Recently, I pawed through all my fabric, looking for two things: neutrals and an advent calendar kit I bought about two years ago. Found some of one, not a sign of the other. Which means I put the kit somewhere "safe" and/or "easy to remember". Ha!
In the process, I found a number of projects I really should finish. I thought it might be fun to list them. I reserve the right to make this a partial list so as not to scare anyone. Including myself.
I couldn't have made this list, or even looked through all that, anytime in the last several months. It would have been too hard, because I wouldn't have had any time to devote to anything. Now, though, I am making some space in my schedule so that I can do things like this again. Because, as you think I might be able to remember, few things make me as happy as making something.
Cora's sweater - 1-1/2 arms to go!
Knit market bag - handles needed
Cowl - yeah, maybe 1/4 done? But it's for me, so there's no time pressure
Noro socks - same as above.
Christmas quilt from an old block exchange (how old? I was still stitching by hand) - need two new blocks and then I can, you know, put the top together and so forth
Couple small quilt tops that need to be made into actual quilts
and a couple more quilt projects still in the works at various stages
Despite all those, and the secret ones, I would still really like to find that kit!
Showing posts with label list. Show all posts
Showing posts with label list. Show all posts
Friday, November 18, 2011
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Delicious, easy, crazy...and a big freaking list
Yesterday, the day before classes started, my last full day home by myself, I decided to do something fun. I had just got from the library a fabulous cookbook, 660 Curries, and when we were in Madison, we were given a beautiful, huge cabbage. What are the chances? I thought. But, I looked, and I found a curry that used cabbage. But the recipe also would require the making of a toasted & ground spice blend and also...cheese.
Did you say cheese? Homemade cheese? Count me in!
So, I made paneer, which was easy and fun and so wild that I was wishing Chris and Cora were there to see what happens when you stir a little vinegar into a giant pot of boiling milk. INSTANT CURDS AND WHEY! And then, the transformation to actual cheese. When I brought Cora home from daycare I had her try the cheese. She loved it. She tried it several times. Then she brought her Elmo in to try the cheese.
The spice blend was also easy (super easy - by chance it was the easiest one with the least ingredients in the whole book). And the curry itself came together in about 20 minutes and was undoubtedly the best way to eat cabbage ever. We also had basmati rice and some beef kabobs from the store (our back-up in case the curry was not amazing and delicious). All in all a tremendously satisfying day. And the rest of the cookbook looks great too - there are lots of things we would like to try to make.
Then I found, on a food & cooking blog, The Omnivore's Hundred. Here is what it is:
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating. (I can't cross out, so I'll just label those NO)
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at http://www.verygoodtaste.co.uk/ linking to your results.
The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:
1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding NO!
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras - at this point, NO
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese - EXTREMELY DOUBTFUL
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper - NO...OUCH!
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters - NO
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar - NO TO THE CIGAR
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu - NO
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads - NO NO NO
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis - DOUBTFUL
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette - DOUBTFUL
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare (AKA YUMMY BUNNY)
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse (MAYBE - DID WE TRY THE PFERDEWURST IN GERMANY? CAN'T REMEMBER)
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake
Did you say cheese? Homemade cheese? Count me in!
So, I made paneer, which was easy and fun and so wild that I was wishing Chris and Cora were there to see what happens when you stir a little vinegar into a giant pot of boiling milk. INSTANT CURDS AND WHEY! And then, the transformation to actual cheese. When I brought Cora home from daycare I had her try the cheese. She loved it. She tried it several times. Then she brought her Elmo in to try the cheese.
The spice blend was also easy (super easy - by chance it was the easiest one with the least ingredients in the whole book). And the curry itself came together in about 20 minutes and was undoubtedly the best way to eat cabbage ever. We also had basmati rice and some beef kabobs from the store (our back-up in case the curry was not amazing and delicious). All in all a tremendously satisfying day. And the rest of the cookbook looks great too - there are lots of things we would like to try to make.
Then I found, on a food & cooking blog, The Omnivore's Hundred. Here is what it is:
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating. (I can't cross out, so I'll just label those NO)
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at http://www.verygoodtaste.co.uk/ linking to your results.
