Wrapped Up Weekend

What an awesome, non-stop weekend!

I hope everyone else had a great first weekend of spring. The whole world seems to be blooming mad right now. It’s one spring chore after another. Who in the world put a freaking revolving door on my to-do list???

I got the silly notion that the windows are a bit meh and next thing you know, not only am I washing the windows, I’m also doing the floors, polishing the bathroom fixtures, mending fences and scrubbing down our front porch. And that was only Friday afternoon. I used the remainder of Friday evening to finish getting ready for this weekend’s fiber fair and to put the final finishing touches on my Arachne capelet:

For more about the fiber swap and sale and my capelet, check out 100 Mile Fiber Fest.

Right now I’m running on fumes. Friday night was a bed tossing insomnia riddled night and as soon as I dozed off, the alarm went off. I tumbled out of bed and to help set up for Saturday’s fibre sale. I managed to keep myself semi-chipper and awake throughout the day thanks to a steady supply of coffee and enthusiasm where ever I turned. Once back home, I remembered that I was supposed to drop something off downtown after the fair so I put my tired feet back into my shoes and trundled back downtown. I can’t remember the walk except that it was really low tide at the seawall. The only reason I remembered that was that it was really stinky.

Finally back home, I put my feet up and do some knitting. My body had other ideas and within minutes I was out cold. DH woke me up when he returned from his Saturday dealings and adventures just in time for me to realize that had I no idea what to do for dinner.

Thank goodness I squirrel away food during my less sleep-deprived periods. I pulled out a package of homemade whole wheat torillas, made with True Grain bakery’s flour, and a packages of bison smokies from Island Bison. I threw the whole deal into a couple pans and popped them into a preheated oven. I had just enough energy to crack opened up a jar of pickled spicy veggies I canned over the summer and we had ourselves a simple but filling meal.

In celebration of our wedding anniversary today, we went out for anniversary wander up to the ridgeline of Mt. Cokley on Sunday. It was pouring rain at sea level but up there, it was snowy and windy and a brisk –2C. The snow pack was perfect and I got to work my French technique step work on some pretty steep slopes. It was also my first full-on play day with my Valentine’s Day present, a Black Diamond Raven Ultra ice axe (so very sexy). The axe is absurdly light. It even got to see some ice time as we traveled up some ice covered bluffs.

We got home half past late and I still had some tortillas leftover from the night before so I made up some fajita filling with a moose steak, also from the freezer’s belly. I broiled the moose for 4-5 minutes each side. While that was cooking, I sautéed up some local onions, peppers and mushrooms. A pinch of chipolte pepper, cumin, salt and pepper was all the seasoning it needed.

To end it all off, some chocolate-blackberry sorbet made with an organic bittersweet chocolate, organic cocoa powder, a couple shots of Cherry Point’s blackberry dessert wine and some diluted simply syrup.

I’m off to make gnocchi for my anniversary dinner. DH has promised that he was going to return with stinging neetle for tonight’s meal.

Have a delicious day!

Jen

Happy Cherub Hunting Day!

Happy biggest fake Hallmark holiday of the year day! Oh well, it's a good reason to break out a good wedge of Hilary’s cheese and pop open a bottle of Venturi Shulze Millefiori.

I’m in the middle of another non-stop week of events, dinner parties and climbing prep. Last night, we had some newly-found friends over for dinner. Local college students who are proving that even on a limited student’s budget, basic cooking knowledge and a busy schedule that you can still eat locally and not break the bank or belt. Kudos!

I got home about 6:30pm with a half an hour before our guests would arrive. I whipped off my jacket and turned on the oven to 350F. I chopped up a huge batch of potatoes, parsnips, carrots, onions and garlic for roasting to see us through the rest of this busy week. Depending on how big they’re chopped and their density, they take 30-40 minutes to roast. I cut everything except the onions and garlic into ½ inch cubes for faster cooking. The onions I cut into quarters and garlic remained in whole cloves.

