The Brown Blob

For some time now, I’ve been scouring patterns on Ravelry, looking for something akin to a vest, a short-sleeved cardigan… I wasn’t sure what, but I wanted something I could slip on over a t-shirt, something to keep my shoulders warm while my hands and arms are still free.

I finally narrowed it down to a couple of options. Next, was the question of yarn. I have a fairly decent stash and I found some worsted weight yarn that might do. There was definitely enough of it; I’d purchased an entire bag (10 skeins) of the stuff.

The next question was: would the patterns be compatible with the chosen yarn? I swatched. I checked the patterns.

Ultimately, I was able to match the stitch gauge (but not row gauge) to one of the patterns and promptly cast on.

As the title infers, I call this the brown blob. It will not always be “blobby”. The pattern is a Berroco pattern, Quonset Worsted. The yarn is Earth Collection Homestead, 100% wool. The pattern calls for 4.5 mm needles with worsted weight yarn, but I’m getting stitch gauge on 5.0 mm needles. My row gauge is out slightly, but I’m finding that it really isn’t making too big a difference being out 2 rows every 4 inches. I can live with slightly deeper arm scyes.

As you can see, it will be a fairly casual little sweater, something easy to put on and take off as needed. When you’re cold one moment and having a hot flash the next, that is a good thing!

I Almost Forgot

I have another finished object. I finished these a couple of weeks ago, but forgot that I hadn’t blogged about them.

These are the Kunigunde wrist warmers, a free pattern I found through Ravelry. The link to the pattern can be found here. I used some sock yarn I had in my stash. For some reason, I didn’t like this yarn as socks but it works well for this pattern. It’s a fairly simple knit and I’m pleased with how they turned out.

This afternoon has been fun. Earlier this week, the neighbour’s granddaughter (who lives with her grandparents) asked me if I could teach her to knit on Friday. Seeing as I work full time, I told her Friday was out, but she could come over on Saturday afternoon and I’d show her the basics. Well, today she and a friend came over, yarn and needles in hand. Well, K had yarn and needles. S didn’t and was provided with both.

Both girls caught on fairly quickly but K definitely got it. She managed to get six rows done and only made one extra stitch. For an absolute beginner, she did good! I started them out with 12 stitches and taught them only the knit stitch. Once they’re comfortable with that, I’ll teach them the purl stitch and then we’ll start on a simple project. If they’re still eager, that is.

Today’s “lesson” was about an hour long; they can’t wait for the next lesson and already have visions of knitting sweaters, hats, scarves…

Finished, but…

I finally have another finished object. It just feels like knitting has been pushed to a back burner around here. This weekend, though, I decided that one small project was so close to being done that I’d just better sit down and get it done.

So I did.

This is the Mini Mochi hat #2. It shouldn’t have taken me as long as it did; it’s not a difficult knit. Other things just got in the way. I’m happy it’s done.

But.

It’s too big for me. It’s too long and it’s not the kind of ribbing you can turn up because it definitely has a wrong and a right side. So, now I’m on the search for someone who loves the hat and has a larger head than mine.

In other things, I got the deal of the month last week. If you read this blog regularly, you’ll know that I work near a thrift store. Well, earlier this week, I went there on my lunch break to look for an exterior light; we have (had) a sensor light at our back door but only one of the lights worked and the sensor only worked sporadically. It was rare for the light to stay on for any more than a few seconds. I found a light, marked at $5.00, and made my way to the front counter. When I got there, I saw a package with a Sansa mp3 player, still in it’s original packaging. I asked the clerk if I could look at it, made sure everything was included and checked the price. It was marked at $20.00. I decided it was a good price and made my way to the till.

There, the lamp was discounted by 50%, making it $2.50. When the clerk rang in the mp3 player, she asked a co-worker if it was on sale as well; she was told it was, making it $10.

I should tell you I didn’t buy it for myself; I have my iPod. John likes to listen to CBC radio while he’s working and his last player (a Sansa Clip) died earlier this year so I thought this would be a good replacement for him. The price was certainly right.

