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Jonny made a Fimo heart for me to stash my beloved shears. You're in My Heart is carved on the left ventricle. I just wrote about the importance of a good blade in my sewing column for a recent edition of Craft magazine.
But back to love. For today's theme, I thought of the song that was playing the first time I made love to someone who knew what they were doing. Did I know what I was doing? No. But this really helped:
Photo: Honey Lee Cottrell.
I dream about potato pancakes. There aren't enough Hanukkah parties to sate my appetite; I always want more.
I used to cry like a spoiled brat because even though I have the perfect recipe— and I do mean "the best latke you've ever tasted"— my routine took a couple hours of numbing handwork to prepare, and ruined any possibility of a quick fix.
I don't like squeezing water out of potato gratings in cheesecloth scraps until my arms fall off. I don't care to spend all day grating a mountain of potatoes plus part of my knuckles. Yet nothing but my own recipe satisfies me.
It turns out that immediate gratification IS possible with the right equipment. It took me twenty years to realize this, but no one should suffer as long as I did. The tools are everything in this recipe. There are no substitutions!
Susie's Perfect Latkes On Demand
2 1/2 - 3 cups grated potatoes, grated in a Cuisinart
1 onion— the size of a tennis ball, grated in a Cuisinart
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons fine matzo meal crumbs from the box— no other crumb will do!
2 T. sea salt
Lots of black pepper
2 T. butter
2 T. canola or safflower oil
Sour Cream
Applesauce
Preheat your oven to 250 degrees— you won't be baking, but you need a warm place to store your piles of fresh-cooked latkes. You'd like to think you could cram them all in your mouth at once, but be realistic— you need a spot to keep them hot.
I can't take it anymore. I"ved got too many patterns, and they're all staring at me and MOCKING me for letting them collect dust.
I almost threw them in the recycling bin, but that seemed like a crime. Nearly all of these patterns have never been opened or used. Most are out of print.
Would you like a bunch of practically perfect patterns, Missy? I'll take your humble dollars and go buy some needles and bobbins, which I really DO need some more of.
The thing that got me in trouble was two-fold. A couple of old-fashioned sewing stores in my world went out of business and let their customers crawl into the attic and buy all their old pattern stock. I was like a wild beast.
Then, these horrible online sales that the Big 3 pattern companies keep throwing, fooled me impulsively intro ordering patterns willy-nilly THAT I ALREADY OWN, or patterns very similar. For example, I have bought every cleavage-enhancing, princess seam knit dress ever drafted.
I can't bear to throw these patterns out, and Goodwill won't treasure them. But I'm never going to get around to making them, and I've run out of ROOM, which is at a premium these days. After all, I've got MORE patterns arriving in the mail next week. HELP!!!
Below are 60 patterns, which I want to say bye-bye to, @ $1 apiece, or $30 for the whole kit and caboodle! Just add media mailing cost and you'll be as swept away as I was when I first got them! Or throw a sewing party and give them away as party favors!
If the rare one you want is cut, I'll write you and see if you still want it. I'm size 18-20 in the Big 3.
For those virgins out there, the way you find out what the Pattern Numbers refer to is just to Google the pattern brand name and number. You can usually find an image of the exact pattern on someone else's web site.
The Betzina patterns have EXCELLENT instructions and the bust sizing is for C and D cups. The Burda also is great for breasts, the larger sizes are cut great for boobs, and their PANTS ARE SUPERB. Don't bother getting anyone else's pants patterns except for Betzina.
Kwik Sew comes in all sizes. The Style pattern is gorgeous, yes, you should make that velvet trouser suit. Everyone cries because Style went out of business.
Write me with any questions! Put "Patterns" in your subject line, so I can fish you out of the spam filter!
UPDATE: Whoa Nelly! I sold them all in two hours! My god, I should be in the used pattern business instead of the book business! Thanks for all your interest, and I'll do this again...
