A better breakfast...

Recently we have been having a lot of eggs for breakfast.  Even more recently dear one has mentioned that he has become less enamored of all the eggs we have been eating!  Something new was called for so I put on my thinking cap as my dear mother-in-law used to say.  This is what came to mind: Spanish Omelet.

Many years ago I was at a friend's house for a birthday lunch.  We had a wonderful green salad and Spanish Omelet.  She had studied in Spain for a semester while in college and had learned to make these.  Very delicious.  These are also popular at our house now!

Spanish omelet doused in black pepper and topped with cheese

Sushi at Home!

A couple of weeks ago a wonderful lady at church invited us over to teach us how to make sushi.  I love vegetable sushi with soy sauce and a TINY bit of wasabi for dipping.  I will purchase this sushi when I am out at the grocery store for a neat and tidy snack to eat in the car on the way home from errands.  Once I tried making it myself and it was a disaster.  Not so now!

M made her sushi rice and had laid out bowls of multiple fillings, some of which were fish-y things.  Since dear one is a vegetarian, I decided to make vegetable sushi consisting of nori, sushi rice, lettuce, carrots, and avocado.  I made seven rolls of that kind then made three rolls of avocado, carrot, and tofu strips which tofu I had pressed well for a couple of hours then sliced and cut the other way so the pieces looked like french fries.  After sauteing them for a few minutes in canola oil, they looked even more like french fries, and had the real bonus of being chewy, not soft and icky.

This is how the sushi looked when I plated it for the youth group meeting at our house:

Sushi Project before

One of the boys saw the sushi and got up from where he was sitting, walked across the room and asked me in the sweetest voice if I had made that sushi.  When I said yes he gave me a big smile and a happy thumbs up!  That pleased me greatly as I had not known if the kids would even eat the stuff.  I just wanted to have something a bit more healthy to go along with the cake and brownie bars.

After the youth discussion was over and the closing prayer had been said, the kids leaped to their feet and descended on the plate of sushi like a flock of locusts!  This is what the plate looked like within a very few minutes!  AND they seemed to eat it without the soy sauce, making it even better for them...

Sushi Project: After

Oh, they did eat the cake, too...

Barbara Walker Learn To Knit Afghan Project, Squares 18 and 19

Square 18, called Hexagon Pattern, was a pretty easy square to knit.  You use a multiple of 8 stitches, plus 6.  For this one I cast on 38 stitches.

Square 18: Hexagon Pattern

You will notice that it has not been blocked, and not even had the ends woven in, but I had the camera and these two squares in the same place at the same time and thought it would be a good idea to take the photo NOW!

You will also notice that this square is a very curly block.  It will benefit greatly from blocking as well as being sewn into the afghan, which I am sure will finish the squaring-up process.

This next square is Square 19 and is called Instant Plaid.  It really is a rather instant pattern.  There was no trouble with the pattern, but it is really pretty important to read the pattern directions!  Have I said that before?  I forgot that every last stitch needs to be a knit stitch, and every beginning stitch also needs to be a knit stitch. Oh well...error-prone, but no problem for my spirit...

This pattern is another multiple of 8 stitches, plus six patterns and I cast on 46 stitches.

Square 19: Instant Plaid

Now on to the next!  Well, not just yet, actually. I just picked up some Noro Kureyon Sock yarn, which I hear they have discontinued, to knit up the Ravelry free pattern called Gaia Shoulder Hug by Anne Carroll Gilmour.  I have a dress that I really like but which has a wider neckline than my slip likes so I need something to wear to cover the white...!  Of course, I want it done now, but it will work out for whenever I get it done!

Soup Night!

It has been below zero F. much of the past week...the perfect time for soup.  We had been to Panera where dear one enjoyed a bowl of their broccoli cheese soup.  He thought I should try making it, so I did!  It turned out really well, in my opinion.

His opinion was that it was much thinner than the soup we at at Panera.  Perhaps that was the point...but only perhaps.  Actually, I had looked online and found some brassica soup recipes and combined ingredients and adapted the recipes, but when I actually made the soup, I misread my ingredient list and added way more chicken stock than the online recipes suggested.  I like the soup just the way it is, especially since it is Spicy Broccoli Cheese Soup!

Paperwhites in January!

A dear friend gave me a boxed pot of paperwhite bulbs on December 1st.  The directions said to place the bulbs just so in the pot, after reconstituting the "dirt", and then watering regularly.  In 8-10 weeks the blooms were supposed to emerge.

Well...in early January they emerged!  Such a lovely surprise.  They have a very heady fragrance which permeates several feet in all directions. I have them sitting on the triangle behind our kitchen sink where they are a sweet reminder that spring will come here, even though today the snow is melting in the cold rain and it is generally gray and icky outside.  It is only a few degrees above freezing.  I am hoping the roads will NOT be icy as we head out to church later on.

January paperwhites in the midst of winter bring a sweet reminder of spring to come.

Friends make the world a joy-filled place.  I am so grateful for all my well-beloved ones around the world, and especially for the one who gave me such a friendly gift of spring in the middle of winter.

Barbara Walker Learn To Knit Afghan Project, Squares 16 and 17

FINALLY!!  The last of the mosaic patterns!  So glad to be finished with them  This one is square 16, which is called Double Scroll.  It requires casting on 43 stitches.  It is a fairly simple pattern.  Can you find the error?  It, like all the others, will benefit from a severe blocking...

Double Scroll

The first square in the next section, a second slipped-stitch section, is called Woven Tweed.  It is square 17 of 63.  It is one of the simplest yet in terms of memorizing the pattern, every other row being a purl row.  This pattern proves that when planning a project, checking gauge with EACH part of the afghan, or other, project is a critical part of the process.  This block is WAY larger than most of the others, which vary in size only a little.

Cast on 45 stitches.

Woven Tweed, photographed vertically for some unknown reason...maybe the lateness of the hour...!

Barbara Walker Learn To Knit Afghan Project Square 15

Square 15, called Stepped Fret, was a pretty straightforward knit which you can tell because there are no glaring errors in it!  Of course, I was also not trying to do multiple things at the same time.  Still no blocking, but doesn't it look rather nice?

 Cast on 43 stitches.