Hi. I’m Mateo (AKA the CoalBear).
Hannah has been getting all of the attention for weeks and weeks while she was flying around on Sharon Air, so the Mother of Cats has been spending lots of time with me since Hannah came home from her adventures. She has been knitting and knitting on a smoky brown blob of yarny *something* and I have been extremely vigilant about attacking any stray ends that try to get away from her. I mean, I have sat by her side for hours watching intently… this is just exhausting! Finally, the Mother of cats got all of the stitches off the needles this afternoon and I could take a little nap while she tried it on.
Whew! She is pretty happy with how it is going, but she says that she needs to block it to see how long it will be. Whatever. All I care about is how long I get to nap before she puts this sweater monster back onto her needles. Oh, yeah. This sweater is called Lace & Fade by Joji Locatelli.
The Mother of Cats has also been busy sewing this week. Hannah decided to help her with this, which was totally okay with me because I think that the sewing machine is a little bit scary. Hannah kind of likes it and always spends all of her time in the sewing room when the mother of cats is busy in there.
Anyway, I hope that you can understand what this sewn stuff is. I think that it would be good if Hannah adds some notes here, so here she goes:
- The first picture is of the bedside caddy that the Mother of Cats and I sewed a few weeks ago. It is sewn to a towel that goes under the mattress (MY IDEA!!) and those nice pouches hold lots of things for the Mother of Cats.
- Last week the Mother of Cats sewed the little caddy (middle picture) that is designed to hang from Command hooks on her bedside table. Isn’t it nice? The little pouches hold her glasses and phone, and the back pouch is exactly right for her Kindle tablet. It works great, but she is still thinking of how to improve it.
- The last caddy is much larger, has two larger pouches at the bottom, and is kind of a mix-up of both bedside caddies. The Mother of Cats sent if off to her sister this week. The sister plans to do some trickery with grommets and stuff to hang it onto her bedside table.
The only other stuff that is going on around here is that trip the Mother of Cats took to the local garden and farm store. She came back with some crazy stinky roasted green chiles and also a funky pumpkin. Hannah and I stayed completely away from the kitchen while the chiles were roasting away in their boxes, but we did check out the pumpkin.
This is one ugly, scary pumpkin!!! Hannah and I don’t understand why this came home to stay with us. The Mother of Cats put it on the table with some other pumpkins and stuff. The Mother of Cats says that this is all about Halloween, but we just want our table back! Hannah likes to take naps up there, and now there is this stoopid, lumpy-ass pumpkin in the way…
Happy Caturday, everyone!
This is Mateo, the CoalBear, signing off.
Notes from the Mother of Cats:
It is green chile season!!! Every year I get a bushel of chiles roasted and then I freeze them to use all during the winter. This year I bought two different types of green chile peppers and made two trips that netted me a total of a bushel and a half of peppers in the freezer.
If you’ve never done this, the process is really simple. The chile peppers are grouped by how hot they are… I buy chiles that are mild and avoid ones that have names like Ghost or Dynamite. This year I got a bushel of Ancho chile (the meaty green ones) and a half bushel of Marconi chile peppers. The peppers are washed, then dumped into a rotating drum that is turned over a flame until all of the skin is blackened and the peppers are roasted. They are then poured into a heavy plastic bag and packed into a box that is taken home to continue roasting for the next few hours. When they are finally cool enough to handle, I put 6-8 peppers into a freezer bag and then these are moved to the freezer when cooled. This year I froze 24 bags of chili pepper. I sure hope that’s enough to get through the winter. 🙂
When I use the peppers later on that blackened skin will just wash off, but the smoky flavor will linger. Green chile is good stuff; versatile, anti-inflammatory, and extremely addictive. I’ve already eaten two of my cached bags of chile this fall…
Green chile is also serious business in this part of the country. There is a rivalry between the governor of my state (Colorado) and New Mexico’s governor over who has the best chile crop. We do, of course. Pueblo chile forever!!