Included in the package is also a sports arm band. When I got home, I started doing a bit of research. The armband, a Griffin iPod Nano sports armband, retails for about $20. The Sansa player? Well, check out this Amazon link (Sansa e270).

Yup, I got a real deal!

Memories of Summer

This year saw a good harvest of grapes from the vine out in the garden. We picked them as they ripened but didn’t have time to do much with them, other than turn them to juice and freeze the resulting juice. I think there are about eight tubs of frozen grape juice in the freezer right now; I’m not positive because John didn’t label the ones he froze. I did.

Today, while battling a migraine (which still hasn’t gone away), I decided to thaw some of that juice. I thawed two containers as one batch of jelly requires 5 cups of juice and the tubs are one liter tubs, which is about 4 cups of juice.

In all, I have 7 jars of jelly. The one in the picture wasn’t a full jar, just the end of the batch. There’s one other small jar like the one in the picture; the rest are 1 cup jars (1/2 pint, I think?). I did cut back on the sugar slightly. Normally you shouldn’t because it can affect how the jelly jells, but it wasn’t a problem. It’s lovely, perfect for spreading and very, very tasty.

The biscuits, incidentally, were made just so we could sample the jelly. In the middle of winter, we’ll be enjoying summer on our biscuits and toast. And there’s more juice in the freezer. Does it get any better than that?

One of Those Weeks

All day today, I’ve been thinking about the blog and wondering what to write about. Knitting has been pretty much non-existent so there’s nothing to write about there. Work has been a bit on the stressful side, but nothing I really want to write about.

I could write about the weather, I suppose. It’s sunny but not terribly warm. Autumn definitely has us in its grip. John and our landlord have both been working in the garden, harvesting and cleaning up.

That brings me to the purpose of today’s post. I’ve just realized that there are two things that help me get past the stress of the work week (not that it’s all that stressful, but it’s work!). One, as you know, is knitting. Knitting, though, has not come easy in the last while. The other, which will likely come as no surprise to anyone who reads this blog, is cooking. I’ve just never really realized just how relaxing I find cooking… until today.

An empty bowl. I can tell you that it was wonderful! It was sublime! It was simple. And it made me realize that cooking, for me, is nothing short of meditative and grounding.

So, what was in the bowl? Well, allow me to back up a little. Last weekend, I made pasta. It’s gone. Today, I decided to make another batch.

When I make pasta, there are always little bits that really don’t qualify as “noodles”. They get piled in a little pile and never really come to more than about a half cup of pasta bits. That’s the cook’s portion. After making the pasta, setting it to dry, I put on a small pot of water and cook the little leftover bits. This time, I also chopped up one clove of garlic, melted a bit of butter and then tossed the cooked pasta in with a bit of parmesan cheese. At the first bite, I realized that all the stress of the previous week had just dissipated. It was a taste of… well… a taste of YUM!!!

I realize I’m going on and on about pasta but it came as something of a surprise to realize just how satisfying and fulfilling and stress-relieving just doing something this simple has been. I suppose it’s partially because it’s another creative endeavour. Maybe it’s the satisfaction of making something that others find delicious. Maybe it’s getting into the dough, feeling your food. I don’t really know. What I do know is that it satisfies at a very deep level.

Have I mentioned that I love cooking?

Speaking of Pasta

Kristie responded to my last post (about pasta), asking if I had a special recipe that works. I’ve tried a couple of different recipes in the past; this time I used a recipe I found on Food.com (one of my favourite sites for finding recipes, incidentally).

I consider this one a keeper. I like the texture of it; I could have rolled it out a little thinner as the noodles puffed up quite a bit on cooking. The noodles have some “tooth” to them, a little chewy (perhaps a touch undercooked?) and have some body to them. It is definitely a recipe I’ll be making again, perhaps even today. That first batch has already been consumed.

We had company the night I made the pasta. They had, apparently, been eating off and on all day (they were in town for a granddaughter’s birthday party and Thanksgiving) but we hadn’t. John made a nice light tomato sauce with garden fresh tomatoes, sweet onions, fresh garlic and some of the last basil leaves from the garden. I cooked the pasta and served it with parmesan cheese and warmed homemade dinner buns and butter, served with a choice of red or white wine (I drink white). It was a lovely light meal and everyone agreed that the pasta was excellent.

