Nored No More

What's Cookin'?

Oh. Hello.

What's that? Oh, nothing. I'm just lounging in my new favorite spot that seems to always be set up just perfect for me. I think my momma's in the kitchen. Her sister sent her a recipe, and she's been in there making the kitchen smell good.

She spent a bunch of time chopping and measuring.

Potatoes, carrots, and parsnips. I don't think parsnips have been part of her repertoire before. 

 

Onions and garlic. Made the house smell yummy.

 

Kielbasa and shrimp. I tried to sniff out the remaining kielbasa, but that's when I got "invited" to the couch.

Then it was dinner time, and I got kicked off the couch.

She made the biscuits again - some of the ones she froze after making that batch this weekend:

 

Add a glass of merlot, and voila! It's dinner:

 

Okay. I'm tired from all this socializing. Crazy Lady is getting her knitting out and getting ready to watch The Closer - I'm going to try and look cute so I don't have to move.

  

Clessidra N' Cupcakes

Slow and steady - still on the calf. However, I'm still loving it, and amazed at how quickly it goes (while simultaneously amazed at my ability to sit still and not think for such a long period of time...).

And - if I'm not going to roll in to work until 10 a.m., then I have plenty of time to take a second to snap a photo of my Pretty in Pink Cupcakes with buttercream frosting.  These too were a smashing success, although the Males of the Office didn't have a rating for them. I think the fact that I still look like I have the flu (read: I look like death on a stick, wearing jeans, a sweatshirt, eyeglasses, no make-up and air-dried hair - which is something in 45 mph winds!) may have dissuaded them from even thinking anything constructively critical, let alone getting in to a 'discussion' on the merits of Pretty in Pink vs. Pink Lemonade (and funny too - while the majority of the males in my particular office are straight, they wouldn't mind at all debating this topic if I didn't look like I might take a bite out of one of them rather than the sugary fluffy goodness pictured below).

SnB 07 #6

Well, well, well....what do we have here?

Why that's penne pasta with roasted asparagus, grilled chicken, baby spinach, and this delicious dressing made from olive oil, white wine vinegar, a splash of soy sauce, and green onions. Perfect fare for the first SnB of Spring! (And mucho gracias to my sister for the recipe - right up my alley!) In the background is Sandi's deadly good chipped beef dip with walnuts atop -- thankfully preventing me from eating anymore than what I spooned out before she added the nuts!

A small group, with no new knitters - which was cool because there was nuthin' but knittin' for 4 hours straight. There was some unfortunate American Idol watching (and seriously?? What's wrong with this country that Sanjaya is staying on, but Chris Sligh was sent home??? - and yes, that's worthy of three question marks -- it's that baffling), and a lot of yapping through Bones, but then mostly quiet during yet another rotten episode of Lost. HATE. THAT. SHOW.

In the category of "Things that PISS ME OFF," take a gander at my brownies that were so beautifully displayed in yesterday's post:

That crater down the middle?? That's from trying to cut the brownies - a full 24 hours after they came out of the oven. I have no idea why they wouldn't cut without ripping apart like that. But what's funny? That's the "before" shot.

Check out the "after":

(Pardon the bone-headed camera shot - again, it's not a photography blog.) Ya. No one cared that they looked like crap - people hogged them down anyhow. All those years of, "presentation is key!!" and people ate them up anyhow. And it may look like, "well, ya - but they only hogged down a half a pan,"  but there were only four of us here for knitting night...thankfully they were a low-fat Duncan Hines box mix (which yes - it did occur to me that perhaps the low-fat part has something to do with  the ripping apart).

More to come tomorrow, with actual knitting photos and the update of what everyone's working on - as, thank you very much, I remembered to take pictures of everyone hard at work on their projects!

Oh - Check it! Thanks to Troy for the new Knitting Night Stitch N Bitch 07 Mascot, Mr. Owly:

(Better known as my belated birthday gift - complete with card. And yes, that's a worm on his head. We're not sure why.)

