Minneapolis Hunter

More on Modern Quilting

Minneapolis Hunter — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:24:50 +0000

The Modern Quilt Guild has had a recent online conversation about what constitutes “modern quilting” by looking both at what we consider traditional quilts, and asking other quilters how they define a modern quilt. I love that this article points out what is considered modern, is indeed what was contemporary at the time it was created (yes, the art history major in me). What I create today is modern and contemporary, but in 50 years, would perhaps be “traditional” and not modern at all. We are always, of course, borrowing what we design today from what we’ve seen done before (aka incorporating tradition and heritage) into modernity. So, I’m temped to drop the semantics, and go with the trend, the simply stunning, and those who make art.

Trend: Boho Chic

Bella Hothouse Quilt, Anthropologie

Chika Hothouse Quilt, Anthropologie

Alhamra Quilt, Anthropologie

Trend with Tradition

Kaleidoscope Quilt, Urban Outfitters

Fleur Patchwork Quilt, Urban Outfitters

Art:

John Serrao, quilt maker from Hawaii

Paula Nadelstern, quilt from her exhibition late last year at the American Folk Art Museum

Quilts of Gee’s Bend; Katie Mae Pettway, Housetop Variation

Heritage:

Passage quilts, written about on Craft

Stunning, as seen on Modern Quilt Guild

Elizabeth Hartman, Beach House Quilt

Alissa, Land & Sea Quilt

I Dream of Quilts, Strawberry Disco Field Quilt

Cooking with Nick: Harvey’s in Town to Eat Spare Ribs and Paella!

Minneapolis Hunter — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:49:10 +0000

This is a special edition of Cooking with Nick: Harvey’s In Town! Frank and Nick’s cousin, Joey (also known as Harvey for his resemblance of Harvey Milk in a family photo taken this summer) came into town from Chicago. Naturally, a chair at the Cooking with Nick table had his name written all over it. Nick and I met up early on Saturday and headed over to Clancey’s in Linden Hills. If it weren’t so far from my house, I would get all of my meat there (not to say I don’t love the Seward Co-Op’s meat but it is a little selective in comparison).

So, as we’re perusing the meat selection and discussing good options, I pull out one of my favorite gifts from Frank: The Meat Bible (it arrived from Lobel’s shop in a Styrofoam box like it was meat. Awesome). I peeled through to the Thai- Style Marinated Spare Ribs recipe, and settled on this for the appetizer. For the entree? Braised pork shoulder, shrimp, clam and scallop paella. With meat purchased and menu planned, off Nick went to braise the pork shoulder and me to marinate the spare ribs and clean the house.

The evening's wine selection

Harvey and his younger brother Ryan were the first to arrive, and so we put the spare ribs in the oven while we opened the first round of beers. The weather is just about to turn here, so it made me a little anxious we couldn’t just sit out on the porch to chat, but okay, summer is coming. I get it. When Nick, Chenny and baby Miles arrived, the ribs were just finishing up, so we made the Chile Herb Dipping Sauce that goes with. This was the first recipe out of The Meat Bible and it didn’t disappoint. I will be making those again soon, perhaps before summer as an entree with asparagus and mashed potatoes.

Onto the paella: I don’t even know where to start. Well, I do. First, you need a way bigger pan than I had if you’re going to cook for 6. Second, I loved the braised pork shoulder with the Spanish rice and seafood. It was different, in an excellent way. I’m thinking Frank’s favorite restaurant, El Meson, would have it on the menu, so we may head over there soon. So, the paella: this is Nick’s recipe, written in his own words. Take note – he’s Chef at Seven now, so you’ll want to follow the recipe exactly (yes, even I would)

