Hollydazed and Confused
Nov. 28th, 2007 05:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lwoodT-Day: At Greyhaven, with the following Cast of Characters:
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dpaxson jon_decles grendel_todd bearmum marquisdanbear faeryl and, briefly, lurkerbunny--plus another dozen-and-more who are LJ-less.
To this end, dinner is divvied: asdpaxson never learned the Dark Art of Baking, and has no interest in doing so, I am the family's savior from frozen pies (frozen pies simply Will Not Do, in my world). I'm getting a bit bored with them, so I keep inventing new complications--last year, I added a sweet potato pie to the list, and this year, on the advice of wolfs_daugher, I turned pumpkin into pie--and, it may now be revealed, by "pumpkin" I mean kabocha.
The result was something I nearly liked, when I am not a pumpkin pie fan. It may have been that I was simply not a fan of canned pumpkin! However, due to my underestimation of just how much pur&eeacute;e comes from one kabocha, there was a full quart of it left over. This travelled to dinner in a quart yogurt container, was microwaved and buttered, and held its own between the mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, making a pleasant white/gold/orange grade. I even sculpted a spoonful of each into a triskele, whilegrendel_todd made the obligatory Close Encounters of the Third Kind landing site memo.
Last to be baked, withfaeryl's able assistance, was the apple pie. My filling is aided by lemon juice and zombie grapes raisins that rehydrate from the juice released by the macerating apple slices, but the real winner in this recipe is the extra sharp cheddar in the crust that replaces some of the other fat. The filling has no cohesion, the filling needs no cohesion: hack off some crust and get a spoon. This was, however, the only pie crust I made, the rest were storebought.
Note to Self: Next year, you really do need to blind bake the crusts before filling with the custards.
But all turned out well, and much pie was eaten by all. Indeed,grendel_todd's Monday night Call of Cthulhu game has come to the consensus decision that pie restores SAN, and our complement of pies was completed by two from marquisdanbear's parents of finest Texas pecan.
My mother and I managed to call each other after considerable phone tag--she is currently living with her husband deep in the Ozarks (which are nice country, and I am much amused by the fact that my mother has wound up in my father's people's odal ground).
She was refreshingly direct:
"Look, Lorrie, I'm standing here outside the $org.fraternal hall, and I'm cold. My feet are cold."
"Mm?"
"Yeah. Look, I haven't measured my feet, but I take a size 8 shoe. Is that enough for you?"
"Ummm...okay. Do you still like blue, all kinds of blue?"
"I like all kinds of anything--look, my socks are all falling apart and my feet are freezing!"
(this is asking and not-asking for socks for WinterÞing, you understand--or at least I do. If it's Not Done to ask, Mum will club you with a Clue. Good old Mum!)
"Okay, Mom, I'll see what I can do."
I got her some pleasant Regia Four-Ply Galaxy, in the "Jupiter Sylt" colorway, in which I am comitting Knitty's Hedera, toe-up (not reversing the lace pattern, either), and learned Judy's Magic Cast-On. I SMS'd her the measurements I need, but I think I have enough people nearby who will let me touch their feet that I can wing it if she spaces it. 8-P
Eventually, I will knit myself a cardigan fromdpaxson's WinterÞ:ing present to me: ten skeins of--good LORD Nashua Handknits' website sucks boulders through swizzle sticks. Look, it's a pleasant enough worsted-weight superwash wool, in 8 skeins of navy and 2 skeins of black. It will be a cardigan. There will likely be cabling.
However, this pattern also has my attention.
Tonight, todpaxson's, where she and I will work on some long-neglected websites while she also works on costumes for the Family Dickens Fair Outing this Sunday.
Until then!
-- Lorrie
dpaxson jon_decles grendel_todd bearmum marquisdanbear faeryl and, briefly, lurkerbunny--plus another dozen-and-more who are LJ-less.To this end, dinner is divvied: as
dpaxson never learned the Dark Art of Baking, and has no interest in doing so, I am the family's savior from frozen pies (frozen pies simply Will Not Do, in my world). I'm getting a bit bored with them, so I keep inventing new complications--last year, I added a sweet potato pie to the list, and this year, on the advice of wolfs_daugher, I turned pumpkin into pie--and, it may now be revealed, by "pumpkin" I mean kabocha.The result was something I nearly liked, when I am not a pumpkin pie fan. It may have been that I was simply not a fan of canned pumpkin! However, due to my underestimation of just how much pur&eeacute;e comes from one kabocha, there was a full quart of it left over. This travelled to dinner in a quart yogurt container, was microwaved and buttered, and held its own between the mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, making a pleasant white/gold/orange grade. I even sculpted a spoonful of each into a triskele, while
grendel_todd made the obligatory Close Encounters of the Third Kind landing site memo.Last to be baked, with
faeryl's able assistance, was the apple pie. My filling is aided by lemon juice and Note to Self: Next year, you really do need to blind bake the crusts before filling with the custards.
