The Three P's: Pizza, Pickles and P***y

Oh, Monday seems to be unusually rough today. Maybe it's because we had so much fun over the weekend -- all starting with homemade pizza Friday night courtesy of SO. I didn't get a picture of the pizza, but thought of the blog on Saturday when the remaning dough became a stromboli. Here's a shot before the stromboli when on the grill:















And, here we have my half of the finished product. Most yummy, I must say. The stromboli included some smoked sausage that was not on Friday night's pizza and it was a good addition.















Since we can't garden yet, we are still entertaining ourselves by antiquing. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but along the way, we've been picking up these maps called "Sunday Driver Directories". They are divided up into different areas and feature stores from that region. The stores pay to be in there but we've found them to be really helpful -- at least if you strike off in a particular direction, you can see what other stores are in that area. With that said, I did take just a couple of amusing pictures from yesterday's excusion:


Who doesn't need a pickle planter??? It was coming home with me till SO saw the crack on the side. And, for some reason, this particular antique mall had a lot of pickles -- pickle pins, mainly.



Oh, and this was the best -- a naked lady nutcracker:


Maybe I should have bought it. I doubt I will ever see another one!

Something Old and Something New...

I was cleaning out the pictures in my phone the other day and found this:















This is a little quilt that I made for a friend awhile ago. It's called a chronicle quilt and the fabric is actually sewed randomly onto pieces of newsprint. This style of quilt-making was popularized in the mid-west and newspapers were actually used -- specifically a newspaper called "The Chronicle". I like making these types of quilts because they are fast, easy and interesting to look at. It's hard to believe but when you wash them, the newspaper does not disintegrate; it just softens.

And, here's something new -- I had so much fun making the green scarf last weekend, that I went ahead and made one in pink as well. Not sure if I'm keeping it or saving it for a gift. I'm thinking it will be a gift as I still have a skein of this yarn in red if I want one for myself.














All of this scarf knitting of course is a detour away from finishing the blue hoodie which I had hoped would be done by Easter but that is not going to happen. I am still slaving away on the second sleeve. Geez, sleeves take a long time.

In cooking news, I swear I really am going to inventory the beef this weekend.

That's all for now -- have a terrific day!

Hammock Knitting

Spring is finally here! Yippee!! I even laid in my hammock for awhile this afternoon.

March is winding down, but I did manage to knit up a few new things in the past week. The first is something I did in the hammock today -- a big, chunky dark green scarf:

















This is a gift for a friend who is recovering from surgery. I know she can't wear it till next fall, but I thought it was a little different than sending flowers and since she's a knitter, it will excite her more than a non-knitter who might, in fact, prefer flowers or a fruit basket. One skein of yarn out of the stash too! As you can see, it's been dried outside in the ultra gorgeous weather. I hope it's dry by tomorrow so I can send it off.

Right before I finished the scarf, I completed the last project for my color knitting class. It was supposed to be a purse, but because of my tension, it is more like a cell phone case.















I can proudly say I'm a color knitter now!!

Last night, I went to see a show called "500 Clown Macbeth" -- click here for more info. It was wild: acrobatics, clowns, Shakespeare -- all mixed up. Very enjoyable. If you ever get the chance to see them, do it!

Challenge: Tongue

In the interest of fair and balanced reporting for TBD, I bring you a post of a questionable nature. If you don't like the subject of organ meats, I urge you make pass on this post. If on the other hand, you are in this for the adventure, then scroll down...

SO is an open-minded person which is one of the many things that I love about him. But, we all have our limits, I suppose -- I know I do (in case you are wondering, I'm dead set against fanny packs). Well, it so happens that beef tongue pushes the outer limits for my SO and it so happens that we have a big one in the freezer. In case you are wondering, it looks like this:


















The tongue was part of the 1/2 of a steer that we got not too long ago. It is mysterious to me how the order was for 1/2 of the steer, but we got the whole tongue. Not knowing much about tongue, perhaps I should be glad we got the whole thing.

At first, SO said he was not eating it, but last night he softened up a little and said he'd try it but if he didn't like it, I should not be disappointed.

What a challenge for me! I think I've only tasted it by accident once...so I'm really in the land of the lost here -- I don't even know how it's supposed to come out.

I've consulted a few cookbooks and here are some options:

Spiced Beef Tongue

Tongue Dinner cooked in Cider

Braised Calf's Tonue with Red Wine and Onions

Boiled Beef Tongue (Basic Recipe) - Serves 12 people...good luck getting that group together. Directions involve pressing into shape for serving -- scary.

