Thursday, January 27, 2005
Comments should be fixed, thanks to Beth!
posted by A M | 1:28 AM | (4) comments
Sunday, January 23, 2005

Pasulj

We lived in Germany for three years and this was a favourite of ours. There it was usually called "Serbische Bohnensuppe" (Serbian Bean Soup). We had to learn to make it when we came back to the US since it was impossible to find here. Fortunately I collect cookbooks the way some people collect knickknacks. Elisabeth Luard's The Old World Kitchen had been a favourite of mine for some years. The recipes are authentic and the book is the kind of book you can read from cover to cover. Imagine our delight when we found a recipe called "Pasulj" in this cookbook. It's wonderful for cold weather. Use real Hungarian paprika. And when she says "Serve with lots of good bread," figure on at least one baguette for every four people.

Pasulj (Serbian Bean Soup)

THE OLD WORLD KITCHEN by Elisabeth Luard, ISBN 0-553-05219-5

1 lb dried white beans (navy or cannellini) [1 large jar navy beans]
2 onions, chopped
3 clove garlic, minced
3 whole cloves
3 bay leaves
2 tbsp chopped parsley
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 lrg carrot, scraped and sliced
5 - 6 whole peppercorns
1 lb kielbasa, thickly sliced
1/2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
1 teasp Hungarian paprika
2 tbsp flour

You will need a large saucepan. Pick over the beans for bits of grit and chaff, and rinse them twice in cold water. Put the beans in a large saucepan and cover them with water to a depth of 1 to 2 inches. Bring the water to a boil and then turn down the heat. Leave to simmer gently for half an hour. [Note: I use the navy beans you can find in large glass jars in the bean section instead of cooking the beans from scratch.]

Remove the pan from the heat and pour in enough cold water to cover the beans to a depth of 3 inches. The beans will settle on the bottom. Leave them for a minute or two; then pour off the water and replace with fresh water. Bring the water to a boil and then turn down the heat to simmer.

Add the onions, garlic, bay leaves, parsley, tomato paste, carrot, cloves and peppercorns to the beans. Cook gently over very low heat for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until the beans are soft. After 45 minutes of the cooking, add the kielbasa.

Fifteen minutes before you are ready to serve, add the salt and prepare a liaison for the soup. Heat the oil until it is smoking lightly; then quickly stir in the paprika, followed by the flour. Mix to a thin paste. Add this to the soup, stirring well. Simmer for 5 minutes, until the soup is thick and rich.

Serve with plenty of bread and good red wine.

Serves 5 to 6. Time: 2 to 3 1/2 hours

Labels:

posted by A M | 10:24 PM | (4) comments
Thursday, January 20, 2005

Knit Quiz

Knitting Goddess

You appear to be a Knitting Goddess. You are constantly giving and are unconcerned with reward, you simply want others to love knitting as much as you do. If someone wants to knit miles of novelty yarns, you are there for them. If someone wants to learn short row shaping, you can help. There are no taboos in knitting, only opportunities to grow. Everyone should have a friend like you around if they want to learn to knit, and there's a good chance that your passion has rubbed off on a few others. http://marniemaclean.com


What Kind of Knitter Are You?
brought to you by
Quizilla
posted by A M | 11:02 AM | (0) comments
Monday, January 17, 2005

How not to spend a day off

...in suburban hell, otherwise known as Kenwood Townee Centree, doing Build-a-Bear with my daughter and my niece and nephew.

The day wasn't a total wash though. I found a possible new laptop bag (the Timbuk2 Marina) at the Apple Store. It holds a 15" PowerBook and seems to have room for a wallet, accessories, and socks-in-progress. I'm going to go back and test drive it soon. So yay. Now I just have to decide: pink or lime?

posted by A M | 11:34 PM | (1) comments
Sunday, January 16, 2005

Über mich (About me)

Beth inspired me to try to pull together a knitting/fibre blog. I've lost touch with knitting in the past several years in terms of new yarns/books/techniques, but I always have a sock or something with me to work on. I'm trying to dig out my knitting books and find my stash (literally stashed since our move last spring), and I'm also trying to finish some things. Since I am a process person and not a product person, this is ambitious. I prefer colour stranded work (Fair Isle) and would like to make a lace shawl at some point in my life. I love Scandinavian and Icelandic patterns and sweaters and would like to actually finish a Dale sweater at some point in my life too!

I have been knitting seriously for about 20 years now. I had the good fortune to move to Germany just when my interest in knitting was really taking off (by the way - if you are teaching a child to knit, do NOT start them on an orange acrylic endless scarf. I guarantee you this will make the average 8 year old not pick up needles again until she is 20!). Between the German yarn shops and the Stars & Stripes bookstore, I learned to knit Continental-style, to read charts, and a host of other things. By the time we came back to the US I was a confirmed knitter. Shortly thereafter I bought my first spinning wheel, and knitting and spinning both remain favourites of mine, as well as being therapeutic (fibre is cheaper than Prozac, right?). I wish there was more time in the day to work on these things.

Along the way I taught knitting for several years for adult non-credit education and also learned dyeing, weaving, and even soapmaking. Now that my kids are starting to be almost sensible ages (daughter 9 and son 13) I hope to have more time in the future for knitting and spinning, if nothing else. Since both my kids play hockey, knitting is the perfect take-along activity too.

I'm not really sure what will end up going in here. I have recently taken up photography as a hobby so I hope to incorporate pictures of knitting eventually, plus the obligatory pictures of adorable cats.
posted by A M | 8:52 AM | (0) comments