cooking

Last night I had the pleasure of attending a cooking class on the east side and it made me realize how far away I've traveled from the pleasures of food.

I'm distracted, busy and prioritizing a number of other things in my life, and cooking has been the sacrifice.
I eat out ALL THE TIME.
Ok, not all the time, I don't make that much money.
But convenience foods rule my life: frozen this, instant that or toss-it-together other.

I used to plan for the week and make homemade hummus and experiment with new ingredients; cooking was hobby.
Over the years its been degraded to that thing I do if I'm expected to bring something to a party.

So, last night was a bit of a refresher.

The focus was Indian food, and my initial reaction was to WIG OUT because all the things I do instinctually (cut, dice, saute, etc...) were suddenly on display, I reverted immediately to my sophomore chemistry class self: hyper-aware, grade me rate me tell me I'm good desperate to please band geek nerd.

About 45 minutes in, I chilled out after a team-mate intervention to remove me from my overly-vigilant samosa stuffing stirring.

The meal was excellent, I'd totally go to another class, and I came home tonight - 2 hours late even - and tossed a salad, sauteed fresh olives, spinach & tomatoes in with pasta and toasted fresh mozzarella on bread...

Admittedly, this moment was coming - I bought a little more from the West Side Market this week than usual (hence the bread, olives, spinach, tomatoes etc) but I was both happy to be cooking and disappointed in myself for all those other evenings I would have simply driven to Chipotle and packed nothing more than a Lean Cuisine for lunch.

So here's to cooking more.

Work in Progress III (part deux)

Sweater vest is ostensibly done... a little big, but good for work.



I still need to finish the edging on the neck and around the armholes...

Hurrah knitting in the round!
Hurrah knitting I can wear!
Hurrah knitting in general!

p.s. Holy crap, I just looked and realized its been 6 days since I first posted this piece. It's only been a week, but I was pretty under the weather last weekend, which led to abundant knitting time...

St. Valentine

Happy Valentines Day!
May you find glee in pink hearts, chocolate, childhood sweethearts, kindred spirits and pillow fights.

I think today belongs to one of my favorites things: awkward teenage love.
Meg Murray and Calvin O'Keefe
Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe
Charlotte "Chuck" Charles and The Piemaker
Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry
Torrance Shipman and Cliff Pantone (the toothbrushing scene...? adorable! awkward! swoon!)


I know I'm supposed to be all dark and stormy and cranky about today, but the further I get from 20-something angst, the more I revel in the innocent warmth of adolescent crushes and precocious smitten-ness.

Work in Progress III

Sweater Vest!



Another challenge~ Knitting in the round plus kinda fitted.
Paton's Classic merino wool, number 6 needles.

Percussive maintenance

I got a sad iPod last evening while listening to tunes.
First it froze, then I tried to restore factory settings.
Then I finally got it to reset...
followed by: sad iPod.
I've had my Mini for 3 years now, which - I'm learning - is elderly in the realm of technotoys.

About 6+ months ago, the battery was giving out, and I found percussive maintenance (otherwise known as slamming, hitting or jarring the offending machine) worked wonders to keep it going for a few more songs.
I eventually (and proudly) replaced the battery myself, and smugly assumed I had a few more years before upgrading and spending an additional $300 odd dollars.

Alas, I tried percussive maintenance last evening, but to no avail.
I will try once more (with feeling), but I fear my iPod Mini in all its glorious pinkness, has left this mortal coil for good.

Work in Progress II

UPDATE: Done! Five and a half feet of glorious cable-knittedness. Just in time for a severe drop in temperature.

********

In an effort to keep up with my resolution to take on more challenging knitting skills, I picked up a scarf project for a friend.
It was initally going to be a simple rib, but then I found this and was inspired to turn this into a lesson in cabling.

Quite pleased with progress, so far.



I'm using Lion Brand WoolEase and no. 6 needles.

Work in Progress I

Happy February!
About a year ago or more (cringe) I took on a project for our family to organize and create a generational quilt for my grandmother.

Pretty basic, just squares with embroidered hand prints and names... but I wanted to do something fancy for the center.

So of course it took me ages to get things back on track. This week I swore I would have the top done to hand over to my aunt to quilt and finish....

Ta Da!



Close up...