leek confit and lazy boh.

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What does a rooster with allergies and a sinus headache do after teaching on Thursday? Make leek confit, of course. (And do laundry. And make more chile verde base. And vacuum. And scrub the dish drying rack. I have a problem with sitting still.) This recipe for leek confit also comes from Local Kitchen — so simple, so tasty. We followed Kaela’s advice and spooned this over a bowl of noodles with salt, pepper, parmesan cheese, and a little bit of goat cheese. Super easy, and so good.

I realized yesterday that I haven’t been posting as many pictures of Boh lately. Don’t worry, he’s still working just as hard as ever.

Yesterday I snapped a quick picture of my freezer. Not too much room left  — which is a good thing. Seems I am way better at playing in the kitchen than I am at reading books these days.

And here’s a shot of my idlewood — almost time to divide for the sleeves. I managed to knit a few rows while watching the first episode of Bones (Season 6) this morning, which was a lovely way to start the day. And right now, there are peaches simmering in bourbon and sugar on the stove. (Not a bad way to spend the afternoon…)

Happy first weekend of fall!

chard, pizza, simple things.

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The first day of fall hit me hard. By mid-afternoon, I was feeling lousy, and was finally convinced to crawl into bed for a nap around 4. I’m not sure if this was allergy-related, or if I’m coming down with some sort of transitioning-to-fall flu. Feeling alright this morning, but trying to take it easy, just in case. So this is yesterday — simple things: chard from the farm, blanched and packaged to go into the freezer, pizza with cherry tomatoes, basil, mozzarella, and cherry tomato confit, and, of course, simple things in shawlette form.

Off to campus. (Is it the weekend yet? Please?)

green and partly dilly.

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First up: dilly beans. Now I’ve got at least 10 pints on the shelf, which should be enough to both enjoy at home and share. (I actually ran out of pint jars yesterday, and had to pick up another tray on my way home from the farm!) Dilly beans are always more time intensive than I think — mostly because I never trim my beans to exactly the right length, and I always have to re-trim as I’m packing the jars. These are totally worth the hassle, though, and I’m psyched to taste these after they spend a few weeks mellowing and pickling.

I also made Kaela’s Chile Verde Base — this stuff is delicious, and so simple: tomatillos, garlic, hot peppers, and cilantro. Basically, you partially roast the first two, and throw all the ingredients in a food processor. I’m going to make another batch of this later. Storing this in the freezer to use as a base for soups and sauces prompted me to clean out the freezer. (Stock from 2008? Green chiles from the Southwest that I did too good of a job hoarding? I’m looking at you.) Now there’s room for lots more chile verde base! Oh, and berries. I might have frozen what we picked on Saturday as incentive to do a good job picking yesterday…

I had plenty of dill remaining from the beans, so I tied the longer stems into a bunch and hung them near the window to dry. I absolutely love the idea of home-dried herbs, and I am excited to use these in my cooking this fall and winter.

Just when I finally had the week’s produce under control, farm day came around again. The boy and I spent the afternoon picking blackberries, raspberries, more cherry tomatoes, more paste tomatoes, flowers, hot peppers, tomatillos, and a whole tote bag full of chard. I’m planning to blanch and freeze this later today. And make more salsa or chile verde base with all the tomatillos.

Also, I might have accidentally visited the orchard yesterday. (Hey, it was on the way home from taking friend K. to have her stitches out!) We might both have accidentally walked away with 8 quarts of peaches. (For 8 bucks.) Oh, and a few apples. Despite being the last peaches of the season (and labeled as “culls”), these are gorgeous. I’m going to cut one up and tuck it into my bowl of granola in a moment…and then I’m going to dedicate another fifteen minutes or so to daydreaming about what these should become. Jam? Butter? Peaches in some kind of (boozey) syrup? More on that soon.

For those of you who come hear for the fiber (and not the food), never fear. I’ll have knitterly things back in the rotation soon. I’ve got another week (or so?) of farmy abundance to process, but once the first frost arrives, I’ll be able to happily gaze at my shelves of winter preparation and get back to my knitting and spinning!

rooster can can.

