A Block and a Border

A block and a border is all that's left to quilt on the Wine Country quilt...and then, the binding, of course. Yesterday's sewing went smooth as silk after the near-empty spool debacle of the day before. It was a good thing.

Earlier in the day Mike and I took a drive into town to pick up some undelivered parcels. He was expecting some "rods," that he wanted to use to pull some cable from the back to the front of our 36-foot fifth wheel. He's installing a back-up camera. I'm telling you, the man amazes me sometimes with the stuff he tackles. He was expecting these "rods" on Tuesday and after a week of back and forths with the post office, we gave up the fight and went to the post office to pick them up. Yes. You might say the mountain went to Mohammed.

While we were out, we saw some beautiful fall leaves. These were lining the street leading to the post office.

Also on our list to pick up was the little Oliso mini iron I ordered. It too went undelivered, and so we picked both up at the same time. Did you read Wendy's review of the mini iron? I have a travel iron, but it isn't a very good iron for quilting because it doesn't get hot enough. I can almost finger press things with better results. Anyway...after reading Wendy's review, I decided to give it a try, but it's still sitting in its box downstairs. When I finish my quilting, I'll try it out while attaching the binding.

We had lunch while we were out and picked up some items from the grocery store. I had such a yen for some French Onion Soup. It takes some time to make, but hands-on prep is minimal. I had that going while I worked on my quilting. Two more blocks are finished now, and I hope to finish the rest today.

The late afternoon lighting coming in through my window was casting long shadows, which accounts for the weird lighting in these two images.

As for the French Onion soup, it was so tasty on a cold evening.

My way of making this is done mostly by roasting the onions in the oven, eliminating the hours of stirring on the stove top. This is the recipe I'm using, adapted from an America's Test Kitchens recipe.

French Onion Soup
adapted from America's Test Kitchens

Soup:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 3 pieces
6 large yellow onions (about 4 lbs.), halved and cut pole to pole into 1/4-inch thick slices
Salt
1/4 cup water,  for deglazing
1/2 cup dry sherry
4 cups broth (I used vegetable)
2 cups beef broth
6 sprigs fresh thyme, tied with kitchen twine
1 bay leaf
Ground black pepper

Cheese Croutons
1 small baguette, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices
8 ounces Gruyere cheese, shredded (or whatever cheese you prefer)

For the soup: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 400°F. Generously spray inside of heavy-bottomed large (at least 7-quart) Dutch oven with nonstick cooking spray. Place butter in pot and add onions and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook, covered, 1 hour (onions will be moist and slightly reduced in volume). Remove pot from oven and stir onions, scraping bottom and sides of pot. Return pot to oven with lid slightly ajar and continue to cook until onions are very soft and golden brown, 1 1/2-1 3/4 hours longer, stirring onions and scraping bottom and sides of pot after 1 hour.

Carefully remove pot from oven and place over medium-high heat. Using oven mitts to handle pot, cook onions, stirring frequently and scraping bottom and sides of pot, until liquid evaporates and onions brown, reducing heat to medium if onions are browning too quickly. (In my experience, this step is unnecessary, since my onions are already dark brown when removed from the oven.) Stir in 1/4 cup water, scraping pot bottom to loosen any crust that develops, and cook until water evaporates and onions are very dark brown. Stir in sherry (if you're avoiding alcohol, apple juice would be a good substitute) and cook, stirring frequently, until sherry evaporates, about 5 minutes.

Stir in broths, thyme, bay leaf, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, scraping up any final bits of browned crust on bottom and sides of pot. Increase heat to high and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 30 minutes. Remove and discard herbs, then season with salt and pepper.

For the croutons: When soup is ready, lay baguette slices on a baking sheet in a single layer. Top with a thick layer of grated gruyere cheese. Toast in a 400° oven (or toast in a toaster oven) until cheese is melted and bread is crispy.

To serve: Ladle soup into bowls and top each bowl with 1 or 2 baguette slices (do not overlap slices). Devour with wild abandon.

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Today I'm determined to finish the quilting on the Wine Country quilt. I'll probably want to go back and add more curly-cues to the grapevines. I was more liberal with them in the latter portion of the process than I was in the beginning, and there are probably some gaps to fill in. If I'm truly energetic, I'll get the binding sewn on and the project will be ready to cross the finish line.