Pots and Pins

So Easy Christmas!

It's finally here...the best little Christmas book ever - the one book you need to buy this year for yourself and for gifts!  My good friend Karon, who lives a picturesque life in the Scottish Highlands, has written this wonderful book and I wanted to let you know about her and her book so you won't miss out!!

  If you haven't visited Karon's blog, Sew Easy Life, then you must do so now!  She has a video on her home page that you can click on and listen to her darling Scottish accent as she tells you about herself and her life in Scotland...you'll be sucked in and wishing you were her neighbor!  And while you read about her and all she does, you'll know why I call her my frirend - she is so full of LIFE and ENERGY and there is nothing she can't do! 

To order So Easy Christmas, just click here. 

(Karon's book is available through Amazon.com, but when I tried to order it through Amazon it said it was out of print - which is funny because it was just printed!  So there is a glitch in the system that hopefully will be fixed soon.  In the meantime, you can order it through Karon's website.)

 

 

Two Great Things...

First, I recently discovered a wonderful cookbook...a cake book...it's as beautifully written as the recipes are delicious. 

Miette, just as the book says, is a charming pastry shop in San Francisco - definitely worth the trip if you're in the area.  But if not, then you can order this book from Amazon.   The word Miette is French and it means crumb...speaking of French, if it's true, that we are what we eat, then I am currently French through and through...if I could get the wifi to work I could show you just how French I truly am!

 

 

 

 

I've "dog-earred" almost every page in the book - for cakes and pastries I must make.  Miette specializes in little cakes - 6-inches in diameter - perfect for so many different occasions.  And they are all SO beautiful!!

Admittedly I am a cookbook fiend, but this book is worth the price, which is only about $15...and it would make the perfect gift for a Foodie Friend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second great thing I have for you today are these AMAZING baking papers!!  They are brand new and they are made by Welcome Home - so be sure to look for them at Sur LaTable or any other nice kitchen shop.  (I know City Kitchens in Seattle carries these!)  Now here's the great thing about them, you don't need a muffin tin!  You can put these paper cups right on your baking sheet, fill them and bake in them and then serve in them, too!  They come in all colors, designs and a couple of packages of them would make great stocking stuffers for your Foodie Friends...and just in case you're wondering, Christmas is about 75 days away!!!  I plan to use these little babies on Halloween...I'll bake up some nice pumpkin cupcakes and then I'll deliver them to some deserving Ghouls when I'm out ding-dong-ditching!  Hurry now, get them while they last!

 

Planet Barbecue...The Cookbook

One of my New Year's resolutions in 2010, was to not buy any more cookbooks and magazines as I had developed a strange addiction to both.  I subscribed to about ten magazines and I loved and read them all, but when I realized my magazine addition had spun out of control, as in, I was buying magazines at the grocery store that I already subscribed to and had already read...well, I had an intervention with myself:  My name is Nan and I'm a magazine addict.  I girded up my loins and  quit cold turkey.  Standing in the line at the grocery store was torture for me...I had to resist the urge to grab a magazine...ANY magazine...I must have looked like a junkie going through withdrawals...biting my nails, shifting my weight from side to side...frantically digging through my purse for gum or mints or anything to distract me until it was my turn to put my groceries on the moving conveyor belt and inch past the magazines that had such power over me.  And now, a year and a half later, I can tell you, like most addicts, I have had some slip-ups...but, like a social drinker, I have learned to manage my addition and now only subscribe to THREE magazines - Bon Appetit, Cooks Illustrated, and Southern Living...the holy trinity when it comes to magazines. 

 

 Cookbooks are a whole 'nuther thing.  I have tried, I truly have, and while I have done better, I am not yet cured and can't even claim to be a "social cookbook imbiber."  My name is Nan and I'm a cookbook addict!  But I do have new, self-imposed parameters when it comes to buying cookbooks...I will only purchase a cookbook that comes highly recommended by someone I trust or from a place where I have personally eaten."   And that was the case with Planet Barbecue by Steve Raichlen.  I first heard about this book from my friend Chris, the mastermind behind  Nibble Me This.  If you haven't been to Chris' blog, you need to go - right now - but first put on a bib because everything he posts will make you drool.  I read Chris' review of Planet Barbecue and ordered it straight away.  When it came I quickly browsed through it but half way I discovered I was late to a wedding reception and had forgotten to buy a gift...so I stuck a check in the book, wrapped it up and gave it away then quickly forgot about it!  A few months later I purchased it again...because the newlywed couple I gave the book to wrote me the nicest note and raved about all the great food they had made from Steve's easy to follow recipes...I bought myself a copy...but once again, it turned into a gift.  And then the rains arrived, our grill was tucked away for the winter and I put Planet Barbecue our of my mind until last week when I saw it for half price at Barnes and Nobles (and you can order it now through Amazon for practically nothing!!)  This time, I did not give it away!  I read it cover to cover and it is fascinating!  I have dog-earred about half the book and have made 3 dishes so far - all outstanding - and I'll share those with you soon. 