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(A tired joke in canning circles, to be sure. But it is early, and I need a title for my blog post…)

On Sunday morning, I woke up early and set to making a full batch of tomato puree (a la Local Kitchen again). I paused mid-puree to take a picture. (That food mill was actually tucked way in the back of one of my kitchen cabinets when I moved in, despite the fact that my apartment was previously occupied by a solitary male undergrad who made a big mess of the stove and otherwise, to my eye, anyway, did not use the kitchen so much. Whenever I move out of this apartment, I’m taking it with me.) I simmered and simmered the juices from several quarts of paste tomatoes, and ended up with 7 pints of tomato puree.

I am in love with the super bright red of this puree — and am excited to be able to make homemade sauce from on-hand ingredients later this winter! (I also see adding this to hearty soups and stews.)

It is Tuesday again, which means farm day, and I am still struggling to put up all of the additional produce we picked in the fields last week! These peppers need to be frozen or pickled, and I’ve got a full canvas bag full of green beans that need attention.

The canning pot is on the stove, and the jars are on their way to being sterilized for a batch of dilly beans. I’m intending to pick as much as I can this afternoon and then try to freeze or can in all of my spare time this week. Temps have been in the high 40s at night here in town, and up at the farm, the first frost is imminent (after which, much of the field produce that is available for preserving/freezing will be done for the season). I’m just going to keep doing that can can until then — it is (and will be) super rewarding, but man, preserving is exhausting! I may have gotten into bed at 9:30 last night.

I did grant myself a small break from canning on Sunday night, and instead, sat down at my wheel to listen to a podcast or two and finish up the first bobbin of this bfl from SCF in the Reflection colorway. I love these colors, and am really excited to spin up bobbin #2, get this plied together and washed, and then in the mail to a dear friend who knits. (It would be nice to get this to her before the cold comes, so that she has time to knit herself something warm with it!)

Okay, time to pour another cup of coffee and get back to those beans!

tomatillo, -illo, illo.

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Pronounced incorrectly, the word “tomatillo” calls to mind a certain pop song (circa 2007). Not exactly my preferred genre, but the suggestion of said song does make me smile, if only because the memory a particularly enthusiastic ’round the campfire acoustic version takes over in my brain and makes me think of my time in the Southwest. What else makes me think of the Southwest? Tomatillos. (-illos, -illos…)

And now I have to tell you about a new blog that I’ve read cover to cover since I came across it on Friday morning: local kitchen. Kaela makes everything from salsa and mustard to jams and booze-y preserves, and it is all beautifully photographed and thoughtfully described. Swoon. My adventures in blog-reading on Friday evening may have prompted me to print out a slew of ideas for my kitchen binder. And then I had to retire my kitchen binder and transfer everything to a bigger 3-ring set up. That’s how great Kaela’s blog is. Local Kitchen was a timely find — here I was, with a kitchen counter COVERED in farm produce, and without a good idea for what all of that deliciousness was going to become.

First up, Kaela’s Salsa Verde. Tomatillos, green peppers, hot peppers, onion, garlic, cilantro…yum. I might make another batch this week.

Next? Cherry Tomato Confit, also from Local Kitchen. The boy and I went to the farm on Saturday to pick more produce before the season’s first frost, and several of the cherry tomatoes were literally splitting as we picked them — bursting with juice and flavor. I took a pint of these and slow-roasted them in the oven, turning them into Cherry Tomato Confit, and now there is a tiny 4 oz. jar in the fridge filled with the powerful flavors of sweet tomatoes, basil, parsley, thyme, garlic, and olive oil. On pasta? On pizza? Straight out of the jar?

I also harvested several big handfuls of mint to hang to dry in the kitchen (also something I learned from Local Kitchen). I love these pictures so much. Something about the vibrant greens.

And that isn’t even the whole of my Local Kitchen-inspired weekend adventures. Yesterday I may have been saying aloud (to anyone who would listen), “I don’t want to be a grad student right now. I just want to play in the kitchen.” Sigh.

And I do actually very much want to be a grad student. I’d just really like to press pause on life for a week in order to focus on preparing my kitchen for winter.

More produce, and even some spinning next time!

jam/toast.

