Not Much to Show

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Marlana

I really don’t have much to show for the last two weeks. I’ve been slowly cleaning my room and that’s been taking a chunk of time every day. I started this little blackwork piece a few days ago. At this point it’s about three inches across. I love watching the patterns emerge in blackwork. This is supposed to be embellished with gold beads but I’m thinking about leaving them off, I think the embroidery is pretty enough without it.

I haven’t done any knitting. None. Haven’t even looked at my needles for two weeks. I just have no motivation. I wish I could afford enough yarn for a sweater, that would get me motivated. I do have a ton of Shetland to spin but it just doesn’t sound like fun right now.

I haven’t done much cooking, either, I just baked this little boule Wednesday. I used the main recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and it came out really good. I’ve been wanting to make some bread for awhile but most of the recipes I have need equipment, like a proofing cabinet and stand mixer and steam oven, that I don’t have. But this is a super easy way to make really good bread, really fast. I still have half my dough so I’ll make another loaf on Monday. I think I’ve said I’m taking a bread class in the Fall and I’m really looking forward to it more than any of my other classes. I can’t describe how much I love to bake bread. Honestly, if I had a better kitchen and I knew it would get eaten, I would make bread everyday.

I am exhausted, I’ve been averaging about four hours a night (except Monday, I only got three, yay) and it’s catching up. I think I’ll spend my weekend sitting here watching movies and playing Myst and Civ 2.

Completely Random

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Marlana

1. I’ve been extremely un-motivated and not really doing anything the past weeks. I need to stop that.

2. I actually knit something and finished it. It’s a vest, made out of Peace Fleece Worsted. It’s on Ravelry here.

3. I’m doing the Leethal Twitter Mystery Knit-a-long. I’m bad at these things, I never talk to anyone else who is doing it and I don’t post my progress photos. She’s been putting up one line of the pattern every day but I’ve just been doing the whole week on Saturday. That’s it below.

4. I saw the transit of Venus. It was pretty cool.

5. I’m on another friendship bracelet making kick. I also made some earrings.

6. I’m making ginger beer with a recipe from the book Can It, Bottle It, Smoke It: and Other Kitchen Projects by Karen Solomon. I don’t think I let the starter sit long enough, or something, it doesn’t seem to be getting fizzy.

7. I’ve been marathoning TV shows like crazy. First, I tried watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I was working nights when it originally aired so I missed it, but I thought it was kind of boring. I only made it through four episodes, maybe I’ll come back to it later. Then it was True Blood, I watched all four seasons in six days (new season starts Sunday!). Next was Falling Skies, since I didn’t really pay attention when I watched it before, it was better than I remember. Then I watched Shameless, I kept hearing how good it was and, I have to say, it’s now one of my favorite shows and I can’t believe I have to wait a year for new episodes. I’ve watched a couple episodes of Six Feet Under but it’s not really catching my attention. Here in a few weeks I’m going to re-watch Breaking Bad since the new season starts on July 15.

It’s funny, I don’t watch a lot TV, I just can’t sit and watch something for 30 minutes or an hour without falling asleep, but I will watch 15 or 20 hours of one show in two days with no problem, it’s like a really long movie. I normally don’t watch TV like this, but I was sick when I watched True Blood and everything else I’ve watched either in the background while I was doing other things or at night while I was winding down before bed.

And that is it. I did some weaving but I’ll write about it later, I can’t find the pictures I took.

Starting and Finishing

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Marlana

I have a to-do list that’s a mile long now that I’m out of school, I just can’t seem to get started on anything. I need to write up a resume, clean my room, clean out my closet, take my dog to the groomers, get my hair cut. I know there’s more but I just don’t even want to think about it. Ugh, I haven’t been sleeping good at night so I’m drained all day and all I want to do is sit around and watch movies and knit. Unfortunately I’m down to scraps when it comes to yarn, so I’m stuck on little projects for now.

This is the only yarn I have in a garment-sized amount. This is some Peace Fleece Worsted that’s been sitting around for years. I only have 800yds so it’s not enough for a sweater and barely enough for any vest patterns. But, while I was digging around on Ravelry one night, I found the Boogie Vest from an old Knitty and it seems to be working perfect. I’ve knit the back and almost half of the front. This is a quick, easy knit and I’ll think it will be great this fall.

