Resolutions. . . Moi?

I'm really not one to make resolutions, mostly because I feel I can't stick to them. But now my life has slowed to a pace that warrants a plan, or at the very least deserves one.
The year end cleaning frenzy has gotten me thinking that I really ought to use the stuff I have. Including the stuff I already made. That is why I got this quilt out of the drawer and onto my bed. Perhaps using this will make me want to make more, which I certainly don't need, but I do have all this fabric, so why not have a different quilt for every month, or something like that. I hate to commit.
It came up at knitting that if I knit up all the yarn I have, I could have a different garment for every day of the year. Think about that for a moment. Arghhh.
What it really says is, the famously repeated, Enough is Enough.

Add to that line of thought that I just had a birthday. It made me think about how long I have, and to figure out what I want to do with that time. If I am healthy, perhaps I have another good 20 years, which would bring me to 84. My mom, a smoker, died at 81, so it would be reasonable to assume I could outlast her three or more years... geesh. Well, anyway, I think I don't want to just go along the path of least resistance and come to the end and say
"If only I had realized time runs out, I might have done X with my life". Are we talking about a bucket list? Not quite. Something more of making small changes to what I already do, but with a focus on it adding up to something worthy.
I mentioned being healthy which is definitely an area I want to focus on improving. My baking binge has made me feel like a blob, and that has to stop. And lately, you won't believe this, but my beloved wine has been giving me heartburn and so I have more or less avoided it. To my surprise, I sleep better now. Having an apple or pear every day has greatly improved my digestion, so I will consciously keep fresh fruit in my routine. Part of my plan is to record my eating intake on a separate blog, which would be a drag to any reader but will be my gauge to find improvement.
Routines make me happier and I love knowing that I have a weekly day in town. So if I build in other routines that will increase my happiness and perhaps my creative output too. Looking at the calendar, I know there will be chunks of time devoted to gardening, knitting, quilting, reading and maybe painting. What if I had a goal for each of these endeavors?
I am very tempted to come up with a number of finished objects per month, but then that would infringe on my other goal for the new year, which is NO STRESS AND NO DREAD.
My friend Judy asked me how I could avoid those two items and I replied that I must say no to things that will induce them. I am already getting better at this, by not putting quantifiers on my goals.
So it will be little changes for me for 2012.
Eat healthier.
Use up the stash I have accumulated.
Wear the knits and use quilts I have made already. (easiest one of the list.)
Find a routine ( like daily blogging) that includes housework. I'm thinking like Monday for laundry, Tuesday for bathrooms, Thursday for sweeping, stuff like that.
On Pinterest I saw this great list for decluttering which uses 30 bags in 30 days. I could find 30 bags of useless stuff to remove in a heartbeat.
OK I am ready, and committed to a more focused purposeful life for 2012.

The Last Project of 2011

A week or two ago, our man Mike came over looking for work. I thought we had nothing, but Dave came up with a project. It was putting a floor in the garage attic space for more storage. I thought that was a dopey idea, since we have a huge amount of storage at our fingertips already. But I was outvoted, and the sawing and hammering began. It was completed on Christmas Eve and since then Dave has been moving stuff off the shelves and up the ladder to the new attic space.

Some of the other things that I was outvoted on...a garage woodstove and the death trap and its junker brother. I am keeping track, doncha know.

The very narrow pull down ladder and the wide open space of the attic. At the far end are our dining room chairs, which might as well stay up there, as we never seem to have those formal dinners here.

I guess most of the stuff Dave moved up was my stuff. My dye equipment, and my larger canvases, which I am always gonna work on...not.
Imagine now for a moment that Dave alone bought all that stuff up that skinny ladder. Yipes!
I am convinced by the progress he is making that the garage will soon be a showplace, or at the very least, a really nice place to work on the remaining car and deathtrap. But if it makes him happy, I am happy.
In the meantime there has been a discussion of getting better lighting (read: hard wired lighting, not extension cords all over the place). So that part of the project may stretch into 2012.

this is an old picture.

