Heal My Life

The Interview

So I was reading Lucullian Delights, Ilva's delightful blog when I came across an interview she had given.  It was fascinating to read about her and not via the usual blog-meme sorts of things.  At the end of the meme was an invitation to ask to be interviewed.  ME ME ME - I cried, never the shy one.  So here are Ilva's questions and my answers.

1. Why did you start blogging?
Truthfully, I started blogging because I needed to write.  It had been a difficult year; my baby business not making enough to keep us afloat, family members becoming ill and dying and, oh yeah, menopause.  I was never any good at keeping a journal, as I’m not disciplined enough to write without a good reason or a deadline. I figured having to “post” would help.  What I wasn’t thinking and didn’t realize was that no-one would want to read about those depressing things - YECHHHH!  So after creating the blog, I scrambled for what to write about and it just sort of evolved into the “things” I do, freeform knitting, baking, gardening and what have you, to Heal My Life.  And so far so good, I think. 

2. Which was the first blog you ever read?
Goodness I have no idea.  At first, I read mostly knitting and food blogs and a couple of political rants, though I couldn’t tell you for certain which ones were first. I liked blogging.  It let me connect with people who had interests similar to mine and taught and showed me things I would not have learned or seen otherwise.

3. You knit and work with fabric a lot and you use a lot of color but which is your favorite color combination?
Oh that’s easy.  Pinks and greens – a tropical rainforest flower theme.  Though purple and green run a close second.  Truly there aren't many color combo's I don't like, though neutrals don't do much for me. 

4. Has becoming a grandmother changed how you see and treat your daughters? If yes, in which ways?
Yes and no.  No, because my daughters are and always will be the light of my life.  No-one and nothing can ever supplant them there.  I love my granddaughters, but my daughters are my babies.  Is that funny?  But yes because watching them grow and mature and in the case of my eldest, have children has deepened my affection and respect for them.  Watching the two of them “parent” the little ones (my daughters live next door to each other) just clutches at my heart.  Seeing my daughters hug and kiss the kids in the big way their grandmother Clara used to and carry on the traditions of family gives me hope for the future and I love them even more for it. 

5. Do you find that your attitude to cooking has changed over the years?
Oh yes!  It’s been a Love-Hate-Love relationship.  When I was a brand new bride armed with my New York Times Cookbook and Clara, my Italian kitchen Goddess masquerading as a mother-in-law, it was great fun to cook and experiment on my willing husband.  Then as the children came, it became a game: what can I make that they’ll be willing to eat and I can stomach – LOL!  For a while after they were grown, I hated cooking.  I was cooked out.  During the entire first five years of our relationship, Anthony did pretty much all of the cooking, except when I needed and Italian fix, and I did all the baking.  Now, things seem to have come full circle and I am cooking again with pleasure.  I don’t cook often, as Anthony is a better cook than I am and he loves mucking about in the kitchen, but I always look forward to my turn at the stove with pleasure.  And that’s very nice.

Okay, so that's it. Thank you Ilva - that was fun!  Now for the part where I interview you:

DIRECTIONS FOR THE INTERVIEW MEME
1. Leave a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. Beware, I'm not shy of asking personal questions! Please make sure I have your email address.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Rockin!

Okay - this is totally cool.  Just when I think there isn't anything new to be done or discovered in the way of arts and crafts, someone comes along with a new twist on an old technique.  In this case - it's embroidery, on a rock and it's 3D! 

Last weekend at the New Hampshire Sheep and Wool, I finally met up with Jen, a blog pal whom I had been corresponding with for a while.  We'd exchanged little gifts and seemed to be on the same wavelength on several issues and beliefs.  It was wonderful to finally meet and hug, though we didn't have much time to chat as I was working. But she brought me a bag of fabulous salt water taffy made in her town and something even cooler - a freeform embroidered rock!  I couldn't for the life of me figure out how she had done it and even though she patiently explained it to me - I'm a visual learner, so it didn't make much sense. 

