Happy New Year...

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 So how was your holidays?Did you get your WIPs finished?Any new projects started?
 Suffice it to say I was far too distracted by external influences to finish any of my WIPs. Suffice it to say I was even too distracted by external influences to make the 2 new projects that I was planning.
This external influence was so strong it even pulled me away from my recent pile of Glimma which I absolutely adore.If like me you haven't been looking after your family adequately this holidays and creeping off to sew you will probably know what I am talking about.The project taking over IG, the Scrappy Trip Along is the most addictive quilting I have seen.


Seeing Rita's, Brenda's, Katy's was enough to make me drop everything and get blocking. Thank goodness our New Year's guests cancelled their 3 day trip. It's one thing to ignore your family but quite another to ignore your guests. That would just be rude.

It is such a great anything goes piecing quilt.I haven't managed to do as much as I would like - apparently I'm not neglecting them as much as I could - but am probably half way through this one that is earmarked for Ruby. And in typically me mode I'm already thinking about all the combinations I want to do next - navy/grey/mushroom for Sam, red/white for Noah not to mention the wedding quilt option, friends moving house option. This is definitely going to be featuring heavily in 2013 both here and I'm pretty sure a lot of blogland too.If you haven't jumped aboard yet go check out the Flickr Group Brenda set up and see all the great quilts taking shape.
I may not be starting the New Year getting my WIPs under control, but I am starting it with excitement and that's no bad thing. Is it?
Happy 2013 to one and all and wishing you many exciting quilting times xx

Let's Talk About Snails & Snakes

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Snails yes, snakes no. I am petrified when comes to snakes; spiders and dogs too but that is a different story for another rainy day. I was reading something about snails and let me share this with you. There are more than 80,000 different species of snails, yes 80,000 that is darn a lot. I think I probably seen 20 the most including the one I ate. They are widely distributed on land, in the sea and in the fresh water. Land snails have two pairs of tentacles where their set of eyes reside on the lower set. Water snails have only one pair of tentacles, with eyes at the base.

Now my favorite subject - the snakes. What can I say about the snakes? They hatch from eggs - and no they are not related to the chicken. However, there are some species of snakes that do give birth to live young snakes.

Recent Quakes Definitely Doing Their Job - Relocating Cities & Shortening Earth's Days

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That is all I need - a shorter day! Researchers at NASA calculated that the Chilean earthquake shortened Earth's days. It shortened by one-millionth of a second, still small but shorter. I think this is a second earthquake in a decade to result in a shorter day.

After the catastrophic 2010 Haiti earthquake at magnitude of 7.0 with 52 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or greater, a chain of other earthquakes surf through the Earth's crust. The second one to start was Chile with an 8.8 magnitude. If I correctly remember, then it was Japan, Turkey, Kosovo, Japan again. I probably missed some. This may be normal after after all, shake the world and it will move - like everything else.

Well, these earthquakes did shake the world enough to relocate cities in Chile. Researches found that cities and islands physically shifted west. From the satellite data, scientist at Ohio State University and University of Hawaii found that city of Concepcion moved about 3 meters to the west. When compared to Earth size it may not be big shift, but to me three meters is a lot. In addition, the Chile's capital Santiago moved only 30 centimeters. Buenos Aires in Argentina moved 2.5 cm.

Scientists say that this usually happens with earthquakes, but usually too small to notice. However, this time it was definitely noticed.

S'mores Hand Pies

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S'mores are kind of magical thing for me. They are full of memories in every bite and they make me love what I would normally never eat. 






Like most, s'mores were the epic camping food that somehow would make the whole trip worth while to me. Sitting next to the campfire as a kid, trying to burn my marshmallows till they were about to fall off the stick. All of my crazy family around me, Grampa smoking cigars and playing backgammon with my aunts and uncles. My mom always taking care of everyone and my grandma probably taking care of me and my sister to give my mom a break. Camping used to be a once a year tradition for my family. Go up to lake tahoe, to the same campsite every year, swim in the freezing lake, if only for a second. While those days are very far behind me, from people moving away. And from the last time we went getting snowed on and our tents collapsing on us in the early hours of the morning. I remember my sister getting the bulk of the tent falling on her, so there were tears streaming everyone. My Grampa, standing outside the tent taking photos and laughing. We ended up having to pack up our frozen things, after trying to defrost the shoes filled with snow that were left out, and staying at a hotel. Somehow a next trip never happened... My family is crazy, 100%, but they are mine and as much as I have refused to go to family functions, tell them all they are mental, it was always a good time camping and I love those crazy people.







