bean&noodle

Biscuits on the brain

Seriously. I was having the best afternoon ever (knitting and watching Food Network) and I CANNOT get this recipe out of my head. I see some gift baking in my near future... almost done with the gift knitting.

There's a reason I'm usually distrusting of advice so freely given....

EUREKA!

Sometimes I am a little surprised by how little it takes to make me happy

I have been scouring yarn stores and online sellers for a copy of Rowan 42... if only for the Kaffe Fassett Earth Stripe Wrap pattern. I know it looks simply stripey but his method of color combining creates soft color shifts... I want to go to there. if it were that simple he wouldn't be such a color guru, right? The magazine is discontinued and sold out everywhere! Buuuuuut, I was just looking at new knitting books at Amazon and YEehaw! this pattern is included in the new book Rowan's Greatest Knits: 30 Years of Knitted Patterns from Rowan Yarns.

Upon returning from a place

where it seems there is a Civil War battlefield or historic marker around every corner
where you can breathe in the smell of fall leaves, rivers and wood smoke in the cold air
where waitresses call you "hon"
where you can order crabs to be delivered to your home in the middle of the woods
where you can have a home in the middle of the woods
where it seems a whole lot of people look Irish
where young tattooed men use words like malarkey
where diners are everywhere
where you can have an omelette with crab cakes and sweet corn for breakfast
where I found a leaf I think I'd never seen before... a kind woman told me it was Sassafrass...hmmm
where we visited family
& old friends that we have not seen in years, but picked up like we never skipped a beat

where my husband grew up
where we met
I love visiting, always... but it's good to be home

Lincoln Never suffered from Startitus

But then again, he never had so many choices.

Tomorrow, DH and I take off for Baltimore to visit his family and run around our old DC stomping grounds. A trip to DC would not be complete without a trip to a Civil War battlefield. This trip... Antietam. 

My biggest concern today is that I have no idea what I want to knit on the trip. Big time startitus. Gifts? Socks? A hat or scarf for me? Schlepp my Log Cabin Blanket? Oh, the possibilities are endless and there's always a LYS in some other town in case you just hate what you brought.

Monday Funny

Round Top, Texas September 26th, 2009

 

 

Amanda searching for the perfect picnic quilt... she found one, but this was not the one.

Queso Fresco to the Rescue

This dish is a combination of a couple Indian dishes. It started as Chicken Korma from this book  and I created a bastardized version which combines my other favorite Indian dish Saag Paneer. Basically I added spinach and cheese to it. Since I live in small town Paneer was not readily available and I was not interested in making it...even though I understand it is easy.

I thought long and hard about a substitute and think I found a good one— Queso Fresco. I knew it needed to be a cheese that would retain it's cubist shape, but soften some. It has just a hint of salt...it was perfect. Honestly, it may be the same damn cheese/different continent.

 
yum, really. but I could have done without the whole wheat naan... soem things are just better left alone.

Another Clapotis. This one is for me. Yarn Malabrigo Sock Yarn | Colorway Velvet Grapes

The hat portion of the scarf and hat set I'm knitting for my MIL Edna for her trip to Ireland next month. Yarn Berroco Ultra Alpaca in | Colorway Cous Cous

Raison pour laquelle je blogue

Yesterday afternoon I went to see Julie & Julia. I went by myself, which is my preference. Years of waiting tables at night afforded me the luxury of solo matinees for years... in fact I was so spoiled by it that actually hate going to crowded movies at night. I still love to steal away in the middle of the day, it just rarely happens these days since a trip to the movies is a 50 mile round trip.

With the release of this movie there has been a lot of discussion online about the reasons people blog. Some people blog in hopes of being discovered by a literary agent or publisher and landing a fat book deal. Others blog about specific subjects and somehow become regarded as experts in the field. Some may actually have the expertise to back it, some just some experiences to share and a voice that makes people listen. Artists, designers and stylists blog because it's a super user friendly way to show their work instead of a website.

Why do I blog?

Mine is a more personal reason. I started blogging to share my life with the women in my family... most importantly my mother who I met when I was 39. Long story short... my sister and I were reunited with our mother who had put us up for adoption when I was 8 and she was 5. We had spent the three years prior to adoption with an amazing foster family, with whom we have always remained in contact. So really we had not seen my mother since I was 5, and my sister was 2. When my sister found her, we traveled to New Jersey to visit her for a week. My sister and I knew she'd been a musician and artist (my parents were folk musicians in the 60's... I was born in '65, my sister in '67). We discovered that she had been a weaver. This struck a chord with me as I had always been drawn to fibers and had no idea why. My sister shares our mother's love and talent for photography. I taught myself to knit as soon as I could. I really do knit every day, my hands crave it, my mind and spirit are recharged by it. If you're a knitter... you know exactly what I mean. I believe I am tapping into some genetic memory every time I pick up my needles and yarn to knit.

