In The Small World Category

I took a meal yesterday to someone who is recovering from surgery. That's not very unusual. But there's a story about the one who received the delivery that is unusual. Let me tell you the story.

About 10 years ago we sold our mother and daddy's house. It's the house they bought before I was born. Unlike my granddaughters who have lived in multiple houses in multiple states, I lived in one place from the day I was born until the day I went away to college. So you can imagine the memories that were in that house. But the time came to sell it.

A young woman (the age of my daughter) bought the house. I didn't know her. In a small town, it wouldn't be unusual to know the buyer, but I had lived away from my hometown for years. I met her when she came to view the house. I saw her again at the closing. And that was it. For a couple of years anyway.

During those two years I became seriously interesting in knitting. I wanted to take my knitting to a level beyond the knitting I had done since my teen years. And during that period of growth, I discovered Ravelry, a social media/data base for knitters.

I knew I needed to be with other knitters. To learn from those with more skills that I had. I didn't know anyone who knitted, so I posted on a Ravelry forum (on a board for knitters in my part of our state) asking if there were knitters nearby interested in meeting and knitting. I only had a couple of replies, but one of those names sounded familiar. We messaged back and forth a few times and I finally asked where she lived. She was living in the house where I grew up. And she was a knitter. A knitter with more skills than I thought I'd ever acquire. Such a surprise but a good one.

But she worked and was busy, so we never arranged a get-together. We would occasionally comment on each other's projects on Ravelry. And we connected on Facebook and I would see something there every now and then that she posted. Like when a couple of weeks ago I saw that she was having surgery. Those were our only contacts.

Now...I have more cooking skills than knitting skills (although my knitting skills are catching up) so I sent a Ravelry message to her and asked if I could bring her supper one night. I used Ravelry because I didn't have an email address or a phone numberer her. She seemed delighted at the prospects of a home cooked meal. So I delivered her supper last night. And I met the knitter who bought Daddy's house.

I wasn't worried that it would be upsetting to see the house and all the changes it had undergone. I'm okay with change. But it was in the slightly weird category. Things were the same but they were different. The hardwood floors under the carpet that I walked on had been refinished. A large sofa sat on the wall where we had a tinkly upright piano that I played all the years I took lessons. A bedroom was now an office. Hmmm...wasn't there a door on that wall?  She and her husband continue to work to update things so more changes are coming. And that's as it should be. A house is a living thing that needs to change and adapt to keep going. We've done exactly the same kind of things here where we live to make it work for us now.

Anyway, it was interesting to have a look at that old house and see its current incarnation. And it was fun to meet another knitter. For the record, I did find my knitting group a year or so later in my other town. (We live on a farm between two small towns.)

Here is the meal I took. I'm posting it here so that I can remember what worked well, so that the next time I want to take food I'll have a ready made menu. You can use the links to find the recipes.

    

Baked Rotini is always a hit. This was a dish that a friend brought to Mommy when she was on bed rest before Baby Girl was born. The friend said it was what she always took when someone needed a meal. We know why—it's delicious comfort food. Since this was going to a two-person household, I divided the recipe and save one dish for this two-person household! My supper is ready to go into the oven tonight.

This Sour Cream Cinnamon Coffee Cake can be dessert, breakfast or a snack. A knitter from Ohio shared this recipe with me. She and I also connected via Ravelry and she came here to visit a couple of times. We still keep in touch. Knitters are good folks.

I love baking this Sourdough Bread and sharing it. But if you are not a baker, there are plenty of good options to buy. Sister Shubert's brand is a favorite of ours. And you can't go wrong with one of those five cheese loafs from the grocery store freezer.

I added a green salad and a container of fresh fruit to the tray. I was determined that the entire meal not be all carbs! This was a week when I had time to make an entire meal. But it's also a good and gracious thing to take a single item. Many years ago after I'd had back surgery, I remember a person from our church whom I didn't know very well coming by the house and bringing lemon bars. Thirty years later and I still remember her and the dessert. It's as much about knowing someone cares as it is about the food. Maybe it's more about knowing someone cares.

