Cotton

The fabric of our lives.

Today, we gathered up our snow gear and headed for a nearby park. Will and the kiddos discovered a steep sledding hill that was glazed with slick, icy, packed-down snow. Perfect for high speed sledding runs. I gathered up my snowshoes and headed for the trails, giddy with anticipation. Miles of trails. Lots of snow. Silly me. Just because there's snow doesn't mean there's snowshoeing. The well-trodden trails meant that the snow was firmly packed down. Easier just to walk.

I hiked along, snowshoes in one hand and poles in the other. Feeling a little ridiculous as walkers passed with their dogs. So I was a little over-excited about my snowshoes. I am from Texas, after all. Snow is exciting.

Gorgeous, deeply chilled day with a crystalline sun. My face was uncovered, and it was cold enough to make my exposed skin hurt. After awhile, I got the call. My kids were cold. Time to head in. I was pretty far out on the trails and started trotting back. Did you know that you can sweat and freeze at the same time? I found out today.

It really hit once I got into the car and started cooling down. By then, my damp, sweaty cotton shirt had sucked the warmth right out of my bones. And the shivers hit. Cotton may be the fabric of our lives, but cotton doesn't wick. And doesn't dry quickly. And is definitely not the best underlayer for exercising in freezing temps.

I placed an REI order this afternoon. Quick-drying polyester. The fabric of our (new) lives.

High/low

A fabric that I'm currently obsessing over is Schumacher's Katsugi. Designers are abuzz about this fabric, especially in the gold/mushroom colorway. In my kitchen, I can just imagine the Blues or Link and Sepia framing my kitchen windows. The downside to this piece of textile fabulosity? Schumacher fabric is available only to the trade, and the only price I've been able to uncover is $98/yard. Gulp.

Today, I was at IKEA. While rummaging through their fabrics, I discovered their Patricia fabrics. Certainly not as detailed or sophisticated as the Schumacher. Far, far from it. But it has a similar feel (though not a similar scale) at a mere $7.99/yard.


Schumacher Katsugi in gold and mushroom




IKEA Patricia fabric

The IKEA photos from its website are unfortunately far from the best. However, it may be worth checking out this fabric next time you're at the store.

Icy photo

I saw this ice pattern on one of my windows and had to take a photo. Isn't it beautiful what nature creates? Design-obsessed that I currently am, I immediately thought of this:



This is snowflake glass from Bendheim Cabinet Glass. Lovely.

Lentil soup with ham

Great for these cold winter days. Loaded with veggies, it's both warm and filling without being heavy. As an added bonus, an excellent way to use up the end of your holiday spiral-cut ham. Thanks to Will for the recipe.

Lentil soup with ham
1 lb dried lentils
1 large onion diced fine
2 large carrots diced fine
3 stalks celery diced fine
3 cloves garlic minced
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 bay leaf
4 cups chicken broth
4 cups water
end of small spiral-cut ham (with bone)

In a large pot, saute onions, carrots, celery, and garlic in olive oil until the onion is tender. Add basil, thyme, oregano, and pepper. Saute another minute. Add chicken broth, water, bay leaf, lentils, and ham. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for about 1 hour until the lentils are tender.

Remove ham from soup. Pull meat from bone, dice the meat, and add back to the soup. Stir. Serve.



We ate the soup with this cornbread.



Delicious.

Happy New Year (Texas-style)

Howdy, y'all. Welcome to the new year and the new decade.

We welcomed 2010 with tamales. They weren't the delicious tamales hand-made by my mother-in-law. (She'd made tamales for every New Year's for the past few years.) They weren't the southern traditional collard greens and black-eyed peas nor the Korean traditional duk gook (a bland soup with flattened ovoid dumplings). They were our family's own tradition, and felt very appropriate in light of our move.

So here they are. Our tamale assortment from the Texas Tamale Company in Houston, Texas.





In Texas, our children disliked tamales. Today, they enthusiastically gobbled them up. Maybe they miss Texas a bit too. At least they miss Mexican food.

Perhaps we'll welcome 2011 with tamales home made in our renovated kitchen.

Happy New Year! May it bring you great food and many happy times spent with family and friends, new and old.