It has been almost a month. I've composed several blog posts in my head, but haven't gotten around to posting them. And now I'm approaching the task of rebuilding my iPhoto library due to a hard drive crash & burn. I have back-ups, albeit, not in the most 'get it up and running' friendly format - I fear lots of importing is in my future. And then there is the pesky problem of figuring out where I put the external hard drive with all of my documents on it. And wondering exactly how much I am missing between my last back-up date and now. We've had two hard drives die on us within the last month or so, luckily the first didn't contain any essential info that could only be found there (we hope - it mostly held music, which is also on TheHusbands laptop). Needless to say we've come up with a more comprehensive, less end-user-initiated plan. Anyway, a run-down:
I went to my cousin's wedding. There was a bit of family drama (which seems to be the case when you know, you get lots of family members together). The wedding itself was gorgeous and reminded me of something that you might see chronicled in a wedding magazine. She had a great florist, oodles of orchids (yes orchids) and convinced her dad to build her lots of stuff, like the structure for the ceremony, 50 + boxes to serve as containers for the table arrangements and other things like the huge bamboo topiary things next to the ceremony structure.
I made pie for the 4th of July. Fresh Cherry Tart, Chocolate-Mint Ice Cream Pie and French Gooseberry Pie.
A cat has started meowing around our house (it even tried to dart in the door when I went outside one day). Dog is going nuts-- absolutely bonkers trying to get the cat. Which means every so often we hear a loud crash that indicates our dog's head or paws have hit the glass window in the door. We still aren't sure if he wants to play with it or eat it (I'm leaning towards "ohhhhh squeaky toy" which starts as play and ends as *chomp*). My apologies to all my friends with cats, I love kitties, but they are not safe in my house. I'm glad I have friends to visit where I can visit with kitties.
I have the best husband in the world. He brought me my nectarine from the fridge instead of scarffing it down and going "nah nah nah I ate your nectarine". Because I am a doufus who never thinks to eat fruit until someone (cough TheHusband cough) is eating fruit in front of me. And he patiently leaves fruit in the fridge trying to be nice and not gobble it all up.
I am crafting, sort of. I'm in the middle of an ironing board project that will not end. And I really want it to because I'm itching, simply itching to buy some Amy Butler fabric to sew a cute summer dress. I'm also working on several gifts that cannot be mentioned until I know they have been received. Speaking of gifts, today I learned of the 8th baby that I know who will be born this year. With all these babies I will never manage to knit myself a sweater. Not to mention there are 3 babies born last year and I never managed to make a gift for them. I just cannot keep up. (We shall not speak of the baby blanket for the 2 3/4 year old).
Fauxmiddlechild alerted me to the existence of Epicurious's Seasonal Ingredient Map. It seems pretty cool, although it isn't quite matching what I'm actually seeing at the Farmer's Market. For example swiss chard isn't listed, and supposedly Washington State has produce during March but Oregon State is dormant-huh? She was lamenting that she was unfamiliar with seasonal produce. I want to say, don't feel to bad about it. The supermarket culture of the past who-knows-how-long has separated us from this knowledge - so unless you are a gardener (of the edible varieties) this stuff is no longer common knowledge. I'm still trying to get a handle on such things in my new locale (previously I was a lucky duck who got the excess from Mom's garden).
Farmer's Markets are a good guide (if yours doesn't allow trucked in stuff like the one near our old house- no FM in the Midwest should ever be able to sell kiwis or mango or pineapples, I'm still irritated by it). Of course some vendors have things like large greenhouses up their sleeve and I think that confuses things, I know I was confused when I saw cucumbers two weeks ago, before I had even seen strawberries.
I'm really excited that we finally were able to subscribe to a CSA this year (I've been wanting to since I learned of their existence like 9 years ago; of course previously we moved every summer and would just get the overabundance of our parents gardens so a CSA didn't quite fit our life). We had to subscribe/join in early April and even then a couple farms I contacted had already filled all of their subscriber slots. And due to the crappy "spring" we haven't gotten a share yet, my fingers are crossed it will happen soon. I've been toying with the idea of taking a picture of our weekly shared bounty.
