Knits!

It's one of the words in the blog title, and looking at my content, you would think I'm not knitting anymore!  Well, you would be wrong!

I've just been doing much more secret knitting that I can't really show off until the recipient sees it first!  Luckily, these lovely Hedera socks (pattern by Cookie A) were received today, so I can finally share them with the world!  These were done in Squoosh Fat Sock in the Froggy colorway (which had been languishing in my stash for way too long, not knowing what it wanted to be!) and they were a pleasure to knit and even more of a joy to give to a good friend!  As an added bonus, the knitting on these went pretty quickly, and Cookie A makes such beautiful, interesting patterns, even when they're pretty simple like this one was!

One Christmas gift down, a few more to go!

And Then I Fried Some Pickles

The one on the left is having a sexy wardrobe malfunction.

Pinterest has struck again.

As I was goofing around on Pinterest and trying to plan this weeks menu, I stumbled on a recipe for one of my guiltiest pleasures - fried dill pickles.  Now, I'm no connoisseur in the world of fried pickles - my entire experience with them starts and ends at Hooters - but I know two of my favorite ingredients, pickles and fried, are invited to the party.

Since this is me we're talking about, I all but disregarded the recipe, and did pretty much whatever I wanted.  XD

I used:
16 oz jar of dill pickle slices (I didn't use them all, I still have some marinating in my fridge!)
1 tsp dried garlic
1 tbsp hot sauce
1/2 pint buttermilk
16 oz peanut oil (or more, which is probably better.  I'm just cheap)

What I dredged it in:
1 cup AP flour (despite being told "SELF-RISING IS EVERYTHING" from my Southern friend, Amber)
1/4 cup cornmeal
salt
pepper

Dump out a little more than half your pickle juice, and add the garlic, hot sauce, and buttermilk to the jar.  Shake it up to evenly distribute, and plonk that back in to the fridge for at least half an hour.  In the mean time mix up your dredge mix.  I do this on a plate because I find it easier to mix and add all my dredge-worthy food in (and find afterwards).  Next, mix up your favorite beverage.  This is not part of the recipe.  ;)  Start heating your peanut oil in a pan.  This is a point when I wished I had used a heavier pan that retained heat better, but all my heavy pans are too large in diameter, and my meager peanut oil would have been too shallow.  I heated the oil to 350 degrees (yay food thermometer), turned the heat to low to maintain, and retrieved my pickles from the fridge.

I retrieved 6 of the pickle slices and placed them in my dredge mix.  Shuffled them around a bit to evenly coat, and started by putting 2 of them in to the oil.  This will cool your oil down, so don't overload your fry pan!  Too many pickles will cool it so much that it won't fry - you can do more pickles at once by using more oil.  Leave the pickles to fry for a few minutes - they should start to turn that delicious-looking golden brown.  Remove from the oil and place on a paper towel-lined plate to cool and allow the excess oil to drain.  Your oil should be back up to temp at this point, so put in your next couple pickles slices.  I admit, I overlapped a bit and added new pickles before the first ones were done.  And nothing bad happened at all!  :D

When your pickles are done draining and won't burn your face off, plate them up with a side of blue cheese dressing and enjoy!  I considered making some chicken wings with these, but really I'd rather just eat a double order of pickles, if I'm honest.  :D  And really, these are WAY better than Hooters' pickles.  Really.

When Paper Pushing Gets Intense

I Bought Chocolate Frosting Vodka

Look at all these posts about food - what do you say we change it up?  Here's Johnny! alcohol!  After becoming a big fan of Cupcake Vineyards (must be 21 to enter their site), I became obsessed with tracking down some of their Cupcake Vodka (you still 21? Good).  After a bit of research and a bit of dumb luck I found it, and while trying to Google cocktails while in Bevmo on my ridiculously ancient phone, I just bought a bottle of Devil's Food and figured I would get creative at home.

As luck would have it, I had just recently bought 3 pints of strawberries at a farmer's market, and de-topped and frozen 2 of them.

