Smoked Salmon

Tags

cooking, food

So that brisket turned out really yummy. What else could we make with our smoker? The answer was fish.

Smoking fish takes considerably less time than a 13 lb chunk of beef, so it did not end up being an all-day effort. We got 4-oz fillets of salmon from the store that day. Since the website was so reliable the first time, we used the same guy’s recommendations for the salmon. http://www.amazingribs.com/recipes/seafood/schmancy_smoked_salmon.html

We put the filets on pieces of a paper bag.

They only had to smoke for about 1.5 hours. Remember, the cooking time is proportional to the thickness of the fillet. The glaze on top from a little sprinkling of brown sugar was just enough to flavor it.

Flake off a little forkful, put it on top of a baguette slice with cream cheese (or in my case, a triple crème Brie from Costco). It’s probably best served as an appetizer, but we actually ate just these for dinner. It was so good, I keep wanting more.

A Leftovers Experiment

Tags

cooking, food

Note: This is a follow-up to an earlier post.

What do you do with 7 lbs of leftover beef brisket? There are a lot of things I’m sure you can do. I only thought of a couple though. For one, it’ll freeze for a quite a while. I took most of it and packaged the brisket slices into plastic Ziploc bags with about ½ lb meat in each. A few tablespoons of mop-sauce in each baggie also ensures that they’ll reheat well and not dry out.

After that, I was left with about 2 lbs of meat, which I could work with.

This doesn’t look that appetizing, but just reheat it in the microwave. A plateful only needed about 30 seconds or so. Chop it up or shred it by hand to get something that looks tastier.

Now come the veggies. I got broccoli, carrots, cucumber, garlic, and scallions.

Chop them up and set aside.

I wanted to do a brisket stir fry, so I mixed the meat with a little bit of peanut oil and soy sauce. Then I tossed everything together in a wok on medium high heat. I cooked the broccoli and carrots first so that they could soften up a bit, then added the garlic and green onions, and later added the meat, but eventually all the flavors blended together.

In a separate bowl, I made an Asian peanut sauce that consisted of sesame oil, sesame paste, chunky peanut butter, soy sauce, garlic, rice vinegar, sugar, black pepper, and a tiny bit of chili oil. You have to mix this really well to blend all the ingredients. I honestly don’t know the amounts to use – add stuff until it tastes good to you. I then mixed it with flat Chinese noodles.

To serve, place the stir fry on top of the noodles. I garnished with the julienned carrots and cucumbers which added a good crunch texture.

Even though this was an Asian-inspired dish, the smokieness of the brisket really played well with the peanut sauce and the garlic-y flavor of the veggies. I didn’t expect it to be that great (have low expectations when you come to my kitchen) but we were both happy with it. Leftovers should be about experimentation anyway. Try something new!

Y’all Gotta Try This

Tags

cooking, food

I’ve only been to Texas a couple of times, but my very first time there, I was introduced to Texas style BBQ beef brisket and I FELL IN LOVE WITH IT. Out here in California, there are restaurants that put a beef brisket on their menu that they claim has been smoked for 18 hours, and I get hopeful every time, but it just ends up tasting dry and flavorless, and I come away disappointed.

So until we go back to visit and eat the real good stuff, we decided to try smoking a brisket on our own. I’ll spoil the ending – it was pretty good.

Adam came home with a 13 lb beef brisket one day. It had both the flat and the point. I apologize in advance; this blog post isn’t going to tell you anything about how to make a good smoked BBQ beef brisket, I leave that to the husband. He followed this website: http://www.amazingribs.com/recipes/beef/texas_brisket.html

There are a lot of good techniques, tips, and quality information there to help one understand about the cut of meat on that website. Did I read any of it? No. But I ate the resulting meal and concluded that it must be awesome. Here is a picture of the brisket as Adam is cutting it.

He had woken up at 5:00am to start the smoker. For the first several hours, the chips need to be monitored and/or changed every half hour. It actually goes into the oven after that. And then it gets wrapped and kept in an insulated place (we used a big empty ice chest) to rest. Total time = 15 hours.

Since I learned how to eat beef brisket in Texas, I’m not really ashamed to say that I eat it on white bread because that’s how it’s done. We made a spicy mop-sauce to go over it – you can find the recipe on that same website. I, however, decided to open up the bottle of “sause” that comes from my favorite Texan restaurant. I just piled it on and ate it like a sandwich.

Sooo yummy.

But like I said – 13 lbs of meat. Stay tuned because I’ll post (soon, I promise!) about what I did with the brisket leftovers, using a completely non-Texan approach.

