15 posts tagged “homemade vittles”
Yesterday a bunch of us got together to throw our friend Ali a surprise graduation party. She's just finishing up nursing school and definitely deserved an awesome day of fun. We decided to have it at Tydings Park, which is lovely and right near the bay/boardwalk... and conveniently only 2 miles or so from my apartment. Here's the view from our picnic table:
All day long it was looking like rain, and when Jane and I ran errands to pick up the cake and other party goods, it was misting. We didn't really have a plan B for rain, but it eventually all worked out, and the sun even came out for a while. We grilled burgers and chicken:
We also had salad made from lettuce my mom picked from my parents' garden, kimchee and chicken fried rice made by Jane's mom, buffalo dip Lisa made, guacamole that Jesse made (Jane's mom loved it, and also -- he just happened to have a molcajete -- how awesome is that?), and fruit salad Fred made. I'm sure I'm missing something, but I know I tried and loved everything we had. The cake was awesome too:
It was an awesome time. After some bocce and clean-up, Jesse, Ali and I walked the boardwalk. Ali headed home, and Jesse and I kept on trucking... straight to Bomboy's for some ice cream. Ha ha. Later that night, all of us went to see a friend's band play, and I had a few gin and tonics. Jesse and I fell asleep on my living room floor.
Oh, and Friday Jane, Ali and I took my Mom to a Shins concert! It was my Mother's Day gift to my Mom this year. It was sooo soooo good. It was at a smaller venue, Ramshead Live in Baltimore, and we got front row, right in the middle. The show made me love the Shins that much more, and I also love how much the singer looks like Kevin Spacey (photo stolen from Jane):
It's been an awesome weekend. I've lost 8 lbs. since last Monday doing Weight Watchers. I read a whole New Yorker, cover to cover, for the first time since... last summer. I finished up another semester of grad school. I've been knitting -- a lot. My next blog will likely be about all of the yarn I got from the Webs sale... and a few FOs.
MMmm: Cardamom/Saffron Sweet Tea Loaf
$@&*! It was completely hollow. COMPLETELY. I could have fit a skein of yarn inside. Or 4 and 20 blackbirds. So embarassing. The worst part is that this happens EVERY TIME. I can not get bread right. I even bollocksed up the No-Knead Bread. I don't get it at all... I can bake any type of cake imaginable, but bread is my downfall. Blast.
I baked that, along with my ol' trusty stand-by, the Roasted Butternut Squash Tartlet, for last Sunday's Spinning Day. My friend Ali's Mom used to own a yarn shop, and gave spinning lessons. So when Ali told her I was interested in spinning, she sent over a Clemes wheel (I love that hippy painting on it, I think Ali's Dad did that):
We learned a LOT, particularly that Jane does not like spinning, and that I do (no real surprise there though). Also, spinning kills your thumb muscles, moreso than knitting. Yeouch. It is a lot of fun though, and a great way to escape from frustrating knitting projects. I spun a skein of roving Jane had purchased on Etsy from Moonlight Baker, and am now turning it into a lumpy-bumpy-first-attempt-at-spinning style hat:
What else? I finally got a hair cut! I decided that I wasn't ready to grow out my bangs just yet:
It was the first time a guy's ever cut my hair. It was great, Ashley-Ryan was good, and explained in great detail how I should style it (I must have looked a hot mess walking in there or something... )
We went to restaurant week in Baltimore last night, and finally hit Roy's, this upscale Hawaiian fusion place. For $30, you get a 3-course meal. So I had some kind of braised duck/lotus root soup (yum... lotus roots have the perfect texture... like beets!), mahi mahi (meh, I think it had been frozen) served on top of glass noodles in lobster broth. Those noodles were amazing. Dessert was some kind of lady-finger fruity thing, but I was jealous of Jane and Myrick's choice... the macadamia nut crunch bar. It was two chocolatey colored bars with the consistency of chunky peanut butter, maybe a little firmer... but soooo much tastier, too. God I love restaurant week.
