Monthly Archives: June 2014

Get it Out There

Posted on June 26, 2014 by --Deb | Comments Off

So, say you’ve been writing for years. You’ve pretty much mastered the niceties of punctuation, you know your grammar and can parse a sentence with the best of them. Your vocabulary would blow away the SAT people, and you read, read, read just like all the writing books recommend.

Yet, you still can’t get people to read your work.

Queries get returned with “not interested, go away” stamped on their envelopes. Articles come back with “Are you kidding?” Your book has been out on submission for so long, you think it’s run away and is sitting in some dive somewhere, stale beer soaking its pages, lost and adrift.

When you read your work, however, you see nothing wrong. You chuckle at the jokes. You nod in admiration at a well-turned phrase. You’ve hammered away at the prose until it’s lean and fit and ready to make its way in the world.

Yet, here it sits, figuratively slumped in front of the TV, wasting its prime on reality shows and eating potato chips.

So, what’s the problem?

Is it that your writing isn’t as good as you thought?

Or is it that you’ve been lazy and haven’t been encouraging it to get off the couch and go out the door?

Yeah, my guess is it’s the second option. If you’ve worked hard at your writing and it’s as good as you can make it … WHY would you let it sit around instead of going out to conquer the world?

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Tagged General

Wicker Motorcycle …

Posted on June 26, 2014 by mvobsession | Comments Off

- by Joan -

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Tagged bikes, Martha's Vineyard, Photographs, wheels

Blueberry Slab Pie with Strawberry Marscarpone Ice Cream

Posted on June 25, 2014 by Susan | Comments Off

Independence Day is just over a week away so it seemed like a great time to re-post my recipe for Blueberry Slab Pie with Strawberry Marscarpone Ice Cream. Slab pies are a great way to feed dessert to a crowd and blueberries are super cheap right now at the farmer’s market. Enjoy!

Blueberry Slab Pie

For The Crust
- 5 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 cups (4 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 1 to 1 1/2 cups ice water
For The Filling
- 2 1/4 pounds fresh (8 cups)
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest, plus 3 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions

Make crust: In a food processor, pulse flour, salt, and sugar until combined. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, with a few pea-size pieces of butter remaining. With machine running, add 1 cup ice water. Pulse until dough is crumbly but holds together when squeezed (if necessary, add up to 1/2 cup water, 1 tablespoon at a time). Do not overmix. Divide dough into 2 disks; wrap each tightly in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour (or up to overnight).
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Make filling: In a large bowl, toss together blueberries, cornstarch, sugar, and lemon zest and juice. On a floured work surface, roll out 1 disk to a 12-by-16-inch rectangle. Place in a 10-by-14-by-1-inch rimmed sheet pan. Pour in blueberry filling, then lightly brush edges of crust with water. On floured surface, roll out second disk to an 11-by-15-inch rectangle, carefully cutting out the star shapes. These will serve as vents to allow steam to escape. Lay over blueberry filling; press along moistened edges to seal. Fold overhang under, tucking it into pan, and crimp edges.
Place pie in oven, then reduce heat to 375 degrees. Bake until crust is golden and juices are bubbling, 50 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for at least 1 hour, preferably two. Allowing the pie to rest will keep the filling from running when you slice it.

DSC_0058-490x328

For the ice cream, I modified a recipe from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home. I have to say, this book changed the way I make ice cream. I’ve always been in the “frozen custard” camp, making my ice cream with eggs because I found ice creams made with out them to be less creamy and icy. This book turned that thinking on it’s head. Not only is the ice cream amazing, it’s much easier to make because it doesn’t require a custard base, which is always nerve wracking. It’s kind of revolutionary. This particular recipe is- hands down- the best ice cream I have ever made.

Strawberry Marscarpone Ice Cream

8 cups strawberries, sliced
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
4 cups whole milk
2 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
16 ounces marscarpone cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup

Directions

1. Place the slice strawberries in a bowl and mix with the balsamic vinegar. Refrigerate for overnight, or for a minimum of 2 hours.

