Mug Cozy

Little Christmas Project #1: Textured Mug Cozy

The budget is tight this year for Christmas, so I'm improvising in the gift department.  DIY is the name of the game.  In my box of Christmas decorations, beneath ribbons and bulbs are balls of Christmasy yarn.  It is true that I bought this yarn before I knew the wonders of natural fibers and it's all pretty cheap less-than-wonderful stuff.  But it is yarn, it is serviceable and it Must Not Go to Waste. 

Then there's the detangling. The endless detangling. 

Perhaps you've seen these cute mug cosy projects making the rounds. They are the sort of thing that can be whipped out in about thirty minutes, but, as usual, I am skeptical. 

FIRST OF ALL (isn't this how I always begin?!), I question their actual usefulness.  Would you actually use a mug cosy? Or would it sit in with your dishcloths, tossed aside again and again for more useful creations, eventually to be rediscovered and tossed away or pulled apart for yarn reincarnation?

Well, it is perfectly true that I make my coffee each morning with boiling water that heats my mug until I cannot hold it, but that's what the handle is for.  Then it's also true that my coffee gets cold faster than I drink it...

So I decided to give it a try.  Most of the links (or maybe it was just one) on Pinterest were broken so I turned to Ravelry for assistance. 

On the left is my favorite mug--I like how it's skinny and tall.
Next is a black and white one with a Native American design.
Next is my chant mug.  Yes, I know how to sing that stuff.

Let me just say, at this point, that if you get NOTHING ELSE out of this blog post, you should visit Ravelry. It's a magical place to revel. (Pun! hahahahahahaha!) There are all kinds of free and inexpensive knitting and crocheting patterns and you can catalogue your progress on each one (if you want. sometimes I would rather not remember all the projects I've left unfinished. 

  Mugs, certainly my mugs, come in many different shapes and sizes, so I thought it wise to crochet with the mug handy to check the size.





In general I like to knit better. I think knitting usually produces a more attractive product, and in some ways, it's much easier.  Knitting only uses two stitches, cleverly manipulated to create fabulous designs.  Crocheting uses single crochet, double crochet, half double crochet, triple crochet and I just can't keep the yarn overs and pull throughs straight. I have to look them all up every time i use them.

Anyway, for this project I modified the pattern I ended up using by using SC instead of DC for row 3, and doing a (3SC, sk 1) pattern for row four instead.

The base came out too large
so I modified the pattern. 

Voila! It's terrifically easy, and pretty darn cute. 

Crock Pot on Trial: Pumpkin Spice Latte

The fibers of the pumpkin will resist the
efforts of heat to break them down. 

Witness Called: Pumpkin Spice Lattes

I know I said that I would write about pot roast next, but I'm too nervous to tackle that dish just yet.  By all accounts pot roast is the crock-pot dish of choice and fame, and it seemed fitting that I try a few more recipes before tackling The Big One.

Pinterest strikes again!  And unfortunately not in a good way.  This recipe was not great.  I wondered how it was that pumpkin puree could be incorporated into a drink so that it would not have a strange grainy texture.  I thought if you cooked the living daylights out of the drink, perhaps the fibers in the pumpkin would break down and the drink would be extra smooth.  But just in case, I put my pumpkin mixture in the blender and gave it a whirl--perhaps, thought I, that would help.

Crock pot in action. 

It didn't.  The resulting drink was very odd and unpleasant in your mouth, taste entirely aside.

Also, any recipe that calls for eight TABLESPOONS of vanilla has flavor issues. 

Because I didn't have another recipe to test against it, I just made half on the stove and half in the crock pot.  The two versions tasted exactly the same and the regrettable texture was the same.  The only criteria to score this one on, therefore, is how easy it was to use the pot or crock pot.

I have to confess, I really thought I had the crock pot this time.  I thought I had all the evidence I needed to convict her.

I was wrong.

The first thing that happened was that the cooking milk on the stove formed a layer over the top of the cooking liquid.  I've experienced this with cooking milk before, and I feel that I ought to have known it would happen.  It's easy to skim off, but it's annoying and sort of gross-looking.  Ah, thought I, how stupid!  Of course it needs to be covered.  This can't possibly be a strike against the stove.  It's only fair to modify the recipe a little to accommodate the stove top method.  So I blissfully skimmed off the top and put the lid on.  Problem solved!  I thought.  Crock pot is going down!