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Friday morning, tomato jam and goat cheese on toast. This was exactly what I needed to start the last day of the (school) week. The jam is very sweet at first, and then the flavors smooth out a bit and there is a nice kick (from the chili flakes) at the end of a bite. I was concerned about the consistency of the jam — seemed a bit loose to me — but this was well within the range of the jam category, though I spread it with a spoon instead of a knife. I’ve been reading a bunch of food blogs that focus on preserving, and I’ve seen some discussion about how flavors mellow and meld as canned food sits on the shelf. Or in the fridge. This makes sense — the last jar of my summer 2009 dilly beans were different than the earlier jars. And some meals that are just alright as dinner are incredible as leftovers.

So I like this! It appeals to my love of savory breakfast food, and I’m interested to see if the flavors in this jam mellow over the next few weeks (for the jar in the fridge) and months (for the jars stacked on the shelf). My next plan is to slather this stuff on grilled cheese, and to think about using it as a sweet/spicy homemade alternative to ketchup (and someday, I’ll try my hand at making my own ketchup!).

Also, Friday morning it was chilly enough for a fleece vest and my handspun (knitted) toast. (I swear I wasn’t thinking about blog post content when I both ate jam on toast and then put on a pair of toast. But it works, doesn’t it? Silly rooster.)

Speaking of silliness, somehow the boy managed to get Boh perched on a chair. And then Boh serenely gazed out the window.

On Friday night, after a long week, we curled up and watched a movie, which meant that I finally picked up my idlewood. I am super close to separating the sleeves from the yoke. And I am super excited about this sweater.

Also, remember all that produce I posted about? Stay tuned for a whole slew of kitchen adventures…

tomato jam.

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Last night I made tomato jam. And even though incredible aromas filled my entire apartment, I think I need to take my own advice next time and avoid evening canning. See, the recipe calls for allowing the tomato mixture to simmer for 1 to 1.5 hours, in order for it to get all sticky and jammy. And after 1.5 hours, I stirred my mixture and thought to myself, “Well…it isn’t quite thick enough, but it has been an hour and a half, and I am tired, so I’ll go for it.” Then, I packed the jars (mostly tiny jars and a few half pints) with a ladle. I think a slotted spoon might have been a better idea, in order to create a stickier jam. (The strawberry-balsamic jam recipe that I love uses a slotted spoon, and separates the gooey bits from the thinner syrup.)

All that said, I am excited to try this, and am hoping that the water bath/cooling time has helped a bit with the congealing. And in the future? I’ll start this in the morning, so that my tiredness is not a factor in deciding when my jam is jammy.

I haven’t tasted this stuff yet, but I’m guessing it is amazing. I had a pint or two leftover, due to the small size of the jars I had handy, so I tucked that into the fridge. Planning to spread it on toast with some goat cheese for breakfast…I’ll report back.

good/bad.

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Good: yesterday I received a box of ice cream. Of Jeni’s ice cream. In the mail. Complete with a love note and special effects (fog from the enclosed block of dry ice). The friend who sent this rocks far more than I do. And the ice cream? It is fabulous. We savored several small bites of the salty caramel last night after dinner. I will not even attempt to describe the fullness of the flavors that combined to make me incredibly happy.

Bad: The dent the resulted from my poor choice of a three-point turn location. This occurred about 15 minutes after I discovered the box of ice cream on the front porch. There is a tree on my street that I love. It stands on the next block, so Boh and I walk by it all the time. It is tall, sturdy, and has a bulbous, knotty, interesting trunk. I never noticed (until yesterday, anyway) that one of the round, knotty bumps sticking out of the trunk hangs out just a bit over the curb. And when I, in a hurry to make a meeting, left without my phone, I pulled a quick three-point turn to head back to my apartment. Problem was, I chose to do so right at this tree. And as you can see, when I backed up (still on the road, mind you), a bulbous portion of the trunk made a bit of an impression below my rear window and to the side of my spare tire. The whole thing is sort of ridiculous. Somehow I managed to position myself so that the bulbous part of the tree was exactly where I couldn’t see it. Super lame that I’ll need to put some extra money into my car, but in the grand scheme of things, I don’t think I could have avoided this (or now, reproduce this)  if I tried. Plus, ice cream makes everything better.