2. Mix about 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch in a small bowl to make a smooth slurry. Whisk the marscarpone cheese and salt in a medium bowl until smooth. Fill a large bowl with ice and water.

3. Combine the remaining milk, the cream, sugar, and corn syrup in a 4-quart saucepan, bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat, and boil for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat, and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry. Bring the mixture back to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring with a rubber spatula, until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat.

4. Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the marscarpone cheese mixture until smooth. Chill the mixture thoroughly. I usually just put the mixture in the fridge for a couple of hours but if you are in a hurry you can use Jeni’s quick chill method. Pour the mixture into a 2-gallon Ziploc freezer bags and submerge the sealed bags in an ice bath. Let stand, adding more ice as necessary, until cold, about 30 minutes.

5. Strain the strawberries, saving the balsamic vinegar for a salad dressing. Add the strawberries to the ice cream base and pour the base into your ice cream makers’s canister and proceed according to the manufacturer’s directions. Spin until thick and creamy. If you prefer your ice cream more solid, you can pack it into a plastic container and place it in the freezer for a few hours.We like it the way it comes out of the ice cream maker.

Makes two quarts ice cream, which may sound like a lot before you taste it, but it really isn’t.

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Tagged Features, food

Odds and Ends Crochet Rug: A Journey

Posted on June 25, 2014 by Marla | Comments Off

I can crochet. I don’t do it often, or do it well, and I don’t call myself a crocheter, because I have never successfully finished crocheting anything. Every so often though, I feel like I need to change things up. so I start a crochet project, usually with plans of making a blanket, and either abandon the attempt, or rip it out and knit something with the yarn instead. The reason I have never finished a crochet project is because I only ever feel like doing it when I don’t feel like doing anything else. This isn’t a reflection on crochet as a craft, mind you, just my particular feelings towards it.

I started this rug last fall when we found out when we were moving into this house, and we had all these great wood floors to protect. I was hitting the tail end of my first trimester, and still feeling pretty pukey. I didn’t want to do anything really, but the idea of crocheting rugs for my new house seemed like an idea I could get behind. I had a lot of single and partial skeins of worsted weight yarn that I had just been carrying around for years, and I couldn’t think of a better way to use it up. I don’t tend to knit with worsted weight yarn very often–and when I do, it’s usually a sweater–not great for all those single skeins I dyed when I was learning how to dye.

After spending last week doing a lot of soap-making and blog related research, I have been a little bit too burnt out to knit–crazy, I know. But I started thinking about this rug again. I abandoned it half-done about the time we moved in when I ran out of undyed yarn. My vision for this rug was to pair the single skeins with undyed yarn all the way through, but I’m not very good at crochet, and have no idea how to calculate how long 2 1/2 skeins of undyed yarn will last. I thought I would get a bit more diameter out of it. And the whole point of an odds and ends project is that you don’t buy yarn for it.

Yesterday, we stopped by the grocery store on the way home from work and on our way out, our car wouldn’t start. Just like that, something that is probably the starter wouldn’t work. After many phone calls, a tow truck and jostling a giant carseat around, and getting our other car that we never drive jumped, because we never drive it and the battery was dead. We didn’t get dinner until 9:30. It was not a fun evening.

In the middle of all that, I kept thinking that I would rather be working on something simple. Double crochet over and over again in the round is just about as easy as stockinette in the round. Probably because I was so exhausted, crocheting sounded more satisfying than knitting. In the haze of my I-hate-cars-why-do-I-live-in-a-place-with-rotten-public-transportation-and-I-can’t-ride-my-bike-everywhere-because-I-have-an-infant haze, I suddenly realized that my hang up on having white throughout the rug was silly. It’s an odds and ends rug. It’s not going to look silly if I change it up halfway through, it’s going to look like an odds and end rug, because that’s what it is. Get over yourself and and finish it if that’s what you want to do.

Now I’m determined to finish this rug, so we can use it in our house. I will finish at least one crochet project. Who knows, maybe one day I will add crochet to my resume.

