WHAT I DID DURING THE HOLIDAYS

January cometh and all those things you have been meaning to sort and/or toss are still there. This is the reason January was invented, to gain control again.This is the time to re-sort, re-pack and put things away for another year OR to begin the new projects for this year.  So, what have I been up to since November?

Due to my envy of friend Suze who made a fantastic yoga mat cover (the envy of all the yogini), I started the patchwork over a year ago. Six months later I had the top cover made but needed to quilt it and find a back-fabric. Then I got distracted in middle of summer and it was rolled up on the floor of my studio for months.

As of the end of December, the mat is quilted, edged with cording and complete with an overlapping back that allows the mat to slide in. What a relief, ONLY as it was finished and rolled out to try a 'downward-looking dog' or maybe 'warrior one,' then I noticed the purple-band along the left side was trimmed crooked, diminishing from the middle to the far end. Oops!!

Sewn and finished it is and the error will stay for the life of this mat. No way will I begin ripping out a week's worth of work. Look it over Suze - it's pretty fancy.

The free-motion quilting was learned from Leah Day's blog 365 Days of Free Motion Quilting. Do not think I could have done it without the encouragement of her tips and technique. But due to trying out free motion - I'm already up to other things.  I think I'm getting the hang of it now.

 Not that I needed more work to do but somewhere in our meal schedule I realized that we had used all the pre-caramelized-frozen-onions that I store in the freezer for months of use. How can this be? There cannot be good cooking without the onions, right?

12 pounds of onions, some shallots, leeks and garlic later, plus about 4-5 hours of slow roasting the job was almost done.

The picture of the hot mess shows the baking trays of roasting onions (one of four). The thin, raw slices (out of the Cuisinart) are layered over silicone non-stick mats with some vegetable oil and cooking in a slow oven (about 320-340 degrees), turned ever 20 minutes until the golden brown color is 'scorched' all over, not burnt but caramelized.

As they cooled I began make labels for the one-cup containers. The rate of cooked to raw is about 3:1 or 1 cup of caramelized onions equals about 3 - 4 medium sized onions. If I make omelets I use about one-fourth of a cup, if making soup I add about half a cup.

I have threatened to make the French Pissaladaire, --a nice oblong tart withe olives and anchovies--an onion and vegetable appetizer pizza. But so far that fact has not been accomplished.

Was recently asked "why do you do that?"

To save time; who wants to caramelize one or two onions ever time you cook? That takes far too long to get to the really soft, sweet onion taste.

Jan's famous black walnut meringues.

After the onions episode I have to thank my sister Jan.  She just had a birthday and is feeling perky for the holidays. So excited that she made her world-famous (in NC that is), Black Walnut Meringues. Now you may ask what's so special about that?

When you grow up on a farm in northwest Missouri with groves of black walnut trees all over the back acreage, and spend winter evenings pick the nut-meats out of rock-hard shells you will come to appreciate black walnuts. Mother always made Waldorf apple salad with black walnuts and until I went to college I did not know any other walnuts existed.

Nuts ready, then you must learn egg-white technique for anyone who's ever made meringue topping knows that requires time and patience. Jan only does this once a year and this year I got more than a dozen. You'll see one is already missing - the photographer was overcome and could not resist. Bless you Jan.

Puffed and ready to serve.

On to more egg-white technique; this time for New Year's Eve. Could not interest the Mister in going to a dinner/dance so we opted for a quiet evening at home, just the two of us. Once maybe twice a year I impress him with my special Grand Marnier Soufflé's, made with extra egg-whites and extra cognac.
Dinner was a Citrus Salad with pomegranate seed topping and poppy-seed dressing, followed by soufflé. I used so many whites the mix was bigger than needed so I made three; one each for dinner and the little one was served cold for dessert the next day.

The week ends with our First Friday Ballroom practice and dinner. The year has begun, we are blessed and grateful to reside in a storm-free North Carolina home. Tomorrow morning - back in the pool to practice.  Happy New Year all!!