well, perhaps Halloween is tied evenly with Christmas and Valentine’s day, all of which are joyful, colorful and fun, were favorites of the Victorians, and involve chocolate. I love Halloween for the costumed trick-or-treaters who roam the neighborhood and pile up at our door with their goody bags waiting for treats, for orange candlelit pumpkins and strings of skull lights glowing in the dark, for bats and ravens, witches, tombstones and grim reapers.

We carved six punkins this year! The sixth is perched out of sight on the mantel with a spooky crow. From left to right, the carvers were: Kinnin, Meg, Emilia, Sean, Kenny.

Nevermore! Bit blurry, but you get the idea. Kinnin did this one.

Not only is Halloween spooky by design, with its imagery of ghosts and spirits, but this time of year possesses a natural eerieness that my pre-Christian ancestors tuned into long before the holiday evolved into the festive event that we know. The Celtic celebration called Samhain (SOW-in) “is a special time of year and a powerful time for divination," according to Lisa Finander, an editor at Llewellyn.com, “when the veil between the world of the living and the dead is the thinnest, and a time when the communication between these worlds is the strongest.” At Samhain, which literally means “end of summer,” the ancient Celts acknowledged and honored the dead while they marked the end of the seasonal cycle with bonfires and ushered in their new year. Like many Celtic/pagan celebrations, Samhain was co-opted by Christians and turned into the eve of All Hallows or All Saints Day, and All Hallows Evening became Hallowe’en.

The Victorians expanded on the theme of divination and and promoted Halloween rituals -- such as looking in a mirror or eating apples -- as a means for determining one’s romantic fate. Halloween also became yet another opportunity for exchanging their famously whimsical postcards!

"He is your fate ... who's face you've seen ... in the mirror's face ... on Halloween."

"The fates tell by the cards your future destiny ... but if you share an apple
with a heart that's fancy free ... on Halloween at midnight a marriage it will be."

Although All Hallows Eve has already passed, you can still light candles in memory of friends, family members and loyal pets who’ve crossed to the other side of the veil, or to divine your future lover in the lookingglass. The moon is full right now, so go outside and enjoy the calm blue glow it is casting over the clouds and leaf-bare trees on this cool, crisp (in our corner of the midwest, anyway) All Saints night. Maybe you’ll sense something else in the air, too! I hope you had a Happy Samhain/Halloween, and are enjoying the fall colors wherever you are.

Please feel free to leave a comment -- how did you celebrate Halloween this year, or did you celebrate at all? How do you feel during this naturally mysterious time of the season? Share your favorite ways of passing time during these chilly, darkening days of autumn. Or feel free to correct any misinformation you've read above. Anything ... I'd love to hear from you!

It's Pumpkin season!

celticred63@comcast.net — 2009-10-10T18:33:48-05:00

Brrrrrrrr, it’s chilly out there! Whether the sun is shining or the skies are gray and blustery, the weather is wonderfully autumnal now. And when October gets cold and windy, my appetite for all things pumpkin is piqued. After a good long walk outside in the chilly air enjoying the fall color (and sometimes even without it), I'm ready to start cooking some of the numerous pumpkin recipes I’ve collected over the years. Pumpkin is a quintessential fall food, and there are so many sweet and savory ways to use it beyond pumpkin pies (not that there’s anything wrong with pies). I've got recipes for pumpkin bread, rolls, macaroni and cheese, stews, polenta, and salad, as well as pies, tarts, cakes, flan, pudding, gingerbread, ice cream and pancakes, to name but a few. The season isn't long enough to make them all, and I don't know where to begin! But we have to start somewhere, so let's start with brownies.

Oh how I love butter melting into dark chocolate!

I found Pumpkin Swirl Brownies at the Everything-Pumpkin blog. Pumpkin and chocolate are a surprisingly tasty combination, which I discovered as a teenager on my birthday when mom made my favorite devil’s food cake with dark chocolate icing, and bought a quart of pumpkin ice cream from Baskin Robbins. I’ve been hooked on chocolate/pumpkin ever since, and in these brownies the pairing is every bit as good. You make a plain vanilla batter, divide it in half, then add pumpkin and spices to one half and melted dark chocolate to the other.

Layer and swirl them together in the pan, and bake. Delish! I skipped the cayenne and nuts, and substituted allspice for the nutmeg. Also, in my 9x9 inch pan these brownies were very thick and took quite a while to cook. Next time I’ll use my oddball 8x11 glass pan.

They were so very good -- the moist pumpkin swirl tasted just like pumpkin pie, and complemented the rich dark chocolate swirl beautifully. They freeze well and can be warmed up nicely in the microwave. Perfect with a cold glass of milk, a steaming cup of coffee, or a simple pot of tea.

Just a few days later we woke up on a cool, sunny Sunday morning and decided to make Pumpkin Ginger Waffles from the October 2009 issue of Country Living magazine. I usually find waffles too heavy or crispy, but this recipe made light, moist, flavorful waffles that filled the kitchen with the cozy fragrance of pumpkin and ginger while they cooked in our heart-shaped waffle maker. I omitted the crystallized ginger, thinking it might have made the ginger flavor a little too intense, and increased the cinnamon to a teaspoon.

We served them butter, naturally, and real maple syrup, which we hide in the back of the fridge and then discreetly pour into a small ceramic pitcher before serving ourselves, to keep our kids (whom we love very much) from flooding their plates with it ($$$!!) and then dumping half of it into the sink with their unfinished breakfasts (which would break our hearts mightily -- they get the Log Cabin or Mrs. Butterworth's, until they're older). The only thing that might have made these better would be slices of warm Canadian bacon. Oh what a way to begin a fall day!

On a more savory note, I have been eyeing the Autumn Bisque recipe in a 2008 issue of Victoria Magazine for an entire year now, and decided to make it recently on a brisk Saturday afternoon. It was creamy and delicious, especially topped with a sprinkling of fresh parmesan and black pepper, and accompanied by a warm grainy baguette (with butter melting all over it, of course!). The color is gorgeous and so well-suited to a chilly fall night.

Kenny grates fresh parmesan into our bowls of bisque. Mmmmm!

The original recipe (which is not posted online) calls for mushrooms, onions, and red pepper flakes. I skipped the mushrooms, whose earthy richness might have competed with, not complemented, the mild pumpkin. I also left out the red pepper flakes, so we could enjoy a nice comforting soup without the spicy challenge to our tastebuds. My only regret was using the 1-1/2 cups of onion called for in the recipe, as well as the sliced sauteed leek. I’m not a big fan of onion, and generally either reduce or leave it out completely. I thought the onion overpowered the mellow pumpkin flavor, so I’ve modified the recipe to include more garlic and zero onion. Light coconut milk adds creaminess and just a hint of coconut flavor that doesn’t distract from the main player ... pumpkin! Because pumpkin is what it’s all about right now.

Thankfully, Kenny isn’t tired of pumpkin. Yet. I made pumpkin macaroni and cheese last week, and Curried Scallops on Pumpkin Polenta is in the cue. Oh it’s going to be a delicious fall!

Autumn Pumpkin Bisque
Original recipe in Victoria Magazine, September/October 2008

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter, divided
1-2 tablespoons minced garlic (depending on how much you love garlic!)
1 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped celery
4 cups chicken broth, divided
3 cups canned pumpkin puree (or fresh, if desired)
1 13.5-ounce can light coconut milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 tsp fresh chopped type, or 1/4 tsp dried
toasted pumpkin seeds for garnish (optional)

In a large stockpot over medium heat, melt the olive oil and butter. Add the garlic, carrots and celery, and sautee until tender, about 5-8 minutes. Add 2 cups chicken broth and simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and cool for 15-20 minutes. Pour broth mixture into a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Return pureed mixture to pot. Over medium heat add remaining broth, pumpkin puree, and coconut milk and heat through. Stir in the salt, lemon juice and thyme and simmer for about 10 minutes. Garnish with toasted pumpkin seeds, if using.

