Sunday, June 28, 2009

In which Your Heart Melts a Little Bit

In my promise to keep updating more frequently, I give you another little post. I had hoped to capture the colour better here, but it still lacks the green tones that the yarn really has... I'll get it one day.

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And another, because it's just so textural, yummm.

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I *am* plugging away on my sweater (it'll get more blog attention later), but this is still my priority knit.

And I just can't resist this, it's too cute. I woke up the other morning and when I rolled over, the cat was under the nightstand, and it looks like he had actually pulled one of the socks under with him to snuggle. Altogether now: "mawwwwwwww".

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Tuesday, June 23, 2009

In which I Beckon Thee: Behold My Gauntlet of Fury!

So, I promised some bloggable knitting (or rather, not unbloggable knitting, but I think it amounts to the same thing here). I don't have too much to say other than I'm glad I was convinced to dig this out of hibernation and get started again (thank you Gwen). I managed to knit 20 rounds on the sleeve tonight. TWENTY ROUNDS! Compared to my 45-minute rows on the other project, this is like a knitters miracle. It's incredible!

So, without much further ado, the terrible 9:00 pm CFL lit arm shot...
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And just because I feel a certain something in the air, another classic style shot. I call it the 'Behold my gauntlet of fury'.
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Does anyone else feel that I look particular devilish there? Oh dear, this does no good for my well-cultivated image of a kind, gentle knitter, who is by no means whatsoEVER bent on, at the very least, continental domination.

Monday, June 22, 2009

In which I finally post a little teaser

So, in honour of yesterdays Solstice, I give you a snippet of my secret project (written details on Ravelry). It's actually coming along quite well! After a row and stitch count yesterday I have realized that I am much closer than I thought. I might actually get this done in a month and I can't wait to block it out. When it's done, I promise lots and lots of photos, and I also promise there won't be any more unbloggable knitting for a while.

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Thursday, June 18, 2009

In which a train is not derailled

Ok, tinking was a success. It may have set me back about 3 hours, but now it's time to get this project back on track!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

1) thank you Gwen for the blogiversary wishes!

2) I need to tink back two rows to fix an error in my project. That's about, oh... 800 stitches. Silly me, knitting lace...

Monday, June 8, 2009

In which I go Greek

So, Summer is either in full swing, nascent, or on it's way for a number of us (not so much the Southern hemisphere, but the rest of us), and I personally am starting to feel the cooking groove in my hands again. I'll be honest, I have barely cooked in the last year (in fact, I have eaten quite poorly for a good part of it). The other night, I whipped up a meal that made me (and my co-habitants) really happy. It was a fun meal to cook and it turned out well. So, in the interest of self-motivation, I am going to try and write a little bit about food and cooking and just keep track of what I'm up to on here more.

So, my gift to you for early June... my family's Greek Salad recipe.
This is something that my parents and I always ended up coming back to as a refreshing salad, super easy to make, and with a wee bit of attention, can be the core of a surprisingly hearty meal.

You will need cucumber (field or English), tomatoes, onion (yellow or red), kalamata olives (pitted or non), feta cheese (whichever type you prefer - I love Macedonian feta, if I can afford it), fresh (FRESH) basil, olive oil (ideally extra virgin, but again, not necessary), and optionally, balsamic vinegar. I find that half of a good sized cucumber and one or two tomatoes will make an amount sufficient for a side dish for about four people.

English cucumbers are good to use as is, but sometime with field cucumbers, I find that the skin can be a bit tough or bitter, so if you don't want to risk that getting in the way, just give the field cucumber a really quick peeling, but don't worry if there is some skin left, it won't ruin anything.
I recommend removing the cucumber seeds (cut into quarters lengthwise, then just scoop or cut them out) and the tomato juice/seeds (again, quarters, then just sort of squeeze around until the goop is out). Removing the innards of the veggies is not necessary, but I have found that it greatly improves the storage life of the salad. It will then be good for a few days in the fridge without getting completely soupy and soggy. Of course you can keep the innards and make a veggie slaw or spread or whatever tickles your fancy.

Dice/chop the cucumber (I prefer it on the finer side, not big chunks) and tomatoes (these can be bigger as they don't have the solidity of the cukes) and toss them in your mixing/serving dish of choice.
Mine/dice a small amount of onion (I use yellow, and you probably need about a fifth of an onion for the other amounts I use, but add to taste), and add the bowl.
Throw in your olives (with pits in I find taste better and usually are just nicer, but if there are young ones present, or you don't know if you'll be able to warn everyone, go with the pitted).
Ah, the cheese... I love (LOVE) feta, but I find a certain amount of restraint is good here. Crumble in enough so that there is maybe a 3:1 ratio between veggies and cheese at most.
I like sweet (Genovese) basil, but I've yet to try a variety that didn't taste amazing. Tear up (don't cut, or else your basil will brown. Also, tearing basil is fun) a good number of leaves. Basil is amazing, I can't imagine overdoing it in the dish, so add to preference.
A good splash of olive oil (3-4 tablespoons?).
A dash of balsamic vinegar if you want (I love the slight bite it gives-helps mellow out the feta).

Either mix it up, or make it straight in the serving dish. People will go picking through it for the favourite bits anyway, so I just serve it straight.

I know that's a lot of writing, but it really takes about ten minutes to put together, tops. The other night we had this with focaccia bread (olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping) and a small steak. The salad is substantial enough that you really only need a small amount of other food to supplement it (I splurged and bought a *good* cut of beef, but it was all we needed on the side).

And now I have to run to work. Have a good week peoples, I'll see you soon.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

In which "Run! Godzilla!"

Well, since I still can't show you any of my knitting (it's going, I swear, albeit slowly), I'll show you a little something else I whipped up.

Baba Yagas Chicken Legged Hut
Baba Yagas Chicken Legged Hut

I drew this for part of a friends birthday gift. Baba Yaga is one of my favourite characters from Eastern European folklore, and her story is just deliciously creative. In short, I'm not dead yet, just not posting.

Take care peoples!