Leave the sombrero, take the cannoli!

Another day at home.... the house is clean, the laundry done. Oh, what to do?

:) :) :) Says the evil domestic goddess......

I have been obsessed with the thought of making cannoli.

We were at a very authentic little Italian restaurant a few weeks ago. "Fresh cannoli"was on the menu board. While we were waiting for our pizza, I was entertaining this wonderful dessert fantasy. A little old Italian lady hobbled in. The little old Italian lady running the place greets her, IN ITALIAN. The customer lady asks after the cannoli, and come to find out the lady has one left for her husband, and two for her customer. She warned her that they may not be that fresh, as they were ready at 10am. (It is merely NOON, btw.....) The lady actually apologizes for being so late, but is happy to get any cannoli she can get. HER husband wanted one too, [interject dainty little Italian grandmother giggle]

I can't honestly remember the last time I actually ate a cannoli(o). I have a vague New York City memory from when I was about 10 that was disappointing: not sweet enough, maybe the seasoning (booze) was too strong.... But can't get the darn things out of my head now...that I'm old. And bored.

Good bye dessert, but HELLO PROJECT!

I have now read a whole bunch of stuff on cannoli. Andrea and her husband are my foremost authorities. They actually have real Italian grandmothers. Their general advice was not to be disappointed--cannoli are tricky little buggers. This sentiment was repeated across the internet.
I was prepared for time and mess.

What wasn't repeated was one darn recipe. There were barely any that were even close to each other. Andrea was tied up with kids and work, so I decided to go ahead and at least find a frame of reference recipe to start with. I found one that seemed promising on Serious Eats.com: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/10/homemade-cannoli-fresh-ricotta-recipe.html This one seemed fairly simple compared to some of the other recipes.

I just accept the fact that I can't pan-fry anything to save my life, so I super-cheated and heated up the deep fryer to 350. (all the Italian grandmothers moan and groan.....) Honestly, I think that it made things a heck of a lot easier and safer. Andrea complained that she got totally burned by flying oil using the pan method. The little pastry shells crisped up perfectly without any fuss, and no more mess than I normally have when I use the deep fryer.

I used the pasta machine on setting #3 to roll out the dough. I probably could and should have gotten it thinner, but it worked for a first time try.

Dad's homemade taco tool (see pics) doubled as a perfect cannoli tube. (hence the sombrero quip) You can buy some pretty nice cannoli kits for a lot of $$... Gotta feel nice and smug about that. Although one girl on the blog was saying that her grandmother used an old broomstick. (eww?)

It helped to wet the edges of the dough with some egg to make it stick. Before I figured that out I had a couple really nice pieces of fried dough because it fell off the tube. The other common complaint was that unless you had more than one tube, it took forever and was hard to coordinate the wrapping, frying, cooling and filling. I only had the one tube, and wayyy too much free time. It probably made it a more relaxing experience that way since I could really only make one at a time. It took 3 minutes to cook one, and about 6 minutes to cool. The pastry fried right around the tube, and then just slid off when I took it out of the oil. Filling took about two seconds--good ol' pastry bag.

I didn't have anything fancy lying around to decorate the ends with, so I just sprinkled them with powdered sugar. The filling was super simple: ricotta, granulated sugar, cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Andrea suggested draining the ricotta which I did for about 5 hours on layers of paper towels that I changed 4-5 times.

Can I hear a collective YUM? I have no idea if they are "authentic", but they are very, very delicious.

Uhhmmmm..... was it wrong to (only) eat cannoli and spiedies for lunch?

Bits and Pieces and a nice dinner

Working a bit, playing a bit.... My little drama group is growing and developing. We should be ready for working on an actual skit/play in two weeks! I am glad that I am doing this, as this will help them be prepared for what it is like to be part of a high school play. Hopefully it will save me some headaches in the Spring! The talent show is scheduled for November 2nd. FINALLY we were able to pick a date. That was so hard, that planning everything else will be a breeze! I have a lot of help as we are sharing the evening with several groups. This weekend I am also working on choreography notes for the Spring show and writing a grant for new microphones.

Aidan and I went to the football game yesterday to see Alannah's half-time show. She did really well! She was the only color guard girl to not drop her flag. I was proud of her. The band's show is coming together. They didn't get the plans for the show until pretty late, so it is a work in progress. They have extra practices this week as they have a competition next Saturday. The football team is getting started with one loss last week, one win yesterday. Poor Enfield--Gilbert-Northwest had them creamed at 24-0 before the end of the first quarter! At least Enfield came back a little toward the end of the game with a final score of 36-20. Aidan and I left in the 3rd quarter, so didn't see the big comeback. (Enfield only had 7 points by then....) I like watching high school football when the score is that huge. The coaches start putting all kinds of kids in to play and they start running all of these exotic plays. It is a good way for me to appreciate the art of the game. Sometimes things move too fast and slick at the professional level.

