Late to the Party

Who knew that Crocs were so comfy?

For the longest me, I thought they were ugly and looked terribly uncomfortable even though Mario Batali wore them all the time to cook in.  I still think they are not terribly pretty. BUT. Oh. My. Gosh. They are terribly comfy!  My chiropractor suggested them as walk-around-the-house-when-I'm-not-wearing-my-sneakers-with-the-special-inserts shoes to help relieve some foot pain I've been having. 

 

Then he proceeded to tell me how they came about -- in a nutshell, students at a university came up with them for their dissertation with the plan to have them produced in many different countries around the world.  The teacher failed them, but I forget why.  And now they are made in all different countries anyway. Even though they "failed".

 

However.... when I went to try them on, I tried on a pair for my size that was way too big.  Then I tried on another pair in my size (same style) and it fit.  I looked on the bottoms and the pair that was too big was made in China and the pair that fit just right was made in Mexico.  So, apparently there isn't much consistency.  And the prices are a little ridiculous, even for the most basic ones.  I got mine on sale.

 

Nevertheless, I'm sooooooo happy with my Mexico-made Crocs, even though I'm late to the party in realizing it.

Knitting Update

How about a knitting update?
I finished front #1 of my Bloody Mary Cardigan:

It looks impossibly skinny, I know.  But the left edge is rolling under.  And it will stretch when I block it.  Fingers crossed.  That one went fast and now I'm on to front #2.

I told you in a previous post that I have a new shawl obsession.  Here it is:

It is the Calico Shawl and is in the KnitScene Summer 2013 magazine.  That picture is blurry so you can go to that link to see a better picture.  I don't love the points being so pointy (my mom said it looked like bat wings with the points), so I would block mine to be not-as-pointy.  My yarn shop friend Janell showed this to me and I loved the lace pattern in it.  Then she asked if I would teach it as a class.  Sooooo, I have to knit it to see if I can teach it.  Here is the yarn I picked out:

Those are different shades of denim blue in case you can't see it (shocker - my picture taking skills....).  I was all proud of myself to be using some of my stash until I realized I didn't have enough of any one color so I had to go buy another skein.  Whatever.  But here's the other thing:  Now I really really really want to knit it in a pinky/peachy color like the pattern picture because it looks so springy/summery and pretty.  The blue is nice, but no springy/summery pretty.  I have no pinky peachy yarn.  Yet.

I'll tell you in another post  about my NEXT yarny obsession.... (this has GOT to stop. or slow down.)

Note to Self

Note to self:

The organization system only works if you don't just throw the needle in the front of the basket because you can't find the plastic sleeve you had made for it and now you have to go back and measure the needle so you know what size it is and then make a new plastic sleeve for it.
The end.

Kale and a Tomato

Kale chips are awesome!

Try some.  Wash and dry kale pieces (torn from the stems).  I put mine in the salad spinner.  Then drizzle a little olive oil and toss it around.  Add a little salt.  Just a little, or else it's too salty. (Thanks for that tip in yesterday's blog coments, Annette!  You were right - I put too much on....not that it stopped me from eating them.)  Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until the edges are browned.  Then, eat.   They are incredibly light and crispy and YUMMY!  Paul was not at all intrigued and passed them by....

A Book Review:
The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden by William Alexander : Well, the title pretty much tells you about the book!  This was an entertaining look at the trials and tribulations of gardening.  A yarn shop friend lent this book to me after seeing some of my blog posts last summer about my own garden.  This man's garden was much bigger (and included a little orchard too) but I could certainly relate to a lot of his troubles!

On to an exciting David Baldacci book - more on that when I'm done with it.  More knitting coming soon too.  I've got another shawl-on-the-brain thanks to the new KnitScene and my friend Janell.

Yarn Barf

Yup. Yesterday, we woke up to the sounds of the snowplow going down the street, and we thought, "No. Way. It can't have snowed enough for the plow!". But, alas, yes there was about an inch of snow. Driveway and street were covered (hence the plow - to throw salt).  It snowed on and off all day but it was melted by the afternoon depsite temps in the low 30's with wind chills in the 20's.   By the way, Mother Nature, it's April 2 in case you didn't get the memo.  The wind chill kept me and the doodlebugs from going out for a walk, so our excercise for the day was me teaching them Ring Around the Rosey and them wanting to do it "a-gin" 80 million times.

