Sunday Baking

One of my ongoing goals this year is to cut as many processed foods out of my diet as I can. I'm looking into ways to consistently make my own bread (I've done some work with a bread machine and a friend lent me a copy of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, which I hope to try as soon as I have some room in the fridge to try it.) and I've been figuring out ways to make my favorite microwave and takeout foods from scratch (check back in about a week for my chicken pot pie recipe!). Come farmer's market season I'd like to look into some preserving.

Along these same lines, I've had a recurring thought about only eating sweets that I've made myself. Now I have the second-biggest sweet tooth I know and what with my schedule, I though that to only eat home-made sweets meant pretty much giving them up. I'm sure doctors and dentists would think that's plenty fine, but I like a good cookie, or piece of cake, brownie or slice of pie... you get the idea.

In any case, I'm thinking it's much more feasible than I originally thought. 

I'm currently working full-time and rehearsing a play about 4 nights and one weekend day a week. I'm pretty busy. But for the past month I've found the time to bake every Sunday. 

I don't own a mixer (I find mixing by hand both bicep-building and relaxing) and my kitchen is ill-designed for any kind of food-making, but I'm getting the job done. And I love putting on an apron from my collection and baking.

A few weeks back it started with "le gateau piege" from Chocolate and Zucchini, a Cleaver house-hold favorite.

Then it was the titular Chocolate & Zucchini cake from the C&Z cookbook, which was dense and moist.

Having good luck with Clotilde, I made the Honey-Spice Loaf from the same cookbook. We like it warm with butter.

Around Wednesday this week I asked Mr. Cleaver what he wanted. He didn't have any suggestion, so I decided to troll the recipe index on my other favorite food site, Smitten Kitchen, where I came across these:

Homemade oreos!

These are just like the ones in the store, but way better, especially slightly warm. As noted in the recipe, I used the lesser amount of sugar in the cookies, and if Mr. Cleaver had his way, I wouldn't have frosted any. As it was I only needed half the frosting called for, but I highly recommend them. And some soothing Sunday afternoon baking.

Do you have a favorite baking recipe? Send along recipes and links and I'll be happy to give them a go!

Lent: Week 1

So one week down. Not a big week for purchases, but I definitely have a greater consciousness about how much money I have in my wallet, what purchases I need/want to make, and when my next pay period is (Thursday if you were wondering).

The run-down for the week:

Saturday morning yoga class at The Yoga Exchange, which is dangerously close to my favorite yarn shop.

In a fit of high school nostalgia, Cake's Fashion Nugget and some Monty Python Flying Circus from Bull Moose.

A chicken and roasted root vegetable sandwich, extra roots, from O'Naturals between yoga and rehearsal.

Cash Only or 47 days

photo via zizzybaloobah

All the Catholics and certain branches of Protestants out there know that yesterday was the first day of Lent.

For longtime readers, you know that dispite not being Catholic, Lent is a big deal for me. I like to take on a personal challenge and why not?  Last year, as some may remember, I gave up wearing jeans. 

I spent a lot of time trying to come up with something good, that would fit the circumstances. I considered giving up prepared foods, but considered that since I'm stage-managing a show the entirety of Lent it wouldn't be terribly realistic. I cosidered taking the jeans thing a step farther and giving up pants and only wearing skirts and dresses and then I remember that I live in Maine and spring doesn't get here until May.

I finally settled on giving up non-tangible forms of payment - that is I'm going cash-only for the next 47 days (because the 40 day thing is not true - count it out from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday). No debit cards, no credit cards - just nickels, dimes, and dollars.

Since I'm a stickler about my challenges the Rules (and Exceptions) are as follows:

Rules

1. I may only use tangible forms of payment. Cash, coins, silver ingots, gold doubloons. No credit, debit , check or paypal transactions. Paper gift certificates may be used if used in person.
2. I will photograph every purchase made and post them here once a week for thrilling reading. ;)
3. As I am using cash only, I will have to make all purchases in person. To further this I will attempt to make my purchases as local as possible.

Exceptions 

1. My cell phone bill is currently set up as an automatic online payment and I won't be changing that.
2. The rules apply to personal use only.  That is if I need to purchase something for work, as I occasionally do, it is exempt from the rules. Joint purchases with Mr. Cleaver are also exempt, provided he is present and doing the purchasing.
3. Medical costs are exempt if over $50.00.

I think it's definitely doable, but if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions or thinks my exceptions are bull-honkey or something, feel free to comment and let me know!

Getaway in Boothbay

Mr. Cleaver and I have a somewhat annual tradition of a mid-winter getaway: that time somewhere between late January and mid-February when we get stick of being stuck inside and need to get away from the house. Ironically, we have often gone to somewhere colder than we're leaving, but its always been good for the soul nonetheless.

When we were dating it was a rainy day-trip to Boston. Two years ago we went to Lake Geneva, Wisc. where I had hands-down the best meal I've ever had in my life. This year we headed an hour north to Boothbay and stayed at the charming Kenniston Hill Inn. 

This year's trip was a bit of a last minute decision, but we are both so glad we went. We spent two days at the inn, eating Valentine's cake and drinking tea by the fire, both in the living room and our room at the inn.

We wandered around Boothbay and nearby Wiscasset, and while a number of places were closed for the season, we still found some great antiques stores to visit (including one where I got a new apron for my collection), some tasty places to eat and my new favorite fabric store in Maine. 

When it wasn't too windy we took in the area's outdoor area. In a park in central Boothbay someone had hung hundreds of fabric hearts from the trees.

We also attempted to visit the Coastal Maine Botanic Gardens, but the cold and lack of trails turned us back after about 20 minutes. We did see some small bits of green before we left.

