Bake My Day!

Baby it's cold outside... from the archives: peasoup

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:59:00 +0000

You'll need:
500 grams split peas
ca. 500 gr. pork: ribs, chops, pigs feet (Not me I don’t!)
2-3 large potatoes
3 leeks
parsley and celery each a handfull
2 onions
2-3 large carrots
better half of a medium celeriac
2 bay leaves
3 liters of water
P&S (a lot!)
Rookworst (smoked pork sausage), perhaps some salted pork...
Chop up most of the vegetables fairly small but keep a bit of every vegetable in larger cubes for adding the last 15-20 minutes. The vegetables dissolve and thus add flavour to the soup, but I like to have some recognizable bits of colour andbite in the endproduct. I’m a bit apprehensive about smoked meat, the flavour can be very prominent and I like it to be lingering in the background, so I add the smoked pork sausage at the very end. I know a lot of people add salt pork too, my mom does but I have some issues with smoked and/or salted pork. (Pregnant with twins, making this soup, the pork…trust me you don’t want to know).
Anyway, Peas and meat (except the sausage) in the largest souppot you have (thick bottom), with 3 litres of cold water and the bayleaves. Bring to a boil, use a slotted spoon to clear the surface of any foam. Cover and lower the heat, cook for an hour, stir every once in a while. Add the vegetables, simmer for another hour, stirring every so often. Uncover the pan and simmer for another hour, keep stirring and scrape that bottom!.

By now the meat can be taken out so you can clean the bones and cut up the meat, icky bits out of the way, (brrr childhood memories of a spoonful of soup and biting into something that goes boiing between your teeth, or worse: tries to escape your teeth……my mom is all about not wasting any “good” bits of meat..woohaa) and put the meat back in the pot. Slice the sausage and add the rest of the vegetables. Simmer for about 30 minutes more. Add salt and pepper and parsley to taste. This velvety soup needs quite a bit of salt and pepper, unless you used a slice of salted pork.

Let cool. As it cools, it firms up so that a spoon will stand up straight.. This is the part where my kids like to join in.”Can I test it now? No let me.." squabble, argument, bicker and within minutes there are… three spoons standing….
Best eaten the next day! For reheating I recommend using the microwave so you won't risk a burnt taste and please refrigerate or freeze! (this soup is know to "turn around" ie get sour in an instant).

"Snert" with "katenspek" on pumpernickel.

Burnt orange skirt / rok 20 Knip November 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 15:07:00 +0000

Working on this skirt (Knip no. 20, november 2011) in a bouclé or almost felted wool. Rather heavy fabric but very easy to work with, even on the curved seams.

These pics are showing the front panel only, back panel is ready to have the zipper installed (center back zipper). Debating on the color… rummaging through my stash I found a plethora of zippers in all sizes and colors but none even close to this color of course. I think I will use an invisible zipper which I think is easier to install and with this fabric I don’t want any extra bulk added. The one that comes closest is a neutral khaki one. Not sure yet whether I’m going to use that or try and find one that’s more orangey. (Don’t even know if they exist).

Hier ben ik nu mee bezig, rok no. 20 uit de November Knip. Het gaat lekker vlot, die wollen bouclé is prettig om mee te werken, er zit net genoeg rek in om die ronde naden mooi te krijgen. Maar nu.. alleen het achterpand heeft een tailleband, voorkant blijft zonder. Dacht ik slim te zijn en die tailleband achter lekker weg te laten. Ik bedoel maar, wie heeft er behoefte aan een extra bobbel op de bips? Ik niet. Dus ipv de tailleband apart te knippen liet ik het stuk lekker aan het heupdeel zitten. Tot ik de zijnaden even ging spelden om te passen.
Tsja… dan loopt die bovenste naad natuurlijk mooi over in de tailleband… en de naad daaronder in de naad van het heupdeel achter. Weet nog niet wat ik ga doen, tóch die tailleband knippen en eraan zetten of zo laten? Ik zou evt nog een sierstiksel op het achterpand kunnen zetten om een overloop te suggereren, is dat een idee?
Dan nog even de voering (om de een of andere duistere reden heb ik toch zó’n hekel aan voering inzetten in een rok!)

Still need to cut a lining. I hate lining a skirt!
And then there’s the question: to waistband or not to waistband? In this pattern only the back panel has one. Looked a little odd to me on the line drawing but when I pinned the side seams together for the fitting it occurred to me that the seam on the little triangle on the hip will line up with the back waist band…. as well as the lower seam will line up with the upper back panel….
Right.
The instructions tell you to cut a separate waistband (waistband and back panel are one in the drawing) and I thought I was smarter and just leave it attached. I mean who needs another bulky seam on their behinds? Not me!
Perhaps I should have listened. I can still cut a separate waistband, no problem. Undecided. Yet. Hmm.

New fabric!

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:48:00 +0000

Started this grey and rainy Thursday morning with an introduction Pilates class (ouch!) and went home all energized. Vacuumed the second floor, rearranged the “study”, all our administration from my sewing room (yay! I have a sewingroom now. Need to make pics.) back to the study again. I need the space the ordners take up in the sewing room after all. Thought it was a good idea to have it all together within easy access so we could pay bills and file away all that paperwork right away.

Not going to happen. As it is, my work table is occupied by fabric and sewing machine and stuff. And… I ordered fabric online so that needs a place as well. This fabric came in the mail this morning! Makes me happy! (and a bit guilty because I am buying fabric without a project in mind…. but isn’t that a part of quilting as well. I believe they call it: “building a stash”.. Well I am building!

Volledig album bekijken

Happy! I needed a bit of happy because I got an inkling we have to move/remove the shed in our garden after all. I don’t want to think about it too much at the moment because the stupid, arrogant, ignorant city is making me cry and bash their heads against the wall at the same time.

ZEN… look at my fabric…

Amazing Babe bread in two hours! {Cuban Bread}

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 07:30:00 +0000

For this instalment of the Babes Baking Bread Ilva put us on the track for a different bread. The usual suspects; flour, yeast, water, salt nothing new. But this gem only requires a very short fermentation and after shaping it goes right into the oven.... Into a COLD oven. Yes that is right, the rise-after-shape part takes place in the oven heating up. Isn't that amazing?

Let me assure you that it is quite eh different but the amazing part is that the result is a great loaf of bread. A real one, crackly crisp crust, nicely browned and a soft but firm interior. Like you'd spent half a day getting it baked.

