Tag Archives: smitten kitchen

goodies.

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At least prepping for reading groups involves both reading AND baking. These are Deb’s our favorite chocolate chip cookies, and they are super tasty, despite the fact that I may have slightly overcooked some of them because I was too busy reading…

Also, check out what arrived today! I won the blogiversary giveaway over at Doodles in String — as commenter #1. Chris blogs about all sorts of inspiring knitting and spinning, so you should head over there if you’ve never been. These goodies are awesome: gorgeous yarn, beautiful fiber, and a book filled with patterns for kids. (And while I do not have children, all of the babies I’ve been knitting for lately are growing!) Thank you, Chris!

And since I don’t have any new knitting to share, here’s another knit-in-action. Remember this?

I realize it is hidden under several layers, but today I’m wearing my Rusted Root. I haven’t worn this in ages, and I have no idea why.

Alright, off to a new reading group. Happy almost weekend!

golden.

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Today is my golden birthday. No, I’m not turning fifty. (Yet.) I am, however, 28 on 2-8, which is apparently what makes today golden.

Mondays are super busy for me this semester, so in terms of celebrating with friends, I’m pretending that my birthday isn’t until later in the week.

I do think that birthdays require deliciousness, though, so last night I baked myself a cake — one that I can justify eating for breakfast.

This is the walnut jam cake that Deb posted earlier this week. I topped it with my homemade strawberry balsamic jam, and as soon as I finish this blog post, I’m cutting myself a hearty slice. (I may have eaten a small piece last night after this photo was taken…)

Other things worthy of celebration?

I finished the double garter stitch waistband of my Kerrera. Despite the frustration of my false start, this went a lot faster the second time through.

Boh understands…something about Kerrera, and I’m happy that he’s keeping an eye on it. He was clearly less worried about it yesterday, don’t you think?

Also, on Friday night I cut off my hair. I can’t exactly articulate why it became so important for me to rid myself of most of its length — something about my hair being sort of inconsistent with the person I am and would like to be. And more specifically, it was getting way too long to spontaneously eat soup. And it required detangling.

So I got out of bed on Friday night and chopped it off. In handfuls. I tried to take a few pictures over the weekend, and here are two of my favorites — more for the way they demonstrate my complete incompetence when it comes to photographing myself than for how they highlight my haircut.

(This is me attempting to capture how long/short it is on the side. But it just ended up looking silly.)

And this one…well, you get the idea.

Time for cake!

sick/swatching.

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First, I have to tell you about these muffins.

I did not make them — my friend K. did. And then, after a lovely tea date, she left the rest here, which turned out to be an even better idea than I had initially suspected. See, a few hours after she left, I developed an acute sore throat, and nothing goes better with copious amounts of tea and hot toddies than  delicious, not-too-sweet muffins. Due to the sore throat, I did nothing but eat muffins (well, okay, and potatoes and soup), knit seed stitch, and then, late in the evening, reward myself with some serious swatching.

The yarns are, from the bottom, clockwise, Queensland Kathmandu DK, Berroco Ultra Alpaca, more Kathmandu DK on smaller needles, and Berroco Peruvia. (You may recognize the book as Mastering the Art of French Cooking, by Julia Child. Yes, I finally saw the movie, and decided that I needed to own this. I’m realizing that cookbook acquisition is one of the ways I cope.)

The verdict? I like them, and I think they’ll work for what I have in mind. More on that soon.

I caught Boh mid-lick, lounging with his front paws dangling off the couch, and had to share. I’m planning to take it easy today as well, in hopes that this sore throat/drippy nose will continue to improve, which means lots more knitting time — and more lazy time on the couch for Boh.

not-work.