I also dug up a batch of moose sausage and a batch of locally raised and made Bavarian sausages from the freezer. No, we don’t get tired of sausage in this house. Again, I made enough to see us through the rest of the week. A quick sear in a hot pan and those were also popped in the 350F oven for about 20 minutes to finish cooking.

When the guests arrived, I quickly chopped up some freshly picked collard greens from Nanoose Edibles. Into a hot wok, I drizzled in some veggie oil and dropped in some minced raw garlic. I threw in the greens and sautéed them for few minutes. A few grinds of black pepper and a drizzle of Auld Alliance Farm’s (on Gabriola Island) pear balsamic vinegar and we were ready to eat.

Our lovely guests picked up a bottle of Saturna Island’s Pinot Noit from the government liquor store on their way here and that went perfectly with the sausages and veggies. They also brought over a wedge of Little Qualicum’s Raclette cheese (a favorite of mine). They were the perfect 100 mile diet dinner guests. I think we’re going to have them over more often:)

To accompany the savoury sausages was a tart and spicy rhubarb & plum chutney that I made last summer. It gave a nice contrast to the rich and meaty sausages.

We ended the meal with some local kiwi fruit, apples and the raclette cheese.

So for the next few days, I’m going to build all the dinners/lunches around the roasted veggies and sausages. For all those who’s heart is clenching (or drooling) at the idea of sausages for a week, keep in mind that the dishes I’m planning are using the meat as a side element, rather than the main element of the meal. Tonight I’m planning to make a Tuscan style white bean soup. Basically chop up a link of sausage, saute it up, dump in some chicken stock and soaked canelli beans or other white bean (or canned beans). Simmer until beans are done, about an hour. Of course, if you use canned beans, you won’t have to simmer them for that long. 10-15 minutes will be enough time.

I’ll also add a parma cheese or some other unwaxed hard cheese rind. It will help flavor the soup and give it an extra bit of richness. I also find that any good real cheese (not the processed cheddar stuff you buy by the brick) that has gone hard in your fridge also is a good candidate for this use. I simply break them down to smaller chunks and keep the in the freezer until needed. Cheeses like a raclette, any alpine style cheese or farmers cheddars can be used.

Once the beans are done, bring up the heat to a medium high, dump in some of the roasted veggies, some finely chopped kale or chard or collard greens. As soon as the greens turn bright, brilliant colour, you’re ready to eat!

If you want a smoother, creamier soup, blend up half of the bean soup before you add the rest of the veggies. Watch out for the cheese rind! That’ll just gunk up your blender.

If your dinner companions are in the habit of not paying much attention to what they’re eating and tend to scarf down their food, I’d pull out the cheese rind so nobody gets a mouthful of spongy cheese rind. Then again, maybe you ought to leave it in there to teach them to not scarf down the lovely meal you prepared for them :p

BTW, I'm going to be at the Ban Terminator Event in Parksville tonight and at the Nanaimo Malaspina University event tomorrow . Drop by the Nanaimo 100 Mile Diet Challenge table and say 'hello!'

Happy Eating!

Jen

Hail, the Great Parsnip!

I finally have my solarium back. Well, at least a corner of it back. Yesterday, DH and I brought all of our bottles and juice containers to the Return-It depot. We made a grand total of $22.35. Armed with our small fortune, we headed straight across the parking lot to the liquor store. LOL! Well, we have to replenish our empty bottle stash ;)

At the liquor store, I noticed that they’ve brought in Saturna Island wines and even a blackberry port from Thetis Island. Good to see locally grown wines at the government stores. As mentioned before, they also bring in Zanatta’s Damasco wine. They say they can’t bring in most of the local wines since they have to buy in big lots and the wineries can’t make enough to fill their orders. Thank goodness Nanaimo has a smattering of great beer and wine stores that carry most of the local wines and spirits.