So back to the food. Chocolate, graham crackers and marshmallows. Two out of three I would generally eat. Marshmallows are something I would normally never eat. Too chalky, squishy, the after taste, everything just always seemed wrong with them to me. Admittedly the only marshmallows I have tried come in big clear packages from the grocery store, I should give those handmade ones a go.

But when you mix just those three ingredients together, add a bit of fire, it's heavenly.
 
So given that I have gone camping once in the past probably 15 years or so, I get massive cravings for s'mores. I've had them a few times outside of camping, probably in someone's back yard or over the stove in high school when we all got bored. So I new I had to do some type of s'mores-ish post for here. Now there will be more variations to come in the future. This one isn't perfect, you dont get that crunchy char from the open flame but it's the gooey marshmallow and melty chocolate that this recipe will tide me over on. 







I used mini marshmallows to stuff in the pies but I'm thinking that mixing the graham cracker crumbs and chocolate together with marshmallow fluff to create more of a batter you would scoop on to the pie would work better. Give it a go, give both a go if you are extra hungry, change it up a bit, these pies are meant to be fun. Don't take them too seriously, how could you, its marshmallow chocolate and graham crackers stuffed into a flaky shortcrust. Sugar overload loveliness

I'm moving!

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Not the blog but me! My 45 minutes (one way) commute to work has now been drastically slashes to 1 minute! (10 if I walk).
I now call the little town St Helena, just north of Napa, home.
So I have yet to actually get Internet or other basic apartment needs, so the next post might be another week or so. But no fear, I haven't forgot about my blog! I'll be more present on instagram and twitter. My only Internet access is my phone, hence no photos in this post.

Yay my own little apartment!!

<3
Julie

Chocolate Almond Swirl Cookies

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I’m a little behind schedule here since I’m just now telling you about Christmas cookies, but better late than never. I was out of town for a birthday party right before Christmas, then Christmas happened, and so this post didn’t find itself ready until today. Swirl-shaped cookies became my theme for this year. As I started looking through files of cookie recipes and books full of cookies, I remembered a cookie I hadn’t baked for years that was kind of like a cinnamon roll in cookie form. With that shape in mind, I pulled every rolled up, spiral cookie option I found. This chocolate almond number was from the December 2004 issue of Living magazine. The recipe isn’t available online, so I’ll include it below. You do have to make two types of dough and roll them both out, there is some waiting while dough chills here and there, but layering the dough and forming the spiral is easier than you might think. The lighter, almond dough is made with ground, toasted, blanched almonds and almond paste, and it smells so lovely as it’s mixed you know it’s going to make an excellent cookie rolled up with chocolate dough. This was one of those treasures from the files that makes me happy I’m such a pack rat about keeping all those old recipes.

I set about making the almond dough first, but both need to be made and chilled before proceeding. For the almond dough, blanched almonds were toasted and allowed to cool. In a food processor, sugar, almond paste, flour, and salt were pulsed. The toasted nuts were added, and the mixture was processed until finely ground. Last, butter, eggs, and vanilla were added and pulsed to combine. The dough was wrapped in plastic and chilled overnight. For the chocolate dough, butter and sugar were creamed in a stand mixer. Eggs were added followed by milk, flour, and cocoa powder. The finished dough was wrapped in plastic and chilled overnight as well. Once both doughs are chilled, they needed to be rolled out on parchment paper. You should start with the chocolate dough and roll it to fit on the back side of your largest baking sheet that will fit in your refrigerator. Just slide the parchment onto the back of the baking sheet after the dough is rolled, and then refrigerate it while rolling the almond dough. The almond dough should also be rolled on a sheet of parchment to just slightly smaller than the chocolate dough. Next, the chocolate dough should be placed on your work surface and brushed with egg white, and the almond dough is transferred to the top of the chocolate. I didn’t have great luck with this. The almond dough fell apart as I tried to place it on top. The good news is that it doesn’t matter. You can move the almond dough around in pieces and fill any blank areas as needed. Then, sprinkle the almond dough with flour and roll the layered doughs together into a larger rectangle about 11 x 24 inches or so. Starting on a short side, the layers are then rolled into a spiral, and egg white is brushed on to seal. The rolled dough should be chilled in the freezer before slicing and baking.

