Mad Caterpillar

Some friends of ours have a sweet little calico cat that recently had a litter of four kittens. My son instantly fell in love, and our friends graciously offered to give him one when it was old enough to be parted from mama kitty.

I wasn't so sure that I wanted another cat. My last cat died several years ago, and I haven't had the heart to get a new cat since that happened. He was a very special kitty and his last year was a rough one, for him and for me. I just wasn't ready for a new cat yet, but my son was truly smitten and not to be denied. My mom suggested that he be given a task to see if he was willing to earn the privilege of getting one of the kittens. He was to feed and water our dog, morning and night, and do scooping duty on weekends, for a whole month. I truly thought he'd get sick of it a quarter of the way through, but no -- he'd really fallen hard and he took his task seriously.

So a couple weekends ago we went back to pick up his new kitten, a calico that he'd decided to name Momo. While he was fussing with her, one of her brothers, an orange tiger striped tabby, came up to me, crawled into my arms, licked my nose, started purring, and fell asleep.

I plead insanity brought on by extreme cuteness. We brought him home too.

Oh yeah, I've been knitting too! Here's a cardigan that will be winging its way to the east coast shortly for a special baby due in July. Hopefully I've sized it correctly so that it will fit him or her (the parents love surprises) by the fall.

The pattern is "Sam" from the Mission Falls Wee Knits book. I love this pattern, it's quick and very fun to knit. This one was done in Mission Falls 1824 Wool, which is one of my favorite yarns to knit with. I have another on the needles that is almost done as well, this one in the Mission Falls 1824 cotton for a Bay Area baby to be born next month. I make one change to the pattern when I knit it -- I omit the first bobble on the cast on edge of the sleeves. I like how the sleeves look better without it, and also I worry that a baby might find it too tempting to chew on.

And just for the heck of it, here's a yummy recipe straight from my childhood to share with you. I got the sudden urge to make these this week, and after getting the recipe from Mom I discovered they were just as delicious as I remembered!

Salmon Patties

• 1 large (14oz) can of wild salmon
  
• 1 egg
  
• 2 cups cracker crumbs
  
• 1/2 onion, chopped fine
  
• dill
  
• salt
  
• pepper
  
• canola oil
  

Put half of the cracker crumbs in a bowl and set aside. Combine the salmon, egg, onions, and spices in a bowl and mix well. Gradually mix in the rest of the cracker crumbs -- stop when the mixture gets to the point where it can stick together when rolled in a ball, but is still moist. Form the mixture into patty shapes about 3" in diameter and 3/4" thick, and coat the outside of each patty with the reserved crumbs that were set aside. You can make them any size you like, but at this size you should get about 8 patties.

Fill a shallow frying pan with about 1/4" of canola oil and place over medium-high heat. Fry the patties for about 5 minutes on each side. Place the patties on a paper towel covered plate before serving to soak off any excess oil. These are great with any number of sides -- green salad, mac-n-cheese, steamed broccoli, mashed potatoes, sauteed greens... yum!

Posted by Danielle at 10:11 PM | | Comments (2)

I love making stuffed artichokes. You can get as creative as you like with the filling and spices, and they are always a big hit with everyone in my house. Here's the basic recipe, but it's also good when you add a little cooked shrimp, or maybe some ground beef or sausage, or maybe add some apples or raisins if you like that sort of thing...

• 2 whole artichokes
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 medium carrots, finely chopped
• 1 small zucchini, finely chopped
• 8-10 crimini mushrooms, finely chopped
• 1 portobello mushroom, finely chopped
• 2 cups breadcrumbs
• 2TBS olive oil or butter
• 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper

1: Cut the tips off the artichoke leaves wtih a pair of scissors to remove the nasty little sticky points at the top of the leaves. Then cut the bottom stem off the artichoke, and make an "x" shape in the bottom with a knife. Steam the artichokes for about 35 - 40 mins over medium heat. The goal here is to get the artichokes mostly cooked but to make sure they don't fall apart when they are removed from the steamer.

2: While the artichokes are steaming, saute the onions in the olive oil or butter (or a mixture of both) over medium heat. After about 5 minutes, add the carrots. After another 10 minutes or so, add the zucchini and mushrooms. Once everything is cooked and softened (probably another 10-15 minutes) remove from heat. Add breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese -- mix well and add salt and pepper to taste. If the stuffing is too dry, add a little more olive oil. Or for added flavor you could add a little chicken or vegetable stock. My favorite trick is to dissolve a teaspoon of this in a tiny amount of boiling water and add that in for a bit of moisture and flavor. The stuffing should now look something like this.

3: Make a couple of rings out of aluminum foil. You will be placing the artichokes in these rings to stabilize them during stuffing and to elevate them from the water in the final baking stage. The rings should look something like this.

4. When the artichokes are done, let them cool a little then place them in the aluminum rings. Gently spread the artichoke leaves and add some stuffing inside each leaf. Be sure to pack some stuffing into the middle of the artichoke. At this point they should look something like this.

5: Place the artichokes on their rings into a pan, and add a little water to the pan. Cover the entire pan with aluminum foil and bake in a 350-degree preheated oven for about half an hour. Serves two as a main dish, or cut in half for four side-dish servings.

Enjoy!

