Okay, so this isn't 'tomorrow' per say. But at least it's happening, right?
I'll start at the beginning.
In a minute. First, I must tell you about the dinner that mom and I had tonight. Made entirely from my recipes.
Alright, so the pictures don't really make it look too appetizing, bad lighting... mediocre camera. (sorry dad, I definitely couldn't live without it but it is from air miles after all)
It's my two signature dishes. Well, my only dishes really. My avocado burgers and my 'magic mushrooms.' Let's start with the burgers (picture on the lower-left, sorry about the mayo in the way.), These are just regular ground beef with diced onions and avocados mixed in. The greener the avocado, the better, as it softens up quite a bit when grilled. This is a good thing for me because, as of late, we have had a crappy (and expensive) avocado selection, they are all very under-ripe and hard. Today, there were either hard, bright green ones, or nearly purple, deflated basketball-like ones. FYI: when choosing an avocado for anything else (ie. guacamole) you should look for a dark green color and a very slightly soft feel when you squeeze it. If you have never tried an avocado, I encourage you to do so, they are wonderful. I also encourage you to try my recipe.
Next, the mushrooms. They're really nothing special at all, only three ingredients and a frying pan or skillet. You have your mushrooms, sliced. I usually buy them whole and then slice them because there aren't as much that way, you can pack a lot of sliced mushrooms into those little blue boxes, too much. Turn the heat on to just over medium, olive oil your pan or skillet, (I usually use my electric grill which is pretty much just a skillet, but mom was using it to cook the burgers tonight) throw your mushrooms in, drown them in olive oil, (and I do mean this literally, I love my olive oil. If you find a dry spot, soak it.) and just shake some celery salt over the whole shebang. If your using a frying pan, toss them around a bit, keep them moving, they should only take about five or less minutes. They'll be a little brown and they'll have reduced quite a bit. (I know 'reduce' isn't the right word, that's for liquids, what the bloody word?) If you don't have celery salt, (I didn't tonight, it mysteriously disappeared on me, I searched hi and lo.) you can just use that 'seasoning salt' that you see all the time, or you can just use salt and pepper, I imagine that would work as well. Oh yes, did I mention I love olive oil? I really do mean it, drown your mushrooms in the stuff, it makes the meal, and
olive oil's good for you, don't you know?
I plan to write these up on
Ysolda recipe cards as soon as I get new ink cartridges, aren't they just darling?
Also, later this week, I plan to make salmon steaks with avocado puree. That was inspired by the smoked salmon and avocado sorbet that
Anna spoke about. I shall have pictures, and they will still be mediocre but I plan to get a
new camera soon...ish. It will be wonderful, the meal and the camera.
So, knitting! Lots of it! Two finished scarves... uhhh, well that's a lot to me. I could have sworn I'd done more than that. Maybe I've just forgotten it. Here goes.
The striped blanket that you see on the right is a baby blanket that I've had all my life. I don't remember who it was from, I think it was my aunt Wendy. (drop me a line, Wendy, if you recognise it.) I deciphered the stitch pattern (which I am so very proud of myself for doing) and I made it into a scarf one repeat wide. I stash-busted the yarn, it's really a beautiful color, grey-blue-green. This is a really meaningful scarf for me, with the stitch pattern being from the blanket that I still sleep with sometimes and the fact that the scarf goes perfectly with a brooch that I gave my recently passed granny when I was a child, my mother brought it back from the funeral for me. I'll have a picture of it with the scarf at a later date.
The stitch pattern is as follows:
Over a multiple of 29 stitches
*k2, yo, k4, k2tog, ssk, k4, yo, k1, yo, k4, k2tog, ssk, k4, yo, k2 repeat from * to end of row
Next up is my
Yorick scarf. Remember that Highland Wool from Elann? The stuff destined to be the NIN bag? Yeah, that project has been turfed for now. If I decide to try it again it'll be just a felted bag with the design needle felted on. The purple has been turned into a Yorick. I'm quite taken with it, I've already worn it a few times. Yeah, we've have some crappy weather lately. Cold and rainy, but no snow yet.
I'm going to use the charcoal Highland Wool to make another one, to match my skull and cross bone mittens.
I've got to show you the stencil graffiti that I found on the bike path that I take home. I like it, it's George Bush with a gun target sprayed around him. Now keep in mind, I don't hate all Americans, just George Bush and his groupies.