But all turned out well, and much pie was eaten by all. Indeed,
grendel_todd's Monday night Call of Cthulhu game has come to the consensus decision that pie restores SAN, and our complement of pies was completed by two from marquisdanbear's parents of finest Texas pecan.My mother and I managed to call each other after considerable phone tag--she is currently living with her husband deep in the Ozarks (which are nice country, and I am much amused by the fact that my mother has wound up in my father's people's odal ground).
She was refreshingly direct:
"Look, Lorrie, I'm standing here outside the $org.fraternal hall, and I'm cold. My feet are cold."
"Mm?"
"Yeah. Look, I haven't measured my feet, but I take a size 8 shoe. Is that enough for you?"
"Ummm...okay. Do you still like blue, all kinds of blue?"
"I like all kinds of anything--look, my socks are all falling apart and my feet are freezing!"
(this is asking and not-asking for socks for WinterÞing, you understand--or at least I do. If it's Not Done to ask, Mum will club you with a Clue. Good old Mum!)
"Okay, Mom, I'll see what I can do."
I got her some pleasant Regia Four-Ply Galaxy, in the "Jupiter Sylt" colorway, in which I am comitting Knitty's Hedera, toe-up (not reversing the lace pattern, either), and learned Judy's Magic Cast-On. I SMS'd her the measurements I need, but I think I have enough people nearby who will let me touch their feet that I can wing it if she spaces it. 8-P
Eventually, I will knit myself a cardigan from
dpaxson's WinterÞ:ing present to me: ten skeins of--good LORD Nashua Handknits' website sucks boulders through swizzle sticks. Look, it's a pleasant enough worsted-weight superwash wool, in 8 skeins of navy and 2 skeins of black. It will be a cardigan. There will likely be cabling.However, this pattern also has my attention.
Tonight, to
dpaxson's, where she and I will work on some long-neglected websites while she also works on costumes for the Family Dickens Fair Outing this Sunday.Until then!
-- Lorrie
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Yay pies!
Date: 2007-11-29 09:04 am (UTC)-smk
Re: Yay pies!
Date: 2007-11-29 02:05 pm (UTC)*grins*
Sparrow
Re: Yay pies!
Date: 2007-11-29 09:55 pm (UTC)Well, quarter the thing and scoop out seeds and strings. The seeds, after only a little rinsing, can be baked at 350° until toasted, and I found them decent with only a little salt. The stringybits that survive rinsing can be left on without complaint, as they will season the seeds a bit.
Then I piled them in my vegetable steamer, which sat itself in a cheapass (but large) twelve-quart stock pot. I found I could stack three squashes' worth of quarters in there. Steam for 20-25 minutes or until done, scrape out of the rinds and mash. Kabocha rind is edible, so if some green bits get into the mash, it's unaesthetic but tasty.
I found I got seven to eight cups of mashed squash from three squash--two pies and a quart left over.
Now that, to you, was all wholly superfluous, I know, but someone else might have wanted to know wtf I did.
Your answer is: somewhere between pumpkin and sweet potato, but nobody accosted me at Greyhaven's Turkablót and said, "THAT AIN'T PUMPKIN!"
-- Lorrie
Re: Yay pies!
Date: 2007-11-29 09:47 pm (UTC)-- Lorrie
Re: Yay pies!
Date: 2007-11-30 10:42 am (UTC)I love kabocha, and yes even the rinds are yummy.
-smk
Re: Yay pies!
Date: 2007-11-30 08:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-29 02:04 pm (UTC)Be careful not to overdo that. And if you do blind-bake, make sure to put a ring of foil around the outside edge, when you put the filled [ie into the oven. Otherwise your crust will burn. I don't ever blind-bake my crusts.
Sparrow
no subject
Date: 2007-11-29 09:47 pm (UTC)But I've started treating my custard pies as custards and not as pies--and in the way of baked custards, one removes them while still slightly jiggly so it carries over to "just done" on the rack. If one removes a custard when it's done, of course, it can carry over to "overdone, cracked, and weepy" on the rack, which I think a greater sin.
So, if I blind bake to golden, not golden brown, this should steer safely 'tween Scylla and Charybdis. However, I won't get a chance to prove this for nearly a year...
-- Lorrie
no subject
Date: 2007-11-29 03:47 pm (UTC)This made me laugh out loud.
It's probably too geeky for
no subject
Date: 2007-11-29 09:55 pm (UTC)-- Lorrie
no subject
Date: 2007-11-30 02:42 pm (UTC)Immortality of a somewhat transient nature awaits.