I spent the rest of the afternoon working out a parsnip cake recipe. I based it on my carrot cake recipe. Instead of carrots, I used grated parsnips and in the place of crushed pineapples, I used some baked apples I had on hand. I also used spelt flour from True Grains bakery. The spelt gives the cake a lovely, loose crumb and the flavour works well with the spices and parsnips. I also used a dark honey from Jinglepot Apiaries. The dark honey has a very sexy, deep sweetness that makes other bee puke seem thin and bland. Be warned that the cake is delicate when it first comes out of the oven. I found out the hard way and tried to take the cake out of the pan to finish the cooling process. A chunk fell off. The house mice and monkeys finished off the fallen piece in no time ;) It would probably be best to let it cool in the pan before trying to remove it. I will post the recipe later.

I had my piece of parsnip cake with baked apple sorbet I had in the freezer. I made the sorbet from a batch of local elstar and jonagold apples, peeled and cut into chunks. I didn't add any sugar, just some cinnamon, nutmeg and green cardamon and baked the apples at 325F for about 30 minutes. Once cooled, I gave it a whirl with my hand blender, added a spoonful of local wildflower honey for sweetness and a half a bottle of Merridale's Scrumpy Cider. I tossed the lot into my gelato maker. It came out nice and smooth and the bit of alcohol helps keep it from turning into an applesicle.

I love parsnips. They are the most underrated vegetable. Roasting gives them an earthy sweetness that adds character to any dish. I like mashed parsnips with a good shaving of nutmeg or mushed up with some local goat feta. They even make a great creamy soup. Simply boil/steam cubes of parsnip then blend them with enough chicken or veggie stock to make it the right soup consistency. It’s a great base for a myriad of flavours. To it you can add everything from miso to pesto to curry to five-spice or simply a splash of cream or glug of olive oil. Whatever you use carrots in, you can also use parsnips.

As I grated the parsnip for the cake, it’s evocative, earthy fragrance rose from the bowl and brought some light to a grey, rusty day. I got my parsnips at the farmers market. Many stores and farm markets are carrying locally grown parsnips and probably will for much of the winter. They keep for months if stored properly.

Last night, Karin & I went to our monthly Arachne Guild meeting (aka Mid-Island Weavers and Spinners Guild). It was the Christmas potluck last night and so we went armed with locally-grown dishes. Karin had brought an arguta kiwi sorbet and a cranberry sorbet, both made with fruit from down the road. Her sorbets were a big hit! It was so cool to see her enjoy others enjoying her food.

I was so busy with my baking that I had not realized how late it was getting. With about a half an hour to spare, I made a pasta in moose meat & tomato sauce for the potluck and for DH's dinner. It was nothing harder than browning some of ground moose meat that we got from Kev’s uncle and dumping in some frozen tomato sauce and letting it all simmer and meld together as I boiled up some organic rotini. The tomato sauce was from a big cook-up I did a while ago. All the veggies came from farms just down the road. Even the herbs came from Hazelwood Herb farms. It certainly was tastier and cheaper than anything in a jar and just as convenient.

I scooped the pasta and sauce into my best casserole and topped it with a healthy sprinkling of grated cheese. I used Little Qualicum’s Raclette cheese. It’s a mild cheese that melts wonderfully. The piece I had was kinda hard but it melted fine and had a taste quite similar to a parma. I threw that under the broiler and by the time I had changed my clothes and dragged a brush through my hair, the cheese was bubbling and golden.

With a quick kiss for my DH, I was out the door. The potluck was so much fun. Good food and a room full of spirited ladies to share it with. There was also a silent auction. I’m a sucker for silent auctions. A good chunk of my wardrobe is from eBay, the biggest silent auction in the world. At least this silent auction was to help with the guild’s expenses.

This is what I came away with:

My first spinning wheel!!! It's an Ashford wheel and it’s obviously well used and much loved. I’ve been wanting a spinning wheel for ages. I have a small but growing stash of roving next to my not-so-small stash of yarn. My drop spindle skills are getting smoother but spindling doesn’t have the meditative quality that spinning or knitting does. I can still out-knit my spindling speed. I’ve been on the lookout for a wheel all summer. However, even a good used wheels cost between $100 to $250 and a new one would mean I would have to enslave myself to my own sweat factory to justify the costs.

