Pots and Pins

It's Time to Say So Long...

I started this blog in 2007 as a way for my mom to see what I was up to every day, since we lived 800 miles apart.  Mom was my inspiration, not just for this blog but for everything I ever did.  Mom was my greatest cheerleader; I was so very blessed to have her as my mom.  A week ago my sweet mom passed away from complications of Covid-19.  She got sick, was hospitalized, then sent home because she was doing better and she continued to improve for a few more days before she took a turn.  To say we are heartbroken is an understatement, I just have no words to describe what a loss we are dealing with.  My mom was amazing.  Absolutely amazing.  Really, truly amazing.  

Thanks for being my blog friends for the last 13 years.  For reading, commenting, putting up with me trashing the mister and for sharing your lives with me.  So many of you have become friends and I'm so very grateful for you.  My blog will continue to be online, I just won't be posting any more.  I won't say good-bye, just a heart-felt thanks.    Love, Nan.

 

  

Wild Rice and Leek Pilaf...

The mister has selective eyesight.  He can walk over things that have fallen on the floor, even step on them, and not notice.  I could have food in my teeth, pine needles in my hair, dirt on my shirt and if I ask him why he didn't tell me he'd say he didn't notice.  He never notices if a picture is hanging slightly askew on the wall, if there is crud on the countertops, or if our pup Rosie had an accident during the night - he'll walk right over it, oblivious to the smell, even! 

So last week when the mister took Rosie out to go potty and walked around the side of the house, something miraculous happened and the mister came out of his stupor just long enough to glance at the gas meter, almost hidden between the bushes. He noticed tiny bubbles coming out of the pipe that leads from the ground to the meter.  Tiny bubbles, he saw them, what?!?!?!  How is that even possible when the man cannot see dirty socks, shoes in the entry, overflowing trashcans, or empty milk cartons???  

The mister had me go with him to verify that he was seeing bubbles...yep, sure enough, but how did he see them??  Seriously!  It's such a mystery but I am so grateful that after all these years of the mister walking blindly through life he finally opened his eyes at the right time in the right place because our gas meter was leaking!!  The pipes had rusted, they are about 40 years old, so the gas company was called and they repaired everything and said it was a good thing the mister saw it - so all ended well.  And now that I know the mister can see, things will be different around here!!  (If you have old gas pipes you might want to check them!)

This dish is one of my favorites.  I love wild rice, first had it when we moved to Minneapolis years ago (it's the official state grain) and have been a fan every since.  I love the "earthy" taste of wild rice, even though it's not really a rice but a grass.  This dish can easily be made into a entree by adding your favorite protein, but I like it as a side dish.  It's the perfect Fall dish and would be a nice addition to your Thanksgiving feast.

The addition of dried cranberries to the rice and a sprinkling of toasted slivered almonds (I love the almonds Trader Joe's sell, they are toasted perfectly) on top when the rice has finished cooking gives this savory dish a bit of sweetness and crunch, it's practically perfect if you ask me.

Wild Rice and Leek Pilaf - Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Thanksgiving Entertaining 2005 (This cookbook is out of print but if you can find it in a used book store or on line you will love it, it's full of great recipes.

3 tablespoons butter

1 large leek, white and tender green parts, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise

1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion

2 cups wild rice

1 teaspoon dried thyme

3/4 teaspoon salt

freshly ground pepper to taste

6 cups chicken or turkey stock

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/3 cup toasted slivered almonds

In a large saucepan over medium heat, warm the butter.  Add the leek and onion and saute until soft, 8 to 10- minutes.  Add the wild rice, thyme, and salt and season to taste with pepper.  Add cranberries and pour in the stock, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and cook until the wide rice is tender, about 40 minutes.  Transfer to a warmed serving bowl and serve hot, sprinkling toasted slivered almonds right before serving.  Serves 8 to 10. 

Corona Quilt #11...Ben and Roxy's Wedding Quilt...

