Thanksgiving Sweaters

The last week leading up to Thanksgiving has been so full, I was working my hardest to get the kids' sweaters done (using the Nate Hoodie pattern). Initially I started the red one in July. . . but then took August and September off from sweaters while I did some other projects. Inspiration struck that Thanksgiving would be a perfect deadline, so I've been busy. Ox's sweater took the longest, of course he's bigger, so by the time I finished up I had just a few weeks to get Little Frog's sweater done. Because of the deadline I opted for the bulky yarn pattern which helped it speed right along. If you don't look too closely they turned out pretty cute, which is good, because I think they'll only get one sweater a year. I don't know how Mrs. Weasley knit all those Christmas sweaters. . . oh right, magic.

Thanksgiving was lovely and tiring. I hoarded eggs for about two weeks to get enough to make wasabi deviled eggs, which were a big hit. The kids don't particularly care for eating, especially when there is a party, so their main food group was the huge platter of pickle roll-ups that my sister made. I didn't like these things when I was a kid, but my own kids will suck them down by the bowl full (we had to put them on a limit on the ride to my uncle's house, and they mostly stuck to it).

Today is Black Friday so we're avoiding all stores, which is too bad since I'm out of flour and really feel like baking cookies. Oh well, time to get cranking on Christmas gifts for the nieces. . . I'm thinking some nice fingerless mitts.

Throwback Thursday

Hyperlink:  Bubble Bubble Pasta Pot

Pasta on Sunday

Pasta Today

Random Things

The craze of sharing random things on Facebook has been strangely hypnotic, like 7th grade chain letters and old-school email ("Email everyone in your contact list within 10 hours or you'll be struck by the plague!")

Since I so don't want to jump on the bandwagon, but I sort of do:

3 Random Things about Me:
1) Started watching The New Girl last night on Netflix because Ask This Old House was over and I am sort of scared of what the WB has become - Zooey Deschanel is awesome, New Girl is awesome, she had me at Smeagol.
2) I blog because my ancestors were voyeurs; it's in my genes.
3) I might possibly mean my ancestors were voyageurs. French is not my language.
4) I am awkward, which has grown into just being slightly random but sometimes the awkwardness slips out and people look at me funny and I hear crickets chirping. But just in my head.

This Week

Two weeks ago - November 3

This week, November 18, 2013

This week the November weather is settling in and we're ready for the snow (again). The temperature is in the 30s and just feels Novembery. The wind has been blowing so much that we had to replace the handle on our front screen door; it just wasn't keeping the door closed and BANG it would fly open, just often enough that I would forget that it needed fixing and BANG again it would happen. Thank goodness Mastermind was home this weekend and did not forget. Lots of raking, the coop is partially wrapped in plastic to cut the wind, so hopefully we'll start getting more eggs soon. Sharona and Nugget are the only ones laying right now, the other girls are apparently cranky. Since this is our first winter with chickens we're not really sure what is the norm, and it seems all the advice is more or less trial-and-error to see what works for your hens. 

My indoor herbs are not doing a thing, and the thyme that I experimentally repotted from a bundle bought at the grocery store is not doing well at all (not that I'm surprised, but hey, it had roots!). Still, I keep them company, along with all the pumpkins and spaghetti squash we pulled in from our garden. I drooled over some gorgeous indoor herb gardens already full and ready-to-eat at EggPlant yesterday, only $19.99. . . so tempting. BUT I resisted, I will get these herbs right! 

Mondays are so hard, but this week before Thanksgiving has the atmosphere of expectant holiday which helps. The kids have all of next week off of school, which makes it a bit hard to bear for those of us who have to work (I'm not complaining about a 2-day week, however). My main goals for the week are to finish up Little Frog's Thanksgiving sweater, and put the buttons on Ox's sweater. A trip to Crafty Planet is required, tonight or tomorrow.  I had intended to make myself a shrug out of some dreamy yarn that I picked up, but with a week to go, that will have to be put on the back burner. Too many projects and not enough time. . . plus I started reading Neil Gaiman, which has significantly cut into my knitting time. 

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Bubble, Bubble Pasta Pot

Simple ingredients

Old-School flour well method

Little Frog floured up

Happy little (frozen) pasta nests

Who doesn't love pasta?!?

Okay, besides my dear husband, that is. Ohh he will patiently eat a small portion of pasta if it's put before him, and will enthusiastically eat more if it has lots of non-pasta ingredients like cheese or meat, but he does not love it as he should.

