Fresh start

I always love the beginning of the school year. I love the sense of anticipation, the excitement of what the new school year will bring, even though I'm no longer in school.

Back-to-school also means it's time for a new "look" - you get back to school clothes and a fresh haircut for those all-important school photos. Every year around this time I get the urge to change my hair, and this year I'm really going for it. Last night I dyed my hair a dark brown (it was light brown with crappy DIY highlights) and tomorrow I'm going in for a cut. Not just a trim, but a completely new style. I'm tired of the long, slightly layered in front hairstyle I've had for approximately the past 20 years, and it's time to shake things up. I'm planning on letting my stylist do whatever he wants, with the only caveat being that I will not spend any time styling my hair in the morning. I want a wash & wear style, because I don't use anything on my hair that plugs into the wall more than once a month (at the most). Daily blow drying or curling or straightening is just not gonna happen.

It's a bit of a leap of faith, but I'm ready for something new.

The hood of doooooom

You think maybe the hood on this sweater might be a little too big?

The Schuyler Blanket Project

From Ravelry:

The Schuyler Blanket Project began life as The Tammany Blanket Project, as a group of Ravelers came together to provide support for Tammany, a fellow Raveler who lost her baby girl less than an hour after she was born. Members of this group created a blanket for Tammany by making individual squares, providing her with a warm soft hug that she can wrap up in on the bad days.

The original Tammany Blanket is complete, and Tammany herself requested that we carry that mission forward in baby Schuyler’s memory to create blankets for other bereaved families and to provide them with comfort and love. Do you have the time and heart to make a few squares for a blanket that can change a family’s life? Please join us and see how a few hours on your part can bring light and love to a family who is experiencing their darkest hours.

Please visit the Schuyler Blanket Project page on Ravelry, email me directly, or leave a comment on this post if you would like to participate by knitting or crocheting a square for a blanket.

Hood issues, part 2

I finally finished Mr Wonderful's bad-ass cabled hoodie. Only one problem: the hood is large enough for about three heads! I thought it was taking an awfully long time to finish the hood, but the rest of the pattern was so well written that I didn't think much of it. When I finished it and Mr Wonderful tried it on, the error became obvious. I think that instead of three center cable repeats, it should only be two.

*sigh*

I'm going to have to frog it back and re-knit the hood, but I can't face it right now. That sweater has been on my needles for months and I am not ready to pick it up again just yet. So in the meantime, I'm doing something fairly mindless - Rugrat's zip-up skull hoodie. It's mainly stockinette, with a bit of colorwork down at the bottom hem. Once I finish the sweater I'll write up a pattern for it so that others can knit it up if they want to. I'm keeping copious notes on my Rav project page.

Hood issues

I've been knitting Mr Wonderful's "Bad Ass" hoodie sweater since last December (OK, not exclusively - I did work on some other projects as well). Now I'm finally almost finished, and I'm running into problems on the hood. I think I've found an actual error in the pattern.

The written pattern calls for you to have pick up the front, shoulder, and back stitches, with a total of 90 stitches on the needles. (I'm knitting the large size.) But going by the stitch counts in the chart, you actually need 92. That's not a big deal though; the larger issue is with the increases on the hood. We need to increase several times, and the placement of those increases on the chart means that every other row you'd be moving over your basketweave pattern another stitch, so it totally wouldn't line up. I'm about 5 rows into the hood now and it's really starting to look funky, so I'm planning on ripping it back out and starting the hood over again, with 92 stitches and the increases immediately before the center cable, rather than immediately after the smaller side (shoulder) cables. I think this will solve my problems.

Tomato season

The best month of the year, as far as I'm concerned, is August. No, I don't love the scorching East Bay Area heat. But I do love the tomatoes, the glorious, sun-ripened, warm, sweet, misshapen globes of juicy multi-colored heirloom goodness. I love driving out to the family farm stand on the weekend and picking up a few pounds of tomatoes and then bringing them home and devouring them in a day or two, usually accompanied by some Hawaiian red sea salt & freshly ground pepper, a little extra-virgin olive oil, a bit of fresh mozzarella, and a sprinkling of basil leaves from my backyard herb garden.

This week, I picked up a bunch of rainbow-colored tomatoes and last night I made a lovely golden-hued shrimp gazpacho. It was very simple, and required only a few minutes of cooking (for the shrimp). The resulting soup was a delight, pureed to a nearly-smooth texture, and studded with luscious, curling pink shrimp.

Shrimp Gazpacho
1/4 c plus 1 Tbsp EVOO
1/2 lb shrimp, peeled & deveined
4-5 medium heirloom tomatoes, diced (approximately baseball- or softball-sized tomatoes, any variety you like; I'm guessing it was about 2 lb tomatoes)
1/2 English cucumber, seeded & diced
1/2 c diced red onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 small jar roasted bell peppers, chopped
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 c chicken stock
salt & pepper
fresh basil for garnish (optional)

Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat, then add the shrimp. Season well with salt & pepper, and saute the shrimp just until they are opaque and curled up. Set shrimp aside to cool slightly while you prepare the rest of the soup.

Add the tomatoes, cucumber, onion, garlic, bell peppers, vinegar and chicken stock to a food processor, and puree until nearly smooth. With the processor running, drizzle in the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil. Serve soup topped with the shrimp, and fresh basil, if desired.

Note: You could also add some Tabasco or other hot sauce for a little heat, if you prefer that, but if your tomatoes are fresh and ripe, you'll want to let their flavor take center stage. Also, most gazpacho recipes call for tomato juice, but I didn't have any on hand and my tomatoes were wonderfully juicy on their own, so I just added the chicken stock to provide a bit more liquid. You could substitute tomato juice and omit the shrimp for a lovely vegetarian soup.