You should have seen the Babe mails, one after the other pulled this loaf (or loaves) out of her oven and squealed that this method got us real bread. Nice soft sandwich bread said one, really great ovenspring said the toadstool baker. Another told us that this is bread and explained that if it looks like a duck, it quacks like a duck; it's a duck. (Read bread for duck, just being helpful here)

Well mine reached glorious heights and colored a deep golden brown! Can you see the ovenspring pushed the sesame seeds on top all the way down the sides?

Have to say it's all you want in a dough to work with, silken, soft and so elastic! I baked two regular loaves today (no minor feat because I really suck at baking anything lately) and those plus the Cuban in the oven make me yearn to bake more and more bread. Tonight. Tomorrow. Don't care if there is no one to eat it, I will share it with innocent passersby if I need to.

Dough (makes two 25 cm round loaves)
( from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads)

775 gr bread flour (original uses: 5-6 cups of bread or AP flour )
480 gr hot water (original uses: 500 ml/2 cups hot water)
2.1/4 tsp instant yeast (original uses 50 gr fresh/ 2 packages dry yeast)
1 tbs table salt
2 tbs mörk sirap (original uses: 2 tbs sugar)
(which is a Swedish dark sugar syrup still hanging around in my pantry)

by hand or mixer (15 mins)
Place 4 cups flour in a mixing bowl and add the yeast, salt and sugar. Stir until they are well blended. Pour in the hot water and beat with 100 strong strokes, or three minutes with a mixer flat beater.
Gradually work in the remaining flour (using fingers if necessary), 1/2 cup at a time until the dough takes shape and is no longer sticky.

kneading (8 mins)
Sprinkle the work surface with flour. Work in the flour as you knead, keeping a dusting of it between the dough and the work surface. Knead for 8 minutes by hand or with a dough hook until the dough is smooth, elastic, and feels alive under your hands.

rising (15 mins)
Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and put in a warm (26-37°C/80-100°F) place until doubled in bulk, about 15 minutes.

shaping (4 mins)
Punch down the dough, turn it out on the work surface, and cut into two pieces. Shape each into a round. Place on the baking sheet. With a sharp knife or razor, slash X on each of the loaves, brush water, and, if desired, sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds.

Baking (205°C/400°F; 45-50 mins)
Place the baking sheet on the middle shelf of a cold oven. Place a large pan of hot water on the shelf below, and heat the oven to 205°C/400°F. The bread of course, will continue to rise while the oven is heating. Bake for about 50 minutes, or until the loaves are a deep golden brown. Thump on the bottom crusts to test for doneness. If they sound hard and hollow, they are baked.

+++++++++++

Followed the instructions to a T including the 100 strokes with a dough whisk. Kneaded with the dough hook attached in stand mixer; 4 minutes on 1 and 5 minutes on 2. Then gave it a couple of slap/folds on the counter and that made it come together all springy and supple but tight. Yummy dough.
Degassed and shaped in two round boules, slashed one without sesame, the other was sesamed first then slashed. Filled a large shallow metal ovendish with boiling water from the kettle and put it in the oven, then slid the loaves in and set the timer for 45-50 minutes. Fan assisted oven on 200C.

Was a bit worried because I baked these in the large oven (90 cm) which takes more time to heat up. Needn't worry, they took their sweet time in the heat but when I got them out after 45-50 minutes they sounded hollow, were beautifully golden brown with a crisp exterior and a creamy soft tight crumb.

the Family said:

- Silence.. chewing.. reaching for the next slice: Mom, this is genius bread.

- Chewing, swallowing reaching for another slice: hey, epic loaf how much is there?

- So how many slices each of you had already? I'd only had two.. counting.. Mom, is there another one like this?

Safe to say this is a keeper. Thanks Ilva, great choice! As usual; go and see our Kitchen of the Month for the original recipe and the instructions how to bake with us and get an original Baking Buddy Badge designed by Lien! You don't want to miss out on this bread and the Badge!

Some notes:

- Some Babes had lighter colored bread and the votes are undecided which element caused that.

- Some Babes succesfully subbed whole wheat or spelt for some of the white flour

- Some Babes had to pull the loaves out ahead of time because of color/done ness. Keep an eye on it!

Baby Diaper Bike

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 15:43:00 +0000

For my sis.. or rather for her baby! Yesterday (yes indeed, that was Friday 13th) she delivered a healthy little baby boy.

So yesterday night I dove head first into the newborn diapers... to wrestle them into this:

I think it's pretty darn cute!

This tutorial was a great help to put it together, so happy I found it. Of course I put off making it until the last moment, (as if I didn't know my sis was pregnant haha) but still happy!

Yes, We Have No Bananas. {An ABC chocolate swirl cake}

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 19:22:00 +0000

This is my second year of ABC-baking where we choose to bake a recipe each month from one book. In 2012 you’ll see us baking through: The Weekend Baker by Abby Dodge.

(I ordered my copy here btw, excellent customer service, great prices, no shipping costs! I’m just saying…)

First let me get into a little introduction about the book, don’t let the title fool you into believing you’ll be getting recipes here that can only be baked when you have two days with nothing to do on your hands…

No! This is a book that is written with busy people in mind. The author breaks down the recipes into doable stages, instructing you when and how to prepare and how long each step will take you. This way she enables you to bake lovely recipes by preparing ahead and setting things aside until you’re ready for them the next day. Recipes are listed in the order of the time they take, so if you will you can have cookies in 30 minutes, or a cake in an hour. When you’re in for something more elaborate there’s always the chapter: “productions” (equally broken down in easy steps).

Hanâa contacted Abby and she was excited to pick our first recipe herself: Nut-Crusted Chocolate-Banana Swirl Cake! Sounds good no? That’s what I thought. I also thought that anything banana except fresh doesn’t go down well in my family. The book has been on my writing table for a week and I couldn’t decide what to do. Bake anyway using bananas, risking that no one will eat it? Bake and leave them out? What will that do to the recipe?

