Would you like to hang out?

I’ve been thinking about this idea for some time: a blog video chat. We could “meet” on a regular basis, and spend an hour talking about whatever it is we creative types like to talk about. We could have specific themes for the hour, or we could just have show-and-tell time.

I’m going to do it. Are you in?

We can use the Hangout feature on Google+. Don’t have a G+ account? All you need to do is get one (they’re free) and then add Polka Dot Cottage to one of your circles. (Find PDC here, and click the “Follow” button.)

You can learn all kinds of handy things about hangouts here

Let’s do this at Noon (EDT) on Friday.  See what local time that is for you, here (put your own time zone in the second drop-down box).

And let’s make it a Show-and-Tell theme. Bring along your latest project(s) and show us what you’ve been up to! I will probably be filling some crochet hook orders while we chat.

The only way to get an invite to this first Polka Dot Cottage hangout is to follow PDC on Google+. This is different than having my personal account in one of your circles, so if we’ve already connected on G+, you’ll still need to follow the PDC page directly. This is the only way I will know to invite you to the chat!

Check your G+ home page, your chat box, or your notification bar. An invitation should appear in at least one of those places, once the hangout has started.

I should say… I’m still learning about this myself, and there may be kinks to work out. In other words, if you don’t get invited to hang out, or you can’t figure out where we are, don’t take it personally. I will do my best to make sure everyone who signs up gets an invitation to join us, but I may make some mistakes this first time.

If this first time goes well, I’ll make it a regular event. Sound like fun? I hope you’ll join me!

Chicken and Pasta in Ginger Sauce

I’ve been in such a cooking rut lately. Once upon a time, I used to make actual meals that did not involve defrosting frozen stuff. I recently decided to blame my poor kitchen performance on the state of my recipe collection. It may not really be the reason, but it was there and I needed a scapegoat.

Back in the Olden Days when I had a dialup BBS, I used to collect and post recipes quite a bit.  I used a little piece of software called Meal Master, which allowed you to keep an electronic database of your recipes, which you could then export to a text file or print. Well, technology marched along, as it often does, and it became difficult to use a DOS-based program in a Windows-based world, so I switched to Master Cook, while still keeping Meal Master around in a DOS window for old time’s sake.

My happy little recipe database days ended two years ago when I got a new computer running Windows 7.  Neither of my programs would run on it.  I didn’t really care too, too much at that point, since I wasn’t feeling all that excited by the kitchen and I had printouts of my tried and true recipes anyway.  But something snapped a few weeks ago, and I suddenly wanted to get organized again.

I did my research. I found an option for trying to run Meal Master through a third party utility, but it only half worked, and it broke before I could get access to the recipes.  I tried to do something with Master Cook, but the consensus on the web was that it doesn’t work on Windows 7 and the company supports it so poorly, it’s not worth even trying.

I decided I needed a modern solution. I signed up for an account at BigOven.com, and so far so good.  Big Oven has a desktop component, a website, and a mobile app, and they can all speak to each other.  That’s a vast improvement right there.  The desktop software even has a way to import Master Cook cookbooks, so I could get all of my old recipes back. Alison, who has a working copy of Master Cook, answered my Facebook plea and exported my Master Cook cookbook into the proper format for me. I imported all of the old favorites (and a whole bunch of recipes that I apparently am only keeping for nostalgia’s sake because looking at them now all I think is “ew”) into Big Oven, and now I am back in business.  Hooray! (And thank you, Alison!)

I’ve started using the meal plan feature, and the shopping list, which is great, although here’s a word to the wise: if your mobile device happens to be a wifi-only tablet and you don’t have 3G access, you’d better print your shopping list before you leave for the store. It’s not saved locally. I learned that the hard way at Whole Foods yesterday. I ended up going from memory, and then driving somewhere that I could get a wifi signal, and checking the list to see what I missed (“yogurt, cilantro, lemon, lime, pepper” became my mantra all the way back to the store).

Last night I was excited to be making an old favorite: Chicken and Pasta in Ginger Sauce.  So excited, in fact, that I forgot to photograph my bowl until I was all finished devouring the contents of it. It’s a bummer, since I like to share pictures of the foods I tell you about.  But no. All I have for you is a couple of scenes from a post-supper kitchen that needed to be cleaned up.

I came up with this recipe in the early days of my marriage after trying a similar recipe from In the Kitchen With Rosie (remember that one? Rosie was Oprah’s cook). It was absolutely delicious, but the preparation was waaaay too time-consuming for my taste.  I don’t remember the original recipe at all now, and the book has long since been donated to some organization or other, but I do remember that I made substitutions that shaved a lot of the extra time and effort from this dish, and I still liked it quite a bit.

Ingredients

• 2 Boneless skinless chicken breasts; halved
• 8 ounces Spaghetti; uncooked
• 1 Chicken bouillon cube
• 1 medium Red bell pepper
• 1 large Leek; white part only, trimmed and cut in 1-inch half-rounds
• 1 tablespoon Olive oil

THE SAUCE

• 1 teaspoon Garlic powder
• 3 teaspoons Ginger; ground
• 1/8 teaspoon Red pepper flakes crushed
• 1 teaspoon Thyme dried
• 2 teaspoons Lime juice
• 3 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons Soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons Rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup White cooking wine
• 2 teaspoons Honey

Directions

• Combine the sauce ingredients, and set aside.
• Put the leek and pepper in a large skillet with a little bit of olive oil. Saute for about 3 minutes, just until the vegetables begin to wilt. Remove vegetables from the skillet and set aside. Add chicken to the skillet (and more olive oil, if necessary), and cook in the vegetable juices until no longer pink. Add the sauce to the skillet. Bring to a boil, and simmer on low heat for about 5 minutes. Prick the chicken with a fork, to let the juices seep in. Add the vegetables back into the skillet and cook for an additional 5 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.
• While the chicken is simmering, bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Dissolve the bouillon cube in the water. Add the spaghetti, and cook to desired doneness. Transfer the pasta to a serving bowl. Arrange the chicken and vegetables and sauce on top, and enjoy!

