Pressies! And Much More

Remember I said I’d show you all of my pressies? (it’s on the previous post, in case you don’t). Ok, so I’ll show you today:

(psss, if you click on the pics, it’ll lead you to each pic on the gallery, and you can click for an even bigger version)

CookBook

The Hairy Bikers’ Cookbook, by Dave Myers and Si King. It’s a cookbook, a travel guide (the book is divided by countries), and a history book all in one. You won’t get everything from all three categories, but you’ll get nice recipes with loads of pictures, some tips on traveling (mainly by bike), and some history tidbits about each country.Oh, and lots of humour! It’s the kind of cookbook you can read from the first page to the last, it’s that good.

CDs

Amarantine, by Enya, and Come Away With Me, by Norah Jones. Both are very good! These two CDs will become part of my “quiet music” collection, as opposed to my “not so quiet music” collection. In any case, I can fall asleep listening to either ;)

Tray

A wooden tray with four small pots with four matching small spoons, that will most likely be used to serve sauces, spices, salt, etc at the table. Given to me by SIL. She knows I like to cook.

Sheepie

Sexy Sheepie, as already introduced on the previous post. Back then, it was New Years, and she was being geeky at my laptop. Today, I got sexy sheepie to pose for the camera, and the result is two more pics: this and this other. She totally seduces the camera, doesn’t she?

Bonus pictures:

Hippo

`appy `ippo.

Hippo

Fierce `ippo.

Family Pic

Family Pic: `appy `ippo, sexy sheepie, and fluffy doggy.

We’ve also gone eat out once during these past 10 days. We found a new italian place in Aalst, it’s called La Locanda, and sadly, they don’t have their own website. I snapped a couple pics at our main dishes:

Asparragus Rissotto Pappardelle with sewfruit

That’s one Asparragus Rissotto that melts on your tongue. And one dish of Pappardelle with Seafruit that sent Jan to heaven. The servings are huge, too. We had a nice evening dinning there, but we know for next time (because we sure as hell are going back) to order less. One starter, two mains and two desserts was too much for us two!

Also, some knitting, just for kicks. Seems I haven’t talked knitting in ages, doesn’t it? Anyway, I’m designing and knitting this scarf for Jan. The first I made for him, he loves it, but it’s very warm. So he wanted another, and I said I make him one (hopefully) completely original. The result so far is this:

scarf

And a close-up of the texture.

close up

The scarf is fully reversible, and fun to knit. The pattern is not complicated, and is easy to memorize. But it’s not so boring you’ll want to tear your hair before you’re half done with it. For those interested, I’ll be writing up the pattern in a nifty pdf, and putting it up for download, whenever the scarf is finished and I have modeled shots.

Eat

This recipe was requested by YarnTalk, and since one has to eat, one can as well take a picture and post the recipe, making someone happy at the same time. Good karma this way, please!

Green Beans with Potatoes and Carrots

Food!

and its recipe

Bon Appétit!

P.S.: Yes, I’m knitting, it still looks the same as in the previous post, only a bit taller. I’m not going to bore you to death with the progress of cables and calf shaping. Wait till I start knitting the fold over, that will be fun :) I promise!

Clapotis

The clapotis is done! Yay! It took only a couple weeks more than I wanted, but it’s finished, and it’s lovely. It even got a nice bath with shampoo and a lay down on a towel.

Clapotis
(click pictures for bigger)
Folded Clapotis Shawl

Clapotis Shawl From Above

Clapotis Full Length

  • Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert, free pattern on Knitty.
  • Yarn: KnitPick‘s Gossamer (100% Merino Wool, 2/16 NM, 440 yards / 50 grams per hank), two hanks in Rose Garden (dyelot: 60455).
  • Needles: 4.5 mm Bamboo Addi Circulars, 100 cm long.
  • Gauge: 25 stitches and 25 rows to 10 cm / 4 inches in stockinette stitch.
  • Size: 60 cm wide and 176 cm long (24 in wide, 70 in long)

Notes:

  1. First of all, I always thought that the yarn used on the original pattern was too thick for my taste, so I chose a laceweight to make a lighter version.
  2. I also prefered using a looser gauge than the right for the yarn, so it’d be more airy. I wanted the clapotis to become more of a summer night / spring evening shawl.
  3. The math involved! I did 9 whole repeats of section 2 – increases (and of section 4 – decreases), and 16 repeats of section 3 – straight rows. How I got to this amount of repeats? I used 1/5 of my total yarn, that is, 20 grams, for sections 1 and 2, another fifth for sections 4 and 5, and the remaining 3/5 (60 grams) for section 3. Thanks to Suemoon for this tip.
  4. I slipped the first stitch of every row knitwise, instead of knitting or purling, as directed by the pattern.

