Has it really been that long?

Oops, I went off on a trip and haven't blogged in ages again. Also, I started this post over a week ago, so it's already out of date. You will see a lot of updates! UPDATE: It didn't help that this week was spent with an unaccountably feverish Lilah (when I took her to the doctor on Wednesday, her temperature was 106). Brace yourself for a long post!

Lilah and I visited my parents in California for a little over a week, then spent quality time recovering from jet lag. Anyway, while visiting, I finished Gathered Pullover. I am pleased overall with how it turned out. It took forever to do photos, as usual for me.





Pattern: Gathered Pullover by Hana Jason from Interweave Knits, Winter 2007
Size: 40.5"
Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in Woad (#5567) - Under 6 skeins
Needles: Size 7 circular and dpns
Modifications: Hemmed edge at the waist and sleeves instead of rolled edge. Knit the neckband in the round, beginning at the left shoulder, in 1x1 rib instead of knitting flat in stockinette. Added 2.5 inches to the length before cable detail and 1 inch after the cable detail. I left out the weird increasing/decreasing over the cable, too.
Notes: This pattern is a lot of fun to knit. It's perfect television knitting until you get to the cable detail, which was great fun. I wasn't wild about the sleeves on dpns, but it's better than seaming, and they were just a smidge too small for my 16" needle (at least until I got going on the decreases. I don't care for rolled edges, so I went with a turned hem instead. I didn't want a belly shirt, so I added quite a bit of length. I wanted the placement of the cable a bit lower, so after studying many projects on Ravelry, I decided to add an inch above the cable before shaping for armholes. I decided that the extra length from not rolling the edge would be sufficient for the sleeves, but they are really, really short, and I should have added a good two inches to each. The armholes were snug when I first tried on the sweater, but they loosened up, and it's really a comfortable sweater now. I love the drape of the Silky Wool on size 7 needles. When I got to the neckband, I had no real plan, but it seemed odd to roll that edge when I hadn't on the others, so I chose what I convinced myself is unobtrusive 1x1 rib. I saw no reason to knit the neckband flat, so I didn't.

On the needles: Hemlock Ring Blanket in Cascade 220 in Tutu (Lilah's blanket, Lilah's yarn choice). Thanks to Ravelry, I found the pattern write-up by The Rainey Sisters". The write-up makes things much easier. The pattern is a delight (yes, I said delight!) to knit. It goes fast on size 10 needles, and just when you're tired of the center section, the repetitive feather-and-fan part starts. I should have this done soon. UPDATE: It's off the needles! The miserable, endless scalloped-edge bindoff actually ended. It looks like lace does just off the needles, so I have to block it. I'll try not to take a month to post finished photos. I have some baby things to make, then a sweater for Matt out of (what else?) Silky Wool in Bronzed Green, which is actually Brown, but it's a lovely, rich brown. I am deciding between Torgeir and Hjalte. I would have to do a crew neck if I chose Hjalte, as I think the high neck is too warm to be useful for much of the Atlanta winter, but that's not a big deal. It will be spring soon, so there's no hurry on the sweater. UPDATE: I found both patterns, and Matt picked Hjalte. I think it'll be a fun knit. Also, the other patterns in that issue of Knitter's Magazine are hilariously hideous! Geez, is every issue like that?

Reading: I'm reading my book club selection, The Ladies Auxiliary by Tova Mirvis right now. It's interesting so far as a look at an Orthodox Jewish community and how it's affected by an outsider moving in, but I'm not very involved in the characters. I recently finished a review copy of The History of Now, which was fantastic. I have a bunch of review copies to read at the moment, from YA to literary fiction. While I was traveling, I read several mysteries by Joan Hess, Charlaine Harris, and Alice Kimberly. Reviews are at On My Bookshelf. I especially like Alice Kimberly's Haunted Bookshop mysteries, which combine a traditional cozy with hardboiled classic detective novels and a paranormal bent for fun.

Writing: Lilah's gone back to waking up at night. Between that and travel, I haven't done anything lately.

Cooking: For Matt's birthday dinner, I chose Moroccan, which we both love. I used recipes from a gorgeous book called Made in Morocco by Julie LeClerc. I have a couple of issues with this book, which is not organized as a real cookbook (more by theme), which would be fine if its index were remotely useable. This makes finding recipes a huge pain. It's also coffee table book-like, but paperback. I've only cooked from it a couple of times and the spine is already well-creased. It would be nice to make copies of all the recipes, arrange them in a user-friendly order, and have it spiral-bound, but what a pain. Fortunately, the recipes are fabulous, which makes up for some of the quirks. Here's my menu:

Little Dishes and Bread:
Carrot and Harissa Puree
Spiced Aubergine
Emerald Zucchini*
Moroccan Flatbread With Kosher Salt and Sesame Seed*
Harissa

Spiced Red Lentil Soup

Couscous With Raisins, Almonds, and Roasted Squash

Turkish Orange Cake*^ with Cinnamon and Orange Flower Water-Scented Oranges

*Recipes from a different source
^ I realize the distance between Turkey and Morocco, but I'd been looking for an excuse to try this cake, and it was perfect with the Moroccan oranges.

Notes: I was really pleased with the menu and how everything turned out. I'd made the carrot and eggplant dishes before, but the others were new to me. I made the cake in 6 ramekins for individual desserts and put the rest of the batter in a 9-inch pie plate. The orange cake is insanely moist. I ground the almond meal myself from 8 ounces of almonds, and everything went fine. I used seedless oranges, as I had them on hand (though I would have sought them out, anyway, being too lazy to pick seeds out).

Finished Objects and Other Strange Tales

I finished (and almost finished) some stuff while on vacation! Lilah and I headed out to California for our pre-holidays trip to visit the family. We had a great time. When we got back, it was Highland Games time in our area, so we took Lilah. She LOVED the sheepdog trials and the falconry exhibition. Matt and I didn't get to do the kind of shopping we used to at these sorts of things--Lilah wanted to squat on a stump for about 15 minutes watching an ant, and she sees a field of grass and can't help running. It was really fun to watch her enjoying herself, though!

This is a long post, and I have finishing touches to put on Lilah's sweater and the bonus FO, so I will post this now and do FO pictures later in the week.

Reading: I just reviewed Shirley Damsgaard's Abby & Ophelia mysteries, a recent favorite series of mine. I also enjoyed Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer, though I didn't like their first collaboration, Don't Look Down. And I read a plethora of cozy mysteries as well. I have Dewey: The Library Cat... to review (from the publisher! Isn't that fun?) and the new Kate Atkinson that I can hardly wait to read. As soon as I finish Murder Most Maine, the third Gray Whale Inn mystery by Karen MacInerney, I'll read those two. I really should take a picture of my To-Be-Read book piles to shock and horrify you, since it is the Halloween season.

Writing: Still at 12,294 words, and with a subplot to go back and fix. Lilah and I were visiting my parents in California, so I didn't get anything done. Hopefully, the jet lag will wear off soon and I can get us back on a good schedule that allows for writing. November is National Novel Writing Month, and though you're technically supposed to start AND finish a novel during the month, if I can use that to get a jump-start on my current project, so much the better.

Cooking: I am not a particularly good photographer, so I haven't gotten into food photography. That and the lighting in our house is awful and makes food look weird. If I find a way to take appetizing photos, though, I will! I am making apple butter this weekend (until I get my website set up, leave a comment with your email address if you'd like to place an order), so maybe I will try then.

I forgot to post two recipes last time, which is good, as I have not been cooking (traveling). One is for the magical whole wheat scones, and the other is for Spicy Cheese Rolls, a French roll with sharp cheddar and a bit of cayenne, inspired by Stella's Bakery in Madison, WI. Meanwhile, I helped Matt through hosting his coworkers for a dinner thing while I was out of town. We picked an African peanut stew and a pear crumble (both based on Cooking Light recipes). I helped him modify the peanut stew for the Crockpot so he wouldn't be babysitting the stove. And the crumble is nice and simple. I had him substitute cardamon for the cinnamon, which makes it a touch exotic and goes wonderfully with pears. He rounded out the meal with baguette, Brie and goat cheese (rolled in thyme and black pepper), and olives, and a salad with sliced almonds and dried cranberries. He's not very used to cooking, so I was really proud of him for pulling it off!

Amy, I use regular old whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, and white whole wheat flour. Bread is tougher to substitute whole wheat flour in than pastries and such. You're generally not going to get the same light, airy results with whole wheat, no matter what kind. I've had great success in using white whole wheat flour in place of all or most of the white flour in cookies, but there's a slight "healthy" taste (as my husband would say). I usually use whole wheat pastry flour when I'm not trying to hide it as much--that's what I used in the scones, along with regular whole wheat flour (for the nuttier taste). With bread...it's been a while since I've done whole wheat bread. I personally like the taste of whole-wheat flour, so I would just use 100% whole wheat flour, though I used to make baguettes with half bread flour and half whole wheat (along with cracked wheat soaked in hot water and drained...yum). With bread, whole wheat pastry and white whole wheat flours are too low in gluten to make a good substitute in bread. But regular whole wheat flour (which is made from hard red wheat) is fine. But it's always going to be denser than regular old white bread. Oh, and my vegetable stock recipe is linked at the left (My Recipes), but you can throw whatever veggies you want (except very strong tasting ones like cabbage or broccoli) in a pot, cover with water and cook until you like the color :)

And I forgot to respond to you last time--I get a lot of recipes from Cooking Light. You can get a code for online use from one of their books or a newstand magazine (at least that's how you used to do it--it might be open now), or if you're a subscriber, you put in your number. I actually might not renew my subscription. Even though it's not a vegetarian magazine (and those are no fun, I've tried), it's always had vegetarian recipes well-represented. But they dropped their Inspired Vegetarian section this summer, and the last issue had 17 pork main dish recipes in the index and 3 vegetarian. I am a subscriber, and I buy the Annual Recipe collection every year (this is the previous year's recipes--every single one, but indexed, so it's easier to use than 11 magazines), and I'm a bit taken aback by the change. I actually wrote in to ask what was going on, but they're treating it as a letter to the editor submission, so no one's given me any answers. Getting my new Cooking Light used to be a highlight of the month, but the last two magazines, I haven't marked a single recipe as "must shop for ingredients now!" Anyway, enough of that...on to the recipes!

