Tag Archives: kitchen

flowers and a wurm.

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And pancakes. For dinner.

I managed to knit a few rows on my wurm hat while at a lecture on Springsteen on Monday afternoon. I realize it doesn’t look like I’ve made any progress, but it felt good to have this project in my hands again. I could listen to Thunder Road over and over (oh wait, I do), and my week is certainly better than it would have been because I was able to listen to Bruce, blaring loud, in a rather stuffy lecture hall. (Roy Orbison’s singin’ for the lonely/hey that’s me and I want you only.)

And then I filled my apartment with flowers, which is an important step in grading a huge stack of papers. Clearly.

ripped jeans.

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I inherited these awesome ripped jeans several years ago from my dear friend champ, and changing out of skinny-conference-paper-giving-jeans into cozy sigh-with-relief-and-curl-up-with-boh jeans was exactly what I needed yesterday afternoon. (I know I tucked that into a ridiculous string of hyphenated words, but I gave my first conference paper yesterday, and I’m happy with how it went. Hooray!)

Also, I’ve done those dishes. Thanks, everyone, for your sweet responses to the giddiness of my last post. (I’m still grinning about all of that.)

Tonight, I made (and then ate too much) mushroom pizza. I also made some progress on my teal shalom. A few more inches, and I will be good to go.

I am still thrilled with the accidentally perfect sizing, and I’m pretty sure this is only going to require three skeins of Cascade 220. We’re getting into the crazy part of the semester — I’m expecting a huge pile of papers to grade tomorrow, and it is time for me to really get a move on with the writing I need to turn in next month, so my posting might be a bit erratic, but I’ll try not to disappear entirely. Spending time in this space makes me happy.

daffodils and dancing.

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My yard’s first daffodil. I woke up early yesterday and got a fair bit of work done, as well as some plying and Easter baking.

I had to request consultations with my dough advisory council (my dad and my friend K.) when my Slovenian Easter buns took forever to rise, but I think everything that was supposed to happen occurred, and the result is delicious.

I also made an enormous Caesar salad (above), and then dished myself a 2-quart mixing bowl-sized serving. Yum. And that would have made for a pretty good day.

But then I did something rather uncharacteristic: I went dancing. Something about the arrival of spring gave me a burst of energy last night, and I stayed out way past my bedtime. And had fun. And consequently, I’m having a tough time motivating myself to do anything of (academic) import today.

But I’ve got daffodils, and the sun is shining.

pizza/plying.

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More playing in the kitchen this weekend: homemade pizza and these double chocolate muffins, with walnuts and almond extract subbed for the butterscotch chips and vanilla.

Also, some spinning. This is Southern Cross Fibre merino in Bluestone — my first club shipment! It arrived on Thursday, and by Friday afternoon it was on my wheel. I spun all 4 oz. as singles, and this morning, sat down to navajo ply the whole lot.

My Bluestone is taking a bath right now, and soon it will be hanging to dry in the kitchen. On the list for today? Reading and knitting on Shalom:

Shalom matches the book I intend to finish today! Happy Saturday, folks.

ravioli muscles.

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Oof. First of all, my ravioli-making muscles are a little sore. (That’s a technical term — they are tiny, and located in the middle of the back.) This is a small (and totally worth it) price to pay for homemade ravioli, in case you’re wondering.

My friends D and T came over last night, along with their sweet dog Coltrane, for a special dinner sort of in honor of D’s recent birthday. Just as we were about to dig in, they said something like, “Wait! Don’t you want to take a picture for the blog?” They know me well.

I followed this ravioli recipe, and the resulting meal was incredible. We also enjoyed my dad’s Caesar salad recipe, and an apple pie. It was a super fun evening, and despite the fact that my parents’ pasta maker (which lives at my house) is missing a few pieces are really requires two people to properly operate it without lots of curse words, I am jonesing for more homemade pasta…

Also, I’ve finished the yoke of Shalom! I did do an extra repeat of the yoke pattern in order to get closer to the neck to armpit distance I need, and I am excited. It is a little small right now, but I’m confident (fingers crossed) that it will block out to the slim fit I’m hoping for. My button holes look a little messy — note to self — I don’t do the bind off/cast-on button holes well, but I’m sure I can clean that up a bit with yarn needle and some extra ends. Onward to the mindless stockinette portion!

Happy Friday!

(lots) more of those singles.