1 3-4 lb smoked ham hock
1/2 lb spanish picante chorizo(natural casing)
1lb laughing bird shrimp
1 lb manila clams
1 lb bay scallops(baja or nantucket)

saffron threads
3 mugs(yes coffee mugs) spanish rice
1 yellow onion
Chicken stock( amt varies by size and shape of hock, enough to cover)
garlic
1 red bell pepper
to start, place ham hock and 2 cups mirepoix in dutch oven and cover
with stock(can vary flavor with bay leaf, veg stock, mush stock,
peppercorns) slow simmer or oven braise at 300 for 4 hours until bone
falls off and meat is shred-able. reserve braising juice, but discard
mirepoix from liquid.

rough chop onions and garlic

take largest skillet available(17 inch or more) and heat olive oil.
High heat, to smoking, add red peppers and fry. as they color, lower
heat to medium and add onions, until the start to color, then add
garlic. add diced chorizo. season with salt and pepper. at this
point, take saffron threads and lightly toast and macerate with a spoon
in a small skillet(20-30 seconds) add grapeseed oil to cover(delicate
amount, just enough to incorporate threads. set aside.

while veg is sauteing, add shredded pork( with skin and bones) to
pan, and slightly brown for texture. add stock(reserved from
braising) ratio is one mug rice to 2 cups stock. as rice begins to
cook, add seafood and cover for about 10 min. add saffron oil, stir
once, and let paella cook uncovered until rice is cooked, and it begins
to stick to the bottom of the pan. the crispy almost burned rice is a
prized treat in spain, so make sure it does not get disturbed for the
last 8-10 minutes of cooking.

pair with a nice juicy albarino from spain, rolle from provence, maybe
a nz sauv blanc or provence rose(tavol, bandol or provence)

Home Decor at cb2

Minneapolis Hunter — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 16:29:00 +0000

Crate and Barrel has a new sister-site for the more budget-minded decoristas, cb2. This is a new discovery via mail catalog that arrived on Thursday, and it’s given me just enough time to ooo and awe but reign in that temptation to redecorate our place. While most of the house has been decorated to my liking (and Frank has approved with a nod), there are still a few more changes in the works (we’re being gifted a piano!), so I’m keeping my eyes peeled for those little pieces that serve as nice accents. Aside from the range of pieces available, I like their blog In The Loop, which brings in personal purchases and reason behind their taste. Here are a few of the pieces that I’m loving.

Champion Organic Cotton Blanket

Fu Dog Book Ends

Shatter Rug

Oliver Appetizer Plates

Stuffed Chicken Breast

Minneapolis Hunter — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:43:34 +0000

This recipe is the best way, in my opinion, to utilize a chicken breast, prosciutto and cheese. Savory, hearty, and oozing with cheesy goodness. And it’s so easy. I served them with green beans in melted butter.

Stuffed Chicken Breast with Prosciutto and Mozzarella
Serves 2

Butterfly 2 1/4lb. chicken breasts
Lay 2 slices of prosciutto on each half of the chicken

Butterflied Chicken with Prosciutto slices

Top with slices of mozzarella (or cheese you prefer)
Close chicken, salt and pepper both sides
Fry on high-med heat about 6 minutes each side

Raspberry & Almond Cake

Minneapolis Hunter — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:21:09 +0000

I made this Raspberry & Almond Cake found on Sweet Paul (delightful blog), and it was perfect with vanilla ice cream and lucky me, dessert wine. It’s an interesting mixture of cake and scone, in both flavor and texture. Had the blandness of scone (and I don’t mean that in a bad way, that’s why I heart the scone), that is clearly influenced by the tartness of the raspberries and cinnamon; and the texture was not quite a cake texture…almost like a non-moist pound cake. Nothing really sweet, light and fluffy here. I say it strikes me best on the weekend mid-morning tea-time on a sunny porch. With extra honey.

Banana Bread

Minneapolis Hunter — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 20:23:49 +0000

We’ve hit a balmy 34 degrees here in Minneapolis today, and it reminded me that before too long (please, please, please!) we’ll be in the temperature range that makes my oven go into hibernation. There are always a few recipes that I bake during the cold months, in particular, banana bread. Especially since finding that Frank’s nephew took half a loaf home and ate it in a day. I better get one more batch in before we hit 50 degrees (again, please, please, please!). This recipe is one of my favorites, from Best New Recipes Cookbook, a la Cooks Illustrated. You get plenty of banana flavor, bread-like carb loading but with the moistness that makes it taste like a treat.