Tap into your inner Pagan on the first day of autumn.

celticred63@comcast.net — 2009-09-22T12:11:02-05:00

Happy Autumn! According to the National Weather Service, this year’s autumnal equinox will occur at 4:18 PM CST.

Ignore the oddball Victorian Christmas wish on this lovely fall postcard!

While we tend to think of the equinox as a day-long event, it is actually a moment in time when the sun is directly over the equator (sort of), creating an equal amount of day and night (more or less). Wikipedia offers an excellent, if somewhat complex, explanation of the equinoxes. If you're into astronomy, charts, very cool celestial diagrams, and words like "equinoctial" and "heliocentric," this Wikipedia page is for you.

This equinox is “the first day of fall” for most of us -- bringing the promise of leaf peeping, football games, pumpkin pies, and Halloween. But to my pre-Christian Celtic ancestors, and to those who follow their ancient traditions by way of Paganism, Wicca and other nature-based spiritual paths, the autumnal equinox -- also known as "Mabon" and "Harvest Home" -- focuses on the second harvest (the first occurring in early August) and signals the coming of winter. It is a time to gather indoors around home and hearth, and a time to turn inward spiritually to reflect on the passing year. The equinox brings us closer to Samhaim, or Halloween, which is the traditional end of the pre-Christian seasonal cycle -- the Pagan new year!

Autumn is a natural opportunity to enjoy crisp cold air and the foods that are harvested at this time of year (in our neck of the woods, anyway): apples, corn, and squashes -- and that means pumpkin. I LOVE just about anything with pumpkin in it! My best friend recently discovered the recipe site Everything Pumpkin -- all pumpkin recipes, all the time. Dreamily autumnal, in my book. Besides cooking (which I'll be doing even more of as the weather turns chily), there are many ways to celebrate the equinox like the pagans do.

Pumpkin pie! My teenage son made this beauty.

Akasha Ap Emrys offers a nice description of some symbols, colors, foods and stones that embody the autumnal equinox, and suggests Mabon activities such as "Making wine, gathering dried herbs, plants, seeds and seed pods, walking in the woods, scattering offerings in harvested fields, offering libations to trees, adorning burial sites with leaves, acorns, and pine cones to honor those who have passed over" to help you celebrate this season. Earth Witchery suggests making grapevine wreaths, scented pinecones, and apple dolls to usher in fall. Even if you just light some pretty autumn colored candles, take a walk and collect some fallen dried leaves, or tie some dried harvest corn onto your door knocker, you'll help your inner pagan feel the spirit of the equinox. Or, if it's easier, rustle up a slice of apple or pumpkin pie (and maybe a scoop of ice cream to go with!).

Piper knows what to do when fall arrives.

Karen Charboneau-Harrison of Isisbooks.com reminds us that Mabon falls during the astrological sign of Libra (mine! one of many reasons I love autunn), whose emphasis on balance parallels the equinox’s “time of equilibrium, when light and dark, day and night are equal.” So step (or look, or just think about going) outside at 4:18 p.m. (or the equivalent time in your neighborhood) to enjoy this time of equal day and night, say goodbye to summer, and rejoice in the arrival of beautiful, colorful, crisp, cool, delicious autumn.

A sort of Ambrosia.

celticred63@comcast.net — 2009-09-20T13:29:13-05:00

After David Lebovitz inspired me to make salted butter caramel ice cream -- which, if I say so myself, is like manna from heaven AND the nectar of the gods -- I discovered a more decadent (almost) treat on his site: Chocolate-Covered Salted Peanut Caramel Cups (as always, he includes the recipe). There was no way I wasn’t going to make these! I already had a full container of lovely fleur-de-sel, and a supply of Trader Joe's dark chocolate ... might as well put them both to good use.

The peanut caramel comes together pretty easily, although mine didn’t set quite thick enough so I cooked it a second time for a wee bit -- that caramelized it just enough to let me make manageable blobs for plopping onto chocolate filled paper cups, which I found in the cooking aisle at Tom Thumb.

David’s method of putting melted chocolate into the cup and then “painting” it up the sides was a bit too painstaking for me. After a few attempts, I decided instead to pour a thin-ish layer of chocolate into the bottom of each cup, cool the cups for about ten minutes, put a blob of cooled peanut-caramel on top of the hardened chocolate, then pour more chocolate around the sides and enough to cover the top. This felt more efficient for this short-cut-loving girl. It’s not that I’m entirely impatient or unwilling to put time and effort into producing good food, but when something starts to feel tedious I absolutely must figure out an alternative. This one worked beautifully.

A few sprinkles of fleur-de-sel, a chill in the fridge, and these pretty candies were ready for the real taste test (all the tasting I did during the manufacturing process didn’t really count). Oh my, they were delicious! The tang of salt combined with luscious dark chocolate and creamy peanut caramel -- it's a compelling combination! (Read: dangerously difficult to stop eating.)

Oh goodness yes, I will be making these again!

Falling for mushroom ragu.

celticred63@comcast.net — 2009-09-06T14:52:22-05:00

Autumn is pressing itself upon us. The entire summer has been fantastically (in my humble opinion) mild, and right when school has started starting (schools have been starting around here just about every week for the past month) suddenly it feels downright chilly outside! A few trees have dropped dry golden leaves for several weeks now, and just this morning we saw a scattering of gorgeous red maple leaves on the sidewalk. My favorite season is arriving!

The temperature has to drop but a mere sprinkling of degrees and I’m ready to pull out my stew recipes and stock the pantry with cans of pumpkin. Last weekend was cool enough to warrant the first round of cold weather comfort food, and we were inspired by a Julie-and-Julia-inspired article at the Sasquatch Books Blog which included a recipe for Mushroom Ragu. The recipe, contributed by Alice Waters, is one of 125 included in Cooking with Les Dames d'Escoffier. We can't get enough of earthy, woodsy mushrooms on pizza and in risotto, so we had to try this ragu.

We visited nearby Treasure Island (lookee -- they have an endorsement from Julia herself!) for the assortment of shiitake, oyster and cremini mushrooms we used in our ragu, as well as a half pound of silky soft, deep plum-colored fresh figs -- which we sliced and paired with sliced fresh mozzarella to snack on while we chopped and sauteed. The earthy (and very sensual) figs were a fitting prelude to those earthy mushrooms.

Naturally, we took at least one shortcut (I am almost notorious for taking liberties with recipes). Most notably, we did not sautee the three types of mushrooms individually (Alice, forgive us! we were eager to get on to the eating part), and we used a small amount of dried italian herbs instead of fresh thyme -- we rarely use fresh herbs quickly enough so usually they end up a swampy little mess in a corner of the vegetable drawer, or hopelessly moldy. We also had prepared chicken broth for the recipe, but ended up using the heavenly broth brought forth while the mushrooms cooked. Oh, the appetizing aromas in our kitchen that evening ... and there wasn’t even any garlic on the menu!

