so far so good

some of today's output... pillowcase assembled, linen sleep pants. also hemmed the tea towels, ready for embroidery. green checked cotton twill is going to be capris! cut & pinned, but i'm out of zippers...

eep!

it suddenly hit me that our cottage trip is a week away, and that means it is past time to get ready for the fair! i have some projects i plan to work on up there - a scarf, a tea cosy - and some i plan to work on up there that will require some machine sewing first. like, hemming the edge of the tea towels i intend to embroider. i feel like embroidering tea towels and knitting a tea cosy are very cottage-appropriate, somehow...

first, here's the finished, folded, labelled, ready to go pile - seven items - just so i feel a leetle bit accomplished instead of totally overwhelmed:

and here's some stuff basically done, being blocked:

here's some lace being blocked, i just need to make the pillow case it will be trimming (one of my must-do machine-sewing projects):

and here's a scarf-in-progress:

i also have an item to add to the geronimo stilton costume, pyjamas to make, and there will be much baking when we're up there... can't wait!

but for now, i'm going to spend some quality time with my supermatic and ace in the hole to keep me company.

chicken bacon? aka bbq pork belly? is the best thing ever.

so, yum.

i had my doubts as to whether this would work. when i was looking for pork belly recipes, most talked about long, slow methods of cooking - i.e. slow cooker, not barbecue. the bbq recipes i found basically involved pre-cooking the pork belly and then tossing it on the bbq to crisp up. one recipe looked promising until i looked at the instructions: "turn your bbq to 450 degrees, cook for 10 minutes, then drop to 350 degrees." that's not a bbq!

then i found the key word i should have been searching for all along: braai. that's the south african term for bbq, and it definitely means real charcoal in the real outdoors, not some souped-up portable oven. also, the recipe was on the south african weber site, and our bbq is a weber, so that was a good sign, too. this is one of those rare recipes i actually followed to the letter (almost). the only changes made: smaller belly with no bone (bought before looking at recipe, and went for a small piece as we are only 3 - about half a kilo), and no "bbq spice" (what does that mean?). original recipe is metric, i've made it imperial below.

this was a real hit. even the fussy kiddo said "can i have some more chicken bacon? because it's sort of like chicken with bacon on the outside." we will be doing this again.

also a hit (with grownups at least) was a simple salad of red leaf lettuce and slivered carrots, with a sesame miso dressing. lots of umami for rabbit food. the recipe is adapted from one for cucumber salad, but when i checked the crisper, our cucumber was yuck. so, carrots.

bbq pork belly (aka "chicken bacon")

• 4 lb piece of pork belly, with a bit of bone in (ours was boneless and only 1 lb, still worked fine)
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 tbs molasses
• 1 tbs honey
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• 2 tsp soy sauce

place a rack large enough to hold the pork belly on top of a deep dish. place the pork belly on top, skin side up, and pour boiling water over. set rack with belly aside to dry for at least 2 hours, preferably 3. the dryer, the better.

get the charcoal ready 20 minutes before you expect to put the meat on. you want the charcoal red hot but not flaming.

combine the ginger, pepper, and salt, and rub on the belly on all sides. brush all over with olive oil.

move the charcoal to the edges, with no charcoals in the middle, for indirect heat. place the pork belly, skin side up, on the grill not over the coals. cover and let cook for an hour.

meanwhile, make the glaze by combining the final 4 ingredients in a small bowl.

when the meat is cooked, move off the grill and gently remove the skin. brush both pieces - meat and skin - all over with glaze.

move all the coals to one side, add a few fresh pieces of charcoal, and fan to a flame. put the meat back on the grill, cut side down, away from the flame. put the skin, skin side down, directly over the flame. watch for bubbling. check often and do not overcook! turn a few times until crispy but not burnt.

cut skin and meat into 1/2" slices and serve.

sesame miso dressing

• 1/4 cup tahini
• 3 tbs brown rice miso paste
• 2 tbs seasoned rice vinegar
• 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 1/3 cup sunflower oil
• 1/3 cup white vinegar
• toasted sesame seeds for garnish

combine first 4 ingredients, blend till smooth.