I tried the vodka (it's like liquid frosting, no lie), and let it chill in the freezer while I attempted to find my blender.  Remember how I told you about my Crockpot being banished to the deepest, darkest corner of my under-the-counter storage?  Well, the only thing behind it was the blender.  I just don't blend things!  I drink margaritas on the rocks!  I buy creamy soups in cans!  I don't know what else you do with a blender!

So I got out the blender.  It was so far back there, it would have been easier to just have Narnia mail it to me.

I told my husband "try this vodka, and we have frozen strawberries! and I'm going to throw some stuff in the blender and it'll kinda be like chocolate-strawberry daiquiris, but maybe not, because I think daiquiris are a tequila based drink?  Whatever, it has chocolate AND strawberries."

To which he replied "...we have a blender?"  I declared "Funnay!" in my best Fozzie Bear voice and started to put things in the mysterious blending contraption.

Honestly, I had sampled quite a bit of the chocolate vodka by this point (just because I PUT it in the freezer doesn't mean it STAYED there), and the husband was being a laugh riot, so the only thing I measured was the vodka (hilariously).

4 oz vodka (this is for 2 drinks, as pictured)
1 pint frozen strawberries (I had 2 pints, and used half my strawberries)
2ish oz of agave syrup (you can also use simple syrup. I also wished I had used a bit more)
some dashes of lime juice (prevents scurvy)
a small handful of ice (I like that it breaks up the drink and introduces some water, but it's definitely not necessary with frozen strawberries)

As you can see from the photo, what resulted was not so much a drink, but a thick sorbet-like dessert that we had to eat with spoons and which was pretty tasty and refreshing.  Of course, you may find it even better if you don't have to go on a recon mission to get to your blender.

New Friends to Whom I Can Give Speeches

This weekend I celebrated my birthday, and these cute little guys are one of my gifties!  These are Monster Chunks, pattern by Rebecca Danger (she's such a Rock Star!), and you can see that my friend Kate made me an army of them!  We have a running joke (that is perhaps based in reality) that I am prone to breaking out in to a speech at any given moment, and that my biggest frustration is lack of audience during these impromptu speeches.  XD  She's such a problem solver.  These Monster Chunks came with a story book of what their adventures were in England before they came to live with me, and I'm almost fearful about the amount of trouble they can get in to!  I mean, don't they just look like trouble?

Coconut Tilapia with a Mustard Fig Sauce

I was suddenly feeling very Iron Chef, and I wanted to make something a little more complex than usual.  I enjoy cooking, but often times things like "complimentary sauces" or "food that requires me to dirty more than 2 dishes" just doesn't happen.  But, sometimes that's exactly what NEEDS to happen, and as a lovely result, delicious food is what happens!

I started with this recipe found at allrecipes.com, but due to not having certain ingredients, or just wanting to be creative, I ended up altering it pretty substantially.

First I prepped my beautiful tilapia filets (seen here) by cutting them in half longways, so they would cook more evenly, fit in the pan better, and just have a prettier look to them.  When I was done I sprinkled them with cornstarch and dusted off the excess.  I set the filets aside and started to assemble my coconut mixture.

1 cup of unsweetened coconut flakes
1 tbsp flour
1/4 panko bread crumbs
Assorted spices (I don't have anything labeled Creole seasoning, so I threw in a dash of salt, black pepper, dried basil, BBQ spice rub, oregano - add your own twist to this!  And don't hold back, my only regret was that I wished I had put more spice in to the coconut mixture!)

I tossed those things around and put the whole thing on a dinner plate for easy coating of my fish.  On a separate plate (or bowl, so you're not creating extra dishes), whisk 1 egg  that you'll dredge your fish in.  I used 2, and had about a bajillion egg left over.  Now would be a good time to get some olive oil heated up in a big pan that won't crowd your fish (remember, we want it all shimmery), and fix yourself a drink while you wait for that to heat, since you've done all your prep.