The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:
1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding NO!
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras - at this point, NO
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese - EXTREMELY DOUBTFUL
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper - NO...OUCH!
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters - NO
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar - NO TO THE CIGAR
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu - NO
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads - NO NO NO
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis - DOUBTFUL
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette - DOUBTFUL
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare (AKA YUMMY BUNNY)
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse (MAYBE - DID WE TRY THE PFERDEWURST IN GERMANY? CAN'T REMEMBER)
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake
Thursday, June 26, 2008
I'm It - and you can be too!
Nora tagged me for the “10 years ago meme,” but it's taken me a while to piece together the answer to the first item because I don't really remember things by date. So, Chris reminded me of a few things, and then I checked my book log. (Here is where I out myself even further as a big geek because, yes, I write down the title of every book I read and I have since 1993. Every time I catch myself wondering if I should write down magazines and articles too, I know I am about to tip over the edge of obsessive and I take a careful step back.). Armed with this new knowledge I can say with authority that...
10 Years Ago: I spent most of my days in a dark little place, figuratively speaking; literally, it was well and flourescently lit. I'm not sure what exactly I was doing on June 26, 1998, but since it was a Friday I know I spent a good part of the day with Fury, Apathy, and Cynicism (not really nicknames for my co-workers). I was working my corporate job then, it was a good five months before I became the manager of my department, and it was a peak time of disillusionment and dissatisfaction. 1998 was an all time low in terms of reading in my adult life – only 18 books (compare this to last year's more average 90), and in June I read Ursula LeGuin's The Dispossessed (a choice I know find highly symbolic) and just beginning to reread the Laura Ingalls Wilder books (cue the nostalgia and yearning). I think this might also have been around the time I dreamt that I married the devil and we went to Texas in the 1840s for our honeymoon. Consider that this I considered a pleasant dream, and not at all a nightmare. Wow. I really like 2008 a whole lot more!
5 Things on My List Today: Go to Curves, pick up DV camera from campus to borrow for the weekend, stop at Barnes and Noble for a birthday present for Cora's friend, wash up the dishes from yesterday that somehow includes almost every glass we own, type up some poems out of the writing journal.
Snacks I Enjoy: String cheese, okay any cheese, peanut butter toast, berries, brownies, ice cream (I know, not really a snack food, but I think ice cream is actually more enjoyable in the middle of the day than at night, though I'll eat it then, too). I confess I do not like crispy, crunchy food – nuts to nuts, I say.
Things I Would Do If I Were a Millionaire: Oh I am so boring – I would take Chris and Cora and my parents with me to Italy for a month – the rest of the money would go to a cat sitter (just kidding - about the cat sitter). I would give money to my all-time favorite charitable organization, Heifer, which does such good, good work in the world – I've always wanted to give an Ark. I would seek good investment advice so that we could live a long time without ever feeling on the brink again, and so Cora could have the education she desires (hoping, of course, this is one of her desires).
Frankly, I don't know who reads this. If you want to do the meme too, you're officially invited! You can even do it in the comments if you like. Or just do the part that speaks to you.
10 Years Ago: I spent most of my days in a dark little place, figuratively speaking; literally, it was well and flourescently lit. I'm not sure what exactly I was doing on June 26, 1998, but since it was a Friday I know I spent a good part of the day with Fury, Apathy, and Cynicism (not really nicknames for my co-workers). I was working my corporate job then, it was a good five months before I became the manager of my department, and it was a peak time of disillusionment and dissatisfaction. 1998 was an all time low in terms of reading in my adult life – only 18 books (compare this to last year's more average 90), and in June I read Ursula LeGuin's The Dispossessed (a choice I know find highly symbolic) and just beginning to reread the Laura Ingalls Wilder books (cue the nostalgia and yearning). I think this might also have been around the time I dreamt that I married the devil and we went to Texas in the 1840s for our honeymoon. Consider that this I considered a pleasant dream, and not at all a nightmare. Wow. I really like 2008 a whole lot more!
