New Storage from old boxes

I read Quilter's Newsletter magazine, follow them on facebook and read their blog, which is a great way to get in trouble, quite frankly. One day I saw this post for a plastic bolt product that looked pretty cool. Then I saw the price - quite frankly my little budget doesn't permit over $1 for nifty storage for each fat quarter that already rest happily in a CD box or nearly $2 each for all those half-yard (and more!) scraps of fabric in my stash.

So, as my Grandma Martha would have done, I made my own. I will not pretend to have a plastics recycling and processing center in the back of my bathroom closet, but I do have cardboard that comes in from all manner of purchases and was just itching to be turned into mini-bolts. I started with 5" x 10" chunks of cardboard, then cut 1" x 2" tabs in the middle, one inch from the edge:
My storage rule is only using at least 1/2 yard for the cardboard bolts, which isn't that hard since I'm one of those annoying stash-slashers, and folded twice lengthwise - so the selvedges meet and then in half again - they hook onto the cardboard like this:

All folded up, they look like this, stacked up with their big sister bolts: The 10" height ones also fit just right on several of my bookshelf levels standing upright, so I won't have to worry about them getting lost at the bottom of a bin any more. One day I may well upgrade to the longer lasting plastic ones, but for the time being I'm happy with the quick little storage project that keeps my fabric tidy, un-lumpy, and clean.

tube Tuesday - a day late and a soapbox taller

I try to avoid ranting here, particularly about the greater issues that we almost all seek relief from in the blogosphere, but Wow, how we have failed to learn the lessons from the past. The man could be talking about the last five years for all he knew:

What's old-fashioned?

Driving home quite a bit after sunset this evening I noticed a house whose front windows were lit with a warm cozy glow. It ocurred to me as I was cruising along listening to Chuck Berry's version of 'Route 66' that the reason it was a cozy glow was because it was from an old-fashioned (energy-sucking) incandescent bulb in a fabric shade.

I'm serious.

The light coming from the front window of this house was not the blue light of a 52-inch telly or an artifically white CFL in a frosted glass torchiere.

And it made me wonder what BooBoo and other under-twelves will think of as cozy when they grow up. Will faintly blue LEDs take-over and will they look upon offices with artificially crisp fluorescent tube lights as quaintly old-fashioned? Will textiles evolve (please) in such a way that polyester 'fleece' will become an artifact? How long will it take for the latest cycle of giant bulky cameras to drop off in popularity in favor of a return to Leica-lensed point-n-shoots like my little Panasonic. Will macrame ever be en vogue again?

It's one of the hazards of having lived through a goodly bit of the 20th century, I think. So much has changed in such a short time that it occasionally sends my head swimming with great wonder about what we have that may be taken for granted, glorified (even if it's not that great) or simply lost forever. After a few minutes of this my brain starts to feel like the buffers in a pinball machine (to drop the swimming analogy) that have been bombarded for a few moments too long. Especially when I start to worry about what things of value may be lost. Something as simple as a Berenstain Bears eBook makes me shudder. Will a story be as valuable if you don't have a tactile sense of your progression from beginning to end? How will they see their place in life if the trend towards 'instant access' continues - will they turn into self-indulgent nihilists because they are always in the moment with no concept of where they've been, what might be coming or just what it takes to get to the end?

This is the point where I usually have to stop myself and go read some Dickens or Verne. They lived in a time of intense social, economic and industrial change. A time where one might easily begin to wonder if the new generation would value their clothes or clocks if they could just go out and buy a new whatever-it-was on any day but a Sunday. And yet their works are filled with both high emotional drama (of the sort the Hallmark Channel can't touch) and, at the end, a sense of optimism that society will go on and children may be deviant little cusses but most of them will not grow up to be sociopaths who want to eat your children.

the internet, on the other hand, is out to phish you for all you've got!

An open letter to the nation's hairstylists

If a woman with three feet of hair comes in to your salon and asks to make a 10" donation to Locks of Love with a 2" trim that does not give you license to hack of 17", leaving said woman with hair that is unacceptably short.

You do not live in my universe, you are a visitor - I'm the one who has to live with your incompetence, with hair that is now too short to braid, too short to tie up without a ponytail elastic and too short to stay behind my shoulders when I lean over my sewing machine.

You suck and karma's a bitch.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
An open letter to my friends:

When you see me with shorter hair than I've had since primary school, you do not need to come up with an instant polite statement about how I look. I know I look awkward, I know this is weird, I know this is a violation of the natural order of the taraburse, but it's something we're all going to have to deal with for a few months until I can be my normal long-haired self again.

