My finished Cosmo bag and unexpected life lessons

I am totally supposed to be vacuuming and cooking right now to get ready 

for a dinner guest, but I just had to share this with you.

I finished my bag! and who knew the whole experience would 

treat me to such spiritual life lessons:

Belief - that I could actually read these directions and 

figure this out without help

Trust - in Ms. Butler and associates that this pattern works

Tolerance - when my partner asked me "how many

bags do you need?"

Patience - every time I picked up my seam ripper

Confidence - in using my ten year old fusible interfacing

Self Awareness - I  SO make things harder than they are, and

I talk to myself out loud a lot while sewing

Dream realizations - it was before awakening yesterday

morning that I figured out how to put the handles on.

Joy - when things actually fit together

Satisfaction - I love it even though up close it doesn't look quite like the picture.

More on trust, I still don't believe the handles and the interfacing would have worked out if I

hadn't mirrored the pairs first before putting the interfacing on.....

I customized my inside pockets a bit by making three on one side

to hold smaller things like my new Electrify phone :-0 

Seriously with the button loop thing.  Awesome technique but I couldn't figure

the worded directions out.  Renee had to come and make it visual.

My finished bag, with it's vintage button and all that.

I have decided to make it my "briefcase".  Everything fits and

is organized.  Yeah!

Enjoy your Sunday

Kyra

Butterlied Roast Chicken with preserved lemons

All my chickens come from Old Ackley Farm.  I buy 10 a week from Bob

all summer long, hold three for me and use the rest in the cafe.  Each October

my freezer is full of enough of these scrumptious local, organic chickens

to get me thru until the end of June when he begins to produce again.

I also buy a pig in November, a few ducks, ground beef and a few steaks

here and there for Renee.

  Ground lamb from Horsepower Farm, eggs and other cuts of beef from

Quill's End Farm all winter and I don't need to buy anything but produce in the grocery store.

I'm even learning how to have a little lean-to greenhouse thing on the south side

of Lily's to grow some cool weather greens next winter to get me thru.

This is all very inspiring to me.  I began shopping at a local farmer's market in the late 80's

when I had my cafe in Cincinnati, long before it was anywhere near cool.

In fact, people thought I was crazy, but I loved it then and my passion has

only grown along with the nation's.  Local is not just a buzz word for me.

It is a way of life.  I know where my meat comes from, can even meet my pig.

How awesome is that?

Anyway, back to the chickens.  I roast at least one a week (along with other

ways of doing things which I will show you at a later date).  In fact,

when I travel for longer periods of time than my usual 3 day limit, I CRAVE

this chicken. 

 Hands down, the best way to roast a chicken is butterflied.

I talk about this at great length in my cookbook "Cooking in the Moment"

(which by the way is on sale for $12.00 at Lily's and thru the mail)

In a brief synopsis, you use kitchen shears to cut out the back of the chicken, flip it over, splay 

out the legs and press on the breast bone to flatten it out.

Once this is done, I usually salt the inside cavity and lay the chickens over some kinds of

aromatics and flavor enhancers.  Yesterday I sliced onions thinly, crushed a few

garlic cloves and remembered the preserved lemons I had made that were in the 

far reaches of the refrigerator. 

 For each chicken I sliced one small onion and laid them out

on the tray in a circle the approx width of the flattened chicken.  I then put a garlic clove in the middle of

the onions, sliced up a few wilted scallions I found in the vegetable drawer and then draped

4 slices of preserved lemons over the whole shabang.  I layered the chickens over the

flavors, drizzled them with olive oil, sprinkled them with kosher salt, black pepper and

dried rosemary and put them in a 375 degree convection oven.  Butterflying will

reduce the cooking time, so I set the timer for (3) 20 minute intervals, basting and turning

the tray at the end of each.  I start checking the temp after an hour.  165 is the goal, but

honestly, when I'm cooking for myself, I like my chicken a little over-done, so usually go to 175 -180

shhhh, don't tell my chef peers! 

Delicious!!  The onions were like candy, wait until you try this with

early summer leeks,  you will eat the leeks and forget about the chicken!

I include the back bones on the roasting tray so I can use them to 

make stock with all the other bones.  They add great flavor.

Chickens cooking, I chose fabrics for my Cosmo bag.

I had bought some Amy Butler fabric at Alewives

that I've been dying to use, picked a charcoal gray for

my solid and a vibrant ocean turquoise green for the lining.

Really need that shot of color right now.

Then I proceeded to talk myself in off the ledge because I 

didn't have the woven fusible interfacing Ms Butler requires.

I did however have 5 yards of non woven fusible interfacing in

my stash and boldly decided to use it up.  Oye, now I know how

people feel when I say, if you don't have an ingredient in a

recipe, just substitute!  What if it doesn't work?  After all that

time and money and you've made a horrible decision?

Oh well, I'll let you know, because the nearest woven interfacing 

from me would have been 1 hour away in a snow storm.

Here she is, all cut out and lined, I've got the bands on and

will tackle the handles later today.  Wish me luck.

One more perspective of this kitchen.  In remodeling, we removed the wall

between the two rooms to make it one, and took out a big boxy entry way.

Look at the light flooding in.