Whole Wheat Scones

4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
12 oz. unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 vanilla bean, scraped (for vanilla version) or 2 tsp cinnamon (for cinnamon version)
1 1/2 to 2 cups whole milk (start with 1 1/2 and then add a tablespoon at a time)
additional sugar and cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or spray with nonstick spray.

Combine dry ingredients. Cut in butter using a food processor, pastry cutter, or forks (I usually resort to my fingers, even though you're not supposed to). Add eggs, vanilla extract, and 1 1/2 cups milk). Stir to combine, adding more milk as needed. The dough should be a bit sticky. Divide into four balls. Sprinkle sugar on a flat surface. Place one of the dough balls on the sugar and turn to coat. Pat down into a round about 3/4 inch thick. Cut into 6 wedges. Repeat with the other three balls. For cinnamon version, sprinkle tops of scones with cinnamon. Bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes, until lightly browned.

Spicy Cheese Rolls

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 TBL active dry yeast
2 TBL sugar
2 TBL olive oil
1 tsp salt
4 cups bread flour
4 oz. extra sharp white cheddar, grated
cayenne pepper

I put everything except the cheese and pepper in the bread machine and put it on "dough." (I love the bread machine!) Divide into 16 equal pieces. Stretch each piece, top with cheese and a sprinkle of cayenne, then fold over. Cover and let rise an hour, until doubled. Bake at 400 until lightly browned, about 12-15 minutes.

Channeling "Bulldog" Briscoe

I always liked Frasier, and one of the supporting characters was sports announcer "Bulldog" Briscoe, a loud, uncouth, unforgettable sports fan. He was always a fun counterpoint to Frasier's stuffiness. Anyway, he used to have a knee-jerk reaction every time he was unable to find something he needed: "Who stole my [whatever]? This stinks! This is total BS! Oh, here it is." Now Matt and I use "This stinks! This is total BS!" when we can't find something. Anyway, long story short (too late!)...I sat down with my new Cooking Light, always a treat, and got to the last page. "Where's my Inspired Vegetarian section? This stinks! This is total BS!" It appears they've eliminated it, which really ticked me off. I flipped to the index page and counted...eight main dishes under "vegetarian." Hmmm. I went back and checked a couple recent months' issues...four and six. So, they eliminated my section, but have more recipes for me? That sounds okay. I used to think that Inspired Vegetarian sometimes gave them an excuse to ignore vegetarian possibilities in other sections, so maybe it'll work out. It's kind of weird, though, because usually when they have a format change, they go on and on about why they changed it and how it's better. Aren't you glad you read that whole story? Matt's not home so I can't share it with him, so I get to bore you instead :)

In other news, I have been coloring under duress. Lilah is very into coloring ("ee-book-ah" is what she calls it) and likes it to be a group activity. Everything is a group activity with Lilah. She is clearly an extrovert. My mom says that she used to sit and read while I played happily by myself, but my little brother used to grab our faces and say "Listen" and often hid her books so he'd have everyone's full attention. Lilah and I used to sit and color on opposite pages of a coloring book, and that was fine. But that's not good enough anymore, so I have to use the color she chooses for me (and she'll rip it out of my hands and shove a new one in my hand when she wants me to change colors) and she actually holds my hand and moves it on the paper where she wants me to color. I can tell I need to start my yoga classes after Matt's back, or start going to my alumni knitting group or book club for some "me" time because I find myself resentful of her tyranny and actually thinking, "I don't get to do anything I want! I want to color the duck yellow, not the barn brown!" Whew. Talk about temporary insanity.

Knitting: This is probably the longest it's ever taken me to do a placket-neck pullover! It's not that I don't enjoy it, but Matt is in Scotland for a conference, so I'm on double parenting duty, and I haven't had any knitting time. That being the case, I might try to set aside a few minutes to finish the sock for the Knitting Olympics (not officially participating), but I'll decide tomorrow. My day right now goes Lilah-Lilah-Lilah-Yay, nap!-Clean-Clean-Clean-Lilah-Lilah-Lilah-Yay, bed!-Clean-Clean-Clean-Crash. Not much room for anything like knitting. Fortunately, my dad is coming for a few days to help me out.

Since knitting content is limited in today's post, I decided to finally get out and take a sock yarn photo. We had a nice sunny day, so the colors are great. (Lilah and I weathered a doozy of a storm Sunday night, losing power for about 5 hours, right at bedtime.)

Clockwise, from left: Lorna's Laces in Vera, Hill Country Yarns Instant Gratification Sock Yarn in Sandalwood, Noro Kureyon Sock in whatever number that is, Instant Gratification Sock Yarn in Mountain Laurel, Instant Gratification Sock Yarn in Indian Summer (yes, two skeins, no idea why--must be Turtlegirl's fault), Sunshine Yarns in Strawberry Banana (it's been so long I don't remember if it's superwash or not), Brown Sheep Wildefoote in Sonatina (almost identical to the Sunshine Yarns, oops), Lorna's Laces in Happy Valley.

Look at all those pretty socks-in-waiting! Since I have two of the Indian Summer, maybe it'll turn into something else. I really love those colors. I also can see that there's no reason for further yarn shopping, as the sock yarn alone should keep me occupied for a while!

Reading: Finished a very disappointing mystery novel (May Day by Jess Lourey--the first in a series. My review is on On My Bookshelf. I retreated back to my Joan Hess mysteries for a bit before starting something new.

Writing: You know the story. No time, no energy.

Cooking: I haven't made anything that interesting, but I did make bread. Not the time-consuming, relaxing, old-fashioned way (partly because it's too hot to use the oven), but in my bread machine. In many ways, I am a big cooking snob (and I do enjoy the full bread experience with the kneading and rising), but I love my bread machine. Just chuck in all the ingredients and wait a while. Bing! Fresh-baked bread. This recipe is adapted from one I randomly found on the internet when I wanted to use some rosemary (we have two bushes growing outside our house) and had it in my head that cornmeal would be a nice touch. You can cut the recipe in half for a smaller machine; just use 1 tsp salt and keep the rosemary the same. Halve all other ingredients.

Rosemary-Cornmeal Bread

1 3/4 cups warm water
2 TBL olive oil
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups bread flour
1 cup cornmeal
2 TBL sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
5 tsp active dry yeast (2 packets; or use bread machine yeast)
1/4 cup chopped fresh rosemary

Add wet ingredients to bread machine. Add dry ingredients. Bake on white bread setting. Voila! (Note: I read somewhere that you shouldn't add fresh herbs until the beep because they can keep the bread from rising properly, but I've never had a problem with this with rosemary.) You may notice that I haven't "healthified" this recipe. I think it's because it's comfort food for me, and it's okay if comfort food isn't particularly healthy. I think about trying to sub white whole wheat flour for the all-purpose, but I've been afraid it'll be too dense. I have also thought about sauteeing rosemary in the olive oil to kind of infuse the flavor throughout the bread, but haven't taken the extra time. When I remember, I sprinkle the top with cornmeal after the final kneading and before it bakes for a pleasant outer crunch.

On the blackboard

I will stop being whiny.
I will stop being whiny.
I will stop being whiny.
I will...

It's just whine, whine, whine here lately, isn't it? Thank you to everyone for your kind comments. It's a bit of a tough time, but I think there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Not to mention so many good things that I could focus on. My car wouldn't start because the crunched-up trunk was preventing a light from being turned off, so once we figured that out, it was easy to disconnect it. I also am able to drive my husband's car, so I don't need a rental (it turns out driving stick is like riding a bicycle. Although I'm not sure I remember how to ride a bicycle...). Our insurance company is awesome and will reimburse us for the deductible for getting the car fixed--it's in the shop now. String Bean, cookies aren't necessary, but always appreciated :) Amy, I wish there was ice cream delivery. When I lived in Chicago, there was a restaurant that delivered that had Ben & Jerry's on the menu. I can't even remember what cuisine it was, but I remember they had ice cream!

Lilah is a terrific source of entertainment. Here is a little piece of artwork I call "Dog Chauffeurs a Penguin (in Little People toys and plush)":


Knitting: I've gone back and forth on the Knitting Olympics. I participated in the official Knitting Olympics during the last Winter Games and really enjoyed it. I chose a difficult (for me) pattern, and I actually finished within the allotted time. However. I now have a toddler and not much free time. I haven't been as into challenging myself recently, and my priorities are different--I can't just tell Lilah to wait a couple of weeks for whatever she needs. I may choose something simple and try just to finish it, but I'm not sure that fits the Olympic spirit, so I may just cheer others on. I have a sock yarn inventory to conduct so I can pick a new sock project. I'll post a picture when I get to it. It was overcast all day, so I didn't have good light. I've decided I don't have to finish the tiger sock before starting a new pair. Knitting is supposed to be fun and relaxing for me, and not add to my stress. Hmmm...maybe I should make "finish tiger sock" an Olympic goal (though it won't follow the rules, which require starting and finishing during the Olympics). Still, it would be a challenge for me, and maybe I could use the Olympics to get that finished so it's not hanging over my head.

