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Category: food
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more and more plants
I apologize if you’re not a plant person! There’s a little knitting at the bottom of the post.
Last weekend we ventured out on a gorgeous day to do some shopping (City of Craft) and eating – here’s the soft serve we had after lunch at Momofuku Milk Bar – one cereal milk, one fried apple pie, both with cornflake crunch. Man that apple pie one was really delicious.
Crown Flora was having a plant sale and Dale’s been wanting some new cacti or houseplants so we checked it out. There was a line-up to get in still, but it wasn’t nearly as long as it had been before the shop opened, so I heard.
Things were getting a little picked over, but we still managed to find some gems. It was one of those small spots where the line to pay snakes around the store, so once you join the line you can still check out all the plants on your way to the cash! Ha!
It was quite windy, and I saw a few people struggling to protect their new plants while walking around. I’m super glad I took my basket as it made it very easy to carry them on the rest of our outing (with a box in the bottom for stability). Still managed to get poked by those cacti a few times though.
Some beauty shots:
In the garden, the radishes popped right up and need thinning. The peas are just starting to come up – there was a bit of snow yesterday and today, hopefully they’re okay.
And since it’s been so gloomy, I set up my desk lamp to be a grow light for the tomatoes (with a daylight bulb). They’re looking good and I think they’ll appreciate the extra light.
A little bit of knitting, since I don’t have much I can share – I started this sweater out of Indochine silk from Lantern Moon, but I was a bit unsure about the amount of yarn I have, and it got ripped out.
But the good news is, the yarn is much happier being knit up into a cowl.
READING
A bunch! A whole bunch of holds on e-books came in from the library all at once, isn’t that always how it is?
Bios, The Chronoliths, and Blind Lake by Robert Charles Wilson: good straight-up scifi. I like this author a lot.
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Marukami: long and definitely winding. Like when I read 1Q84, I had to concentrate a bit to keep the thread as I’m reading. Lots of weirdness. I liked it but it was kind of hard to keep going sometimes.
Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch #1) by Ann Leckie: Interesting premise, I’m definitely going to read the other books.
Edge of Dark by Brenda Cooper (The Glittering Edge #1): Another good scifi world from a woman author! I really enjoyed this one.
The Martian by Andy Weir: Read this one really fast as I only had a few days left on the book! It really does read like a movie – the film is supposed to come out in November. Really draws you in, and amidst the science there’s humour too. Loved it!EATING
The very first tiny leaves of chard from the windowsill; Oatmeal Date sandwich cookies (I made them smaller, and cooked the dates just with water and some sugar); shepherd’s pie. It’s still cold after all.
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Snow Day(s)
Enough snow for ya? ;) Thanks so much for the nice comments on Winter Brunch – I can’t wait to see some other ones knitted up.
On Sunday we went to a friend’s house for a Superb Owl party. It was, indeed, owl-themed. There was “a” super bowl playing (from 1976), loads of food and fun. Thanks for the awesome party Yvonne, Jeremy and Booker! Check out this AMAZING snack stadium they built! Truly awe-inspiring.
Sunday night the snowstorm blew in and I haven’t left the house since. I’m just fine with that, I’m such a homebody! As long as I have coffee, the internet, and knitting, I could probably stay home forever. Plus, we just got a new bigger bed with nice new sheets and big fluffy pillows, which makes getting out of bed pretty difficult!
But I have been trying to take advantage of the time to buckle down on some bigger projects that have been lingering. I finished one piece, out of Zen Yarn Garden worsted – cabley goodness.
Yesterday I knit a whole sleeve while finishing up my read of 1Q84 (Haruki Murakami), which was super long but very enjoyable.
Eating: I made a pretty awesome sausage pasta sauce last night! Quickie recipe: brown 1lb sausage, casings removed (ours was honey garlic pork), take out of the pan. Saute 1 onion, 2 carrots, 225g package cremini mushrooms, chopped, plus a couple cloves of garlic, minced. Deglaze the pan with some red wine (scrape up the browned bits from the sausage), season with salt, pepper, oregano. Add back the sausage and 1 bottle passata (or crushed tomatoes), cover and simmer the whole thing for maybe 20-30 minutes, while you boil the pasta and clean up. Serve over pasta with mozzarella! Yum.