Food Friday (now with pictures!)

It's Friday! Yay! AND, I'm adding something new to my food posts: PICTURES! Now, I'm no food photographer. If you want pretty yummy pics, check out Smitten Kitchen, Coconut & Lime, Confections of a Foodie Bride or some of the other beautiful food blogs out there!

Oh and I can't promise there'll be pics every week, but I'll try! Now let's look at them resolutions!

Meatless Monday

I had a lot of ideas for lunch, but when I went to the grocery store on Sunday, I couldn't find some of the ingredients I needed. So I ended up with a frozen dinner from Le Commensal. Funny, I used to love them a few years back, but I really didn't enjoy it this time. Oh well.

Dinner was easy, I made vegetarian pizza!



The crust is flatbread that I got at the grocery store. I used mock pepperoni and veggies (I remember onions, lots of broccoli and red and yellow peppers). I froze the leftover vegetarian pepperoni, but I will most likely make another pizza next Monday. It was yummy and I love pizza.

Slowcooker

I made pork that was cooked in cider. There were lots of veggies in there, as well as apples, thyme and bay leaves.



Honestly? It wasn't that good. I mean it was ok. The pork was tender and I like all the veggies. And I always like using fruits in recipe. But it lacked some flavour. Chris suggested we add more spices next time we make it, but I don't think there will be a next time.

Trying new recipes

The pork, above, was a new recipe!

New recipes made this year: 5

Cooking from my cookbooks

Again, the pork mentionned above was from a little cookbook I have, called "Je cuisine... plats mijotés".

I ♥ socks

I love socks. I don't think that comes as a surprise to anyone who reads my blog. I always feel that I should really try and knit something else (and I do. sometimes.), but whenever I go through a little while without having knit a sock, I feel like a smoker without her nicotine.

I like the small needles and the tiny stitches. And there are so many nice sock patterns out there. My advent sock pattern calendar included only a small part of my sock queue.

When the "groups" feature was created on Ravelry, it didn't take long for me to join the Sock Knitters Anonymous group, but it took me a while to get involved in the challenges there. Last September, I joined my first Sockdown! challenge and I've been hooked ever since. I had to skip the December challenge because of Christmas knitting obligations, but other than that, I've enjoyed every month.

And this month, I'm knitting two pairs (we actually have until the end of the following month to finish, so that's two months for each challenge if you cast on at the beginning of the month). Since I'm a slow knitter, it means that those socks are all I've done this month. And they're still far from being finished. But since there hasn't been much knitting pics posted on here lately, I figured I'd share my in-progress pics:



The one on the right is the January mystery sock (Technique is texture! There was also a bead option but I didn't have them so I didn't use them). You see only one of the socks, but I'm knitting both at the same time. I'm currently waiting for the last clue (tomorrow!) to finish them. Unfortunately, I didn't choose the best yarn for it so the pattern doesn't show that much. Oh well.

The sock on the left is a Nancy Bush (designer of the month) pattern (Rib and Cable socks from IK Fall 2005). I looooove it. But I'm only knitting one sock at a time so I'm far from finished.

I had more to write (re: Ravelympics), but I gotta go to work. Toodles!

My cart for Haiti

I wanted to make this post separate from Food friday because it's important.

I don't think I need to tell anyone about the terrible tragedy that struck Haiti this week. I know that when something like that happens, I tend to feel so powerless but I do want to help.

And the one thing everyone can do to help is to donate. I've spent the past few weeks thinking about the Ravelympics and I had a few projects in mind. Of course, anytime I think "new projects" I think new yarn so I had filled my Knitpicks cart with yarn and notions and I was thinking of ordering soon.

This morning and I emptied my cart and gave the money to Doctors without borders. I'll knit from my stash for the Ravelympics. I'm not saying you all have to do the same, but since a lot of people are thinking about helping right now, I figured I'd share my idea.

If you want to donate, here are a few sites you can go to (they're Canadian, but you can find the equivalent to most of them in your country):

Doctors without borders
CECI - Centre d'études et de coopération internationale
Red Cross
UNICEF


The Yarn Harlot's Knit-Signal

Food Friday

I almost forgot about Food Friday this morning. Here's how my week went:

Meatless Monday

Lunch: I had a pear-and-brie sandwich (homemade), with veggies on the side. It was yummy.

Dinner: I made spicy rice with beans and lentils. It was delicious, very filling and I had tons of leftovers for my week's lunches.