The swirl shape makes a festive cookie and combines two great flavors in every bite. It’s also handy to be able to slice and bake a few cookies at a time if you’d like since the dough can remain in the freezer. I liked this spiral-shaped cookie theme, and now I’ll be looking for more cookies like this. I hope you’re all having a great holiday season, and Happy New Year to you all!

Chocolate Almond Swirl Cookies
from Living December 2004

Almond dough:
1 cup whole blanched almonds (5 ounces)
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup almond paste (7 ounces)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate dough:
4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
10 ounces (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
1 egg white

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Toast blanched almonds until just browned, about 13-15 minutes. Shake pan from time to time during toasting to turn the nuts. Allow nuts to cool.

-In a food processor, pulse sugar, almond paste, flour, and salt until very fine. Add toasted almonds and process until finely ground. Add butter, eggs, and vanilla and pulse until combined. Wrap almond dough in a plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour or up to a day.

-To make the chocolate dough, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt and set aside. Cream butter and sugar in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or with a hand mixer. Mix until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add eggs and mix to combine, and then add the vanilla and milk and incorporate. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture and mix to combine. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour and up to a day.

-Cut a piece of parchment paper large enough to cover the back side of a baking sheet. Place the parchment on a work surface and sprinkle with flour. Place the chilled chocolate dough on the floured parchment. Dust the dough with flour, dust a rolling pin with flour, and roll the chocolate dough to a large rectangle to just fit on the back of a baking sheet. Slide the parchment paper with dough onto the back of the baking sheet and refrigerate while rolling the almond dough.

-Repeat the process of cutting a large piece of parchment paper and sprinkling it with flour. Place the almond dough on the floured parchment and dust the dough with flour. The almond dough is particularly sticky, so add flour as needed while rolling it into a large rectangle. The almond dough rectangle should be a couple of inches smaller than the chocolate dough rectangle. Remove the chocolate dough from the refrigerator and brush the top of it with egg white. Turn the almond dough onto the chocolate and remove the parchment from the almond dough. If the almond dough breaks during transfer, it’s not a problem. The dough can moved into place in pieces and patched as needed. Then, sprinkle the almond dough with flour and roll the two layers together into a larger rectangle about 11 x 24 inches or so. If you’d like a neater starting edge, trim a short side of the dough where you will start rolling.

-Begin rolling the dough from a short side and continue to form a dough log. Brush more egg white on the chocolate dough to seal the closing edge. Wrap the rolled dough in parchment paper and chill in the freezer for about an hour and a half before baking. -Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment or silpats. Using a serrated knife, slice the rolled dough into 1/4 inch rounds. Rotate the dough after each cut to keep an even shape. Transfer cookie slices to baking sheets and bake until just set, about 18-20 minutes. Cool on racks and devour unless you plan to share with Santa.

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Chicken & Sour Cream Enchilada's with Tomatillo Sauce, Sangria & Students!

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I went to a Spain Reunion Party for the kids and the parents of those who went on the trip over break to Madrid and Barcelona. It was fun to hear all the stories and see all the photographs. What great memories those kids will have!I decided to bake and bring a batch of chicken and sour cream Enchilada's with a tomatillo sauce to share. It's super easy to make the sauce. You dice fresh tomatillo's, chop garlic, cumin, coriander, fresh lime juice, chop fresh cilantro, green chile's and salt and pepper- place into a food processor and blend. Then saute on medium heat in a sauce pan and add water to a simmer. Use sauce to cover the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Place flour tortilla's filled with fresh cooked diced chicken, cheddar cheese and sour cream rolled on bottom of baking dish. Fill the baking dish with the rolled tortilla's and top with the rest of your tomatillo sauce, sprinkle additional cheddar cheese and bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.They were a huge hit. And work well for a dinner party or other pot luck.A writer friend of mine is hosting a fun party this Sunday to celebrate her husband's birthday. I offered to bring a pitcher of my Cranberry Sangria- the version I published in Cape Cod Magazine and if you do a blog search I'm sure I've posted the recipe here before. I thought it was a great way to not only celebrate the gorgeous weather we've been having but also his birthday.As for my students, I can tell they are starting to get spring fever. The sun and warmth easily distract them off the topics at hand. We are studying Robert Frost. Frost knew well the lure and complexities nature offers and what a pretty day can do for the well being of one's soul.