Chocolategasm!

I just made the "On the Fence Brownies" from the King Arthur Cookie Companion book. These are the brownies I have been trying to make for years. They are perfect. Dense, chewy, chocolaty, and a zillion calories. Just the thing for the week I am not allowed to work out, on doctor's orders! (I have convinced myself that healing from surgery burns mega-calories.) Anyway, this recipe alone is worth the 20 bucks for the book. This is the first thing I've made from it, and I'm sure there are tons of other good recipes in there, but this is going to be a standard. Very easy too! It doesn't even involve melting chocolate in a double boiler, which I'd figured I had to do for the kind of brownies I was after. I like them intensely chocolaty and dark. I am in heaven.

Not so sure...

So on Monday evening I went to the eye doctor. I only had one pair of contacts left, and they didn't feel like they fit all that well anyway. Plus, my eyes had been hurting.

Well, I got eyedrops for "allergies". Not so sure about this, but OK. I'm going to ask the allergist about that when I go in there in a couple weeks.

Got a new trial pair of contacts, with a new prescription. Well, most of the day I don't notice anything, but when I'm driving, I notice that I can't read road signs until I'm practically on top of them. Same thing with license plates. So I'm thinking this prescription isn't quite right. I think tomorrow I am going to wear the "old" pair and pay extra attention to how well I can see. And if I remember, I will do the same when I drive to and from the gym in the morning (since I wear glasses until I get home from the gym and finish getting ready).

Gah. Why does getting an eyewear prescription have to be so inexact...it seems like this always happens. I'm glad I didn't actually order any of these new contacts yet.

Fiber Snob

I've only been knitting a little over a year but I think I am officially a fiber snob.

My very first project (a pathetic scarf which no longer exists) was with 60% wool/40% acrylic yarn. Ever since then I have pretty much knit only in pure wool or alpaca, except for one lovely scarf that's a cotton chenille.

Well, anyway, I have been working on my little socks whenever I get a spare minute. This includes about 15 minutes during lunchtime at work. Well, one of my coworkers decided to give me a ball of yarn she had at home. She didn't know what it was made of, only that she got it at Wal-Mart (shudder). Based on the hand of it, I'm guessing it's pure acrylic. Knowing I was not going to use that yarn to make anything for myself, friends, or family, I decided to make it into a scarf and give it back to her. Martha Stewart has a nice scarf pattern that I'd wanted to try, so I went for it. It was, well, yucky to knit with. There wasn't quite enough yarn for the whole pattern, so I made the scarf 9 inches shorter than the pattern specified...but it's still long enough to use. What I find most annoying is that the scarf curls in (badly) on both sides, even though it's got a garter-stitch border that is supposed to keep that from happening! I have decided it's because I didn't use wool yarn. :P

Anyway, I finished the scarf last night and ironed it furiously. I plan to give it to my coworker tomorrow. And then I am back to alllllllll natural fibers again. :)

(OK, I do admit I want to try doing something with some ribbon yarn this summer...and that's not natural fiber. And, um, I might find a use for some eyelash yarn at some point. But that's it. Really.)

Spring is here!

Took a few photos when I got home from the gym this morning!

One set of my tulips is finally blooming:





An apple tree we've had for a couple years, getting ready to bloom for the first time...







And here is the yucky mess I still need to clean up! This is the worst part of the yard right now, and it is BAD!

The garden begins...

Well, sort of.

I spent some time this afternoon pulling lots and lots of weeds that got ahead of me last year (it's so much easier when they're dead!) I didn't come close to getting the whole garden, though. We are now thinking of hiring someone to do the rest of the cleanup. It's going to be planting time before you know it, and with only me really able to do yardwork, it's kind of rough.

The only new things in so far are the irises, because a little frost won't hurt those. We do have some things started in the basement for transplant (tomatoes, eggplants, onions, leeks, cauliflower, broccoli), but the majority of the seeds I bought are really for direct seed. Mostly I hope we get some canteloupe like we did last year; it was the first time we grew it and it was absolutely amazing. Tons better than anything you can buy anywhere. I was pretty lukewarm on canteloupe until I had those. Now I can't wait for this year's crop!