Slowcooker

I didn't use it this week.

New recipes

The spicy rice I mentionned above was new, and it's definitely something I'll make again.

I also tried a new recipe for pork and veal meatballs and it also was a success. I halved the recipe and I still had so many meatballs I had to freeze a few.

New recipes so far this year: 4

Cooking from my cookbooks

Both of the new recipes I mentionned above were from my cookbooks. The meatballs are from Qu'est-ce qu'on mange? Vol. 3, a book from a series I've had forever. It's very traditionnal Quebec food, but I like it. The blue one (the one I've used this week) is my favourite.

The vegetarian spicy rice is from Rose Reisman Light Vegetarian Cooking (I have the French translation).

Lurkers?

So apparently, this week is National de-lurking week! I'm a big big lurker myself so I'll have to make an effort and comment more! But if you're reading this: leave a comment! Anything!

SIP

I'm trying to post more, can you tell? I'm not sure what I'm writing is all that interesting, but at least I'm trying.

The whole trying new food and new recipe thing is a lot of fun. I'm going to try to keep up with my food Friday posts because I think I'll enjoy writing them. But even though we're not Friday, I gotta tell you that I tried something brand new on Saturday: I ate kangaroo! We had a friend over and made chinese fondue. We had beef and chicken and we wanted to try something different and the grocery store had kangaroo so I figured, why not? It really tastes similar to beef, nothing special. But it was twice as expensive. I don't think I'll eat it again.

Also, speaking of food, I have a question for those of you who work outside of your home: What do you bring in your lunchbox?.

I like to eat leftovers the most, but I don't always have them. I get bored with sandwiches, but that's probably because I don't know how to make good ones, because most of the time when I don't pack my lunch, I go out and buy myself... a sandwich. :) But I need ideas! Especially vegetarian ideas for Mondays!

In knitting news, I've been knitting away on the January mystery socks. I started Clue #2 today and OMG! I never thought a textures socks (just knits and purls, really) could be so complicated! Well, not complicated per se, but the pattern is not easy to follow. There are many charts who don't have the same amount of rows. So two charts have 12 rows, one has 16 and two have 18. So when I'm done with the 12-row charts, I start row 1 again on them, but keep going on the 16-row one for two rows (and then I start that one on row 1) and on the 18-row ones. Follow me? I don't think I follow myself! But I managed to do two repeats of the 12-row charts so far and the pattern is very pretty so I'll keep going.

I also have another Sock In Progress: a Nancy Bush pattern named Rib and Cable. It's pretty and exactly the kind of socks I like to make. And they're BLUE!

Knitting in 2009 and 2010

I usually write a post about my knitting accomplishments at the end of each year. I didn't have time in December so I'll do it now.

In 2009, I knit 18 projects, mostly small ones. My favourites include the Cable net socks:



The Waves of blue baby blanket:



And my Froot Loop socks:

.

During the year, I knit 8 pairs of socks, 5 hats, 1 pair of mittens, 1 baby blanket, 1 shawl, 1 Christmas stocking and 1 neck warmer.

Still no sweater, but all in all, I'm pretty satisfied.

I've also made a few knitting resolutions for 2010.

1. I need to make a sweater. I suck at seaming and I have yet to make a sweater I was satisfied with, but I'm hopeful I'll succeed this year. We'll see.

2. As much as I love joining KALs, I need to choose my commitments carefully. KALs are fun but when I join too many of them, I get overwhelmed and that is usually when I start to lose my knitting mojo. That is why I decided to give up on the Hat Trick KAL this january. I'm already knitting two pairs of socks for another KAL, that's enough for this month. Next month will be the Knitting Olympics and I'll want to join that for sure.

3. I'm on a sort of sock yarn diet. My objective is to knit six pairs with the yarn I have now before I buy anything new. I know I can do that. I already have two pairs on the needles.

4. I'm also on a knitting book diet. I mentionned in my last post that I've been wanting some new books lately but that I hardly ever knit from the ones I own. I've made a list of some of my favourite books and I decided I'm not buying a new one until I've knit at least one pattern from each of them. Here's the list: Knitting Vintage Socks, Folk Socks, Sock Innovation and Latvian mittens as well as two booklets: Steppin' Out and Steppin' Out Two. Yes, I'm aware all but one are sock books. :) And I've already made two pairs out of Steppin' Out but I really should make more because it's a nice little booklet.