gradually add oil and vinegar, stirring till well combined.

when tossing salad, garnish with freshly toasted sesame seeds.

busy busy busy

another busy saturday! it's been too hot to cook or bake anything for the longest time, but the heatwave broke yesterday, so i'm taking advantage to get a few things done. also i realized that if i want to get a fruitcake done in time for the fenelon fair i have to get it done now. so, i started by making some candied peel, which is currently drying in the window alongside a porkbelly which will go on the bbq later.

next we make sugar cookie dough, currently chilling.

and, kouign-amman dough, shown here ready to be folded & rolled with sugar. going to bake this for breakfast tomorrow!

also helping the kiddo make a kite, so we can take it to the park tomorrow!

and now, i'm looking up sesame miso dressing recipes for a salad to go with tonight's dinner, especially since the kiddo insisted on buying the giant bag of sesame seeds at the mayan night market yesterday.

a few of my fair entries so far...

after this, i start worrying about christmas i guess?

pillow case (1) lace trim

ladies' pullover - knit

ladies' mitts

ladies' cardigan - knit

a little weekend sewing project: silk crepe tank & brocade skirt

after being sick all last week and doing literally nothing, on saturday i remembered that, oh yeah, a childhood friend was getting married the next day, and organizing something to wear was to have been the previous weekend's activity, except i just slept all day and night instead. oops.

so, what to do? dig into the stash, and see what i could find.

i had just enough of this lovely blue chinese silk/rayon brocade to make a skirt, and magically came up with a scrap of silk crepe in a coordinating blue. i think it was from a remnant bin, or maybe the textile museum sale? in any case, there was barely half a metre of it!

i managed to locate a zipper of the right sort & size and some bemberg to line the skirt, so that wasn't too hard. the real trick: what to do with that scrap of crepe? that wouldn't take any extra effort or fabric?

the solution, was to make a super simple tank.

i did this in the quickest way i could think of with the least amount of fabric and finishing:

first, i simply folded the fabric in half, selvedge edges together.

using the folded edge as the "shoulder seam" (except i didn't have to do the seam, ha) i cut out armscyes and the neck hole (a boat neck wide enough to go over my head, no fasteners needed).

then, i sewed down the side seams, from armscye to the selvedge edge (which i used as a hem - no fraying, not visible, so no finishing required). i did a french seam, being the most sturdy-yet-nice-looking seam i know, which also requires no hand finishing.

then i rolled the edges at the neck and armscye, and finished those by hand which took all of till the clouds roll by, which you can watch for free on youtube. it's a jerome kern biopic, a bit maudlin and drippy, but gorgeous costumes, and of course lots of spectacular musical numbers. everyone is in this flick: judy garland, frank sinatra, lena horne, june allyson, van johnson, dinah shore, syd charisse, angela lansbury, van heflin, esther williams!

that's it, that's all! it was more effort getting the kid to dress up with me.

sick week productivity

ok, it is next to impossible to be productive when sick. i can barely think enough to read. fortunately, i can think enough to knit plain stockinette in the round!

so here's my sick week output:

purple zigzaggy cardigan - done.

misc winter knits - washed and blocked.

list of potential & completed entries into fenelon fair (includes above cardigan & winter knits) - started.

mindless gazing at knitting patterns for potential stash-busting projects - started yes, finished never.

here's a list of what's done & ready for the fair, which is generally the big finale of our cottage week:

• costume - hand made for a child
• children's pullover - plain knit
• ladies' cardigan - knit
• ladies' pullover - knit
• ladies' mitts
• men's scarf

shockingly, there is no shawl category.

and here's my aspirational list of things i'd like to do & enter:

• children's sleepwear
• children's mitts - knit
• children's article of clothing - (other than listed above)
• ladies' fancy crochet or knit sweater
• ladies' any clothing article (sewn)
• tea towel (1) thread embroidery
• tea cozy
• pillow case (1) lace trim
• scented sachet
• christmas tree decoration (3) different
• christmas table runner
• christmas gift wrapped box (not to exceed 12")
• christmas toy
• strawberry jam
• other culinary items tbd

come august, we can all look back on this and laugh!