Reading: Lots of good reading. I'm going to send you to On My Bookshelf for reviews again. Is that okay? I figure anyone interested in my reviews can see them all there, and the rest of you never need know they exist. It just seems silly to cut-and-paste them, and they take up so much room. I just finished a wonderful little book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, an epistolary novel set just after World War !!, in which a writer begins corresponding (by chance) with several residents of Guernsey, which was occupied by Germany and completely cut off from the rest of the world. The unlikely group forms a literary society to get out of punishment for a curfew violation, and the book reflects on what reading means to people and how a chance encounter can change your life. I found it deeply moving, but also very funny. I knew nothing about the Guernsey occupation, so the history was very interesting (parts heartbreaking, parts uplifting). I will write a full review on On My Bookshelf, but I wanted to mention it now so that you can all order it immediately :) I should also mention The Joy of Spooking by P. J. Bracegirdle, which I did review on On My Bookshelf--it's a delightful children's book in the tradition of classic horror, from the Tim Burton-ish cover design to its delightfully devilish villain. I had a blast reading it.

Writing: Not a thing. I'm trying not to give up hope.

Cooking: Not much. It's been hot and we've had all these things to deal with lately. The night after my car wouldn't start, I threw together an impromptu pasta sauce with some squash from a friend's garden, and it was really nice. If I had gone to the store earlier in the day (instead of being trapped by the lack of a car), I never would have come up with it! If I were to make it again, I think I'd kick up the lemon and skip the tomatoes. And if I'd had it, a splash of cream would have been very nice. And some fresh herbs.

Summer Squash Pasta

2 TBL olive oil
1 medium onion, trimmed and sliced vertically
2 medium to large summer squash (I used yellow)
1 can diced tomatoes, drained (14.5 oz.)
1 cup green peas, fresh or frozen (thawed)
Juice of half a lemon
salt and pepper to taste
1 pound fettuccine, cooked according to package directions

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion; cook until translucent. Add the squash and cook until it begins to brown. Add tomatoes, peas, and lemon. Reduce heat to low and cook until vegetables are tender. Add salt and pepper to taste. Toss with fettuccine and serve with parmesan cheese.

A Little Progress

I grew peppers!

A lot of peppers! What on earth will I do with this many peppers? I have six jalepeno plants (you could only by them in six-packs at Pike's, and I figured out of six, I could probably keep one going). They are all bearing fruit. I think it's almost "pick a peck of pickled peppers time." I was really unsure of my gardening, and I've kept these guys in pots, unwilling to commit to actually planting them in the ground. My mint and basil are also doing beautifully, though my cilantro has had a lot of trouble. If peppers are this easy, I'm definitely adding tomatoes next year.

Knitting: I am loving the baby blanket! The Cotton Fleece is lovely to knit with, the bright color is cheery, and the pattern easy enough that I don't have to pay that much attention, yet interesting enough to keep me going. I chose this Alpaca Baby Shawl that I can't make in hand-wash alpaca for a non-knitter. I just can't. The Cotton Fleece looks lovely in the pattern. The two photos are kind of redundant, but whatever. The color is close in the photos, I think. It's maybe a bit pinker than magenta.



Reading: Oh, wow. I cannot believe how much I've read since my last update.

The Master Bedroom by Tessa Hadley

The Penderwicks and The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall

The Sisters Grimm: The Fairy Tale Detectives, The Sisters Grimm: Unusual Suspects, The Sisters Grimm: The Problem Child, and The Sisters Grimm: Once Upon A Crime by Michael Buckley

Fablehaven: Grip of the Shadow Plague by Brandon Mull

Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles: The Nixie's Song

The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz
Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich

The Carrot Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke
Goodbye, Ms. Chips by Dorothy Cannell
Berried Alive and Paint by Murder by Kate Kingsbury

Writing: Trying to get the children's book down on paper before I forget it.

Cooking: I made two recipes from 101 Cookbooks and both were amazing. I'm going to use a four-letter word here, so brace yourself: tofu. Now, I like tofu stir-fry and tofu on the grill, but I am generally skeptical of tofu in strange situations. No tofu in dessert or baked goods or to lighten a dish that will supposedly taste the same. But I decided to stretch myself a bit (because, frankly, if it worked, it opens up a whole new world of lower-fat cooking), and since I trust Heidi's recipes, I decided to go for it. I made Chocolate Mousse and Artichoke Dip. And they were fantastic. The mousse is a little thicker than traditional mousse, but you can't taste the tofu at all. I "unveganified" it by using Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate, vanilla soymilk with 2 TBL Godiva cocoa instead of the chocolate soy milk, and topping it with freshly whipped cream (with a touch of powdered sugar). I used Frangelico instead of Amaretto because hazelnut and chocolate = yum, plus I had hazelnuts to chop for garnish. This was delicious. Even my tofu-wary husband liked it. The artichoke dip was also a huge success. Here's my usual artichoke dip recipe. I usually make it with reduced-fat sour cream, mayo, and 1/3 less fat cream cheese. It's delish. But even reduced-fat is sort of a lot of fat. I found Heidi's recipe to be even more artichokey, with less fat obscuring the vegetable. Everyone loved it. I doubled the recipe (but not the garlic) and baked it in my big casserole dish. I did notice that some liquid separated when it was about half gone, but a quick stir fixed that cosmetic problem. Consider my tofu-related horizons broadened. Note: silken tofu is used in these recipes for its smooth texture and complete lack of its own flavor. This is not the stir-frying tofu I buy water-packed in the refrigerator section, but vacuum-packed tofu on a shelf in the health food section. Mori-Nu is the brand I most commonly find, and I used Firm with excellent results.

Tag, you're it!

Annie Knits tagged me with this little meme:

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?

In June 1998, I was home from my junior year in college, working at The Best Summer Job Ever, a fun, laid-back software company, as a sort of intern, floating as needed.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):

1. Pay car insurance (this involves going to our State Farm office, with really, really nice staff who will drive me nuts trying to sell us even more insurance for various purposes)
2. Wait for our handywoman to come clean and repair our gutters
3. Water poor plants, which are wilting in the extreme heat we've been having (my cilantro looks unbelievably sad)
4. Get the mail
5. Feed Lilah and the cats. Oh, and me.

3) Snacks I enjoy:

Pistachios (I was eating them way before South Beach Diet came along), Triscuits and Laughing Cow, edamame. And chips, which I try not to keep in the house.

4)Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Pay off school loans and house, treat family to whatever they need. Open a cafe/bakery. Hire Mary Poppins so I can have time to write. Start a foundation, because who wants to spend all their time deciding how to spend their money?

5) Places I have lived:

Bakersfield (CA), Atlanta, Chicago, Madison (WI), Atlanta again

I'm not sure who's done this and who hasn't, so I'll say if you read this, consider yourself tagged!

Knitting: A finished object picture would be nice, huh? Geez. I can't believe I forgot to do that.

Anyway, Yarnthrower, I wore the headband ALL DAY and it didn't budge. My concern is with the cotton stretching out so it'll eventually be too big for my head. Cotton might not have been a smart choice, but I can always try washing in a bit of hot water to get it back to size. When you decide when to bind off, make sure you stretch the headband slightly so the diameter ends up being a smidge smaller than your head. That'll help it stay in place.

The Details:
Pattern: Arrowhead Lace Headband by Persnickety Knitter
Yarn: Pakucho Organic Cotton in Chocolate (much less than one skein)
Needles: Size 7
Notes: This was a nice, quick pattern, but this skein of Pakucho was really splitty, so every ssk and psso was a nightmare. It took much longer than it should have. I only had Clover circulars in that size, and the tips are very blunt, which didn't help. Bad needle/yarn/pattern matchup. But I like the finished piece, and I've already worn it. The pattern is simple without being boring, and was really the best headband pattern I found.

Reading:
Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star
Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo

I loved Fablehaven and the sequel, and I'll have to pick up book three. But I was really disappointed by Leven Thumps, which I expected to really like. After my juvenile fantasy kick, I'm reading Murder at the Murder at the Mimosa Inn, the second Claire Malloy mystery by Joan Hess. These are fun. I have a lot of books in my piles (someday, I'll frighten you all with a full list), but mainly I'm reading the Joan Hess books, Kate Kingsbury's two series, and I have the Tiffany Aching books by Terry Pratchett to read.

Writing: Lilah's done a bit better sleeping lately, so I've had more energy, but a lot going on. I've also been easily distracted lately.

Cooking: Not really anything interesting. I threw together a stirfry that was okay, but not really worthy of posting a recipe. I made lasagne for friends expecting a baby soon. They can keep it in the freezer and have food ready for when the baby's born. I'm making them enchiladas as well, then I will have exhausted my casserole repertoire.

What's next, PBJ in the VCR?

My shiny new black MacBook is fast and pretty and slim and did I mention shiny? But when I tried to pop in a DVD for the first time (X-Files Season 2, if you must know--I like to watch TV on my laptop in the kitchen while I cook), I met resistance and couldn't get the slot to suck in the DVD. I made an appointment for my local Genius Bar at the Apple Store, where a well-groomed, polite young man (who looked approximately 12) took my laptop (sob) and promised a phone call when I could pick it back up. So I've been on the slow iBook for three days. The Apple guy called yesterday with great news--I can pick it up any time! Yay! He goes on to mention (with the sound of held-back laughter in his voice) that the problem was a Marshall Field's gift card inserted in the drive. Ahem. Did I mention that I had given Lilah used gift cards to play with when I gave her my old purse and wallet? And one of them was from Marshall Field's? Anyway, the computer will have to move upstairs or out of her reach, obviously.

Knitting: Plugging along on Sock #2. I need to cast on for something else, too, but I'm not sure I'm up for Henley Perfected right now, and I can't decide on another Mission Possible thing that sounds good. I may have a liberating yarn/book giveaway to diminish my stashes a bit. I don't know that I actually want to use the Rowanspun 4 ply, even if it is an awesome bright red. Someone else might do better with it. Same with the lavender wool/silk. We'll see.

