What a Life!

As I may have already mentioned, I am cooking Thanksgiving dinner solo this year. It’s not a problem to me – in fact, I did it one year even when I could have had help just to see if I was up to the challenge (and I was). The difference this year is that I’m making the menu myself, with a few requests from my husband sprinkled in, and I have no mother-in-law or sister-in-law to find fault with what I choose.

Most of the recipes I’m using are tried and true. There’s one, though, that’s from a cookbook with which I either have really good luck or really bad luck.

Steve has requested Sweet Potato Pie. He just wants to try it once. And my husband like to try new things, unlike yours truly who prefers to stick with what she knows when it comes to food. So rather than making pumpkin pie, as I had planned, or pecan pie, which would be my choice, I’m trying the Sweet Potato Pie from this cookbook.

Yes, that’s America’s Test Kitchen. If you wanted me to give a one-sentence review of their recipes, it would be that they think a lot of their opinions. They’ll go on and on about how they tested this and tried that and this was the ultimate way to do [something]. When I try it in my kitchen, either I am greeted with good success or total failure. It’s an all or none type of thing. As in, make sure you have frozen pizza in the freezer before you try a recipe from this cookbook because you may be needing it. I kid you not.

Their stovetop macaroni and cheese? The best recipe I’ve come across. I keep the ingredients on hand for emergency meals.

On the other end of the spectrum, fried chicken. They go on and on about how important it is for the oil to be hot or the chicken will be soggy and greasy. I totally buy their theory. However, their recipe tells you to fry the chicken in one inch of oil. You put the specified number of chicken pieces in the oil, and the temperature of the oil is only supposed to drop a few degrees…or, of course, you will have greasy, soggy chicken.

Okay, I do not know what type of kitchen they are cooking in. In fact, sometimes I am wondering if it’s even a real kitchen. I mean, with state-of-the-art stuff in it and all – who has a kitchen like that? Anyway, I don’t know what type of pans they have or what type of stove they use or what the humidity runs in their kitchen. I can tell you that when you put that much chicken in that little bit of oil, the ratio of cold-chicken to hot-oil causes the oil to cool dramatically, resulting inevitably in greasy, soggy chicken. And folks, I’m using the pots and pans they sell at the state fair for a mere $2000 for a set. Yeah, those.

When I use four inches of oil in my big soup kettle, I can fry chicken with no problem. They come out nice and crispy and when I put the oil back into the container after it is cooled, only about a tablespoon of oil has been used. Seriously. But one inch of oil? What exactly were they drinking when they wrote those instructions? I would really like to know. This is basic science. Stuff you learned in chemistry in the fifth or sixth grade. If you put a little bit of cold (relatively speaking) into hot, the hot will stay pretty hot. But if you put a lot of cold into hot, the hot won’t be very hot anymore. Just saying is all.

Don’t worry – the sweet potato pie is the only thing I’m making from that cookbook. And that’s for Steve. No love lost on my part if it doesn’t turn out – I don’t like sweet potatoes anyway.

But this does lead me to a theory. Namely, a theory about which recipe books are “safe” to try new recipes from. I happen to own two cookbooks from which I have not had a single recipe fail. This one and this one. Both Junior League cookbooks. Not just local Junior League cookbooks – most requested recipes Junior League cookbooks.

What is my theory? These recipes work because they were submitted by real people cooking in real kitchens. As in, not professional chefs cooking in state-of-the-art kitchens which apparently are quite unlike the kitchens the rest of us have.

But don’t just go pick up any locally compiled cookbook and think you’re going to try the recipes with great success. I have a cookbook published by the church I grew up in. My mother is a good cook, and she knows who the good cooks are. As well as the bad ones. She has told me not only whose recipes are completely safe but also whose recipes I should, well, stay away from. Again, just saying is all. You know what I mean.

And lest you think I’m the only one who has such incredible luck with recipes touted to be most amazing and excellent, you must go read the Yarn Harlot’s account of a cookie recipe – from a Martha Stewart cookbook – that was made in her kitchen. You will gain a completely new understanding of the life of Martha Stewart. I mean, I am a regular Yarn Harlot reader, and she is usually rather amusing. This post had me rolling on the floor, howling. It was also that post that planted the seed for my theory about which cookbooks are “safe” to cook from and why.

And finally, there is a book that I think I would like to have: Cookwise – The Secrets of Cooking Revealed. It’s supposedly about the science of cooking in a why things work sort of way. From the reviews, I think I would find it fascinating. And then with that knowledge I might be able to have more luck with cookbooks such as America’s Test Kitchen by being able to apply common sense to the recipes rather than following them to the letter and then failing. I would understand what was going on and be able to make the necessary adjustments for a recipe to actually work. In theory.

