Worth the effort.

It's a little tricky to incorporate eating homemade cupcakes (Joe made these for Jenny on her birthday) and drinking pink prosecco into a knitting night, but any trouble is so worth it.  Put down the needles and dig in!

p.s. Never apologize for canned frosting.  As long as it tastes good, I don't care if you made it!

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It's not just about the knitting.

Another knitting night, another awesome meal.

Kara and Jen W. (yes, another "Jenny") have really upped the ante. We used to sort of snack sporadically while crafting. Now we're eating fully-formed, healthy meals.








This time, at Jen's house, we had risotto-stuffed peppers, a spicy quinoa salad, a beet and greens salad, the softest ginger cookies, and lemon sandwich cookies (the last made by Jenny G.). I hardly even wanted to knit.




p.s. Bob is welcome at knitting night any time.

Put a Jenny in the Slot

Our knitting circle added another Jenny (actually a Jen)* and a Kara, and both of them brought food! Kara's individual turkey meat pies were terrific, as was Jen's apple crumble tart.

I forgot to get a picture of our host Melissa's chocolate chip banana bread tonight. I hope you can forgive me.

Oh, knitting circle friends, I love you.


*we are now Jen/Jenny (Jennette)/Jenny (Jennifer)/Jenni, Melissa, and Kara. It is strange and lovely to have so many Jennies. 'Twas a popular name in the late 70s and early 80s, wasn't it folks?!

If we hold hands, we can make a circle.

Our knitting triangle has become a square with the addition of another Jenni. This one is a brainy blogger whom I quite respect.

Jenni hosted last week's knitting session (once again, we didn't get to the "watching Twin Peaks episodes" part, which happens about a third of the time) with style. She turned out to be the sort of get-together host I really appreciate. She even made a toasted sandwich for a latecomer who hadn't gotten a chance to eat dinner before arriving. Now that's classy.

I started the evening with a spicy ginger tea, then moved on to the World Peace Cookies. I recognized them as they came out of the oven, as the recipe is one I tried for this year's cookie party.



As a bonus treat, Jenni shared an Australian candy bar (also distributed in New Zealand) called Cherry Ripe. It was like a Mounds bar crossed with a Cherry Mash. Delightful!

A late night with the knitting triangle...

There are only three of us -- not enough to make a "knitting circle" -- and we never got around to doing much knitting (or watching the last two episodes in the first season of Twin Peaks, which we also intended to do), BUT I enjoyed both the company and watching Melissa prepare dessert empanadas with guava/cream cheese or coconut filling for us.

I enjoyed the eating, too. I'm not making many exceptions for "outside activities" during my season of cookie baking, so I'm glad this one was already on the books. The empanadas were really special.

p.s. The secret to Grandma's empanada dough? Wine! Melissa used Sherry. You might try this recipe for dough. It calls for white wine.

Sunday Tidbits: Roasting, Drying, Drinking

Yesterday afternoon I (1) roasted garlic for homemade pizza, using Mark Bittman's whole head method because I don't like the ones where you have to cut any part of the garlic off -- and it couldn't be simpler: peel as much of the paper off as you can without breaking up the head, put 1-2 heads in an oven-safe dish with 1/4 c. water, sprinkle with salt and drizzle with olive oil, cover (with foil or a lid), and bake at 375 F for about an hour (until a knife will pierce it easily), remembering to baste it with the water in the dish after 30 minutes;




(2) Dried some wool in the sun (from my fiber farm cormo/mohair share in 2008) after soaking it in boiling water for 10 minutes to soften it, as Shepherd Susan Gibb from Juniper Moon Farm (formerly Martha's Vineyard Fiber Farm) suggested;




and (3) drank a Norwegian Emmi Caffe Latte Mocha, which tasted like coffee-flavored chocolate milk.


I did some other stuff, too, but you get the picture. It was the last day of a luxurious 10-day vacation (in which I was only away from home for two days). I'm not giving up my leisure time, but it's going back to "limited" status as of this morning.

Snack Delivery!

I found a little song I'd like to dedicate to my Ravelry International Scarf Swap pal, Anastasia, because she is a "honeybunch sugarplum pumpy-umpy-umpkin" (link spotted on Georgina in NYC) for hand-picking all of the goodies she sent along with the beautiful silk-blend scarf she knit for me. I am a lucky, lucky girl.



Inedibles included a beautiful purple silk and wool blend scarf made just to my taste (I like solid colors, rich texture, soft yarn, and long scarves)



and a skein of "Posh Yarn" (merino and cashmere) in a midnight blue (hand-dyed in Wales). Yum!



