From the Pantry: Hamburger Roll

We've been on a bit of a binge lately--sort of. We had the back yard re-fenced. The squirrels are no longer able to snap off cheap plywood pickets as they scramble along. We've been nice enough to provide them with a highway


interspersed with hurdles. They seem to like it.

Then there's Ruby, our 1937 Plymouth. The coffers aren't empty, but as we're even going on vacation this year, a thing we seldom do, it's budget time.

You see one of the results, above. Last week I made a cinnamon apple custard pie with a pre-baked crust. As long as I'm going to make pastry, I figure that I might as well make two crusts. It doesn't go to waste in this house.

We had about half a pound of hamburger in the freezer, and a few other bits and pieces, so it was 30s / 40s style comfort food. My husband had seconds and finished off the leftovers the next day for lunch. I expect I'll be making it again!

Hamburger Roll

1/2 pound ground beef
8 thin slices onion, finely minced
1 tbl. tomato paste
Season to taste with grated Parmesan, Worcester sauce, sea salt, black pepper, and truffle oil


1 crust recipe for your favorite pie pastry (made ahead and allowed to rest at least an hour)


Let the meat cool. Roll out the pastry into a rectangle and spread the meat thinly over; press in lightly and roll up. Decorate with cut-outs and brush with light cream. Bake at 425 F until lightly browned--I think it took about 45 minutes. Let it cool 5 minutes, and slice with a serrated knife.
 
If you have meat and pastry scraps left over after making this, turn them into cocktail sized pastries. I used a ravioli cutter and got seven triangle-shaped bites. Bake them half-way, about 6 minutes, and then cool. Freeze them, and you'll have quick appetizers. They take about 10 minutes in a 425 F oven.

Cherry Bounce, Part I

Cherry Bounce. Have you ever heard of it? I hadn't, until I fell over a copy of the Yankee Cookbook, 1939 (1963). It's a cherry cordial, and dates back a bit...

You take 6 pounds of cherries, two fifths of whiskey or rum, and (after stemming the cherries), snuggle them up together in a gallon crock.

They mess around for three weeks.

Then you strain off the clear liqueur and...that would be telling.

I'm part-way into the "three week" period. The gallon crock sits on my pastry slab, in the kitchen, and at least every other day I find myself lifting its lid and taking a deep, appreciative sniff of its contents.

Sugar and distilled water figure largely in the end product. It's not an inexpensive experiment, but--cherry cordial!--and a recipe possibly centuries old...I could not resist trying it.

With luck, I will end up with at least three fifths of cordial, some happy gift recipients, and divine cordial for me, my husband, and our guests!

Almost a Cocktail: Aviation Sorbet

It's been hot. Sultry. Summer, in fact, and a lot of the food I've been consuming (and making) reflects that.

Late last week I was about to make a Lemon Daiquiri sorbet, courtesy of the recipe in the Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book (Workman Publishing, 1987), when I realized that we didn't have any rum in the house.

We DO, however, always have gin, Creme de Violette, and Maraschino liqueur. What would you do? I decided to adapt the recipe to one of my favorite cocktails, and so the Aviation Sorbet was born.

Aviation Sorbet (Adapted from the cookbook above, as stated.)

Juice of 3 large lemons
Zest of one large lemon
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup simple syrup (I used Clementine simple syrup, by-product of candied Clementine rind)
2 1/2 cups cold water
1 tbl. gin
2 tsp. Creme de Violette
1.5 tsp. Maraschino liqueur
3 drops each of red and blue food coloring

Mix everything except food coloring together until sugar is dissolved. It will be a bit grayish in color--the yellow of the lemon juice will dull the Creme de Violette's color. Add food coloring if desired.

Chill for at least four hours. I prefer a velvety texture without the zest; if you do, too, strain and remove the zest. Freeze according to the instructions with your ice cream maker, OR pour into a chilled shallow tray and every half hour for two hours, scrape up the crystals that form. (The granita will have a different texture but will taste just as good.)

Allow the mixture to "ripen" in the freezer, as right out of the ice cream maker it will still be somewhat liquid.

Serve two scoops per person, garnished, if you like. I used sugared pansies.

Toy Lamb

Orphan lamb, waiting to go to her new home!

She doesn't stand very easily, though drinking straws in the center of the leg stuffing would fix that.

