Weekending

It is not a secrete that we love the season of Fall! We've added extra quilts to each room two nights ago and thought we might still need comforters as the season will eventually enter winter. Each Fall, I seem spend more time in the kitchen then I would in the other seasons. Likely I make chicken broth from the scratch in the Fall before the winter arrives.

Whenever I fix root vegetables I always wash them nicely before peeling skins off, then I saved all the veggie skins or save veggies that's almost too old for salad; celery in particular since S is not a celery fan.  I would throw all the " unwanted" veggies in a big zippered bag and store in the freezer. When I see the bag is almost full I would  buy a fresh whole chicken for us and for the purpose of making chicken broth.

This is how I fix the chicken; Preheat oven at 450 degrees, meanwhile seasoning the chicken with black pepper and salt only { If you like extra flavoring you can add some butter on the chicken, two tablespoons is plenty}!  I always add a little white wine ( about 1/3 cup) in the baking pan and the alcohol eventually will cook off in the oven then put the chicken in the oven for 40 minutes. The chicken always turns out tender and juicy. I always debone the chicken before serving then you know, I save all the bones and throw them in a zippered bag. I would find a day that's cool enough then I cook "unwanted" veggies and debone chicken bones in the pot then start making chicken broth.  All you need is add a bit more salt and pepper. You might be surprised if you try next time!

This is how I cook the broth; I always start with the burner High then wait for the broth to boiling ( about 10 minutes). Once it starts boiling I let it go for another 10 minutes then turn the burner to low for simmering; that's about 40 minutes { I always sets the alarm, so I don't  forget}. After turn the burner off, I let the chicken broth cool off to room tempter. It would take about 2 hours or longer before I drain all the "ingredients" out from the broth.  Then I pour the chicken broth into half gallon jars then put them in the freezer. It sounds like a lot of work, but between time I would be sewing and getting S ready for the night/day. I have been very lucky to have great chicken broth for years and there's no trick for making good broth. I've always being told by my friends use every bit of the ingredients you got!

Oh, before I forget! S says "Hi". She is getting to the age of not wanting herself being in the public, so I am respecting that!  She spends her weekending in her room more now as she likes the private time to herself, drawing, listing to music and sometimes she runs from her room to find me and tells me all the exciting drawing ideas she has then I would drop everything that I was working on and just listen! The conversation doesn't go very long, but all is about fantasy creatures that she made up in her mind, very interesting to hear what they can do.

I made another Kin-Cha-Ku {pattern here} this week and shipped it! It is always fun for me to pick out prints for small projects. There are lots prints that I pull out lately have been the kind of prints I tell myself, "Save it for Lifetime". Oh, I must admit it feels nice to actually cut into them lately. It is nice to see how these prints correspond to each other!  I particularly like the sweet and retro color scheme for this kin-cha-ku. It has over 22 prints in it! :)

Lately, I have been seeing myself using more basic color prints. These basic prints give more focus on the blocks that I've been working on. The new attempt has been quiet successful, but I would like to give it a bit more experiments before I share with you!

Nothing special about the "design wall" that I created! I hook a cotton string on two fine metal nails. Since there's no wall space for me to add a nice design board.  This simple design space works out well for now.  It is nice to see the unfinished projects on the wall and that reminds me they still need a bit more attention!

With a little more sorting through our moving boxes, I found my name tag that made by S two years ago. It makes me smile to find little drawings she tucked in my sewing space over the years. I always appreciate them and for sure seeing the change that she is making over the years.

We are looking forward next weekending already! As we are going to make another pie, I think it is going be a Berry Pie!

xxc