Pink House

Knitted Scarf for Men

All of the knitters have been making up their versions of Brooklyn Tweed's Noro Striping Scarf for gifts this holiday season. Since spotting the gorgeous scarf on his website last year, I printed out the pattern but set it aside as I had other more complicated knitting projects in the works. But in early December I thought that I needed something a bit more mindless to knit on cold evenings.

Instead of using two different colorways of self-striping Noro Silk Garden yarn, I selected only one in a fairly masculine colorway (Color #249)which mostly meant no pink or purple in it. I then chose another solid color yarn (charcoal gray) in similar weight and fiber content (Brown Sheep worsted which also has mohair in it)to use as the contrasting yarn. I made the pattern a bit narrower than Brooklyn Tweed's version and continued alternating every other row between the Noro and the Brown Sheep.

I was really happy with the results. It wasn't as bright and colorful as using two different striping Noro yarns, but I thought the striping Noro through the neutral Brown Sheep yarn was more subtle and appropriate for a guy to wear. The recipient was happy with it and so was I. I also helped my sister-in-law select her yarn colors to make versions for her son and daughter-in-law, and I also have another scarf going already in using two different Noro and Brown Sheep yarns. It's fun, easy, and addicting!

Here is the pattern for MY version of Brooklyn Tweed's Noro Striping Scarf:

Materials: Noro Silk Garden yarn (silk, kid mohair, lambswool) - 2 skeins, and Brown Sheep worsted - 1 skein - in a complimentary color. (Using the Brown Sheep also makes the scarf more econoical than using 4 skeins of Noro as well)

Needles: I used a circular Addi Turbo in size US 8 (I use Addi's for nearly everything because I love the smoothness and how easily the yarn glides off the end)

Dimensions: Approx. 5 to 6 inches wide, and 6 feet in length. (The recipient loosely wrapped the scarf around his neck once, and let the ends hang just below his chest. It looked about right).

The scarf is worked over an odd number of stitches in 1 x 1 ribbing (knit 1, purl 1,etc.). This is great because it is reversible (both sides look the same), is rather thick, and lays flatly. I cast on 35 stitches using US 8 size needles. Start with the solid color (Brown Sheep) yarn, and knit two rows, slipping purl-wise (with yarn in back) at the BEGINNING of every row. This makes a nice neat edge on both sides of the scarf. Simply knit and purl across each row, turning and continuing back to the beginning side. Then switch colors and continue in two rows of each color until you have used up both skeins of Noro and the one skein of Brown Sheep, OR until it is long enough for you. You may block it if needed, but I found that simply rolling up the scarf when I was not working on it kept it in good shape.

Enjoy! and share your photos if you try this version in different colorways. Obviously this would be just as appropriate for women using brighter and more feminine colors of both Noro and Brown Sheep.

More photos of other knitting projects to come soon!

Herb Salad with Lemon Honey Dressing

Shelley’s Herb Salad with

Lemon Honey Dressing

I first made this salad in fall 2007 for a party that we hosted. It was served to compliment marinated tri-tip steak. It was created by my usual creative cooking technique: perusing through numerous cooking mags and cookbooks with an idea in mind, and ending up just experimenting with my original idea, influenced somewhat by what I'd read. I think the original Lemon Honey Vinaigrette was actually published in an issue of Bon Appetit magazine, but I have since changed it enough to call it my own version.

 

This Christmas, I ended up making this salad three times in one week, each requested for a different event, followed by phone calls the next day asking for the recipe! I think that means that it is unique enough to be noticed and satisfying enough to be remembered. And so, voila, here is the recipe so that you can try it too. And some photos since I’m making it yet again tonight for another dinner party.

 

If you make it, please add a comment below to let us know how it was.

 

Shelley’s Herb Salad with Lemon Honey Dressing

Lemon Honey Vinaigrette

Mix in a salad dressing container:

• 1/3 to 1/2 cup of light tasting olive oil or another salad oil
• Juice from one lemon
• White wine vinegar (enough to bring the total mixture to ¾ cup)
• Squeeze of honey (about 1 or 2 T.)
• 1 t. dried parsley flakes
• Salt & pepper to taste (don’t ignore these – they add to the final taste)

(It should have a tart-sweet taste with a bit of saltiness and peppery bite)

Shake together and chill for at least an hour. Shake again and pour over salad right before serving.

