other observations..

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. 

...my little friend quiche. quiche la poodle is her name...

i stayed home sick today.  after several hours of, well doing what you do when you stay home sick, sleeping and lounging, i decided to finally make a quiche. i've been wanting quiche ever since i saw this "egg pie" or spinach mascarpone quiche recipe.http://www.putupwithme.com/ 

apparently, quiche originated in lothringen, germany, not france like i thought. the froggies were the ones to rename it 'lorraine'. and became popular around the 50s here in our states. but i digress....

so i took a look at what we had in the fridge and made a bacon, basil quiche with garlic sharp white cheddar cheese.  so i scrambled up the eggs and added the rest of the ingredients. poured it into the pie crust ... of course store bought. baked it for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. i sprinkled some cumin and cinnamon on top just before putting it the oven.

yummmm!   i am so excited to taste this.

holy smokes, look at how the dough just wants to jump out of the pan... but i think that's a different b52s song...
the next thing i want to make is hopping john. a fabulous southern recipe with black eyed peas. i first had this dish at one of my favorite restaurants in chicago, wishbone.  http://www.wishbonechicago.com/  i used to go to the smaller location on grand and wood, we dubbed it the "baby bone". sadly the baby bone is no longer there... like so many of my favorite haunts from the ole wicker park/uk village area.

creativity comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes...

i've been thinking about being more creative as the fall and winter months come into play. i've even talked with a few people that say they'd want to "craft" one night too!

so far, of course, it's been all talk...however, the unicornist is canning! good to see someone is motivated.

we popped over the other day and here's what she was making. they were so colorful, my phone's camera doesn't do it justice. and boy, it looked soo gouda!

we haven't told the unicornist yet, but we think she needs to come up with a label for her delicious treats. 
we're excited to see what else she comes up with.

my goals are to continue working on 'works in progress'..i figure my pin up cards are an easy piece to work on here and there. i mean there small so you don't have to have a lot of time and commitment. a little stitch here or there really adds up. soon yer done! 

some images motivate me more than others. nothing worse than staring one and losing interest...like this one. i mean i love it when it's beer o'clock but not too exciting in terms of stitching!

  

what goes up....

mmm cheesy biscuits for sunday breakfast. a friend that can't eat eggs "introduced" us to cheesy biscuits.. basically, bisquik doesn't need eggs, so she can partake! who knew?

i've never bought bisquik before. 

she adds cheese to the flour batter. the first time i made them i added a garlic, sharp white cheddar, thank you tillamook. today i added pepper jack. fantastic! they're so fluffy. 

i realized this would be a perfect item to make camping. alls you need is a little milk (1/2 cup) and a flat surface to bake'em on..

not quite dali, my old '66 dodge dart none the less kinda reminder me of her! not to mention i really like how dirty the car is..

mc61 and i went to the 23 sandy gallery yesterday to see the pop up book show. it was fantastic. all the pieces are so meticulous, so perfectly done. such imagination and precision. i highly recommend this to anyone in portland.
http://www.23sandy.com/

           ooooh nice to see some people want to get ready for halloween! one of my favorite days of the year...

maybe you should step into this century...

 this weekend mc61 and i finally got motivated and took the old sears kenmore sewing machine into the shop to get a diagnosis, either it needs to be fixed or cleaned or both? montivilla managed to insult me several times in a matter of maybe 20 minutes of being in their shop. what fantastic customer service! first the gentleman at the counter remarked "you don't sew much, do you" as he informed me my bobbin tension was too high and my needle was in backwards. um, yeah, it would have been a nice opportunity for you mister shop owner to show me how to loosen my bobbin in case this happened again. now the needle thing, i know which part faces forward. the last time i used my machine i ended up breaking two needles and got so frustrated with putting in a third, i just stuck it in there and gave up! 

anyway, i quickly left mc61 at the counter to finish with the diagnosis. i went to look for some new thread. i was doing very well until one of the women, who was also at the counter, followed me to make sure i knew "those threads won't be good with the sewing machine". i politely noted that i was looking for threads for some hand sewing projects and went on my merry way.. later as we were done, gathering our ticket, the same woman told me that i should really "step into this century" i mean, who hand sews! 

excuse me? um, yeah, i'm not hand sewing clothes! i'm hand sewing paper. 

like it's any of her business. i have to say i felt a little shitty when i left. and thank you montavilla for bursting my bubble. am i excited to get my machine back and introduce myself to sewing again? why no, i'm not. 

HERE'S my awesome new threads..

.

oooh pretty, pretty! 

and i've already put some of them to good use...working on a card that's once again "over due"

i think we've forgotten what good customer service is these days. in addition, we could use a refresher in saying please, thank you.. just being courteous. 

oh well i'll just keep sewing off by myself no one around. no one to bug me!

what to do when ole man winter comes knocking at your door....

after getting inspired by many knitting books, break out those needles and POP ole man winter's efforts to ruin your day...

after a recent trip to the library here's what inspires me. i may not actually make any of these BUT i'm going to try... even if that means i only show the pattern to a good friend and talk about wanting to knit this or that.

oh my this is a pretty rad lace sampler shurg... some of the stitches included in this pattern are simple eyelet stitch, staggered seeded eyelet, filet-ribbed lace, double dropped stitch and monster bobble. 

wtf? i think i know what the double dropped stitch is however, the monster bobble has me very intrigued.

i think more along my skill set would be what i really want to make: arm warmers!

i think i need some help maneuvering the cable portion. that's okay, i have like five other arm warmer patterns to attempt. 



oh my gawd so cute! i want a fuzzy computer cover!

holy crap a felted backgammon board with yarn buttons!! i want, i want! and some purdy pillahs..sheez, this book has all sorts of good stuff... but there was one thing that just kinda made my toes curl..

 this image creep-ed me out. big time!

i got a knot!

but after waiting a few hours and putting my glasses on, i got rid of my knot.

i'm tired of everyone's noise.
the guy upstairs from me taps his feet and rolls his chair around the floor all day. 

cars swish by from the time i get home through to when i get up. everything is louder because of this..our music. the neighbors music. the t.v. movies, commercials. 

it's noisy.

 are we fighting to see who can be the loudest, the most heard?

and i don't say more than 2 hours worth of words all day. almost every day. 

you don't amount to anything.

but i will still continue to collect found on the street playing cards.

these are not appetizing!!

 

we had breakfast for dinner last night. 
why does it seem better? 

tiempo in seattle's cap hill neighborhood was closing. patrons left them messages...

 true life is time and time is all we have. 

 Time is what prevents everything from happening at once.  

 ~John Archibald Wheeler

Men talk of killing time, while time quietly kills them.  
~Dion Boucicault

                                      Time goes, you say?  Ah no!
                 Alas, Time stays, we go.
                             ~Henry Austin Dobson 

But what minutes!  Count them by sensation, and not by calendars, and each moment is a day.  ~Benjamin Disraeli 

 time will work it out!

nice treats in our neighborhood, 
22nd and ne flanders? 

knitta please!  
(and thank you)