 

 From appetizers to desserts, there are over 300 recipes from around the world - it's as much as a travel book as it is a cookbook!  If you're not up to speed with your barbecue techniques, this book will get you there...even if you're a highly-challenged-gas-grill-gal like myself.

Searching and Secrets...

    I'm as happy as a feline in a Mouse House!  My NEW and IMPROVED SEARCH feature is up and working and you're going to LOVE it! 

  My thanks to a very special cat...meow!

So if you want to find my recipe for Brown Sugar Strawberry Pie, just type it into the SEARCH box, on the left, or maybe you want the recipe for White Baked Beans or maybe you want the recipe for Cafe Rio Chicken Salad...wow, I'm making myself hungry!  Give it a go - it's going to be a life saver for you AND me!

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Now...on to Secrets...My sister, the one who is younger and looks more beautiful than me, (That may or may not be true...but, someone is having "fun" with my blog...as in HACKING!!  However, by allowing the hacker to hack, big of me, no?  I shall now consider myself SQUAREmeowEVENmeowPAID IN FULLmeowmeowmeow!)  Now, back to the important matter at hand...my sister...the one who is younger but looks older, albeit more beautiful...(happy now?!?!) called me the other day and said she was browsing through the new cookbook my mom had given her for her birthday...and she came across a recipe for Armenian Meat Pies - it sounded familiar - and then she noticed it had been submitted by ME!  She called mom to ask her if she knew I had a recipe in the book and mom said no...and they both wanted to know why I didn't tell them!  Well...it's because I didn't know!  Books take forever to be published and by the time this one was out I had completely forgotten about the recipe I submitted! 

This really is a great recipe book - beautiful pictures, tried and true recipes that are filled with down-home goodness!  It would make a nice gift, too!  You can order the book from Amazon by clicking here - I get nothing if you do, just so you know!

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you haven't tried our Armenian Meat Pies...you really should - the recipe makes enough to feed a crowd and the leftovers (if any) are just as good the next day.  Dang good!

When Bad Things Happen to Good People - In Triplicate...

You all know bad things come in threes, right?  Yes! They do!  Especially plane crashes...and appliance failures - like the clothes dryer dying followed by the microwave sparking out of control after the refrigerator in the garage gasped it's last breath...appliances speak to each other via electrical circuitry, when one decides on a "productivity slowdown," the others join in, it's called appliance solidarity...feel free to quote me on that.  Also, IF I burn something while cooking then I know something else is going to over-flow right after something else is dropped...mark my words and start counting when you're having a bad day...after the third thing you can breathe easier!

 

 

 

 

 

Here's my latest run of bad luck...

No. 1...I needed to make French Nougat...something I've never done but I was asked to do this for a church party...having just come out of three days of candy-making, I thought, how hard could nougat be?  Well, let me tell you, candy-making is a SCIENCE and I FAILED science in school...miserably!  It's all about chemical reactions and boiling points and LACK OF HUMIDITY - something we never lack for in the Northwest!  So of course the French Nougat didn't set up...it was a pan full of gelantinous goo (pictured above on the left) that tasted good but didn't set...Plan B...run to the drug store to purchase 20 Look Candy bars - cut and put into little candy cups (pictured in the center above) so they can fool all of the  unsuspecting Non-French people at the party! 

No. 2...Jessica Seinfeld's Crock Pot Lasagna...What WAS I thinking?!?  I saw her on Oprah talking about her new cookbook and she demonstrated her lasagna - said it tasted great and saved time...well, with French Nougat to ruin I needed to save time!  I followed the recipe to the "T"...it was dry as the South of France!  IF you want to try it you can find her recipe here ... but if you want good tasting lasagna that isn't as dry as Provence, DON'T waste your time or your ingredients!

No. 3...The mister walked into the kitchen last night.  Yes, that's the third bad thing.  He waltzed through the door in rare form and said, "Did you make pie today?!"  He said that as he was shimmy-ing around the Christmas boxes that are waiting to be sealed and taken to UPS...all NINE of them...and when I told him there would be no pie for him, as I had been too busy shopping, wrapping and packing for HIS side of the family, he said, very matter-of-factly...."Well then, what do I pay you for?!?"  Seriously, can someone please tell me why homicide is wrong?!?  

