Georgian dinner

We've long been fans of Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid's cookbook Seductions of Rice, but we just got their Flatbreads and Flavors--I'm so glad we did!  The first recipe we tried was fenugreek and corn bread, and it was delicious--we were having a busy weekend, and we followed the recipe almost exactly and they were fantastic.  The only thing we did different from the recipe was baking the breads on a stone in our oven rather than on an oiled baking sheet.

So last weekend, when we had more time, Paul closed his eyes and wiggled a finger into the cookbook to choose a recipe at random: potato and herb filled bread (khachapuri ossetinski) from Georgia.  We decided to make walnut and eggplant roll-ups (badrigiani, also from Georgia) to go with it.  It was an incredible meal--absolutely delicious:

It was our first time making these breads, and I've never seen any person, so we kind of winged it:

We also cooked these breads directly on our baking stone in the oven, rather than on oiled cookie sheets, and they were great!

We did have leftover potato and herb filling, which we had for breakfast the next day; we mixed it up with a beaten egg into a patty, fried it, and had it with egg on top--delicious!

Swatch, no, dishcloth

I recently purchased some Farmablefibres cotton from my favorite yarn store, Claddagh Yarns, and when working up a gauge swatch, realized I might as well turn it into a dishcloth:

Here are my pattern notes:

I used 4.5mm needles, with Farmablefibres 100% Cotton yarn, and my gauge came out to 16 st/4 inches before washing & blocking, and a dish cloth that is 7.5 x 7.5 inches.

Cast on 30 stitches.

Work 4 rows of moss stitch.

Work 35 rows with 4 stitches of moss stitch at the ends, and stockinette stitch in between (about 6.75 inches from beginning at this point).

Work 4 rows of moss stitch.

Bind off in moss stitch pattern until you have 3 stitches left, and work these 3 stitches in moss stitch.

Work an i-cord on these stitches for about 3 inches, then pull yarn through stitches & tie off; sew end of i-cord to cloth to make a loop.

Filet crochet pillow cover

I finished a filet crochet panel:

That I used for a pillow cover:

I charted a pattern adapted from Ouvrages de dames... edited by Jule Trigoulet (see the top design on page 9).  A .pdf is available of the chart that I made--I used DMC Cebelia cotton size 10 in ecru, with a 1.4mm steel hook.

I love how it turned out!  I had started the crocheted panel to be a curtain, but then tossed it on the bed...next to the pillow that had a cover which was wearing out...

Now I'll look for curtain ideas!

Finished dress!

The Great Dress Experiment is a success!

I've been working on this dress for a long time, but it has been worth it--it is so comfortable, and I love the fit!  I used the pattern, New Look 6587, view A, and altered the pattern according to the book, Vogue fitting : the book of fitting techniques, adjustments, and alterations.  I added pockets (details in a previous post, with the beginnings of the dress in a past post), and ended up doing the hemming on the bottom of the skirt and the front facings by hand, since I like that look better than doing top-stitching.  I also added a few more buttonholes and buttons at the bottom of the skirt.

I love this dress, and will make more in the future!

Bus vs. home knitting

I'm currently working on Joan McGowan-Michael's "Racer Back Tank with Mesh Side," and I was able to notice the effect of bus knitting vs. home knitting:

I'm thinking that knitting this project on the bus may not be the best idea!  I'm hoping that the blocking will even everything out!

I think I'll start crocheting on the bus.

Favorite pancakes

These are our new favorite pancakes. Made with freshly ground whole wheat flour, they have a nutty taste, complemented by the slight tang of their long, cool, overnight rest:

They're "Pittsburgh's Finest Diner Pancakes," from the King Arthur Flour website.  And, as you can see, they're big pancakes, which fill the pan when cooked:

We've altered the recipe slightly:

• We use 100% freshly ground flour, which we grind from wheat berries.
• We don't cover the bowl with plastic wrap while the batter rests; we simply place a dinner plate on top of the bowl.
• We cook the pancakes in clarified butter.

They have crispy edges, and are very thin, so can be filled and rolled like a crepe.  My favorite filling so far is Straus Creamery's organic yogurt mixed with fresh fruit.

Berber onion and kabocha squash pasties

We recently made the Berber Pizza from David Tanis' cookbook, A Platter of Figs--it's wonderful! Absolutely delicious, and we found it really easy to make.

If you're making it, be sure to cook up more of the onion mixture than you will need. We mixed up the extra onion mixture with baked kabocha squash, and used it for filling in pasties:

I made up some pie dough, divided it up into twelve or fifteen balls, and rolled them out pretty thin, filled them with this filling and sealed them up.  Then cut little holes in their tops, and baked them a little less than an hour at 425F--pretty standard pastie baking.  The combination of the squash and the Berber onion filling was fantastic!

I forgot to get photos of the pasties.  We were too distracted by the deliciousness.

We'll be making all these dishes again, though!