Without further ado, here’s the recipe:

Homemade Pasta Dough

• 2 cups white flour
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 tablespoons warm water

Place flour in a large glass bowl and form a well in the middle. Add remaining ingredients into the well. With a fork, in a circular motion, stir wet ingredients just around rim of dry ingredients, bringing a little bit of flour into the wet, a little at a time until all are mixed together.

Pour mixture onto a floured board and knead until tight and glossy. It should be difficult to mix, to a point where no more flour will stay into mixture. Form into a ball and let it sit, covered, for 1/2 – 1 hour.

Cut into manageable pieces to fit into pasta machine. Flour pieces as needed; if dough is too sticky it will not go through the pasta machine smoothly.

Run three times through larger slot size, then once through decreasing sizes progressively until desired thickness. Run through pasta cutter of choice and dry overnight. Store dried pasta in sealed bags or containers.

The original recipe, from Food.com, can be found here: Homemade Pasta Dough.

What Makes YOU Happy?

Now, why would an ugly table leaf like that make me happy, you wonder?

Well, since we moved into this suite (over a year ago), I’ve had nowhere to attach my pasta maker; the counter tops in here are way too thick to attach it. My table would have been perfect, but it’s too nice to clamp the machine to it, potentially damaging the surface.

When I bought this table, about 12 years ago, it didn’t come with the leaves, even though there are brackets for leaves on either end. I’ve been trying to get someone (anyone!) to make me at least one leaf ever since. I even drew out a blueprint for it. I didn’t want anything pretty, just functional.

John finally took it upon himself to construct it for me. He did have an ulterior motive; he wanted fresh pasta. Now, I have an ugly, but functional table leaf and John and I will be feasting on fresh pasta with fresh tomato, onion and basil sauce for dinner.

What makes YOU happy?

Incidentally, I put a plastic table cloth on the table before clamping the pasta machine to it. The wood John used is treated plywood and is not food safe.

At Least 10,000 People Helped You

With Thanksgiving Day looming, I wanted to share something I came across recently. John owns a cookbook that was copyrighted in 1934 and printed in 1943. The Mystery Chef’s Own Cookbook is a fascinating book; the author, John MacPherson, was the host of a Depression Era/wartime radio recipe show and was, at that time, very popular.

In the introduction of the book, he has a section entitled At Least Ten Thousand People Help You To Prepare Each Meal. I present it here for your reflection. Thanksgiving Day is, in my opinion, the perfect time for such a reminder. Keep in mind, as you read this, that it was written sometime in the 1930’s. Production and delivery methods differ somewhat now, but the message is still the same.

When you sit down at your dinner table tonight, think for a moment of how many people were employed in the growing and preparation of the ingredients you used in cooking that dinner.

When I say ten thousand men and women help us to prepare each meal, I believe the estimate is conservative; and I think you will agree with me when we have traced through the people involved in the production of just one ingredient from its source to your table.

Let us take a pan of hot biscuits. What are the ingredients required? Flour, butter, baking powder and salt (the liquid used can be water). You and I have all these ingredients in our kitchens, ready for use at a moment’s notice. But how did they get there?

Suppose we trace just one of these – flour – from its source to you. The farmer has planted the seed and it has grown to maturity – a waving field of golden grain in the Northwest. Give your imagination free rein as we follow the grains of wheat from that field in the Northwest to your kitchen, where it arrived in the form of a sack of flour. I do not have to fill in all the details, but let me trace in a very superficial way a picture that will show some of those employed in the work of placing that flour in your hands.

First there are the men who sowed and cultivated the grain, and then the threshing machines and the men who run them. Now the trucks are hauling the wheat to a ship on the Great Lakes. Follow that ship – watch the stokers as they shovel coal (and don’t forget the miners who mined the coal which drives the ship’s engines). The ship carries the grain to a great flour mill with its roaring machinery, and here a vast number of men is employed. Then there are the cotton pickers in the South who pick the cotton that feeds the looms that weave the sacks in which the flour is put. And there are the printers who print the name on the sack in order that you and I may be able to recognize the brand of flour we want – an important service since all flours are not alike and the flour we use makes a great difference in the success we have in baking.