Attention local knitters!

Local knitters/crocheters/other fiber-y crafters may be interested to know that Alpaca Direct is doubling the size of their Brentwood store. The grand opening is set for September 1. Alpaca Direct will also offer classes in knitting, crocheting, spinning, and felting. Awesome!

Easy Peasy Paella

The other night I whipped up this very simple one-dish "paella" with pre-seasoned rice, some pantry-staple ingredients, and some shrimp & sausage. I didn't make it too spicy, and the kids actually liked it! You know, rather than just suffering through it, like they usually do if it's not pizza or chicken nuggets. ;-)

Easy Peasy Paella
1 Tbsp EVOO
2 cups diced sausage (I used 2 chicken/apple sausages to keep the heat factor low for the kids, but it would be great with chorizo or andouille)
1 diced red onion
1 diced red bell pepper
2 minced cloves garlic
1 can diced fire roasted tomatoes
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
2 pkg saffron rice
1 box (4 cups) chicken stock
1/2 lb peeled & deveined raw shrimp
1/2 c frozen peas
1/4 c chopped fresh parsley
salt & pepper

Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Brown the sausage, then add the onion & bell pepper. Season with salt & pepper and saute until the veggies soften slightly, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the tomatoes, smoked paprika and the stock, and bring to a boil. Pour in the seasoned rice, cover, reduce the heat to medium-low (just simmering) and cook for 20-25 minutes. When the rice is nearly done, add in the shrimp. Cook for 2 minutes, then add the peas and cook for another 2-3 minutes, until the shrimp are pink and opaque and the peas are heated through. Stir in the parsley, double-check your seasonings, and serve.

Review: The Carvery (Harry's Hofbrau)

The Rugrat and I were running errands on Tuesday and saw that there was a big "Now Open!" sign on The Carvery, a new restaurant across from the Target shopping center. Mr Wonderful and I have been anxiously awaiting the grand opening, so on Wednesday evening, the three of us headed over there for dinner.

I'm not a big fan of buffet restaurants, but this one is a little different. It's more cafeteria-style: you get your tray and then slide on down past the different stations, and the helpful friendly folks behind the counter dish up whatever you want. This is a meat & potatoes kind of place, very guy-friendly. They have turkey, roast beef, tri tip, chicken, pork -- all different kinds of meat. I opted for a standard Thanksgiving dinner: turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing & gravy. I even got a little cranberry sauce on the side! Then you get a choice of a few different salads, and a white or wheat roll to go along with it. Mr Wonderful got the tri-tip, and Rugrat had the child's frankfurter plate (an oversize hotdog, sliced up, without the bun). All of us enjoyed the food - the meats were tender and juicy, the mashed potatoes were tasty, and the salads were fresh. My only complaint would be that the turkey gravy needed more pepper, but I was easily able to add it at the table.

Prices are reasonable for what you get: it's around $10-11 for a dinner meal (including meat, side dish, mashed potatoes and roll). Lunches, kid's meals and senior meals are slightly less expensive. They also have a wide variety of daily specials if you're not interested in a bunch of sliced meat. Check out the link to the restaurant website for details on what's available each day.

One strange thing to note: when you place your order, the only drinks available at the cash register are sodas, but they DO have a bar area in another section of the restaurant (facing Lone Tree), so if you want a beer or two to wash down your food, you can definitely get that.

Finally, if you go there, be sure to bring a little cash so that you can leave a tip on the table. There isn't a full-service wait staff, but the place is crawling with helpful people who carry your tray to an empty table, refill your drinks, and bring out the kid's dessert (if you've ordered a child's meal). You pay prior to actually sitting down & eating, and there's no place on the credit card slip to add a tip, so leaving cash on the table seems to be the only option.

We were all quite happy with our meal here (even the picky Rugrat!), and we'll definitely be back.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

OK, not really. But it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas knitting projects, as I have completed two scarves and a hat already, and started on scarf #3 last night. So far, I have:

1 Woodland shawl (except really, it's a scarf - see photo)
1 Woodland hat (my adaptation; there's no real pattern for this, I just wanted to use up the leftover wool on a matching hat)
1 River Rocks scarf (modified to make it less bead-heavy)
The beginnings of 1 Braided Cable Scarf

The Braided Cable Scarf was a little difficult to get started with, because I totally could not understand what the designer was trying to do with the cables and it's written kind of ambiguously. Once I figured out that "purl the middle stitch from the cable needle" really meant "purl that first stitch on the cable needle since you already knitted 2 of the 5 stitches in this cable group" it made a lot more sense. At first I was stupidly trying to purl the middle stitch on the cable needle, which would have meant: slip 3 to CN, k2, slip first stitch on CN to left needle, slip second stitch on CN to left needle, p1, k1 on left needle, k last stitch on CN. Which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, and twists the poor yarn up like crazy.

Anyhoo, it's looking very nice now, although the yarn (KnitPicks Andean Treasure in "midnight" colorway) is superdark navy blue, so it's a little difficult to see the pattern emerging. I've completed two pattern repeats (16 rows) so far. I'm not sure if I like this yarn or not - it's alpaca, so it's hairy as all get-out, but it is also super, super soft.

Once I'm done with this scarf I need to get back to Mr Wonderful's Bad-Ass Cabled Hoodie. That poor thing has been languishing for months - since shortly after Christmas, actually. I need to finish it up so that he can have it in time for our belated honeymoon in October. :) We're going to North Lake Tahoe & staying at a lovely timeshare, courtesy of my mom & stepdad. It should be fairly chilly - at least at night - so I want to be sure he's got his cozy cabled sweater.