Now, here's a pic of a sock in progress I started on January 1st (yes, they're for a KAL). They're a mystery sock pattern so I have no idea what they'll look like.

Food Friday

Since many of my 2010 resolutions are food-related, I thought it would be fun to write weekly about how my week went, food-wise. Here's a little reminder of my food resolutions:

1. Meatless Mondays. 2. Master the Slowcooker. 3. Try two new recipes a month. 4. Cook from my cookbooks.

Meatless Monday

Lunch: I made a veggie soup on Saturday and brought the leftovers. It was a very simple soup made with whatever I could find. Hehe. I had onions, red peppers, green onions, garlic and carrots and I also added some frozen veggies I had. I sauteed everything, added vegetable broth and water, as well as a can of mixed beans. I can't remember which spices I added. Anyways, it was very good and filling.

Dinner: I made a spinach quiche, using a recipe for Swiss chard quiche that Tara shared a little while ago (replacing swiss chard with spinach of course). Oh and mine wasn't crustless. It tasted great and I had some leftovers for another lunch!

(I'm not mentionning breakfast because I very rarely eat meat for breakfast.)

Slowcooker

I tried my brand new slowcooker on Sunday and made a veal stew with beer and cumin. I got the recipe here but it's in French. OMG it was good. The meat was wonderfully tender and it was a great success. I would definitely make it again!

New recipes

Both the quiche and the veal were new recipes so I've already reached my goal of two new recipes a month!

Cookbooks

I haven't cooked from my cookbooks yet! Hopefully I will have by next week.

Book lust

I'm having a case of major book lust. I'm not sure why. Maybe it has to do with this startitis I have? I see beautiful FOs on Ravelry and on blogs and then I wantwantwantwantwant.

I want this:



And this:



Oh and this:



Problem is: I tend to get books, look at them, love their patterns and put them on a shelf... I have two Nancy Bush books (Folk socks + Knitting vintage socks), Cookie's book and a Latvian mittens book and I haven't knit anything from them yet.

But still. I wantwantwantwantwantwantwant!

Ps/ This "getting up with my alarm" resolution rocks! I have time to blog in the morning!

2010

Resolutions, schmesolutions. I make them every year because I like to have goals, but like most people, I always have a hard time sticking to them. I usually want to lose weight, stop eating sweets, go to the gym more often and well... I try... but often fail.

So this year, I'm trying to have fun with my resolutions. I'm making them food related and I want this year to be a year of discovery. Ooooh. Here they are:

1. Meatless Mondays. I'm not the kind of person who absolutely needs meat at every meal. I like veggie food, in fact, I was vegetarian for a year and a piscetarian (fish only) for three years. Funny thing though: I can't remember what I used to eat. I think I recall there was a lot of pasta and cheese. Anyways. I've already told Chris that our Mondays will be vegetarian (well he can eat whatever he wants but I'm not cooking meat). If you have a favourite vegetarian recipe (it can include cheese and/or eggs), feel free to share. No mushrooms though. Ew.

2. Try at least two new recipes a month. I want to eat new things and find new recipes that will become staples and that I'll want to make often. I figure two new recipes a month is reasonnable enough, but I can make more of course.

3. Cook from my cookbooks! I often check online for new recipes and I will definitely continue to do that (I get a lot of inspirations from other people's blogs), but I also have tons of cookbooks that I never use. I'm hoping to cook from each of them sometime this year!

4. Master the slow cooker! I got a brand new slow cooker for my birthday and I'm looking forward to using it. I already have something planned for tomorrow. I didn't like my old slow cooker and never used it. Hopefully I'll be using my new one a lot this year.

And my only non-food related and not-fun resolution for 2010: I want to get up when my alarm goes on and not press snooze a dozen times. That's going to be difficult but it needs to be done.

I wish you all a wonderful year. And if you have resolutions, please share them!

I love quickies!

Today is the last day of 2009 and I still haven't written my resolutions post (sorry about that, it'll be done in the next couple of days).

I do have a FO to share though:


(Sorry about the wet hair)



Pattern: Herringbone Neck Warmer, by Craig Rosenfeld
Yarn: Malabrigo Chunky (YUM!)
Needles: US 10 / 6.0 mm
Mods: I used smaller needles and made it shorter since I was running out of yarn. I stopped knitting at 21” (instead of 28”) and then made the buttonband. I blocked it a little longer but I’m happy I didn’t knit it to 28” or it would have been too long.