Today I decided I had procrastinated long enough. That cake needs to be baked. And when I opened the fridge the answer came from a small bowl of leftover homemade apple sauce whispering: Use me! Usually we never post recipes from the book we’re using as to encourage readers to buy the book but I tinkered around a bit so I think I’m allowed ;-):

Not crusted, no banana, cocoa swirl apple cake
{adapted from The Weekend Baker by Abigail Johnson Dodge}

12-cup Bundt/fluted pan, buttered/spray
oven preheated 180C/350F

the batter:
- 255 grams ap flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 heaped tsp baking soda
- scant 1/4 tsp table salt
- 160 gr unsalted butter, room temp soft
- 220 gr granulated sugar
- 200 gr. home made smooth apple sauce, room temp
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp dark rum
- 3 eggs
- 6 tbs créme fraiche, stir to loosen up a bit
- 2 heaped tbs cocoa, sifted

hand full roughly chopped walnuts

Prepare the pan, use butter or spray. Drop chopped nuts on the bottom of your pan, dividing them between the rims.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and whisk until well blended. In a large bowl, combine butter, sugar, apple sauce, vanilla and rum. Beat with a handheld mixer (or use the paddle attachment on your stand mixer) until well blended.

Although all my ingredients were at room temp. it still looked a bit curdled but no need to worry!
Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition just until blended, stopping to scrape dwon the sides of the bowl as needed. Next add half the flour mix and stir gently with a rubber spatula until just blended. Add créme fraiche and blend, then add the remainder of the flour again until just blended.

Divide batter in two equal parts; one is left white, the other part gets the cocoa stirred in until nicely combined. With a spoon, add a scoopful of each batter around the pan until all the batter is used. I didn’t swirl with a knife afterwards because I spooned both batters alternately but you could if you wish.

Bake for 45 minutes, check with a toothpick or cake tester inserted near the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack to cool for 10-15 minutes, no longer.
Abby warns us that the cake will stick if you leave it longer than that. Unmold too early and it will break into chunks. Sounds scary huh?

I was a bit worried about unmolding because I heard one or two rumours about sticking/chunks… Holding my breath but the cake slid out just as it should. While I’m typing this up there are munching sounds from the livingroom. Or rather there’s silence (I wouldn’t want you to think I didn’t raise my family to eat properly…) The husband is sneaking up towards the counter and asks for seconds already holding the knife…. He is allowed only if he leaves enough of the cake to photograph tomorrow! Mission accomplished, really really good cake!

I like it, although it's quite dense it is not dry at all. Love the fact that you can easily distinguish the two flavours, my Dutch processed chocolate made for a very chocolatey taste, and in the white parts you can track down the rum and vanilla. Nice!

Wishing you happy days and smooth sailing

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 10:55:00 +0000

Never been one to reflect and look back, too busy looking forward and planning ahead, making my lists.

This year feels different. These tiny crybabies are 15 going on 20 (at least that’s what they think) .. and the one on the right is 18 and going to spill coffee grounds in his own room-away-from-home next year.

Ch Ch Ch Changes…

We all wish you a very Merry Christmas, Happy days and smooth sailing in 2012

Karen

Bread Baking Babes Stollen (part two)

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 07:32:00 +0000

The final breads.. what comes to mind immediately is the phrase: Function before Form… I am not too happy with the shape I got. Serves me right for shaping hastily, before dashing off (ha! Dashing…) for an unexpected errant, coming back to a fully risen tableau of three loaves that amiably pushed against each other.

Although… I am quite smitten with this littly beauty up here! This one I shaped into an oval to distinguish it from his two brothers because it’s got almond paste inside where the other two are filled with little marzipan balls.
Also this is the only one that got a coat of home made clementine-ginger jelly and the festive bigarreaux (in other words hideous coloured cherries shouting Christmas to me). Love it!

Two of the loaves are resting in the freezer now, the sugar dusted one is cut and eaten as we speak. It’s good! Could use some more filling I guess but I had to fiddle with it because my stash was diminished by me previous Baking Babes try. These have currants, raisins, cranberries, abricots and candied ginger inside. No nuts. Just Glory.

Bread Baking Babes: Stollen for Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 23:29:00 +0000

For the last time this year we managed to get around the table with Susan steering us towards a true Christmas Stollen! A stollen with a twist, because this one is made with an overnight preferment and loads of butter.

Of course there should be butter in your stollen but this one called quite some and then some more!

The dried fruit got it’s overnight soak in a little rum, smelling lovely in the morning. (I’m allowed to sniff a whiff although it’s early morning right?). Then my predicament began… the dough with all the spices smelled so good, the preferment was incorporated well and nice, the dough spinning it’s circles in the mixer, getting stronger and pliable at the same time. So far so good.
Our Susan is an excellent recipe writer, taking you by the hand and leading the way, she specifically mentioned that this dough needs a long time to knead (around 20 minutes depending on your mixer) but I overlooked the fact that it doesn’t rise much in it’s first stage. I was waiting and waiting, willed it to show some progress. Worried I put it in the steamer oven on the rise setting, get it to move! By the time it did, it was late at night. Too late to bake. I felt horrible but deflated it (poor thing, did all it could only to get deflated!) and put it in the fridge. The next morning I had a pathetic cookie like dough. Waited a couple of hours but decided this wasn’t going to work. All my fault! Today I baked stollen. Not Susan’s but my own recipe because I wanted to show and tell and had no time to set the preferment yesterday. Please head to Susan’s for her recipe, do as she tells you to do and I am sure you’ll have a wonderful Stollen with extra depth from the preferment and the spices! Go on and make your family some great Stollen and become our Bread Baking Buddy!

Above is mine… those marbles you see peeking out? They are marzipan balls coated in cocao. Left over from our Sinterklaas celebration and although Susan didn’t call for any almond paste/marzipan in her recipe I know I’m in trouble with my family when there’s no “pot o’ gold” inside. I made three Stollen, one with traditional almond paste and two with the marzipan balls inside.

They’re all baked and sitting out on the counter all nice and golden but this is no time to make pictures. Will post tomorrow with final pics and the recipe.

Oh and please? Do make your own candied citrus peel…. it is so darn good!!

Thanks Susan for having us, especially today, hope you had a great day!

Whole wheat honey buns – steamer oven muffin tin

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 21:13:00 +0000

I guess I still know how to bake bread? Suddenly the boys remembered their Mom used to bake bread regularly.. They smelled them, found them, ate them and asked for more. As if a memory of how bread can taste/smell came to the surface all at once.

I really try to use my combi-steamer more, or rather incorporate the use in everyday cooking. Or, in this case baking. This is a rather simple bread dough in itself but using a muffin tin and the steam setting on my oven produced a wonderful result.
The crust was deliciously crisp and the interior still moist with that nutty whole wheat flavour and a tiny hint of sweet by using a little honey.

