A BOOK, A RECIPE & RASPBERRY JAM

This morning I finished reading a very interesting book:

Published in 2013 Deep South tells the story of Paul Theroux's year of travel in the U.S. South.  Travelling alone by car he explored the back roads and small towns of the south, meeting locals and learning how they lived, most of them in dire poverty.  

Many of the small towns had been prosperous in the first half of the 1900's.  Then came the violent times of civil rights unrest and the devastation wrought by the departure of most industries to countries with cheaper labour and fewer taxes.  He also discovered, to his surprise and chagrin that although the U.S. sends millions and millions of aid dollars overseas, the poor in the south struggle without that kind of aid.  Most of the people he spoke with, many of whom became his friends, were poor blacks.  What shines through his writing is his empathy with all sorts of people.  What a good book!  I highly recommend it.

Sunday suppers here are not like the main meal on weekdays.  They are much "lighter."  Quite often we just have a bun with salmon salad.  Another frequent meal is homemade pizza.  This week I used an old recipe from way back when, Salmon Biscuit Ring.  I don't know where this recipe came from, but haven't made this for years.  I'm thinking of making this when DD #2 and her two kids are here in August so thought it would be a good thing to have a run through now.  It turned out terrific:

                        

It calls for biscuit mix (Bisquick, I guess) which I didn't have so I made some.  That recipe came from the net and was simple to make.

SALMON BISCUIT RING
Combine:
1 large or 2 small cans of salmon, drained
1 egg
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup chopped parsley.
 
With a fork, stir together:
2 1/2 cups buttermilk baking mix
2/3 cup milk  (I used Kefir, very much like buttermilk)
Form a soft dough.
On a floured board knead 12 to 15 times.
Roll into a 10" x 15" rectangle.

Spread the salmon mixture on the dough.
Roll the dough up (like cinnamon rolls).
Moisten the edge with water.  Seal the ends together.
Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Make 12 cuts, 2/3 of the way through the ring.
Turn each piece on its side.
Brush the dough with a beaten egg.
Bake at 375º for 25 to 30 minutes.

I halved this recipe and still got a big enough ring that we ate only half.  The other half is in the freezer for some other meal.

This morning S. picked raspberries and got this mounded gallon pail.  I made 4 four cup freezer containers of raspberry freezer jam.  Last year we put 16 of these containers in the freezer and just this morning I took the last one out to thaw.  The date on the top of that container was 31/7/17.  So--just enough raspberry freezer jam to last one year.  We also used the cherry jelly I made last summer, and for most of our time in Arizona I bought jam at the supermarket.  Only Smucker's raspberry or strawberry jam seemed good enough.

How to make raspberry freezer jam:

Start with four cups of mashed fresh raspberries.  Mix 1 1/2 cups of sugar with one package of Bernardin Freezer Jam Gelling Powder.  Mix the sugar/jelling powder into the crushed fruit and stir for three minutes.  Pack into freezer containers.  I use plastic four cup square containers, as they stack very nicely in the freezer.  

Do try this, even if you have to buy some raspberries -- or strawberries.  It works equally well with either fruit.  I tried it once with some pitted, crushed cherries, but for some obscure reason, that did not turn out well.

ANOTHER NEW MACHINE!!!

Last week I had the joy of buying another new sewing machine.  The excuse this time is that I plan to take my Janome 7700 to Arizona this fall and leave it there, in case we switch from driving back and forth to flying back and forth.

This new machine is a Janome 9400 and it has tons of new features.  It will take me a long time to explore all of its capabilities. This is not a wonderful picture because of the bright sun trying to shine around the window shade, but it gives you an idea of what the machine looks like.  It has pretty much the same "footprint" of my 7700. 

                      

I started today with my basic quilt piecing.  This will be what I do most often on this machine, and already I think it's super.  It has a setting for 1/4" seams that works like a charm.  I made a few blocks in the "Practically Perfect Pinwheels" design that I will be demonstrating at IDA, the local drug store which includes a very good quilting fabric and accessories department.  They already have a finished Pinwheel quilt to let quilters know about the "demo day" and I've started another from strips of fabric I had set aside for that pattern.

There are enough strips cut to make two large lap quilts which I will take to AZ to donate there.  Or maybe, donate one here and one there.

A VISIT

Last Saturday we had the pleasure of welcoming DS #2 and his #2 daughter for a visit.  All our children and grandchildren live far away from us, so a visit is a great treat!!!  We worked together and relaxed together.

One important task was rolling out the 150' long plastic sheet for new covering for the #1 and #2 greenhouses:

This is a terrifically heavy roll of plastic, very high quality, rated for 4 years' wear on the greenhouses.  The greenhouses are 70' long, so the plastic must be cut into two pieces before being installed.  Installation will happen either later this summer, or perhaps next summer.  It's not easy to get together a crew for that job.

After work is done it's time to relax.  We are all avid readers of books, magazines and internet devices.  Here we are sitting in the solar space enjoying some leisure time.

 

The week flew by and yesterday it was time for them to go back home to B.C.  Parting always makes me teary-eyed.  

Jim talked with Geoffrey today as we wanted to be sure they had reached home safely.  They flew from the Calgary airport, but take-off was delayed by two hours because of stormy weather.

In August DD#2 and her two children are coming for a visit.  Nicely spaced from this visit.  It will give me time to wash the towels and sheets and prepare some food ahead.  We look forward to spending time with them!