After you get past all the chopping of onions, carrots, celery and mushrooms, there’s just some sauteeing and about 15 minutes of gentle simmering (in real cream) before you can ladle this scrumptious and homely mixure onto a bowl of hot noodles (we used Mrs. Grass egg noodles -- this is a dish for noodles not hoity pasta). Yes, homely -- as absolutely delicious as the ragu is, it’s not the prettiest, nor is it very photogenic. I Googled images of “mushroom ragu” and it seems no one can take a really appetizing photo of it. But don’t let that stop you -- chop, sautee, simmer and enjoy this comforting food as these final days of summer change to russet and gold.

Oh, and dessert? Homemade nectarine sorbet from David Lebovitz's Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments. Nectarines are my favorite summer fruit, and this sorbet is a delicious and easy way to make that taste of summer last. Yum!

Mmmm, double chocolate mint ice cream.

celticred63@comcast.net — 2009-08-27T21:50:33-05:00

While the ice cream maker was still cranked (so to speak) after my experiments with salted butter caramel ice cream and chocolate sherbet, I forged ahead with Double Chocolate Mint ice cream from Joanna Farrow’s big beautiful book Ice Cream and Iced Desserts.

This book is pretty, somewhat oversized, and filled with plenty of recipes and gorgeous photos of ice creams, sherbets, sorbets, granitas, ice cream desserts, and exotic frozen treats like Indian kulfis. I love paging through it and plotting which of them to make next. I’m reasonably sure I got it off a bargain shelf ages ago, so I feel a little smug at having such a lovely book for cheap. The cover alone is worth leaving it on your coffee table, with peachy pink scoops of ice cream snugged together in a transluscent bowl made of ice and rose buds, against a pale aqua background. Beautiful! Someday I’ll make that ice bowl with the real rosebuds.

This recipe called for chopped fresh mint leaves, which I was not inspired to use. Although I love the smell and flavor of fresh mint, and inherited from my mother an appreciation for lovely sprigs of mint in iced tea and lemonade, I am not a fan of chewing and swallowing actual mint leaves. Their roughness gives me the willies, like fingernails on a chalkboard for some people. Plus, I didn’t think the youngsters in the house would appreciate picking mint leaves out of their ice cream. Gummi bears, cookie dough blobs or chocolate chips yes ... mint leaves, no. So I opted for crushed candy canes (yes, leftover from Christmas! and a reasonable substitute for the crushed mints called for in the recipe) and about 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract. Along with the usual ingredients -- dark chocolate, eggs, milk, whipping cream -- the result was delicious! Smooth and creamy, with just the right balance of chocolate and cool mint. I might be partially responsible for the fact that it didn't last long.

Summertime, and the livin' is icey.

celticred63@comcast.net — 2009-08-04T12:54:57-05:00

I’ve been bitten by a lot of mosquitos this summer, but it’s the ice cream bug that bit me the sweetest. Ever since I froze up a batch of salted butter caramel ice cream, which I discovered at David Lebovitz's internet kitchen in Paris, ice cream has a semi-permanent place on our summer menu, and the ice ceam maker lives next to the fridge instead of collecting dust in the crawl space.

The butter caramel ice cream could be the tastiest thing I’ve ever eaten, but one cannot live by caramelized sugar and fleur de sel alone (although it's tempting!). After the success of that first attempt (success = everyone who ate it went "WOW"), I threw a wrench into my summer fitness plans and forged onward with David’s chocolate sherbet. He is extremely generous in sharing actual recipes on his site, and this one did not disappoint! As usual I tinkered with it slightly, using everyday Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa powder (instead of the recommended Valrhona or Askinosie, both difficult to find around here without much telephoning and driving longish distances, which I am mostly too lazy to do) and Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate, always easily available at the grocery store. Appealing though it sounded, I omitted the shot of coffee liqueur, worried that it might not appeal to the younger palates in the house. ("But," you might understandably argue, "it's good to reserve some treats for the adults exclusively, non?" I heartily concur! But in these early efforts, I can't leave anyone out.)

This one cooks up quickly -- there are no eggs in the recipe and, hence, no need for lengthy cooking and thickening time. Just boil, cool and freeze. A bonus: without eggs, this frozen treat is lower in fat. And remember: when you add darkdark chocolate to anything, you're lengthening your life ... or at least, not shortening it. For real. Just eat, enjoy, and live longer. The liquid chocolate tasted exactly like delicious pudding, and I could have sipped it in large quantities straight from the pan.

Once the milk mixture is boiled, chopped bittersweet chocolate is added. Alas, the Ghirardelli chocolate I used was not the stuff for this job. It added slightly funky flavor and grainy texture that, thankfully, no one detected but me. (I love cooking for my family -- they never notice my mistakes!) I recently bought a number of 70%-ish dark chocolates, including Valrhona and several Trader Joe's varieties. I found that Trader Joe's Swiss dark chocolate was the tastiest of them -- smooth, chocolatey and delish, and not a trace of bitterness or funk. That's what I'll use next time.

Regardless, the chocolate sherbet was gobbled UP by the me and family and given positive reviews, audible to the adult human ear, even by teenagers, who I had previously believed only express their approval non-verbally by eating everything under cover of night and leaving their dirty dishes on the counter as proof of enjoyment. Or at least as proof of consumption. It is gratifying, indeed, to know my efforts are appreciated!

I went ahead and ordered David's book Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments, so between ice cream recipes I had already torn out of magazines, such as lavender and toasted almond, mango lime ice, roasted pistachio, and David's scrumptious sounding concoctions -- Toasted Almond and Candied Cherry, Fresh Fig, Pear Caramel, Roasted Banana, Mocha Sorbet, Milk Chocolate Guinness (you heard me...Guinness and chocolate) -- I'm going to be busy cranking ice cream AND stepping up my workouts. It will be worth it.

What we're not giving up.

celticred63@comcast.net — 2009-07-29T13:25:35-05:00

One of us was laid off recently. Fortunately, it was not the one of us who carries the health insurance! Surprisingly, it was the one of us whose company was not already planning to lay off 10% of its work force. Happily, it’s the one of us who is infinitely more employable, and who has already developed an awesome iPhone application. Things would really be bad if we’d both been laid off -- we would be one of those families they’re interviewing on public radio ... jobs cut, retirement fund shriveled up, housing in jeopardy, morale at rock bottom. I’m truly grateful we’re not there.

After the initial freakout period, we’ve adjusted to the change in income, and while figuring out where to cut back we have realized a few things: 1) we’re lucky to still have one decent income and we’re keeping apace of our living expenses; 2) we aren't heavy spenders to begin with, so we don't have to “give up” things like extravagant vacations, shoe shopping sprees, or pricey (or even cheap!) restaurant dinners. We haven’t even started taking extravagant vacations, and we rarely eat out, preferring instead to cook together at home, although we still buy the occasional pair of shoes; 3) there are certain things we’re not yet ready to give up -- most notably: food. Especially the treats that create luxurious moments in our everyday lives. Some of these treats could even be considered extravagant, but buying them isn’t sending us into bankruptcy, and giving them up won't help us pay our credit card bills any faster. Sure, there might be less expensive alternatives to our favorite indulgences, but they don’t provide us with the same culinary pleasure as these do.

Wine. There’s just no way we’re giving up wine! A few bottles in the grocery cart bulks up the bill slightly, but our meals have that extra sparkle when we're sipping wine alongside. And we do drink just one glass with dinner -- anymore more than that and I’m seriously looped -- so it’s not like we’re downing a bottle a day. I have a method of buying cheap red wine (read: $6-8 or so per bottle) that nets us something quite tasty more often than not: I’ll peruse the years on the bottles, look for the oldest ones (in the grocery store that doesn’t go back much further than about 2004), then scan the price tags for bargains. Once I find an “old” wine with a good sale price, I buy. Works most of the time. With lighter summer meals we’re drinking more pinot grigio, and lately we’ve found Meridian Pinot Grigio and Merlot are reliably good, and perpetually on sale. Good cheap wine = happy grownups.

