Ench By Sew-027: Festive Holiday Tees and Teas - Our best holiday episode ever!

Crafternoon at Marilyn's House
We promised not to clean house when we get together, but we never agreed not to get out the pretty dishes!

Hey! 

The latest Enchanted by Sewing Podcast has been published!

Socializing at this time of year, sharing a cup of tea and a light meal, admiring something a friend has made, engaging together with a sewing project, and getting advice on it, that’s the kind of thing that keeps me . . . enchanted by sewing.

Our best holiday episode ever!

Of course, every year it's better than the last :-)

Listening Option I) You can listen to the show right on the web (while sewing perhaps?:-) by clicking on this link

http://traffic.libsyn.com/enchantedbysewing/FINALcastFestiveTeaAndTeesdec2014.mp3

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Listening Option II)  Click on this link to iTunes  to download this and other Enchanted by Sewing shows to your mobile device (iPhone, Android, etc.) free from iTunes 

( https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/enchanted-by-sewing/id566370325)

The Enchanted by Sewing Podcast is, an extension of my regular sewing blog - Me Encanta Coser,  (http://www.meencantacoser.blogspot.com) which,  roughly translated means, Enchanted By Sewing 

My blog is written in English. The name celebrates the historical and modern use of the beautiful Spanish Language in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, where I live. 

This show is created, produced and brought to you by Laurel Shimer. 

This month’s show  is  *Festive Holiday Tees and Tea*

1) Holiday Tees and More 

* Crafternoon - Finishing my beaded cap, started in Vancouver

http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2014/12/holiday-crafternoon-tea-finished-my.html

* Three Tees - Tee Shirts 

i. Rumpelstiltskin Cowl Neck Top (M6078 - tried and true pattern) http://www.meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2014/12/spinning-straw-into-gold-my.html

ii. Two versions of the Princess Laurel Tee V8323

FUTURE LINKS UNDER CONTSTRUCTION - When I blog them, I'll add them:-)

1. Floral velour (Test Garment - but I'm wearing it all the time!) http://www.meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2014/10/princess-seamed-tee-shirt-pattern-work.html

2. A plain Red version - still a little work to do finishing up the neckband. Perfect for Christmas and Valentines day, but it will see plenty of other use.

* Ivy –A new shirtdress from my tried-and-true M3623 pattern, Inspired by Mrs. Obama!

- http://www.meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2014/11/terminado-ivys-ready-for-holidays-raw.html

- Mrs. Obama’s Arms Inspire Shirt Dress Sewing http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2014/11/romancing-dress-mrs-obama-arms-inspire.html

- Fabric from a favorite local and online store – Exotic Silks/Thai Silks http://www.exoticsilks.com

- Wrap-up posting about my first shirt dress project, "Peaches and Cream" http://www.meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2014/09/terminado-completing-peaches-and.html

* Julia Morgan – Arts and Crafts movement architect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Morgan

YWCA Hostess House in Palo Alto, built in 1918 and later to become the site of the MacArthur Park Restaurant[17]

 

*Technicos – Green Sewing Gifts* Covered books and chou chous

Use up those beautiful remnants and scraps

FUTURE LINKS UNDER CONSTRUCTION - When I blog them, I'll add them:-)

I created a pattern for my fabric book cover from a paper bag first. 13 step tutorial http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Paper-Bag-Book-Cover

*Come on over for holiday tea and sewing* In the show, I share lighter holiday offerings, inspired by three sewing and tea parties I've gone to or been hostess at recently. I wish you could have come too!

a. To drink I'd offer Roibos tea with milk and  Easy Microwave No-Sugar Cocoa (you can have sugar if you want!) made with soy milk or non-fat milk 

  I like these cocoa powders (non-sweetened varieties) Cadbury, Schafen Bergen, Ghirardhelli, Trader Joes, Droste

b. Laurel's Holiday Lights Pumpkin Gingerbread 

http://simpleromantic.blogspot.com/2014/12/holiday-lights-laurels-pumpkin.html

c. Blueberry muffins (Whoops! Not the Mayo Clinic it's from the Harvard School of Public Health - chock full of blueberries!) 

I substitute white whole wheat flour for the all-purpose. Love the texture of the almond meal and the flavors of the orange zest and blueberry. Made them twice in short order. Very popular with my family.  

 http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/blueberry-muffins/

d. Persimmon oatmeal cookies - I didn't have the psyllium husks and substituted some applesauce for the persimmon when I ran short. They were great anyway!

 http://www.food.com/recipe/healthy-persimmon-cookies-recipe-322630

e. Laurel's London Loaf - A very light schoosh-of-oatmeal and lemon peel bread http://simpleromantic.blogspot.com/2010/08/for-anna-london-loaf.html

f. Harry Potter's Bath Buns, like Hagrid never made

http://hpcooking.blogspot.com/2012/07/bath-buns.html

I have the The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook  this Bath Bun recipe came from  (someone else has typed up on this page) and I made these buns for supper one night, along with a nice meaty beef stew. I used golden raisins. Many recipes in the book are heavy on the butter, but this much less so. Delicious, very holiday tasting with the caraway seeds.

g. Laurel's Dried fruit truffles

Quick Recipe Recap, For more description, listen in to the later part of this month's podcast

Food processor -  Take out all pits! 

- 12 dried apricots, 6 medjdool dates, 6 dried plums/prunes

- 2 full graham crackers, 2 t almond meal (optional)

- zest of one orange or lemon 

Pulse the food processor till all broken up

- drizzle in enough honey to get mixture to hold together (maybe 1 teaspoon?)