A Sneak Peek

Here's a sneak peek at my current knitting focus. "Monogamous knitting", as it's sometimes called—as in I'm only working on this one project until it's done. No putting it down to knit something else for a while. It has to be that way because there is a deadline involved. I'm right on track to finish when I need to. I calculated that so far, I've knitted 48,501 stitches. That's the actual number of stitches hanging on the needles. I didn't count the stitches that got knitted twice when I had to undo a mistake and reknit them. Thankfully, the number of reknitted stitches is pretty low considering the size of the project.

I know Daddy-O will be glad when I am back to spending a little more time in the kitchen, but I still have thousands of stitches to go. There is enough food stashed in the freezer to take us through a few more weeks. So he is not in danger of starving.

For the non-knitters...my chart is a way to keep up with where I am. The pattern doesn't tell you to do this. Each knitter is on their own to figure out some sort of tracking system. Each line of boxes represents the actual lace pattern. Those boxes are numbered 1-12. I knit those twelve rows over and over. I've knitted those twelve rows 26 times so far.

I had said that when this was done, I was going to only knit tiny little projects for a while because I'd be tired of this big one. But you know...I think it's going to be more like when I finish this, I'll miss knitting it. This has been pure pleasure.

This will be the last time I'll post anything about this project until it's time to share the finished object. Patience, dear readers. Patience.

A Cake By Any Other Name

Prune Cake. (Or, spice cake. Or, dried plum cake.)

While I'm steadily knitting away, I'll share another recipe from our Christmas holiday. This one was baked by my son-in-law before they headed back home. The recipe came from my collection but he has made it more often than me for the last several years. I got the recipe from my secretary many years ago when I was working as a home economist. I've never been famous for my cake baking, but this one has always provided sure-fire results.

Don't let the name frighten you. It's basically a spice cake. The prunes help create a moist cake and give it this lovely rich color. Trust me that it's delicious. Look at the long list of spices. That's what you'll taste. All the grandchildren love it. So do the grownups. They think it's perfect with a cup of coffee.

PRUNE CAKE

1-1/2 cups sugar
1 cup cooking oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
about 6-7 ounces baby food prunes (about 2 jars/containers)
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix sugar and oil, then add eggs and beat well. Mix buttermilk and baking soda together and set aside. Sift all dry ingredients together. Add to egg mixture, alternately with buttermilk mixture. Add prunes and vanilla. Fold in nuts, if using.
Pour batter into a greased and floured 9x13-inch pan and bake for 40-45 minutes. (Now, I use a baking spray.)

After removing cake from oven, cut into squares while it is still in the pan and is hot. Leave in pan and pour hot topping over cake. Additional chopped nuts may be sprinkled over the top, if desired.

Topping:
1 stick butter
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Mix and bring to a boil. Let simmer while cake bakes last 20 minutes. Pour hot topping over hot cake.

Helpful tip: Measure all the spices before you start the mixing process. Then the rest of the recipe is a snap.


Now let me tell you a story about using old recipes. This recipe was given to me about 40 years ago. Back when baby food all came in jars. So when a recipe called for "2 jars of baby food prunes" as this recipe did, there was no doubt as to the amount.

Fast forward several years. Baby food started coming in two sizes—small jars for babies, larger jars for toddlers. I had never paid any attention to the amount. And it had been a long time since I had baked the cake and I had forgotten which size jar I used. So I called the Beechnut helpline and asked them to help me figure out how much to add to this recipe. That's still been so long ago, I've forgotten exactly what we were converting. Small jars to large? Large jars to small? But we determined that I needed 6-8 ounces of baby food prunes.

Now go look at the baby section of your grocery store. Baby food often comes in little plastic containers or squeeze pouches now. Jars are harder to find. The prunes I found this shopping trip are a blend of prunes and apples. That will work, too. Each little plastic container is 4 ounces, so this recipe would use two of them. (Goodness, I miss those little glass jars that I saved for so many other purposes.)

