Sunday Sundry - Vol. 21

I hope the new year has started off in a good place for you.  I enjoyed many of your 2010 year-in-review blog posts and quilting accomplishments.  Such creativity and productivity!  I thought about doing my own but decided instead to focus on what's ahead rather than revisit the past.  Though I'm not much for New Year's resolutions, if I were to make one, it would be that in 2011, I tip the scales decidedly in the direction of more, fully-completed projects.  Quilt tops actually quilted.  Patterns actually cut and sewn.  Ideas turned into reality, not just left to grow dim in a corner of my noggin and ultimately become dust.  I am sure that participating in Myra's PhD Challenge will help jump-start the process.  And then look out, because for me, there's nothing like tending to the final details of one project to fan the flames of burning enthusiasm for another.  

On Friday, while it was still technically 2010, I pulled out some scraps and a free table runner pattern I'd come across in one of my short attention span fueled clickety-clicks around the internet.  My mother had sewn some calicoes and other fabrics into long, skinny tubes at least a dozen years ago.  Near as I can figure, she was making a boatload of draft stoppers.  I laundered and opened a few of these along the seams.  There was a decent amount of fabric in each, probably four to five inches by width of fabric.  This led to pressing, and pressing to cutting, cutting to sewing, and before you know it, I had pieced the central portion of the pattern.

I think I'm going to stop at this point, nix the border, and just bind it in red to make a 24 x 24 inch wall hanging.  The rest of mom's scrap fabric tubes are going to Goodwill this week.  Most are not quilting-quality cotton, and besides that, they're taking up emotional as well as physical space; I think it's time to tend to a little housekeeping and move on.

Ghee Whiz
So what did you do on New Year's Eve?  First, I fixed myself a beverage, since I was able to get the top off the Frangelico bottle.  One shot hazelnut liqueur + soy/almond milk + Hershey's syrup = YUM.

Then I made ghee.  Because I know how to party.

You probably already know that I am dairy intolerant (If not, there you go.)  Specifically, casein, or milk protein.  So what business do I have melting down a pound of butter?  Well, other than the fact that the aroma of melted butter makes me giddy, from melted butter comes ghee, or pure butter oil.  And I can eat that.

See, butter contains fat (obviously), milk solids, and water.  As you melt the butter and continue heating it, the milk solids separate out and the water evaporates.  

The foamy stuff that rises to the top is the milk solids.  Some solids also settle to the bottom and brown.  You skim the foamy solids off (and thus the casein and lactose), the water boils out, and ultimately you are left with what is known as ghee (pronounced with a hard G, like "Glee" but without the L).  I let it cool a bit and then strain it through a cloth into a jar to catch any remaining solids.

Ghee has a wonderful buttery, somewhat nutty flavor.  It turns to a semi-solid consistency when fully cool.  You can spread it on toast, melt it over popcorn or vegetables, and cook many other things with it.  It has a high smoking point, and doesn't need refrigeration.  Baking with ghee can be tricky, because the texture of baked goods is affected not only by the fat in butter, but the solids and water content as well (which are removed in making ghee).  I don't bake with it myself. (Edited to add: I have baked with it since this post, and in some things it works just fine.  You have to experiment.)

Ghee is good, is what I'm saying.  This gluten-free bread from a mix, not so much, but that's another post.  The rhubarb-raspberry spread was tasty though.

Hoppin' Right In
Can you guess what I made on New Year's Day with these ingredients?

If you said Hoppin' John, you're right!  Eating Hoppin' John on January 1is supposed to bring you good luck and prosperity in the year ahead.  It's not a tradition I was familiar with growing up, even though we ate black-eyed peas (or their cousin, purple hull peas) often enough, especially when visiting relatives in the South.

I actually first found out about this originally Southern tradition while browsing a new cookbook many years ago.  I've made it a few times since then, but not every year.  Last week on Leah Day's blog, her husband Josh posted a Hoppin' John recipe, and I decided to make it once again.

Two thumbs up!  It's especially tasty with the green onions and a couple dashes of salsa picante on top.  And I feel lucky already!

There's more I could go on about, but I think I'll end this post today with a song from Glen Campbell.  When my siblings and I were playing music together last week, Dad requested we do one from Glen, his favorite singer, but the chord progressions escaped us at that moment.  So this one's for you, Dad.  It's Glen, singing and playing with Stone Temple Pilots—a beautiful rendition of a classic song.