For the dough:

300 gr. whole wheat
200 gr. bread flour
1.1/2 tsp instant yeast
1.1/4 tsp regular table salt
1 heaped Tbs honey
325 gr milk
3 Tbs oil/butter

Bread maker: Combine all ingredients in a bread maker and choose the dough setting.

Stand mixer: Combine both flours, yeast, salt, oil and stir with a spoon, start the mixer on medium speed using the dough hook and add the milk, pouring slowly. Knead in slow to medium speed until the dough is coming together and clears the bowl.

Continue mixing in medium speed until the gluten is well developed. Window paning will not work as well with this whole wheat dough as it will with all white flour. The dough will curl around the hook and does not stick to the sides of the bowl. (Some will still pool on the bottom of the bowl.)

Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, cover and leave to ferment for about 45-60 minutes. I’d like to pull the dough up and over itself halfway, just to give it a little more oomph.

Shape: Tip dough out of the bowl onto your lightly oiled work surface and divide into 12 equal pieces. Roll into a ball using a cupped hand and exerting a little pressure on your dough ball –pushing it against the work surface- while making circular motions. Doing this will create tension and leave you with a nice tight surface –and a little belly button showing on the underside of your roll- :-D

When you are going to use a muffin tin to bake in, grease it well! Make sure you also grease the circumference on the top. These are going to grow and puff and you will want them to slide out, not hack them out! They will hold up equally well if you’re baking them stand alone btw.
Place your balls of dough in the muffin tin, cover and leave to rise 45 minutes.

I used the rise setting on my steamer oven and didn’t need to cover because of the steam. Do you think they are ready to bake?

Bake in preheated oven (200C) for 15-20-25 minutes. Yes I know, strange times but it all depends on how large your muffin tin is and how hot your oven runs. Just keep an eye on them and look for a really nice honey golden color.
For me it was easy, my oven has a “bake buns program” which uses steam and fan in the first 10 minutes and then adjusts the heat to bake the buns off. Really scary to leave it all to the machine and at the same time strangely relaxing to just push a button and walk away. I have to admit that I stayed and watched the first time I used that setting, didn’t trust it for one bit. It does feel a bit like cheating actually.

When baked leave them to cool in the tin for about 5 minutes, maybe a tad longer. They will work up some sweat (haha no, but they will steam up a little and make release a bit easier on you). Don’t keep them too long in the tins though!
Pry them out and leave to cool on a rack. Mine was in use so I put them on a wooden board on their sides. They look like giant toadstools no?

Steam the easy way: Put an old shallow tin on the lowest rack in your oven as it heats up and at the same time you slide your bread in toss a handfull of ice cubes in the tin.Or, but please be careful! Same tin, preheated together with the oven, but in this case pour about 1 cup of hot water in the tin. Close the door, let bake and after 10 minutes into baking time, open the oven door hereby venting the steam and remove the steam pan. Let the buns bake according to the directions.

Fellow Babe Wild Yeast Susan did research on how to and why to steam, you can read all about it here.

In the meantime she patchworked some…

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 11:24:00 +0000

Hmm, that sounds very much like I am actually working. Nice. Patch Work. Anyway, some time ago an idea started to take shape in my head and I took off on this supersecret project which I can’t discuss here because the person receiving this might be reading along and the proceedings weren’t much to my liking.
What I really thought was something along the lines of: well how hard can it be? You cut some squares from different fabrics and then you’ll sew them all together again in a different order. Pah. I can do that. First started out with my fabric scissors.. hmm.. can’t this go quicker and more precise? So I asked and got myself a self healing mat (I like that word) and a rotary cutter for my birthday. Nice! But it needs some getting used to. No really. And there are tricks. And rules.
Turns out there are all kinds of tricks and rules. Because when you’re done rotary cutting (straight lines girls, and straight lines are hard!) then you find out that that old fabric that you had is not the best for a beginner. Stretchy denim anyone? Not good. Upholstery quality fabric? Not good. Well I suppose it can be done and I did it but easy and beginner worthy it is not. Then with that experience under my belt I started on the secret project. Using all cotton this time. But all cotton is not equal I found. Some cotton is a looser weave. And it will warp while sewed.
I huffed and puffed and read loads of stuff online, how to’s, tutorials, went to the library, you name it I read it. (Well, a lot anyway). Then I debated for a little while and finally allowed myself a quilting class. So that is what you see here. This is going to be a sampler quilt, learning different techniques along the way.

Choosing fabric or rather colors is a whole new subject on itself. Boy that is HARD!
I wanted this to be something I would really use and see. So I thought I’d use purple and green because our livingroom is all shades of grey and I am currently in love with bright green and purple accents. Think grape hyacinth purple and green. Something like this.
I don’t think I got what I had in mind. I was a bit intimidated by the choice of fabrics in the quilt store and the teacher helped me get fabrics together. When she showed me her pick I thought okay, let’s do that, but I am not so sure about the result. I think a beginner is allowed her first quilt to be not so great but that is something that I have some trouble with. I need everything to be right from the start. Yeah, I like being hard on myself. (those pesky points need to line up exactly… aargh!! I am so impatient, I want to see results! Can’t use that here.. Teacher said that it is about the journey as well, not about being there. I think I need that as my mantra.
I found I like patchworking. I love it. Especially since we did two blocks of paper piecing! Love it!
I thought I’d let you know. There are some more blocks ready but not photographed yet. Will keep you informed. About the journey. Not the result. :-D

Streusel away! Bread Baking Babes bake Coffee Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 07:28:00 +0000

Officially this should be called a Streusel Coffee Cake. Dreamed up by our hostess Tanna this month. We were at her virtual kitchen table sampling the catch of the month and trying to decide which coffee cake was worthy to bake.
This was going to be it. A Streusel Coffee Cake so called because you are supposed to top it with a lovely mixture of nuts, oat flakes and raisins.
However, very recently this household is graced with two Brace Bearing Boys and since a crunchy topping with nuts is not exactly what their doctor ordered I decided to do away with the Streusel. Hence…. a naked cake like bread. I fiddled around with the original recipe (halving the recipe making one cake, adding more and more flour , upping the yeast and also leaving the flax seed out, plus leaving the sponge in the fridge for two days. Oops.) and somehow the resulting cake went sky high and took forever to bake. I think the final baking time was close to 50 minutes, maybe even longer. I stopped counting minutes after a while.
Streusel Potato Cake (Kartoffel Kuchen) (this is my adapted recipe from “One Potato, Two Potato” - Roy Finamore
for the original please refer to Tanna)

Yield: 1 large (10”) round cake

120 g potato, peeled and cubed
(reserve cooking water and up it to approx. 200 ml total liquid)
70 g butter, cut into pieces
1.1/2 tsp dry yeast
70 g soft light brown sugar
handful of raisins in the dough instead of the topping
1 large egg
420-470g AP flour
100 gr whole wheat flour
⅛ tsp nutmeg, freshly grated
¼ tsp salt

Cook potatoes until very tender, just falling apart. Drain and reserve potato water.

