Category: food

giveaway time!

Apologies for the lack of blog posting! I’ve been working and otherwise a little busy this week:

Yesterday I (with some help) canned two bushel boxes of roma tomatoes from the grocery store – getting to the last of the season, they were only $10 each! I’m so tempted to go back and get another one to make sauce. The tomatoes that didn’t make the canning cut went into a vat of sauce to be frozen, and the good ones became 29 L jars of halved or diced tomatoes plus 18 500-ml jars of diced tomatoes.

I can’t wait to crack some open a little further along in the winter! Mmmm.

Another random food-related little note – I’ve been working on following a hypoallergenic and anti-candida diet these days (except for at my launch party, that was a special occasion!) and today I made the most awesome snacky food!

I found brown rice tortillas in the frozen section of the grocery store where I bought the tomatoes – they have quite an extensive health food-type selection. I had ripe avocados today, so it was time for the guacamole and chips! I cut a couple tortillas into wedges, sprayed them with a little olive oil (I’ve got a little pump bottle that you can fill with whatever you want), sprinkled them with a little salt and garlic powder, and then baked them in the toaster oven for a couple minutes at 400 F. They were super crispy and tasty, just what I wanted. I’ll definitely be making these again. I think they’re go great with all the soups I’ve been making.

In other news, I had my book launch party at lettuce knit last Wednesday and it was great! Unfortunately I suffered a bout of camnesia and didn’t take photos at all. People dropped by, yummy food was had (thanks megan!), I signed books and even managed to knit a little bit.

And now to celebrate, how about I send some more books out into the world?

I’ve got THREE (3) copies of my book, Teach Yourself Visually Sock Knitting, to send away to three blog readers! All you need to do is leave me a comment to this post pointing me to something that you think is cool, interesting, funny, delicious (and vegetarian), or otherwise entertaining!

Comments will close Friday, October 3 at 11:59 PM EDT (can you believe it’s almost October already?). Winners will be chosen at random.

September 28, 2008
temptations

Really Must Stop Looking At Yarn!!

(Although if you like the colour of Silk Garden that I used for Rayne, it’s on sale at Littleknits under the word “looking” above :p)

Must not buy yarn! It’s tough when there are such pretty things out there, but I have GOT to save some money to spend across the pond. Also, I really, really, really don’t need any more yarn. I’ve got plenty. And I have lots of knitting to concentrate on for the time being.

I got all the way to the midpoint of the edging of the Mooi shawl (actual name: Niji Baby Cable Shawl) when I realized that something was off. Sigh.

I’d made a mistake wayyy back in the first pattern repeat (there are 17 on one side of the shawl). It bothered me enough that I ripped the edging all the way back and redid it. The shawl is a store sample, too, so I didn’t want it to look wrong! When I got to the middle again…still off. But only by 2 stitches, so I was able to fudge it a bit. Finished shawl photos soon!

Since that’s about it for the knitting, how about some food?

The now-infamous NY Times chocolate chip cookies:

It was a good time to make them this past weekend because my sister was having birthday parties (multiple!) so there were lots of people around to eat them! I made the dough on Saturday morning and baked some that night (7 hr chill), some the next night (32 hr chill) and some just last night (umm…50ish hour chill?). I must say that I wasn’t super blown away. I mean, it was a good cookie, maybe a great cookie, but the best ever? I don’t know. Anyway, they’re still really good.

Dinner Sunday night: tempura-style fried okra, spaghetti in roasted Ontario tomato sauce with goat cheese. Mmmm!

August 12, 2008
happenings

Want knitting? Skip to the end.

The beans have really popped! I harvested by first beans today – a good handful of Royal Burgundy and Provider bush beans. I sauteed them briefly in a little olive oil, then sprinkled them with salt and downed them right quick. Yum. About ten minutes from plant to mouth. I love growing things.

Other stuff in the garden is going crazy too – this is actually two zucchini plants. They’re huge! No fruit yet, but I’m hoping for soon.

I also finally have a couple of teeny tomatoes. Things have been so slow this year, but my tomato plants are starting to outgrow their cages and they look super.

Two weeks ago or so I planted some rainbow chard in a pot – it’s still very tiny, but it won’t take too long for it to get a whole lot bigger (I hope).

On a completely unrelated topic, I’ve got some awesome (lightly worn) shoes for sale that I’m hoping someone out there can use –

Dansko Mylas – brown, women’s size 38. I loved these shoes, but they just didn’t love me and my orthotics. Danskos rule! Click on the photo for more info. I paid $120, asking $65 including shipping to the US or Canada.

Adbusters Blackspots – the “World’s Most Ethical Shoes”, apparently – they look similar to Converse Allstars, but with a hemp upper, handdrawn logo and sweet spot, and are built in a union shop in Portugal. They also feel more substantial than Chucks, with a lot more cushioning in the sole.

Women’s size 7 – they turned out to be a little too small for me, but I’m totally going to buy a bigger pair because they’re really cool and comfy. I paid $90 Canadian, asking $50 USD including shipping. You can tell they’re very lightly worn because the toe caps are still white!

Email me if you’re interested in either pair – they’re great shoes, and I’m sad that they didn’t work out for me! I have such trouble buying shoes, sigh. Does anyone have recommendations for shoes that work okay with orthotics (preferably with a removable insole) and are somewhat stylish?

Still with me? Want some eye candy?

I’m knitting a sample shawl for the store out of Louet Mooi – apparently it’s pronounced “moi”, but I keep thinking “mooey” in my head. It’s bison, bamboo and cashmere, and pretty spendy…but this red colour is gorgeous and it’s working up really nicely!

July 21, 2008