Reading: I read THE FUNNIEST BOOK in the history of the world! Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but Bobbie Faye's Very (Very, Very, Very) Bad Day by Toni McGee Causey had me laughing out loud. With a clever, official-looking map at the beginning labeled "Louisiana State Insurance Archive of Bobbie Faye Sumrall Disasters (Southwest Region)," you know you're going to be suspending disbelief. Each chapter has a quote about Bobbie Faye, and the first quote is, "You know how some people are born to Greatness? Well, Bobbie Faye Sumrall woke up one morning, kicked Greatness in the teeth, kneed it in the balls, took it hostage, and it's been begging for mercy ever since," attributed to "a former Louisiana mayor after Bobbie Faye accidentally ran her car into his office, knocking pages of fraud evidence into the street, which helped land him in Federal prison." Those two components at the very beginning could be setting us up for a fun ride or trying to compensate for a lackluster novel. Fortunately for us, it's the first!

Bobbie Faye is having the worst day of her life, and for someone inadvertently attracted to disaster like a moth to a flame, that's saying something. She wakes up in the morning to her five-year-old niece remarking that there's a swimming pool inside. She's caring for her niece while her sister is drying out, as ordered by the courts, and her trailer has flooded because her no-good brother Roy hasn't fixed the washing machine. The Sumralls have been fixtures in Lake Charles, Louisiana ("if someone had labeled it 'home of the hard drinkers who make Mardi Gras revelers look like big fluffy candy asses,' it might have staggered to attention and saluted") for generations, and Bobbie Faye is the latest in a long line of Contraband Days Queens since her mother died, complete with a battered tiara. It turns out that Roy has been kidnapped by someone demanding the worthless tiara, but when Bobbie Faye takes it out of the safety-deposit box (it may be worthless, but she didn't want her sister hocking it for booze), she loses it to bank robbers. She takes a guy hostage and goes in pursuit of the robbers, with the FBI and local police (led by her ex-husband of all people) following closely behind. This is a wild ride with abundant humor, a touch of mystery (who *is* this guy she took hostage? why would anyone want that tiara this badly?), and over-the-top action. Can Bobbie Faye find the tiara, save her brother, keep temporary custody of her niece, avoid mushy thoughts about her handsome hostage, and survive this day? I can't think of anyone who wouldn't compulsively read this one to find out!

I forgot to mention that I read On What Grounds by Cleo Coyle, the first in the Coffeehouse series. I had read this and maybe one of the sequels ages ago. It's a decent cozy mystery series with enticing recipes. A few things bug me. It starts out with a prologue from the stalker's point-of-view a la James Patterson or Jonathan Kellerman, which I think is super cheesy. Despite throwing around Italian terms like someone who knows what she's doing, Coyle (or her editor) has used the wrong accent over the 'e' in the Italian word 'caffe,' (It should be the opposite accent of the French cafe, but I can't figure out how to do diacritical marks in Blogger) and spelled 'baci' (which means 'kisses') bocci. There are other typos in plain old English, typical of this genre's mediocre editing. Despite some annoyances, the book is kind of cute and I enjoyed the coffee information, which I thought complemented, rather than distracted from, the narrative flow. Clare Cosi returns from suburban New Jersey to manage once again The Village Blend, an historic coffeehouse in New York City at the request of her former mother-in-law. You can bet the ex-husband will be around to bug her/be strangely attractive. One morning, Clare arrives at the coffeehouse to find it empty and dark. She finds her employee, Annabel, dead at the bottom of the basement steps. The police are treating the death as a tragic accident, but Clare thinks differently. Also, she thinks the detective is pretty cute. Typical cozy mystery investigating ensues, in more-interesting-than-average-cozy fashion. I'll read the second one, Through the Grinder, soon.

I also read "The Twelve Desserts of Christmas" by Joanne Fluke, one of four novellas in the holiday romance collection Sugar and Spice (available for the cost of shipping--used on amazon.com). I didn't read the other three, which are more typical romance, but I thought the Joanne Fluke story, featuring two teachers stuck with six kids at a boarding school over the holidays, was a cute confection. Hannah Swensen delivers desserts to the group and solves an innocuous little mystery. Most of the recipes are title recipes from previous books, but a couple may be new (I'd have to check Sugar Cookie Murder, which has tons). If (like me) you're waiting for Carrot Cake Murder to come out in paperback, this is a nice little diversion.

Writing: Not much. Sleeping hasn't been great lately, so I'm tired all the time again. Lilah had one night of almost ten hours uninterrupted sleep, but nothing near that since. More like 4-5, max. Ugh.

Cooking: I made this fantastic Citrus Parmesan Farro Salad. I kept everything separate for non-soggy leftovers. I used one cup cooked farro (which is similar to, or identical to, depending on whom you ask, spelt) for 2 Weight Watchers points, and 2 TBL dressing for 3 points. I managed to grab arugula instead of spinach, and it's not as good wilty as spinach is, but this was still a nice salad (with 2 TBL almonds - 2 points and 1 oz. goat cheese - 2 points, it was a nice, filling lunch). The next day, I used 1 cup farro mixed with some leftover steamed veggies (zucchini, yellow squash, and snap peas), 2 TBL of the dressing, 1/4 cup feta cheese and 2 TBL kalamata olives. Delish. You really can't beat homemade vinaigrettes, and the combinations of flavors are endless.

I Made a Sock, and, Random Stuff From the Internet

Here is the first of Matt's birthday socks. It does not fit Matt. It does almost fit me, though it's a bit big. Hmmm. I definitely have to unpick the bindoff, which is too tight (Gah, I always do that! Even when I bind off over two needles and make sure not to pull tight, I still have a tight bindoff.) and maybe try washing? I'm not sure how much they will stretch. And if they don't, will I rip out the entire sock, which took me forever, and cast on with more stitches, or will I finish this pair for me, and get another ball for Matt's socks? The suspense continues! Tune in...erm, sometime later, as I have no set blogging schedule. We're halfway through May, and Mission Possible is going okay, but not great.


Have you ever been to The Comics Curmudgeon? We don't get the newspaper, and I don't follow the comics anymore since Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side left (although I love Get Fuzzy and we always get the treasuries and one-a-day calendar), but I LOVE Josh's comics commentary on this site. He posts the day's noteworthy comics and pillories the bad ones while chuckling at the good ones. As a bonus, the comments are hysterical, but I usually don't read them all, just the Comments of the Week meta-posts. I'm now familiar with characters and strips I've never actually read, like Apartment 3-G and Hi and Lois, which have hilarious trends and really funny quirks to mock. Anyway, head over if you need a laugh. Start with the archives to get acclimated.

I know this isn't cooking-related, but it's food-related. A food blog (metablog, really) that I read linked to a Men's Health article about secrets the restaurant industry doesn't want you to know. They're annoyed the Gov. Schwarzenegger didn't sign legislation requiring chain restaurants to post nutritional information on their menus. The "secrets" seemed pretty obvious to me, and I wondered if the average American is really so nutritionally uneducated that he thinks anything deep-fried is healthy, or that something called a One Pound Burder could possibly be anything less than a calorie and saturated fat disaster. Maybe it's that Matt and I don't eat out frequently, but while it's nice when a restaurant does offer healthy options and tell you what they are on the menu, I just make the best choice I can or splurge for that one meal. Usually I splurge, because we eat out maybe once a week. If I really want to guarantee a healthy choice, I get a salad with no cheese or croutons and the dressing on the side. I also feel it's sort of unfair that New York is making chain restaurants post their calorie counts, but the law doesn't apply to local restaurants. Also, many chains already post their nutritional info online. When I'm counting my Weight Watchers points, I just look it up ahead of time. Any thoughts on this? I guess anything that makes it easier for people to eat healthy is good, but do people actually want to eat healthy when they go out? Would they order something else if they saw the calorie count on their favorite dish in black and white? Is this more likely to help or hurt chain restaurants, the only ones required to post?

Now that you're totally bored and your eyes have glazed over, I'll post fun book reviews, kitties snuggling, and a recipe!



Reading: A negative reviewer on Amazon gave Savannah Blues by Mary Kay Andrews a single star and lambasted it with, "If you're craving a Southern fried version of Nancy Drew and her pals, then carry on." Well, obviously my taste is not as refined as this reviewers because while I agreed with her assessment, I thought this book was great fun, even with some flaws, but I love Nancy Drew, too! I would characterize it as Southern Chick Lit With Mystery. Anyway, the story is about Weezie, a divorcee who won the carriage house behind her carefully renovated once-home (which her husband and his new fiancee, the atrocious Caroline, now live). Weezie is a "picker," scouring yard sales and dumpsters for hidden treasures that she can fix up and sell to antiques dealers. Sneaking into an estate sale early to answer a call of nature, she stumbles over Caroline's body and is promptly arrested for the murder. The story is slowed a bit by chapters from the point of view of Uncle James, Weezie's attorney, which were really unnecessary and I can't believe they weren't edited out. Weezie, her best friend Bebe, and Daniel, the attractive chef at Bebe's restaurant, set out to solve the murder themselves and clear Weezie's name. There really wasn't much suspense in this one, but the bumbling crime-solving trio, Southern charm, and insight into the antiques business made it a lot of fun. I recommend this as an excellent beach read.

After reading Savannah Blues, I picked up Savannah Breeze, the sequel, which details Bebe's life following her financial ruin at the hands of a handsome con man (she's distracted by family issues at the time). Apparently, Ms. Andrews has trouble deciding which story she's telling, because in this one, too, there are chapters from a secondary character's point of view--this time, Weezie's. I found this distracting and didn't think it added to the story at all, but other than that, I thought this was even more fun than the first book. Bebe discovers that she is now owner of the Breeze Motel on Tybee Beach (the con man, Reddy, hadn't had time to unload it before splitting), and she decides to make a go of renovating and running the Breeze. With the help of Weezie and the Breeze's on-site manager, the handsome and unrefined Harry, Bebe sets out to get back what Reddy has stolen from her when the police decline to pursue him. Another fun beach read.