Starbucks coffee beans. Sure, we go to Starbucks, especially for their espresso drinks. (Make mine a decaf double tall two pump no whip mocha, please!) And I think, but I’m not certain, that we’re going a bit less often now -- my drink is kiwi pear green tea so coffee isn't a daily habit with me (although mochas easily could be). To stay connected to our favorite coffee shop, we keep a bag of ground Starbucks beans -- from an actual Starbucks, not the grocery -- in the freezer. We feel terrifically thrifty when we brew a pot of Starbucks coffee from scratch, and we don't have to leave the house, which satisfies our lazy side. It’s just as full-flavored as the store-brewed kind, smells just as heavenly while its brewing, and costs just pennies a cup! Okay, maybe dimes, but not many.

Kiwi pear green tea. I discovered this Republic of Tea flavor years ago. I’ve tried other flavors by the same company, I’ve tried less expensive green tea alternatives in all flavors, colors and sizes. Nothing compares. Although it seems absurd to pay $10 for a tin of tea, it comes out to a mere $.40 every time I prepare a 16 oz. mug, which I do twice a day. A bargain at twice the price! Almost ... I certainly wouldn’t spend $20 on a tin of tea. On 32 ounces of green tea at $.80 a day, I plan to be cancer-free and live to at least 100, with plenty of money left over to sustain my Starbucks habit.

Sherry. But not just any sherry ... we discovered Lustau East India Solera sherry at our favorite local Irish pub, The Celtic Knot. All I did was get one whiff of it when my in-laws ordered some and I knew I had to try it. Then I paid homage to it in one of my very first blog posts. It’s dark and sweet but not cloyingly so, nutty, deep, rich ... and pricey -- about $27 per generic looking stenciled bottle at the liquor store. (Before you gasp, remember how much you spend on those bottles of vodka, tequila, rum, brandy, champagne, or whatever naughty alcoholic treat you keep in your liquor cabinet!) We sip it from little one-ounce Ikea cordial glasses (so even THEY were cheap!) which makes it about a buck a serving. Compared to $6 a pop at the pub, this is a luxury your accountant might just declare to be financially sound. Truthfully, though, there’s about one ounce left and I actually have been hesitant to go back and drop $27 on another bottle. Maybe this one is being shelved until we’re gainfully employed again?

Lucini italian olive oil. When I first tasted this oil, straight up with bread, my relationship with olive oil changed completely. It was more flavorful than anything I’d ever used for cooking. I finally understood what both “fruity” and “peppery” meant as it applies to olive oil. It is truly delicious! And you can get it at the grocery store, right next to all the other olive oils -- no special trips to swanky food shops necessary. We don’t use it for cooking -- it is strictly reserved for pouring into a small plate or bowl, sprinkling very lightly with kosher salt, and swirling (make that dunking, liberally) slices of good Italian bread or baguette into it. Enjoyed this way, it lasts a good long time. I could make a meal of Lucini and bread, a glass of (cheap) white wine, slices of parmesan cheese, and garlic olives. Every night. For the rest of my life. You’ve no doubt heard that olive oil is a “good” fat that helps lower cholesterol. Once you taste this, you’ll eat it often enough to keep your arteries clean as a whistle for many decades.

Really good chocolate. We’re going to give up this superfood reported to be effective in lowering blood pressure, preventing cancer, heart disease, and stroke? Not in a zillion years. Remember that every time you pay a wee bit extra for lovely dark chocolate (look for cacao content of 55% and up), you’re extending your life. ‘nuf said.

Like word games? Try Bon Mot!

celticred63@comcast.net — 2009-07-12T21:20:49-05:00

If you have an iPhone or iPod touch, then you might like Bon Mot! a scrambled word game created by my dear husband, Kenny, and our friend Bill Cochran. Bill = idea for the game, visual and audio creative, hours and hours of beta testing. Kenny = weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks of programming and debugging. Bon Mot was accepted into the iTunes App store and is now available for sale, whee!

To accommodate this venture into iPhone application programming, we (meaning Kenny) created a new company, The App Orchard, from whence we hope will come many more such games applications in the future.

We would be honored if you would check out Bon Mot!, download it from the App Store for a mere $0.99 (the Apple image below will zip you straight to the Bon Mot page), play it to your heart’s content. It’s fun, easy-to-learn, and quite habit-forming! I don’t have an iPod touch yet, so I’m constantly borrowing Kenny’s or my stepdaughter’s in order to get my daily Bon Mot. If you download and play the game, please let me know what you think of it!

Happy Birthday, America!

celticred63@comcast.net — 2009-07-06T18:47:15-05:00

Buttermilk shortcakes with red strawberries, white whipped cream, and blueberries. A festive and fitting dessert for a fun day!

We watched the Evanston parade in the rain, under our umbrellas, ate fried-then-baked chicken and corn-on-the-cob while listening to Aaron Copland's "Appalachian Spring", and ended the day marveling at Evanston's fireworks display from the Northwestern campus, under clear skies and an almost-full moon. A perfectly wonderful Independence Day! I hope yours was just as good.

Salted butter caramel ice cream ...

celticred63@comcast.net — 2009-06-30T22:30:39-05:00

... is in the house. That is, what’s left of it. I made it on Sunday, and it is so incredibly delicious (if I humbly say so myself) it might not last long.

I am a chocolate girl, by all accounts. I could (and sometimes do) eat it daily. Whenever dessert is offered, I usually pick chocolate. And sometimes I feel slightly shamed when I am in the presence of friends or family who choose fruit pie, raisin cookies or simple scoops of vanilla ice cream, which always seem more grown-up, respectable and healthy than my slice of chocolate cake, chocolate chip scones, ice cream with chocolate sauce, or chocolate malt.

However, this ice cream, with its toasty caramel flavor, tang of precious fleur de sel and crunchy bits of slightly salty caramel praline, could almost draw me away from the temptation of chocolate. Almost, I say, as I sit here sipping a grande mocha, after having eaten a portion of dark Dove chocolate this afternoon at work. My daily dose.

I don’t remember how I found the recipe for this frozen dreamfood on David Lebovitz’s scrumptious Web site (which is like a culinary field trip through France), but I knew I had to make it and the sooner the better. As usual, I ~~modified and cheated my way through~~ took a few liberties with the recipe to save time and energy, and still my mods yielded a smooth, creamy, deeply flavorful confection. Only David himself could possibly detect my shortcuts, and I can only hope he would approve.

For the first time in who-knows-how-long I used all the full-fat ingredients that were called for. I did substitute light cream (half-and-half) for heavy cream (the whipping kind). But I used real whole milk, since I could get a two-cup Chug that would leave no leftovers languishing in our fridge. Whole milk is an unknown commodity in our home -- it's skim, 2%, or bust.

I had only three eggs in the house (the recipe calls for four yolks), and was too lazy to go out and get more, so I used three egg yolks and two egg whites. I suspect I could have just thrown the three complete eggs into the mixture and no one would have been the wiser. No need to cheat on the other ingredients, which are as simple as white sugar (carmelized to the brink of a smoking burn), vanilla, and butter -- which melts and bubbles gloriously into the carmelized sugar. Oh the smells in the kitchen! You'll have most of the ingredients on hand already.