Instead of a drink, I had a camera in my spare hand instead.  You're welcome!  ;)  When your oil is ready to cook, dunk your fish pieces in the egg, coating all of it, then flop it around in your beautiful coconut mixture, then arrange them in the pan so that they'll cook evenly.  I used fairly small pieces of fish, and cooked them for about 5-6 minutes on each side (don't forget to flip these!).

While that's cooking, make your dipping sauce!  I didn't have the apricot jam that was called for in the recipe, but I did have fig spread (I know, who has fig but not apricot??  I'm weird).  I also substituted stone-ground mustard, and just a dash of horseradish.  The fruit sauce really brings out the coconut, but you don't want it to be too sweet.  I kept adding mustard until I was happy that the sauce was just what the dish needed.



Serve your dish, and wait for the compliments to pour in, enjoying your plate in the meantime.  Shrimp would also be easy to substitute in (well, easy if you're not counting the shelling and cleaning you have to do before hand, or easy if you make someone else in your house do that part)!

Interviewed!

I can't believe I almost forgot to mention, but I was recently interviewed over at my friend Amber's blog, Last Yesterday.  Her questions were a lot of fun to ponder over and answer, and even I was surprised by some of my answers!  If you want to learn a little bit more about me, or you're just looking for a new blog to keep you entertained, Amber won't disappoint you!

Movie Review in 10 Words or Less: Transformers 3

Dear Michael Bay,

I forgive you.  You finally got it.

4/5

New Socks! (and I REALLY like these ones!)

I have had these on the needles for 10 months.  Now, THEY ARE FINISHED!

These Sidesteps (Rav link) were on my "must finish before starting new fun things" list, and while they were slow-going for a while because of all the 1x1 twisted rib and small cable crosses, I really, REALLY like them!  They fit perfectly and are so pretty.

I wouldn't knit them again (they almost celebrated a birthday on the needles!) but I sure am glad I knit them once.

And now I can finally start new things!  I have big ideas!

Tough Decision

Those of you that have known me for at least a year, probably also knew that I had set up an Etsy shop for my handdyed yarns.  It was an accident really - one day I was bored (it's how a lot of my adventures start), I threw some yarn in a pot with some color, and the resulting skein was so cool!  I thought "surely I must share this joy with the world, and I'll be a FAMOUS dyer and I'll be RICH and can sit around and play with yarn ALL DAY!"

Yeah.

After about a year of seeing the reality that dyeing, drying, reskeining, photographing, listing, shipping, tracking, and updating take a lot of time, and that there were not enough hours in the day for me to make money from it and enjoy it, I've pulled the plug on my Etsy shop and closed the accounts that were linked to it.  Immediately, I felt disappointed that I didn't succeed, but that quickly gave way to feeling a huge weight had been taken off my shoulders.  On the plus side, all those skeins that I didn't want to part with, but I needed inventory for the shop?  MINE.

Here's to dyeing being fun again.  raises glass

Weekend at the Racetrack!

My goodness, am I sunburned and windburned from this last weekend, but I had a ton of fun at our local racetrack celebrating Ferrari Days!  And have I mentioned that my "local track" is actually Laguna Seca, one of the most technical circuits in the world (and the best track ever, but I'm biased).

He just wanted a picture of the car.

This weekend was to celebrate all things Ferrari, and did they ever show up in style.  The paddock was full of Ferraris that would be racing or doing exhibition laps through out the weekend, and fans brought their cars as well to show off and join in the camaraderie.  I pointed out to my husband that you couldn't leave your junk in the back seat like you could in a normal car, a) because most of them don't have backseats, and b) because 1000 people were looking in your car's windows and oohing and aahing over every knob, lever, and suede interior.  And then declaring "whaaaaaat?!  It's an automatic???!"

