Nettles

It must be Spring!

This past weekend we went out hiking in the Gorge  and came across a descent sized crop of stinging nettle. Luckily Liam had a knife and leather gloves in his backpack so I was able to  collect a pretty descent sized bag full without getting stung once. To use I washed the nettles in a colander, using tongs to pick them up.  First I put to them to use for breakfast in a Nettle Frittata.
I have a small 8" cast iron frying pan that is perfect sized for a two serving frittata, you could increase the ingredients accordingly to serve more in a larger pan.

Nettle Frittata

Ingredients:
A couple handfuls washed (use gloves and be cautious!) fresh stinging nettle tops and leaves
1/2 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, chopped,
1 small zucchini, grated with as much moisture squeezed out as possible
4 eggs, beaten in a bowl
1 T milk or cream
salt and pepper
2 T butter
crumbled queso fresco, goat cheese or feta

Turn on oven broiler and bring a 4 cups of water to a boil in a sauce pot. Using gloves or tongs add nettles to the boiling water, stirring a couple times. Turn water down to simmer.
In the mean time melt butter in cast iron pan and saute onion and garlic until onions are clear and fragrant.  Remove nettles from hot water and press as much moisture out as possible using a dish towel, or paper towel. Chop roughly. Add nettles and zucchini to onions in pan. Add salt and pepper and milk or cream to the bowl of  beaten eggs.  Add eggs to cooking vegetables, stirring very gently to combine. Continue to cook on low heat until eggs are just set at the bottom of the pan but still runny on top. Crumble cheese on top and place entire frying pan under preheated broiled until eggs puff up on top and brown slightly. Keep a close eye on the frittata while its under the broiler and take care not to burn.

The second thing I made with the nettles was creamy polenta with sauteed nettles, garlic and mushrooms, topped with sunny side up eggs and homemade chorizo.

With the rest, I was considering making a soup, but I had a fridge full of perishable groceries needing to be used first so I dried the rest out on a screen. Once dried the nettles lose their sting and can be used for cooking or for a nutrient rich and delicious tea. 

Mexican Food Fever

Since we have been back in town from our vacation we have been having Mexican food for pretty much every meal.   With each dinner accompanied by margaritas made with our stash of Mexican Tequila that we brought back, obviously.

I discovered a few new dishes while we were down there that I immediately wanted to try my hand at making. One being Enfrijoladas, basically enchiladas made with a creamy bean sauce. We had them in San Cristobal at a breakfast place and they were filled with scrambled eggs. So good, so easy!  Also Sopa Azteca, a delicious thick soup made with chicken broth, tomato, and chipolte with cheese, chunks of avocado, tortilla chips and shredded chicken, Chilaquiles, and homemade chorizo. 

Enfrijoladas

Sopa Azteca

Tacos

Rice and beans with homemade chorizo

Migas with poblanos, onions and homemade chorizo

Migas, similar to Chilaquiles but with eggs

Mexico

Vacation Dress

Liam and I are going to Mexico this week for 10 days as a late honeymoon. I am super excited, its the first time I have gone on an actual vacation that wasn't to visit family since Liam and I drove cross county almost six years ago.

For a few weeks I have been envisioning a simple, lightweight, pull-over style, elastic waisted dress that would be easy to wear with tights and sweater, alone with sandals, or as a bathing suit/ beachy cover up.

I was envisioning something like these little numbers from Madewell:

All are pretty spendy (like $100+) and the style seemed like it would be pretty easy to replicate.   I found this pattern via Pattern Runway which is pretty much exactly what I wanted:

I intended to buy the  pattern but I waited until last weekend to decide for sure that I wanted the dress to be done before the Mexico trip.  Not really enough time to order the pattern, so I improvised a pattern instead.  I used Lazy Stitching's tutorial for turning the free Colette Sorbetto top pattern into a kimono sleeve tunic as a general guideline and then drafted a combination of the sorbetto top and the shift dress pattern from the Built by Wendy Dresses book.

About a month ago I had bought 5 yards of second hand black rayon with white and brownish flowers for $8 so I decided to use that, since I wasn't making a muslin I wanted to work out any kinks with an inexpensive fabric. Although I do have some brown silk in my stash that would be very pretty for a second, possibily lined, version. The rayon  fabric was extra wide so the whole project took only about 1 1/4 yards.

I made a casing for the elastic waist band with bias tape made with my handy clover bias tape maker and the same fabric as the dress. The slinky rayon was a bit tricky to get in a tidy fold so I spray starched it pretty liberally.

I wanted this dress to be really easy to throw and off and on so I wanted the inside to be as tidy as possible. It has french seams throughout and instead of traditional facings I used rayon bias tape to face the armholes and neckhole.  I am pretty happy with it, in retrospect I would have liked it if the kimono sleeves were looser and more kimono-like.  Since there were so many variables using multiple different patterns, adding sleeves, and changing the neckline it was tricky to figure out how much space was needed for the sleeves but it works as is with the tight sleeves.

I apologize for the silly phone pictures, my real camera is packed for the trip.  Hopefully I will get a picture of the dress in action in sunny Mexico!

Good to the Last

Coffee from Panama is the best.