I also have 4 plants on my patio since this is a want-to-garden year in my want-to/no-way gardening cycle (so far I have a year where I attempt to garden, which is generally a bust wrt to all but a couple hard-to-kill houseplants, followed by a couple years where I say "nope" to gardening and then a lust for gardening hits again). I planted a spearmint plant, an italian parsley plant, 3 basil plants and a 24" window box of nasturtium seeds that have been kind enough to actually sprout (they are about 3" tall now with 2 leaves each). Since I haven't killed anything yet (in the 3 weeks I've had the stuff planted) I'm considering adding a rosemary plant and maybe some radishes or lettuces.
A few notes on food The post was getting too long so now it is just about chard. And hopping onto the chard bandwagon. In the past few days I've seen mentions of chard on Finny Knits and Domicile - and these blogs are in my non-food folder of Bloglines. Last week, looking around for suggestions on what to do with that bunch of rainbow chard in the fridge, I was directed to this Swiss Chard Tart recipe from Mario Batali. I was looking for a more substantial (and just different) recipe than my usual Sauteed Tender Greens from The New Best Recipe (served with the grain of the day, perhaps with a side of bean protein of some type). It was between this recipe and quiche with chard, and I just wasn't feeling like making a pie crust (so lazy) but then I weighed my bunch of chard and discovered it was about 3/4 lb. Oops. So I used the Mario Batali recipe as a guide and did the following:
1 bunch swiss chard (about 3/4 lb)
olive oil
1/2 onion
2 cloves garlic
handful fresh flat leaf parsley
2 eggs
salt
pepper
1/2 cup finely grated fresh parm
1 square "artisan" roll turned into bread crumbs - a couple big handfuls
Preheat the oven to, um, 350F. I gave the swiss chard a nice cool soak in the clean sink, removing any bits of sandy dirt. Then I lightly shook the water off the leaves (you want a bit of water clinging*) and set them in a colander and started the chopping process. I removed the stems and set them aside (no way was I throwing away that pretty color) and cut the leaves into short ribbons. Then I cut the stems into small pieces and set them aside. I cut my onion into thin slices and crushed my two cloves of garlic. I minced the fresh parsley.
I grabbed my big 12" saute pan and threw in a couple tablespoons of olive oil. I added the swiss chard stems and the onions and cooked until nice and soft. Then I added the garlic and sauteed until it was fragrant. At this point I threw in all of my chard leave ribbons and covered the pan. After a minute or so (sorry don't remember precisely) I stirred the chard and covered it again. When the chard looked nice and wilted yet still a bright green I tossed the parsley in, stirred then dumped the pan contents back in the colander to drain and cool. In between the onion/chard cooking I was making bread crumbs and grating parmesan and oiling my 9" pie pan.
I cracked two eggs in a bowl and beat them, adding some salt and pepper as well as a couple tablespoons of the parmesan. Then I sprinkled a good handful of breadcrumbs (perhaps up to 1/2 cup) in the oiled pie pan. I also stirred the veggies to help drain and make sure it was cool. Once I was satisfied the veggies were cool enough to not cook the eggs I dumped them into the eggs, gave it a good mix cover the veggies in egg and dumped it all in the pie pan. I smoothed the top, sprinkled with another handful of bread crumbs and then parmesan. I popped it in the oven for about 30 minutes (until it looked golden and like the eggs were cooked in the middle).
Wow. Typing this all out it sounds horribly complicated but I swear it wasn't. Though it did make a few more dirty dishes than I prefer. Anyways it was quite yummy and not very eggy at all (when I started I wondered how it was different from quiche, but it turns out the eggs just coated the veggies as opposed to the mostly custard with some veggies of quiche).
*While the recipe above instructs you to boil the chard for like 10 minutes, according to TNBR swiss chard is a green that does not require blanching before the final cooking. They say that the water clinging to the leaves will provide enough moisture for wilting (along with the oil in the pan).
For the past 9 years I've lived in places where I do not have curbside recycling pick-up. Luckily I've always had access to a recycling center of some sort. However many recycling centers/containers are designed for those with curbside pickup. For a long time we've made do with multiple paper bags to hold all the recyclables. It got messy and cluttered. When we used a single trash can we had to sort into bags before walking it to the recycle center.
