Tag Archives: kitchen

two-quart/two-ply.

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2qt

Midway through my dinner — a salad comprised of red lettuce, mustard greens, radishes, harukei turnips, tomatoes, avocado and a homemade vinaigrette, I realized (a)  that I was eating out of a 2-quart metal mixing bowl and (b) that I hadn’t even considered eating out of a cereal bowl.

Ridiculous — and completely awesome.

Something else completely awesome? This targhee 2-ply:

targhee2ply

targhee2ply2

The actual color is in between: not as pink as the first picture, but more vibrant and shiny than the second. It is amazing what light coming through the window will do to the same bobbin! If I’ve done my math right, we’re looking at 327 yards of 2-ply — no wonder it took almost twice the amount of time I had budgeted for plying this morning!

Time was budgeted because today Boh and I are heading to the north country to stay with my dear friend P. and help out in the land of CSA veggies, piglets, and farmers’ markets. We’d be on the road already if it weren’t for the plying that I absolutely HAD to do this morning — that way, the yarn will be dry by the time we return.  (Obsessed? Who, me?)

muffinsforroad

Baked some muffins for the road, washed and hung the yarn to dry, even vacuumed the spot usually occupied by Boh’s box. Time to hit the road! Have a great weekend.

spinning/stirfry.

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(The strawberries are just implied. I don’t have any pictures of them today, but don’t let that fool you; I’m on my 5th quart this week.)

stirfry1

stirfry2

Last night’s dinner — a stifry loosely based on a recipe in Heidi Swanson’s Supernatural Cooking. (I highly recommend flipping through it the next time you’re in a bookstore!) This is a basic sesame oil stirfry, and while my ingredients were the green things overflowing my refrigerator (garlic scapes, broccoli, komatsuna, chard, cabbage, radishes, scallions, ginger), I followed Heidi’s lead and added lime juice and chopped basil and mint just before eating — yum!

After dinner, I sat down at the wheel to work on that delicious melon-y targhee. After another hour or so today, I’m almost done with the second bobbin — I can’t wait to ply this!

targheebobbin3

targhee bobbin2

Also, I finally took stripes! off the kitchen table today. It was sooo close to dry when I put it on before breakfast:

stripesagain

Even though there was terrible light this morning (raining all day today), I think the vibrant colors of the Noro stripes really stand out in this photo. I know it is only June, but there is a part of me that will not be sad for cooler fall weather to arrive because it means I’ll get to wear my stripey sweater…

more greens.

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csaweek2

Radishes, crunchy salad turnips, red head lettuce, spinach, endive, chard, broccoli raab, arugula, basil, mint… life is pretty good. My trip to see my parents threw off my farm pick-up schedule, so yesterday I went and gathered about half the week’s offerings (in quantity) so that Tuesday I’ll be ready for more.

The (enormous) head of endive and what was left of last week’s kale went into a gratin with red potatoes and sweet potatoes, cheddar, and a sauce made of milk, flour, onions and garlic. Here’s a close up:

gratin

Yum. I barely made a dent in this 9×9 pan of deliciousness, which means I have plenty of leftovers to enjoy.

Also, greens are starting to show up in my second stripey sleeve:

secondstripesleeve

I am so excited to join the body and sleeves together and begin work on the yoke. Maybe I’ll get that far today…

Unrelated, but thought you might enjoy seeing Boh and his dear friend Coltrane resting on my floor after some d-o-g-p-a-r-k playtime:

tireddogs

What are you up to today? Over here, no-knead bread is rising, my knitting is calling, and Boh and I have plans for a long stroll along a creek near our house. My WWKIP day activities are being delayed until Tuesday night– an inaugural meeting of what may become my summer knitting group.

Happy weekend!

inches and handfuls.

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These were my units of measure today.

Exhibit A (inches):

stripesoncouch

(I love this picture. Can’t exactly explain why.)

bodystripes

And here it is, all 17 inches and change of the body of my stripes! sweater. I don’t think I’ve ever knit so quickly in my life. Certainly, I am currently feeling the need to distract myself; to fill the days. There is something else though, something I can’t quite pinpoint, that makes this project hard to put down. Perhaps it is the surprising softness of the eco-wool. Maybe it’s the short pattern repeat, the next stripe’s color(s) revealed in just four (three, two, one) more row(s)…

All I know is that I’m finding a particular kind of fulfillment in this project, and I’m grateful for it. Next up? Stripey sleeves!

Exhibit B (handfuls):

dinnerinpan

dinnergreens

Tonight’s dinner: an innovative greens recipe from a cookbook compiling recipes from farms and CSAs across the country. The basic premise is that you mix up a vinaigrette, boil some of it and throw in sliced mushrooms, and then later add some hearty greens and cook until wilted. Toss this stuff with less hearty greens, add some goat cheese, and add more of the dressing. I used kale, arugula, and spinach from my share, and I can’t wait to make this again. (That cookbook, for those interested, is this one.)