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Tagged crochet, crochet rug, In The Works, rag rug, yarn scrap crochet rug

Bandstand At Night …

Posted on June 24, 2014 by mvobsession | Comments Off

- by Joan -

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Tagged Bandstand, Martha's Vineyard, night, Oak Bluffs, Photographs

Tell Me Something Good Tuesday!

Posted on June 24, 2014 by Susan | Comments Off

Tell Something GoodTuesdays

I don’t know if I have ever needed a “Tell Me Something Good Tuesday” as much as I do today! My sister is having not one but THREE spots of skin cancer removed from her face today. Darwin, our pup, is going in to be neutered again tomorrow after nearly dying during the last attempt to neuter him (he had a reaction to the pre-anestisia sedative). And we are in the bi-annual mad rush to get our next season’s patterns to the printer. I. am. stressed.

So, today, more than ever, I need you to tell me something good!

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Tagged everything else

How to Make Greek Yogurt From Scratch

Posted on June 24, 2014 by Marla | Comments Off

I started making my own yogurt about three years ago. I was inspired by this blog post, which is a really great place to start. And I completely recommend the Yogotherm she uses, since that’s what I use as well. It’s great, because I can just put the yogurt mixture in the yogotherm and forget about it–and I usually do for about 18-24 hours. When I remember I’ve got yogurt going, I just pull out the pail and stick it in the fridge, and it’s just about right for the way I like my yogurt.

The beauty about making your own yogurt, besides the fact that it is super simple, is that you can make it exactly the way you like it.

What you need:
-Half Gallon Orgsnic Whole Milk
-One packet yogurt starter or 1/4 cup yogurt with live cultures. (I really like the flavor of yogourmet
-A kitchen thermometer
-Saucepan
-A way to insulate your yogurt
-Fine mesh strainer
-Large bowl
-Cheesecloth or paper towels

I start with a half-gallon of whole milk, and heat it to 185 degrees.

I try to make yogurt while I am doing other things in the kitchen, baking, dishes, something where I am going to be busy enough that I won’t leave until the milk is up to heat, but not so busy that I forget about the milk and it scorches. Giving it a stir every once and a while so it doesn’t develop a skin on top. If your milk does get a skin, just skim it off the top. It will survive the fermenting process, and it is not pleasant.

When the milk reaches 185, remove it from the heat. I like to set it on a trivet on the dinning room table so it’s completely out of the hot kitchen. Let it cool until it’s about 110 (five degrees in either direction should be ok.) Cooling takes as long, if not longer than heating. It’s easy to forget you’ve got it going, especially when you are trying to blog, nurse your infant, and read to your seven year-old all at the same time. Setting a time on your phone for about 20 minutes might help, and then remember to reset it, if you can.

When the milk is just about cool, I fill my yogotherm pail with boiling water, and after it’s had a chance to cool just a minute, I dump it out. The boiling water acts to sanitize and prewram the container.

Mix the starter into the milk while it’s still in the sauce pan. I don’t add anything but the starter, though I know some people add powdered milk or gelatin at this stage. I prefer letting the yogurt ferment longer. The longer you let it set, the firmer it will become naturally.

I like to let my yogurt set for at least 12 hours, but usually do closer to 24 before putting it in the refrigerator to stop the fermenting process. My favorite part of making yogurt is taking the lid off to check it once it’s ready to go in the fridge.

With very little work, milk has become yogurt.

If you like, you can be done at this point. The yogurt is completely edible and perfectly healthy. The texture should be creamy and soft. If, like me, you like a firm, rich and thick yogurt, you can move on to the next step.

After the yogurt has had a couple hours in the refrigerator, it’s time to strain it.

Place a fine mesh strainer over a large bowl, line with paper towels or a fine cheesecloth, and spoon yogurt into the strainer. Cover with a tea towel or more paper towels, and replace into the refrigerator for 5-8 hours. Since I only have a medium-size strainer, I do half my yogurt at a time, which means it takes me a little bit longer to strain. From start to finish, the process takes me about two days, but it’s completely worth it.

The yogurt you get at the end is downright delectable and you have a whole jar of probiotic whey to use to ferment other thing. It’s a never ending cycle of deliciousness.

It could almost be ice cream