Goal #48: Learn to make pie from Kate McDermott

Twitter has a bit of a crush on Kate McDermott and I caught it too. Let me explain.

I have no real culinary training other than what one can gain from reading cookbooks like novels and spending thousands of hours playing in the kitchen. When you are self taught, sometimes there are basics that you somehow never really learn to do well. I find this is true of my culinary skill, gardening and quilting among other self taught loves. When I put my goal list together, I added quite a few goals that aimed to correct some of these gaps - either through practice or learning from the hands of people who know better than me.

half butter and half leaf lard for a perfect dough 

Pie crust is one of those basics that can be so simple yet so difficult. It consists of only a few simple ingredients: flour, fat, water. Yet ten cooks can read the same recipe and end up with different outcomes ranging from tender flaky layers to dense chunks of drywall. Its one of those things best learned from an expert.

use the pie pan to measure out the fruit for the filling 

Kate McDermott is this expert. Her pies have been featured on the cover of Saveur and Edible Seattle. Seattle Magazine named her Food Rock Star of the year. Ruth Reichl, the editor-in-chief of Gourmet Magazine, called baking pie with Kate a "liberating experience." Every Seattle blogger has blogged about her (so, I am about two years late to the party). Anytime anyone on twitter talks about pie they reference Kate. This is the person to learn pie from. I caught the Kate bug and she made it onto my goal list - number 48 - "learn to make pie from Kate McDermott."

a heaping cup of sugar and a third cup of flour to thicken and sweeten the rhubarb 

This last week I was lucky enough to be invited by Kate to drive out the peninsula and learn from her. I wasn't going to miss this opportunity and I squeezed my ninth month pregnant self behind the wheel and headed down to the ferry line.

Kate was all she had been cracked up to be - a pie expert with a warm personality and cold hands (all the better for flaky dough). Being comfortable in the kitchen, and able to make a perfectly acceptable pie already, I wanted to learn more than I could from a good recipe - and I did. She showed me all the secrets that no written recipe could have taught and a few that are easier to pass on (use "leaf lard" instead of shortening). I had been making my dough too wet and my filling without enough thickener. I learned to work the fat into the flour until it looks like "peas...and almonds and a few walnuts," to not be afraid to use my hands and to stop before I think I am done.

The beautiful Kate and swollen pregnant Lara 

Before the week was done I had already tried my hand at another pie to see if my talents would translate out of her kitchen and into mine. My guests raved about my strawberry rhubarb pie and I even impressed myself. No gift is more valuable than a newly learned skill. Follow this link for a tutorial from Kate herself. Thank you Kate!

Pure spring time - rhubarb pie and cherry blossoms 

Sources for Leaf Lard:

Sea Breeze Farm, Vashon Island, University District and Ballard Farmers Market

Skagit River Ranch, Sedro Wolley, University District, Ballard, West Seattle and Bellevue Farmers Market

Dietrich's Meat, Pennsylvania, order on-line

Carving a wood (linoleum) block stamp

Goal #47: Carve a woodblock stamp

I attended an "art night" event yesterday and it was not until I got there that I remembered that it was one of my goals to carve a stamp. The hostess had all of the materials so I got to work thinking and sketching. Apparently in the 21st century, "woodblock" stamps are carved into blocks of linoleum, which carves like butter, very pleasant.

I had drawn a picture of a dandelion blowing its seeds into the breeze and thought I would write something about, "You can not live a positive life with negative thoughts." But that was a lot of letters. Then I thought of my dear grandpa and the phrase, "Yeah, keep on wishing" came to mind. I ended up settled on a few words that sum up my philosophy on wishful thinking as a good first step to dreams realized.

Going to the Circus

Goal #12: Go to the Circus

This last week brought me to two nights of Seattle's Moisture Festival: comedy, variety, burlesque. Just my kind of show - low budget, high talent. You still have time to catch a show this week.

Small Quilting Space in a Closet

Goal #89 - Setting up a sewing space in my house

Ever since my son was born, finding time for hobbies like quilting has been difficult. Even more difficult is not having space for quilting. Before he was born, it was only a minor annoyance (maybe more than minor to my husband) to have the dining room table covered in fabric and cutting tools and spools of thread while I spent days working on a new quilt. After the baby it was not possible: Pins falling to the floor, little hand grabbing at carefully laid out fabric pieces.

 design from iheartorganizing

I don't have a "spare" room in my house or a "studio" out back like people in quilting books have. I needed to make use of what space I had. Along came Pinterest - the great visual idea board - and brought me tons of inspiration this month to get started. I decided to use my laundry room to create my tiny-quilting-space, but a closet would have worked too.

To see my idea board for my tiny-quilting-space, click here! If you like the idea of setting up something in a closet, search "closet office" on Pinterest for ideas - check out this pretty example to your left.


To start, I found a design for a table that would fold down to be stored away, and my ad on Craigslist for a carpenter to build it yielded a dozen emails in so many hours. Ikea sells a similar table for about $200 but it was too big for my space. I encouraged the craftsman to make whatever amendments he thought would make the table better and I am very happy with the result.

Folding table all tucked away 

Folding table up and ready for inspection by toddler

Then I used an old TV tray to create a fold away ironing board by using an industrial stapler to staple the metallic fabric to the underside of the tray (you can see it in the photos at the end of this post). I've had an unused magnetic herb/spice container set in my kitchen for years, so this was finally put to use as a holding tray for pins, bobbins and buttons. 

Since I will not have room to lay out pieces on the floor or a large table, I followed a great idea for a mobile design wall. I purchased a large piece of stiff sheet insulation ($10) at a DIY home store and had them cut it to size. I then used an industrial stapler to cover it Warm&Natural batting. It creates a "sticky" surface for cotton and is also pinnable. I love it! You can see it behind my sewing machine in the photos at the end of this post.

newly organized closet

I cleaned out the small closet in the laundry room (most of what was in there will be just fine in the garage now) and moved all of my sewing and craft supplies to the closet. This required some downsizing, which was good to do anyway. The most useful thing did was to move my fabric from big disorganized bins on to little "bolts" that I can easily see on the shelf. To make the bolts, I ordered 100 comic book boards from Amazon ($10), folded each piece of fabric lengthwise, secured one end of the folded fabric to the board with tape and then wrapped it around the bolt. The best part is that I can see at a glance how much of each fabric I have by the thickness of the bolt.

so many little bolts

books and unfinished boxes for projects

Room at the bottom for paper crafting supplies and 

embroidery

Lastly, a folding chair finished my new quilting room. When I want to sew, I simply wheel my laundry cart into the hall way and set up the table (the sewing machine is stored in the table's open cabinet). When my son wakes from nap time, I can just shut the door to the laundry room and not worry about stray needles.

After: Quilting room

Before: Laundry Room 

Now I can get on with my craft and quilting goals: #19, #67, #74...