Saturday Night Blog

Happy Saint Patrick's Day - from the fun and exciting living room of #208. I was invited to do several different things tonight, but I was at Happy Hour yesterday and had enough happiness for the rest of the weekend. It's gonna be a zoo everywhere, and when I went to pick up a salad and some pizza for dinner, the cops were already crawling all over. I stayed home instead. Here's what I did:

I finished Ms. Green!  I also took about a gazillion pictures of Ms. Green, and this was the only one that was even close to acceptable. But, the blog is for knitting skillz, not photography skillz, and I'm really siked about my shorts. The yarn was just perfect.

Hey - Chris Rock is on Saturday Night Live. That's pretty funny. He cracks me up - but Julia Louis-Dreyfus is hosting and Snow Patrol is the musical guest. Need to post and get back to the tube.

Here's what else I did tonight:

I finished my Chickami #2! It's perfect - in measurements, it matches Chickami #1 perfectly. I'll be getting a ton of wear out of this thing this summer.

I also cast on for the Ribbon-Tied Dress. I haven't returned to Glee. It just has me so agitated - I'm going to be really stressed if there's not enough yarn. Some how I came across a blog the other day called G. Bella Knits - and she had just frogged her entire Glee because when she was done, the size was too big.
I'm gonna have a COW if I have that problem, as well.

Here's what I did Thursday night:

White cupcakes with chocolate frosting. Nothing exciting. The Office Males rated them an 8 out of 10. When I reminded them that they thought the Pink Lemonade cupcakes from Valentine's Day were an 8 out of 10 also, they decided they had made a mistake. The Pink Lemonades were actually a 9 out of 10 - the white with chocolate were an 8. If you're making them (the recipe is from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes), I halved the amount of almond extract - a full teaspoon seemed too powerful to me, and I believe I made a good choice.

And finally, until Knitting Night, here's where my bike was living:

Kinda worked for me, but not for a houseful of guests. I took it out to ride and then took it to the balcony. Just about everyone in the neighborhood has a bike on their balcony, and it works. I can't wait for the crappy weather to go away - we had an inch of ice and then an inch of snow yesterday, and the high today was 35. I miss the weather of earlier in the week, where it was in the 70's and I was able to ride my bike all over.

Scrapping the 8K tomorrow - too cold and with the protesting going on downtown, it's just going to be a zoo.  And then the two and a half miles I did on Thursday took me 30 minutes. I need to be a bit quicker if I'm going to be running with the crowds.

Remote Post

Greetings from the Springs - also known as Colorado Springs - where I finally arrived five hours later than I should have on Monday night. Yesterday's event went well, but for some reason my coworker and I could NOT stop sneezing, the entire day. That meant last night I couldn't sleep at all unless I was in a semi-sitting up position because lying in bed only meant the snot clogged to one side or the other (I'm a side sleeper). I'm a tad tired today but decided I really needed to update my post, since today's the last day of February and I have stuff going back two weeks now that I've wanted to put up!

Let's start with SnB o7 #4 cupcakes:

I was pretty pleased with these. I got smart, too - I went out and bought a cake decorating tip and that makes extremely quick work of frosting 18 cupcakes with buttercream frosting. Just in case you couldn't drool enough - here's another shot:

Steener, a regular at SnB, brought me some early birthday cheer:

Can I just tell you that when I left for the airport on Monday, my house smelled so much like Spring - the daffodils had all bloomed, the tulips had all bloomed, and the hyacinth had fully bloomed. Here's a question for the readers: those are all bulbs there. Out of curiosity (because I have nothing near a green-thumb), would it be possible to just hack the flowers down and take care of the dirt, so that next year new daffodils and tulips would bloom? Just wondering. For me, it's worth the money to just go and buy a new pot of flowers.

So that was the 21st...then what? Oh, okay. Then the birthday. My mom's friend made me this:

Cross-stitch always reminds me of her (even though it was my sister who taught me to cross-stitch), and it brightened my day - plus it's the exact same color scheme as my bedroom, so it's perfect in there! Thanks Mrs. Hughes!

A sorority sister of mine that I haven't seen in a long while came to visit. I was going to post a picture of us in the local watering hole but I have not had my hair cut by anyone other than myself since 02/24/06 (yes, that's right - for one full calendar year now) and my bangs - they really need some professional help, as their absence creates a vast amount of blaring white space where most people's foreheads are located.