But then, after three bad things happened, something good happened arrived: 

TWO Mary Englebreit Cookbooks!  I couldn't figure out why I had ordered them - or when - and then I looked inside and discovered I am a contributor to the cookbook!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(I love cookbooks that lay flat!)  Since it can take a couple of years for a book to be published I cannot remember how my participation in it came about!  But I do know they printed one of my all-time favorite recipes - my Cuban Pork Roast Sandwiches with Cilantro Aioli is in the book!!!  (This recipe has not been posted on my blog but I'll rectify that very soon!) And the books are both signed by Mary Englebreit herself - which more than made up for the mister's rude remark!  I'm keeping one book for myself and the other one is going to someone special...and if YOU would like one of these wonderful cookbooks you may order one by clicking here...it would make a great stocking stuffer!

12 days till Christmas!! 

 

So Easy Herbal - Book Giveaway!

My best blogland friend, Karon Grieve, has written the most wonderful book on herbs...So Easy Herbal.  Karon is the brains behind Dream Acres, which is the name of her website, her company and the place she lives.  From her garden in Ayrshire, Scotland, she grows her own herbs, creates wonderful gifts and goodies, which sell at craft fairs all over the U.K. and makes mouth watering dishes using her home-grown herbs!  Now she's written this informative and very clever book so we can grow herbs, make wonderful gifts and eat tasty food - just like she does!

I've been reading Karon's blog for almost two years - she is funny, witty, charming and always has something interesting going on.  Plus, she has the most unique way of looking at things...finding beauty in the mundane and joy in the simple things - and she takes the most amazing photographs - nothing like the crap you see here!

   

Every page is filled with beautiful pics - and clever tips for using herbs around the home and in the kitchen...did you know you can make your own air freshener with just a few springs of fresh lavender, vodka and water?  I think you spray the air once and then your mouth twice...or maybe it's the other way around...but seriously, how great is that?!?  

Karon picked the top ten herbs to feature in her book...so you won't be bombarded with strange plants you've never heard of and won't be able to find at the local nursery...basil, thyme, lavender...we all know what they are and with her help we'll know how to grow them, when to harvest them (there's a time of day that's perfect!) and then what to do with them to make us feel better, smell better and eat better!

  

Now, about the giveaway...I ordered two books from Karon, one for myself and one to give away.  If you'd like a chance to win Karon's book all you have to do is leave me a comment on this post - that's it!  If you want to make SURE you get a copy of Karon's book, go to her website by clicking here and you'll be able to order the book.  It's a great price, too, (her price is listed in Euro's for 14.50 which comes out to the $18.47 for us Yanks) and you can either order the hard-bound book, which is what I have and am giving away, or the e-book, which is a download-able copy (9.99 Euros or $12.73 US).

Oh, you should know that Karon is a bit of a celebrity...she's been on TV in Scotland, her products have been featured in Country Living UK (and several other magazines) and so has her home, which is a picturesque cottage filled with beauty at every turn...I should like to visit Karon one day, sit in her kitchen next to the Aga, surrounded by drying herbs, and one or two of her scones with lavender jelly  and share a cuppa, I know I would be well fed and entertained (especially if Harry the ferret joined us!)...in the meantime, I'll just pick up her book when I need a "fix" and plan to be her in my next life!  

Now be good little souls and leave me a comment...I'll pick a winner on Sunday night and announce it Monday morning!

Lake Washington...

The clouds have rolled back in and we're set for rain for a week - that's what the weather talking heads say - but this is how I'll get my sun fix - I'll think back to my day on Lake Washington, floating along in the nicest-best-most-reliable-dependable boat EVER (thank you for starting each and every time dear boat!) with good friends and good food and one handy little book of info:

Lake Washington 130 Homes by David Dykstra is available here and might be at your local Seattle Barnes and Noble or Borders, which is where I found my copy.  This book is fascinating, if you're into stalking, voyeurism, peeping, playing papparazzi or like my friends and me - just into beautiful homes and yards.  We floated under the I-90 bridge up the Gold Coast past them all - the huge and the huger, including the Windows 2000 House (owned by the guy who created Windows and according to the book his house is valued at $12 million...I spit on that!), Bill Gates house (where he is having a bit of work done on his dock and again, according to the book, he has 8 bedrooms and 25 bathrooms...they must have very small bladders in that family - can't go ten feet without needing to go potty!  Oh, it's valued at $150 million...that I can't spit on!), and we picked out our favorite house - the one we'll buy if we win the lottery - a really, really big lottery!

