Sunday, March 18, 2012

ear worms and knitting

While jamming to Beethoven's symphonies and knitting I wasn't paying to close attention. I was knitting C4Fs when I should have been knitting C4Bs in my Celtic Braids. When I finally took a good close look at my work for the evening I saw the mistakes at midnight. I was up until 2 this morning fixing the mistakes. I want to thank Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, a.k.a. The Yarn Harlot, for the tutorial on fixing cabling mistakes. It worked like a dream.

Now what do ear worms have to do with knitting? Well I wanted some music to knit by so I typed in Beethoven's Symphonies in the search engine. I got a link to Beethoven's 3rd, complete. I was busy listening along reading comments on it and somebody was explaining why they didn't like this version of Beethoven's 3rd and he thought Leonard Bernstein conducting the Wiener Philharmonic was better. So back to the search engine and I found all nine of Beethoven's symphonies done by the Wiener Philharmonic with Leonard Bernstein conducting. I now have parts of Beethoven's 5th and 9th with the choir singing Ode to Joy playing in my head over and over again. Some of the best ear worms I've ever had!

Have a good day!

Judy

Thursday, March 8, 2012

not my mother's brussel sprouts



Photo from: http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/brussels-sprout_2.html

I don't know about your mother's brussel sprouts but my mother's were boiled into a bitter army-green mush. You had to eat them hot and quick to get them down. When I got a pound of them in my most recent Bountiful Basket, Hubby was trying to find ways to feed them to the chickens so he didn't have to eat them. His mother's were evidently as bad as my mother's were. It seems the women from the southeastern corner of Kansas can only cook peas, corn, and green beans.

Well I indulged my favorite past time of web cruising and came up with a couple of recipes for fixing brussel sprouts that sounded interesting. The one I fixed the other night is called Chestnuts and Brussel Sprouts. The other one I found that really interested me was Brussel Sprouts in Sour Cream. If we ever get any more this will be the next recipe I will try.

So here is the recipe with my changes.

Chestnuts and Brussel Sprouts

1 pound brussel sprouts, trimmed and cleaned (This video shows how to clean them.)
6 ounces bacon, cut in small strips (I used 8 oz.)
1 cup canned chestnuts, cut in halves or quarters (I used 5 fresh because we also got water chestnuts in our Asian pack)
2 tablespoons butter (Didn't use because you are getting fat from the bacon)
Salt and pepper (only used a bit of pepper because you are getting salt from the bacon)

Cook the brussel sprouts using your favorite method. I just boiled them for about 12 minutes in salt water. Rinse and cut the sprouts in two. (Cut your sprouts before cooking according to a you-tube video I watched. It helps reduce the bitter taste if the centers are exposed to the boiling salt water. Only cook until the sprouts are just barely tender! You are going to cook them a bit more with the bacon.)

(Skip this part) Melt the butter in a skillet on medium heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes. (I cooked the bacon until most of the fat had been rendered out. Drained most of the fat off. Left maybe 2 TBSP.) Add the brussel sprouts and chestnuts and continue cooking until the bacon is cooked through and the sprouts are slightly browned. (I cooked until my water chestnuts were lightly cooked.)
Makes 4 servings.

Sister Suzy didn't like them at all. Hubby said if he had to eat a brussel sprout that was the way to eat them. I thought they were delicious. In fact, I thought they were good cold!

Side Note: Remember in the last post I said the Muse wasn't interested in doing anything fiber. Well last night She decided I should knit on my current afghan project. I feel like knitting today and the hell with scrubbing bathrooms. I believe my Muse is one fickle lady!

Have a good day!

Judy

Saturday, March 3, 2012

100th post and random thoughts

I can't believe I stuck with blogging long enough to get to 100! Will I get another 100 in? I don't know; we will see.

The Creative Muse has, evidently, wondered off to do other things. I have a half done quilt that has been setting here since before Christmas that isn't any more done than it was when I wondered off to do something else and it is not crying out to be finished. All the blocks are completed and quilted. The setting strips for the front and back are done but the desire isn't there.

I started a new afghan with the yarn from an afghan I wasn't going to finish. I found a pattern I really liked of an aran afghan that was for extra chunky weight yarn. I only have worsted so I found and swatched the border pattern, and the two cables patterns in the center panel. Figured out the gauge and added one more cable each of the cable patterns in the center panel. I have 12 inches knitted and the desire/pressure just isn't there to work on it. As I said the Muse has wondered off.

I would say She is in the nesting mood. Cooking and housekeeping are taking a precedent. She wants to clear the junk and find tasty new recipes. Gardening however doesn't thrill Her. But de-junking the yard does! So I will follow Her around and see where She leads me.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is blogging may get even more infrequent that it has been in the past if I have nothing creative to post.

Have a great day!

Judy