Oh, and if some of the America’s Test Kitchen people would like to come over to my house and test some of their recipes using my kitchen, my equipment and my ingredients, they are most welcome to. And I will be more than happy to report on my blog exactly what recipes they tried as well as exactly how they turned out. Just saying is all…

Dictionary

• hostible – where Curious George went to have the puzzle piece surgically removed
• Combraska – where we live
• square cwow – scare crow

Troublemakers

The other night, after Steve came home, the boys were being rowdy, as usual. Steve laughed and said, Looks like we have Troublemake 1 and Troublemaker 2.

No, Ben corrected him. Troublemaker 1 and Troublemaker 4.

[That would be their ages rather than how many children we have. And yes, Ben is four times as much trouble as Joey.]

The Soup Blond

Last Friday evening, the three of us (Steve, Ben and I) had soup which Joey had a strawberry for supper. After the meal was over, Joey was covered in mushed strawberry – all over his chair, his hands, his face…even his hair.

Steve looked at him and said, Joey, you’re a strawberry blond!

Ben thought for a minute, then said, I’m a soup blond!

Of course…

You know things are bad when you husband comes upstairs and tells you he has no more clean jeans, socks or underwear. He is dressed – thankfully – which means you have 24 hours to get your act together. If you know what I mean.

Then you go to download pictures from your camera – usually there are about 30 to 50 every time you download – and there are 148 pictures.

Seriously, it’s not that I haven’t wanted to blog or that I haven’t anything to write about – it’s that I’ve been digging out from under. I have so much blog fodder, it’s hard to know where to start. But there are basic things I must do – laundry – before I do fun things – blogging.

I promise, I’ll be back soon. Joey’s first haircut. Thanksgiving dinner. Why recipes fail. And as always, my knitting. All coming soon to a blog near you. Here.

Blogging has not been permanently lost in the shuffle.

I’m just saying is all.

The other day I came across a blog where the blogger commented that her blog had replaced an office of co-workers which she doesn’t have (she works from home). I would like to second that opinion.

The thing about the web is that it allows you to meet people from all walks of life and from all sorts of places around the globe.

I’ve met people who have many of the same weird idiosyncrasies that I have. It’s fun to know I am not alone.

I’ve met people with whom I have common interests but also with whom I have very differing ideas on certain topics. I’ve learned that such differences really don’t matter so much and that great friendships can develop in spite of those differences.

I’ve met people who have stepped out of the mainstream in certain areas where I have as well. Everyone else really isn’t doing [it]. I’ve come to hesitate less when I want to do something a certain way and I wonder if I’m the only one doing it that way.

I’ve met people from walks of life, from religious faiths whom I never thought I had anything in common. I’ve discovered there are ways in which I relate to them so very well. It’s softened the judgments I make in real life, though I still maintain that stereotypes come from somewhere.

Being at home alone with children all day can put quite a hamper on one’s confidence that they can hold an intelligent conversation with other adults. The internet serves to bridge that gap in many ways.

You can spend time reading blogs where people post about things you care about, things you have in common. I must confess, in all the years I spent around other people, both in school and in an office, while I did have friends with whom I had such conversations, such conversations were much fewer and further between.

I learned to knit because of the internet.

I’ve gotten better at taking pictures, thanks to the internet.

I’ve learned so many things on account of the internet.

And while it is somewhat impersonal – after all, it’s just me and a computer sitting in a room – at the same time, it is ever so much more personal. I’ve read things on people’s blogs – and even said things on my own – that I might never have said in real life. [I might have wanted to say them, but I wouldn’t have known who to say them to so I would have kept quiet.]

The internet is a place for me to explore silly ideas that cross my mind. For instance, has anyone else made Salt Peanuts with 1824 wool? At 9:30 p.m. in the evening when my husband is laying tile and has a problem, I can get online and do a search for tutorials and find possible solutions for his little problem – no trip to Menards needed.

Sometimes I actually wonder how anyone survived prior to the internet. Kind of like electricity. I mean, I know it was done and all. But what bare, stark lives we must have led.

At the same time, the internet can become much like tv. It’s not a real experience. You can watch people go fishing, but it isn’t the same as going fishing yourself. Hearing someone else’s highlights from their trip can make your’s seem dull in comparison, though you can make your’s sound just as grand when you share just the highlights. Real life still needs to be lived.

But real life can also be so much richer in so many ways. There are so many ideas I find on the internet that my life is so much richer for knowing. Knitting. Homeshooling. Photography. Attachment parenting. I might have stumbled through things okay, but my experiences in real life have been so much richer, thanks to the ideas I learned about online.

This month is National Blog Posting Month NaBloPoMo – or something like that. While real life has not cooperated with my participating literally in such a thing and I am one who writes more according to the muse than some blogging schedule, it has made me think again how much I enjoy writing on my blog and reading other’s blogs.

It’s the watercooler I otherwise wouldn’t have.

Thanks for stopping by.

So yesterday I said that I was going to work on my Melting Pot Bag next. And I am. I have cast on and knit 20% of the base. But wait…

I ordered this yarn to make Steve a pullover for Christmas. But when I swatched with it (knit a test piece to see how the yarn looked and behaved when knit up), I fell in love with it and decided to use it for myself. Northampton by Valley Yarns from Webs. Color – Fawn.