 

The book points out the 130 most magnificent mansions, impressive in some manner or another, like the house that has a Statue of Liberty on the balcony and the house that put up a sign that says:  "Only an egotistical JACKASS would build a house like the one next door!"  Hilarious!  Most of the homes listed in the book are owned by the movers and shakers of Seattle (Microsoft, Costco, Nordstrom, Starbucks, Seahawks, Amazon, etc.) - people who laugh all the way to the bank - not hysterical laughter as in "PLEASE LET ME GET THIS DEPOSIT IN BEFORE ANOTHER CHECK GOES THROUGH!"  No, no, no...laughter as in, "I'm just going to withdraw some pocket change, I'd like a hundred grand in small bills, my Gucci purse is stretchable!"  I begrudged them nothing - after all, this is America, the land of opportunity...so like the old joke where the lady is begging to win the lottery each week, over and over she prays to win and finally God says, "Do me a favor, meet me half way and buy a ticket!" 

I have a ticket...I'm half way there!

Thanks for the great day at sea Janice! 

Max's Book...

The very clever Helen introduced fabric books to our quilt group - hers were wonderful - kind of like I-Spy books and they were all different sizes - the smallest being about 3-inches square!  So, sew cute! I had to make one for my Max - and his book is all about me...Baby Max lives 800 miles away and I'm quite certain he spends an inordinate amount of time each day wondering where I am!  Since The Girl and SIL think it's okay to stay where they are, thereby keeping Max from me, (but I say nothing!) I have no recourse but to bombard them with pictures of me -  in the hopes that when he sees me again he'll recognize me, run to me with outstretched arms, saying, "Grandma, I've missed you so!"

Max loves to eat so I chose fabric with some of his favorite foods on it... let's do some math:  Max loves food + pictures of me surrounded by food = Max loves me.

 

All Work and No Play...

Make Nan a very dull girl.  Six quilt tops finished in as many weeks.  And now they sit and stare at me begging to be quilted.  

But it's too hot to quilt.  Too hot to do anything.  Last week I was complaining of the cold and rain, but summer arrived with a vengeance...and now the mercury is threatening to top 95 degrees!!!  That's like 150 for all of the florescent-skinned people in the Northwest - vampires included!  So better to curl up with a good book - I'll let you in on a secret - we have air-conditioning.  Oh sure, you laugh, so does everyone else...but in the Northwest hardly ANYONE has it...and not only that, a lot of people don't even have screens on their windows!  True!  Because who opens their windows when it's raining?!?  So curling up with a good book is on the docket today...

This is my latest book and I have to say I've "read" it a dozen times already but every time I pick it up I see something new.  I've not been a fan of Kaffe, but this book won me over.  Nedra over at Cactus-Needle Quilts posted about this book a while back and I practically flew to the nearest quilt shop to find it.   And if you can find it, at least take a quick peek inside...but if you do you'll want to buy it unless you have super-amazing will-power...so just go ahead and buy it and you can thank me and Nedra.

Maybe I'll brave the heat, take my book and sit outside for a bit...those quilt tops will be there waiting for me when I return and there's nothing like walking into an air-conditioned house after being out in the heat...like walking into a freezer...I'm so easily amused.

Always the Bridesmaid...Never the Bride...

The day the movie Julie and Julia was released I whipped up some of Julia's Dishes...they were all equally delicious, we loved every morsel and then we went and saw the movie.  That night I was looking on line for more information about Julie Powell, who was so sweet and nice in the movie that I couldn't understand why the movie Julie would think Julia Child wouldn't like her or her blog...well, after reading the real Julie's blog, The Julia Project, I think I know why Julia wouldn't have been thrilled by her blog...her language was foul which I'm sure offended Julia's fowl among other things.  But back to me...while on line I discovered a cooking contest...Be Like Julie, Cook Like Julia...and being unable to stop myself, (as my daddy likes to say, "You can't win if you don't enter!") I immediately entered, sent pictures of the meal I had made and just KNEW I would win the Le Creuset cookware and the complete library of Julia Child's books from Knopf Publishing...I already have all of Julia's books but what great gifts they would make! 

Well I didn't win the grand prize, 2nd or even 3rd place and certainly not the Le Creuset!  But I did win an Honorable Mention which got me a copy of  Judith Jones' newest book, The Pleasures of Cooking for One.  Judith Jones' was Ms. Child's publisher at Knopf and she also has her own blog, Judith Jones Cooks.  I'm happy to win anything...and I see this book as having great possibilities!  I've just spent an hour happily flipping through the pages - beautiful photographs, simply written recipes and I love that Ms. Jones has included her own comments and advice - very user friendly!  I also love the title...Cooking for one...perhaps it's a sign!?