And frankly, that has to change. The kids love pasta, I love pasta, and so should he!

So, with a little time to spare and my Sunday urge to cook in full swing, I dug out the pasta machine that hasn't been used in a very long time. Pre-kid for sure. I don't know why it hasn't appeared in so long, but it's definitely overdue.

I grabbed the kids and showed them how, old-school, to make pasta. Well, okay, technically old-school would have meant cutting those noodles by hand, but that's just a little to old-old-school for me.

Making pasta is so simple, and especially now that we have all those beautiful fresh eggs to make it with, it's more satisfying. I think I will need to get some real semolina flour to play with, and try my hand at ravioli, too (add ravioli attachment to my Christmas list, along with an immersion blender). Also for sure, is that rustic flour well method will only be brought out on special occasions. I think I'll make it next with my trusted Kitchen Aid mixer's dough hook.

Because I won't have time to make sauce until later in the week, I froze the pasta into nests and popped them into a bag to be used later, maybe Thursday when I have a little more time to make dinners because it's piano lesson day. It's so simple to freeze the pasta, because they can be popped right into the boiling water with no thaw time (so easy).

Along with the pasta, I made up a batch of puppy chow (dangerous), crock pot Santa Fe chicken tacos (for dinner tonight), and chow mein casserole (for dinner last night) - old school satisfying. I am working to get my groove still, after nearly 8 years of being a working mom. Cooking more on the weekends to ease the time during the week seems to be the thing to do. Crocking one thing while making another makes it really easy. Yeah it would be easier to crock on the actual day we're going to eat it, but the reality is crock pots are finicky beasts, and that "cook on low for 6-8 hours" just does not fly with me when the timeline of a weekday is pressing. I need to know something will be done at the time I need it done, you know?

My fridge is stocked, ready for the week. Have a good one!

Power Outage

Ohh Thursday, almost done with the week but not quite. I've had some sort of cold or flu thing this week so I came home at noon to try to sleep it off but managed to drag myself to get some groceries on my way home, because who is going to make healing chicken chili verde* if not me? Easy peasy, throw it all in the crock pot, and off to take a nap so that by the time piano lessons were done for another week, dinner was ready, along with some cornbread.

The restlessness of an almost-Friday was making everyone whiny, however, so someone suggested we have a power outage.My kids, Ox especially, loves a good power outage (especially if it is accompanied by a fierce storm), and it seemed like a good idea and maybe-just-maybe it would lead to an early bedtime.

I had a sudden realization that we must have an oil lamp, and while that may be a purchase in the future for such "emergencies," I made do with making a Simple Olive Oil Lamp (thank goodness the internet still worked, and I had the patience to wade through the more complicated oil lamp tutorials). This simple little lamp was so very, very simple and burned for nearly 4 hours with no smoke, no odor, and very, very bright.

There is something so relaxing about eating dinner by candle (oil) light, and after cleaning up we all piled into the bed and cuddled in the dark in hopes of that early bedtime. . . but soon I grabbed the most recent Magic Treehouse book and read that by flickering oil lamp light (which I don't suggest - it was relaxing, but a bit hard on the eyes).


- - - - -
The chicken chili verde was fantastic! I got it from Get Crocked. . . but unfortunately that particular recipe is no longer loading for some reason. I linked the page, the recipe is a pork chili verde that I just substituted chicken for the pork. Really easy and really good.

Garlic and Winter Herbs

Summer's Lettuce Bed turned Chicken Garden
Now to be our Garlic Experiment. They should
have gone down in October, but I didn't
realize it was a good idea until November.

Pretty Garlic Bulbs from Mother Earth Gardens on top
of some nice new soil. I love clean soil. 

Garlic getting ready to nestle down for the winter.
Brr I hope it's not too cold for them! 

Naughty Chickens exploring the hay in the Garlic Garden.
They later dug up a few of our bulbs that Mastermind had
to replant. They might be banned from free ranging
until I can come up with a chicken fence.
Weird - chickens don't even like garlic. 

Good Sharona, the only girl laying eggs right now.
We put plastic shower curtain liners up around
the coop this weekend, too, hopefully
that encourages the other girls to get busy. 

Indoor Herb Garden. I have terrible luck with growing herbs, so this, too, is an
experiment. This is the only window in the house that gets direct sunlight,
so hopefully we have some tasty herbs this winter.
Basil in 2 pots, Cilantro, and Parsley, plus Thyme replanted.