Pots and Pins

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!

Apple Cider Biscuits...

Foggy October mornings call for apple cider biscuits, slathered with butter or apple butter, which makes them even better.  Biting into one of these gems makes the morning news more palatable, although they also make me want to scurry back into bed and pull the covers over my head just so I can get up and have breakfast all over again.

If you have a food processor these biscuits come together in a jif.  If not, they are easily made without one, cutting cold butter into the flour is not a workout by any means so you can do it!  Using a good apple cider, a "cloudy" one, makes a difference.

The dough is mixed only until everything is just barely incorporated and then it's kneaded a few times on a lightly-floured counter and that's it.  You can cut these biscuits into a larger size if you want, I used a 2 1/2-inch cutter and made 14 biscuits.   While I was making these the mister was circling, he was hungry and didn't want to wait the 10 minutes these takes to bake.   He decided he couldn't wait so he grabbed the bread and made himself a sandwich with 3 slices of bread, bologna and mustard.  It's so hard to see what he eats when left to his own devices! For lunch every day at work he eats canned food, straight out of the can.  Canned fruit cocktail and canned green beans.  And Spam.  Then he enjoys those little crackers filled with fake cheese and he thinks he's being healthy by eating them with cottage cheese.  I know I've said it before...you can take the caveman out of the cave but you can't make him eat like a foodie!!   

If you haven't made apple butter before, now's the time to do it!  Get out your Crock-Pot and let those apples cook all day, your house will smell amazing and you'll have yourself a sure-fire Fall treat!  Here's the link to my recipe:  Crock-Pot Apple Butter  Of course, these biscuits are perfectly fabulous on their own but the apple butter does send them to a new level.

Before baking sprinkle a little cinnamon on top if you want.  If I was eating them all I would have sprinkled more cinnamon on top and maybe even mixed it with a little sugar, which would have tasted amazing but as you know, the mister has a "sensitive" palate and if anything is too flavorful he just won't eat it!

I baked this batch a few minutes too long, didn't realize I set the oven on convection, so the bottoms are a bit darker than what I normally like.  Even so, they were delicious!  They puff up nicely and hot from the oven nothing can beat them!  Just as I suspected he would, the mister followed the aroma from the kitchen and came slinking in right as they came out of the oven.  He managed to stuff 3 into his biscuit-hole before I could even butter one for myself!  I asked he if liked them and he said they were "okay."  FYI, that's high praise from the caveman connoisseur!

Apple Cider Biscuits - Recipe from Harriet Stitcher via All Recipes

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup cold butter

3/4 cup apple cider

cinnamon for sprinkling on top

In a food processor, combine flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Pulse a few times until butter mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Add cider and process until dough comes together into a ball.  (If you don't have a food processor, put ingredients in a large bowl and mix by hand, cutting in butter by hand, then adding the cider and stir until dough comes together.)  Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead 8-10 times. Roll out to 1/2-in. thickness; cut with a 2 1/2-inch biscuit cutter. Place on ungreased baking sheet, sprinkle with cinnamon, if desired; pierce tops of biscuits with a fork and bake at 425 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Scrap Quilt aka Korean Soap Quilt...

How long does it take to make a quilt?  It takes as much time as it does to watch 4 Korean soap operas.  Each show has 16 episodes and each episode is one hour long, so you do the math.  But no matter how long it took, I'd say this one was worth it, it's scrap-happy and my new favorite quilt!

I started with 6 1/2-inch pieces of muslin as the foundation for this "sew and flip" block.  It's super easy because there isn't any measuring or fussy cutting at all - just sew and flip.  And because I didn't have to pay a great deal of attention to make things even, I could keep one eye on the TV (to read the sub-titles) and the other on the fabric - I'm feeling very proud of myself right about now - got to watch 4 great shows and make a great quilt, too.  Because this quilt has an extra layer of fabric (the muslin foundation) it's heavier and I love that!  This quilt measures 54-inches by 66-inches, perfect lap size to curl up in while watching Lee Min-ho or Hyun Bin :-)))))

I'm sure you're sick of hearing about my Netflix addiction but just so you know, I'm now in a 12 step program, of my own design, to help ween me off of them...no good can come from spending an entire day in Korea (or Taiwan or Shanghai, there are all kinds of Asian dramas out there but I like the Korean ones the best).  

No scrap was too small or too ugly and while I thought I was doing a great job busting through my pile, I could probably make another 5 quilts before I make a dent!  I didn't worry about what matched or if the fabric was on the straight of grain - I just grabbed and sewed.  I could call this quilt All Fabrics Go Together just as easily because when you stand back and look at this, they do!

Korean Drama Addiction Recovery Program - K-DARP:

1.  Can only watch TV if sitting at my sewing machine, actively sewing, or...

2.  Can only watch TV if doing hand-work, must push pause to thread the needle.

3.  Must make at least one trip out of the house every day, to escape from Seoul.

4.  Cannot walk around house carrying iPad watching a Korean soap.

5.  Cannot push pause to make notes of Korean food that's being eaten in shows.

6.  Must have more "side dishes" when eating dinner.  

7.  Must learn to make tteokbokki and radish kimchi.

8.  Must order red ginseng.

9.  Must find the best place to get Bulgogi.    

10. Make everyone take off their shoes before coming in house and order slippers for them to wear.

11. Order Korean facial masks and light therapy helmet.

12. Disregard #1 thru #7.