Binding The Quilt

New Project For 2008: Queen Size Quilt

I will start cutting these 2 sets of fat quarter cotton fabrics tomorrow using a rotary cutter designed primarily for cutting quilt fabrics. Each set that came in the mail today is in groups of 20 and 25 pieces, cost paid at eBay is $90.95 plus $9.50 for the shipping. Total amount paid online was: $100.45. Quilting as a craft project is time consuming and is costly but it is worth the money spent for the materials paid once the project is done.

The best part is the piecing together and the quilting by hand. There is the personal touch in it and for me it is very calming and therapeautic. Other things to purchase once the piecing is done are the batting and backing fabric plus the quilt thread.

I worked for a month when I made my first quilt ("Yellow Brickroad") done last year in September 2007. My holiday in Oregon at a quaint little town called Lincoln City inspired me to learn this all-time-favorite American quilt. There is a very nice quilt shop there that just amazes me to come again and again! I have been coming there with my in-laws since summer 2004. It would be my 4th summer to visit there this August. More later. Cheers!

Party Fair: French Baguette With Herb Sprinkled With Sharp Cheddar and Parmeggiano Cheese

I baked this last Sunday for the birthday party of Fr. Francis at St. Dominic's Parish. It was a blast!

Linguini and Clams

Click photos to enlarge*

For lunch today, I cooked the above with dry white wine. It was sooooo good! I just thought last night of cooking and eating this today so fast I went to the market place in Chinatown and bought live clams, sautead them in olive oil and garlic, and for the sauce, it was simple: sour cream, garlic, butter, tomatoes, tumeric, basil, salt and white wine. Once done, I poured the sauce over the linguini pasta boiled in water with olive oil and salt, strained it and served hot. I sprinkled this pasta with freshly shredded parmeggiano cheese. Bon appetito! Don't you wish I was your personal chef?

Green Salad For A Saturday Lunch

Sounds like a starving woman's diet plan? Think again, NO!

The ingredients I used are:
1. lettuce
2. bean sprout
3. toasted and salted sunflower seeds
4. sharp cheddar cheese
5. fresh parmeganno cheese
6. olive oil
7. half and half
8. sour cream
9. salt
10. garlic powder
11. onion powder
12. shredded carrots
13. spring onion (green onions)
14. Italian corriander
15. pepper
16. lemon juice
17. boiled eggs

Mix all veggies. Sprinkle with olive oil.

Combine another set of olive oil with salt, half and half, sour cream, onion powder and garlic powder. Stir in the cheese. Mix. Add the lemon juice then scoop the salad cream. It's yummy! I didn't even finish mine as I was so full due to the cream. Yikes! But it was delicious!

French HERB Baguette

I tried out a new recipe found at the back of the 50 lbs. bread flour husband and I bought at Costco last week. It didn't seem right while I was working on the dough. It was not smooth and elastic as a good dough should be. However, I was curious and excited to see on how this bread project would come up and needless to say, I was interested to find out the result, if this is a good recipe or not. So far, this recipe used VINEGAR, a short way to making a sourdough prep since this recipe didn't really call for it. But the vinegar was part of the ingredients needed so I pressumed that has to work out as the sourdough base here. Also, there was no detailed instruction on how to bake this so most likely, the company that printed this pressumed that the baker is an experienced one (to buy a 50-pounder bread flour)! This baguette has milk and butter on it and didn't use olive oil which is the norm. I must say that it really tasted good and the texture is perfect, very soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside.

Since baking bread for two years now has been my avocation, I learned that checking out the baking time is a must since oven temperature varies according to different brand of oven. This herb baguette recipe calls for a 30-minute 400 degrees Fahrenheit baking time but on its 18th minute, it was already baked and was golden brown in color as well! That, told me that If I didn't cross check earlier, it would have burned like the white bread baking experience I had two weeks ago! When I found out this baguette was already done, I was just at that point where I was thinking of covering the pair with aluminum foil so as not to over brown it and then, it was done! Hello!

So, how do you know when your baguette is already baked?

Simple. When you drum it, the sound is hollow- indeed, it is almost like a drum- the sound, the timbre!

To serve this bread, soak each slice (both sides) in melted butter, sprinkled with dried parsley. Truly, this is a delicious one, perfect for any meal at any time of the day!

Bon appetito!

