It's Beginning to Feel A Lot Like Summer

I still haven't completely finished my garnstudio sweater, but I'm close. I saw some darling gingham buttons at Posy Gets Cozy, but I couldn't find if she said where she found them.

I ended up ordering some pretty cute, plastic buttons from ebay, but now I can't decide on what color to use. The green definitely doesn't look good, but I think the yellow or the purple have possibilities. I'd appreciate any input I can get since family is no help whatsoever!

So, the temperature are finally starting to feel like Central California in the summer. We had such a nice June that I almost thought we'd skip the 100 degree temps this year--Not! The beagles can't think of much to do except lie around sighing periodically, but we've been thinking that a short trip to the beach was in order. We took along our bikes and had a great little vacation for two days. One of the highlights was taking the Bob Jones' Bike Trail to Avila Beach for the first time on bikes. I've run it several times before in the City to the Sea Half Marathon when it used to go to Avila, but I much preferred riding it.

After spending a big part of the evening at the San Luis Obispo Farmer's Market, we took a little drive around Morro Bay before heading back to our campground at the state park.

This picture doesn't do justice to how pretty it was. We drove over by Morro Rock and looked back at the town with  all of the lights  twinkling. If we hadn't had an impatient teenager in the backseat, we would have sat there until it was completely dark.

I guess a lot of people would consider the "stacks" an unsightly addition to the skyline, but maybe cause they've been there all of my life, they don't bother me. It was always exciting to see the stacks as we were driving in on the freeway and to know that we were almost to Morro Bay when I was a kid.

We didn't sleep great in our tent. Fortunately, Paige wasn't with us. She spent the night with some friends who have a beach house about five miles from where we were staying. Otherwise, we would have hardly fit in the tent. I guess we'd forgotten how small it is...or how big the kids have gotten. Even though we have a blow-up mattress, it was still pretty uncomfortable. So, we got up early and took a little walk on the beach. I only found one sand dollar, to add to my forty other sand dollars I have spread around on display in the house.

 It must have been the cool weather, but I felt like knitting a lot for the past two day too. I've been working on these Paraphernalia Socks for a while. I'm knitting them for one of my ex-students who plans to go to college in New York in the fall. I jokingly told her that she was going to need wool socks when we told me where she was going, and then I thought it would be fun to actually give her some. I really like the pattern, but the wool is just O.K. I think it's Lorna's Lacis, which I usually love, but it just isn't smooth enough for this pattern. I'm not sure if that's what I mean exactly. I just don't like how the stitches are so...separate.

Quiz Time

Lazy Kate  tagged me for a little quiz a while back. I loved reading her answers, and since I haven't made much knitting progress lately, I thought I'd go ahead see how boring I sound.

1. What's your staple meal (ie. what meal do you cook most often when you can't be bothered to be adventurous) ?
I have a hard time with just cooking up something really fast. I'll either fix a great, well-planned meal, or my husband will end up fixing "Scoobie Snacks," which are basically quesadillas with refried beans and sometimes some chicken. I probably make cilantro pesto pasta most often in a pinch, but it still takes a little effort. It's definitely Kai's favorite, and Russ and Paige like it quite a lot too. They obviously don't have a cilantro aversion. OK, and when I'm really, really worn out, I ask Kai to get us something on one of his almost daily runs to Taco Bell. I'm a little ashamed to admit the fast food thing, but sometimes Taco Bell just hits the spot.

2. What do you want to be when you grow up?
Mmmmm, not sure still. I've been a teacher for nearly twenty-five years, not an occupation that I ever intended to do in the first place. I'm not shy, but I'm an introvert in a lot of ways, so a hundred teenagers in your face every day can be a pain.  I've grown to embrace it though. I guess I'd like to be a writer., so I could work in my pajamas. I'd like to write about food and food-related experiences, like eating out in fancy restaurants in L.A. (even though I hate getting around in L.A.) or some European metropolis.

3. What book are you reading at the moment (if any)
I just read The Big House, A Century in the Life of an American Summer House, which I really enjoyed, and I'm kind of reading A Cook's Tour, which I've read before. I'm planning to read A Passage to India this summer and maybe another classic that I haven't yet read. For an English teacher, I'm not that great of a reader. I love books, but I'm a browser. If a book doesn't grab me, I won't make the effort to struggle though it.

