Sorry I was sick, guys.  I wasn't doing too well for a while.  But I'm pretty much better now.  

I started a "secret" project, here's what it looks like so far:

Can you tell what it is yet?

This is the first time I've attempted something like this.  Once it's finished, I'll do a whole post about it.

The other projects I've been working on are tea towels and napkins and things.  Let me just put up some pictures of what I've been working on.

I made a few sets of towels and napkins and bread cloths.

I'm still working on the process, and I'm not sure that I'm totally pleased with the outcome.

I did made myself a nice tea towel for use in my kitchen, I'll show that one at the end and explain a bit more about whether I like these towels or not.

​This is the kitchen towel for the first set I made.  I embroidered a little line on this one near the ends, I didn't really like that idea, though.  I abandoned that idea because I figured it wouldn't stand up to repeated washing.  This towel and the napkins are made from Wal Mart fat quarters, they are not of the very best quality.  This was really just an experiment.

It turned out decently, though.

​Here are the napkins.  This was all made from sets of fat quarters.  I think the lighter yellow and lighter purple were from one set and the more vibrant batik ones were from another set.  It seemed like they could go together for my purposes.

​Here's the Dalmatian towel.  I cut the darker fabric a bit larger so that when it was sewn it automatically mitered the corners and made a little lining on the opposite side.

I abandoned that idea as well, because doing this for a smaller size is just too fiddly.  I've got no problem doing this with something bigger, like a blanket, but a towel is just a little to much work for too little impact.

​This set was made from not quite a yard each of two fabrics instead of fat quarters, so I managed to arrange things to not only make some napkins, but a couple of bread cloths as well.  I could have sewn the bread cloths together and made another towel, but I thought a couple of lighter bread cloths would be useful in a set.

​I call this one "Roses in Bloom" for obvious reasons.  I have some more fabric which is similar but has rosebuds on it.  I may make a set of that one as well.  I was going to put the blooming roses on one side of the towel and the buds on the other, but that seemed like it would be too busy and also be too similar to make the design interesting.

I really like this one. And I can use the pink solid fabric (which I bought plenty of for two sets) with the rosebud fabric also.

​I used a yard each of the two fabrics and I had plenty for a towel, bread cloths and napkins. 

I debated on this one on whether I was going to make two towels or a towel and two bread cloths (as before the bread cloths are basically cut from the same raw size as the fabrics for the towel) but I liked the idea of the lighter bread cloths for different purposes or maybe to use them as large napkins. 

​Napkins. If I had made them smaller I could have made six of them instead of four.  But I like a good large napkin.

So, four it was.

I might try the smaller size with the other fabric, but I'm not sure.

Those two sets could easily go together to make a set with two tea towels, four bread cloths and eight napkins.

Here's where it all started with the tea towel idea.  I made the bread cloths before already, but I wanted something a little more sturdy for a tea towel, and I wanted something special to actually use when I used my tea pot.

I found this tutorial: https://sewcanshe.com/2014-2-8-easy-fat-quarter-tea-towels-new-tutorial/ on how to make a tea towel from two fat quarters and I was a bit skeptical, as I hadn't thought that fat quarters would made a nice, soft, absorbent towel.  But the tutorial assured me that "The two layers of cotton are not too thick..." and "...the more I wash them the softer and more absorbent they become." I decided to try it out.

At first I wasn't convinced I had made a good choice in doing this.  Should I have used some terry or something?  I have to admit, however, that the more I wash them, they do absorb a bit better.

I don't expect that I am going to use this to mop up grape juice or something like that.  That stain would be way too hard to get out. But to dry a few dishes or cover up a tea pot so it stays warm....well, yeah, I think it's good for that.  And cute!

That's why I said I wasn't sure about these towels.  I will probably not make any more for a bit until I've used my lilac one for a while to see how it holds up.  If it seems like this was a good idea after all, I'll make a few more sets to put up for sale.  I'll let you know.