This week it's back to classes... the semester starts Monday, actually. I'm looking forward to it a little, but I'm still not ready to give up my free time. I hope I don't neglect my friends again, because when I get stressed, I tend to avoid social situations. I need to remember my New Years' resolution: no more half-assing. I'll try.
Tonight I was super excited to come home from work, because I decided around 2 pm that tonight I would be having popcorn for dinner. I'm not even kidding. Excitement:
Jane got me the popper for my birthday this year, and it's definitely my most-used kitchen appliance. Well, aside from the microwave. But not for popcorn!
Now I'm finally trying the homemade hot chocolate mix and peppermint marshmallows I made for Christmas:
Not bad, but I had to add some sugar.
The rest of my night includes more Hanna progress, and the first disc of season 2 of The Tudors!
Good night, errybody.
Tonight I used up what might be the last of the delicata squash until it comes back in season late next fall. I don't think I'll ever get tired of those, they are soooo good:
I've been knitting the Bacchus socks from the fall Interweave. Notice anything... out of the ordinary?
Hm, how about a left sock chart knitted on a right sock? You might not think it's a big thing, but knit these socks and you'll find out why. When you reach the leg, the chart extends out to the heel... well, not so on these. Had to improv a little twisted rib. Oh well, the recipient isn't a knitter, so she shouldn't notice... right? Hope not.
I got a little frustrated so I moved back to knitting Hanna, for MEEE! Ah, I'm so glad to be making something for myself after all that Christmas knitting:
Why I love Sunday mornings:
Cheesecake I made, for breakfast:
I get to watch teh kittehz:
TTL Mystery sock knitting. I got the yarn from SeeJayneKnit on Etsy... she accidentally sent me this colorway and let me keep it, in addition to my order. I love it:
WHY I HATE SUNDAY MORNINGS:
Yesterday I decided it was much more important to scrub every surface in my apartment with my new Mrs. Meyers Basil all-purpose cleaner (yum!). I am a major procrastinator. I also ran out of coffe. So today, it's tea brewed strong in the coffee pot, and 8 pages of paper writing, or else. Plus, I have to get ready for a presentation tomorrow. I am so doomed.
Here's a little something I'd like to call Laurynn's I Don't F*#k Around Cake:
Wait until 7 pm, when your hangover wears off on Sunday. Then, when you're sure you're not gonna toss your cookies, take 2 cups of flour, 4 TB baking powder, 1 TB baking soda, a can of condensed tomato soup, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, a cup of sugar, and a stick of butter. Mix it up REAL well, then pour it into 2 greased and floured cake pans. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes. 35 minutes later you've got yourself a cake.
Then, wrap said cake in aluminum foil and read the assigned Letter From Birmingham Jail with the remnants of a pounding headache.
Monday morning, head to work, leave for class at 4:45 to allow yourself enough time for a Mac attack (hello, chicken nugget happy meal). Turn in your 10-page paper, which you finished on your lunch break, and make it home around 9.
Scream at Mose to get off the countertop.
Apologize to Mose.
Mix up a block of cream cheese with a TB of milk, a tsp of sugar, and a few drops of food coloring. Add in 1 lb. of confectioner's sugar, but don't bother to sift it. It's already 9:30.
Notice your finger is yellow... you don't have jaundice, it's from the cake dye.
Slap frosting on the first half of the cake. The cake is really crumby! Throw on the other cake and slap the rest of the frosting on. Die a little inside when you think you might run out of frosting after all this work.
Realize it's a bit spotty, and crumby, but you've got a cake.
SCORE! A bag of almonds in the pantry. Jazz it up a little:
Remember that Sar-pants is in the hospital with Crohne's disease, and that she won't be in to work tomorrow for her birthday/cake. Poor Sar-pants. At least it's also another lady's birthday.
This cake had better be good.
When's the last time you counted over 400?
If you're a knitter, it's probably not so outlandish.
But anyway, my parents' neighbor grows Concord grapes, so the other day I asked if maybe I could have some... I wanted to try making Grape Crush Martinis -- so she gave me two bags full. Tonight I decided to muddle them... the recipe, which makes 4 drinks, calls for 44 grapes. So I just started counting to see how much I could make -- At 440 I gave up. YES I COUNTED TO 440.