Long story short I have settled on this solution: wire shelf on casters from Bed, Bath & Beyond (not quite the right size but at 1/3 the cost of perfect-size shelf it was close-enough), and hanging bags from s-hooks. I just had to sew the bags - I planned on using canvas but then I was walking through Ikea and saw the big blue bags and remembered how people (like Africankelli) were re-fashioning them into other bags. So I bought one big blue bag hoping it would be enough for two smaller bags. I grabbed my seam ripper and ripped out the bottom and side seam as well as the handles. I cut the side piece in half, then determined how big my bottom of each bag could be and cut two bottoms from the original bag bottom. I cut the long straps in half for two sets handles plus cut the short straps up to attach d-rings for hanging.
These two bags hold so much more than the one bin that fit on that shelf plus I'm not worried about rogue liquids weakening paper bags. The handles are also much more comfortable than when I carried a very full paper bag. Success for less than $30. The added bonus is that it holds the washcloths and hand towels I keep at the door to wipe muddy, wet Dog paws (and legs and belly and back and tail) and the top functions as a landing strip for mail and keys and such when we walk in the door.
I have a lot of fears. And they keep me from far too much too often. Okay, that sounds a little drastic, and it isn't quite that drastic. In college I used to joke that I had a high sense of self-preservation when I wouldn't jaywalk across the 5 lane road that separated my dorm from the rest of campus, of course by my junior year of crossing this street daily I had no problems crossing half-way in between the two crosswalks or waiting in the median for the other traffic direction to clear.
But I really didn't mean to go all deep with this post. I just took a little dip into one of my sewing fears - invisible zippers (and ruining lovely fabric). I've had intentions of sewing a couple pillow covers for the two extra pillows that didn't really have a home (but would look nice on the office futon if covered). I found the fabric last fall and even measured and cut it out. Pillows. Four seams. Except, being me, I had to make it difficult. I used contrasting fronts and backs and I wanted a zipper so it would be easy to remove the cover for washing. And a regular zipper would look odd along a seam and I didn't want a designated front and back so that meant using an invisible zipper.
I've been wanting to tackle invisible zippers for a while now - except I couldn't find much instruction on how to insert an invisible zipper. Tutorials abound for the regular zipper (despite the fact that every sewing reference book I've seen has instructions and instructions come with many regular zippers). I didn't have any manufacturer's instructions with my purchased invisible zips. Luckily I had one invisible zipper tutorial bookmarked and I did remember reading another set of directions somewhere. Plus I realized that I might not like the pillow covers as originally envisioned but the fabric would make a very cute doll-sized quilt if the pillow covers failed.
So I jumped in... and finished the pillow cases:
(side note: it turns out that I did this project about 3 weeks ago and it just took me that long to clear the bed to be photograph worthy)
Okay, so these are the pajama pants that caused so much grief, the pants from Butterick pattern 6837. I am even showing the photo that makes the fly flap fiasco (see the small pleat?) and the grain-line fiasco visible. The problems could be the fault of my rusty-sewing-skills self and not the pattern itself. The good news is I might have enough for another pair of pants. But I need to modify the pattern to have a shorter crotch and use different fabric to back the waistband. And they are successful enough to wear to bed. The fabric is deliciously soft (I used a flannel from the shirting section of the fabric store).
Stats: Retro Redux Shrug from Lace Style; 3 entire balls of Karabella Aurora 8 yarn; Bryspun needles in size 8, 9, 10 and 10 1/2 (oh and a 2x" bamboo needle in size 8 for the collar); long tail cast-on and basic cast-off (I think there was a better choice but I ran out of research time); I downsized the pattern in wing-span length but not cast-on numbers.
I'm pretty happy with it, though I think it stretches a wee bit much over my shoulders making them feel unnecessarily wide and while it didn't keep me quite warm enough in the very cold room where the ceremony took place, I got quite warm while dancing at the reception and by the end of the night it started to fall off one of my shoulders. I loved knitting with Aurora. I plan on wearing the shrug again as soon as it gets warm enough (dratted cold weather) and while I have lots of knitting on my to do list I would be interested in knitting this pattern again. It was dead easy to follow, though I would have liked more guidance on the right cast-on & cast-off choices. I struggled and worried about the fit as well. I ended up taking away like 4 inches from the smallest size wingspan (distributing those 4 inches between the various sections) which was a very good idea for me otherwise the cuffs would have been below my elbows (of course there is the excessive stretching across the shoulders...).
