Time for another list of random things I’m thinking about. I liked the last one enough to try it again.

Just out of the oven and cooling on the counter: A raspberry rhubarb tart. We went to the store intending to get peaches or apples for pie…but they had the rhubarb pictured above. I’m still not sure if I like it or not…but it tastes awfully good baked with raspberries.

Will be cooking for dinner tonight: Pork medallions with an apple & golden raisin sauce, roasted potatoes and asparagus.

Currently drinking: Water from my stainless steel Nalgene bottle.

Playing on the iPod right now: Fidelity by Regina Spektor.

Currently checked out from the library: Weeds Season 3 DVD (which is getting a little ridiculous), 30 Rock Season 1 DVD (believe it or not, I haven’t seen any of these episodes), Martha Stewart’s Cooking School and Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell.

Currently reading: Atonement (I’m still pretending that I’m actively reading it), Martha Stewart Living magazine, the last half of Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson and a food related memoir that I can’t remember the name of at this moment.

Would like to buy: a new couch. Preferably a sectional. Possibly brown leather.

Laughing about: Typos. My sister Tasha & I had a rather juvenile email exchange this morning about typos in emails that had me in hysterics. Think about how funny an email might be if you leave the “i” out of “doing”.

Currently knitting: A second pair of  Saartje booties for a friend’s newborn baby. I’m knitting them from Socks That Rock yarn leftover from the Chevron Scarf I made last year.

Anxiously awaiting: Eating the tart cooling on the counter. Also, I really want my daffodils to bloom. I think some of them might actually do so in the next week.

Needs: I still need shoes of all sorts. And some short sleeve shirts for work…that I’ll need if it ever gets warm for more than two days in a row.

Crazy Future Aspirations: To be a domestic diva with an empire. Kind of like Martha Stewart. But without people hating me and definitely without a jail sentence.

Playing on the iPod now: Catch My Disease by Ben Lee.

Attempting to Learn: How to decorate a cake. I can do it…but not nearly as well as I need to do it for the wedding cakes I’ll be making this summer.

Must Resist: Butter. I’m trying to use less of it. This is not easy given my penchant for baking.

What’s Keeping Me Busy: Work. My (mostly) desk job makes me tired sometimes. This surprises me after standing for 9 years at my old job. Of course, part of the problem might be that I can’t force myself to go to bed early.

Hyped Up About: Our new used bed frame. The boyfriend found it on craigslist on Friday night and we had it set up by 4 pm on Saturday. A similar new bed would have cost a lot of money. This bed did not cost a lot of money.

Waiting For: Laundry. It’s in the dryer. Then I have to fold it. And iron it. It’s kind of a Sunday ritual now.

Craving: A milkshake. Maybe a Baskin-Robbins mint chocolate chip milkshake. I haven’t had one of those in years.

Playing on the iPod now: Two by Ryan Adams. Which reminds me…doesn’t it seem odd that he and Mandy Moore are now married?

If I had magical powers: I would make our yard beautiful. Lots of green grass and flowers and vegetables and herbs. And if I had money, I’d think about paying someone to help me with it.

Looking forward to: At least one camping trip in April with friends. We’re either going to the mountains or the beach. Depending on the weather.

Tweet This Post 

For more Wordless Wednesday posts and information, go here.

To find out more about this picture, click on the picture and go to Flickr.

Tweet This Post 

Meet my carrot cake and caramel buttercream frosting. I’ll have a recipe up for it soon (maybe tomorrow) but for now, this picture will have to suffice. Enjoy.

These are a couple of felted clutches I finished for that art show I did with Tasha in November. Tasha took some pictures of them at the time but I never posted those. So I took a few pictures of them yesterday when I had the boyfriend’s camera out for the carrot cake photo session. I really like both of them. I should just pick one for my own personal use rather than letting them sit in a basket in my living room. That reminds me, I’m supposed to take a couple to work to show one of the hostesses.

Meet Bento. Bento is a new database software for Macs. It was pretty cheap and it’s pretty cool. We’ve already set it up for recipes as seen above. Eventually I’ll enter everything I cook into it with the recipes. My paper file of recipes is now on its way out the door. I really love that you can include pictures. Not that I needed another excuse to take more pictures of my food. Should this bakery idea ever get off the ground, this program is going to come in handy.

Other things…

Since my dinner at Bonefish last week, I’ve decided to give up fried food. Sauteed or pan fried things are fine but I’m skipping the deep frying. That means that I’ve given up fast food, sodas and fried food since last April. I also eat substantially less meat now. The boyfriend’s food habits are definitely a good thing for me. It’s not like he’s forced me to make any of these changes. They’re all choices I’ve made on my own. They just happen to mimic his habits. I don’t really miss any of the things I’ve given up anyway and I think these changes make me think of more creative things to cook.

I eat leftovers now. I used to eat very few things leftover. Lasagna and chili were okay. Most other things were not. For example, I made Mushroom Pie last night. The old me wouldn’t have made something so closely resembling quiche in the first place let alone eat it reheated the next day. For the record, it was quite good both fresh out of the oven and leftover.

