Another little sewing project from this week. It’s a different and more elaborate pattern than the smaller basket I made last week (meaning it takes 45 minutes instead of 25 minutes to make…still super easy). The outside is made from a delicately thin plasticized material I bought in Canada. The colours are beautifully bright and spring-like. Something we’re all in need of after this spell of freezing cold winter weather. It’s a great size to store all sorts of bits and bobs in. I’ll be busy making lots of these when I get a few moments (might be a while though).
Archive | February, 2012
Cestino
16 FebSan Valentino
14 Feb
I’m wishing everyone out there a wonderful day full of love and happiness. Not just because it’s Valentine’s Day though. I think all of our days should be full of love and happiness. 
Here are the treats (not sugar free I’m afraid) that the kids are taking into their classmates and teachers.
Yayoi Kusuma
13 Feb
Next month my family and I are going to Japan for a two week vacation. It’s a trip I’ve been fantasizing about for years and I am so excited to go. I’ve always been so intrigued by Japanese culture, art and food (who isn’t?). The last while we’ve been busily organising and planning our trip and trying to find all the most interesting activities and places to visit with a family. One of the most exciting ones we’re in the process of organising is a trip to The National Museum of Art in Osaka to see an Yayoi Kusama exhibit. We weren’t planning on going to Osaka but when we saw this exhibition we decided to fit it into our plans as a daytrip from Kyoto (where we will be staying for almost a week).
Yayoi Kusama is an amazingly interesting and talented Japanese artist who has been voluntarily living in a psychiatric institution since 1977 (she is now 82). She’s famous for her paintings, sculptures and installations that almost always include polka dots. She was quite prominent in the modern pop culture scene in New York City in the 60’s where she is said to have had a huge influence on artists such as Warhol. She has actually just opened a big exhibition at the Tate Modern in London which includes one of her largest “Mirror Rooms” to date (on from February 9th to June 5th).
I pretty sure my polka dot obsessed daughters are going to love this exhibition!
Tutorial: Small Fabric Basket
12 Feb
Here is a very basic tutorial that a good friend of mine designed for a very sweet little fabric basket. Very quick and gratifying. I used oilcloth for the outside and a cotton for the inside but it would be possible to use only cotton as well (or even nicer would be linen). If using cottons or linens I would recommend using interfacing to make it stiff enough to stand up on it’s own. The paper clips are used to avoid getting little pin holes in the plasticized material or oilcloth. Please let me know if I wasn’t clear on any of my instructions (I know the corner part is a bit hard to see in the photo). 
Petit Fours
10 Feb
I don’t have a bucket list but if I did I think attempting to make petit fours would be on it…at about number 87. And yesterday I did just that. I attempted to make petit fours. Key word being attempted. The result wasn’t the image I had in my head when I started yesterday morning (blush pink miniature cakes with smooth perfect icing and a sweet embellishment on top). But they are really tasty. And if I were to ever attempt to make them again (doubtful) I have lots of things I would do differently to make the whole process MUCH easier and less time consuming. One of the most important aspects of making Petit Fours is making the glaze the perfect consistency. At first mine was too liquidy. Then too thick (hence the lumpy result).
The recipe is from on old Martha Stewart magazine from 2006. I always keep MS magazines and re-read them from time to time (yeah that’s right…I’m a geek). It’s a marzipan cake which is absolutely delicious. Very dense and moist. I spread some raspberry jam in between the cakes and the almond and raspberry tastes really compliment each other. The glaze is a simple icing sugar/milk mixture.
Get Spring Shower Almond Petit Fours recipe here.
Pesto di Rucola
9 FebAnother day, another mason jar recipe. I was browsing through some great blogs and I came across this recipe. I had a fridge full of lemons and arugula so I figured it was meant to be for me to make it. And I’m so happy I did. It is all sorts of delicious. It’s one of those recipes that I can make at any time due to the fact I always have every single ingredient in my house. I’ve looked at Italian recipes for Pesto di Rucola and none of them call for anchovies but I think it’s a really perfect addition to the recipe. It gives some saltiness and of course the famous depth of flavour that is always associated with adding anchovies to any dish. Put anchovies on my pizza and I’ll be running away in horror but saute them in a pasta sauce or puree them in pesto and I love it.