This was a very quick knit, even for me. It took a week to knit and that's only because I didn't knit every day. Super easy.

Happy New Year everyone! Have fun celebrating tonight, but be safe!

Full plate?

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!

I just finished my Christmas knitting and I already have too much planned for January. See, as you may have noticed already, I love to join KALs and I have planned two of them for the new year.

First, there's the monthly Sockdown challenge, with Sock Knitters Anonymous. January's technique challenge is "texture other than ribbing or beaded socks" and the designer of the month is Nancy Bush (which means you can knit any pattern by Nancy Bush). There will also be a mystery pattern.

I have already chosen a Nancy Bush pattern (rib and cable socks) and I'm really tempted to try the mystery pattern (it's a knit-purl texture pattern with optional beading that I would leave out). So that's two pairs of socks. I would have until the end of February to finish them for them to count towards the challenge, but then February is Ravelympics month and February's sockdown is "Underappreciated Patterns" so I'd like to do it. Hmmmm....

Oh and I mentionned a second KAL. Puck this is having its annual Hat Trick KAL (3 hats in one month) and I had so much fun making hats last year that I sorta wanna do it again this year. Eeeps. I'm not sure I can knit three hats and two pairs of socks. Especially since one of the hats I want to make is made with sock yarn...

Oh and did I mention I also want to finish my Herringbone neck warmer? And maybe knit a shawl/wrap for when it's cold in my office?

Yeah. A full plate.

In-between

This is the wonderful time of the year, squeezed just between the crazyness that is Christmas and the crazyness that is New Year's Eve (and day, in my family's case). I wish I could take this time to rest, but unfortunately, I have to work tonight, Monday and Tuesday. But then I'll be free until January 4.

I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas, if you celebrate it, or just a wonderful day if you don't. I was once again very spoiled, though not with anything wool-related. I had sent a link to my Knitpicks wishlist to the boyfriend, but he didn't use it. But that's all right. I had asked him for a heart rate monitor and I got it, so I'm happy. I also got a gorgeous photography book from my mom, a wok (I needed one badly), a few bottles of wine (always appreciated), gift certificates to Aldo (I need boots), a few Will and Grace DVDs (season 4&5) and much more. I also got to spend the Holidays with my family and Chris' family, which was wonderful. Great food was eaten, good wines were drank and good times were had.

The only not-so-fun thing that happened was that I got too close to a cat and paid the price. See, I'm very allergic to both cats and dogs. Fortunately, I can take Reactine and it really helps with the symptoms. Chris' parents have two cats so I'm always drugged up when I go there (the pills make me sleepy). I love cats and since the drugs worked and I wasn't having any symptoms, I decided to play with one of them a little. Bad bad idea. Somehow, a cat hair got in my eye and it immediately got all swolen. I looked like a boxer that had just lost a fight! It's gotten better since I got home, but it's still a bit swollen. I've never felt so pretty.

Ok, that was a long post. And I don't even have any pictures to share. I hope I didn't bore you too much. I have much more to say (re: startitis. And resolutions), but it'll have to wait. Toodles!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas my love! I hope Santa (or your loved ones) was generous with you and that you all were spoiled as much as you deserve. And please, if you got some wooly goodies, please do share (I'm talking about sharing pics of course! You can keep the yarn all for yourself!)

I want to thank all of you who commented all through the month while I was doing my silly little sock pattern advent calendar. It was fun! Now, here are all the patterns I mentionned during the month. All are linked to their Ravelry page. If you're not on Rav yet... well I guess now is a good time to sign up!

1. Rib and Cable socks by Nancy Bush
2. Eclipse socks by Julie P. Miller
3. Double Eyelet Rib Toe-up Socks, by Wendy Johnson
4. Holly Christmas Stocking by Annie Woolens
5. Pillars by Lisa Stichweh
6. Bayerische Socks by Eunny Jang
7. Berlin Muster, by Kristin Benecken
8. Kai-Mei, by Cookie A
9. Magic Mirror, by Jeannie Cartmel
10. Paul Atwell socks, by Emily Johnson
11. Nine-to-five socks, by Nicole Hindes
12. Better-Than-Booties Baby Socks by Ann Budd
13. Stashbuster Spirals by Janine Hempy
14. Possibility, by Robyn Grauer
15. Heart of December, by SpillyJane
16. Summer Sliding, by Jeannie Cartmel
17. Lizard socks, by Beate Zäch
18. Loksins! sock, by Cassie Thoreson
19. Herringbone Rib Socks, by Kristi Schueler
20. Leyburn Socks, by MintyFresh
21. Spring Cable, by Elinore Gray
22. Having Hope, by Diane Mulholland
23. Esther socks, by Stephanie van der Linden
24. Licorice Stick Socks, by Chrissy Gardiner

Christmas - 1

This is the end, my friends. The end of the Sock pattern advent calendar, that is! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. It made me realize how many beautiful sock patterns I want to make. Too many! I could spend the next 5 years knitting only the socks in my queue and I wouldn't be able to make them all!