That pumpkin is called a Warty Goblin pumpkin. I think that they are so ugly they are cute!!
Yarn, Books & Roses 
Varied and interesting stuff, Marilyn ! 🙂
Here’s another Colorado woman with whom I think you should be exchanging posts: https://piedtype.com/
I believe the two of you will get along just fine ! 😀
Thanks for the link. 🙂
The roasted chiles sound really good! Great idea freezing batches of them for use later in the year. I would feast on them too 🙂 That is definitely an ugly-cute pumpkin!
Mateo – Handsome boy, so good to hear from you! You are being such a big help to Mother of Cats 🙂
Freezing works really well with the whole roasted chiles. I’ve been forced to buy processed chiles at the store and they all have a nasty aftertaste that this avoids. Of course, if you don’t live in green chile country there aren’t many options. When I went to college in Washington state people didn’t know what a tortilla was, much less a green chile…
Mateo: I am very handsome, aren’t I? I’m growing out my winter coat and getting fluffier by the day.
I can only imagine! Unfortunately I’m not in green chile country, though I have relatives who are, and they rave about getting them fresh from the roaster. Mateo – yes you are!!
Some people have bunches of garlic thrown in the roaster with the chiles. Yum. I didn’t do it myself, but it sure was tempting….
OMG. That sounds amazing!
Being raised in NM, I think Hatch green chiles are the best!
You know, I’m not 100% sure that my Ancho chiles didn’t come from Hatch, but the Marconi are absolutely from Pueblo ad they do taste fantastic. Highly recommended to put into breakfast burritos!!
Well the chile with an E is all new to me, I have heard of burning bell peppers over a gas flame on the hob and then putting them in a plastic bag and the skin slides off, so I guess that maybe was copied from the original chile. Damn that is one ugly pumpkin, it looks like it has been cursed by a witch to be covered in warts 😂 I’m not surprised the cats aren’t enjoying its company on “their” table. So I need to copy your idea for the bedside table because mine is a nightmare and so I’m going to one day copy your idea and have somewhere for my glasses, antacids, lip balm and hand cream to go, so they are handy during the night. It has drawers but they make to much noise rooting round in the middle of the night.
Hannah and Mateo: Thank you!!! That is one scary-ass pumpkin!!!
The bedside caddy is really helpful! I also have my phone and the day planner there in case I get an unexpected phone call and I need to figure out an appointment on the fly; so helpful! Now my bedside table is pretty neat and only has a few essential items on it, and life is so much easier!
I looked at lots of ideas on YouTube and then kind of figured it out. I like hanging it from the side of my bedside table with the command hooks, but my sister plans to put in grommets to make it hang higher, and I realized this week that I could sew on little cloth strip onto the back so it could be hung on a little rod that goes on the hooks, making it hang higher on the side of the table.
Alas, I’m not in green chile country, though I should look into some local specialty grocery stores. You never know what you can find in some of those stores. Though to be honest, I’d also need to get new recipes if I did end up with any chiles. I know I enjoy them when I go to restaurants, but I don’t know how to cook with them.
Oh, you have come to the right person! I used to work in a large science department at a high school and we made green chili stew together once a month and then wolfed it down at lunchtime. I’ve been wondering if I should post the recipe. I also use them in a breakfast dish that features hash browns, bacon, cheese, and eggs. I use them in place of anything that calls for roasted peppers like the quinoa recipe that I linked to a few weeks ago and I have a Country Captain chicken recipe that is killer with green chiles. Then there are chile rellenos!! Basically, you can use them anywhere bell peppers are called for but be aware that there will be a little heat and the flavor is different (better!). They are wonderful in any dish that features corn and cheese…
Oooh, that sounds great! Thanks for the tips! Now I want a chile egg scramble… Mmmm. I do love eating chile rellenos, but I’ll leave those to the pros to cook. They seem too fiddly for me. 😉
Google green chile corn pudding… I like to eat it for lunch with some salsa on top and avocado on the side…