People should have more babies, so I can make more quilts.

15 Mar 2011 2 Comments

by katsmama in Uncategorized Tags: ,


I gave Austin’s quilt to his mom last night (he’s the “baby to be named later”- he has a name, but he hasn’t seen the light of day yet) and washed Michele’s. The washing has made it puckery, and the stitching comes out so much better now. In real life it looks really good, but I can’t get a picture to come out showing how cute it is. I guess real life is what matters, right?

Do I blame the camera? or the photographer (me)? Quilt pictures are hard...

I’m so pleased with how this came out- once I had the border and the big motifs done, there was a lot of open space, so  used a marker to draw little pictures to fill in. With the batting I used, there has to be quilting at least every 8 inches, so I had the kids draw some stuff, and I drew little pictures as well that I outlined with stitches. So we have a cat, a fish, a couple of birds. No dinosaurs, which was a surprise.

Now I just have to get it mailed off.

Lemon Syrup and First-ever Giveaway

05 Mar 2011 2 Comments

by katsmama in food, Uncategorized Tags: ,


Brighten up late winter (yes, it's late winter, not spring, yet) with citrus.

Last summer I started making a lemon simple syrup to put in my iced tea- it adds sweetness and zing, without having to cut up lemons every time. Easy to make, and keeps a long time in the fridge. This winter I did it with Meyer lemons  and it had an amazing fragrance to it. However, Meyer lemon season is over, and my pint of syrup is gone, so it’s time for another batch. This could conceivably be used on desserts or pancakes as well, but around here, we just use it for tea.

I use a microplane grater to get the zest, which is just the yellow part, of the lemon. I love this tool- it was originally designed for woodworking, but it works great as a very fine, very sharp grater. I use it for parmesan cheese, raw ginger and zest. When I was cleaning off the top of the fridge, I discovered one that I got a few years ago as a premium for subscribing to Cook’s Illustrated.  The best comment on this post before Wednesday 3/9 will receive it as a prize. Tell me why you need a microplane grater, why you deserve it, why you want one… Remember, I’m an English teacher – answers written in poetry might get bonus points.

Lemon Simple Syrup
zest from 3 lemons
juice from 3 lemons, plus enough water to make 1 cup
1 cup granulated sugar.

The most onerous task is zesting the lemons. I have a microplane zester, which I highly recommend,  but I can’t stand it when recipes require some tool which hardly anyone has. If you don’t win the zester, use a grater, or even a potato peeler. Be careful not to get the white part of the peel, it will make it bitter.

The girl was helping out, and the boy was giving unneeded advice.

Mix the juice, water, zest and sugar in a pan and boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved.

eyeew, maybe I need to clean the stovetop...don't simmer too long, you just want to flavor it, not reduce it.

Allow to simmer a few minutes, cool for a few minutes, then pour through a fine mesh strainer. I pour it into a pyrex measuring cup, then into a bottle with a pourer.  I store it in the fridge, although I don’t know how fast it would go bad on the counter…I wonder about doing this with other flavors- what about chai? or raspberry? The simple part means that it is an equal ratio- 1 part sugar and 1 part liquid, so it could theoretically be any flavorful liquid…I may have to experiment.

The Logee’s Catalogue

12 Feb 2011 Leave a comment

by katsmama in containers, gardening in containers, Uncategorized Tags: , ,


I am on so many plant mailing lists- they know a sucker discriminating plant buyer when they see one. www.logees.com Got a new one the other day, and on one hand, it drives me crazy, and on the other hand, I feel very want-y about,  like, 6 different items. Logee’s specializes in tropical and subtropical plants for containers and greenhouses. I crave almost everything in this thing.

What drives me crazy is the organization. Flipping through it, there are figs and citrus on this page, then blueberries and passionflower, then…more figs and citrus…then papaya and sugar cane, then…another page with figs. Then more citrus. OOh, vanilla! But I have researched this already, and to grow vanilla you need a 2 story greenhouse. (SOMEDAY!)

What tempts me is the Meyer lemon plant, at only $11.50. In most other catalogues, Meyer lemons run about $50. I realize it will be tiny, and I will have to wait many years for the sweet little aromatic lemons to grow to maturity. At this point in my life, though, I honestly do have more time than money.

Also tempted by a tea plant- imagine, I could grow my own tea!!! And a coffee plant- I could grow my own coffee!!! And papyrus- I could grow my own…Egyptian paper!!!

Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

I (accidently) grew a sweet potato!

24 Dec 2010 1 Comment

by katsmama in containers, food, free is good, gardening, Uncategorized Tags: ,


Way back last summer, there was a sweet potato sprouting in the bin, so I chucked it into an empty flowerpot, with some soil, of course, and put it out on the patio. Sweet potatoes have pretty, heart shaped leaves, and I enjoyed the greenery all summer, honestly not expecting it to have enough soil or water, or warmth, to produce tubers. I didn’t even check at the end of the summer.
Today it’s warm and sunny, so I went out to do some fall clean-up which I should have done when it was actually fall, and emptied out the pot with the sweet potato plant. Imagine my surprise to see an actual sweet potato. there were a couple of small mushy ones, but one was the size of one you’d see at a grocery store. I’m going to eat it on Christmas.