 

 In a large salad bowl:

• 1 container of Fresh Herb & Greens Salad mix (I recommend this specific combination made by Wild Harvest Organics which features numerous baby lettuces, as well as arugula, parsley, frisee, radicchio, red mustard, beet tops, brunia, green perella, amaranth, plus a few more green goodies. If you can’t get this, try putting together your own combination of baby greens, radicchio, and arugula. The herbs add a depth and slight pungent flavor which goes nicely with the sweetened dressing.)
• 1 Butter Lettuce head, cored and chopped (optional – in this photo it is included)
• Grape tomatoes, sliced length-wise (which prevents them from rolling around the dinner plate!)
• Thinly shaved red onion slices
• Toasted pine nuts (I like the dry-toasted ones from Trader Joe’s)

 

That’s it! Sprinkle the tomatoes, red onions, and pine nuts on top of the lettuces. Cover and chill until ready to serve. Just before serving, pour the dressing over the salad and toss. Addictive!

After-Christmas festivities

Wow! Where has the last week gone! It went by in a whirlwind.

Each day I checked my list while I downed my morning coffee, and then started in. From last Sunday on it went so fast! Once again I felt that too much time was spent in preparations and not enough in just enjoying. And at the end of each day I was just worn out. But it was all great anyway.

My mom flew out early this morning to return to Portland. Now we have two days before Sean flies out Sunday. Trying to savor every minute.

The snow is flying again! We're having a party tonight and need to clean up the house and get ready for that.

Holiday Itinerary

My younger son is home from college, my mom is here visiting for a week, and my older son arrives  from California on Saturday. We also have some extended family (nieces and nephews) arriving and staying at other houses. There is something on the calendar for every day. Plus some appointments, concerts, and dinners to attend. And then there's the menus planned for each day too. I was telling my mom some of the things on the schedule the night she arrived and I could see that she was getting a bit confused about WHAT things we were doing, and WHEN, etc. And so....I typed up a holiday itinerary for the week and printed it out for family members. Voila! I myself, check it each morning when I get up (in pre-coffee state) and think "Now what day is it? What's going on? Where am I?"  I also add my own notes about about what I'm planning to serve for dinner each day. For me that's important because I usually remember what I had seen in Bon Appetit magazine and intended to cook AFTER everyone's gone home. The stack of magazines and cookbooks for special recipes are ready on my desk. Feeling a bit like a Holiday Program Director. (Doesn't every woman?)

Totally organized and ready? Nope. Still have shopping and wrapping to do. (I keep having a recurring nightmare about Christmas morning with everyone sitting around with NO gifts because I neglected the shopping/wrapping part of the To Do list!) And there will probably be about 29 more trips to the grocery store for things I forgot the second time. But let the holidays roll anyway.....Day Two down, and Day Three begins. I'll take each day at a time (and check my list).

Tomato Basil Soup - so much better than Campbell's

Here in our part of the country there was (I think they went out of business?) a chain of restaurants called 4B's. Not gourmet at all, but they did make a great tomato soup from scratch. So much so that it seems everyone around here has their own version of the popular tomato soup. And I do too.

I was in a Birthday Club for about 18 years with a bunch of other gals who were great cooks. We had wonderful lunches hosted by each once a month. One of the gals made HER version of the tomato soup one cold winter day a few years ago, and I begged her for the recipe because it was so yummy. Since then I've tweaked it and come up with my own variation.

It's simple, but surprisingly good. Perfect to make on a cold winter day!

Shelley's version of 4B's Tomato Soup

3 Tbs. butter
1/2 c. or 1 small onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes, including juice (or 2 or 3 14 oz. cans)
1 cup chicken broth
2 Tbs. brown sugar
1 Tbs. Smoked Paprika (optional)
2 t. dried basil (optional)
1/2 t. baking soda (don't forget this!)
2 cups of milk or cream (I prefer 1 cup of whole milk & 1 cup of cream)
Salt & Pepper to taste

Saute onion and celery in a large soup pot. Stir in tomatoes, chicken broth, brown sugar, smoked paprika, and basil until mixed. Simmer and add a pinch of baking soda (necessary to keep cream from curdling later). Simmer for 1 hour on medium-low. If tomato mixture seems to be getting too dry, turn down the heat and add more chicken broth. You can use a hand-held blender to puree the soup at this point, before adding the milk. I like a little bit of the chunky tomato bits left in the soup - so I only partly puree it.

