Heart design on whorl of a polymer clay spindle
Is this fricking Fimbulwinter? I am not up another foot of snow...

Bleagh! Especially because if the Metro isn't working tomorrow, I still won't be able to get to work -- I really don't want to use up half my vacation stuck inside my own home.
Heart design on whorl of a polymer clay spindle
My supervisor actually told me not to try to come in today.

It's nice to have a boss who is reasonable -- the fact that he takes the same route to work (ie bus and Metro) makes it pretty nice when there is an obstruction like this.

Now, on to something do to today... I might make myself a cake, considering my birthday is tomorrow... or maybe turned the failed brioche from yesterday into bread pudding.
Heart design on whorl of a polymer clay spindle
I do have bread products, but I think I added too much flour when I was kneading, because the brioche aren't particularly buttery, and considering I used the 7oz the recipe called for, that's disappointing. I'll be much more sparing next time, and possibly use smaller eggs too.

I'm going to have think what to do with them -- maybe I can make a bread pudding out of them, or something.

Also, the overhead light in my kitchen started flickering. I'm going to have to call the office, because I sure as heck can't change a fluorescent light.
Apple Tarts for all!
... so I'm making Mint Brioche before I eat all the bread I have in the house.

Let me tell you, kneading sticky dough for 12 minutes is quite a work-out. I'm glad that I'm into the 2 hours of rising, now.

Also, I am wondering if I'm going to get to work tomorrow, as the Metro is still closed today.
Heart design on whorl of a polymer clay spindle
It's only 8:40 in the morning, but it's been snowing since 11 am yesterday. I doubt that the farmer's market is going to be held tomorrow, just because it is so amazingly overwhelming out there...

Seriously, this is the snowpack on my patio, which is sunken and sheltered and thus usually doesn't get half the amount out snow that actually falls:

Blizzard conditions, yay? )
foodie
I picked up a chicken to roast at the grocery yesterday, because now that I have my dutch oven, I want to get back to eating chicken.

But I also picked up a 5lb picnic shoulder because it was on sale and I can cut it into smaller portions today -- but does anyone have good recipes for that? It's an awful lot of pork, you know?
Shiny Disco socks
I'm ripping back to the heels and doing them in something other than a square heel -- I haven't finished the gusset decreases yet, but just trying them on as-is I know that they're going to be too big and floppy in the heel.

Square heels are an *awful* fit on my feet.
foodie
In this case, Brisket Braised with Thirty-Six Cloves of Garlic...

Nom! )

The trick is to not cut the garlc cloves, so they're very mild when you saute them and then sort of infuse the brisket as you cook it. I did add extra vinegar (used cider vinegar, as usual) to help with the tenderizing, as well.

Delayed...

Jan. 19th, 2010 10:23 pm
Heart design on whorl of a polymer clay spindle
my sock class, that is. Pushing back the start one week so that everyone can attend is better than not having it all, I suppose...

... :(

Jan. 7th, 2010 06:46 pm
Heart design on whorl of a polymer clay spindle
I stopped by the gift shop today, as I wanted to work on planning for the sock-knitting on 2 circulars class I'm scheduled to teach starting at the end of the month.

However, when I asked, it seems that *no one* has signed up for the class yet. This is unhappy-making, and confusing, because I thought that *three* people had signed up, at least the last time I talked to the yarn lady there.

What happened? Did those three students withdraw? Never sign up entirely? Something else entirely?
foodie
I made Sauerbraten with a side of Spaetzle for dinner tonight... nom nom nom.

Last week I bought a 2 pound chuck roast from Gunpowder Bison to try making sauerbraten in my brand new Le Creuset dutch oven isn't it pretty? )

The recipe is from [personal profile] texasgrandma so I'm pretty sure it is what I ate as a child, though we had beef instead of buffalo.

Recipe for Sauerbraten )

Serve with gravy, and in this case, homemade spaetzle (which I finally got right by using a ricer. Go me!)

SauerbratenDone
Heart design on whorl of a polymer clay spindle
since the Metro is closed at all above-ground stations do to ice.