Clap to VCTOTW

Cryptic title? Yes, it’s intentional!

First things first. Today was my previous to last exam of the season, and it was about time to take a break after nearly a month non-stop of doing nothing for myself. So, I know at least I passed one of the five courses I had this semester, because it had partials, and I passed them all. Collective YAY! please. Now it’s waiting for the other four, and taking the last one, too.

So, what did I do on my break? I’ve been a very very lazy one. And then I decided it was time for a treat. So here it’s where VCTOTW comes into action. If you haven’t clicked that link yet, I’ll tell you it’s a baking book. A vegan baking book, even. And it’s called Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World (or VCTOTW for lazy people like me). And since I can’t cook or bake following a recipe to the letter, I modified one, and the result was:

Chocolate Mocha Cupcake

That is a lovely tender delicious flavourful Chocolate Mocha Cupcake. However, my version is not vegan, since I did not have soy milk on hand, and had to make-do with what was in the pantry. Maybe you want my version? Here it comes:

Chocolate Mocha Cupcakes
Adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World
by Isa Chandra & Terry Hope

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon white vinegar (I used rice, since it was the only white vinegar I had)
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup olive oil (or substitute your favourite oil, but it does taste good with olive oil)
  • 1 cup self raising flour, plus one teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/3 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla powder (this is ground vanilla bean, mixed with a bit of sugar)
  • 2 tablespoons instant coffee

Method:

  1. Line a muffin tin tray with cupcakes paper cups. Preheat oven to 200°C / 400F.
  2. In a big bowl, mix milk and vinegar and let to curdle. Once it has started to curdle, add oil, sugar, vanilla and instant coffee.
  3. In a second bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder, until well blended.
  4. Mix the dry ingredients into the liquids in two batches, mixing well until no lumps remain (some tiny lumps are ok, but no big lumps!)
  5. Pour into cupcake liners carefuly. About 2/3 full. Put in the oven, lower temperature to 175°C / 350 F, and bake for 18 to 23 minutes. Cupcakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean.
  6. Let cupcakes cool down in tray for 10 minutes, then move to cooling rack. Enjoy slightly warm with a mug of tea, a cup of coffee or a nice glass of milk.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

And now, you can clap! And also, you can enjoy my half done clapotis:

Clapotis, 45% done

It’s my de-stressing knitting this semester, it’s doing its job very well, and I hope to have it finished by the end of exams. That gives me till the 27th of june!

On a random note, if you remember this post where I showed a pile of books, four of them were cooking books, and three of them were novels. I can recomend all three novels: The Secrets of Jin-Shei by Alma Alexander, In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant, and Empress Orchid by Anchee Min. I loved them all.

Booties!

I designed and knit some baby booties for a friend’s new spawn. The result is the following:

Booties
Detail 1 Detail 2

Stats:

  • Pattern: my own, soon to be published for free on this blog, stay tuned!
  • Yarn: Katia Caricia, 100% superwash merino, 50 gram / 175 m (191 yd) in color #3 (also known as off-white). I only used around 28 grams / 1 oz of yarn for the pair, including ties.
  • Gauge: 34 st and 48 rows to 10 cm in stockinette.
  • Needles: 2.5 mm dpns (or US1.5)
  • Size: around 10 cm long and 4.5 wide.

Questions? Bug me! (But not much). I’ll be working on rewriting my pattern notes into something understandable.

Spanakopita!

No, I’m not cursing in the title of the post :-p Spanakopita is a Greek spinach and cheese pie. Traditionally, the cheese would be feta (damn, what other cheese do you expect to find in Greek dishes!), but I had no feta, and wasn’t planning on going out just to buy it. So I did with what was in the pantry and fridge. You know me, following recipes is hard! The result is in the next two pics:

Spanakopita still in the baking dish Spanakopita already in the dish

Want the recipe I ended using (that is, my version)? Spanakopita recipe.

It seems like I only cook as of late, doesn’t it? Well, it’s not true! I’ve knitted some, slowly, and I’ve been working webdesigning as well. I finished a shrug (pics and specs up some other day) and am finishing the baby booties for friend’s spawn (pics up later as well). I also wound into balls two skeins of KnitPicks Gossamer in Rose Garden, that will become a (hopefully) light Clapotis.

On other news, Jan’s coming next thursday! Expect to see me not for a few days (-;