13. Make cushions for rocking chair--check

Sometime last fall or winter James bought a gliding rocker off Craigslist for our bedroom . The cushions were in sorry shape, and we didn't even bring those into the house. We shopped around for some, but didn't find quite what we wanted, so I decided to make some. I don't really know what I was thinking, because I'm an inexperienced sewer. I find it kind of daunting, so I really procrastinate projects that involve sewing. Case in point, we bought the materials for the cushions about a year ago. At some point I cut the foam into the appropriate shapes and put it on the chair. We have been using it that way ever since. Just imagine the foam seen above used as cushions--very comfortable and elegant.

But no longer! Last weekend we had no plans, and I finally decided to tackle those cushions. It's a good thing I chose to do it on a free weekend, because it probably took me about 12 hours total to get it done. Part of that includes having to fix one of the zippers, which I managed to break just when I was inserting the second cushion into its cover. But I did it! It's the most complicated sewing I've ever done. They both have covered zippers, thanks to Erin of House on Hill Road.  I could not have done it without her helpful tutorials. I watched the video and then used the written tutorial to guide me step by step both times.

Both cushions are made of two inch foam. For the seat I doubled it over and made a box cushion cover. The back is just one layer of the foam, so I just did a simple case with front and back for that one. I also made ties to attach both cushions to the chair.  Neither of the covers turned out perfectly, but I'm very satisfied with my novice efforts. It really was a good learning experience, too. I feel more confident with my sewing machine now. The chair certainly looks worlds better than it did with the raw foam. I still need to recover the ottoman, because I need more foam for that, and I'm excited to make some more progress on our master bedroom. We have big plans for it this year. We're hoping to say goodbye to the dingy wall color and carpeting.

What I Cooked

We love cheese at our house, quite a bit, and we tend to eat lots of cheesy, "junky" food this time of year. I'm of a mind that it's good to go into Clean Monday feeling kind of sick of cheese.  So--plenty of cheese. That's what you'll be seeing for the next few weeks here.

Sunday: Panini. I make this on a George Foreman Grill. It works really well. The bread was homemade whole wheat. My sandwich had sauteed collard greens, mushrooms, and, of course, cheese. White Irish cheddar. Yum. I try not to eat a lot of processed foods, but I admit to loving these cheesy corn puff things.

Monday: Homemade pizza for my Valentine. Kalamata olive, onion, crimini mushroom. It also has this. More processed foods. Yep. Lots of junk around here right now. We both do quite like this "sausage." Also cake, of course.

Tuesday: Haluski--I love this meal. It's hard to tell, but there is a ton of cabbage and onion in with those noodles. No cheese in this, but plenty of butter. I like to make it with homemade egg noodles, and then it is really, really, insanely good. But even with these run-of-the-mill store bought (from when we were sick) this is very tasty.

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: Snacky dinner
Not a whole lot of cooking here, but I did make spinach artichoke dip and hard boiled eggs. That's a pear in the middle of the bottom row.

Friday: Total indulgence dinner. Scrambled eggs with cheese, biscuits and gravy.  I love biscuits and gravy.  My grandmother always used to make this for me when I was a little girl. One of the main reasons I kind of like the "sausage" stuff.  I put some mushrooms in this gravy, too.

















Saturday:
Vegetable fried rice with egg.

Library Cat

Yesterday we had an unusual visitor at the library where I work. It is in a residential neighborhood, so from time to time we have cats wander in or find them hanging out in the parking lot. Thankfully this cat was tagged, so the owner was contacted. Last year a cat stayed with us for several days while library staff tried to find out if it had an owner, and eventually one of the library volunteers adopted it.

I work in a very large room that is not open to the public, so this guy got to spend some time with us. He was very social and liked attention, but as you can imagine, he was not too keen on being trapped in an unfamiliar place. He spent a lot of time prowling around and giving his opinion about the situation. This made it a little tricky to take his picture. I had to catch him whenever he paused. He explored every part of the room and jumped on every desk, counter, table, and cart, but eventually he settled down. Librarians tend to be cat people, so he also spent time in some other offices. He was a welcome distraction, but I'm very glad he had a tag so he could go home where he belongs. I'm sure he was glad, too.