Posted by Danielle at 04:54 PM | | Comments (1)

I have always heard that one's tastebuds change every two years, so that foods we didn't like as children can become favorites later on in life. That seems to hold true for me. As a child, I hated mustard. But now I adore the taste. If a menu at a restaurant lists anything "dijon" I have to order it. Same goes for tomatoes. I never liked them as a kid. Tomato sauce was fine, but raw tomatoes? Yuck. Now, I love them. So when I found this at a thrift store the other day, it was in my cart before you could say tomato soup. The fabric looks much more appetizing than these wan fellows that are about all I can find at the grocery lately. One more reason to look forward to summer.

It seems to me that tastes in other areas change over time as well. For example, I used to despise sewing. I always liked that part in "The English Patient" where Katherine tells Almasy that women should never learn to sew, and if they do they shouldn't admit to it. My sentiments exactly.

Until recently.

About a year ago, I started to feel the urge to re-learn how to use a sewing machine. I'd learned many years ago in Home Economics. (Am I dating myself here? I don't think Home Ec. is a subject at high schools anymore, is it?) I remember doing pretty well in the sewing part of the class, but I didn't enjoy it, and that was the last time I'd sewn anything besides a button on a shirt.

But suddenly I started to see all the wonderful things that folks were creating and talking about on their blogs, and the urge to try my hand at sewing grew and grew until I aksed my stepmother if I could borrow her sewing machine and give it a try. And I enjoyed it. A lot. Her machine was a bit hard to use, though. It was back-pain-inducing heavy and very loud, and wasn't particularly user friendly. Plus the footpedal only had two speeds -- "fast" and "faster" -- which is less than ideal for a beginner. So after a couple of months of practice making tote bags and pajama pants, I figured I'd take the plunge and I bought a sewing machine on a fantastic sale at a local Sew-n-Vac shop.

I'm still definitely a beginner. But even though I'm still learning, I am finding this to be a very practical hobby. For example, my son hates to wear anything but elastic-waist pants. Unfortunately, as kids get older it gets harder and harder to find anything without a button fly. Land's End makes awesome elastic-waist pants for kids, but at $44 per pair it's a bit expensive, especially for a six-year-old who is rough on clothes. But it's easy enough to make something similar by adding a knee-patch to a simple kid's pants pattern, so I've been making lots of these:

I also just made this for a dear friend's birthday. Here's the back. And a closeup of the button. The pattern is Amy Butler's In Town Bags pattern, and while I made a bunch of mistakes I think the pretty toile upholstery fabric hides them a little. At least I like to tell myself that...

I don't think I'll ever love sewing as much as I love knitting and spinning. But I do enjoy it quite a bit now, and I have lots of plans for knitting bags, and an interesting idea for a spindling bag. I'll be sure to post about it here whenever I find the time to turn the ideas into reality.

But for now, in honor of changing tastes, I'd like to share my recipe for tomato soup. It's best when made with fresh-from-the-garden late summer tomatoes, but grocery store roma tomatoes work well when nothing better is available. It is also really helpful to have one of these (or a food mill), but it's easy enough to make do without.

Homemade Tomato Cheddar Soup

Ingredients:

- 8-10 lg. Roma tomatoes (or whatever fresh tomatoes are available)
- 1 TBS olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion
- 1/2 cup chopped celery (optional, but good)
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp crushed rosemary
- 1tsp basil
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 2 cups chicken stock (use plain water for true vegetarian version)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 or 2 tsp pepper
- 2 TBS finely chopped parsley
- 1 or 2 pieces wheat toast (heels of loaf work great)
- 1 cup milk (optional)
- 1 cup finely shredded sharp white cheddar cheese (optional)

1: Bring water to rolling boil in a large pot. Submerge tomatoes for 1-2 minutes then drain into colander and rinse with cold water. Use a tomato press to remove seeds and skins and extract only the juice and pulp. (If you don’t have a tomato press or food mill, then peel tomatoes and discard skins. Cut tomatoes in half, scoop the seeds out into a strainer positioned over a bowl to catch the liquid. Chop remaining tomatoes coarsely and add to bowl. Use a ladle to squeeze all remaining liquid out of strainer and discard seeds.)

2: In a 3-quart soup pot, sauté onions (and celery if desired) over medium heat in olive oil until transparent. Add tomatoes and liquid, turn heat to high. Add chicken stock (you can sub vegetable stock or plain water for a true vegetarian version), garlic, spices, salt, pepper, and parsley. When mixture begins to boil, reduce heat to medium-low and allow to cook uncovered for one hour, stirring frequently.

3: Add piece(s) of toast to the soup – the toast will quickly absorb into the mixture and will fall apart. The toast thickens the soup so if you prefer a thin soup, omit this step or use less toast. Remove soup pot from stove, and use a stick blender to puree the soup until smooth (a regular blender can be used as well, but depending on the blender size you may want to blend the soup in small portions). DO NOT overblend – stop as soon as the soup reaches a smooth consistency. If the soup is too thick, add more chicken stock until desired consistency is reached.

4: Return pot to stove and add milk and cheese. Cover and keep on low heat (stirring occasionally) until ready to serve. Serve soup with crusty bread, roasted garlic, and a nice green salad.

Makes approx. 5 cups.

NOTES: Milk and cheese are optional – if omitted the soup will have a stronger and tangier tomato flavor (and of course less calories).

Posted by Danielle at 05:35 PM | | Comments (0)