I also like salmon now. Some of my family members will recall the lengths I went to in protest of salmon a few years ago. I’ve come to realize that it’s only the farm-raised smelly salmon I’m opposed to…the wild variety is delicious. We ate it once last week and I actually requested it again just a few days later. We ate rockfish for dinner that night instead…which was just as delicious.

I’m nearly done reading “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” by Barbara Kingsolver. First, I think that reading this book is going to make me think a little more about what things I choose to eat. Second, there are at least a half dozen passages in the book that could have been taken straight out of my childhood. Needless to say, I’ve recommended this book to my mother.

I tried stalking the boyfriend’s undeveloped lot yesterday without success. I couldn’t get all the way down the street to inspect the site as there were dump trucks at another lot and they were mostly blocking my path. Stalking progress (or lack thereof) on the lot will probably only get worse as the months pass and the house is built.

I should go. I need to go vote in the primaries this afternoon before I head off to work.

Tweet This Post 

These are just the most basic chocolate chip cookies you can make…directly from the back of the Nestle bag. The boyfriend wanted chocolate fairly late at night and decided he’d make cookies. I called my dad to see what his very frequently used recipe was. Turns out Mom and Dad had made them that same night…but Dad’s recipe is the Nestle one with shortening instead of butter. So that’s what the boyfriend made. Of course, my dad usually throws in some nuts. The boyfriend doesn’t like that. More details on that when I post pictures of my next baking adventure.

These pictures were taken with the boyfriend’s Canon camera again. I’m thoroughly enjoying playing with it and I used it with the tripod when I took these pictures. If I do say so myself, I did a nice job.

While I was playing with the camera, I decided to see what it could do with a knitting project. It did pretty damned well. I’ll have to keep playing with the Canon. The boyfriend said I could do so whenever I want. I’ll have to apologize to my little Sony Cybershot. It’s a nice camera but the Canon is better.

Anyway…this is the Chevron Scarf in Socks That Rock yarn that I’ve been working on for a very long time. I might finish it before winter is officially over. And I might not. I should knit more. Then I could take more yarn pictures with the boyfriend’s camera. But he might take my camera rights away if that happened.

These brownies were photographed with my Sony camera. Still a decent picture. But not a great one. These are Peanut Butter Cup Brownies…made with a Baking Illustrated basic triple chocolate brownie recipe and beefed up with 8 chopped Reese’s Cups. My dear God, these were delicious. I’ll get around to posting recipes for these things one of these days.

A new program for my Mac arrived today. I haven’t taken it out of the box yet but it’s called Bento (yes, it’s named after Bento Boxes) and it’s a database software. The plan is to use it for baking/bakery type things. Such as recipes. My paper binder of recipes and what was good and bad about them will be a thing of the past once we get the database going. Pretty sweet, huh?

Pictures of a made from scratch carrot cake with caramel buttercream frosting will come soon. As soon as I’m home during daylight hours to take pictures of it. For the record, it’s good. And I think it’s the first cake I’ve ever made from scratch.

It’s occurred to me that I’m not even sure who reads this. To the best of my knowledge, about 5 people might read this blog with any sort of regularity (and that number includes myself). Am I wrong? Post a comment if you’re reading this. I’m just curious. And I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t want to read this blog…it’s pretty boring.

I should go…I’m meeting a friend for drinks and appetizers at Bonefish Grill shortly. Then I’m coming home to read more of “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle”…if food (especially locally grown or produced, homegrown, or homemade food) appeals to you at all, you should read it. The few chapters I’ve read are really making me want a garden…but that won’t happen this year. Other than maybe an herb garden…at least that’s something.

That’s it for today.

Tweet This Post 

mini bags to felt…
Originally uploaded by meliass.

Look, I’ve been knitting. Probably only because it’s a nice diversion from studying. These will be little coin purse sized bags with flaps and snaps. I should be making one per day for the next month for the craft show these will be at in November. One per day probably won’t happen but I can set unrealistic goals if I want to do so.

I shouldn’t be typing this as I should be taking on online test for school. I’ll do that in a minute.

The boyfriend has a friend thinking about taking up crocheting as a hobby. He feels the need to warn her about the yarn. The yarn that takes over your life. He said that he might show her a picture of my yarn closet. If only the yarn closet were the only problem. The real problem is when you combine the yarn closet with the yarn under the bed, the swift under the couch, the knitting books on the shelf and the innumerable work-in-progress bags all over my apartment…I seriously have 7 bags related to knitting sitting in my living room right now. Yes, I have a problem. I really can’t blame him for wanting to warn her about how dangerous it is to start knitting or crocheting.

That’s all. The online test beckons.

UPDATE: Have I mentioned that the class the online test is for is a joke? I just took the test. It was 50 multiple choice questions. The time allotted is 1 1/2 hours. I took it in 25 minutes and got a 100. Ridiculous.

Tweet This Post