...random bits of everything...

in which my kitchen earns its keep

Tonight I decided to make 3 things at once. Normally, I don't cook. I know I get a lot of crap from people teasing me that I don't cook much, but honestly, it's not that I *can't* cook, I just don't like it. I always say, I only have 2 kitchens in this house, because they came with the place. So when I go in my kitchen for some reason other than grabbing a coke, I like to be as productive as possible.

Normally, when I bake, I mix everything by hand, like I did with my grandmother when I was young, but since I had more than one thing going on, I thought it would go quicker if I broke out the mixer.

Here is my beautiful purple KitchenAid mixer. This is the 3rd time I've used it in 5+ years. I know I should use it more, but I just don't bake/cook enough. It usually lives in a cabinet, because otherwise it just takes up counter space and gets dusty.

The first thing I made was a batch of chocolate chip cookies. I would put my recipe here, but everyone has their own favorite one...

While that was mixing, I preheated the oven and got my cookie sheets prepped. You can never use enough non-stick cooking spray. Seriously.

[Sidenote: my stove is old, and people have teased that I should replace it, but after googling and attempting some minor repair stuff this summer, it is working fine. No sense replacing something that isn't broken :) And it looks awesome.]

Non stick spray gratuitously added...and dough placed...just waiting on the stove to finish preheating.

Wash the mixing bowl, and back to the mixer.

Then I made red velvet cake batter. This stuff is a really creepy color. Almost gross..

Seriously...who invented this stuff...it's like a bad joke.

Then I broke out my antique 3-D lamb cake pan...

And drenched in it non-stick spray. Especially the ears...those seems to like to stick.

Which I was waiting for the oven to be free....I started the last and final thing I was making. My infamous salad. I dont really have a name for this salad...I make it once a year, if that. But I'm sharing the recipe here now, so everyone can make it. I don't measure things exact, so I will try to estimate the amounts of each thing. This salad is so good, that I have had 3 separate marriage proposals, just for this salad.  [Then they found out how irregularly I make it, and retracted their offers..:) ]

First, get out  bowl. Preferably one with a creepy rooster on it and some weird sun pattern radiating from said creepy rooster. These can be found at auction in small secluded rural towns.

Right about this time, the oven timer went off, and I had to go grab the cookies before they incinerated.

Perfect.

While letting those cool, I went back to the salad.

Dump 3 jars of artichoke hearts into the bowl. Make sure you drain them. You don't want the olive oil concoction they have been stewing in, in the salad.

Instead, add fresh olive oil. I just dump it in until I think it's right...but it's probably around 4-6 tablespoons.

Next you want to add some FRESH oregano. I usually take 2 nice sized stems, and pick the leaves off. I then mince the leaves up with my fingers.

I also add some minced fresh garlic cloves.

I then cover this and place it in the refrigerator so it can all marinate.

This gives me a break, so I can focus on the lamb cake again.

The red velvet lamb cake just looks wrong on so many levels....but hopefully it will be delicious.

This reminds me I need the cookie sheets to place the lamb cake pans on, so I quickly remove the cookies from said sheets, and move them to a platter.

Scrub them until they are spotless. [I always do dishes WHILE cooking/baking. The sight of dirty dishes piling up in a sink aggravates me to no end.]

And the lambs are ready for the oven!

Back to the salad!

Next, you need an entire package of bacon. I'm not a bacon snob*, but it needs to have lots of nice fat on it. No lean bacon...because that's just missing the point.

[*I am a hot dog snob. I can clearly estimate the quality of items at an auction, based on the brand of hot dogs sold at the concession stand. Honest to god.]

And having a real, seasoned cast iron skillet helps....immensely. You have no idea...

I cut the bacon into 2 inch long pieces.

While the bacon is frying, it's important to enjoy a Coke. Not only does it make the whole process more enjoyable, but it also gives you a receptacle into which to pour the bacon fat later. [After cutting the lid off with a knife.] [..if you do not know your way around knives, do not attempt....just do what you normally do with bacon fat and don't blame any mishaps on me]

After the bacon is fully cooked, drain grease/fat.

 

With bacon still in skillet, add croutons. Or chopped up french bread. Whichever you prefer. I added 2 boxes of garlic croutons..because I love garlic. I think if you were to measure this out, it would be like 6 cups of croutons.

Keep burner on medium heat. Add more olive oil [probably 4-6 tablespoons] and a bit of salt.

Stir, and let the croutons/bread soak up the olive oil...usually about 5 minutes.

It will look and smell amazing. Trust me. How could it not? It's comprised of the best things on earth.

Turn off the burner, and move on the the next part.

