Nope, not birthday cake. Just cake leftover from saturday night.
We watched a movie last night, which means I got some dedicated knitting time. My windschief hat is flying, and I am absolutely in love with the way this yarn is knitting up. The depth of color! The stitch definition! Discuss.
And here’s one more shot of Boh and the birthday boy, because today is the day. Aren’t they sweet?
The boy is celebrating a birthday this week, so yesterday we headed west, one lake over, for a special birthday brunch. On my plate: poached eggs on top of sausage smoked in house and grilled focaccia bread, with incredible rosemary roasted potatoes. And a glass of organic local grape juice. On B’s plate: focaccia french toast with raspberry puree, rosemary roasted potatoes, and a link of a different homemade, in-house smoked sausage. And a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice. And coffee.
B, looking serious. Also, a jazz band! They did a blues-y cover of Springsteen’s Hungry Heart. Swoon.
The view from the porch of the cafe — looking out towards the lake.
And here we are. (I share these here even though clearly I have much to learn in the taking-attractive-photos-of-yourself-with-your-arm-outstretched department. I also have a perpetual problem with closing my eyes during photos.)
And here’s the beginning of my windschief hat. I am very excited about this. Time to start thinking about making dinner after a very long Monday on campus.
Dear friends came for dinner last night. (Boh was on cloud 9.) Y’all know I love to play in the kitchen, but I especially like cooking both for and with D and T — we have similar tastes (well, aside from D’s brutal hatred for all things eggplant), we belong to the same farm, and we always have a good time together. They brought homebrew, a bottle of homemade limoncello for my freezer(!), beer brewed with Japanese hops for us all to try (it DOES taste like “sunshine in a glass”), and tortilla chips for the mostly-tomatillo-with-a-peach-thrown-in salsa I made. And I decided to test out some new-to-me recipes based on what could be found in my fairly full fridge. After lots of drooling over recipes on my computer screen, I settled on two ideas from Deb over at smitten kitchen: scalloped tomatoes with croutons, and everyday chocolate cake. I paired the tomatoes with a salad of very peppery arugula, cherry tomatoes, goat cheese, and cherry tomato confit with a homemade vinaigrette with a bit more honey than I usually use. I was really happy with how everything turned out — these recipes have earned spots in my kitchen binder!
Also, here are the results of peaches +bourbon, take two. I did use the immersion blender to make this more sauce-like, and I’m thrilled with the consistency: thicker and smoother, but with chunks of peach.
And here’s what I’m casting on later this morning. I’ve been meaning to start a hat for D. He’s sporting a new haircut these days, and as the weather gets a bit colder, I want to contribute a hat or two to his headgear collection. I was inspired by the Windschief that Laura posted yesterday, so I hopped over to Ravelry to look through other people’s FOs, and ultimately, purchase and print out the pattern. I’m using tosh worsted in malachite, and I’m psyched to cast on.
I really should be reading all day today, but I’m going to allow myself at least a little bit of time for knitting…
What does a rooster with allergies and a sinus headache do after teaching on Thursday? Make leek confit, of course. (And do laundry. And make more chile verde base. And vacuum. And scrub the dish drying rack. I have a problem with sitting still.) This recipe for leek confit also comes from Local Kitchen — so simple, so tasty. We followed Kaela’s advice and spooned this over a bowl of noodles with salt, pepper, parmesan cheese, and a little bit of goat cheese. Super easy, and so good.
I realized yesterday that I haven’t been posting as many pictures of Boh lately. Don’t worry, he’s still working just as hard as ever.
Yesterday I snapped a quick picture of my freezer. Not too much room left — which is a good thing. Seems I am way better at playing in the kitchen than I am at reading books these days.
And here’s a shot of my idlewood — almost time to divide for the sleeves. I managed to knit a few rows while watching the first episode of Bones (Season 6) this morning, which was a lovely way to start the day. And right now, there are peaches simmering in bourbon and sugar on the stove. (Not a bad way to spend the afternoon…)
Happy first weekend of fall!
Friday morning, tomato jam and goat cheese on toast. This was exactly what I needed to start the last day of the (school) week. The jam is very sweet at first, and then the flavors smooth out a bit and there is a nice kick (from the chili flakes) at the end of a bite. I was concerned about the consistency of the jam — seemed a bit loose to me — but this was well within the range of the jam category, though I spread it with a spoon instead of a knife. I’ve been reading a bunch of food blogs that focus on preserving, and I’ve seen some discussion about how flavors mellow and meld as canned food sits on the shelf. Or in the fridge. This makes sense — the last jar of my summer 2009 dilly beans were different than the earlier jars. And some meals that are just alright as dinner are incredible as leftovers.
So I like this! It appeals to my love of savory breakfast food, and I’m interested to see if the flavors in this jam mellow over the next few weeks (for the jar in the fridge) and months (for the jars stacked on the shelf). My next plan is to slather this stuff on grilled cheese, and to think about using it as a sweet/spicy homemade alternative to ketchup (and someday, I’ll try my hand at making my own ketchup!).
Also, Friday morning it was chilly enough for a fleece vest and my handspun (knitted) toast. (I swear I wasn’t thinking about blog post content when I both ate jam on toast and then put on a pair of toast. But it works, doesn’t it? Silly rooster.)
Speaking of silliness, somehow the boy managed to get Boh perched on a chair. And then Boh serenely gazed out the window.
On Friday night, after a long week, we curled up and watched a movie, which meant that I finally picked up my idlewood. I am super close to separating the sleeves from the yoke. And I am super excited about this sweater.
