Almost There! Katie

Katie got a second sleeve tonight, and her ends were woven in as well. All that's left is the hem, and the yarn is still on back order. So Katie will be on hiatus for the time being, at least until the yarn comes in..

Fresh Juice

I took out my juicer this morning, as another transition to spring. Today it was honeydew melon, celery, apple, and kumquat.

Rosol

Homemade chicken noodle soup. It really doesn't get better than this :)

Summer Sweater: Finished!!!

Summer Sweater is done!!!! I finished the blocking this morning before work. :)

Pattern is Versio, yarn is Berroco Fugi.

Ginger Ale

I found a recipe for both ginger ale and ginger beer. Since ginger ale offered instant gratification, I chose to make that one. 

The proportions are as follows:

1 cup sliced ginger to 1 cup sugar to 2 cups water. Simmer for 10 minutes and strain. Cool and add to sparkling water, finish with a good squeeze of lemon (or lime) juice. So easy, so refreshing!

WIP: Katie

I've been battling a cold/flu/allergies all day. Knitting, chamomile tea, Mindy Project, and sudafed have made the night tolerable.

Grilled Asparagus

With garlic and ginger. It actually came out alright, even if I did somehow manage to smoke out my kitchen. (No more grilling indoors, I think.)

Mushroom Risotto

A classic and a favorite - one of the first things I ever learned how to cook :)

Pressed Onion Dressing

This recipe is my grandmother's. The base of the dressing is created by extracting the juice from a sweet onion (using a garlic press is time consuming, but overall the best way), adding lemon juice, salt, sugar, and olive oil for flavor, and then dressing up simple greens. Besides that, this dressing works really well on just salad - in other words, it doesn't "stick" quite as well to tomatoes, cucumbers, etc.

Soft Pretzels

Paul and Suzanne hosted a crew party/season kick off tonight. We were all asked to bring an appetizer to share - I made soft pretzels, based on this Tasting Table recipe. They were fairly straightforward and easy to make, but because of the proofing, did take most of the day. Flipping the dough ropes into the traditional pretzel shape was fun! :) I used a combination of salt, caraway seed, fennel seed, and celery seed for the topping.

Olive Oil Ice Cream with Blood Oranges

Came across this Nourished Kitchen recipe a couple weeks ago, and I knew I just had to try it! Since this just came out of my ice cream maker, the texture is more like soft serve, but it's amazingly delicious and light! Perfect for spring :)

Progress: Katie

Katie has a sleeve! Decided to make them 3/4, because, frankly, spring is coming and I want to finish this before it gets too warm to have a bunch of knitting in my lap. I want to wear this, this season.

Winter, meet Spring

Just I was convinced that the earth had stopped rotating around the sun, leaving us to winter forever, the snow started melting. And I stopped wearing my winter boots everyday. And I zipped the hood off my coat.

It's time for change. I'm ready to stop hibernating and go play outside.

I was inspired by this Tasting Table recipe yesterday, deciding to incorporate it into dinner tonight: roast salmon with salted persimmons, both seasoned with olive oil and saffron, and steamed asparagus in a kumquat, ginger, and garlic vinaigrette. Lemon thyme instead of tarragon.

The winter components were the persimmons and kumquats. Spring components included salmon and asparagus. Salmon and persimmons roasted at 350 for 20 minutes. And roasted persimmon? Who knew that would be so good?!

Goodbye, winter. Go away and stay a while.

WIP: Katie

I didn't get very far, but I did finally start the sleeves on Katie. Also still waiting on the rest of the yarn to come in. Hopefully, if I time it just right, the remaining yarn will come in just as I'm finishing the sleeves AND right before the weather turns warm.

WIP: Summer Sweater

Though this photo only displays a fraction of all the ends on Summer Sweater - it is done! Blocking later this week, hopefully :)

Devil's Food Cake with Orange Cream Frosting

I didn't have any eggs and I didn't feel like going to the store today, so I tried substituting chia seed for egg and it worked! I can't really tell much difference in taste or texture of the cake itself. I added orange zest to the frosting at the last minute; I thought the original recipe was too sweet.

Headbands

J, Mina, and I went out for St Pats. Julianne made us headbands - brilliant!

Sweetened Strawberries

Strawberries and sugar. Pretty simple, bit also a pretty effective way to sweeten and soften out-of-season strawberries :)

WIP: Summer Sweater

Slowly but surly, these ends are getting woven in - almost done!