The leaves froze sometime in October, but the tuber stayed alive in a 10 inch flowerpot.

Mini Greenhouse Experiment

26 Nov 2010 Leave a comment

by katsmama in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , ,


I bought Four-Season Harvest a few years ago hoping it would tell me how to have tomatoes in January. It doesn’t, but the author, Eliot Coleman, writes about growing greens in inexpensive hoop houses- basically PVC pipes covered in plastic sheets. So, I decided to plant a fall garden, with spinach, and mesclun greens, and kohlrabi, and they have looked lovely all fall. I didn’t put the plastic on, and few light snows didn’t faze them, when the snow melted, they bounced right back. We went away for Thanksgiving, and the weather prediction was for temps in the 20’s, and high winds. I put the plastic on, tucking it in, weighting it down with bricks and stones. Wasn’t enough, of course- I should have used duct tape… When we got back from Nebraska late last night, the plastic hadn’t blown all the way to Denver, but it had gotten loose, and the greens are fried. I’m sure the spinach, at least, will come back from the roots, but not until spring. The parsley looks undamaged, and the garlic will just hunker down and sprout again next spring. So, the lesson for me is to be more careful with attaching the plastic. I don’t think the problem was going out of town- I am pretty sure if I had seen and heard the plastic flapping around in 40 mile per hour winds, I would have just stayed inside and watched it.

Lows in the twenties make me feel like this, too.

I paid probably $10 for the PVC and a plastic dropcloth. Should have used staples and duct tape, too, though.

Forcing tulips to do what?

16 Nov 2010 Leave a comment

by katsmama in containers, Uncategorized Tags:


Forcing tulips to bloom, of course, but earlier than they would ordinarily. I’m trying this as an experiment this year- I bought 48 white “Purissima” tulips this year and purposely kept out a six pack to force (okay, okay, I was just sick of digging holes, after also planting 96 species tulips and about a million siberian squill). 

I put them in a six inch pot, kind of cramming them in, and then started thinking. The bulbs need to be cold for at least 8 weeks, but not frozen. Our garage gets too cold, the fridge is perfect, but it really isn’t ideal  for me to have flowerpots in the fridge. Probably somebody else could get away with it… not me.

The previous owners decided to store old curtain rods in here for some reason, but I am going with tulips...

Then I had a brainstorm: in our basement, there is a little door to an undercrawl- the main part of the basement is finished and heated and civilized, but the undercrawl is open to Mother Earth herself. I was considering where to put my pot of tulips, when I thought of that little door. So, the pot is there, to wait out the rest of fall, and a chunk of winter, and then in the dark days of January, after the tree is down, the dangly sparkly things put away, the twinkly lights rolled up and boxed, I will have a little pot of spring waiting for me in the basement.

Ode to Smoked Paprika

08 Nov 2010 Leave a comment

by katsmama in Uncategorized Tags: ,


My new favorite spice is smoked paprika. I had read about it on various cooking blogs and fancy food snob websites, and assumed that I would have to get to a fancy food store, and it would be imported from Spain and fabulously expensive. I was wrong, though, when I was looking for something else at the grocery store, and found Smoked Paprika right there in the spice rack.
I remember a few years ago, when I “discovered” chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce, and put them in everything, meatballs, garlic bread, salad dressing. The problem was, from my point of view, that chipotle peppers are a bit too hot for me. They are smoked jalapeno chiles, and a little goes a long way. With the smoked paprika, though, you get a little heat, with some smoke flavor too. And it smells amazing.
I put it in a dry rub for pork loin on Friday. (Sorry, no pictures. Kind of can’t find my camera…) And it was so good, DH didn’t use sour cream on his mashed potato, he just used the juice from his pork. That sounded really gross. Don’t take it that way.
It would also, of course, be good on anything else savory, or eggy. I am thinking about the ancient can of regular paprika in my mom’s spice cabinet, which we broke out whenever we made devilled eggs. I am sure the can is still there, kind of sawdust flavored. You have probably heard the rule “spices shouldn’t celebrate birthdays.” My goal is to use up this jar of smoked paprika before it has to celebrate a birthday.

Even Sharks Don’t Celebrate Shark Week

23 Oct 2010 Leave a comment

by katsmama in arts and crafts, favorite things, holidays, Uncategorized Tags: , , ,


So, like three years ago, I got a great idea for a halloween costume- a surfer being eaten by a shark, head first. I had seen a shark hat on the internet, but it was ridiculously expensive, and I thought, I could make that. Then, the boy wanted to be a praying mantis that year, and wanted me to be a venus flytrap…so I put it off. Then last year, I thought of it again, and googled instuctions, or patterns, whether knit or sewn, and preferably, free, of course. Nothing.