4. How do you relax?
I spread out on our love seat, and browse through blogs and I have to admit that I "farm" on Farmville, although I think I may be outgrowing that...maybe after I fill my nursery barn, ha, ha. ...And, of course, I knit!

5. What color are the interior walls of your home?
I love the color of our walls. Our living room is sand-colored above a chair rail and kind of a mocha below. The entryway is two-toned too, with light shades of green. As you can see from my previous blog post, our kids' bathroom is blue; Paige's room is eggplant, and Kai's is "Cornhusker" red. I've been trying to decide on a change in our bedroom since it's just boring beige right now. I'm thinking pink although Paige thinks I shouldn't do that to Russ. He's man enough to take it, I think.

6. What is your guiltiest pleasure?
Chocolate chip cookie dough. I make great cookies, but the dough, after it's been in the fridge for a while, is soooo good.

7. What time is bedtime and getting up time?

I need a lot of sleep, but I don't always  never get enough during the school year. I usually don't get to bed before 10:30 or 11:00, and get up at 5:00 three mornings a week to run. The other two days of the work week, I get up around 6:30.

8. How long do you spend reading blogs (per day or per week)?
I'll sometimes spend hours looking at blogs, and other times I'll go weeks without doing much reading. I've gone months without blogging in the past. I'm usually most interested in reading blogs if I'm in a blogging mood myself, and am looking for even more inspiration. It's kind of an unpredictable thing for me.

Here's my chocolate chip cookie recipe. It's basically the Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from Cook's Illustrated, and it's practically no-fail. Enjoy!


Chocolate Chip Cookies

In a large mixing bowl, mix together,

1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup butter, melted in the microwave (I don't always bother doing this, but the cookies are better when I do.)
1 egg, plus one additional egg yolk
2 tsp. vanilla

In a separate bowl, mix together,

2 cups flour, plus 2 Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. soda

Add to wet ingredients.

Add chocolate chips.

Bake at 325 degree for about 13 minutes. Let sit on the pan for a minute of two before moving to a cookie rack.

So When Does Vacation Start?

I neglected to mention in my previous post that I'm not exactly  on vacation yet. We've had a really expensive year, so I decided that I should just bite the bullet and teach summer school to help ourselves climb out of the red. I probably neglected mentioning it because I really don't like thinking about it too much. It's not terrible; 7:00 A.M. until 1:00 P.M. four days a week for three weeks.  I'd just so much rather be home being creative...or at least mindlessly knitting. I really shouldn't complain though because I have had a lot more time to knit than during the regular school year.

I'm pretty much finished with the Drops jacket. I really enjoyed this pattern. The only negative about it was the sleeves. They're done in reverse stockinette, and since the sleeves are done in the round, I had to purl every row. I don't like purling that much. On the other hand, when I was finished with the sweater, I was finished. There are two little seams under the arms and that's it. Now I just need to find some buttons and add a picot edge to the sleeves.

Russ hasn't been on vacation exactly either. We decided that since we have felt a little behind with expenses that we shouldn't fly to Nebraska this summer as we almost always do and usually come close to shelling out $3,000 with plane tickets, car rental, and eating out a lot. So, logically, we decided to spend close to $2,000 remodeling our bathroom. I know that's pretty cheap as far as remodels go, but the irony of us spending so much money to do it right now wasn't lost on me.





Our house was built in the early 80s, by a builder who is well known in our town. He's done some really nice homes, but the majority of them are tract homes with next to no originality. I've seen some of the light fixtures we've now replaced at Lowe's for like $6, so quality wasn't a high priority either. My goal since we moved in twelve years ago has been to try to make our house, which looks like at least five other houses in our neighborhood, more original. Russ has painted endlessly, added wainscoting, installed Pergo floors, and changed every light fixture  and ceiling fan in the place, but we haven't touched the biggest eyesore in the house, the kids' bathroom. The bathroom reflected the builder's dismissal of quality. It wasn't horrible exactly, but it was kind of embarrassing. So....Russ gutted it, everything except the bathtub, which was in OK condition and doesn't look much different from the tubs we could have afforded to replace it with anyway.

