Currently

Work In Progress - Skate Stocking

Erica Mulherin — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 16:13:00 +0000

The current issue of Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion has a little blurb on pages 44-45 about making a Skate Stocking. (also seen on this page) I have been having difficulties with my cuff, trying to figure out what I wanted it to look like, what color it would be, would it lace up the front, stuff like that.

The cuff on the stocking in Home Companion is PERFECT. Ribbon ties and a button. Problem solved! My next hurdle is to figure out what color to paint the blade. My mom and I cut them out of scrap plywood with her scrollsaw. That was fun. A scrollsaw is like a very scary sewing machine. One that could eat your fingers if you are not paying attention. I am thinking I may apply a stain of some sort...I think I want to keep the grain of the wood visible.

I chose a gorgeous chocolate brown jaquard that was on sale at Joann's for the body of the stocking and appliquéd a brown toe-cap and heel. Earlier I said I was going to look for old leather or thrift the fabric from Goodwill, but I just didn't see enough of anything that would work. The stocking will be lined with a dupioni that is the exact lighter accent brown color on the jaquard fabric. So far I am very pleased.

Insert Clever Title

Erica Mulherin — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 17:06:00 +0000

Well. Macaroon update: utter failure.

I won't bore you with the gorey details, let's just say that these little cookies need more time and attention to perfect than I have time and attention to devote to them. Next up: either caramels or marshmallows. Time is growing short as it's ALREADY NOVEMBER.

I have to give a shout out to my main man Super J. He and I are going to be up in Seattle on Friday November 17th at Portalis Wine Shop and Wine Bar pouring the fabulous wines he makes. Come see us and say Hi! I'll pour you some wine. In the November issue of Wine Enthusiast McCrea has three wines rated in the 90's that Jeffery worked his hind end off to make and I am so proud!

This year we have decide to have an Italian themed Thanksgiving. Somewhat inspired by the movie Big Night(one of the best food movies ever). Instead of a Turkey I am going to attempt the Timpano. I have already bought the special enamel bowl and have decided after a little research to use this recipe (PDF). Our friend Les, who is Italian, is going to be here and he is a fabulous cook. He and I are going to throw down in the kitchen wearing matching Chef's jackets. He bought me one after last year's Thanksgiving when I "ooh-ed and aah-ed" over the one he was wearing. I also found a recipe for a Pumpkin Tiramisu I am going to make for dessert. I can't decide whether I am more excited to cook or to eat.

Macarooni

Erica Mulherin — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 16:01:00 +0000

Here is my first attempt at Parisian Macaroons:

Here is what they should look like:
Mine are so bumpy and lumpy and puffy! I know what went wrong. Sorta. I don't think that I have the ablilty to grind my almonds fine enough to make them not grainy, which is cool. I am not going to make myself crazy over these things. Also, the recipe called for 6 tablespoons of egg whites, and quite frankly I don't think that is enough compared to the amount of dry ingredients one is supposed to add. I though the batter was awfully thick, and it was a little hard to squeeze into little one inch rounds. Which, in turn, made me add too much batter per round and they ended up puffing up quite a bit. I am going to try these again, this time making sure I have more egg whites and less dry stuff. I think the batter needs to be a little runnier than I had it. They sure tasted good.

Work In Progress

Erica Mulherin — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 17:35:00 +0000

The week that was

Erica Mulherin — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 16:40:00 +0000

This site greeted me this morning when I opened up the curtains: Chicken on the Well House

I am pretty sure she is an escapee from one of the neighbors. We have several people in a 3 block radius that have chickens. I hope she finds her way back home safely!

I have been fairly busy lately, hence the lack of updates. My Cooking School job is going great. I had a class last night and the Chef made "Spiced Tortilla Chips" to go with a Pomegrante-Avacado Salsa. I had just recently come across these Red FireTortilla Chips from Vosges so it was an odd coincidence.

I have put them on the list of "Things to try to make one day." Speaking of said list, my Parisian Macaroons will be made this weekend. I meant to do it last weekend, but I somehow managed to not pick up a key ingredient every single time I went to the store so I said "screw it!" and sat on my butt watching Little Britain DVD's instead. There will indeed be more of that going on this weekend as well.

