Knitting

I am happy to have finally picked up my knitting again now that we have cooler weather.  I left a sweater 3/4 finished last spring - I just can't bear to knit in the summer.  I know some people can, but I would rather have a book in my hands in the sunshine!

This is the second sweater in the second Tiny Tea Leaves cardigan I have knitted.  Its an easy pattern that knits up quick -- and there are no seams to sew together! You can check out this project - Tea Leaves #2 - and the others I have made recently at Ravelry, which is an amazing resources for any knitter/crocheter!

After a few hours knitting in the teaching lab (my students seem to get a kick out of the fact that I will sit there and knit while they are busy doing scientific drawings), I finally finished in December.  Gladly, so, because I had a whole list of things that I wanted to make over the winter.

Unfortunately, I got a bit bogged down with other things, and hadn't got started on another new project about a month ago - a leafy baby blanket.  I love the pattern - very easy once I got into it.  But we are reaching that time of the year when I am more likely to go outside into the garden and less likely to pick up the needles...so hopefully I can get it finished soon!

What do you have on your needles these days?

Book Reviews: Put 'em Up & Canning for a New Generation

I love books.  I REALLY love books.  To the point that I have stacks of books stashed everywhere in my house.  Most are novels, but between us we have a good collection of cook books, gardening books, and quilting books.

Up until last year, I had been mostly relying on the old Bernardin cookbook I bought when I first started canning.  It is an excellent resource - but it just has basic recipes.  I like to step out of the box a bit sometimes.  So last summer I bit the bullet and ordered a couple of new canning books:


Put 'em Up!: A Comprehensive Home Preserving Guide for the Creative Cook, from Drying and Freezing to Canning by Sherri Brooks Vinton

Canning For A New Generation: Bold, Fresh Flavors For The Modern Pantry by Liana Krissoff


My local bookstore does not have a big variety, so I tend to order those I am interested in online
through Chapters and return the ones I don't want.

After flipping through both of them, I have decided to keep Put 'em Up, but returning Canning for a new Generation.  Both are excellent books with interesting recipes and beautiful pictures, but the one difference between the two is that the recipes in Canning for a new Generation is based on weights.  I hate having to weigh everything...and based on that alone I prefer the other book better.

That being said, I love the organization in Put 'em Up - but fruit.  It just makes sense to me.  And there are quite a number of recipes I already have dog-eared to try this summer as local produce becomes available.  Now I just have to figure out where to purchase Pomona's Universal Pectin so I can try out a few more recipes!

Are there any canning books that you can't live without?

Starting Seeds

Sorry for the very long hiatus!  I had meant to blog throughout the winter but a few things came up heath-wise and I never did get around to posting any of the things that I did.  But with spring seeming to finally be here in Southern Ontario I have finally found the motivation to start my seeds!

I prefer to start them later than some people - I don't like to put anything in the ground until the Victoria day weekend, so starting at the beginning of April gives me plenty of time!  This year I am scaling back a bit on what I am planting as I have a busy summer coming up.

I don't do anything special to start my seeds - just mix up some good quality soil with some water to make sure its nice and damp, and pop the seeds in!  This year I have started:

cucumbers

purple basil

green basil (because we use more of this!)

yellow zucchini

Aunt Ruby's yellow cherry tomatoes

green zebra variegated tomatoes

Tasmanian chocolate tomatoes (our favorite from last year!)

Now I would have preferred to do a more Tasmanaian chocolate and less green zebra, but apparently I had a brain fart while labeling my seeds saved from last years plants - and had 2 labeled Tasmanaian chocolate when one of the packets was definitely from green zebra!  So we will have to wait and see which was which.  I will likely give some of these tomatoes away as I really don't need that many plants - since I will still be stopping by the local nursery to pick up some seedlings of other heirloom varieties that I would like to try out.

I cannot wait for the warm weather and to be back out in my garden again!  And hopefully this will lead to posting more frequently now that I am out and about doing fun things rather than hibernating like I did all winter!

Grape & Wine Festival

The past 2 weeks have been busy for me.  I addition to starting back up teaching labs for a couple of courses at the university I also manage to catch a cold (likely from being at the Uni!) that put me out of commission for a few days.  Luckily, I started feeling better in time to join in the Grape & Wine festivities!

I grew up looking forward to the Grape & Wine festival every year.  I have fond memories of heading downtown to watch the parade and running around Montebello Park with my bears (because they use to have a teddy bear picnic for the kids!).  As I grew older I grew to appreciate the wonderful local vendors, food demonstrations, and of course the wine!  And you can't forget the music - there are always bands playing in the park.  The have kids acts in the afternoons leading right into 80s band revivals or cover bands (the Caverners, a Beatles cover band, have secured the Friday night spot for as long as I can remember).  The always put on a good show and bring out the crowd.