Anyway, that's what I've been up to.  When I feel lots more better, I'll post some more! Happy crafting!
​

Sock loom stuff

Hummingbird Feeder stuff

Apparently Weebly's function of allowing you to embed a YouTube video is broken or something, I'm not the only one having a problem and no one from Weeby is answering any questions, so here is a link to a video of the feeder in action: Hummingbird

NOTE: Sorry I got this out late.  My allergies have really been tough lately! 

It's a Friday in Lent.  For me, and, well, every Friday, that means it's fish day.  I think I've finally found something I can dress up or down and change around enough so that I have a simple go-to recipe for when I'm stumped about what to eat on Friday.  And I usually have all the ingredients on hand unless it's just before a shopping day.

​First things first.  Wash your hands.  Since this is a home kitchen, I don't wear gloves, but I do wash my hands thoroughly and often.  I use Hibiclens periodically.  It was recommended by my daughter's pediatrician.  That's what I used this morning just because I haven't refilled the regular liquid soap dispenser.  But anyway, however you do it, wash your hands, because I'm telling you right now I don't stand on ceremony.  We're going to be shaping these tuna patties by hand.  No special tools needed.  Just your mitts. So be prepared.

I'm not going to put a picture of little bowls of ingredients and go through the measurement of each one because I don't measure very much.  You start with two cans of tuna which you have thoroughly drained and one cup of bread crumbs.  I like to make my own bread crumbs.  We're going to put in two large eggs in a bit, and that's pretty much all I measure for this.  Pretty much everything else is to taste, but I'll give you can idea of what I do.  I dice up about half of an onion, it depends on how much you like onion.  I have this vegetable chopper thing (I might do a post about that later on) that can dice things up really small. If you dice it really small it cooks up nicely with the patty so it's not too raw when you've fried these up.  Then the dumping of the spices starts.  I do tend to measure out 1/2 teaspoon salt just because I don't like too much salt but the rest is pretty much sprinkle in.  Things like: garlic powder, onion powder, turmeric, chili flakes, parsley, etc.  The things you like.  No more than about one teaspoon of each I should say.  Go easy on the hot spices if you're not into the hot foods so much. Things like cumin also go good with tuna.  Again, pick and choose according to your taste.  I also like to sprinkle in some Chipotle Tabasco. I love that stuff.  Maybe any amount up to about two teaspoons? Maybe more, I just pour it in.  I go heavy on the parsley, too, as the dried parsley flakes I've got tend to be a bit bland.  Beat up your eggs separately and then pour those in, and mix everything up. Get everything distributed evenly. Almost forgot! The cheese.  Cheese is important.  The first time I made these I had some Gouda on hand and shredded that up with a grater and dumped it in.  Somewhere around four ounces.  Again, to your taste.  The 2nd and 3rd time I made these I only had the plastic can sprinkle Parm on hand, but that turned out reasonably well, probably about 1/2 cup of that.  I usually put that in before the eggs but don't stress too much about the order you put things in.  Just make sure it's mixed well before you start making the patties.  Also, the original recipe I got the idea from (I got this idea from The Cooking Foodie's Tuna Patty recipe, but mine is quite different) called for rolled oats instead of bread crumbs. If that's what you've got, try it.  I guess cracker crumbs or maybe a crushed up corn flake cereal would work too?  Anything that you would put into meatloaf as a filler would probably work.  Who knows? I've been baking a lot so I usually have bread crumbs on hand.  Just go for it.

​

I recently made a huge batch of Polenta and spread it in a rectangle casserole dish and chilled it and cut it into pieces.  For some reason in my mind I've associated this Polenta with the Tuna Patties.  Maybe it's because the pan is already hot and the Polenta is so good fried up in some olive oil.  Crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside.  Just make sure the pan is still hot before you put the Polenta in or you'll get a mushy but partially crispy mess. 

