(Just Another) Melange Monday

Smoked chicken and avocado grilled cheese
on left; smashed potatoes on right.
The potatoes still need work.

Hello everyone - I do hope a good weekend was had by all! It's Monday ... and time for melange.

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As I wrote last Monday, I'm determined to use my Pinterest food board to broaden my culinary repertoire. Up this week: smoked chicken and avocado grilled cheese from The Unorthodox Epicure and crispy smashed potatoes from Love Grows Wild. 

These two were my Saturday night dinner menu; while I hope you'll pardon my night-time-with-fluorescent-lighting photo, I can heartily recommend the sandwich. And I mean heartily. This is far more than mere grilled cheese: chunks of white meat chicken (mine wasn't smoked) and cured sun-dried tomatoes (I switched out the red peppers) sit atop two types of cheese, topped with fresh avocado and lime (I omitted the cilantro and added tarragon), all grilled on mayonnaise-buttered sourdough bread. Now clearly I do not have mad grilling skillz, nevertheless this combination is a winner. Oh.My.Bob.Yes.Indeed. And very filling. These sourdough slices were small, yet I could not eat more than two halves.

The crispy smashed potatoes weren't quite as successful, but I think I need to give them another try with fingerling yukon golds instead of just the smallest foraged regular yukon golds. I found that mine wouldn't really smash - they just crumbled either in half or many pieces, and I think it's because they were too big and needed more boiling time. The one in the photo above was probably the best I could reproduce from the recipe. I will say that these were still tender, I still completed them in the oven with olive oil and kosher salt and they were fairly tasty. I found them a far better bed for poached eggs on Sunday and, along with a few sun-dried tomatoes, sourdough toast with orange marmalade and freshly brewed coffee, they made a tasty recovery.

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Abby Glassenberg of While She Naps recently blogged about why she doesn't monetize her site, that is, engage in affiliate marketing. You can certainly buy her products from the site, but otherwise it's free and clear of any professional conflicts. While she wrote it more succinctly that I may have I, too, fall into the non-monetized site camp for pretty much the same reasons. While Abbey's site is more fully developed than mine (I do not yet have my own domain), I also write book reviews and go on (sometimes ad nauseum) about yarn producers and dyers. I want to do that from a place unfettered by any potential conflict of interest. That doesn't mean I won't like the people whose yarn or book I may review or mention; it does mean that you can be certain I'm not earning one penny from anyone anywhere from the copy. I do provide many links to other sites, but that's for the reader's reference as well as providing appropriate links for copyright, nothing more. 

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Finally, I leave you with yarn from yet another design I've finished for future publication. I love, love, love this stuff. Alpaca and silk are a great combination, and this yarn really works up well. I've also started an Etched Ice Cowl as a model thank-you in this same fiber (different colorway). I let the model handle a bunch of my old swatches in order to let her choose what yarn she wanted me to use for her cowl, and she pretty instantly chose the Baby Alpaca Silk. A good use of swatches, I thought. 

See you in April!

Fiber Arts Friday ... on Saturday

And this week, that's just the way it goes.

I'm about to start a Le Bateau Shawl for Andrea over at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. She sent me some super yummy handspun she worked up during Tour de Fleece that, combined with a wonderfully fall-colored skein of commercially manufactured cashmere she had, will work up into a beautiful shawl. Here's the handspun, with my swatch for the body of the shawl at the top:

This handspun alpaca has tons of personality! It's also incredibly soft and is going to drape really well after blocking. Alpaca remains one of my absolute favorite fibers, and when it's handspun ... all I can say is it will be a joy and a pleasure to work up this shawl.
 
I'm still working on my holiday gift Le Bateau (and isn't it a good thing I started so early), and am still enjoying the Fyberspates - oh the bling! However, Andrea's alpaca version is slightly heavier weight yarn (substantial fingering vs. Fyberspates laceweight), so I expect to whip it up rather quickly. The color is also easier on the eyes (natural vs. that deep, royal blue).

I thought I'd leave you with a really easy recipe for a meatless main dish that is now in my permanent cooking repertoire. I have been watching repeats from Season 1 of Pati's Mexican Table (I do love the Create channel -yes, yes I do). She did a show on quesadillas and it inspired me to come up with my own approach - it's quick, hearty, flavorful, can be easily divided into two separate meals, and customized with just about anything you'd like:

Black Bean and Cheese Quesadillas w/Avocado and Salsa Verde Sour Cream

(makes 2 large quesadillas)
 
1 small red onion, chopped
1 tbsp. vegetable or olive oil
1 14 1/2 ounce can black beans, loosely drained (but do not rinse beans)
1 lime
1 c. monterey jack cheese
4 flour tortillas, at room temperature
1 ripe avocado, pitted and cut into slices (may also be mashed if desired)
1/2 c. salsa verde (use heat index of choice)
1/2 c. sour cream
 
In a non-stick skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook until soft and turning translucent, 3-4 minutes.
 
