Verdict

It's beautiful.



I hate it.

New Yarn

All I want to do is wind this Lisa Souza laceweight ("Lake Superior" colorway) that came in the mail last week.



But it turns out I have other obligations . . .

commenting

I've had a few questions about how to leave comments. I'm new to this myself, but if you click on "comments" below each post a window should come up with some instructions for you. You'll have choices about whether to create an account and so on. Sometimes the settings on your browser (cookies, for instance) will make a difference to your success. There may be a button to click on for help, if it's really important to you to leave a comment here. Otherwise, just write to me. Or visit occasionally just to read. This is my letter to you, and although I'd like to think you're reading it from time to time, I don't require a response.

See you later!

new life

Spicy Mesclun Mix. Hooray! And some carrots and swiss chard around the gardens. More peeking today, and planting.

We have these great built-in planter/window boxes in front of the house, and they've been needing rejuvenating. When we moved here they had begonias in them, and after a drought or hurricane I used to take cuttings from the survivors to replace the dead plants. It's really easy. I just cut a nice piece of healthy plant, stripped it of leaves from halfway down the stem, stuck it in the dirt, watered carefully, and pinched any flower buds that threatened to distract the new plant from developing roots. I thought I would never buy a begonia again.

I haven't been able to give that much attention to the garden recently, but I didn't want to actually buy a begonia plant, so I tried a new method this year. Cut a bunch of healthy stems, put them on bare dirt, cover with mulch, and empty the dehumidifiers and Jeff's leftover coffee onto them.

It worked!











Warning: the snapdragon exoeriment was not as successful.














And the jury's still out on the sage.


I should point out that the snapdragons did not get any coffee. But I don't think that's the main problem.

Aspidistra

I finished it. Just think--the outer border alone has over 4,000 stitches in it. Crazy. But Jeff asked for it, and I can't resist a knitting request. This is shown on our queen-sized bed. It's about 6 ft by 6 ft. It's soaking now, then I'm going to block it* and when it's dry it will cover an acoustic flaw in our living room.

*block: kneel on the floor for hours, stretching and pinning and measuring and wishing it wasn't allergy season



I estimated it would take around 4 balls of Noro Kureyon Sock color 219, so I bought 7 (just in case). After I started the center I decided it would look better starting at another color in the series, so I made the first try into a hat for Gwendolyn instead of ripping it all out. The hat is really cute, but I've been ambivalent all along about Aspidistra herself. Everyone who sees her thinks she's beautiful. Jeff has been consistently positive, and it's for him, so I knit on, but it's really hard to put that much work into something you're not sure will be wonderful. I asked myself what in the world I would do with all that extra yarn, and started fantasizing about crazy multicolored lace trim to go on a dress for G. I even mentally designed a pair of knee highs for myself. I began to like the idea of extra yarn even more than the idea of this big . . . thing.

This is all that's left. I'm going to darn some store-bought socks with them and I still might have enough left over for the lace trim on that dress.

daffodils and cabbage

When I first came to Baton Rouge I read that you can grow bulb flowers here, but you need to dig them up and store them in your freezer every winter. No, thank you.

The woman at the Farmer's Market told me that the only thing is, if you leave them in the ground, they may bloom in January. This won't hurt them at all, but apparently it's enough of a disadvantage to make all the Louisiana gardening manuals discourage it. No daffodils in January. Might cheer people up.

Sometimes I think daffodils have an unpleasant smell. These are very very sweet. Mmmm.

Amy asked for some of my cabbage ideas. A little background first. Cabbage is a problem vegetable for us because I like it. If I didn't like it I would be better able to disguise its alleged foul qualities. Take turnips.
I have never learned to love them and I tried several ways of serving them (sacrificing some perfectly good apples and potatoes, I might add) before they became Cole's favorite vegetable.I think partly he likes the shock value, but he does eat a good number of them.


Cabbage also grows easily here. It's cheap, and the market has the pointy gourmet kind (don't tell them, but I think it tastes pretty much the same as the round kind--and I think the round ones are cuter). Plus, it's infinitely easier to prepare than collards, even if it does involve using the Knife.
(That's our cat, Blackie, shown for scale.)

One dish we eat that features cabbage is a pasta topping made from cooking cabbage and onions in a pan with a little oil for, well, a day or so. With some strong cheese (we like feta, but roquefort is also tasty) it becomes more of a pasta dish and less cabbagey. When serving cabbage, I am careful not to call it cabbage. It becomes "tasty sauce,' "clever wrapper," "shredded filling," or, that wonderful term, "garden vegetable."




My family will eat almost anything in an egg roll. They're best fried, but you can brush them with oil and bake them instead. And there's kofta. With the right sauce, no questions are asked. One good thing about kofta is that it can use cabbage and sweet potatoes, which are plentiful* at the same time here.

*plentiful: arrive at the Farmer's Market after 10 a.m. and that's all you'll see

Cabbage plays well with others, and I like to include it in stir fry, soup, and a wonderful King Arthur recipe called Monster Pie. For my fussy eaters, however, I need to be careful with not only the amount but the shape of the pieces, which varies for each recipe. Too much or the wrong shape renders the whole dish inedible. Big enough to pick out. Small enough not to notice. Not too mushy . . . or crunchy . . . or . . . white . . .

Soup is not a big hit in this family anyway. I like eating it but not making it. Everyone else likes the idea of it but not the actual live bowl of it. Therefore I make it less than I used to. But cabbage in soup (especially in a tomatoey base, with blobs of oil floating on top) is delicious.

I do, however, agree that the daffodils smell better.

brewing

stewing

bubbling

Welcome

Come in, sit down. First you'll smell what's bubbling on the stove, perhaps you'll ask about it. Eventually you'll see and maybe even stay to have a bowl. There are plenty of spoons.


In the meantime, I will run into trouble. I always do. Now you're here to sit, quietly or not, while I solve problems and change course. The result always has some charm. Like this pig cake. Enjoy.

Back

The garden is coming back, slowly, after having been subjected to violent neglect. It's been harder not having a garden than taking care of it. The variety of vegetables available each season is so much better when we choose what's being planted. The Red Stick Market is open year round, but some months (most notably the scorched summer ones) are very slim, and sometimes I have a hard time getting my family to eat what's available. I can be pretty creative with cabbage. And summer squash. Even eggplant. But after a while they start to notice.






Of course, it's not all about the vegetables.



Planted this season: broccoli, red lettuce, spicy mesclun mix, "kuroda long" and "st. valery" carrots, "sakata's sweet" melons, "country gentleman" corn, lima beans, marigolds, pansies, wave petunias, thyme, and daffodils.

Fun

The first three people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1-I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2-What I create will be just for you.
3-It'll be done this year.
4-You have no clue what it's going to be.
5-I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 3 people who do the same on your blog. The first 3 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it! Who's in?

[Idea courtesy of Laura's Ramblings]

Genesis

Roux ("roo"): flour cooked in butter to break down the starch granules

. . . from here you can go on to anything!