21.4.09

Falling For Caroline



When I'm not getting crafty, I record sound for films. One such film, I have recently found out, will be screening at two(!) film festivals in the coming months. So, here's the details:

Toronto
Inside Out Festival
Hogtown Homos Program
May 20th at 7:15 p.m.
Isabel Bader Theatre

San Francisco
Frameline International LGBT Film Festival
June 20th at 1:45 p.m
June 28th at 12:00 p.m.
The Castro Theatre

17.3.09

The best oatmeal ever!



I stole this recipe from Michael Smith's Foodtv.ca page, but it really is the best oatmeal ever. While his recipe calls for an almond foam for the top of the oatmeal, I don't have a milk steamer so I've left it out but you can find the full recipe here.

Apple Pie Oatmeal
(Serves 2)

You will need:

1 cup whole rolled oats
2 cups milk
1 apple, cored and chopped
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp sliced almonds

Pour the oats, milk, apple, brown sugar and cinnamon into a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Continue gently cooking until it's thick and creamy, about 15 minutes. Stir every few minutes to keep the mixture from sticking to the bottom. Spoon the oatmeal into 2 serving bowls and sprinkle with almond slices and serve.

This recipe is easily halved (and doubled for that matter) so making it just for one (or a crowd) is super simple.

Crock pot chicken stock.

Sometimes, instead of purchasing specific chicken parts like breasts or thighs, I like to just buy a whole chicken and section it up myself. This usually works out to be a bit cheaper, and you get the added bonus of the chicken carcass!

So what do you do with a chicken carcass? Make some delicious chicken stock, I say.

1. Place chicken carcass into a roasting pan and roast it until it's done. (ie. Smells and looks good.)
2. Place the roasted chicken in your crock pot along with some chopped up onions, carrots, celery and anything else you might want. (I like mushrooms and herbs like thyme and rosemary.)
3. Cover the whole thing with water and set our crock pot to medium - high.
4. Let the stock cook for at least three hours... but I like to let it go all night. (Just remember to turn down your crock pot to a low setting if you do.)
5. Strain out all the bits when it's done, season with salt and pepper to taste, and enjoy your home made stock!

26.2.09

Knead Bread? No!

Enforcing my current love of homemade bread, I recently came upon a recipe for No Knead Bread.

The finished loaf.

It takes about a full day to make, but only about 20 minutes of that is actually spent doing anything. Basically, you mix yeast, flour, water, and a bit of salt, together in a bowl and then let it sit (covered) for about 18 hours to let the yeast develop. Then plop the dough into a mould, let it rest another couple hours, and bake!

Bread dough after one rise.

30.1.09

Breadmaker

So, when Christmas time was rolling around and I started getting requests from family members as to what I wanted, I proved my truly incredible geeky/crafty nature and asked for a bread machine.
Yep.
A bread machine.

And that's exactly what I got. Now, with my incredible bread machine I have been making a varied and delicious assortment of breads. Unfortunately I haven't been taking any pictures of my delicious bread, but here is a list of some of what I have made so far.

Trail Bread: My first attempt. It was supposed to be a fruity, nut and seed filled, bread but due to my misinterpretation of the directions no seeds or nuts were added and it was just a fruity bread... Still tasty though!

Whole Wheat and Flax Bread: Very dense, but good.

Gluten Free Banana Seed Loaf: Made for a family member. A+

Whole Wheat and Flax Bread (Second Attempt): Less dense, still good.

Corn Bread: This recipe didn't turn out as expected. Instead of being the cake like corn bread that I am used to it was closer to a dense white bread with cornmeal and some bits of corn.

Whole Wheat with Oatmeal, Raisins, Spice and Flax Bread: I got creative with this one after stumbling upon a basic, ingredient switchable, bread machine bread recipe (below).

Whole Wheat, Honey, Almond (and flax) Bread: Another variation on the basic bread machine bread recipe, but this time instead of using a second grain I used one cup of ground almonds. It turned out moister than most of the other breads and was closer in texture to the gluten free banana seed loaf.


















Bread Machine Bread (Michael Smith - foodtv.ca)
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 tsp yeast
1/4 cup of any sugar, white, brown, molasses, honey or maple
3 cups bread flour
1 cup additional grain, cornmeal, oatmeal, rye flour, wheat germ, wheat bran or any whole grain blend
2 tbsp dried milk powder
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, vegetable oil or melted butter
2 tsp salt
1/4 cup of your favourite chopped fresh herbs (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
Place all the ingredients into your bread machine, and then follow the manufacturer's directions for baking a 2 pound loaf. You may also use this basic ratio to make bread without a machine, kneading the dough allowing it to rise twice and baking it in your oven.

Note: Yields one loaf.

5.1.09

Crochet!


My mother learned how to crochet from her grandmother when she was just a child, and has never stopped since then. It's absolutely dizzying how fast my mom can crochet something. As a child my house was never short on blankets, they literally seemed to grow over my mom as we watched tv.

I, however, have been a delinquent child. My sister learned how to crochet but I never did. I'm fairly certain that I was busy doing something else. Probably taking apart my toys using a butter knife as a screwdriver.. and learning how to daisy-chain as many videogame systems to the television as possible (don't forget the cable hookup and VCR!).

Now I'm older and increasingly interested in crafty projects.. though no less interested in media or taking things apart.. so I decided to overcome my obvious crafting shortfall. On boxing day my mom and I wandered through the Wal-Mart craft department, browsing patterns for a tuque my mother said she would make me. And, as I have never done before, I uttered the words "I would like to learn how to crochet." Immediately my mom looked up, told me to grab a ball of wool and said she'd teach me as soon as we got back to her place.

Some hours and many confused looks, on my part, later and I was crocheting. So far I've only made one thing, a dishcloth. That's it in the picture above. Next time I see my mom it'll be time to learn the double crochet. Oooh!