I'm waiting for more of these mornings:

Wondering about the blog post title?  Check out my progress on the Light speed shawl/scarf:

What?  You can't see it?  Neither could I!  Knitting with navy blue yarn in the ambient light of the living room in the evening is NOT a good idea.  You can't see your stitches very well, and therefore it was sloooooooow going.  Then this happened:

What?  You can't see that very well either?  Well, I'll tell you what it is...  yarn barf.  I was pulling the yarn from the inside of the ball (instead of the outside) which is usually very handy so the ball does not bounce around on you.  However, this one was all tangeled in there.  I was knitting along and then suddenly the yarn wouldn't come out any more.  So I pulled harder and this tangle of yarn (yarn barf) came out, resulting in me having to put down my knitting to untangle the mess and wrap it around the outside of the ball anyway.  Then I stopped knitting for the night.

Here is my current progress:

See how you can actually see that it's blue yarn?  That's because it's daytime!  Funny how that works.

Fresh

The theme for April's National Blog Posting Month is "Fresh" so......

We had a nice fresh salad for dinner last night.

sideways = argh!

My food styling really leaves something to be desired.   Kale, Quinoa, and Avocado Salad with Lemon Dijon Vinaigrette:  Another new recipe in our  healthier eating quest.  I'm impressed that Paul has been willing to try all these new recipes since he's not usually a terribly adventurous eater.  Then again, he did grow up in the school of appreciate-whatever-is-put-in-front-of-you-since-you-did-not-cook-it-and-that's-all-you-are-getting-unless-you-want-to-cook-it-yourself.  All that being said, last night he said, when the plate was in front of him, "Oh, I get it.  It's April fool's day.  Where's the real dinner?"  Ha.  Ha.  We actually both liked it.  Me more than he, but he still liked it and stated he would eat it again.  Which he will have to, since there are leftovers.

But, on to the recipe.  This was, to me, VERY yummy.  Kale, quinoa, avocado, red pepper, onion, feta cheese.  Olive oil, lemon, salt, pepper and a little sugar for the dressing. Mmmmmmm.  I've never purposely eaten kale.  I've heard it really, really, really good for you, but I always thought it was bitter and you had to cook it endlessly in order to make it tender.  Not so.  (I think I was confusing it with collard greens... ).  It was steamed for a few  minutes and has a very pleasant taste and texture.  Oh and the creamy avocado (left off of Paul's - he apparently has his limits) was just so yummy with all of it.  And that salty feta.  You've got to try  it.  (And I'm going to try making kale chips with the leftover kale!)

Here is a look at our fresh dining room update-but-not-really-because-it's-retro.
Our well-loved dining room set was on the way out.  The table itself was doing pretty well, but some of the chairs were getting wobbly and past being able to fix them.

So, we decided to unearth a table that Paul and I bought in 2005 (when we were dating) because we thought it was so cool.  Problem being, when we bought it, we didn't really know how we were going to use it.  Acutally, first we didn't know when we were going to use it because we weren't even living together yet!  But, then we did move to Vermont together and it stayed in storage.  Then we moved here to New York and it still stayed in storage, waiting for us to come up with the best way to use it.  Paul thought we should use it in our casual "game room" where we have a dart board and the ping pong table, and some retro accessories.  I thought from the beginning it would look cool in our newly updated kitchen/dining room, even though it had a retro look. And now, 6 years after moving to New York, we put it in the dining room!

We love it!  It certainly freshens it up, right?

Ha!  Look at that.... no knitting or books in this post!  Next time....



Easter Roundup

Welcome to NaBloPoMo!  A month of blog posts from your favorite blogger.....

So, it's April 1st.  What a nice, pretty morning....

Buds on the tree!

Now?  !#$%-ing snow!

In case you can't see the snow in the
above picture, here is a snowflake.

I'm just really, really ready for no. more. snow.

 

What a fun Easter weekend we had!

I made lots of bread....Two big loaves to make my Overnight French Toast Bake:

 Apparently I only needed about 3/4 of one loaf, so there is a lot left over! The recipe calls for a berry sauce/topping which I didn't make since we were going to have fruit salad anyway.  The recipe was very easy and making it the night before is very handy.

Then I made a bunch of iced/decorated breads like this:

I gave these away to family members, who thought it was yummy.

We had a nice brunch at my sister's house, inluding my very yummy french toast:

I only got a picture of the leftovers - I forgot to take a nice just-from-the-oven picture!

And my sister made Banana Pudding (among other things!):

 She and my three nephews also made some very cool decorated eggs:

 If you look carefully, you can see the one with the face that Matthew made and my sister was trying to hide!
The trip to Connecticut included some knitting of my Bloody Mary Cardigan in the car:

And I got this far on the right front:

More on that yellow background tomorrow!