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But first I have to share this photo I snapped of my lunch yesterday: leftover dumplings, new music (checking out the Broken Bells album), natural light. Yum! (And necessary sustenance for all of the spinning I have been doing this weekend.)

Finished singles, on the niddy noddy. No breaks in the winding process, which I was super happy about. I was aiming for a low-enough twist for these to be reasonably balanced after finishing. With trepidation, I took them off the niddy noddy.

And snapped another picture. So far so good — the singles are not too twisty! Into the bath they go.

Post bath, admiring the sheen of the mohair.

Boh lays claim to the towel used to squeeze out the excess water. (Can you blame him? It smells like wet woolliness.)

And now the singles are hanging to dry. It feels good to be spending so much time at my wheel!

flowers + pie crust = spring break.

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And that was today. Windows open, music loud, pie in the oven. Boh spent the morning in a pocket of sunshine on the comforter, and I played in the kitchen and sat at my wheel. We are on spring break. (Which mostly means longer chunks of time to grade exams, read, write a conference paper — but also means we can justify things like longer, more leisurely walks, elaborate kitchen experiments, and having another beer — which is code for not working late into the evening.)

Happy weekend!

patchwork.

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It’s official. I’m spinning for legwarmers. I acquired a second bump of Hello Yarn merino in Patchwork expressly for this purpose, inspired by these. When Stacey made these out of her Patchwork last month, I knew it was a good idea. I wear my Cascade 220/Madil Kid Seta aqua legwarmers all the time, and with spring around the corner, I’m going to need at least one more pair to keep my ankles warm when I wear flip-flops…

Boh thought he heard something outside while I was spinning.

But then he decided it was no big deal.

This is maybe the 9th baby casserole pan full of apple crisp I’ve made in the last week. And I’m not sure I’m exaggerating. I took the recipe from last week’s apple crisp and essentially halved the apples and quartered the topping to make a less sweet, more apple-y crisp, and I’ve been making this in the evenings, eating a bit for dessert, and then warming up the rest for breakfast. I love it when apples are buy-1/2-a-peck, get 1/2-a-peck free at the orchard!

And here’s my simple things shawl, fresh off the blocking mats. I got a bit more width out of it, and the fabric is so nice and drapey. Win.

Okay, back to work. And apple crisp.

baktusing.

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Ta-da! It turns out that all I needed to do to finish my languishing lacy baktus was to take it out of my bag and put it in the knitting pile near the couch. (Well, and knit on it for two more hours.)

In addition to my knitterly productivity, I spent some quality time with the paper I’m revising this weekend, and while it isn’t done yet, it will be ready on time. (Tomorrow.) I turned around in my chair sometime yesterday morning, and this is what I saw:

My sweet dog, waiting patiently for playtime.

I made the Pioneer Woman’s fancy macaroni on Saturday night as a gooey, hearty reward for my steady progress on this paper, and it was divine. (A bit too decadent for the regular rotation, but the perfect treat!)

Happy March!

shoveling, sour cherries, sweetness.

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As you can see, today’s post is also sponsored by the letter S. Despite yesterday’s whining about the snow day that was not to be, all of my students showed up for section. If things had been reversed, I would’ve picked snowshoeing over school, so they all get a great big high-five. When I returned home, a mountain of shoveling awaited me.

The door to my apartment is on the back of the house. I’d say my part of town got about 15 new inches of snow on Thursday and Friday, and then some high winds helped to create some substantial driveway drifts! I shoveled a winding path from the street, zigzagging around the cars in the driveway, and around the back of the house to my door. Every time Boh and I walk down it, I feel like I’ve created some kind of Olympic ice luge or bobsled track. I also had to dig out my car, which I did in two 1-hour chunks.

My friend T. did quite a bit of shoveling yesterday too, and she came over last night to commiserate with a bit of wine and some sour cherries, which we promptly turned into coffee cake!

T. is a teacher, and she used part of her snow day to defrost these cherries and pit them. (So even though I didn’t get a snow day, I certainly got to enjoy the spoils of a snow day project!) We made this coffee cake, and it was fantastic.

T.’s sweet dog, Coltrane, came over to play with Boh, and once we convinced him to get up on the couch, he decided to spend much of the evening lounging.

Best friends. (Though Boh was whimpering a bit at the idea that he had to share his couch with Coltrane!)

One last picture — I think I am subconsciously responding to all of the bright whiteness outside! A glance in the mirror had me laughing at my apparent attempt to wear all of the colors of the rainbow at once. Silly rooster!