YarnFoodCoffee

100 Things

Since it's been so long, and since it pleases me, I'm repeating the Omnivore's 100 Things List, found here.

Copy this list into your blog, including these instructions. Bold all the items you’ve eaten. Strikethrough any items that you would never consider eating. Underlind anything you've never eaten, but would like to. Bold and Strikethrough what you've had, but never want to again.

venison
nettle tea
huevos rancheros
steak tartare
crocodile
black pudding, aka boudin noir— Dee-lishus!
cheese fondue
carp
borscht— So easy to make, and very comforting on a rainy winter day.
baba ghanoush— Love eggplant and middle-eastern food, but this just doesn't do it for me.
calamari
pho— Perfect for curing a cold/hangover.
PB&J sandwich— Are you kidding?
aloo gobi— I actually hate cauliflower, but hide it in this, and I'll eat it.
hot dog from a street cart— Best ones are from Times Square.
époisses— Don't do stinky cheese.
black truffle— Had it as infused oil and as a flavoring in a celeriac soup. Yumm.
fruit wine made from something other than grapes— Melomel, and mead. Mmm... mead...
steamed pork buns— Mee Sum Pastry in Pike Place makes the best ones.
pistachio ice cream
heirloom tomatoes— Best kind there is.
fresh wild berries
foie gras— I know, it's so anti-eco conscious/neo-hippy, but how can I know if I hate it if I don't try it (plus, there are free-range foie gras producers, now!) [Edit: Had it as part of an amuse-bouche at Licorous. Oh.dear.GAWD is it wonderful!]
rice and beans— Traditional style, and also rice and chili, apparently popular in S. America.
brawn, or head cheese
raw Scotch Bonnet/Hanañero pepper— Yeah... don't really have a death wish. K, thx.
dulce de leche— In ice cream... mmm.
oysters— Cooked (blech.) and raw (yum!)
baklava— Raised on it.
bagna cauda
wasabi peas
clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
salted lassi
sauerkraut— Again, raised on it.
root beer float— Raised on that, too.
cognac with a fat cigar— Yeah, had to try it. Been there, done that. Prefer the cigar alone.
clotted cream tea
vodka jelly/Jell-O— Does a Jello Martini count?
gumbo— Oh yeah!
oxtail
curried goat— Had goat tacos, though.
whole insects
phaal— Hottest curry on earth? I'd try it.
goat’s milk— I heart goat.
malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more— Cured myself of whiskey, thanks.
fugu— Every time I try to get a hold of it, something gets in the way.
chicken tikka masala— Yum.
eel— Love it.
Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut— Used to have a strong addiction to them, hot off the rollers.
sea urchin— Had some that was not-so-fresh once, but willing to try again.
prickly pear— Oh gods, yes!
umeboshi— I have it in the fridge.
abalone
paneer
McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
spaetzle
dirty gin martini
beer above 8% ABV
poutine— Ambrosia of the gods.
carob chips
s’mores
sweetbreads
kaolin— Don't know what it is.
currywurst— One of my weaknesses... must find a new Frites vendor on Cap. Hill. This one's on Leary.
durian— Tempting, but when they're cut open they smell like sewage. Not cute.
frogs’ legs— It's not easy being green.
beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake— Pretty sure I've had all four.
haggis Just one of those things you have to try, just to say you've had it.
fried plantain
chitterlings, or andouillette
gazpacho
caviar and blini— Not a huge fan of blini, but sustainably-raised caviar is nice.
louche absinthe— I have a bottle, partially consumed. I hate anise, so unfortunately for me, this is not something I'll be partaking of again.
gjetost, or brunost
roadkill— Do I look like the spawn of Ted Nugent?
baijiu— Don't know what it is
Hostess Fruit Pie— My Man loves 'em.
snail— Escargot is yummy (and, surprisingly, the same as the ones in your garden.)
Llapsang souchong
bellini
tom yum
Eggs Benedict Only my absolute favorite breakfast food. Next to pancakes. And hashbrowns.
Pocky— Oddly addictive.
tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant Only if the portions are decently-sized, i.e., more than a bite.
Kobe beef— Nothing special.
hare
goulash
flowers
horse I want a pony [in a pasture, not on a plate.]
Criollo chocolate
Spam— Can you say "spam musubi"?
soft shell crab
rose harissa
catfish
mole poblano
bagel and lox— Not just for New Yorkers.
Lobster Thermidor— Lobster is good as is, with lemon.
polenta— Yuck.
Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee— Don't really care. I get my coffee from a local business.
snake— Only if starving... in the desert... and I already ate my camel and drank the water from it's stomach. Snakes are cute.

