The Muse of The Day

A Very Different View

I haven't quite figured out this new Typepad App on my iPhone. Supposedly I should be able to create a post from anywhere on my phone. So far it doesn't let me post a photo, talk a bit, then post another photo. You just might be getting them all in a clump. maybe it will teach me to just get on with it an not be so verbose.

24 hours ago, I was in the US. The flight down on Delta wasn't "bad", I just kept thinking that it was the most expensive one night stay ($700 to fly down here one way) that I had had in a long time ... all night long I played Twister with this flimsy little blanket and simply could not find a comfortable place to lay my head against without causing my Bose noise canceling head phones to literally flip off my cranium. Really. There must be a better way.
I rented an apartment smack dab in the middle of the arts district in Santiago- it has an edgy vibe ... you know ... the kind of vibe that is cool to watch but you wouldn't want your kids going out for a walk to experience it without you.

After finding my way, on my swollen-from-the-all-night-flight feet, to a place where I could exchange my one colored American money for gorgeous multicolored, clear window toting, Chilean currency, I bought a prepaid phone (cheaper than $4 per minute roaming on my iPhone) and set out to find some real food. I found this great little cafe where I downed a 10" tall glass of freshly made raspberry juice. It was worth the flight.
Oooh... Just realized my one letter at a time typing, here, has made me late. One of my drop dead gorgeous cousins is picking me up for drinks in 20 minutes and I am no where near presentable. I hope wherever we go to have drinks provides a drool bucket- he is THAT gorgeous. Daniela - do you remember Rodrigo? I will make sure to give him an extra kiss from you. Aren't I considerate?

Hoping this post actually gets to you. I will see you again soon if it all works out.

All the way from Chile,

Carolina

Three Dresses To Say Hello And Goodbye With

To say that I am more than a bit embarrassed to have to do a mini "fashion shoot" for you is an understatement. I really want to share with you some of what I have been doing, but when I see the pictures of myself on the screen, "yuck!" is the only thing that comes to mind. Having said that, I have been making clothing for myself for an upcoming family reunion to celebrate my parents 50th wedding anniversary.

Here is a pic of the first dress:

I didn't have a pattern for the dress, but it is pretty straight forward. I just drew the outfit I had in mind on an index card, made the pattern pieces out on the only drawing paper I was willing to waste, cut the fabric out, and turned the sewing machine on. I was so disappointed in the blue & grey outfit from the last post, that I figured I had nothing to lose by just winging it instead of following a professional pattern.

I actually did go through the trouble of making a muslin before cutting into Anna Maria Horner's beautiful fabric. I made an adjustment in length to the distance between my underarm and the neckline, and omitted the band above the knees, otherwise it stayed pretty true to the sketch. When I have more time, I may fine tune this.

My favorite detail of the dress is the beads I put at the end of the ties that gather the neckline closed.

Since I had everything out on the ping pong table, already, I threw down this Liberty of London fabric that has been lurking in my stash for what seems like FOREVER and I made my self a shorter version of the same dress.

I think I should of kept the "cut line" several inches above the knee (as I did in the pink & yellow dress) instead of right at the knee. I have made a note on the pattern that I need to keep the cut farther up next time I use this pattern. BTW, does anyone know where, online, I can actually purchase long lengths of paper for pattern drafting that is thick and durable. Elizabeth, what do you use? Can you ask your fashion designer daughter what she uses? Or at least what she used to use here, in the U.S., before she became a big shot and moved to London?

My favorite detail of this dress is the actual back of the fabric; I made the dress with the fabric inside out as the right side, although gorgeous, seemed too sharp for what I wanted. The reverse side of it seemed a little softer, perhaps a little more time worn.

The last of the outfits I am showing you today I got off an existing outfit that I already own and have worn out. I put the outfit out on the ping pong tablle, measured the skirt part all out a million times over, and did nothing more than trace the top on the centerline fold. As it is a simply designed outfit, I could get away with doing this easily.

Although, originally the outfit is in a linen that is a dark mushroom tone, you can see part of it in this post, I made it in this acidic yellow colored fabric that I could not get enough of when I saw it at the fabric store the other day.

When measuring out the fabric for the skirt, in case you try it, you have to remember to make the front panel longer than the back panel to accomodate for the pockets (the pockets fold up at the casing for the elastic at the bottom edge of the skirt)). You can see the actual measurements on my index card, above. I really like leaving the ties dangling rather than tying them up into little bows.

Why did I make the dresses? The stores I can drive to have only just begun to have their summer clothing trickle in. I have little time to spend the day searching endlessly for the outfits that can handle the extreme hot weather I will be facing as the reunion is in Chile. I am going by myself, leaving my husband and children behind, and am more than a little bit anxious as to how it will all play out - I am the black sheep of my immediate family. I have lived a VERY independent life. The older relatives are people that I haven't seen in many years, and as they are getting much older, I realize that I will be saying hello to them and a permanent goodbye almost in the same breath. Living in different continents makes it have to be that way. I almost feel like I will be witnessing the mass end of my family. I don't want to get into the details of it all, as it depresses me greatly.

Well, I am off. I will see you on the other end of it, having had three new dresses to say hello and goodbye with.