Exhibit C (toys?):

poutingbohwithpile

Boh, with his pile of scraps and bones…

I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep up this daily blogging all summer, but for now, it adds some quite welcome structure to the day, as a friend thoughtfully noted earlier this week.

More soon!

vibrant colors.

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Looking at today’s photos helped me to link the day’s activities together in my brain. While reading, knitting, and heading out to the farm for my veggies do not necessarily seem intrinsically connected, today has been filled with bright, buoyant, truly vibrant colors — and particularly now, when I am not feeling quite so buoyant and vibrant on the inside, it seems important to be able to see these things all around me.

I spent the morning watching the colors of the first skein of kureyon reveal themselves in the stripes of my growing sweater.

stripesprogress

Stripes! is one of those patterns that teaches you things as you go, and today I learned to do the math to add waist shaping tailored to high-waisted, rather boy-shaped me. (Yay!) Here’s one of those awkward sweater body-in-progress shots:

stripes waist shaping on

I hope I can keep up this pace, as I am itching to wear this sweater! We’ve had cooler, cloudier weather of late, and part of me hopes it will stick around a tad longer so that I can pull this on and sit outside on a breezy summer evening…

Today I picked up a beautifully written, thoughtful book: The Anthropology of Turquoise: Reflections on Desert, Sea, Stone and Sky by Ellen Meloy. (Find it on amazon here.) Meloy’s prose is artful, at times surprising, and the way she intertwines memory with story, past with the book’s present, is evocative and beautifully complex. I’m about a third of the way through, and am finding myself particularly moved by Meloy’s exposition and exploration loosely centered on blues and greens.

Lastly, today marked the beginning of my CSA’s season. Check out this week’s haul:
csa haul

In those beets and radishes, and even in the greens, I see the colors of my sweater. Red beets, chiogga beets, radishes, spicy white turnips, komatsuna, spinach, arugula, kale, oregano, thyme, mint…I braised some of the komatsuna in olive oil with some chopped garlic, and then sauteed some radishes in butter at high heat for a beautifully colorful plate — ravenously consumed before documentation could occur.

Settling in for some more stripes-knitting.  I hope your day was punctuated with moments of bright color too.

spices and stripes.

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In an effort to both stay busy and create a sense of cleansing/starting some things anew, I’ve been cleaning like a fiend this week. Yesterday, I finally knit myself a dishcloth and, inspired by the yarn pirate herself, ditched my sponges. In keeping with my occcasional theme of knits-in-action, here’s a shot of my new dishcloth in its new home:

dishcloth in action

Thrilling, I know. (But seriously, these cloths are surprisingly sturdy scrubbers, and the idea that they will just go in the weekly wash with my other kitchen cloths makes me very happy.)

Also, I tackled the spice cabinet. I wish I’d thought to take a “before” picture, but I was too excited to measure brightly colored seeds and powders into their respective jars. This will be an ongoing project, as the co-op only stocks so many small jars (which I think are intended for lip balms or creams in small quantities) at a time. Still, this cupboard is much happier:

spices

In celebration, I baked some chocolate walnut cookies. I saw this recipe over at the kitchn, printed it immediately and tucked it into the binder o’ kitchen ideas. In a word: yum. My kitchen smelled so rich and chocolately that I had to open a window.

chocwalnut1

These cookies are cooling on newly available counter space — yesterday I lugged the microwave that was in the apartment down to the basement. I figured that since I’ve been here almost a year and haven’t yet plugged it in, I probably won’t miss it, and the extra space sure is nice! Here’s a cookie macro shot:

chocwalnut2

Again: yum. Yummmm.

In the spirit of starting new things, a project I’ve been looking forward to arrived in my inbox yesterday. I’m test-knitting stripes! for Whitney over at whitknits. (You can see her stripes! in this post. All of Whitney’s knitting is beautiful, and this post highlights a whole slew of inspiring projects.) When I saw her stripes! earlier this winter, I knew I wanted one so I jumped at the chance to give this a try.

swatch

Because I am taking my test-knitting responsibilities very seriously, I swatched and even washed and blocked my square of eco-wool to be sure my gauge was correct. It really didn’t take long at all. In fact, swatches dry wayyyy faster than sweaters do. Note to self: there is no reason not to do this all the time.

stripes macro

I spent a few hours catching up on podcasts and getting started on my stripes!, and I’m already loving this sweater. I learned a new cast-on, and this ribbing is so pretty. More pictures soon, as I intend to knit a few more rows before bed.

2-ply and pie.

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bohpliedcandle

Yay! My first wheel-plied yarn! Some ravelry forum advice confirmed my decisions to turn this into a 2-ply. My singles are a bit underspun to remain singles, so I’ll try again with something else. I am thrilled with how this looks all plied up — the wheel makes a huge difference with respect to evenness of the twist and the amount of time it takes to ply. This practically flew through my hands on Friday night. Here’s a close up:

plied candle

I’m still working on consistency, but for the most part, this looks to me to be worsted-weight yarn, with some thinner and thicker bits adding a touch of character. My math tells me that this is about 120 yds of subtly shaded goodness. What shall I make?

