[what's cookin'] Risotto Milanese or Food and Gaming

I currently am running a group of players through the Call of Cthulhu campaign, Horror on the Orient Express.  It's part of our usual Monday Night gaming group, so we only get together about once a month to play my game.  As such, I do sometimes look for ways to make the night memorable outside of just what happens in the game, itself.

One such way is to look at ways to incorporate snacks and drinks into the setting.  Since the Investigators are traveling across 1920s Europe, I've done things like bring tea and sandwiches, themed cocktails, and the like.

The party just entered Milan during the last session and while I had hoped to have had some sort of Milanese snack or similar to offer, I found myself too busy to put something together.  But the idea had not left my head even after the game session.

While digging around for typical Milanese delights, I found this recipe for risotto.  As I actually had all of the ingredients, or their vegan-friendly substitutions, on hand, I decided that I wanted to give it a try.  And oh! am I glad that I did.  It's delicious!

Vegan Risotto Milanese

Ingredients:

Olive or any mostly neutral-tasting oil

1 large onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice

salt

2 cups short-grain rice

2 large pinches saffron (I like the Trader Joe's brand)

4 cups of Better Than Bouillon No-Chicken broth

1/2 to 1 cup dry vermouth or a dry white wine

2 tablespoons Earth Balance

1/2 to 3/4 cup grated Violife Parm

Instructions:

In an Instant Pot, press the SAUTE button and allow it to come to heat.  Add a good drizzle of olive oil and once shimmering, add the diced onion to the pot.  Sweat the onions thoroughly, add a pinch or two of salt if needed.  

While the onions sweat, add the saffron to the broth and allow it to steep a bit.

Add the rice and stir to coat with the oil, adding more oil if needed.  Allow some of the rice to brown a bit, so do not go too vigorous on the stirring.  After about four minutes, deglaze the pan with the vermouth or white wine.  I do not usually measure out the wine exactly.  Rather, I pour enough into the pan to deglaze the browned bit from the bottom of the pot.

Next, add the broth and the saffron to the pot.  Close the lid and set the iPot to MANUAL for five minutes.  Be sure that the release valve is locked!

After the five minutes are up, turn off the Instant Pot and open the steam release.  You can do this in bursts if you prefer.  Once the steam is released and the pot is no longer locked, carefully open the pot.  Add the Earth Balance and Violife to the hot risotto and give it all a good stir.  Add salt to taste.

Optional: I do love to add a little green to my risotto dishes and while that would not be exactly traditional, the fact that this is already a veganized version means that we've pretty much thrown tradition right out on its ass.  So, throw in a half cup or so of frozen peas right after opening, if you want.  Fresh parsley could also be a tasty addition.

[in stitches] A New Dress for Daughter

Years ago I picked up a vintage reproduction pattern of a tabard-style dress.  The pattern, no longer in print, featured a quick-to-sew "Walk-Away-Dress" that had no sewn sides.  Instead it wrapped from front to back, and back to front to create the closures at the sides.  I made one for myself and liked the dress well enough, but there were a few issues.  Minor ones, that kept me from making any more dresses from the pattern.

While browsing through one of my favorite sewing blogs, I saw an older post about the Walk-Away-Dress.  In the post, an updated version of the dress pattern is featured.  Alas, THAT gorgeous pattern has not been reissued.  But a similar pattern from Vogue was reissued (and is, of this writing, still available).

But there was still something that kept me from making the dress.


Flash forward to a week or so ago.  I had finished a very sewing-intensive costume and wanted something fun to make. Plus, I was hoping to work on something that could try out some new skills.

I decided to make the Vogue dress, but not for me, for my daughter.  I also decided that I wanted to try my hand at pattern drafting by adding a peter-pan collar to the dress.  My daughter chose a darling cotton lawn fabric of blue with dots of white and green.  For the collar, we settled on a true red fabric.

As the pattern that I picked up ages ago was the wrong size for my girl, I did have to due some alterations.  I was excited to try out Nancy Zieman's Pivot and Slide technique.  The adjustments were so easy to make using the pivot methods and quickly produced a new, well-sized pattern.

I used my toile to underline the bodice, but decided against underlining the skirt.

The dress worked up quickly, though I did pause at one point to see if my local sewing machine shop had a specialty foot for attaching bias tape.  (They didn't, alas.)





















In putting together this dress, I did feel pretty good about my collar pattern and how that all came together.  It also proved to be another lesson on bias binding, but I've only concluded that I'd really rather just get a specialty foot and technology to the fiddly work for me.  And I think I may become a devotee of the pivot and slide technique.