You want to know how much I paid for my wheel?

I got it for…are you for this?

Drum roll please…

A grand sum of $25!!!

Woohoo!!!Yippee!!!

I get to give an old wheel a new home for a killer price and I get to take advantage of the great roving and fleece from the local sheep and alpaca farms. The super-sweet cherry on top deal is that the next Arachne meeting is going to be all about spinning. There’s going to be a spinning circle and I will have a roomful of spinners to teach me. I’m such a lucky kid!

Happy Eating!

Jen

Cat paparazzi

From this last weekend:

Kev got bored watching the Liberal leadership election and decided to play cat paparazzi. Poor Spike just went down for a cat nap and next thing you know, a large monkey-being corners him with a bright, flashing light.

Yesterday was one another cold, rusty weather day. Here’s what we had for lunch to combat the cold and damp.

A good-old fashion noodle soup with the leftover moose sausage and cabbage. I used Chinese shrimp noodles (haw jee mein). I was raise on these noodles. In fact, when the coroner cuts into me, he’ll find that my right leg is composed of shrimp noodles in the place of muscle and bone. They cook up super-fast and aren’t deep-fried like ramen. It was a basic dump everything into a pot of water and season with some of my Thai It Up seasoning. Don’t bother cutting the noodles. Half the fun is slurping the never ending tail of noodles. You have to eat this piping hot. I have a feeling we’re going to be having many more bowls of noodle soup in the coming months.

Last night, we were invited over to Karin & Dave's, for dinner. Karin made a wonderful Thai dinner with coconut-lemongrass soup with chicken and mushrooms and a star anise spiced pork and rice noodles. They picked up the pork from Shady Mile's freezer. They get much of their meats from farmers in that area. With a local white wine and an local apple and sour cherry version of the same pastry I made of the weekend, it was a fine feed. Thanks guys!

Most of yesterday was spent dreaming and scheming a design for my mum-in-law’s sweater. Over the weekend, she handed over a bouquet of Noro Silk Garden yarn for me to work with. Sigh. I’m in heaven.

The photo doesn’t do the yarn justice. With Noro yarns the colours flow nicely from one to the next. The colours also don’t change with as much frequency as other multi-coloured yarns. This allows for some very interesting design potentials and colourways. I used Noro for the kimono-shrug-wrap.

One could knit a basic sweater in stockinette with this yarn and it’ll look fine. IMHO, if I wanted a sweater like everyone else’s, I’d buy one at the mall & I do have a stack of generic mall sweaters. But if I’m going to create something, then it warrants intention and mindful energy. To make it not just to get it over and done with but to produce something with awareness of the yarn, as well as awareness of who is going to be wearing it. This is especially so when you get to play with lovely Noro yarn and have the opportunity to make something for someone that you love.

This is not to say that I never do things in stockinette. Some yarns look best as in stockinette and take on the appearance of a rich fabric. Some yarns are so blinged out with eyelashes and intrusions and bobbles that stockinette and garter are probably all you want to do with it.

Making a simple stockinette sweater would also have me bored to tears. I don’t know how other knitters do it. Some even do it on circular needles so it’s like a gzillion knit stitches over and over and over and over again. I’d be in a comatose state before I’d finish. I haven’t quite embraced the throne of simplicity to that extent.

The thing with a yarn like Noro is that you don’t want a pattern that is too overwhelming. I’ve been playing around with ideas on how to bring out the uniqueness of this yarn. I even picked up a couple of pattern and motif books by Kathleen Kinder and Barbara G. Walker from the library. I spent a couple of hours simply browsing through the books daydreaming of all the historical knitwear examples (including the knitted vest that Charles I supposedly was executed in) and different patterns before hunkering down and doodling through some ideas.

I know, the obvious thing would be to pick up a Noro pattern book. That would be way to logical for me ;)

I swatched a couple of aran designs and even did a stockinette swatch to get an idea of my gauge. I’m evening considering doing some fair isle work. So far, the yarn hasn’t been too warm to any of my ideas. Maybe today, it’ll be a more responsive.

