We’re not quite home yet, but I’ve finally found a relatively clear tabletop surface to fire up the computer. The train trip east was a hoot, and if you happen to be either my friend on Facebook or my husband’s, you’ve followed the progress of the Family Party through the week. One of my sisters has a place on a lake, and most of the family made it to the party. We’re now back in town, and get on the plane  tomorrow to head home. Here are just a few highlights;

That would be Larry, my brother-in-law. It’s a family tradition to celebrate the emptying of a bottle by playing taps while everybody stands and salutes. Let’s just say that Larry got the chance to perform this many times over the past week.

As you can see, nearly everybody was wired in some fashion. That’s me in the foreground, being a Luddite and spindling.

That’s a sign in my sister’s kitchen.

The family!

A little expedition out on the lake.

Sock on the lake!

Sisters! And an honorary sister!

Sunset over the lake!

This is the primary mode of transportation at the lake. Because God knows, we wouldn’t want to have to walk 100 feet to the bar.

Lake food!

More lake food! And a bonfire!

I even found a yarn shop. The closest little town to the lake is only about 14,000 people, but by God, they have a yarn shop, and a nice one at that. The photographic proof is on my camera however, not John’s, and I quite inexplicably forgot to bring the camera cord.

That’s enough for today, since John is threatening to revoke my laptop privileges. We head home tomorrow!

Before I get to the knitting, let me show you one of the things I cooked this week. I love fall for cooking, all the turnips and beets, and pumpkins! They’re not just for jack-o-lanterns anymore! I’ve had a couple of small sugar pumpkins in the pantry, waiting for the right moment (get the pie pumpkins, not the field pumpkins grown for gigantic size). We made pumpkin curry with it. Here’s the details and photos. This isn’t a recipe as such, but if you know how to put together a stew, you can figure this one out.

First, whack up the pumpkin, the hardest part. I generally get it cut up into big sections, then about two-inch squares, then cut the rind off. It’s pretty hard to peel the thing whole. I keep the pieces rather large, since they tend to melt into the curry when fully cooked.

Once you get that part done, you’re home free. Slice some onions and garlic, and saute, then add your curry blend.

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I buy curry spices whole and grind them. I’ve made my own blends before, but now I just buy them locally here. They’ll ship, too. This particular blend was the Sri Lankan curry blend. I don’t think we’ve ever tried this before, and it was very good. Here’s everything cut up and ready to go. This process makes all the world of difference in a dish with lots of parts. If you get everything chopped before you start cooking, it’s a piece of cake. Mise en place, the French call it.

After I added the spices, I tossed in some chicken stock, a bit of white wine, part of a can of chopped tomatoes, 2 cans of garbanzo beans (rinsed), and the pumpkin, then cooked it till the pumpkin was done. This really doesn’t take long, and if it’s overcooked it turns to mush, so watch it. At the end, I threw in a bunch of baby spinach we had lingering around. Oh, I also added one chopped hot pepper in at the same time as the garlic, it was a yellow pepper that looked like a serrano and had some heat. And salt to taste.

Serve over rice, and dinner is ready.

On the knitting front, I have 8 repeats of that True Blood Faery band done. I thought I had royally screwed up my gauge, but it turns out I was wrong. The bottom cable chart is 40 rows, and the pattern calls for knitting 20 repeats of chart A. I finished what I thought were 4 repeats, meaning 160 rows, measured, and was horrified to find that the piece was twice as long as it was supposed to be. After I calmed down, I searched Ravelry, read the pattern (now there’s a novel thought), and discovered that each chart repeat is two pattern repeats. It measures out perfectly. Whew.

We found some other fun things in Dublin besides Guinness. Here I am, checking out the lunch options.

And then there was dinner:

In case you think we’ve done nothing but eat and drink, that’s not true. In between those things yesterday, we saw the National Gallery, the National History Museum, and last but not least, the Book of Kells and the Long Room Library at Trinity College. For a bibliophile, the Long Room was fabulous. We also got a nice nap in there somewhere.*

I’m posting from a tiny mini-Dell (named Minnie), with a tiny screen and somewhat sketchy internet access, so answering comments may be a bit limited while we’re here. I also have to share Minnie with John, who seems to think he gets equal computer time. Thanks for all your comments nonetheless!

We leave Dublin today, headed west. Our first stop will be Kilkenny. On to the adventure of driving on the wrong side of the road!

*Not in the Long Room. It was pointed out to me that the way I wrote that sentence made it sound like we took a nap in the Long Room.

No, it’s not what you think. I head down the rabbit hole to work tomorrow morning, so I may or may not get a chance to post in my new blog for a week. So here’s a quickie post.

Did I mention that I have a new blog??

Oh, right, I did.

Never mind.

