with cracked tellicherry peppercorns

life without an alarm and homemade lemon velvet ice cream with cracked tellicherry peppercorns--- it doesn't get any better than this.

layering spree

the past few weeks have flown. youngest child deposited in her new dorm. the new singleton life commenced.

a couple of weeks ago, i went on a layering spree. i don't know why it has taken me so long to add more things to my walls, but it felt right. the new rug begged for a little extra graphic feel. my grandmother's rose still life painting hung and one of my prints (which i handprinted with my handcarved franklin gothic typography) now reminds me daily to be extraordinary.


the kitchen really started it all. i started adding to the wall and finished it up with vintage tin trays and typography. the process reminds me to play more. risk a few tiny holes in the wall because God made spackle for a reason.

i think that i was reacting to the close of one chapter and the beginning of another exciting one. or maybe i knew that once school started that i would be toast. whatever it was, i am happy that i did it.

mise en place

one of those items that was crossed off the list was the pantry. to not have anything commercially packaged in our diet is the ultimate goal, but at least anything packaged is ordered and mise en place.

is to order

get different class keys
prep the garden for rain
brainstorm solutions for pigproofing kitchen garden
clean the laundrette
get books for classes
reorganize garage
reorder bedroom
look for a dresser
finish syllabi and print
superprep for classes
order pantry
work in studio (more doable than finish studio)
start organizing taxes (yes, it is that time)
organize desktop and drive that haven't been organized since last january (virtual clean is still clean)

it seems the best way to kiss a new semester is to order your home and life. all of this orderin' made me think of collecting my week by image.
if anyone has a brilliant idea for pigproofing a kitchen garden, please hook a sista up.

berries black

vanilla sugar
swirled in heavy cream over
sweetest berries black

ready to be sugared

this was the first year to get a small croppette (could that be a definition for a crop of three?) of grapefruit from my very own tree. they were amazingly wonderful and i had to utilize even the rind for our table.

i have been glacéing fruit for over twenty years. i started back in brooklyn when i wanted to be that misplaced french country girl raising a passel of children just off the F train. glacéing transforms even the pithy rind of citrus fruits into something that i could never afford at dean & deluca.

now, i am a rightly placed texas girl with those bebes raised (and replaced with a passel of garanimals) and now could afford to buy some at dean & deluca. but why buy it when you can make your own?

it is marvelous how translucent the glacéed peels become. and yep, you can read through them, if you ever needed to.

glacéed citrus peel

3 large oranges (or 2 grapefruit, 4 lemons, 4 limes)
3/4 c. water
2 T. light corn syrup
2 1/4 c. sugar

1) cut the peel on each orange into quarters, then remove peel in sections. slice peel thinly.

2) in a nonaluminum saucepan, cover the peels with enough water. bring to boiling and cook, covered, for 15 minutes. drain in a colander.

3) boil water, syrup and 2 cups sugar, stirring until dissolved. add peels. simmer, stirring occasionally, 35-55 minutes, until translucent and tender.

4) remove peels with slotted spoon to large rack (over a cookie sheet. let drain and then separate the peels. dry for another hour.

5) place the remaining sugar in a large bowl. add the peels and toss until they are evenly coated with sugar.

6) airdry for another two hours. store peels in an airtight container or freeze.

dolly wants a cracker (and a weekend!)

a little glam and a little tinsel

advent began yesterday and the holidays are here. a little glam and a little tinsel never hurt anyone.

there are brief moments that make me ask the girl if she misses a proper Christmas tree. will she be in a therapy session one day lamenting over her mother selling the tree and giving her a lit up birdcage in its stead?

the new old mirror

this weekend, i cleaned for no one, just for the *cheers* of having the time to clean. it was freaking awesome.

saturday, i found an old mirror and brought it home not knowing where it would go. this wall in the pantry was a clutter of cloth grocery bags. it was horrible. i wired the mirror to hang and it fits perfectly on the wall.

the mirror reflected the wreck that the pantry was in and that lead to a organizing overhaul. it seems that the mirror has stepped up the pantry a bit. it is less chokey and more pantrycrushy.

what unicorns eat

rainbow jello

6 (3oz) boxes of jello (in order: grape, berryblue, lime, lemon, orange & strawberry)
6 c. boiling water (1 c. per flavor)
12 T. ice water
2 c. sour cream

