Cooking – TooBusyForWork

Life is looking up

We are still semi-isolating, it it is a lot better than full isolation. The local medical facilities are managing well, and the local hot spot is a meat packing plant that we have no interaction with. We are going to the grocery store by ourselves now, and it is so wonderful to choose fresh produce! We have ordered more takeout too. We wear masks everywhere outside except in our own car, and I made some more masks of a fitted style since Kevin has issues with his glasses fogging up. I even bought a die from Accuquilt to speed up production. I keep refining my design. This is the most recent.

Accuquilt die cut, bound with 1 1/2” double fold binding.

To get an even better fit I am going to put a small dart on the side. It has a tendency to gap there.

I have also been cooking. We ordered an Air Fryer lid for our Instant Pot, and it finally got delivered after 6 weeks (Amazon u essential items). It certainly does make good crispy things like tater tots are brilliantly. I made onion rings from scratch that were pretty good too, but I overcooked my diced potatoes. Live and learn. Kevin has been sous vide cooking steaks and a pot roast. Love the steaks, but the pot roast was bland even though he seasoned it. I think I will go back to doing that on the stove or in the Instant Pot.

My Accuquilt adventures continue. I got a great deal on a 12” Qube that makes bigger blocks like I will be using on our bedroom quilt. I also ordered a Drunkard’s Path die and a 1 1/2” strip cutter. Those haven’t come in yet, so I am working on my piecing skills. I still have a ways to go. Here are some examples and comments. And yes, I am being hard on myself. I really want my piecing to move up a notch. I picked up the fabric at a local shop, and the blocks will eventually become a baby girl quilt.

Flying Birds block looks good, but the first one ended up too small. This is the first and second one showing the difference.

See the 1/8-3/16” size problem in the closeup?

This is a Flying X block. It came out the correct size too. What a bear to put together though. Won’t make more of this one!

Dutchman’s Puzzle looks better. Best flying geese I have ever done, but still needs some improvement.

I have also been sewing some isolation gowns, but my serger is having issues. I can’t seem to get any of the repair folks to call me back! Frustrating. Oh, and I made 7 masks for a local non-profit. I intended to make more, but they didn’t get my fabric pieces put together well. They were the Olson masks with a spot for a filter. Hard to sew!

We did break our isolation to spend Mother’s Day weekend at a local lake. The Friday before my daughter called to say a campsite was open and to ask if we wanted it. We instantly said yes and began getting ready. It was a lovely weekend, and it was so nice to see a different view outside. We are looking forward to a couple of trips this summer, so we got our yearly diesel maintenance done at a local Freightliner shop. We also had them install the Koni shocks we bought a few months ago. They make a huge difference! The coach seems a bit smoother, and it doesn’t wiggle when we hit rough roads and pot holes. Our next trip is to Badlands NP in mid-June, and we will drive I-90 which is very bumpy, so the shocks should help. Kevin got reservations at the NP campground during the week of the new moon. He is looking to get some astrophotographs of the Milky Way which is at its best this time of year.

Thanksgiving and preparations for Christmas

Be prepared for a long post since it has been so long since my last post. I just don’t seem to get around to putting a post together when we are at the “sticks and bricks.” When I last posted, we weren’t quite at Thanksgiving. We had dinner on Wednesday because my daughter worked on Thursday. I used the Alton Brown brining recipe, and it was phenomenal! Absolutely the best turkey I have ever made. Even the white meat was good, and that is from a dedicated dark meat person. I made too many pies, but I have finally mastered a good pie crust made in the food processor. I splurged last summer on a Breville food processor, and it is phenomenal. Mashed sweet potatoes with butter and just a touch of brown sugar, mashed white potatoes, and braised green beans in the Instant Pot finished up dinner for seven adults and four children. The baby wasn’t interested 😁.

I have also been sewing a little. I made some stuff toys for the almost 3 year old grandson, but I forgot to take pictures. I tried making the baby granddaughter a pair of knit harem pants off a free pattern. The baby is very long though, so they needed to be longer. I will adapt the pattern before I make it again. They were just a trial run made with scraps I had around.

I have also been doing some vinyl work. I made a onesie to go with the pants that said “The Snuggle is Real” (forgot a picture), and a tshirt for almost 3 year old with reindeer names on them, both with heat transfer vinyl. I also did some Christmas ornaments with Oracal 651, a regular adhesive vinyl.

I have an assortment of them with different designs, and I have more I am going to do.

Kevin was busy outside. Looks pretty good! He has also ordered a lighted nativity scene that will sit on the porch. Kevin likes his lights.

