Do You Huck Weave?

Here we go again - another nor'easter is heading our way. Snow Fall Prediction:12 - 20 inches - did I mention our snow blower is broken - this is not going to be fun!

This morning as I was procrastinating - rummaging through a drawer - I found something I hadn't seen in years - my middle school home economics leaflet on Huck Weaving - copyright 1936! Honestly, I'm not that old - look closely, the reprint was 1964 - I'm not that old either!


Have you ever heard of Huck Weaving? Huck weaving tea towels is done on a special fabric - popcorn fabric - that is woven with an elevated weave. Using embroidery floss, you weave through the elevated loops of the fabric to create beautiful patterns on top of the fabric without any floss showing on the reverse of the fabric. It's a method of surface design - pretty sure that phrase, "surface design", was not part of the vocabulary in 1936. I learned how to huck weave tea towels in that middle school home ec class - and until a few years ago kept those two tea towels close at hand. The honey comb weave below was the design I selected for my tea towels. I used two shades of blue floss on a white towel - I'd love to show you a photo of my towels, but I've looked everywhere and they are no where to be found.

A few years ago I was in an antique shop and saw a pile of tea towels - you guessed right - they were all huck weave tea towels. I bought the whole pile of them. Over the years I've given away all but two of them as hostess gifts. I hope the recipients appreciate how unusual they are. If you're interested in huck weaving - google it - I found a number of interesting sites on line with free patterns and shops selling the popcorn fabric.

Dinner last night was so simple and so delicious I have to share it. We had turkey burgers stuffed with Shropshire cheese. Shropshire cheese is made in England and is a cross between Stilton and Cheshire - it's flavor is unmistakable. Simply use ground turkey breast to make the patties and stuff with the cheese. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and saute in olive oil until golden. I served it on a rosemary roll and topped it with caramelized onions - no ketchup for this burger - you want to enjoy the flavor of the Shropshire.

I was busy in the kitchen last night - in addition to dinner, I made a wonderful turkey, vegetable noodle soup - 5 quarts to be exact! I used a rich homemade turkey stock frozen from the holidays as the base, and roasted 2 meaty turkey thighs to anchor the soup. Greens are a wonderful addition to almost any soup - here I added kale - perks up the color and nutritional value.

Time to share my noodle secret. I hate mushy noodles. When making a noodle soup I prepare the soup to the point of adding the noodles and then chill the soup thoroughly. I cook my noodles separately - in this case playful noodle rings - rinse in cold water to chill, and then add to the chilled soup. This cooking method prevents the noodles from becoming mushy. Soup prepared in this manner freezes well.