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You know, the opposite of work. (Both are occurring this weekend, but the not-work is more fun to photograph.)

hiding1

Boh likes to “hide” behind or underneath the blanket on my bed. He also likes to chew on it, or pretend to chew on it, as a way of getting my attention.

hiding2

I see you.

slowroasttomatoes

muffins

Slow-roasted tomatoes and raspberry muffins. There was also applesauce — a lot of it — but I didn’t take any pictures. Oh, and some knitting!

botanic inprog

I am ready to start the decrease rows, and I am absolutely in love with this hat.

pastrycutter

I also adore this pastry cutter — a lovely surprise from a friend who found this at an antique shop and knew that I’ve been looking for a a pastry cutter with a wooden handle. I may have to make up a batch of pie crust to welcome this into my kitchen.

cmf bfl skein2 plied

cmf bfl skein2plied closeup

This is how I know that I’m feeling better. Last weekend, I could not spin – too much work and motion for my tired body and achy head. This weekend, I finished spinning all 3 bobbins of singles, let them rest for 10 hours, and late last night, after a fun evening out with friends, I decided to sit down and ply so that I could set the twist and hang the yarn to dry overnight. (It’s almost dry!)

getbacktowork

I think this is Boh’s “get back to work” face.

that other stuff.

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sillydog

Lots o’ pictures today — I have a (digitized) pile of shots (like this one) to share! Yesterday, the wheel won out, and rightly so. I may have spent another hour and a half spinning last night. I’m still breaking the yarn every so often because I haven’t quite balanced the pull of my bobbin with the speed of my treadling, so I was getting underspun yarn that wasn’t quite strong enough to be pulled onto the bobbin. (Does that make sense?) I am already way better at starting and stopping the wheel, and at sliding the guide around to get a more evenly filling bobbin. Though the specific mechanics are the same, drafting with your hands in your lap is different from spindle spinning, but I like it. (I like them both.) More writing today, but I will be rewarding myself with time at the wheel — that luscious undyed oatmeal BFL is going to be all spun up by the end of today.

First up: Food. Here’s a picture of the last piece of quiche. I forgot to take a “before” shot. We were too busy eating.

last piece quiche

A strawberry cake I baked last night, totally impulsively. Deb at smitten kitchen posted this around dinner time, and I could not resist.

strawberrycake

Pile o’ cookbooks — they looked pretty to me when I was in the kitchen snapping food pictures.

pileocookbooks

Those pears need to become pie, stat. We’ll see how far I get with the paper today. This next one does not fit into a category, but it was chilly early in the week, and I was wearing my 28thirty for added warmth. (I’m one of those people who would rather throw open the windows and put on a sweater than keep them shut and not need layers.)

28thirty in action

I love it. I may have made the upper sleeves a tad tight — in response to how loose the shoulders seemed — but I think with a little more wear, these will stretch just enough.

Next: Work photos.

workspace2

This enormous primary source was way too big to rest on the desk next to my computer, so we had to curl up on the couch. Boh was not pleased that the book took his spot. There’s my whisper, about an inch into the ribbing, for “thinking” while working.

yarnwinding

Yarn-winding is work, right? Here’s my technique. I’ve got about an inch and a half of the whisper ribbing, and I’m ready to start the second ball. I’m glad it is already wound!

spinning corner

Okay, one more wheel pic. This is my spinning “work” space, at the moment. Bright yellow bowl for fiber, sturdy chair to sit in, rug for wheel to stand on…Have I mentioned yet that I love my new wheel?

Blogging helps me to get words in my fingers — time to pour the coffee and switch over to academic writing. Have a great day!

kitchen weekend.

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We did a lot of playing in the kitchen this weekend, which, when I think about it, is pretty much what we do every weekend. This time, though, we remembered the camera (and the blog) BEFORE completing the eating. (This is key.)

If you’re here for knitting, you won’t find any today. I am hoping to play with buttons for my 28thirty. This week. Ahem. You heard it here first! Now, onward to the photo-documentation of this weekend’s kitchen-time.

dumplings1

dumplings2

I present Deb’s vegetarian dumplings. These are simple, fresh, and flavorful. (Like that, Champ?) In fact, after dipping our hands into the mixture before adding the egg, we siphoned off almost half of the tofu-veggies-ginger-garlic-seasonings “salad” to eat by itself. I actually ditched all the other dumpling recipes in my blue binder as a result of how tasty these were. You may recall that last time we followed a recipe that had us make our own wrappers and had a pork-based filling. Those were definitely very good, but these were incredibly tasty, and yet light enough that one could eat A LOT of them and not be incapacitated an hour later. I’m just saying.

