beans!

Oh man this thing has gone from knitting to beans. Crazy times.

They arrived!



14 lbs. of beans from Rancho Gordo. I cooked a cup of Good Mother Stallards last night in the slow cooker with some onions for 8 hours. They came out perfect! The skins didn't split and the insides were creamy and delicious. I had them with rice and some tomato chili sauce I made, and then used the leftovers for some nachos.



Yummy!

beans, part 1.5

Black beans & Millet (7)

black beans, cooked
onions
garlic
cumin
paprika
chile pepper
cilantro
cayenne
organic ketchup (the thick kind, nothing like Heinz)

The millet cooks just like white rice, 20 minutes in a covered pot with 1 1/2 times as much water. Pretty tasty!

These were some black beans I bought long enough ago to forget when I got them. Most of them split and didn't get creamy, but they still did the job. More cayenne and fresh instead of dried cilantro would make these better!

beans, part 1

Mushy beans (8.2)

1 c. minced onions
1 clove of garlic
1/4 tsp. cumin
1 tbsp. paprika
1 tbsp. chile powder
1/8 tsp. cayenne
black pepper
salt
1/2 c. pureed tomatoes
2 c. Anasazi beans

Cook onions and garlic in oil until soft, add spices and cook a few more minutes. Add tomatoes and beans, mash beans and stir well. Cook on low for about 10 minutes. I had them with brown rice, cheese and avocado. Sour cream and cilantro would be good, too.

Omgz this was so good! Kind of like sloppy joes, but with no meat and kinda mexican flavored.

Yeah, since I hardly knit anymore, this is gonna turn into a food blog. Probably a bean blog, since I just ordered 13 lbs. of beans from Rancho Gordo. Just not that interested in eating meat lately, so beans it is!

black bear

After a year and a half, I finished the black bear. He started out as practice for the baby blue bear, and then I decided to finish him for my friend. And then over a year later he turned into her Christmas present. I ran out of the black yarn I was using, so I decided to make him look kinda scruffy. I think he's cute and my friend loves him!



Teddy Bear from Debbit Bliss' Simply Baby
I have no idea what yarn it was
size 4 addi turbos
started June 2008, finished December 17, 2009

Next I'm going to do a koala bear and a kangaroo. More babies!

2009

In 2009, I:

Learned how to make:
Latkes
Split Pea Soup
Sushi
A good version of Butter Chicken
No-knead Bread
Tortillas
Homemade Lattes

Started loving Mushrooms!
Had The Best Meal Ever
Had Pork Fried Rice in Chinatown
Learned how to eat for less than $60 a week and stopped spending $150 a week on food
Stopped eating meat every day

Finally finished the melon shawl
Made a penguin with a hockey jersey that I failed to take pictures of
Finished the Black Bear

Watched a Devils game in Jersey!
Saw the Redskins lose to the 'boys

Wandered around Chinatown (NYC) in the snow early in the morning

Saw Amanda Fing Palmer (OMGZ!!)
Saw Bon Iver (lovely)
Saw Animal Collective (boring)
Saw Grizzly Bear (YAY!)

Saw Seinfeld live!!!!!!!!!!!! and laughed for 2 hours straight

Started listening to vinyl and started a vinyl collection
Changed my facebook profile picture twice
Got one hair cut
Experienced snow twice!
Parked over the line at Starbucks
Only went to NYC once
Finally painted my bedroom and bathroom
Decided to fix up my closet and then gave up after realizing needed space for 40+ shoes
Got stuck in Secaucus for 2 hours
Drank too many homemade cosmos one night

Hated the President more than I've ever hated a President before

Worked too much

Became addicted to CSI:NY
Became really addicted to Gossip Girl

Got a Blackberry and nearly figured out how to use it
Bought flowers for the house less than 5 times all year
Quit my PG Tips addiction
Started using cheapass mousse instead of fancy expensive gel
Bought some real plates!
Learned how to make pretty paper snowflakes

Made toffee at Christmas, but no truffles

Met a few new Good Friends
Lost a few Good Friends

Stood out in the rain with my best friend's best friends one lovely afternoon

Decided to go to England next year for Christmas (we'll see if that really happens)
Decided not to make any resolutions

Didn't eat sugar for two months
Squatted 195
Benched 35s
Put my gym membership on hold
Lost and gained and lost and gained the same 8lbs

Had Thanksgiving without my family

Did not get a sinus infection
Had my atlas adjusted and stopped having so many killer headaches

Drank Bailey's on Christmas Eve... as you do
Had a short fight with mom on Christmas day... as you do
Hated vacation

Took off one day of work all year, to stand around in the rain with my best friend's best friends

Went to the movies only a few times
Took some pictures, but not enough

Got to talk to a far away friend on the phone, twice!

Saw Luke more often than I've seen him since we were in school together over 10 years ago
Was not a bridesmaid in my best friend's wedding... because it hasn't happened yet!

Barely listened to Radiohead
Actually made a top albums list for 2009
Had a tea party for my birthday
Had no dinner parties

Drove 100 mph over the Howard Frankland
Was quite close to a Very Famous Person and a Pretty Famous Person
Finally bought a pair of Campers
Spent very little on clothes

Did not read any books

Stopped wearing heels to work
Found out that Wild Turkey goes well with eggnog, but Captain Morgan goes even better
Saw an old old friend

Went line dancing a few times, but not many

What a boring year!

going backwards

Ohhh ripping out lace is scary!!