I believe I promised you pie: peach-strawberry-rhubarb, to be exact.

pie

M and I made a big batch o’ crust and then this delicious pie. Oh, and a big, green salad filled with radishes and beets from the farmers’ market to go with it. (I failed to photograph the salad.)

We had a lovely visit — so nice to have a dear friend here to walk, talk and bake with. Boh loved that she was here too.

Mostly unrelated, but I wanted to be sure to post this so that you know that I occasionally ruin things in the kitchen. Boh was the only witness this time.

beautiful beans

Aren’t these green beans lovely? (More green in my kitchen?!) On Friday I was planning to fix a late meal to tide me over until M’s bus got in around 11:30 pm. I rummaged through the cookbooks, and found a lovely green bean recipe in Supernatural Cooking, by Heidi of 101 cookbooks. The beans are tossed with lemon and lime zest and some fresh chives, all of which I had. I oohed and aaaahed over these as I mixed the beans with the other ingredients, sat down to take a bite, and promptly spat out a mouthful of very pretty beans. I’m pretty sure I grabbed a lime that had turned to the dark (rotten) side, as my beans did not taste citrus-y — just plain bad! I am looking forward to making this again with a lime that is NOT ready for the compost, as it sounds absolutely delicious and perfect for summer. I was so disappointed, but the beans were so pretty that I thought I’d snap a picture for you anyway.

Hope you’re enjoying the weekend. I can’t believe June is tomorrow. Crazy.

break-up pancakes.

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breakup pancake

The lines between real life and blog-life are hard, and I’ve been ignoring this space this week in part because I just don’t know how to write this post. You all know the boy through this space — his hands are in the food photos of the last 8 months, our adventures are pictured here, I’ve grown comfortable writing posts full of “we’s” and “usses,” and now…

Now I will miss those traces of him here. No anger, just sadness to work through. Sometimes the fit just isn’t quite right, and no amount of wishing or wanting on either side can fix that. I’ve never cared this much for someone in this way, and thus, I hurt more than I thought possible.  We’ve had a week of tears, quiet walks in the woods, long talks, and, moments ago, a physical goodbye dictated by a research project. I thought it would be horrible for him to be away so long. Now, it seems a good thing, as time and space are probably what we both need in order to heal and transition to friendship.

I’ve never done this part before — the hurting that comes after something so meaningful — and I’m at a loss. Also, I never make pancakes. I like savory breakfast food. But today, I had half a cup of buttermilk in the fridge and saw a link to a recipe over at smitten kitchen that seemed just the thing.

castironpancake

breakuppancake2

These are the best pancakes I’ve ever made, and I’m not going to lie: I think they helped a little bit.

Last night I made some granola for the week:

granola

And last week, in the immediate aftermath, the most beautiful bread came out of my oven. See?

pretty bread

The boy and I have each received some TERRIBLE break up advice that we are choosing to ignore as we work through this, but I got something really good from a dear friend yesterday on a long walk in the rain: do something for someone else.

I’ve had a really hard time knitting or spinning this week — too meditative for the way I feel — but this bit of advice has helped me to pick up the needles today. I kitchenered the first sock of the pair of thuja I am working on for my uncle. I’m heading home for a few days next week, and I would really love to give these to him. I worked a few inches of the cuff of the second sock today, and the squish of this cascade 220 superwash felt really good in my hands. Here’s a picture of my progress — socks in the foreground, dear snuggling companion in the back.

bohandthuja

Thanks for being here, dear readers. I know this is a lot to lay on you, but it feels good for me to write it down here. I imagine there will be a narrative of recovery, of hopefulness, and of willingness to do this all over again buried somewhere in the subtext of this summer’s knitting and spinning progress. I’m lucky to have good people in my world to take care of me right now, and I know it will get better. It has to, right?

strawberry shortcake.

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Warning: lots of photos today.

So last week, when I was not quite finished with my last project, dear (blogless) friend K came over to make this cake. Our scheduled cake-date was the perfect motivator. I made a lot of progress on my paper that day, and was able to thoroughly enjoy this process. Also, while I tend to have help in the kitchen, I tend to make desserts by myself, you know, in preparation for an event or an evening or what-have-you. When there are two bakers in the kitchen, more pictures are taken. K is a phenomenal baker, so these pictures feature her at work!

cake1

cake2

cake3

cake4

cake5

cake6

And, as with all tasty things prepared in this kitchen:

cake7

More knitting and spinning soon, I promise. Posting may be light this week, as it is a week of transition: dear ones leaving for the summer or longer who deserve proper send-offs. And over here, a new routine to establish and settle into. Bittersweet, but also much needed: summer is here.