While I dig around for photos of my shrug [that I don't mind posting] and decide which photo of the pajama pants is best I give you a random television list. Well, not totally random, I found it on Fattypants blog. According to her it is Empire Magazine's (who?) list of the 50 greatest tv shows. You are supposed to bold the shows you've watched every episode of, underline the shows you've seen at least one episode of, and post your answers (I consider that optional). Finally I added asterisks to each show I plan on eventually watching every episode thanks to DVDs and netflix. Huh, I've seen at least half of these... the only thing that makes me sad is when I watch shows I hate (like Seinfield).
50. Quantum Leap
49. Prison Break
48. Veronica Mars
47. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
46. Sex & The City
45. Farscape
44. Cracker
43. Star Trek
42. Only Fools and Horses
41. Band of Brothers
40. Life on Mars
39. Monty Python's Flying Circus
38. Curb Your Enthusiasm
37. Star Trek: The Next Generation
36. Father Ted
35. Alias
34. Frasier
33. CSI: Las Vegas
32. Babylon 5
31. Deadwood
30. Dexter
29. ER
28. Fawlty Towers
27. Six Feet Under
26. Red Dwarf
25. Futurama
24. Twin Peaks
23. The Office UK
22. The Shield
21. Angel
20. Blackadder (I, II, III, IV and all the specials)
19. Scrubs*
18. Arrested Development
17. South Park
16. Doctor Who
15. Heroes
14. Firefly
13. Battlestar Galactica (The original, not the new one)
12. Family Guy
11. Seinfeld
10. Spaced
09. The X-Files
08. The Wire
07. Friends
06. 24
05. Lost
04. The West Wing*
03. The Sopranos
02. Buffy the Vampire Slayer*
01. The Simpsons
It really isn't good when you find yourself becoming a big ball of rage while working on your sweetie's [late] valentine's day present. It isn't that I am angry about making a present for TheHusband, making presents for people is one of my favorite things (second to making stuff for myself - I'm a bit selfish that way). Is it that the pattern for the pajama pants is very poorly written or I have become rather stupid about sewing. So as all customer service people have experienced my brain has decided the pattern is stupid instead of admitting that I might be stupid and I am angry at the pattern for that. Yes, totally silly, but there you have it.
I picked up the pajama pants yesterday determined to overcome my frustrations. I ripped out the wrongly sewed leg and re-stitched it. I stitched up the crotch and then I started fighting with the non-zippered fly-front. If I just had the pieces in front of me I felt like I knew what to do, how it was put together but whenever I read the directions and looked at the diagram it didn't mesh. I might have marked the fly flap incorrectly but I'm not sure. I tried searching for tutorials online, but only found mock fly-front and zipper fly front tutorials; and the results from searching my two sewing reference books were the same. An online friend suggested I take a look at Diana Rupp's book S.E.W. and so I did (it seems like an excellent book by the way). I took pictures but then didn't think to upload them. Doh, I don't think many people who read this are that into sewing though so...
Anyway. I finally put the fly together they way I think it is supposed to go and attach the waistband. Then I discover I don't have the right width of elastic. Gah. So much for completing the pajama pants (flaws and all) today. Also, I have become a lot more fearful of starting other clothing projects. Sigh.
Recent Comments
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fractone said:
Yay! So handy! I like our curbside recycling in theory (especially since the city just added more plastics to the... read more
on Recycle center -
fractone said:
As long as I'm buying it at the farmer's market (ours doesn't allow trucked in stuff) or at the food... read more
on eating seasonally -
fauxmiddlechild said:
part of it's is that I live in California and it's possible to get pretty much everything year round ...... read more
on eating seasonally -
AnotherYarn said:
Thank you. The bag part is pretty easy if you understand how to make a basic tote bag and have... read more
on Recycling center
on a couple randoms