After figuring out I was doing the corners wrong, I had to rip back six rows and redo them. The only way was to take it off the needles and pull. Luckily it's a lot of yo, K3tog, yo at this point, so it went back on the needles rather painlessly:



I've knitted a few rows since and it's all okay. I didn't understand the instructions for the corners, so was making two extra sections instead of one. Normally I would just drop the extra stitches and even it out in the blocking, but there were too many and some were twisted with each other.

Only 34 rows to go!

2:16 am

Well, I can't sleep, so I took some more pictures of the growing blob. I'm on row 77 of 130, so maybe it will end up being big enough. Still not sure. It's also getting a little tight on my double points, but the #2 Addi is 3mm and these #2 Lantern Moons are 2.75mm. Just gotta be careful, I guess. Speaking of being careful, I broke another needle last weekend. Luckily I remembered that Lantern Moon sent me two spare #2s by accident, so there was no waiting for new needles to be sent. This is the third Lantern Moon I've broken, but I still love them.



I keep finding other patterns in this book that I want to make, but since they are for doilies and tablecloths, it's hard to tell what size they'll end up being. I guess I could always just do another round of pattern if they turn out too small.

Still have to block the melon. Even though it's gorgeous, there's something incredibly unexciting about that shawl. I hope mom loves it more than I do. Have to get it done soon, I'm going home for Halloween!

Last week I made some amazing food. First was chicken pot pie from the lovely Smitten Kitchen, though it's originally an Ina recipe. Absolutely delicious and I'm sure the massive amount of butter has something to do with that. Then I made butter chicken from this random recipe off the Food Network site that I picked because it had a 5-star rating. I used real ginger and garlic and added some cilantro. I gave it a 7.6 the first night but the rating went up to an 8.5 after a rest in the fridge overnight. So sad it's all gone.

It would be cool if I could fall asleep now. Oy vey.

sunday morning

It's 54° here this morning! Supposed to stay under 70 today, which is lovely. This will only last one day, so I'm putting my patio chairs to use. The pretty lace has turned into a pretty blob:



Starting to wonder if it will be big enough. At this point I'm pretty sure it will be too small, but I bet I can block it within an inch of its life and maybe stretch it out enough. We'll see.

I've been looking around for some charcoal grey silk/wool to make my next lace with. I found something I liked, but it was the middle of the night and I forgot to save it. I think this stuff from Colourmart would be a nice option. I wish there was a huge yarn shop that sold every kind of yarn ever made...that would be awesome.

honey

I can't wait to take a picture of this thing during the day, the bright red is a little hard to photograph. I love the honeycomb pattern - so pretty!

indian

Still working on the lace, but there was a little bit of distraction tonight.



Butter chicken loosely based on this recipe. I used fresh ginger, fresh garlic and added cilantro. I give it a 7.6 out of 10 - have to work on my garam masala.

Here's some progress on the shawl:

day 2

I love that once you start you can't stop feeling.



It's coming along, slower and slower as it grows. Those last few rows are gonna be killer. It's been so long since I've made anything, so this is a lot of fun. The yarn is nice and soft and lovely to knit with.

lace

I bought a book of knitted tablecloth patterns called Knitted Lace Designs of Herbert Niebling. It's fantastic. So I started a tablecloth shawl:



This is Jade Sapphire Lacey Lamb. I only have one skein, so we'll see how far it gets me.

edges

It's almost done! Mom will finally get her shawl after three years!

It's pretty, but incredibly boring to make, I think that's why it's taken so long. I do love knitting borders on these things though.

gf meatballs

Back to gluten free for now. I'm posting this mainly so I remember the recipe, cos of these are yummy!

Ground Turkey
An Egg
Cooked Rice
Parm Cheese
Parsley
Basil
Sage
Thyme
Salt
Red Pepper Flakes
A little bit of Milk

450 degrees for 10-12 minutes

sushi #5

A few months ago I got some sushi at this place and they used rice paper instead of rice. The other night I was too lazy to make rice, so I thought I'd try it with rice paper. It was interesting...

Looks diseased, but those are sesame seeds between the rice paper and nori.

Yeah.

because we are your friends. you'll never be alone again.

easter breakfast

More things I am not supposed to eat!

Cinnamon honey challah french toast with strawberries. They were out of raisin challah and I was only slightly disappointed. I didn't expect much going the night before Easter though. That is honey all over, not syrup!

Goes well with french press:

black & white

So I used this recipe from Smitten Kitchen (♥). The cookies didn't turn out flat at all like the pictures, but I loved the massive amount of salt in them. Salt plus chocolate = awesome.

I have been making chocolate chip cookies since I was about 7, so I know the basic recipe by heart. Always feels weird changing things! For the chocolate white chocolate chip cookies, I just added some cocoa and big pieces of white chocolate instead of semi-sweet. So good. So so good.

N.B. These put me into a coma, so I won't be making them again anytime soon. They are so pretty though, I had to share.

eggs

I had all these leeks I had to do something with. Ummmmmmm.

Leeks
Bacon
Gruyere
Salt
Pepper
Red Pepper Flakes
Eggs

Pretty tasty!

vegetables. amazing.

A couple of weeks ago I came home on a Sunday morning after possibly too many homemade cosmopolitans the night before. You could say the world was not quite solid yet and I was not quite ready to eat pretty much anything. My good friend suggested a big bowl of veggies. It was perfect.

Leeks
Purple Onions
Bean Sprouts
Green Beans
Red Peppers
Rice Noodles
Fresh Ginger
Sesame Seeds

Before you get the wrong idea, I don't drink very often. This meal has become one of my recent favorites though and I've made it since. I am such a meat eater, I never thought I'd be able to just eat veggies and be full.

Amazing.