Heat cream/milk in microwave until it is almost ready to boil. Stir slowly into the tomato mixture (NOT vice-versa). Stir and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve hot with crunchy baked croutons on top. Serves 4 to 6 (Recipe can easily be doubled).
Another option is to toast small baguette slices with Provolone cheese and top the soup.

Since it was so cold and snowy on Saturday evening for our holiday party, I made a pot of this soup and served it in cups to people as they arrived. I think the warmth was appreciated. Since one of our guests is severely allergic to celery, I made the recipe without celery and it was fine. A perfect recipe to make for this winter! (And leftovers the next day are even better! Refrigerate and then heat up again - the flavors have had time to deepen.)

The snow is blowing cold!

We survived the party and the weekend! Saturday morning we woke to cold, blowing snow here in Billings, Montana. The husband and I headed to Costco early to get supplies and then I spent all day inside, cooking and preparing for party. A few of our guests were scared away because of the cold, but we had a good time with those that braved the weather.

Overnight the temperature plunged further and we woke on Sunday to -17 degrees! (That's 17 below zero without any wind chill). That's a record since I've lived in Montana for 23 years. Rocco, our little Italian greyhound thinks this is a very cruel joke and will not go outside to potty. He spent all day shivering under his blankets, or huddled under a pile of warm laundry, or lying too close to the gas fireplace.

Now if the snow and cold doesn't prevent all of our family from flying in this week, we'll be just fine.

Oh! And by the way - we had tons of food last night because people brought MORE than I asked (1 appetizer to share). But the husband and I have happily been eating leftovers all day. I made honey glazed ham (served with honey mustard and rolls), mushroom crostini, two desserts, and because of the cold I decided to make a pot of homemade tomato basil soup to serve in mugs when the guests arrived. Not exactly festive - but it did seem a welcome treat to warm them up. Photos and recipes coming soon!

Holiday Party menu? Fa La La, gone awry.

The husband and I were talking on Wednesday about how there seem to be fewer holiday parties this  year. (or perhaps we're just not being invited?)  No, we've heard that with the  recession lots of people are cutting back and not "celebrating". Understandable.

So, we suddenly decided to throw together a small holiday gathering for this Saturday night since we had nothing on the calendar (well, except for a gazillion Christmas tasks to do, but oh well, let's add another shall we?). Anyways, it was too late for invitations, so we got on the phone and called a few friends and now only TWO days away we've got a gathering for 12 looming ahead of us. I got up this morning and thought, "What was I thinking???" Perhaps not the best idea since my trees are UP but not decorated, my housecleaner is on a cruise in the Caribbean (this was MY week - how could he?), and I've barely tapped the gift shopping list. Whoops! Nothing like adding unneeded stress to my life.

Favorite Restaurants

 I added a new list over on the right side called "Favorite Restaurants". I have tried to keep a list of favorite restaurants from our travels in a file on my computer, but now I'll keep it updated here. For now there is only one listed, but I will be adding to this list and organizing them by city in the coming days and weeks.

When we travel, I always research restaurants ahead of time. My three main ways of checking out good restaurants in the area where we will be traveling are by using Bon Appetit and Food & Wine magazine websites, by reading food blogs (I'll talk about my favorite ones later), and by checking the website "Chowhound" of which I am a member. I also like to use local newspapers. You can get a good sense of an area's specialties and best restaurants by using these sources. However, since some of my favorite places are those that are smaller and less well known, I often like to try out new places that haven't been reviewed yet, and those you can hear about on Chowhound or by bloggers. For example, the last time we were in New York (June) I read about a newly opened restaurant in Greenwich Village and we took our group of friends there the first night. Our waiter said they'd only been open 5 days! That was really fun for me (and we loved it)and it was off the beaten path of other tourists. (By the way, it was Hundred Acres at 38 MacDougal St. - a new American, farm-to-table casual type). Sometimes its also fun to come upon a good restaurant serendipitously, as we did recently in Santa Barbara.

Some of our friends that we often travel with rely on me, asking me to "check out the restaurants and choose one" when we travel together. One of our friends gave me a tiny restaurant journal to record dining-out experiences a few years ago and I kept it in my purse for awhile. Now I find it easier to just keep a file/journal on my laptop. So I will be transferring those experiences here.