Carolina

The Week In A Photo Blast

Most of my week was spent being a mother and a housewife. My husband was away on business, but the house still needed me. Yes, I am wife to the house, I believe I am married to the house. Early morning sunrises were seen from the window of my car.

Most of my drives were spent arguing with the newest licensed driver in our household. She has her license, and she is doing the actual driving, but I am just not ready to let her do the driving all on her own yet. I am praying and hoping the day comes soon when maturity takes a solid hold in her.

I spent my swearing quota for the year on this Butterick pattern. It says "Fast & Easy" ... they lied.

I am not to happy with the results, but I did photograph myself in it so you could see what I mean.

I was attempting to figure out how I can sew clothing for myself with all the bright colored fabrics out there and yet look ... mmm... not fruity or like I am wearing a quilt. I have a ways to go, but will continue working on the concept of wearing bright colors and having neutrals play a role in them.

I talked at length with my tree guy. His wife is dying of cancer.  Seeing him up there on one of my trees this week made me think about heaven. 

It was a very sad week overall as one of my dearest friends is also dealing with a difficult cancer.

I bought myself flowers to lift my spirits.

I must say, even though they are expensive to buy and not very "green" when you know they are being shipped from thousands of miles away, they do help.

Having the colors in the house propelled me to forget my Butterick disappointment and create my own pattern. I made a couple of dresses from it. I will try and photograph myself in them soon.

When the flowers started dying, I started thinking about just how short our lives really are and that there is beauty in all of it ... every step of the way.

I went out and did what any sane person would do. I bought more flowers.

It made cleaning the house an easier task. I must add here, cleaning my girls bathroom (below) made me question my parenting abilities. My little "ladies" are a bit more on the "piglet" side when it comes to bathrooms.

I put a few flowers in my bathroom too. We had the bamboo sinks crack and they needed to be replaced. Think internet purchases, delivery, plumbers ... "fun,fun"... NOT. When it is grey outside and there are flowers between our sinks, I don't dwell on the bamboo sink fiasco as much.

Melissa has been blogging on steroids lately, all her colorful projects made a quick side trip to Sew Be It in Georgia and the ensuing purchase inevitable.

Back and forth, back and forth to school.

Thinking, contemplating.

Realizing that with all the suffering there is in this world, it still is a beautiful place to be.

Hope you enjoyed seeing my week in photos.

See you next time,

Carolina

Lemon Dreams

 

 

 

 

 

The Last Drop of Lemon Syrup

OK, so what to do with the leftover syrup from making candied lemon peel from the last post is on the agenda for today. Below you see the jar I had leftover after making the batch the other day. I happened to have a little bit more in another jar, as well, I just didn't photograph that bit in this picture. There are many things you can use the lemon syrup for: lemon drop martinis, simple syrup for margaritas, a sweetener for your cup of tea, add water and lemon juice ice cubes to make lemonade, add it to yogurt, drizzle it over fresh fruit, etc., but I am going to show you what I did with it.

After your first time making the candied lemon peel your syrup will look like this:

A pale lemon yellow color, reminiscent (to me) of the color of Lemoncello, the spirit made from mixing vodka with lemon zest. I have yet to try making my own, and I am sure it is easy to do, I just haven't gotten around to it since I only occasionally will drink a glass of wine, I find it to be extra work to make some liquor thing - and who needs extra work? I must add here, though, if I DID make it , and it was AWESOME, perhaps I wouldn't consider it extra work at all. Will have to see what time brings to that issue. Anyways, my point is that it is a very light lemon color. If you take a batch of lemons (California Meyer being the first choice), thinly slice them and put them to boil in the lemon syrup,

leave them in the boiling syrup for 10-15 minutes until the rinds are really soft,

and then store the left over syrup from that batch of cooking. The next time you go to use it, you will see that your lemon syrup will now be a deep golden, almost honey colored hue:

I actually was able to make two batches of the lemon slices with the leftovers of the initial sryup. The slices don't have to boil as long as lemon peel because you are not looking for the "chew" consistency to be the same. You want it softer. Leave the syrupy lemon slices to dry directly on parchment paper. After just a few hours on the counter, long enough so they are nice and cooled, you can stick them in a jar to use later. I would keep that jar in the fridge, just in case. WARNING  WARNING: if you eat ONE slice now, you may not have any slices left for any further cooking adventures. This happened on my first batch of lemon slices. After just one try, the girls and I ate ALL of them. We had to wait for another day to buy more lemons and continue with the dessert plan.

The leftover syrup from the third time using it (lemon peels, then two batches of lemon slices) turned this beautiful amber color. It is hard to believe, isn't it? None of the pictures in this post have been Photoshopped so you can get an exact feeling of what things were looking like in my kitchen. Talk about mesmerising. Of course, by the third go around, my jar size had gotten considerably smaller as most of the sugar syrup stayed on the lemon slices. Also, I must add here, the third jar of syrup is not as sugary sweet as the first jar because it has been made with the pith on the lemon. I actually liked it more, it had a sweetness with bitter undertones to it. I thought about making grown up lollipops with this third jar, but the syrup didn't last that long in our house.

