A thing of beauty

Not much substance to this post beyond a giddy "lookit! lookit! I did that!"

 Because I did. I totally made pie crust!

Maybe no big deal, but I have a chronic history of overworking dough and this is something that no mama or grandma ever took me under their wing to teach. It was me, one small portion of a cooking class years ago, a cookbook, and the internet for reference.  It has terrified me since I was a child.


And yet: Ta-Da!

I did it, and it was pretty darned good, too!

DIY Dishwater Tabs - Take 1

You always see blog posts of things gone right, but before they go right, they often go horribly, hilariously wrong.

This is one of those times.

See, I'd run out of dishwasher tabs so, naturally, I looked up a bunch of recipes online on how to make dishwasher detergent and even found this one on how to make dishwasher tabs, which I used as my base recipe.

Instead of washing soda, which I didn't have, I used baking soda which I'd seen in some other powdered recipes.
Because I was using baking soda, instead of using vinegar for the acid as she suggested, I used citric acid as cited in this and several other dishwasher recipes online. I'd also seen this baking soda/citric acid combo used for bath bomb recipes.

It wasn't very clumpy.

So some little neuron in the back of my head somewhere fired off another old memory of a bathbomb recipe and how you lightly spritz it with water to help it pack together - not enough to make things react, but just enough to help things pack together. So I did that with this. I lightly misted and mixed the powder with distilled water from a spray bottle until it was holding together when I pressed it with my hands.

Here's a tip: don't do that.

Sure, it was packing beautifully, but towards the end it was getting wetter and stickier in my hands.

Odd that.

Anyhoo. Popped one in the dishwasher and it worked great! Beautifully! I was a convert!

Then a few hours later, I returned to the kitchen to see this.

...Yeah.


It kept a slow foam for a few days - never actually spilling over the plate - but gradually losing all effectiveness as a dishwasher detergent. On the third or fourth day, we chucked the lot in the bin.

For now, I'm mixing up individual (if a bit heavy handed) batches of dishwasher detergent as I need it while I plan my next move. I'm using:
-2 tsp borax
-2 tsp baking soda (I haven't managed to buy washing soda yet, but I suspect it will work better.)
-1/2 tsp epsom salt (I checked all over my little town. Kosher salt was not to be found.)
-1/2 tsp citric acid
-2 to 3 drops dish soap
-skip the essential oil for now

All these measures are done on the scant side. Drop the dish soap into the compartment first. That way if it over-pours you can wipe out the excess. Mix the powders a bit. Pour into the soap holder. Splash some white vinegar into the bottom of the dishwasher. Run the load. The vinegar is definitely important. I forgot once and my plastics (including my son's sippy cups) came out with a white powdery film on them. It rinsed off reasonably easily, but still. Not nice. Use the vinegar.

Dishwasher tabs, just you wait. I will conquer thee!

Homemade Crème Fraîche - Sketchy or Awesome?

A while back, I was making a soup for dinner that called for a dollop of crème fraîche on top.

Crème fraîche. Sounds so exotic and expensive to our North American ears, doesn't it?

Except that it really isn't. It's basically like yogurt but made with sour cream cultures and it's even easier to make because you don't have to heat it.  Honestly, that's all there is to it!  Take some heavy cream. Whisk in a spoonful of sour cream until nice and smooth. Leave it to stand at room temp. (You can cover it with a clean tea towel to keep out dust or whatnot.) Come back same time tomorrow. Done! That bowl of runny-from-the-carton cream will have thickened up and set beautifully.

No, I did not rest it in the sun for 24 hours.
This was the best lighting I could get on the day.

In Europe, this is not an extravagantly expensive thing.  I mean, yeah, in France they take it seriously, but honestly, they do that with most all food - especially foods of French origin.  Even there, though, you certainly won't be shelling out $6- $8 for an itty bitty quarter cup jar of mass produced creamy goodness!

The other thing that might put someone off of trying this at home is that it really doesn't sound that safe.  In this society, we're told to put milk in the fridge the second we get home or - if facing a long commute - stick a thermometer between your milk bags/jugs/cartons to know whether it dropped below the sacred 4C limit for so much as a microsecond lest we poison ourselves! (What's a blog without a bit of artistic hyperbole?)  So I can see the appeal of buying something made with strict quality controls (whether or not you trust the quality of the manufacturers is another discussion altogether.) instead of leaving two "keep refrigerated" items out for a day and then savouring. It's counter-intuitive, even if the science behind it is sound.