Taking a well-deserved rest!

At long last...I sewed her together. It took quite a while--four hours, at a guess--but she's worth it. This is another one I don't want to let go!

She's going to the daughter of friends I met while swing dancing--haven't seen them since their wedding, which my husband and I attended. One of the baby's grandmothers has some sheep, so I thought this little critter would be appropriate.

Summer Collage

A Deco Cleopatra for a Chifferobe event.

Sheep-shearing at the Coggeshall Farms Fiber Festival.

Candied rose and mint petals.



More candied petals...



Bouquet for the opening reception for Suite Tart in Providence. All flowers from my gardens.



Meet Ruby (after Ruby Keeler); she's a 1937 Plymouth.



One of my newest roses. This is a David Austin rose: Gentle Hermione.

Lady Emma Hamilton.

Foxgloves and day lilies, now in the front garden.

Maraschino Cherries (Revisited?)

I made these for the first time last year, and let me tell you, they bear absolutely no resemblance to the nasty plastic things that are found in supermarket jars (thank goodness).

It's possible that I posted the recipe last year--likely, even--but making it for the second time I've got some details to add.


Maraschino Cocktail Cherries Makes (3) 6 oz. jars

1 lb. pitted sour cherries [or (1) 24 oz. jar canned]
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. water, or, liquid from jar
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 cinnamon stick
2 strips of lemon zest
pinch freshly grated nutmeg
1 c. Maraschino liqueur
1/2 tsp. each vanilla and almond extracts

Combine all ingredients but cherries, liqueur, and extracts; bring to a rolling boil. Add the cherries. Remove pot from heat and add liqueur and extracts. Discard cinnamon and lemon zest (I composted them).

Fill jars about 4/5 full of cherries; pour in liquid, leaving a generous 1/2" headspace. The cherries will expand during the processing--if you don't leave enough space, you will have to take out some of the contents and re-process the jars!

Process for 10 minutes in a hot water bath. Leave jars undisturbed for at least 12 hours. Remove screw lids, wash and dry jars and lids. Put lids back on and tighten. Add labels.

If you used canned cherries you'll have extra juice and maybe extra liquid from making these. I combined all of this with some simple syrup and boiled it down to make sour cherries syrup. Boiled, it amounted to just about one cup. If you add a teaspoon or so of vodka, it can be kept, in a tightly closed jar, at room temperature. Use it for sodas, cocktails, or anything that takes your fancy.

Better Late Than Never: Bridal Headpiece

I know it's been a while! However, (thanks to my husband, who found a working cord) I've just been able to upload camera photos.

This headpiece was made as a wedding present for a friend of mine. I designed it to coordinate with her gown, and she chose the shape.

It's entirely hand-beaded, and lined inside and out with white velvet. The beads are pearl, crystal, and rhinestone. It's fastened in with combs.

Rose Petal Birthday Cake

Here's the birthday cake, AKA "Rose Petal Cake".

It's a whipped cream cake from the 1948 edition of The Joy of Cooking. No butter, the egg whites are folded into the whipped cream, and then the dry ingredients are very slowly folded into that. I flavored it with rose extract and rose water.

The icing is uncooked icing--sifted powdered sugar worked into butter flavored with rose water. I added a few specks of red jell coloring. The rose petals are from Knock Out roses I planted three years ago.

It's quite easy to make sugared rose petals. I used powdered gum arabic and rosewater to paint them, and let them dry overnight.

The cake was baked in a ring pan, and I put the fresh roses in at the last moment.

(Happy Belated Birthday to me: that's one great thing about baking your own birthday cakes--you get just what you want!)

I know I had a blog somewhere

It's still here. Me, too.

Apologies. Let's see, I've been:

*Knitting (socks. boring socks, but useful)
*Gardening (turning soil, planting, transplanting, weeding, deadheading...you get the idea)
*Baking and cooking (today, for example, I made candied orange peel, candied kumquats and presently there's a fruitcake in the oven)


There's more, none of it really exciting, but lots of it has been good. We went to Coggeshall Farms again for the fiber festival. Not only did we buy yarn, I found a gorgeous handmade basket--the kind you can take shopping--and my husband found a signed and numbered print of a sugaring off scene.

We have a new fence in the back yard. This is really big. It replaces the shabby stockade fencing that was systematically being destroyed by rampaging squirrels. Okay, not rampaging squirrels. But running squirrels can do a lot of damage!