 

Get ready. The next photo is the stuff my lemon dreams are made of.

 

Lemon Ricotta Cake coated with lemon syrup (I skewered holes into the cake layer when it came out of the oven and drizzled, and redrizzled, lemon syrup all over it. I then, delicately placed the soft syrupy lemon slices over the cake. Being so soft, the lemon slices were not a problem to cut through with a small sharp knife. My husband, whom I do love, wasn't keen on eating whole lemon slices, he is kind of funny that way. Oh well, we have a fix for that. When trying out this ricotta cake thing I doubled the recipe so I could try it two different ways. He got his own separate little cake.

I must say that even though I still prefer the one with the lemon slices, both visually and for eating, I gave his a try and ... yes ... it too qualifies as a lemon dream.

 Hope you get to make some lemon dreams of your own.

Carolina 

Lots of Lemon Love

It is citrus season in California. That means it is time to make candied lemon peel in my house.

Even though I live in the boonies, I can hop in the car and "find me" some perfect meyer lemons this time of year. I don't buy just 2 or 3 lemons. I buy loads of them.

The first thing I do, after recuperating from my drive to get them is I admire them, smell them, pierce their golden skins with my thumb nail and find myself lost in the intoxicating aroma. It is better than a kiss.

Then I get to work.

I wash them with luke warm water, rubbing the lemons as I go, making sure each one is nice and clean. While I am at it, I wash all of the ice cube trays that I keep in the storage pantry. Since I have an automatic ice maker in my fridge, I don't use these that often. A quick rinse is called for in case a little dust has collected.

Next, I cut them in half

... again I take in their aroma. I used to have a prolific meyer lemon tree in my garden when I lived in Florida. The sweet scent it gave off was totally magical, but the flavor was simply not as pronounced as these little meyer lemons that we get from California. I am envious of all those with California residency. On occasion, in the hire end markets I travel to, I will find equally good meyer lemons from New Zealand, yum. This year I even saw a batch come from Chile. When California, though, goes into citrus mode, we have a plethora available to us and I fill the produce bags with as many as I can afford.

Next up, I juice them.

I pour all the juice into the ice cube trays and put them in the freezer. When they are all frozen I pop out the cubes into a bag that I keep in the freezer. When I am cooking or need lemon juice for lemonade, I just grab from that bag. When we lived on the boat, I had to prepare lemons like this because there were areas that didn't have good lemons, or any lemons at all for that matter. We used to have a locker type freezer under the bunk in the pilot house. Whenever the weather was bad, and we both had to be on watch, one of us would catnap on that bunk. Every time I lay on that bunk, I used to think of the treasure trove of goodies that were in the freezer beneath me. Let's get on with it.

When you juice the lemons, juice them "hard", meaning go as far as you can towards the peel. The less of the white stuff, the sweeter your candied lemon peel will turn out.

Next. Put the peels in a big pot of cold water and bring the whole thing to a boil. Once it is boiling, turn your heat source down to a simmer, you want to simmer the lemon peel (or any other citrus peel) until it is nice and tender ... gushy almost ... to were you can easily pierce the peel with the tip of a sharp knife.

Once your lemon peels have reached that stage, drain them in a colander and run them under cool water. Once they are cool enough to handle take a spoon and scrape out any of the white pith that remains and has come loose from the peel.

You will have a lot of pith scooped out by the time you are done with all the lemon peels. I am always surprised by how much comes out. Don't worry if your lemon peel begins to tear, or even if it tears completely. It will all be good in the end.

Once you have scooped them all, cut the lemon peels into strips. How long, and how wide, is irrelevant. Put them in a pot with a two to one ratio of sugar to water. For all these lemons I used 4 cups of sugar, to 2 cups of water. Bring it all to a boil on medium heat.

Once the peel starts to look see-through, raise the heat to high, making the sugar syrup reach 230°, also called thread stage (when you pull the spoon from the pot, it creates a thread that doesn't fall off the spoon.) I don't get too hung up on the actual temperature, but I put this photo in for those of you who HAVE to be precise. Basically, what you want to see is a whole lot of bubbling going on.

Once you get the sugar to that stage, it means the sugar will adhere to the little pieces of lemon peel and give it a nice "chew". Use a slotted spoon to remove them from the hot sugar and place them on a cooling rack that is placed over a piece of parchment paper. The paper will catch the drips so it doesn't make a huge mess on your counter. When I do a huge batch, I place the parchment (and rack) on a cookie sheet (tray), that way I can move all the trays around my kitchen, making room for more trays, or making room to make the next meal that my family needs.

They might stick together as they cool. Don't fret. Mine always do. I just pick them apart once they have cooled down.

Once they cool you have a decision to make.

Gently toss them in a bowl of sugar or not. Supposedly this helps keep the little pieces from sticking to each other. I think the extra sugar is over-kill.

 

Place the sugar syrup you have left into a mason jar. Keep it in the fridge. This post is getting a little photo heavy, but on my next post I will show you what to do with that syrup. Stay tuned.

Ok - I gotta go get the girls from school. One last photo before I go.

Trust me, these are well worth the effort.

Carolina