Square. In a square. In a square.

This month for the bee there or bee squares quilting bee, Sandie requested square-in-a-square blocks made using her tutorial.

Square-in-a-square is a block I really love. Other than the fact that I think it should really be called "square-in-triangles," that is, but nobody asked me. It's super easy and I think it looks very sharp. Sandie's tutorial uses a 5" charm square for the center, so it's a great way to show off some designer fabrics, or even some embroidery. I think it would also be a gorgeous setting for a scrappy log cabin block.

But I think everything should involve small log cabin blocks, so don't mind me.

Better than it sounds: Onion Day!

You know what I like? Red onions. They not only have a nice, mild flavor, but something about the color strikes me as sort of sweet and vintage-looking.

Which is one of the reasons I was attracted to the idea of making zesty onion jelly, which I saw in the Ball Book, but is also featured here, with a brilliant tip for getting that gorgeous pink color.

So I bought a big red onion, and went to town. Mine is considerably more clear than Michelle's, but that's okay. It still looks cute and old-fashioned atop my vintage bow tie quilt.



The craziest part? Three jars of jelly only required, like, half of the onion. Red onions are BIG! So I put some of the leftover diced onion into a pasta salad of slightly oiled leftover acine de pepe, pickled asparagus, minced garlic, and roasted red peppers. I'll be serving it with greens alongside roast chicken tonight. Store-roast chicken. Because not every day can be onion day.

The rest of the onion got caramelized and went into a quiche of three eggs, cheddar cheese, crumbled bacon, fresh asparagus, more roasted red peppers, and a couple of teaspoons of grainy French Dijon. To me, it's just not quiche without a little Dijon.

Here's some advice on asparagus tips: do something dorky with them.



I mean, it's a vegetable. You kind of have to make your own fun.

Oh, and check it out - I'm updating my quilt progress bar:

Quilt: Hex Flowers
Progress: 44/100 blocks (44%)

Wordless Wednesday: 3x6 Bee Blocks. Plus Helper.

Sufficient Postage

Quilt: Kaffe Postage Stamps
Progress: 20/??? blocks

Ever try an "ends and beginnings project"? A stack of easy piecing near your machine so that all sewing can chain piecing?

Well, I started something like this two springs ago with a couple of Kaffe Fasset charm packs - I wanted little bursts of bright color, and Kaffe is always a good candidate for that.

Today I ran out of pieces to chain. So as of today, I have 20 "postage stamp" blocks that look like this:



Now what?

Wordless Wednesday: Rolling with It

Figgy Pudding

Last Sunday, eight days ago, I made a savory bread pudding according to the method described on Shallots Web.



I haven't made a second, which, if you can't tell from the photo, has required remarkable restraint on my part.

Spoiler alert: this savory dish contains no figs. I've named this post after a dear friend and the author of Shallots Web, Mr. John Newton, whose last name invites a certain fruity nickname that has been expanded over the years to include such names as Fignatious, Mr. Figglesworth, and my own twee contribution, Figgy Pudding. We met in grad school, so my love for him hinges not at all on the fact that he's an excellent cook and bartender.

Seriously, I know the coolest people. If you'll forgive a cliche, try this pudding - the proof, it is there. (And if you won't forgive a cliche, it's your loss if you discount the pudding.)

At the time of baking, I didn't have a ton of leftover veggies or anything, but attempted the dish anyway, with some not-so-healthy additions, because it looked and sounded so frakkin' delicious. For the bread, I used half a day-old French baguette, which I tossed in a mixture of

• 2 eggs
• maybe 2-3 tablespoons of milk
• half an onion, diced and caramelized the day before
• maybe 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 slices of bacon, microwaved and diced

Then I shredded a small chunk of gouda over the whole thing and baked it for 35 minutes. In a gratin dish, because I like to be fancy. Prep time amounted to, I don't know. Like, a second. This is really easy.

The results were a lot drier than your typical dessert bread pudding, largely because I feared too moist a mixture would take too long to bake - we were anxious to get to Southie and scout out a good spot for the St. Patrick's Day Parade. And, of course, being savory, there was no sugary, buttery sauce poured over it all. Still, I really loved eating this. The bread cubes were softened on the inside but golden brown and chewy outside, and the cheese and bacon clinging to each bite certainly didn't hurt anything.

I'm already fantasizing about changing this up a bit for different occasions. It would be a wonderful way to use up leftovers of my famous ham. And speaking of ham, I think bits of prosciutto, chopped apple, and dried cranberries would be a delicious stuffing alternative alongside poultry. As far as cheese replacements, I have some crumbled bleu I'm going to have to use up soon, and I think I've just decided its fate.

If you try this, let me (and Fig!) know. And tell your friends - we can all work together to make Savory Bread Pudding the new cool brunch/side dish.