There is a bigger lesson here, though. When you use a recipe based on packaged foods, it would be wise to make note of the actual measurement—in cups, in teaspoons, in ounces, etc. Those package sizes will change.

You know can sizes have pretty much all shrunk. And cake mix recipes...the doctored up recipes...are mostly based on an 18.25 oz box of cake mix. Cake mixes are now 15.25 oz. That's 3 ounces less, a significant difference! So I find myself looking for recipes that are based on real ingredients that will always be the same. Measure out the flour and sugar yourself and you won't run into the problem of changing box sizes.

So back to the prune cake. If you think your family will still be freaked out by the name "prune cake," call it spice cake. Or, call it dried plum cake. That's all prunes are. Here are a few words from the CaliforniaDriedPlums.org:

Are dried plums the same as prunes?

 Yes, they are.  All prunes are plums, but not all plums are prunes.  Prune plum varieties have very high sugar contents that enable them to be dried without fermenting while still containing the pits.

Why was the name prunes changed to dried plums?

Research conducted in the U.S. showed that our target audience, women ages 25 to 54, responded more favorably to the name dried plums.  It is also more descriptive for people who don’t know that prunes are fresh plums that have been dried.  Outside the U.S., the product is still called prunes.

Preparing Ahead

It's that time again. Time for the Lenten lunches that happen weekly for the six weeks of Lent*. Time for the soup and cornbread lunch that our church has hosted since I became a member there over 30 years ago. Soup and cornbread the first week. (Then chicken pie and congealed salad the second week.) Then the lunches move down the street and the Baptists and the Presbyterians have a couple of weeks each until Lent reaches Easter. Yes, there is more than food. The lunches follow a short Lenten service held each week at the participating churches.

I've made this cornbread many times for this particular lunch. And it's been posted here a bunch of times. But I'm sharing it again. Because you may not have seen it before. Because it's still winter and we're in soup and chili season and this cornbread is the perfect accompaniment. Because I'm 27 inches into my big knitting project (which I'm not ready to share yet) and I haven't spent much time in the kitchen. This is the lone recipe this week in our house. Knitting has taken precedent over cooking for the time being.

But today I stopped and baked this recipe three times over. Three dozen muffins. I'll add my three dozen to the dozens and dozens that others have baked. I usually do my cornbread in a pan. Or, in a cast iron skillet. But muffins work well for serving lots of people. And this recipe works any of these ways. Just keep an eye on it as it bakes. The time might change a little depending on your pan.

If this were for my family, I'd be baking it right before supper. But this needed to be done ahead. This particular recipe freezes beautifully. The cornbread is moist and tender. Not crumbly like some recipes. I won't be in the church kitchen when this is served, but I know the ladies in charge will warm it up and it will be perfect.

CORNY CORNBREAD

1/2 cup vegetable oil (plus extra for greasing the pan)

1-3/4 cups self-rising cornmeal mix

1 cup cream-style corn 

2 eggs

1 cup sour cream (the light kind works just as well)

1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Generously grease a 7x11-inch baking pan or a 10-inch cast iron skillet with cooking oil. Preheat the pan in the oven. 

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl, stirring with a spoon until combined. Pour batter into the preheated pan. Place pan in the oven and bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Serve hot.

You can also bake this in a muffin pan. I don't preheat the muffin pan. Makes 12 muffins. Bake for about 25 minute, or until golden brown.

If you have leftover cornbread, wrap it well and pop it in the freezer for a busy day later. 

*Lent is a season of forty days, not counting Sundays, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday. Lent comes from the Anglo Saxon word lencten, which means "spring." The forty days represents the time Jesus spent in the wilderness, enduring the temptation of Satan and preparing to begin his ministry.

Winter Wind Up

[Trying to catch up on some blog photos that I've not posted yet.]