This wasn't a weekend of too many races, but what we got was fun.  These guys are so competitive and go all out on the track, and it's not uncommon to see cars making contact, dragging pieces of other cars, and dropping tires over the edge of the track and kicking up dust.  Depending on where you sit you can see a good portion of the track - Laguna Seca is known for its elevation change (there's a 300 ft difference from its lowest point to its highest point).  There are great views everywhere, though of course there are better spots to watch the best passing and creative driving.  Laguna Seca is also home to the world famous Corkscrew - a quick left-right turn that drops 59 feet in elevation in only 450 feet of track.  I've been in a car around the track, and at the top of the Corkscrew you can not see ANY road beyond the hood of your car - it's like driving off a cliff.  It feels like that first drop on a roller coaster and it is SO COOL.  Racing down that hill competitively would be extremely intense.

My absolute favorite part of the weekend was not a race, but the exhibition of old Formula 1 cars that they sent around the track.  Nothing compares to these cars - they are FAST and LOUD.  There is so much power in these machine that you can feel the engine in your chest from 30 feet away, and you can hear exactly where they each are on the track.  The most recent was the 2004 Schumacher Ferrari, going all the way back to a 1972 Ferrari driven by Jacky Ickx.  The change in technology in that time was staggering, and while the late 90s/early 00s models sounded like angry hornets, the 70s model sounded like muscle.  It was so cool, and outshone everything else we saw that weekend.  It really got it set in our mind that we HAVE to see the F1 race when it comes to Texas next year.  A track full of these beasts would be incredible.

Movie Review in 10 Words or Less: Fast Five

Over the top, improbable, and OH SO MUCH FUN.  AndPaulWalkerispretty.

5/5

The San Francisco Treat!

I love this city.  Look at all the different architecture in this shot!

So, my husband and I had the special treat of spending this last weekend in San Francisco.  We're not too far from the city, really, but somehow for several years we have always said "we should go play in the city" and then have never found the time.  I find that work drags me up there several times a year, but that's work, and I never get to enjoy the sights and just have fun.  Well, it was DH's birthday, and one of his favorite comedians was performing at Cobb's Comedy Club, so we finally had all the reasons we needed to party in San Francisco!

Brian Posehn rocked!

We arrived on Saturday and checked in to our hotel (which will hereby be referred to as the "hipster hotel" for reasons that are probably already self-explanatory), rested up from dealing with city traffic, and headed to the club to check out Brian Posehn, who is a big hilarious nerd.  If you're only hearing his name for the first time, be warned before checking the YouTubes - much of his stuff is NSFW.  Anyway, we got to the club and the usher walked us in, asking "so...you guys want to sit right up front, right?" and plonked us at a table TOUCHING the stage!  DH thought this was the best thing ever, I thought "they're going to make fun of me!" and tried to behave.  Fortunately I'm not inherently a heckler, and we all had a great time we even got to meet him briefly after the show.  I always think that's so cool when a performer mingles with his fans!

Photos don't match written content as of this point.

After comedy, us and our 2-drink-minimum selves headed up Columbus Ave to the Comstock Saloon (which will hereby be referred to as the "hipster bar" for reasons that are probably already self-explanatory).  There weren't girls in corsets, nor was the bartender also the mayor, but the food was great and our bartender mixed a mean drink.  Satisfied that we were properly fed and hydrated for the night, we set off back to the hipster hotel, a half mile away (and you KNOW we walked, because parking is the worst game ever in SF).  We stopped at a Walgreen's (which will not be referred to as the hipster Walgreens.  I don't even know what that would consist of), bought a hairbrush (I always forget something) and pies (breakfast of champions), and headed on our way.  Also, yay for my phone for keeping me going the right direction and not straight in to the ocean or something!

Still doesn't match.  I just like this photo.  Why is it so tall?