I had a birthday. Better than not having one, I agree. The numbers don't thrill me, though. I made myself a whipped cream cake with rose icing, decorated with sugared rose petals. That was good.

Part of the reason this is being documented after the fact is simple. And sloppy. The cord I need to upload photos is hiding somewhere in my disaster are--I mean, work room. Until I excavate, there it will stay. None of the spells I've tried to cast have had any results.

Beading: Fatigue & the Basics of Making a Headpiece

The bridal headpiece is very nearly finished (making the lining almost finished me, I've never made one that would be seen in its entirety, in the round).

I spent today cutting and fitting it, and adding a few more beads. One more bout of beading--an hour or so should do it--and it's done. The acid-free tissue arrived today, and I already have a box for storage. I will also enclose it in plastic, as there are some silver beads, which will otherwise tarnish in storage.

It's a long process, to make a really fine beaded headpiece, but it's worthwhile, if you're making it for someone, or you'll be wearing it yourself. For a stage production I'd be inclined to advise a quick and dirty method, unless you were making it with the idea of wearing it after, at 20s themed events.

Still, here is the basic process:

1. Choose your style (tiara, full circlet, etc.) and order a buckram frame online.

2. Sketch out a design.

3. Choose your colors and buy beads and fabric and felt (for padding) as well as any additional trim.

4. Use dental floss for thread. I prefer very tiny quilting needles for beading, as real "beading" needles are extremely flimsy and long.

5. Make a pattern for your padding and your fabric covering. Cover with felt; trim excess. Cover front with fabric. I prefer to sew these on, as glue makes beading difficult.

6. Start beading! For anything complex, do single beads. You can do long strands, and couch them (or not) but they won't be as strong or liable to stay where you put them. I do not trace a pattern onto the fabric, or even use basted tissue. It's best to begin with something simple and geometric, and add slowly to the pattern as you progress.

7. When the beading is done to your satisfaction, add combs or elastic, if any. I usually sew these in, and then glue them. Pad over with felt (you can use glue now, if you like; I suggest jewel glue).

8. If the back will be visible, cut another fabric pattern out. Turn edges under and whip-stitch it into place, using the tiniest possible stitches.

Trial and error will teach you quite a bit. Take your time. If you start to make mistakes, stop. Rest, read, do something else for a while. It's not much fun to unpick bead work, and it can leave visible holes in the fabric.

Time? Most will take anywhere from two weeks to three months, so long as you take frequent breaks in order to retain your sanity and small muscle control.

Laurie Lambkin

That's the official pattern name.I still need to sew and stuff her, obviously, but am holding off until I finish the headpiece, which requires about a day more of beading; then I need to add combs, cut the lining out, piece it, and whip stitch it into the headpiece.

When it's complete, then I'll go back to the toys. The bunny still needs to be washed and blocked. The bookmark is blocking.

Not bad for the Ides of March!

Golf Stockings: Finished

At long last! I began winding the yarn for these on Thanksgiving evening. (I should just be happy I finished before Easter, I suppose.) Lots of Christmas knitting, then the toys, and...life...intervened.

The socks pattern is one from Sensational Knitted Socks, with calf shaping added. I used a toe I came up with that's a variation on a simple toe usually finished with Kitchener stitch; one round of decreases, five knit rounds, decreases every other round until twice the number of ending stitches is achieved; then, k2tog for the first half; SSK for the second half. Cut the yarn, and run through snugly two times and weave in the loose end. No grafting required, and it's a round-ish toe that fits very well, even on my narrow feet.

The tops are afterthought. The pattern is from The Big Book of Needlecraft, ca. 1927, from the look of the patterns inside (Odhams Press, Ltd Long Acre, London W.C. 1). It's a hardcover from England. I first saw it at the Providence Athenaeum, and decided I wanted a copy for my own. It covers quite a bit, and also gave me the embroidery pattern I used for the Caroline Cloche I made a few years ago.

In order to furnish enough ease, I picked up the same number of stitches with a #4 needle. (The socks were made with #2s.)Then I resumed knitting with #2s, and bound off, after six rows of 1x1 ribbing, with the 4s, but with a small picot (one stitch added after every bind off stitch as I was binding off).

