Crepes

I've been on a bit of a crepe kick lately, making them three times in the last week. One of those times, I forgot to add the egg until I was halfway through eating them and I can say that they're definitely better with the egg, but I was kind of amazed how not-bad they were without it. This is the recipe I use for myself, which is halved from the one in How to Cook Everything. I actually can put away a whole recipe's worth without a tremendous amount of difficulty, but then I pretty much have to lay around on the floor for about four hours after I'm done, and which gets awfully boring. A nonstick pan is worth its weight in gold in this case, though not required. If you're using a regular pan, you'll have to butter it pretty heavily between each crepe.

Crepes
makes 7-10

1/2 c. flour
pinch of salt
just over 1/2 c. milk (original recipe called for 1 1/4 c.)
1 egg
1 T. butter, melted and cooled
Whisk the flour and salt together, then whisk in the milk, egg, and butter, separately and in succession. Using a 1/4 c. measuring cup to mete out the batter, make crepes in a nonstick frying pan, turning each crepe over when the top appears dry.

I am a devotee of The One True Filling: sour cream with either strawberry or apricot jam, but I understand that other people occasionally like to branch out, to which I can only say, knock yourselves out, suckers!

I have to confess, I haven't been feeling particularly inspired lately, but I know that one thing that tends to perk me up when I'm feeling doldrum-y and lackluster is to revisit topics and projects that I would usually get excited about, like...

...Naturalism
I love the natural history of the Victorian era, that attitude of exploration and sense of wonder at just what the hell is out there in the world. And I love the cabinet of curiosity-style quasi-organization — sea urchins spines next to volcano dust! — exhibited in this collection of microscope slides.

I love natural history in general, learning about something in the world I never knew existed, like this totally bananas Stone Forest in Madagascar. (sidenote: why am I not going on scientific expeditions to Madagascar? as always, I blame you.)
And I am completely head over heels for regions of the world no one knows much about, where new species are discovered all the time (I'm looking at you, Greater Mekong region of southeast Asia!), so reading about the lemurs and geckos and insects that have adapted to live in this landscape really gets my nerd on.

{smooch}

...Food
Plain frozen yogurt (a container of drained tart yogurt, 1/4 c. sugar, slug of vanilla, run through ice cream maker), shown here drizzled with pomegranate molasses

Smitten Kitchen's mushroom bourguinon over egg noodles, which was really delicious. This might be my new go-to dinner during cool weather for non-fancy company who don't eat a ton of meat but are okay with beef broth. Actually, that description could work for pretty much anyone I ever cook for, but I'm already planning to make this in early April for a good friend who will be coming back to New York after having been in Bangladesh for a couple of months (presumably) not eating delicious French-style mushroom stew. I think the only change I made to Deb's recipe was to use a mixture of portobello and crimini mushrooms and to add the pearl onions right at the beginning so they braised in the wine/broth mixture. Also, I didn't reserve the mushroom stems for another use; I chopped 'em up fine and tossed 'em in with the carrots. And I used about twice as much broth as the recipe called for because I like a lot of broth, so it doesn't sit on top of the noodles the way hers did. This is what passes for following recipes exactly where I come from.

These outstanding glazed maple cookies. I'm amazed that I didn't eat all of the dough before I got any of them baked, since I kept pinching off a bit every time I glanced at the bowl. I actually did follow this recipe exactly, other than flattening the cookie balls with my palm instead of a glass. Edited to add: The second time I made these, I made a couple of changes that worked really well. First, I baked them for 9 minutes instead of 12-14, at which point they still looked raw on top, but were golden on the bottom and perfect once they cooled. Also, when reducing the syrup for the glaze, I added a bit of heavy cream (maybe a few tablespoons?) and cooked it until it was the consistency of honey. It ended up being much more like caramel, texture-wise — smooth and glossy and, well, creamy — instead of the original, thinner glaze. It was less than ideal for transporting them, since so much of the glaze came off on the parchment paper between layers, but no one seemed to mind.

Fresh sauerkraut
I'm using the directions from here, as well as the advice of a recent acquaintance who's a preservation and fermentation expert, and experimenting with fermenting my own sauerkraut. It's been going for about a week now. I tasted it a few days ago and it had started getting a little tangy already. I don't like dill, so I have caraway seeds, cloves and junipers berries in there.

I didn't make it myself, but this bowl of cheddar grits with roasted root vegetables and a deep-fried soft-cooked egg deserves a moment in the sun. (from Bark)

...Making Stuff
I finally finished those damn gloves. They're gorgeous, but the knitting was so fiddly and annoying that I don't think I'll be able to full embrace them until next year.

I finished the Cardigan of My Dreams, but it needs a belt, so am holding off on taking a modeled photo until I finish that. I'm pretty happy with it, especially with the fit through the shoulders and back. I need to remember to be careful about the width of the upper back going forward — narrowing it by a few inches did wonders for getting a good fit.