Enjoy!

Jen

A very Danish weekend

We returned last night from a visit to Kev’s family in Victoria. I’m still full from the traditional Danish X’mas luncheon that Kev’s folks put out on Saturday. Talk about an all-day feast! They even had traditional Danish firewater, Aquavit, for toasting.

Throughout the afternoon, a persistent woodpecker joined us by feasting on the outside of the house, literally. All the family hunters took turns trying to take it down with a pellet gun. In the end it was Humans: 0 ; Woodpecker: 7.

The luncheon started with traditional pickled herring and a fusion version of that, a curried pickled herring. I know, that sounded kinda scary to me at first but it was actually quite nice but I prefer my herring naked and pickled. It was followed with chicken and asparagus in puffed pastry and an endless assortment of open-faced sandwiches. They went out of their way to use locally grown fixings for this luncheon, including local cheeses and meats from Cowichan Bay. Thanks for the great 100 mile holiday spread!















This is actually a photo of the leftovers that Kev had later that evening since I completely forgot to take photos of the sandwiches during the lunch. These aren't as fancied up as the ones we got at lunch. Don't ask me how Kev managed to eat more. That boy has a black hole for a stomach.

Of course, there was dessert:

The cake is DH mom’s version of a Danish layer cake. It is filled with a yummy custard and red currant jam. This cake is the one that Kev keeps bugging me to make. He’s gotten the odd notion that just because I know how to make Danish meatballs, red cabbage and gravy that I’m genetically programmed with all Danish recipes in my veins. I told him he’d better tuck in an extra piece since that would probably have to do him until next year’s X’mas luncheon. I just don’t have it in me to be making elaborate layered cakes anymore, as much as I love eating them.

I brought a cherry Danish pastry. Along with homemade almond paste, I used the last of my local sour cherries, local butter and locally milled organic flour in it. It’s a yeasted pastry dough and not hard to make as long as you have a good, sturdy mixer. The feasting lasted for from noon until dark. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think the Danish were a lost tribe of Chinese ;)

On our way down to Victoria, we made a detour to Cowichan Bay for a pitstop at True Grains Bakery and Hilary’s cheese shop. Saturday was the first day of Hilary’s new cheese shop. It’s conveniently right next door to the bakery. They now have their own storefront with a huge dining room area complete with a gorgeous view of the bay and a wood fire stove that you can snuggle by as you enjoy a freshly made sandwich or a hot bowl of soup! I picked up a wedge of St. Denis cheese, a ‘high mountain cheese’ as the label says. Hilary says it’s much like a Swiss cheese. Can’t wait to dig into that.

At True Grains bakery, I picked up another stash of freshly milled flour. DH and I just stood there at the counter drooling for a few minutes, overwhelmed by all the yummy selection. Along with the flour, we picked up a pretzel and some pastries to tide us over until lunch ;) I don’t know what they do to their pretzels but they’re my favorite.

They’re now selling their holiday baked goodies. We sampled a yummy and rich stollen and a lovely, dense figgy Christmas cake. The cake is wheat-free and made of spelt flour. It was a dark, gorgeous fruity cake and I half expected Tiny Tim to come hobbling in to wish everyone a ‘Merry Christmas.’

Sunday was a mellow day that began with a gorgeous sunrise and pancakes with blueberry sauce. It was a lazy, chilled out day for us to meander back home. Before leaving Victoria, we visited Kev’s uncle and cousin where we were gifted with treasures from land and sea!

DH’s uncle bestowed us with a huge stash of moose, from pepperoni to roasts to more of those awesome sausages. DH’s cousin also gifted us with salmon, halibut and prawns that he caught in local waters over the summer. Kev and I drove back home with our frozen gifts, feeling like we had hit the jackpot. Thanks guys!