All in all it was a fantastic time, which has bolstered our spirits in the continuing winter. 

p.s. there's more photos of our trip on my flickr account (see the sidebar for a link).

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Mr. Cleaver and I are off to Boothbay Harbor for a few days, see you when we get back!

20/20 in my Dreams

I started wearing glasses in the 4th grade. I don't recall any big "I can see clearly now!" moment. It just was the way it was. Glasses seemed to suit my personality (nerd!) and I was fine with wearing them.

Oh school photos, I'd be embarrassed about putting this on the internet,

but I know everybody's got a terrible one stashed somewhere 

Then towards the end of my junior year of high school, when I still wanted to be an actor I decided I should get contacts so I didn't have to worry about wearing my glasses and/or squinting a lot onstage- only to be asked to wear my glasses in the first show I did after getting contacts. Ah well. 

When I got those contacts I was honestly excited by the idea that I'd be wearing my contacts all the time, then one day I'd wear my glasses for one reason or another and someone would say "Hey! I didn't know you wore glasses!" It would be proof that I'd moved on from being the dork with glasses or more likely that I just wanted to be surprising to someone in someway. 

Yesterday a co-worker asked about my glasses. I think I surprised her with my excitement about her question. She didn't know that I'd been waiting eight years. Of course even after all this time, I still have a preference for purple frames.

Month by Month

Before I start, can I say that it feels like forever since I've done a proper blog entry? I've really had a tough go getting going this month. Let's call it the early-mid-winter slump and try to move on, shall we? Last year, I decided that the New Year's Resolution, while good in theory, doesn't really pan out well in real life  - even for those of us who have in the past planned out parts of their lives 3 years in advance to a fairly high degree of success.  Instead, I found last year that thinking of things on a monthly scale worked out better. 

So for January, my goals have been two-fold:

1. cook more
2. make our apartment more "homey"

And I've done decently on both accounts.

So far this month I've learned to make a quiche, chicken pot pies and given another go at making wheat bread in the bread machine (though I'm still in search of a great bread machine/wheat bread recipe, so if you have one, send it my way!). 

Last week Mr. Cleaver and I took a trek to Massachusetts in search of cheap Swedish furniture and while we came home with a few nice pieces, neither of them were what we were looking for  (if you know of an affordable TV stand approximately 52"w x 30"h x 18" d or something to put a ten gallon fish tank on we'd be ever so grateful!) Even without said furniture, I did do some work on the living room - mainly hanging up pictures and sewing a pillow cover. In any case, I'm finally going to show some photos of the apartment.

A before and after, both in all their non-cleaned glory.

Before:

 

We bought the chair and couch separately (at a consignment shop and Goodwill respectively) but they match amazingly well. The borrowed tray table and fabric covered plastic boxes add a touch of class to the original arrangement as does the printer, just hanging out on a spare dining table chair from Craig's List.

After:

The Chicago neighborhood print was a Christmas gift I gave to Mr. Cleaver and is flanked by some vintage Maine postcards (one of which feature the Westbrook highway-seriously) and my first real art purchase, a Clifton Henri photo. The two photos by the closet are by my father and myself. The end tables are real tables now - but the printer is still hanging out, keeping it real. Not a real big change, but it does feel much better.

I whipped the pillow cover out of some leftovers of felted sweaters. And if a certain reader from Oregon is wondering, hey aren't those my sweaters? And shouldn't I have some coasters/bowls coming my way? Yes they are and yes you do, they're just going through one more wash cycle before I mail them out next week - promise!

Speaking of sweaters and things completed on monthly scale, I'd also like to present to my "Mermaid Coat," so named for its sea moss colorway and oyster shell buttons. 

The pattern is the quite popular Drops A-Line Jacket, the  yarn is Peace Fleece Worsted in Kamchatka Seamoss, and the shell buttons are from Savaged Relics. And like an actor in in their first high school play, I have no idea what I'm doing with my hands here.

It is super cozy and super warm. It's a simple pattern and I finished the whole thing in month - give or take a day.

So I guess you could day I'm sitting pretty on this whole "month-a-lution" thing. Now maybe for February I should decide to be a better blogger.

Catching Up

So it was about 18°F outside yesterday and today. In general its been cold and yucky outside and I have limited daylight time to take photos due to my 9-5.  This is my excuse as to why I haven't posted about 5 finished knitting projects  - no chance to take decent pictures. That and two of them were Christmas presents and I didn't want to spoil the surprise on the off-chance their recipents checked the blog. Well, the photos aren't super great and I'm still missing the sweater I finished in early November, but here's a quick roundup of some knitting I've done this winter.

I call this my "Fisherman's Wife Beret." It's a fairly simple lace beret and I wear it all the time. I'm working on writing the pattern on it, which I'l let ya'll know about when I finish it.

These were my first go at toe-up. The pattern is Elfine's Socks and I found it to be very well written and I particularly liked the way the heel was done. I used the magic cast on from knitty for the toe - but I need to find a good cast off as I had to use a mechanical pencil to get the top loose enough! The yarn is Jojoland Melody Superwash - the color is great, but the yarn itself I wouldn't use again.

 

This one was for my mom for Christmas. It's a bunny variation of my own pattern.

And this is the piece de resistance of my Christmas knitting, the "Winterberry Gloves," for my friend Kasey. I designed them from scratch having never knitted a glove before and they turned out really well. I'm making myself a pair with a few tweaks and am writing up the pattern for this one as well, which I hope to get out in February.

Winter in Maine is good for knitting, what can I say?

2008 in Review

They say a picture is worth a 1,000 words, so consider this 25,000 about 2008.

It's been quite the year and I want to send out a big THANKS to everyone who was a part of it!

Merry Christmas

To all my family and friends, a very Merry Christmas.

May it be filled with warmth, cheer, and love.