Deep Dish by Mary Kay Andrews: Okay, after three books, I have to say I quite like Mary Kay Andrews. I think I actually liked Savannah Blues and Savannah Breeze a bit better than Deep Dish because I enjoy the mystery component, which is absent from Deep Dish, but Deep Dish was fun Southern chick lit. This one is set partially in Atlanta, too, which is fun when Gina is stuck in traffic on I-285. Hahaha! I'm always stuck in traffic on I-285! Gina has a regional cooking show produced by her boyfriend, Scott, that is canceled when Scott is found sleeping with the show's sponsor's wife. Oops. But it turns out that Food Network...erm, I mean The Cooking Channel...is looking for a Southern cooking show to add to their lineup. They're in town to look at Tate's kill 'em and grill 'em show (which is called Vittles, a really lame name--Kill 'Em and Grill 'Em would have been better) and decide to take a look at Gina. Soon Gina and Tate are in competition for the time slot in an Iron Chef kind of battle out on an island (yes, really). Tate and Gina go between attraction to each other and competitive dislike, and there's little suspense--if you can't tell they're going to end up together, you've probably never read chick lit before. There's also little suspense on the outcome of the cooking show, though Andrews throws in some unexpected challenges that bring in some laughs. The development of Tate and Gina's relationship from competitors to ready to get married isn't all that fleshed out, but I'm used to that in chick lit. All of a sudden, the man and woman are in love...whatever. I thought this was a cute, breezy summer read, but I'd wait until it's in paperback (it was lent to me, or I wouldn't have read it yet!).

Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan: The fourth installment of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series is action-packed, funny, clever, and original, with character and plot developments we've been waiting for since Book 1, The Lightning Thief. Percy is a clever boy (I think he's 12 in book 1) who's been kicked out of multiple schools, has ADHD and dyslexia, and a knack for trouble. In The Lightning Thief, he learns he's a half-blood, the son of a Greek god, and discovers there are others like him at Camp Half Blood. If you haven't read the series, I don't want to give away too many details of the plot of Book 4. Battle of the Labyrinth opens with Percy's orientation at his new school, which is equipped with monster cheerleaders (yes, that's literal) before heading off to Camp Half-Blood, which is in danger like never before. A chunk of this installment takes place in the Labyrinth, the monster-infested, ever-changing maze underneath the U.S. Any juvenile fantasy is compared to Harry Potter these days, and I have to say, I love both series. Percy Jackson is not derivative of Harry Potter, and Riordan manages a fresh and funny take on ancient stories (the Greek myths). I can't recommend this series and this installment highly enough, and I can't wait for Book 5 (and it's very clear there will be a Book 5, though I believe that will be the last).

Writing: Yeah, I wish. A little while traveling, and some good subplot thinking-about, but not much in the way of page count.

Cooking: I made Penne Puttanesca adapted from this recipe. Of course, I made changes. I used a can of Muir Glen Fire Roasted Crushed Tomatoes instead of the whole tomatoes. I added some dried basil and oregano. And I used the olive brine--I don't care if it tastes the same, I'm not putting soy sauce in pasta. It was delish! Even Lilah loved it.

I made these amazing scones! I hosted a Playground Committee meeting, and I like to feed them. I made one scone with blackberry preserves and the other with apricot, and both were amazing.

I haven't ever posted my fried rice recipe, apparently. I adapted it from a side dish recipe in Gourmet, and I make it all the time. It's less greasy and unhealthy than restaurant versions, and it's endlessly variable. Add any of your favorite vegetables. I sometimes use frozen edamame instead of the peas for a higher protein dish. I often stir fry chopped carrots and/or mushrooms with the onions, and I sometimes use a pound of firm tofu, drained and cubed, in place of the eggs. If using tofu, just add along with the onions and stir fry until slightly browned. Mushroom-broccoli fried rice is great, too, just cook the broccoli for a couple of minutes before adding the onions and mushrooms. I like the serve the basic version with stir fry, like the sesame-soy version here, made with tofu, broccoli, baby corn, carrot, and bean sprouts. Obviously, I use veggie broth instead of chicken.

Easy, Lightened Fried Rice

1 TBL + 1 tsp vegetable or peanut oil
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 bunch green onions, white and light green parts sliced thinly
1/2 cup bamboo shoots (I use half a can of sliced bamboo shoots, yummy julienne pieces)
4 cups cold cooked rice (I use jasmine, but I should use brown rice or try another grain like millet sometime)
1 cup green peas, thawed
1 tsp salt
2 tsp dark sesame oil

Heat 1 tsp oil over medium high heat and add eggs. Cook until, well, cooked, then remove to a plate lined with paper towels.

Heat 1 TBL oil over medium high heat. Add onions and cook 2 minutes. Add bamboo shoots and rice and stir fry until heated through. Add peas, salt, and sesame oil and stir well. Stir in eggs. Serve with soy sauce. Serves 4.

April - just a little lame

Well, as is becoming a pattern around here, my big project is not done for the end of the month (although there is still a chance I may finish Sock #1 by the end of tomorrow, as I only have a couple of inches left on the leg. Still, Matt has two feet, so even then, it can hardly be called April's FO). In the interest of having a finished object for April, I tackled Annie's Going Green Coffee Cup Cozy even though I am very late for Earth Day. I used up the Silk Garden I had left from the beret that was a last-minute end-of-month project a couple of months ago :) I decided to make it 16-ounce size, so I just carried on for 8 extra rows in pattern before doing the final knit row. I had barely a foot of yarn left, so no crochet edging, which is just as well, because I'm not super with that anyway. I liked how it turned out.


Pattern details:
Pattern: Going Green Cup Cozy
Yarn; Noro Silk Garden
Needles: Size 6 dpns
Notes: After Row 32, I repeated rows 9-16 (adding knit stitches to the end of each needle). I thought this was a really fun little pattern, very quick and cute. It did occur to me, however, that while the cozy eliminates the need for those cardboard sleeves, it would be much greener to buy a travel mug to reduce consumption of the paper cups, but that wouldn't require any knitting :) This was on the long side for a 16-ounce cup, as you can see, so I think it would cover a fair amount of a 20-ounce as well, but I don't usually get one that big!

I forgot to post a picture of one of my birthday presents. My brother-in-law and his girlfriend found me this little bowl, a one-of-a-kind piece made from yarn. I've been using it to hold my Tiger Sock knitting. It's the perfect size. Isn't it cute?


Lilah and I are actually remote blogging from California, where we're visiting my parents and brother. We're having a great time, and I can't believe I'm actually posting on vacation, as I never manage to.

Reading:

Death at Wentwater Court by Carola Dunn: This is the first Daisy Dalrymple mystery, and I thought it was lots of fun. These are set in the 1920s England and Daisy is a Town & Country reporter, shocking her family (I think her father is a baronet or something). Anyway, Daisy is likeable and I think Dunn evokes 1920s England well, at least to someone who's seen Gosford Park. The plot is well done. Daisy is at a family's country house when an apparent accident takes place. Daisy's photography uncovers a suggestion that it might have been murder. I'll have to find the second in the series--I think there are 16 or something.

Duma Key by Stephen King: It's been hit or miss for me with recent Stephen King, but I had a hard time putting Duma Key down, even with 600+ pages. He's used his personal experience with recovering from a terrible accident and placed in on Edgar Freemantle, who loses an arm and scrambles his brain in an accident. His 25-year marriage ends, and when his doctor suggests "geographical therapy," Freemantle (randomly, he thinks) chooses Duma Key, an isolated island off the coast of Sarasota. He takes up painting with a vengeance, stunning gallery owners in Sarasota, and haunted by his phantom arm and the voices of the shells under his house, he begins to uncover the truth about Duma Key and its oldest inhabitant, Elizabeth Eastlake. His hired help, Jack, and Elizabeth's companion, Wireman (who has also suffered a head injury, as has Elizabeth), help him find the source of his talent. If any part of the novel dragged, it was pages 500-600 or thereabouts--the exciting conclusion was really kind of long. But I found Edgar's emerging talent engaging, and King did a great job of the terror gently creeping into the story.

Back on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber: I read the first of these, The Shop on Blossom Street, ages ago. It took me a while to get into this one. The intro in which Macomber basically explains everything that happened in the series so far was very long and dragged, but once I got into it, it was pretty fun. These are the most wholesome romance novels you've ever read, seriously, but they're also about the personal struggles of the various characters. She writes from the point-of-view of several, which is totally cheating, but it works for the stories she's telling. The prose is...saccharine is a good word to use here, maybe a really long Hallmark card is another way to put it. But if you're in the mood for uplifting, obviously telegraphed happy endings, and women solving their problems in a knitting group, this book is for you. I don't mean that as negatively as it maybe reads. I enjoyed the book, I did, it's just not particularly challenging and it's not my usual fluffy reading (very little sense of humor here). Anyway, Lydia owns a knitting shop and decides to have a class on doing prayer shawls. Each of the women in the class has a different problem going on, and everyone's happy at the end. There are really no surprises in this one, but it's pleasant and comforting.


Writing: Plugging along on Chapter 1 rewrites while Lilah naps or my parents watch her. Very pleased with how much better it is. As I've mentioned, it's set at a theater company, and I was cramming in everything possible about community theater. Now that I've pulled quite a bit back out, it's much more interesting.

Cooking: Not a thing. We're on vacation!

Eye of the Tiger

Buffy: I'm just worried this whole session's gonna turn into some training montage from an 80's movie.
Giles: Ah. Well, if we hear any inspirational power chords, we'll just lie down until they go away.

