Food Post!

I'm taking a break from knitting to bring you this recipe that I tried tonight (a friend of mine gave it to me).


Mango couscous

1 cup couscous
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 garlic clove, minced
1 mango, peeled, pitted and cut into 1 inch cubes (about a cup)
1 jalapeno chili, seeds and ribes removed, finely chopped
1/2 cup raisins
1 ripe tomato, chopped
Juice of 1 lime
1/2 cup loosely packed small cilantro sprigs, chopped
1/2 cup loosely packed small parsley sprigs, chopped

Prepare the couscous according to the package directions. Set aside.
Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large sauté pan over high heat. Add the garlic, mango and jalapeno and sauté until the mango begins to color lightly. Stir in the remaining tablespoon of olive oil, the couscous, raisins, tomato, lime juice, cilantro and parsley and toss to heat through. Season with salt.

Serve hot or at room temperature. Four servings.

Since I never exactly follow recipes, I made the following changes:
-I didn't use raisins (didn't have any)
-I used red bell peppers instead of jalapenos
-I used dry herbs instead of fresh ones
-I added chicken
-I estimated quantities for the herbs and lime juice

The result (sorry, I'm no food stylist):



It was pretty good, but next time I'll use more herbs and garlic.

Stash in boxes

I got a great gift from my Secret Pal a few days ago.



She gave me angora!!! I've never knit with angora before so I'm thrilled. I'm thinking of making mittens, what about you? I also got a cute card and some delicious chocolate. Thanks again, Secret Pal!

My Secret Pal hostess, Shelby asked us to post our stash. Well mine is very small:



This is the bulk of it and it fits in two baskets! I also have some more in there:



There's no eggs in that box, just some yarn and patterns. I'm moving in a little less than a month so I had to start packing. Of course, I left some things unpacked, like a couple of projects (I can't go almost a month without knitting). Here's my sock in progress:



Michelle asked me if I was using Trekking for these. It's actually Regia cotton. I'm loving the stripes and the yarn is really nice to work with. I recommend it.

Fat legs

I've been knitting and knitting and knitting on the knee socks and I'm almost done with the leg:



At that point I decided to try it on to see how high it goes. Uck. I realized that knee socks don't look good at all on fat calves. At least they don't on my calves. So I don't know what to do. I love the pattern so I may continue and just wear the socks under pants when it's really cold outside. Or I'll frog them and start regular socks.

I'm still not sure what I'll do so in the meantime... I cast on for another pair of socks.



Despite the fact that half of the month is over already, I still have hope of finishing a pair for the Sock a Month Knitalong. Will I succeed? Only time will tell.

I've also made progress on Isabella. I'm almost done with the back. I didn't take a pic cause you'd only see a black blob. I can't wait to start the front, it will be much more fun to knit.

Oh and in more personal news, we finally found an appartment! It's in a great neighborhood. Oh and it's a 10 minutes walk from Effiloché, which can be a good or a bad thing, depending on how you look at it :)

Today was not a good day

It's been a while already since I last updated so I will, even though I don't have anything exciting to share. I'm currently watching the hockey game and the Habs are losing 0-3. Dammit! They could have made the playoffs by winning tonight. Now Saturday will be the decisive game.

So, what have I been up to lately.

1. I've been sick with a cold.

2. I've been appartment hunting and I think I hate that even more than job hunting. Every appartment we like, 20+ other people like it to so we end up not getting it. Tonight I visited one that would have been absolutely perfect... until I realised that my washer and drier wouldn't fit in the designated space for it (it's made for a washer and drier that's one on top of the other).

3. I've been knitting! Unfortunately, I don't have anything to show you. I'm about halfway done with the back of Isabella, but even if I had my camera with me, it wouldn't make a good picture. I'm making it in black cotton.

I'm also making good progress on the Winding Cable Knee Socks but damn, they are taking a lot of my time! I thought I was almost done with the leg part but after rereading the pattern, I realized I had to make 1.5 more repeats of one of the charts. Eeep!

Today, I went to the bookstore and found the Yarn Harlot's new book. I was very happy. I'm in the mood for knitting humour.