Just a quick peek at my knitting get away a couple of weekends ago.

It's a annual knitting retreat at a nearby (for me) camp at our local lake. 

Some knitters traveled much further to get here.

I enjoyed the knitters and the knitting time, but the outdoor beauty 

at the lake was another reason this retreat spot was special.

It was quiet and peaceful. A needed change of pace in our crazy world.

I never get tired of being at the lake, knitting or not. 

Walking outside is like hitting the reset button.

Thanks to the retreat organizer and the camp staff for making this all happen.

And thanks to those folks working in the dining hall.

Not cooking or even thinking of what to cook for a few days was fantastic.

I know a knitting retreat doesn't sound like fun to all of you. But there is something similar for every interest if you search for them. And some of you can't get away for several days. So find a way to "retreat" at home. Sit on your back steps with a cup of tea and don't go in until the cup is empty. If you are a mom of small children even this can be hard. But keep trying. It's worth it.

What is your favorite way to "retreat?" The big kind or the tiny kind.

Inch By Inch, Row By Row

There is a Peter, Paul & Mary song that we performed a few times over the years for spring school programs called The Garden Song. It starts "Inch by inch, row by row, I'm gonna make this garden grow." The tune has popped into my head from time to time as I've knitted. That is exactly how I feel about my current knitting project. Back and forth. Back and forth. Over and over. Singing in my head as I knit, "Inch by inch, row by row, I'm gonna make this white shawl grow..."

I am on schedule at the moment, but I'm in that long middle slog. At the beginning you can see the progress. But where I am now, there isn't much visible difference between 17 inches and 20 inches. It all looks alike. And there are many inches still ahead of me. So I sit still and knit.

In order to see some proof that I'm making progress—and to keep my place as I go—I made a check-off sheet for every row that I knit. And I have the pattern written out on index cards...one row per card, flipping cards as I complete a row. That way my eye can only read one row pattern at a time. Knitters know that when you work from the printed pattern, it's too easy to read part of one row and then part of the row below.

I'm taking extra precautions while working with white yarn. Frequent hand washing is a must for clean knitting. It's also a good thing during this bad flu season. I keep the work in a large baking pan (17.5x13-inch, Nordicware, from Amazon) with a lid. When I'm not knitting, I put the lid on to protect it from spills or drips. This project mostly stays at home. It would be too easy to have an "accident" in transit. And I can't work on this and talk, so it doesn't go to my Thursday afternoon knitting group.

I spread a large dish towel over my lap when I knit. This has served several purposes. It keeps the yarn on a clean work surface. When I put the project back into the pan where it lives, I don't pick up the project. I pick up the towel and fold it up over the knitting. Keeps me from excessive handling of this yarn. And I discovered that if I drop one of those very tiny stitch markers, they neatly land on the towel instead of falling down between my legs or between the sofa cushions.

Taking breaks has been as important as the dedicated knitting time. It's good for my hands. It's good for my eyes. It's good for my back. Knit three rows. Throw clothes in the washer. Knit four rows. Move laundry to the dryer. Knit two rows. Unload the dishwasher. That means I need to stay at home even though I'm not knitting for hours straight through. I need to be able to do it in many short bursts. And I'm being honest about when it's time to stop for the day. When the tiniest mistake happens, I fix it and then put everything away.

Netflix has kept me company while I work. I tried audiobooks that other knitters love. I found myself listening and then realizing I had "drifted" while I knitted and missed half a chapter. I do better with something on television. Interesting, but not too interesting. I mostly listen and then glance at the screen every now and then. I switch around between shows. I evidently am not cut out to be a binge watcher in the truest sense. About two episodes of one show and I need a change.

I am loving every stitch of this pattern. I love who I'm knitting it for. I love that it's for a special day. But when this is done, I'm knitting dishcloths. Quick. Easy. No worry about spills. It's going in the washer anyway! Yep. I'm knitting dishcloths.