This recipe was my excuse to pick up a pricey container of fleur de sel French sea salt.
I’ve wanted to try this fancy stuff ever since I first read about it, so now I have an 8-oz. jar in my cabinet that should last a good long time. If you spill any, don’t bother throwing a pinch over your left shoulder to keep the devil at bay. At $1.50 per ounce, it’s too dear for superstitious rituals!

Ice cream is pretty easy to put together -- it’s like cooking a custard, then freezing it. You mix ingredients, heat them in a heavy saucepan (gotta cook those eggs and thicken things up), cool the mixture, and pour it into your ice cream freezer. David’s recipe calls for measuring the temperature of the cooked custard, straining the mixture through a fine sieve, cooling it in an ice bath, and chilling it for at least 8 hours or overnight before freezing it. I couldn’t wait that long! I wanted it that night, so I skipped the thermometer step, the straining, and the lengthy cooling process. NOTE: I am not an entirely reckless cook -- I usually judge how much I can alter a recipe after I’m completely (or at least pretty darned) sure it won’t negatively affect the outcome. I think, when all is said and done, this ice cream can be made using the same method as other ice creams--omitting the fancier steps--and you’ll still be happy with the results.

After many MANY necessary tastes of the creamy, golden brown caramel custard -- to make sure it had the correct proportions of carmelized sugar to salt -- I poured the cooled mixture into the aluminum freezer can, set it into the maker, nestled ice and rock salt all around, plugged in the machine, and went for a bike ride. I have an old Rival “ice cream and yogurt freezer” that I picked up at Target ages ago. It’s noisy, so I place it in a location where it won’t bother anyone for 45 minutes and let it spin merrily away. I used to stick it in the bathroom and close the door.

You can get a reasonable facsimile for a decent price. Or if you insist on swank, by all means spend more.

When I came back from my bike ride ... voila! Ice cream. Almost. It is like creamy softserve at that point. I stirred in the salted praline, which I had chopped into small bits, and put it into the freezer until completely firm.

We kept ourselves busy with dinner while it froze, then sat on the porch and tucked into the finished deliciousness while fireflies drifted and glowed around us. Oh my! Heavenly, creamy, toasty, crunchy, divine. Thank you, David! I will definitely make this again.

Still cooking.

celticred63@comcast.net — 2009-06-10T22:02:00-05:00

As promised last week we opened My French Kitchen over the weekend and cooked up Warm Tuna and Potato Salad, a very nicoise combination of haricot verts, boiled new potatoes, roasted cherry tomatoes, and tuna tossed with a dijon dressing. The dish is easy, but a wee bit labor intensive -- there’s trimming and boiling the haricot verts (that’s French for “skinny li’l green beans”), cutting up and boiling the potatoes, roasting the cherry tomatoes, mixing up the dijon dressing. None of it is difficult, but we ended up with a kitchen full of pots, pans, and olive oily bowls. (Tip: wipe those bowls clean with slices of good bread!)
The effort was worth it: the resulting warm salad was delicious! And perfect with some toasted pugliese bread. It felt like cold weather comfort food -- much needed because lately all we’ve gotten is RAIN and temps in the 60s.

I love to cook new dishes and try new flavors, but I don’t have the time or patience to drive hither and yon for obscure ingredients, nor do I want to spend a fortune for fancy, organic, imported or otherwise expensive foodstuffs. Instead, I scheme to find inexpensive, lower-fat, easy-to-locate substitutes at my local grocery store. I’ll maybe drive the extra way to Whole Foods, as long as there’s something else I can get at the same time, like my favorite green tea. We also have an excellent “european market” nearby called Treasure Island. Need chestnut pate, tinned duck breast, white truffles, or Italian torrone? They’ve got it.

But I am ~~lazy~~ time conscious, and ~~cheap~~ thrifty, so I try to get everything at Dominick’s. I’ve never seen haricot verts at Dom’s, but luckily there are tons of green beans in their produce department right now. I simply picked out the smallest, slimmest beans and they easily (to the untrained tongue) passed as their sophisticated French cousins. I also plucked up a bag of petite golden potatoes, an 8 oz. carton of grape tomatoes, and a few miniature cans of Genova Italian Tuna. Oddly, our grocery store sells the little 3 oz. cans at a better price per ounce than the 5 oz. cans, so make sure you read those pricing labels!

It is this olive oil-packed tuna that really makes the dish. Once we finally started putting out the extra cash for this imported tuna, we couldn’t go back. There might be better Italian tunas on the market, but if it’s not at my grocery store 3 blocks away, I can’t be bothered. For every day tuna salad with celery and mayo, trusty white (dolphin safe!) tuna is fine, but for a really special tuna flavor, get the Italian sort. Don’t let the fact that it’s swimming in olive oil (or distributed by Chicken of the Sea) put you off -- just drain it good and dive in. You’ll live longer consuming olive and omega 3s anyway, so treat yourself!

The salad was followed by Chocolate Cheesecake for dessert. Not cheesecake as we know it, full of cream cheese, eggs, and baked in a graham cracker crust -- this cheesecake calls for creme fraiche, melted dark and white chocolates, and heavy cream, and it is chilled rather than cooked.

I substituted creme fraiche with sour cream, and heavy cream with a combination of milk and evaporated milk. I used Nestle Toll House Chocolatier dark chocolate, and Ghirardelli white chocolate, both from the baking aisle. The crust is ground up chocolate chip cookies (I used lowfat Chips Ahoy) mixed with melted butter (Lucerne canola oil spread). The crust alone would have suited me just fine! I love just about anything with butter. I wasn’t sure if the mixture would set up properly in the fridge, so I froze it to save time (we wanted to eat dessert as soon as possible). We’ve been eating it in sweet, cold slivers almost like popsicles. It’s truly smooth, chocolatey, and delicious! I am more of a cake/cookie/pastry/straight up chocolate girl, so I probably won’t voluntarily make this cheesecake again. Still, it’s turned out to be a hit with everyone in the house, which is immensely gratifying.

Tomato, toMAHto, tart.

celticred63@comcast.net — 2009-06-04T21:38:11-05:00

How about some Roasted Tomato Tart from My French Kitchen:

Sliced tomatoes on a base of dijon mustard and creme fraiche, topped with fresh oregano and marjoram, goat cheese and a wee sprinkling of fresh parmesan, baked until the tomatoes bubble and the goat cheese turns slightly golden. With white wine to sip and a simple green salad, it was heavenly! And so easy.

My French Kitchen is a charming cookbook with dreamy photos of French food, gardens, marketplaces, cobblestone streets, bicycles, balconies, baguettes, colorful signage, seasides, and Citroen Deux Chevaux that make me feel like I'm stepping directly into my very romantic fantasy of French life and cooking. It was co-written by Joanne Harris, who wrote the book that was made into one of my all-time favorite movies, Chocolat. That is a movie I can watch again and again. Juliette Binoche is perfectly beautiful in those ultra feminine skirts and body hugging cardigans, and she makes tempering chocolate look absolutely sexy and breezy. Last winter I listened to the unabridged audiobook version of the original novel (which I got free from the library and ripped into my iPod), and after that I checked out every chocolate cookbook I could lay my hands on -- determined to quit my job and open a chocolaterie. I have yet to teach myself to temper chocolate (but I will!), so instead I'm escaping to the French countryside through this cookbook as often as possible.

Tonight we're opening My French Kitchen again so we can make Warm Tuna and Potato Salad that will be followed by Chocolate Cheesecake (actually a swirl of coffee flavored chocolate and white chocolate creams on a crushed chocolate chip crust) for dessert. DROOL. Bon apetit!

