A Fashion Statement

Anyone who’s known me since 1992 has probably seen me wear a black fleece vest.  I actually lost the Chuck Roast vest two years ago (Boo hoo!), so I have branched out to other vests- even vests that are colored.  Since I had a lot of leftover strips of the batik fabrics from the choir stoles, I made myself a new vest with them, and only had to cut a few small pieces.  The stripes don’t line up, and that’s on PURPOSE.  Really.

I used a pattern, aptly named “The Zip-Up Vest” by Favorite Things, a Canadian company from BC.  Visit their site here.  I made some modifications, doing the crazy piecing on foundations.  I added pockets, since I always need a place for keys/wallet, etc.

I expect I’ll be using this pattern a few more times, since it fits well, and I think I can make several variations with current stash items.  I just need a good supply of separating zippers, and I should be able to add some interest to my monotonous black pants/long sleeved shirt wardrobe staples.

Chocolate Pots de Creme, in about Half an Hour

We’re having guests over for dinner this week, and tonight I made the dessert ahead.  I may have blogged about these before.  They’re a go-to recipe for chocolate fiends, and they can be made up to 3 days ahead, and kept under plastic wrap in the fridge.  For those who like to have their mise en place, this is a winner.  Who doesn’t like rich thick chocolate?  And who says you need a bain marie to make Pots de Creme?

I slightly modified a recipe from Cook’s Illustrated.  I used 2 oz ramekins instead of 5 oz ones, because I find the  full size to  be too much if you are serving more than a salad before it.  Besides, who doesn’t like having one or two (or 6) left over to share with friends the next day?

Chocolate Pots De Creme

Serves 8 – 14, depending on ramekin size (5oz for 8, 2 oz for 14)

Equipment

• ramekins: eight 5oz. ramekins, or about fourteen 2 oz. ones (I’ve used espresso cups before with good luck, also.)
• sheet pan
• 4 qt. saucepan
• heatproof silicon spatula or wooden spoon with flat edge
• whisk
• 1 qt Pyrex measuring cup for portioning
• fine mesh strainer
• large mixing bowl
• rolling pin or hammer (or chef’s knife and cutting board)
• 1 cup liquid measuring cup
• small bowl and spoon
• measuring spoons
• instant read thermometer
• plastic wrap

Ingredients

• 10 oz bittersweet chocolate  (2.5 Ghirardelli bittersweet bars from the baking section)
• 5 large egg yolks
• 5 Tbs. sugar
• 1/4 tsp. table salt
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1/4 cup milk (I used skim, since it’s what I had)
• 1 Tbs. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. instant espresso powder mixed with 1 Tbs. water

Procedure

1. Set out your ramekins on a sheet pan.
2. Break up the chocolate.  I use my rolling pin, and bash the bars before I unwrap them.  You can do the same thing with a hammer.  Otherwise, you can show your real knife skills by unwrapping the bars, and chopping the chocolate with a chef’s knife on a cutting board.  Either way, put the chocolate bits into the large mixing bowl, and put the fine mesh strainer over the bowl, and set them aside.  Put the 1 qt Pyrex measuring cup beside the bowl.
3. Separate the eggs, putting the yolks in your saucepan.  Do what you will with the egg whites at a later time.  Add the sugar, salt, cream and milk and whisk until combined.   Put the whisk aside with the large bowl, strainer, and large Pyrex measuring cup.
4. Mix the espresso and water in the small bowl, and measure in the vanilla.  Set aside with the large bowl, etc.
5. Put the saucepan over medium low heat, and stir constantly with the silicon spatula/wooden spoon so the custard can cook without sticking to the pan.  Cook for 8-10 minutes. It will heat up and thicken slightly.  Use your instant read thermometer to check the temperature during the process.  When you reach 175-180 degrees F, turn off the heat.
6. Immediately take the saucepan over to the large bowl, and pour the custard through the strainer, to remove any lumps. Scrape out all the custard with the spatula.  Let the hot custard melt the chocolate for a couple minutes, then begin stirring gently with the whisk.  Whisk more vigorously until the custard and chocolate are incorporated, and whisk in the espresso and vanilla.
7. Scrape the mixture into the large Pyrex measuring cup for portioning into the ramekins.  Fill the ramekins.  Cover the ramekins with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 3 days.  Allow to stand at room temperature for 20-30 minutes before serving.
8. At serving time, serve plain, or with whipped cream and a dusting of cocoa.

Happy Choir Members Decked out in New Stoles

Look!  We finished the UUF Choir Stoles project.   You may remember a prototype from the blog many moons ago.  Here are Ellen, Kathy, Becky, and Gayle sporting our results.  We made two sets of 16 stoles, and they are reversible, so we have four options.  The two ladies on the left (Ellen, Kathy) are wearing stoles from the same set, and the ladies on the right (Becky, Gayle) are wearing stoles from the second set.  You can click on the picture for a larger view.

Even More Options for Wearing Stoles

In this photo (again, click it for a larger view), each woman has reversed her look, and Ellen and Kathy have decided to reverse them from front to back.  Can you tell they like these things?  If only you could hear them sing, too.

All in all, I think we used about 5 yards of each of the solid color fabrics, and at least 2.5 yards of the three batiks.  We used about 1 to 1.5 yards of each of the black and white fabrics, since we had more prints for those.  With about 9 or 10 yards of  plain white muslin for the foundations for piecing, this took a fair bit of fabric, but it was  a fun project.  We had two workdays in La Crosse at the Fellowship, and then Kathy and I each did some work at home to finish them off.

Special thanks to all who helped on this project.  I know I’d miss a name or two if I tried to list them.

This has been a real boost for me (using my skills for a great group of people), and a boost for the choir.  They look so great as a group, and I’ve heard they behave better when dressed up. *SMIRK*