Here are a couple of photos to tide you over. I finished a project, but I’m not going to post details until it’s been mailed off. So you get cooking and spinning. You’ll have to make do.

We made gumbo this weekend. This might not sound all that exciting, but it’s sort of a major project around here. We use Crescent Dragonwagon’s* recipe for gumbo, which involves a whole lot of chopping and cooking, but results in lots of storage containers of gumbo base in the freezer. When we want gumbo, we thaw out a container of the base, then add the last few ingredients.

And the finished plates:

Then there’s the spinning. I’ve spun up a whole bunch of Abby’s Batts that I scored a month or so ago. This is a silk/merino/sparkle blend. I’ve finally got the whole bunch of fluff spun, and now I’m plying it. Here you go.

That’s roughly a light fingering weight, 2 ply. I have about six or seven ounces of this, but this is the first bobbin of plied stuff, so I don’t know the yardage yet. I think this will make a nice shawl. What do you think?

Down the rabbit hole I go. I’ll be back in a week.

*Yes, that’s her name. If you don’t have her cookbooks, you are really missing out. Go, now, and buy them. I highly recommend her Soup & Bread cookbook just for the gumbo and cornbread recipes, and The Passionate Vegetarian is one of my all time favorites.

Two nights ago a friend called and said he had a gift for us, and could he stop by. Of course I said yes. Who turns down gifts? A few minutes later he was at our front door, with a huge paper bag full of chanterelle mushrooms that someone had given him. He wanted to know if we wanted them, since he wasn’t sure what to do with them.

A glass of wine later, we had the menu planned, and sent Greg to the market to get pork chops while John and I did a little prep work. Here’s what we came up with.

John cooked the polenta, using Marcella Hazan’s recipe from her Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. This is a great cookbook, by the way. Someday I’d like to cook my way through it, in the style of Julie & Julia. I never seem to get past the first few pasta sauce recipes, though, since they are so perfect.

I sadly neglected to get a photo of the fresh chanterelles, but here’s what they look like.

I cooked the pork chops and mushrooms. After cleaning the mushrooms, I sliced them thickly, then sauteed them in a bit of butter and olive oil until they were just starting to get soft, then added a little white wine and simmered briefly. Meanwhile, the pork chops were cooking, first sauteed, then a little shallot added, then white wine. They braised with the lid on for about 5-6 minutes a side, just until done. Don’t overcook pork chops, by the way. We actually prefer them just a tiny bit pink in the middle. If you cook them all the way through, they get tough and chewy.

The pork chops went into the warming oven, the braising liquid went into the waiting mushrooms, which were then cooked down a little until syrupy.

A little chopped Italian parsley went in at the end.

The whole mess went on plates, with some lightly steamed green beans on the side. We also had a salad with fresh heirloom tomato slices, topped with fresh mozzarella and slivered basil, drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

And here’s Lewey, pretty sure we might drop something.

Not bad for last minute made-up cooking!

That was the first finished thing. The other thing that’s finished is this.

Yes, it does look like sort of a wonky blocking job. It’s a baby blanket, for pete’s sake. I just mashed it out and pinned it down. More details will follow in a later post.

Here’s how the grilled pizza turned out. First of all, the review. It was definitely something I’d repeat. It sounds fussy, having to make dough, but if you wanted to cheat a bit, you could buy ready-made pizza dough. The recipe makes enough for six individual pizzas, and we made two and froze the rest of the dough in two-pizza servings. Next time all we’ll have to do is top them and grill. The recipe is from Sunset Magazine.

With a bread machine, this is a snap.

Have I told you about my new bread machine? No? The old bread machine worked just fine, that is, until we bought a gas generator and had it set up. The boys had to put in a new circuit breaker panel to get it going, and in the process of testing it, blew out a bunch of crap in the house. Most of it was just small appliances, and fortunately I’d had the sense to unplug the computers, or they’d be toast, too. There was one near-disaster, with a surge protector in the pantry that nearly started on fire and filled the house with burned plastic smell. That was fun. It left black soot all over the desk in the pantry.

But, I digress. Back to the pizza. I got a new Zojirushi bread machine out of the deal, and that’s it, up there.

Here’s the prep work:

After you finish the dough, you pat it out on oiled parchment paper (waxed paper would work as well). Don’t even think of combining the dough and making one big pizza. It would be a little tricky to manage flipping and turning on the grill that way.

Then you grill the first side, without the toppings.

Take it off the grill, turn it cooked side up, then put the toppings on the already grilled side. We used a local farmer’s goat cheese, a bit of tomato sauce out of a jar*, fresh heirloom tomatoes, thinly sliced sweet onions, and added the basil at the very end.

Put it back on the grill, uncooked side down, and finish. Really, this only takes a few minutes for each side.

