Week 2: Monday Goals

January in New Hampshire is so cold and grey that I thought these flowers would brighten my week

So the first week of 2013 was a pretty productive one. Hopefully this past week was just a teaser for how the rest of the year will go! This coming week I think is going to be a good one too, if I can just stay on course and not get distracted, then all will go well. How productive was I last week, you ask? Let's see what I got accomplished:

Taleggio and Radicchio Lasagna

When I first made this recipe from Epicurious we were living in Rome. I got fresh sheets of pasta from a shop around the corner from our apartment and the radicchio and Taleggio from the market, on Via Ozanam, further up the hill. This time around it was a bit different. As of August I have stopped eating gluten. I am not celiac, but gluten-sensitive, I believe. Lasagna was one of those things that I thought would be difficult to do gluten free. Especially this lasagna with its floury-taleggio-bechemel sauce. Come to find out, it is not forbidden. It was actually *really* delicious. All it just took was a little faith and determination - and five stores later to find gluten free lasagna noodles!

Finished: Vogue 8728

Well, my Gathering Glory (aka Vogue 8728) dress is done! Hooray! Just to warn you there are quite a few photos in this post. And I am in almost all of them! I will hopefully get invited to another fall wedding next year and get to wear it, if I can't find something to wear it to before. Remember that "pride" feeling I was talking about yesterday, this is what it is about, for I am pretty delighted with how it turned out. Although, even with all my planning and muslin-ing it still needs some tweaking. But that is okay, because cardigans will be this dress' best friend. Good thing I own a million of them!

Past & Future

This past year was quite a year. I was not able to blog as much as I wanted, as you probably could tell. The tumbleweed was often seen rolling around these parts of the blog-o-sphere. Not that I physically couldn't blog, I wasn't tied and gagged all year, nor did my fingers go numb every time I tried to write, but life just got in the way. Some of it was great, some was just overwhelming.

Monday: NYE edition

I know since it is New Year's Eve I should pause and reflect on this year of sewing and life, think about what mattered most this year, and put 2012 in perspective. But, that isn't going to happen today. Maybe tomorrow instead? We will see ;) I do have some goals for this week, but before I get to those, let me go over last week's progress.

Pattern Organization: Step 1

I have been trying for the past year to get a grip on my patterns and come up with a suitable pattern storage solution. Pattern and fabric organization is something that almost every person,who starts sewing,I assume, must encounter. Maybe there is someone out there that buys *one* pattern, then "the right" fabric and then whips out their project. These people must be some greater form of human. I buy fabric when I find something I like and the same is true of patterns. No particular rhyme or reason. This is where stacks of random patterns enter my life and sewing area, so maybe my way is not the best, but I will deal with that flaw later ;)

Work in progress...

Oven Roasted Tomatoes

I love making gifts. Christmas, obviously, is when my crafting/cooking inner demon really comes alive and wants to make everything for everyone. If I was more organized I would start this process in July. Maybe that will be one of my New Year's resolutions? It is just hard for me to start thinking about twinkling lights and christmas ribbon in July when the sun is shining, the air is warm and thick and all I want to do is grill and eat hot dogs. Hot dogs. Yum.


I have been making most of my gifts from an early age. I have always loved to make something rather than buy it, if possible. I have dabbled in flavored oils, had success with caramel sauces and even went so far as a faux-fur cape for my niece. Note to anyone who will listen: three year old little girls really only care about dolls/toys/anything-Princess-related on Christmas morning. A cape that their aunt spent WEEKS making? Not so much.

This year, due to my normal time crunch, my husband and I decided on roasted tomatoes. It sounded pretty easy, and I could get cute jars to put them in! Double score! But these were not just roasted tomatoes, they were s-s-l-l-o-o-o-w-w-w roasted tomatoes. How slow? 10-12 hours.

The first batch we did overnight. We took 5 pounds of Romas, sliced them in half, drizzled a little olive oil, salt and pepper and then we all went to bed — the tomatoes were tucked into a 180 degree oven. The next morning they looked pretty good. Not exactly what I wanted but still tasty. Our first batch went to our second-family-of-sorts. The entire jar was gone before we left their house Christmas Eve.

The second batch, we tried a different approach. We started the the same way, 5-6 pounds of Romas, but this time, half the amount cut in half, the rest quartered. We added unpeeled garlic cloves, a smidgen of sugar, and a much heavier pour of olive oil. After an hour at 350 degrees, we took a look. Not yet there, more steamed and soft, than the roasted we were hoping for. We left them in the warm (turned off!) oven while we were out eating and drinking merrily for a few hours Monday night. When we got home, we turned the oven back on to 170 degrees, and then we (or I) passed out. Others, the tomatoes and my husband, just went to bed.

The next morning, the smell was amazing. Even at eight in the morning! The photo above is them straight out of the oven. They tasted as good as they looked, they were bursting with flavor. These were packed in the remaining jars and taken to my family's house for distribution. They were a hit! My dad made us stop eating his jar so he could use them for pasta tonight.

For those attempting to make these, I am not sure if our technique of an hour of intense heat followed by hours of slow heat was what achieved what we wanted. Regardless, if I am to make them again, and indeed I will, I will do the same thing. We also found that the quarters tasted better than the halves, but you decide :) It really doesn't need a recipe, but here it is:

Slow Oven Roasted Tomatoes
adapted from this recipe, and this recipe 

5-6 pound rinsed tomatoes, quartered (we used Romas, but I think any would work)
Salt
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (don't be shy)
1 head of unpeeled garlic cloves
2 teaspoon of sugar (ratio is about 1 teaspoon per kilo of tomatoes)

1. Arrange tomatoes on baking sheet.
2. Sprinkle with salt, olive oil, and garlic cloves.
3. Place in 350 oven for 1 hour
4. Turn down heat to 170 and cook for about 10-12 hours.
5. Remove from oven and cool. Place in air-tight container. Keeps for about a week in fridge.

You can add herbs if you want, we didn't have any on hand, so we didn't. You can eat these with bread and fresh goat cheese, pizza, pasta or just straight from the jar to your mouth. Like I did :)