Vegetarian Cooking Week One

March 1, 2012 Ms Cleaver

While I failed at my last cookie baking attempt, I've had a bit more luck in the vegetarian cooking department. First off I wanted to thank everyone for their recipe suggestions, I'm still looking through some of the ones posted last week, but there are several I can't wait to try - keep 'em coming!

Two things I've learned quickly, chickpeas (and beans in general) are my veggie-cooking friends and that taking pictures of food in my kitchen lighting at night is less than ideal.

Also, not specifically related to the vegetarian-eating thing, but banana and nutella on toast may be my new favorite breakfast.

Recipes used this week:

Chilaquiles vegetarianos! (first photo). I'd definitely make this one again. It was delicious, it reheated well and I'm a sucker for avocados.
Baked falafel (second photo). This one I'm a little less enthused by, the falafel seemed bit too mushy, but it could be because I under baked it or that I'm just more used to the fried version.

Also made (not-photograghed) Chana Masala, which I improvised with a bunch of veggies, chickpeas and a jar of Masala sauce from Trader Joes.

Baking Fail

February 28, 2012 Ms Cleaver

I had such a spectacular baking fail last night that I just had to share.

Unless I was aiming for chewy chocolate pancakes, that is. Granted they taste fine, but as Mr. Cleaver said "they're not cookies."

So did I...

use expired baking powder,
over soften the butter,
use too much liquid, or
forget the eggs?

If you picked #2, you're correct!!

I tried putting the dough in the fridge, but that didn't help (something about the heating permanently changing the structure of the butter). So after two failed batches I decided that the remainder will find a new life as dough - maybe in some ice cream.

School House Tunic #2

February 24, 2012 Ms Cleaver

Ever since I made my first School House Tunic for the Fall Palette Challenge I have been wearing all the time, pretty much, if it's clean, I'm wearing it.

I fell in love with this pattern for three reasons:

I can cut it out and sew it up in day, and I'm not a quick sewer;
It looks nice enough to wear to work;
It is soooo comfy!

It's also fairly easy to adapt. For this version I added some more substantial button loops (thanks to Mags and Bristol for help with the placement) and I've got fabric lined up for a longer version with some pintucks planned.

The fabric in this one is slightly stiffer than the last one, which gives it a crisper shape, and I'm in love with the Anna Maria Horner print.

Top: School House Tunic, made by me
Skirt: made by me
Tights: Target
Shoes: Clarks
Robot Bracelet: by Hobomoon on esty

I can't wait until I have time to sew a third version. Do you have a favorite go-to pattern?

All Spun Up

February 13, 2012 Ms Cleaver

So I may have made negative progress on my Taos sweater this weekend, but I did finish spinning all my yarn for my sheep heid hat! I'm not 100% in love with the dark brown color, mostly because it and the black are the only dyed fibers and I feel like it sticks out like a sore thumb.

That said, I have a huge knitting backlog of projects to get through, so I probably won't get to knitting the hat itself for a while, so there's nothing to stop me from spinning up something else if I come across something I like.

Spilt Milk & Cookies

February 8, 2012 Ms Cleaver

I may have been named one of Knitscene's "8 Designers to Watch in 2012," but it doesn't mean that I'm not capable of a spectacular knitting fail every now and again.

[See that shameless little plug I did there? Wasn't sure how to work that in. ;)]

Take for example exhibit A up there. I've always prided myself on even gauge, but both of those socks up there are same yarn, same pattern, and yes, the same needles. Unlike my pal Aimee, my tools aren't to blame it was all me. It's like an inch shorter at the foot and the cuff.

Le sigh...

I plan to knit a third sock and see which one it matches up to (fortunately I have enough yarn), but I needed a little break first (especially since I suffered that sock defeat and a Superbowl loss on the same evening).

[SOCK UPDATE ADDENDUM: I recounted the rows on both socks and it seems that my ability to count and not gauge was the issue. On sock one I did a cable feature every 7th row and on sock two I did it every 6th - shorting myself by several rows]

For something completely different, I started this muted Taos cardigan. The official color name is "blue note," but I have dubbed it Cookie Monster blue. I started it last night at knitting and since it not secret knitting, I'll be sharing my progress as I go along (and check one solid-colored cardigan off my knit-a-lution).

Done and done!