Though I was still digesting the big feast, I was hankering for some of that moose sausage. I did a quick sausage and cabbage dinner. The sausage I simply browned in a pan and then moved to a roasting pan in a 350F oven to finish off cooking. I also had a local apples baking in there cooking at the same time. The cabbage, local of course, I shredded and cooked down in the leftover moose juice and a glug of olive oil. I tossed in a cup of white wine, about ½ tsp of freshly grated nutmeg, pinch of organic cane sugar threw that into the oven as well. While the rest of dinner was cooking, I made a batch of tortillas. Nothing more than a couple cups of Red Fife wheat flour from True Grains bakery, a glug of olive oil, generous pinch of salt and enough water to pull it all together.

I rolled and baked the tortillas on dry skillets on top of the stove. It was just an elaborate ploy to warm me up. I do love homemade tortillas. They’re tender but still have a bit of chew. They’re also inexpensive to make. Most importantly, Kev thinks I’m a genius because I can make them ;)

Dinner was just a perfect rustic meal. The cabbage served as a nice base for the unami-bursting moose sausages. I could only do half a sausage and small pile of cabbage but I enjoyed each and every savory mouthful. There’s something so comforting about a good, crusty sausage. I love that moment of biting in, the skin snapping and the juices spilling out all over your chin. Good thing I had a tortilla to mop up my face with.

Kev put away a couple of servings and was a happy kid for the rest of the night.

Our dining room light is on the fritz (again) and the room itself isn’t heated so we’ve been dining in the living room. I’m not a huge fan of watching TV while eating dinner but it’s impossible to convince Kev to exist in the same room as a TV and not have it on. So we ate our dinner while watching the ‘Mythbusters’ marathon. At least it wasn’t another bleeping ‘Friends’ rerun.

I now regret not picking up some of that Christmas cake from True Grain bakery. Kev’s also making pouty puppy dog faces and whimpering for me to make a stollen. I think I may have some baking experiments to do. I’ve challenged myself to do my holiday baking with as much locally grown products as possible. I challenge you all to continue utilizing locally grown products throughout the holiday season.

Happy Eating!

Jen

Season of the Lost Mitt

And so it begins, another season of the lost mitt.

It started late this year. Usually, the first one is lost by Hallowe’en. But it has been warm and wet and I didn’t pull them out until these past few weeks.

I usually go through 3 to 4 pairs a season. Let me clarify that. I knit 3 to 4 pairs and proceed to lose them throughout the fall and winter. Actually, I only lose one of each pair. Like socks. They are a related species, you know. They branched off at the beginning of the Lanolinian Epoch.

My mitts are all basically the same pattern. A tube with a crocheted thumb. All fingerless so I can easily knit, type and run my fingers through my beloved’s hair. It’s cold and drafty in this old house, especially in the mornings. I also just love the look of them.

I used to make them with fine yarns. I once knitted a gorgeous pair of dark teal fingerless mitts that rose past my elbows made from Garn Studio’s Alpaca yarn. Leaf and vine detailing going all the way up the forearm and even a bit of beading at the cuff. I wore them once before I lost one. I’m not ashamed to admit, tears were shed.

I’ve learned to make them out of more reasonably priced yarn. By that, I mean yarn that doesn’t leave me eating turnips all week. I’ve also learned that it’s prudent to make them out the superwash wool. I swear they practically jump into the laundry hamper when I’m not looking.

I lost this first one of the season, a dark grey merino wool mitt in a lovely twisted rib and diamond pattern, somewhere between the video store and the liquor store. Bullets of shiver-inducing rain were pouring from the sky or else I would have looked for it. Poor thing, it probably melted into the grey of the pavement, pummeled to death by the rain.

Let’s have a moment of silence for that brave little mitt that sacrificed itself, heralding in a new season of lost mitts.

Its mate is still on the counter. Waiting, hoping that to be reunited again with its partner. Its kinda sad, I don’t have the heart to tell it that it’s hopeless. Its trying to be strong and gave me a nasty look when I began casting on stitches for a new pair last night. I can’t help it. My hands are cold.

