Dandelion Picker

“If there’s anything I’ve learned all these years on my own
its how to find my own way out there
and how to find my own way back home”

Ani DiFranco - Anticiapte

Sorry I’ve had that stuck in my head all day!

I just finished making some cookies I started yesterday. I forgot to read the recipe and didn’t notice that they said they had to be refrigerated overnight, so I just baked them off. They are Orange Ginger cookies I got off A Friend To Knit With. I was afraid they would taste a lot like last week’s cookies, but they are quite different. I like the buttery, orange flavor, its really nice. (Note to Stephanie: I subbed silken tofu again for the eggs, they tend to spread out a lot so leave some room between, watch them closely they didn’t seem to need 9 minutes - not sure if any of this is due to the tofu or not. Also I cut them much thicker than the pic after the first sheet came out super crispy!). The jury is still out if my brother likes them or not, I haven’t seen him yet.

My cookies may not look pretty but they taste damn good!

My mother has been on a scarf kick. I started knitting more so I could move on from the scarves, but now she wants scarves (its cold here, its Ohio!). They’re cheap to knit also. So I finished up this scarf for her. It needs some blocking then it will be ready to go.

BTW - I *hate* this yarn. Has anyone else used this Ironstone Yarns New Wool? Pretty yarn, but rough and a pain in the arse to knit with, I kept grabbing pieces of it and it was just a mess. I have a whole other skein she wants fingerless mittens out of but that’s my last time with this yarn!

Nothing exciting, you can’t really see but it has a few rows of pretty eyelets.

I didn’t make much headway on the socks, but I did get a little further.

I’m really loving this pattern. I’m not too stressed about finishing them cause my aunt told me last week that she’s allergic to wool, so now I’m just doing them for fun cause they’re my first pair of socks ever! I wish I could keep them and wear them, but I have huge feet and they won’t fit me. I need to find some cute sock yarn that isn’t wool or a wool blend.

I didn’t get any other knitting done, mostly because I was doing this:

That’s right! You can see the top of my desk!

***Matt just weighed in on the cookies. He doesn’t care for the orange flavor. He prefers last week’s but that didn’t stop him from eating a few of them. I still like this week’s cookies.

That is all…goodnight!

I was soooo looking forward to getting some stuff done this weekend! Yesterday I did some running around and went to JoAnn’s and Michael’s to blow my gift cards. Here’s some of the after Christmas take:

Then I ventured over to Whole Foods…I hadn’t been there yet and I wanted to check it out. I really liked it, I just wish there hadn’t been so many people there, it was so busy I just wanted to get out of there. Afterwards I went to my local grocery store and when I came back out, I found that my trusty “buy a Honda, they’re so reliable, they never break” Accord wouldn’t start…for the 3rd time in 2 months. Thank goodness my friend Marie came to rescue me (and my groceries). The car is still sitting at the grocery store waiting to be towed (hopefully tomorrow morning). I’m so glad Marie was home and I was so close to home myself!

I spent today at home…duh…making soup and cookies and knitting. I should have gotten a lot more done but I’m in a bad mood cause of the car.

So I was watching PBS (I LOOOOOVE PBS) and I saw this Carrot Soup recipe

so I made it. Matt LOVED it and I thought it was pretty damn good myself. The only thing I changed is that I used vegetable stock and I didn’t add the hot sauce or lemon juice…cause it sounded weird to me.

Then I made Pastina and Egg Soup with Spinach but I didn’t add the eggs. Its still pretty good though.

And of course every soup needs some crusty warm bread so I made Crusty French Bread.

And Steph from She’s Foxy and Crafty made these cookies the other day so I decided to try them too. They’re chewy and yummy. I replaced the eggs in this one with some silken tofu…you’d never know!

Now, I should get back to my Christmas mess that I haven’t found place for in my closet:

but instead I think I’m gonna keep working on that sock of Aunt Beth’s!

Sorry for the crappy pic. I know you can hardly see the pattern, but I really like them so far! I hope she does too! I think I’m really getting into this sock-knitting thing!

This is what I did in order to stay in and hide from the snow and the scary people at the stores yesterday. Um, well, it was SUPPOSED to be honey wheat bread, and although it tastes pretty darn good, it just wouldn’t rise for me!

It was delish with that jelly Aunt Beth sent me. Yes I still have some…I’m hording it and making it last as long as possible!

Well here’s the Christmas cookie update. This is what I have done so far. I have no pics of the bread cause Matt has graciously scarfed it all down.

Yes, those apricot and almond ones are supposed to be Kolachki but I didn’t roll them, instead I did them thumbprint style, because, yes, I’m a lazy baker and I wanted to get back to the knitting!

Speaking of the knitting…

Nana’s shawl is half way done. (Don’t mind those clothes on the bed, they’re clean and the closet threw up). Here’s a closeup of the pattern. I wouldn’t suggest it, its a pain. But it is pretty and I hope she likes it. It needs to be blocked badly.

And finally, I went and picked up the homasote I needed to make the blocking board so I can finish up this stuff! Man, does homasote STINK! Its finally airing out in here. I covered it and ended up getting three pretty big pieces about 34″x48″ so that should be sufficient for blocking whatever.

I like the fabric too! I read that if you use something checked it helps with lining things up.

I’m supposed to be cutting out the sugar cookies right now, but I’m procrastinating. I like doing it, I’m just tired from work today.

Matt and I went to the late show Saturday night and saw “Dan In Real Life”, yes I know, its been out forever. It wasn’t as funny as I expected it to be, but it was a good movie. This weekend I’m dragging him to the “Alvin and the Chipmunks” opening. Yes, I’m serious. It looks cute and I don’t want to see it alone!

Saturday I ran into my friend Marie at the garden center. Seems great minds think alike because she was out doing the same thing I was…checking out the stores to see which ones had the best Christmas decorations so we know where to run the day after Christmas to buy what we want at 75% off!

So that was the weekend. Next to come…more cookie pics!

Just been a busy bee! I baked all last weekend. I was hoping to have some pics for you, but I don’t…just yet.

I made Buckeyes (what’s Christmas without some yummy buckeye cookies!?), cinnamon raisin walnut bread, banana bread, Oreo bark, peppermint bark…and my Christmas casualty - coconut wreath cookies, which turned out NOTHING like they were supposed to.

On the cookie sheets this weekend:
Cut out cookies
Rice krispies
Meringue mushrooms
Kolachki
Koulurakia (I have no idea how to spell that but they’re Greek and they’re delish!)
and those yummy cherry in the middle cookies that I have no idea what they’re callled.

Tonight I made rosemary focaccia…its pretty good for my first attempt.

In knitting news:
I’m STILL working on Nana’s shawl. Ran out of yarn and had to place another order.
Beth’s sock yarn is trying to be delivered to me via UPS but I’m not home to sign for it

That’s about it for now. I’ll post again this weekend when I have pretty cookie pictures to share