False Spring

Over the past few weeks, warm weather has descended upon us. Rejoice, the sunshine and warm temperatures cheer. Spring is here! But, no, it's not. Not really. This is False Spring. Now, I know that meteorological spring begins in just under a week, but as a life-long New Yorker, I know that there's still at least one more shot of winter on the way. I joke that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb - white and fluffy. We've had major snow storms well into April. The week before our wedding at the end of May (some 20+ years ago), there was snow in the middle of the state. Perhaps global climate change is finally making spring arrive earlier, but I'm still skeptical. (Not of climate change! That's absolutely a thing. I'm skeptical that spring is really hear.)

Our backyard on March 16, 2017

Of course, that doesn't mean I'm not already dreaming about Real Spring. I've purchased my seeds for this year's garden and have graphed out a plan. We're trying some new tomato seeds from Burpee this year that don't need to be started indoors. They are supposed to be directly sown in the garden. I look forward to seeing how they actually work. I will be starting some other seeds - peppers and herbs - probably in the next week or so.

Reviewing last year's garden plan and sorting seeds on hand.

The new raised beds are in the garage waiting to be built and placed in our garden as we finish the rebuild that we started last spring. We've still got four old wooden beds to remove. They currently contain the asparagus, horseradish, rhubarb, and chives. They'll all need to be moved and, today, I decided to start that process. I began with the chives. I noticed a week or so ago that they were starting to emerge.

Hello, you spicy little darlings.

Back in August, I decided that I was going to create a container herb garden. Over the winter I've collected a couple more flowerpots to use, but I didn't have one yet that I liked for the chives. So, this morning we went out to Lowe's and I found a lovely terracotta pot. It's labeled an azalea pot, but I think it looks just right for my chives. I hauled the pot and potting soil and implements of destruction out into the garden and went to work.

Rather than carry the chives all the way to the house...

A wonderful large lump of chives.

The chives would have completely filled the terracotta pot, so I split them into three pieces. One piece went into the pot while the other two got relocated outside the fence. You can never have too many chives. Then I gave them all a nice long drink of water. Since the chives were happily living outside before I pulled them from the garden, I figured they could stay outside. I do worry about another round of winter weather coming in, though. The chives would not be as well protected from the cold in the pot as they were in the cozy garden bed. So, I tucked them in next to the daffodils beside the house. The heat reflected from the house always get the bulbs going in this flower bed first, so I figured it would be a good temporary spot for the chives.

Stay warm little ones!

I was having such a nice time working in the garden, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to dig up the asparagus bed. I did a little reading about the best time to transplant asparagus, and this seemed like the right time. It was warned that moving a mature bed would take time and patience, so I was ready for a long haul project. 

Moving time!

I started by raking away the leaves we had placed as mulch. As I did, I noticed a strange shininess near the center of the bed. It was ice.

Why did it take my brain so long to figure out what this was?

With a great feeling of disappointment, I realized that the ground was still frozen. There was no way that I was going to be digging out any asparagus crowns today. I did try, but was quickly defeated. Oh well. The forecast has continued warm temperatures for the next week. Maybe the ground will thaw before it snows again. Or maybe it won't snow at all. The birds think it's spring - I watched a crow collecting nesting material and heard a cardinal singing his heart out. And some of the plants away from the heat of the house are beginning to come back to life. Maybe I'm just a pessimist when it comes to weather, and spring really is here. I guess time will tell. 

One of 70 bulbs I planted last fall.

Here comes a daylily!

Cardinal was singing but hiding in the yew. (auto focus fail)

zzzzzzz

The 10 1/2 Hour Sweater

I needed a project. I was spending too much time in the evenings reading nonsense on my phone or watching nonsense on tv. It's been years since I knit a sweater, for myself or anyone else. I used to do a lot of knitting. I just sort of stopped. So, I decided it was time to knit a sweater for myself. I wanted something big and cozy and cheerful; something I couldn't just buy at the store or order online. 

I scrolled through Ravelry and wasn't inspired and then remembered that Lion Brand Yarn had free patterns. I found a pattern for a pullover with a simple cable twist on the front that seemed like a fun, quick knit. It called for super bulky yarn and used size 15(!) needles. (As a brief aside, I learned to knit on size 10 needles and they seemed huge to me then. Size 15s border on ridiculous in my mind.) The pattern called for Lion Brand's Homespun yarn, but I chose to use their Wool Ease Thick and Quick (80% acrylic, 20% wool) in a beautiful variegated color palette called Astroland. I did some comparison shopping and ended up ordering six skeins from Michael's. Four days later, a box of yarn appeared on my front step.

