Finding My Rhythm

Good morning, my friends. We had a change of plans yesterday. We decided to go to the Portland RV show today, and that meant rearranging my kitchen schedule. I've taken to planning the menu a week ahead, and then writing on the calendar when I will make things. Before instituting this policy, I had a bad habit of choosing certain highly perishable ingredients...cilantro, as an example...and then put off using it until the end. By the time I got around to using it, it was looking pretty sad. So now, I list and make those things first. And all of that to say that I had the order of things all worked out until I realized I was going to be gone a good part of today. (Fascinating, I know.) The only take away for you is that I decided to make the test recipe yesterday, and it took the whole freaking day. 

It wasn't so hard to make. Each step was relatively easy. But there was a wait of two hours after I made the dough. And then there was another wait of half an hour after I'd made the crust. The whole skillet went into the freezer so that the crust was nearly frozen when it went into the oven. And then there was the baking of the crust, and then the baking of the filled crust. All in all, it took six hours before it came out of the oven for the last time. After that, there was another hour-long wait before we were supposed to eat it. But it was beautiful just out of the oven. Feast your eyes. (Pun totally intended.)

It looks pretty good, doesn't it? This is a Cast-Iron Quiche with Caramelized Onion, Porcini, and Gruyère. The recipe will be in an upcoming cookbook devoted to cooking with cast iron. Okay, but we still have to wait an hour, so cool your jets.

While I was waiting on this or that thing to happen, I went to work on the quilting. The first cat on yesterday's list was the striped cat. I believe I intended for this to be the George Cat.

If you don't remember George, here's a picture of him. We used to go for long walks in the woods.

Poor George had an auto-immune disorder known as pemphigus foliaceus. He was the sweetest cat and a good friend, but his disease made his life miserable. It shortened his life, for sure. (Sniff.) Smitty joined the Three Cats Ranch after we lost George.

Getting back to the quilt, the backgrounds have been hard to quilt. There isn't a lot of room to move around. This block had one of the larger spaces, and it helped me find my rhythm a little better on the background filler. It's a sort of swoopity-whoopity meander. (Technical quilting terms. Try to keep up.)

Okay, and that gave me confidence enough to redo the bird. I wasn't happy with my original quilting. I tried to quilt that feather in a direction that wasn't comfortable for me.

So, I carefully picked out all the stitching and redid it. I like this better.

As long as I was stitching birds, I decided to do this block. The pattern identifies it as the "Chorus Line."

Here's a peek at the back.

The next cat had his own bird, and so I stitched that first. Then, I stitched the rest of the block, again giving the cat a back leg.

Here's his bird.

It was nearing the end of the day, and I had one tall cat left to quilt. Take a look at this block, and you can see what I'm talking about with the background. There are lots of skinny "columns" for quilting, but not much room to move around otherwise. Also, I have to be careful to stay away from the collars and the flange.

Before quitting for the day, I gave the two tall cats some toes on their paws.

And it was time for dinner by then. Something like quiche is always nervous-making to cut into. Sometimes I'll cut into a quiche and find the center still soft and mushy. I baked this one until the temperature in the center registered what it should, but when I took it out, the center started to sag immediately. So, I put it back in the oven for an additional 15 minutes. When I cut the first piece...ahhh...perfect.

We had it with a side of roasted broccoli, and it was delicious. I'm sorry I can't share the recipe with you. Maybe down the road I'll be able to. For now, I give this two thumbs up. Despite the time involved, I'd make it again. I'd like to try scaling it down to make it in a smaller skillet. As it is, we have enough to feed a small army. The good thing about quiche is that it can be served for breakfast too. 

So, as I mentioned, we're heading to the RV show today. We're leaving all our money at home so we can't inadvertantly buy something. Actually, we're not in the market for an RV. We're happy with what we have, but we still like to look. Sometimes I can get ideas for using our own space more efficiently, and it's always fun to see new floor plans. Since yesterday's slow-cooker chili got put on hold, I'll get that going this morning. Also, I'm going to bake an iron skillet bread as a side dish. It's going to be a busy morning. 

Right now, we'll enjoy another slice of the quiche, and then I'll have some time for slow-stitching before we head out to the RV show.