Pumpkin makes a break for it. 

Unless you cover it, milk will form
 a skin on top as it cooks.

I sort of forgot about the luckless lattes as I drank cranberry wine and simmered my french onion soup. Next time I checked in on the stove-top method, I found that it had not formed a skin on the top, but that all the pumpkin had worked it's way up out of the liquid onto the sides of my pot.

Weird. Really weird.  It seems that this recipe does not work at all on the stove.  It's still a lousy recipe, but it proves,  at least, that there are some things that cannot be rushed.

Victory crock pot!

Other Crock Pot on Trial posts:

1. Mashed Potatoes
2. Pumpkin Spice Lattes
3. Balsamic Pot Roast

And, so we can end on a positive note (yes, I'm biased against my crock pot!!!), here's a picture of my sweetheart in action:

I call it "Soprano without a face."

Shopping for Gas: So True

On Pinterest Anything is Possible

On Pinterest anything is possible.  Shrunk clothes become un-shrunk; eggs peel effortlessly; every cat is a cute little kitten that never poops; pie crusts are works of art; the blind can see, the lame leap like a hart... you get the picture.

Pinterest is an addiction a trend that I resisted for some time, until I realized that my complicated and time consuming not to say Cluttered System of Bookmarks was the same thing except less cool.  Vinegar is modge-podge, baking soda is chalkboard paint (I didn't actually know what that was before pinterest), and you can use mason jars for anything.

So here's a run-down of the pins I've tried recently--drumroll, please.  *radio voice*  Does pinterest stand the test of an inept cook and housekeeper?!  Or is it only for the expert with an expensive camera, endless amounts of time and sophisticated photo editing software!?

APPLE CHIPS

These apple chips constitute a pinterest fail, in my opinion.  It seems like a great idea--we love chips, we love apples, so surely apple chips would be delicious.

NOT.  They are not delicious.  As one of my poor victims said, "They are like an entire apple in your mouth, all at once." They bludgeon you over the head with their flavor and sheer overwhelming APPLENESS.  I love apples.  But these were nasty.

Fun to make, they are.  Attractive, they are.  Delicious?  Not so much.

Consume at your own risk.

PERPETUAL GREEN ONIONS

Okay, so not likely to be immortal, still, putting your green onions in water seems to work as well as can be expected--very well, in fact.  I used the green parts of the onion for my Colcannon recipe and put the rest of the green onions in the fridge, where they were well on their way to Hades in a couple of hours.  I wanted to use them for baked potatoes yet, so I hastily removed them from their stark and cold environment in the fridge and put them in water.  In a couple of hours they had perked up.  A day later you can see the new growth on the previously only white onions.  Pinterest success!!!

EASY PEEL EGGS

I can't remember ever buying baking soda.
It's like Elijah's promise to the poor widow:
as the LORD liveth, your jar of flour shall
not run empty, nor your jug of oil run dry...

I recently discovered the deliciousness of an artfully boiled egg.  I used to boil eggs when I was a youngling, imagining I think that it made me more like Laura Ingalls (I don't think it did, but I felt rustic).  In those days it was a process that was anything but artful--basically boil the heck out of an egg until it was the texture of rubber and tasted like sulpher.  I decided I didn't like hard-boiled eggs. 

I don't go through all the trouble of boiling eggs that I might--simplicity and ease are part of what makes hard-boiled eggs an ideal snack/breakfast.  I boil smallish eggs for seven minutes in boiling water (I'll take a cracked egg every now and again as a sacrifice on the altar of expedience), and largish eggs for eight minutes.  The result is soft eggs which unfortunately, are even harder to peel than hard-boiled. Pinterest advises adding baking soda to the water, which so far has worked very well for me.  After all, Julia Child's no doubt fail-proof method is out of the question, as it would probably take forty-five minutes (no way!).  Pinterest success!

By the way, if anything is NOT possible with pinterest, be assured that we have a back-up: Baking soda!  I love baking soda; it is my cleaner of choice, the apple of my eye... 

CAKE BATTER PANCAKES

Okay, so originally I was VERY EXCITED ABOUT THESE PANCAKES.  But I must be honest.  If you want cake, eat cake.  If you want cake batter, eat cake batter.  If you want pancakes then eat pancakes!  This is like the rape of the pancake.  The Cake Batter Pancake Batter tasted like Cake Batter.  The finished pancake tasted like cake except not as soft and good.  So why not just make cupcakes and be done with it?  Gimmicky, I say.  Blueberry pancakes, please.  

