got eyes bigger than a stomach? or borrow an egg, get a crab pot pie in return!

... wow, would you look at the size of that puddle? the other day mc61 and i were walking over the the g-store, cutting through a parking lot when we saw this. naturally the first thing out of his mouth "let's go jump in that puddle!"
although that would have been tres fun we still had to go into the store and then git back home. 
i didn't feel like being soggy. seeing that i'm usually pretty cranky, i didn't need to add soggy to the list!

hey we made crab pot pie...remember a while ago i spied the recipe in coastal living.. well, two lbs sure makes a lot of cpp.. and fer two people, it's really too much!

first get the leeks, carrots and celery cooking with some of the butter. 

pretty colors! 

then add your potatoes, clam juice and lemon zest to the mix...

oh my gawwwd! look at that crab!!! grab a fresh bowl, dump in yer leekcarrotcelerypotato, mix and add yer crab and peas. then pour the rest of your butter which had been browning while you were doing that. 

going in... see that's way too much fer two peeps! but we gave one ramekin to our neighbor because we needed one egg for the egg wash on the dough. and the others are the perfect size for lunch treats. these ramekins are even microwaveable.

                       DONE!

oh yeah then you get to eat for days...

when it's three you see it's a magic number

mailed three bday cards the other day.. i'm not saying that they were on time. nope not gonna say that. sometimes when you send something late, that just might be the real time it was meant to be sent. 

 the backs are still my favorite part..sometimes it's like a secret conversation is going on back there!

detour ahead.

we have a butternut squash in our house. i've been looking at it for the past week or so... finally i did some recipe research. i found a risotto, butternut squash, pancetta and jack cheese recipe that sounded amazing. 

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000000701075

yeah, the run to the grocery store went like this.. 
..okay we need some wine - sweet marsala.. oh but only 2 tbsp. what? god i don't want a whole bottle of that. hmm maybe we can forget that ingredient? 
...do you think that we have to have monterey jack cheese. i know it's mild but we have a lot of cheddar at home. can't we use that instead?! (not to mention i'd rather have a little more flavor than good ole mj)
...we noted that we needed arborio or short-grain rice. we left without getting the rice! 
...we needed tarragon. and no we didn't get that either. oh wait, mc61 points out the recipe says tarragon is optional, phew!

wow, this recipe is getting better and better sounding, huh?. but hey, at least, we have the "key players". the butternut squash. the pancetta. chicken broth. onion, garlic, and pine nuts. 
so we're taking a detour from the original recipe. that's okay. i think it will still be good?! i mean we could make a cheesey squash, pancetta bake, which sounds yummy to me.

 see it doesn't look that bad.









  

 

unless of course, you look at it in different lighting... see now it matches the tablecloth! oh yummy..


anywho, i'm sure somewhere down the road we'll attempt to make this again and the right way. 

cat, hat; in French, chat, chapeau in Spanish, el gato in a sombrero

yeah i finished my hat!!!
i'm quite happy with the outcome, especially for a first hat. however, in the future i will definitely take into consideration how the crown kind of tightens things up when doing decreased stitches.
i would have made it a little longer to compensate for that!

next project a cowl..but it'll be a mobius (i.e.twisted cylinder).. actually, i have already started this project. the pattern is also seed stitch. images to follow ...

comfort makes me belly joyful

the cookbook i recived for my birthday was five hundred best comfort food recipes...that's five hundred folks!!! wow!  
yesterday since both mc61 and i had taken the day off, we picked a recipe and went to town. irish beef stew. alterations: recipe calls for lamb we just used beef cuz that's what we had available...and even though it called for one can of guinness, mc61 decided what it really meant was a big, huge, more than a measly can, bottle of G! either way it was quite delish.
tonight we're making sheppard's pie. i'm not sure if we'll be following the exact recipe only because i don't think we have breadcrumbs or parmesan for the bread crumb topping. and seeing that we made this a few weeks ago, before i even got the book, we know that cream corn might be a nicer addition than just regula' ole corn.
(and notice it sorta matches my tablecloth!)
 

if you aren't a fan of beef or lamb there's a chicken with sweet potato topping version of the sheppard's pie. 

 as for other inspirations i spied: shrimp etoufee, jamaican jerk chicken (no way can ja'mak-a-mistake with that!), cajun cassoulet, pulled pork...why even the smoked salmon mousse looks sooo gouda! 

in other news... i am going to learn how to knit the cap portion of my hat this week...i can't wait!

we got tickets!!!

http://www.mcmenamins.com/events/83616-Amy-Sedaris
mc61 and i got tickets today, i'm very excited!  
her new book looks like it's going to be a laugh riot, just like i like you.  
the hard part, squashing the urge to go buy the book or even go sneak a peek at it. 
best part, you get a copy when you got to this show.     

another year wiser...

halloween brings another birthday for me...victorian weekend with the unicornist and c39 was so much fun. we had breakfast saturday and then headed out to a pumpkin patch on sauvie island. it was completely worth the trip just to watch the unicornist squash every pumpkin that looked like it was starting to decay... and even though we didn't really tackle the pumpkin treats we wanted, somehow margaritas, dominoes and cribbage got in the way, at least for me! good thing some people were better at staying on task.. we did manage to chop up one and roast seeds. mc61 made us smack n' cheese in the new cooking ware from the mf's..

 new yarns and embroidery floss

means i'm ready for a big winter snow storm, which leaves me stuck at home to be creative!! 

i also got a gift certificate for at the local yarn shop, so i can stock up with even more yarn. 

i really need more time in my day for all the projects i want to do.