The Care and Keeping of Cast Iron

I mentioned that I seasoned some cast iron pieces during the recent ice storm. I found this great little heart pan at a thrift store a while back, and I had also been given this little fajita pan.  It appears that someone had used the heart pan without seasoning it, so they had trouble with their baked goods sticking. That didn't deter me a bit from buying it, since I love cast iron and I knew I could clean it up and season it easily. I had been meaning to season these pieces for a while, and there's nothing like being stuck in your house to spur you to get things done.

There's tons of information on the web about cast iron, but I think often it can sound really fussy. Actually, it's pretty easy to care for and almost indestructible. Seasoning cast iron is very simple. It involves coating the pan with a layer of fat, which bakes on (polymerizes) to create a non-stick surface. The first step is to remove any rust spots. Steel wool works great. Then wash it in soap and water, and dry it well.  Thoroughly coat the whole piece with shortening or lard. Coconut oil works well, too. Vegetable oil will do in a pinch, but it's not ideal for seasoning it the first time as it tends to get brown. Butter and margarine will not work. Once your cast iron is well coated on all sides, put it in a 300 degree oven for an hour. It's best to set the piece upside down, which helps to keep the fat from pooling. You might want to put a baking sheet or foil on a rack below to catch any that might drip off.

After I had baked these pieces for one hour, I let them cool a little, coated them again and baked them for one more hour. You don't have to do it twice, but if you have time, it certainly doesn't hurt.  The pieces won't seem much different, although they may have a few spots where you can see cooked on oil. That's fine. Also, water should bead on it. Here they are after being seasoned. A little darker and shinier perhaps (part of that may be due to this picture being taken after the sun went down), but I think the main difference you can see is that the heart pan is clean.

When caring for your seasoned cast iron, it's usually recommended that you don't use soap. Just scrape it out and rinse well with hot water. Definitely don't put it in the dishwasher. A bowl scraper is my main cleaning tool for my cast iron skillets. You can scrub burned on bits with salt or steel wool, if needed.  Also, I say go ahead and use soap if you feel it's called for.  It's really no big deal. I've washed old, well-seasoned pans with soap with no problems. I just give it a coat of oil afterward, and it's perfectly fine. I will try to avoid soap with these new pans for a while, though. You can see the difference in the color between the new pan and one of my old skillets here. Cast iron turns black with repeated use.

Do always make sure to dry cast iron very thoroughly before you put it away, because you don't want it to rust. For the same reason, don't store food in it, or leave it to soak. But if it does get rusty, it's not ruined. You can just clean the rust off and re-season it. Usually it's recommended that you lightly coat cast iron with fat before storing it, but for a well-seasoned piece that you use frequently, that's not really necessary. It is good to do that for pieces that haven't developed the black patina yet, or if it's something that you won't be using again for a while, though.

Naturally if it's St. Valentine's Day, and you have a freshly seasoned cast iron heart pan, the thing to do is bake a little heart-shaped something for your sweetheart. I hope your day was sweet as well.

What I Cooked

We were out of town at the beginning of the week. We came home with either food poisoning or a stomach virus, so we subsisted on Gatorade, ginger ale, and canned soup for a few days. Not a lot of cooking going on. Things are back to normal now, thankfully!

Thursday: A favorite quick and easy dinner--quinoa with kale and tahini sauce. We love this, and I try to keep the ingredients for the sauce on hand. As long as I have some kind of fresh greens, I can have this on the table in about 20 minutes. Plus it's an oil-free Lenten dish.



Friday: Tempeh hash with potatoes and cabbage.

Saturday: Enchilada bake served with lettuce, tomato, sour cream.

Happy St. Valentine's Day!