Then, this morning, having my coffee and reading my lists, I saw that she had posted to our Yahoo Freeform Group introducing herself.  She also included a link to a tutorial on how to do the ROCK!  Awesome.  I high tailed it over there to see how she did it.  NOW I see.  And I have to try this.  I'm thinking of doing smaller rocks, pebbles maybe, and adding them to the freeform. I have all kinds of cool threads and lightweight yarns about... it would even work for semiprecious stones as jewelry! How cool is THAT! 

The rock is sitting on top of the pile of papers on my desk, keeping everything from blowing about when I have the window open.  Thanks Jen - you're a DOLL!          

It followed me home...

No, that's a total lie.  I bought it at Costco.  I also just got Emily Luchetti's A Passion for Ice Cream from the library.  The bowl was in the freezer within five minutes of our getting home with the box.  Can you say instant gratification?  Anthony has asked for peach sorbet and I just happen to have some Cascadian farms frozen peaches in the freezer so I guess that makes him a lucky man. 

I, on the other hand, have loftier flavors in mind.  And I'm not going to tell you what I'll be making for me first, suffice it to say you've probably never had this combination of flavors before.  And I can't make it until I get back from the Jamaica VT Fiber Festival, so you (and I, ARGHHHHH) will have to wait until next week.  Sigh.   

The High Veldt

The inspiration: the high veldt at Domboshawa National Park

Part of the incredibly gorgeous stash I acquired at the New Hampshire sheep and Wool for the project:

Some added stash from home:

Now...what shall I make?

I'm thinking a perhaps a throw ala Colinette Perigino?  I could use the zigzag pattern like Jaywalker,

or a feather and fan

like the one in Colinette's Ab Fab... 

Anyone have any ideas?

Move Over Martha

So most of you know about the Darkest Chocolate Crepe Cake debacle event. If you don't, check out the Daring Bakers links on my sidebar and see how much fun we all had with Martha's recipe. I never was much of one for the multi-bowl, thousand-ingredient, several days of prep, exponentially increased chance of failure, recipe.  It must be a life stage thing because for a good portion of my adult life I had children and no time or patience for overly fussy anything.  Now that my time is a bit more my own, however, I find myself pouring though those recipes and anticipating the challenges.

There's definitely something intriguing about multiple layer cakes.  Seven, ten, fourteen, the more the merrier, that get the imagination going.  So much care and effort for something so ephemeral.  Like like the sand mandala; the beauty of a crepe cake is fleeting.   

But there is a way to have your cake and eat it too (sorry, bad pun intended, it's early).  Buy a knife of Damascus steel and you can look at those layers every time you cut something.  This morning, Anthony showed me a new sister site to one of his favorite tool catalogs, The Japan Woodworker called fittingly; The Japan Chef.  It's nice.  They have gorgeous things for the kitchen.  But in particular, and the reason A called me to his desk, was the Damascus steel chef's knives handmade by Hatori. He has long had a deep appreciation for this technique and once bought me a beautiful handmade Damascus pocket knife as a gift.

Wow.  I had to sit down. This has to be one of the most beautiful examples of this craft I have ever seen - and I've seen a lot of them.

Martha's got nothing on this guy - this knife has 360 layers. That's right, 360.  Damascus steel is made by folding, and pounding layers of steel together until they're wafer thin.  This process originated in Japan and used in sword making as well as for hand tools.  It was designed to mix a soft and hard metal, thus resulting in a durable blade with a sharper edge.  Hard metal cuts well but can shatter.  Soft metal cuts badly, but is sturdy.

The knife in the photo happens to be from Japanese Chef's Knife, another good source for these beautiful knives.  They come in a decent range of prices and it it is a wonderful thing to use a beautiful handmade tool.             

And not only is it beautiful - its eminently useful as well. Go ahead and read the story - it's fascinating and there are more photos.  You'll have another reason to want one.  Move over M. 

Woman Stops Knitting - Gains 50 Pounds

Yep - I can see that headline now.  If I can't start knitting soon - I'm gonna be in big trouble.  I'm already ten pounds heavier than I was at this time last year, a fact which I'm chalking up to Menopause and not to eating pretty much whatever I wanted all winter, and I swear I can't gain another ounce because I'm NOT buying bigger pants. 