Grab the biggest bowl you own. [Preferably not one with a creepy rooster. This will be the bowl in which you serve the salad, and NO one needs a shock like the creepy rooster waiting them at the bottom]

Add a bunch of salad. I did romaine, and spinach and other fancy weird stuff. Whatever you like. I have a thing against those white pieces of lettuce that are at the base of the leaf, so I always make sure I don't include them. And carrots. God, I hate carrots in salads. Do not put carrots in this salad. Please.

I'm guessing this is about 8 cups of salad.

To the salad, I add about 3-5 tablespoons of red wine vinegar. Just enough to keep the olive oil portions of the salad I will be adding, in check.

I add some more of the hand minced/shredded oregano, and mix it all together.

Then I get the artichoke heart/olive oil/oregano mixture out of the refrigerator.

And throw that in.

And stir. The olive oil and artichoke hearts will weigh down the salad, so if you were worried about there being too much in the bowl, you'll soon see there's room being made.

Then go back to the stove, and grab the bacon/crouton mixture and dump it on top of the salad....Pour everything out of the skillet onto the salad. Especially the croutons crumbs and little pieces of bacon.

Then, grab a package of feta.

I use about half the package, because the people I'm serving this to, aren't as into feta as I am. :(

Crumble feta on top of salad. Make sure to eat some of the feta straight out of the package too. [If I could ever find someone who likes feta, bacon and garlic as much as I do...well...let's just say it would be kismet.]

And stir.

Thats it. You can serve immediately [which would be very nice because the crouton/bacon awesomeness would still be warm] or cover a chill for a bit, to let everything soak into each other. Mine is chilling out overnight, which I don't normally do...but I have had this as a leftover before and it just gets better.

About this time the oven buzzer went off, and the lambs emerged. I'm going to let them cool extra long, to insure no ears falling off like last time.

my grandmother...

[I just got a phone call out of the blue from my grandmother. She hasn't called me in months. ..so it was a surprise. She said my mother and aunts had descended upon her house today and tried to drag her to a craft show, but she didn't feel like being in a crowd with her cane and having people look at her funny. She said she wished she was still allowed to drive. She said she recently confided in her doctor that "they" won't let her drive anymore and how sad it makes her. She said if she's kept cooped up in the house, she WILL go crazy. [everyone already thinks she has dementia,  or that she is pretending to have dementia, except me] I decided to pull up an entry I wrote about her on 11-18-2006 and post it here..and hope insane relatives don't come across it. I'm posting it in its entirety, though some things have changed...notably where I reference my in-laws and husband...who are no longer my in-laws and husband. But you probably already knew that....if you know how to find this.]

2006-11-18 23:06:00

the one where I talk about matrilineal stuff

so..a few entries ago, I said I'd talk about the most important woman from my childhood. Now that I've finally got MY scanner hooked up to MY computer [no comments about my CIS/MIS/whatever-it's-referred-to-these-days degree....] I have visuals to go with this entry :)

Growing up, my mom was really busy.

I don't hate her for it. She had grown up on a farm, kinda poor. When she got a chance at a BIG auto corporation, a few years before I was born, I totally see why she jumped on it. She spent most my childhood climbing the corporate ladder. I don't hate her for this. 
Because she was so busy, I spent most of my time with my grandmother...my mother's mother. I cannot think of anything more delightful.

My grandmother is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. She has thick blonde hair, and the most beautiful pale green eyes. I used to stare at her eyes when she would rock me to sleep every afternoon. She used to sing softly "rock a bye...rock a bye..." over and over until I closed my eyes. She has the most beautiful voice.

I was the first grandchild on this side of the family. My aunts still swear I'm the favorite. I know this should sound like something really wonderful...but at times, it's used against me by my siblings and cousins...they use it as something bad that they seem to think I'm responsible for.

My grandmother wrote a poem for me, when I was born. It's one of my favorite things..and I have it framed and all...but I keep it in my closet..so no one else can see. It's like a secret treasure of mine...

Besides my immediate family, and my husband, I've never shared it with anyone else.

[side note: I've never called her Grandnana, like how she signed this. She's always just been my Grandma. :) ]

My grandma, Mae , is the most wonderfully complex woman I've ever known, or ever will know. There's stuff about her life that I will not share with others...just because it wouldn't be right. I know things about her that she doesn't know that I know. Those things, I keep deep inside. I don't repeat them. I will say that she and I know each other better than anyone else knows us, and I think that bothers some...

Mae grew up on a farm in Bennington. Her parents both came from wealthy farm families. She had an older brother Robert, who wasn't "all there," but was the family favorite, nonetheless. [on my uber german side of the family...the men are always favored over the women, for some weird reason....it's very Old World...and frustrating]

Mae was raised Missouri Synod Lutheran...which means...super strict Lutheran..probably the closest thing to Catholic in the Protestant realm of religion...they said prayers before, during, and after each meal, had confession...etc. I am so glad I was raised ELCA!