They're a good fit, but next time I will definitely begin with the stocking tops!

A Mark of Thanks

I love a mystery. The written sort, especially when it's real Golden Age, or set in that era. There are some wonderful authors doing the latter: Carola Dunn, Kerry Greenwood, and Rhys Bowen, for example. (Daisy Dalrymple, Phryne Fisher, and Lady Georgie.)

The most recent in Ms. Bowen's 30s series is Naughty in Nice, and it's as charming and interesting as all of her books are. I recently won a copy in a drawing from a librarian who reviews large numbers of books online and features them on her blog. She then very kindly gives them away in drawings. No strings attached. Not only that, they are sent with remarkable speed, and a hand-written note.

I wanted to send her something in return. Not another book, goodness knows how many she must have, not even including the ARC (advance reading copies) and other review copies she has lying around, but something book-related. As I knit, I thought a knitted bookmark would do the trick.

Firmly knitted lace, with a touch of starch, in fact. So I've been noodling around with various small "knitting pins" and crochet cotton. I started with American size 4s. Much too big. And quite floppy.

Then I choose the next extreme. I dug some Victorian steel DPNs out of my needle stash. They're so tiny that I don't have a needle gauge to size them, but at a guess they're at least 000s. Perhaps 0000s. Or smaller? (I have sewing needles that are thicker.)

The resultant fabric was beautiful, but it was murder just to make a knit stitch, to say nothing of a SSK. I couldn't even get beyond Row 8 of the pattern.

So I decided to slide back to the middle (in more ways than one); the first needles were from the 1960s, the second pair ca. 1860, and these needles are ca. 1930. These are size 15 Aero Knitting Needles, from England. They're coated and nicely pointed and slippery. The fabric is firm, but a touch of starch won't go amiss. And last night I sailed through the first two repeats with no trouble at all, so I think I'm on to something!

Still Progressing

Bunny is finished; that is, the knitting of. The golf stockings are finished, though not yet washed.

The work on the headpiece continues. I'm hoping to finish it entirely, soon, so that the bride can have it early; I know that she'll need to try out hairstyles before her big day.

Today, though, I gardened. For the first time in many months. No, I didn't uncover my still-mulched roses, but I cleared up dead vegetation and some leaves, and checked the two roses I started from cuttings. They made it through the winter!!

Things are looking up.

In Progress

That's the state of quite a few things right now. The lamb toy is (and has been) blocking. The bunny is finished, but for his ears. My golf stockings are plaguing me--it's far more difficult to add a stocking top after the stocking has been knitted; it's hard to get the right elasticity in the pick-up and bind off stitches.

And most importantly, I am making a bridal headpiece for a friend of mine. She's a young woman in the local retro and burlesque community, and she's marrying my favorite local dance partner. When she told me of their engagement I offered to make her a headpiece as a wedding gift.

As some of the wedding guests will be reading this, I won't be posting photos until after the ceremony. However, the piece is beaded, on white velvet. It's more of a tiara than a bead-heavy 20s look; she has a lovely dress that conjures up the 50s. I can't really say more without giving things away!

That's what I'm up to these days, as well as beginning to consider a costume for the next big Chifferobe event, which has a theme of Cleopatra!

Pictues of at least the lamb-in-progress to come, as I really need to get these toys off to the babies soon.

Deco Fangirl: Max Raabe and the Palast Orchester

If you are a devote of Art Deco era music, it's quite likely that you've heard of Max Raabe. Herr Raabe is a singer of cabaret and cabaret style music. He studied to be an opera singer, but in the mid 1980s, with a group of friends he got together to rehearse hot jazz charts and ballads from the 20s and 30s. They played their first gig a year later, and much to their surprise, were an instant hit.

He and the Palast Orchester tour not only Germany, but the US, London, (as of this year) and other places. He's brilliant--funny, charming, handsome, and a fine musician with the best comic timing.

My husband and I bought tickets in September of last year for this show, as soon as we heard about it. They played Symphony Hall, in Boston, this past Sunday, March 4. We decided to pull out all the stops, clothing-wise, and made a day of it. We had matinee tickets, so it was 30s daywear. It took me weeks to decide what to wear--I don't have many real 30s day dresses--and a day or two to put it together.