Also, remember all that produce I posted about? Stay tuned for a whole slew of kitchen adventures…
Sorry about that. I can’t help myself. (Seriously. Last week I taught a section on Marco Polo, and it was all I could do to not begin class with: Maaaaarcoooo! And yes, you’re right. I do not work on 12th-century China. The class I’m TAing covers a lot of ground.)
Anyway, back to knitting. This weekend, I took a mini-vacation to my friend K’s apartment. She had minor surgery on Friday, so Boh and I went to keep her company and help her with things that are tough to do one-handed. (You know, like open those child-proof pill bottles.) She’d certainly have managed without us, but I think our plan was more fun. I tell you all of this to explain that on Thursday night, I found myself deliberating not over what books to pack, but over what knitting to bring with me. The weather has turned fall-like, and as such, I’ve been in a sweater-knitting mood. And then, while digging for my notions bag, I came upon my (rather embarrassing) pile of unfinished cozy sweaters (which even includes a neglected, and thus totally unhelpful test-knit). As soon as I touched the Ultra Alpaca fabric of my Kerrera, I knew that was the sweater that would be coming with me.
I discovered that I was a lot further along than I remembered, and this weekend I knit the reverse stockinette portion of the back and both fronts. This morning I did the three needle bind off to seam the shoulders, and slipped it on to get a sense for the fit. So far, I am very happy. (I decided to do the bind-off on the right side, as I’m not sure the pattern suggested which way to do it. I figured the raised, but clean, seam on the outside would make the sweater sit more comfortably on my shoulders, and mirror/echo the fake side seams on the body. The wrong side looks really great — an invisible seam — and I was probably supposed to do this the other way, but I think I like the choice I made.) You can’t see the shoulder seams in this pictures, but since I’m knitting this as part of a relaxed KAL, (Hi, Mick and Laura!) maybe this info will come in handy.
Next up? Sleeves! (Actually, a big pile of reading first, then the sleeves.)
I pulled the pins out of my blocking textured shawl recipe shawl this morning while waiting for the coffee water to be ready to add to my french press. I have no idea what is going on in that last picture — consider it an example of this rooster, bleary-eyed and pre-coffee. Silly. So, this is lovely. I used every last inch of my 257 yards of green/blue handspun from friends’ folly farm (well, and a yard and a half of Rowan felted tweed). I followed the recipe, but applied the mods used by sketchbook on ravelry, which makes for a wider, shallower shawl. The finished product does have the drape I was hoping for, and it is solidly shawlette size. (Victory!) The mohair content is a little scratchy, but I’m hoping to tame that a bit with use, or just wear it draped more loosely around my neck, rather than wrapped tight. It feels good to have this off the needles, and I really enjoyed knitting it.
I do think I’ll make another out of something solid, super soft, and with great stitch definition to really highlight the texture of this shawl. And next time, I won’t put this project in the bag I take everywhere. I can’t explain it, but most of the time, the project that actually goes everywhere with me rarely gets worked on. Sure, I’ll pull it out when unexpected things happen and I have to wait in line or something, but mostly, I think my bag is officially a black hole when it comes to knitting projects. Okay, coffee is ready. And as you can tell from that picture, I need it.
As you can see, I’ve been knitting away on the textured shawl this week. And last night, after a lovely late night beer and knitting date, I realized that I was getting very close to the end of my handspun. This morning, with my coffee, I knit a few more rows, and then gambled (poorly) about whether I’d have enough to bind off on the right side. This is a photo of the gamble, alongside my proposed solution. (Remember the sweater I frogged awhile back?) I made it halfway through the bind-off row when I ran out. Luckily, even though the Rowan Felted Tweed stands out against the backdrop of the textured shawl in this photo, one strand, on the edge of half the shawl, blends right in. I spit-spliced and continued binding off, and then raced against the clock to soak the shawl and pin it out before power-walking to campus to teach section this morning.
I stretched it out as much as I could, though the cast on edge is a bit tight, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the whole thing relaxes into a cozy, comfy, drape-y shawl.
And now I have a few food pictures to share from the week. (Yep, no transition. Sorry about that.)
Last weekend I made a pan’s worth of eggplant parmesan using a big, beautiful farm eggplant. It was awesome. And last Friday (I think) I made gazpacho.
This was so good. Exactly what I needed on a very sticky day. Here’s the recipe. We ate it with toast and cream cheese, and it hit the spot. I will definitely be making this the next time I have a handful of super ripe, juicy tomatoes.
Happy almost weekend! (And if you’re on the East Coast, happy arrival-of-weather-that-is-suitable-for-knitwear!)
Well, I certainly don’t feel like I’m settling into a routine, but it seems like the photos I pulled off my phone and camera this week suggest otherwise. I picked up my textured shawl again, and it is really moving. I’m still unsure about this — hoping it blocks bigger and drapes better — but I love the depth in the greens and blues. A little more reading, another row or two, and then it will most certainly be bedtime for this rooster.
Victory. 208 yards of 2-ply worsted weight rub-on-your-face-because-it-is-so-soft alpaca. I am so pleased with the result, and I can’t wait to show it to the friend who requested this spin!
And here’s a progress shot of the cowl — I’ve completed the neck decrease row, and now I’m increasing for the raglan neck/sleeves. Still in love with this. Tuesday is my non-campus day, so while I do have plans to do quite a bit of reading, I’m also planning lunch with a friend, a decent walk with Boh, and a trip to the farm.
barefoot rooster 