Thanks for listening. After I went outside this morning to take a picture of yesterday’s dent, I dug out my handspun eternity scarf. It was cold this morning, so I wore this doubled up on my walk to campus, and then wore it in a big loop once I was inside. I love this, and wear it all the time. I really should cast on another…

the forecast.

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The farmers at the CSA I belong to send out an email with the week’s “veggie forecast.” This week’s report suggested that the nights are getting cooler, and that a lot of the crops available for picking will likely last only until the first frost…which might be here sooner than we think. So, yesterday, instead of knitting sleeves as a break from my reading, I decided to spend an extra hour at the farm. I gathered at least 15 quarts of paste tomatoes, a canvas bag full of green beans, and a few handfuls of tomatillos for salsa — all in addition to the week’s share (onions, peppers, cabbage, cauliflower, tomatoes, salad mix, basil, parsley, potatoes, leeks).

Looks like that veggie forecast has turned into a bit of a rooster forecast — I think I know what I’ll be doing this weekend! (Preserving. I just saw a recipe for tomato jam that looks pretty yummy, I’d love to can a few more quarts of tomatoes for the shelf, and I can always use more dilly beans…)

Also, I couldn’t help myself. I picked a huge armful of zinnias — the fields are still practically overflowing with them. Yesterday was the first farm day that felt like fall, and the cooler temperatures made it much easier for me to linger in the rows of herbs, flowers, and veggies.

I had about a quart of handpicked paste tomatoes that had ripened nicely in the fridge yesterday, and the plan was to make a small pot of sauce. I actually finished the book I had set out to read yesterday, so I decided to do something more elaborate — homemade noodles. This was the first time I’ve ever hand-cut noodles to a fettucine-ish width, and boy, do I need some more practice. Despite their irregularities, the noodles were delicious. We ate them immediately, with some homemade sauce. (And I didn’t even think to take a picture. My stomach was too excited about dinner.)

I do, however, have some non-pajama action shots of my textured shawl to share.

This is slightly too scratchy to be worn super close to my neck, but draped a bit more loosely, it adds a nice amount of warmth. It is also perfect to wrap around my shoulders while curled up on the couch. This will certainly be in my rotation of warm things this fall and winter — and I think it might look really nice with my Kerrera! Extra motivation to start those sleeves later today…

WIP smart.

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Sorry about that. I can’t help myself. (Seriously. Last week I taught a section on Marco Polo, and it was all I could do to not begin class with: Maaaaarcoooo! And yes, you’re right. I do not work on 12th-century China. The class I’m TAing covers a lot of ground.)

Anyway, back to knitting. This weekend, I took a mini-vacation to my friend K’s apartment. She had minor surgery on Friday, so Boh and I went to keep her company and help her with things that are tough to do one-handed. (You know, like open those child-proof pill bottles.) She’d certainly have managed without us, but I think our plan was more fun. I tell you all of this to explain that on Thursday night, I found myself deliberating not over what books to pack, but over what knitting to bring with me. The weather has turned fall-like, and as such, I’ve been in a sweater-knitting mood. And then, while digging for my notions bag, I came upon my (rather embarrassing) pile of unfinished cozy sweaters (which even includes a neglected, and thus totally unhelpful test-knit). As soon as I touched the Ultra Alpaca fabric of my Kerrera, I knew that was the sweater that would be coming with me.

I discovered that I was a lot further along than I remembered, and this weekend I knit the reverse stockinette portion of the back and both fronts. This morning I did the three needle bind off to seam the shoulders, and slipped it on to get a sense for the fit. So far, I am very happy. (I decided to do the bind-off on the right side, as I’m not sure the pattern suggested which way to do it. I figured the raised, but clean, seam on the outside would make the sweater sit more comfortably on my shoulders, and mirror/echo the fake side seams on the body. The wrong side looks really great — an invisible seam — and I was probably supposed to do this the other way, but I think I like the choice I made.) You can’t see the shoulder seams in this pictures, but since I’m knitting this as part of a relaxed KAL, (Hi, Mick and Laura!) maybe this info will come in handy.

Next up? Sleeves! (Actually, a big pile of reading first, then the sleeves.)