I am not going to fill in this picture further, more than to ask you to follow the flour from the mill as it makes its way to you by rail or ship. Think of all the changes of locomotives on the railroad and of all the railroad men that had a part in handling the flour on its way to the grocery store.

Then remember that flour is only one of the many ingredients used in the preparation of a dinner. Trace all these ingredients from their source to your kitchen.

The grocer’s boy is only the messenger bringing to you the fruit of ten thousand other hands.

What are you going to do with these ingredients? Throw together a careless meal? Or are you going to be the artist – one worthy to receive the work of these ten thousand hands, and with loving care prepare a meal so delicious that you will be repaid a thousandfold for your work by the enthusiastic praise of those who are fortunate enough to dine at your table.

Happy Thanksgiving

to all my Canadian friends and family

It’s Kokanee Time

It’s been a while since I’ve gone for one of my walks. When the temperatures are in the mid to high 20’s (Centigrade), it’s a bit too hot for me. Today was a good day for renewing that habit. It’s dry (so far) and not too hot – perfect walking weather! September is Kokanee spawning season and Mission Creek is a spawning creek; I wanted to check it out.

The Kokanee are definitely running (for more information on kokanee, click here). I saw quite a few red bodies in the creek and many dead salmon, the ones who had already spawned and laid their eggs, completing their life cycle.

As well, autumn is beginning to show her colours. It was a good walk and I leave you with a few pictures taken today.

Spider, spider

No, this isn’t really a post about spiders. It does have to do with cobwebs, though. And yes, there are probably more cobwebs around this house than there should be, but I’m not talking about that kind of cobweb.

Almost two years ago, I started (and frogged) the Cobweb Doily from the lovely book, A Gathering of Lace. You can read about it here if you’re interested in what I wrote back then. When I first attempted it, I was using a hemp lace weight yarn. At one point, I made a mistake or put it down and couldn’t figure out where I was… or something. It was frogged and the yarn turned into something else.

This time, I’m using the same lace weight wool I used for the Queen Silvia shawl. And, this time, it’s working up quickly and beautifully. You’ll have to trust me on the “beautifully” part; right now, it doesn’t look like anything beautiful but, once blocked, it will look completely different. Hopefully, it WILL be beautiful.

I’ve even been planning the blocking of this little piece. The doily consists of seven sections; when finished, each of the sections will be finished with three “leaves”, making a total of 21 “points”. I want to be sure that each of the points is blocked evenly. To that end, I wanted a 21 point template. How do you divide a circle evenly into 21 sections? I went to my trusty Draw Plus program and made a 21 point polygon, which I printed up at work. It’s easier to show you what I came up with than it is to describe it.

The only reason I’m even doing this little project is to help psych myself into starting the Shetland Christening Dress. The weather is beginning to cool and the knitting season is nearing rapidly. Yes, there are other things I could (and should) be finishing, but I like lace. What can I say?

Life Gets Back to Normal

Thank you for all your condolences. My Dad will always be remembered with joy by those of us who knew him and loved him.

Now, as cold as it may sound, life gets back to normal. We all still have to go to work, to eat, to sleep, all those little things that make up our daily lives.

We all know that knitting is a part of my daily life and there has been knitting. More specifically, there has been finishing. The Queen Silvia shawl came off the needles earlier this month but the blocking had to wait until we got home from Abbotsford. That happened yesterday (the blocking, that is).

This isn’t a large shawl by any means. I probably could have blocked a little harder, but it’s the perfect size for a scarf or shoulder cover. Finished size is approximately 46” x 18”.

In other things, the garden is still producing but it is beginning to slow down. While I was away, John kept picking beans and yesterday I froze another two bags (about 4 meals worth) of them. The tomatoes… oh, the tomatoes!!

I think John has 7 or 8 litre containers of stewed tomatoes in the freezer and there are still more coming.