Lights on the house and tree plus some deer and trees

We have also had some challenges. Our cat, Lily, had her teeth cleaned and a growth removed from her leg. She had a basal skin cancer removed a year and a half ago, so I am worried. It will be a few more days before we get the pathology report. The other really challenging news is my son’s dog, Lexi, who used to belong to us, is in final renal failure. She will cross the bridge on Saturday. She had a good life at 15 years, and she only had serious health problems in the last year. My son is devastated. He has had Lexi as his best bud for a number of years beginning when he moved to Montana for grad school 8-9 years ago.

Enough of bad news. My kitchen is also preparing for Christmas. I also made about 120-150 rolled sugar cookies. My oldest grandchildren will be here Saturday to decorate them. I might have gotten carried away though! I made some wonderful sugared pecans and the chocolate truffles will be finished tomorrow. They are a multi day process. I haven’t decided if I will make pressed cookies too, but I am thinking about it. I have an interesting ginger recipe that I would like to try. The Christmas music is also going full bore. I have been to a number of rehearsals for our church Christmas concert on Sunday afternoon. It is a variation of the traditional Lessons and Carols service.

Kevin and I were lucky enough to go to a production of Cabaret by the local university. It was a very moving show, and the ending was shocking and disquieting. As we left in silence we walked by a container of shoes, a nod to the Holocaust that many of the characters experienced. I did not expect such a professional show by a mid-level college; my error!

I will try to be more regular in my posts going forward.

More about the new motorhome

We made our first drive in the motorhome successfully. The Jeep followed behind us just fine as a “toad”. My toe was killing me since I stubbed it badly on the raised section of the floor by my side of the bed, so Kevin drove here from the dealer. I did drive about 20 miles with the saleswoman we had though including rural highway, town, and interstate so I am not worried. We are at a small campground in Tuscumbia, AL until Sunday morning.

We can successfully hitch and unhitch the Jeep using a Blue Ox brand tow bar and a AirForce One air brake system (installed on the Jeep). The instructions for setting the transmission correctly in the Jeep are complicated enough that Kevin wrote them on an index card. We bought this particular Grand Cherokee (Trail Hawk model) because it could be towed “four down” – all four wheels on the ground – but it takes some fussing with. The OTA television antenna works fine. We didn’t bring enough cabling to try the cable TV at the campsite. I even ran three loads of laundry in the washer and dryer! I really like the Splendide brand washer and dryer we have. The guy doing our PDI (Pre Delivery Inspection) warned me that they took a long time to wash and dry, but it wasn’t terrible. The washer on PermaPress took 1 hour 28 minutes after I added a second rinse, and my big washer at home takes 58 minutes for the same thing. The dryer certainly is slower, but I dried 5 pair of Kevin’s heavy jeans in about 100 minutes. The dryer only runs on 110 v instead of the 220v at home, so I wasn’t surprised it took longer. The washer and dryer are also smaller. The five heavy jeans was a full load whereat home I wash 7 pair at once.

I even used the convection microwave to make brownies. The oven itself walks you through the button pushes which was handy since it took a series of them. The brownies turned out nicely though. I also used the convection oven to roast potatoes for dinner and to brown the boneless country ribs I cooked in the Instant Pot. I am definitely “RVing”, not “camping”!

Not everything is good though. Lily is not happy with me. She has a tendency to hide under the bed, and she hasn’t come out for her normal lap time with me. Kevin says it is because I didn’t bring a lap quilt for her to lay on, and I hope that’s what it is. I was the one who put her in her crate a lot on the trip though, so I worry she is mad.

Tomorrow and Saturday we have an instructor from RVDrivingSchool.com, Jimmy Johnson, coming out to take us through our paces. There will be a total of 12 hours of instruction, and we should be very confident with driving the 40 foot beast when we are done. I have no trouble remembering his name. It is the same as an Oklahoma State University football coach when I went there who later became coach of the Dallas Cowboys. The coach Jimmy Johnson was an ass, but I have heard good things about this instructor. Guess I won’t hold his name against him. 😁

Instant Pot cooking at home and new pots for the trailer

It has been a while since I posted much about cooking. We just didn’t do any interesting cooking on the last trip, either due to rain or heat or fire warnings. I decided I needed to pull out the Instant Pot and make some food for the next trip. Tonight I made pork chops with mushroom gravy, and they were yummy. I sautéed 8 ounces of mushrooms and a tsp or so of chopped garlic in some olive oil. I then browned 6 boneless pork chops, the only ones Kevin found at the store. I added some paprika, rosemary, parsley, salt, and 1 tsp of Better aThan Boullion to 1 cup of water and added everything to the IP. I let it cook at high pressure for 15 minutes, then let it naturally release the pressure. I removed the chops and added a slurry of cornstarch and water to thicken the mushroom sauce while on sauté. I made the mashed potatoes using just the instant Ore-Ida brand that are pretty good. We at two of the pork chops, and I put the remainders (plus the gravy) in two containers and froze them. Later I will let Kevin package them with the vacuum packer. All I have to do later is heat them up and put over pasta or rice. We also bought a couple of Costco rotisserie chicken to package into 1/2 pound quantities.