Other fun things: Scott's mom retired this year so she has been cleaning out closets. She sent a huge box yesterday that was a treasure trove of fun. There were treats for everyone, including the dog. Very special was a handmade bedspread made out of yo-yos that was made by her mother. It is amazing--there must be a thousand tiny little circles of fabric stitched together. I will take a picture of it soon. It makes my yo-yo project look rather pitiful, but I will keep plugging along faithfully. What an inspiration.

Last, but not least:

Scott and I actually went out on a DATE last night! We went out to The Tributary restaurant.

http://ra.rep-am.com/dining/menus/TRIBUTARY%20RESTAURANT%20menu.pdf

It is a nice place--kind of the "fancy" place to eat in town--the waiters even have cloths over their arms, and when you get a peek into the kitchen the chefs have the big hats and everything. If anyone from Owego remembers "Surf and Turf"--this is very similar, with a big salad bar, traditional menu and a dessert tray. We love Marios, but it is nice to break away from the big Italian theme once in awhile. Sometimes they have a live piano player. Thankfully not last night, as we were sitting practically on top of the piano! (We got there at prime time without reservations...oh well....) I had the Duck a L' Orange with wild rice and a very nice apple/walnut stuffing and sauce. This is how fancy it was: my plate was garnished with a fresh orchid. Scott had the prime rib which was absolutely gorgeous and at least 2 1/2 inches thick. (oh yum!) It was even served with a giant popover. (Dad would appreciate this--they were amazing) We were there for probably 3 hours just taking our time, laughing and having a great time. I think everyone else there were jealous of us.... hee hee as they all kept looking over and smiling at us sitting up there all cozy in the corner. Yeah.... we needed that!

:)

Fun in the Kitchen

There was threat of frost last week, so we hauled out the garden. This is not saying much, because then the entire garden was in our kitchen! ha ha! I have been working quite a bit, so today was the first day we had a chance to do anything. We have been up since 5:30 working--I am going to wish I got called in to work. zzzzzzzz....

At 6:30 we were out at the fire pit roasting chili peppers. So far we have made green cayenne/cherry pepper sauce and are drying red cayenne for grinding. I made a giant pot of roasted chili sauce with a variety of chili peppers: Green, Red, Anaheim, Fresno and Cowhorn. We also threw a bunch of Jalapenos in there as well. I cooked them until they were soft (oh yeah--I also threw a random peck of misc. tomatoes in there....) and ran the whole thing through the food mill. It came out this absolutely gorgeous thick sauce. It has a very nice flavor to it, and "Woah Nelly!" some pretty major heat. (see pictures!) It will make a very nice base for enchiladas and/or chili or anything else like that. I got about a gallon of sauce.

I was musing about making this sauce while we were at Mom and Dad's this past weekend. Dad was fantasizing about a green chili stew with veggies and potatoes in it. Inspired, I cooked some onions and garlic in a little shortening in a skillet, threw in some chopped carrots, celery, garlic and potatoes (salt, pepper, onion/garlic powder, cumin) and a handful of leftover chicken spiedies. Oh boy, is it ever good--just VERY SPICY!!!

We were joking that after today in our house, flu shots were optional. I don't know about Scott, but my airways are feeling quite purified! I promise I will not let you know how any other of my bodily pathways are doing after eating the chili stew..... heh heh heh....

Research

So... I've been puttering around making yo-yos out of the huge box of old quilt pieces that I have... It is fun in and of itself--especially since the vision of a project are forming in my head. It is kind of soothing, mindless work, so of course the ol' brain gets cranking. I found many of the quilt pieces in a box from my grandmother's marked "1940". They are soooo cool--obviously vintage, so many unique prints and colors--flowers, children, animals, geometric shapes. The fabrics represented by the quilt pieces certainly support that era in style and color.

It got me thinking, and clicking. (What would we do without the internet?) A few furious hours of clicks later, and I think that all of my quilt pieces are from old feed/store sacks! I generally know that the quilt squares are from my various maternal aunts, passed down through my grandmother, and they all lived in a rural farm town. My grandmother was very frugal, and proud of her participation in the depression and war efforts. I am sure that she would have been very supportive of using the feedsacks for other purposes--as promoted by the government and feed suppliers. I wish I would have thought of that while she was alive to ask her and confirm my suspicions firsthand.