Happy Father's Day

Russ hasn't managed to relax much today even though it's Father's Day since he's in the middle of remodeling our kids' bathroom and is anxious to get finished, but I guess you could say we celebrated yesterday.

We left around 7:30 for Shell Beach to eat breakfast at Zorro's. Mmmm.. Ranchero Suissas and Chilachiles! The only thing better than Mexican food for dinner is Mexican food for breakfast! Then, time for a hike. My friend Janet introduced me to a new hike last weekend while we were on our annual "Oceano Beach House" weekend. The hike is to a beach that is just a little south of Avila.  Actually, I have been to the beach before. It's called Pirate's Cove, and when I was a teenager we used to go there because it was rumored to be a nude beach. We never saw anything exciting though, ha, ha, but it felt so daring to go there. The hike we went on is definitely new. There are  amazing views of the ocean on one side of the trail and incredible views of some ginormous mansions on the other.  Except for one, which looked like an enormous dentist's office, all of the houses were pretty much unbelievable. I think you'd call much of it Mediterranean architecture. I've decided that I need a light pink bougainvillea, so my yard can look just like Arnold Schwartzenegger's, which is one of at least twelve mansions we saw along the way....all we need to do will be to add another 12,000 square feet to our 1500 square foot house and we should be set!

We had plans to go to Morro Bay and just sit on the beach (me knitting and Russ reading) for a while and then head to the farmer's market, which begins at 2:30, but we got a little sidetracked picking up some raspberry swirl bread at the House of Bread in San Luis Obispo and browsing through a few book stores, so my knitting for limited to the ride over and back.

For someone who bragged that she had her knitting mojo back, I've haven't gotten too far on any knitting projects.
I 'm moving pretty fast with this little project though. It's a little jacket for a friend, who's having a baby the end of this summer. It's a Drops Design pattern. I'm using some Jaeger Extra Fine Merino that I bought at a sale at Wildfiber's in Santa Monica a couple of summers ago. It's so luscious feeling, perfect for a little baby. Now if it gets cold before December this year, so she doesn't outgrow it before it gets cold !

Knitting Mojo Regained

My goal this year was to post at least one more time each month than I did last year, not a very challenging goal considering my 2009 record. Since I only posted once last May, I wasn't a bit concerned about meeting my May goal this year, but I failed. I tried repeated times in the last month to get enthused about a project, but I just couldn't.

I've wanted to knit Knotty gloves from Laris Designs for a long time, and I did finally knit one. I was kind of happy with the result, but not enough to knit a mate. I think it's the yarn. Dare I say it....it's just too pink! Then I thought I'd finally try to use up the twelve skeins of Debbie Bliss Silk Aran yarn I bought at least ten years ago, by knitting a set of placemats. I've knit this pattern before, and I  like it, but I don't like the yarn at all. I've read that other people don't like it either. It just doesn't feel good. So, I'm done trying to find a use for it. I'm giving to to a friend who will hopefully be more successful with it.

School has been out for only three days, and I'm already starting to feel creative again. Things have been so fast and furious for the last month or so that when I did have a little time to relax, I ended up falling asleep on the couch most of the time. It seems like the hectic pace of the entire year finally caught up with me. All year, I've been poignantly aware of all of the "high school lasts" that Paige was enjoying to the hilt.

I don't know if other schools make such a big deal of powderpuff football, but at our school, it's almost as important, to the girls at least, as the Homecoming game itself. I remember thinking when we took this picture that the year was going to zoom by, and I was right.

By the time prom came around,  Paige had decided to go to our community college for a year instead of to a university, which kind of helped me be a little less nostalgic. I would have been happy if she had chosen to go to Davis or Cal Poly right away, but I have to admit that I'm relieved to put off paying close to $30,000 a year for school, and I'm also glad that she isn't quite ready to leave home. Her brother is a little disappointed, but her dad and I are happy. Most of Paige's friends made the same choice, even her best friend who was the valedictorian of their class.