But wait…I didn’t just steal the yarn for myself. When I saw it in person, I decided that perhaps it wasn’t the best color for Steve. I mean, if one is going to put all that work into a sweater, why waste all that time using a color of yarn that is less than ideal?

But wait…I loved the feel of the yarn so I decided to use it for myself in one of my experiments to get a sweater that fit right. In that setting, non-ideal color is almost a good thing – you’re not worried about wasting yarn that you’re in love with so you feel more free to experiment and be adventuresome. It’s just some ugly yarn after all.

I decided to make the Cabled Cardigan from Vogue Knitting Winter 2005/06. And instead of following the directions in the magazine and knitting from the bottom up, I would knit from the top down and fit as I go, a la Barbara Walker.

This is how it looked last night.

Isn’t it pretty? I’m just loving the yarn. I love the feel. And now that I’m seeing it knit up into something more than a swatch, I’m really loving the color. I’m thinking this might be a good color on Steve after all. But I’m stilling knitting this yarn for myself.

But wait…Aran knits with cables and such do not reveal their true size until after serious blocking…which cannot be done while on the needles. So even though my knitting is going very well, I decided that knitting from the top down and fitting as I go is not really feasible with this pattern. [What was I thinking?] So instead, I am doing exhaustive math and will be working it from the bottom up instead.

I mean, really, you can fit is as you go or you can take accurate measurements and know your gauge and do lots of math and make it fit just as well. I like doing math. I prefer knitting from the bottom up. I like doing seaming and having seams. Why not? With all due respect to Barbara Walker and the idea of knitting from the top, I think I’ll stick with knitting from the bottom, thank you very much. And I’ll still get a very good fit.

But really, this yarn is wonderful. Every time I knit with it, it feels warm and cozy, like something you’d want to make into a sweater that you could wear and curl up in front of a fireplace and read a good book and be oh so comfy. I am so loving this yarn. Cascade 220 seems to be a very popular favorite, but it’s always losing stitch definition for me when I wash it, and it does not feel nearly as nice as this Northampton does. I am so never knitting with Cascade 220 again – except to felt, of course. Northampton is my new default choice for nice yarn at a price I can afford.

But wait…we have an extra hour today – ah! knitting time – but apparently my children did not get the memo that said they were supposed to sleep for an extra hour. Children behaving badly…must go.

[Sorry, no free car at the end of this blog post. Every time I listen to one of those infomercials, they tell you about their great product and how you can get it for only three payments of $14.95 plus S&H and you think the commercial’s over but then they say “But wait!” and they start adding things…so I keep listening as they keep trying to make their offer better and better because I wouldn’t want to call and get the first deal they tell you about…or the second…or the third…because as soon as I call, they’ll come up with an even better offer and I’ll miss out. Then the infomercial ends and I don’t know what number I was supposed to call even though they said it a thousand times (and I probably didn’t need the item anyway). But I always listen just in case they would offer a free car at the end…because someday when they do, I really am going to call in just to take advantage of their great offer…whatever it is they’re selling…]

The French Market Bag is done. {See results below} I made a facing along the top edge so that the edge wouldn’t roll. Well, the edge didn’t roll, but the facing made it to thick to felt as much as I wanted it to so the bag is more of a bowl shape than a box (sloped sides vs straight).

What you see in the picture above (which is much prettier than the one below which is why it is at the top of this post rather than the bottom even though it is discussed last) is the yarn for my next project. Another French Market Bag. Heavily modified. The base and edges will be done in black a la Ayla. The color pattern on the sides will be like the Kauni cardigan made famous by the Yarn Harlot. The dimensions of the bag and style of the handles will be like the French Market Bag which I love so much.

I love the picture above – I’ve found it virtually impossible to take a picture of that yarn and get the colors to come out right. This time I wasn’t even trying – I just wanted to snap a shot so I would know what order I had decided to use the colors in…and the colors in the photo came out perfect.

I just picked those colors at random one day when I was at the yarn store because I thought they looked so pretty together. I wanted to do some fair isle work (working two colors at a time) since I have not tried that technique yet. I also wanted my first fair isle project to be felted so it wouldn’t matter if I didn’t quite get the tension right (the challenging part of working two colors at once…or so I m told). I’ve searched high and low for the right pattern, the right project. I think I’ve finally found it [or invented it]. We shall see…

And regarding the picture of the French Market Bag below…yes, I used bottles of beer to block it. Initially I thought I would block it upside down, and those particular bottles were taller than all the others so that’s why I chose them. Then it turned out that four bottles of beer were not stable enough to hold the bag like I wanted so I went to plan B and blocked it as shown. There is a fifth bottle of beer in the center holding up the handles. It’s called using what you have.

Where is it being blocked? On top of the beer fridge. Of course.