But I'm here to say: I've made some. I've made crème fraîche.  I've done it before and I'll do it again.  Also to note: while I'm technically a normal, healthy person, my constitution is not really the strongest and yet, the only effect I've had after eating home made crème fraîche is a happy tummy after a tasty meal.  It's not as scary as it seems!

Ta-da!

Dangerous Knowledge - S'mores Anytime

Turns out you don't need a fire to make tasty, toasty s'mores.  The heat from an electric element will roast a marshmallow beautifully and very evenly. 

Turn the element on high, give it a minute or so to warm up and pop a marshmallow onto a dinner fork or chopstick. Hold the marshmallow over the heat source as close as possible without touching the cooktop. Then you get burned sugar and smoke and a scorched mess that's a royal pain to clean off and it's just generally not fun.

From this

To this

Place some chocolate chips (or chocolate bar pieces if you have them) on the sweet crispy carb of your choice.  I know graham crackers are traditional, but I actually prefer arrowroot cookies.  I really don't see what the big deal is with graham crackers, actually.

Yummy, ooey-gooey, half-size s'more!

Making a Peplos - Part 2

Hello again.  So here's where we are. The peplos is done.  Well, wearable, anyway.

While trying to decide what to do about dyeing this thing, I decided it would just be easier to use a contrasting threat.  I used a dark neutral of some sort to give some contrast to the whipstitch.

Whipstitching it all together.

Stitching all done. Fabric laid flat.

Next up, the dye.  After more research and google searches than I care to admit, I decided to dye this baby with turmeric.  My reasons being, 1- it's easily obtained; 2- it isn't ridiculously expensive; 3- it's easy to use; 4- it does not require a mordant; 5- I did a test swatch. It was super easily and very pretty. 6- it is food safe, so I can do this job in a cooking pot. Obtaining a dye pot and mordant pot is proving tricky, or at least highly inconvenient, at this time. Sure, it's probably not authentic to the period I'm recreating here, but the pros far outweigh the cons in this case.

Super easy and super vibrant test swatch

I tossed all the turmeric I had left in a large pot, added a mess of water and brought it to a boil. I wet the fabric in water, wrung it out and worked it into the dye water. A few minutes simmer and I let it sit overnight, just as I did to the test swatch.

The bits poking out the top came out lighter than the rest.
I should have weighed down the fabric. Lesson learned.

I rinsed it out probably 6-8 times before the water stopped running yellow and hung it up to dry.

Ta-Da!

Now, yes, I know it won't last forever. It isn't light fast. I don't care.  It will last long enough and when the time comes, I will hopefully know more, have more toys at my disposal, and I will be able to dye over whatever's left of this run.  My biggest concern right now is whether or not the yellow will make me look jaundiced.  

Curtains

We've been in this house for 6 months and the wee sprout *still* doesn't have curtains up in his room.  It hasn't mattered much with the short days of winter, but as days are getting longer, I really have to get back in gear.

I've based my curtain project on this tutorial. The results on her site are lovely and I would have loved to line these curtains, but when we went shopping, we found kid's room themed blackout fabric for 4$/metre.  Hard to beat and it makes the lining superfluous when finances are a concern. Therefore, no lining. (pout)

As with the original tutorial, I've folded the bottom up 4 inches deep, then up again.  I sewed this hem down with a plain ol' straight stitch.

Next, let the project sit in a closet to mature for as long as needed. 3 weeks, 6 months, it's all good.  Really, the delay is an essential part of the crafting process.

Ready? Alright, instead of attaching the lining fabric to the sides, I've marked off pencil marks at 1 inch in and 4 inches in from the selvedge.  I made these markings every 4 to 6 inches. More than that and I can't just fold and press. Pins become necessary. It's a nuisance.

Fold the side up to the 1 inch mark and press as you go.

Special note: since I used the full width of fabric and this is thick blackout stuff, the selvedge was thick, fuzzy and black, I trimmed off the thick fuzzies at this point so there wouldn't be a ridge in my hem. Ick.

Icky, thicky, fuzz.

Nice and neat.
(Anyone know how to get these pics to sit side by side?)

Once the whole side is done, fold the new, neat edge up to the 4 inch mark and press again as you go. Add pins now and then so nothing gets skewed while sewing.  If you're good enough that you can sew a 9' hem while keeping everything square, then my hat is off to you.
If you're at all like me, pin every 6-10" and stitch down with more nifty straight stitches.

