Sheryl Decterow

To clear up the post title, LYS = local yarn store.

I’ve pretty much been on a cantaloupe orange kick since I moved to MN, and am still looking for a kickass opalescent-opaque nail polish in the shade.

I just spent enough time wandering through a yarn store I frequent not quite frequently enough to make the sales clerk sweat, which is what I do; at least, another byproduct of moving to MN has been very very carefully weighing each purchase I am considering making. I was really feeling rather bored with the selection, and thus hopeless, and confused about my priorities of buying yarn at all, and hey it’s getting kind of warm in here, here comes some sweat, and then I just start over touching things and suddenly oh my god there’s this delectably delicate snow bunny white lace-knitted sweater in my hands and I need to know ala what child, what yarn is this?

And so eventually I’m walking around the store again with this little orange ball that feels like a baby bunny rabbit in my hands, knowing not what to do with it but only that it must become mine. And I’m struck by thoughts of something I read recently about the unsustainability of modern America’s “I want it therefore I deserve it” attitude but I don’t really care. I think this is a little different when the magic of creation is looming. And I wander over to the Schaefer yarns because well they are awesome especially this here cotton with a slub of rayon through it that I have been fixating on this entire visit. And I’m holding baby bunny orange up against various colourways and it just about kicks me in the teat – the harmony! The colourway is called “Elizabeth Blackwell” and it’s going to sound cheesy you just have to see it touch it but it’s grey blues and grey purples and grey oranges. And they want to get married, this subduedly colourful cotton-rayon and my little baby bunny orange and my check card is their minister. And is it ever! But it is so worth it because they’re going to make beautiful babies together.

I had gone to this yarn store because they carry some (some.) of the yarns I know I like, but as usual, I end up with something totally new and different and awesome. So that fulfills the second post title’s prophesy: finding new yarns is the real use of a brick-and-mortar LYS.

Oh, and apparently badminton kicks my ass now because I can barely walk today and I cry out in pain when I sit on a toilet. (it must be very interesting to be waiting for public bathrooms I’m in) Granted, there was a bike ride too, but it wasn’t that intense…

I have everything I need to make these maple sugar cookies – except, tonight, the time, so tomorrow shall be the day of their creation!

I discovered the recipe in an American cookie cookbook (that I discovered on the shelves at work – a bakery) by the lady Dionysus of cookies: Nancy Baggett. My gloriously great aunt Jean blessed me with a copy of her International Cookie Cookbook, which inspired my plans for my future coffeehouse to include and emphasize not only a gourmet latte bar, but also a gourmet cookie bar. I wish I could afford to send every person who ever reads this blog a copy of this cookbook. Actually, I wish more that I could afford for myself a copy of each of her regional cookie-books, because there are many other gems like the following one that did not make the International cut. But obviously the best-of is an ok place to start!

Anyway! I had been enticed by some maple sugar at my nearby food co-op the other day, and I have been so good at abstaining from sweets for the past few days so that I could actually start denting my list of things to bake faster than it can grow (and for health reasons), so when I found this recipe I knew it was time…

I am going to share it before I bake it. Reformatted during transcription, of course, to my preferences :) Which, by the way, is very near to the formatting in my favourite cookbook (part of what makes it my fave), Simply in Season.

1 1/2 c flour
1/4 tsp baking powder

Thorougly stir together in medium-sized bowl and set aside.

1/2 c maple sugar
1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter, slightly softened
1/2 c sugar (I am tempted to experiment with removing this, but I must start making first attempts at recipes exactly as they are written)

Beat together in large bowl until very light and well-balanced.

1 egg
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Beat in until evenly incorporated, then stir in flour mixture until just evenly incorporated. Dough will be fairly soft, but if it is too soft to handle, let stand five-ten minutes, or until firmed up slightly.

Divide dough in half and place each portion between large sheets of wax paper. Roll out each portion 1/8-inch thick; check underside of dough and smooth out any wrinkles that form. Stack rolled portions on a baking sheet and refrigerate for about one hour, or until cold and firm.