Since it's Lent, and Fridays in general are penitential for us, I try to keep things simple and not flashy.  The Polenta fits the bill perfectly.  A salad would also be good, or some sliced tomato. I also make a sauce out of mayo, tomato paste and sweet relish to put on the patties.  Hot sauce is also a popular condiment for these.  Cocktail or tartar sauce would probably also be good but I don't tend to keep these things on hand.

Well, there's the long and short of it.  I hope if you try these, they work out great for you.  The main thing is not to stress, and to make them to your taste.

PLEASE NOTE:

Since this is Lent, I'm kind of taking a halfway break from some social media and online things.  To that end, this is going to be my last post until Lent is over.  Have a blessed Lent, and pray very hard for our world.  Things are more complicated than the MSM would have you believe and many everyday people are going to be hurt because people at the top want to play games with people's lives. Ciao for now.

So, I was going to blog about making my own bias tape.  I guess I never did.  It was easier than I thought, but I didn't take any pictures.  You get more than 5' from one fat quarter. Probably like way more, I don't remember how much.  Here it is.

I had no plans about how I was going to use it.  I just made it.  Because I could.  What was I going to make that needed black with white polka dot bias tape?  Who knows? It just needed to exist.

So, some time goes by and I'm experimenting with making a liner for my "banneton" (aka Dollar Store colander) because just laying a towel in there and flouring it works but it's hard to make sure the towel's not flippity flapping around too much. But, all the patterns I was seeing were highly complicated trapezoids with an added rectangle piece and then you have to calculate the right size circle for the bottom--woooooo boy, too much work for me.

I figured if I could get a circle of fabric with a wide enough circumference and put a channel in to run some elastic to keep it taut around the rim of the colander, it would just settle in the well of the colander and just kind of be OK until I put the bread in to rise.

I wanted things to be as simple as possible. I got so caught up in the process I didn't take pictures.  Naughty me.

 

The first one I made, I made just about an inch bigger around than the top of the colander.  Not ~~~quite~~~ enough.  The next one I did maybe a little too big, but, hey, better too big than too little, and maybe it will have other uses as well.  I used the bias tape to make the channel to put the elastic through to draw it up.  And I saved the first one, it fits pretty well in one of my Corningware bowls that I sometimes use to serve rolls or bread slices in, so that works out well.

The reason I'm making this all about the bias tape was how easy it was to apply it around the circumference of the circle.  I was not looking forward to sewing it on, or sewing it up on the back to finish the channel.  But it turns out my fears were unfounded.

As it turned out, homemade bias tape is much easier to work with (in my opinion so far anyway) than commercially produced bias tape.  The stuff I get at the store is so stiff and hard to work with it makes me cringe just thinking about it.  My homemade stuff was soft and pliable and worked out really well.

Despite loving the homemade stuff, I probably won't use it all the time, because it is a somewhat complicated process to make the stuff.  It's not really that hard, just a bunch of steps that you must make sure and get right the first time, no exceptions.  But if you pay attention, you have a good final product.

And, as The Critical Drinker says, "Anyway, that's all I've got for today" but I'm not going to tell you to "go away." LOL

​Have a great one!!! Ciao for now!

​My poor sourdough starter has languished in the fridge for quite some time now.  I had been taking it out and feeding it once in a while, but I was reluctant to try again because I had questionable success in the past.  I found a different website and video (I will give references at the end) and tried this person’s method.  It turned out awesome this time!
 
I have to say, even though it was in the fridge for a long time, my starter was doing just fine.  I have read a few articles and watched a few videos which say that established starter can be stored in the fridge for a long time without feeding.  Some articles say it’s not true.  Whatever is going on, my starter seems to be doing just fine with living in the fridge in between baking.  But I decided it was time for my starter to have a chance at making a great loaf of sourdough again, so I divided off a small portion of the starter to keep living in the fridge and the rest I brought out to bulk up for baking.

​Now, when I say “bulked up” that’s my own term for feeding the starter with flour without necessarily pouring off any slop.  I might or might not.  Mostly not, because I want to make sure I’ve got enough for baking. I start this process at least a few days before I want to bake the loaf.  In this case, I wanted to bake the loaf on Friday morning, so I started bulking up my starter on Tuesday, checking in and feeding it at least a couple times per day and stirring it to aerate it quite often.
 
