74. Donuts

I made donuts today. I used a recipe in a reprinted cookbook, identical to an ancient (well, 1940s) one that sits in my parents' kitchen. It, in general, makes lousy cookies and some creepy things (there is a recipe for possum & stuffing, for instance), but it is the source of my waffle recipe and now my donut recipe.

Jake grew up making donuts. I have never made them. Like fried chicken, donuts were something you purchased, not made. We made other things (like waffles, for instance) but we didn't fry anything.
(note: glass milk bottle, aluminum pitcher, unbrushed hair: just a glimpse of life in Chez Kennedy)
I didn't use a deep fat fryer--we used to have one but it was purged long ago. After I made the soft light dough and cut the donuts with an upturned glass and an icing tip, also upside-down, I dropped them into 3 inches of oil in a 3 quart saucepan, with a meat thermometer attached to keep it between 350 and 365 degrees.
h(note: this is as clean as the stovetop ever is. Mark this down, red letter day)
I have an electric stove, and I know many cooks look down their noses at it, but I've never found it to be a problem (except when you want a large pot on the back burner, but that's the stove's design, not the fuel source). I turned the burner to medium high and if the oil got above 365, I eased it half-off the burner. That was it.

I made a cocoa icing from the same ancient cookbook. Cocoa powder, butter, confectioners sugar, vanilla, and coffee. Perfect.(note: the cookbook is next to the donuts. I didn't even realize I'd done that when I took the picture!)

Jake kept some plain, and shook some fresh from the oil in a container of cinnamon sugar. The other third or so got iced. I have leftover icing in the fridge. I might spread a bit on toast tomorrow morn.

This could quickly become a New Year's tradition.

72. Christmas

Once I've recovered from Christmas, I will post some photos of the things I wrought this Christmas season: 3 afghans, a table runner, placemats, a circular quilt, minky dot pants, doll clothes, fleece blanket, 2 magnet boards, an embroidered picture of the book cover for 21 Balloons. But for now, I am simply reflecting on the insanity of doing all of this in December.

I had a stressful autumn, and I kept putting off Christmas until later. I made little bargains in my head: I don't have to make Advent banners this year, so I'll have more time...Fiona's older and can help on some of the tasks...and other total BS that we tell ourselves to keep us from screaming every moment of the day.

Thanksgiving came with an inflamed masseter jaw muscle and no ambition to do anything. December began. December ticked away. I had doll clothes done, and two afghans ready to seam, but really? Nothing. And then it was December 16.

I made a nice little list. I am never happier than when I'm making a nice little list. I had it all worked out. I would get it done. Of course, this didn't account for visits from friends or sisters (both of whom I very much wanted to sit and chat with, and did so, knowing I would pay for it later). It didn't account for showering or cooking meals or running to the pharmacy at the last moment or any of those things. It was solid sewing from start to finish. And a little spray painting.

But I got it done, all but one of the afghans, and that I finished at my leisure on the 26th and handed to the recipient (Jake's brother Sam and his wife Michelle).

I knew I had lost my mind when I had the prep work done for a set of placemats for my mother-in-law, and I looked at it and thought, "this should be a quilt. A round quilt." And I went for it. Wha?

So this year, for Christmas 2012, it is getting underway in February. Because it really only took me a few hours to make that round quilt. And it's insane that I waited until the morning of the 24th to start it. Insane. I could spend a week in February and get 4 quilts done and feel better about myself and about life and my jaw muscles and all that. Wouldn't it be nice to sit still the last week before Christmas?

I get better at Christmas every year. I adjust and learn how to make things better for myself and folks around me (Jake, kids, our families, friends). This one, however, came at great expense to my sleep schedule and mental stability. And that's just crazy. Like the whole semester has been.

But things are looking up in many directions, finally, and I have to start this in February. No more denial, no more superhuman feats of sewing.

2010 was the year of the quilt. 2011 was more generalized. I do better when I have a focus. 2012 will be the year of the traditional quilt. I need to go back to the basics of quilting. I need to go to Luckenbach, Texas. If you understand that, good for you.