Working with one portion at a time, gently peel away, then pat one sheet of paper back into place. Flip dough over, then peel off and discard second sheet. Using a 2 1/2 – 3-inch maple lead-shaped cutter, cut out cookies; if cutter sticks, occasionally dip into powdered sugar, tapping off excess. (If at any point dough is too soft to handle, re-refrigerate for a while.) Carefully transfer cookies to greased baking sheets, spacing about 1 1/2-inch apart. Reroll dough scraps until all are gone. Sprinkle cookies liberally with coarse sugar.

Bake one sheet at a time in upper third of preheated 350F oven for 6-9 minutes, or until just slighly coloured on top and faintly tinged brown at edges. Reverse sheet halfway through baking to ensure even browning. Immediately transfer to wire racks and let stand until completely cooked. Cool sheets between batches.

So the recipe seems to assume that you use two baking sheets, so as not to end up with melted gooey unshapely maple leaves as the soft dough lays on a hot sheet.

We’ll see how they go :)

I visited Anthropologie and Sur La Table today, and I cooed at many things but purchased only a select few: Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Cooking, a set of six coconut wood spoons (because metal irritates my teeth when I use it to eat cold things), and a maple leaf cookie cutter for the cookies. (This was by far the hardest thing to find for them! It’s ’cause I’m not in Canada anymore, Dorothy…) Some of Anthropologie’s measuring spoon sets, such as stackable giraffes, make me wish I had not already replaced Daniel’s obtuse old one. I suppose I can survive without them. But I don’t know. Stackable giraffe measuring spoons…

On my way back downtown I had to stop at Target to acquire a hand mixer? egg beater? you know, one of those mechanical hand-held whisking devices. Because I can’t really afford nor do I need a mixer at this time, and if I ever make bread by hand, anyway, I won’t mind kneading it out in the process, which is the only thing I can think of wanting to make that is beyond the capabilities of a food processor or eggbeaterhandmixerwhiskything. The former of which I still need to acquire, definitely used since it’s the kind of thing many brides might receive only to never use and thus resell cheaply. So I got my… whisk machine, and isn’t it funny how the cheapest of a choice of products can often have the best qualities? Manufacturers just know they can con some people out of twice as much money for simply more attractive products. Anyway, I have also been on the hunt for an affordable new swimsuit, because my current one was bought out of cheapness and desperation and I want to be swimming a lot this summer. (Indeed I have a gym membership to uphold now) So, I tried this on, and they didn’t have my size in stock but viola! Here she is! My new suit! A glorious thing about tankinis is the tank can also make a great everyday top, and I know this one will. So this brings me happiness :) I am glad to have found something elegant and prettily designed but not loud. Soooo many suits I was finding with the right designs were way too loud in fabric choice.

Also on the way back downtown I passed Namaste Cafe, which I have passed many times before but always categorised as a restaurant rather than a hangout cafe. Which is accurate but it’s very chill, maybe not so much a place to set up home and crochet for hours but definitely a place that welcomes one of those passionate conversations that can sometimes make a meal out take hours. And when I talked to Daniel about what we would do when he got off work, he expressed disinterest in heading home right away, so I suggested we reprise there. It’s in a totally sweetly low-’tude house with the prettiest gauzy phtalo blue drapes I’ve ever seen on its bathroom window, a nice patio with lots of street action to watch, and offers an affordable, classy menu. If there is anywhere I would want to begin a career as a server (it is a come-to-you service place), the Namaste Cafe is it. And yes, I am thinking about it.

So that does it! :) That is where I will have my birthday dinner. I really want to cook a feast, but there just aren’t going to be enough committed people for it here.

I am also planning on braiding my wet hair to sleep on the night before, because it’s hella cute but too much of a pain in the ass to do more than, say, once a year.

It feels good to have many things to be excited about :)