The day before you bake, feed it at least two times, the last feeding giving your starter enough time to come to peak activity before you start to shape and rise.  In my starter’s case, that’s about 4 hours.  I’m going to do a quick 30-minute initial rise, so add that time in too.  So that means I had to feed my starter about 4 ½ hours before the initial rise, I think that was about 4:00 pm or 5:00 pm, I can’t remember exactly what time. It depends on how long you want to stay up or if you have to go to bed early.  Adjust for your schedule.

​When the starter is most active, mix your ingredients (starter, warm water, flour, and salt, I will give you the link to the recipe I used at the end of this blog) and make a shaggy dough.  Cover and let rise for 30 minutes. After this, stretch and fold, adjust flour if needed (It is awfully humid where I live so I did wind up adding more flour even though I’ve heard not to add more). Cover and let rise overnight.  I just put mine on the kitchen counter, no fancy cold pack setup or anything.  It was fairly warm in the house although the outside temps were getting into the 30s and 40s (Fahrenheit) but the kitchen didn’t dip below 65 degrees I’m sure.
 
Now, the baking!
The next morning, fold the dough a few times to form a ball, getting good tension in your loaf.  Put it in your banneton with any kind of “seam” side up (the less pretty side).  I don’t have an official banneton, so I use a Dollar Tree colander with a floured bread towel (I make special towels that I only use for bread and rolls type purposes).  Works just fine for me.  Cover and let it rise for 2-3 hours.
 
In the last 30 minutes or so (depending on how long it takes your oven to come to temp) preheat your oven, along with your Dutch Oven.  I can’t recommend any other way to bake sourdough, but if you don’t have one there are other options.  I think they go into that in the recipe/video I’m going to reference.  But the Dutch Oven is the best.
 
Get some parchment ready to cradle your loaf to lower it into the hot Dutch Oven and to be able to lift it out again.  Make sure you tear off enough parchment for this purpose.  Pull your oven tray out a bit and take off the cover of the Dutch Oven.  Sprinkle some cornmeal on the bottom of the Dutch Oven.  Tip out your loaf onto the parchment, slash with a sharp knife or a razor, and lower it into the Dutch Oven.  Spritz with a bit of water and put the cover back on the Dutch Oven.  Slide it back in and bake 20 minutes with the cover on and 30 minutes with the cover off.

THE MOST IMPORTANT PART: Let cool completely before slicing.  I never used to wait, and I think that was part of my bread failures, although I didn’t realize it at the time.  This might mean waiting 6 hours (or maybe more!).  Just let that loaf get to room temperature on a cooling rack, one that gives it as much room for the air to circulate even around the bottom as possible. Restaurants don’t freshly bake your bread; they bake it early and reheat it when they serve it to you.  I waited about 4 hours for my loaf.  It was well worth it, although it was really hard.
 
At last, the reward!  How to serve your glorious loaf?  Being so nice and crusty, these kinds of loaves are great served with soup for dipping, especially French Onion.  I found out also that my bread was GREAT for French Toast.  On another night, I soaked a couple pieces in the juices of the steak I had broiled and then toasted the slices in a cast iron pan on the stove.  That was really good.  Of course, being homemade bread with no preservatives your loaf does have a limited shelf life.  I stored mine in a container with a lid that didn’t really seal all that well with a piece of paper toweling to soak up some humidity.  The loaf should last quite a few days, but really mine got eaten before it was in danger of going bad.  If you’ve got some left over at a point when you feel like it might be getting past its prime, cube it up, toss it with olive oil and spices, and bake in the oven for AWESOME croutons.  You can freeze these for months and use a few when you need them.  But you probably won’t have enough bread for that unless you bake a loaf specifically for that purpose.
 