 I went to graduation equipped with a wad of kleenex, but was surprised to find that I was pretty much dry-eyed  and thoroughly  enjoyed every minute, with just a few exceptions. Paige and I walked up to the meeting area for teachers and students, and her friends said, You're wearing shorts??? You can't wear shorts!" I walked on ahead of her, hoping that security would give her a break, since they know her and her ditziness. I had to go in a different line, but I was happy to see her come up to me later as I gossiped with some of friends, only to discover that she was holding one of her sandasl in her hand. It was broken. Yikes! I took it into the gym office and attempted to staple iti back together. No luck. Fortunately, one of my friends who lives about five blocks from our school called home and had a pair delivered to us in the nick of time. Did Paige panic, you might ask. Not a bit. She said that she figured that she could always just go out there barefoot.

Paige graduated fifth in her class, which  would be good any year, but her class, besides being full of wonderful kids, has been the most academically inclined class I've seen in twenty-plus years of teaching. There was something like twenty kids who graduated with highest honors.  I have accused the boy in this picture with me of intentionally getting a B last year, so that he wouldn't have to risk giving a speech as valedictorian. I'm not entirely sure that I was wrong! Oh, and he didn't come to this country until he was in the third grade. Don't come to me if you want an unbiased discussion about immigration. At least half of my best students are immigrants or the children of immigrants. Their faces are what I see when people start discussing the evils of immigration. I just have to be content to love the students I have and to hope that we as a nation can quit being hysterical and create real solutions, instead of defaulting to being haters.

Sooo, after getting through graduation and grad night at Disneyland, I'm really ready to start being a knitter again. I've knit two bowls, which aren't works of art, but I like them. Paige went on a field trip to the beach with her A.P Statistics class a couple of weeks ago and brought me back a bunch of shells. I love shells and rocks, but I usually end up throwing them away because I mean how many grocery bags of shells can you have? Now I have a pretty way of displaying them.

I know that there are lots of felted bowl patterns out there, but I really liked how simple this one from Alice Thelma is. It's can also be adjusted with next to no thinking, which is very good for me.

So, my success with these cute, little bowls has gotten me excited about other projects. Kitty should be very happy. As soon, as I began knitting again, she positioned herself in her old spot right on top of my yarn. Everything is as it should be!

Loving My Book Club

I finished my purple socks and now seem to be in a bit of the knitting doldrums. Our weather has still been a little chilly, at least in the  morning and evening, so I'm not adverse  to using wool as I sometimes am by now. I just need a little break I guess.

So, I've mostly been focusing on two of my other hobbies: reading and eating. Some friends from work and I formed a book club last year, and although we don't meet really regularly, we have thoroughly enjoyed every meeting we've had. I suggested our last book, which was Crescent by Diana Abu Jabar. I've read it several times and although I like the story itself, it's the food imagery that make me love it...and yes, I was drawn to it because of the knitted blue sweater  sleeve on the cover.


The protagonist's is of Iraqi descent and is a cook in a Lebanese restaurant, so Crescent is full of references to humus, tabuleah, dolmas (stuffed grape leaves), and baklava. So, that is what the table in my dining room was full of this afternoon. I wish that I'd taken a picture of it because it was really a wonderful sight, but I do at least have a picture of the baklava that my friend, Janet, and I made yesterday.

Russ paid our baklava a very high compliment after tasting it today. Last summer we bought some baklava from an Iranian woman at a farmer's market in Nebraska. It was wonderful, just about melted in your mouth. I loved it so much that when we saw her at another farmer's market later that week, I had to go tell her how much we enjoyed her baklava even though we weren't buying any that day. When I told her that I had tried baklava numerous times and hers was by far the best that we'd ever tasted, she practically teared up and insisted that I take a free box of it. I tried to refuse, telling her that that wasn't why I'd told her that. She insisted though, and we eventually happily gave in. Writing this just now, made me wonder if she had a website, but all I could find was this blog post from a guy who obviously agrees with our assessment of her skills....back to Russ's comment. He said our baklava was about as good as that nice Iranian woman's!

Lucky for me, there were quite a few leftovers, and I was the recipient of most of them. I also helped make dolmades (pictured on the left side of my pic.) last week with my friend Nancy whose partner is of Greek heritage. If this recipe was any indication, he's an incredible cook. I've have dolmas out of jars from Trader Joe's, but eating freshly prepared dolmades can't even be compared to the cold, briney, slimey grape leaves out of a jar.