Pinterest fail. 

As a side note, perhaps I am particularly inept, but pancakes are hard.  Getting the batter the right consistency and the pan the right temperature, flipping them without making a mess--all tricky and not something I have completely mastered yet.

I noticed something when I edited my photos today--mostly the last one because it turned out really dark and I burned all the other pancakes and ate this one as soon as it was done so I couldn't retake the picture...  Anyway.  When you click "remove blemish" in iphoto (yes, it was the pancake that had a blemish--not! ;-) ) it gives you a HUGE brush for your presumably HUGE blemish.  Excuse me, iphoto.  I don't have zits the size of a UFO.  Just calm down...

Crock Pot on Trial: Mashed Potatoes

You may recall that my crock pot is on trial; the first witness called are mashed potatoes. I chose these two recipes--

Peeling and cubing 2.5 pounds of potatoes
takes about 12 minutes.

 Crock Pot:  Budget-Savvy Diva vs. Stove-top:  Saveur

Jury: Me, the boyfriend, neighbors A and J

Flavor:  2 and 2

Texture:  3 and 1

Easiness award:  Saveur

Verdict:  Narrow victory STOVE

Now, to be fair, I must say that at a glance I already know which of these two recipes I prefer.  I love cabbage--it's crunchy, sweet, and creamy without being fatty or expensive, and it seems a brilliant way to flavor a dish that otherwise is loaded up with fat, fat, and more fat--true of both recipes in this case, really, since using fat-free or low-fat ingredients is against my religion. Also, for my money (pun!!!!) the Saveur recipe is actually more budget savvy.  Most of these ingredients I always have on hand (milk, butter, garlic), but check out how the prices of the extra ingredients of these two recipes stack up:

When recipes call for garlic, they tend to
specify a number of cloves.
I think this is crazy! Cloves vary so much
in size!

Budget-Savvy
Cream Cheese -- 1.25
Sour Cream -- 1.50
Chicken Broth -- ??
I'll round up .50 cents to 4.25 for the broth.

Saveur
Heavy Cream -- 1.25
cabbage -- .49
green onions -- .50
2.24

I have some chicken stock which I will substitute for the broth, and I don't know exactly how much it would cost to buy.  It's a bit of a wrench to sacrifice some of my home-made chicken stock on something other than soup.  Also, to be fair, I will use ALL of the ingredients from the Saveur recipe and only .15 cents worth of the cream cheese from the Budget-Savvy recipe. I got lucky with the cabbage and found a little bitty cabbage and I'll use all of it.  HOWEVER, I rarely use cream cheese so I'll just have to invent another dish to use it up with before it goes bad (I'm often not successful).  And anyway, it doesn't make a difference at the register.

I should also note that I got some major steals at Martin's today--the cream cheese was 1.44 less than normal and the cream was .74 off. So at normal price it's actually 2.98 vs 5.69. Just sayin'.

Colcannon

Itty Bitty Cabbage

The gentlemen preferred the crock-pot version, "I like my mashed potatoes thick." BF liked the garlic flavor (I could add garlic to the other recipe).  The Colcannon lost out on texture because although it was very creamy, but the cabbage didn't cook entirely through (my fault!?).  The crunch was weird.  Even if I did make the first recipe again, I don't think I would do it in the crock pot.  The stove-top method is really quite quick--done in about 30 or 45 minutes, with 20ish minutes of boil time, which is enough to season and cook your pork chops (I sauteed pork chops for the other part of our meal).  Also, I burned my hand on the crock pot, which is ungainly and unpleasant to clean.  All in all, in my opinion, crock pot FAIL.

My 2007 edition of Joy of Cooking has a Calcannon recipe in it, which directs that one boil the cabbage with the potatoes and the white part of the scallions instead of the green. I'm leery of this method because boiling vegetables tends to rob them of their nutrients. Also, all the pleasant green color would likely be gone from the recipe. Next time I would like to try processing the cabbage more finely and cooking it slightly longer. If that doesn't work, I'll try boiling. 

Next up: Pot roast!