This is where I come in. The lighting down the middle of my studio has always felt inadequate and so I volunteered my fluorescent light fixtures for the garage, and then I can get better, brighter fixtures for my studio. Now I am happy too!
This means that I have been sprucing up my studio over the last couple of days, and that has extended to the rest of the house too. Nice to have a clean house for the New Year.
I think I am finally done baking.

Birthday Report

I knew it was going to be a great day when I woke up, because I missed stepping in the pile left next to my bed by dear Chumley... Several times.

The birthday cake I made turned out so well that I have to begin with this recipe. Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake.

I made it the day before and at 2:30am I lie awake thinking that it needed frosting. Hmm. What did I have that I could use for frosting? Then I remembered I had half a pound of cream cheese leftover from the blintzes, so I crept downstairs and got the cheese out of the refrigerator so it could come to room temperature before I woke up for the day. I would have little time to dink around with cooking before I had to leave for Knitting, so time was of the essence.
When I finished getting dressed I popped the cream cheese in the mixer, added vanilla and confectioner's sugar and began to whip. White frosting on dark chocolate? Not good enough. So I scrambled and found a big jar of the decadent Nutella, and added about a cup of it to the frosting. Oooohheey gooey yummyness. Perfectamundo.
OK, I gotta stop and tell you about this great quick release goo I found on Pinterest. 1 part shortening, 1 part veg oil, and 1 part flour, whipped together to make a pan coating that allows your cake to fall right out without sticking. I tried it and it is fantastic. The recipe I used was 1/2 cups of each and I have saved the rest in my refrigerator for future use. O, the pan is brushed with the goo, not added to the cake mix, silly.
Back to the birthday report.
I got to Knitting and only one other gal was there, so I began to think it was going to be a small crowd, but soon the rest of the usual suspects arrived and we began to get loud. It was a very fun time, and I got presents from my pals and that made me very happy. A cute Pug calendar from Judy and a shrug pattern from Ellen. So nice! Marbeth (the other birthday girl) brought the ice cream and fancy plates, napkins and green plastic forks and we sang the birthday song to each other. There was a bit of cake left to take with me at noon, and I left then to meet my sister for lunch.
Brooke wanted to take me to this special Italian restaurant that we ate at once before, but they weren't serving lunch during this holiday week. So instead we ate at Porter's Steak House, which was a pretty darn spiffy substitute. I was feeling like a queen all day!
Later when I got home, Dave played and sang Happy Birthday on his ukelele.
It was a new 'original' version of the tune, and I loved it.
Thank you all so much for your good wishes, which all came true on my day.

Party Planning

This was the weather last year. This year it has been raining all night. The fish love it, but Dave is disappointed because he bought himself a toboggan and has been carving a trail from the top of the mountain, down a ravine and into the neighbor's creek. He insists it will be fun. I am not participating.
Instead I am inside, in the kitchen, again. This has been one big cooking season, and I have one more goodie to make.
Tomorrow is knitting and two of us knitters have birthdays to celebrate. I will be 64.

Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm 64?

The other birthday girl is Marbeth. She is bringing the ice cream and I am bringing the cake. This works out great for us, no cleaning the house, and all our knitting pals will arrive and share our day. And it will be loud!
So I have been searching the online recipes for yummy cakes. I figure something chocolate would be best, and the addition of ice cream always hits the spot. Of course I am missing most of the ingredients, so I will be running off to the store early, then baking and figuring out what I can still fit into after this mega-eat-a-thon.
I am hoping my combined birthday/Christmas gift will finally arrive today. Don't you know, I ordered it myself, eleven days ago. Free shipping means slow shipping, but I am patient. It's (more) yarn and Harmony Wood Circular Needles. Sigh.
Woowoo!

The Christmas Report

We are staying home for Christmas and having a film festival.
 And Eating.
On Christmas Eve we watched The Black Swan, which was severely creepy, but so good.
 

As an antidote, we finished up the night with The Sound of Music which we have seen as many times as it has been aired. Dave can anticipate all the dialogue and recite it just before the actors have a chance to speak.