Meanwhile, take drained black beans (and there will be some residual liquid, which is fine) and pour them on a large plate. Squeeze the juice from the lime onto the black beans and, with a hand potato masher, mash beans until paste-like (it will be lumpy).

Add cooked red onion to the beans and mix.

Take two flour tortillas and spread half of the black bean mixture evenly onto each tortilla. Top each with 1/2 c. cheese. Then, top each with one of the remaining two tortillas, sandwich-style.

Re-heat same non-stick skillet until medium warm. Place one quesadilla in skillet and cook until brown (about 2-3 minutes). Turn over and repeat on other side - both tortillas should be golden brown and you should be able to see the cheese bubbling out along the tortilla edges. Remove from skilled and keep warm while repeating with second quesadilla.

Meanwhile, mix sour cream and salsa verde. (Optional: if you mash the avocado, you can mix it into the sour cream and salsa verde).

To serve, cut each quesadilla into quarters and top with sliced avocado and sour cream mixture.

WIPville Update

 

Well, my fiber friends, another Friday is unfailingly here. I have been a busy gal, but not everything I've been working on I can share with you ... you understand, right?

 
However, I can share with you my progress on my very own One If by Hook Cardi, and I must say I am pretty pleased with myself:



The back, the initial image is part of the front.

This worked up in, like, no time flat. I am really loving this color combination ... for fall. Yes, fall, people (cause you know those summer Fridays are flying past us). The cardi will feel more fall-like once I get the neckband and front button/hole bands on. I am loving how the LB Amazing (in the violets colorway) is looking - very muted, but with enough color change to be interesting (see the below photo for a better shot of the edging). 

I am particularly pleased with how the wool is working up - tweedy, nicely textured, and with a little more structure than the cotton I used in the summer sample. Of course, this hasn't been blocked yet, and I expect the yarn to bloom nicely, as it did in the previous cowl project in which I used some of it.



See how the tweedy flecks in the yarn
coordinate nicely with the LB Amazing?

I must also give a shout-out to Vivian over at Bits and Pieces - I know I'm going to be a little short on yarn for the sleeves, and she has very kindly agreed to see if she can locate what remaining yarn she has left in her stash. For those of you who might not remember: I actually won this yarn from Vivian last year. I am super thrilled that I can use it for this cardigan - and I get to celebrate her blogiversary (or at least remember she had one!) every time I see the sweater.

I do hope you find the time to make it over to Wisdom Begins in Wonder and check out what's going on with her Tour De France, er, Fleece, spinning.

A test cooking update: Remember I wrote about a trifle recipe test last September? Well, Cook's Illustrated (from America's Test Kitchen) has published it in their July/August 2013 edition (and theirs definitely looks better than mine). There is a linky online, but I think you'll be rather disappointed, since they want everyone to subscribe. Nevertheless, you can see that they really do publish what they send us to test. 

Happy weekend, everyone!

Doesn't Mother Nature just nail it all the time?
What great texture and color palette.

Snow

I woke up this morning to a muffled kind of stillness. It took me mere seconds to look out the window and consciously realize what the stillness meant – snow! Gray, white, cold, wind-driven, commuter-walked-upon snow. This is very early in the season for the Pacific Northwest lowlands to get such a dusting. Don’t tell my deck, however; it is currently covered in about an inch of the stuff.

So, warm woolen mittens in hand, I went out into the white fluff to do some quick snow removal. No shovel needed – just a light whisk, whisk of a broom, to be followed by salt later today, once it starts to really cool down.

Fifteen minutes and two ruddy cheeks later, the deed was complete. There is nothing like a little snow to make everything indoors all the more cozy. The coffee tastes richer and warmer. The cat is just that teeny bit more excited to stare out the window. It gives the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday an especially thankful glow.

So, with that in mind, I’ll share with you my simple recipe for fresh cranberry sauce. Make it and think of snow and the play of jewel tones on white. Happy warm and cozy Thanksgiving!

Fresh Cranberry Sauce

12 oz. fresh cranberries

1 cup champagne or good, dry rosé

¾ c. sugar

½ c. dried sweetened cranberries

¼ c. any other dried fruit of choice (raid the cupboard – hey, it’s Thanksgiving!)

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer gently for about 10 minutes, stirring a few times. Remove from heat and pour mixture into a serving dish.

Let stand, and serve at room temperature with the meal. May also be made up to two days ahead. Cover and keep refrigerated until about an hour before serving, when you can remove from the refrigerator and bring to room temperature.