I have to say, this time the process of making sourdough bread was much more enjoyable for me.  I was less stressed about the whole thing, I didn’t have any expectations about how it was going to turn out, I had dispensed with all those “bakers’ ratios” or whatever you call them, I almost kind of flew by the seat of my pants, so to speak.  And everything turned out wonderful.  Good luck in your baking, you can do it, too!
 
Ciao until next time!
 
References:

1. Great easy recipe with embedded video (be sure to watch the video, they have to rescue a newborn calf and it is cute) https://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2020/04/sourdough-bread-recipe.html
2. Something I just found on how to score your loaf: https://sourdoughbreadsupportgroup.com/sourdough-bread-scoring/?v=7516fd43adaa

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I had planned on doing a tutorial on making a Kindle Paperwhite sleeve, but my ReMarkable2's battery gave out in the middle of making the pdf, so we're going to go with something else instead.

COFFEE! YAY!

I have to preface this by saying that I got the idea for my "fancy coffee" when I saw a product in the store and thought, "hey, that looks interesting!"  It was Copper Cow Vietnamese Pour Over Coffee (See affiliate coffee link HERE).  I didn't buy mine from Amazon, I got mine at a local store, but it's the same product.  I really liked it, and it is convenient.  I got the lavender one (that's what the affiliate link takes you to) but they make others as well.

Anyway, I love these kinds of things and it's fun to try different products without the hassle of trying to figure it out for myself, but sometimes what I like is not the most popular thing and I get left behind as trends and tastes change.  So I'm always looking for ways to keep my own tastes satisfied.

One of the things in the Copper Cow package were packets of sweetened condensed milk.  I don't know why, but I had never considered using it to sweeten coffee.  And in case you are lactose intolerant or lactose sensitive, or have other reasons for avoiding dairy, here's an alternative: Nature's Charm Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk.  I haven't tried this so I can't give you a recommendation on it except to say it's a dairy free option.  At any rate, I found the idea of having the condensed milk packets to sweeten the pour over coffee an intriguing one.  So I decided to try it myself.

I also had on hand some syrups.  It's a 3 pack of Amoretti floral syrups that I got because I put like to put the violet lavender syrup in my sparkling water.  I also like the idea of the rose flavored syrup.  Someday I'm going to find the Rose Earl Grey Tea recipe and make that using the rose syrup.  I'm less interested in the Orange Blossom.  As the name suggested, it is not orange flavored but rather orange blossom flavored.  Quite a different flavor to what you expect.  At any rate I had on hand the ingredients to make a fancy coffee.

​Do you like my coffee area? This is where the fun all starts.  That crazy multi-color mat was something I made so that I could do my coffee pouring but not care too much if coffee spilled on it.

So there's the grinder, the Aeropress set up, the Bodum milk frother (not used today), the Sanka (which I only bought because of Sebastian Maniscalco, I also had a box of Entenmann's coffee cake)  and my cute embroidery piece I did from a kit.

I used my hot toddy cup (and yes I did purchase it just because I thought it would be nice to have my hot toddies in, recipe for that to come later) this time because I thought it would be nice to see the coffee in a clear cup.

OH! This coffee takes some advance prep, by the way.  Freeze some strong coffee in an ice cube tray at least overnight. You'll be glad you did.

Boil about 6 oz of water in the microwave.  You can do this on the stove, but for small amounts it's really easier in the microwave.  I have several Pyrex measuring cups I love for doing this.  I say "about" 6 oz because this is really according to your taste.  It's kind of an "espresso like" coffee.  The Aeropress doesn't make a true espresso (no crema that I've been able to come by with it) but it does make a strong little cup of coffee.  Use the amount you like for one serving.  I put mine in the micro for about two and half minutes.  That's a bit much, but it ensures my water is at the right temp even if I'm busy doing something else with the Aeropress for a moment and I have to let it sit for a tiny bit.

Of course this also hinges on what wattage your micro might be--you can see mine is 1,000 watts.