This October will be the second anniversary of Toni's passing away. We discovered she had cancer 3 years to the day we were reunited.

I won't go into much more detail because this story belongs to my sister as much as it belongs to me, and I mention it only to shed a little light on why it was so important for me to embark on, it seemed to me, the ultimate narcissistic task of taking pictures of my dogs, the paint choices on my very own kitchen wall, what was for dinner, and what I was knitting and post them online... I mean who really gives a shit if I finally finished my alpaca shawl and that after a long crappy day only the comfort of a simple roast chicken and mashed potatoes would make me feel loved? I can name three people who do. Today I realize the real reason I started blogging was to show Toni that I have a good life, I am happy, I have a wonderful husband, dogs and a cat I adore, and I am creating stuff all the time, that her decision did not destroy our lives... and I pray every day that it did not destroy hers.

Inspiration

I saw this sweet kitchen banquette on the cover of the new Southern Living.

 
Not that I'm unhappy with my kitchen but I am always fussing with the eating area because the buffet seems to throw off the balance and I know we will use this space more with better seating, and I can still set up my sewing machine.

This would mean getting rid of the buffet... which I think may be a hard sell to Steve... especially after I hunted down the perfect orange.

We have been so burned out on projects that we have not done anything in like forever, but I am feeling the urge to get some things done when the heat subsides.

Go Madmen Yourself... now

For those of us eagerly waiting for the new season to begin... here's a little something to tide you over. Amanda...you better show me yours.

http://www.amctv.com/originals/madmen/madmenyourself/

Mary Kay... Girl Scouts for Big Girls?

I just had breakfast in a room with more than 100 Mary Kay ladies, their jackets proudly displaying their many badges and sashes... just like at Girl Scout Camp. Apparently there is a big Mary Kay event here in The Big D this week and it kicks off today.

I was riding down in the elevator with one man and a few floors down a swarm of them (plus one husband) boarded. The silly man jokingly asked if they had any products for him. They all suggested moisturizer with SPF for his fair skin and offered up their cards. The lone husband said, "It's like being trapped with a pack of wolves." Hell yes, but not without their face on.

Lollygagging

 
It's hot, the house is clean (well, close enough for horseshoes) and I'm off for the day.

Preparing to leave the land of Blatz & Brats

I've been in Wisconsin this week at a press check. The weather has been 20-30º cooler everyday.... seriously. It's been a nice break, and while I'm happy to be returning home, I'd be lying if I said I was looking forward to the blast of heat that will be hitting my face about 4:45 central time.

This week I have slept, knit and drank a lot of coffee waiting for presses that were rife with mechanical issues. I did however have the most amzing piece of pie at this place... peach/blueberry/chery/strawberry, thay calle dit fruit lovers pie.  Press okays are always hurry up and wait.... lots of going with the flow and late, sometimes overnight hours. I cannot tell you how glad I am to be a knitter in those times. i think I would go bat shit crazy if I had to actually LOOK FOR ways to occupy my time.

Thursday I was on my way to another plant a ways out in Hartford. I was looking for somewhere to sit, drink coffee and knit while I waited to get called to the presses. I about wrecked the car when I saw Main Street Yarn Shop. The owner, Ronda was great and she carries so beautiful yarns. I picked up a couple patterns, some lovely hand painted yarn and this book... such beautiful patterns in this book. Ronda's friend wrote and illustrated this book with Ronda as a knitting spider. I sat on knit at the shop for a while then scooted off for my press okay. I brought my Clapotis along since it's such an easy travel knit. I'm knitting with Malabrigo Sock Yarn in Velvet Grapes, the color is so yummy rich.

Well, I need to push off and catch my ride to the airport.... I'm packed, laptop and knitting at the ready, and a book...though I may raise a few eyebrows reading Assassination Vacation on the plane.

Need to remember to pick up brats and cheese curds at the airport... dinner tonight.

What to do when it's 99º

The beginning of a quilt for a friend's new baby. After a morning walk with the dogs (yes, I walk all 3 at the same time... I'm they're that good), and planting, the dogs and I have been inside napping, eating and quilting.