Sirine, the chef in Crescent makes the most delicious-sounding dolmas. I think she'd approve of these. This isn't exactly the recipe we used since the recipes we used is top secret, but Nancy assures me that this is very close to what we prepared.

Domades

1 lb. ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 cup white rice
1 egg
1 tbsp. butter, softened
1 tbsp. dried mint (we used fresh)
1/2 bunch parsley
dill
3-4 tbsp. lemon juice
salt/pepper

20 - 30 grape leaves (We're lucky enough to have a Middle Eastern market nearby where we can buy fresh ones, but we used some leaves from Nancy's concord grapes vines.

Knead all ingredient in a bowl. If the consistency is too hard, add a little water.

Boil grapes leaves until they are soft but not tender. Fresh leaves will only take a minute. Cool leaves. Fill leaves with rice mixture and roll "burrito-style."

In a large pot, melt 1/2 stick butter. Arrange rolled dolmades in pot and pour 3-4 cups of chicken or beef broth over dolmades, cover, and simmer for 2 hours.

Serve domades with avgolemono sauce:

Avgolemono Sauce

Ingredients:

• 2-3 eggs, separated
• 1 tablespoon of water
• juice of 2-3 lemons
• broth from the dish being cooked (or hot beef or chicken broth or stock)

Preparation:

Beat the egg whites until foamy. Beat in egg yolks, water, lemon juice, and 2-3 spoonfuls of broth, beating (or whisking) continuously. Add the avgolemono sauce to the dish being cooked, stir, cover with a towel for 10 minutes, and serve.

And the Winner is...

I didn't forget about my giveaway, and I've had so much fun reading everyone's comments, but somehow it' been over  a week from the time  I said I was going to pick a winner! I used a very scientific method...I asked my son to pick a number between one and twenty-three, and he chose eleven, which means that you're the winner, Rani! I know that whatever you knit with it will get good use, considering how long your winters are! Thanks to everyone for "playing." I wish I had enough yarn for everyone....well, actually, I probably do....I just don't want to part with it, ha, ha.

I don't have much to show for my week and a half away from my blog. My daughter has long made fun of me for being boring with my wardrobe. If I like a shirt, I'll buy it in three or four different colors. If I like something, I like it, what can I say.  So in that tradition, I decided to knit another pair of L'amour socks. Coincidentally, I knit it using one of the three different sets of Lorna's Laces sock yarn that I own which are slightly different shades of purple. At least I'm consistent.

Free Yarn

Before I offer up this yarn to someone who can give it a good home and love it as it deserves, I have to admit that I have no idea why I bought it. It's hand-dyed, worsted weight and did look  pretty with its green, pink and orange tones sitting in a basket with more muted-toned yarns. It was $25, so it wasn't terribly expensive...or cheap either.  I just kind of think its color combination is over the top.  I always feel guilty whenever I see it lying in my stash box. I think it was peer pressure that made me buy it; I was with my X-knit (Extreme knitters) buddies, and they oohed and awwed a couple of times over it, and somehow it ended up in my basket.

You may have it by just leaving a comment saying that you want it. You don't even have to say anything other than, "count me in," although it would be fun to hear about your most impulsive yarn purchase. I think I got off pretty cheap with this one.  I'll randomly choose a winner some time next week.

Blogging friends, please at least pretend to be interested. I'll feel like such a loser if no one responds. "Wow! that girl really has strange taste in yarn. Maybe she should just stick with pink!"

Happy Easter

This was about the extent of my Easter decorating this year, not that I usually do that much anyway. My mom always had us paint eggs and make an Easter egg tree when I was little, but I never really started that tradition with my own kids even though I loved the Easter egg trees we used to make.  We did spend a great evening decorating egg with my SIL and nephew before they left, and I've had them on display.

I am really proud of my little Easter mat I finish this week. I ordered the kit from Prairie Point Junction last month but didn't start it until a couple of days ago. It was fun although our living room was a little cluttered with all of the pieces of felt I was cutting out. The pattern suggests using freezer paper to cut out the pattern pieces and then iron the templates onto the felt, and it will stick. How cool. Why can't regular sewing patterns do that? I've always hated pinning the pattern to the fabric to cut it out.