Joining the Daring Bakers really hasn't helped at all.  Not that I really thought it would, but I seriously never thought I'd be driven headlong and in a rapidly descending spiral (it's no coincidence that their little logo has that spiral on it), back into the world of butter, eggs and flour.  And chocolate.  And caramel. And of course, coincidentally, I have this tendinitis in my pinkie and can't knit or crochet.  Which leaves me with nothing to think about in my idle moments except - you guessed it - BAKING!

Though I suppose I could think about Lampwork beads and get started on that project -  But my head is in the clouds of meringue that lurk in every new blog I visit on this Daring Bakers Odyssey so glass is really out of the question at this juncture.  Let me show you how bad it is.

Yesterday, Chan, her new hubby to be and the three kids came over for barbecue.  I made Angel Food Cake for dessert (this, by the way was all that was left of it by the time I ran downstairs to get my camera). 

Chan was tickled pink when she saw it and asked me what the occasion was.  She knows that I never make Angel Food Cake unless I've been planning for it by making yolky things and and saving up the egg whites which takes my putting on my baker's cap and thinking and planning.  It doesn't happen very often.  I reminded her that I wasn't knitting.  "Oh" she said. "That's too bad".  Those four words spoke volumes - I knew what she meant. 

She meant that unless I start doing something fast - I'll have yummy baked goods coming out of my ears.  And I'll eat them too. 

Pray for me.          

Can There Be TOO Many Flavors?

Nope - never!  As Andreas Viestad, one of my favorite chefs is fond of saying "Too much of a good thing is delicious"!

So after seeing the salted caramel ice cream (that one is definitely next) on Desert Candy the rose-cardamom on Cardamom Addict and the cardamom vanilla ice cream on Tartlette and then again on Hungry in Hogtown, I just had to do it. I made the ice cream. 

Because cardamom is one of my favorite flavors (I'll have to remember to post the cardamom cookie recipe), and because I happen to have just bought a jar of Horlicks powder and because I just had a pint of the new Haagen-Daz flavor Lehua Honey, which is to die for by the way, I thought HEY - why can't I have ALL the flavors!  So I combined them all and the result was Malted Honey - Cardamom Vanilla Ice Cream!

Holey moley - it's yummy!   I churned it by hand because I don't have an ice cream maker yet, a deficiency I intend to correct next week but I just couldn't wait, so it's grainer than I'd like.  But the flavor is awesome.  I used a dark honey from a local apiary and the result was a complex, meld of warm flavors, slightly reminiscent of caramel, but with a honey high note.  The cardamom added  mystery and a slight kick and the vanilla seeds are just darn pretty.  I toasted a few broken pecans for the top and they added a wonderful toasted nutty flavor.

Sheer heaven!

The recipe, adapted from here:

Malted Honey and Cardamom-Vanilla Ice Cream

1 cup 2% milk
1 cup heavy cream
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar (white or brown, I used white this time)
¼ c honey
¼ c Horlicks powder
8 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
1 small vanilla bean, split and scraped
dash of salt

Heat milk, cream, sugar, cardamom, and vanilla to 175F over medium heat.  Remove from heat, cover tightly, and let steep for 5 minutes.

Strain.  Return vanilla pods to mixture.

Slowly add a little of the hot mixture to the yolks to temper them.  Add tempered yolks to mixture, and return to medium heat, stirring constantly, until it lightly coats the back of a spoon (approx. 185F).

Strain.  Chill completely.  Churn as per maker's instructions.

   

Monsanto's Milk

WARNING - Please don't watch this video if you are easily offended or have delicate religious sensibilities.  If, however, you're worried about what's in your food, and particularly your milk - watch on! 