I’m making this one out of sock yarn that I found in the discount bin. I reason that the strength of the sock yarn will prevent the wear and tear. It’s just wishful thinking on my part that they would ever stick around that long to get worn out.

I'm using a simple ribbed pattern for the palm and wrist part and to maybe turn those ribs into cabling as it carries up the forearm.

A sane person would simply replace the missing mitt. A sane person would stock up on one yarn and dedicate that for mitts alone. A sane person wouldn’t be knitting the mitt equivalent of aran sweater. A sane person would get a heater.

Oh right, I forgot...sane people don’t knit.

Onto some food stuff…

My DH and I play this little game where I stealthily see how little flesh I can get away with serving him. His job is to detect when I have begun this meat rationing. I have found that if go completely meatless, he notices it within two meals and starts grumbling about how he’s an Inuit and therefore genetically predisposed to being a carnivore and my vegetarian tendencies will be the death of him.

I actually like flesh. I just think we as a society eat too much of it. I'd rather spend my money on smaller amounts of locally grown, ethically raised, environmentally sustainable, higher quality flesh than spending the same amount on buying a huge amount of factory farmed, doped-up Walmart flesh from who knows where. It’s also way better eats. I swear, the reason why so many beasts like frog to snake to rats are often touted as tasting like chicken is because we're nation that has no freaking idea what a real chicken is supposed to taste like.

I just use less but I get more out of it. Most meals only have a couple of ounces of meat but it’s good, tasty local meat that actually tastes like something that used to roam and live well. By using better quality meats, I can use less of it and DH doesn’t feel like he’s lacking for protein because he actually taste the meaty goodness.

But every now and then, even I want a steak. A good, solid, meaty steak bursting with unami bliss. Last night was one of those nights.

Here’s what we had for dinner last night:

Moose steak in a shitake mushroom- red wine sauce with roasted potatoes and squash.

The steaks where gifted to us from Kev’ family. I pan-fried them for 4 mins on each side over medium-high heat, along with some sliced fresh local shitake mushrooms. I deglazed the pan with a generous glass of Blue Grouse Gamay Noir, dumped in some already roasted up onions and red peppers and some sage from the garden. Scraped up all the lovely moose bits from the bottom of the pan and let it all reduce down to a third. Popped in a knob of good Island farm’s butter. A good pinch of salt, a couple grinds of pepper and it was done.

The potatoes and squash were from this weeks roast up. I simply popped them into the oven at 350F while I was cooking up the steaks. They were dressed in nothing more than a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, salt and vinegar. Simple, simple, simple.

The moose was just the shot of protein I was craving. It had the good, clean meaty taste of an animal that roamed the land. The earthiness of the shitake mushrooms and the full-bodied red wine sauce provided just enough complexity. Kev didn't talk throughout dinner except to grunt 'Meat Good' every now and then.

I actually couldn’t eat up all of my steak and saved half of it for lunch today. I’m thinking of tossing it in some udon miso soup with some roasted veggies. It certainly is noodle in soup weather today.

BTW, the Cedar and Yellow Point Annual Country Christmas Tour begins today. It’s a self-guided tour through the many artisans and farms in the Cedar – Yellow Point area. Kiwi Cove lodge is offering a special kiwi inspired lunch and Yellow Point Cranberries is offering tastings of it’s many cranberry products. Hazelwood Herb Farm, Malva Herb Garden and Fiddick’s Farm is also on the tour. This event runs from the 23^rd to 26^th. Check it out!

Happy Turkey Eating Day to everyone in the US.

Later,

Jen

Crumbs and other bits of weekend musings

In response to Bruce’s question, I made moose sausage stew. From frozen sausages to yummy stew in under 30 mins. Nothing more that browning the frozen whole sausages, some onions, carrots and celery and topping it with stock. I only had a few cups of stock left so I added a parmesan rind, some Moroccan olives to add more flavour to the diluted broth. I let it all simmer away for 20 mins. The last of the roasted veggies went in at the end. I cut the sausages with a pair of cooking shears while they were still in the pot so not a drop of savory moose juice would be lost to a cutting board. The sausage was made from a moose that Kev’s uncle took down this fall. Lucky for us, Kev’s folks were willing to part with some of their stash. Moose is so tasty. It has a rich taste but not gamey like you would think a moose would be.