Pagona

I also finished something and blocked it, though I haven’t woven in the ends. This is a Pagona, the pattern is by Stephen West, the yarn is my handspun. I didn’t have much of this yarn, so the shawl is small, about 12” down the edge instead of the 15” that the pattern says. It will be a good size for a little scarf, though. Not much to say about this. My yarn looks good.

I’ve been doing a little spinning, still on that same Shetland that I’ve been working on for over a year. At the rate I’m going, I’ll be done in about five years or so. Yeah.

It’s been a while since Peanut has made an appearance. By my rough calculation, it’s almost her 10th birthday. Time has flown.

Playing Catch Up

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Marlana

I really didn’t mean to not blog for the entire month of April but there just really hasn’t been much to talk about. We’ve been wrapping up the school year and I started finals two weeks ago. We had our practical baking and cooking finals, I got As on both, I’m glad to say. I’ve mainly been studying for the written finals, which started today. I (and everyone I’ve talked to from my class) failed our written cooking final but it only dropped my grade 4%, I still have an A so I’m not really worried about it. I’ve also registered for my fall classes and thanks to a mix-up at school I get to go both semesters next year instead of graduating in December, I had to register late and couldn’t get all my classes. I don’t really mind it but I was looking forward to being done. So in the fall I’ll be taking Classic and European Pastries and Quick and Yeast Breads. I’m excited.

Other than that, I’ve been knitting a bit. I started and finished Brooklyn Tweed’s Inversion Cardigan but I can’t get a decent picture of it. I knit it out of some of my handspun Shetland and it is warm and soft and cozy, perfect for the weather we’re having this week. I also knit a hat because I was bored and don’t have enough yarn to knit anything else.

Right now I’m knitting a Pagona out of some old handspun, it’s in the blob stage. I’m close to being out of yarn so I suppose it’s time to start the border and then I’ll be done.

And then there’s the food. In my savory class I’ve made fish (that picture is bad) and pork steak that I didn’t blog.

But in baking we made cakes:

This is a chocolate cake with vanilla American buttercream frosting, it was good but I didn’t like the frosting much, it was too sweet. I also made a carrot cake but it’s sitting, unfrosted, in my freezer because I forgot about it until just now. Whoops!

And we made cookies:

These are brownies, pecan sandies, snickerdoodles, and coconut macaroons. They were good.

We made ice cream, too, but I didn’t get any pictures of it. I made a rich chocolate custard base and added strawberries and chocolate chips, it was good. I’m going to miss being in the kitchens at school this summer but I’m looking for a job, I just hope I can find something, there isn’t much out there where I live. I am planning on going through my baking textbook and making up some of the recipes we didn’t do in class, I have to practice and keep my skills up over the summer, don’t I?

That’s it for me. I have to do some dishes and study for my Purchasing final tomorrow and my baking final Monday. I hate finals.

This Week’s Food

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Marlana

Nothing to show on the knitting front so here’s some food.

Monday in my baking class we made cake. We had to choose between a carrot cake and a chocolate angel food cake and then our choice of either chocolate or yellow cake. I made both the carrot and chocolate cakes and then had extra time so I whipped up this angel food cake. This is seriously the best angel food cake I’ve ever had. It’s light and fluffy soft. Next week we’re making frosting and cover basic decorating techniques so we’ll frost and decorate our other cakes then.

Today in my savory class, we grilled steaks. I topped mine with some sautéed mushrooms and peppers and we made Duchess potatoes, and then I added some pan fried butternut squash with brown sugar and cinnamon. Next week we have a mystery basket challenge and I’m a little nervous about it, but I’m sure I’ll do fine.

Saturday I went to see my favorite live band, Reverend Horton Heat. This is, seriously, about the twentieth time I’ve seen them and they are always great. The crowd was out of control, it was amazing. I went alone, which I was nervous about doing since I hate doing stuff by myself, but I had a blast and there were a lot of people there than I know, so it all worked out. I really had more fun than I’ve had in years and by the end of the show I was tired, covered in sweat(and not just my own, I swear I was groped more Saturday night than at any other show that I’ve been to, it was ridiculous) and beer(also not my own), and I made out with some guy I don’t know. All in all, a pretty good night. Ha. Then last night I won tickets to a Koffin Kats show in May and I can’t wait, it’s going to be so much fun.