The hipster hotel luckily had a checkout time of noon, so we slept hard, ate pies, and watched terrible sequels of the movie Friday starring Ice Cube while we slowly got our stuff together.  Our weekend was half gone, but the best was yet to come.  See, on Friday, I did something incredibly brave OR incredibly stupid.  Only 6 hours before our government was expected to shut down, taking "non-essential" services with it, I bought tickets to one of those things that was going to shut down - a national park.  I thought nothing of it at the time, but suddenly realized on Sunday that I had come so close to having worthless tickets to Alcatraz!  DH pointed out "I'm sure you would have gotten a refund if that were the case".  But I wouldn't have wanted that.  I had never before been to Alcatraz, and I was so excited to see up close a piece of our history!  Fortunately, disaster averted, and we spent the rest of Sunday afternoon at one of the most infamous prisons of all time.

SF dress code - sunglasses and a wool coat.

Most people wouldn't have been so smiley stepping off the boat to Alcatraz.  But that was so big, it gets a post of its own...

It's HERE: Continued Some More

So on Monday I received 2 packages, my spices, and THIS:

Wine shipment, hooray!!!  I ordered 6 bottles from Wine Library (I don't know why there are only 5 there, that's weird, isn't it weird??!  OhwaitIdrankone.) and after going to the FedEx/Kinkos and showing my ID to the SuperSerious guy working the counter, I was able to bring my new acquisition hooooome!

I found this website by desperately Googling for "Paolo Bea San Valentino Umbria Rosso" after reading a particularly deliciously written review on CNN.com's Eatocracy blog, and I quote: "...a wine that tastes like black cherry pie, bacon fat and mushroom jus..."  WHOA, WHERE TO BUY PLZKTHX??!  You had me at "bacon fat".  And I can confirm that this tastes like a mushroom sauce over a beautifully cooked steak (now you know what the missing 6th bottle was).  I had never ordered wine online before so I started reading reviews, with many commenting on the depth, flavor, the need to decant, and the great value of this bottle - as this winery normally sells for a much higher price point.  Additionally, the blend of grapes here should have given it a particular title: Montefalco Rosso (I could say that all day) and a $60 price tag.  I did more research, and was struck by a particular review, one that translated the Italian label in to English, that I found incredibly interesing: "in Italian at the very top of the label, it states 'and they say it lacks color and is slightly oxidized.'"  First of all, I love any time I see "they say".  You can almost hear that they crossed out the original "those idiots that don't know anything about my product say..."  Secondly, that mysterious regulatory body, "they", managed to singlehandedly knock this bottle in to the $25 price range, a price I could actually afford!!!  Dear Paolo Bea, I'm sorry "they" said your wine wasn't quite right, I shall take 3 bottles off your hands and send hugs.

Wine Library has an impressive catalogue of wines and took great care in shipping me my relatively small order.  My biggest problem so far is that I want to keep it all!  Between not knowing what to try next, and wanting to save it for just the right occasion, I only had one choice for my beverage tonight.

Ooh, it has a snack inside!

Chocolate Moose Cookies, omnomnomnom

Last night was KNIT NIGHT!  So as I stood in the grocery store, overwhelmed and questioning what to bring, I thought "oh screw it, I'll just go home and bake cookies".  (No, it doesn't make sense to me either.)  I considered calling these "Calamity Cookies", as me trying to complete cookies in a half hour resulted in a whole lot of racket and general destruction in my kitchen, but figured that "Chocolate Moose Cookies" was more descriptive and easier to recall when you file it away, and really any thing I make could have the "calamity" modifier.  Ahem.

Note:  These do not contain moose.  They contain muesli, which I just sound like an idiot when I try to say that so we're substituting with "moose".  Try saying muesli 5 times in a row.  It doesn't even sound like a word any more, does it?!  You'll ask yourself "is muesli a delicious blend of oats, nuts, and dried fruits?  Or is it not even real??!"  Then you'll find something better to do.

OK!  It is tim to be series.  (that would make my husband laugh, but he doesn't read my blog - so that is truly a joke with no audience)



Let's preheat to 375 and get our ingredients working: 



It looks like darkness has befallen my cookie dough, LOL.