sushi1

sushi2

This was more like kitchen sink sushi — filled with things that needed to be eaten, like asparagus and carrots, and topped with dollops of wasabi mayonnaise. When the boy makes sushi, I watch, and “help” by eating enough to keep some room on the cutting board for the next roll. Hey, somebody has to do it! (We had enough to pack sushi lunches for Sunday. I’m willing to argue that a sushi-lunch makes working on Sunday a tad easier.)

oystermushrooms

ramps1

ramps2

Okay, I may have misled you before when I said we took pictures BEFORE we ate. In this case, I just have pictures of these gorgeous treats before we prepared them: locally grown oyster mushrooms and ramps from the farmers’ market. You’ll just have to take my word for it that the oyster mushrooms sauteed with onions and the ramps fried in butter with a pinch of salt and folded into scrambled eggs were incredibly flavorful and delicious.

debchocolatecrack

And then, as a mini-break from all of my reading and note-taking, I made Deb’s chocolate caramel crack(ers). This recipe may be joining the rotation of treats that get made with such regularity around here that the ingredients are always on the resupply list. I was eating these before the chocolate had fully hardened last night, and this morning, I broke off a small corner, just to see, after I snapped this photo. Delicious.

One last picture for you, of some of the daffodils I cut from the yard to brighten up my apartment. The forecast says it will rain all week, but at least I have daffodils in every room!

daffodils

cable appreciation time.

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ulsweaterclose

ulsweater2

Nope, I didn’t knit this — but someone did. This slouchy, sheepy cardigan is a find from my new favorite thrift store in town. The sweater has been clearly loved — a few small holes, some evidence of repair, a missing button, but I just could not leave it to languish on the hanger. This sweater is perfect for reading, tea-drinking, and crafting, don’t you think?

servicelge-sweater

And it cost me 9 dollars. Crazy. While wearing this sweater, I made some progress on my toe up socks at a lovely craft night/This American Life radio gathering hosted by a dear friend. Here’s the Monday morning kitchen photo of how sock number 2 is coming along:

sock2

I can’t wait to wear these. Maybe by the end of the week?

Also, we enjoyed more “Deb appreciation time” this weekend, in the form of smitten kitchen recipe preparation. On Friday afternoon, I made her key lime coconut cake. I halved the sugar in the frosting, but otherwise, followed Deb’s instructions. This is a a fantastic dessert — light, citrusy and a little sweet, with the added bonus that it is easy to rationalize eating a slice for breakfast.

coconut-cake-1

coconut-cake-2

We also made a recipe from Deb’s archives for dinner on Friday night: the indian-spiced vegetable fritters. These were absolutely delicious, and the process was just what we needed. Nice to be in the kitchen together chopping, frying, stirring, etc. after a long week. We were too busy eating to take lots of photos, but I do have one of the final batch of fritters in the frying pan:

vegetable-fritters

Again, yum. I ate the last few fritters for dinner on Sunday straight out of the fridge, and they were just as tasty!

How did it become March? As seems to be my blogging/morning routine, it’s time to pour a second cup of coffee and continue reading. Have a great day!

“feeling” productive.

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The keyword there is “feeling,” folks. Yesterday was such a day: only a few hours of academic work was completed, but I managed to go grocery shopping, make all sorts of deliciousness in the kitchen, teach someone to knit, and attend reading group.

smashed-chickpea-salad

Smashed chickpea salad, adapted from Smitten Kitchen. (Shocking, I know.) My version lacked olives and bread, to make it a sandwich, but this was even better than I expected.

bread-and-brownies

More applesauce bread (I’ve been making at least a loaf a week lately) and Mark Bittman’s basic brownies — I know I’ve posted these before, but it has been several months since the last time I baked them. These were for a friend’s birthday. and they were every bit as good as I remembered them to be. And so easy! Why aren’t you making them already?

snowing

Yesterday afternoon, after several days of green grass and muddy walks with Boh, the snow began to fall again, in huge, wet flakes. Yay!

oscar-blocking

Progress on the baby sweater. At last. The ribbed baby jacket is blocking, and is almost dry. This afternoon, I will sew the seams together and weave in the ends. I ended up making a buttonhole in case I go that route, and after looking at snaps yesterday, I think I’d prefer a bright button. If I can’t make it to the yarn shop, I may swipe the blue button from my gathered cardi. We’ll see…

Time for coffee and actual productivity, instead of just feelings of productivity!

lobsters.

