Monday, November 24, 2008



I was sitting at my desk on my Friday, which was a payday, browsing the internet. This is not a good combination. I happened to visit A Piece of Vermont and before I knew what I was doing, I had placed an order. And when I came home from work today, it had arrived! From Vermont to New Jersey in a weekend. I was impressed.
And then I opened the package and I was really impressed. I had ordered some sock yarn that was labelled imperfect. I used some of this same yarn to make the socks I gave to my sister in law. I liked it so much I bought some more for me. And I bought some roving. It's superwash merino, bamboo and nylon. The top one is Blue Marble and the bottom one is Eleanor Rigby. And oh my, they are soft. And beautiful. And did I mention soft? Unfortunately, I have to put them away for the moment. I think I could become an ADD spinner and just spin little bits of everything I like and never do anything with the yarn.
It was nice to find the package waiting by my door when I got home. The day wasn't terribly stressful, just seemed long. And I have two more days before the long weekend. Tonight I am making cranberry/fruit relish so it will have some time for the flavors to blend before Thursday. Pk and the girls love this stuff but I like my cranberry sauce out of the can with the seams still showing. Yep, I'm a simple woman. But for anyone who's interested, this is the easiest recipe ever and you can alter the amounts to suit yourself.
Cranberry/Fruit relish
1 bag of fresh cranberries
orange juice
1 can sliced peaches
1 can pineapple chunks
1 can pears (cut into chunks)
raisins
walnuts
sugar
Put the cranberries into a large saucepan and cover with orange juice. Add sugar to taste. (Cranberries can be very tart). Cook over medium heat until the cranberries pop. You'll hear it. Add the canned fruits (drain them first) and what looks like a good amount of raisins and walnuts. Stir and cook for a few minutes. Turn off the heat and let cool. It will all be a beautiful cranberry color and will thicken slightly.
Now, I meant it when I said to make it your own. If you don't like pears, leave them out and add more peaches. Ditto raisins or walnuts. Add what you like. There have been years when I have forgotten one or another fruits and nobody noticed. The important part is to cook the cranberries and to add amounts that look good to you.
Confused? I'm sorry. I don't cook many things from recipes. This frustrates my girls to no end. One of the things I promise to do for them is to write their favorites down before I die so that they don't get lost. I don't know how my grandmother made cole slaw and it was my very favorite. She developed Alzheimer's disease before I could get her to tell me. I will try not to do that to my girls. There is a web site called blurb where you can go and publish a book of your own. It's not too expensive for something special, like, say, a book of favorite family recipes. So, I have to remember to take some photos of the things I cook this holiday season so I can put them in the book. Pk offered to take some shots as I cook so the book will have some color. It would make a nice gift.
Well, all this talk of food has made me hungry and it's time to go and start dinner. Spaghetti and meatballs tonight. And beans to go into the crockpot for tomorrow. Pk wants beans and weanies (ewww) tomorrow. I'll eat some eggs.....
eta: for some reason blogger is running all the paragraphs together no matter how much space I leave between them. I went back and bolded first words to make it easier to read. What a pain.

9 comments:

Galad said...

I love the cookbook idea. We got my husband's Italian grandmother to walk us through her recipes before she died. Lots of "get the smell" and a "pinch" of this, but close enough to reproduce.

Sheepish Annie said...

After my grandmother passed away, there was great angst within the family until I finally deciphered her recipe for the rolls we eat every Thanksgiving and Christmas. I have sent a copy to any family member who requested it so no one will ever again have to live through the nightmare of a roll-free Thanksgiving!

And they have all changed it to suit their own baking style... ;)

Bezzie said...

MMM....I love that fiber! And Eleanor Rigby! Ha ha! That's when I'd buy it just because I'm a sucker for a good name!!!

About three or four years ago, I made my sister a scrapbook cookbook of our childhood favorites and some of my favorites. My mom was a big self professed can-cooker so there's not much to pass on there sadly.

Amy Lane said...

Mmm... sounds like my mother in law's recipe--I LOVE that stuff! And I used to get into all sorts of trouble on payday on the internet... amazon.com and theloopyewe.com used to know my credit card numbers by heart...

DPUTiger said...

Oh holy crap, that fiber is bea-YOO-tee-ful! Too bad I'm immune to the spinning virus!

I'm quite anti-cranberry but I'm sure many will enjoy your recipe :) It's a good thing we aren't all this same!

colleen said...

I know its uncooth but I also love the cranberry sauce from a can. Ridges and all. Something about it reminds me of being a child... when we couldn't afford fancy cranberry sauce. LOL

roxie said...

Fiber lust! This is like looking a pictures of buff young men in scanty attire. Gee, I'd love to play with that!

And go, go go with the cookbook. What a treasure for your family!

Alwen said...

Luckily for my husband's family, he helped his grandmother cook and absorbed many of her recipes.

Unluckily for mine, I can burn a tea kettle trying to boil water, so turning to me for most of her recipes is a lost cause.

Bells said...

Yum yum yum. I'm feeling a deep longing for making cranberry stuff again. Bring on Christmas (since we don't have thanksgiving). Can't wait for the food.

Happy Sunday!  I am sitting here working on my sweater made with the cashmere yarn my husband gave me for my birthday last year. I’m further...