5 Things on My List Today: Go to Curves, pick up DV camera from campus to borrow for the weekend, stop at Barnes and Noble for a birthday present for Cora's friend, wash up the dishes from yesterday that somehow includes almost every glass we own, type up some poems out of the writing journal.
Snacks I Enjoy: String cheese, okay any cheese, peanut butter toast, berries, brownies, ice cream (I know, not really a snack food, but I think ice cream is actually more enjoyable in the middle of the day than at night, though I'll eat it then, too). I confess I do not like crispy, crunchy food – nuts to nuts, I say.
Things I Would Do If I Were a Millionaire: Oh I am so boring – I would take Chris and Cora and my parents with me to Italy for a month – the rest of the money would go to a cat sitter (just kidding - about the cat sitter). I would give money to my all-time favorite charitable organization, Heifer, which does such good, good work in the world – I've always wanted to give an Ark. I would seek good investment advice so that we could live a long time without ever feeling on the brink again, and so Cora could have the education she desires (hoping, of course, this is one of her desires).
Frankly, I don't know who reads this. If you want to do the meme too, you're officially invited! You can even do it in the comments if you like. Or just do the part that speaks to you.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Paper Cuts
No, this is not a post about how I have lacerated my fingers with student papers (although I did somehow manage to gouge a chunk out of my knuckle while peeling a garlic clove. ouch). Over at the New York Times online they have a set of blogs, most with rotating guest authors. The ones with a literary focus of some sort are collected under the umbrella Paper Cuts (because if it's online, it has to be cleverly named). One of the Paper Cuts offerings is "Living with Music" on Wednesdays.
In the Wednesday column, some book/publishing person gives a playlist of 10 songs - a desert island playlist, a currently-in-rotation playlist, an "I love the blues and you should too" playlist, whatever. I think the people chosen must all be very hip NY people that we in the Land InBetween don't get to hear too much about. But, their lists are still interesting, mainly because, of couse, it must be an annotated list, and the comments, stories, backgrounds, rationale is often entertaining.
And then there are the comments from the "Living with Music" readers, who seem mainly content to rip on the guests for being too studiously trendy or hip or arcane. And there is nothing worse - nothing more phony, as our friend Holden would say - than being these things studiously.
Well, come on, people! Don't you remember the dreaded question that begins around jr. high and never lets up? "So, who's your favorite group?" "What kind of music do you like?" And the stomach-grinding moment as you try to catalog every song you've ever listened to and rate its social acceptability to the person asking the question? The fine calculations required to answer correctly would make you dizzy.
When A.M. Holmes says she likes Johnny Cash's version of Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" I think two things. One, she probably really does like it (what's not to like?). And two, the sheer brillance! It's like ordering devil's food cake with seven-minute frosting flavored with pomegranate - retro, current, trendy, nostalgic, ordinary, innovative, quirky, and homey.
The other brillance of the blog is that it is an irresistable lure for writers, especially. Make a list, say a little something, sure, you can have a theme, you can make it a story, you can be all pomo or tell it straight, shape it how you like! So where's my playlist? Well, I'm thinking about it.
In the Wednesday column, some book/publishing person gives a playlist of 10 songs - a desert island playlist, a currently-in-rotation playlist, an "I love the blues and you should too" playlist, whatever. I think the people chosen must all be very hip NY people that we in the Land InBetween don't get to hear too much about. But, their lists are still interesting, mainly because, of couse, it must be an annotated list, and the comments, stories, backgrounds, rationale is often entertaining.
And then there are the comments from the "Living with Music" readers, who seem mainly content to rip on the guests for being too studiously trendy or hip or arcane. And there is nothing worse - nothing more phony, as our friend Holden would say - than being these things studiously.
Well, come on, people! Don't you remember the dreaded question that begins around jr. high and never lets up? "So, who's your favorite group?" "What kind of music do you like?" And the stomach-grinding moment as you try to catalog every song you've ever listened to and rate its social acceptability to the person asking the question? The fine calculations required to answer correctly would make you dizzy.
When A.M. Holmes says she likes Johnny Cash's version of Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" I think two things. One, she probably really does like it (what's not to like?). And two, the sheer brillance! It's like ordering devil's food cake with seven-minute frosting flavored with pomegranate - retro, current, trendy, nostalgic, ordinary, innovative, quirky, and homey.
