Jane: Food blog

Sometimes I wish I were a food writer. I'd love to write columns about cooking, grocery shopping, vegetable gardening, local foods, tea . . . .

Every month, there are 2 food pieces in City Revealed, the local mag I write for: recipes by a local chef who teaches cooking classes, and a restaurant review. But I'm the feature writer there, not the food writer, so no place for my food writing there.

I guess that's one reason I have a blog. Today it's a food blog!

So here's a dish I made last night.

The recipe was "Sweet Roasted Butternut Squash and Greens over Bow-Tie Pasta," from The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper, a wonderful cookbook my sister got for me last Christmas. I've enjoyed several recipes I've tried from here already. They're easy and sumptuous.

I'd wanted to make this for a while because I love vegetarian pasta dishes, and my family loves squash. But I didn't try it because the pasta's finish included half-and-half AND cheese (I've developed lactose intolerance).

When I ran across the recipe again while trying to plan the week's dinners, I couldn't resist. I decided to try it without the half-and-half (I used a bit of cooking water from the pasta) and not as much cheese. It was both digestible and delicious!

Another reason I was hesitant to try this is the squash. I don't like the idea of peeling and cutting up uncooked winter squash. But the authors suggested a method that made it not so difficult:

cut the squash in half. Put it cut-side-down on a cutting board. Slice into strips, which are then easier to peel. Not EASY, but easier.

It's not difficult to find winter squash here this time of year, and it was on sale this week. I found one just the right size. I have never used escarole (the "greens"), but the grocery store had it, too. There wasn't any fresh basil or sage that the recipe suggested, so I used dried basil and made a mental note to try this again in the fall when I still have fresh basil. I need to plant some sage as well.

Roasting the squash, onion, garlic, and escarole with basil, olive oil, and a bit of sugar made them tender and tasty. The idea was to caramelize them a bit (and wilt the escarole).

The only change I'd make to the recipe would be to add the escarole to the roasting pan just for the last 10 minutes so it wouldn't burn. Also, Splendid Table thinks that 1 pound of pasta is the right amount for 4 people. I think that's too much. Since Eli doesn't like pasta (I know, how can you not like pasta?), I halved the recipe and it was enough for me, Robbie, and Bruce, with a bit left over for my lunch today.

I served it with Jim Lahey's no-knead bread--actually Mark Bittman's 4-hour version and crudites.
So what are you cooking?

Jane: Kawaii

I think that's how you spell it. It means "cute" in Japanese, and it's a big deal in Japan, the land of Hello Kitty and Pokemon.

So when I saw this book,

I couldn't resist. It has all sorts of amazingly kawaii things you can easily make. "How fun!" says the text.

Here's what I made.

The pink coin case actually holds safety eyes for amigurumi (you would have guessed that, wouldn't you). The other little card case currently holds coupons, but it seemed too small.

I decided to use their ideas to make a bigger case, but I decided against kawaii and chose some whimsical decorations instead. I embroidered them on both sides with perle cotton.


Yeah, denim and embroidery, very 70s. But so am I.

Jane: Foot follow-up

Turns out Robbie fractured his 3rd and 4th metatarsal on his left foot. They were impacted fractures, which means the bone stem was pushed up into the knob at the end of the bone, and that's where the fractures occurred.

Apparently, if you're going to have a fracture, this is the one to have. It's fairly stabile--the bones won't shift around as they heal.

Dr. Roof, our family physician, explained this by drawing the bones--right on Robbie's foot. "You don't mind if I draw on your foot, do you?" he asked. Robbie didn't.

"Dr. Roof is good. He actually explained it to us," was the verdict.

What does this mean? That Robbie can walk on the boot-cast as soon as his foot doesn't hurt anymore. And he can take the boot-cast off at night after 2 weeks. It's hard to sleep in, Robbie reports, so this will be good.

In six weeks, he'll be boot-cast free.

Robbie: My F***ing foot

Yeah... I went sledding... I broke my foot... I'm very pissed off... is this enough?

Jane: Finished my cardigan!

It took me 1 year + and 2 major trips to the frogpond,* but I finally finished!

Thursday night I told Bruce that if I were single, I would pull an all-nighter that night to finish it. But I'm glad I didn't try that--I had to make some adjustments once I got the pieces sewn together. The neckline was much too big/wide, and I had to take out the collar ribbing (you do that last in crochet), fill in some space with single crochet, and redo the collar.

Overall, I'm pleased with it. It's a big, bulky sweater, which isn't particularly "fashionable" right now, but it seems like a good style for an Aran style sweater. I like the way these drop shoulder sleeves worked out--the sleeve stitch kind of melds with the body stitch near the shoulders, so it makes the drop shoulders less "dropped." The yarn worked great for the project--it's cuddly and warm! I plan on having it around for the many years.

Nerdy details for crocheters:
Pattern: "Rugged Rover" from Jane Snedden Peever's Crocheted Aran Sweaters.
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease (20% wool, 80% acrylic) in "Fisherman"
Hook size: H was recommended, but I had to use J to make the gauge work. All the amigurumi crocheting has made me a tighter crocheter! One size smaller hook used on trim.
Buttons: 5/8 (I think I may have to replace the buttons with bigger ones. 5/8 seem to be a bit small. I suppose I could also sew the buttonholes up a bit if I like these smaller buttons.

*Knitters and crocheters say they're making a trip to the frogpond when they have to rip something out. Rip it, rip it. Get it? :-)

Jane: Crochet Project

Remember that crochet aran sweater I was working on? Here it is, being blocked! Once it's dry, I'll put it together and do collar, cuffs, bottom band, and fronts with buttons (it was shown with a zipper; maybe I'll do that instead).

It's taken a while, and lots of ripping out . . .but I sense completion is near!

Jane: Robbie's birthday weekend

If I had been smart, I would have taken my camera along yesterday when the whole family went sledding! Then I would have had great photos, like my brother's photos of his family skiing and skating.

The weather was reasonable, in the teens, so we all headed out to Bever Park for sledding. Besides the usual cold weather garb, I added NASA socks
and my snow pants
(can I point out that I've had these since high school?:-) No jeans of mine from that era would fit me now, but the snowpants, yes!)
I knew we'd be exercising, so I omitted the silk longjohns.

It was good to sled--I like the occasional bit of thrill. Robbie did well on his snowboard, and Eli snowboarded on a sled and also did well.

The night before, we went out for supper for Robbie's birthday. He requested a Japanese sushi and steakhouse, so we went to Oyama Sushi and Steakhouse, a locally-owned place. The owner's Mom was Chinese, his dad was Japanese, so he owns two restaurants . . . !

It's a beautiful little place.
Lots of people were there that evening, which made it seem festive. Bruce got a noodle hot pot, and the rest of us got bento boxes with tempura veggies and shrimp, pickled ginger, seaweed salad, rolls (california or tuna) . . .
After supper, the waitstaff brought Robbie a dessert with a candle in it, and everyone in the restaurant sang happy birthday to him, while a waiter banged a small gong! Wish I had a photo of that! Robbie enjoyed it.