The show was terrific. They are all talented musicians, and the pace of the program was wonderful. Herr Raabe is an elegant figure and will make you think you've fallen into a German film from Weimar Berlin. He was in faultless white tie and tails, with the other men in the group in black tie, and the lovely violinist wore red.

After asking quite a few people inside, we located the stage door and joined the crowd of fans. He did come out, after one of the orchestra members noticed us. I suspect they're all weary of touring, and there was no place inside for a crowd. They probably hoped to get some rest for a change (and I don't blame them). However, he graciously told us he'd tell Herr Raabe, and off he went.

When Max Raabe came out he'd changed into street clothes, and he did look weary, but he was courtly and gracious, and he bent over my hand (fool that I am, I was still wearing gloves, so I did not get my hand kissed...just the same, I'm still fluttering). His charisma is...well. Wonderful. He also signed the new album for us, and was even kind enough to pose for a couple of pictures. From left to right: my husband (in glasses), me, and Herr Raabe.

The new CD is entitled One Cannot Kiss Alone, and it's not quite as much to my taste as the cabaret pieces, but it's clever. If you love 80s music, you should adore it. I don't know if it's available yet here in the normal course of things, but if you are curious about the title song, here is a video they created to highlight the English version.

(Please excuse the absence of a proper link; as usual these days, I can't get Blogger to accept one. Just copy and paste to get to the video.)

http://youtu.be/RdbGNttzP0I

...and joined the Circus

Cirque de Ville, anyway. At The Dorrance, in downtown Providence. Another spectacular Chifferobe event.


(B&W image courtesy of LuLu Locks, of Providence Pin-Up. The color pic is one taken by a friend of the snake's handler.)

Mardi Gras Brings You...

...masks.

I know. There should be pictures. (Sorry.) However, we're going to a Mardi Gras party tomorrow. DH doesn't want to wear a costume, but he thought he'd like a mask. Me, too.

He'll be in black tie, but I'm going a bit steampunk. Think Idris (Sexy. Mrs. Doctor [Who]). I've dug out an old--15 years or more--stage costume, including corset, and though I won't be as Suranna Jones was costumed, the look will be similar.

The masks are quite simple. I took a plain plastic mask and used it as a pattern. It has two layers: one of brown felt, for against the face, and one of burnt black velvet, for the outside. My husband's is very plain. It's velvet, with binding around the outide, and fabric ties. Mine is of the same fabric, but with beadwork around the eyes. The ties (not yet attached) will also be of fabric.

These are the second and third masks I've made from scratch, after the papier mache mask I made for a Halloween event.

Who else makes masks, and how? Of what fabrics?

Knitting for the Nursery

Ravelry to the rescue, again. Please excuse the lack of a link, Blogger is again being useless in that regard.

As several of my friends have presented the world with babies recently--girls, too!--I had a perfect excuse to look for something really fun to knit.

What's better than toys? Bearing that in mind, I went to work, and came up with a couple of charmers: Vintage Rabbit and Laurie Lambkin. The rabbit is a free pattern, but the lamb is from an OOP book, Nursery Knits, by Tessa Watts-Russell. The lamb is so adorable that I went straight out and found a copy online. The book also includes some good teddy bear patterns and baby and toddler sweaters, as well as plenty of bear wear.

The bunny is coming along on #3s. It's very appealing, much like the Velveteen Rabbit in looks, and adapted from a vintage pattern published by Patons, in the 40s. The lamb is written for #5 needles, but I went up to a #6 to get gauge. She's a very quick knit; I cast on yesterday, but am nearly half-way on the knitting.

Both require quite a lot of seaming, as most vintage style knitted toys do, but it's going to be worthwhile. When they're complete I will post photos. And, quite possibly, will cast on for a couple more, to keep!

Back to the Frog Pond, or, In Need of Instant Gratification Projects

Lately I can't seem to knit even the simplest item without ripping back. I began the heel of Gray Sock #2 before completing the leg. On the golf sweater I forgot to begin bind offs for the armseye while working on the front. I'm back on track with the socks, but haven't yet ripped back on the sweater.

It's time to make some small, quick projects, the kind of things that are finished so quickly and easily that they provide almost instant gratification. Baby socks, maybe (lots of new babies out there lately). Or lacy washcloths, or even doll clothes, though I don't know any doll parents or collectors!

I know I'm not the only one who ends up in this situation periodically. What kind of items would you make in like circumstances?