I would like to make this pattern again--again with the collar, too.  I think that the collar really sets this dress apart.  Linen may be a nice choice, or another cotton lawn.  But if I did it for myself in the cotton, I would probably underline the skirt, too.

Do you like to try out new skills when you sew?  What sort of projects do you enjoy?

homeownership

It's been about two weeks since we closed escrow and, to be expected, we are in full-blown homeowner mode.  We've made the obligatory repeat trips to the hardware store.  We've discussed the merits of copper plumbing with others.  We've googled numerous DIY and "how to" pages on everything from dishwasher troubleshooting, to pocket-door repair.  Yeah.

It's been about two weeks since we closed escrow and we still have numerous boxes to sort through and unpack.  As we knew that our last place was only going to be transitionary (five years of transition, apparently), we stored several boxes of items that we figured we may want whenever we did get into a home.  So, here we are--with five years worth of a stored "stuff."

It's been about two weeks since we closed escrow and we've already purchased more furniture.  I've found myself doing daily searches on Craigslist for items that would be just right for our late Art Deco/early Mid-century home.  I could not pass up a beautiful secretary/cabinet.  Plus a friend was needing to offload an antique couch that is a great color for our green living room.  Now, if only I could figure out just how to arrange everything in there...

You're seeing a pattern, right?  (Any inexpensive project-organizing software suggestions?)


Some major advantages to rejoining the ranks of the house dwellers include establishing a regular laundry schedule.  (No more fighting for an open washer.)  I have also been thoroughly happy in my larger kitchen complete with deep vintage sinks that are great for hand-washing dishes.  (Yeah, remember the part where I mentioned dishwasher troubleshooting?  We're stuck hand-washing until we fix our dishwasher.)

Probably the best part of our new adventure is to see just how happy the baby is playing in his backyard.  I'm a firm believer that children should be able to scratch around in dirt, get grass stains, and enjoy plenty of fresh air.  Declan loves being outside.  I am definitely looking forward to when we get our victory garden going and he can dig and plant alongside mom and dad.

In the meantime, I'm going to try to wrap my head around all the little things around here that I can accomplish.  Goodness knows there is plenty to do!

Home Sweet Home

The secretary

Opened

I love this little detail in the kitchen.  Wooden valance?

We have a few archways like this one into the dining room.

Looking into the dining area from the living room.

Looking into the kitchen from the service porch.

Hallway

Declan helps his dad with some yard work.

Step Three: Construct bodice

Pre-adjusted side-seams

My dress bodice is almost complete!

After transferring my pattern to my toile, I basted it together and attempted to fit it to myself. This is always a challenge as I loathe bugging anyone for help. Typically I a test-fit by trying the item on, observing problem areas, then putting the garment onto my dress form to make corrections.

This time the fit was largely okay--would've worked for off the rack--but was a touch large in the bust. Fit fine around the waist, though, so I just lengthened a couple of darts and made note that I still might need to take in the side seams a touch.

Checking the side-seams

Once my toile was altered, it was time to hand baste it to the fashion fabric--a process that went quicker than I figured and was more enjoyable than assumed.

Tuesday I was able to assemble the bodice. Another test-fit revealed that I would need to adjust the side seams, but it was easy work.

Post-adjustment--looks MUCH better!

The most challenging step so far was in trying to turn the bias casing that was supposed to be the button loops. I tried with my bodkin. I tried with needle and thread as suggested in the pattern directions. Heck, even Brian gave it a go. We just could get the blasted tape to turn, so I grabbed some bias tape from my sewing kit and improvised.

that one thing doesn't exist in my life

While listening to NPR this morning, I heard a snippet about a guy who gave up a good career to follow his somewhat unconventional dream.  Over the years, I have heard a few such stories.  Often, I wished that I could follow in such footsteps, except I cannot for one simple reason: 

I do not have just one dream.  I have too many.

Never in all of my years have I been obsessed with just one thing.  If I did, life would be so much simpler.  No, I have always been the person who just LOVES too many things to even count.  There is no way that I could boil it all down to just one obsession.  

How else can I explain why I devote so much time to Deco, but also have a closet full of medieval clothing?  Because I just cannot decide on ONE hobby.  (Is this where I should also mention the boxes upon boxes of other hobbies that are clutter my home?)

I love to game.  I love to sew.  I love to read.  I love, and love, and love to do too much.  I want to travel, but I also want to homestead.  I’d love to work, but I love staying at home.  I could go on and on.

Oh, if only it were simpler.  But, perhaps, it would not be nearly as much fun.  (Teensy bit of diverse evidence below.)

Anachronistic 14th Century Mama

The family that BRRRAAAINS together...

Cigar?  Don't mind if I do