I love graffiti, stencils are my favourite. There's a great one that I need to get a picture of on a pedestrian overpass on the way to the movie theatre from my dad's house.
Speaking of which, I went to stay at my dads on friday night, we met at Eau Claire mall for a movie. We were early, so we went to Good Earth and got some dinner, he got a beef panini and coffee, I got a grilled cheese with Canadian cheddar (tasty) and some organic lemonade (also tasty), I love me some grilled cheese and lemonade.
The theatre didn't open for another 45 minutes so I stopped at Amos & Andes, beautiful handmade clothes, jewelery and other cool stuff, while dad went to look for a birthday card at Card Shark.
And I spent ten bucks on funny gum:
Gay Gum
On the front it says 'Gay Gum, straight from the USA.' On the back, it says 'If It's Gay Gum, Its Got Great Taste." The sides say 'Easy to Handle, Compact Package' and 'Perfect After a Hard Day.' It's even fruit flavoured! I got cus it's just hilarious.
Emo Kid Gum
I got this mostly to show my friends at school, I think they'd find it hilarious. On the sides it says 'For Those About to Hug, We Salute You' and 'Specially Formulated for Those With Sensitive Souls.' It's mint. Yeah, if you don't get the Emo thing, I don't blame you, only people from the age of 13 to maybe 24 get it. Emo is short for emotional. Here,
check it out on
Urban Dictionary. (great site, very helpful too, especially if you have a teenager)
Clinton Gum
I like Clinton, I don't like Bush, I want Clinton back, I don't care who he sleeps with, he wasn't an idiot politically. It's mint
Dum Gum
This is, by far, my favourite. On Bush's hands, 'dam good' is written. The ends say, 'As Seen In The White House,' and 'The Corporate Sponsored Brain-Child.' The sides say, '8 Idiot-Proof Pieces,' and 'Minty Madness.' The back is my favourite, 'Endorsed By God *****' 'Don't Debate, Manipulate!' 'Just Chew, Smile, Nod & Profit!' and 'Warning: May Be Harmful To Future Generations' that one is my favourite.
We saw The Illusionist, while we were in line for the tickets, we were talking about it, trying to remember what it was called because all of the movies began with 'the.' This woman in front of us say 'Oh don't see that, my mom and I could hardly stay awake, it's so boring.' I kinda wanted to smack her... I really hate it when people do that, that's why I don't read movie reviews, they ruin the movie for me, and I really think she kind of did too. I loved it, but don't take my word for it, go see it and form your own damn opinions, kay?
I love gouda... and coffee...
I got a haircut today, I love it. Heres a Before and After shot, I'll have another one later with curly hair after. Hopefully it'll look just as good.
Theres more, but blogger wont let me upload any more pictures, since last night actually... so yeah, I'll save it for another post. Buh-bye.
Posts
It turned out really great. If your still having trouble figuring out what a 'damp' cake is, think of it as the kind that's moist enough that you can smush the leftover crumbs together. In this picture you see it with some pink lemonade (I think I was on a dangerous lemon kick that day.)
This was good too. Unlike the cake, I still have most of this left. (the cake is all gone now) I ended up using the measurements form this recipe and the instructions from this one. The reason being, not only would the second one give me waaay too much curd, but how the hell am I supposed to know how many lemons I need to make 12 tbsp of juice and 12 tsp of zest?! This also took forever to cook because you have to wait for it to thicken on the lowest heat setting (because was using a regular saucepan, not a double one) and, as we all know, Katie is not a patient girl.
It turned out really great. If your still having trouble figuring out what a 'damp' cake is, think of it as the kind that's moist enough that you can smush the leftover crumbs together. In this picture you see it with some pink lemonade (I think I was on a dangerous lemon kick that day.)
This was good too. Unlike the cake, I still have most of this left. (the cake is all gone now) I ended up using the measurements form this recipe and the instructions from this one. The reason being, not only would the second one give me waaay too much curd, but how the hell am I supposed to know how many lemons I need to make 12 tbsp of juice and 12 tsp of zest?! This also took forever to cook because you have to wait for it to thicken on the lowest heat setting (because was using a regular saucepan, not a double one) and, as we all know, Katie is not a patient girl.