I also got my new cookware for the trailer today. I had tried to use an inexpensive set, but they bent getting bumped around in the trailer! We researched a number of alternatives, and we ended up buying a set from Magma. They nest together, have a non-stick interior, and they are HEAVY! They are actually much heavier than the ones I use at home. I am looking forward to trying them in the trailer.

Today was for onions and sewing

I make an onion dip that is really amazing. It is made with dehydrated carmelized onions, sour cream, and garlic powder. You mix 2-3 handfuls of the dehydrated onions to 16 ounces of sour cream, and add 1/2 – 1 tsp of garlic powder. Mix well, and let sit in the refrigerator for 12 hours or so. As the onions rehydrate, they absorb some of the moisture in the sour cream so the resulting dip is quite thick. Part of the trick is how to make the onions themselves. I chop 3-4 pounds of onions, then carmelize them in a skillet (my cast iron works great for this). When the onions are light brown, add 1/2 c white wine to deglaze the pan. Cook another 5-10 minutes to evaporate the wine, then add another 1/2 c of wine and deglaze the pan again. Continue cooking until the wine has evaporated. Dehydrate for 12 hours or so at 135 degrees. If you plan on using them quickly, they can stay at room temperature. I leave them in the refrigerator if I don’t use them in a couple of weeks. Here are some pictures of the process.

Ready to take off the stove. The onions are a lovely caramel color.

The final product. Obviously less volume than about 4 pounds of onions!

I also did some preparation for sewing. I have my grandson’s baptism outfit cut out and the interfacing fused on the waistband. I have the most beautiful fine broadcloth that should work beautifully. Tomorrow I will practice my pintucks on scrap fabric, work a bunch of them on the romper front, and hopefully start construction. We decided to leave here on next Wednesday instead of a week from Friday for our next trip, so I have a few less days to get the romper finished. I can do the skirt later, but I want to make sure the romper fits; this kid is growing like a weed! We decided we are going to Fossil Butte National Monument (spending the night on Green River Reservoir), then someplace in the Bighorn National Forest, followed by a night at Devil’s Tower KOA to clean tanks before heading near Spearfish, SD for a vacation with our kids and their families.

Yesterday Kevin went back to the surgeon who did his knee surgery. The surgeon says there is still swelling and a small MCL strain left over from the surgery. That is the reason he still has pain and stifffness. It is nice to hear an explanation, but fairly frustrating too. He has been riding his bike as much as he can since that is a good rehab exercise.

I’ve got goodies

I had a fun two days. First I had a friend with a long arm quilting machine baste my Carpenter’s Square queen sized quilt. It is wonderful! See how even the backing lies? No puckers, no wrinkles even with the fluffy wool batting.

Any little wrinkles that show on the picture are because I had it partially draped on my ironing board. She used water soluble thread, a basting stitch about 1/2″ long, and programmed 5″ squares. She said she cussed at the thread for a little while until she got it working, but she is more than willing to do this on additional quilts for me or others.

While we were chatting, she mentioned she has a company that makes assorted quilting “stuff.” In particular, she has a new model of bobbin wonder that is programmable for up to two different bobbin types. I just hate my old-style Handiquilter bobbin winder so I was intrigued. She and her husband showed me how it worked, and I was hooked; I bought one right there on the spot. I have since tried it at home on my Handiquilter and my Happy multineedle embroidery machine. It winds both types of bobbins (Class M and Class L) perfectly. She has also wound Featherweight bobbins on it. My FW bobbin winder is getting difficult to use; after all it is made out of rubber and is over 60 years old (1952 model).

I left the snippers on it for size. The copper wire guides the thread to the tension assembly. It is so neat and clean compared to my old bobbin winder. If anyone is interested in her stuff, either quilting or quilting accessories, she can be found at www.fancyquilt.com (I wish I could make that a hot link – sorry). I highly recommend her products.