Rice or mash the potatoes. Combine with butter and 205 ml warm potato water. Allow butter to melt and water to cool to luke warm.
In a standing mixer bowl: mix together the potatoes, potato water & butter, yeast, sugar, eggs and 1 cup of flour. Beat until smooth. This is supposed to be VERY liquid at this point. (I added more flour to get a more doughy sponge.) Cover the sponge with plastic and leave in a warm place until it's bubbling happily.
In the original recipe this takes1 hour, you can also leave the sponge in the fridge for about 5 hours.
Stir in remaining flour, nutmeg and salt using the dough hook for about 5 minutes. Dough should be smooth. Add more flour if needed (I did) to make a workable dough. Cover again & leave to rise until doubled. (you can also let it rise in the fridge overnight)
Punch the dough down and turn out onto a lighty floured surface. Shape into a round. Place into a greased 10-inch round cake pan. As you can see I used a Bundt pan.
Preheat oven to 400° at least 20 minutes.
Bake cakes at 400°F (200ºC) 40 - 60 minutes. until cooked in the middle (check with a thermometer). Tent with foil if it gets too brown. Cool on rack, but this is also good lukewarm.

I think it’s the whole coffee cake idea here but the thing went largely untouched on the counter for a couple of days…. I think my family loves to know exactly what it is they are eating. (Is it a bread, Is it a cake, noooo it’s a plane. Should we eat it with butter? During a meal? As a snack? You know what, we don’t touch it until we are sure what to do with it.)
Granted it looked great, high domed, nicely done, lovely crumb but ugh.. it was dry! I guess that was me adding too much flour in the mix.
Oh well. At least we got the pictures!

Star fruit pillow and thinking about a sewing room/office

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 13:23:00 +0000

Just some random thoughts....

Made this one some time ago, still in love with the colors and I thought it would fit into the color scheme I am thinking of using in my soon to be dream sewing room/office space. I would really like to use aqua/red/tan.

Already tan/taupe curtains in place and the wooden floor is painted a grayish blue.
So what's with the green in this pillow? Green is out of the color scheme!

I need to think some more. About the size of the table (room is tiny and I need space for two to sew. Either one setting for my locker or when my friend and I have our weekly sewing session). Will be continued. I hope.

Restverwerking; foto’s en zomerfruit! Fruit cobbler

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 08:13:00 +0000

Toen we dachten dat de zomer nog moest beginnen.… niet wetende dat we zulke druipdagen zouden hebben. Toen ik helemaal geen zin meer had in bloggen. Niet wist wat ik te melden zou hebben wat in de verte nog de moeite waard zou kunnen zijn. Nou toen dus… werd er evengoed gekookt en gebakken. Weinig brood moet ik toegeven maar toch best wel andere dingen.
Zoals deze cobbler. Zo leuk en zo snel om te maken. Ik had rijpe perziken op de fruitschaal en een zak zomerfruit in de vriezer. Combinatie met een beslag en een hele vlugge cake op tafel. Kan niet beter toch?

Fruit Cobbler

Voorbereiding: 20 min
Oventijd 175C , 1 uur
Ingevette Ovenschaal: metaal, vierkant, 9 inch/23cm

Ingrediënten

220 gram boter
180 gram suiker
150 gram zelfrijzend bakmeel
220 ml melk
ik gebruikte 3 kleine perziken en een handje vol bevroren zomerfruit
extra suiker voor het bestrooien.

Doen:
Laat de boter smelten in een pannetje of kommetje in de magnetron. Meng suiker en bakmeel in een mengkom en roer daar de melk doorheen met een garde tot een dik pannenkoekbeslag).
Voeg dan de gesmolten boter toe en klop alles flink door elkaar zodat je geen spoortje meer van de boter ziet en alles goed gemengd is.

Giet het beslag in de ingevette ovenschaal en strooi het fruit erover. Grotere stukken kun je beter een beetje strategisch neerleggen, met kleine stukjes kun je je uitleven op het strooien. Indien gewenst –erg lekker- kun je nog wat suiker over de bovenkant strooien.
Bak ongeveer een uur in de voorverwarmde oven tot het mooi goudbruin ziet. Warm is het erg lekker, koud trouwens ook. Voor de liefhebbers kan er een schepje vanille ijs bij of een dot slagroom.

Op de foto trouwens ook chocolate chip cookies (ei-vrij recept hier), en spinazie in filo deeg. Hmmm en een spontane rood fruit milkshake, en nog gevuld brood met spinazie, kruiden en kaas vermoed ik. Zie je, ik doe nog weleens wat!

