Fat and Crafty.com

This weeks grocery shopping trip was  preempted by car difficulty. We can’t go without our groceries so Leah made a quick trip to Cash and Carry and I placed an order online through Safeway.  Since part of the shopping had been done already, I was working with a portion of our budget and placed my order so that I was within our regular budget amount.

The order arrived today. It came about an hour and half late, though they did call and let me know.  However we did have a small problem.

They gave me too much meat. The pork loin was listed as follows.

What they delivered was 5 packages of meat, ranging from 8lbs to 10lbs.  So instead of getting the 15lbs of meat that I ordered I got 40lbs.

40 POUNDS!!!! At a $30 price difference

I called customer service and they offered a  credit, for that and a promotional code issue I had. The big question was, how do I avoid this in the future.
“Well they offer meat by the package and the weight may vary”
“By 25 lbs???”

She agreed that it was perhaps excessive, and suggested I include a note for my personal shopper next time. 
What would the note say? “Use logic?” “Don’t send enough meat to feed the neighborhood?”

What note do you think I should give the personal shopper next time?

I don’t know where they came from*, but as soon as I got home it was clear, we were under attack! By Monsters!!!!

From Blog Photos

As you can see they greeted me at the door, as I came into the house I found them everywhere!

From vases,

From Blog Photos

To Bookshelves

(more…)

From Blog Photos

” I won”t take a picture of your food this time.” I promised
“Good!” Aron replied
“Because the camera is out of batteries” I finished honestly

Aron does not approve of me taking pictures of his food. Especially if he’s already started eating it.  Today my camera was dead so there were no pictures of skillet fried chicken that graced my plate for lunch.
Skillet Street food is special. The trailer has 4-5 locations throughout the city and  is there one day each week. The most convienent for me is Thursday’s in Fremont. Except starting next week  I’ll be in class in Thursdays in Bothell. Tuesday as well, or else I’d go join my friend  Susan in  SODO for lunch occasionally.

So i knew today was my last chance for a while. Add to the fact that Susan promoted this week’s lunch  special : Fried Chicken. I love fried chicken. LOVE  LOVE LOVE.  I like Albertson’s fried chicken. I like KFC. I like homemade chicken.  I just have a love for chicken marinated, battered or breaded and fried. I don’t make it often as it falls into my category of pain in the ass foods.

Todays fried chicken was boneless with a cayenne kick. A side of fries and  a salad that I added to the order was too much food*. (Aron likes their burger)  Luckily Aron ate most of my fries and  my second piece of chicken. it made me happy. From being able to order ahead and pay with paypal, to the friendly staff, the skillet   is such a treat to do business with. 

Perhaps winter quarter I’ll have class on MondayWednesday, and still get my skillet fix.

*The chicken comes with bibb salad, well i wanted fries, but I also wanted to try the salad. so i ordered a salad to split with Aron.  However he was uninterested in the salad because the put dressing all over it.

My project today and tomorrow is to warp up my inkle loom, and Miss Bit’s inkle loom. It’s got me thinking of weaving and looms in general. I’m stilling pining away for a rigid heddle loom, but have tabled the idea of getting one until I’m back at work full time. Instead I’m still weaving on the box, working on the inkle loom and looking for other “outside the box” weaving projects.

I’m really interested in this pipe loom. The book, Kids Weaving, shows it being used to make pouches for example. While googling around the ‘net it also appears that these kind of looms can be used for tapestry weaving.

I’m still looking for card weaving classes, hoping to be able to figure out the getting started phase. Once I get started, I think I’ll be able to figure it out.

On that note, I wanted to share a new resource I found, Weavezine, an online weaving magazine. It even includes inkle loom projects, something that traditional magazines don’t include often

I’m trying to start a new tradition at Circus Maximus of Pizza night. Its an every other week thing, on Sunday night after we have gone grocery shopping. We’ve done two of them so far and they’ve worked out so well, that I look forward to continuing on.

How does Pizza night work?
First I make a batch of the pizza dough from the Joy of Cooking. I can’t tell you how great this dough is. It is my basic go to do for pizza, foccacia and grilled bread. It doubles easily and can even be frozen.

Then come the toppings. I fry up a little sausage, roast some garlic, saute some garlic, open up some pepperoni, caramelize some onions. Add some pizza sauce, oregano, mixed italian herbs and cheese. These all end up set out on the dining room table, as a topping buffet.

I preheat the oven to between 500-550.
I roll out the dough right on a silpat mat, and take it to the dining room table. There the intended household member adds toppings to their liking and gives me the go ahead when they are done. That pizza goes into the oven and the second one is rolled out. We usually end up with one in the oven, one waiting for the oven, and one being topped.

The kids love doing it, and I find it satisfies pizza cravings without having to call for delivery. We’ll gradually get more exotic on the toppings, but for now the basics fit our appetites.

Pizza Dough
Mix in a large bowl to proof.
2 1/4 tsps active dry yeast
1 1/3 c warm water.