Critters and sirens.

celticred63@comcast.net — 2009-06-02T14:55:36-05:00

I’m home today with a VERY stiff, sore neck and shoulder. I’m not sure what caused it besides “sleeping funny.” Only it isn’t funny, it really aches. I think I made it worse this morning while trying to gently stretch the muscles. Now I can barely look left or right without wincing, so I’m heading off to a local massage therapist to see if she can work out this unpleasant kink.

Being home makes me the lucky center of attention from all our critters. Mr. Sass, who normally insists on sleeping squarely on a lap, makes do when there is a laptop on said lap by snuggling as closely as he can.

I tried getting a picture of Piper sleeping a mere 12 inches from Mr. Sass on the couch, but alas she hopped off the couch and followed me into the family room when I tried sneaking in there to get the camera. Here she is instead posing next to my partially finished Corsage in Bloom. I just completed the aqua ruffled flower and am ready to proceed to a minty blue rosette.

Molly visits occasionally, sitting on the coffee table in the warm spot left by my laptop.

And Lilly lounges nearby on Kenny's easy chair.

I could get used to this working-at-home thing!

Because I was home, I got to take Piper for a walk right around mid-morning. In fact, the clocks must have struck 10:00 precisely on this first Tuesday of the month because suddenly the eerie wooOOOOing of civil defense sirens arose all around us. It was a bit chilling to hear them live, so many sirens all layered in varying ominous tones, fading in and fading out. After years of hearing them somewhat muffled from within the walls of my school or the buildings where I work, I felt for the first time the sense of urgency those loud sirens evoke. For a few moments I tried to imagine being in World War II London during The Blitz where they sounded nightly for months to warn of German bomb attacks. What an awful time that was -- such terror and destruction, resulting in the deaths of 43,000 civilians all over England.

I can’t imagine trying to cope on a day-to-day basis if our city was being bombed at night, and by day we still had to work, shop, get the kids to school, etc.

I hope we never find ourselves hearing those sirens in earnest, or sleeping in shelters or subway stations to stay safe until danger passes. May the worst reason they ring, at least here in Evanston, is to alert us that it’s time to relocate our cars to make way for snow plows.

Remember snow?

Chocolate cake for no reason.

celticred63@comcast.net — 2009-05-30T17:23:48-05:00

While flipping through recipes the other day, I came across a chocolate buttermilk cake recipe torn from a 1999 issue of Cooking Light magazine. Instead of waiting for some event, I decided our inaugural screening of "Bolt" was good enough. So I made the cake.

I made a wee mistake -- added too much baking powder or baking soda, I can’t remember which. To counter that slight extra saltiness, I added an extra tablespoon of cocoa powder (or two, perhaps?) and about half a cup of chopped up chocolate chips. If I humbly say so myself ... my mistake was the making of this cake! It was chocolatey and moist and a big hit with everyone. Although I won’t be adding too much of whatever-it-was next time, I’m noting the additions of extra chocolate for future cakes. Yum!

By the way, Bolt is a sweet and very fun movie. It's fun to think that's Vinnie Barbarino doing the voice of the innocent superdog. Rhino the Hamster is my favorite -- such a silly hamster!

When life gives you blackberries.

celticred63@comcast.net — 2009-05-25T21:34:36-05:00

Blackberries were on sale for $1 a carton last week, so ...

... blackberry shortcakes! Victoria Magazine has a scrumptious recipe in this month's issue. Sadly, I can't link to it because it's not up on their site yet. Make your favorite shortbread recipe (this one called for buttermilk, and each was sprinkled with turbinado sugar), stir blackberries with some Smucker's blackberry syrup (we used boysenberry -- no blackberry at our supermarket), spoon over sliced shortbreads, top with whipped cream, and enjoy! We definitely did.

By the way, the shortbreads are delicious if lightly toasted first. And these shortcakes were so rich -- more like scones -- we ended up using just one slice. A much better use for a blackberry than sending text messages! No disrespect to President Obama.

Springtime in Who-ville.

celticred63@comcast.net — 2009-05-25T17:18:41-05:00

Spring's the Word
by Aileen Fisher
Spring up, seedlings,
  weedlings, clover!
Spring out, leaves,
  now winter's over.
Spring up, green things!
  There's a reason
Spring's the name
  to fit the season.

Spring has been absolutely beautiful here in our corner of the midwest. Lush and green, with great weather -- a perfect mix of sunshine, decent temps (60s-70s), and necessary rain. Fragrant lilacs and viburnum abound in our neighborhood, along with magnolias, flowering fruit trees, and lots of tulips, grape hyacinth, lily of the valley, daffodils. My bleeding hearts surprised me by surviving some backyard construction work and a flood of woodchips that seeped under the fence from our neighbor’s yard. To me the bleeding heart is the prettiest old fashioned spring flower, even though it has no fragrance. I’m so happy to see them blooming again!

So many flowers around our neighborhood look like they could easily be home to the residents of Who-ville. I can see Horton gingerly carrying one of them in his trunk, informing his jungle-mates "A person's a person, no matter how small."

Or in this case large, because no one could mistake these enormous allium for a tiny little clover with itty bitty Whos on it.

Chive blossoms make perfect Who-worlds, and they're tasty too.

A whole colony of Who-villes!

Is that whofoo fluff? Or fuzzle fuzz?

These rose buds could be fun, pointy Who-heads. Wait ... is that one ... smiling?

Surely this is inspiration for an unusual Who hairstyle.

Could Whos live inside these fluffly balls of viburnum? If so, they would be drunk on their heavenly fragrance!

I hope you've had a relaxing Memorial Day weekend. Although we've had cool sunny weather all weekend, today, in typical Memorial Day fashion, it rained.

Blooming corsage progress.

celticred63@comcast.net — 2009-05-10T13:37:14-05:00

The crochet thread I ordered arrived, and it is lovely! Summer Straw, Tea Rose, Aqua, and Wintergreen. So pretty, and so thin. No mistaking it for yarn, that's for certain. On the very same day a mess of skinny little steel crochet hooks I won on eBay also arrived: 11 different sized hooks for $6.50 including shipping. That’s 60 cents per hook -- less than half what they cost at the craft store. My kind of bargain!

Here is the rose I started from the Corsage in Bloom pattern. It was a bit awkward at first working on such a small scale, but I’m getting used to it and now it’s as fun as working with a regular sized hook and yarn. The Coats Opera thread has a lovely sheen and works up easily. The flower is really taking shape. See all those scallopy petals? By the time I'm done there will be 392 double crochet stitches on the outer edge!

I used to think big needles were it. My first knitting projects were on big size 11 and 13 needles, so size 8 and 9 felt comparatively small, and the work felt like it progressed so slowly. Now I appreciate the feel of petite projects in my hands and I look forward to knitting Kenny's kilt hose on size 4s and using this wee hook for making pretty little flowers. It reminds me to slow down, be patient, and really see what I’m doing. And it takes less time to complete smaller projects ... which is contrary to the “slow down” idea, but who doesn’t want to see the finished project sooner than later?

Happy Mother's Day!

celticred63@comcast.net — 2009-05-10T11:28:36-05:00

I miss my mother, who passed away several years ago at the ripe old age of 80. I wish she was here so I could give her a hug and tell her how glad I am she’s my mom, so I could share with her what’s growing in my garden, and show her the latest item I’m knitting, crocheting or sewing. My mom (and dad, of course) raised ten children, of which brood I am the youngest. How they managed that on a shoestring without losing their minds completely I’ll never know! Despite many battles during my teenage years, we luckily ended up with a very close, loving relationship. Dad speaks so tenderly of his courtship with mom when they were at art school together in Chicago. Here they are all dressed up for a date -- just a simple date! Doesn't mom look glowing and beautiful?

