Jun
30
2009
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Richard and I went to a placed called Tonic for lunch on Friday. They have a dessert called Indoor Smores. It’s served more like regular smores, but also with a scoop ice ice cream and whip cream. I have only made my version of Indoor Smores once and that was a few years ago one time when Richard and I were working a jigsaw puzzle. He is much better (faster) at puzzles than I am, so I probably did more snacking than anything.
Indoor Smores are really easy and fun. Last time I made these, I bought the graham cracker sticks, but I couldn’t find any, so I settled for the regular crackers and broke them into fourths. It seems best to dip the stick into the marshmallow first and then dip that into the chocolate.
Although there is no camp fire smell in the air and no partially burned marshmallows to go along with Indoor Smores, they are, nevertheless a tasty, chocolaty snack/dessert!
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Jun
29
2009
This is week two of my attempt to be creative in the kitchen. Can I really call it creative though when I am using other people’s recipes? Whatever. I’m not going to get too picky about what to call it–I’m impressed that I’m cooking at all!
This week, I am using recipes from the Junior League of Little Rock’s newest cookbook, Big Taste of Little Rock. If you don’t have a copy already, I highly recommend the book. The photography is beautiful. Interesting facts or tips and also menu ideas for specific occasions (i.e. tailgate parties, league luncheons, etc.) are found throughout the book.
Here are the recipes from Big Taste of Little Rock I thought I’d test this week:
Island Salmon (p.113)
Hong Kong Chicken (p.103)
Red Beans and Rice (p.98)
Creole Barbecued Shrimp (p.118)
Jun
28
2009
While my mom and I were at the beach, I got a little reading in. I read Nights in Rodanthe (Nicholas Sparks)and Mosaic: Pieces of My Life So Far (Amy Grant). I highly recommend both! Since I’ve been home, I’ve been searching our bookshelves for something interesting that I haven’t already read and I came across this:
The book contains excerpts from young people’s diaries during times of war and conflict. The book contains stories from the Holocaust and WWII, “the trouble” in Northern Ireland and the Isaeli/Palestinian conflict. I am reading the WWII stories now and in the introduction the author made an interesting point regarding the diaries that are included in the book:
It is astonishing that, even though most of the diaries are as powerful and well-written as Anne Frank’s they have remained obscure while hers has been thought of as THE child diary of the Holocaust, even though in some ways it was not representative of children in teh war and the Holocaust. Because Anne Frank was in hiding, she did not experience life in teh streets, the ghettos, the concentration camps, as it was lived by millions of children throuout Europe…
A couple of years ago, I was wanting a book to read while I was waiting on a book I had ordered to come in and Richard handed me Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl to read. I couldn’t put it down. After that, I read a book written by Miep Geis (the lady who worked downstairs and helped hide the Franks). After that, I read another book about Anne Frank. Her story is heartbreaking and fascinating. Since I have a lot of background information about what happened to the Franks, it has been very interesting to read the diaries of the children who experienced the war in a very different way from Anne Frank. I am gaining a better understanding of what the war was like for children in all types of settings by reading the excerpts from these young people’s diaries. Their diaries are very well written and descriptive. I have finished reading the writings of the children from WWII/the Holocaust. I still have not shaken the horrors they witnessed and experienced. It is difficult to put into words how their stories make me feel–angry at the people who committed the horrific acts, sobered by the victim’s experiences, awed at their bravery and courage, inspired by their willingness to give to others in complete sacrifice, and left wondering if I would have been able to survive. It is absolutely incredible to me that anyone was able to survive the Holocuast. I am embarassed to admit that I might not been as brave as these children. I feel very forunate that my life has not been overturned by war.
If you’d read about Anne Frank, I highly recommend reading Why Do They Hate Me? to learn how other children experienced the war.
Jun
27
2009
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When we moved into our new apartment, the manager person told us that we are allowed to paint. I was of course excited, but Richard and I quickly decided we wouldn’t mess with it since we would have to paint the apartment back to its original color when we move out. I am a “color” person. I have lived in an apartment for the last 5 years of my life and before that I lived in dorm rooms. That’s 9 years of cream colored walls. That’s a lot of blah!
Seemingly out of the blue a couple of days ago, Richard mentioned something about painting! Of course I have taken his comment and run with it! He was in Chicago at a meeting today, so I took it upon myself to make a trip to Home Depot. Let’s hope he agrees with my color selections.
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Jun
27
2009
Look what came in!