My nephew and his bride, Ben and Roxy, sent out save the date cards a year ago, announcing they would be married on July 4th in Seattle.  At the time they were still living in Utah while Roxy finished up her residency at medical school and had planned to move to Seattle right before their wedding.  Well you know what happened, Covid arrived and threw their plans into a blender.  Seattle was forced into a lockdown and Ben and Roxy decided to delay their wedding by a month, hoping things would ease up a bit so they could at least have family attend their wedding.

When their new wedding day arrived, there was still a limit of 25 people who could attend weddings, so yours truly was UNinvited...and I watched them get married on Zoom with the rest of the extended family.  It was fine, but I so wanted to be there in person!  Ben is now the only member of my extended family who lives in Washington, and I'm so happy about that - now I might be able to see my brother and sister-in-law more often, too, when they come to see their son!

I wanted to make Ben and Roxy a quilt, and decided on neutral tones.  At first I was going for a total monochromatic look, just cream on cream, but decided it needed more of the darker tones.  This one measures 54 x 60-inches, a nice lap size I think.  This is the 11th Corona quilt I've made in the last 9  months, in case you're counting and believe me, I am!!  This was a joy to work on though and I suppose I should thank 'rona for giving me the time to get it done...  

This one isn't backed with flannel, my usual choice (because it's cold in the NW year round!) and I used Pellon brand Natural Cotton Batting, which is 97% cotton so when it is washed and dried it shrinks up beautifully.  Ben and Roxy have a dog, and as cute as he is, I really do hope this doesn't become his quilt!  But I know what happens to dog lovers when their dog wants the quilt, Rosie owns all of my quilts!  And who could say no to General Huxadoodle, or Hux as he is known??  Just look at his face!  

The picture on the left was taken at the wedding, Hux is wearing a blue bow tie for the occasion.  That's Roxy and her baby boy in the picture on the right, Hux is wearing his new Seahawks jersey...he's definitely a NW dog now!  My nephew Ben is an awesome photographer, give him a follow on Instagram @streetphotoben, then check out his website to see his amazing work, click here.  

I hope this quilt gets lots of love and I'll pretend it's Roxy who will be wrapped up in it and not Hux...but I know better...oy vey.  Congrats to Ben and Roxy, getting married during a pandemic is not for sissies!  Wishing you all the best forever and a day.

 

Nantucket Cranberry Pie...

I'm easy to please when it comes to pie, have never met one I didn't like.  And this one, well, not only did it please me but it's made it to the top of our T-Day Pie List!  It's refreshing, tart and sweet with a touch of cake-like texture, you're going to love it...oh, one more thing to love about this pie, there isn't any pie crust to make!

Somehow I managed to talk the mister into flying to SLC to see the family and attend our annual Whobilation/Grinchmas party.   He agreed it was time for him to make an appearance, lest the nieces and nephews go back to calling him Uncle Phantom.   He was not amused when I told him he had to not only attend the Whobilation but he had to dress up like the Grinch.  Perfect casting, no?   Then Covid reared it's ugly head again and we were been put back into lockdown, so our trip had to be postponed.  I was very sad; I moped around the house for a few days, feeling all those rocks in rock bottom.  Me being sad makes the mister crazy, he wants to "fix" things (so I'll be happy and make him his favorite foods) but he can't fix Covid.  As sad as I was/am, the mister seems to be euphoric!  Oh he's not happy about Covid, he's happy that he doesn't have to go see the fam!  When I told him we needed to get a new artificial Christmas tree he practically bolted out of his chair and said, "Let's go!"  I almost fell over backwards.  When I told him I needed to pick up a few Grinch things for the kids he replied, "Great idea, let's go!"  The mister being happy is not normal.  The mister being happy about going shopping is really not normal but the mister being happy about going shopping for anything related to Christmas is so far out of the normal category that I fear the Earth will fall out of orbit!  You might say I'm in shock even, me sad, him happy, the end must be near!  

This pie brought me back to my senses.  It calmed the last frazzled nerve the mister managed to find and gave me a reason to smile again.  It has curative properties for sure! Don't take my word for it, make this super easy pie for yourself and get ready to push Pumpkin Pie over to the corner!