Yes, I will continue to donate to Locks of Love, but it'll take me three years for my next cut at this rate.

And, yes, I will accept wine and cookies in consolation.

Well-Versed Purse tutorials

I've had more than a few requests lately for a tutorial for pieces from the Well-Versed Purse collection. I'm not going to make one at this time for a couple of reasons - one, because it takes so much time to prep a tute with good pictures. The other is because my style has evolved over years of practice based on my needs and feedback from the men and women who have purchased WVP Accessories.

I believe in giving credit (and royalties) where they are due and will suggest to everyone that they consider starting where I did five years ago - with Sherri Haab's Designer Style Handbags.

I think this book is brilliant and - given how many hundreds of craft books are published every year and how few are still in print five years later - I know I am not the only one who feels this way.

The going rate for tutorials on book purses is as high as $13.99 - for the same price (or a little less!) than that you can get Sherri Haab's book with twenty patterns. Everything from an altered book purse (a basic foundation that you can learn to embellish in all the ways that suit your life) to a felted sweater handbag to one of those cool clear vinyl totes with steel grommets.

In addition to nearly two dozen patterns, Haab's book offers great advice on fabrics, linings, tools, and techniques - way more than I could offer in a tutorial for the same price.

The number one complaint from reviewers on Amazon seem to be that it's geared for the young and there aren't any actual patterns. Quite frankly free-forming, template-free sewing is right up my alley and I think I'm mentally hip enough to be lumped in with those 'hip and funk '20's' as one reviewer said in her derogatory voice!

So that's my two cents - if you want to learn to make a book purse, evening bag, cigar box handbag and more, pick up a copy of Sherri Haab's book. If you try even one pattern, it will be well worth your effort and investment!

one bowl + double chocolate = brownies

This recipe is a variation of one by Robert Morocco of the fantabulous 'The Baker's Dozen Cookbook' yum, yum, yum, I say.

I apologize that I do not have photos, but this was one of those '7 am, just in from shoveling, the sooner I have this in the oven, the sooner I can get out of the shower and eat it' preparations.

Ingredients
1 cup toasted nuts (optional - recommend pecan or walnut pieces)

6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
2 ounces unsweetened cocoa powder (not drinking cocoa)
8 tbls = 1 stick = 1/2 cup unsalted butter, chopped

3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract (real vanilla, please)
1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs, room temp

7 tbls wheat flour


Preheat the oven to 325 F

In a glass bowl large enough to eventually hold everything, melt the butter and chocolates, mixing until smooth.

Mix in sugar, vanilla and salt until well incorporated.

Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each.

Last, add the flour, stirring heartily for a full minute - you'll know it's ready when the batter is smooth and shiny. Stir in nuts if using.

Dump the batter into a 9" square pan that has been lined with foil, shiny side up, with a little bit hanging over the sides. (Don't butter or flour the foil or pan.)

Bake for 40 minutes +/- or until the top is puffed, cracked and slightly shiny - a toothpick stuck in the middle should come out with a few moist crumbs, but no smear of batter.

Cool completely in the pan (if you can). Pull it out by the foil, peel the foil away and cut. This is a very fudgy brownie, if you want neat and tidy pieces, freeze the uncut brownie for an hour and cut using a sharp knife, cleaning the blade between slices.

tarabu's two cents' worth:

Salt - I know the big boys of tv food go on about the wonders of kosher salt, but I also know that goiter is making a comeback because the health conscious have removed table salt from their diets. Personally, we don't eat a lot of packaged foods and don't add salt to any of our meals, outside the occasional use of low-sodium Old Bay, so I use old fashioned iodized salt in my baking and I have yet to have a complaint that it doesn't have the 'pure, light' taste of kosher salt.

Melting Chocolate - You can either do this over pan of simmering (not boiling) water or in the microwave. If using a microwave, heat on 30% power for 40 seconds at a time. Remember that there is some water in the butter and if it reaches boiling temperature, it will spurt butter and possibly chocolate all over your microwave's innards. And that's a waste of butter and chocolate.

Eggs - Cold eggs taken right from the fridge don't whip well, which is why cookbooks generally tell you to leave eggs at room temperature for a few hours before using. In fact, the 34 - 37 degrees of most refrigerators is too cold for eggs. If you are lucky enough to have a larder that stays betweeen 45 and 55 degrees, that's perfect. If not, set your eggs out for up to two hours before using. If you notice your eggs are sweating, then your fridge is too cold or your kitchen is too warm - if your kitchen is over 70 degrees, set your eggs 'out' in a cupboard so they can lose some of their cool safely.