I also got a combination cup holder and mini trash can at my Bernina dealer when I was at the embroidery software class. I am always worried about spilling a cup of coffee or tea in the sewing studio, and I never have a trash can close enough. This hits two birds with one stone. I figure it will really be wonderful to take to sewing get together or classes. It screws on the edge of a table, and the cup part is HUGE, over 4″ inside diameter. It should easily hold even an insulated water bottle.

I should have more fun things tomorrow to show off after I attend the Utah Quilting and Sewing Marketplace show. I will help staff the American Sewing Guild booth in the morning, then I get to shop and look at the show quilts. So far I just have boring things to buy (needles and bobbins), but I probably will find something fun to get in addition; I usually do.

On the Instant Pot front, we had a great stuffed pepper casserole last night. The night before we made pork chops in the Anova sous vide again. We have been eating quite well.

I actually do know how to spell and use correct grammar!

I was looking through old posts, and I can not believe how many errors they have! I am in the process of editing a number of them.

And I probably should have posted about our latest kitchen toy, an Instant Pot! I made stew first, and it was lovely.

Today we are going to make steaks with the Anova sous vide and garlic mashed potatoes with the Instant Pot. Nothing like good food!

Baby presents done

I finished up my daughter’s baby quilt a couple of days ago, and I finished a car seat canopy for her today. Lots of pictures of the quilt, but I forgot to take a picture of the canopy! I mailed the package today, and it will hopefully be there for her baby shower Saturday.

Elephant was quilted with random circles.

The background was quilted using a bamboo design.

Some straight line quilting too using rulers.

Back needed to be just a little bit bigger so I added a cute stripe

We also got a Anova sous vide cooker. It is wonderful! One of my sons got one for Christmas, and he convinced us to try it. Last night was pork chops, and tonight is chicken. The meat is evenly cooked and very moist. We do have to brown it after the sous vide, but that only takes a few minutes.

Cooking!

I spent a lot of today cooking and prepping, but I decided I would wait until tomorrow for pictures. Three pies (two pumpkins, one pecan), a 17 pound turkey cooked and cut up, “pink stuff” salad, cranberry sauce, and the dressing is made (mushrooms, onions, celery, cornbread, wheat bread, egg, chicken broth, sage). Tomorrow all the last minute stuff and a lovely dinner with husband, son, and friends.

Well, I thought it would be an easy Thanksgiving dinner …

I am a planner. I spent 30 years planning and executing engineering projects, and I look at Thanksgiving dinner as a project with tight deadlines. I have everything planned pretty carefully for resources (oven space, stove space, refrigerator space, ingredients) and schedule. We are only having a total of six people for dinner, and I was looking forward to a pretty relaxed preparation. The menu was smoked turkey, a good Amana pre-cooked ham, sage/cornbread dressing, gravy, mashed sweet potatoes with syrup and pecans, cranberry sauce, a cherry/pineapple/cool whip/condensed milk salad known in our family as “pink stuff”, plus lots of pies – two pumpkin and one each apple and pecan pies. Friends are bringing a cranberry salad and another vegetable dish.

Plans:

Monday: Smoke Turkey

Tuesday: Bake cornbread for dressing. Roast pecans for pies and sweet potatoes. Unrelated to Thanksgiving, smoke a big piece of salmon we bought on Monday morning. Make smoked turkey broth for the dressing with the remainder frozen for later.

Wednesday: Make the dressing, cranberry sauce, four pies, and put together the pink stuff salad.

Thursday: Cook (small) ham, rolls, gravy, dressing, and sweet potatoes. Enjoy friends arriving at noon with dinner planned for 1:00. See how easy?

Well, that lasted until Monday afternoon when Kevin discovered the main burner on the smoker had burned out! Of course, this was after the turkey had been in a 110-120 degree smoker for four hours (the heater for the wood chips was still working). It certainly would not be safe to eat so it went into the trash. Search the entire city for a replacement burner, but they have to be mail ordered – not available before late Wednesday. Off to Costco Monday afternoon for a new fresh turkey only to find them sold out! Way too late for a frozen turkey, so we were at their door as they opened today to pick up a turkey they had delivered last night. Now I have to cook a 18 pound turkey (the smallest they had) on Thursday in addition to doing the ham, sweet potatoes, and rolls plus cooking the dressing. I will have to plan everything pretty carefully since I only have one big oven plus one (relatively big) toaster oven. The poor salmon is getting baked this evening since it won’t be any good by Friday when the replacement burner element will be installed in the smoker.

Sigh. I might have to push dinner back some because of how much time the turkey will take. I am even thinking of the sacrilege of making the turkey on Wednesday using an oven bag, and then just reheating it in the microwave on Thursday. I will report back, with pictures.