Surefire Cure for a Lousy Day

1. Have a much needed heart-to-heart with a dear and beloved friend. Hi, K!

2. Prep dinner while having the teeniest sip of your favorite beverage.

3. Eye that decadent 9.7 oz. bar of 62% cocoa semi-sweet Scharffen Berger you bought for the express purpose of making this.

4. Promptly hack off a large chunk, and gleefully watch chemistry and physics play out as the friction from the knife melts the chocolate, making your job easier.

5. Lick the fruits of your scientific research off your fingers.

6. Wrap said chunk of unadulterated bliss in paper napkin to avoid a gooey mess.

7. Laugh out loud [but quietly] at the absurd position your slumbering Man has taken. [Think puppy dog laying on its back, with its front legs up in the air, paws hanging, and its rear legs akimbo. Too cute.]

8. Lightly nibble at the chocolate for a few minutes, realize you don't need it, and watch your favorite TV show online, without commercial interruptions (Thank you, YouTube!)

I hope you're having a lovely evening, and Happy Friday!

Thanking my lucky stars

Finally, a break in the heat! We've been having nothing but pouring rain and overcast skies, here, which is a sight better than 90°F with high humidity (not to mention that one day, in my bedroom, I watched the thermometer change from 100° to 101°! That's the temp in the room, not outside. I miss A.C.) Blech! Not only does my poor, overworked body (which is abysmally bad at regulating body temperature) get a much-needed respite to catch up on hydration, but I'm finally comfortable enough to knit again!

[insert image of me bouncing about like an over-excited puppy]

Ahem. Right, works in progress. I've started on the Eye of Partridge Shawl that has this e-author jumping for joy, and helping to break fingering weight out of the chains of sock-dom (not that socks knit from fingering weight aren't lovely, but the thought of my Man wearing holes into my new Handmaiden Swiss Mountain Silk/Cashmere in the Nova Scotia colorway makes me feel faint.) I would post images, since it's coming along so nicely with it's simple yet oh-so-pretty lace border, but it seems that my Man has commandeered my camera again.

*sigh* It's all well and good that he wants to take pictures of his collection to show off at work, but maybe it's time for me to get him a camera of his own... or this just may be the perfect excuse to get myself that gorgeous lime green digital camera that I saw the other day, and he can have my old orange one.

So, unfortunately, no new pics this post, and none of the older ones that I promised last time. Mea culpa.

Awesome.

I just received a call from Hilltop Yarn, great shop in an old house on Queen Anne Hill, and they informed me that I won a drawing for a $25 gift certificate.

...Wait.

...Did I hear that right?

Free... yarn? Life is good.

A Midsummer's Day

Have a lovely day.

WIP's

[Sorry about the ridiculously-sized photos. Photobucket hates me right now... time for a Flickr account.]
[Edit: photos magically fixed themselves, but now I'm on Flickr. Come find me.]

In the knitting sphere, here's what I've been up to:

Summer quarter has been kicking my butt, (at least, as far as me getting enough sleep and preparing to move) but I've been giving it back in spades.

And then there's been the attempt at starting on Christmas gifts, which around here have come to be called X-mas Projects:

A buttoned tab hat, with the beginnings of a matching seed stitch scarf. Don't really much care for how this hat turned out, so I probably won't use the pattern again. (If you want it, send me a note and I'll send you the link.)

A sweater for my cousins' new baby boy (a girly-colored version in shades of violet and sage green are in the works for his big sister) from RYC Classic Bambino.

Another sweater for another new baby cousin from Weekend Knitting.

Leg warmers, in a variety of colors, for my friends, again from Weekend Knitting (though, I like the burgundy color so much, I may keep those for myself!)