With 5 minutes of baking time left, the pie is sprinkled with granulated sugar and then put back into the oven to finish baking.  The sugar gives the pie a nice crispy/crunchy top, something to write home about I should think!

Nantucket Cranberry Pie - Adapted From Pioneer Woman via Laurie Colwin

1 stick butter, melted, plus more for the pie tin

2 heaping cups cranberries, fresh or frozen

3/4 cup pecans, chopped, toasted or not

1 2/3 cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure almond extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

Ice cream or freshly whipped cream for topping, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Generously butter a 9-inch deep pie pan.  Add the cranberries to the bottom of the pan.  Sprinkle on the pecans, then sprinkle on 2/3 cup sugar.  Whisk the eggs in a medium bowl until lightly beaten.  Whisk in the melted butter and almond extract.  Gently stir in 1 cup sugar, the flour and salt until combined.  Pour batter slowly over the berries to evenly cover the surface, spreading to the edges with a spatula if necessary.  Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake part comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes.  About 5 minutes before removing from the oven, sprinkle the surface with the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar for a little extra crunch.  Serves 8 to 10.  Serve with ice cream or whipped cream, if desired.

 You won't miss the pie crust.  In fact, you'll swear it's there, like my foodie friend did.  I like this pie-cake hybrid so very much, not because it's super easy but because it's super good.  It reminds me of the recipe for French Cran-Apple-Almond Tart that I adore, you can find that recipe by clicking here.  And if you need any Thanksgiving recipes, including how to make the best dang turkey this side of the Motherland, grab yourself a cuppa, look on the sidebar, scroll down to Thanksgiving, click on that and sit back and be prepared to have your taste buds tickled.

 

 

Creamy Onions with Bacon and Chives...

There are two things I know for sure:  The first is, it's time to start wearing elastic-waist-pants.  And second, you need these onions on your T-day table.  Seriously, they are so good and will go with every bite of turkey, stuffing, squash, Indian pudding - whatever your fork can hold and then they will make your leftovers taste even better.

This is a tried and true recipe from Smitten Kitchen, via New York Magazine, via Thomas Keller, from 2010.  I stumbled upon the recipe a while back and finally got around to making it, and I've made it 3 times now.  These onions will transform any weeknight dish into something amazing, they are great on pork, chicken, fish and on a burger they will blow your mind.  Hyperbole?  Possibly, but they really are that good!

The original recipe calls for pearl onions, but the markets didn't have any, but they did have some really beautiful cipollini onions, so that's what I used.  The recipe also calls for blanching the onions in boiling water, then putting them into an ice bath to cool them down enough so they can be peeled and cleaned up a bit.  It was a bit time consuming but not to worry, you can buy FROZEN pearl onions...duh!  So WHEN you make this, not if but when, buy the frozen onions and save yourself some time!  Oh, they are just as good with frozen as with fresh, I couldn't tell the difference at all.

Applewood-smoked bacon is fried until crisp, then cut into small pieces and then, hold the phone, the real magic happens...heavy cream is added to the bacon grease, along with freshly grated nutmeg.  Your arteries might begin to tighten up at this point but pay no attention, if you do suffer some kind of cardiac event from eating these, it will be worth it, I promise.  The onions are added to the cream mixture (along with a couple of splashes of Sherry) and they bubble along until they are cooked and soft, about 7 minutes or so.

When the cream mixture is almost gone, the onions will be done and ready to be topped with the bacon pieces and fresh chives.  Now promise me this, just have one or two tastes, but do not stand at the stove and eat one after another, it's just rude.

Creamy Onions with Bacon and Chives - Adapted From Smitten Kitchen

1 lb. cipollini onions or 1 lb. bag frozen pearl onions

6 slices applewood-smoked bacon, cut into a small dice

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

2 tablespoons sherry 

1 tablespoons fresh chives, cut into small segments

kosher salt to taste

If using fresh onions:  Blanch the onions for 3 minutes in a pot of boiling salted water. Drain, shock in a bath of ice water, and drain again. Peel the onions (making a slit with a paring knife down the side made this easiest for me), leaving a little of the root end intact.  If using frozen onions, skip the peeling, let thaw for 10 minutes. 

