A Post About Yarn and Pretty Things

Today while I was driving home from the grocery store, it was warm enough to roll down the windows (for about thirty seconds, but still!) It's so warm outside. Oh, and I heard "Eternal Flame" by the Bangles, so that was exciting. I did sing along, in case you were wondering.

Idle hands are the devil's workshop, or some baloney like that (I actually think that keeping your hands idle while watching TV is just a waste of time and opportunity. That's why I like to make pretty things while I'm watching Food Network or Bling the Bride or Iron Chef or The Real Housewives of Whatever City They Are Showing at the Moment-- it doesn't matter because it's all good, wholesome entertainment.) My newest project is a wool scarf, colorway Lemongrass, knit in the elfin lace pattern from Barbara Walker's first Treasury of Knitting Patterns. 

The color is so cheerful and springy that it's distracting me and captivating me and keeping me from my other projects, one of which is Sara's purply scarf. I have knit and frogged this baby twice already-why yes, I am a perfectionist! Now it's the perfect width. I love the leaf pattern and the grape jelly-like color.

Something awesome arrived in the mail today from Knitpicks. It's lace-weight yarn for Allison's scarf/wrap, which she commissioned. She is paying me in yarn. Hers is on the left and mine's on the right.

I Just Invited Winter To Suck It

It's been quite warm here the past couple of days, so naturally the snow fell off the roof.

Mila seems to be surprisingly unconcerned. 

She wants me to take her for a walk. 

Here is the salmon noodle casserole I made for dinner last night: 

Creamy and delicious. And I didn't use any of that canned mushroom soup to make it, either.

Coming soon: Warming winter soups, homemade bread, and some knitting projects.

Party Like It's Birthday Week

Birthday week kicks off on the 9th with my birthday and ends a week later with my dad's b-day on the 16th. Birthdays are a great excuse to drink and eat too much (especially cake). For my special day, I tried out the recipe for yellow birthday cake with chocolate ganache buttercream frosting from Flour. It was a great success once I convinced George Michael to let me refer to the book.

The cake is very labor-intensive with specific instructions for mixing the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in certain proportions and with varying levels of vigor. It was taxing my brain even though Allison prevented me from drinking wine at that stage in the game. The cake was fluffy and light and the frosting was creamy and decadent, thanks to the ganache. 

Wish made.

For Dad's birthday, I wanted to try out a new recipe from Jamie's Food Revolution by Jamie Oliver, which I received for Christmas. The recipe is Broccoli and Pesto Tagliatelle. Here is what it looks like in the book:

This is quick and easy to make, has few ingredients, and is relatively healthful. I made it even more nutritious by substituting wheat linguine for the tagliatelle. I love the shavings of potato and fresh basil in this, and the fact that you use the whole head of broccoli (you're supposed to slice the stalk thinly and cook the pieces together with the pasta.) I usually just throw away the stalk and only use the florets. Here's mine:

For the birthday dessert, I revisited an old favorite from Nuts: Sweet and Savory Recipes from Diamond of California. It's called Queen of Nuts Torte and this little beauty contains no flour. What it does have is a bunch of nuts, chocolate and eggs, and a bit of sugar, orange zest, vanilla, and more chocolate and nuts on top. Here is their version:

And here is my lovely torte:

I made this without the help of a food processor. It's do-able, but I don't recommend it. I nearly got a blister from chopping up all the chocolate by hand. The nuts went much more easily.

According to Wikipedia, and confirmed by my own research (eating every kind of cake and such that I encountered in Germany and Austria), a torte is a cake made primarily with eggs, sugar, and ground nuts instead of flour. 

This one will not be around for long.

Sweet Little Tart

Allison made this tasty little treat from Smitten Kitchen.

It's a Flaky Blood Orange Tart, and it may or may not have real blood in it (it probably doesn't.)

George Michael, guarding the tart. You have to wrestle her for a piece of it.

Caramel sauce. All it takes is some sugar, some good butter, some heavy cream, a big pot, a whisk, a cook, some courage, and a little patience (you have to wait for it to cool off a bit before you can eat it.) That's all it takes.

Eating So Well

There is good food here. Enough said. Here are the pictures:

                                                 Garlicky, buttery mushrooms.

                                                                     Wine and bread.

                                                         Risotto with squash and sage.

                                                                        A feast.

                                                   George Michael the cat, not the singer/songwriter.