Thanks for listening, and enjoy your day

Kyra

A Quilt for Friends

Last night I experienced the true wonder of friendship and quilts.

In a cozy, candle lit home, almost 30 of us gathered to welcome friends

just returning from Ethiopia with their beautiful 15 month old adopted daughter.

We had been asked in January to each make a block for a quilt

to give in celebration of this wondrous occasion.

It was so awesome to be part of this.  Everyone coming together,

the blend of all our personalities, the bonding......and then

to experience the true delight from this little girl seeing the quilt

 is almost beyond words for me.

She was totally taken in by it, exploring it with all her senses,

hands touching and spirit shining. 

 I will no longer wonder if all our efforts

of creating from our hearts make a difference.

Simply put, they just do.

Here is one more picture from the kitchen we've been putting together.

Granite is in, fixture is hung, we are waiting for the knobs, but

the faucet is in, as well as the tile backsplash, artwork is hung and they are moving in.

I will have completed pictures soon.

Enjoy your day!

I'm off to celebrate a snow day by roasting a chicken and starting

an Amy Butler Cosmo bag.

I'll let you know how it all turns out tomorrow.

Kyra

First Ever Antique Festival on Deer Isle

I'd like to announce plans for an

Antique and Fine Craft Festival

at Edgewood Farm on Deer Isle

Sunday, July 22, 2012 from 10am-4pm with

early bird tickets available at 8am

I have some awesome dealers and vendors signed up already

space is $50.00 and the venue has huge potential for 

a truly wonderful show.

Besides antiques and handmaids, we have

 live music scheduled, foodies, wine tasting, farmers and

are looking for more to join us.

If you or anyone else you may know would like some 

more info or to register,  you can contact me at

207-367-5936 or here, or my email kyra64@juno.com

Thanks everyone!  Enjoy your day

Kyra

blackberry puree

Have you noticed that you haven't been eating all those luscious wild

blackberries that you picked in the end of summer? 

 I've noticed.

Bags of the delicious things that I fought brambles and aggressive cats

 for are just sitting in my freezer. 

 It's all those seeds! 

 My morning smoothies with them

had at least a thousand seeds in the last swallow - not good.

So, I decided to make a wonderful blackberry puree.

Now I am using them in everything!  In my smoothies, added to sparkling water for a 

"soda", as a syrup on greek yogurt, as the base for sauce for sautéed chicken breasts 

the list goes on.

I do this with raspberries too and it freezes well.

Place the berries in a heavy bottom sauté pan with

a bit of a sweetener if very tart ( used 1/4 cup coconut crystals to 8 cups blackberries)

a few T of water ( I added 4) and the juice of 1/2 a lemon

Heat this on medium high heat just until it begins to boil.

Immediately remove from heat and place in a food processor

Process until pureed

Pour puree into a tight mesh strainer over a bowl and push the

puree through the strainer, leaving the seeds behind

Deep dark deliciousness with no seeds!!

Let it cool and store in fridge or freeze in small batches for

easy access.

Enjoy!

Kyra

Today, I believe

I've woken up this morning ready to let go of the

"what ifs?" and the doubts.  

At the beginning of each year my oldest and dearest friend

asks me to pick a word, one word, to embrace throughout the

year and to give me focus.  My word this year is

BELIEVE.  So, what am I waiting for?

It is just that simple.  Time to let go of all the old beliefs that

no longer suit me and embrace the here and now.

I'm forgiving myself for the fears and moving on

"Following your dreams adds a great peaceful quality to life"
This quote came in my morning affirmation, it also said, "take the
risk - live your dreams."

Today, I believe.

Have a wonderful weekend

Kyra

I'm dreaming of an herb garden

Awakening energy can be felt everywhere here.  

The movement of light and shadow, big puddles of bubbling mud,

chubby robins, even the smell of skunk, has me in

serious anticipation of what is to come.

It is so unbelievable to me that this:

Will soon look like this :

Last year my front lawn was such a success in early summer.

 White peonies, intertwined with pink roses and

a bed of plump strawberries beneath.  Unfortunately this success was
soon followed by a serious herb garden failure.
This year will be different! You have to believe or why would any of us
put so much work into the gardens we tend every year?

I have my seeds sorted from last year, and have ordered what else I need.

Renee is going to try to grow sweet potatoes behind her new shop.

That will be an interesting process I'm sure, from beginning to end.

My supply of storable foods gathered thru the Fall

from my favorite farms is really beginning to dwindle. 

Last night I used up my last box of potatoes from Carding Brook Farm.

I sliced them thinly and sautéed them in olive oil until tender and starting to brown.

Then I threw in a crushed clove of Annabel's garlic and some dried rosemary and

continued cooking them until they were deep golden brown and crisp.

The rosemary and garlic imparted this wonderful earthy, almost vanilla essence

to the potatoes that I had never experienced. 

All I had were frozen peas for a green vegetable, so I sautéed some

garden shallots in butter and sea salt and allowed the peas to warm slowly

in this delicate cloak of flavor.

Adding seared pork chops from a pig raised by Old

Ackley Farm, we sat down to a wonderful simple dinner.

I am so grateful and inspired by the local foods available to us here. 

And not a GMO in site.

Enjoy your day...dreaming

Kyra