- Press plain cocoa powder (no sugar or fat added) through a sieve so that it's all a fine powder

- Roll mixture into a lot of little balls

- Roll balls in cocoa

- Store in your cutest tin!

A local very tasty cocoa

Cadbury Cocoa is sold in London
Haven't found it closer to home

Holiday Lights - Laurel's Pumpkin Gingerbread Recipe

Laurel’s Pumpkin Gingerbread I was inspired to create a gingerbread using pumpkin several years ago, by a PBS series called “Footsteps”. Though the young woman in the  show, tricked her die-hard, non-vegetable eating brother-in-law into saying he liked vegetables when he ate her pumpkin gingerbread, I could never find a recipe for it. So I created one myself by changing the ingredients around in somebody elses. I love it and make it regularly for festive, winter holidays. It is also delicious topped with some Bosc Pears that have been cooked up with cinnamon and no or sugar or just a tiny bit of sugar. Bosc Pears, which we eat regularly in our fall salads along with crisp persimmons, get over the hill so easily since they are really only good fresh when they are crisp

 This is a major variation on a recipe in Cooking Light 11-12/94 (substituted pumpkin/squash for oil, substituted whole wheat flour and buttermilk for liquid))

Note: this is very tasty and better for you if you make it with whole wheat flour (more fiber in our diets – yeah!), but you can make it with regular all-purpose if that is all you have.

Mix up wet stuff well in one bowl. Measure up dry stuff in another. Combine bowl contents and get them thoroughly mixed, but don’t beat the results. Bake at 350 degrees. Cut into eight pieces. Each piece is probably about 190 calories.

I commonly double this recipe so that it fits into two round cake pan. This recipe is the SINGLE cake pan recipe. Spray the cake pans with good old PAM.

Wet Stuff: 1/2 cup buttermilk, 1/4 cup molasses, 1/4 cup cooked squash/plain canned pumpkin, 2 T honey, 1 egg white or 1/4 cup egg substitute

Dry Suff: 1/4 cup sugar, 1 cup whole wheat (or white whole wheat) flour, 1 t powdered ginger, 1 t cinnamon, 3/4 t baking soda, 1/4 salt, 1 t cloves (If your baking soda is a little old, put it through one of those little hand strainers and grind the lumps through the mesh into the bowl)

Holiday Crafternoon Tea - Finished my Beaded Cap (Terminado!)

First Marilyn made us a lovely festive tea! Doesn't she set a lovely table? And then we watched "Miracle on 34'th Street" (the original with Natalie Woods and Maureen O'Hara of course!), and worked on our craft projects together. OK, we also talked non-stop.

 I finished beading my faux-tapestry cap. You remember it? That's the project I started in Vancouver. I talked about sights, sounds and sewing inspiration in Vancouver in my (Episode 26) November, Enchanted By Sewing audio/podcast. You can find out more about that episode and listen right on the web, or download it to your mobile device, by clicking on the show notes at http://enchantedbysewing.blogspot.com/2014/11/ench-by-sew-026-embellishment-via.html.

Oh It Don't Snow Here, Stays Pretty Green - Christmas On My Street

"Oh it don't snow here. Stays pretty green."

Joni Mitchell, "River"

Rain Dancin'

Sure, Drought ain't over.

Still rain dancing does pay off.

California!

Spinning Straw Into Gold - My Rumpelstiltskin Cowl Neck Knit Top (McCalls 6078)

My  Rumpelstiltskin Straw-Into-Gold Top looks best tucked in!

Oh I love wearing this straw-into-gold wool jersey top! Yes, you're right. The longer hem that worked for my polka dot cowl, is too long for this fluid wool jersey. I may hem it shorter, but I've ended up tucking it in most of the time anyway. What a difference the hand of a fabric makes, eh?

Do you recall a few weeks back, when I finished my reworked Retro Polka Dot cowl-neck knit top? I'm just starting to buildup my pattern wardrobe of tried-and-true patterns, and I love having a pattern I can turn to late one night, and finish off before breakfast.

I pulled out my version of M6078 (the version I traced, altered and know fits me) and a light weight, gauzy , golden wool jersey knit from my fabric inventory one night last week, and the next day I had a great new top to wear. I didn't stay up late making it either:-)

I can spin straw into gold.  I know just how that German gal  in the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale felt. You remember her? She was the one-time commoner who found a husband by practicing her domestic skills with her spindle and a hunk of straw.*   

This is already proving to be a great top for our not too cold, California cool season. It's good under a long sleeved top, or on it's own. I can wear it with jeans, a denim skirt or my brown stretch-velvet jeans. And yes, I'm tucking it in :-)

I'm so ready to make more. Sewing tried-and-true is the kind of thing that keeps me . . . 

Enchanted by Sewing!

* Honey, I highly recommend a degree in Computer Science as a better option.

Web Resources

My Retro Polka Dot Knit Top  (also blogged about as "Why I don't love Lucy") http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2014/11/terminado-retro-polka-cowl-neck-knit.html
Who's Rumpelstiltskin? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumpelstiltskin

Dungeness is a Local Treat

Dungeness Season -

Monterey or Half Moon Bay?

California!

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You can include it in cioppino or toss it in pasta. 

We like it best plain on salad with a Louie dressing. The Half Moon Bay fisherman I chatted with at our local Farmer's Market likes his best on salad with an olive oil and lemon dressing.

The season is always too short for me. Nothing beats Dungeness Crab!

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Web Resources

http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/dungeness-crab-fishermen-clawing-toward-big-season/Content?oid=2912171

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/dungeness_crab.asp