Sewing Updates

Tags

diy, home, sewing

In my last post, I showed how to make a simple padded Kindle case. You can do the same thing for an iPad. Here are the twin cases.

And I also made a special one for my husband. The fleece lining has his favorite team. The part that I didn’t realize though, was that when you push the home button to illuminate the screen, you also get a “bonus” image to shine though. He likes it, I guess that’s all the matters, right?

Another one of my blog posts alluded to a cover that I made for our new smoker. I’ll be honest – this rectangular drop cover was a lot more difficult than I had imagined. The design was super simple. But the fabric, a thick water resistant vinyl with a soft felt-like backing, was extremely difficult to push and pull through my sewing machine. The tackiness of the material just kept sticking.

Nonetheless, I managed to get this drop cover to somehow work. Here it is, pictured on the right, covering the new brisket-making-machine. Adam’s grill is on the left.

Cost to make a Kindle case: 2 hours and $5 materials
Cost to make an iPad case: 2 hours and $5 materials
Cost to make a smoker cover: 1 hour and $12 materials

Not bad, right? Well, keep in mind that I shop at JoAnn’s and use the maximum number of 40% off and 50% off coupons that I can. Don’t buy fabric at $9.99/yard if you can get it for $4.99/yard! If you’re trying to make a small tablet device case, you really only need to buy 1/4 of a yard each (inside and outside).

I think the next thing I want to make is a cover for my sewing machine! It works so hard, it needs a good blanket to rest in. A reversible one would be awfully cute. Stay tuned!

For the Kindle and iPad

Tags

diy, sewing

My favorite things to sew are dresses because I love wearing them and the summer is a great time for flirty and fun outfits. I also get to make things that are just the right size for me, instead of buying a “size small” at the department store where I could fit Skye and Sakura inside the chest area, if you get my drift.

My second favorite things to sew are things that are practical that Adam would like. And no, I have not tried to sew him any clothes or make him wear anything I’ve done. But he did appreciate the protective cover I made for our new smoker in the backyard. Gotta protect that brisket-making-machine! Come over if you want to see it sometime.

The reason for this post is to demonstrate how to make another practical protector – a cover for a tablet device. The example I’m showing below is for a Kindle.

First, make two pouches out of two kinds of fabric. My outer layer is a striped linen fabric with very neutral tones. My inner layer is a brown fleece. The fleece will serve as padding for the case. I’m sure you could experiment with different kinds of fabric.

With right sides together, sew three sides (or two sides if you decide to use one folded piece) and leave one long side open.

Turn the outer layer ride side out. Carefully sew on about 1 inch of Velcro (the soft fuzzy side) onto the middle of the outer layer, about an inch or so from the open edge.

Turn the outer layer inside out. Turn the inner layer right side out. Then, stuff the inner layer inside so that the right sides are touching. Set it aside.

Now cut out a rectangle about 2”x5” from each of the fabrics. Take about 1 inch of the other Velcro piece (the spikey rough side) and sew it to the inner layer piece.  Put the two rectangle pieces with right sides together and sew around, leaving the end open.

Turn the piece inside out, and there you have your flap.

Insert the flap piece into the pouch on the opposite side from where the soft Velcro piece is sewn. It is very important that the flap piece goes inside, in between the inner and outer layers, with the end sticking out. Pin all around. Then, sew all around the open edge of the pouch, joining the inner layer to the outer layer and securing the flap. Be sure to leave about 3-4 inches open so you can turn it inside out.

Okay, now turn it inside out.

And then stuff the lining inside of the pouch.

Almost done! See that opening that was used to turn the whole thing inside out? Now just top-stich all the way around the outer edge, sewing very close to the edge of the outer layer to give it a finished look.

Insert your Kindle device, and there you have it!

Ta-da!

As the title of this post implies, a similar protective cover/pouch can be made for the iPad. I’ll post them next time when I can grab some pictures of the iPad cases I made for my husband. Yes, that is plural cases… one of them is a surprise for him. I’ll show you soon!

Two New Dresses – Kid’s Edition

Tags

diy, sewing

I could point you back to my previous posts, the dining table project, the beach dress tutorial, or the two dresses that started it all, inspiring me to bust out my sewing machine. If you’ve been following, or even if you haven’t, you’ll know I like sewing a lot now. And aside from 7th grade sewing class, I’ve only been doing this for about 3 months or so. It’s easy to learn. If I can do it, anyone can.

My latest project was super fun because it was miniature sized. I don’t have a full blown step-by-step guide, but I found the instructions on the pattern pretty easy to follow.

New Look pattern 6974

The awesome thing about patterns is that you can make dresses that look similar, but aren’t exactly the same. I did dress “B” first.

