hurrayic

Yarn Along ~ February 1

Happy February! 

Wow.  I'm still trying to figure out how January slipped passed me unseen.  I love February.  However, each year when this month arrives, I get a little panicky.  Do you realize that Valentine's Day is only 2 weeks away?  Got to get moving with my Valentine preparations ... once I figure out what they are...ugh!  Any ideas?  Tell me what you're planning.


For knitting this week, I added the i-cord edging to the red & white baby blanket (finally) and am making progress with the 2nd baby blanket, but decided to wait until I have both completed before showing them.  (They're due by Saturday so I need to get a move on them.)  So instead, I returned to a few wips that I've been neglecting.  My husband's Circle and Stripe Scarf is at the halfway point (not too much done on that I'm afraid), and I managed to work a bit on the 2 pairs of duffers.  All three of these were supposed to be Christmas gifts! 

I had hoped to get further along on duffers, but we've had hot water heater woes the past few days...as in no hot water!  (oh kids...why are you complaining?  A little ice-cold shower is good for you!)  Of course, we knew that there was a possibility of it going kaput for awhile but were nursing it along and hoping to get more life out of it.  Oh how I love home ownership at times!  If you recall, this is on the heels of our recent water leakage problem (which still needs to be fixed).  I'm glad to say, however, that as of 4:02 pm yesterday, (despite the $$ spent ~ ouch!), we could revel once again in the luxury of having nice hot water.  My children are very thankful.  It's amazing that we all take/took for granted the availabilty and ease of turning on the tap and having warm water at our fingertips.  It made me think of those pioneer days (and earlier) from history when you had to heat up your water on the stove or over a fire just to take a bath.  Brrr! 

Anyway, hot water we have.  And I'll be felting those duffers today...

Reading other than homeschool books and of course the new hot water heater manual (fascinating for sure) is about all I could muster these past few days.

What are you knitting and reading?

For more yarn projects and reading visit Small Things.

Sewing: Olivia Shoe

I managed to complete 2 items from my January sewing plans list by the end of this month.  Yeah!  Yesterday, I showed a sneak peek of the 3 mini quilts. 

Today, I wanted you to see the Olivia slipper/shoe pattern for String Theory's Shoe and Tell.  Admittedly, I was filled with a bit of trepidation for both projects since my sewing skills are rusty and somewhat limited (still need to conquer my fear of the zipper!).  But both turned out easier than I thought. After I cut the pattern out and before sewing, my daughter discovered a fun twist for the whole project (her younger eyes are better than mine):  a few printed words (tiny font!) on the fabric read "Putting Your Best Foot Forward".  Fun!  How appropriate for a shoe. 
Here she is modeling them for me.  The fabrics are Ruby Star Rising and a thrifted cotton napkin. I think they complement one another quite nicely. 
I ended up hand sewing the last portion of each shoe.  Didn't trust myself to use the sewing machine for that final step.  Actually, I think hand sewing it for that last part is a better idea than machine sewing it.  You can easily hide the tiny stitches.

As Tammy mentioned, the shoe is definitely more a slipper.  Good for walking around the house.  Definitely not good for walking outside to get the mail or to take the dog for a walk (but since we don't have a dog, that won't be a problem!). 

Would  I make them again?  Yes.  My husband keeps telling me how much he likes them... of course, I still need to finish his knitted pair of slippers first...

Enjoying

Happy Last Monday of January...
Hope your time over the weekend was restful and fruitful.
Right now I'm enjoying...

Realizing how deeply we all love good bread around here (no, I did not make it).

Watching my son make chocolate peanut butter balls all  by  himself...and share them with someone who's going through a rough time recently. (they're called 'buckeyes' ~ never knew what a buckeye was until a few years ago)

Loving the mystery of fog that crept into our neighborhood within a few hours. It always reminds me of The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Happy that my children love a good game...this time, Telestrations and getting lots of laughs from it.

Baking Pumpkin Oatmeal Bake after reading about it on Ginny's blog. 

Finishing all 3 mini quilts (will show later this week).

Beginning to pick out fabrics for Randi's Fresh Squeezed upcoming Sew Along...what serendipity...my ironing board cover is...ahem...ugly and needs to be covered. 

Being thankful for another family meal spent together after listening to God's word preached.  What a blessing, indeed!

What are you enjoying?

 

 

{this moment}**

I like my son's curly hair, but he wanted it cut. Snip snip! 
Far from perfect, but his hair is forgiving.
A new (and smiling) young man.
Still camera-shy.