If I am right, then I have a real treat of a find on my hands!

Back to School--for everyone!

Will have my first sub job tomorrow--this might be a record (?!?!) it only being the 3rd day of school! In the 5+ years I have been subbing that is pretty darn early. But.... cool. Might as well jump right in. I think I will be covering 9th and 10th grade science, so some new kids and some "old" ones.

I went in to the school for a few hours today to take care of Drama stuff and get my name changed on my paycheck and email account. It was a great day for my ego--everyone was so happy to see me, and wishing me well on my new marriage.

I hung 45 posters around the school advertising my Fall Drama program (starts next Tuesday), signed the contract for the Spring Musical. I also negotiated space for my new (and not improved) prop room. It is full of ancient choral music and....spiders. Ewww. My old (amazing space) was commandeered for the ISS room. That just seems soooo unfair!!!! But... I was very pleasantly surprised that the principal was so kind to spend 40 minutes walking me around the school and talking to the music teachers to help me find new space. That was pretty amazing. I worked it out with the choral teacher that I will come in and help him clean it out and.... de-spider it on Thursday after school. (ewwwwwww.......)

The school is all moved around now that the 7th and 8th graders are there. There is new lighting, every inch is spotless (Except for my new prop room....) many empty rooms now bright and bustling. It feels like it was a good move. There were many new adult faces running around looking cheerful and energetic. (Hmmm.... maybe I have not been in a school so early in the year before? Maybe by October-when I usually get there--they won't be quite so chipper?) :) :) :) :) :) har har har.

I just got off the phone with Susie and Dan--they are all excited about starting school tomorrow. They spent a long time telling me what they were going to wear-even Dan. Alannah called last night and we had a very nice chat. She is excited about all of her new classes. Unfortunately she had to give up Concert Choir, but will still be in Women's Choir. There are just too many credits to cram into the next two years. Scott is at unemployment "school" tonight, so when he gets back we will call Angela and Kennedi to find out how their first day went. They are both in new schools, so that should be exciting. Angela's school is very large--1800 students or something like that---grades 6-8. At least, that is a very big school to us!

Aidan came right home to do her homework. So far, so good. I am very encouraged how "into" school she is right now--she is really throwing herself into it with a lot of effort. One can only hope that sticks, right?

Susie's 10th birthday party will be in Owego on Saturday with her friends. Her theme is "Tinkerbell". She asked me to make her a costume to wear, so I whipped one up for her with a pattern that Scott's mom gave me. Scott will get it shipped out tomorrow so she should have it in time.

I started playing with the yo-yos...... they are soooo adorable!!!!

The last days of summer.....

I noticed, sadly, that the trees have a slight blush of orange, yellow and red on their edges as we drove throughout parts of NY state this weekend. Irene knocked a bunch of leaves down in our yard--a sad reminder of what the next few weeks are all about. Susie and Dan went home yesterday--you can imagine why I might be feeling a little bit blue.

I fertilized my planter flowers one more time--I expect frost will come by the time I would do it again. The garden is pretty much done. I think there are a few more tomatoes (as if anyone cares) and 2 watermelons that are just about ripe. (boy--are they soooo much better than the store ones!) I should collect the last of the herbs before they totally go to seed and freeze/dry them. Last year I could not believe how much fresh basil cost--now this year I can't believe that I don't turn around and sell it--I have so much of it!

Regardless of what the foliage is doing, it is a dreary, hot muggy summer day outside. Angela and Kennedi are here for a visit, which is great! They don't start school until Tuesday. Aidan is outside with them painting a "Girlz Only" sign for the forest fort. We are planning a good ol' American cookout for dinner with hamburgers and hotdogs, and apple pie. Hopefully the storms will hold off! Tomorrow Gina and John will come pick up the girls and eat lunch with us. We are having chicken spiedie salad, watermelon (from the garden, hopefully!) and fresh made rolls and cupcakes.

Scott is busy getting all of his fantasy football stuff together. He has his big "draft party" on Wednesday. I should be working on my Fall drama program. I have to go in on Tuesday and move my prop/costume room--so hopefully I can get a bunch of other things done as well: like hanging posters and submitting announcements. I am trying to decide if I will join Laurel City Singers again.... or wait until they begin rehearsals for Boar's Head. My heart is not in it, maybe because Alannah won't be able to join me. Will have to see....

We went to a craft fair last week and a lady was selling yo-yo quilts. It got me thinking..... :) Always on the prowl for a new project!