 

as usual the kbomb found interesting vintage looking gift wrap.. caged birdies and pistols. wow! and old school treasures. 

 remember these???

 

i got flowers.. a wonderful cookbook, socks, an air plant and a cool gardening book... oh my goodness a million good wishes.. what else?















AND a new tattoo...we got a little tip that moment of truth was having halloween tattoos for thirty one dollars. i've never had a tattoo done on my actual birthday so we decided to check it out. not to mention the mc61 and i don't have a local tattoo artist so it would also be research. thanks jacob for doing an awesome job!!! i love my black kitty cat!

oooh i love early birfffday treats!

what's better than a day off? how about a day off where the mc61 comes back from the 206 zone and brings me a few early birthday treats. and they're from one of my favorite places, milagros. i mean that's a pretty darn gouda day off!

 look at how flippin' cute these guys are ganging up on the lucha libre!

and another 'shadow' box.. all flowery, so pretty... i quickly found a spot on the wall!

... a few weeks ago i was stuck sitting on a train at the station in the 206 zone, blowing through every magazine i brought with me. i spied a left over issue of coastal living. albeit not a magazine i would purchase, when free why not flip through. i found a few interesting recipes like lobster mac n' cheese and crab pot pie. 

crab pot pie in tiny individual le creuset pots. OMG! 

funny that the unicornist would tell me see spied some little gems that i might want. they are perfect! i think the white ones would be great for some mac n cheese with or without lobster, or a little au gratin. now, onto the little orange covered pots. even though they aren't le creuset they certainly look like it!

i have been thinking about this recipe a lot and i gotta make it soon!!

crab pot pie:

2 tblsps plus 1/2 cup unsalted butter. 

3 cups chopped leeks

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped carrots

1/4 cup all-purp flour

2 cups peeled, diced russet potatoes

1 cup frozen peas

1 lb crabmeat

1 pkg pie crusts

1 large egg, beaten

2 (8 oz) bottles clam juice

2 tsp lemon zest

1 1/2 tsp seafood seasoning

salt and ground red pepper 

30 min prep and cook 1 hour. basically melt the butter add leeks, celery, carrots cooking for 5 min. stir in the flour (1 min). add potatoes then add the juice, zest, seasoning, salt n' red pepper reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 min. potatoes tender. 

next melt rest of butter until golden brown throw in peas and crabmeat into first mixture. then you plop a bunch in each individual pot put top fitting pie crust. 

bake 375 for 25 - 30 min.

in other news...

i got three new spools o' red thread for my upcoming bday. it's actually what i wanted. now my hanging thread holder is looking full!

i've also been making more yummy food treats. and i really think i like making food that looks like my tablecloth?!

sweet potato and yam tian. so simple and delish! i added garlic, onion, sage and rosemary. (pic is before going into oven)

AND more quiches.. with BACON!! how can you go wrong with bacon?! 

you just can't. period.

knit this!

 yup did a ton of knitting starting last sunday, continuing through this week...since i'm technically still a beginning knitter, i broke out my lil' kids knitting book.  so my first hand warmer has been started. got a left hook! the right double punch will be done today. ur, i hope today?! that's gonna make the 3rd thing i've ever made. 

picked up malabrigo rich chocolate #161 to mix with the lovely multi-fall colored yarn.. think a quick scarf will do.

 i got the blues, the reds and the pinks.. well, mr. giles, i can't say that love stinks.. look at these pretty blues. again some malabrido polar morn in deed, this pic doesn't do the color justice.  the other yarns, you guessed it, again malabrido aquarella. wow, what's in a name, right?  

years ago the kbomb gave me a scarf in the brown version of aquarella, let's call it cocarella. it wasn't knitted but rather knotted. imagine a macrame plant hanger... however, it's even more basic than that.  recently when i've worn it people have been drawn to it, giving me compliments. apparently, it is all about the yarn!  hence, my decision to get more in blue. i wasn't sure what i wanted to do with these. i figured a scarf. (well, you know i am still a beginner.) however, the instructor at the knitting class mc61 and i are taking said i should knit a hat in the round before jumping into the arm warmer pattern i brought to class.

it was a good call on her part. already i feel like i've learned a few things. for instance, i've never used a marker before. not that it's hard in any way.  and i didn't realize that once you get going you just knit around and around, viola you've got a stockinette pattern. crazy. not to mention, knitting in the round goes fast!  this past spring a friend was teaching me how to knit with 4 needles, talk about confusing to learn. you really have to practice that, get yourself used to working with that many needles. i was a slacker and didn't keep up practicing.

in addition to the little things i'm making, i'm orchestrating a project that will involve some of my favorite ex-seattle crafters. i say "ex" because this spans hood river, mt shasta and san francisco. i think everyone's excited. so because of this project i was getting curious about different patterns.   

these are the two books i recently picked. they are going to provide great inspiration. very excited!!! keep ya posted.

city sites

once again as late post... last saturday the mc61 decided we should take a bike ride around the city to see if we can catch some of this art project... http://acuportland.org/home.html

or more info at http://chatterbox.typepad.com/portlandarchitecture/public_art/

we were able to spy the needle in ladds along with some other neighborhood treats! after cruisin' around ladds we headed up to mt tabor. mc61 had forgotten the needle there had long been taken down.. personally i think he just wanted me to ride up there! i would have taken a few shots to prove that i did in face ride up but i was too out of breath to bother...sheez!

 i like the design of these concrete blocks. wondering if that would make an interesting pattern in part of quilt?!?!
would the black parts, the window part, look okay in polka dotted fabrics?  i might have to make a little mock-up....