Despite ending the night getting away from the Nazis, all those anorexic ballerinas made Dave have nightmares. He woke himself up this morning by kicking his foot hard at the bedside wall, bruising his toes. No pas de deux for him today, poor darling.
We didn't exchange gifts as usual, since we pretty much have everything we want or need, and enough is enough.

 But a couple came to the door last night and handed us two bags of oranges and apples, as their Christmas blessing to the neighbors. So nice. And they didn't ask for a house tour, luckily. We added those to our burgeoning fruit basket. Doncha just love the colors? I am reminded of my childhood Christmas stocking which always contained an orange, a piece of chocolate and an avocado. I am not kidding. We loved eating the avocado with just salt and a spoon.

In a previous blog I neglected to include the recipe for pierogis, and so here it is.

 Christmas PIEROGIS!

 I used this recipe, and filled them with mashed potatoes, or  cooked ground pork (with onions and garlic). This recipe is a lotta work, but it makes enough for several meals meaning I don't have to cook much for a couple of days.
The thing about Pierogis is that they are a stickum to your ribs type of dish and one needs to be cognizant of that fact going in. And they should be light and delicate. Mine are more of the lumberjack variety. Big muthas.

After a careful boiling, they are 'sauteed' in butter (you wimp!) or if you walk on the wild side as I have done...bacon drippings*.

Then served with sour cream and applesauce. No one is going to feel unfestive and empty after a meal like that.

*Bacon in the oven...the best possible way to cook it.

I don't like the rigamarole of frying bacon (too messy) or microwaving it, or hauling out the George Forman and grilling it. It's the wash up I don't like. Instead I use a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. The bacon is lined up and baked at 350 for however long it takes to get crispy. When it is finished, I take the bacon off the sheet and toss out the parchment paper, leaving the cookie sheet immaculate, sorta.

Well, it is truly immaculate after the Dawgs have their way.
I remove most of  the drippings and feed them only the essence, which I feel won't clog their arteries too much.
And since the oven is already on, here's a treat that works with almost any meal.

Lemon-Cinnamon Baked Apple Slices
Peel and core one or more apples, slice and line up on baking sheet. Squeeze the juice of a lemon over the apples and sprinkle liberally with sugar and cinnamon. Bake as long as the bacon takes to crisp up. So zingy and sweet.

For dessert I made cheese blintzes using this recipe for the crepes. http://allrecipes.com/recipe/basic-crepes/

For the filling, I combined one 15oz container of ricotta cheese, and 3 oz of softened cream cheese, with two tablespoons confectioner's sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and juice and zest of an orange.
For the topping, Rum Raisin sauce, using 1.5 cups of bourbon (we were out of rum, again), 1/2 cup of raisins, 1/2 cup of sugar, zest and juice of a lemon and 1/2 cup pecans. Top it all with whipped cream and pull the plug. That's enough eating for one day.
Merry Christmas Week!

'Twas the night before Christmas. . .

and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung on the chimney with care in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there. The children dawggies were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar plums bones danc'd in their heads,

Chumley guards his bone

Were you a good dawggie this year?

 He sprung to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew, like the down of a thistle:

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight —

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

From everyone here at the Mexican Chalet, may you all enjoy the feasting, family and friends at Christmas and have everything you want under the tree.

Merry Christmas!

Ripit Ripit. . .Frogging Again

OK so Plan B is also a wash. I got to this point where I could try on the garment and found it to be lacking, in a big way. I would never be comfortable with this wide open neckline, and the shoulders won't stay put on my body, so I would always be tugging at them. Annoying. Plus the stripes were stretched to the nth degree across the bosom and believe me, it was not a pretty sight.
I was running out of yarn and had to break into another skein of the Malabrigo multicolor which I was saving for a different project. That didn't please me either. Add to that, I was unable to find a tee that coordinated with this color scheme.
Doomed, me thinks.