A box of potential.

I started knitting right away. After doing a test block, and confirming that I'm a tight knitter, I chose my size and started at it. I finished the back of the sweater the first evening.

Knit, knit, knit.

The back took nearly two full skeins. Logically, the front would take a similar amount. That would leave two skeins - one for each sleeve. I began worrying about what would happen if the sleeves needed more yarn. I didn't want to run short. So, the next day, I went to our local Michael's store to buy one more skein. The original six skeins had to be ordered because, while our local store did have some in stock, it didn't have enough. When knitting with solid color yarn, one must consider lot number so the color is consistent. With the variegated yarn, I didn't think that would be as much of a concern. As it turned out, of the two skeins of Astroland available to purchase in person, one was the same lot number as the yarn I had ordered. Confident in having enough yarn, I spent the weekend knitting. By mid-afternoon three days after receiving my order, I had all the pieces of my sweater knitted. 

All the parts.

I hate sewing pieces together, so the back and the front and the sleeves sat for an additional day before blocked them then sewed them together. All told, it took me 10 hours and 31 minutes to make my sweater. (I actually ran the stopwatch on my phone while I was working on it so I  could see how long it would take.)  

All done and so cozy!

As it turned out, I didn't actually need that extra skein of yarn I bought while in a bit of a panic. I even had some of two other skeins left over.

The remains of the project.

The label on the yarn showed how many skeins were needed for certain things -  2 for a scarf, 7 for a sweater (even though I only used 6), and 1 for a hat. So, I made a hat. I didn't time this one but I finished it in an afternoon. The claim that one skein made a hat was strikingly accurate. When I was finished, I only had about 6 feet of yarn left.

One skein, you say?

Yup, one skein!

And, because I had a little more of the sweater yarn left over, I added a big pompom to the top.

Cute and super warm too.

My new sweater was a great, quick knitting project and the bonus hat was a lot of fun too. The only problem is that now I want to knit something else! 

Trying Something Wild

Last fall, I looked into the getting some native wild plants for our yards. When I was out shopping for mums, I heard something about getting asters instead. Asters are native plants, perennials, and great for pollinators in the fall. I did a little research at that time trying to find where to buy asters but ended up just getting a pot of mums for my porch decor. 

Some naturalized plants at my former home.

In the new year, I decided it was time to look into native plants again. The New York State DEC has a nice guide to native plants. (check it out here) With that as a starting place, I began searching the interwebs for sources of seeds. I eventually came across the website of the Wild Seed Project in Maine. I like the organization's mission to equip "community members with the resources they need to collectively restore native plants that expand wildlife habitat, support biodiversity, and build climate resilience" and they had seeds for five of the plants I was looking for in their shop - smooth blue aster, blue lobelia, blue iris, foxglove beardtongue, and flowering raspberry. At $5 each, I was happy to make my purchase and add a small donation.

The seeds arrived quickly, which was good because a few of them need to be outside for the winter in order to germinate. I finally had time today to get the seeds planted. I'm a bit on the late side, but we'll see what we get. The seed packets came with good instructions for planting and it took me very little time to get them all set.

Seeds on the soil just waiting for the sand on top.

My biggest concern is the mob of squirrels that live in our neighborhood. These little pots with their precious seeds need to be outside, exposed to the weather. That means the dirty little tree rats will be all over them. I'm not just guessing. I know this for a fact. My husband put out a few pots of pawpaw seeds to overwinter and the squirrels have relentlessly harassed them.

Poor pawpaws. I'm not even sure if the seeds are still in there.

The instructions suggested a piece of window screen be placed over the pots to prevent molestation, but I had another idea. We have a couple humane animal traps that aren't being used at the moment. I figure if they could keep squirrels, woodchucks, and a sad little skunk we weren't even trying to trap inside once the door slammed shut, they would, likewise, keep the creatures out. So, I placed the newly-potted seeds inside the traps and then set them outside - one in the shade and one in the sun, as needed. And I even had enough space to add the pawpaw pots as well.

The big trap in the shade.

The little trap in the sun (if it ever comes out)

And now we wait. Patience will definitely be a virtue as wild plant seeds take more time to germinate than commercially-bred flower and vegetable seeds. I did set aside a few of the aster and flowering raspberry seeds. They don't need to be exposed to the winter in order to germinate so I thought I'd try them under the grow lights when I get my herbs started. I bought another pot for my herb collection today - it's beautifully orange - and I'm dreaming of spring.

Nothing is safe!