Een plas water, een vreemd stofje {Jurk Knip Oktober 14, 2011}

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 06:55:00 +0000

Aargh!! Ik kwam vanmorgen uiterst vroeg (voor een maandag, herfst vakantie, niet-werkdag) naar beneden en zag 1 kat op de eettafel, 1 kat net weglopen….
Niet goed. En ja hoor, voor de zoveelste keer hebben “ze” een vaas omgegooid! (Of eentje ervan? Ik kom er nooit achter of het een gezamenlijke krachtsinspanning is of dat er maar één de boel omgooit en de ander gewoon komt snuffelen).
Geloof me, er is niets zo irritant om als niet-ochtendmens je woonkamer binnen te lopen en gelijk te moeten dweilen, losse blaadjes rapen, vloeken op de katten, allerlei druipende spullen weg te moeten halen. Ik gebruik bewust al geen ranke slanke hoge vazen meer :-( maar grote zware vazen met een minimale hoeveelheid water… Het maakt allemaal niet uit. ‘s Nachts kunnen ze niet in de kamer maar dit is dus in de tijd tussen vertrek van echtgenoot en oudste zoon en mijn binnenkomst. Vijf minuten? Zoon heeft gewoon de deur open laten staan en huppekee. Zo’n boeket blijft er altijd een beetje verminkt uitzien dat vind ik nog het ergst.
De tassenbodems hangen te drogen… die tas wilde toch al niet wat ik wilde. Kan ik nog even denken hoe nu verder.
De jurk. Ik zie nu pas op de foto dat het lijkt alsof de stof op zijn kop zit! (Ben ik de enige die de krantenkoppen kan lezen haha). Maar nee, dit is een heel vreemd stofje, het lijkt een beetje stugge stretchstof, maar het voelt als een rib; er zit echt een vleug in die ik braaf gevolgd heb. Had ook gezien dat het patroon gewoon kris kras loopt maar zie nu pas op de foto dat ik het patroon zo keurig recht gelegd heb dat het bovenvoorpand naadloos overloopt in de rok! Jakkes. Alle letters aan één kant. Handig zo’n pop!
Het model zit in een mum van tijd in elkaar, ik heb hem niet gevoerd maar had dat met deze stof wel moeten doen waarschijnlijk, het hángt een beetje aan je lijf/maillot. Was een beetje bang dat het dan te massief zou worden. Blinde rits middenachter, met de aantekening dat dit model best zonder kan mits van stevige jersey ofzo.
Wat ik érg prettig vond is dat het patroon er duidelijk rekening mee houdt (ruime arsmgaten!!) dat je er iets ónder draagt, een t-shirt met lange mouwen, misschien een pittige overhemd blouse (maar dan bij voorkeur níet zoals het model in de Knip het draagt met het bovenste knoopje gesloten en in dezelfde kleur zodat je de halslijn niet meer ziet). Ik weet niet wat dat is met die patroonbladen. Het lijkt wel of ze er plezier in hebben de modellen zo te fotograferen dat je als argeloze naaister vooral niet kan zien hoe het zit. Handig.
Heb het jurkje gedragen met een witte longsleeve, maar ook met een –toevallig- dezelfde blauwgrijze kleur- tricot jasje! Mét blauwgrijze laarzen en een maillot in dezelfde kleur. Niet helemaal toevallig natuurlijk, had de laarzen en het jasje aan toen ik in de stoffenwinkel dit stofje tegenkwam. Score!

Raspberry Buttercream cake {ABC September}

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 18:16:00 +0000

You better prepare yourselves for a snickering laugh.
I had it all planned, bake this edition of the ABC Bakers AND the next one all in one go and serve it for the combined September birthdays.
The baking of the cake went fine, not a glitch in sight but then I started on the buttercream and after all was said and done (and eaten) I think I know what went wrong.
I guess my egg mixture was still too hot and I sort of dumped it rather unceremoniously right into the cream cheese mixture… thus ensuring that all the air that was beaten into that was gone!
Resulting in a flat droopy albeit tasty buttercream smear.

This is the most flattering picture I made…. and this is the one that exposes the faults. Drip away you buttercream!

No strawberries because the raspberries in our garden were at their peak so I used them on and in the cake. I baked two separate cakes but in the end decided to use just one of them and freeze the other. I cut it in half, tried filling it with buttercream (hah!) and raspberries and served it outside together with the Frangipane Ripple Chocolate cake and a Plum Tart.
Have to admit that the Raspberry Buttercream was no match for the other two.
Flo Braker’s signature yellow cake from Baking for All Occasions was the base of this cake. It was excellent and a very easy recipe! See for the other ABC results the Avid Baker Challenge Blog!

Plum tart

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 18:10:00 +0000

This is a crap picture of something really delicious. See I had bought 3 kgs of these purple plums at the market. Got them for a really good price… and of course they were really …. let’s say ripe.
So much so that when I left them on the counter I could bin one or two each day. Not good. I needed to do something. Not jam. Pie. Or tart. Or as someone suggested a crumble. I did tart. And that my girls was a good thing. Two strokes of genius at work here. First; a class A recipe from David Lebovitz. Second: peeling or skinning the plums.
I’ve made plum jam before and I used to leave the skin on out of sheer laziness because I didn’t want to bother with a ton of slippery reluctant plums. I put them through a food mill but the result of course always was a pink/purplish jam.
This time I did it right and I loved the result. It’s so simple!
Just like you would do with tomatoes you score a cross in the skin of the base of the plum. Boil a kettle and pour the hot water over the plums. Leave for a few secs until the skin near the cross starts to curl. Place in cold water, then peel off the skin. Easy as that.
The best thing is that you are going to cook the plums anyway so if they get a little mushy from the boiling water it doesn’t matter. Then they went into a large saucepan with a little sugar (not too much I wanted to keep a little tartness) and I added some pectin as well. Cook until they fall apart, give it a good stir and let cool.
Easy Jam Tart
Adapted from David Lebovitz*
(Adapted from the Crostata recipe at Wednesday Chef)
100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
75 gr sugar
1 large egg
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
190g flour
70g fine ground cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
Approx. 375 gr cooked plum puree**

coarse raw sugar; known as cassonade, turbinado, or demerara sugar, for sprinkling
1. Mix butter and sugar until well-combined. Mix in the egg and almond extract.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients; flour, cornmeal, salt, and baking powder. Gradually add the wet ingredients, just until the mixture just comes together.
3. Measure about 2/3rd of the dough (about 330 grams), pat it into a disk, wrap it in plastic, and chill it. Take the remaining dough and roll it into a log about 2-inches (5cm) in diameter, wrap it and chill it, too
4. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow to room temperature slightly. With the heel of your hand, press the dough into the bottom and sides of an unbuttered removable bottom tart pan pat it out evenly. (I used one that’s 8″ but 9” or 10” will be fine as well, just make sure you save enough dough for the bottom).
5. Spread the jam evenly over the dough.
6. Remove the log of dough from the refrigerator and slice in cookie-sized disks, then lay them over the jam. Top with a scant 3 tbs of coarse sugar.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes in a preheated oven (fan assisted oven 180C) until the pastry is golden brown. Let cool and serve at room temperature.
This tart is great on the day it’s baked but equally nice a day or even two days after. Just make sure it’s well wrapped.
* I used less butter, less sugar because our flour is different
** David suggest approx. 450 gr of any kind of jam as long as it’s not too thin/runny
Verdict: I baked and served this one on our combined birthday together with a frangipane ripple chocolate cake and a raspberry buttercream cake. The next day there were only two pieces of plum cake left! Nuff said! We loved it!