So it is back to the drawing board, and a new idea of how to use this beautiful yarn. That's the great thing about knitting. Yarn is the perfect creative material. It can be reknit into something more pleasing without a hint of the disaster it once was.
I still like the color scheme but think it needs a bit of pink to fill it out and then maybe I can wear it with all my pink tops. I am also facing the fact that I never had enough yarn to make a cardigan, so it will instead become something scarf-y or shawl-y and those are always a good bet. La dee dah!

PS. Dave and I have been watching The X Factor all season, never missing an episode, and we are so happy with the results. We loved Melanie Amaro and Josh Krajcik and were relieved to find that Rachel Crow is going with Disney and no doubt will be a big star. I love her!

Christmas Foods

Usually at Christmastime I make a big batch of tamales and we have them for every meal. As kids, my family ate tea and tamales for breakfast and it was a great treat. But this year we decided to make something equally as time consuming and close to the same delicious experience. Pierogies.
We have no family tradition of pierogies, but years ago between husbands, I worked as a waitress in a tiny Polish restaurant. I learned all about a new set of great dishes, and really loved the possibilities inherent in these dumplings.
They can be filled with potatoes, sauerkraut, pork and onion, or cheese. I suppose they can even be filled with something fruity like plums or cherries, but I have never done those....until maybe this year.
I believe the attraction may be the bacon and sour cream toppings, but that is getting ahead of the story.
At this restaurant, named Europa, the staff was a set of Poles who had some English and lots of great cooking abilities, altho I am sure they had other professions before coming to the US. We all had lonliness in common, so making the best of the holidays meant cooking and serving the patrons with gusto.
One lady was employed to just make pierogis all day. I watched her roll out the dough, cut them in circles, add filling and then close and pinch each filled pocket. It took a long time to make them all for the nighttime crowds.
They were boiled and set aside to cool and per order they were fried in butter or bacon drippings and served with sour cream, or applesauce or both or my favorite, mushroom cream sauce. Nothing like calories were even considered.
The majority of our diners were single (or pretending to be) men who worked here and sent their families money back in Poland. They spoke very little English, but managed to flirt like mad anyway. Lots of vodka and Polish beer was consumed, and the resulting mood lightened immeasurably.

On Christmas Eve I got done serving at about 1am but the raucus party continued. I went downstairs and fell asleep on the cot in the restaurant basement. Later one of my customers drove me home and stayed the night. Imagine my surprise to wake up and find him next to me in my bed! What a Christmas memory, eh? The things we do when we are young and stupid.
Anyway...for some reason I had forgotten that event until just now, and it really has nothing to do with why I love Pierogis. Honest.
I mean really.

Recent Inspirations

I spend way too much time browsing on Pinterest, but sometimes it is just the thing to get my juices flowing towards quilting or painting or cooking or decorating. Here is a lovely example of something quilted that made me gulp. It is no surprise that I love stripes and this beauty says it all for me.
Note to self: It doesn't have to be difficult or complicated to be fabulous.
This is a small piece, 18x24"-ish, but can't you see it as a larger work, like 60x80"?
http://www.contemporaryquiltart.com/ExhibitFiles/Beyond%20Convention/VanPattenJ_ForFred.htm

I am always attracted to the tilty look of Gee's Bend quilts. And the YELLOW. So happy and sunny. No fear in this work, right?
http://pinterest.com/pin/232146555761719688/
 Paul Klee
A painting yes, but such a quilt design too. Dark and murky colors, but the layout is what gets to me. Just sew up some strips and join them to others and soon a masterpiece is made. Of course no one says you have to stay murky.
http://pinterest.com/pin/232146555761760518/


Another painting, which would be a great quilt. Notice the turquoise which jumps out of the orange? So warm and thrilling. Another simple construction, done in chunks of solid colors.
http://pinterest.com/pin/232146555761751813/
 Diagonal stripes! Woo. I'm jazzed.
http://pinterest.com/pin/232146555761765094/


Best use of Kaffe Fassett striped fabric. Big sections of stripeyness, accented by HSTs. True love. Sigh.

http://pinterest.com/pin/232146555761723779/

But I am still knitting, so I will just collect inspirations until my arm gets too sore to knit for a while.