Friday I picked Tracy up at Dulles and we went to PF Changs and then to Ulta and DSW to shop. At PF Changs I had the yummy favorite Moo Goo Gai Pan, and Tracy had Crispy Honey Chicken. At DSW Tracy (visiting from cold and snowy Upstate New York) was overcome by the nice weather we were having and bought herself some cute strapless espadrille-type shoe that she won't be able to wear for four more months, while I bought a kickin' pair of Diesel sneakers (red, brown, and gold - sounds tacky, but DANG they're cute) and Roxy flip flops that are black with sequins (as tacky as they are, how can sequins not make you smile??). Ulta proved overwhelming for Trace but I was pleased to finally find the location nearest me. From there we went to Jimmy's Old Town Tavern, which is owned by someone from Upstate New York, so it's like being back home in there.

From there we went to Ned Devine's with some coworkers where a great band was playing. We cabbed home around 1 a.m. Let's just say, we are no longer built to party like we did when we were pledging!!

On Saturday, some friends had put together a Birthday Extravaganza for me, which started when Jen, Tracy, Anne, Jasmeen, and I went to Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spa for manicures and pedicures. It was like heaven - haven't had my toes or nails done since May when I was in a wedding. I do a decent job of taking care of them myself, but really? Once a month, once every other month, shouldn't I be taking care of my nails and my feet? Oh. And maybe my hair...

After the pampering, we headed out to Clyde's in Ashburn, where I was completely surprised to see about twenty other friends, coworkers, and spouses of said friends and coworkers out to celebrate the Aging of Moi. I got gift cards to Crate and Barrel, Barnes and Nobel, and Stitch DC, as well as some wine and some inappropriate but highly hysterical candy pasties (and I'm not describing them or including the photo - some level of decorum must be kept here). My friends really know me well! Jasmeen took some great photos, but I wasn't thrilled with the majority of mine.

All in all, 34 wasn't too bad. Sunday was the actual day - Tracy and I went to lunch and then I took her to the airport. I did laundry, my taxes, packed for the trip, and talked to my family. The taxes, by the way, turned out to be a great birthday present - stay tuned for the Gift I'll Give Myself.

***
In knitting news, I cast on the Tofutsies on the airplane and just love it. Then while sitting for five hours in O'Hare, I decided to crank out some inches on Glee. I have a concern though - before I left home I checked to see if I had another ball or two that I would need to pack, but finding none I assumed I was all set with whatever was in the Glee bag. Well, folks - bad news. There's no yarn at home, and there's no yarn in the bag - and I have MILES to go plus the placket to pick up and knit. I'm going to have to dig around a bit more at home. I predict one sock and one ChicKnits cami completed before I return on Sunday night though. Just a prediction - you'll have to check back to see if I made it!

***
Lots of snow expected this afternoon in Denver, which is where I have to go for my event. Hoping they're well-prepared out here for stuff like this though, because it'd stink to have to cancel. We have about 40 registrants planning to attend. Last night's event we had 20 registered and 18 came. We'll see. Toodles!

Ready for Mardi Gras?

I am.

To ensure that tomorrow is indeed a Fat Tuesday, I dug out the Man Catcher Brownies recipe that a friend at work cut out of the Washington Post for me a few weeks ago. I suggested a contest, wherein he and I would both bake a batch and see who could catch a man first, but he wasn't as amused as I was...

Anyhow. Don't you hate when you just want to cut a teeny tiny corner off the brownies, to make sure that they're truly fit for human consumption, but then the cut isn't even and it kinda breaks another edge, so you try and make it a clean cut and end up eating what is essentially an entire brownie? Ya. Make sure you check out the per-brownie-calorie-count in that recipe....

I mean, you can see where the knife went in to the foil through the cooling rack for the original cut. Seriously though? Best batch of brownies ever. 3 sticks of butter, 2 cups of cocoa, 2 cups of sugar, 2 cups of brown sugar, 2 cups of flour, 2 tablespoons of vanilla, 6 eggs, and a teaspoon of salt. How can they not be perfect? The article that went with the recipe was about the chef's quest for the history of the brownie, the definition of "brownie" - no icing, no fluff, not too fudgey, not too cakey, and with a crisp top and moist inside - and the trial and error of finding the right combination of ingredients to come up with these, The Man Catcher Brownies. Really - they're that good. Try them.