I've got to get back to my healthy eating. Possibly even counting my Weight Watchers points. Definitely measuring things instead of just dumping oil in the pan. It is my hope that Lilah will wean someday, preferably soon, and I am already giving her far fewer of my calories. I slipped into sloppy eating habits, and I really can't explain how or why, because I actually like whole grains, lean protein sources, fruits, and vegetables, and I feel better when that's mostly what I'm eating (along with a healthy dose of dark chocolate). But I've been tired due to lack of sleep (Lilah, for the love of Pete, you have got to start sleeping through the night consistently!) and feeling discouraged about not getting much done on the writing front, and I tend to seek comfort food. Plus, my days of daily exercise videos are over since I have to scramble to get things done during the precious Nap Time, though Lilah and I have been going on walks. Added to that that I've been able to add in dairy, which I'm eating way too much of, and I have to Do Something so my weight doesn't slide back up to where it was a year ago. I haven't done much damage (three pounds can be removed easily in a week), but it's time for an intervention. I know it's a smidge late for New Year's resolutions, but whatever. Expect to hear reports of healthier meals here, and I'll share any good light recipes I come across (or invent). Anyone want to join me?

Knitting: Continuing the Tiger theme...


Hee hee. I love the stripes. Too cute. This is going just fine. I got the short-row toe (finally!) and I'm knitting away. I'm doing a 5-stitch repeat pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks, but instead of a foofier pattern, I'm doing a 4/1 rib (they're for Matt, and even the Beaded Rib is a bit foofy for him). I noticed many rows in that I should have done a purl row before the pattern begins to make for a symmetrical pattern, but since I don't want to undo all that work, I'm pretending it was an artistic choice. Just go with it. Still no modeled pics of SKB. I haven't forgotten--it's just been tough with juggling the one car, Matt at work during most daylight hours, and Lilah unsupportive of any activity that doesn't focus all attention on her.

Writing: I've been at least opening my novel file every day, and I get a few words here and there. I've gone on to page 2, so that's good, I guess. At this rate, I'll be done in 2012. I've been thinking about it A LOT lately, though, so my hope is that my brain is working out the kinks and it'll be easy to write.

Reading: Lots of reviews!

Key Lime Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke: I thought it was an excellent entry in a cozy series. Besides the murder mystery, there were several fun subplots: What's behind Moishe's odd behavior? What is Hannah's mother's Secret Project? Will Hannah choose Norman or Mike or even Ross, who still sends her gifts? Will Hannah enter the 21st century world of cell phones and computers with internet access? Some amazon reviewers complain that Hannah's dithering over the men in her life is annoying, that it's unbelievable that she resists computers and cell phones, that the mystery doesn't happen until past 100 pages in. But to me, the fun of this series is small-town life in Lake Eden, Hannah's family, and Hannah's life, and those things don't bother me that much. This is a really fun cozy series. And oh yeah, there's a murder, and that part of the story was well-done, too. There are a few cookie recipes I think I'll be trying, though I'm not really a casserole (hot-dish) fan, so that's about it. Update: I made the Peach Bread recipe, but put the batter into 18 muffin cups. Yummmmmmmm! These are good, even with canned peaches. Peachy and almondy and light (tasting, that is--the fat content is scary).

Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter by Blaize Clement: This is the improbably named Blaize Clement's first Dixie Hemingway mystery. This was surprisingly dark and complex for a cozy mystery series. Dixie was a sheriff's deputy on Siesta Key (off the Sarasota coast) until the deaths of her husband and daughter sent her over the edge. She regrouped and started a pet-sitting business. When she finds a dead man in a client's home, she's sucked back into the world of investigation, both as a suspect and a person with some inside scoop. I thought Clement pulled off the edgier heroine in a cozy setting quite well. The lifestyle and characters are Siesta Key were an interesting setting, Dixie is sympathetic, and the mystery complex and satisfying. There was one Clue (that's a capital C, as in "Scooby Doo, you've found a Clue!"), let's call it a MacGuffin, that Dixie comes across without recognizing its significance. That's fine, but as it became increasingly clear that the MacGuffin was really important, it started driving me a little crazy that Dixie wasn't picking up on it. However, since she had quite a bit going on and I was paying more attention to details as a reader, I tried to let it go. At any rate, I thought this was a fun, really well-written mystery, and I'll be picking up #2 in the series! I'd recommend it to cozy mystery fans who are open to a little bit edgier book, and even to private detective-type novel fans who aren't usually into cozies.

What Looks Like Crazy by Charlotte Hughes was a fun diversion, and a great break from the intensity of the Lippman novel. Hughes is co-author with Janet Evanovich on the Full House series, which I've enjoyed (though not as much as the Stephanie Plum books). When I see a no-name sharing author credit with a bestseller, my jaded opinion is usually that the no-name did all the work and the big name is there to sell books. It doesn't really matter, because I like Charlotte Hughes' writing, and if it hadn't been for Evanovich, this book likely wouldn't exist. Comparisons between this new series and Stephanie Plum are inevitable, but I didn't think this was a knockoff. Kate is a funny, smart, neurotic psychologist with relationship issues. In her job, she encounters plenty of "nutcases," as her wealthy receptionist Mona calls them, and they bring lots of fun to the mix. Kate's mother and aunt own a junk shop (from which Kate's condo is decorated) and they bring another element of fun. Kate's two exes bring in the obligatory romantic element. Hughes is a little drier in her wit, less laugh-out-loud and farcical, but it's a different kind of funny, not a lack of funny, if that makes sense. I think this is a good beach read, and I look forward to the next one.

What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman: This was a gripping, well-paced mystery (I hesitate to call it a thriller since no one is really in danger) that begins when a woman is apprehended leaving a car accident. She alludes to the Bethany sisters (whose disappearance thirty years before was never solved) but clams up without sharing her identity. She eventually claims to be one of the sisters, and the book is extremely well-paced, using flashbacks to explore the parents and sisters at various points during the thirty year gap. The current characters, a social worker and two cops, one who retired after the Bethany case (and to a lesser extent, an attorney) are well-fleshed out and the impact of the disappearance on their lives is believable. It was hard to put this book down. I really wanted to know who this woman was and what happened to the girls. I recommend this to anyone who's a fan of suspense.

Cooking: I tackled Garlic Soba Noodles from 101 Cookbooks, a healthier take on the comfort food dish of Noodles With Garlic and Parmesan. I tend to make what I call Buttery Noodles (a big duh here if you can't figure out what's in that) when I'm stressed or under the weather, and this sounded great. I thought it was a good update, but probably not a dish I'll make again. Truth is, the parmesan-crusted tofu didn't really "crust" for me--some of the topping fell off on the cookie sheet, and I'm not sure I care for crusted tofu anyway. And it made too many dirty dishes and had too many steps for me for real comfort food. Oh, and they were out of chard at the store, so I got kale. I was excited, because I can't tell you how many times I've bought kale with the best intentions, only to let it rot in the crisper. Because frankly, kale scares me. And it turns out I really don't like it! And now I have half a bunch I still have to use. Ugh. Anyway, I may try my buttery noodles with soba in the future, as I love soba and had really only used them in Asian dishes.

I made Pasta Geronimo and Black Bean Enchiladas (recipes in index at left), and both were lovely. Lilah loved both, too. I'm really enjoying this time before she becomes a picky toddler who eats only chicken nuggets and PB&J. Someone tell me it's possible she won't get picky? Sigh. I know it's coming. I wanted to update Pasta Geronimo for spring by using asparagus instead of eggplant, and maybe some of those cute baby squash, but Matt looked so disappointed that I made it as written, except for adding half a pound of iffy mushrooms, quartered, that were going to be thrown out otherwise. Matt tends to request dishes that I've made and then expect me to make them the same way, since it was good the previous time. I tend to use recipes as springboards and am inspired to tweak almost constantly. But he was right, Pasta Geronimo was nice. I have a short attention span when it comes to cooking, I guess.

We have another bake sale for our Playground Committee, so I've made biscotti. Almond Chocolate Chip Biscotti from 101 Cookbooks and Cappuccino BIscotti from this cute little cookbook. Both are lovely. I was skeptical that the whole-grain Almond Chocolate Chip would taste too "healthy" but they were deliciously nutty and the chocolate sort of covers up the healthiness. I used millet flour instead of oat flour since that's what I had on hand, otherwise I made no changes. Very nice recipe. Her cookbook,. Super Natural Cooking has a variation on this recipe. The Cafe Nervosa recipe made nice, crisp biscotti and the combination of chocolate, coffee, and cinnamon smelled heavenly during baking.

I also made scones. A Maple-Nut Scone based on the Starbucks pastry (yum, my favorite!) and Cherry-Corn Scones from The Cheese Board Collective. I followed the cherry scone recipe almost exactly, except I got 20 scones instead of 14. The Maple Nut one I decided to follow the modifications mentioned in one of the comments, plus I doubled the recipe. I used 1 cup whole wheat flour and 2 cups white, added an extra 1/4 cup of cream and 2 cups pecans, and used maple syrup instead of water for the glaze. I didn't have maple extract, so didn't use it. The glaze was so sweet, it made my teeth hurt, but I thought these were pretty darn good, very similar to the Starbucks version. The Cherry Corn ones tasted, well, like sweet cornbread with cherries. I think I like traditional scones more, but these were nice in their own way.

