And so the year ends

We've all been through it.  Although 2020 has affected all of us differently, we're almost through it and we can look hopefully to 2021.  Do I have resolutions for 2021?  Not to speak of, although I think I will continue with the monthly mini resolutions.  Those were much easier to manage.

Speaking of which, my final tally for the December mini-resolutions is that I have not finished a book, although I decided that one of the ones I had wasn't worth finishing.  I am sure that it's a marvelous book, I am just tired of the author's writing style, which I find tedious and unnecessarily "look at how much I know" and insufficiently "look how much I can tell you".  It's a subtle difference, but a definite one.

I did finish the UFO shawl:

 

I started it when I lived in Madison, WI, about four years ago.  The designer was doing a knit-along and I didn't have much social life (nor time to create one, given work hours and commute) but I did have yarn and crafts stores nearby.  I think I intended to photograph each section as I knit it, but I don't find anything more than the photos of the skeins after purchase.  So, the finished shawl.

I did not follow the pattern exactly.  In the striped section, I alternated the purple and blue so they took turns being ridges and background.  I made the final, seed stitch, portion wider because I thought that balanced better.  It's very generously sized for me, and I am quite happy with the end result.

I have made steady progress on another book, despite the weight of work, and I may settle down to finish it this weekend.

My grandmother did make it until Christmas to open her gifts, and she loves them.  She thinks that since her hair is now grey due to the lockdown we won't recognize her, and I said she can wear one of the vests I made for her and we'll definitely know.

Something I Accomplished This Year

Just in the last week, I made my first cheese soufflé.  It is something I have wanted to try for some time, and haven't.  Somebody I know posted about having made one, and I said I wished I could do it, and he assured me I could.  Another friend suggested making a puffy omelet and calling it good enough, although he also thought I could pull off a soufflé, noting that even a failed one should be tasty.  So I thought the long weekend, with plenty of time to not rush through the steps, would be a good time to try.

While getting up the courage to go to the kitchen and actually do it, I noticed that The French Chef was rerunning on a local PBS channel, and importantly this episode was included in the offerings:

  

I have almost the exact pan that Julia Child uses, but smaller.  I took it out and made sure it was clean, and watched the episode closely.  I found a recipe, remembering later that I think I have the show's cookbook and should have pulled it out and used that one, if it's in there.  No matter, I used the recipe mostly for quantities and Mme. Child for method.

And it worked:

  

Lacking Parmesean cheese, I used Mt. Tom for sprinkling on the butter-smeared pan.

Although Julia Child recommends real Swiss cheese, lacking it I decided to use Crybaby.  But I also very much like Europa, which melts well.  As a result, I used some of each.

   

Butter into the pan, then add flour, and it bubbled nicely and quickly, due to small amounts.  I halved the recipe, except for the eggs, where I used two yolks and three whites.  The other yolk I thought about using for mayonnaise, but put it into dinner with stir-fried vegetables a couple evenings later.

Of course a local hot sauce.  I don't find it too strong.  About five drops.

Egg whites at stiff peaks.  If a machine is good enough for Julie Child, who am I to use the whisk?

At this point, I  have added the milk and then egg yolks to the butter-and-flour, along with pepper and hot sauce.  As Mme. Child instructed, I refrained from making a cheese sauce.

  

Whisking a bit of the whites into the béchamel to lighten it.

  

Folding the lightened sauce into the remaining egg whites.  To do this and sprinkle in the cheese every few turns requires both hands (a third would be handy), and to photograph it requires more hands than I have, or would get the phone messy.  Thus you get the beginning and the end points of the process.

Into the prepared pan, and into the preheated oven.  Because I had scaled the batter down to what I thought would be right for a single person, I did not add a collar to the pan.

I should have buttered it higher on the sides.

Thirty-five minutes later, it's perfectly done.  Maybe a minute over, but I like toasty cheese.

The end result is beautiful and tasty.  While it was baking I had an apple to stave off hunger, so I almost didn't finish the whole soufflé.  Inside it was a fluffy, cheesy cloud.  Not perfect, but definitely something I now have the courage (and cheeses!) to try again.

In Conclusion

2020 was far from perfect, but some good things came out of it: if nothing else, I paid off my mortgage and I learned to make a cheese soufflé.  And - we survived.

See you next year.