Knitting in Transit

Several months ago, I found a amazing recipe through Pinterest. I am fortunate to have a husband that will eat tofu. There are many people out there that won't. I'm even more fortunate that he will also eat meatless veggie crumbles, meatless sausages, and all sorts of other fake meat products. He may draw the line at turkey bacon. I know I do. Yes, turkey is real meat. But turkey bacon is fake bacon. Earlier this week, I was feeling a little lazy and not quite up to making whatever concoction I had planned, so I went with the Carmelized Tofu recipe from 101 Cookbooks . I actually have Heidi Swanson's cookbook, Super Natural Every Day. I bought it at Patina the same day I bought this thing . Both have been handy, but really... this is a much better way to cook eggs in the microwave. This recipe is a delicious way to make tofu - I'm sure that is primarily because it has three tablespoons of sugar in it (that doesn't sound like a lot...but when you are scooping ...

Yes, I finished this sock. This is really nothing short of a miracle. It has taken me a year to knit this one sock. I purchased this yarn and pattern one year ago at the Shepherd's Harvest Wool and Sheep Festival. It has been so long since I finished knitting anything that I had to pull out my Vogue knitting book to see how to graft the toe. I discovered that the instructions in that book are really pretty crappy. Fortunately, I had other sources. Fortunately, it fits! Although, I should have added a few extra rows to the cuff sot the ruffly edge aligned better with my ankle. Next on the needles will be the second sock, and also a baby sweater for a co-worker's little peanut. Since I have no baby-friendly yarn in my stash, I think I'll need to go shopping. Today has been spent alternating between being incredibly lazy and trying to tackle the pile of crap that hangs out in my bedroom. By being incredibly lazy, I mean playing solitaire on my phone. I'm not talking...

I'm going to go all "food-blogger" on ya'll here. Why? Well, I've been reading a lot of food blogs. My knitting blog consumption has dropped to almost...no, completely zero. I should really start looking at some of my old favorites again, but food blogs are so much more interesting to me right now. People that have food blogs usually have beautiful photos of the most delicious looking food. It gives me many ideas. Also, at the moment, the state of my knitting is this: This poor sock has sat in this state for, oh...maybe nearly two months now. All I need to do is graft the toe. That's it. Of course, then I have to start the second sock. In order to get that nice, ripply cuff I have to cast on about 300 stitches, on a size zero needle. You can understand why I am less than enthused about this. It's particularly sad because it's been at least 10 months since I started this sock. Woe to this sock, that may never see the darkness of shoe. Since I...

I am sure you are all just waiting to find out what I read while I was on vacation! I finished reading, "Bottom of the 33rd: Hope, Redemption, and Baseball's Longest Game " by Dan Barry. What a great read. Even if you don't like baseball or know anythjing about baseball, you could still enjoy this book from a human interest perspective. Sure, it helps to understand terminology such as "ground out to 2nd", "caught looking", and "batter's box", but it isn't necessary. I was pulled in by the telling of people's stories: the batboy, the first-baseman's wife, the kid that made a pact with his dad to stay until the end of the game, no matter what (little did he know). This is what made this book one you didn't want to put down. The Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings played for 32 innings, until 4:09 a.m. Easter Sunday morning, before the game was mercifully suspended until it could be completed two months later....

Tomorrow David and I are heading to Florida. Perhaps I mentioned how utterly exhausting our trip to Spain was and how while we were still there I was desperately imagining white sand, a beach chair, some sort alcoholic beverage beside me, and a book. This little long-long weekend getaway is our answer to this. This leaves me wondering...what book should I take? There are two books I am currently reading. David and I are both working our way through the Harry Potter series (he for the first time, me for the second). I could easily finish "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix", but it's quite large and a library book to boot and if it were left behind someplace I would be angry. I am also about halfway through "The Year of Endless Sorrows" by Adam Rapp. I picked this up at the Guthrie gift shop when we were there for a play (Rapp is a playwright as well). It's about a guy from Minnesota who moves to New York, gets work at a publishing company, has...

Last night, I went to the the "Travelers Circles" program sponsored by the MN Council of Hosteling International. My friend Jon coordinates some of these programs and I volunteered to go and talk about Spain. I was so nervous! I was sure this would be a group of very well-traveled people (I was right about that) and that I would not be interesting enough, or have beautiful enough pictures to give an adequate presentation (I was wrong). I had so much fun speaking with them, and everyone was so friendly. Many people afterwards complimented me on my presentation and my pictures. One woman was so sweet and told me how much she enjoyed my energy and how I wouldn't have even needed photos - just listening to me was enough. It was a wonderful evening. I would love to go back to hear some other presentations or even present again. Those of you that know me well know that I really enjoy public speaking, so this was right up my alley. So, where will David and I go next? Well...

We left Spain on a Tuesday. We had to get up bright and early to get to the airport. Kym, Kyle, Alan, Erin, David, and I were all on the same flight. Lea and Amit were on a later flight, and Kelly an even later one. The six of us were up pretty early, putting all the beds and mattresses back in their proper places, as quietly as possible so the others could continue snoozing. Sigh. It was sad to leave. It is always hard to see a vacation come to an end. This one was particularly so because I felt there were so many things I still wanted to see. We didn't get nearly enough time in Barcelona or Madrid. I didn't see the bull ring in Sevilla. I wish we'd eaten more tapas. And seen more Flamenco. And we didn't get to see the market in Barcelona. So many things left undone. But, it was time to go. Fortunately, getting to the airport was relatively quick and painless. Sure, my backpack weighed about a million pounds, what with the wine and olive oil inside. But, we had a v...