Beef Tongue with Raisin Sauce

Sweet and Sour Tongue

Braised Tongue with Olives -- automatically a no-go -- SO doesn't like olives. I have to stack the deck in my favor better than this.

Braised Tongue with Vegetables -- calls for "hot tongue liquid" -- sounds dirty

Tongue with Potatoes

Tongue a La Maryland -- Includes cherries -- is that the "Maryland" part?


The more I type the word "tongue", the stranger is looks. I'm off to check it out on the internet today. Perhaps I can find a recipe stuffed with crabmeat or something.

Wish me luck.

Mea Culpa!

If you subscribe to TBD (thanks!), I apologize...this morning, I uploaded all the pictures for the post on the antique malls and hit publish accidently before I'd written the text...so your subscription post was all pictures and no text. If you received that email, please check the blog to see the entire post. Thanks!

Ah, the Weird and Wonderful World of Antique Malls

While the spaghetti sauce with meatballs was happily bubbling in the crockpot, SO and I were out running around in the rain, scouring the antique malls of New Oxford, PA this weekend.

As it turns out, there are quite a few places to scour. It wasn't a big buying weekend for me -- I just got a small set of old metal double pointed knitting needles and an wooden child's clothes hanger (you wouldn't believe how expensive these can be!).

I saw many things of note and took some pics for TBD. So, without further ado, the pics --


Old Halloween stuff -- it's very surprising to me how much Halloween stuff is out there and how expensive it is!















Sorry for the lousy picture -- this was a handkerchief that someone had framed and it was rather high up on the wall so hard to take a good picture, but you can still see the sweet sentiments that someone carefully stitched:















I love old quilts and look at them everywhere. I confess to being somewhat partial to quilts from the thirties that have old feedsack in them. Often the feedsack was used to make clothing. Here's an item that combines all of that: an old quilt top that was made into a muumuu!!! I have rarely seen a less attractive piece of clothing. Although it was not very expensive, SO sort of discouraged me from buying it.














A pinecone duck with green eyes -- who made this and why???














I saw a fair number of armadillo purses, but only one of these -- It might be hard to tell from the picture, but it's an alligator claw purse -- ICKY!!!


















You know when you walk into a place that has a lot of glass cases with a few items on each shelf, it's going to be pricey. Here we have a set of three can openers made out of abalone shell in a fish shape. I believe the price was well over $100 -- they are cool, but not for that much!















And, here is the topper -- neither of these items by themselves would be picture worthy for this post, but the fact that the vendor displayed them together is what got my attention. Here we have a child's dress on the same hanger as a cat o nine tails whip! What is that all about???















Do I have the "eye" for the good stuff or what???

Six Things I Love in the Kitchen

I was thinking today about how certain little things really make the difference when you are working in the kitchen. None of the items I picked for the post cost a lot, but they are really terrific to have on hand.

In no order of importance --

Hand-held Immersion Blender is great for pureeing things right in the cooking pot preventing terrible blender accidents with hot soup! Also, this is a great tool for making salad dressings.















A Japanese Vegetable Knife is my one and only favorite, favorite knife. I love this style of knife so much that the first thing I left at my SO's was not a tooth brush but one of these. It's wrapped up in a special towel and kept in a drawer. I take mine to the a grinder every three months to have it professionally sharpened.


















A cookbook stand/holder is also a must have. Ugh! I can't stand fumbling around with trying to measure things and hold down a book. Also, the stand keeps the pages from getting destroyed by spills, etc. -- although, I confess, I sort of like my cookbooks to show a little wear and tear (or, as I call it "love").
















Next up is my favorite baking tool, the Silpat! Put this down on your cookie pan and you will never have trouble cleaning up that pan again.















My newest favorite is "The Ove Glove". When I first saw these, they certainly looked gimmicky. But, after we got the meat smoker and SO was trying to take things in and out with little potholders, I took the plunge and bought him a couple. It works great and I got jealous and bought one for myself.

















And, finally we have the Microplane grater. What a truly stupendous invention for the quick grating of cheese, chocolate or lemon zest. Forget the old box style grater!! This is really a great little tool.













So there you have it -- a little roundup of some of my faves -- and, nothing that is super expensive. These are tried and true for me now, but at one time, I had to take the plunge and experiment. Right now on my list of new things to experiment with are a Yogurt Cheese Strainer and a Pie Crust Shield. I'll let you know how it goes.