Oh, and my first attempt at Vegan Blueberry Muffins, which was almost entirely by accident, and one rather rude neighbor. I was doing laundry mid-morning on Thursday, and left the front door open (we live on a very quiet, safe street), and my keys on the table. Well, by the time I came back upstairs, with a full load of clean sheets, the door was closed, and I knew it was my upstairs neighbor because she had left some mail out to be picked up. Not cool. So, I had to climb up the back of the building and onto my second-story balcony, which caused me to utilize muscles that have happily lied dormant until that moment. So, after I'd scrambled up and over the deck railing, I realized I'd pulled my left pectoral muscle. Nice. After taking some ibuprofun, I grabbed a bag of frozen blueberries and slapped it over my boob, which really didn't help at all since the muscle was under mammary tissue, and therefore couldn't really get any relief from the cold fruit. But I knew that once the berries had thawed, I couldn't let them go to waste. So at first I thought of a pie, but then figured that was too much effort, since I only had one frozen pie crust. Then I remembered one of my new favorite books, Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I thought, Well, Mom and Dad are coming into town today, and Dad lurves blueberry muffins...

So I started on a simple vanilla cupcake recipe, and halfway through combining ingredients, while searching through the packing boxes for sugar, I remembered Oh crap, Mom shouldn't have sugar since she's borderline diabetic... Oh! There's a recipe in here for Agave Nectar cupcakes! Sweet! ...no pun intended So, after two very minor alterations, I was able to change the recipe to allow for low-glycemic index sweetness. Awesome. When they first came out of the oven, they didn't feel moist enough or taste sweet enough. But, the next morning they were incredibly moist, and even sweeter, I assume since the Agave Nectar had time to work its magic.

So, an entirely crappy situation was quickly turned into a sweet treat, made of two happy accidents.

Which, I'm happy to report, disappeared quickly. I smell a sequel...

Mea Culpa

I know, I know. I've been a bad weblogger. My excuse is a good one, though:

Over the last 6 weeks, I've been taking part in the very cruel and agony-riddled gauntlet that is Summer Quarter: 12 weeks of classes crammed into 8 short weeks.

Having said that, I've managed to have one of the best quarters, academically speaking, in a long time. For my math midterm, I snagged a 97.5%, or a 3.9 (if you go by the 4.0 GPA system.) For my history midterm, I sinked a solid 4.0 (that's 100% for the rest of us!)

Needless to say, I was ecstatic. (My friend Karen and I joked that, when I learned the results of my math midterm, I was going to get a gold star and an extra cookie at nap time. Good times.)

So, yeah. Although I've neglected other areas of my life, my schoolwork, the first priority at this critical juncture in my existence, has made massive headway.

In conclusion, ladies and jellyspoons, I'd like to beg your pardon, and extend a peace-offering:

Poached Salmon, Pineapple, and Sweet Onion Salad
Pretty basic recipe, but with lots of flavor. If you're lucky enough to get Walla Walla sweet onions, use those; there's nothing like it. Try for fresh pineapple, but if it's to expensive, canned can work in a pinch, too (I just happened to find organic pineapple on sale, $4.99 each.) Also, if avocados are ready and ripe in your area, serve a quarter with each dish. It gives it an extra richness. If you don't like avocados (*gasp!*), it's OK to omit them... just this once. Remember, make it organic! It will taste better.

Ingredients, per person:
1/4 - 1/2 lb. poached fresh salmon, cut into 1" chunks
1/2 - 1 c. pineapple, cut into large chunks
1/4 sweet onion, cut in half and sliced thin
1/4 head of romaine lettuce, well washed, spun dry, and chopped
1/2 c. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. good, flavorful olive oil
1 tsp. sea salt (large grain, Celtic Grey is best)

Place all but last three ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Whisk together lemon and olive oil, then pour over salad, and sprinkle with salt. Mix together gently but thoroughly, then let sit a few minutes for the flavors to meld.

Also, new recipes will be on the way, once life around here slows down a little more.

Enjoy your Monday, friends.

Desperately Seeking...

I've desperately been trying to find more than scrap yardage of Heather Ross' goldfish design for Free Spirit Fabrics. I should have bought a bolt of it when I had the chance. (Think I'm over-exaggerating? Go look in my fabric bins. I have bolts of fabric.)

I love this stuff so much it's not even funny. I'd happily pay any [reasonable] price for a piece larger than 2 yards... and I'd pretty much contract to hand over my first born for an entire bolt of the stuff.

Anyone know where I can find some? I'll make you something from my other [gorgeous] stashed fabric if I manage to get all that I want...

Please?

Vegans Taste Good...

[Warning: Due to a run-in with a kitchen knife while making dinner (I'm fine, folks, the only thing badly hurt is my pride) and lack of sleep after my first day of summer quarter, my o.c.d. internal spell-checker has been given the week off. Enjoy.]