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It all started innocently. A dear friend came over to bake and decompress. She is far more talented in the land of dough, so she did the honors:

kate-hands-hearts

hearts

In my desperate search for a heart cookie cutter, I came across a few other shapes that I simply could not bear to abandon mere days before the retail holiday of affection.

lovelobster

Thus, love lobsters. (These cookies are also courtesy of Deb at Smitten Kitchen — the coconut shortbread cookies posted recently.)

My valentine and I (and Boh) managed an afternoon walk to celebrate. The ground was frozen, but the sun was shining.

monkeyrun

monkeyrun2

For dinner, I turned to Deb again — this stuffed cabbage recipe had caught my eye. There are lots of leftovers, and all parties are excited about that. My only hot tip? Next time, I’m going to use cooked rice, as the half cup mixed into the filling seemed to take forever to cook. (As in, many jokes were cracked about our romantic three course meal — the first two courses being delicious rolls of cabbage and filling, with slightly underdone rice.)

cabbage-drying

stuffed-cabbage

I rarely remember to take pictures before we eat — while I was packaging leftovers, I realized I wanted to document this meal, so I dumped the container back into the pot…splitting open a few of the rolls. Trust me when I say this can/did look prettier, and that it was delicious, homey and hearty.

Time to get some work done on this Sunday afternoon — hoping to have some knitting to share very soon…

birthday weekend.

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I have a whole slew of unrelated (or maybe loosely connected) photos: knits in action, kitchen adventures, knitting mistakes… Hmmm. I promise NOT to name this post something about the letter K.

Friday:

bolero-in-action1

Bolero Jacket in action. I feel like I read a lot from folks about how sometimes knitting is not super wearable, and my blog gets lots of visitors who are looking for advice on wearing things like legwarmers, so I’ve been a bit more mindful of snapping photos when I am actually wearing things I’ve made (not that I consider myself remotely fashionable). This sweater gets a lot of wear around the house, and steps into real life when the weather is variable enough to warrant a heavy sweater but not a winter coat — this works best for me with a big puffy vest. I wear this when I need to bring a bit of comfort with me — in this case, the discussion of a tough book.

fork-for-scale

Friday night, we made pizza and lemon tart (from deb at smitten kitchen, of course). No pictures of the pizza. Note the fork for scale in this picture. I also discovered some serious errors with my increasing on the BSJ I’ve been working on — I literally had 6 ridges left to knit when I realized that my increases (for the fronts of the sweater) were uneven. I don’t even have the heart to photograph the problem, nor could I stomach ripping back. I just put it aside, dug through the stash, and cast on for a baby version of the bolero jacket.

Saturday:

biscuits1

moroccan-stew

Moroccan Stew (from deb) and biscuits (a la Mark Bittman). Also, a new spindle arrived:

newspindle

I LOVE this spindle. I spun the sample fiber it came with immediately, and may need to dig through my fiber stash to start something new so that I can put it to work. The spindle is from Spinsanity, and it spins wonderfully. Hooray for birthday presents to myself.

Sunday (actually anniversary of my birth):

birthday-cake

Homemade birthday cake, not baked by me. Honey-Rosemary Cake with Lemon Frosting, from Apples for Jam. This is incredibly delicious, the kind of cake you can eat several pieces of during the day and not feel like you’re overdosing on sugar. I intend to have some for breakfast after I post this.

replacement-sweater

And since this purports to be a knitting blog, here’s the progress I’ve made on my replacement baby sweater. Just about halfway done already — what a difference worsted weight yarn makes. I’ve had enough distance from my BSJ to take a look, and I imagine I’ll rip back and keep going — it may go to this baby, or to the next. Lots of folks in my life are adding to their families this year!

Hope you all had lovely weekends. Sadly, you don’t get to stop reading when it is your birthday, but I did slow down a bit. Time to have some of that cake and prep for class!