Sour Cream Cookies

I had a little bit of sour cream left over from dinner last week. Since it's not something I usually eat, I wondered if I might be able to bake with it. I didn't want to make kolaczki (too much work for today) so I pulled out my favorite baking book (Pillsbury Kitchens Family Cookbook) and lo and behold: a recipe for sour cream cookies :)

They came out perfectly, almost to the texture of madelines, which I love. 

On another note, I've been baking more in the past couple of months (partly  because of this blog, partly because I wanted to get better at baking) and now that I'm feeling more confident in my baking, I think it's time to start exploring with different types of sweeteners, flours, and fats - I'm aiming to move away from using white sugar, white flour, and butter all the time. But where do I start?

A Plan

I went stash busting a couple weeks ago; Katie was one of the projects I pulled from my stash, however, I didn't have quite enough yarn. Naturally, I ordered more, in addition to a few skeins to fill a couple other projects. Well, the yarn came today...but the remainder of what I needed to finish Katie wasn't in the box. Apparently the colorway is on back order until the end of the month.

With that, I pulled all my WIPs, both sewing and knitting, in order to get a better sense of what exactly I have going on, and to (hopefully) prevent any more startitis, at least for the time being. In the photo, in both the sewing and knitting rows, are 3 alterations, a mostly finished project, and a more-than-halfway finished project; 10 projects total, and a plan to finish them!

Pan Fried Noodles & Apple Crumble

One of my favorite meals is always the first one right after a trip. Today it was leftovers all around, as I haven't yet been grocery shopping since I've been back.

WIP: Katie

After another intense weekend on the boat, I finally made it home and had just enough energy to knit a couple rounds before sleep started getting the better of me. But I won't complain; it felt really good to wear shorts and flip flops, and to get a little sunburned. I guess now it's back to sweater weather.

Crew Lunch

Sailing in Georgia again this weekend. The weather and wind were absolutely perfect; I made sandwhichs for crew lunch on the dock before we left this morning.

WIP: Katie

Knitting on a plane. What else would I be doing? :)

All Day Oatmeal

I woke up early today and it's been go-go-go ever since. I did, however, take the time this morning to make my favorite oatmeal, which always gives me enough energy to last all day. 

For each portion:

1/2 c milk

1/4 c old fashioned rolled oats

pinch salt

1 tsp maple syrup or honey, or to taste

1 egg (1 egg can also be used for a double portion)

1/4 c chopped nuts, berries, dried fruit, etc.

Bring milk to a boil, add salt, add oats, add maple syrup, stirring constantly. When the oatmeal has thickened considerably, and just before all the liquid is absorbed, crack and fold in an egg. Take off heat and stir in nuts or berries. Serve and enjoy!

Hot and Sour Soup

While this wasn't quite the same as what you get at a Chinese restaurant, it was still really good and easier to make than I thought!

Simmer garlic, ginger, lime rind, and a hot pepper (I used jalepeño) in chicken broth. Discard and add mushrooms, rice noodles, tofu, and scallions. Season with lime juice, soy sauce, mirin, and sesame oil. Garnish with cilantro. Happy eating!

WIP: Katie

As I was finishing the summer sweater, I noticed a mistake that would require me to rip back and fix. Nothing major, but enough of an annoyance to encourage me to put it down for a few days. With nothing on the needles, I went stash diving, finding several balls of Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, and in a variety of shades. The trick to destashing is finding the right project for your yarn. When I found Katie, I knew it would be perfect!

I cast on a couple days ago and so far it's been pretty smooth! I'm hoping it stays that way, and that this one knits up without any major snafus.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Things I am getting better at: baking cookies.

Things I am not getting better at: keeping cookie dough from creeping onto every surface of my kitchen, including the floor. 

At least the mess was worth it! Even if I did only yield 20 cookies.

Roast Tenderloin

Mom and Dad came over for dinner tonight; Mom suggested Polish food for dinner. We made: roast tenderloin (polędwica), pan gravy, kluski (not homemade), roast carrots and pearl onions, and two kapusty - sauerkraut and red cabbage.

Thanks for cooking with me, Mom! It was delicious! :)

Neon Yellow Hat

Because it's march and it's snowing and there is no color ANYWHERE and I need some color in my life. #thatisall