 

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. ~ Soule Mama

{this moment}** a single photo with a few accompanying words ~ hurrayic

Have a good weekend!

Curried Potato Dish

I know I've been showing a lot of food in my posts recently (again), but some weeks are like that.  I either forget to whip out my camera (or don't feel like it) while doing other things, or the busyness of a week hinders me from doing anything other than cook for family.  We all need to eat, right?  And I'm thankful to God not only for his overabundance to us (I'm speaking not just of my family, but everyone) but also his giving such variety of foods and spices and herbs. 

This curried potato dish, which I mentioned in another post and have made twice already, is sooooo delicious and really rather easy.  You probably have everything you need for it in your house (or you might have to scoot out for curry powder if that's something you don't usually have in your pantry).   My ENTIRE family enjoys this one.  In fact, my picky eater went back for seconds.  The recipe is from The Winter Vegetarian, a book I've had for over ten years and which had been sitting forlornly on my shelf until I recently gave it some attention.  As said, I made this twice so far.  It tasted better the first time than the 2nd time.  I wondered why.  Most likely the type of curry powder used and the type of milk.  The author said to use evaporated canned milk.  I don't like using this, nor did I have any in the house and couldn't located any organic version, so I substituted heavy cream the first time and 1% the 2nd time.  Heavy cream tasted better and thickened it better. The curry powder we like is Rajah Mild Curry Powder which I get from a local ethnic grocer (for less than what Amazon has it -unless you're ordering the 6 pk).  I tweaked the recipe just slightly and doubled it for the size of my family.  The recipe below serves 6...supposedly...Enjoy!

 

Curried Potato
(adapted slightly from The Winter Vegetarian)

Download Curried potato

3 large potatoes (I used russets)
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 large onion, diced
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp curry powder
5 Tbsp flour
1 1/2 cups heavy cream (or whole milk or maybe 2%, but don't use skim or 1%)
1 cup water
1/2 - 1 tsp salt
ground pepper
cornstarch if needed (I used this to help thicken once it was in the oven)
cilantro, for topping

Boil unpeeled potatoes in salted water until just tender (or you can prick potatoes and microwave them). Drain, cool slightly, peel off skin (under running water helps) and cut into 1" cubes.  (about 5 cups altogether). 

Preheat oven to 350 F. 

While potatoes are cooking, melt butter in large pot (I used my dutch oven so that I didn't have to transport potatoes into an oven-safe casserole dish) and saute for 10 min or until onions are golden.  Add in tomato paste, curry and flour.  Mix well. Slowly stir in cream and water.  Season with salt & pepper.  Bring to a boil and simmer for a few minutes.  Add potatoes.  Stir to coat. 

Place dutch oven into oven (or if using a casserole dish, grease it first then add the potato mixture).  Bake about 30 minutes or until thicker.  (I used a little cornstarch to speed up the thickening.) Top with cilantro and serve.

Photo Tips and a Yarn Along

Randi, from I have to say, asked me to guest post on her lovely blog.  You can find me over there today where I'm offering a few food photo 'tips' (or at least what I do when I take photographs of all the food my family likes to gobble up).  Stop by for a visit!

Now onto Ginny's Yarn Along...

This week, I "finished" the Cuddly Cotton Blanket.  Or at least I finished the stripes and wove in the ends.  Still have to attach the i-cord edging.  Aside from that, I decided to work a wee bit on 2 projects: my husband's Circle and Stripe scarf (about halfway through now ~ hoping that I can get that done very soon so it'll actually still be winter when he wears it) and the 2nd baby blanket. 

At first, I tried a different blanket pattern because let's face it - the cuddly baby blanket stitch is boring.  Just plain knitting back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.  Redundant!  Perhaps that was why it was taking so long?  Or maybe because I had to untangle the mess of yarns each time I switched colors?  Who knows. Instead, I began the Waffle Weave blanket pattern using 2 colors rather than one.  The way I envisioned the color placement was not the way the pattern was progressing.  So I ripped it out and ...returned to the cuddly pattern again.  This time, I'm hoping it'll go a tad quicker.  I now have a deadline for the blankets which is just the nice little push I need.  Why is it that deadlines make me work better?  Hmmm..

Reading has been a mixture of cookbooks, homeschooling books and 2 new books from the library: House of Silk (saw this Sherlock Holmes novel on a yarn along blog and can't remember who recommended it!) and How to Sell Your Crafts Online.  I've just begun both, so commenting on either is premature at this point.  All I can say is I like a good mystery (non-gory gross kinds of mystery, please), and I hope to (in the far future) think about creating and selling online...

