Tasty Techniques: Watermelon

Watermelon are so delicious at this time of year, sweet and juicy, so I had to get one when we went to the store this week.

I used to buy my watermelon pre-sliced. To me, it wasn’t worth the effort to slice it up myself. It was a time-consuming headache that I gladly paid a premium price for someone else to take care of.

This went on until I went to a friend’s house, and her husband sliced up a whole watermelon into wedges without the rind in 10 minutes flat while I watched. I was mightily impressed and now use this technique to slice all my melon.



I find that you need a long, thin, flexible knife for this. I’m pretty sure that knife there is meant to be a filet knife, and it works perfectly. The first step is to cut the whole watermelon in half, long-ways if it is oblong instead of round, so you end up with an oval surface. If the watermelon does happen to be round, it doesn’t matter much which way you cut as you’ll wind up with circles either way.

And a note on cutting large watermelon: it really works best if you stick the blade almost completely into the melon at the top, hold the top of the melon with one hand, and pull the handle down toward you like a lever with the other hand. Once you pull the knife down as far as you can, use both hands to rotate the melon to put the knife handle back at the top so you can pull it down toward you again. It was impossible for me to take a picture of myself doing this, so hopefully you have a lively imagination.





Next, you want to cut the halves into wedges. I would recommend you work with the watermelon in batches, moving the pieces you’re not currently working with out of the way. Otherwise there will be no room and you’re likely to cut yourself. Listen to my words young Jedi, for I speak from experience.



Once you have your wedges, make slices into the flesh of the melon – just to the rind but not through.



Take your blade, starting at one side of the wedge, and run it all the way along the rind, just above the white part.

You can tell from this picture in places I left quite a bit of flesh above the rind. That’s okay! Just take the slices you made, move them out of the way, and re-cut. You’ll get little pieces, but little pieces of watermelon are perfect for little hands.



In about 10 minutes, you’ll have this. Perfecto!

In order to adapt this for other melons like cantaloupe or honeydew, you’ll want to scoop out the seeds just after cutting the melon in half, and then proceed as normal.

The Vanity of Fashion

In any discussion involving sewing fashion for oneself, the greater issues surrounding the subject of fashion as a whole invariably come up. One of the chief of these being the accusation that interest in fashion is vain, materialist, a vice.

I think this viewpoint is limited, and at least in my case, absolutely false. So why am I interested in fashion? What does it matter? They’re just clothes, aren’t they? Well, not really. A quote on The Mrs. reads:

"Put even the plainest woman into a beautiful dress and unconsciously she will try to live up to it." - Lucille Duff-Gordon

How fabulous is that? And so true. Clothes, when we believe them to be beautiful, and when they fit us well, inspire confidence in a woman. She feels as if she looks great, and she radiates confidence. And this isn’t about What She’s Wearing, What Size She Is, or What’s In Fashion. It’s about how her clothing makes her feel, and how that translates to the way she interacts with others.

The benefit of this is two-fold, the first of which simply being that both you and I deserve to feel confident and beautiful. To embrace ourselves, accept, and love who we are. Unabashedly. Women, especially women in our media-saturated culture, do not do this nearly enough. The other benefit to this confidence is in positively affecting the perceptions people have about her. And appearances absolutely do matter, certainly when it comes to the world of the career woman, but also to the stay-at-home mom.

I believe that any woman, regardless of shape or size, can find styles and fashions which are flattering and exciting to her. But she must know herself. Get in touch with what touches her, what she finds beautiful.

For me, it’s the styles of the 1940s and 1950s. These styles are flattering on me, and I’m entranced by the silhouettes and glamour of fashion in those decades. Women dressed to go…anywhere, really. Or even to just stay at home. (I know you've heard the term "house dress" which brings to my mind grandmother's polyester, plastic-buttoned tent, but the garment has some pretty glam roots. Check out the ones that Gertie featured.)

Interestingly enough, I did not know that this was “my style” until I recently began sewing fashion for myself. I’m liberated to create designs of my choosing in whatever shade or print of fabric I desire and adjust that garment to have the proper fit. And in doing research into vintage styles and modern styles and the silhouettes I love, I pretty unilaterally lean toward 1940’s and 1950’s designs. Take a look at these lovelies and tell me they’re not beautiful and wouldn’t make you feel fabulous:

Give Peas A Chance

This was a throw-together recipe. I bought two ingredients on a whim last weekend: split peas because I’d like to start eating more meals in which meat is not the focus, and leeks because they’re beautiful and they’re delicious. Then there was the thick-cut pepper bacon left over from last weekend’s breakfast, and in my opinion thick cut pepper bacon could make most any recipe better. Add to all this a few carrots from the crisper, some chicken broth (or in my case chicken base which permanently resides in my fridge), some dried rosemary, and that’s dinner.







Of course for some reason when I told my husband we were having split pea soup and rolls for dinner his mind went to red-and-white Campbell’s cans and he was confused when I started staging ingredients and sharpening knives. In the midst of chopping carrots, crisping bacon, and washing peas, a certain toddler occupied himself with cheerios, feeding the dog one kibble at a time, and playing in the it-must-be-better-than-what-they-give-me-because-the-dog-drinks-it water from the dog bowl.



After you sauté the bacon set some of it aside for topping the bowls once this soup is dished up. Everyone in your family will love this soup. Hearty, warm, fragrant, savory – what else can I say, but give these peas a chance!



Recipe Notes: I did not need to add salt or pepper due to the bacon I used and perhaps an overexhuberance on the chicken base. If you taste yours and it needs salt or pepper, by all means add it. I served this with some yeast rolls from the freezer and a simple tossed salad of romaine, feta, cranberries, pecans, and balsamic vinegar. I always toss my salad in a big bowl before serving because I do not like to stir salad on a plate or in a bowl and have to chase escaped lettuce.

Split Pea Soup
6 servings

-1/3 lb bacon – thick cut peppered bacon preferred
-1 leek, chopped
-3 carrots, diced
-1 Tbsp dried rosemary
-6 c chicken broth
-12 oz. package of dried split peas

Cut the bacon into ½ inch pieces and sauté in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan with slotted spoon and set aside. Reserve 3 Tbsp bacon for garnish. Pour bacon grease from pan, leave 1-2 Tbsp of grease in pan. Add leeks and carrots to bacon grease in pot and sauté until leeks are soft, about 8 minutes. Add chicken broth, rosemary, and split peas to pan, scraping brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Increase heat to high to bring soup to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 40 minutes. Serve with ½ tsp bacon on top of each bowl for garnish.