What is your favorite Food Movie?

Tomatoes

One of my greatest pleasures of summer is fresh, ripe tomatoes. I love having a sliced tomato for breakfast. Sometimes with a poached egg and toast.

This year, we planted 12 plants. Several of which are heirloom varieties. To date, I have only had one of my tomatoes as the squirrels have made off with the rest. The area I live in has quite a squirrel problem. I had heard that human hair deters the squirrels. While I have a bag of Sam's hair from his last haircut, I didn't have the nerve to go into a Great Cuts with a bag and ask for their hair clippings. Especially after Sam got the heeby-jeebies about it.

So, I have been forced to buy my tomatoes. One specialty store had home grown tomatoes and some Heirlooms this weekend. They were sold out on Monday, so I went to my usual grocery store. Arkansas tomatoes. Not that whippy either.

I sliced one for breakfast today and took a few bites. Absolutely no flavor. I threw out the rest of my plate. Barf.

And so, I must declare war on the squirrels. I didn't want to use a chemical deterrent. Last night, I read that squirrels are deterred by pepper smell. So, I boiled some water and soaked three habeneros that I cut up. Today, after the peppers had steeped overnight, I strained the water and added a couple of drops of dish washing liquid. Then I sprayed my plants with glee.
We'll see if I fixed those bastards or not.

The Nikko wrap is coming along swimmingly. I have about 15 inches done. When I brought it to my parents' house on Sunday, Tate admired it. That's a good sign.

I went back to the specialty store and got some homegrown tomatoes and a few heirlooms. Tonight, we will have BLTs on pumpernickel. I also smash an avocado in the Veganaise. A super easy summer dinner.

Happy Birthday, Tate!

Today is Tate's 20th Birthday. Here is a pic taken her junior year of High School. So, that's about 4 years ago. She's got on a shrug and a purse that I made for her.

Happy birthday, Tate. You are so creative and funny.

I bought the special issue of Interweave Knits Felt yesterday on a whim. I had my felting Hay Day several years ago. Noro felted purses. The wonderful felted slippers from Knitty. (I still make those every year for me and Sam.) Felted hats & purses galore. It's fun to felt. But, I figured I was pretty much over it. I was pleased to find that there are plenty of projects I would like to make from this issue. The silk chiffon rippled scarf is beautiful. The felted buttons and beads look like such fun. And the Unspun Roving Mittens are a must.

I looked in one of my stash closets and discovered that I have FOUR cones of the linen blend yarn I'm using for Nikko. (Background scream.) What the hell was I thinking? I'll have to make a gigantic shawl or something.

We had excellent spatchcocked grilled chicken, corn on the cob, and sliced tomatoes for dinner last night. A lovely summer dinner.

Oops. I did it again.

I worked on the Hyde Park pullover yesterday while working. I have about 8 inches left of the last sleeve and then picking up the collar.

Here are some reasons NOT to send your sweaters to the UFO basket:

1) it's hard to remember where you are in the pattern.

2) your knitting is not the same tension as it was when you started it.

3) you feel silly that you didn't just get it finished in the first place.

4) it's wasteful to have a lot of half finished projects.

However, after knitting on the Hyde Park pullover yesterday, I cast on for Nereides using this yarn.

It's a linen blend yard that I bought several years ago from Webs when they had an anniversary sale. I originally started Nereides using Recycled Sari Silk. But the yarn was too thick and since it's overspun it doesn't lend itself to the lacy effects. Then, I remembered that I had this thick and thin yard in my stash. Instead of Nereides, I will call it "Nikko" as the color of the yarn is much like Nikko Blue Hydrangeas. My rationalisation is that I will enter it in the Art contest my employer has about the same time as the Plaza Art Fair. The wrap has beads and lots of embellishment.

Today, I baked this rye bread.

It's made from a sour that ferments for several days. I made the sour last weekend and kept it in the refrigerator until I had time to make it this weekend. Next time, I will make it in loaf pans. I also made a batch of Kombucha. I used PG Tea and organic cane sugar.

We also went to see the new Harry Potter movie, which I enjoyed very much.

Yarn Porn Friday and two Finished Objects

Here is some hand-spun yarn I bought from E-bay about 10 years ago. It's undyed too. I'm going to mix it with this:

and make the Knitting Pure and Simple Cardigan (KP&SC).

The Watercolor Socks are finished. I know I started these this calendar year. They sat partially completed in the pile of UFO's for a while. The Fetching Glovelets are also finished. The only thing worse than knitting with black yarn is trying to take a picture of it. These are a quick project. I really wanted to cast on for the KP&SC, but then I thought that I would finish another project out of the pile of UFOs. Then, maybe it will be okay to start another project.

So, out of the dregs I bring you the Hyde Park Pullover. The cats are already competing to sleep on it.

Tonight, we are making kabobs.

Damndable Bastard

I couldn't post yesterday. My wrist is hurting me. I have Osteopenia, which is the beginning of Osteoporosis. I spent most of the past year in an air cast because my foot kept getting fractures. I sure hope I don't have a fracture in my wrist. Typing is hard. Knitting is hard. Cooking is hard.
Crap.
I'm wearing a brace. I didn't wear it while working today and it hurt like crazy this afternoon. I'm afraid it will slow me down.
Yesterday was my Caitlin's birthday. Happy, happy birthday. You've given me so much joy.
I'm SO close to finishing the Watercolor socks. But, alas. No knitting.

The Chanel-ish Cardigan Jacket is finished. I ended up have a little more than five yards of the grey yarn.

Maybe I should have trusted Knit Pick's site. But, a line from animal House kept ringing through my head, "You fucked up. You trusted us." So, I'll have an extra skein of grey arriving on Tuesday. I started this sweater in November of 2006. I set it down to get some Christmas knitting done. That' when it went to the Stall Wall.

Sam went to the Farmer's Market on Saturday while I was working and brought back some blueberries and a ginormous head of cabbage along with the tomatoes and corn I sent him after. We had grilled corn on the cob, Cole slaw, and grilled sausages for dinner. I only used half of the head of cabbage and ended up with a plethora of slaw.

Sam requested a Blueberry Cheesecake, which I made today. I used Barbara's Universal Cheesecake recipe. I've been obsessing over her recipes. Every single one has been a winner.

I also baked some bread using this recipe. It was a gloppy mess. I thought for sure it would be a flop. But, it turned out well. Next time, I'll remember to use the no-stick foil instead of the kitchen towels it calls for. I'm soaking my towels right now because the dough stuck to everything that was near it.

I've also started on this rye bread. It takes several days to make because you have to make a rye sour. I hope it turns out well because rye bread is my favorite.