Stitchin' and Kitchen

It was a fairly productive day yesterday, if you don't count the fact that I had fun all day and completely ignored the steps on my Fitbit.

When the day started, I had in mind to bake a peach pie for two and to make a salad for the wake we're attending today. As it turns out, I couldn't make the salad that far ahead, and so I turned my attention to the Walla Walla sweet onions from multiple CSA shares. They were bullying the other vegetables in the crisper and they were ganging up on me as well, and so I made relish from them. Granted, I had to supplement with some onions from our local produce stand, but when you're at war with your vegetables, sometimes you have to call for reinforcements.

This was something new to me. I used this recipe. It calls for 4 oz. of pimientos. It didn't specify fresh, but fresh is always best, and so I did a little research into what makes up a pimiento. As it turns out, it's a heart-shaped cherry pepper, and not widely available. I'd never seen them in our grocery store, and so I used a 4 oz. jar of pimientos, drained. I suspect that's what I was supposed to do, but the recipe is a little weirdly written. It also calls for a half quart of cider vinegar. When I saw the word "quart" I thought I couldn't possibly have that much. As I thought about it, I realized that a half quart is a pint...or two cups. No idea why it's worded that way, but then, I just work here.

Before that, I baked the pie. This is a Brown Sugar Cinnamon Peach Pie for Two, and let me tell you, that was (past tense) one tasty bugger. We ate ours with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. When I cut into the pie, I got the most heavenly nose hit of cinnamon.

I'm updating this post to say something about the pie plate these are baked in. The 6-inch pie plate is available from Anchor Hocking. I got mine from Amazon.com. They also have a fancier version, but this glass one is a little cheaper

As I said yesterday, I'm having to guess at amounts for these "for two" desserts. Yes, it's true I have a cookbook entitled, "Dessert for Two," and I can use it as a reference. There was no recipe for peach pie included, however. I used the double crust recipe from the book, but then I cut the amounts from another recipe by half and went from there. Here's how I did it.

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Peach Pie for Two

adapted from Southern Living and Desserts for Two

For the Crust:

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon table salt

5 tablespoons  cold unsalted butter -- diced

1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

4 tablespoons ice water -- may add up to 1 more tablespoon

1 lightly beaten egg white

1 tablespoon granulated sugar or Demerara sugar -- for sprinkling over top crust

For the filling:

4 large fresh firm ripe peaches (about 2 lbs.)

1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons granulated sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

pinch table salt

1/2 tablespoon  butter -- cut into pieces

In a medium-bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt. Add diced butter and work it into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter or with your fingertips. It will be ready when the butter is evenly distributed and flecked throughout the flour mixture.

Next, mix the vinegar with 4 tablespoons of ice water, and sprinkle it over the flour and butter mixture. Stir with a fork until the dough comes together. If necessary, add up to one additional tablespoon of water until the dough comes together without being overly wet.

Divide dough roughly in half (one side will be a little larger). Form into disks and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425°F. (Can be baked in a toaster oven.) When ready, roll the larger disk on a well-floured surface until it's a few inches larger than your 6-inch pie plate. Place it in the pan for the bottom crust, easing it into the corners without stretching it. Allow excess to hang over the edges. Return to refrigerator while you prepare the fruit filling.

Peel and pit peaches, and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices; cut slices in half and place in a medium bowl. Stir together brown sugar and next 4 ingredients; add to peaches, stirring gently to coat. Immediately spoon peach mixture into piecrust in pie plate, and dot with butter. (Do not make fruit mixture ahead or it will become too juicy.)

Roll remaining dough disk to about 1/4-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Carefully place over filling; press edges of crusts together to seal. Cut off excess crust and reserve. Crimp edges of pie. If desired, reroll excess crust to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut leaves, using a knife or cookie cutter. Brush top of pie with beaten egg white; top with leaves. Brush leaves with egg white; sprinkle with granulated sugar (or Demerara sugar). Cut a few slits in top of pie for steam to escape.

Freeze pie 10 minutes. While pie is freezing, heat a sheet pan in the oven. Place cold pie on hot sheet pan. Bake at 425°F in center of oven for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375°F; bake an additional 20-25 minutes until juices are thick and bubbly (juices will bubble through top). Transfer to a wire rack; cool 2 hours before serving.

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After finishing up my kitchen duties, I was ready to get to work on quilting the Seating for Two quilt. I wanted to finish up the blue chair so that I could switch out my thread for the next section on the free motion quilting sampler.

It's a little easier to see the stitching from the back. Quilting in the slats gives the chairs a nice texture. Here's the green chair from the back.

It's still not easy to see, but I'm hoping you get the idea. Here are both chairs.

Now I'll switch to a variegated yellow thread and start stitching in the sand and the rays of sun.

First, however, I wanted to work on the next section for the free motion quilting sampler. This week's lesson is on ruler work. First, I needed to practice quilting some quarter-sized circles (that's "quarter" like the coin). For my practice piece, I drew the circles with a marker; but just to get started on this practice for practicing, I stitched this row free hand.

Then I moved onto the practice piece. 

There are a few little jogs where I let the ruler slip, but it's not bad for a first try. I'd like to practice this a little more before committing it to my sampler.

Many thanks to those of you who offered to send me the pages I was missing for the Quiltmaker's Garden quilt. Yes, I was whining away yesterday, and some of you stepped up. Special thanks to Lisa who got those pages to me via email, lickety split. I won't work on the Quiltmaker's Garden for another several months, and hopefully, it will all go smoothly when I get back to it.

Also many thanks to Molly the cat for the special package she sent to Smitty for Sadie's pawtrait. This arrived in yesterday's mail.

Molly picked out some gorgeous hunks of batik fabric from her mom's stash to be used in Sadie's pawtrait. Being a cat, she has an excellent eye fur cat colors. Look at how pretty these are.

I think Sadie appurroves! And there was this little bonus for Sadie too. 

I wasn't planning to put Sadie's worms into the pawtrait, but I could always be purrsuaded to change my mind. It was so nice of Molly to send it along with a little plug for Vicki Welsh. (Hi, Vicki!)

And I'll just say right here and now that I love being a part of the quilting community. Quilters are some of the most generous people I know...and their cats are equally generous. This is why I love all y'all so much...and I'm not even from the south. "Y'all" is such a great word. I wish we used it more here in the Pacific Northwest. Maybe I can start a trend.

So this morning I'll get busy making my salad for the celebration of life. Probably there won't be much time for sewing today. Tomorrow I'll have some more time to work on the free motion quilting sampler, and then focus all of my attention on Seating for Two until it's finished. It needs to be finished before July is out, and time's getting away from me.