Fougasse baked by the Bread Baking Babes!

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 16:14:00 +0000

Yes, it is already the 16th of October and this time Elizabeth invited us all to bake a fougasse, Any which recipe we like as long as it’s shaped, sliced and baked as a fougasse! I don’t know why but I never have baked a fougasse before. And now that I did…. I’m in love! It’s almost ridiculously easy and with such a pleasing result!

This time I used a regular white bread dough, nothing fancy but purposely keeping it on the wet side.
I used 500 gr bread flour, 350 gr water, 1.1/2 tsp yeast, 1/1.4 tsp salt. That’s it.

When you are going to bake this one (and of course you do, because who wouldn’t want to be a Bread Baking Buddy and have their own Buddy Badge?) handle your dough with a light hand, do not deflate just shape and try to keep as much air in as you can. (Same you would do while making focaccia).
I divided the dough in two, had one on a wooden board sprinkled with semolina, brushed with olive oil and herbs (below). The other one on a wooden board with flour and dusted with some more flour. (above)

Pat and push into a leaf-shape –or just keep it rectangular- and make the slashes with a dough scraper. With the same ease you might use a pizza wheel. Open them by softly stretching/pulling with your hands.
So many different recipes, and nothing in common! Some would let you rise the dough a second time after shaping and slashing, some would have you bake it right after shaping and slashing…. That’s what I did. I shaped, slashed and let it rest for a mere 15 minutes after that. Baked it on stone in a very hot oven. (250C to heat up the oven, turning down to 230 for baking 20 minutes).

Go and visit my fellow Bread Baking Babes (on the left hand side) and don’t forget: have some wine!
For details on more info on fougasse and how to become a Bread Baking Buddy please head over to Elizabeth!
This one is also being Yeast Spotted! Hi Susan!

Frangipane Ripple Chocolate Cake for the ABC Bakers

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 13:44:00 +0000

Frightfully late, due to a missing micro SD-card. They don’t call ‘m micro for nothing I guess. Well we found it!
I had planned this Avid Baker's Challenge as well as the last so carefully. Baked both well in advance and served them on our combined birthdays.
The boys love their chocolate so I knew this was going to hit the spot. Combine it with an almond mixture and we have a potential drooler on our hands.
Have to admit right away that I seriously underbaked the cake. I followed the recipe for the baking time but was too insecure to question it. Did test the cake and sure the cake tester came out with crumbs but I blamed the frangipane for it. Then it wouldn’t release clear of the pan… the frangipane stuck to the sides and caused the cake to break at a few spots. Grrrrr!
Took a couple of quick pictures and cut right in… yikes! All moist and crumbly, almost resembling a lava cake. I vowed never ever to bake a cake again! Never! I am SO NOT a cake baker. (The other challenge was a disappointment as well.) Although I’m told repeatedly I set my goals way way too high and not be so harsh on myself. Pffff I don’t know.

Anyway….To my surprise the frangipane ripple chocolate cake was attacked like there was no tomorrow! People came back for seconds and even thirds or telling me to cut bigger slices! Two requests for the recipe! Do you think I should add to definitely under bake the cake??
Don't forget to check out this month's ABC blog roll.

So maybe this would work?

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 18:34:00 +0000

Read this? What do you think? Should I try this?

My thoughts:

Son no. 1: Mmm worth a try, would probably work better if I hid some food somewhere.

Son no. 2: Nope. Is definitely not going to work. He would read, smile, write a really really funny response back and go on his merry way.

Son no. 3: Might work, he would spend only the necessary on food and save the rest to add to his clothing allowance.

Sigh

Cleaning frenzy in a teenage household

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 14:23:00 +0000

Yesterday I had a -rare- day of instant-gratification-clean-the-house-NOW! So while enjoying my first cup of coffee I made a list (hah, how typical! Don't you love crossing off items on your list?).

First the downstairs... tidying, picking up things and deposit them on the stairs, hanging the first load and loading the second laundry, vacuum, mop.. Climb to the second floor, vacuum, change the beds, open windows everywhere (what the heck is that awfull smell in teenager no. 2's room?***), fold two baskets of laundry and distribute.

Take a deep breath.

Up the second stair where the lairs of the remaining two teenagers are.... Grab stuff from the stairs on my way up. (Because they just step over it a hundred times or think the stairs are just 13 open drawers).
Room Son no. 3 is a mess. This fashion puppy will go to the trouble of carefully composing his outfit plus the hair but nevertheless throws his stuff on every single flat surface. Plus the annual international gathering of dustbunnies takes place in his room this year. I get the swiffer from downstairs and sweep. I don't pick it up and just pile it up for him to see.

Enter son no. 1 's room. The student one who is still living at home. We think. According to the knee deep mess in his room he is very agile. He must be because he couldn't reach his bed otherwise.
His desk is almost invisible under all the junk. So is his desk chair.
In a burst of anger I take the sheets off of his bed and sweep everything that's on the floor, his desk and the chair ON his bed. HAH! That'll teach him when he comes home tonight!****

Although..... scroll back to the above picture... I think that is what will happen.

*** the gruesome smell is located. My fear was that one of the cats couldn't get to the litterbox in time but all evidence points to his sportsbag.... Yes. I don't want to know either. Soccer shoes. Note to self: buy Fibreze.

**** Aaarggghhh!!! I crumbled! Discovered that he wouldn't be home until very late. Like past bedtime late. Because he started rock climbing. Which is a good thing. So. I eh. sort of backed up and put all his stuff in a big laundrybasket, made up his bed with fresh sheets. Yeah I know. Not good right? I did put the laundry basket on top of his bed though....
Do you think he got the hint?
No me neither.