***
In knitting news, my sister sent me a to-do list and on that to-do list was to go pick up the new Interweave Knits.  It's a good thing I finished the Cropped Cardigan and just need to pick up the waist on Ms. Green because I've got a few things on my mind....like the Swan Lake Cardigan, Roza's Socks, Kate Himmelberg's camisole, Ann Budd's socks...and worst of all is the one thing I really, really want to make is one thing that's not even in the magazine (well technically it's in there - but it's an ad). On page 71 there's an ad for Nashua Handknits, and I truly covet the short sleeve pullover that is pictured there in the ad. The yarn AND the book are yet available - to the best of my web surfing abilities. STRESS. Must. find. yarn. and. pattern!

Behold, my finished, weaved, steamed, and wearable (whoo-hoo!) Cropped Cardigan:

As soon as the weather cooperate, I have a great cami and skirt to go with it!

S! A! T-U-R! D-A-Y! NIGHT!

Ah, Bay City Rollers - one of the 45's I must have "inherited" from my sister's collection...25 years ago (Jeezus!) I was making up rollerskating routines to that tune.

As it's Satuday, I made an effort to get off the couch and socialize - my friend Dr. J called to see if I wanted to have dinner and see a band with her and her sister-in-law. Dr. J and I are the only single girls I know, and every year we say we're going to "make an effort" to "get out there," because you can't just expect "Mr. Wonderful" to fall from the sky. So we made the effort - but unfortunately her new RA meds weren't agreeing with her, and I was back home on the couch with Cesar by 10 pm, fire roaring while getting some knittin' on.

I'm on the second ball of hemp for Eiffel (as per usual, click for a bigger image),

and I've moved beyond the sleeves in Glee.

Remember how a mere week ago, I was so proud of myself for not casting on for anything else? Focus, dedication, perservance, and Runagogo means I'll have some great new tops to wear to work in the coming weeks. That means there's no room to cast on anything else, right?

Wrong.

And what's worse, is what it's made out of:

Seriously - NO DYE LOT is never a good sign. But I can't help it (It's not my FAULT!). Jasmeen the New Knitter wanted to finish (!) her hat on Friday night, and she wanted to start a new scarf. The LYS is 15 miles away, so for a New Knitter, Michael's was the substitute-LYS.

Meanwhile, in the back of my head I've been thinking about a friend of mine that I haven't seen or spoken to in almost five years - emails every now and then, birthday cards, Christmas cards; but that's really it. She doesn't live here anymore, and thankfully she now has two baby boys - 2 months and 14 months, I think. (The eldest was a long time coming, and then "OH! LOOK! Who knew?!? AWESOME! But really? Who knew?" was the youngest.) They're gorgeous, and couldn't have been born to a better set of parents - seriously, these people were put on this planet to be parents. So how could it be that these babies have no hand-knit lovin' from me? Wouldn't they be cute in semi-matching cable-y, Irish-y sweaters (they're true Irish boys, with red hair and names to match)? And how can I pass up 300 yards of the color I wanted, so soft and cuddly, so washable, for 3 bucks? The pattern is interesting - it's a basic 2 year old pullover pattern from The Knitters Book of Patterns, with - this cracks me up - Panel B from Debbie Bliss's Cathay boat neck aran pattern up the middle.

***

Making progress with Runagogo, and trying so hard to be healthy - see?

 A yummy salad with steamed chicken and tomatos and spring onions and low-fat bleu cheese and avocado and one piece of Oscar Meyer Ready-Cook bacon crumbled on there, and then that spray-on salad dressing. Can you get any healthier?

***
Hey. Look. Wow. Here's what fun excitement is on the agenda for tomorrow:

Sigh. I have an appointment with my advisor on Tuesday, and have not touched my disaster-tation since maybe October. That's the home stack you see there (as opposed to the work stack and the car stack - just in case motivation strikes, I like to be prepared), and hopefully that's where I'll be tomorrow so I don't sound like a total dolt to He Who Wishes We'd Never Met.