It's been glorious sunrises and sunsets this week.
I've been taking lots of pictures and playing with layers and filters.
This morning there was the more typical November rain.
Soup weather.
Yellow split peas + onions + celery + garlic + carrots + a bit of balsamic vinegar + water + olive oil.
And just a tiny bit of stitching.
Apple sauce bread
The story of the applesauce bread is longer than I can tell tonight. That's one thing I've learned from this last month...limits of what I can do. Maybe limits isn't the right word, but it's the one I have right now. As for the applesauce bread...
There is a layer of family, not just through birth but also through affection. A layer of tradition and preserving history.
There is a layer of location. Ingredients from my garden (the grapes and apples), from the county next to the one I live in (the flour), from the state closest to mine that grows warm weather crops (olive oil), to the world at large (spices).
I could have made the ingredients slightly more local by swapping the walnuts out for hazelnuts. I decided not to for the family connection. My dad's aunt and uncle had a walnut grove for years in California. During my childhood I remember coffee cans of walnuts arriving for Christmas.
"Very Good Applesauce Cake from the kitchen of Lucille F."
4 cups Flour + 2 cups sugar + 2 teaspoons of corn starch + 4 tablespoons cocoa powder + 1 teaspoon salt + 1 teaspoon cloves + 1 teaspoon baking soda + 1 teaspoon nutmeg + 2 teaspoons cinnamon, sifted together.
Add 2 cups raisins + 2 cups chopped walnuts to the batter, then 3 cups of applesauce and then 1 cup cooking oil (I used olive oil).
Bake in a slow oven (about 325 F) for about an hour. A tooth pick should come out clean.
I like that this is an inclusive cake...vegan; good for people with dairy and egg allergies. I suspect the wheat flour would be easy to swap out too.
I like it best made as small loafs but it's also good as a thin cake.
Digital Stitching
The pairings are coming together.
My sense is they are brighter than I want so they may get dipped in the walnut vat.
I do want to make a blanket but the weight needs to be managed. It has to be washable. Maybe a layer of silk for the bottom layer? Maybe some flannel?
It will continue, just as it was started a little bit at a time.
Starting to make a few other combinations.
Thinking about how they might become a blanket.
Made bread today.
A simple supper with apples and cheese.
Zucchini noodles, onions and tomatoes plus egg roll wrappers filled with ricotta.
Two pairs become a set.
That might be how things become...
Carrot soup = comfort.
Paired and altered.
The thread is distracting but it's past my bed time...
Not sure how I want to pair these, just know that I do.
Both moons are from Jude (Spirit Cloth).
I've never had such a beautiful patch of indigo.
Not sure what is different here.
I will be harvesting tomorrow.
Might have more of this for breakfast tomorrow too.
Ricotta, wheat berries, peach and honey.
Potatoes + corn + peppers + cheddar cheese + Mole sauce. The mole sauce recipe is from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics (one of my favorite cookbooks) with a few adjustments. It is: tomatillos, onions, cumin, chipotle, garlic salt, water, olive oil, pumpkin seeds.
Not all mole sauces have cocoa powder/chocolate and peanuts.
Tonight's pair, underway.
Goldenrod and walnuts.
Onions, potatoes, broccoli, chicory, and peppers.
I add the chicory just at the end so the heat wilts it just a bit.
First there was ricotta.
Then there was malfatti, kind of like this recipe (I used all purpose flour).
And then there was a pairing of two pairs:
The last of a loaf of bread that went into the dehydrator.
The bottom makes me think of pumpkin pie.
And because I can...