The basil is still going strong, but we have more than enough pesto to last us until next year so I’ve decided to give some away. A friend didn’t have much luck with her basil and, since she’ll be around the house for her grandson’s birthday, I’m letting her have as much as she wants to pick (or I might pick it for her). It is slowing down somewhat as the nights are cooling down, but there’s still enough there for a good batch of pesto.

And, while I was away, John even canned nine quarts of peaches! We did give a couple of jars away and we had to sample one (it wasn’t a full jar) but there are still a few jars that will not be touched until the dead of winter, when we’re craving summer. Or maybe we’ll open one to have with our Thanksgiving dinner. I can already imagine THAT feast!

All in all, we have our small freezer almost full of produce from our own garden. It’s a wonderful feeling!

In Memoriam

Sjoerd (Johnny) Teyema, born in Garijp, Friesland in the Netherlands on August 20, 1929, died at Menno Home in Abbotsford, BC on September 7, 2011.

My Dad leaves behind his wife of 58 years, 5 daughters and 2 sons, 16 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren.

I leave you with excerpts from the memorial service program, collaboratively put together by his daughters.

“Dad was trained as a carpenter and took military training but just missed being deployed to Indonesia.

Soon after their marriage on June 4, 1953, Dad and Mom emigrated to Canada. They settled in Winnipeg and, in 1966, moved to Abbotsford. They also lived in Salmon Arm for a while until they moved back to Abbotsford in 1987.

Dad had many jobs in his life time, including picking vegetables, steel foundry making train wheels and general handyman. After moving to BC, he worked at building homes with Mattie Homes. He was then self employed, building many barns throughout the Fraser Valley. Finally, he worked as a custodian at Abbotsford Christian School and volunteered as a crossing guard.

During retirement, Dad enjoyed talking, making wooden toys, gardening, and his daily walks. Alzheimer’s took a firm hold on Dad in the 2000’s and gradually he was unable to do all of the things he loved.

Dad moved into Menno Home in 2007, made friends in a way that transcended barriers and lived there until his passing.”

He may be gone from us, but his legacy will live on in his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. He has left an indelible mark on all our lives.

Love you forever, Dad.

September Already?

What happened to August? It was just here and now it’s gone! I know I haven’t been blogging very regularly this summer; it’s been pretty busy around here. Between the garden and numerous birthdays, the month has slipped by far too quickly.

Knitting has been almost non-existent throughout the month of August. I have been working on the Queen Silvia shawl, but only sporadically. It’s been quite a hot month, with temperatures in the low to mid 30’s (mid to high 80’s F); knitting and sweaty, hot hands do not mix well.

As for Queen Silvia, I’m working on the border now. That’s 800+ stitches. I have 6 rounds left to knit and it will be done. Now that the temperatures have been dropping slightly, I’m hoping to have it finished soon.

In the garden, things are doing very well! So far, we’ve frozen corn and green beans and the beans are still producing. I’ve made, and frozen, three batches of pesto and will be making another batch today. The tomatoes are starting to ripen now so we’ll be processing them before long, too. And then, there’s the lettuce. There is so much lettuce in the garden right now that we could be eating salads for the entire year! Unfortunately, there’s no way of keeping the lettuce that long and there’s not really much else you can do with lettuce, is there? Hmm, I think I’ll try to persuade John to make a Caesar salad today.

We found out last night that J, who lives upstairs, will be leaving town for the foreseeable future (up to a year and maybe longer) and we will be “inheriting” his part of the garden. That means there will be potatoes, peppers and a variety of other things to harvest before long. We’ve also been given numerous zucchinis, which has been turned into zucchini soup, which has also been frozen and will be savoured some time this coming winter. You know, even though I’m not much of a gardener, I must admit that I love the fact that we can grow our own produce. It feels so good to be eating things that we’ve grown!

Book Review–Knitting Brioche

A couple of weeks ago, I put in a Knit Picks order. Seeing that their book sale was still on at the time, instead of just ordering the circular needles I needed, I also ordered two books. One of the books is “Wrapped in Lace” by Margaret Stove; I’ll review that one another time. The second book, the one I’m reviewing today, is “Knitting Brioche” by Nancy Marchant.