A CUTE QUILT

I just finished making a quilt for some friends of mine.  They gave me the materials and the pattern.  It's flannel, very good quality material.  I think it's just really cute!

It's really fun to make a quilt with material and pattern picked out by someone else.  It takes you to a place you wouldn't ordinarily go.  This was a simple quilt and should have been finished in a day or two, BUT -- at first I thought the polka dots in the sashing and borders would be too busy, so I was going to substitute a white fabric.  That was fine with them, but there was no white flannel available locally.  I ordered online from a supplier just an hour's drive from here.  It took 2 days short of two weeks for the fabric to arrive!

Then when I did start using the plain white for the sashing I realized it wasn't the right choice.  It was just too bland.  So then I went back to the polka dots, and now I think that it's just right.

A DOUGH SAVE

We are looking forward to a visit from #2 son and his #2 daughter starting tomorrow.  There are things to get ready: bedrooms, bathroom, food--I just put together 14 burgers for the freezer, not that we'll eat that many, but we were out and I like to make a big batch.  Time to bake a few loaves of bread and buns to go with the burgers.

This morning I loaded the ingredients into the breadmaker for two loaves of bread.  Because I had just ground the wheat I could make 75% whole wheat loaves.  Two hours later the dough was ready to be formed into loaves and set aside for a second rising.  I made the loaves, put them in the loaf pans and put the pans in a slightly warm oven. Usually about 45 minutes is plenty for the dough to lift above the rim of the pan.  Usually I set the timer so I don't forget.

This morning I did not set the timer.  I went into the sewing and worked on a small quilt I'm making for some friends.  Completely forget about the dough rising.  By the time I remembered it has risen, fallen, and formed a rather tough skin.  What to do?  First I thought I'd just simply bake it, but you know what?  I don't think that bread would have been edible.  So I picked off the tough skin that had formed, reworked the dough and cut out 11 hamburg buns and 1 small extra.  After about 20 minutes they were ready to go into the oven.

They look fine.  But as the saying goes, The proof of the (pudding) bun is in the eating.  We shall see!

LANDSCAPE

Our landscape is at its best in July.  Here are a few photos:
This first is a glimpse of the Rose Mallow blooming profusely outside the solar space window.  The solar space is an area at ground level in the front which was formerly open space beneath a balcony.  We enclosed it with clear glass windows and use it two ways: to overwinter plants where they will be as cool as possible without freezing and as a wonderful place to sit and read on summer afternoons and evenings.

This little fountain is right outside the solar space and we like to hear the water splashing as we relax and read.

In between the house and the road is our front landscape, something Jim just loves to look at.  No wonder he never wants to leave this place!  Now we are turned away from the house, looking toward the road.

This is a little romantic bench along a gravel path.  To the left you can see a small part of one of his favourite trees: a weeping birch.

Here we are looking down the same path toward the house but much closer to the road.

This tall columnar blue spruce is just south of the shelter belt at the north end of the landscape.

This is one of the three Burr Oak trees on the north end of the front yard.  The other two are behind this one.  Burr Oak is the only oak that will grow in the area.

And this is a beautiful Linden tree near the house.  Linden trees have very straight trunks and seem to have flowers at the ends of the leaf clusters in summer.  This tree split in two and we bolted it back together through the trunk.  It has now grown over the split and is growing around the bolts and the plates that hold it together.

Behind it, almost like a feather crown is the top of a Brandon Elm that towers over the garage and house.  Last year we could hear a branch scraping over the roof in windy weather.  Our helper, Craig, climbed the tree with a chain saw and cut off the offending branch.

This was just a little jaunt through the landscape.  Hope you enjoyed it!

PARSLEY & PINWHEELS

There are several potted plants on the back patio: lots of pots of flowers but also four pots of veggies and herbs--Sweet Million tomatoes, lettuce, kale and parsley.  Yesterday I harvested the parsley.

I cut just about half the parsley in the pot which was quite a bit, washed it several times and pulled the leaf bunches off the stems.

Spread the parsley on a baking sheet and put it in the oven at 170º and let it dry for about an hour and a half.  This shows the parsley before drying.

 

When it was dry I put it in a jar for the cupboard.  A nice full jar of somewhat crumbled parsley to use this winter in soups, stews, and sometimes (with butter) on boiled potatoes.

 

In June I did a "demo day" at the LQS showing how to create a Disappearing Four Patch in which all the seams "nested."  It was fun and well received.  With the fabric that was left over and a meter of beige for the background I made a lap quilt using the pattern Pinwheels.  This is also a pattern for which I created a technique that insures "Practically Perfect Pinwheels.  This quilt will be displayed in the LQS (our local drugstore which has an excellent fabric section) as a preview of a "demo day" in September, showing my technique for creating practically perfect pinwheels.  (Nothing is ever perfectly perfect!)

This quilt did not turn out as well as I would have liked.  The background beige did not set off the pinwheel colours as well as a black background, which was used on the second Disappearing Four Patch quilt.  Also, the batik border, which echoes the colours of the pinwheels very, very well, does not blend well with the pinwheel fabrics.  It is just too different a fabric design from that of the pinwheels.

 

Ah well!  I will consider that a learning experience.  When I look at this completed quilt I get another idea about how to make this.  What about making "Hourglass" blocks and alternating the direction?  That would put the difficult intersection where the four points come together outside the blocks.  Maybe I'll try a few blocks that way and see how successful that approach is.