I made enough to see us through the weekend because I had a pretty full dance card and also wanted to do a bunch of reading, baking and knitting.

This is what I’m reading:

I heart Julia Child.

This is what I baked:

I made a batch of Pesto-parma bread, a hearty peasant rye and a kasha seed bread. All made with flours milled by True Grains bakery in Cowichan Bay. The flours are such a pleasure to work with. It makes up such a soft and supple dough. Hopefully this will last us for a couple of weeks.

I love breadmaking. Even though I have an awesome KitchenAid mixer that can handle most bread doughs, I still like to do most of the kneading by hand. One of the great by-products of making your own bread, is well, you get to make your own bread. The process itself is a joy, especially when you have freshly milled flour. I didn’t realize the different it would make until I started buying my flour fresh.

I love the process of taking a sticky mass and being actively part of the process as it evolves into a dough. With my feet firmly planted, channeling the energy from the ground, along my legs, through my pelvis and along the pliant curve of my spine, my shoulders and out along my arms and from my palms and fingers into the dough. I am a firm believer of we are what we eat. I also believe that we eat what we are. The foods we choose reflects the relationship we have with ourselves and the world around us.

When we cook, our energy, the thoughts that fill our heads and hearts go into our food. The intent comes through in the food we make. Bread is very sensitive food that absorbs whatever you put into it.

Never bake or knit when angry.

Though kneading bread is a meditative and sometimes cathartic activity, you do have to work the dough with energy. The energy is intuitive and aware, listening to what the dough needs (sorry about that pun) and slowly letting the dough form and strengthen it’s bonds to create a chewy, tasty bread. Using the dough as a punching bag to take out your frustrations will lead you to a sticky, gummy mass that may not rise simply out of spite;)

And for the knitting part…(drum roll please…)

I finished the kimono-shrug-wrap!!! Yippee!!

It took a whole week to finally finish up one of the straps and put on a collar but it’s done! I can’t believe I managed to finish most of a sleeve in one day but it took me a whole freaking week to do the finishing bits & pieces. Things just kept popping up, folks just kept popping by and I just kept popping around.

But last night, I managed to get to the final push and had it blocked by a quarter to midnight. Whew, no sweater turning into pumpkin fiascos here.

Like most of my pieces, I have only a vague idea of what the end product will look like. I had certain criteria to abide by.

- For function, I needed something I could throw on in the early morning as I worked at my desk. Generally it’s only my upper back and shoulders that get a chill thanks to the wonky insulation in this old house.

- I needed to use up the yarn leftover from a wedding afghan I made for Kev’s sister. I also had a gorgeous Noro yarn salvaged from a scarf that I got bored with. I supplemented this stash with more Noro yarn.

-And like every other sweater I’ve made, it has to be something I can’t buy at the mall because really, what’s the point of putting that much energy into something that doesn’t carry your personal stamp of style?

I chose to do something in the spirit of Kaffe Fassett and decided to go with this as my pattern motif. It’s from a Vietnamese planter that my mom got me years ago.
































(my interpretation of the above motif)

I am in love with sleeves. Full, wide sleeves that can house a bird’s nest and a quiver of weapons and my lipstick. It’s from watching too many Chinese historical movies ;) I’ve been playing around with deconstructing traditional Chinese and Japanese clothing for the last few years and reinterpreting elements in knit. Yes, there’s an Asian undertone to this whole piece with a Vietnamese inspired motif, Chinese clothing elements and Japanese yarn.

I can’t wait to wear it.

Jen

Yet, today I call you to my riverside,
If you will study war no more. Come,

Clad in peace and I will sing the songs
The Creator gave to me when I and the
Tree and the stone were one.

- Maya Angelou