Be careful when you take it out in case you've superheated the water.  I've done this a couple times.  It boils in the micro to the point where you don't see the bubbles anymore, but when you take it out and jiggle it or put something in it **POOF** boils over violently.  BE CAREFUL WITH BOILING WATER PLEASE.  I want you to have a nice cup of coffee but I don't want you to get burned.  Keep aloe in your kitchen just in case of very minor burns.  BE CAREFUL.

​Here's another part of my coffee set-up.  The little containers are pre-measured amounts of different coffee measured perfectly to make a full pot of coffee in our full-size coffee maker.

My fave right now is Community Coffee Pecan Praline. But I'm not going to use that for my fancy coffee today.  You'll see what I've got in a moment. 

BUT I did use some leftover Pecan Praline for the coffee cubes I froze in some silicone ice cube trays.  I'm still getting used to those.  I didn't think they were that great at first, but now they're growing on me.

Make sure you store your coffee cubes in something with a lid that can keep out flavors and smells from other foods.  Keep a box of baking sode in the freezer, too.  No matter how hard you try, every once in a while smells get out of hand in fridge and freezer.  Just keep an eye (nostril?) on it.

Here's the main coffee selection for today.  I had previously ground up a bit of the Dunkin' coffee as fine as I could manage in my hand grinder.  I'm still getting used to it.  It's kind of a cheap one, but not bad for the price.  I think it was less than $20 if I am remembering correctly.  I don't like for it to sit for too long even in the sealed jar so I figured I had better use it.  I don't know exactly how much this was but it was about an Aeropress scoop full (maybe 15 g? I think).  Again, this is personal taste.  Use about as much as you think you'd like for a single small serving of strong coffee.  

Now, get ready, because I'm going to use the Inverted Method for using the Aeropress.  I think it's better because I can just leave my coffee to steep while I'm doing other things, like getting sugar and flavorings and whatnots ready.

Ok, so you've got your Aeropress ready, you've just taken your water out of the micro (BE CAREFUL).  Carefully dip your filter in the water (watch for super-heated water!!!!) to moisten it and put it in the plastic filter thing.  That's all I use, I don't have any fancy after-market add-ons.  This is an older model of the Aeropress that I've had for a while so I don't know if the accessories are different now.

I put my coffee in the Aeropress and poured in the water and put the filter thing on top.  

I don't do any of the fancy "blooming" of the coffee (well, sometimes I do, but not usually) so I just pour all the water in and let it steep while I do some other things.

Oh, make sure you've got your condensed milk out.  I keep mine in a glass jar in the fridge, so I take mine out at the start so it's warm enough to pour out easy.

​Pour the condensed milk right over the syrup.  No measuring it because it is syrupy and sticky.  About a tablespoon or so.  Maybe even a bit more.  This coffee is strong, and we're going to use the ice coffee cubes, too.  Make it super sweet.

All this time your coffee has been steeping. It's ready by now for sure.  Invert the Aeropress over your cup.  Coffee is going to start pouring into your cup.  It's ok.  It's how the Aeropress do.

Just press your coffee out CAREFULLY into your cup.

​After pressing out the coffee but before the stirring.

Do I have to tell you to stir your coffee? 

Of course I don't.  

Stir all that magic together.

​I usually put three or four coffee cubes in my coffee.  Stir well first to distribute the syrup and condensed milk before you put the coffee cubes in.  

It's glorious.

It's not a lot, but you really don't want to drink too much of super sweet, strong coffee all at once.

Of course you can skip the coffee cubes if you want.

You can make it more Americano by adding plain water to make it to the level of a regular cup of coffee.

You could froth milk and put that in instead of the sweetened condensed milk or along with it.

Obviously flavoring is up to you.  Try different syrups, different flavors of coffee, no syrup, whatever.

Enjoy!!!!

I was sewing and cooking today and kept putting off the blog.  I kept thinking about it, until my fiancé got home from work and he was not feeling well (breathed in some kind of dust at work) so I had to concentrate on that.  All of a sudden, it was bedtime, and I hadn't done the blog yet.

That's life, folks.

