May 2010 Archives

In the quilting room

By Marcella on May 21, 2010 11:27 AM | 3 Comments | No TrackBacks
The local quilt guild invited Anelie Belden to come and lecture and teach a workshop on her Dresden Plate block method.  We had a nearly full room of students who turned out very different but all really gorgeous blocks.  I did mine out of scraps of batik fabrics I had hanging around.  The background is a Nancy Crow print called "Classic Crush" in navy and it is the only fabric that I buy over and over and over again.  It makes such a great background.

dresden.JPGAs you can see the center circle still needs to be added.  Before I do that I need to decide what exactly I am going to make out of this block.  I'm thinking table runner but I'm not sure. Whatever it is, it will likely be a small project so I can finish it and get back to other quilting projects that have been neglected.

wall.jpg
One project that is finally done is my new sewing room.  Above is my design wall.  7 feet by 8 feet of flannel happiness.  The quilt on the left and the piece of a quilt on the right are from the Double Dip pattern.  It is so great to have such an excessive amount of space to arrange and rearrange quilt blocks on.

So what do you think about that green and orange for the borders?  I like just the green, and I like just the orange, but I'm not sure which I like better or if I want both.  Sometimes I wish I were a little faster at these decisions.  I might get something finished if I were.

-- marcella

Onion Rings

By Marcella on May 17, 2010 9:12 AM | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks
There was a lot of cooking going on this weekend at our house.  Some were misses - like the graham crackers that were more like shortbread and the coconut marshmallows that were a bit too gooey after a day.

The hit for us were the onion rings.  

My husband had mentioned that it would be nice to grill up some burgers this weekend.  This meant, however, that we had to clean the grill after a long winter which was a pretty big job.  After all that scrubbing and bad cookie baking and marshmallow making I was rather tired.  Even though I had wanted to make onion rings to go with our burgers, I nearly decided that we could do without the homemade onion rings and maybe buy a bag of frozen at the store instead.  Fortunately, good taste prevailed and we enjoyed a few too many delicious onion rings with our dinner.

onionrings.jpgIt's actually an easy dish to make.  Slice up some onions.  Whisk together a few ingredients in a bowl.  Heat the oil.  Dip the onions in the batter and fry.  

Dealing with the leftover oil and scrubbing the oil splattered stove is less fun, but worth it for an occasional fried treat.

We dipped our rings in some spicy ketchup.  I simply stirred together about 1/3 C of ketchup with 2 T sherry vinegar, 1 t Worcestershire sauce, 1 t sugar, 1/2 t smoked paprika and 3 T finely minced onion.  It was a nice spicy dip that went nicely with the sweet onions.

Simple Onion Rings

a Short Attention Span Girl original



1 large onion, cut into 1/4" slices and separated into rings

1 C all purpose flour

1/2 t salt

1/2 t baking powder

3/4C club soda

oil for frying

salt


If the onion is particularly hot, soak onion slices in cold salted water while preparing the batter.


In a bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder.  Slowing whisk in the club soda until a thin batter is formed.


In a skillet, pour the oil in to measure 1 inch deep.  Heat over medium to 365 degrees.


Dip an onion ring into the batter.  Allow the excess batter to drip off and then carefully place in the hot oil.  Fry until golden brown, turning so both sides cook evenly.  


Remove onion rings to paper towels to drain.  Sprinkle with salt.  


Onion rings may be held in a 250 degree oven to keep warm while remaining onions are cooked.


printable version - onionrings.pdf


-- marcella



What's Been Cooking

By Marcella on May 3, 2010 7:27 AM | 2 Comments | No TrackBacks
daffodil.jpg
My computer is littered with half written posts.  There are posts about food that I forgot to photograph, photographs with no matching write up, things I made so long ago they no longer seem relevant and the lone picture of the rising sticky buns with no baked buns to go with it.  Seems we started eating devouring like starving wolves before a picture could be taken.

We have been cooking and eating around there though.  Lately we've cooked quite a few things from other blogs.  Here's a list of recent hits:

Pizza for breakfast from Smitten Kitchen.  This was a very well received surprise for my husband.  The recipe makes two savory, egg topped pizzas.  We made one and reserved the other half of the dough for a more traditional dinner type pizza another night.  I have to say this is probably my favorite pizza dough so far and we've made many.

And while I'm mentioning one delicious find from Smitten Kitchen, I might as well add another.  The thick and chewy granola bars have been made around here at least three times.  Yes, they are that good.  They are so good that I can put one in my husbands lunch box and it does get eaten.  True story, I married a man without a sweet tooth.  I have no idea how that happened.  The bars are chewy and delicious.  I do use the smaller amount of sugar called for in the recipe.  Combinations of dried cranberries or cherries or apricots with pecans or walnuts or almonds or a mix have all been awesome.

Movies at home required some theatre style snacks.  Instead of the usual popcorn we serve, this time we got fancy and made pretzel bites and cheese sauce.  Hot pretzels would be our sons favorite movie treat.  The pretzels were shiny and salty with a bit of chewy thrown in.  Must invest in official pretzel salt for next time.

A simple loaf of Honey Whole Wheat bread really hit the spot.  Whether hot with dinner and slathered with butter or eaten as toast for breakfast or serving as the base for my favorite lunch of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, this bread was just perfect.

One of my husbands favorite types of dinners are what he has dubbed "one bowl".  He likes it when I use these wonderful wide and shallow bowls we have and layer the whole meal inside like Japanese donburi.  The other night we thoroughly enjoyed honey soy chicken over rice with steamed broccoli arranged around the edges.  I did cut down the recipe and made about 1/3 of the sauce.  I also used less honey because I don't care for very sweet main dishes. Oh, and our chicken around here is always skinless.  It was quick, easy and tasty and the leftovers kept me happy at lunchtime.

Back to breakfast; we also enjoyed these raisin bran muffins on several mornings over the last week.  Easy to mix and just bake what you need saving the rest of the batter for another time.  What could be simpler?

enjoy!
-- marcella
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