If you create and sell online (at Etsy or have your own shop), do you have any tips or stories or do's and don'ts to share? 

To see more wonderful knitted & crocheted stuffs and read about some pretty interesting book reviews, hop over to Small Things.

Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread

Saw the recipe on Pinterest and repinned it.
Its heady scent filling the house: lots of cinnamon and too much nutmeg.
Monkey bread in a different form.
Doubled the recipe.
I told them to wait. 
Let it cool down just a bit.
Boys! 
Feigning self-control.
Gone... just like that.

Enjoying

Happy Monday morning!
We had a busy weekend.
Good, but busy.
Enjoying (a tad later than usual this morning)...

slow-roasting pork for the men in my family so that they'd have something to eat while I was absent...

spending a good portion of the weekend at a women's retreat, studying God's word, praying together, sharing and encouaging each other, being challenged to grow and blossom...

leaving the nice warm hotel to be greeted with an ice-encased vehicle...

learning to pour warm water (never hot I was informed) around the doorframe so car doors will open and scraping for what seemed like an hour (or more)...

thankful for no slipping or sliding on the drive home...

being greeted by my men and a clean(er) house.  Yeah!  (Can you hear that really big shout of yeah!?)...

baking Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies again...

finishing (minus the edging) one baby blanket...

making a pungent Chermoula (Moroccan green sauce) from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and loving its spicyness...

hoping to have gotten more items done and ready for the new week...

being reminded that those things can wait...

playing instead, another new game with the family: Settlers of Catan (with extension) for hours...

happy that a fresh cup of coffee and a bit of knitting is a must while playing...

winning the game without fully realizing it (he he he)...

 

What are YOU enjoying?

{this moment}**

Wearing sunglasses is a must when learning about trajectory parabola!
(actually the glasses were simply used for eye protection against any misfired 'cannon balls')

 

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. ~ Soule Mama

{this moment}** a single photo with a few accompanying words ~ hurrayic

Have a good weekend!

 

Soup: Chicken with Brown Rice, Lemon, Ginger, Smoked Paprika and Cilantro

A few days ago, I roasted 2 chickens and used part of both for another recipe.  So I was left with a portion of each chicken (including carcass) and wondered what to make with them.  Soup would be a good choice.  But usually I find chicken soup recipes rather bland.  At least the ones I've tried.  I threw a bunch of things together to see what would happen.  Pleasantly surprised.  My husband said it was the best chicken soup I've made so far.  Okay!  Smiles all around from my guinea pigs family. 

If you make this recipe, I figured that the chicken I used is about the amount of 1 whole chicken so that's what I've included.  But nothing says that you can't add more.

Chicken Soup with Brown Rice, Lemon, Ginger, Smoked Paprika & Cilantro

1 chicken
salt & pepper
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 onion, chopped
6-8 scallions, sliced (both white and green parts)
3 big carrots or big handful of snacking size, sliced
4-5 celery stalks (including leaves), sliced
1 tsp chipotle flakes
1 1/2 tsp sweet smoked paprika
1 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup lemon juice or juice of 1 lemon (+ more if desired)
1 small bunch cilantro, chopped, ready for topping
additional chicken stock if needed (I used low sodium organic stock)

Put whole chicken in stockpot.  Cover with water by about 1-2" and season water with salt & pepper.  Be heavy-handed!  Bring to boil then reduce heat to a simmer.  Cook until meat falls off the bones. Place large bowl with a colander on top into a clean sink.  Pour entire contents of stockpot into colander.  The chicken should remain in the colander; the stock will remain in the large bowl.  Return stock to stockpot, cover and keep warm.  Remove chicken from bones.  Throw out bones and the skin.  If any large pieces of chicken are left (probably not since it'll fall off so easily), break them up into smaller bite-size pieces. Set chicken aside.

To the stockpot, add everything else but the cilantro and extra chicken stock if using.  Bring to boil then lower heat to simmer and cook for about 1 1/2 hours or more.  You want the carrots fork-tender and the rice to be fully cooked.  If you need more time, just let it simmer away.  Add chicken.  Simmer some more.  Adjust seasonings - more wine, more lemon juice, salt & pepper...a little more spices if you'd like. If you think it's too thick, simply add additional chicken stock.

Serve with cilantro. 

This tastes good with crusty bread broken into pieces and dipped in soup.