Fortunately, I've got enough hours of leave to miss one day -- but I really need to get groceries (the farmer's market consisted of ONE vendor today -- Smith Meadows, which sells pasta, meat and eggs, not fruit or vegetables), and the easiest one to get to Giant across from Silver Spring Metro. I *might* be able to hike to the co-op but it's going to be a trip across residential sidewalks and packed snow/ice, which is never fun. :P
Heart design on whorl of a polymer clay spindle
The post office is closed -- I'm not going to mail my packages today, which is annoying. Admittedly, the snow is over my ankles (yeah for Smartwool ski socks and Dr. Marten shoes), still coming, and has been declared a blizzard by the National Weather Service.

But this means that I'm probably not going to get them sent until Thursday, so they'll arrive late. :(
Heart design on whorl of a polymer clay spindle
I've got slightly more than a week to finish the socks I started the other day and ship them to my niece.

Fortunately, it seems to be going quite fast, after a false start or two.

I'm using the Wanida pattern from Sock Innovation, because it's quite simply the easiest pattern in the book, with no cabling or purling in the pattern stitches.

And it looks smashing... )
and rather sparkly, but I think that's a plus with the intended recipient.
foodie
I had some rapidly ripening persimmons, so I had to find something to do with them, since I couldn't really eat five persimmons all at once.

Fortunately, google found me Rahat's Cooking with her persimmon ice cream recipe.

Now, I had fuyu persimmons, and probably could have cut the sugar by at least 1/4 cup because they're very sweet when ripe, but this is an excellent recipe that I would gladly make again.

Slightly spicy persimmon ice cream )

The only modification that I did to the recipe was that I added the sugar and half-and-half to my blender to mix it, which made it much smoother than it would have been without doing that.
Grommit knitting intarsia
I'm knitting the Jasmine mitts with Crystal Palace Mini-Mochi (color 101, Intense Rainbow), and since I'm 2/3rds of the way done with the second mitt I find a knot in the yarn.

A knot tying orange to *green*.

Needless to say, *that* will ruin the color progression like a ruin-y thing.

I might be able to salvage things by frogging the mitt completely, turning the yarn around, and knitting it in the other directions, because I cast on at greenish blue.

But this does disrupt my plans to make the niece socks out of Crash Into Ewe's Jewel sock yarn (in Pink Tourmaline). Admittedly, she does wear almost the exact size of shoe I do, so I can finish up the Simplicity Socks and have them ready to give if I can't get the pink socks done in time
Grommit knitting intarsia
in January and February on knitting cuff-down socks on two circulars.

It will be:

  • small -- 5 or 6 students maximum

  • for Advanced Beginner's or better

  • on Wednesday nights from 7 to 9

  • 4 sessions in 4 weeks

  • starting with a mini-sock/baby sock and advancing from there



I need to write a description of the class for advertising purposes at the shop, and get some notes about sock-knitting together so that I can make handouts for class.

Uhm, wow, I've got a side gig. This is kind of neat (and just a little bit daunting...)
foodie
So, if I'm making a dish that calls for savoy cabbage, are there any other varieties I can substitute in, because I'm thinking finding a savoy cabbage might be a little tricky..?
Heart design on whorl of a polymer clay spindle
I'm moving right along on them -- I should be finished with them tomorrow or Friday, and can cast on something else. I'm still not sure what I'll be making The Neice for Christmas, but I do want to make a new set of fingerless mitts for me -- I like this pattern: Jasmine Lace Fingerless Mitt, but I'll have to make more charts, since they only have a chart for the back-of-the-hand lace, and not the diamond-and-ribbing cuff.
Heart design on whorl of a polymer clay spindle
I'm making socks for my niece for Christmas.. using the 'Pink Tourmaline' yarn from Crash Into Ewe's Jewel Collection.

It's shiny! )

Now I'm trying to decide which pattern out of Sock Innovation I should use... I'm thinking Devon might be good, but mostly I want one of the simpler ones without much purling.

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Heart design on whorl of a polymer clay spindle
crafty_packrat

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