Knit & Nosh

mexican carrots

The second recipe test from Tart and Sweet.  For this test I only made one jar.  I have a tried and true recipe for spicy carrots, but am always open to something different.  I had planned to cut the recipe in thirds and put up two pints, but after taking a closer look at the directions decided to play it safe and just do one. 

My concern is that there may be too many spices/flavors in each jar.  Each jar gets garlic, chili, a cinnamon stick, bay leaf, cumin seeds, corriander seeds, fennel seeds, and peppercorns.  Most of those flavors are pretty powerful and the carrot is pretty neutral.  I will not be heartbroken if my one pint is inedible.  I like to let pickled things sit for three weeks before tasting, as time will allow the vinegar flavor to mellow.

For sheer shelf appeal, they are beautiful!

wasabi green beans

This is the first recipe I have tried from Tart and Sweet, and I have mixed feelings.  First off, I think the flavors are good.  I imagine that in three weeks, when we open the jars that the beans themselves are going to taste great.  Wasabi, fresh ginger and garlic, what's not to love?  But I think that having the wasabi power placed in the bottom of each jar before the beans go in is a mistake. 

Look at it just hanging around at the bottom, it should have been dissolved in the brine.  Speaking of the brine, the main ingredient is brown rice vinegar.  We have a VERY well stocked Asian market near by, but even they only had one choice and the price is $9 a bottle.  Two bottles are needed.  Yikes!

Another problem is the amount of produce called for, four pounds of green beans to make 4pints.  I did not look at the yield as I was making my grocery list or I would have caught that mistake right away.  In the end my shy four pounds produced 6 pints for the canner and 4 cups for the freezer.  I think cutting the recipe in half, including the liquid will still get you 4 pints.

Carrots are up next.

 

 

tart and sweet

The UPS man brought an exciting new book to my house.

Tart and Sweet by Kelly Geary and Jessie Knadler.  This is going to be a wonderful addition to my canning library.  All of the recipes use the water bath canning technique and step by step instructions are included.  They tell you the difference between, jams, conserves, compotes and the like.  Pickles have their own dictionary.  One of my favorite pages is Navigating The Pickle Plate, where pickle and cheese pairings are suggested.  The recipe sections are broken up by season to help you make the most of what is fresh right now.  Also, the recipes do not make an army's worth of food.  6 pints is common, 6 quarts is the biggest batch I found.

Of course the real test will be the recipes, and over the next week I plan to test Wasabi  Green Beans, Mexican Carrots, and Tomato Sauce with Capers and Olives.  I can't wait!

beets

Some people have a thing for beets, and some do not.  I am in the do not column, but Husband and BFF are in the have a thing camp.  During the summer I roast beets and then add to salads.  I am told they are divine with a little feta.  Once beet season starts to slow, it is time to bring out the jars. 

The local co-op sells beets in bunches of four, and four will get you one pint.  You may think that filling a jar with white onions and golden beets and deep red beets will look lovely on the shelf.  They will not.  Red wins and the the liquid is so dark you can not see a thing.  If you want to put up two different colors, roast and jar them separately.

Recipe  as written makes 4 pints and can easily be doubled or halved.

Beets, Roasted and Pickled

10-15 fresh beets (one bunch of 4 will make 1 pint)
2 cups cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup sliced onions
2 teaspoons pickling salt
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
1 teaspoon mustard seeds

Trim the greens from the beets, wrap beets in foil and roast in a 375 oven for about an hour. Once they are tender and cooled enough to handle, remove skins  and cut into bite sized pieces.  Do not throw away the greens, saute them with a little garlic.

Combine vinegar, water, and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook until the sugar is disolved.

Divide onions, caraway, mustard and salt between four pint jars. Fill with beets.

Pour boiling vinegar mixture over beets leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Process 30 minutes.

I have been told that my beets keep people up at night.  They hear them calling from the fridge.

 

longest night goes on and on

On February 2, 2010 I began a shawl.  February 2 may be the day I cast on, but I spent the two month prior, spinning the yarn for the shawl.  I knit and knit and knit.  I loved everything about the project, not a single complaint.  At some point I realized that the finished shawl was going to be about eight feet across and as much as I loved it, I did not want to knit anything on size 2 needles that was going to be eight feet across.  Luckily it was very easy to omit a few repeats here and there and have the finished shawl be large but manageable.

I really do not know what happened from there.  More than once it was rescued from the bottom of the WIP basket only to wiggle its way down to the bottom again.  Yesterday I cleaned out all the little leftover balls of yarn from the basket and there is was, making fun of me, inducing guilt.  I had to take action. 

As of this typing, the shawl looks like this.  I have 40 rows left to knit, if I work two rows a day I will finish by the end of the month.  I do not have a single other thing on the needles.  Nothing.  Nothing.  Longest Night will mock me no longer.

bare feet

We have had a wet, cool summer here in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.  Even so, it is summer, and in summer my feet are naked.  It is one of the ways the locals can tell I am not from here.  Yes, I have lived here for 17 years, but the naked feet are a dead give away.  The naked feet alert the locals that I hail from Southern California.

Last night as I was spinning yarn destined to become socks, I had a nice memory of bare feet.  I was in high school and decided that I was not going to wear shoes to school.  Who knows what led to the decision, I was in high school.  At some point during the day I was hauled in to the Principal's office to talk about my offense.  I guess the worst punishment they could think of was to call my mom.  So here I am, sitting in the big chair across from the principal as he looks through my file to retrieve the work number of my mother.  Boy was he feeling good.  It was the last time he would feel good about having me in his office.

Principal finally gets my mother on the phone and tells her all about her wayward daughter who has shown up to school without shoes.  What is to become of such a girl?  My mother proceeds to rip the principal a new one for pulling her out of a meeting for something as silly as shoes.  At the time my mother was the Controller for a lumber company, she was in a meeting, an important meeting, she could give a rat's ass that her daughter was walking around without shoes.  Is this really what they pulled her out of a meeting for?

I do not remember what happened next.  Maybe they sent me home for shoes?  Maybe they told me never to do it again?  It did not matter.  The lesson I learned that day was good.  My mom had my back. 

Thanks Mom!