Now, lest you think Mother’s Day is simply a “Hallmark holiday” designed to swell Sunday brunch lines and peddle flowers, jewelry, cards and gifts, the truth is quite different. Mother’s Day started as an effort to promote peace, as envisioned by two mothers raising their families during the Civil War. Julia Ward Howe -- a women’s suffrage and abolition activist who wrote “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” (here’s a nice audio version of it) -- is one of two women credited for starting Mother’s Day. Troubled by too much war -- first the American Civil War, and next the Franco-Prussian war -- she puzzled over man’s continued compulsion to use violence to resolve conflict. In her memoir, Reminiscences, 1819-1899, she wrote, “Why do not the mothers of mankind interfere in these matters, to prevent the waste of human life of which they alone bear and know the cost?” Howe’s “Appeal to Womanhood,” also known as the “Mother’s Day Proclamation,” was intended to unite women against war and draw them into a crusade for peace. Her Mother’s Day was celebrated on June 2 for almost 40 years.

More than a decade earlier, a rural northern Virginia minister’s wife named Ann Jarvis also united mothers in the name of community and peace. Around 1858 she started “Mother’s Day Work Clubs” -- groups of women who worked locally to help prevent the spread of disease by improving sanitary conditions, and who assisted families of mothers suffering from tuberculosis. At the onset of the Civil War, her clubs helped raise money for much-needed medicines, conducted food inspections to guard against contamination, and tended both Union and Confederate soldiers sick with typhoid fever. She created “Mother’s Friendship Day” to ease post-war tensions, and create a sense of peace and unity between Union and Confederate woman. Her wish for “a memorial mother’s day commemorating her for the matchless service she renders to humanity in every field of life” came to fruition in 1914 when President Woodrow Wilson declared Mother’s Day a national holiday. Ann's daughter, Anna (pictured below right, next to her mother) rallied for years until she was virtually destitute to help grant her mother's wish. Ironically, Anna Jarvis never married or had children, but clearly she was devoted to her mother!

I am humbled by the work of these women, which goes far beyond what I have presented in these few paragraphs. Each felt deeply the importance and necessity of peace in the world, having experienced directly its violent opposite in their homeland. Each understood the unique position women are in as traditional nurturers to help bring about peace. Each endured the hardship of war, disease, unsanitary living conditions and social disapproval to work (peacefully) for peace, to help others live better lives -- to help them simply live. Mother’s Day is built on a firm foundation of faith, integrity, sweat and compassion, not greeting cards and chocolates.

I miss phoning my mom on this day to say, "I love you, mom!" I miss the joy of receiving sweet handmade treasures from my own son (who, incidentally, gave me a hug this morning AND is in the kitchen making me breakfast!). I appreciate the tulips and reassurances that I’m a good mother that I get from my husband. But since Mother’s Day has “real” -- not commercial -- beginnings as an effort toward peace, I need to figure out how to honor the women who began the day. While I’m working on that, I’m going sip my favorite kiwi pear green tea, enjoy the crunchy stuffed french toast being prepared for me by my two favorite guys, plant some Joseph's Coat climbing roses (oh I hope mine grow as beautifully!) in the front garden, go for a bike ride, and nurture peace and love in my own home.

Someone ...

celticred63@comcast.net — 2009-05-05T22:20:51-05:00

...... isn’t letting me work on this:

It’s a Toirneach kilt sock that I’m knitting for Kenny! Actually it’s kilt hose, but I’m not sure if it’s proper or decent to call a single sock a “hose.” Makes sense for a pair of “kilt hose.” A hose is something you use to water the garden. Is a hose also something you put on your foot? At any rate, Piper keeps bobbing up and down by my knees, with a bone/rope/squeaky tennis ball in her mouth waiting for me to play with her. I, on the other hand, want to remain in my overstuffed chair by the front window enjoying a lazy day of knitting!

These hose had a bit of a false start. After carefully scrutinizing the other Toirneach projects at Ravelry, I decided to buy KnitPicks Telemark yarn -- it was economical ($15 for enough yarn for the pair!) and people seemed to get gauge with it. I ordered it in “Deep Navy,” which was nothing short of pure black. MAYBE in the brightest light you could see some blue highlights. Maybe. If you squinted. It was way more black than blue. And the swatch I knitted was rough -- not soft and foot friendly. So I conceded to the yarn recommended for the project: Louet Gems Merino in “Indigo.” Much better! Nice and soft, knits up smoothly, and the color is true navy. I made it through the lace cuff (after several tries), and the 1x1 rib on size 2 needles, and I’m at last on the calf portion. Using the magic loop on my interchangeable circulars, this is growing nicely! Although that is probably because I’m not turning the heel or knitting the toe yet. I've never knitted socks before so this is uncharted territory for me. I'm hopeful these will be ready by the time we go to the Bristol Renaissance Faire this summer, so Kenny can wear them with the kilt I made for him. Whew! That man looks good in a skirt. The unused Telemark? It's destined to become a felted skull tote.

Piper couldn't care less about knitting and kilts and ren faires! She just wants to chew and chase her squeaky ball.

Go get it, girl!

By the way ... I can crochet.

celticred63@comcast.net — 2009-05-05T21:30:00-05:00

I recently taught myself how to crochet JUST so I could make this scarf. Between my learn to crochet book and the charts on this pattern, I was able to struggle through several attempts at working the scarf, repeated ripping when my effort didn't match any of the examples on Ravelry, finally making a breakthrough on how to correctly execute a double crochet, and wow! I was hooked. (Yes, that is an intentional crochet pun, which I'm sure I inherited from thousands of crocheters before me.) I easily memorized the repeats and couldn't put the project down. Then I manically tried it in about six other yarns on various hook sizes. I went a little crazy, but I've settled down now and I'm back to the kilt hose as my main project. I am looking forward to making many more of these! Friends and family can count on getting one as a gift sometime in the future.

The yarn is Dalegarn Svale in ivory. I bought this single skein from a LYS because it was recommended for a counterpane afghan I wanted to knit for my mom. The total cost for said afghan would have been something absurd like $150 using this yarn! So although I loved my dear old mom, I opted instead for about a ton of white Cotton-Ease at less than $5 per ball. White CE is much more fitting for a counterpane anyway, so the Svale became this pretty, too-short Anne Lace scarf. It's more of a collar or choker when wrapped around twice. Secured with a ceramic rose pin of my mom's, I think it looks quite romantic! Okay, not with the pink tee shirt and gardening sunburn.

I'm so confident in my new crocheting skills that I've already started the "French Country" hat (with the crocheted mum) from JooJooBees. And the next project in my cue is Corsage in Bloom, a pretty posie of roses and lily of the valley made with a skinny little size 7 steel crochet hook. Yikes! It's like crochet in miniature. I'm going for it, though--I picked up the wee li'l hook at Tom Thumb Hobby in Evanston (you should see this thing, it's super skinny!), and ordered the recommended Coats Opera Crochet Thread. Thread. I'm going from big fat yarn to little old thread? No matter, I can't wait to get started!

Happy May Day!

celticred63@comcast.net — 2009-04-30T22:08:49-05:00

The first of May has always been about the May flowers brought by April showers: lily of the valley, violets and even dandelions picked from our yard (and sometimes tulips poached from the neighbor’s) all tucked into little baskets made from empty school milk cartons and left secretly for my mother on our back porch. The arrival of May 1 puts rainy, blustery April to rest and helps us believe that winter really is over.

