quilt

Under the extreme pressure of a deadline, I was finally able to complete a quilt! My first quilt, started in approximately 1998, is still sitting, folded, in the corner of my room. What can I say? It was never slated with a deadline date.

I started out with a completely different design idea, but I freaked out as I started cutting the squares.

Yesterday, I was making filling for a birthday cake with lime curd and mango when I decided that mangos were all wrong, freaked out, scraped the mango off the cake, and replaced it with strawberries and whipped cream. I found out at the party that the birthday honoree didn't like mangos. Freaking out can pay off!

Here's a shot that shows more of the quilt. I couldn't get one of the whole thing standing on the ground, so I tried to take a photo standing on a chair. Unfortunately, I started to fall off the chair mid-shot, so this one will have to do.


It's not the best job and at points I was filled with rage and wanted to throw it in the garbage can or attack it with a seam ripper. Alas, there was no time for either of those options, but I guess I'm not devastated that it won't win any county fair medals.

strawberry season!

made a cake for mother's day. i had a sudden allergy attack during the festivities and ended up passing out on the couch right after lunch. luckily dad snapped a quick shot of it before it was cut into.



i highly recommend trying out the recipe if you get a chance. strawberries, whipped cream, and cream cheese. YUM!

garden animals

When I got my garden plot, I thought I would try my hand at planting some different things. In the past, I've planted flowers, like tulips or morning glories. We're not allowed to plant things that are over three feet in height, since those are supposedly classified as trees. The garden isn't that close to my apartment, so it's not like I can look out the window and see the flowers anyway, so I guess that's ok.

I decided to plant stuff like lettuce, carrots, and other edibles. Lettuce is pretty cute. The heads look like little bows or flowers that blossom. Unfortunately, they're also a haven for snails and I hate snails!! The garden is supposed to be organic, so I'm not supposed to use snail pellets or any other snailicides. I try to hose off the snails before bringing the lettuce back to my apartment, but ugh. There were all these small snails when I was cleaning the lettuce in the sink today. Before, I thought large snails were the worst, but the small snails have these pale shells that look like they aren't fully solidified, and therefore might be more slimy than large snails. My considering that small snails were more gross didn't stop me from screaming when I heard the clunk of a big one hitting the bottom of the stainless steel sink. Ugh. I don't think I'll be planting any more lettuce. Does radicchio count?

garden craze

I've been harvesting stuff from the garden recently, including these bizarre little carrots. I've never grown carrots before, so I'm not sure to tell when they're ready to pick. Some website told me that they should have a 1-inch diameter, but that hasn't yielded very good results yet, since the carrots are still kind of stumpy. The second one from the right, I like to call "pants" or at least I did before I chopped it up and threw it into a pot of chicken curry.

I started to do a bunch of online research about what to grow and how to cook it. Those clever/evil marketers have started to link recipes to information on growing crops. After I found this recipe for nasturtium blossoms stuffed with cream cheese and chives, then I went on a researching rampage and decided that I wanted to grow watermelon and many assorted herbs. I think I've calmed down, but I still need to get a cage for my tomatoes and a bunch of other stuff. I think growing a honeydew might be more feasible. Honeydew, mmmm.

The flowers were very tasty. The petals are kind of soft and well... I guess how you would expect flowers to feel in your mouth, maybe like squash blossoms. The little bit of stem at the end adds a peppery kick and the cream cheese and chives just kind of slide down your throat and then you want to have another one.

I think next up, I want to make nasturtium vinegar and nasturtium lemon butter and nasturtium soup... Hahahaha. Good thing they're growing like weeds! I may have to cut them back so I can actually see my rosemary plant and can put the cage around my tomato.

unintended cinco de mayo meal

I recently decided that I wanted to make stuffed chiles. I'm not sure, but I think it's because I had chile verde the other day (my dad's default Mexican restaurant order), which made me think of chile relleno (my mom's default). I went to the store and got myself some pasillas, only to later do research and discover that most recipes use poblanos or some other chiles. Oh well.

I'm not sure if I used larger peppers than are normal or what, but I thought the peppers didn't have a whole lot of stuffing inside and used a lot more cheese to fill in some of the gaps. They tasted pretty good. The most interesting part of the process was that I had never used tomatillos before and didn't know that they were sticky underneath the husks, which was sort of gross.


~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pasilla Chiles Stuffed with Potato
(Chiles Pasillas Rellenos)

Ingredients:
1 pound New potatoes
12 Pasilla chiles
6 ounce 'queso fresco'; feta cheese or cream cheese, crumbled
salt
0.333 cup Vegetaable oil

TOMATILLO SAUCE
2 pound Tomatillos; husked and rinsed
2 tablespoon Coarsely chopped white onion
2 Garlic cloves finely chopped
1 Heaped tablespoon dark brown sugar
salt
1/2 cup Chicken stock or water
1998
Prescription:

The following are from the April 1996 issue of Food & Wine in an article by Diane Kennedy.

Senora Maria Herrera Redondo de Williams

1.In a large saucepan of boiling water, cook the potatoes until fork-tender, aobut 20 minutes. Drain, cool slightly and peel. Transfer to a large bowl and mash roughly.

2.Using a small sharp knife, slit the chiles lenghtwise, leaving the stems intact. Carefully remove the seeds and veins. Place the chiles in a bowl, cover whit hot water and let soak until just beginning to soften, about 20 minutes (depending on how dry they were in the first place). Drain.

3.Add the cheese to the potatoes, season with salt and mash together well.

Stuff the chiles fully with the filling, but leave enougfh room so that the seams almost close.

4.Heat the oil in a large nonreactive skillet. Gently fry the chiles in batches, rolling them over from time to time so that they cook evenly without browning too much, about 5 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to darain. Reserve the oil in the skillet.

5.Make the tomatillo sauce: In a large nonreactive saucepan, cover the tomatillos with water and simmer until soft, about 10 minutes. Drani and transfer to a blender. Add the onion and garlic and blend until almost smooth (but still textured)>

6.Preheat the oven to 350. Heat the reserved oil iln the skillet. Add the brown sugar and fry for a few seconds. Add the tomatillo sauce, season with salt and cook over high heat until reduced, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chicken stock.

7.In a baking dish large enough to hold the chiles in one layer, arrange the chiles side by side. Pour the tomatillo sauce over the chiles and bake until heated through, about 15 minutes. Serve warm.

petit four

someone was nice enough to give me this!



and then cause i was so excited... i made these... =)



the recipe was a quick and easy one from sunset magazine. i halved the recipe and baked three trays of petite fours for about 20 minutes each. it is definitely deserving of the five star rating due to the fact that even though i WAY overcooked the first batch, the cakes still came out moist and pretty tasty.

"i do"

i recently attended the wedding of two of my old high school friends. it was one of those ceremonies where you could just feel that they were meant to be together (even though i don't believe in that. hahaha...) it was very sweet, and the ceremony and reception were very simple and elegant. the photo is from the palm event center where the wedding was held.

ginger...

for easter i made some cupcakes. my brain is currently malfunctioning and i can't even remember what kind they were. but they had ginger cream cheese frosting on top. yum.