In a medium saucepan, cook the bacon until crisp, then remove it with a slotted spoon and drain it on paper towels. Leave only two tablespoons of the cooking fat in the pan, and add the  onions, heavy cream and nutmeg. Add salt to taste.  Cover the pot with a lid, leaving it a little ajar. Cook onions until they are nearly cooked through, about 90 percent of the way then remove the lid and finish cooking the onions while reducing the cream by half, about 7 to 10 minutes. Stir in the sherry.  Cook until heated through.  Garnish with bacon and chives, serve warm.  I'd suggest doubling the recipe, you won't be sorry.

I took a small bowl to the foodies down the street, they loved them and I'm pretty sure they will add them to their T-day line-up.  Thanksgiving will be different for us this year, but one thing that will remain the same, we will have a table full of delicious food, turkey with all the trimmings and these onions will be front and center!

Quilt Group Friday...

Wasn't Zoom just the coolest thing last March?  And now, after 8 months of meetings on Zoom, sitting in front of the computer, Zoom is just another reminder of how far we have sunk!  Meeting on Zoom is just not that same as meeting in person, especially when it comes to seeing quilts.  Last week our quilt group met on Zoom, it was great to see everyone's face in a little square but once again we were slapped with reality as to how much our lives have changed.  One thing that hasn't changed with our group though is their creativity, not even Covid can do away with that!

Stephanie, as usual, was the only one who showed up in costume for our meeting.  If you can't tell, she is a GangSTIR, and she's holding a wooden-spoon Tommy gun.  Over the top clever!  Stephanie encouraged us to send pictures of things we have been working on to her and she put them in a power point so we could see everything - Stephanie isn't only clever, she's smart, too!

This is what Barbara and her husband have been working on for the last month - a fairy house!  They had to have a tree cut down but saved the stump and created this "neighborhood sensation."  I have driven by this many times and every time I do I see someone standing nearby the fairy house admiring it.  They decorated it for Halloween so I'm sure it will be lighted for the holidays, too!  It's really amazing.  If you come to Seattle you must see Pike Place Market, Snoqualmie Falls and the Moultons Fairy House!

Barbara showed us her friend's Halloween quilt.  Unlike the witch-hat quilts we've seen before, this one has cute blocks scattered between the hats.  Every time I see a witch hat quilt, I think I need to make one and now after seeing this I'm certain I do!

Jenny showed us her tuffet.  She started this before Covid and when she decided to finish it she needed a bit of help.  Myra, who used to work at Quiltworks and is now at Gossypium (we all know and love Myra) offered to finish it for Jenny and she did!  But that's not the amazing part about this, nope, the amazing thing is Jenny is giving this to her neighbor as a surprise gift!  What?!?!?!  Jenny's generosity knows no bounds, read on for more proof...

This beautiful quilt is called Pumpkins and Cream and it's a pattern from Fig Tree Quilts.  It was made by Generous Jenny for another one of her neighbors as a surprise birthday gift!  Seriously, who does that?!?!?  I want to move to Jenny's cul-de-sac, don't you?!?  Lucky!  Lucky!  Lucky!

I posted pictures of this quilt before it was quilted, so it might look familiar.  Terry quilted this and as you can see, the quilting is pure genius.  Jenny added special touches to this quilt, like the banner the little bunny is holding that reads, "Brown Lives Matter."  And I think the bottom right bunny car has 2020 on it, for her son's high school drive-by graduation.  This quilt is embellished with hand-made and vintage buttons, it is absolutely beautiful.  Way to go Jenny, oh, she's keeping this one!

