Making Monday morning more manageable…

…with pumpkin cinnamon rolls. BIG ones.

I was setting up a new gmail account using my married name, and in the process was suggested a bunch of blogs for my Reader (thanks Google!). Kitchn (from the same folks as Apartment Therapy) posted a recipe that day for No-Knead Pumpkin Rolls with Brown Sugar Glaze and I just happened to have half a can of pureed pumpkin to use up  (the first half went to pumpkin cookies).

We got this nutmeg grinder as a wedding shower gift. My mom has this unnatural hatred for all things nutmeg and I'd always omitted it from recipes. I thought I hated nutmeg too. But turns out I don't know the difference, which is good because the grinder is cute and fun.

While the dough raised we watched Season 2 of Castle, which Read has helped me cultivate a love for. It took a few episodes for the dough to rise – longer than I thought – even with the trick where you put the bowl in an unheated oven with a pan of hot water. What finally helped was I turned the oven on 250 just long enough for the interior to heat up (10 min).

Wherever there is food prep, there is a Samson

Cutting the rolls with a piece of dental floss

Dough rises under my favorite dishtowel...it's so pretty I refuse to use it for normal kitchen functions.

Sam prepares for bed, while visions of cinammon rolls dance in his head

I didn't have confectionery sugar for the glaze. Next time.

 

Laughing Planet Che Guevara burrito remake

Last week I overhead a coworker confess that, while she’s looking forward to seeing old friends when she returns to New York, she’s secretly most excited about revisiting a favorite restaurant. “I mean, it’ll be great to hang out with them, but I’ve been dreaming about this one sandwich.” She feigned shame until one of us asked her to describe the sandwich. “Oh you don’t even KNOW!! Okay, so it starts with…”

It’s gonna be a while until I share my coworker’s longing-ranking of friends and food** but I can still identify with her excitement. I’ve been daydreaming about Laughing Planet - a quick-serve restaurant in our old neighborhood – and my regular order there.

Toinight we set out to recreate the magic. Here goes…

LAUGHING PLANET’S CHE GUEVARA BURRITO REMAKE

1-2 cups rice (white or brown, doesn’t matter) ** 1-2 sweet potatoes, rinsed, peeled, and cubed ** half an onion, diced ** 1-2 plantains, sliced **1 can black beans, rinsed ** few tablespoons chopped cilantro ** 1 small crown of broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces ** tortillas ** favorite hot sauce ** favorite bbq sauce

Get the rice cooking using your preferred method. Meanwhile, chop the cilantro, rinse the black beans, and set them both aside. Boil a small pot of water and throw in the sweet potato; cook until just tender. Rinse and set aside. Heat a couple tablespoons of oil in a skillet, then add the onion and cook a few minutes. Throw in the plantains and stir. Let the plaintains sit a bit before flipping so that they can brown a little. Add the sweet potato and stir. Heat this mixture until the plantains are tender. Steam the broccoli until just tender. Lay out each of the ingredients assembly-line-style. Stir a healthy dose of hot sauce into a half cup of bbq sauce (I like it hot enough that my nose runs).

Heat the tortillas (I love heating them one by one over the gas burner) and walk down your assembly line. I like putting the sauce on after the rice, because the rice helps hold it in the burrito.

Plantains, sweet potato, and onion

Mixing up jerk bbq sauce

Clockwise from the top: rice, black beans, jerk sauce, broccoli, plantain/onion/sweet potato

MMMMM...you don't even KNOW

** The Oregon food memories all include friends…gardening, trading recipes, dinner parties, sharing lunch leftovers, trying new restaurants. The other day a very kind coworker remarked, “you must miss your friends from Oregon,” and dammit I lingered too long in formulating my response. And then I got choked up…which is always kind of a surprise to this stoic midwesterner. So Oregon friends, if you’re reading this, you have not been eclipsed by a burrito.

Sedum sweater for my first autumn in Boston

It’s finished! I love this cardigan. Knitting the sweater body in seed stitch was time-consuming – I questioned its value at some points – but it made for an extra-squishy final product. Given that Jane Richmond seriously downplays her sedum sweater pattern (“just some notes”) I thought the pattern was helpful and easy to follow. The Green Mountain Spinnery wool/mohair that I bought for $6/skein at Soft Horizons’ clearance sale was more than worth the money. I would knit with it again. If you’re not a knitter, just enjoy the photos. If you are, keep scrolling for detailed pattern notes.

Does anyone know the architectural name for these stacked row houses in Boston? I’ve been calling them “layer cake houses.” Descriptive, but likely not correct.

SUMMARY OF EDITS

1. Body knit with 10.5 needles, bottom/top ribbing knit with 8 needles, and button band/wrists knit with 7 needles.

2. Gauge was 14-15 stitches per 4 inches

3. I knit the collar first, and then ran the button band up the entire vertical edge of the sweater

The button band pulls together slightly with sz 7 needles, but it’s the lesser of the two evils. Larger needle sizes result in a less structured band that doesn’t provide enough stiffness to support the buttons

Pulling up the collar against that Boston breeze

Unrelated Edith portrait

These notes are intended for a small-size sweater (32″ bust) knit with sz. 10.5 needles at a gauge of 15 stitches per 4 inches.

Sweater body: CO 46.  Row 1:  seed stitch. Row 2: K1, pm, seed stitch 8, pm, seed stitch 28, pm, seed stitch 8, pm, K1. Row 3: increase at each edge and on either side of each marker. Row 4: Work seed stitch. Repeat rows 3 & 4 until 20 st. before first marker. Then repeat rows 3 & 4, but stop increasing at neck edge; only increase either side of markers. Do this until 30 st. before first marker. Put sleeves on scrap yarn (46 st. each). Continue working the body for 30 rows. Place a marker at the exact center of the back and decrease according to meganimal’s notes on the sedum sweater (see #3).  Knit 6-7 rows in between each decrease and increase row, or you’ll get some puckering. I started the bottom ribbing 80 rows after placing the sleeves on scrap yarn. Switch to sz. 8 needles for the ribbing.

Collar: Using sz. 8 needles, pick up 101 stitches. K4, work in 3 x 3 ribbing until 4 st remain, p4 (this extra edge stitch will preserve the look of 3 x 3 ribbing even after you attach the button band to either side of the collar). I worked the collar for 30 rows. I would’ve done a little longer if I’d had more yarn.

Sleeves: Using sz 10.5 needles, pick up stitches from scrap yarn (placing marker at center of underarm) and work about 22 rows. Decrease 1 st either side of marker. Work decrease round two more times, each one after knitting about 22 rows. After working 90 rows, switch to sz. 7 needles for wrist ribbing. I worked wrist ribbing in 2 x 2. The sleeves stretched 1-2 inches after blocking.

Button band: Using sz. 7 needles, pick up 135 stitches along sweater edge and work in 3 x 3 ribbing. I worked the button band for 25 rows before binding off.

Hello autumn!