Baking Time For Me Is Back This Winter Time Of The Year

Great Tasting "KEY LIME PIE" and "CRANBERRY OATMEAL BAR"

I have been in the mood to bake again and last Sunday, I baked "French Baguette" for the SFWWME Board meeting at Half Moon Bay. Then at our Love Circle, I baked and brought "Spice Muffin with Cinnamon Streusel Topping." Today, I baked "Key Lime Pie" and "Cranberry Oatmeal Bar." We are eating the pie tonight after dinner and bringing in the bar for the "Chat With The Pastor" night at NDV. I am still cooling it at this time and will have to cut them individually, put the paper lace, then they are set to go. Some photos here for you to enjoy. Click photos to enlarge. Cheers!

Celebrating The Great Five-O in Pictures

It was a quiet celebration I had with just moi and husband in attendance~painting the town red; eating out at our favorite seafood restaurant (OYSTERIA) in North Beach; attending the 9 AM mass at Notre Dame; watching "BUCKET LIST" at Bloomingdales and enjoying some great times window shopping along the French Quarter of San Francisco. I bought a butter melter and tea candle holder at Sur La Table. Husband purchased an olive oil container stopper. Website link: Sur La Table

We were on foot coming to the Financial District and decided to walk back coming home. We were in our domicile by sundown and enjoyed a dinner of Chinese food while watching a line up of movies on cable TV. I had gin and tonic which made me fall asleep for half an hour (LOL)! This year I opted not to have a birthday cake but had an ice cream the night before, bought at our favorite Gelato House in our Italian neighborhood.

CIABATTA- Italian Slippers Shaped Bread

This is my first CIABATTA that I ever baked and this one really tasted good-that is crispy on the outside and very soft on the inside! This is a lot better than the French baguette recipe I had taken last year from www.recipezaar.com Since I do not a recipe for this bread, I researched online at various sites and so far, there is only one existing recipe- so this must be the authentic Italian recipe!

This was the CIABATTA husband bought last Sunday at our French Bakery in North Beach. This bread is so easy to bake. However, the sourdough starter takes 12 to 15 hours to process, otherwise if you are handy with breadbaking, this comes easy- so long as you have a stand mixer.

When All Is Not Well On the Receiving End

Some nights ago, husband told me the Chinese owner of our building had requested his son, our landlord- to inform us that she does not like seeing my hanging plants in my veranda. In summary, she wanted me to get rid of them; accordingly, as they are hazardous to people passing by (as they might fall down). Yuck! Of course, I tied them off tightly so the SFO winds won’t blow them away! But what can we do except to give in to her likes since we are just tenants here in the city. Therefore, we are the recipient of this Chinese matriarch's rules and whims she instituted when she built this three-level complex, right after converting her fortune cookie factory into an upright living quarters it is today . But mind you, we are also landlords in the suburbs but we are nothing like this chinky eyed migrant from the People’s Republic of China. Other than this am complaining about, ours is actually a nice little castle we have in North Beach~ quiet, peaceful and cozy. So, okay, okay. I took off the plants last night!

LITTLE BOY BLUE IS AWAY

As I write this blog, husband is enjoying the cool aroma of wines and grapes in NAPA VALLEY. He had been there since last night and so I am in solitude here in the city which is good and bad. Good in a way, I have my space; bad in the sense, I cannot sleep tight when he is away (sigh). Call it the symbiotic syndrome of our growing relationship, we are so accustomed to being together all the time since mostly, he works from the home office. And also because he only reports to his office once monthly and twice each month, he goes on a business trip elsewhere. Otherwise, we are the twins of each that other married couples never had! Tonight, I know he is enjoying the perks of accommodation he has at MARIOTT HOTEL and SPA at NAPA VALLEY. But he said it’s not as warm as when I am around. See? He just misses me as much I miss him!

CIABATTA: ITALIAN BREAD SHAPED LIKE A PAIR OF SLIPPERS

Tonight, I prepped the CIABATTA sponge for tomorrow evening’s bread. I always make it a point to bake a bread or pastry, cake or pie whenever LITTLE BOY BLUE is gone so on his home coming night, he has something to look forward to like the scent of a bread baking in the oven.

Well, I bake regularly even when he is around. But you know it is a different feeling when you have been away for a while. You just want to be back in your own bed, eat your kind of food, take a hot bath, get dressed ino your comfortable clothes then jump into your old familiar bed where soft pillows and hand-made quilt, await your embrace for the night! In this time when cold winter air seats right into our home, there is nothing more enduring like being home again and free; safe and sound, and in the arms of the one you love. Good night for now. Ciao!