I also finished my L'Amour socks. I had Kai be my model before I ship the away to my SIL. I really loved this pattern. It's labor-intensive, but not difficult really, and the socks fit great. Ho hum, now what to do. I've had this nagging guilt all week about not doing any grading. I hate to ruin a perfectly good Easter Sunday by grading papers. I think I'll start another sock instead.

It's All About the Salt

My family has spent a lot of time on the Central Coast of California,  and I thought I knew Cayucos, the little town where we stayed this weekend pretty well, but it's changed a lot in the last few years, for the better, I think. It's still a tiny place with none of that Southern California congestion and rush, but it's been spruced up. Of course, that also means that we could never afford a home there as people from my town used to be able to do, but oh well.

 Paige and her "Auntie Ann" both love the beach. It was almost too hot for sweatshirts as we walked out on the pier.

 One new addition to Cayucos (Well, they've been there for four years, but we hadn't noticed them before.) is the Brown Butter Cookie Company. We were looking for coffee the first late afternoon that we pulled into town, and it was about the only place open. They did have coffee, one of my favorites, SLO Coffee, but more enticing were their shelves of cookies. Their signature cookie is, of course, their brown butter sea salt cookie. They're way too expensive, a dollar apiece for a little cookie, but they're sooooo good. I made it my quest this week to copy their recipe, and I think I came pretty close. It's al about the salt. I improvised a recipe I found from Food Channel, but this morning, I found an even better one on Maple sugar Lyrics' blog. Hers sounds more like mine.

Brown Butter Sea Salt Cookies


Ingredients:

1 cup brown butter
1 cup light brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
sea salt

To make brown butter, melt butter over medium heat until browned. It will foam up a little just before it gets brown. Stir in brown sugar and vanilla and remove from heat, let cool.

In a mixing bowl add flour and baking soda  Stir in sugar mixture and let sit for half an hour or so.

Roll 1 inch balls of dough and dip in sea salt.  Bake for 12 - 15 minutes in a 325 degree oven.

So, it takes my sister-in-law coming to visit us for me to be introduced to "salt." How could I know that it was all the rage? Being trapped in a classroom with teenagers for weeks on end, I'm really out of the loop.  I don't know if my cookies would have tasted just as good with two dollar Trader Joe's sea salt, but I got mine at World Market as part of a set. Now, I can experiment with salt endlessly. Hypertension, here I come!  Oh...and I do remember that this is a knitting blog, but one has to have knitting accomplishments to blog about knitting accomplishments!

California Weekend

My sister-in-law, Ann and nephew, Sam came from Nebraska for a fun-filled, long weekend last week, which is part of the reason that I haven't gotten any farther on my L'Amour socks than I was a week ago, not that I didn't try. We had a wonderful, leisurely time, and I had lots of opportunities to knit, but it seems that every time I ended a knitting session, I discovered that I had miscounted stitches. I happily unraveled my errors, and then proceeded to make the same mistakes again while busily chatting away. I still say that it's all about the process, but I was getting ridiculous. The socks are for Ann, and I wanted to finish them while they were here, but that was a little ambitious.

There's nothing like out of state guests to remind you of what a great place you live, especially when the weather is perfect and everything is still so green. When we weren't socializing away, we did a few things, like:

eating lunch at Moo Creamery in Bakersfield, highlighted by basil lemonade and incredible raspberry jalapeno ice cream.

going to Brad's in Pismo Beach for fish tacos and walking off a few of the calories with a stroll on the wharf.

stopping at Kelsey See Canyon Vineyards to pick up a bottle of Golden Delicious Apple Chard and admire the peacocks.

enjoying beautiful views of Morro Bay from our rented beach house in Cayucos, and ending the day, listening to the waves while eating some doctored up Ragu spaghetti and Apple Chard for the grown ups out on the deck.

visiting Heast Castle for probably my twentieth time, Russ's ten or twelfth, Paige and Kai's six or seventh, and Ann and Sam's very first. I'd say we were all equally happy about it. Hearst Castle never gets old. It's always unbelievable. Although the price has really gone up --$25 a ticket. Guess I've gotten spoiled not having to pay when I take kids there on field trips every year.

We went on Tour 1, which is the best tour for anyone going for the first time. We were on the veranda at noon and got to hear the bells from the bell tower, something they've recently started doing. Way cool! And that was only half of our four days together.