Papier-mache Easter Eggs – Finished
I was all ready to write a long post about finishing up these papier-mache Easter eggs, but man am I exhausted! Here’s some photos instead:
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| I used muffin tins to lay out the treats I used to fill the eggs. |
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Bacalao a la Vizcaina
Every year on Good Friday my husband’s family prepares Bacalao a la Vizcaina, a salt cod stew with tomatoes and garbanzo beans. Once we moved back to the US I continued with the tradition. My mother-in-law isn’t sure where the recipe came from, only that they’ve always eaten it on this day. Its a very forgiving recipe; a simple recipe, really – the hardest part here in the US is finding the bacalao (salt cod). I’ve always had to go to a specialty retailer to find it, and I’ve had the most luck at stores that cater to Europeans.
We love this dish – its soo good – and its one of those funny dishes that we only eat once a year. I don’t know why we don’t eat it more often, but maybe that would make it less special. Its the same way with Thanksgiving; we only eat a turkey dinner with all the trimmings on that day.
1 1/2 lbs. Bacalao (salt cod)
2 yellow onions, thinly sliced
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 10.75-oz. can tomato purée (305g.)
3 cups water (I usually actually use three tomato puree cans which is more than 3 cups)
1 15-oz. can garbanzo beans
2 4-oz. jars diced pimientos (with liquid)
1/2 bag frozen shoestring potatoes
olive oil for sauteing onions and garlic
white rice to serve on the side
1. Prepare the salt cod for cooking by soaking it in water for several hours – I usually start by covering it in hot water and letting it steep for an hour or so, then draining the water and re-covering the fish with cold water twice more over the next few hours.You can do this step the night before if you’d like, and just leave the fish in the refrigerator.
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| salt cod as the first hot water is added to cover. |
2. Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until it has softened but not browned.
3. Add the tomato puree and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring often. Add the water and fish and bring the stew to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the fish is cooked through, softened and has broken into small pieces and the liquid is almost all gone. This should take a few hours – if the stew begins to look dry too quickly you can add more water with no problem.
4. Add the pimientos and garbanzo beans and cook another 20 minutes (use this time to fix the rice and shoestring potatoes that accompany the dish).
5. Just before serving, add the heavy cream and stir thoroughly. Serve the stew with white rice, and top it with some shoestring potatoes.
Of course, this is the kind of recipe that tastes even better the next day, so you’ll be happy if there are leftovers – and if there are not quite enough leftovers for the amount of people eating, you can always add another can of garbanzo beans to stretch the stew.
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| We dyed Easter eggs, too! |
Papier-mache Easter Eggs
I’m making papier-mache Easter eggs for Sunday. I saw the idea last year on the fabulous blog Not Martha, and I made these same eggs for my daughter’s birthday party favors last summer (they were ‘dinosaur eggs’ in keeping with the party theme). Its a multi-step process, so tonight I’m making the eggs. Next they’ll need to dry, then be filled with goodies, then the holes sealed up again. Here’s a look at tonight’s work:
Not Martha made hers with sweet polka dots but it was kind of a pain to do it that way last time so I’m going with a mix of solid color eggs and random patterned eggs this time.
I would love to do this again sometime as party favors for a Mexican-themed party, decorated in a piñata style, with mini bottles of tequila and hot sauce inside. I probably don’t have it in me for Cinco de Mayo this year, but maybe sometime in the summer?
I Think I Might Be Sewing This Coverlet Forever
I worked more on the new coverlet today – I’ve got half of the ruffles sewn on (6 on, 6 to go) but it really takes freakin’ forever. I haven’t be working on it steadily because it’s very boring but I’ll be so glad when it’s finally done. It is starting to look cool though.
Playing with Vector Graphics
I found a new vector graphics program that’s entirely web-based (so I don’t have to download anything to my old, tired computer) and I’m busily playing around with it tonight. If I get anything worthwhile I’ll put it up here. Here’s what I came up with:
Learning to Play Guitar
Many years ago when I was visiting Paraguay I bought a guitar from a well-know guitar maker. I tried to learn on my own at that time but found books to be not super helpful. Tonight I was talking to my kids about guitars decided to get mine out and see if I could find some helpful YouTube instruction videos.
After falling down the YouTube rabbit hole for awhile, I found a number of videos that were sorta helpful, but not great. Most of the videos are instructions on how to play specific songs with the assumption that the viewer already knows the chords (yeah right). So I played around for awhile and maybe it’ll be back to the books to see if I can pick some of this up. I’d like to take lessons so maybe that’s in my future.
Henna Tattoo Easter Eggs
Well, not exactly henna tattoos – more like Sharpie tattoos with henna-like designs:
This is black permanent marker on plastic Easter eggs. Adds something different to the plain eggs, and not as sweet and frou-frou as Easter decorations can sometimes be.
Chicken with Olives and Tomatoes: Slow Cooker Saturday Supper
Sometimes it’s so nice to come home from a rainy day out and about to a meal that’s already cooked and waiting for you. The house is filled with warm and cozy smells and most of the work is already done.
I threw the ingredients for this dish into the slow cooker in three minutes, and only had to boil water for pasta before I served it. The hubby gave it two thumbs up and the kiddos ate it which makes it a successful dinner any night.
Slow Cooker Chicken with Olives and Tomatoes
1 package boneless skinless chicken thighs (about one pound)
1 can black olives (pitted)
1 cup (1/2 can) tomato sauce
California-style garlic salt – to taste (I used about 2 teaspoons)
Dried oregano – to taste (I used about a teaspoon)
1. Put the chicken thighs in the slow cooker and add the other ingredients on top.
2. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours (it does fine after that cooking time on warm – I had it warming for at least an hour after it finished it’s cook time).
When you’re ready to eat, shred the chicken with two forks and mix it up to incorporate the sauce. Serve it over pasta (I used orecchietti pasta but any type would work) and top with Parmesan cheese. Yum yum!
Crab Pot Portrait
After a busy day we went out to celebrate a birthday tonight and as we waited for our food I sketched a portrait of the couple across the table.
Any guesses who they are?
Japanese Plum Tree
I did some more playing around with photographs tonight. I took these photos yesterday at the same time as the hellebores, but I did the photo editing tonight. First I tried the same technique of selectively colorizing a photo, with a more subtle effect since the flowers were white instead of pink.
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