Anyway, I muddled and strained, and muddled and strained... and ended up with 10 measley ounces of juice... that's 10 times the number of grapes called for in the recipe, which yeilded only 2.5 times the amount of juice called for. So it's basically enough for 10 martinis... and I had promised to give some to the neighbor lady.
Moral: don't count your grapes until they're muddled.
For some reason, I am really REALLY looking forward to fall. Most times I am so busy that I don't even have time to get excited for a new season, but every now and then, I do. I remember a few years ago (when I still lived with my parents) I couldn't WAIT for spring. Every day I went outside to see whether the cherry tree had any blossoms. I'm feeling the same way now about fall.
Yesterday, I couldn't stop thinking about Halloween. Or my fall knits (Have you seen the new Interweave? Namely the Estes Vest?); Yesterday I went looking for a cleaves I made a few years ago that I never wear... I recall using a whole cone of lamb's pride bulky in an awesome shade of charcoal. Helloooooo Estes vest... but right now I'm working on a Frivol hat in a nice fall-y mustard color (School Products Yak/Merino blend).
Since the last time I blogged, a lot has happened; I finally got a new computer (laptop) and PAID for internet (rather than stealing), and I got a new cell phone. Something happened to all my technologies, so it was time to upgrade. I turned 25; when I signed up for internets, they asked for my age -- I was in the 2nd bracket (25-31). That's exciting. OH! I made those NY Times cookies that everyone was talking about:
They were the best cookies I've ever had. In my life, ever. No lie. I did them in batches, and just as the recipe says, after letting the batter sit for 3 days, the cookies turn out best. Really crispy on the outside and the butter flavor just comes out. And, if you make them larger, I guarantee you will not be able to eat more than two. They are soooo rich!
Classes start again week after next. Despite the daunting stack of text books (16!) I'm actually looking forward to it. It will be niced to use my brain again :)
Seems like all I've been doing is cooking up produce:
I've made beet ravioli, pickled beets, sauteed zucchini, boiled beets, boiled wax beans, oh... and probably the best soup I've had in a while... potato & spring onion. It's sooo good, and so simple... only calls for 2 bunches of spring onions, chicken stock, 3 potatoes (I used 4), a yellow onion, and a few tablespoons of veg. oil. Seriously, it was sooo good, but next time I will definitely double everything else but only use 3 bunches of spring onions.
Last night while I was watching Shutter, I saw something clinging to my baclony door. I got up to look and found a couple of toads. How they got to the third floor, I don't know:
Finished the Bloody Mary socks today:
Well, first, it's hot:
So what have I been doing, you might ask? Cooking. Yes, I'm a dummy. But the produce is up, and Mom keeps handing it over from her garden. So I really have no choice. Yesterday morning I made some chocolate zucchini muffins (very, very good);
And I cooked a feast of sorts for Jane and myself, which included Thai-seasoned salmon, summer noodle salad, and couscous (Jane's request):
But to back up a bit, Saturday we all went out for Dan's birthday. We loved hibachi/sake bombs:
Other things are going on too, such as crazy plant growth. Check out my pepper plant, Mexican rose, and hanging rosemary/basil. Oh, and my African daisy that I over-wintered now has TWO flower heads sprouting.
And, my day was made to come home and find a package:
This is my Wool Girl haul, funded in part by a gift certificate. I won Pam's blog contest! I never win anything! Pam rocks. Too bad her super cute dress didn't win the Kaboodle contest. So yes, I am super jazzed about the Lorna's Laces and Whimzy Pinzy sock yarn. Also thought that buying that SOAK sampler might encourage me to finish something. I have knitting ADD...
Last week was rather rough... I had a project management course at work from 5-8, M-Th, and I had to go in on Saturday for 5 more hours. But anywho, finished it off today at lunch time and now I am certified... for... who knows. But I do have a certificate with my name on it. Oh, and it came with free dinner each night. Not a bad deal.
I'm off to eat leftover noodle salad, do some afghan knitting, and finish up David Sedaris' newest book.