Read about my first post over on the right side under "Favorite Restaurants" by clicking on it. You can then click on the link of the restaurant if you're interested in learning more. My first on the list is from a great and unique Italian restaurant in Santa Barbara, California.

What about YOU? What are some of YOUR favorite restaurants that you've recently discovered? How did you learn about them? It's your turn to share with others now. Please write about your experiences by clicking on the "comments" link below.

Apple Cheese Walnut Tart

Apple Cheese Walnut Tart 

Original version published in cookbook “Delicious – recipes from the Elizabeth Morrow School", copyright 1984.

I’ve been making this “dressed up” apple pie since 1985 when I first bought this cookbook. You know those go-to recipes that you can make in your sleep and still tastes consistently good and manages to dazzle your guests too? This is mine.

Another glorious thing about this recipe is that you can make variations of it and change it per whim. Sometimes I make it without nuts, sometimes with sliced almonds (and almond extract in the cream cheese instead of vanilla), sometimes with more cream cheese, sometimes with less, sometimes with mini chocolate chips, sometimes with cranberries (sprinkle the top with extra sugar to compensate), and on and on. I’ve also made it with pears and with peaches as well.

You can also vary the PAN that you bake it in, thus changing not the taste but the appearance. I used to make this in a round springform pan and fan the apple slices in circles around the center. That looked nice. But a few years ago, I bought two rectangular removable-bottom pans, and I can make one or two (they don’t keep past a day though) and they look pretty spectacular displayed on a white rectangle china platter. It’s kind of fun to show them off that way before serving. These rectangle tarts make for rather small slices – usually 5 or 6 per tart. So if you’re entertaining a crowd, you might want to invest in two. Mine are non-stick to boot, and clean up nicely. The fluted edge is pretty too – you just press the dough in there, bake, and when they cool remove the outer pan edge to reveal the fancy fluted edge. It’s like a “I’m All Dressed Up, Now Show Me the Party” pie.

Okay – so now you know some of the many variables that you can employ to dress up and vary this simple tart. Now here’s the base for the recipe. If you make it this holiday, be sure to comment back here on Pink House about your experience:

Shelley’s Apple Cheese Tart 

Pastry (or if you’re crunched for time, just use a refrigerated pie dough that comesrolled up. I always keep some handy in the frig during the holidays)

½ cup butter

½ cup sugar

¼ t. vanilla

1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted

 

Cheese Filling

1 (8 oz.)  package cream cheese (light is okay)

¼ cup sugar

1 egg

½ t. vanilla or almond extract

 

Apple Filling

Granny Smith apples (two or three per tart), peeled, cored, and sliced.

¼ cup sugar (can use brown for a caramel twist)

½ t. cinnamon

1/3 cup chopped walnuts (or hazelnuts, or sliced almonds, or cranberries)

Pastry: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cream first 3 ingredients. Blend in four. Spread dough onto bottom and up sides of a springform pan.

Cheese filling: Combine cream cheese with sugar; mix well. Add egg and vanilla; mix well. Pour into pastry-lined pan. ( I prefer to use one batch of this for the TWO rectangle tart pans for a thinner layer. If using a larger round pan, use the entire batch for it.)

Apple Filling: Combine apples and toss in sugar and cinnamon. I prefer to arrange the apple slices one at a time onto the filling (line up in straight lines in the rectangle pans, and fan in two circular layers from the center out). Sprinkle with nuts or cranberries. Sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 10 minutes in 425 oven, then REDUCE HEAT to 375 and bake an additional 30 minutes. Cool and remove from pan. Serve it on the day it was made for best results.

Hello! I'm back!

Welcome back to Pink House! After a two year hiatus when I was busy working on some other projects, I am bringing back my Pink House blog. I first published the Pink House blog here on Typepad's hosting service from 2004 - 2006. Where I decided to discontinue it in early 2007, the time felt right because of some other things on my plate. But I did miss having a place to "scrapbook" about creative pursuits and I missed the frequent connections that the blog provided with old friends, new acquaintances, and family living elsewhere. And so.....

I'm building up the Pink House again. It will take me awhile to get back to where I was in terms of content, but I'll be steadily adding to it over the next few months. I have some new ideas and plans to include in the Pink House version 2.0, including a customized heading.  Check back to see what's new, and this time you can add your COMMENTS rather than just emailing me. (Just click below where it says "comment" and add your own 2 cents to share with me and other readers.)

Here's to a new chapter in Pink House!