C is for Cookie

Erica Mulherin — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 15:18:00 +0000

I mentioned last week that I was going to work on my holiday treat box, and this is my first experiment: Sugar Cookies

This little blue guy was the first round, I have never really worked with royal icing before so it was a trial and error getting the right consistancy. Round two went much smoother:
Final Cookies:
As you can see, the ends of the cookies sort of curled up in baking. I think that is partly because the recipe said to roll the dough 3/16" thickness, which is really thin. I would like to try another recipe, just to see, but I am overall very please with this experiment and can now move forward to my next treat experiment. I am planning to make truffles (I did those last year so I don't need to fiddle with those), I am also going to make caramels, for those people who can't eat chocolate, marshmallows-because I have been wanting to make those for a long time now, and Parisian Macaroons like the ones from La Duree. I just can't decide which one to try next.

It's going to be a good Fall

Erica Mulherin — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 15:54:00 +0000

My compost is looking good. It was about a year ago exactly that I started composting and I think this batch is done. I can definitely say that turning and watering are the keys to faster composting. Also having a proper ratio of brown (carbon) to green (nitrogen) is vital. We produce more waaaay more green as we compost all of our kitchen scraps and have a ton of espresso grounds so it's been a challenge to come up with brown. I think I am going to look into getting a bale of straw. Also NO dairy and NO oil. They say that cutting up your compostable into smaller bits also aids in composting, but that's just too much work for me. Tomorrow I am going to a demonstration garden here in town to buy another compost bin and hopefully some native plants.

I need help with my lavender! Again! This one is still alive and I don't want to die like the other one. I have done some research and I found a site where someone said "If your lavender has a bare hole in the middle it's time to divide." As you can see, I definitely have a hole, but I am afraid to touch it. I have gotten conflicting answers. Divide it! Cut it back! Don't touch it!

What do I do?
It hit me yesterday that the Holiday Season is JUST AROUND THE CORNER and I had better get into gear if I want to get anything done. First up: Stockings. Last time I was home visiting my parents my mom showed me her scroll saw and we cut some ice skate blades out of some scrap plywood. Last year, Anthropologie had the cutest skate stockings and I decided I had to make one. Mom, of course, made hers almost immediately. I, of course, have obviously waited until almost the last minute as I usually do. If I get them done at all. Yesterday I drew up a pattern and a plan. I am going to go to the Goodwill and see if I can find some wool to cut up, or an old leather jacket or something. I'll head to Joann's as a last resort if I can't find anything.

I also have decided on a list of treats to include in this years treat box. More info will be given as I finalize, but I have to say that I have gotten a TON of inspiration from one of my new favorite blogs found via NotMartha : PhatDuck.

Which segues nicely into my next topic.....

This month marks the first of a new venture I am undertaking. I have been selected to be an assistant at the cooking school here in town. I am pretty darned excited. We are something like little sous chefs that come in and chop veggies and make pastry dough and make sure when the Chef needs a spoon they get a spoon. I am leaving the house to interact with other humans! Wish me luck.

This is the Romanesco Cauliflower (or Broccoli) we got in our CSA share this week. I am going to make Cream of Romanesco Soup with a Roasted Beet Puree to drizzle on top. See? I am already starting to get fancy.

A parting shot of Lulu's newest favorite napping spot. Usually the gigantic box of yarn lives in the closet, but I just don't have the heart to move it off of the floor just yet.

Banana Slug

Erica Mulherin — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 21:12:00 +0000

Erica Mulherin — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 20:43:00 +0000

Voo Doo Doll

Erica Mulherin — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 18:58:00 +0000

I love this embroidered doll from the summer issue of Marie Claire Idees. I only get the magazine when we go up to Seattle to visit J's sister when she is at the Market. There is a magazine store/booth there that carries a wider range of foreign magazines than our local B&N. Hopefully we can get up there soon so I can get the Autumn issue as well.

I have been seeing these dolls everywhere it seems, but mainly from Hilary.

unfortunately the magazine didn't include the pattern for the doll, but the embroidered ribbon you see criss-crossing her. Bummer!