Another weekend is upon us. Looks like it's going to rain here. Have fun!

A Trio of Fun New Things

Happy Monday World!

Once again, I ask the eternal question: Why is the weekend sooooo short?

It was kind of a busy weekend that included running errands, working, cooking, knitting, and prowling around a new-to-us antique store.

I took a couple of picture to share with TBD -- they are from my phone so please forgive the quality.

Way back in September, I was visiting my friend Pam and had the nerve to ask her for one of her paintings. She very graciously said yes and shipped it up to me. I picked it up from the framers on Saturday. The people in the frame store fell in love with it and everyone asked me if the painting was of my child...ah, no...but I spent a lot of time as a little girl at the beach so I guess that is why this picture appealed to me so much:













A while back, I wrote about how I was planning to embark on a new eating plan and I did. I've been doing it for about five weeks. The first two weeks were a little rough but I think I'm settling in pretty good now. The new eating plan includes far less sugar than I was eating before. The truth is, I really love my sugar and I was eating a lot of it. I decided to experiment this weekend and make some raw vegan peanut butter cups -- which was fun on a number of levels: for starters, it fits into my new eating lifestyle because they are made with agave nectar instead of sugar which is much less glycemic; second, I got to make use of my raw vegan food prep knowledge; third, I finally got to use the candy mold I bought just for this purpose two years ago. On the downside, the chocolate gave me a hard time, but they taste great!














And, now onto knitting. There is a legend in the knitting world that if you knit your boyfriend a sweater, it curses the relationship and results in a breakup. I'm not willing to risk that so I made a hat for SO last week and finished it this weekend. I felt bad for him during all that snow, etc. that he didn't have a warm knit hat. Once I saw the skull cap, I knew it would be a hit. Luckily I just took the color knitting class and found out how to make it! SO picked out the colors himself (the yarn is Cascade 220) and I think he did a great job. I have enough now to make a red one with a grey skull for myself, but I wonder if it's too corny for us to have sort-of matching hats?














But -- "What about the antique store?" you ask...Yes, I did buy another suitcase for my yarn. I will report on that later this week so stay tuned!

Missions Accomplished!

SO and I ventured forth to a new antique mall last weekend. It wasn't far from his house, but not in a direction we normally go. The place ended up having some really interesting stuff -- although pricey. The topper for me was an old backpack made out of some kind of animal hide with leather straps going around it. Had the straps not been broken, I believe I would have taken it home for yarn stashing. It was truly unique. We did buy a few things -- things we've been on the hunt for!

SO's big purchase was an old pair of wooden skis complete with the poles -- really, he's been looking for poles to match the old pair of red skis he got awhile ago, but these old wooden ones are really cool. Here you can see both pairs with the poles:


 

And, I found another old suitcase to contain the big pile of yarn stash that wouldn't fit in the suitcase that I have. I was also looking at an old green trunk. SO said, "You know if you buy that, you will really go wild." As much as the thought of really going wild appeals to me, after much deliberation, I decided that keeping with my suitcase theme was more important. Plus, the suitcases take up less room and I can arrange them in different ways.


 

It's a nice little suitcase, but I keeping thinking about that animal hide backpack...oh, the possibilities....

February Knitting Update

Right under the wire, last night, I managed to finish the red and black socks -- the second sock also got the black toe-Frankenstein treatment. So glad to get these off my needles! I think they've been hanging around for about a month. The second sock is just so much plodding. I'm pleased with them though -- I needed a pair of socks with these colors:















Also, I am taking a color knitting class and I finished my first project this week (a little detour from the socks):

This is a headband and I found working with color difficult but the results pretty satisfying. The headband is a bit tight so I think this is just going to be for looking at!


And, here it is Monday morning and all the little knitting projects are off the needles. Back I go to the plodding away on the seed stitch sweater and whatever the next color knitting project is -- and and back to work too.

And, the Olympics are over. My SO said last night that it seemed like such a long time since they started. He's right about that. It's only been 17 days and yet so much has happened in the world since then. A day is so short and at the same time, they do add up and before you know it time has passed and we can't get it back. Reminds me of the last part of the lyrics from "Another Sleep Song" by Graham Nash:

"Has this empty hollow heart forsaken me?
I wonder if I'll ever get to feel like I did before I grew up.

Shake me by the shoulder if I lying with you now.
There is no time to waste another day
'Cause we watch them fly away."