August Cookbook Challenge

August's cookbook was Commander's Kitchen, which is recipes from Commander's Palace in New Orleans. Someday I really have to make a pilgrimage there... Meanwhile I've got the cookbook. Tonight menu was:

• Honey Mustard Pork Loin
• Fig-Habenero Barbeque Sauce
• Corncakes with Sour Cream and Green Onions
• Sauteed Spinach

You would think if the recipe said use one hab and then see if it's spicy enough before you add the second, I would do that. You think? No, I threw both in and it turned out authoratative without being overwhelming. This is why I don't cook spicy for people who can't take the heat.

We had a 2008 Mount Eden Vineyards Pinot Noir (Estate Bottled) from our local Santa Cruz Mountains... Hey, every now and then you have to delve into the good stuff and this did not disappoint.

On the fiber front I'm now stalled on two knitting projects; no beads for one, not sure what to do with the other. So I would off some mohair/silk I bought for a cowl and will cast on tomorrow so I have airplane knitting for my upcoming trip to the Seattle area. Turns out Zig is scared of the swift; he snuck up on it and gave it a good whack, which sent it spinning, which did not make it more popular. I suppose I'm ok with the cats being leary of yarn processing equipment, better than assuming it's a toy like the loom, eh?

Wild BBQ weekend, and Cormo

I didn't write about bbq weekend last week. I picked up Saveur Magazines summer bbq issue and made Cambodian style ribs on Saturday and some Beijing style grilled chicken and green onions on Sunday.

The first dilemma was what to do wtih Scott's ex-girlfriend and her husband who dropped in from out of the blue? Turned out they already had dinner plans so the right answer was beer and beer snacks in the gazebo.

Second dilemma was, what wine? Generally when I don't have anything in mind I go with something from the region the food is from.  Asian food is hard that way. I tried a dry Austrian Riesling  (2011 Nigl) which turned out to be a perfect pairing.

The green onions with Sunday's chicken were grouped five to a skewer, skewered in two places, then basted with yummyness during cooking. I'm keeping that recipe. Sorry, no pix again.

What I do have is a picture of is the cormo I've washed, carded, and spun. Wow, I'm a total processed wool girl. Carding is a pain. Anyways, between the carding and my rusty woolen draw, I have about 150 yds of worsted weight 2 play wool destined to be woven into a seat for my spinning stool. Or I had it until it was taken from me. Mr. I'm Too Good To Be Seen In Your Company apparently likes cormo.

Oh Man Am I Glad the Tour de Fleece is Over

Tour de Fleece ended on Sunday with the Tour de France... I spun nearly every day and as much as I like to spin I think it was a bit excessive. I spun:

• 6 oz of hand dyed merino, about 500 yd fingering weight 2 ply, destined to be woven into a scarf for DH. It's the left over roving from the sweater I knit for him.
• 2 Acacia Merino Multipacks from Opulent Fibers (total 5 oz); two ply heavy lace to light fingering. It's going to be a shawl.
• Some unevenly woolen spun cormo singles, from a cormo named Hopi. I bought the raw fleece for it's unusual light fawn color (who knew cormo came in fawn?). Turns out Hopi, a white sheep, like to roll in fawn colored dirt. Anyways, it was fun to wash, card then spin it. I have another pile to card/spin then I'll ply it all together.
• About 2 oz of Abstract Fibers Polworth-Silk  in the Mousse colorway. It's like crack, if you could spin crack and get addicted. I'm about 3/4 of the way through the 8 oz I bought last October at SOAR.

I also plied some spindle spun silk that I'd spun from the silk hankies we got at the knitting retreat four years ago.  The singles had been sitting for more than a year, so I put them back through the wheel to add more twist, then plied with silk and rayon thread with random bead.  I believe I have about 200 yards of yellow-green three ply, uneven lace weight. It's exactly what I'd envisioned and a total art yarn. 

Pictures? OK, they're coming. Hang tight.

July's cookbook challenge:

For July's cookbook, DH chose Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. I've been eyeing the Rotolo recipe so I thought I'd break my wheat embargo and finally give it a try.

Essentially it's a jelly roll with pasta as the wrapper and spinach, cheeses and prosciutto as a filling, cooked, then covered in a tomato sauce-bechamel mix, dusted with  parmasean reggiano then baked.

The recipe said to make the pasta as thin as possible. Well, you can make it too thin. I rolled it out on my pasta roller at setting seven... Six or even 5 would have been better. The pasta disappeared into the spinach. It was still damn tasty, just not as pretty as it could have been.

I made a salad as well, though somewhat altered; I forgot to write down the ingredients and came home with the wrong vegetables. The recipe was for cucumber and orange salad with mint and lemon juice; I bought fennel instead of cucumber. It was still tasty.

We had a 2006 Kalinda Sonoma County Zinfandel.

DH and I agreed, would Definately Cook This Again, although maybe with some practice for company.

For August, he's picked Commander's Kitchen. Would it be a cop-out to skip anything savory and go straight to their bread pudding souffle with bourbon sauce?