Other Crock Pot on Trial Posts:

1. Mashed Potatoes

2. Pumpkin Spiced Lattes

3. Spiced Balsamic Pot Roast

P.S.
I was spending quality time with my cockatiel while writing this post.  Aussie, as it happens, hates baths and has never had a bath in his life (he's eight).  I've tried coaxing him with various methods, spray bottles, nice warmish running water, even offering to let him join MY shower, which was quite generous, I thought.  But this morning I had him on my shoulder with wet hair and he went berserk, exhibiting behavior very much like a bird taking a bath, except running his face and wings through my wet hair.  I tried to take a picture, and captured this shot of his posterior.  Not exactly what I was after.  What's not to love, right?

Crock Pot on Trial

My crock pot is on trial for her life.

She has escaped the guillotine thus far because I have so many friends that sing her praises.  Blogs declare her glory and whole cookbooks are devoted to her.  What am I missing?

CROCK POT, center, looks forlorn as she 

awaits  the jury's verdict.  White  blanket, 

 right,  has  been  sentenced  to  donation, 

and  misc,  left,  will  be  sent  to a friend's 

kitchen for rehabilitation

I recently moved into a very cute and spacious enough apartment on the upper floor of an old house.  It has many charming qualities, like sloped sage green walls, and lots of antique windows to let in natural light, as well as delightful neighbors.  But less charming is the lack of storage.  My closet is about as wide as it is deep; there is no storage in the bathroom beyond the medicine cabinet.  Do YOU buy your toilet paper one roll at a time?  Well, guess what.  The extra rolls must go somewhere.  No, my african violets must go there.  When I moved in there was even no place to hang my hand-towel or bath-towel.  My lease says that I cannot make changes to the apartment without permission from the landlord, but that was too ridiculous.

My grandmother passed away about two years ago, and I inherited eighty years worth of gadgets and gizmos.  A friend of mine mentioned that you only need three knives in your kitchen--one to chop, one to pare, and one to slice bread.  That led me to think--do I really need three sizes of whisk? (the answer turned out to be yes, by the way.  I'm a sucker.)  I went through all of my gadgets and got rid of three extra pairs of kitchen shears, and these three gadgets (below), mostly because I have no idea what they are for.  That left, by the way, two whole drawers and two countertop containers full of gadgets, spoons, spatulas and pancake turners.

I've never actually used my crock pot, and given the general devotion of all, it seemed advisable to try it at least once.  I associate crock pots with overcooked, under-tended, sub-standard fare, meat with no texture left, and carrots that are mush.  Boasts such as, "I made a cake in my crock pot!" fall on deaf and unimpressed ears.  It cannot be a very good cake.  Part of what I love so much about cooking is the process--I love chopping vegetables, things simmering gently on the stove, kneading dough.  Okay, maybe I'm over the last one (at least my wrists are).  But then a little voice whispers, "You say this now, when you have tons of time on your hands, but perhaps you will think differently when you are married to the love of your life and have little munchkins running around."  So perhaps it is time to reevaluate my relationship with my crock pot. 

My intention is to try a number of recipes, made with care and made with crock pot, and we shall see how the pot performs.  

As I was contemplating my problem, I ran across a pin on pinterest "The best crock pot mashed potatoes!! I'll be so glad I pinned this!"  As any veteran pinterest user knows, one must approach such claims with a grain of salt.  But I've been thinking that I wanted to make mashed potatoes, so perhaps this is the perfect opportunity.  I've wanted to get cracking on the 150 Saveur recipes anyway, and there's this one for  Colcannon, which is basically a version of mashed potatoes.  Also I love cabbage. 

Oh, and here's a picture of the boy, for good measure. You're welcome. This is us at the ND-Pitt game. 

Suddenly, It's Autumn

            This will be the best post ever, because it has two of my favorite things:  Peanuts and fall!

I love fall, even though it can be rather a pain.  Trees, clothed in golden glory one moment will be naked the next and leave you (pun!!!!) with rather a mess. 

The church I worked at this summer and into the fall had this problem in spades.  Their rather extensive grounds were basically groves of trees.  We had a rubbish heap behind the cemetery and the whole staff would frequently go outside to work on the leaf situation.  These are a few pictures from one day.  We would rake HUGE piles of leaves, transfer them to large tarps.  The tarps would become huge bags, loaded onto the back of truck, and carted off to the rubbish heap.  The result was every child's absolute dream: a gigantic, swallow-you-up pile of leaves. 

I might have dived off the back of the truck into the pile once or twice.  Or maybe three or four times.