 

This is Mary's pumpkin quilt.  I wasn't able to enlarge it but I think you can still see how wonderful it is!  Love the pieced border and the different fabrics in each pumpkin.  Mary's quilt are always a surprise, and usually large.  She has such a good eye for colors, too. 

 

I didn't even get my Halloween quilts out this year, no Halloween decorations either.  It was quite sad at The Slaughterhouse until October 30th.  Then the boy flew into action and hauled all of his scary creatures out of the storage unit and began assembling them.  By the time dusk arrived on Halloween night The Slaughterhouse was up and operational and some creatures were so scary I had to keep my distance!  We didn't know if we would have any trick-or-treaters this year but we had about 75 people come by, a lot of them said they missed the donuts, we did, too!  (We've made donuts on the driveway for the last 2 years and this year we tried to figure out how to do it and keep everyone safe but finally came to our senses and scraped the idea; next year we'll double the donuts!)  It would have been the perfect Halloween, too...a full moon, mild temps, NO RAIN and it was on a Saturday!!!  Damn Covid!

 

I won't bore you with all of the gory details but I do want to show you a few pics from our Halloween.  The boy has gone off the deep end with this stuff but what can I say?  I raised him!  Halloween was always a big deal for my kids but somewhere along the way the boy took it to another level.  No cute-sy, sweet scarecrows or Casper the Ghosts, he's all about the scare!  Almost all of his creatures have motion sensors to when someone walks close to them they start waving their arms and talking - and for a good two hours Halloween night it seemed like they were all talking/screaming at once!

Poor Rosie was not amused by any of the boys crap.  And this is just a sampling of what he put up this year!  He was up late Halloween night pulling everything down and then Sunday morning he said he was up early and hit the Spirit Halloween stores to buy a few more things at half price!  Now you know why he pays for a storage unit!!!  Crazy is as crazy does!  Okay, back to quilts...

Stephanie isn't one to sit idly by watching K-dramas, she's got to be busy creating!  These are a couple of rocks she painted, she's probably painted an entire quarry in the last few months!

After making masks, Stephanie scooped up the threads and fabrics pieces behind her machine and she ended up with a "nest" of sorts.  She used this picture as the cover for a project she created called Connecting Threads.  Can't you just see this in a museum?  

This was something Stephanie created, and I wish I could remember what it was for, sorry, old brain.  She wrote the poem that accompanied the seam ripper picture.  Hate using a seam ripper, but love this!  

This is a quilt Stephanie made and gave to someone who donated to Obliteride this year.  (Stephanie said they raised over $7,000 for Obliteride this year!!)   Those fabric pieces in the center of each block were part of another quilt.  Stephanie took that quilt apart (!!!) and added polka dot fabrics to them to make this fun and happy quilt.  Again, so clever!

The picture on the left was drawn by Stephanie's grandkids, and it will be part of a book Stephanie is writing.  The picture on the right are all of the scarves Stephanie has made in the last few weeks that will be donated.  See?  She is a whirling-dervish-of-busy-ness!!

Marsha is a force of nature or maybe just a force, she doesn't let anything get her down, including Parkinsons.  She is tackling this easy/difficult quilt and I know she will make sure it lines up perfectly.  Cute fabrics, bright and cheerful and Marsha said she is keeping this one!  

One more from Stephanie.  You might remember the CD weavings our group helped her with several years ago.  And by helped I think we made about 10 and Stephanie made about a thousand.  Her weavings were shown at the Bellevue Art Museum and this framed piece was in her husbands office for a while but now she said it needs a new home.  It's large, so it needs a large wall...I think she said it's 50 x 50-inches??  It's for sale, $1,500 is a steal for this amazing piece of art.  I would buy it but we don't have any walls to speak of!!  How about you??

I'll end with this quilt top I made. It's not my favorite, in fact I really don't like anything about it.  Not sure why I even made it!  I got some suggestions about how to finish it, adding a multi-colored border was one idea but at this point I think it's just got to sit in the pile to age a while before I even thing about what to do with it.  Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose.  This time I definitely lost!

Happy quilting!  Happy November! Stay safe and wear a damn mask!