 

Santa Claus Cookies (and Rebbe too)

Making Santa Claus cookies is a family tradition spanning three generations. Grandma (my dad's mom) is the originator. I don't know how she got started making the large, intricate cookies, but she made them every single year along with dozens of other types of cookies. My siblings and cousins all learned how to make them in Grandma's kitchen and most of us still keep the tradition alive, though they are a  lot of work. This year the entire process took me three days. 

In order to make Santa Claus cookies, you first need to have a Santa Claus cookie cutter. Without Aunt Chick's Jolly Santa Cookie cutter, you can't make these cookies. No substitution will work.  Grandma's Santa was probably from the 1950s. My oldest cousin, who is a trained chef and baker, inherited that one. I got mine in the early 2000s. Fortunately, you still can get one today.

I got my Santa as a kit with three other cookie cutters - a star, a tree, and a stocking - and a recipe booklet. I don't uses the recipe in the booklet. I use Grandma's recipe. I'm not sure if Grandma started out using the one as written and modified it so it worked for her or if she just used one of her own from the beginning. It doesn't really matter. It works and it's hers so I use it. I'm also willing to share it:

1 1/2 cups soft butter, 1 cup sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla, 2 eggs, 4 cups flour, 400, 10-12 min. 

Okay, so that's a very minimalist recipe. I've got a bunch like this in my cooking binder. I know how to make the cookies, so I don't need more details. I will, however, provide those details in case anyone would like to give these a try. 

So first, cream the butter and sugar. I use a stand mixer. Then add the vanilla and eggs. Once that's all beaten together, slowly add the flour. I then take the dough out of the mixer, split it into two lumps, wrap them in plastic wrap, and refrigerate them overnight. That's day 1 of the process.

Day 2, I remove one of the lumps of dough from the fridge to work with. With the kitchen scale I bought for myself several years ago, I weigh out 55 grams of dough for each cookie. This is not at all necessary, I just love weighing stuff on that little scale. Now the exercise in patience begins. Work the dough between your hands until it starts to warm up and soften slightly. You really just have to get the feel for it to know when it's right. Then press it into the lightly-floured cookie cutter with your thumbs.

Very slowly and carefully peel up part of the edge of the dough and try to get it to release from the mold.

Feel free to swear a this point but don't loose faith! The first one is always a mess, just like with pancakes. Just wipe down the cutter, re-flour it, and try again. Remember to keep breathing. Take your time. Calm your senses and the universe will reward you, eventually.

Repeat this process, redoing and swearing as needed, until you've filled a cookie sheet with six Santas. Then bake in a preheated oven at 400 degree Fahrenheit for 10 to 12 minutes. I let mine bake a tad too long so they were slightly brown on the edges. It's fine. Let them sit on the cookie sheet for three minutes after you remove them from the oven then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Now, Santa Claus cookies are very clearly for Christmas. But what if you celebrate other winter holidays or no holidays at all? Well, my grandmother would send her sister's family "Old Man" cookies as they are Jehovah's Witnesses. My husband had the brilliant idea several years ago to transform Santa into a Rebbe for Hanukkah. To do this, we only filled the cookie cutter with dough up to the hat brim. Then we added an addition rectangle of dough to the top for a shtreimel. The resulting cookies weigh in at 70 grams - 50g face and beard, 20g shtreimel (in case anyone is keeping track).

The dough turned out slightly softer this year, so the cookies flattened out a bit in the oven, but overall, I was pleased. After about an hour an a half, I had 19 cookies cooling on the racks. Now, if I had had time, I could have decorated them right away. As I didn't, I wrapped them up and put them in the freezer. These cookies freeze amazingly well both undecorated and decorated.

Day three of the process came three days later. I pulled the cookies from the freezer then got things prepared for decorating. Part of what makes these cookies so special is that each one is hand decorated. What you will need for this is red and blue food coloring, shredded coconut (I whiz it in a food processor to make it into smaller shreds otherwise the beards and eyebrows look particularly wild and unkempt), and white icing. I always make my seven-minute icing, as Grandma taught me. I suppose you could cheat and use store-bought icing, but I wouldn't. 

Before I get going with the icing, I paint the Santas (and Rebbes). Santa gets red food coloring very slightly diluted with water painted on his hat with a small paintbrush and they all get a dot of red for their mouths. Then, I dilute the red with a lot more water and add a light blush to their winter-kissed cheeks and noses. I used a toothpick and undiluted blue food coloring to paint in eyes.

Then, it's time for the icing. Here's Grandma's recipe:
 

2 egg whites, 1 cup sugar, 1/8 tsp. cream of tartar, 1/4 cup water, 1 tsp vanilla

Again, minimalist, and this one definitely needs some instructions. Mix all the ingredients together in the top of a double boiler. For me, that means the Pyrex bowl that fits very well on top of my Revereware pot, which I fill 2/3 of the way with water. Let the water come up to nearly a boil then turn down the burner and put the bowl of icing ingredients on top of the pot.