Poor another glass of wine, and enjoy.

*We used some really good stuff from Trader Joe’s. I normally make spaghetti sauce from scratch, but this stuff is good in a pinch.

Don’t mind me, I’m just spinning away. Real post to follow, soon. Really.

I'd like to wish all of you a very Happy New Year! I''m posting my blackeyed pea recipe early, so those of you who haven't planned ahead can get out there and stock up before the stores close tonight. You absolutely must have BEP's on New Year's Day, or something really bad might happen.*

Lorette's BEP's

1 biggish onion, chopped
4-5 cloves of garlic, chopped
Celery, about 3/4 cup chopped
1-2 large carrots, chopped
1 Bell pepper, any color will do, chopped
Olive oil
Blackeyed peas, 1 pound bag, picked over and rinsed
1-14 ounce can of diced tomatoes, drained (use the juice if you like it more tomato-ey)
Chicken stock, canned
1 bottle of beer
Splash of worcestershire sauce
Ham hock or ham shank (shank is meatier)
Thyme & oregano, a couple of teaspoons each
Bay leaf
Dijon mustard, a teaspoon or two
Salt and pepper
Cayenne, to taste. I start with about 1/4 teaspoon, and generally add more.

Saute the onion, celery, carrot, and pepper in oil in a big pot. Add the garlic when the other veggies are soft, cook for a minute. Add the rinsed peas, the can of tomatoes, the beer, and enough water or chicken stock to cover by about an inch. I usually use the tomato liquid, too. Throw in the seasonings, except for the salt. Add the ham hock and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook until the peas are done, about 45-60 minutes or so. Add salt to taste towards the end of the cooking time. Keep an eye on it, and add more liquid if needed as the peas cook.

Pick the meat off the ham bone, if there is any, and add it to the peas. Serve with cooked rice.

My promised NY resolutions will be in the next post!

*I have no idea if this is true or not, but I'm not taking any chances.

…As EZ says in her book, Knitting Workshop. As you all may recall, I’m knitting a not-Cobblestone sweater, and have been for months now. I did the body as written up to the underarms, then tossed out the pattern. For the rest of it I’m using EZ’s directions in the above-mentioned book, though I plan on modifying the neck shaping when I get there, using Jacqueline Fee’s Sweater Workshop. I finally finished the body and sleeves.

I now have the whole thing knitted together, with about 2 inches done on the yoke.

I’m enjoying the challenge of knitting a sweater in the round, but I’m not sure I’d do this often. The whole thing is pretty unwieldy once it’s knitted together, and makes it entirely a non-portable project at this point. The only advantage that I can see is not having to sew things together at the end, but I really don’t mind sewing knitting together. (Don’t send me all your sewing to do for you!)

John’s sister Ena is here visiting for the week, and we’ve been cooking up a storm. Here’s part of last night’s dinner. We had fresh steelhead salmon from the market, grilled, along with braised kale and risotto. The risotto was made using fresh chanterelle mushrooms we found at the farmers market, and was delicious. Unfortunately we didn’t get any photos of the whole meal on the plate, but here’s the in-progress shots of the risotto:

Yes, it was yummy. I’m off to enjoy the sunshine!

Once again, it’s been awhile. Happy August! Just so I can bitch about it publicly, the temperature has gotten up to a steamy 61 degrees here today, and it’s raining, again. Where the hell is summer?

Actually, we have had a little summer weather, but only in bits and pieces. We had friends over a couple weekends ago for beach fun and barbecue, and to try out our latest toy.

Meanwhile, John managed to convince Riley that riding in the canoe is a good thing.

And after a tough workout on the water, a nice hearty dinner of barbecued ribs and all the fixings.

A closeup of the ribs:

Yum, they were really good. I bought John a smoker a couple years ago, and thanks to his southern heritage, he makes the best barbecue in the west!

Now, on to knitting. The title of this post has nothing to do with the knitting book by the same name. I’ve finally finished the body of the Whitewater alpaca silk shawl, and am about half way through the edging rows. I may or may not have enough yarn to finish.

6.5 grams. That’s how much yarn I have left, with half of the edging to go. I love the excitement of knitting, let me tell you. Fortunately, I placed a lifeline many rows back, after the second to the last repeat of the main shawl body. If I don’t have enough to bind off, I can always rip back to the lifeline, then knit the edging and have lots leftover. Where’s the fun in that, I ask?

Stay tuned next time to see how it all works out. Any guesses as to how much yarn I’ll have left?

Oh yes. The Elizabeth Zimmerman book in that photo has nothing to do with the shawl. I’m still working on that damned Cobblestone sweater that I’ve had on the needles for years (not really years, but it seems like it). I’m doing yet another bit of jerry-rigging of the pattern. I’ll tell you about that later, too.