My husband and I ate it on crusty white ciabatta with goat cheese for lunch. Then on pasta for dinner. Then in a salad dressing the next day. You just don’t get bored of this stuff. Get recipe here.
Incubo
7 FebThis morning I finally finished the carnival cloak that I started a few weeks ago. And once again it had me on the edge of complete mental breakdown. That material! That slippery, slide-y, silky nightmare of a fabric. Never again. Ever. But I didn’t give up. And for that I’m very proud of myself. The cloak might have pleats and puckers where there shouldn’t be. And it might be left unhemmed. And it’s even possible not one member of my family would be caught dead wearing it. But that’s fine. I chalk it all up to a really good learning experience in sewing and a reassurance that my mental state is pretty stable (I didn’t lose my cool…not even once). After finishing the cloak we had time to make a quick fabric basket. Very miniature but very sweet. I’ll be making many more of these during these cold days at home.
Here’s the little fabric basket with the famous cloak hanging in the background.
Whimsical
6 Feb
Trip to the grocery store en famille. Eva noticed that people were staring at her and smiling. Amazing how a little colour and whimsical fashion can make people happy.
Red lentil soup with fresh coriander
5 FebIt is so so so cold here at the moment. It’s all I talk about to anyone I meet. At bit like when I had newborn twins and all I talked about with anyone who even made eye contact with me was sleep deprivation. It was actually -15 when we got home from a party last night at midnight. I’ve decided to not leave the house until the Italian weather smartens up and the crocuses (croci ?) start sprouting. I keep expecting to find my chickens frozen solid in their little house in the morning when I take them their heated water and kitchen scraps. How can they survive? I’m seriously thinking of knitting them this or this. So of course to make us all feel warmer I decided to make one of my favorite soups. It’s a recipe from my mother and I actually have no idea where she found it. It’s delicious and so flavourful. Lots of fresh coriander is a must. I have a thing for photographing food in mason jars lately.,,,,
Red Lentil Soup with Fresh Coriander.
2 onions finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
3/4 cup red lentils
820 grams crushed tomatoes (or 2 large cans)
1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/3 cup fresh coriander, chopped
2 tsp tumeric
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp black pepper
Cumin to taste (I put a lot)
1. Saute oil, onions and garlic for 2-4 minutes.
2. Add all other ingredients, bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.
4. Puree soup (or not) to desired consistency.
Agrumi
4 FebThis past week has been quite a citrus-y week. First lemon curd and now blood orange marmalade. But living in Italy it’s quite normal to eat and cook with citrus in the winter months. You find trucks from the south of Italy parked on the side of all the roads selling their oranges and clementines. The men who sell these fruits have such a thick southern accent that I sometimes have a hard time deciphering what they’re saying to me and I do a lot of smiling and nodding. But the oranges that they sell are so delicious. Full of flavour, not too acidic and sometimes so sweet. I found a recipe for Orange Marmalade in an old Martha Stewart magazine from years ago. I altered it a little by adding more chopped rind, less sugar and by using blood oranges (Tarocco) instead of normal oranges. Apparently these Tarocco oranges are packed full of antioxidents, vitamin c, folate, calcium and dietary fibre. But I’m thinking all that good stuff is wiped out by the truckload of sugar the marmalade recipe calls for. But it is oh so tasty.
Recipe: Blood Orange Marmalade
3 Organic oranges (I used 2 blood orange and 1 normal)
2 cups freshly squeezed orange juice
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
6 cups water
7 1/2 cups sugar (I know…it’s nuts. I only added 7 cups of sugar)
1. Rinse oranges under hot water. Cut orange in 8 wedges lengthwise. Slice these wedges very thinly crosswise (to get little triangle shaped pieces).
2. Over medium-high heat bring orange slices, orange juice, lemon juice and 6 cups of water to a boil in large heavy bottomed pan (Le Creuset pots are perfect for this). Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 1 1/2 hours. The oranges slices should become slightly translucent and tender.
3. Stir in sugar and bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Stir constantly until sugar is dissolved. Continue cooking (skimming foam from surface) until mixture reads approx. 220 on a candy thermometer (about 15 minutes). If you see mixture is still runny cook a further 5-10 minutes until syrupy.
4. Let cool and transfer to an airtight container or sterilized bottles. Enjoy!
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