Knit! Knit! Knit! My First Socks!

Hooray! I made my first pair of socks! I went to the Late Night Knit at the Sow's Ear last night and I made so much progress on the last sock that I was able to finish the toe this morning (of course when I should have been doing other things).

The store and concept are great. Knitters really are cool people it seems and very welcoming. I also bought myself a long-coveted skein of the Opal Harry Potter yarn. I think I am going to save it for when I am feeling brave enough to make fingerless gloves.

I also recently finished the Mobius scarf for the boy:



I didn't think very carefully about it though and did the black part wrong. It curls in on itself (you are seeing a picture of the blocking which didn't help). The boy likes it though so I win.

In other crafty bits not much else new. I recently played around with a recipe for orange chocolate chip cookies using bits of candied orange peel. Not quite orange-y enough but still good.

Bento

I was recently given some bento making supplies. I often search the web for neat bento images because I think it is a really neat way to do lunch. I am not all that creative and my first few bentos always left me really hungry. It turns out I was eating child size ones when I did some reading. So, I started making something similar to those shown above (those are two seperate days I was just thinking ahead) and then supplementing it with a sandwich or something. They have been fun and I am amazed how contentedly full I am the rest of the afternoon. I have been lazy this last week or so and I have been noticing the difference.

Fried Rice

I received some nice new pans for the holidays (mine are sort of a hodge podge of what I received as hand-me-downs and what I could find on sale. Nothing really reliable so this was a wonderful gift) and proceeded to experiment.

We had some leftovers I wanted to use up so I fried two eggs and scrambled a bit, added some left over rice, frozen peas/carrots, and a healthy dose of soy sauce and sauteed until tender.

It wasn't too bad.

Nachos!

My fiance really loves nachos and I have slowly been coming up with my own recipe for making them at home based on our own personal preferences and what I come across online.

Essentially:
Brown hamburger or ground turkey and then add about 1 cup of water mixed with a healthy dose of taco seasonings (Penzey's has a great mix).

I drain a can of diced tomatoes (I like Del Monte's mixed blends and usually use the green pepper/onion one), a can of sliced olives, and some chili beans.

I layer chips, shredded cheese, the veggies, and meat until the pan is full and pop it in the oven for 10 minutes until the chips soften and the cheese gets all melty.

Incidentally the dish pictured above was a holiday present that I am really liking. I never would have picked it out for myself but I am glad I received it because I think it is going to fill in some gaps in my kitchen utensils quite nicely.

Dark Sweet Cherry Crisp

There is a brand of frozen fruit I like. It is a little expensive but the fruit is generally better than what I can get fresh (except of course when it is in season) and it is already cleaned/de pitted/ de whatever. It comes in these huge bags. I had bought a large bag of dark sweet cherries with the hopes of making cherry crisp. In my online searching I mostly found tart cherry recipes but this one looked really promising.

I doubled the recipe since I had well over twice that much fruit and I mixed some cinnamon and nutmeg in with the oat/crisp portion. It turned out really yummy!

Year End Project-y Goodness

So I am rapidly approaching the end of the year and I don't think I will make my 52 "things" before that time. It was really exciting and encouraging at the beginning of the year and I might try for the the thing-a-day again in early spring but will need to plan it out a bit.

That is not to say I have not been busy. For Thanksgiving this year I was tasked with making pies. I made 2 apple and 2 pumpkin pies. They turned out okay. They needed to be baked a little longer I think but it was a good experience. I even had enough pumpkin filling to make little pumpkin "custards" so that one of the gluten intolerant guests could enjoy dessert as well.

I also tried a chocolate nut pie. It was a different take on a pecan pie. Essentially using mixed nuts. I only really liked the effect when I got a mouth full of peanuts. I like other kinds of nuts but not many and the flavors of them were significantly enhanced in the pie. If I make it again I will just use peanuts I think. Though it was tasty and rich.

While at Bards N' Cooks I managed to turn the heel on my bulky boot socks but to date I have yet to finish one complete pair of socks. Mostly I have been working on the baby sweater for my co-worker. I have all the individual pieces done so now all I have to do is assemble and make the collar. Wish me luck.

It seems my knitting queue has kind of exploded. I need to make a mobius scarf for A along with some typing gloves. I have another friend who just found out she is having a baby and would like to make something for her. And I have socks to finish and some projects for myself I would like to do. I guess I need to become a faster knitter.

For the holidays I had good intentions of making a bunch of homemade gifts but the month sort of got away from me. I ended up getting a good part of the baking done that I wanted to however. I made extremely tiny snickerdoodles, fruit puffs (dried fruit cookies), lots of ginger cookies, some pecan tortes that I am not sure how I feel about, chewy peanut butter chocolate bars, and some candy cane bars that I am rather disappointed in.

I also made a beaded necklace for my grandmother for the holidays. I wasn't pleased with how it turned out. I couldn't seem to find any inspiration with the beads and so I think that hobby has become one I am no longer interested in. I think I might use up my beads and make a bunch of bracelets, etc for gifts for folks and then back my tools away. It is kind of expensive and I find the knitting far more relaxing though not as sparkly.

So all in all I think I can say I did what...maybe 45 projects this year. Not bad. Sadly not my goal but fairly productive.

A Thing-A-Week Part 40: Rocky Road Bread Pudding

This recipe also came from the same magazine as the Harvest soup. This was a weekend of trying foods I normally don't like but was intrigued by high quality recipes. Again, this is not mine so I will give you the ingredients and my instructions. If you know the source, please let me know as I want to give credit where due.

It turned out really well and was excellent served warm with vanilla ice cream.

Rocky Road Bread Pudding

1 cup salted nuts (I used a blend of cashews, almonds, macadamia nuts)
1 lb. brioche or challah with crusts removed (I could find neither so I used 1lb. croissants) cut/torn into one inch cubes
3 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
¾ cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract (or 1 vanilla bean)
8 oz bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate chopped
½ tsp kosher salt
4 large eggs + 2 egg yolks
1 1/3 cups mini marshmallows

(You can toast bread and nuts if you wish. I opted not to.)

*Grease a 13x9 inch baking dish. Seriously...need to grease your dish. This stuff sticks.

*Coarsely chop nuts.

*Bring milk, cream, and sugar to a boil. Add vanilla, chocolate, and salt. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth.

*Whisk eggs and yolks in a large bowl. Gradually (don't curdle your eggs) pour hot chocolate mixture into eggs whisking until blended. Pour over bread cubes in baking dish making sure all are coated. Let stand for a bit (the recipe recommended 45 minutes but I was in a hurry and did about 20. No adverse affects but it would probably be more pudding like if left longer). Heat oven to 350 degrees. Fill a kettle with water and boil.

*Put 1 cup of the marshmallows and 3/4 cup of the nuts into soaked bread and mix in. Place baking dish into a larger roasting pan. Fill with roasting pan with enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the dish with the bread mixture. Bake 50 minutes.

*Scatter remaining nuts and marshmallows over top and bake another 10 minutes. Cool on a rack and serve warm (with ice cream…okay so that is optional but really really good)