Betzina:
7885 DEF
7694 DEF (2 copies)
8000 DEF
7334 DEF
7717 DEF
2933 All Sizes
Vogue:
2817 18-22
2457 14-18
7908 18-22
7768 18-22
9174 14-18
8512 6-10
Style:
2965 8-18
New Look:
6160 8-18
6565 10-22
6040 8-18
6705 8-18
6544 10-22
Neue Mode:
H222757 10-20
J22114 8-18
McCalls:
3440 12-16
3996 8-14
3386 16-22
9650 18-22
9355 16-20
2909 16-20
4199 14-20
4140 12-18
4219 L-XXL
Simplicity:
9826 14-20
9777 12-16
4237 16-24
9407 14-20
5923 XS-XL
9747 12-16
8943 14-20
4561 11-15
4256 14-22
9814 X-XL
Burda
8670 8-18
5878 10-20 no seam allowances
8404 8-20
8392 12-22
8453 12-22
5788 10-18 no seam allowances
8407 8-20
8394 6-18
KwikSew
2631
3244
3026
3376
2533
3221
2849
2454
Photo from Threadbared.
Homemade Eggnog. The very words incite delirium.
I only make eggnog once a year, for a big party at Yuletide. The word orgy comes to mind. I've never seen so many people's eyes roll back in their heads, simultaneously.
You want the recipe? You shall have it. It's not hard, just a bit time-consuming. You have to break a lot of eggs. And you will be spoiled. That supermarket eggnog is going to taste like Elmer's Glue after this.
My recipe is adapted from the first cookbook I ever bought with my own money when I was 16: The Vegetarian Epicure, by Anna Thomas. I have learned more from this book about food and cooking than any other; it was my kitchen teacher... still is, actually. Before I die, I want to make every recipe in it. More about Anna Thomas after the recipe!
Eggnog
Ingredients:
12 eggs, separated
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 qt. milk (regular, not lowfat or nonfat! preferably organic!)
1 c. cognac (optional)
1 c. dark rum (optional)
1 large orange
1 lemon
1 quart whipping cream
grated nutmeg
Special Things Needed:
a very sharp butcher knife
electric mixer
grater
potato peeler
extra eggs in case you screw up the separations (easy to do)
two big bowls to make it with
one nice bowl to serve it in, and a ladle
Method:
Beat the egg yolks and sugar until thick, then stir in the milk, cognac, and rum.
Beat the egg whites in another bowl, until they just hold a peak, and then fold them into the first ingredients.
Put this mixture away to chill for at least 3 hours. (Overnight is fine, just put plastic wrap over bowl).
Use a potato peeler to peel the very outside of the orange skin, so you have barely any white pulp on the back of the skin. You just want the pure orange rind. Cut this skin into matchsticks, as thin as possible and about 1 1/2 inches long. Yes, you need a sharp knife for this.
Grate the fresh lemon rind.
Whip the cream until it only just begins to thicken, not so much that it actually holds peaks. Stir his half-whipped cream into your chilled milk and egg mixture, and beat a few more strokes with the whisk. Stir in the lemon rind and half the orange matchsticks.
Pour the eggnog into a serving bowl. Over the top of it, sprinkle the remaining orange rind and plenty of grated nutmeg.
Serves 25 reasonable people, but only a dozen or so fanatics.
If you make it "virgin," it's easy to offer your guests liquor to add separately; just let them pour and stir.
Anna
Thomas, who wrote the original of this recipe, was the author who brought "health food" into the gourmet realm.
Her book came out before "Chez Panisse," before nouvelle cuisine was
part of our vocabulary. And yet her recipes and philosophy were at the
beginning of the whole movement.
The book was published in 1970, and in her author's bio— that touches me so— it says: "Anna Thomas... is strongly committed to the women's liberation movement..."
The book combines the techniques of French cooking with the organics of American heritage. This book taught me, as a teenager, how to make a "roux," how to bake bread, make a crépe, a curry, and the best soups I've ever tasted. If it had been difficult to understand, I never would have attempted it at the time! She makes very nuanced techniques seem graceful to accomplish.
It only occurred to me rather late that it was all indeed "vegetarian." You don't notice it, if you're not thinking about it. This is an excellent book to move into a carnivore's home— they'll never know what hit them.
Thomas also published two sequels, The Vegetarian Epicure Book Two, and The New Vegetarian Epicure— which are excellent as well. I have them all. But I am stubbornly hung up on her first one. I bought a second one after I scorched the first!
Photo of "Kiss Eggs" by Raka, whole blog and Flickr photo collection are not to missed!