Jun
26
2009
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As you know, I’ve been testing some new recipes this week in an attempt to branch out. I am happy to report that only one recipe I made this week contained cream of anything soup. I’m from the south and most of our recipes call for cream of something soup, mayo, butter, sour cream, cream cheese, Rotel and/or hot sauce. That’s why the food in the south is so good. BUT since my goal has been to use recipes I’ve never
attempted before, I tried to steer clear of recipes that called for these ingredients.
Moving on. Last night I made the Old Bay Shrimp Fest and it was such fun! After I was finished cooking, Richard and I put Olivia on the balcony and then packed up our meal and took it to the rooftop!
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Jun
25
2009
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I finally finished this felted bag! This is the third bag I have knitted from this pattern. Click here and here to see the other two bags. This red one is my favorite. I love how the novelty yarn at the top felted sort of “ruffly”. Richard has the temperature on the water heater turned up so high, this bag felted very nicely. I think this is the best felting job I’ve ever done.
I am already thinking of another felted project I can work on. However, I have enough going (wait–is there such a thing when it comes to knitting??)–I am knitting a sweater for Olivia, a cabled scarf for me to match these fingerless gloves and I just finished a baby hat, but need to make a few other baby things. More pictures to come soon! Stay tuned!
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Jun
23
2009
I returned from the beach on Sunday and quickly realized that all of the food I left for Richard to eat was gone and we were out of everything! We ate out Sunday night. Yesterday I sat down to make our menu for the week and I decided I would try to branch out and make some dishes I haven’t made before.
Last night I made Asian Cucumber Salad and Lettuce Wraps. I attempted Edamame. I understand that there is nothing to preparing Edamame. However, when you buy Sugar Snap Peas thinking maybe the grocer labeled them incorrectly and that they are in fact Soybeans, the Edamame doesn’t turn out quite right.
The Asian Cucumber Salad was delicious, as were the Lettuce Wraps. On the Lettuce Wrap recipe, I used chicken instead of ground beef. I boiled chicken breasts and shredded them. Although I purchased the water chestnuts, I didn’t use them because I remembered that Richard doesn’t like them (although I could eat them straight from the can). The Boston Lettuce was good, but I think next time I will try to get a lettuce with a little more crunch. Overall, it was a great meal that with a little tweaking I will definitely repeat!
Other items on our menu are:
Salmon with Lemon and Dill, baked potato and zuchinni
Rosemary Chicken, broccoli, cucumber/tomato salad
Old Bay Shrimp Fest
Here’s hoping these dishes turn out to be delicious and that the clean up is quick and easy!
Jun
13
2009
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I decided this afternoon that I would go through my yarn stash. I am going out of town this coming week and I need to get a project together to take with me. I thought that maybe organizing my stash would inspire me. Sleeping Beauty woke up to be my special helper.
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Tahki Cotton Classic (and I think one ball of Touche)-I have only knitted baby hats from this. It looks like I need to get some more colors.
Solid Wool-The majority of this is Cascade. Some of it is Nashua. I have used this for a lot of different projects: hats, felted pot holders, felted bags and purses, doggie sweaters, etc.
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Manos-This is what I made a vest for my mom from.
Ozark Handspun-I made a quick scarf from this.
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This is Naturewolle and I absolutely adore this colorway. I knitted a scarf and hat from this and can’t decide what to do with the leftovers.
I have just a bit of this Noro Kuryeon. I knitted Susan B. Anderson’s Inca Snowflake hat from this last summer. It knits up very cute.
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I bought this Nashua Wooly Stripes last winter when we learned we were relocating to the east. I bought a lot of Nashua at that time. I used the rest to knit hats and scarves for Richard. I guess I was preparing for the cold. Who knows.
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I went through a sock yarn buying phase. I have several socks on needles right now. I have never finished a pair of socks. I am not sure the purpose of my knitting revolves around the finishing though. It’s a good thing.
I am still not sure what my next project will be. Lately I’ve been working on a cabled scarf to go with the fingerless gloves I knitted. I’m using a yarn called Calm Wool for those projects. It is wool, camel and alpaca and I just love it. It is in this deep jewel tone blue-green color. It’s really lovely. I’m not finished with the scarf or the fingerless gloves, but I am ready to do something different for awhile. I’ll keep thinking. I have until Monday to decide.
P.S. A lot of the images in this post are linked to a photo of the project I knitted using the yarn.
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