Seam fully encased, pinned, ready for sewing.
Why is blogger turning this image sideways?!

Repeat on the opposite side.

Top up your tea, we're heading into the home stretch now.

Chop up lengths of whatever you've decided to use for back tabs.  I used 1" wide twill tape because 1- it was cheap; 2- it looked strong enough; 3- the unbleached colour blended in decently with the fabric (not that it matters much.)

Fold what will be the top of the curtain down 1". Press.  Fold down another inch. Press.

Now, set the tabs about 1/2" into the seam at even intervals. I set a pin every 6" to know where to put the tabs, fudging my measurements near the centre of the fabric, mirror-image style.

See? Six inches... not to be neurotic about this or anything...

Then I used my nifty measure-ma-bob to square off the tabs.

Crooked

Less crooked. Ta-da!

Still with me?  Good. Now, you get to sew this down. Again, a straight seam will do.

Finally, to keep nice clean, non-frayed edges, press the exposed edge of the twill tape under just a little. Like, 1/8"-1/4". Not much. Press. Pin. Stitch.

Run an iron over the whole project if it looks a bit wrinkled and hang your masterpiece. You're done!

Pour yourself a drink, admire your handiwork, and if necessary, pray it will encourage a certain young lad to sleep a wee bit longer.

Attempting Beet Powder

I attempted to make beet powder recently.  It all started as an attempt to explore natural pigment sources for homemade toddler fingerpaints.

Thing is, between the time I bought the beets and actually made the powder, they'd been sitting in the fridge for the better part of a month, so a few of them had gotten fuzzy in places.  Seeing as I wanted the powder for a project that should expect to involve some human consumption, this was bad.

Instead of tossing the whole lot out, I chopped off the fuzzy bits and figured this would be a test run.  I washed, peeled, and grated the beets, then spread them out on two cookie sheets and put them in the oven at 170F. It's the lowest setting my oven has and I think it runs a bit on the hot side. To try to ease the heat, I'd open the oven door now and again and use it to fan the air.

The brutal beet slaughter of 2013

Once it was bone dry (and slightly browny-red. oops.) I let it cool and popped it into our coffee grinder that I'd swept out fully beforehand. I whizzed the ever living daylights out of those shreds and let it settle before opening it.  The beet smell was very present.

Mmm, air de beet.

I shook the powder into a little jar, using a bristle brush to gently sweep the finest powder from the surfaces of the grinder.

Now I have a small baby food jar full of beet powder that probably shouldn't be eaten and no clue what to do with it.

2 pounds of beets or so, down to a 2.5 oz jar.

Although, the tint left on the brushes makes me think this powder might have potential as a blush...

See that pinkish tinge on the edge?

Hmmm.....

Making a Peplos - Part 1

I'm working on an outfit so I'll have something of my own to wear for SCA events. (SCA is the Society for Creative Anachronism - it's basically pre-1650s historical re-enactments. Check it out here.) After years of blocks and twists in the road, I've decided to make something very simple: a peplos!

A peplos essentially consists of two rectangles held together at the sides (either belted, sewn, or both) and pinned at the shoulders. As such, changing the fit to accommodate body changes is a breeze! (I am in the pregnancy/breastfeeding phase of my life, after all, so it's easy enough to nurse in, too.)  I figure this will be a good base outfit I can count on while dreaming up more detailed projects.

Of course, just whipping it through the machine would be far too efficient. No, no, no! I must complicate things for myself. It's what I do, or what I think about doing and then chicken out unless I have a fellow masochistic friend nearby to encourage and enable me.  So, I'm completely hand sewing this baby. Seems a good place to start cutting my teeth (fingers?) on a new handicraft.

So here's where I'm at: 

No unravelling edges here, no sir.

I have measured off two rectangles of appropriate size of a linen/cotton blend twill which drapes beautifully, but is a pain to keep on the grain.

Now I am in the process of hemming all sides to encase all the raw edges.  I'm doing this bit by hand with a simple running stitch.  It's oddly meditative, with only a little bit of blood involved.

Once that's done, I'll whip-stitch the two together along a portion of the long sides... or dye them and then whip-stitch with appropriately coloured thread.  Haven't decided yet.

Meanwhile, the research continues: any idea how to dye stuff with common grocery store foodstuffs? I don't really have access to madder or woad right now and it's the dead of winter up here.