1/2 cup softened butter (that's a whole stick)

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla (or 1/2 tsp of double-strength vanilla)

1 egg - removed completely from the shell (terrible Worst Cooks in America joke)

You're going to cream these things together with your mixer.  Then you'll beat in the dry ingredients:

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp baking SODA

1/2 tsp salt

I mixed the dry ingredients together first and added them sloooowly so as not to create a whole wheat flour cloud in my kitchen.

Then turn off your mixer, add:

6 oz chocolate chips
1 cup muesli

It will look like there are too many "additional goods" for the dough, and that's probably true, but you can get it all in there!  Stir in until you have a nice, even mixture.  Now, put your thumb and your pointer finger together like you're making the "ok" sign - the dough that you put on the cookie sheet should be in balls about that size.  Be sure to space them well - those balls will flatten out and spread during baking.  This recipe made approximately 18 cookies so you can do 9 on a cookie sheet twice (I'm not going in to more math than that).

Get your cookies in the oven and bake for 10-13 minutes (at least be sure to check them at 10).  Remove and put on a wire rack to cool.

Wrap them in foil and rush them to Knit Night as quickly as you can, forgetting to pick up your mom in the process.

It's HERE!

It's funny how today is a government holiday and therefore no mail, but I still had the best mail day EVER!  Thanks UPS and FedEx!  Let's talk about what UPS brought me in this post, and we'll save my other delivery for a different day (gotta keep the content coming, you know?).

About a month ago I discovered a website called Penzeys Spices, that had a fantastic selection of all different kinds of spices and rave reviews from the loyal customers.  Those same customers claimed these spices were higher quality than what you would find at a supermarket and at comparable and sometimes lower prices.  I love high quality ingredients and was very intrigued, so I ordered a catalogue to get a better look at everything (since there aren't really photos on the website).  3 days later, I got impatient and had been drooling over their amazing descriptions, so I broke down and ordered.  And today it's HERE!

I busted almost all the seals to smell everything immediately, LOL.  For starters, the Vietnamese cinnamon is incredible.  It is like no other cinnamon I have ever tasted.  You know how normally it's really overspiced and if you get a little too much you start to choke on the air around you?  This stuff is NOTHING like that.  When I opened the jar to smell it I was greeted by a fragrant, aromatic spice, and I tasted a bit and was delighted at a touch of sweetness.  Not like sugar, not quite so bold.  The other flavors around it were much bolder.  But I was thrilled to try a complex, real cinnamon that will add some interest to whatever I use it in.  Must find a cinnamon bread recipe ASAP!

Alton Brown would be pleased at these; whole nutmeg!  You grind what you need as you need it, and the flavors and oils are maintained much longer than if you ground the whole thing and stuck it in a jar.  The Penzeys website recommends using it in just about everything, from grilling to baking to sausage making to mac n cheese, which I fully intend to do!  :D



I also got some big bags of caraway seeds and yellow mustard seeds as I tend to go through those quickly with my bread making.  I actually did not think that I ordered big bags, but it turns out 4 ounces each of mustard seeds and caraway seeds is quite a large amount, LOL.  I put the Girl Scout cookies in for a scale comparison, because everyone knows how big Girl Scout cookie boxes are - some of us too well. 

Finally, perhaps the thing I'm MOST excited about, is this little tiny baggy with a single gram (28 grams = 1 ounce - this is ONE GRAM) of goodness. 

I have never, in my life, had saffron in my spice cabinet.  Actually, I don't think that I've ever seen it in real life.  I always thought it was yellow for some reason.  Anyway, saffron is the most expensive of all the spices as an acre of land will only yield 7 pounds of saffron (at most!), not to mention all the labor goes in to it.  Luckily, most dishes that call for saffron only require a pinch of it (including BREAD, eeee!), so my little gram will last me a while before I have to break down and get more.  Just a whiff of this stuff, and I realize that this could end up being a very expensive habit...