Wednesday

Nora said it was too hot to cook – I agree, so we ate salmon, browned Yukon gold potatoes, and choy mieu with shiitake mushrooms from the other day.

This is all top of the stove cooking. Our favorite way to fix salmon is to pan grill it and season it with Penzey’s Fox Point Seasoning when I flip it, then top it with lemon or lime juice. The potatoes are cooked most of the way in the microwave, then “cracked” and browned in a little olive oil. I saw the choy mieu at the market, and it was new to me, but so cute I just had to try it. I sautéd some shallots and garlic with the mushrooms, added the choy with just a little water for steam, covered and cooked until just done, then topped it with oyster sauce and a drizzle of sesame oil. This is definitely something I would repeat.

I’ve been sticking with 10 Minutes a Day quite well and only missed one day on the trip. I’m beginning to wonder if half of the merino/silk will actually fit on one bobbin – it seems to be filling up pretty fast.

A stroll around the yard

Advertisement

This ‘n that …

With Ten Minutes a Day, I’m definitely making progress on the spinning, though I rarely stop at just 10 – more like 30, as I often spin through at least 1 news program. This bobbin is nearly full, so I need to go back and fill the other one to about the same level and do some plying. This is from a Border Leicester fleece I got a couple of years ago – very nice fleece!

I’ve been playing with beads again – here’s a pair of markers I did the other evening. They’re about 1 1/4″ long. Sometimes it takes some fiddling to get just the right combination 😉

I fixed a batch of Swiss chard for lunch today–unfortunately I didn’t get a photo before it all disappeared. I cut 1/2 of a large red onion into strips and sautéd them with some thinly sliced garlic, added the chard stems and cooked a little longer, then added the leaves and a little liquid, steamed it all briefly, then sprinkled some balsamic vinegar over it. It turned out really tasty, so much so, there weren’t any leftovers!

For supper, I did another riff on Nora’s “Nameless Asian Noodle Dish”, using her sauce ingredients with green onions, some shiitake mushrooms, slivered sweet peppers, and cooked chicken (stirred in towards the end). I used some spaghetti-like rice noodles, which were OK, but I prefer the flat ones. This is a very versatile recipe which we really like!

Knitting, knitting, blogging [er… more knitting]

The 2nd sweater is coming along nicely, the tech editing pile is slowly diminishing, and I spent too much time last night and this morning tinkering with this blog, but I’m still in the learning curve, and having a blast, figuring out what I can do with it.

As I was sitting in front of the computer this morning, I happened to check behind me to find Maggie going after a small ball of yarn <silk already!> on the table [bad move – I should know better],

which resulted in this oops:

It’s all a matter of management – my managing to remember not to leave yarn around loose, that is.

It’s supposed to warm up over the next few days, or so they say. Meanwhile one could understandably mistake the driveway for a skating rink …

while most of the rest of the yard looks more like this:

I’m definitely ready for spring, plus I’ve got a new garden to play with. First things will be a fence so we don’t just feed it all to the rabbits, and to get a new asparagus bed planted. Talk about a longterm investment – yum ;oP

Back to the knitting!