February 1, 2012 Ms Cleaver

After several weeks of joking, last week I gave a co-worker/friend a list of all the little things on my to-do list that I've been ignoring for far too long and gave her full permission to bug me about them. The list contains things like sew the belt loops back on my lady grey coat (done!), order harp strings (done!), and fix tiny rust spot on car (not done!).

In this spirit, here are two things I finished recently.

About a year later than I intended to, I finally made curtains for the built-in bookcase in my living room. The clearance home dec fabric I bought ended up being a bit stiffer than I thought it'd be, but it still looks miles better than being able to see the miscellaneous stuff on the shelves!

And I handed off a sample for a new design on Monday. I don't know when it'll come out (probably fall), but I really like the way this one turned out and I can't wait to show you the whole thing!

Some other things I hope to finish soon:

a pair of socks for Mr. Cleaver,
spinning my Sheep Heid yarn, and
shipping out some submission swatches!

A Few Notes on Cup-pies

January 25, 2012 Ms Cleaver

At a friend's request, here are a few tips on making cup-pies.

I'm generally able to get 10 cup-pies out of one regular pie's worth of crust and filling.
For the bottom crust I cut a 4-inch circle, and used a 3-inch biscuit cutter for the top.
The thicker the bottom crust, the easier it will be to pop them out of the cupcake tin.
There's no need to grease or line the cupcake tins at all.
I probably overfilled these a bit as they leaked a bit during cooking, so a little under the tin rim is probably best.
Don't forget to vent the top!
For extra flair, I brushed the tops with milk and then sprinkled them with a bit of granulated sugar.
I cook them at 350-375°F for 30 minutes, or until the filling bubbles. For this batch then broiled the tops for about a minute to get them golden brown.

Happy National Pie Day!

January 23, 2012 Ms Cleaver

In America, the National Pie Council (what, your country doesn't have one of those?) declared January 23rd National Pie Day. Being as we for some strange reason don't get this as a day off, I had to do my celebrating yesterday in my now-traditional fashion, with a pie-luck!

I made a batch of cherry cup-pies and a chocolate/raspberry pie that I neglected to photograph.

(Note to all bakers out there, when making a recipe for the first time, read the whole recipes before the morning you attempt to make it. I neglected to do this and caught myself running out of time when I realized that my raspberry pie took FOUR HOURS to make due to refrigerating time for the different parts.)

I think I need to make cup-pies more often, they're adorable and take only a tiny bit more work than a regular pie.

As usual we had a range of savory, sweet, and tart pies. A pie-luck requires at least three rounds to the table and generous amounts of tupperware for the leftovers.

We also got in a fair amount of knitting and Aimee, Chris, and Maggie split up several balls of Jamieson and Smith yarn for our sheep heid knit-a-long. (I'm spinning mine).

So for those interested, here's a run-down of the pies (if I forgot any my apologies!):

Savory
- Red Lentil & root vegetable pot pie
- Goat cheese and leek egg pie/quiche
- Pizza Pie
Fruit-Based
- Apple Cranberry
- Cranberry Pear Shortbread
- Cranberry Sage
- Cherry Cup-pies
- Chocolate Raspberry
- Apricot Cheese
Cream
- Chocolate Satin
- Butterfinger

With all the leftovers I ended up with - I'll be celebrating pie all week!!

Introducing: Bob & Wave Cowl

January 3, 2012 Ms Cleaver

In September I stopped in PurlDiva and treated myself to two skeins of Misty Alpaca Chunky.

I'm not a big yarn horder, I typically only buy for specific projects, so I had admired and passed on this yarn on a couple different occasions. But on this particular day it had been a long week, and Misty Alpaca feels like soft cuddly air and Purl Diva had it stocked in one of my favorite colors, so how could I resist??

As soon as I had a break from all that November knitting, I turned that yarn into this Bob & Wave cowl. The color reminded me of 1950s Cadillacs, so I wanted do do something with a retro feel and nothing feels more like retro knitting to me than bobbles.

Though it's a small and relatively quick project, there are a lot of fun details. The cowl features an i-cord cast on and bind off. I-cord also appears as the button loops and faux i-cord is created by rows of purl stitches that are pleated horizontally to make the texture really pop. Carefully placed increases and decreases create the scalloped waving background for the bobbles and the fabric manipulation makes for a denser and warmer cowl.