Comedy Central's Colbert Report takes a hilarious look at the rBGH controversy. Although the synthetic hormone has been banned in most nations, due to its links to endocrine disruption and cancer, it is still widely used in the U.S.. Monsanto recently filed a formal complaint with the FDA demanding that dairies that have banned the use of rBGH should not be able to label their products as "rBGH-free." Learn more at OCA's "Millions Against Monsanto" campaign

All mimsy were the borogoves...

...and the mome raths outgrabe.   I've always been taken with Lewis Carrol's Jabberwocky, and while I was looking at my new creation today, the third line in the poem popped into my head. 

Because I can't knit, and I didn't have the ingredients I needed to embark on my baking project - what better thing could there be to do on a lovely spring day then prepare to set some fabric on fire.  I haven't done any fusing and burning since the fall as it's best done outside (fumes, you know). 

The preparation is a bit of a rigmarole and involves quite a bit of preliminary chopping, slashing and fusing.  I carted everything including the iron and board outside and this is what I spent the better part of the afternoon at: * Mimsy  (link thanks to Jen) will be cheery bucket bag with an elliptical bottom when she is finished and I will have a bag named for Jabberwocky! 

I do still need to get to Joanne for some poly sheers for her overlay, and some variegated and metallic threads for her stitchery, so she is on hold, sitting expectantly on her cookie sheet, until I can acquire those things. 

I don't know about you, but I'm excited.  And guess what - my pinky doesn't hurt a bit.

* In the sense of affected or over-refined, mimsy has long been known in the British Isles, especially in Scots and northern dialects; an example is in A Rock in the Baltic, by Robert Barr (1906): “In one corner of the room stood a sewing-machine, and on the long table were piles of mimsy stuff out of which feminine creations are constructed.”

Knitting... and Cupcakes

In case you all thought I'd given up knitting in favor of ranting and baking - I thought I'd disavow you of that notion.  I HAVE been knitting and doing a bit of freeform.  Currently OTN are Cookie's Monkey socks and I absolutely love them.  The pattern is reasonably easy to memorize, they fit nicely and they look awesome on.  If you knit socks and haven't been introduced to Cookie yet, please allow me to do the honors. Readers, meet the very cool and talented Cookie.  She designs absolutely fabulous sock patterns, a couple of which, Monkey, Pomotomus and Baudelaire, have been featured on Knitty.  She's also done a couple of Knitty Gritty shows. 

I recently purchased Twisted Flower from her. I know, don't even ask.  I don't know What the heck I was thinking except maybe "Hey, those are pretty!"  Right.  I'm nuts.  So anyway, I'm happily knitting away on Monkey sock number 2 and all of a sudden I feel an unpleasant twinge in my left pinkie.  So I kept knitting.  A few rows later, the twinge got louder.  "STOP KNITTING", it yelled! 

Now, I 'm a continental knitter, and I carry the trailing yarn clutched in my left pinkie and ring finger.  As I've recently shifted to knitting socks with fingerweight yarn on 1's after years of knitting them in sport/DK weight on 3's, go ahead and sneer if you have to, I can only imagine the problem is that I'm clutching this thinner yarn tighter and it's given me a case of tendonitis.  That's right; tendonitis, in my pinkie, from knitting.

Granted this isn't as dumb as breaking my leg scuba diving - but it's pretty darn close.  And to add insult to injury - I can't knit until it heals.  If you knit - you know how troubling this is.  Not only for me - but for everyone around me.  I'm calmer when I'm knitting and when I'm not knitting, well, let's just say that I'm more fun to be around when I'm suitably medicated by the knitting needles. I won't start to cry about the fact that I have a six hour drive up to New Hampshire looming on the horizon with NO KNITTING for the car. 

Shoot me now.

And just so that I don't leave baking friends in the lurch in this very knitting post, I thought I'd include something for you too.  Cupcakes!  Yes, that's right, they're knitted cupcakes and just in case your gas is off, or your electricity is off or something dreadful has happened to your kitchen, heaven forbid, you can STILL turn out a reasonable and cuddly facsimile of baked goods with some yarn and a pair of knitting needles ala Ms Darcy!  There's a basic pattern here, and another, more detailed pattern in One Skein.