First impression? This is a visually beautiful book. It’s inviting. The book has five sections and the page colours are different for each section, making it very easy to find each. I’ve done a little brioche knitting in the past (I made a vest for John, a Nancy Marchant pattern from Interweave Knits… years back). It’s a reversible fabric that can be quite warm. It’s more known in Europe that it is here in North America. In texture, it’s very similar to Fisherman Rib, but the technique is different.

The description of the book (from the back cover) reads as follows:

Knitting Brioche is the first and only knitting book devoted exclusively to brioche stitch, a knitting technique that creates a double-sided fabric. This complete guide will take you from your first brioche stitches to your first (or hundredth) project, and even to designing with brioche stitch, if you desire. Whether you’re new to brioche knitting or experienced at “brioching”, author Nancy Marchant provides the information and inspiration you need.

Ms. Marchant includes a new set of abbreviations and symbols for brioche knitting and the first section includes a description of all of these. For instance, brk (or bark) is brioche knit, brp (or burp) is brioche purl. For the symbols for brioche knitting, Ms. Marchant was inspired by Japanese knitting symbols. All of the explanations constitute the first section of the book.

The second section is a step by step journey through brioche knitting, going from the plain brioche stitch in one colour, casting on and off, working brioche in the round to doing it all in two or more colours.

The third section is a brioche “stitchionary” that includes approximately 50 pages of different stitches. The fourth section explains design elements in brioche knitting, including points, lines, form (motifs), texture, and colour.

The fifth, and final, section contains patterns, some of which are highlighted in the above photo.

Yesterday, I started to work my way through the book, knitting the pink swatch in the top picture. Ms. Marchant’s instructions are clear, well-written and well illustrated.

This is not just a book of patterns by any means. In fact, the patterns almost feel secondary; she had to include some patterns to go along with the instructional part of the book. This book is primarily a primer on brioche knitting and, as such, it’s a magnificent resource. I’m very happy to have it in my knitting library.

The Big Chill

No, I’m not referring to the movie. This past week, I made the long trek to our local thrift store, the one that’s about three doors down from where I work. I’ve been on the look out for one specific item and I’ve been waiting for over a year to find it. Imagine my surprise when I found what I was looking for!

I’m talking about an ice cream maker.

It’s completely manual and uses no ice and no salt. The aluminum basket has liquid in it; you freeze the entire bowl and then put your ingredients in, turn the handle every few minutes and, before you know it, you have something absolutely scrumptious!

Like this…

If you’re interested, you can find the recipe over at the Food Network. It was easy to make and, believe me, it tastes amazing. I’ve never had homemade ice cream before; this will not be the last time I have it, that’s for sure!

This Past Week

A few images from around here this past week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of This and Some of That

What a difference a month makes!

The top picture was taken a month ago, just after planting my herb garden. The bottom picture was taken this morning. After taking the picture, I pulled out the onions as they’re definitely ready for harvesting and enjoying. Everything has just gone crazy! We’ve already been harvesting some of the herbs and drying them (curly parsley and thyme, most notably). Now, I need to figure out what to do with the Italian parsley. It has really taken off. Any ideas?

Looks like something alive, doesn’t it? The pattern is Barb’s Koigu Ruffle scarf from Churchmouse Yarns, located on Bainbridge Island, Washington. The yarn is Koigu, 2 skeins of it. All in all, it was a very quick knit, a mostly mindless knit. I have a feeling I’ll probably knit more of these eventually. I still have a fair bit of fingering/sock weight yarn in my stash. I think these scarves would make great little gifts.

It’s Here!! Finally!

Back in May, I wrote about finding the perfect yarn for the Shetland Christening Dress. Remember? If not, you can read about it here. A few days later, I did put in an order for the cashmere lace weight yarn. I received confirmation of my order and a PayPal receipt and I waited. And waited. And waited.