 

 

 

 

Korean Hotdogs...

It was bound to happen, me posting Korean recipes.  I've tried a few recipes lately, some good, some better than good, like this one, which is worth every calorie and I don't even like hotdogs!  I need to thank one of my readers, Susan, for telling me about these.  She sent me the link to the recipe and has now made me a hotdog fan for life!  I'm told these hotdogs are sold on the streets in Korea, grab and go food, and these are definitely worth grabbing.  They have a special ingredient in them too, and it's not seaweed or eel or octopus or burn-your-behind-spices!  I'll get to that in a minute, let me first wish you a Happy Halloween from The Slaughterhouse.  Mother Nature is giving us lots of sunshine today and more importantly, NO rain tonight!  I am hoping we will have some trick-or-treaters stop by to see what the boy has created in the front yard...super scary creatures that I detest, but I no longer have any say when it comes to Halloween.  I just dress up and stand where I'm told!

You can use cheddar cheese or mozzarella, which is what I used.  Cut chunks and slide onto a skewer with pieces of hotdog.  The skewers I used where too long so I cut them to be about 8-inches in length so they would fit in my pan.

The skewered hotdogs are then "dipped" into a really sticky and thick batter, so thick that you end up having to spread it over them.  But it's not a big deal, I promise.  Then the battered dogs are rolled in panko crumbs and are ready to deep fry until they are crispy, dark and golden and the batter is fully cooked, about 2 to 3 minutes is all.  About the secret ingredient...it's sugar.  Yes!  Sugar!  Sweet and salty hotdogs, just another reason to love Koreans and their food!

Korean Hotdogs - Adapted slightly from Kirbie's Cravings

6 wooden skewers, about 6 to 8-inches long, whatever size will fit in your pan (wooden chopsticks work great)

1 cup panko breadcrumbs

oil for frying

granulated sugar for coating  The secret ingredient!!! 

ketchup, mustard, hotdog condiments for serving

For the batter:

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup milk

1 large egg

Cut skewers to length to fit your pan.  Cut hotdogs and cheese into chunks and alternate onto skewers.  Pat the hotdogs and cheese dry with paper towels.  In a medium bowl whisk together flour, sugar, salt and baking powder.  Add in milk and egg and whisk until smooth.  The batter should be very thick and sticky; when you lift the whisk the batter should not run off of it.  Pour oil into a pan for frying.  You want to add enough oil so that it is deep enough to cover the entire hot dog.  Heat oil to 350 degrees.  

Dip skewered hotdogs into batter, making sure every bit is coated.  Dip coated hotdogs into panko breadcrumbs, using hands to lightly press crumbs into batter.  Work quickly to coat all hotdogs, you should have enough to do all 6.  When oil is ready, add 2 to 3 hotdogs at a time and cook on both sides, until batter is dark golden brown and fully cooked, about 2 to 3 minutes total.  Remove hotdogs to plate and sprinkle all over with sugar.  Drizzle condiments of your choice over top and serve hot.  

In the K-drama Prison Playbook one of the prisoners explained how he made his noodles that his cellmates loved so much:  he cooked them in Sprite instead of water or broth.  So that's what I did...I loved them, they had a nice sweetness.  However, as you might imagine, the mister hated them.  I have wondered lately if he might have Covid as he really has no sense of taste whatsoever and isn't that one of the symptoms?  Loss of taste???  Can I have him quarantined for that?  

 

Irish Chain Quilt...Corona Quilt #10...

One more quilt finish means I've watched another 4 Korean dramas.  The latest being Mr. Sunshine with 24 episodes - whew - that took some dedication and luckily I've built up my sub-title reading endurance so I could watch them all!  Now I've got another quilt to add to the collection, reds, whites and creams, my favorite colors to work with so naturally this is now my new favorite quilt.