1. dissolve the grape package of jello in 1 cup boiling water.
2. pour half of the dissolved grape jello into a bowl and add 2 tablespoons ice water. chill until set in a 13x9 glass dish. blend 1/3 c. sour cream in remaining grape jello and pour over clearcolorjello layer in dish. chill until set, about 20 minutes.
4. repeat with each flavor of jello remaining. pour into dish until rainbow is completed. you will have twelve layers.

enjoy.

five eggs

after work yesterday, i used these five eggs to make molly wizenberg's winning hearts and minds flourless chocolate cake yesterday. it was nice to slow down a bit.

in a homemade life: stories and recipes from my kitchen table, molly suggests freezing the cake overnight (and thawing) before serving. she says that it improves the cake's texture. we are having it tonight, so we shall see what hearts and minds are won.

we have been soaking (literally) up the rain and cooler weather this week. it has been cool enough to warrant turning off the ceiling fans. our summer was dry, so it is so nice to have this weather. hopefully, by next year, i have my rain collection system in place.

a reuben and a recipebook

tonight, we are celebrating my oldest son's twenty-third birthday.

his dinner request was reubenwiches and he changed his usual pavlova chocolat request to a german chocolate cake. last night, i baked the cake and as i type this, his reubenwiches are on their final rise before they hit the oven.

when he was a baby, i started my venture into cooking. recipes ran from my scissors and i began my own primitive hole-punched books, full of recipes that garnered a grunted "more." i tried any recipe that sounded interesting–some were hits and some were misses. i have two of these old binders and each are segmented by type of food or beverage. each recipe has notations by date and who loved them.

it's funny how memories and events get pushed to the side of our dusty brains, but a recipe and how your family loved them are still at the forefront of your memory. these are the recipes that make my three children salivate and "oh, mama." me. these are the recipes that help me hug them back with love from the kitchen.

hatch chili fest

sunday mornings are my only morning to sleep in.

instead of sleeping in, i made a fire of rosewood and had a hatch chili fest of our own. this batch will be made into a green sauce. these beautiful green peppers are in the markets now. i plan to get a case and roast them for the freezer this next week.

magic elixir

give me a mr. clean eraser and a friday night. saturday morning will find a clean house and a happy girl.

i had read about this wonder elixir on the internets and really didn't believe the hype of cleaning fixtures, cutting through grime and battling the evils of the world. so, i tried it for myself.

magic cleaning elixir

one part vinegar
one part dawn dishwashing liquid (it only works with dawn blue original formula.)

[since i reused a spray bottle, i made it one cup vinegar and one part dawn. two cups refills a sixteen-ounce bottle. (magic math. 8oz+8oz=16oz)

microwave the vinegar for two minutes. add the dishwashing liquid. stir and pour into a recycled squirt bottle.



this stuff is magic. the first time that i tried it, my son said that i looked like a methhead on a maniacal cleaning spree. i don't have any photos of the befores and afters since i was too busy oohing and aahing. this elixir cuts through soap scum, cleans toilets, cleans stainless steel better than my other stainless steel cleaners. you just have to spray and wipe.

happy cleaning!

easy-off

i crush hard on vintage enameled cookware. number 2 son had a dirty sauté pan in his kitchen. of course, i had to bring it home and clean it for him.


there might be an easier way to clean vintage enamel, but i use easy-off® oven cleaner.


lay the cookware on a few layers of newspaper in a well-ventilated area. spray the cookware with easy-off® oven cleaner and let the foam sit for about fifteen minutes. (this depends on how dirty it is.) i had to spray and scrub his twice, since it had about fifty years of burnt marks on it.


scrub the piece with steel wool to remove the stains and then wash it with soap and water. let air dry. with the handle waxed with the natural beeswax polish that i make, it is ready to hang in his kitchen until he uses it again.

smörgåsbord

yesterday, we were enjoying the mid70s. the stove was not turned on and we grilled an amazing feast with a smörgåsbord of sides. i can honestly say that it was the best thanksgiving ever.

now, onward to organizing the garage sale and getting it set up.
no black friday here–more of a twinklelights friday.

having all three kids home makes life freaking awesome.

curry flurry

i am so in love with the idea of butternut squash in a curry.

this chef inspires me to live better. be sure to add her blog to your blogroll and google friend connect. next week, she is doing a fun giveaway for one of her favorite products.

tomatillos

moments after i picked these, we fireroasted these tomatillos and made salsa verde with them.

happy weekend and pass the chips.

kitchen manifested

redoing the counters and backsplash in the kitchen have been on my tackle list for three years. i sold another layer of some of my favorite things and finally had enough to do it.

soufflé shuffle

cheers to a new year that will be beyond wonderful!