I made the Peach Bread from Key Lime Pie Murder into 18 regular-sized muffins, and I was delighted with the result. I also made Cherry Muffins from the Cafe Nervosa Cookbook, but used dried cranberries (way cheaper) and orange juice and zest instead of lemon and doubled the recipe for 12 jumbo muffins. Mmmmm.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Wow, I really meant to post sooner than this, but my parents were visiting, and we were otherwise occupied. But I could almost post the same thing I did last time. Garden? Still nothing planted, and it's looking grim. Not really--I really will dump some basil seeds in a pot with soil. And some catnip seeds outside. Simple Knitted Bodice? I did finish the Neverending Sleeve, but I have two arms, so I'm currently knitting another Neverending Sleeve. Blech. I have till Monday to finish this for March. We'll see. I still don't think this will fit me. Can someone please extol the virtues of blocking and assure me that a Malabrigo sweater can grow with it? If not, the next blog contest will involve an SKB as a prize. Writing? Argh. This is the really frustrating one. There's virtually no way I will make my March goal of rewrites of the first two chapters. Lilah's sleeping has actually gotten WORSE, which I didn't think was possible. She's been waking up every 2-3 hours every night.

The other fun thing is that Matt's beloved Mustang died a tragic death three weeks ago. While my parents were visiting, they had a rental car, so it was fine, and then a really nice coworker of his who had just bought a new car let him borrow her old car. That conked out yesterday so Matt didn't get home until after I'd put Lilah to bed, and now we have one car again. This is frustrating because a year ago, we barely needed one car. We drove it to the grocery store once a week, and that was usually it. Matt took the bus to work, we walked to restaurants and the farmer's market, and when I was working, I walked to work. And now Matt commutes and we live outside the city so we have to drive everywhere, and we have to have two cars. And Matt and I are both horrible at decision-making (which really calls the accuracy of astrology into question--I'm a wishy-washy Pisces, sure, but Matt isn't), and there are 14 million different cars out there and we have no idea what to get. Ugh. Okay, I'll try to stop whining. But no promises. I'm not the kind of person who adores car shopping, and I'm tired.

Knitting: Well, I covered that. I finished the first sleeve on SKB, and I've started the second. It'll be exciting to see if I make it by the end of the month. I watched the Nancy Drew movie on DVD, which got me through sleeve #1. I really thought this was a cute movie. I loved Nancy Drew as a kid, and I thought the movie was fairly true to the spirit of the books. I got Enchanted for my birthday, so maybe that'll help me with sleeve #2.

Reading: Man Walks Into A Room by Nicole Krauss: I really wanted this to be a five-star review, and if I had stopped around page 75, it would have been. Krauss is a fantastic writer, and there are passages of achingly beautiful prose that highlight the potential that is never realized in this, her first novel. But Man Walks Into A Room is too scattered and wanders off on too many tangents. The book begins with a memory seemingly unrelated to any of the characters we meet for those first 75 pages, and this was annoying, but I was sucked into the gentle exploration of Samson, who is found wandering in the desert, all memories since the age of 12 obliterated by a tumor. He does not recognize his wife, Anna, and Krauss explores her reaction to Samson's condition in a peripheral kind of way. The story up to this point is fascinating and beautifully written. Then Krauss veers off onto a science-fictiony tangent that the framework just can't support. I tolerated this for a while, but by 125 or so pages, I was irritated and cranky and wanting the story to be over, but the opening had been so promising that I felt compelled to keep reading to see if she redeemed herself. Nope. After the science fictiony bit is finally blissfully over, we go into this other part in which Samson connects with a teenager and then his senile uncle in sort of obvious, yet obscure, ways. And the ending just fizzled out. This could have been a really amazing book, but Krauss was too ambitious in her scope and the story suffered for it. Ultimately, I don't recommend this book, but I do want to read her second novel, The History of Love, in the hopes that she reaches her potential there.

So, I read Then We Came To The End by Joshua Ferris, which is headed to the semifinals in the Tournament of Books. It was fantastic. Seriously, one of the best books I've read in a long time. It's extremely funny, with a unique voice (the corporate "we") that manages to explore group dynamics without losing the individuality of the group members. Who doesn't love a book with the awesome first line, "We were fractious and overpaid."? Excellent stuff. There is a lot of funny here as Ferris explores the contradictions, excess, and search for meaning in an ad agency just as the dot-com bubble bursts. The group dynamics shift and change as layoffs loom over the entire office and the employees wonder whether or not their boss has cancer. This would have been a fantastic bit of office humor, but Ferris goes deeper than Office Space for insights into finding meaning in one's life, how to face death, and how we break when pushed too hard. Brilliant, amazing, fantastic first novel, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

I'm taking a break with more Jane Jeffry mysteries. The one I just finished, Groom With A View, was really, really fun. It took place at a wedding in a hunting lodge. Jane is planning the wedding, and that was funny, along with an entertaining mystery.

Writing: Unfortunately, I've said all there is to say about it. But if I miss my March deadline, I'll just revise a deadline for April, because the alternative is just giving up on writing until Lilah is in school or something, and I really don't want to do that.

Cooking: I've been cooking quite a bit. I had a meeting at my house of our playground committee, and I used the infusion of people as an excuse to make cinnamon rolls. My preferred recipe is Mrs. Hoggendobber's Orange Cinnamon Buns from Sneaky Pie's Cookbook for Mystery Lovers, a really cute little cookbook/collection of anecdotes authored by Rita Mae Brown's tabby co-writer of her mystery series. If this sounds so cutesy as to be vomit-inducing for you, I'd skip the Sneaky Pie mysteries and the cookbook, but I personally love them, and I quite like this book, which I bought entirely for the aforementioned recipe for baked goods that are referenced several times in the early novels and always made my mouth water. They are absolutely delicious and worth the trouble to make.

I've also been making Heidi Swanson recipes, this time from her website, 101 Cookbooks. Lilah and I love her recipe for split pea soup, which we make with yellow split peas. Simple and delicious. We've been having it for lunch. I've also been on a quinoa kick, and made Quinoa With Grilled Zucchini. The dressing is to die for, and I could eat it with a spoon. The recipe, unless you have the quinoa and hard-boiled eggs on hand, is fairly involved. I didn't, so the items I had to wash included: pot for cooking quinoa, pot for cooking eggs, bowl to toss it in, bowl to make the dressing, thingy to squeeze out lime juice, cutting board and knife, Foreman grill for cooking zucchini, pan to toast pine nuts. I sprayed the zucchini with olive oil spray before placing on the grill, or I would have had a bowl for tossing the zucchini and oil to clean as well. And it turns out, after all this, I'm not a fan of quinoa salads. The texture doesn't work for me and the quinoa, unlike pasta or rice, doesn't absorb the dressing, but rather sits in it, which I don't care for. I wish I'd tossed the hot quinoa with a little pesto, goat cheese, and the zucchini and left it at that. The egg recipe also didn't get them as cooked as I'd like (the yolks were set, but very, very yellow) and the shells stuck to the eggs like the dickens, so I had to pry off tiny bits of eggshell. Ugh. Anyway, I love Heidi's site and her cookbook, so I'll keep trying. This one just wasn't to my taste. She has a lemon-scented quinoa salad that seems less salad-y (and much less involved) that I think I'll try next. I also want to make her healthier artichoke dip.

Spring has sprung, and all that

Boy, did I have great plans for this spring. I would plant stuff! plants, even! in our yard! We would landscape. Our yard would be beautiful. And I would plant herbs and a small vegetable garden. And I would replace the dead plants in the concrete planters with live plants. And keep them alive! (fyi: the plants were dead when we bought the house. I did not kill them.) I would wear a floppy hat and gardening gloves and pull an errant weed once in a while without breaking a sweat. Huh. At least some daffodils came up in our yard with no input from us, because we have done NOTHING. I still want to plant basil, chives, parsley, and catnip. I think I'll start them in pots so I can figure out the best side of the house as far as sunlight goes. But I think it's really too late for anything else. Maybe I can buy a tomato plant still and stick it in the ground and pretend I grew it? I can't believe I thought I would be able to take up landscaping and gardening, when I barely have time to keep the house clean-ish. Or to finish a sweater before it gets too hot to wear it. Which is pretty much now. The sleeves on SKB are KILLING me. They are taking forever. I'm almost to the point on sleeve #1 where I could bind off and have short sleeves, but honestly, what would I do with a short-sleeved wool sweater? I still regret that I made my Somewhat Cowl short-sleeved. There are like two days out of the year I can wear it.

Reading: The new Tournament of Books list really shamed me into finally reading Vendela Vida's debut novel (her latest is on the list). I got it as a bargain book at some point a couple of years ago, and though it's a slender novel, I just hadn't gotten to it yet. I busted through it yesterday and a little today. It's a quick read for capital-L Literature. The premise really grabbed me: Ellis, a 21-year old college student, is held at gunpoint. She escapes from the experience unharmed, but completely changed. The encounter occurs at the very beginning of the novel, so the story is really about how she responds--in unpredictable, conflicting ways. She does everything a victim is supposed to: she files a police report, collaborates on a sketch of the assailant, looks at mug shots, sees a therapist. But her world has been turned upside down, and she flounders, avoiding her boyfriend's calls, telling outrageous lies to strangers, and turning to a few solicitous men for answers. She flies home to see her parents and ends up in the Philippines on a medical mission with her mother (a nurse). This could have been a gloomy, depressing book, but Vida's sense of humor is finely tuned. Ellis's roommate (not a friend, Ellis tells us, just someone from whom she rents a room) leaves little poems accusing Ellis of shirking her chores, and these are hilarious. Rather than dismal, I found it a hopeful book, and a surprisingly light read for such heavy subject matter. Oh, and Ellis is an art history student, Holly, so though it's not a huge part of the book, there are references to art history throughout. I definitely recommend this book and will have to check out her second novel.

Other than that, I've been busting through Jane Jeffry novels like mad. Fun, fun cozy mysteries.