Cooks Illustrated Banana Bread

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour, unbleached
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 1/4 cups walnuts, toasted, chopped coarse (about 1 cup)
3 bananas, very ripe, soft, darkly speckled, mashed well (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 large eggs, beaten lightly
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom only of regular loaf pan, or grease and flour bottom and sides of nonstick 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan; set aside. Combine first five ingredients together in large bowl; set aside.
Mix mashed bananas, yogurt, eggs, butter, and vanilla with wooden spoon in medium bowl. Lightly fold banana mixture into dry ingredients with rubber spatula until just combined and batter looks thick and chunky. Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan; bake until loaf is golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Stairwell Gratification

Minneapolis Hunter — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:58:28 +0000

Who knew that two coats of paint and some carpet squares could provide so much gratification? Painting the back entrance and decorating it a month ago certainly cheered up that space, but I felt like it was still lacking in the overall, um, going-to-the-basement experience. A picture is worth a million words:

The concrete stairs had a laminate from what I assume was the early 70s, so Frank pulled that up and quickly disposed of it. I tacked the stairs with a coat of exterior white paint, and went on homedepot.com for carpet squares; I landed on Shaw Berber Smoke 12″x12″ carpet squares. I found them incredibly easy to use (I had to cut them down to size, and just used a regular pair of scissors), quite sticky (though not too sticky that you couldn’t pull it up if you had to replace it later on), and actually, not too bad aesthetically.

Make! Paper Craft Elephant

Minneapolis Hunter — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:13:30 +0000

Thank you to How About Orange for posting, and Curiosity in Portland Oregon for making. Watch the video “From Flat to Flight” and download your very own easy-to-assemble-highly-cool elephant (download on the right hand side). He looked a bit lonely, so I added in the zebra from the back of the latest Anthropologie catalog.

Cooking with Nick: Surf & Turf

Minneapolis Hunter — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:03:32 +0000

For Chen’s birthday, Nick cooked up a delicious surf & turf dinner. I think one of the most incredible things about cooking is that some of the more “fancy” dinners are the simpler ones to make — take Steak and Lobster tail, for example: A fancy dinner in my opinion, but not super complicated. This was a feast for six. Here’s what we had:

Brussel sprouts with leeks and bacon (left burner) and Roasted potatoes with jalapeno (right burner), which was extremely spicy.

Brussel Sprouts and Spicy Potatoes

Wine for celebration: Argyle Sparkling White from Dundee Oregon, Mac Murray Ranch Pinot Noir from Sonoma CA, Ramey Cabernet Sauvignon from CA, Pra Staforte Classico (Italian White), and Gaja Ca’Marcanda Promis (Italian Red). Of course, the wines did not fail us.

Prepping three New York Strip steaks, and three Lobster tails

Look at this beauty:

Steaks seared 6 minutes on each side at medium high heat, then into oven at 350 for about 10 minutes; pulled out and wrapped in aluminum foil for about 10 minutes while lobster (with shell) goes into oven at high broil, for about ten minutes. Let cool, then pull out meat from shell. Oh, this whole time you should be clarifying your butter.

A very happy plate:

Lasagna-Style Baked Ziti

Minneapolis Hunter — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:37:25 +0000

Last night I was craving lasagna, but didn’t want to put too much effort into dinner, so I picked up this great recipe from Real Simple: Lasagna-Style Baked Ziti. I didn’t have Ziti, so I used penne which worked just fine. I was so anxious to eat it that I forgot to take pretty plated pics. It was quick and easy – about 40 minutes total time to make. AND, if you make enough like I did, there’s extra for lunches.

Lasagna-Style Baked Penne