Anyways, because she wasn't really favored by her family, she spent a lot of time in Benson with her cousins [and god, did she have a TON of cousins..her dad was one of 7 or 8..her mom was one of 11]

They had free movies in town during the war, and Mae would walk into town with her cousin for the show.

One night they were walking and they bumped into 2 men...one of which would become my grandfather! :)  I don't think they talked much that first night..:)
He asked around town, found out where she was staying, and asked her out the next day...

My grandfather..Deryle..is an entire story himself. He was the youngest in his family, and he had been pulled out of school in 8th grade to help on the family farm...because  his older brother [the favorite in THAT family] had gone off to war, and he was needed to help in the fields. In his spare time, he worked hauling feed and cattle, and delivering milk.

Mae had her senior photos done earlier that summer, and the photographer in town had been so pleased with the results, he had asked if he could display them in his store window. He made a huge print, hand colored it and displayed it. 

My grandfather, Deryle,  was walking through town, saw the photo. recognized it as the girl from the movie nights, and went inside and pleaded with the photographer to let him purchase it :)

I have one copy of a photo from that same sitting...though a different pose. I keep this on one of the dressers in my dressing room.

When I was in 6th grade, the kids at school made fun of me because I had glasses and braces. I came home crying and miserable, and tried to find consolation from my mother. She said, your grandmother was one of the most beautiful women ever.  You're her granddaughter. How can anyone say you are ugly?

I was kinda upset at that, at the time. I thought I looked nothing like my grandmother....she had blonde hair and green eyes! What did I have in common with her?!

I can only wish that I look like her.

My grandparents started seeing each other :) Secretly. Because Mae came from money, and Deryle didn't.  Deryle had a cousin who was wealthy, so he would go to my great-grandparents house, ask if Mae could go out, and they'd let her. The cousin and Mae would drive down the road, pick up Deryle, and they'd spend time together :)

These pictures are my favorite. I have them framed together. All 3 were taken on the same day.

But I received them all from different sources.:) One, my grandfather gave me one day when I was about 14.

The other, was in a shoebox of old photos from my GREAT grandmother, and the third was mailed to me from a cousin in Iowa.

Needless to say, they ended up getting married...She had a big adjustment, going from living in a wealthy family, to living WITH her in-laws in their house...and helping out with everything. She's kinda obsessed with cleaning like I am...and from what I gather...her in-laws weren't. I can imagine how nerve-wrecking that must've been for her.

As I was getting older, and we moved to Colorado, I didn't talk to her as much as I had when we lived in Nebraska. We would talk on the phone and everything, but it wasn't the same.

Whenever we'd come back and visit, and things weren't going well in my life, Mae always held me and comforted me.

On my wedding day, she sat in the little room with me  before the ceremony and we drank champagne and she held my hand. 

She has always stood up for me, and she has always been my greatest support.

Moving back here 2 years ago, I was so excited to be able to be NEAR her again.  But sometimes I feel like it's too late. Everyone says she has the onset of Alzheimer's, and when I go visit with her, she tells me the same story over and over. She's not allowed to drive her beloved Mercury anymore.  She is very frustrated by people telling her that her mind isn't right. 

It's very hard for me to think about her getting older, and being unwell. Out of everyone I'm related to, she's the one I'm closest to. She's the only one that has ever loved me unconditionally, and the thought of losing that is too much.

But every once in awhile, she's her old self :) We whisper about silly things..like how if everyone thinks she's crazy...maybe she OUGHT to do crazy things...like put the dog in the freezer...or something.

My in-laws recently sent me a pic they took last winter, of me with my sister-in-law and mother-in-law. I showed it to my mother and she said "You look just like your GRANDMOTHER!" 
I said, um, I think I look like I just finished a semester of 5 upper division history courses and I'm ready to take a month long nap.
But my mother kept insisting.
So one day on an outing with the women in my family, my mother begged me to bring the photo along and made me show it to my grandmother, and said, "Mom, if Jennifer doesn't look exactly like you, I don't know who does. I would've never guessed it, but there's something about this photo."

My grandmother squinted at the photo and agreed that I looked like her when she was younger.

Then she turned to me and said, "Jenne, have a good long look at me. This is what you have to look forward to in 50 years."

Then she giggled and asked if we could go find a good pie shop.