So I decided to put on my PJs, make some hot cocoa, and type out something for you good people to read about.

Just life.

So, what to go on about?  How about spur-of-the-moment  sewing projects?  The missal cover for my 1962 Missal was grating on my nerves.  I had mocked it up out of some different pieces of thin Wally World flannel, different barely matching or mismatched pieces, just to see if I could do it.  It worked OK, so I left it on, all the time meaning to update it to something that actually looked like an adult owned the missal.  I was working on plans for a commissioned missal cover, realized I didn't have the correct measurements (but I did get some useful notes written down),  and all of a sudden decided to make a new missal cover for my missal.  It was good practice.  Any time you can not only practice your skills but use whatever practice piece you made for a practical purpose, that's a win-win situation right there.  Sometimes you just have to take some scrap pieces and try something out that will never be used for anything other that headers or footers or a scrap quilt, but if you can, use your practice to make a coaster or a place mat or just some little doo-dad.  You'll be glad you did.

Most of the day seemed to fly by.  I made another napkin out of another fat quarter.  I realized they are slowly making fat quarters smaller.  They used to be 18" x 23".  Now they're about 18" x 21".  If you're lucky.  I'm old enough to remember Andy Rooney's rant about coffee.  I think it was about how a 5 lb bag of coffee wasn't 5 lbs anymore.  At least, I think it was about a 5 lb bag.  And this was, what, 30 years ago? More probably, I don't remember when he did that one.  I think I watched it live on TV.  Who buys a 5 lb bag of coffee anymore?  Mostly I find 3 lb bags at the store now.  Everything is getting smaller, I swear.

Spice jars! Those are way too small.  And so expensive!  But still, if you can, make way in your spice cabinet or on your spice rack for some new spices this year.  I know we're halfway through, but why not try something different?  I just decided to try working mace and cardamom into my recipes.  In fact I made my own spice blend including those two things.  And I made my hot cocoa a little mysterious tonight by adding some mace.  Mace is like nutmeg, in fact it's just made from a different part of the nutmeg nut.  Nutmeg spice is made from the actual nut, and mace is made from the coating of the nutmeg nut. (By the way, it has nothing to do with the stuff you spray on attackers.  That's something else.)  I haven't side-by-side compared the two, but nutmeg is supposed to have the stronger flavor.  I'm not sure I agree.  I generally like cinnamon and nutmeg in my hot cocoa, but the mace is good, too, and just a dash perked up my cocoa more than I think a similar amount of nutmeg would have done.  Perhaps it's not stronger, but maybe a deeper flavor?  More experimentation is certainly in order. Cardamom is a completely different flavor profile.  I'm not sure if I would prefer it in sweet dishes or savory dishes.  I'm thinking it could work equally well in both.  It seemed to me to be a kind of fresh pop of flavor and fragrance.  And by the way, if you're interested, here's my spice blend:

• ​1/2 tsp roasted garlic powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp ground mace
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom

You could increase it just by keeping the proportions the same.  In case I wasn't clear, "tsp" stands for teaspoon.  That's how I abbreviate it in my notes, anyway.  This blend is a work in progress, I think it lacks a bit of oomph. At any rate, if you wanted to increase it you could do, say, 1 tsp roasted garlic powder, 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper, 1 tsp onion powder, 1/2 tsp turmeric, etc.  Just keep the ratio of ingredients the same.  Or don't.  Perhaps you like or dislike one of the ingredients? Use more or less.  Or omit entirely.  I'm keeping the mace and cardamom in for now.  I used this in my pizza sauce today and it wasn't quite enough.  I did forget to put oregano in my pizza sauce this time.  The last time I made pizza sauce I didn't forget the oregano and I made my Italian fiancé cry tears of joy because it reminded him of his grandma's pizza sauce.  I sure won't forget next time! 

Well, I'm getting to the end of my mug of cocoa, and it's quite late here.  Have a good week, all, and take time to relish a bit of flavor when and where you can.

​Ciao!