Mix constantly at low speed with a hand mixer for seven minutes, making sure that you get around the edges and that you don't let the water in the pot below boil over.

Remove from the heat but leave the frosting bowl over the pot to keep it warm. If you have a pastry bag, put about 1/3 of the frosting into it. I don't have a pastry bag, so I use whatever type of plastic bag I have at the time and snip off the corner. 

I trace over the eyebrows and mustache and under the mouth with the piped frosting and fill in the hat band and pompom.

I do just a few at a time so the frosting doesn't set up before I'm done. Then I carefully lift Santa, hold him by the sides of his face, and slather his beard with frosting using a butter knife.

I then cover the entire top of the cookies with coconut. I press it down gently into the frosting before flipping the old man upside down and tapping the back of his head with a spoon to get rid of the extra coconut. And there we have it!

I've tried various things for the Rebbe's shtreimel over the years. First I tried dying coconut with black food coloring (read I had my husband try it). That was a mess. The next year, I tried crushing up chocolate cookies. That worked okay but was a bit chunky. This year, I tried sending the chocolate animal cookies through Grandma's meat grinder, thinking it would make nice consistent chunks. Well it did, but the chunks were dust-sized. So, I mixed the cookie dust with the shredded coconut. It turned out okay, but I think I'll try something new next year. I just don't know what yet. 

I left the cookies on the board in the oven overnight to dry then packaged them up. 

Whew! They do take a lot of effort but I love making them every year. And friends and family seem to enjoy getting them. I've been told they are too pretty to eat and I reply that I put so much work in them, you'd better eat them! I recommend eating them from the hat down.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

Grandma's Cranberry Relish

I just finished making this year's batch of cranberry relish for Thanksgiving. It's one of the only dishes I always make for the holiday. The rest of the meal is whatever I feel like making that particular year. The funny thing is that when I was a kid, I didn't like cranberry relish. Every year Grandma would make a big old bowl of it for Thanksgiving dinner and I would go for the can-shaped cranberry sauce instead. My tastes have certainly evolved over time. I never liked baked macaroni and cheese (despised it, in fact) or lasagna back then either but I do now. And I love the tangy relish too, though I still have a soft spot for uber-processed jelled circular sauce.

The recipe for Grandma's Cranberry Relish is not at all a secret. It's on nearly every bag of fresh cranberries: a bag of cranberries and an orange all ground up and mixed with 1/2 cup of sugar. Her recipe is slightly different, as is mine, in that we include an apple as well. I think she liked using a Granny Smith apple. Sometimes she'd put in a lemon too. This year I had Honey Crisp apples in the fridge, so that's what I used. 

The real secret to making the most amazing cranberry relish ever is in the tools. Years before Grandma passed away, she gave me one of her old Universal meat grinders. This heavy metal tool from the early 20th century is essential for getting the perfect grind. I've never made this cranberry relish with any other tool. The bag recipe says to use a food processor, but I don't think that would work as well. 

Another tool I use in making this relish is not at all necessary but has become a decade-spanning tradition in our household. That is the wide, low stoneware bowl my husband got from his uncle. It fits beautifully under the grinder.

Once all (both) the tools are gathered, the relish takes literally minutes to make. Rinse the cranberries and sort out any bad ones, then thoroughly wash the orange and the apple. Core and slice the apple and cut the orange into wedges. Note: do not peel the orange! Then send everything through the grinder. I like to alternate the cranberries and fruit slices, but that's not necessary. Take your time and listen to the sounds of the cranberries popping, the apples crushing, and the oranges squeaking through the screw drive of the grinder. 

All too soon, you will have a full, beautiful bowl of perfectly ground fruits. This year, the orange was a particularly juicy one, so I drained off a lot of liquid. Then I added just under a half cup of white sugar. I tasted it and added a little more. And that's it! Grandma's Cranberry Relish!

I spooned the relish into two containers and put them directly into the freezer since Thanksgiving is still two weeks away. Grandma would often make gallons of the stuff when the cranberries were on sale for the holiday and fill a dozen frosting containers that she had saved throughout the years. That way, anytime she roasted a chicken or other large chunk of meat, she could pull some relish out of the freezer and make it a festive meal. I don't make a lot of cranberry relish at a time. I really like the seasonality of it. We only use one container for Thanksgiving, however, so the second container is a nice addition to a meal later on.

I really miss my Grandma but I feel her with me every time I make her cranberry relish.