Writing: I've been writing when I can, which has been tough with Lilah's nap "schedule." But I have a handle on how to start the book now! Yay. I have 350 words in my new draft file. It is DEPRESSING to go from a 45,000 word DraftTwo.doc file to a 350 word DraftThree.doc file. But it's going to be so much better now, and I wasn't going to be able to finish the last third or so without going back to make major structural changes. I have subplots I got too attached to, and I have to ax them. I have connections I have to make between characters. And I have to make my sleuth more proactive (Thank you, Tim!). And I figured out how to do that, so I'm very pleased. I have large sections of DraftTwo that will just be lifted into the new draft, so I'm not starting from scratch at least. And though I originally thought I'd cut out the events of the first two chapters, now I think they just need tweaking, so I'm not starting two days after the point I had been. I'm sure this is all just fascinating to everyone!

Cooking: I made an extremely unsuccessful Vegetable Biryani. I should have listened to the little voice in my head saying, "I'm pretty sure the biryani I'm thinking of is made with pre-cooked rice." It wasn't absorbing the liquid and ended up kind of soupy. And with overcooked veggies. I won't make it this way again, and I really should have ignored the recipe. Duh. The flavor was fine, which was good, because it made a lot. I made Quinoa With Crescenza from Super Natural Cooking, although I made it with fontina because wow is crescenza expensive. And I like fontina in combination with mushrooms. Matt, it turns out, dislikes quinoa, though he politely said he was sure it was very good quinoa. I LOVED it, though. Yum. The only change I'd make is to leave out the (I thought) rather incongruous red pepper flakes. The heat really made no sense in this dish, at least to me. I made a very nice chickpea curry from a neat little cookbook I have called Indian Vegetarian Cooking At Your House. I tweaked it a bit to add tomato, but basically followed the recipe. Even Lilah liked it, and it was really kind of spicy. I think I've mentioned this little cookbook before. It makes Indian cooking really approachable. Plus, when I bought the spices for it, the nice Indian man at the checkout said, "You make curry?" I said yes and he said, "Not from curry powder?" and was very impressed. There are a lot of ingredients, but most of them are from the same 10 or so spices, so you only buy them once to make dozens of dishes. Plus making the curry from scratch instead of with commercial curry powder makes me feel very accomplished. And tastes amazing.

In Like a Lion

Ha! No, not that lion. I grew up in southern California, with slightly more weather than LA, but not exactly real seasons. We learned all these weather- and season-related things as children anyway. Like March, which is either "in like a lion, out like a lamb" or "in like a lamb, out like a lion." And the groundhog, who had no impact on our weather at all, because no way was winter going to last until mid-March. In Wisconsin, the groundhog was irrelevant, too, since no way would winter be over before mid-March. Anyway, apparently, if March starts out blustery, it will end with nice weather, and vice versa. I have no idea what the scientific basis for this might be. But we had some good storms a couple of days ago, so I'm looking forward to a pleasant end of the month. Spring is in full swing here, with clogged sinuses, rainy, unpredictable weather, and certain neighbors who leave their dog outside to bark ALL DAY because the temperature has risen. Anyway. The spring cleaning bug has bitten me a bit (I told you about all the bugs in the South, right?) and I found myself spontaneously cleaning out the fridge a couple of nights ago when I went to fill up my water glass before going to bed. This is funny, because I barely have time to do "regular" cleaning, much less intense cleaning. So I just clean a bit when the mood strikes me.

Edited to add a couple of blog spring cleaning things: First, I removed word verification since I moderate comments before they're published anyway. If I get annoying spam, I'll add them back in, but for now it's gone. Second, I'm going back and adding tags to older posts, just a couple at a time, when I have a minute. I think this will be a nice feature to have. For now, I'm tagging book reviews, recipes, and Mission Possible.

Knitting: I'm plugging along on SKB, and I'm nearly at the purl ridges at the bottom of the body. Whoa. After that, it's sleeves, then neckline. I'm on ball #3 of Malabrigo, and based on yarn estimates in the pattern, I should be using a bit less than 6. I think I'm going to have a fair bit left over. I'm not even sure I'll need to crack open the fourth ball for the body, and I can't imagine the sleeves and neckline taking half the total amount of yarn. I hope this sweater fits. I'm making a medium, which fits my measurements, and I'm getting gauge, so I'm not sure why the sweater seems...small. Possibly my body image hasn't caught up with my weight loss, which wouldn't be surprising. I hope more sinister forces aren't at work here. If so, I may be giving away an SKB to a more petite person :) I was looking at the sleeves on the model in the pattern, and thinking I want them shorter than that. They nearly cover the model's hands, and I actually have to use my hands on a regular basis, so that would be annoying. If my job were, say, standing around looking pretty, they would be awesome. I still haven't cast on again for Matt's tiger socks, because I've been a bit obsessed with my SKB, and also my SKB is easy to knit while watching Lilah play or while watching tv (I have to confess to you guys that I've been watching Scooby Doo sometimes at 9:00 on the Boomerang channel, whatever that is, commercial-free--real, classic Scooby Doo from my childhood. I find it tremendously therapeutic for some reason.), while the short-row toe needs more of my attention.

Reading: I read the first three Jane Jeffry mysteries by Jill Churchill--Grime and Punishment, A Farewell to Yarns, and A Quiche Before Dying. I read these ages ago, so I'd forgotten who the killers were. Anyway, I enjoyed reading them again. Jane is a widowed housewife with three kids who ends up involved in mysteries in her Chicago suburb. She and her friend Shelley poke around, digging up gossip and domestic facts that elude the police. Lilah loves these books, too, incidentally, because they all have kitty cats on the covers. She'll carry one around, happily saying "Kitty cat, kitty cat, meow." So cute. She will also climb into her chair and "read" them.

I'm now reading Death at Daisy's Folly by Robin Paige, the third Victorian Mystery. I love it. It takes place at a house party, which is so Gosford Park (one of my favorite films ever).

Writing: Having just finished torturing us by taking a month to get in her four molars, Lilah has decided to work on her eye teeth (are they eye teeth? the ones between the four front teeth and the molars, anyway). So sleep has been pretty scarce around here. I have been working on chapter 1, but I did not meet my goal of a revised chapter 1 for February. For March, I'm shooting for chapters 1 & 2 revised, and hoping I get enough sleep so I can think straight.

Cooking: The Malaysian noodle recipe from Cooking Light that I made a mess of last time turned out beautifully when I actually followed the directions. I also made my Pina Colada Muffins (recipe at left), Cuban Black Bean Soup from Cooking Light, and my first recipe from Super Natural Foods, Barley Risotto. This was a fantastic dish, with arugula and citrus and creme fraiche. Yum, yum, yum. Next up is a quinoa dish with mushrooms and cheese. I've cooked with quinoa before, but mostly boring stuff, so I'm looking forward to this.

My husband and I have been on a bit of an ice cream kick lately, and I thought I'd post what I've been up to in that department. Deciding to forgo my usual pint of Ben and Jerry's New York Super Fudge Chunk in reserve in the freezer, I wanted to switch to a lower-calorie, lower-fat treat. And Matt really likes my cookies and cream ice cream, so I had to make a batch.

Note: I have a Rival 1.5 quart ice cream maker that says to use a maximum of 1 quart of liquid. If your machine is bigger or smaller, adjust proportionally. My machine also says to use 1/2 to 3/4 cup of mix-ins, but the Super Fudge Chunk is so packed with "stuff" that it was about 2 1/2 cups' worth. Yowza. So I made the ice cream as usual, then mixed in the chunks (chilled in the fridge) by hand in a bowl that I'd chilled in the fridge and put it into my ice cream containers of choice, those Ziploc plastic containers. Worked just fine. I suppose I could have just made less ice cream, but that's no fun. I chose ice milk since I wanted to save the fat grams for the chunks rather than the ice cream.

My Super Fudge Chunk Ice Cream

Easy chocolate ice milk base*:
2/3 cup cocoa (I used Scharffen Berger non-alkalized)
1/2 cup sugar
dash salt
4 cups whole milk (or use low-fat milk, or half-and-half, or a milk/half-and-half/cream combo, but NEVER skim milk)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Heat, stirring with a whisk, just until cocoa and sugar have dissolved. Chill well. Place in bowl of ice cream maker and process until nearly firm.

Mix-ins:
About 4 oz. white chocolate, roughly chopped (I used Ghirardelli, but Lindt is fantastic, too. Look for cocoa butter, not tropical oils, in the ingredient list.)
About 4 oz. dark chocolate, roughly chopped (I used a 3.5 oz. bar of Ghirardelli Twilight 72% cocoa, but use your favorite.)
1/3 cup walnut pieces
1/3 cup pecan pieces
1/3 cup chocolate covered almonds

*Use your favorite chocolate ice cream recipe as the base. I was sorely tempted to try this one by David Lebovitz because it uses agave syrup (and I'm obsessed by my Super Natural Foods cookbook right now, which talks about agave syrup) and because Lebovitz wrote The Perfect Scoop, a book of ice cream recipes that is on my "must get" list, but I decided to do a quick and simple base, since the chunks are the real feature here. The ice cream is really just there to hold together the nuts and chocolate. I'll try the agave one some other time, though the five egg yolks put me off a bit. I'm not much for custardy ice cream.

Hahaha! It's a good thing I had fun coming up with how to make this, because when searching for chocolate ice cream recipes on the internet, I found a New York Super Fudge Chunk recipe everywhere. Here it is. Mine is more weighted toward chocolate than nuts because I was using up two bars I had hanging around, but I got it more or less right as far as chunks/dairy products ratio goes.

Cookies and Cream Ice Cream

3/4 cup heavy cream
1 1/4 cup half and half
2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
15 Oreo cookies, crushed (I chuck them in a big baggie and break apart with my fingers)

Mix together all ingredients except Oreos. Pour into canister of ice cream maker and run until it's almost solid. Add Oreos and keep going until they're mixed in. Easy peasy.