A Lot of Food

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Marlana

I have a bit of a backlog of school stuff to talk about. First off, though, a little on the knitting front. I’m all finished with my re-knit of my Morrison Cardigan and it’s blocking today. It’s really humid here right now so I don’t know how long it’s going to take to dry but I’ll probably seam it up next week and then I’ll have a much improved cardigan. In the meantime I’m dedicating all my knitting time to my KnitPicks project and just trying to get it done so I can get paid.

Now, the food. I keep forgetting to take pictures of my food in my savory cooking class, but I’ve managed to remember in the last two classes. First, we did pan fried chicken thighs and legs and I made some French fries and green beans and carrots as a side.

The next week was eggs. Now, I hate eggs with a passion. They taste nasty, the texture is gross, and they always smell awful. That said, my eggs came out perfect, I even tasted them but they were just as gross as I thought they would be.

Sorry for the dark picture, it’s from my phone. From the top left, these are over easy, scrambled, sunny side up, and over hard. I even learned how to flip my eggs in the pan and it was more exciting than it should have been.

To round out egg day, we made Eggs Benedict. This has a toasted English muffin, Canadian bacon, a poached egg, and is topped with Hollandaise sauce, which wasn’t nearly as hard to make as I thought it would be, and there’s some home fries on the side. It’s all sprinkled with a little green onions and the potatoes have a little parsley. The poached eggs were fun to make, to see how they came together in the pan. They were pretty easy, too. The trick is to heat your water and vinegar just to boiling, about 180F, and then crack your egg very low over the water and just let it sit for about three minutes before you fish it out. I tasted the egg, didn’t like it, but the Hollandaise was pretty good.

Now, on to baking, which is my favorite. We’ve done puff pastry, pies, and biscuits, muffins, and cream puffs.

I thought I had already blogged about these, but I guess I forgot to. There are some cherry turnovers and squares with cherry and some cinnamon and sugar snails, which were my favorite. They were all really good, flaky and crispy, but I should have used more filling on all of them.

The next week we did pies. The one in front is coconut cream filling with Italian meringue, that I burnt a little bit. In back is cherry. These were both really good and the crust was nice and flaky. This was my first time making crust from scratch and it was easy. I need to make another cherry pie soon.

Last week we made cream puffs, blueberry muffins, and country style biscuits. The biscuits were so good, light and flaky and buttery. They would be really good with some black pepper and cheddar cheese mixed into the dough. I was going to make some more cream puffs today but I’m out of milk and didn’t feel like going to the store this morning.

Next week we’re making cake in baking and doing beef and veal, which I’m not looking forward to at all, in my cooking class.

That’s it for this week. Have a great weekend! I’m gong to see Reverend Horton Heat Saturday night and I’m really excited and nervous about it since I’m going alone. I’m sure there will be people there I know but I’d rather go with someone. Next week sometime, I think I’ll go see The Hunger Games at the IMax. I started re-reading the books Sunday and finished the third Wednesday. I was going to wait a few weeks to go the movie but reading the books made me want to go now, so maybe Tuesday. Maybe.

A Do Over

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Marlana

So I have this back log of stuff I want to write about, I’ve been busy with school and stuff and just haven’t had time for the blog, but I’m on spring break this week so we’re playing catch up. First thing is something I’m re-knitting.

So does this look familiar? Yes, it’s the Morrison Cardigan from the Fall 2011 Knitscene again. I just wasn’t happy with the way it fit before so I decided to re-knit it in the next size bigger. I started it last weekend and I’ve knit both sleeves, the back, the right front, and a few inches of the left front. It’s zooming along and I should have it finished in a couple days. I think I’ll like it a lot more in the bigger size. It wasn’t really too small but it was too short and a little tight in the upper arms. This should be much better.

That’s all I have time for today. I have a lot of food to talk about and some more knitting later this week. Right now I have some homework and a project from KnitPicks that I need to work on.

Stitching for Sanity

Knitting and Stuff