If you’re a member of BigOven, you can click the recipe image below to add it to your Try Soon list (and you can click here to connect with me over there).

Weekending

I’m having a deliciously lazy weekend.  And as I lay around, flipping through books, I have visions of domesticity dancing in my head. The challenge is to translate those visions into action, once Monday comes.

I read somewhere about Heidi Swanson‘s Millet Muffins. I really thought someone posted it here, in response to my request for breakfast help, but I couldn’t find the comment. Wherever it was that I originally read about them, I was inspired to put Heidi’s Super Natural Every Day cookbook on my library reserve list.  I was able to pick the book up today, and after flipping leisurely through it, I’m considering putting it on my wish list for my permanent collection. For now, though, I’ve just copied a couple of recipes into my database, and marked them “try me!”

Wanting a natural foods cookbook like this is kind of a big deal for someone who grew up refusing any food that wasn’t in the hot dog family…

It’s 7:30 on a rainy Sunday night as I write, and I am almost consumed by the idea of running out to Whole Foods right now and buying muffin ingredients. I barely recognize myself. I am going to brew myself a cup of decaf, put on some lounge pants, and install myself into my favorite spot on the couch with my latest crochet project and wait for the feeling to pass…

Hope your weekend has been lovely!

Flufy’s Granny Square Blanket, part two

Ready to finish that blanket? If you’ve been following along so far, at this point you should have something that looks  like the image above.

If you missed Part One of this project, where I explained how to get this far, read this post first and then come back here to get the scoop on doing the border.

In all actuality, you could probably stop here if you really wanted to, but I prefer to add a border. It makes the blanket look more complete, and it helps eliminate that wavy-edge.

Choosing Border Colors

There are many techniques you can use to add a border to a blanket, but for this blanket, I wanted to keep the granny square thing going.

Remember how we made each square: a large center main color, one round of an accent color, and then two rounds of two different main colors.

Think about our blanket so far as the large center of a giant granny square. In order to make it fit in with our color rules, we’ll need to add a round of accent color and two rounds of two different main colors, around the entire thing.

Choose your colors carefully. The border won’t be terribly large, but it will have a significant impact. You should use three colors that you really want to stand out, because not only will the whole blanket be surrounded by these colors, but the border will also have the effect of making those colors pop in the center of the blanket as well.

This is the part where Eamonn and I had to compromise. I was very set on using gold as the accent color, but he was equally set on red. Additionally, he didn’t want a three-round border at all, but a one-round border, entirely in red. In the end, we went with my three-round idea, but replaced my gold accent with the red he wanted. Luckily both of us are happy with the results!

Crocheting the Border

If you still have a loose end from the last square you made, then join the AC to that end, and insert your hook into that corresponding space. If all of your ends are already woven in, just make a slip knot and insert your hook into any non-corner space of your choosing.

Border Round 1: By now you are an expert at making a granny square, so I don’t need to tell you the specific stitches. This round is exactly like all of the others we’ve done, except it’s much larger. When you get to a spot where one square has been joined to another, use the gap between the two squares as one of your spaces to 3dc into, as shown above, and then just keep going.

At the end of the first border round, the entire blanket will be surrounded in the accent color. This may not look terrific, and you may wonder if you should have included an AC in the border at all, but don’t worry. The final two border rounds in the MCs will nicely tone down the AC and it will return to being simply a complementary accent.

Switch to MC1 and crochet Border Round 2 in the same manner as Border Round 1.

Switch to MC2, add Border Round 3 in the same manner as the previous two rounds, and your blanket will be complete!

You may wish to block the blanket, but I felt it wasn’t really necessary. If you do want to lightly block it, spread it out on a rubber floor or blocking tiles, pin the edges and corners, and spritz it with water. Let it sit overnight, or until dry.

Of course, the best part of all is sharing the fruits of your labor with a special someone. Especially if he is an experienced practitioner of the art of being cozy!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial and that it has made some sense!  If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask them here.

P.S. You can queue it up on Ravelry, if you are so inclined!

Tutorials like this represent many hours of work. Consider showing your support by purchasing the complete PDF version. Thank you!

Happiness is a handmade blankie

I finished it.

And a nine-year-old somebody was very happy.

Did you see the post where I showed you how to make granny squares and put them together? Well, sometime in the next few days, I will show you how to make a border. Then you can make your own nine-year-old son (or your niece, or your neighbor, or yourself) happy with a blanket just like Eamonn’s.

Yay!

[edited: Part two is done! View it here. Or go here to get a handy downloadable version.]

P.S. Thanks for all of the great comments lately. Life has been a little busy, so I haven’t had time to reply. I do appreciate them, though, and if you’ve asked a question, I’ll try to answer in the next few days!