The other brillance of the blog is that it is an irresistable lure for writers, especially. Make a list, say a little something, sure, you can have a theme, you can make it a story, you can be all pomo or tell it straight, shape it how you like! So where's my playlist? Well, I'm thinking about it.
Monday, February 4, 2008
I'm it!
Nora, Tycast Team co-captain, tagged me!
There are 5 rules to being tagged:
1. The rules are to link the person who sent this and leave a comment on their blog so their readers can visit yours
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Share 7 strange/weird facts about yourself
4. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and link their blog
5. Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog
Now, I can hear every member of my family thinking "only 7 strange/weird facts? How will she choose?!" Let's see if I can surprise even them.
1. More geeky, perhaps, than truly strange, but I have kept a list of every book I've read since 1993. (I was surprised to discover that last year was actually a high for the past ten years - how is I am reading more with a toddler than I did without?).
2. I have a true weakness for the two worst kinds of movies: monster movies (true monsters! No psychopaths!) and dance movies (how embarrassing - but I think Cora shares this, as when we caught the last bit of Save the Last Dance this weekend, she was trying to copy Julia Stiles' ballet-hiphop moves)
3. My friend Cara and I discovered that in high school we were both so inspired by the movie Chariots of Fire, but both such geeks, that we did not take up running, but did both check out a copy of Eric Liddell's autobiography from the public library - one of us in CA, the other in NJ.
4. I have actually encouraged Cora to throw up into my hand rather than down my pajamas. Ick. This is exactly the kind of fact that would have made me gag two years ago. I'm sorry if you're gagging right now. I really am.
5. 9 times out of 10 I would rather make up some scrambled eggs than eat leftovers.
6. Chris once made me a little book, with his own illustrations, of the strange things I have said to him while half-asleep in the morning (my favorite? "Put me back in the bottle!" or "Are you a bad alien?")
7. I often cheerfully and sincerely greet my dinner - "Hello, little chicken!" - but I try to do this only at home, where Chris is the only one to be unnerved. And he's used to it now.
I don't think I actually have anyone to tag...but if you want to leave a strange, weird, or geeky fact about yourself in the comments...I wouldn't feel so alone in geekdom.
There are 5 rules to being tagged:
1. The rules are to link the person who sent this and leave a comment on their blog so their readers can visit yours
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Share 7 strange/weird facts about yourself
4. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and link their blog
5. Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog
Now, I can hear every member of my family thinking "only 7 strange/weird facts? How will she choose?!" Let's see if I can surprise even them.
1. More geeky, perhaps, than truly strange, but I have kept a list of every book I've read since 1993. (I was surprised to discover that last year was actually a high for the past ten years - how is I am reading more with a toddler than I did without?).
2. I have a true weakness for the two worst kinds of movies: monster movies (true monsters! No psychopaths!) and dance movies (how embarrassing - but I think Cora shares this, as when we caught the last bit of Save the Last Dance this weekend, she was trying to copy Julia Stiles' ballet-hiphop moves)
3. My friend Cara and I discovered that in high school we were both so inspired by the movie Chariots of Fire, but both such geeks, that we did not take up running, but did both check out a copy of Eric Liddell's autobiography from the public library - one of us in CA, the other in NJ.
4. I have actually encouraged Cora to throw up into my hand rather than down my pajamas. Ick. This is exactly the kind of fact that would have made me gag two years ago. I'm sorry if you're gagging right now. I really am.
5. 9 times out of 10 I would rather make up some scrambled eggs than eat leftovers.
6. Chris once made me a little book, with his own illustrations, of the strange things I have said to him while half-asleep in the morning (my favorite? "Put me back in the bottle!" or "Are you a bad alien?")
7. I often cheerfully and sincerely greet my dinner - "Hello, little chicken!" - but I try to do this only at home, where Chris is the only one to be unnerved. And he's used to it now.
I don't think I actually have anyone to tag...but if you want to leave a strange, weird, or geeky fact about yourself in the comments...I wouldn't feel so alone in geekdom.
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