The front and the back have godets that are shaped like triangles and help the skirt to be more full. The alternate patterned material matched with the gathered thick straps. The back of the dress has a single zipper down the center and you can tie the sash as well.

Dress #2 for this special girl in my life is Dress “C,” like the model on the pattern is wearing. I loved the cupcake material!

This dress is slightly different because it has narrower straps, a cute removable bow that I tied on the left shoulder, and a longer length with the contrast material at the hem. It also ties in the back like the first dress.

What is really great about these dresses is also the fact that they’re fully lined. I used 100% cotton for all parts, pre-washed so that there are no shrinking issues. Linens also work, but there are such cute print designs to be had if you stick with cotton.

I think these would go perfect with a flower headband and pink Crocs. And hopefully the dresses will fit this summer before she grows out of them!

The Beach Dress

Tags

diy, sewing

I have made a grand total of four dresses. I know it’s not much, but everyone has got to start somewhere, right? This happened to be dress #4. I’m going to show you the steps I took to making this super easy beach cover-up. I bet you could do it too.

First, select a fabric. I chose a polyester blend (polyester, rayon, and spandex) that was slightly stretchy and came in a gorgeous Tiffany blue color. I got about 1.75 yards of material. Cut a length of 12” off the end and cut that again into two pieces. These 6” strips will become the straps.

Cut each of the 6” strips into three strips (these will be 2” each). Knot them together. Start braiding, pulling the strands very tightly. I anchored the braid with a safety-pin so I could pull firmly on the strands.

Tie off the end, and there is your strap. Repeat so you have two of them. You may have to adjust the length of the braid. As you can see, I started with too much fabric length.

Take the main rectangle of fabric and sew a narrow hem all the way around. To do this, fold the edge once to 5/8” and press with an iron. Turn it out, then fold in half again so the raw edge is hidden on the inside. Press with an iron again. The hemmed material should be 5/16” thick. Run a stitch all the way around. For my bottom edge, I did a double stitch just for extra reinforcement.

At the two top corners, make sure you cut out a “C” shape for the armholes. Approximations are okay. Just below the knot, sew the shoulder straps to the corners of the armholes by stitching back and forth.

Trim the excess fabric from the straps. And you’re done!

I’m not a very good model for this type of dress, but you get the idea.

I hope that you get to try this dress too! Let me know how yours turns out. It’s super easy, fast, and cheap! If you include the blue thread I had to buy as well as the fabric, it only cost $8. I’ve seen this retailed for $50. Definitely worth it to make your own! Good luck!

A Tale of Two Dresses

Tags

diy, sewing

If you read my most recent post in March, you would know I had begun a new hobby: sewing! What you may not have known is that the table runner and placemats were not my first project. I made myself a dress. No, two dresses.

I have been very proud of them and eager to blog about them. But it only recently got warm enough to actually wear something other than my normal jeans and sweater combo. If you know me, I do wear sweaters even when it is mid-70’s out.

Anyway, I’ve finally been able to wear the dresses. So I would like to introduce them to you.

Dress #1

Vogue Pattern V8380

I chose a pink and black floral stretch knit. What I love most about this dress is the weight and feel of the stretchy knit. It is similar to jersey and falls so nicely. I probably won’t ever have to iron it either. It has a zipper on one side and ties around the neckline.

I was left with some extra long material when I hemmed the dress to hit above my knees, so I used the length to make a fabric headband.

Not too bad for a first dress I think. There are a lot of things that are imperfect, but I am probably the only one who is bothered by them. Hint: don’t ever look too closely at the zipper…it’s not pretty. Also note that when sewing with stretchy fabrics, you have to kind of stretch and pull while the fabric is going through the sewing machine because it doesn’t always feed itself consistently. Always test your stitches on a piece of scrap material. This dress took me about 6-7 days, working on it part-time. Thanks to YouTube for helping me when I didn’t know what half of the instructions on the pattern meant.

Dress #2

McCall’s Pattern MP493

The fabric for this dress was a linen-look floral patterned print. The really fun part about it is the tiny raised bumps all throughout the dress which gives it a nice texture. There were also 4 pattern choices for the dress style. I picked the one that was sleeveless and had extra fabric in the skirt. It made it extra twirly! I love spinning in this dress.

Two good girl friends of mine helped me pick out these fabulous shoes as well. The color was a really good match, so I couldn’t pass it up.

I think I did a lot better on this dress. The lining that is in the torso of the dress was difficult, and fitting it to my body was probably the hardest part. But this dress is fun to wear! Hooray for good weather!

Stay tuned, because in my next post, I am going to show you the beach cover-up dress that I made. Very simple and cute to boot!