By the beginning of July, it still hadn’t arrived. We did, however, have a postal strike so I thought that, perhaps, it had been held up somewhere. Two weeks ago, I decided to email Colourmart and let them know that my yarn still hadn’t arrived.

I got a lovely email from them after they went back through their records and files. It seemed that my yarn had never been sent. My order hadn’t been printed and passed on the the shipping person. They asked if I still wanted the yarn. Um…… yeah, of course I still want it!

Well…

Now, I need to finish a couple of projects before I’ll allow myself to start the dress again.

Speaking of finishing projects, I did finish the Ruffle scarf last night. It turned out really cute! I’ll post a picture of it this weekend. I’m still debating whether or not to press it lightly, just to tame the ruffles a little. It’s very “ruffly”.

The garden is finally coming along. This week, I picked a bunch of basil (nearly half a pound!). The 20 or so plants I have are finally thriving.

For dinner last night, we had spaghettini with pesto sauce, left over chicken, sautéed mushrooms, and stir-fried vegetables (walla walla onion, red pepper and beans fresh from the garden). It was absolutely delicious!!

It’s a somewhat unusual combination, I know. I was going for maximum flavour! We had mushrooms in the fridge that really needed to be used; they were starting to dry out and they’d frozen slightly. I sautéed them in some olive oil and butter (butter for flavour only), threw in a teaspoon or so of chopped fresh thyme, a big clove of garlic, a sploosh of white wine and a bit of salt and pepper – flavour, flavour, flavour!

The vegetables were lightly sautéed in a bit of olive oil, beans first and then the onion and red pepper. I decided to try something I’d never done before; I didn’t add any salt to the vegetables. Instead, I squeezed about half a lemon’s worth of juice onto them and lightly peppered them. I can tell you that I WILL be doing that again! The flavours of the vegetables shone through and the light tang of the lemon accented the dish perfectly.

And the pasta with pesto sauce? Well, there’s just nothing like fresh pesto you’ve just made with basil you’ve hand picked. We ate like kings last night!

Just a Quick Post

What a day! It started out just fine. I started a new (small, quick) little project.

The pattern is Barb’s Koigu Ruffle, from Churchmouse Classics. The yarn is… Koigu. You never would have guessed that, would you? I’ve been working on it off and on today and it’s making good progress. As it is right now, I’m over half way on it. Basically, it’s two ruffles with a straight piece in the middle. I’ll post pictures of the finished scarf when it’s done.

As I said at the beginning, the day started out just fine. Then, this…

… did this…

Man, did that hurt!!! I was helping John figure out how best to close in the stairs that go upstairs so that we could have some covered storage space (my dad was a carpenter; I learned a few things). We had it closed with cardboard but, with the first rain, it sort of disintegrated. I was pointing out how to put in the last piece of plywood, turned around to go back into the house and walked, full force, into that little shelf.

I only hope I don’t wake up with a black eye.

Lemony Greek-style Rice

Having posted the recipe for the prawns yesterday, Sandie asked for the recipe for the Greek style rice with lemon and dill. I’m more than happy to oblige.

I should let you know that the recipe is a variation of one I found at Food.com (one of my favourite recipe web sites). The lemon and dill flavours go very well with any kind of a Mediterranean or Greek inspired meal. The original recipe also calls for feta or parmesan cheese to be sprinkled over the rice just before serving; I didn’t do that. It also calls for 1-2 teaspoons of black pepper. That was a bit much for me, but feel free to use as much, or as little, pepper as you’re comfortable with. We’ll be having the leftover rice tonight with leftover pork chops.

Here’s the recipe:

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Greek Style Lemon Rice

• 3-4 tablespoons butter or olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1-2 tablespoons fresh minced garlic (or to taste)
• 2 cups long grain white rice
• 3 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup lemon juice (fresh, if possible)
• 1-2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
  
• 1-2 teaspoons pepper (to taste)
• salt (to taste)

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat; saute the onion and garlic for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly.

Add the rice and continue to sauté for another 3 minutes or so. Add the broth, lemon juice and bring to a boil. Add the pepper and dill and reduce the heat to low for about 20 minutes or until the liquid has been absorbed. Fluff with a fork.