Anyways, here's the last one:

December 24

Pattern: Licorice Stick Socks, by Chrissy Gardiner
Licorice isn't a traditionnal holiday candy, right? It doesn't matter, it's one of my favourites and this pattern is gorgeous! I want!
You can find it for sale (6 $ US) in Twist Collective.

If you're celebrating tonight: HAVE FUN! And BE SAFE!

Christmas - 2

Yay! My work week is over! We're going to my mom's to celebrate Christmas tomorrow and to my in-laws' on the 25th! I can't wait to give away my gifts (especially the wooly ones!)

December 23

Pattern: Esther socks, by Stephanie van der Linden
This pattern may not be Christmassy, but I definitely find it festive. And beautiful!
You can find it for free, on its Ravelry page!

Christmas - 3

Christmas is almost here! Weeeee! I only have one day left to work (I do go back on the 27th though, no week-long vacation for moi!). I brought homemade cookies to the office today and they were a hit. Life is good.

I also have a FO. I'm not 100% happy about it, but it's ok. They definitely look better in person.





The one on the right looks weird! They really do look the same in person, I promise.

Pattern: Cabled Lace socks, by Chrissy Gardiner
Yarn: Knitpicks Stroll in Buckskin
Needles: 2.75mm

Donedonedonedonedonedonedone!

December 22

Pattern: Having Hope, by Diane Mulholland
Christmas is a time for generosity and giving. Proceeds from sales of this beautiful pattern are donated to Cancer Research.
You can find it for sale (4,95 $ US) on this page.

Christmas - 4

Christmas sock status: DONE and blocking! Woohoo! I can't believe I'm done with the Christmas knitting and I can now knit for ME ME and only ME! Don't get me wrong, I love knitting for other people, but everytime I finish my Christmas knitting, all I want to do is knit for myself. I'll have pics of my mom's socks tomorrow.

So, I did go to the LYS with the boyfriend yesterday. He got something for his grandmother and his aunt. And I got a little something for myself.



Malabrigo chunky! Yum. I actually fell in love with a neck warmer I saw at the LYS and I just had to make one for me. (Chris liked it too, he bought the same yarn for his grandma). It's the Herringbone neck warmer. I cast on for it tonight. I'm in love!

December 21
Pattern: Spring Cable, by Elinore Gray
Today is December 21st, the shortest day of the year. Can you blame me for thinking about spring?
You can find it completely free, here.

Christmas - 5

Christmas sock status: I think I have three pattern repeats left to do on the foot. One pattern repeat takes me a little less than 30 minutes. I think I'll make it ;)

The boyfriend wants to go to a LYS this afternoon to buy some yarn for his grandmother. Of course, I must go with him to help him with that. Will I come back with a little something for myself? We'll see. I'll try to be good.

I had fun taking pictures of our Christmas tree on Friday. I still don't know much about photography, settings and all that so I got funny results. Like this one:



I call it my "Fertility Tree", can you guess why? ;)

I finally managed to take one I was satisfied with.



I also had too much fun with Photoshop, but I like the way this one looks (on my computer. It may look really bad on yours):



Pattern of the day:

December 20

Pattern: Leyburn Socks, by MintyFresh
Can you tell I've been looking for patterns that work well with handpainted yarn? That's because I love them, but I don't like it when the pretty colours hide the beautiful pattern. But the Leyburn socks seem to work well with handpainted yarns.
You can find it for 0$ on its Ravelry project page.

Christmas - 6

Ok people. The countdown has really begun. Six days before Christmas and I'm still on the foot of the Christmas sock. I can do it, I can do it, I can do it.

December 19

Pattern: Herringbone Rib Socks, by Kristi Schueler
Another cute pattern, that works beautifully with handpainted yarn.
You can find it for free here.