Lately I've been looking for some inspiration for vegan recipes. I'm not vegan, or even vegetarian. I like meat. I like chicken, beef, fish, pork, lamb, goat—yes, goat, and it's delicious!—turkey, quail, duck, and many other animals that humans have domesticated in order to slaughter and serve with a sprig of parsley. BUT! I do occasionally like to focus on vegetables, sometimes because I don't feel like eating meat, but mostly because veggies just taste good (but lately I think it's because I've been forgetting to take my vitamins.) So, sometimes I will eat a vegetarian or even vegan meal, and I often enjoy it. However, there have been some issues that I think I'd like to address myself:

1. Peanuts on my noodles or salad is not cute. Don't get me wrong, I love peanut butter. I even occasionally like to demolish a whole bag of salted roasted peanuts with friends. But I have never in my life enjoyed peanuts as a garnish, which is part of why I don't like most Thai food found in the U.S.

2. Tahini and Peanut Butter are not the only "binding" ingredients available. Why do most vegan recipes call for tahini or peanut butter to either flavor or bind the other ingredients? Why not ground flax seed or other egg alternatives? Because again, I like peanut butter, but not that much!

3. Presentation isn't just for carnivores. I've seen some beautifully presented dishes in my life, some of them without meat. But come on! I was perusing a website earlier and saw some "food porn" that actually made my stomach turn! But not because of the ingredients, but the pictures! The brown rice looked like it had been cemented together with some kind of fake mayonnaise, then covered with some sort of brownish legume and pressed into an unappetizing brick. Ick! And Field roast? Don't even get me started.

4. Ever heard of "variety is the spice of life"? There are more substances and flavors out there than tamari, tempeh, ginger, samosas, smoothies, hummus, carob, tahini, peanut butter, and Indian food (though I LOVE Saag Paneer and many other Indian dishes!)

5. If you refuse to eat meat, then why would you eat something that resembles meat? Faux fish? Tofurky at Thanksgiving? Field roast made to look like roast beef? WTF?!? If you're not going to eat the real thing for moral reasons, then why are you trying to trick yourself into believing that you're eating the real thing? (Thoug, on a flavor level, Quorn's chickn nuggets are fantastic.)

6. EAT SOMETHING, DAMMIT! You need more things to eat for lunch than four tiny rolls of fake balogna wrapped around a few slices of fake cheese, a few gherkins, fake cheetos, carrot sticks, and celery with fake cream cheese and raisins. Your body will be screaming FEED ME by 3pm. It's not healthy! And, I don't know about anyone else, but when I see a vegan that looks emaciated because of their [poor] choice of diet, I want to strap them to a chair and force a cheeseburger down their throat, hence my favorite phrase for too-skinny people: EAT A F-ING CHEESEBURGER!

I have started eating and relishing vegan and vegetarian foods this past week, and have many times before. I even hope to someday open my own Vegan, Vegetarian, and Omnivore-friendly yarn café, where I'll serve delicious vegetarian, vegan, and carnivorous meals. But I'm not talking about the stereotypical veg. meals. Yes, tofu is an excellent substance, and I do enjoy eating it raw with green onions, soy sauce and grated ginger (yum!), or stir fried with vegetables and a good Asian sauce, both very simple and very satisfying. But sometimes I can't stand dishes with tofu, especially when it's smoked or over-seasoned. Also, I love potatoes, but I don't want them to be the main feature in my meals, and I can't stand cauliflower, so of course I don't want that to even be present.

I think that what I'm trying to say is, concerning vegan food, I'm bored.

But I plan to change that. Over the next few years, I'm going to do a bit of culinary experimentation, a food alchemy, if you will. Any ideas or hints you wish to share (or even funny/tragic/advisory stories) will be happily accepted and given credit for.

In other words, if your tips or recipe is used to inspire the creation of, say, a new kind of cupcake, it shall be named for you, like if Liz gives a recipe for a rum-soaked key-lime pie, it could be transformed into a lime and rum glazed lime cupcake called Lizzie's Lime Rickey... Oh, that sounds good... I'll get right on it!

Taking it easy, Mom?

With the unseasonably cold and wet weather, later than usual local produce season just kicking off, and so many animals taking their sweet time to lamb/kit/have a baby, I'm beginning to wonder if Mom (Mother Nature) has decided to just take it easy this year... more on this theory later.