Strawberry Cake

I made this cake at Easter, from this Martha Stewart recipe.  (Made the change suggested by the commenters and just made two dang cakes, rather than slice one cake in half!)  What a success - not only does it look just like her picture, it tastes fabulous!

It's all Goode

I'm back! There have been various family illnesses etc., but all is now well enough. And, I finally finished my grandmother's quilt!

Lunch today at Goode Co., where I was entertained by this sign.

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Back and Berries!

I know, I've been gone a very long time!  I oversaw a massive move at work and was so exhausted every night that I didn't make anything at all for four months... going a bit crazy by then... and I've only just now begun picking things back up.  Made two inkle belts for the boss and a coworker, since part of the move involved a spreadsheet, the use of which threw out my wrist, leaving me with only weaving or stitching as craft opportunities.

We spent this past weekend at my grandparents' place in the country.

Picking dewberries.

They tend to make your hands red. (That's Himself's hand over by mine.) They have nasty prickly thorns -- my right arm still looks like I've got measles, with little red welts all over it -- but they're worth it.

They lead to great preserves.

Recipe:
1 cup sugar
1 cup berries
put them in a pot over medium heat and stir until it starts to look like syrup
put them in a jar and process as normal.

No pectin, no added water, no anything else.  Just goodness!

(Other options: jelly, jam, cobbler, pie, or straight up and fresh off the bush.)

Oaty-cakes

I made these oaty-cakes from Simple Up the other day. Figured I'd better take a picture of the last two before they were all gone! My only difference was (as you can tell) using a heart-shaped cookie cutter. They are somewhat granola-bar-ish, so I think I'll make them again with perhaps some honey, or peanut butter, or dried cranberries mixed in, cut them into ovals, and call them granola bars. Really very excellent -- a bit dangerous (eat over a plate!), but not too sweet, not too dry, not too anything but irresistible.

And aren't my plates sweet? They're the "Flower Shop" Nick and Nora pattern (which I can't find online anywhere), and each size of dish is a different pattern. Got them at a resale shop where I was volunteering -- I fell in love with them, and that was that. Meant I didn't have to register for dishes when we got married! At some point, I plan to paint our "great room" in the yellow tint you see at the top right corner.

So: Oaty-cakes: very good! Go, make some!

Lookit!

Remember this?


I moved it inside because it was dying from our overwhelming dry heat. It then went into suspended animation because of the air conditioning. So, I moved it upstairs into our unused bathtub, where our zoned a/c sets it at 85 in the daytime (coincidentally, apparently the optimum temperature for tomatoes). This morning I have this:

Isn't it beautiful? Ok, one tomato, but I've never had any at all before, and at $1 for the seedling, it's given me more than $1 of excitement! The little flower beneath it may be producing another one as well.

Isn't it so pretty? This afternoon, I'll find out how it tastes.... so happy!

Dinner tonight

Earlier this week we had an excellent dinner -- one of those multi-bean soup mixes from the grocery store, in the crock pot all day, over rice, with pan-fried okra thrown on top. Tonight, I was going to make Indian-style okra, but ended up not having the canned tomatoes I usually use, so I used what I had, and came up with something very good:

Start off Indian-style, and sauté

1/2 tsp. mustard seeds

in

1 tsp olive oil

add 1.5 c okra, sliced,
1 can mild Ro-Tel (that's where it diverges from the Indian recipe!),
whole cumin, cilantro, and black pepper (whole or ground) to taste

simmer 15 min or so.

It was really excellent, and I think I may do it that way from now on!

(Sorry, no photo -- I didn't expect it to taste good! Image source for the above. (Yes, it says it's a persimmon -- looks enough like a tomato for me!))

Pumpkin Pasta

I made a fabulous dish the other night ... and indeed made it three nights in a row, once when DH was away (to test it), once when he was here, and then for my parents. It tastes like eating sunshine, it's that good. No picture, unfortunately. Didn't hang around long enough (and it tastes better than it looks, in any case).

Roasted Pumpkin-Onion Fettuccine

Fresh pumpkin, cubed, about 1 cup
Boiler onions (I used a combination of white and purple), about a dozen, peeled.
Olive oil
Pepper
Salt
Fettuccine or ziti-style pasta (better with heavier pastas)
Alfredo sauce (I used 1 jar Classico brand)

Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Cook pasta.
Toss pumpkin and onions in olive oil, add salt and pepper (just a bit, remember the alfredo sauce has both as well). Put in roasting dish and bake for 35 minutes or until onions are cooked through and pumpkin cubes are brown around the edges.
Toss with sauce and pasta.
Eat, enjoy.