​First off, a little housekeeping.  I've joined the Amazon Affiliate program, and I want to put the disclaimer in every post just in case: The operator of this website is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.  Therefore, some links in this blog may be affiliate links.  I might get paid if you buy something or take actions after clicking one of these links.

OK.  That's out of the way

Ok, sorry about the affiliate thing.  I don't think I'm putting any links in this blog post, but you never know.  I wonder how long I'll be in this program, I'm not a person that naturally pushes products on people.  I'd make a very bad telemarketer, I'd be like, "Do you want to buy our product?" and the person would be like, "No." and I'd be like, "OK."  I would be written up a lot, probably.

I'm trying to put together some things for the podcast, the Tomato Blog, and this blog.  Wow.  Plus thinking about Christmas presents I want to make. If you're going to make Christmas presents, you might want to start thinking about that now!  Certainly by August.  I usually wait until too late and, then, well, it's too late.

Also, I'm thinking about doing a giveaway.  I've got two mousepads I'm making, an eight by eight inch square and a six by eight inch rectangle.  It would be nice to give them to a couple people and have them try them out.  I'm really loving the one I made for myself.  In order to finish, I need to get some more supplies, though.  Hopefully I'll get some volunteers to be guinea pigs.  Which I think are really cute.  I mean, actual guinea pigs.  Have you seen those things? They are super cute.  Hedgehogs, too.  Super super cute.

Anyway.

Next subject.

Stacking processes.

I think that's going to be my next post.  I'm trying out more and more complicated things in the kitchen as well as having other things to do doing the day (like forgetting that I don't have certain ingredients and having to run to the store to get things, etc.) and I'm getting into some weird time crunches.  Thankfully, dinnertime is fluid so I don't absolutely have to be done at a certain time.  But it would be nice to be able to space things out so that I'm not so fussed with getting things done.  Part of the problem is I don't know how long certain things take.  Like, I want to do some homemade personal veggie pizzas today.  How long is the frozen homemade pizza dough going to take to thaw?  I took it out early in the morning (for me, about 8 a.m.) so I don't  now if it's going to thaw too early and then it will rise too much and, oh boy, what's going to happen?  But the only way to find out is to try something.  Plus, what about the veggies? I want to pre-cook them, especially the onions, I want them nice and caramelized.  When should I start that? How long does that take? The peppers?  Things are getting complicated.  I am hoping to have some tips for you on that by next time.

What's next?

Decluttering.

I'm talking about life, not necessarily your closet.

I've noticed lately a lot of subscription services.  A lot of stuff wants you to buy their product, but in order to get it, you have to have it delivered on a regular basis.  What started out as a way to try new and different things is becoming a lifestyle.  For me, it's too much clutter.  Too many boxes.  Too much stuff.  The more I can do myself, just buy something I can use over and over again and not have to depend on a service that may not be around in a few years, the better.  If you can buy a nice reusable bottle and throw some fruit, ice cubes and water in it, why do you need a water flavoring subscription delivered all the time?  That's a lot of packaging, even if they do try to reduce the amount of packaging they use.  And I'm talking about a lot of packaging for just one person -- how many people are using this service?  How much packaging is that?  Even if it's biodegradable, that's a lot of trash. I've decided, for myself, that I want to stop relying on things that often change, whether they change price, change their terms, or disappear completely.  I think it's time for subscription services to go back to what they should be instead of a lifestyle. Reduce, reuse, recycle.  Remember that?  Am I dating myself?

Well, that's it for today.  I'm trying another loaf of sourdough, seeing if I can complete a nice loaf in just one day.  It's quite warm here now, so bulk rise shouldn't take too long.  Wish me luck!  This will be my third loaf.  The first was bird food.  The second got half eaten, and then the rest cut into croutons.  Perhaps this will finally be a proper slice cutting loaf.

Ciao until next week.  See what you can reduce! Simplify! Have a good week, guys.

(btw, sorry if there's a lot of grammar and spelling errors in this post, I'll go back and proofread later. :) )
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