Let proof for 5 minutes, then add

3 1/2 –3 3/4 all purpose flour
2 tbls olive oil
1 tbls salt
1 tbls sugar.

Mix by hand to blend. Knead for about 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. Transfer the dough to a bowl lightly coated with olive oil, turn it once to coat. Cover and let rise until doubled in volume.
Roll out, let rest 10-15 minutes. Then top and bake at 475.

From Food

My Mom’s cookbooks were cherished in our family. There is wisdom in these pages. Family members names were tied to the recipes they contributed. Some recipes were designated with “the one we use” to differentiate it from others in the book. Other recipes are grease stained and nearly translucent from aging.

These were the tried and true recipes my mom used. Need to make cookies? There recipe is right there. Want a good “Amish” pot roast? The recipe is there. Mom also included other information, particularly from the years she did canning. I can see how much 20 pints of bread and butter pickles cost her to make in 1982. (.15 per pint) There is the grape jelly recipe that she and my stepfather gave away in wine glasses as a wedding favor when they got married.

My recipes come from all over. I use a variety of cookbooks to fill my cooking needs, but there are cookbooks I turn to more frequently then others. One particular book has lost its cover, and it’s spine is dying. Others have wrinkly pages where they got hit with water. I keep going to the same recipes over and over.

So I made a kitchen book, much like my moms. I have a few of her recipes included, but we eat differently now. The book is done, 36 pages of recipes. From puffy pancakes and garlic cheese biscuits to chocolate tofu pie and debaroni.There is a little bit of everything, but 99% of it represents my tried and true. It’s got a spot in the kitchen and I’m glad to start using it.

Next i need to start organizing those “to try” recipes that I never seem to get to , and figure a way to add them to my menus.

This was a fun little project. It didnt take to long, but makes a nice little impact.

I started with a shoebox that I was using for my stationary.

From Blog Photos

And added decorative paper. The box above is the bottom box in this picture. There are two covered shoe boxes and another random box that got covered. Its a cuter way to store my office supplies.

From Blog Photos

It’s a family tradition that I make cake to celebrate each family members. Two weeks ago, it was a friends birthday and I sent Aron to work with cupcakes to celebrate her. I opted for an easy one bowl cake recipe. Sour Cream Chocolate Chip cake. I went looking for a frosting . Brown butter frosting? White frosting? Brown Sugar frosting? I’d never made Brown Sugar Frosting  before. I’d never even heard of brown sugar frosting before. I opted for the brown sugar frosting and  sent the cupcakes off to work  with Aron

Fast forward a week and we have Aron’s birthday. “What kind of cake do you want?”  “I don’t care , it just have to have the brown sugar frosting. ” The cake was to be merely the vehicle for this luscious frosting. I again opted for a Sour Cream cake, this time a different recipe, still from Joy of Cooking. It’s tasty and moist, though the first recipe was easier.

The frosting? The frosting is a complex sweet and salty flavor and its just divine. I’d suggest giving it a try.

From Blog Photos

Brown Sugar Frosting

Melt together

1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 stick of butter
2 tbls water
1/2 tsp salt

Heat until  it begins to simmer. Remove from the heat, and whisk in 2 egg yolks. Cook stirring constantly 1-2 minutes until thickened. Cool to room temperature then beat until spreadable.

We have a plum tree.

This comes to us as a suprise. Such a suprise that when Patrick looked over at me on Wednesday and said “Did you know we have a plum tree?”  I responded with “uh, we do?”

The old house had fruit trees, plum and pears.  The first year we got pears, and the following years we only got the plums. Lots and lots of plums.  So many plums that it was a pain in the ass to deal with them. I occasionally made a plum tart or  plum cake, but most of the time the plums rotted in the yard waste.

Wednesday was different. Here at the new house the plum tree is a little older and a little less prolific. Patrick helped me pick a big bowl full, and I immediatly set to work. I chopped them up, added sugar and jarred them up.  From picking to jam  in less then 5 hours.  It was extremely satisfying  to get done.

From Blog Photos

With as sparse as our tree is I don’t have to worry much  about the clean up. Maybe over the weekend I’ll see if I can get enough to do a  Plum Cake

When knitting, I am often asked “What are you working on”
I usually answer… Working on x, if I ever finish it, I never finish projects.

That’s not entirely true.  I do occasionally finish projects.  I just don’t knit as fast as Leah nor do I work on as complicated projects as she does.  But I do finish. Right now I have three finished pockets bags by Noni sitting felted on my dryer. I just need to knit up and felt up some straps for them, and add the zippers. That sounds almost done doesnt it?
I’ve also finished a pair of socks. No really, I finished a pair of socks.
See?

From Blog Photos

Now that that is done, I’ve cast on another project. With one small problem. I don’t have enough yarn for it. I figure I’ll get a good start and then pause until I can pick up some more yarn. I’ll also start on another set of socks as those are oh so portable.