Haunting the Kitchen

Good morning, my friends. There wasn't much time for sewing yesterday since I spent a good part of the day in the kitchen. Before anything else could begin, however, I needed to finish off the second block for the Quilters' Retweet.

Here are the two blocks I have for this quilt so far.

Okay, and I had a lot to do in the kitchen yesterday, as I'd planned. My first task was to bake some cornbread for last night's dinner. I've made cornbread many different ways, but this recipe from my dear friend, Debi, is the best one I've found in my 72 years of living. Debi's recipe makes enough to feed a family, and hers is baked in a 10-inch skillet. I've scaled the recipe down to one-third the original, and I bake it in an 8-inch skillet. It makes a good amount for two.

While that was baking, I had time to shower and get dressed. I'm glad I did because I would have still been in my pajamas late into the afternoon if I hadn't. The cornbread was ready to be taken from the oven when I returned to the kitchen. 

From there, I got to work on a new recipe I'd received via email from America's Test Kitchens. This was another skillet recipe for Cast Iron Hot Fudge Pudding Cake. I attempted to scale this one down as well. The original was baked in a 10-inch skillet. I scaled it to one-third the original and baked it in an 8-inch skillet. When it was ready to be taken from the oven, it was supposed to be bubbling, puffed, and pulling away from the sides of the skillet. Except for the "puffed" part, it looked ready. And I could tell right away that this didn't work at all. Some recipes just don't work out when scaled down, but it's still worth a try. Frankly, I'm not sure a full-up version of this would work.

It ended up the consistency of a brownie, and it tasted okay. We had it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It wanted to stick to the pan, and so it wasn't any better looking when it was scooped into a bowl. Oh well.

We enjoyed it, but I won't make it again. I already have a recipe for a chocolate pudding cake for two in the form of this Chocolate Self-Saucing Cake for Two. It's another I adapted from the NYTimes to make it a "for two" recipe. If you click on that link, scroll down for the recipe. Also, I already have a tested recipe for a Gooey Skillet Brownie for Two. From here on, I'll stick with the ones I already know will work out.

So I had one more thing to do in the kitchen. I was trying out a new recipe for Slow Cooker Chili. Since the early days of our marriage, I've made chili in the slow cooker using this recipe for Tex-Mex Chili from a Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. A while back, I created an unwritten rule for myself: If I already have a good recipe for something...don't keep trying new ones to see if I can improve on it.

Still, when this recipe came out from the NYTimes for a different Slow Cooker Chili, I was tempted to try it. It had some interesting ingredients, including beer and maple syrup. It also had lots of different spices. The last time I made chili the way I'd made it for decades, I found it needing a little more flavor. This one seemed worthy of a test. Here's how it looked when I served it up last night.

We both liked it a LOT. This will become my new slow cooker chili recipe. You can find the recipe right here.

Okay, and as I mentioned, the chili recipe used lots of different spices. Here's where obstruction of justice enters the scene. Justice would mean I was done for the day. However, justice was obstructed when I discovered a mouse had gotten into my spice drawer and chewed through a couple of sandwich bags of leftover meat rubs. Oy. What a mess. It wasn't the first time either. Maybe I'll learn not to store things in sandwich bags here. 

To explain...this is my spice drawer. It's located under my island cooktop, and so it's a very handy spot.

Thing is, our house has a daylight basement. That's where my sewing room is located. Mice find their way into the space between the main level floor (where the kitchen is) and the basement ceiling. It's at ground level, and so I'm sure there are little cracks in the foundation where they can get in. We used to set a trap in that area, but then Smitty discovered and created his He Man Woman Hater's Clubhouse. (Sadie has claimed ownership at this point.) He discovered he can jump from the water heater into this space. Here's a picture of him from several years ago. He still looks kind of kittenish here. As you look at this photo, realize you're standing on the floor looking up.

The kitties spend several hours up there each morning. Usually they're just napping, but sometimes they catch a mouse. We no longer need to set a trap because the kitties keep it patrolled. Since were gone on a trip last month, the mice have had free rein to do their dirty work. From this area, they can climb up the gas "plumbing" and get into that cupboard under my cooktop. Oy. 

So that was a long story to say that after spending hours in the kitchen yesterday, I really didn't need to spend even more time emptying my spice drawer, cleaning things up, and then putting everything away. There's really no way to stop the mice from doing this sort of thing when the kitties aren't around. The real lesson is to store things in containers their little mousy teeth can chew through. Bastards!

And all of that to say it was late in the day before I managed to get any sewing done. All the pieces are cut now for November's gold inverted star. I'll get this sewn together today, and then I'll get back to my quilting.

This time of year always has me thinking about what project I'll do for next year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Well, thank you, Pinterest, for bringing this project to my attention. This came through my email yesterday, and I had to go straight to the designer's blog to purchase the pdf download. This is Cats in Hats from Sew Fresh Quilts. Is this cute, or what?

So that'll be my next Rainbow Scrap Project. Now I'm excited for January to roll in so I can get started on it.

There are just a couple of housekeeping chores on the day's agenda, but I can have them finished in less than 15 minutes. The rest of the day...sewing. Sewing, sewing, sewing. But first, I'm going to take the first stitches on the new Snow Day project.

This being Halloween, watch out for spooks. I'm pretty sure I say this every Halloween, adapting it year to year to add another year to the tally. In 24 years in this house, we've never had a single trick-or-treater. Even when children lived nearby, they never came down our dark driveway nor anyone else's either, I imagine. The houses are too far apart on our hill for anyone to spend that much time walking. There are plenty of densely populated neighborhoods in the valley to haunt.

Spooks or no spooks, it's going to be a good day. I hope you have a good day planned for yourself too.