Bread Baking Babes do the Twist; Pretzels

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 11:28:00 +0000

As much as I twist and turn to make everyone happy I couldn’t get the twist on this dough…

Elle as our Head Master of Kitchen table said the following: “let's gather around the kitchen table as the fabulous Bread Baking Babes delve into the past...610 AD in fact...and we can decide if we believe that these bread morsels were used by monks of that time to teach little boys to pray or to reward them for staying quiet during Mass...or both. That's the story behind Soft Pretzels, called Bretzels in German. The traditional shape resembles hands folded in prayer.
I really don’t dare to say it out loud but I’m afraid I made B…! Try again: B…! Honestly I tried but they became B… instead of pretzels! Pinched of pieces of dough, rolled them out in ropes, even got as far as to make a horse shoe shape and then somehow they coiled up into BUNS! *shudder*

There. I’ve said it. Buns. Not pretzels.

Feel so ashamed.

But boy did ~~they~~ we have fun that night! I bashed late into a party that was going on for a while in G+, all their breadies were done and the girls were ankle deep in conversation/wine. That’s the atmosphere I came in and had to bake. Yeah I can see you feel so sorry for me… Not!

Never mind their shape, the boys here ate them anyway! I feared the dipping in boiling water and the inevitable wrinkling afterwards (I cried out for help and from 4 girls around the globe came the answer that a really short stay in water evens out all the wrinkles. Now girls, think of that when you run your hot bath!)

Our girl Elle over at Feeding my Enthusiasms will have the recipe up for you shortly, I wish you words of wisdom, wines of fun and happy channeling cinnamon when you bake and become our Bread Baking Buddy! See Elle for the details and bake with us!

ABC; Cheese Blintzes

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 19:31:00 +0000

This is our September challenge for the ABC Bakers where we bake recipes from Flo Braker's "Baking For All Occasions". This time we bake page 130: Quintessential Cheese Blintzes.

To my Dutch ears this does not exactly sound delicious. Now try to seduce me with: Crèpes filled with a lemony creme fraiche and raspberry sauce…..Aaah! Much better.

I really think this will make an excellent –if rich- dessert for a nice showy dinner party but since we don’t dine this exquisite during weekdays I decided to do dessert for dinner and serve these. My family thinks I’m an A-list Mom right now. (I’ll enjoy it while it last ;-))

Basically you make small really thin pancakes (crèpes), fill them with a heaped table spoon of fresh cheese mixture**. Roll them like you would roll an eggroll and carefully bake them again in a skillet with a little butter. Serve warm.

I used cream cheese I had in the fridge, mixed it with egg, some sugar, vanilla extract and lemon zest. No quantities here because I winged it and adjusted the other ingredients to the amount of cream cheese I had left. (Flo would like you to add a little salt to the mixture, I didn’t). My mix was a little runny and I added some custard powder to even that out. Turned out to be just right, a slight tang from the cream cheese very nicely balanced with sugar and lemon zest.

The raspberry sauce is just that; fresh raspberries from the garden, flash cooked in a sugar syrup. Yum!

Absolutely my kind of dessert!! (Or dinner..)

** (Flo mentions farmer cheese and I have no clue what that is, substitutes are ricotta cheese or something similar like creme fraiche or indeed cream cheese).

Side note for the savoury lovers: I had some creamy leek-mushroom ragout left over and filled a couple of crepes same style. Can we all say “stroke of genius”?

Black and white

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 09:22:00 +0000

Next project; a nice thick jersey and a new-to-me pattern magazine. I went and bought two fabrics yesterday and spotted the latest edition of the Ottobre in the store as well.

This is going to be a first for me, I usually stick with Burda and Knip but as of late I am not too happy with the fit of Knip; shoulders all of a sudden too narrow, I’m forever making adjustments for arms, hips and waist.

There are quite a few nice patterns in this magazine, I sort of like the bell bottomed coat (my sewing friend goes Eeeeek!) there’s a nice basic t-shirt, the dress on the first page is fun, and I wonder if I can pull it off to morph the high waisted winter bermuda into regular pants.
To start I am sewing one of the dresses although it’s not very fortifying to see they call this: “Old School Teacher….”. Mean ol’ School Marm anyone?

Yeah right. (Actually they say Old-School teacher as in retro/fifties style. Or so I make myself believe). Well I am not fazed, I will proceed because I like this shape a lot.

The patterned fabric proves to be equally difficult to cut as a stripe/checkered. First of all I have to take into account where the white parts will go because they will bring forward your , let’s call it your good and your bad? Edit to say:
I cut into the fabric and the dress is almost finished! Yay! Not so yay is that I had to have the fabric open and position the paper pattern pieces so that I would have everything exactly as I wanted. That took quite some time. In the process of doing exactly that I forgot to pay attention to the fact that next to the pattern there’s also a stripe in there…. resulting in my side seams not matching. UGH!! Terribly out of practice I am!!

On a happier note; very satisfied with the fit and design of the pattern.

Favorite things!

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 08:43:00 +0000

Probably the one necklace I wear most because it is so versatile. See how the colors shimmer? The stone seems to adapt to the colors you’re wearing. Green, purple, blue… (I never wear pink but I can see it would go with pink as well).

The story started with the bracelet; a present from Tanna and Sue when they visited us eh… way back in 2007? Needless to say I was thrilled! That visit continued in discovering London together and lo and behold, I found a matching necklace in one of the artist jewelry shops in Portobello market: love at first sight!

Fast forward to August 2011, holiday in the US for the first time since the boys were tiny toddlers, strolling through –very very touristy but oh the scenery!- Sedona.

We found lots of stores selling native American jewelry and I remembered Sue telling me they found the bracelet in a similar store…. you could have heard my brain clicking. So now I was an a mission… to find a pair of matching earrings! As you can see I succeeded!

Disclaimer: of course you are going to ask me what kind of stone it is and for the life of me I really cannot remember! I know I thought that I should keep the note that was in the box but can’t find it anymore. Grrrr!

EDIT: Thanks to Linda (Hi Linda!) who in her comment suggested that this could well be abalone shell I now know it is!

“The abalone is a mollusk shell that has been used for personal and ceremonial adornment since early times. Abalone has been considered sacred by many Native Americans.”

“Abalone Shell has the colors of the ocean in it, blues, greens, purples and yellows. It is soft to the touch from repeated tumbles in the sand and water. It has slight ripples on it like the patterns left in the sand as the waves lapse over it. It is comforting to hold it and rub the softness like you would a worry stone”

I also found some information on line discussing the healing properties, associated with women, motherhood, emotional balance…

I smile when I read this…. That’s exactly what I do when I wear it. I seem to always –almost absent mindedly- fiddle with this jewelry, just holding it or feel the softness with my fingers. Isn’t that intriguing?