She's loving, strong, and crazy,  and I love her for it. My only wish in life is that when people think of me, it's remotely like what I think of her.

perspective

sometimes in life you come across old things or memories, and they stop you in your tracks. you think, omg, that used to be such a important person/thing/event in my life. but in hindsight, you see how really foolish/trivial/lame it all was.
being able to look back and admit that "important" things back then weren't all that monumental, and not feeling bad about it now [ie waste of time/energy/resources/life] is calming....and *I* think a sign of letting go.

I could give you several examples of this, just from today...but does it really matter? I 't need to point out specifics to illustrate my point. and if you've experienced this, you don't need me to explain it.

years ago...and I do mean YEARS ago, I started writing down all my thoughts online. back then, they weren't called "blogs." this was back around 2000. I wrote 593 entries in one place...anonymously, but people irl still found me. [ask me how sometime]
I moved and made 130 posts somewhere else, with passwords and filters, and all that mess, and it still didn't feel safe. I think I've finally realized that I can't write every little thing that I'm thinking, because somewhere, somehow, someone will find it.
I don't want to give up writing entirely either...so I will compromise. I will write here more regularly, and it will not be personal...

forgot some...

 

 

 

my shipwreck photos

 

vintage harvest

Vintage Harvest kit...purchased at Prairie Star Quilts last fall....ready to be quilted now.

Binding added

I just got done adding the binding to the Quarter Scramble quilt I finished piecing this summer.
I've been a total slacker in the sewing area lately, but I kinda have good reason. I
cleaned up my sewing room completely when I had a house appraiser come through in the beginning of October, and it was so nice and weird to walk in here and have the place be spotless and spacious.
Then, my beloved Janome died on me. It was in rehab for 3 weeks. The top thread wasn't even catching the bottom thread, it was SO out of whack. I think it has something to do with me trying to sew new leather seats for a 1973 Mercury Cougar about 5 years ago on it. [stupid, I know]
I never realized how much I sewed on it, and relied on it, until it was gone for that long. It was miserable and torturous being in a house surrounded by 9 treadle machines - none with working belts, and not being able to sew anything. For the cost to have it repaired, I later found I could've bought a new one for about the same amount the repair bill came to [grrr] but I've been through a lot with this machine, and I'm glad to have it back now.
I just need to get back into a sewing mode. I'm also toying with the idea of a new domain name for this site....but nothing is sticking out as promising. :(

hats and linens

At the same auction I got the red quilt top at, I also got a huge piles of old clothes [think muslin petticoats and bloomers and aprons], a huge stack of doilies, dresser scarves and embroidered tea towels, and 2 hats. They were all in one huge pile and I got it all for $1.

Last night I was ironing the doilies, and I found the most beautiful doilie in the entire world.

The detailing is so delicate.

In the pile, I also got this beautiful old black velvet cloche, with rhinestone pin.

Pin detail.

And this awesome feather-y hat...1940s? 50s?

Red Flying Geese Columns

I went to an auction this past weekend  in Fremont and got this beautiful old old quilt. The back was shattering, the batting was loose cotton, and it had been sparsely tied - so it was a lumpy mess that was spilling cottons out all over.

I fretted about what state to keep it in...as found? or should I restore it? The back really was in bad shape, so I removed it, and soaked the top in Biz...and was amazed at how vibrant the red still is.

Many beautiful old fabrics in this quilt.

I purchased this quilt for $2.50. The wool crazy quilts that were there were beautiful also....and I don't usually like wool crazy quilts...but these were really really nice...went for $10.

smashed toe

Last Sunday I was hanging decorative plates over my mantel. I've had 16 up there for about 3 years, but I've been gathering more at auction. I also had ONE BIG serving plate that I bought at a local antique store and had propped up on my mantel...waiting for this day...it was a beautiful old English piece with purple transferware.
As I was hanging plates, one came loose off the wall, and as it came down, it knocked down  the purple transferware plate with it, which came crashing on my toe. As soon as I looked down, the entire area under the nail filled with blood.
The pain knocked the breath out of me. I have never been in so much pain in my life...and those of you who know what I went through earlier this year know that's saying a lot.
My toe was throbbing, but since I've never hurt my feet before, really, I thought if I just rested, it would go away.
It kept me up all night and for the first time in my life, I was nauseous from pain.
This happened Sunday.
Wednesday, I finally broke down from the pain and went to the Dr.'s office. They x-rayed and nothing was broken...but they had to relieve the pressure from the toe...SO they burned a hole through my nail to release the blood blister. Not fun.

They said I'm going to lose the nail, and IF it comes back, it will never look "normal"...but I've asked around and everyone else who's lost toenails have had them come back looking normal. It just takes 6 months to  a year.

This is my toe on Tuesday, September 25 - 2 days after the plate shattered on it...and one day before the doctor's visit.

This is my toe Wednesday October 3, one week after the doctor's visit.

It may not look great,  but it feels a million times better.