The whole big scary list:
1 PACK, PUMPKIN, HOWDEN
1 PACK, WINTER SQUASH, DELICATA
1 PACK, WINTER SQUASH, BUTTERNUT
1 PACK, WINTER SQUASH, BUTTERCUP
1 PACK, WINTER SQUASH, BLUE BALLET
1 PACK, TOMATO, SLICING, BRANDYWINE
1 PACK, TOMATO, PASTE, SAN MARZANO
1 PACK, TOMATO, AMANA ORANGE
1 PACK, TOMATO, CHERRY, PRIZE OF THE TRIALS
1 PACK, CILANTRO, SLOW BOLT (SANTO CILANTRO)
1 PACK, PARSLEY, ITALIAN FLAT LEAF
1 PACK, LETTUCE, BUTTERHEAD, CAPITAINE
1 PACK, SUNFLOWER, EVENING SUN
1 PACK, SUNFLOWER, SUNSHINE
1 PACK, SUNFLOWER, RUSSIAN MAMMOTH
1 PACK, POLE BEAN DOW PURPLE PODDED SNAP
1 PACK, BEAN, SOYBEAN, EDAMAME SAYAMUSUME
1 PACK, BROCCOLI, EARLY GREEN
1 PACK, CARROT, RED CORE CHANTENAY
1 PACK, CORN, SWEET, STOWELLS
1 PACK, CUCUMBER, SATSUKI MADORI
1 PACK, LEEK, WINTER GIANT
1 PACK, MELON, MUSKMELON, HARVEST QUEEN
1 PACK, MELON, WATERMELON, SUGAR BABY
1 PACK, ONION, VALENCIA
1 PACK, PEA, SHELL, OREGON TRAIL
1 PACK, PEPPER, SWEET PURPLE BEAUTY BELL
Basil Sweet Genovese - Organic
Artichoke Violetto
Cauliflower Orange
Swiss Chard Bright Lights
Kaleidoscope Carrot Mix
Eggplant Violetta Lunga Precoce - Organic
Melon Pulsar Hybrid
Scallion Summer Bunching
Herb Thyme - Organic

(sorry for the all caps, but I copied from the confirmation email...I am way too lazy to retype all that)

That is going to be a TON of planting....but if we have a good summer, it'll also be a ton of eating :)

Now I am off to work on the cinnamon rolls I promised my husband would be tomorrow's breakfast!

The perfect food.

We had artichokes for supper tonight. I love love love love love them. We usually eat them twice a week when they are in season. There have been some really good ones this spring, too. Usually we have them with a small side of pasta, but today we had some berry pie for dessert instead.

Anyway, people always ask me how the heck you prepare, cook, and serve artichokes, so I thought I would explain.

You take a chef's knife and cut off the very top (usually a half inch or so is good), and cut the stem pretty close to the bottom of the artichoke (about a quarter inch to a half inch). Then take some shears and cut the pointy end of each leaf off. This is just to remove the thorns, you don't have to cut much. Place them in artichoke steamers and put those in a large stockpot with about 2 inches of water in the bottom. Cover the pot and heat on high heat until the water is boiling, then turn the heat down to medium or slightly higher than medium. Steam for 45 minutes. Put artichokes in bowls, and melt some butter. Remove a leaf, dip it in the butter, and scrape the "meat" off the leaf with your teeth. The very outer leaves may be somewhat bitter - they should get better flavor as you move to the interior. As you get further and further in, the leaves will get really light and there won't be much meat on them. Underneath these really light leaves is some fuzzy stuff - these are the seeds. Get a spoon and GENTLY scrape them off with a spoon (it may take some work to do it gently). What you have underneath the fuzzies is the prized heart, which is the best tasting part of the whole thing. Cut it up into a bunch of pieces, dip in butter, and savor.

Yes, I really do this twice a week. And we are actually going to try to grow artichokes in our garden this year!

Have I mentioned I HATE un-knitting?

So, I'm working on the second sock of my first pair. It's a top-down pattern and I'm about halfway to the heel. Yesterday evening I noticed a weird looking stitch about 3 rows down from where I was working. Gah. I went back and forth, should I just ignore it or should I go back and fix it... Well, since I'm thinking about giving these socks as a gift, I decided I really had to go take care of it, or it would drive me crazy. So back I went, which took me easily 10 times longer than knitting those rounds to begin with. Dropping stitches (and luckily getting them back on the needles again), splitting the yarn, cursing like a sailor... Eventually I get there and it looks like I had double-wrapped the yarn. So, back to knitting and it seems all is well with the world (of my sock), but the stitches were REALLY tight for a couple rounds. Maybe that just happens with un-knitting, or maybe just with my inexperienced un-knitting. It seems to be OK though. I'll try to get a picture of the one that's finished; it's in a fun self-patterning yarn. I think socks are going to be my main project(s) this year but I also have SO many others I want to do. Don't ask where I'm going to find the time, I have no clue!

My 8-year-old baby :)

My black cat, Lomion, has become such a baby. He will no longer jump up on my desk (though I know he is perfectly capable of doing so). No, instead, he whines and paws at me until I lift him up onto it! Geez, you do something once for a cat who is sick, and he expects you to do it forever. But he's so cute and so loving, I can't deny him. Could you say no to this sweet face???

OK, maybe when he starts walking on the keyboard or fiercely headbutting the monitor so hard it seems ready to fall over. But don't let him fool you - he is spoiled beyond words.

This is my first post.

Ta-da!!!

I think this blog will be primarily about knitting, but other things too. However, I'll be staying away from anything that could get me into trouble, so you probably won't find much drama here (sorry).