I still haven't bought any fabric, well maybe a bit here and there but since Covid started I've mostly used fabrics from my stash.  I'm almost to the point where I will need to go shopping, so happy about that!  Who knew running out of fabric would be so exciting?!?  But I want to go shopping in person.  I want to be also to feel the fabric with my own two paws and not order online, is that too much to ask??   Speaking of online shops, if you can't get out and need to order fabric, (and really, who doesn't??) check out Bug Fabric .  Don't let the name fool you, Bug Fabric doesn't just sell fabric with bugs, they carry almost everything and they have TONS of great fabrics and great prices, too.  I happen to know some people who work there, too, and they're a great bunch of people!  Look them up, see for yourself!

I backed this quilt with a flannel, it's super soft and will be nice and cozy.  It's a large lap size, measuring 65 x 80 inches, so big enough for me and the dog to curl up in at the same time.  That's important, as Rosie is a bit of a quilt hog.  I didn't quilt this one, it was too big for my machine so I had Vicki Stratton do it and I was very happy with how it turned out.  I love simple quilting and asked for a large random stipple; I think it turned out great.

This quilt is now in our family room and it's already been put to good use.  The weather has definitely taken a turn and we've had the fireplace going every night for a week.  I force myself to wait until it's dark out (the sun sets at 5:52 tonight) before I slink back to our family room and settle in under a quilt.  It just seems unnatural to do so when it's light out, am I right?  Nothing much on TV these days except political crap, 5 more days until the election, we will be SOOOOOOOO happy when it's over!  Fingers are crossed that the next 4 years will be better than the last!

I've already started on a new quilt, got to stay busy!  I'm back to 20 minutes a day at the machine so as not to put a kink in my neck.  It is amazing what one can accomplish in just 20 minutes!  There won't be much quilting going on for the next few days though, as we will be setting up The Slaughterhouse for Halloween.  We're hoping we'll have trick-or-treaters stop by, but who knows?!?  The boy has moved all of his giant scary crap out of his storage unit to the garage and he is out there assembling everything, this is his happy time for sure.  If you're in the area, stop by and say hi, we'd love to see you!  

This is my 10th Corona quilt, 11 is on deck and I'm hoping I'll be able to make it an even dozen before the end of the year - take that Coronavirus!

Harvest Rice Bowls...

Mother Nature must be a tad upset, she's sending us more rain, cold and wind and I was soooo looking forward to a few more mild sunny days where I could get out and enjoy the beautiful fall leaves. The sandals and flip-flops have been stowed away at the back of the shoe shelf and the boots and real shoes have been moved to center stage, along with the sweaters, slippers and sweatpants...or as I like to say, chowder clothes.   Mother Nature strikes and I make chowder or chili or soup, it seems to be everyone's Fall routine or maybe it's a rut?  

In my case it's definitely a rut, albeit a delicious one, but one that needed to be shaken up a bit.  Harvest rice bowls are the best rut-busters, they provide everything those rut-making-comfort foods do plus they offer up a chewiness that a chowder can't hold a fork to.  

When I served this up to the mister I told him he was going to eat it and not complain, I wasn't in the mood to listen to him whine about why he couldn't have boiled chicken and mashed potatoes.   Since I had just returned from being out of town for a week, the mister was surprisingly cooperative and responded with a, "Yes ma'am."  He took his bowl and ate without saying a word.  I asked him if he liked it and he said he did by way of a grunt...there was nothing for him not to like, well maybe the cranberries or the almonds or the brown rice (he is a rice racist and only usually eats white rice) or the kale or sweet potatoes or the Brussels sprouts (he has banned them from the house because of the amount of them he had to eat while in the Marine Corp) or maybe the dressing which is super flavorful and he basically hates flavor...so I suppose there was plenty for him not to like.  (I used a "pepper blend" which you can find at Trader Joe's,  that's why it looks like there are huge bits of pepper on the veggies, it's a great mixture of different kinds and sizes of pepper along with black sesame seeds.) 

When he was done eating he put his bowl in the sink and I noticed that he had eaten every grain of rice and every piece of chicken but everything else was left in the bowl.  You can take the caveman out of the cave but you can't make him eat delicious food!

