Bagels in the Snow

**This post is being guest-written by Bagel Dan
A few weeks ago we decided to experiment with homemade bagels (results noted in an earlier post). The outcome was delicious to say the least. Well, we're back in Iowa again, and the request was made for me to flex my bagel biceps and whip up some tasty treats.

Our previous attempt was with a festive, fall flavored Pumpkin bagel that fit well with the season. The results were tasty and the product was eaten quick. This time around, though, we decided to create more of a variety. The first request was for Cinnamon Raisin - a true classic indeed. The dough was made using a good quality, high-gluten bread flour, pure vanilla and a premium Vietnamese cinnamon. A short rise, quick proof and nimble fingers produced an absolutely amazing bagel with a well-developed structure, chewy exterior and out-of-this world cinnamon flavor that hits the senses on multiple levels.


**Though unconventional to some, I suggest pairing it with your favorite peanut butter

Next up was a batch of plain bagels - a simple yet often maligned baked good. A good plain bagel should be chewy, evenly browned with a nice exterior. When done well, there's nothing like 'em - and this certainly didn't disappoint. All of the bagels in this batch started life plain, but 2 ended up studded with sesame seeds and three went through an everything wash. What came out of the oven, were some of the most stunning, picture-perfect specimens that I've seen this far west of the jersey turnpike.

So, until we can afford to make regular trips out east, these ones will have to do, but I don't think anyone will be complaining too loudly :)

Potholder in Giant

Felted potholders are my new potential favorite fast gift. This is my first attempt in preparation for Christmas gifts. I knitted an attached I-cord around the edge and an unattached I-cord for the loop. The loop was a crocheted chain in the pattern, but I like living on the edge, so I improvised.


Purl Bee says this is supposed to end up being 9.5 in. wide. I feel like even if it were 9.5 in., it would still be big for a potholder. Maybe this one would be appropriate for giants, but I'm planning to use it as a Dutch oven trivet instead. I'll frog the matching potholder and make a pair of smaller ones.


-吴碧芙

Mad Hatting Again

I made another 70's ski hat over my weekend trip to Pittsburgh. This one is made out of Brown Sheep Superwash (amethyst) and Cascade Superwash Paints, which was left over from my shawl. It is the first useful thing I've made that is machine washable. The variegation makes a nice effect.




-吴碧芙

One Fish, Two Fish

I'm making a baby blanket to donate to the Binky Patrol. My knitting guru suggested finding a technique that I wanted to learn, since a baby blanket is like a little sampler and makes for good practice. Furthermore, if you don't like the technique, the baby blanket is small and it's over quickly.

I decided to make this cute fish blanket. The technique I wanted to learn was reading knitting charts, since the fish pattern I liked was charted. I tried, but I couldn't read the chart. The writer wrote the chart so that I couldn't understand what the stitches were, and she didn't give stitch names, only descriptions. It also reminded me of cross-stitch, which is too much of an exercise in strict, controlled, dizzy counting than I prefer.

Utterly frustrated, I found a written pattern for fish. The problem with that was that the pattern was only written from head to fin, and I wanted to connect my fish in a long row, instead of sewing all the individual fish together at the end. It took a lot of finding-out skills and trial-and-error skills to determine how to read the pattern from bottom to top, increasing the decreases and decreasing the increases. I also had to make sure the correct increases and decreases were chosen, so that they slanted the correct way and looked similar to the original fish.


The green is the original fish, and the purple is my modified "backwards & upside down" pattern.

-吴碧芙

The Impossible Dream

There are times, especially here, when you think, why can't I find a good bagel? Bruegger's is, at the closest, 2 hrs. away in Omaha. Local places just don't have as high of bagel standards as I do, likely because nobody around here has really had a true, chewy, crunchy, don't-have-to-toast-it, slathered-with-cream-cheese-oozing bagel. The closest we come around here, is bread dough shaped into a donut/bagel shape.

However, 文大猊's mom found a recipe for pumpkin bagels in a magazine, and we tried our hand at bagel-making when we visited this weekend. One batch was made by hand and one batch in the bread machine. Each batch made nine bagels. After the bagels were shaped and well-rested, they were boiled in water and molasses, brushed with egg white wash, and sent to the oven for 20 min.


The result is what can only be described as Pure Heaven. Slathered with a maple-walnut cream cheese (also made from scratch), the bagels were perfect--crunchy on the crust and chewy in the middle. The pumpkin and spices made for an interesting flavor combination.


It was the highlight of my weekend, and was not as difficult as the huge bagel conglomerates would lead one to believe. It's even better when one of the home bakers previously worked for a huge bagel conglomerate, and he can share some of the secrets of the trade.

-吴碧芙

New Knits

I finally finished the second shawl, having given the first away to a friend. It turned out, but I had to order a whole new skein of yarn from Des Moines in order to finish the last 2 inches.


Having finished one project, I decided to try and finish the hat and scarf my cousin asked for ten months ago. The scarf took almost this entire time, but the hat, with my full attention on it, took only 1 week, even with a lining. The grey and dark brown is wool/mohair, rust is wool/alpaca, and tan is wool/soy. The mohair tends to make things itchy in my experience. It's Whitney's 70's Ski Hat, and it has an interesting technique.


The hat is lined with a merino/cashmere blend yarn (Knit Picks Capra Yarn, Color: Timber). Hopefully, it will be warm and non-itchy.


-吴碧芙

Di San Xian

I got some free bell peppers from my friend who works with a person who has a garden. Whenever her coworker brings vegetables, my friend brings fresh vegetables for me...because I'm a vegetarian. It works out nicely. One week she brought a cucumber and 2 zucchinis, all as big as my forearm. Then, shopping in SF, I found an Asian eggplant. I knew I had to make "three fresh things" or "three treasures of the earth," a dish that I ate almost weekly in China at the Banyan Tree restaurant.


As I told my friend, who lives in China, about this little excursion, she informed me that the Banyan Tree has been gone for almost as long as I have. Even if I lived in China, I would still have to make my own di san xian. However, luckily before I left, some other teachers were able to receive the revelation of the recipe, and translated the ingredients and directions into English from the laoban (the boss) at the Banyan Tree. However, I'm still bummed that I can't go back to China to eat all of the delicacies and risk my life by eating food in their sketchy facility.

-吴碧芙