January 2008

My sister spent Christmas in India visiting my parents and she sent me a huge box of goodies from the other side of the world. Purses, peacock feather fans, mahogany boxes, cinnamon wood picture frames, sea shells, silk shawls, statues of elephants, coins, bangles — some of the things even came wrapped in pages from the Bangalore newspaper. If only I could read Hindi.

The box still smelled faintly tropical, warm and spicy. I love textiles and was especially thrilled at the hand-embroidered silks she sent — this little elephant from Rajahmundry made me want to quote some Kipling, “O Best Beloved” — but when I pulled out this piece of hand-woven sari silk I was speechless.

Eight yards of the most deep and resonant red which also happens to be the accent color in my kitchen and living room. But with so much beautiful fabric I need ideas for using it to its best advantage.

I wish I could pull off wearing a sari but I’m afraid not only would I be cold I’d look ridiculous. Have you ever seen a viking in a sari? That would be me, though not quite as hairy I’m much too tall and pale to make a the outfit work but maybe as a skirt? A Dress? Pillows for the couch? A duvet? A tablecloth? Lamp shades? What I’d especially love is a way to use it above my new fireplace as an accent piece in the living room.

Help! I need your ideas! Here’s what I’ve been able to come up with so far:

Making a Roman shade from a sari
A sari scarf
Making a canopy from a sari
A patchwork sari purse
A sari-bound journal

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I love baking with real vanilla beans, they taste like nothing else — there is no substitute. And nearly as wonderful as the beans themselves are the beautiful little glass tubes the beans come in.

For a couple years I saved the tubes because I was sure I’d find something really perfect to do with them and wouldn’t you know it — this was the year my creativity finally paid off.

I bought some eight gauge solid copper wire from a local hardware store (I got it for sixty-two cents a foot) and curled it in free-form shapes that clutch the tubes and make standing vases.

To make your own here are a couple tips:

1. Use pliers as little as possible to bend because not only will they nick the wire (even when you protect it with a couple layers of felt) they tend to make bends that aren’t as smooth as those you can do with only your fingers.

2. Bend the wire as little as possible — don’t unbend and rebend it–because the molecular properties of copper make it so that the more the metal moves the more rigid and difficult to bend it becomes.

3. To get the nice little spirals that hold the vials in place I gently bent the wire into a somewhat tight spiral then stretched it apart. The technique worked well and kept the tubes clutched tightly in place.

If you’re not convinced how easy this is or are too busy to make your own, I’ve put the vase pictured above in my Etsy store for purchase. And if you liked this idea but are hungry for more I’m posting another idea for creating tiny vases from glass tubes at Scribbit. Enjoy!

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Whoever said man doesn’t live by bread alone must not feel the way I do about those lovely little carbs. When I go to a restaurant and they have a bread basket at the table I’m usually filling up on crusty, soft slices of heaven before my meal ever arrives.

I’m sharing my basic, tried-and-true, absolutely fabulous bread recipe that I use in my bread machine. If you’re one who swears on the old-fashioned knead-by-hand method I’m sure you can adapt this to fit your needs (kneads?) but if you love fresh bread and the ease of technology get yourself a bread machine and try this recipe — I promise you happiness. A few notes: While I also adapt it for whole wheat, I never make 100% whole wheat because I dislike the heavy, dense texture. Instead of 4 1/2 cups of white flour you can use 2 cups of whole wheat and 2 of all-purpose with excellent results and better health. Either way is good for dinner rolls and loaves. On the loaf you see pictured above after letting it rise for 30 minutes I sprayed the loaf with olive oil cooking spray, sprinkled sea salt and rosemary on top, then made light, cross cuts on the top with a serrated edge before baking — pretty, no?

Here’s the recipe:

1 1/2 cup warm water
4 1/2 cups white all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons powdered milk
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon fast acting yeast (though this may need to be reduced if your machine has a very long rising time.)

Add all of the ingredients into the bucket of the bread machine and set on the dough cycle. When finished, shape as you wish on a greased cookie sheet and allow the bread to rise for 30 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 28 minutes or until golden brown on top. All machines are not alike so you may have to tweak it to make it fit your particular machine. Just remember that less is more when it comes to the amount of flour. You want to add as little flour as you can otherwise the texture becomes too dense.

I’ve had four bread machines and I’ve worn each of them into the ground so I have to show off my latest model. A friend of mine had a brand new Cuisinart bread machine she didn’t want so she gave it to me just as my fourth machine was on its deathbed. If you’re in the market for a bread machine you should consider a couple criteria:

1. How large a loaf can it handle? (A two pound loaf is a must for me)
2. How deep is the bucket? (A deeper bucket will mean less sloppiness and a cleaner machine)
3. How long does it take to complete a cycle? Four hours? Two? Something in the middle is best.
4. Does it have enough settings? Can it handle whole wheat? French? Dough?
5. Does it have a window? Because you’ll want to see your art baking.
6. Remember that more expensive doesn’t mean better, I’ve tried high end and low end and the low end models work as well–or better–than the more expensive machines every time. I had excellent results with The Corner Bakery brand.

Happiness is a warm loaf of bread so if you want some of my other favorite bread recipes here click on these:

Cranberry Bread
Perfect Cinnamon Rolls
Smoked Gouda Rolls
Sticky Rolls
Baked Apple Donuts
Pesto Cheese Pizza

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