Give this one a go, it's so yummy!  It has the tastes of the season all in one healthy bowl.  I loved everything about this and especially loved the nutty-chewiness of the rice, the sweetness of the cranberries, the crunch of the almonds and kale, just to name a few and the dressing is super fresh tasting and practically drinkable.

Harvest Rice Bowls - Adapted From Lena Abraham via Delish

For the dressing:

1/4 cup apple cider

1/4 cup cider vinegar

2/3 cup olive oil

1/4 cup shallot, finely minced

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 to 2 teaspoons honey (depending on how sweet you want it to be, I used 2 teaspoons)

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

For the bowls:

1 lb. Brussels sprouts, trimmed and cut in half

1 red or white onion, thinly sliced

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes

olive oil

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

3 cups grilled chicken, but into bite-sized pieces (I used already grilled chicken which was cold from the fridge so I reheated it in a skillet, which is optional)

2 cups kale, finely sliced

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan

3 cups cooked brown rice

Preheat oven to 425. On a large rimmed baking sheet, toss Brussels sprouts, sweet potato and onion with 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Bake until vegetables are fork tender, 18 to 20 minutes.  

Meanwhile, make the dressing:  In a large bowl, whisk cider, vinegar, olive oil, shallot, mustard and honey until smooth and combined. Season with salt and pepper.  Add the chicken, kale, cranberries, almonds and parmesan and toss to coat.

Assemble the bowls:  top 3/4 cup rice with 1 cup roasted vegetables and 1/2 cup of the chicken/kale mixture.  Drizzle more dressing over top, to taste, and serve.  Makes 4 to 6 servings.  

Red Scrap Quilt aka Seoul Patches...

Every now and then my quilting friends would complain about the amount of food posts I would have compared to quilting posts.  (It's a lot faster to make something to eat than a quilt!)  Now my foodie friends are complaining about how many quilting posts I've done and have asked if I've stopped eating altogether!  I do stop eating, I take a break every 3 hours or so.  Feel free to send me your thoughts, too, and good news, the comment button has been fixed.  (Apparently there was some bug in the system and I had no idea why you all stopped sending me messages.  Thanks to Katie for letting me know and to Typepad who got it fixed.)  

I didn't think I had another scrap quilt in me but then I didn't think I would be hooked on Korean soaps either...so to keep myself from just sitting and watching, I decided to make another scrap quilt.  Sewing and watching is a good thing, I'm productive, not lazy, right?  I watched the following shows while making this quilt:  Record of Youth, Dear My Friends, Let's Eat 2, and Goodbye My Wife.  All SO good.  

This quilt took me longer to make than the last scrap quilt because of the show Let's Eat 2.  There were SO many food segments that I had to keep stopping to run to the kitchen, it made me hungry!  But not hungry enough for Korean food, my tastes buds couldn't handle dried pollack and seaweed soup.  This quilt was 2 weeks start to finish, it's not huge, 50-inches by 70-inches, so it was manageable, but still that's a record for me.  I usually never work on just one quilt start to finish, I almost feel guilty for doing it because it felt like I was breaking one of the laws of quilting!  (Quilting Law #7:  Thou shalt always have more than 3 projects in the works at one time.  Quilt Law #8:  Thou must work on various projects every now and then to keep from forgetting what you're doing.  Quilt Law #9:  Never work on one project for more than 2 hours at a time to keep from straining your neck, eyes and brain.)  

The scraps were sewn to a muslin foundation so this quilt is a bit heavier than most and I backed it with flannel so it's warm.  I also used 100% cotton batting instead of my normal choice, Hobbs Heirloom 80/20.  I love how this one turned out, it's my new fav!

Yesterday while talking with my mom on the phone she told me I need to sell my quilts, said I have way too many.  How can one possibly have too many quilts?!?  It's a COLLECTION, not an obsession!  Oh wait, maybe it is an obsession but not one I'm ever going to seek a cure for.  Thanks mom for the advice, but as long as I have fabric, I'll be making quilts!