And then...be still, my beating heart:



The snacks that Anastasia picked out to include with my scarf are an exciting assortment of flavors and textures. I will be thrilled to blog about each and every one (even the ones I suspect are going to taste...odd). To inaugurate my gifts, I chose to start the day with the orange cinnamon Rooibos tea. I'm generally a big Rooibos fan, but have never had a flavor like this. It smells lovely and the cinnamon shines through the mild orange tea. Wonderful!



I hope you are looking forward to me spotlighting the British snacks that Anastasia scouted for the blog. I'm chuffed.

Inspiring

("Midnight Snack" photo credit: TWiNKiE CHAN. Posted with permission.)

I already knew that Twinkie Chan crochets the most tasty scarves that I never get to buy because they sell out so quickly or go for more money than I can relinquish on Ebay.

But today I discovered that she also has a clever blog about eating "yucky" food. Check it out: I Eat Yucky Stuff!

This woman is über adorable and snack-savvy. She has an awesome tattoo featuring ice cream (especially visible in the video on Chinese snake gall medicine), is as stylish as all get-out, and will admit openly to what she's eating. Did I leave out fearless? She taste-tested dog food! I jolly well heart her.

I mean, and now we're back to her incredible crochet, once I knit a scarf with novelty yarn that looked a little like lettuce (pictured below). But it's not like you look at it and want to both eat it and wear it forever . I can't even aspire to the fab craftiness that is Twinkie Chan.

Ooh, that li'l baby!

Remember when I knit a baby wrap sweater and baby blanket (you probably don't; I wasn't writing about snacks back then) in organic, undyed cotton for a certain couple's baby shower? Today I spent all day at the hospital waiting for the baby for whom I knit those to be born.

And at 5:11 pm she finally was! Happy birthday, Hero!

So, today was not about snacking. It was about waiting and hoping and good vibes and a gorgeous baby and an inspiring, tough (and beautiful) mother and amazing, focused (not bad-looking himself) dad. They are three of my favorite people in the world, even if I just met one of them.

Still, I did snack while I waited. I mean, I had to keep my energy up! Sadly, I was too nervous and excited to eat a real meal until I got home, so snacks were a medical necessity. I chose: a peach smoothie (finished before I got into the hospital), Clif Bar (Chocolate Brownie), 1/3 of a garlic pickle, a swallow of celery soda, Dirty Chips (BBQ flavor), Coke, water, Advil, a multi-vitamin, part of a bagel, 4 really old Altoids, and a slightly under-ripe plum (fruit was a nice change of pace, even if it was a bit sour).

The cat comes around

Meet Progo.



Likes: the smell of olives, trying to eat leafy greens, chewing plastic, scratchin' stuff, waking up early, hanging out on knitting.

Dislikes: flashlight beams, the vacuum cleaner, guests, piles of things, cat treats.

Cat treats?! What kind of feline doesn't like cat treats? I'm both sorry for and suspicious of the snackless. Come on, just try it! I've offered him a ridiculous variety, too, but he turned up his li'l cat nose at every brand he sniffed -- Whisker Lickin's, Pounce, and Meow Mix, most recently.

The closest I got to being able to treat Mr. Proginoskes was a few years ago, when I received a sample of Flint River Ranch cat and kitten food. It was just a small pouch, but the cat gobbled it up. He's not finicky about cat food (just treats), but it was still clear this was an especially pleasing flavor to his palate. I'd often thought about ordering more of the food online to replace the rejected "official" cat treats, but never got around to it. As it turns out, Flint River makes treats, too. So last week I decided to order Flint River Ranch's Signature Brand Ultra Premium Sun Dried Bonita Treats and give this treat-shy cat one last chance to be pampered with a special snack.



The Bonita Treats came in the mail yesterday, so I took them for a test run after dinner. What's in the package looks and smells like large flakes of fish food, has no additives nor preservatives, and should last quite a while (the serving size is just a pinch). I had to hold a small piece crumpled in my fingers and poke it at Progo's nose a couple of times to get him started, and I tried not to get my hopes up ("He won't eat it. He hates everything."), but once he got a little taste he was snacking like a pro and looking for more. He likes it! Hey, Progo!


Postscript: It may be early to tell, but the taste of the Bonita Treats may just have changed his life, snackwise. making him more open to previously rejected treats. After enjoying his pinch, he considered he might try a tartar control Whisker Lickin's, too. When the cat decides to prove me wrong, he spares no effort.

Baby Food

I stumbled upon Sindri Bloggar, an Icelandic+Swedish baby's blog. The kid has a good sense of humor, writes well, photographs like a dream, is a pretty decent swimmer, and knows how to snack. Besides, if anyone should be allowed a little "navel gazing" in an online post, it's an infant.

Seriously. Current favorite blog.