First Attempt at a Top Down Raglan Sweater

Last spring I took a top down sweater class at my local yarn shop. The sweater turned out a perfect fit for my brother-in-law and fortunately he wore it home this year to Thanksgiving, so I was able to get a seasonally appropriate picture. The pattern is from Ann Budd and the wool is Brooklyn Tweed.

Baa-ble Hat -- First Attempt at Stranded Knitting

For my first attempt at stranded knitting I used this popular pattern on Ravelry.  Turns out it is quite easy to produce, only the sizing of the crown, as noted by many other users, is a bit large. As a result I washed and then machine dried the hat to get it to fit more. Hence the fuzziness of the pattern details. Thanks to my hat model!

Homecoming

Is the Beeswax Coating in the Canneles Molds Worth the Trouble?

A few weeks ago I was sitting on my sofa eating some Ben and Jerry's Chubby Hubby ice cream and watching ABC's Extreme Weight Loss when I thought, must try and make some canneles and see what is the fuss all about.

The answer so far: a lot of fuss indeed. I decided to make a half-commitment and ordered six of the copper molds and one of the better silicone molds, plus some beeswax.

There are so many other posts out there, no point in saying much, except that getting the right amount of beeswax and butter mixture into the molds takes a pretty simple project and makes it something really not simple at all. Not simple and quite messy and cleaning beeswax and butter off a pastry brush alone is a reason to hesitate.

The actual pastries however are delicious. I used a formula credited to Dorie Greenspan. The only downside was a bit of excessive waxiness on some of them. I realized after eating two in succession that I could feel the wax on my tongue. Decidedly not so delicious. Since I am already invested in the molds I will certainly give these another try sooner than later, but also will either use much less than the equal proportions of butter and wax in coating the molds -- perhaps one part wax to four parts butter by weight -- or just make them without the wax and see how they turn out.

Cross Stitch Self Portrait

Mohair Scarf

I decided a couple of months ago to learn to knit. I took a class at my local yarn shop and made a hat and a scarf. The results were nothing special, but at least got me up and running. Next week I start a top down sweater class. And in the meantime I knitted up this scarf as a present. I made a lot of little mistakes, but the halo in the yarn is quite forgiving. To block it I just laid it out on some towels and sprayed it until very damp, then patted it out into a fairly even strip. It dried up nicely and I mailed it off this morning and hope the recipient will enjoy! 

Here is a link to the yarn. One skein knits up a lengthy scarf. The yarn is more challenging to handle than I anticipated. I knitted a K1P1 rib on size 7 needles. Nothing special, but the open texture of the fabric suits I think the weight of the yarn and especially the fuzzy floating quality of the mohair.

Ethiopian Truffles

My neighbor last week procured me a pound of Gianduja. (She is a certified culinary professional, and the transaction was totally above board.) The Gianduja is delicious eating all by itself. Very sweet, and I mean that as a compliment. But so sweet it seemed redundant to make a candy or brownie. So I did what I do in a situation like this:  I brought my cookbooks to bed in search of a hidden treasure. My search ended in Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts, when I saw her recipe for what she calls "Ethiopian Truffles."  The name makes no sense. but the cookie is lovely.

Some kitchen notes:

The recipe says to bake the cookies at 375, but I found it browned them too much, so instead I baked them at 325. That way they remained ivory with just a touch of brown on the bottoms. Also it helps to keep the center of the filling moist.

For the filling I pulsed together equal weights (8 oz) of Gianduja and almond meal.

I neglected to add any salt to the filling, but next time (there will be a next time I expect!) I will add a good teaspoon of fleur du sel.

I got a yield of 36 cookies and I think they are so rich that they will be nice even a bit smaller. The original recipe suggests dividing each dough into forty portions and per Maida that seems just right to me.

Blue Valentine

Baby Monkey with Fez

Hamid Karzai

Aylin Mujica (machine embroidered on corduroy; framed in crushed velvet; backed with chenille)

Farrah Fawcett