The first weekend of the festival includes the "Pied Piper Parade" - where the kids dress up and parade through the streets.  I remember going with my cousins when I was younger, and after my niece was born I decided that it would be a good tradition to keep going.  I believe this is the 5th year Miss R and I have attended, and the 3rd we are actually participating in.  This years theme was Heroes - so of course she dressed up like a Fire Fighter just like her Opa.  It was a great costume to wear since mother nature decided to let the rain pour down all day.  We both had a great time despite the rain, and Miss R even won a prize for best costume in her age group in addition to getting her picture taken for the local paper!

This past weekend was the "big" event - the Parade.  It also meant a lot of the bars and restaurants in town had special events going on all weekend.  We had amazing weather - sunny and warm all weekend!  I managed to make it to the park all 3 days, if only for a bit, connecting with family and friends, and bumping into people we sometimes only see during Grape & Wine.  Definitely a successful G&W!  Cheers to living in the Wine Region!

Fun at the Fair

With the fall here in full force, and my garden finally under control, we decided to do a day trip last weekend to get out of the house.  I looked up the events within a reasonable driving distance and we decided to venture out to Binbrook for their annual Fall Fair.  Although I wouldn't necessarily call myself a "city girl", I am also not a country girl.  And while there are lots of farms that I drive by (and walk through) regularly, the vast majority are agricultural crops.

We enjoyed walking around and visiting the various exhibits, checking out the baking/canning competition, handmade knits and quilts, and viewing the veggies on display.  It was fun to compare what I had grow to the various prize-winning produce!  I would like to think that I could have won a blue-ribbon had I entered some of our produce.

There were lots of farm animals about - cows, pigs, sheep, goats and alpacas.  We saw cows being judged (although I have no idea what kind of criteria are used to judge a cow).  But our favorite had to be the chick coop.  Who knew there were so many kinds of chickens?!?  I especially liked the fancy ones with feathers on their feet!  There were also fancy pigeons and ducks being judged.

All in all it was a great way to see what is going on locally, learn a few new things and get us outside for the afternoon.  Its definitely something that we will do again!

Basil

purple basil

I have a serious problem with growing too much basil in my garden.  It was one of the first plants I started growing from seed, and I always think that I am going to make good use of the 10+ plants I start.  This never seems to happen though!  Part of the problem is that it is so easy to grow that I forget about it some times.

 I usually grow a regular old variety of green basil, a purple thai basil and this year I also grew a regular thai basil.  I love all three, but I get the most use out of the green basil.  Usually it ends up in a caprese salad once we are overrun with tomatoes, but we also throw it into any other dish that warrants it or use it as a garnish.

I know I should get my act together and make some pesto or something.  I actually did my first year in my house, freezing it into small portions to take out.  But for some reason or another it never got used up, so I gave up on it.

Thai basil gone to seed

I think my biggest problem is that once August hits and everything else is coming in full force I sort of forget about it, and it ends up going to seed.  Now this isn't such a bad thing, since now I have self-seeded basil popping up in my garden.  But that means I end up with even more plants than I had intended on!

This year I reminded myself that I should dry some in July.  It actually worked out really well, and I hope to dry more in the future.  Perhaps I can add it to my repertoire or edible homemade Christmas gifts.

Hopefully when I am starting seeds next year I remember this post and hold back on growing just one more basil plant!

Chocolate zucchini cake

We have had a lot of zucchini pass through our kitchen this summer.  Probably more than any other year - and all from a single plant!  I had no fewer than 6 zuchs in my fridge at any given time once it started to produce.  Most of it was grilled, but it has been added to pastas, curries, and salads (plus everything that went into the freezer).  But this is now my all-time favorite use for zucchini:  Chocolate zucchini cake!

I found the recipe at Plump Me Up

It was super easy to make and everyone that tried it thought it was amazing.  I am inclined to agree...and it makes me glad that I have 15 cups+ of frozen shredded zucchini in my freezer so I can make this all winter long!

Since its only the two of us, a 9x13" pan is quite a lot of cake.  It would be perfect for family functions, but I think the next time I make it for the two us I will likely cut the recipe in half, otherwise I am likely to end up eating the whole tray on my own!

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
3 cups grated zucchini
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional - but its so good with them!)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add the eggs and oil, mix well. Fold in the nuts and zucchini until they are evenly distributed. Pour into the prepared pan. 
3. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool cake completely before frosting with your favorite chocolate frosting!