 Now, I am a pretty good knitter, good enough to follow patterns, and good enough to figure things out on the back of an envelope. So, I bought some Cascade 220 at the local yarn store, now sadly out of business (moment of silence, please) and examined an extrememely realistic plastic shark out of the boy’s toybox. I started knitting. Like, almost a year ago. What slowed me down was uncertainty about the fins. I wanted to felt the hat, shrinking it on purpose in the washing machine, and I know that I can expect about a 25% decrease in length, but less than that in width, so knowing that, how long do I make the dorsal fins? And the pectoral fins are smaller, but by how much? And the tail, it’s crooked, but is it crooked enough to rip out and try again, or is that the kind of thing felting will hide?

Before felting the shark is floppy and flaccid.

The thing with felting is, there is no going back, so the hat sat in a tote bag for almost a year, not because of a failure of knitting, but a failure of nerve…of will… Anyway, with Halloween coming up again, I figured it was time to do or die, so I took a few photos and threw it in the washing machine. I checked it once in the middle, decided it could go a little longer, then left it in slightly too long. I got distracted. It is really cute, but it isn’t as long as I’d like. Some might say my head is too big. They might be right…

Felted stuff shrinks a mysterious amount- it is hard to predict how it will fit.

Knitting patterns, I have discovered, are hard to write, so if I get organized between now and the rapture, I’ll write it up- this has really great possibilities, of course, thing about the variations of “being eaten by something” costumes. I long for a little blond girl I can dress up as the Princess Bride being eaten by a screaming eel…what about a worm, or a goldfish? Squeeee! Someone needs to have a baby so I can make a goldfish hat!!!!

Oh, wait, someone did have a baby. Excuse me. I have to go buy goldfish colored yarn.

Eyeballs, gills and gums (do sharks even have gums?) then I added lacy picot stitched teeth. I might redo the teeth, except it's kind of a pain.

Work Day

28 Aug 2010 Leave a comment

by katsmama in Uncategorized Tags: ,


As much as I would like to sit back in my Adirondack chair in the shade, I’ve got to get some work done today. First project, patch the soaker hose that snakes through the shrub bed south of the apple tree. I’m thinking duct tape. I’ll let you know how that works out. I cut it accidentally when I planted Lady’s Mantle this spring. We got so much reliable rain this summer, that I didn’t even use the soaker until a couple of weeks ago, then I turned it on and heard the gurgling and saw the mud.
After patching, I’ll water, and weed- it’s always easier to weed when the ground is wet, although it is never really easy. I hope sometime this afternoon I’ll get some time in the shade in that chair.

I can rest in the shade later.

Grandma Noodle Soup

26 Aug 2010 Leave a comment

by katsmama in food, learning, Uncategorized Tags:


Grandma Egg Noodles

Waiting for the stock to simmer so I can add the noodles. See my purty blue Dutch oven.

 

My old roommate Rhonda taught me how to love Chicken and Noodles and Mashed Potatoes, so I should probably call this Rhonda noodle soup, but instead at our house, we call it grandma noodles, after the premade frozen noodles that is a key ingredient. It could be made with dried egg noodles, but it wouldn’t be the same- check the frozen pasta section of your local mega mart, it is worth the search.

At it’s simplest, this is noodles cooked in broth, perhaps with chunks of actual chicken in it and carrots, if you like mushy carrots, then served over mashed potatoes.  It is insane, I know, to pour a starch based food over another starch based food.  It’s crazy. Crazy delicious. 

2 quarts chicken broth

1 [pack size} grandma noodles

½ cup chopped carrots

1 cup precooked chicken or turkey- leftover is great- in fact, this is a great post-Thanksgiving recipe, because you can do turkey stock.

I have made this with store bought broth- Better than Bouillon is my favorite mix, but you can use whatever broth you like. I use homemade, lately, because I’ve learned how to make it. Look for it in a future blog post.

Yes, it is a very beige meal, but sometimes you want beige. More color next week, promise.

Take the noodles out of the freezer, stab holes in the bag and defrost in the microwave. Meanwhile, heat the stock to boiling.  and chop up any leftover chicken or carrots or whatever, and scrub and chop your potatoes ( I usually leave the peel on, because I am kind of lazy. I also know it’s good for me. Fiber. I know. I’m old.) In another pan, cover the potatoes with water and boil until soft. (Huge digression- I am at about 5000 feet above sea level and potatoes take longer for me than they likely do for you- I knew this intellectually, but when I went to Boston this summer I kept burning my tongue on coffee- dang, how can you stand it? hot coffee is hot at sea level!!! Anyway, I guess that is a difference between knowing something “intellectually” and really knowing it.)

So, when the stock or broth is boiling, add the noodles and carrots and chicken, then simmer until the noodles are done.  If you do it right, the soup will be done at about the same time as the potatoes.

Drain the potatoes and return to the pan. Throw in some buttermilk and butter- I never measure, just a glug of one and a chunk of the other. Then mash. I like lumps. I grew up on instant potatoes, and appreciate the lumpiness of real ones.

Dish up a serving of potatoes into a bowl and make a well in the middle, then scoop up some noodles and broth to cover.  I made this as a back to school meal, but it works on a  busy day, before trick or treating, after Thanksgiving, home from skiing, before basketball practice…anytime, I guess, that you want some starch with your starch. Be sure to have starch for desert, as well.

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