As an adult I’ve explored my celtic roots and learned that the month of May is about Beltane, which is celebrated in early to mid May. According to Wikipedia, “... Beltane marked the beginning of the pastoral summer season when the herds of livestock were driven out to the summer pastures and mountain grazing lands." The hills glowed with bonfires and May bushes of rowan or whitethorn were decorated with ribbons and flowers. It’s a “cross-quarter day,” midway between the vernal equinox and the solstice on June 21, our traditional first day of summer. For the ancient Celts, summer began in May and the solstice signaled “midsummer” -- the halfway point to harvest time! Interestingly, their year ends on October 31, but let’s talk about that closer to Halloween (one of my favorite days, in my favorite season).

For many Pagan/Wiccan folk, their Beltane is celebrated on May 1 with Maypole dancing and fertility rituals. It is a great excuse for getting romantic with your special someone ... or with yourself, if you happen to be the best thing going in your life at the moment. I also periodically check The Witches' Voice for information about Beltane and other ancient celebrations such as Lughnasadh (summer harvest), Samhain (Halloween) and Yule (winter, Christmas).

I recently learned that May Day is also known as International Workers Day -- essentially Labor Day for the world beyond the United States and Canada. And its origins are right here in Chicago. To oversimplify a complicated (and very interesting) story, in May of 1886 a rally at Haymarket Square (just west of the loop) in support of a strike in support of the 8-hour work day turned violent -- a bomb was thrown, shots were fired, and a number of civilians, strikers and police officers were killed. Eight men were charged with a police officer’s murder; six of them were sentenced to die. They became martyrs for the international movement toward an 8-hour workday, and May 1 became their worldwide day of commemoration. In other words, people died so we could work 9-to-5! To disassociate from those turbulent events, our Labor Day was established on the first Monday in September, while almost everywhere else in the world it is celebrated -- with similar turbulence -- today.

Of course, none of this should be mistaken for “Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!” the common distress call rooted in the French phrase “m’aider” meaning “help me!” A lot of us are in distress these days -- over lost jobs, the daunting task of finding new employment in a desiccated job market, shrinking retirement accounts, the sluggish housing market, swine flu. I’m sure many people are having moments when they feel like things are hopelessly spinning out of control and they want to shout “Mayday!” while they grope for the eject button and the parachute ripcord. We all deserve a break from the gloom, and I'm taking mine today. In keeping with my daydream of a lovely, peaceful place in the country, I shall recall my childhood celebration of May 1 as a day of flowers, sunshine (hopefully) and surprises. No matter what you do this May 1 ... Happy May Day to you!

Nightcap at noon.

celticred63@comcast.net — 2009-04-25T17:37:38-05:00

We treat ourselves to the most delicious sherry, discovered when my wonderful in-laws ordered glasses of it at The Celtic Knot, our favorite local Irish pub. It is like nectar! Rich and nutty, but not too sweet. I’ve been craving it since last night and by mid-day I knew I just couldn’t wait until a more respectable drinking hour ... so I poured, sipped and enjoyed. It's a real indulgence, and if we have to we'll sell things in order to keep our liquor cabinet stocked with it.

The sherry sipping came on the heels of some mid-morning scone baking, inspired by the promise of a visit by my friend and knitting buddy Wendy. I made “classic scones” cut into heart shapes, and cheddar scones, except I used dill havarti cheese and some parmesan. And I didn’t have chives so I put in 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder and some dried parsley. Both recipes are from the “Taste of Scotland” edition of Bon Apetit magazine. I love to browse through this issue (and the Ireland issue) and dream about the day we take our honeymoon to Scotland.

I couldn’t fit all the cheddar scones into the pan and didn’t feel like cooking two batches, so I plopped blobs of excess dough on the top of each one, like mini brioche. Kenny pronounced them delicious!

Happy Earth Day!

celticred63@comcast.net — 2009-04-21T22:54:44-05:00

Since we’re not yet ready to build a compost heap in the back yard, install solar panels on the roof, buy a new hybrid car, or start collecting rain water to feed the garden, we’re going to celebrate by ... digging into some dirt cups! Yummy chocolate pudding (instant) mixed with whipped cream (from a tub) and crushed Oreos (low-fat), plopped into pretty recycled glass juice glasses (environmentally friendly), and topped with gummy worms and more crushed Oreo "dirt." Fast, easy, delish. What better way is there to honor our precious Earth AND make our tummies happy? Make some, eat and enjoy. Then go outside and hug a tree!

Seeing stars.

celticred63@comcast.net — 2009-04-20T22:20:54-05:00

Looking for a little nighttime thrill? If you happen to be awake very early on Wednesday morning -- say about 3:30 a.m. -- go outside to watch the Lyrid Meteor shower! Even though we don't have the darkest skies, being just outside of how-orange-can-we-make-the-night-sky Chicago, I've seen meteor showers before in this area and it's pretty darned magical! Dress warmly and bring something hot to sip. Then lay back on a lawn chair or lie down on a blanket, and point your eyeballs to the sky.

I like tracking meteor showers and other celestial events such as aurora displays (there was an amazing display that lit up the skies back in 2003, and almost everyone in the entire midwest missed it!), brighter than usual planets, International Space Station flybys, moon phases, and the like. With the best of intentions, I get excited about meteor showers. I mark them on my calendar, and check the weather forecast in the hopes of having clear skies. Naturally they are best seen in the middle of the night when the skies are darkest and, not surprisingly, when I'm usually asleep. So I keep missing them. Oh, you’re usually asleep in the middle of the night too? No wonder we keep missing these meteor showers!

If you don’t happen to catch any shooting stars, then you still might see a satellite flyby of some sort on Wednesday morn. (Substitute your local zipcode at the very end of that link to see the flyby schedule in your 'hood.) Even though the flybys themselves aren’t tremendously spectacular -- really just a quiet steady light that cruises peacefully across the sky -- it’s pretty amazing to know there are people in that thing. Or you might literally see some space junk or a toolbag dropped by an astronaut. Again, mostly just specks of light traveling slowly overhead, but I am fascinated that this stuff is orbiting above us while we go about our business on the mother planet.

If you don’t happen to catch a flyby then keep an eye out for the Moon, Venus, Mars and Jupiter converging at dawn. Satisfy your inner astronomy geek at the SpaceWeather site, which has lots of great user-submitted photos of planets, satellites, and awesome pictures of the northern lights.

And if all that isn't enough for you even before you have breakfast, Wednesday is also Earth Day! Maybe you should take Wednesday off.

Spring Cleaning in the Garden.

celticred63@comcast.net — 2009-04-18T20:25:00-05:00

Spring has arrived at last! We really thought it wouldn’t -- midwesterners often are convinced winter gets longer and will last absolutely forever each year. But yesterday was beautiful, sunny and warm—proof that the earth tilts back in our favor and the seasons do, indeed, change. Everyone was inspired to willingly leave the house for one reason or other—walk the pup, bike ride, ripstick. For me it was to face our homely garden—on gloved hands and padded knees—to free creamy orange primroses and burgundy peony shoots that have started peeping through the matted, parched debris of last year’s growth. Out came the layer of oak leaves; down came dried stalks of echinacea, mums, sedum, corepsis; ouch! prickled the rose thorns. It was a mess I was happy to tackle, and even though it is sparse yet, our front-yard plot already feels like it’s lighter and breathing more easily. And today, happily, there is rain to start feeding those thirsty roots!

Sweet little primroses look on as the detritus of last year's growing season
collects on the front sidewalk.

Our big stripey kitty Mr. Sass loves to roll around in the fresh green grass!
He gets covered with dirt and is as happy as a ... well, as a cat in dirt.