Sunny Surprise

Isn't this a nice surprise to find growing in the middle of your backyard? I love African daisies.

Some Christmas Projects

We had a home-made(ish) Christmas this year, so I thought I should post some of the things I made. I'm terrible about taking pictures of my finished projects, so please forgive me for the quality of my pictures. First of all, I made my mother a lace-work scarf. I decided to use a seagull pattern for the lace, and because I wanted it to be something pretty and un-bulky (Yes, it's a word. A word I just made up.) I made it shortish with a key-hole style fastening method. I know that sounds confusing, but it makes sense when you see it:

There's a slit in the lace on one side, and you put the other end through it so that it snugs up around your neck without having to be wrapped a bunch of times. I did the part that actually goes around the neck in garter stitch for comfort and warmth. I loved the yarn I used; the picture doesn't show it well, but it was this nice sock yarn in rich blues and purples.

I also made my brother a nice bulky scarf, good for braving the icy winds of his might-as-well-be-in-Canada college. Again, I don't have a good picture of the finished piece, so I hope that you (and he) will forgive my poor photos.

As you can tell, everyone gave him a lot of winter gear. I think he also got gloves, another hat, socks, and thermals. That's actually the backside of the scarf that you see in the picture; I double-knit in green, cream, gray, and black, with the green through gray stripes having a staggered end (replaced by black) on one end. It was deceptively difficult to knit, since I had to navigate and untangle eight strands of yarn simultaneously. It's nice and thick and wooly, though, so it was worth the trouble.

Flageolets and Radiatores

I got the very delicious, if blandly named, Reader's Digest "Vegetarian Cookbook" out from the library, and decided to begin with 'Radiatore with Flageolet beans in Tomato dressing.' Basically, cold pasta salad with tomato dressing. Since the store had neither flageolet beans nor radiatore pasta, I substituted navy beans and campanelle.

If you'd like to try it out yourself, here's how it's done:

salad ingredients:
8 oz pasta
15 oz can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
4 skinned tomatoes, cut in wedges
3 celery stalks, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, julienned
14 oz can navy/flageolet beans
2 tbs fresh basil, shredded

dressing ingredients:
2 tbs tomato paste
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tbs olive oil
2 tbs lemon juice
1 tsp superfine sugar
salt
pepper




Cook the pasta for 10-12 minutes. While you're waiting for the water to boil and the pasta to cook, add all the other salad ingredients together in a large bowl. If you're me, bully your husband into helping slice veggies and your dinner guest into being your photographer. The tomatoes were a little tricky to peel, even after being dunked in boiling water and then in ice water. I'm not really sure this step is necessary, unless you are using particularly tough-skinned tomatoes.

julienning away

When the pasta is all done, drain it thoroughly and gently mix it into the vegetables. While this all cools off, mix up the dressing. This is pretty easy, but it seemed as though there wasn't quite enough dressing when compared to the volume of salad.


Perhaps doubling it might work? I suppose it depends how much you like tomatoes. Drizzle the dressing over the salad, and gently toss everything until it is evenly coated. You have to be careful not to damage the pasta and some of the more fragile vegetable ingredients, lest your salad become soggy.


It all turned out pretty well, even with the substitutions I made. This salad would be perfect for hot summer days, since it all seemed very light and crisp. The carnivore in me would have appreciated some diced chicken in it, but even so it was a very filling meal. This cookbook has a number of other recipes that look very appealing, and I would recommend trying it out if you come across it, even for dedicated carnivores.

Being a dork in public

I had to fly back to Phoenix today, and I brought along some quilt piecing to pass the time. Nothing like crafting in public to make you feel like an anachronism. I was knitting when I flew to NY, and quilting on the way back. I think knitting is the more "normal" of the two, but I don't usually see people my age doing it in public.

It's a hexagon quilt using forty different fabrics. I was bored at my parents' house after I had finished making my Christmas presents, so I scrounged around in my mother's stash. Some of the fabric was stuff I had bought in high school, and some of it is from my great grandmother's collection. There's some cute (and crazy) vintage stuff in there.


I think it's crazy that you can see the Washington Monument from the terminal. You don't think of Dulles being so closed to all the national historic places; wouldn't it be an eyesore?

New Year's in Saratoga

This year, my family decided to break both habit and tradition and go out for New Year's Eve. Saratoga Springs was holding a First Night Festival that promised to be both more entertaining and less boozy than Albany's, so we decided to give it a try. My parents went off with their friends one way, and me, my husband, my best friend, and her boyfriend went another. There were tons of bands, entertainers, vendors, and other fun things going on from about 6 pm until midnight.


Saratoga has been a spa town since the 1800's, is home to one-third of the Triple Crown, and is full of gorgeous old buildings centered around a lovely park that houses all the different mineral springs. One of the first things we saw as we walked around were various musicians performing in the store windows; the young lady above was singing opera.


We went into the Military Museum (formerly the Armory) for free snacks and folk musicians, and wandered around looking at the exhibits. Some organization or other was charging $5 to get your picture taken in this old Jeep. Nate managed to sweet talk them into letting him take a picture, just of the Jeep, for free. He was amused to point out that there was a tray of cat litter underneath the engine to catch stray oil drips, since apparently every functioning Jeep leaks. Ours certainly do, at least.


After the Armory, we went down the street to the local Elementary show and watched a juggling act. "Juggling act" is really a misnomer, since the performer made fabulous balloon animals, rode around on a unicycle, walked a tight-rope, and (as you can see above) balanced things on his face. He even got someone to volunteer their toddler for his balancing-act:

We also saw an Irish rock band, explored some of the beautiful public buildings, popped in to various dance and music performances, and finished up with a midnight firework show, before meeting up again with my parents. It was a really fun night, and well worth the ticket price. There was so much more going on than you could possibly have time to see, and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a fun New Year's activity.

one of the many decorated storefronts