Late winter/early spring is the time of year when I always start thinking about sewing and bemoaning my lack of skill and making half-assed attempts and getting frustrated, but I really do think I may make some progress this time. I attempted a muslin of this Built by Wendy dress, but it didn't fit (good through the waist, but too tight at the hips and shoulders), so I traced off the pattern again, combining two sizes. I have a couple of Betsy Ross skirt patterns that I would actually feel fine working up without a muslin — I'm perfectly comfortable with darts and interfacing — but I will have to conquer my nemesis the zipper [shakes fist]. And my other nemesis, being different sizes in my different parts.

Some things never change

I went through a phase when I was a kid where every night before I went to sleep, I would get ready in case my bed turned into a spaceship. So I would carefully arrange the following items under the covers before I climbed in: a hairbrush, a couple of stuffed animals, several pairs of underwear and a pile of books. I knew I probably wouldn't end up needing it all; it just comforted me to know that should I be unmoored, I'd at least have clean undies and something to read.

So it just seems natural to me to bring three books and a blogging-enabled phone to bed for what will likely be less than an hour of reading. It's all there if I need it.

In which I catch up a bit, with fewer photos than would have been ideal

Recent kitchen successes:

• Lamb and prune meatballs with Moroccan tomato sauce from Pink of Perfection. I loved everything about this dish. It's both familiar and exotic, takes a lot less time start to finish than you might think, and perfumes your kitchen in spectacular fashion. Other than leaving out the cilantro, I made it exactly as written. I don't love couscous, so ate it over orzo and wished I'd made twice as much sauce.

• Caramelized tofu from 101 Cookbooks. I've probably made close to a dozen batches since she posted the recipe. The version I've settled on varies slightly from Heidi's; I start by sauteing garlic and red pepper flakes in olive oil, add some sliced tofu (for a single serving, I use about a third of a package of extra-firm tofu, sliced pretty thin) and brown it on both sides. Then I throw three spoonfuls of dark brown sugar into the pan, let it melt, stir it around to coat the tofu, and scoop the solids (tofu and garlic) into a bowl, leaving as much sauce in the pan as I can. Then I throw several tongs-ful of chopped greens into the pan, stir to coat and cook them for a few minutes, then eat with the tofu on top.

I've started keeping a big container of cleaned, chopped leafy greens in the fridge for quick meals — at the moment, there are brussels sprouts, baby bok choy and spinach in there. It just takes a few minutes to saute some, drizzle a little soy sauce and spicy sesame oil over and throw an egg on top. I've never really liked lettuce salads, especially as a meal, but darker, cooked greens are one of my favorite things.

Recent crafty endeavors:

• I finally picked up the second glove of the pair I started back in November(?). I don't like knitting gloves, with their stupid, fiddly little fingers — TEN OF THEM! — but I do want to wear them, so I've been forcing myself to work on it for at least 15 minutes each morning. I should be able to finish this weekend, since I just have half a pinkie and a thumb left to go.

• I bought a set of the cryptozoology connect-the-dot embroidery sets from Leethal a month or two ago, and have been having fun playing around with them. I'm doing all of the outlines first, then will go back and figure out how I want to embellish them, which will likely involve learning new stitches, since I really only know the basics. This turned out to be Cthulhu:

• I finally got around to buying cosmicpluto's Just Enough Ruffles scarf pattern when Ravelry was in the throes of Haiti-relief donation and am kicking myself for having taken so long. It's a great pattern, firmly in the "modern wearables" camp, and quick and fun to knit to boot. I made this one out of some handspun, hand-dyed Romney yarn that I spun and dyed when I was unemployed a few years ago and just got around to plying a month or so ago. I started it for myself, but as I worked on it, I realized it would look better on my friend Zoe and, as it turned out, I was right.

• I knit this Pimlico Shrug (link to Dr. Steph's blog, with photos of it both flat and on a body with front and back views) at least a year ago, but never wore it because I did such a bad job of sewing the sleeves in; the seam was much too tight and cut into my forearms. So I finally got around to removing the sleeves, unraveling them, picking up stitches around the armholes and knitting the sleeves down to the cuffs. Completely flexible join, infinitely more wearable (except that the construction means it won't fit under a coat and, since it's made from my handspun wool/mohair, it's too warm a garment to wear for most non-coat weather. Still, it is READY for cool spring days).

In which I talk briefly about clothes

I adore these outfits from the Leanne Marshall runway show. The fanciful skirt/no-nonsense top combination is one that I really love, but am always a little afraid of cocking up when attempting a real-world execution.

Walking through Brooklyn on a snowy evening

I had to go to work yesterday, despite Having Weather, but it did afford me the chance to take some pictures on my way home.

Faceless Snowman of Nihilism and Despair, Gowanus:

We're-Zoned-For-the-Good-Schools Snowman, Park Slope brownstone
Anti-gravity at work:

snow!