I have a pretty good stitch encyclopedia, but I borrowed a better one from the library. Here is my first attempt. I drew her with a disappearing pen that uses water. You can still see the blue where I haven't gotten it all out yet. She's got collagen in her lips apparently. I need to cut her out, sew her and stuff her. Next time I will be adventurous and use more than just black embroidery thread. Perhaps also I will use something smoother than linen. I am thinking that I will stuff her with lavender and stick her in my underwear drawer.

Watermelon Baby Carriage

Erica Mulherin — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 16:12:00 +0000

I seem busy, but I am not sure with what. These ar...

Erica Mulherin — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 20:09:00 +0000

I seem busy, but I am not sure with what. These are two crocheted critters I made recently for a book proposal that await eyes and ornamentation.

Tomorrow we are heading to a baby shower and I have the task of carving a watermelon baby carriage! I have never done that before, so we'll see how that goes.

Dragonfly on a Hosta Flower

Erica Mulherin — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 23:03:00 +0000

They said in that Naturscaping Garden course I took this past spring that Dragonfly watching is the new Bird watching.

I have my house back

Erica Mulherin — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 15:22:00 +0000

Guest Season 2006 went off without a hitch and we had a great time with all the folks that came to stay with us. During that time our lovely kitty morphed into a Killer Extraordinaire. Seen in the photo is a little lizard, or salamander, I am not sure which. The week's death toll is:

Snakes: 6
Snakes brought in the house: 2
Salamander :1
Salamanders brought in the house: 0
Mice: 2*
Mice brought in the house: 2

She found a den of garden snakes over in a corner of our yard and brought a few of them in the house as a gift. Luckily snakes are somewhat slow in the morning and they don't move all that fast so they were easy to extricate. The mouse, however, was NOT slow and NOT easy to extricate. I will not go into boring detail about the circus that ensued when she calmly waltzed in the door and dropped a baby mouse in the middle of the living room. All I can say is that I hope it found it's way back outside and that I apologize for turning the heat up to 90 in an attempt to get it to leave the shelter of the wall heater. * About 10 minutes after I uploaded this she came in and dropped a (dead) mouse next to my desk.

While Mom and Dad were here I got to hit some of the antique/junk shops in the area and found some creepy doll parts:

I tried to convince Jeffery of the sculptural quality of the doll parts, but I don't think he was as enamored with them as I. I also bought a Devil toothpick holder:

He's got a little handle like a mug on the back of his head. I tried to take a pic, but the batteries on my camera vehemently protested to doing anymore work so this is all I got.

Hotel Mulherin

Erica Mulherin — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 15:49:00 +0000

It's going to be hotter than Hades these next few days so yesterday I made some Jasmine-Honey Sherbet. It's everything you would think a green tea sherbet would be, light and refreshing. I am so pleased! And it went over very well with our dinner guest last night. Jeffery, however, "In all love and honesty, darling" didn't like it at all. I won't hold it against him. He doesn't like jasmine green tea anyway (too jasminey) so I am not surprised. I am seriously loving my Kitchen Aid ice cream attachment. It's one of the best gifts I have ever received. Thanks Carrie! Up next is a Nectarine Sorbet I think. I love nectarine. Sunset has two recipes, a Nectarine-Gewurztraminer and a White Nectarine, I can't decided which one to try.

I've been trolling the Craftster.org forums recently. After the Get Crafty boards went bust I sort of lost interest, but I should check these out more often. I got a REALLY good book suggestion from there: Dorothy Moore's Pattern Drafting and Dressmaking.

I have been having "issues" with my sloper, (which I am sure you are all aware by now) and this is the first book I found that makes the scary art of pattern drafting seem not that scary at all. I feel pretty confident that I can now figure it all out.

We are about to do some serious entertaining. J has a friend from Santa Cruz coming to visit this weekend, then as soon as he leaves my parents arrive. Busy, busy.

Also, just a note, my hosting site has been having technical issues, especiallyy in regards to email. I haven't been able to send or receive this past week except for a little bit yesterday and today. It seems to be "hit or miss", sometimes it works and then it doesn't, so hopefully it will be up and running soon.