Cooling - Becuase this is a fudgy brownie, you need to let it cool properly before cutting if you want to have even pieces. If you are a member of chez tarabu, however, you wait five minutes before dumping it onto a serving dish and giving every one present a chunk on a plate and a spoon.

The source:

Gingerbread Cake

This recipe is a variation of the Yorkshire Gingerbread recipe made by Clarissa Dickson Wright in the first series of 'Two Fat Ladies' and is printed in their companion book, Cooking with the Two Fat Ladies, which is currently out of print, but you can find second-hand copies for a pretty good rate these days.

I have altered her recipe to include whole wheat flour and adjusted the cooking times for cupcakes.

My version:

Ingredients

1 cup - whole wheat flour

2/3 cup - self-rising flour

2 tbls - ground ginger

1 tbls - ground allspice

1/2 tsp - salt

1 tsp - baking soda

1/2 cup (1 stick) - unsalted butter

1/2 cup - packed dark brown sugar

3 eggs, beaten

2/3 cup - molasses

Method

Preheat oven to 340F

Sift together flours, ginger, allspice, salt and baking soda into a bowl.

In a separate bowl cream butter and brown sugar until very soft.

Beat the eggs into the butter/sugar mixture a bit at a time until fully incorporated, then mix in the molasses. Gently fold in the dry ingredients a bit at a time.

Pour into a greased 8x8 cake pan.

Turn oven down to 325F and bake for 50-60 minutes. Cake is done when the top springs back when gently pressed.

tarabu's 2 cents:

Clarissa says to let it cool in the pan and that you should store it in an airtight container for a few days before eating. Mine does not even get the chance to cool before I have eaten some. I made this into cupcakes this evening - I ate three before they were all out of the pan.

They are very chewy and thick with the molasses and I can definitely suggest that if you have dental work like partials, bridgework or braces, that you should probably let it cure for a couple of days or the trauma of cleaning your mouth may outweigh the spicy goodness in your memory.

A note on the baking - if you are using a square pan, it needs to be an old 2.5+ inch deep metal or glass casserole type pan. If you are using a shallow pan like the disposable ones or the kind for making layer cakes divide the batter between two pans, otherwise the batter will pour all over your poor oven as it rises.

If you are going to make cupcakes (like I did today) make 30. I know it looks like it only needs to make two dozen, but you'll have some overflow - and not in a cute muffin top sort of way, but in a 'Who's got a chisel?' sort of way. Bake cupcakes for 25-30 minutes.

Clarissa recommends eating it spread with butter or served with clotted cream and sliced ginger in syrup.

I say it's also good with maple cream cheese and apple cider. There's no apple cider in my house so I will have to settle for a rum toddy.

*contented sigh*

Ridiculously Simple Scones

It's Sunday morning, you may well have all these ingredients in your house, make something lovely.

Preheat oven to 425F

In a large bowl blend:
2 cups flour (all-purpose is fine)
2 tbls white sugar
1 tbls baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Cut into this 1/4 cup (half stick/four tbls) butter or vegan margarine until it is uniformly coarse. A pastry cutter works best, but a couple of knives or a large serving fork can do the job in a pinch.

In a separate bowl blend 1/2 cup light cream (whole milk/soymilk work fine, skim won't do) and one large egg.

Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix quickly until you have a soft slightly sticky dough.

Turn out onto a floured surface and knead gently until it comes together (you'll feel it happen)

Press, pat or roll out until it's about 1/2 inch thick. Cut into rounds using a 2.5 inch biscuit cutter, round cookie cutter or the edge of whisky tumbler* leaving as little space between them as possible, re-roll and cut out the rest of the dough.

Place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake in hot oven for 12 minutes. Cool for a few minutes on the sheet before moving to a rack.

Eat soon (or right away) with a little butter and jam and a cup of tea.

tarabu's 2 cents:

Cutting - I use a 7 oz neat whisky glass and my scones still separate easily for filling, so you do not necessarily need to have a fancy knife-edged metal cutter. A proper metal cutter does make the job easier, and is necessary if you are making very light biscuits that need room to rise. If you don't have a dedicated cutter and are worried about rising, roll your scone dough out into a rectangle and use a very sharp knife to cut 5" squares, then cut the squares into triangles.

Wash - if you want scones like in a shop, brush a little milk over the top and sprinkle with pearl sugar before baking.

Yes, that's a Highlander mug, and yes, I am a dork.