France: It's all about the food

I have no shame and I'm fine admitting it. I basically ate my way through France and loved every minute of it! In fact, I've been craving some serious carbs since I got back! Apparently my diet is craving uber amounts of bread! Here are some of the delectable dishes we consumed - or salivated over:

Creme Brule was the dessert of choice for us. We "tested" it out all over the place and I can officially say the best is at La 16 in Arles, our favorite restaurant of the trip. I'm determined to learn how to make this dish!

These Sables were from the bakery down the street from our apartment. The picture above that is another dessert we ate with friends on night in Paris. Below, chocolate Eiffel Towers for sale in Montmart.We hit the Sunday morning farmers market at the Bastille and it's amazing to see the people who shop there every week! Below are some seasonings for sale.

More carbs please!

Cheese please! I was salivating over a huge hunks of cheese at the market! I had to have a cheese plate at La 16 in Alres! I love how the French eat their cheese plates for desserts, however I prefer to eat mine as an appetizer and have some chocolate or creme brule for dessert! But that's just me.
Above are some of the biggest beef steak tomatoes at the farmers market in Alres! I was amazed by how large the fruit and produce were at these small town markets! And what would a trip to France be without a crepe? So we had a nutella crepe in Aux-en-Provence. We had to slow down long enough for me to snap the picture. It was really good!
It's time to hit the gym...but worth every minute on the treadmill!

Finally, France!

It's been a very busy week, one made more difficult by the fact that jet lag kicked my ass much worse than I thought it would! But now, things have slowed down, sleep has been caught up on and I've finally had time to sift through some of my favorite pics from France. Enjoy!

A self portrait from the river cruise boat. Don't let the sunshine fool you, it was freakin' freezing in Paris! In fact, the night we went to the to the top of the Eiffel Tower, it was snowing! Pretty neat to see, but really cold! The stained glass windows in the Sainte-Chappelle Cathedral. They were the most beautiful windows I've ever seen. It's this little cathedral 2 blocks from the Notre Dame. On your next trip, this is a must. Plus there is no line. Below is a street pic I snapped just two blocks from our apartment in the Saint Germaine neighborhood. It was the perfect place to stay! The neighborhood was very lively and full of quaint shops, bakeries, tasty restaurants and walking distance from all the major sites! I'll be staying there again!

This block in Montmart was filled with artists....very inspirational to see! Below is the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. We took a 1/2 day trip out there and it was quite the palace. It was too early for the gardens to bloom, so I guess I'll have to go back.

This is the courtyard in our little hotel in Arles, the Hotel du Musee. It was the cutest little place I've ever stayed. Arles was a great town, full of beautiful old buildings, Roman ruins and great people. We were lucky enough to be there before their big tourist season hit. We were able to chat with shop owners, they told us where they liked eat in town and what they loved to do in the area. If you go to the South of France, you must stay in Arles at the Hotel du Musee. Below is a picture from inside the big Roman Amphitheater. They still have bull fights there. Easter weekend is their big fighting tournament.

Above is a picture of an Arles courtyard where they were growing their own lemon trees. Below if the Mediterranean coast in Nice. The day we went down there, it was nearly 70 and people were frolicking in the water! I even saw one lady knitting on the beach!
The sister's self portrait series was snapped throughout France, her we are on the rocky beach of Nice - it was so nice!

This was only the tip of the iceburg of pictures. Tomorrow, I'll be posting many of the pics of French food! It was that tasty so it deserves its own blog post!

Home Sweet Home

France with my mother and sister was absolutely amazing! The trip was a ton of fun and a huge adventure! Now I'm back home, doing laundry, unpacking my treasures and getting ready to get back to life.

I have nearly 600 pics that I need to download, sort through and then post (not all of them, don't worry!) Until then, I'm catching up on all my emails, blog reading and such (thank you jet lag for waking me up from 12-2 and then again at 5am to get this all accomplished...).

But for now, I have sweet memories, fun pics and a strong desire for pain au chocolate for another breakfast. Thank goodness there is a delicious French bakery at the Pike Place Market. I think they have a new customer for life. Oh, and I decided I must learn how to make my own bread and creme brulee.

Stay tuned.

A bientot mes amies!

I leave in a few hours for France with my mom and my sister! We are all very excited about this trip! This is something we've talked about for years, but one of those things we've never really acted on until a few months ago. And I'm so glad we did! I know it'll be a great adventure full of fun sights, yummy food, and I'm sure a few squabbles...we are family after all! But at the end of the day, your family loves you no matter what! Plus, in our case, it's usually all settled with a glass of wine or a good gin and tonic!

I'm currently debating about the whole knitting needle on flight issues. Normally, I'm fine, but now I'm working on my socks with two long metal circs. If I can take them on the plane, I'll have a new pair of socks to walk around France in. Otherwise, I'll have to shove them in my suitcase and hope there are good movies on the flight to entertain me. But then again, how do you enjoy a good movie without good knitting? Ah...I know...my issues....you all feel for me. I can tell!

Enjoy your crafting/cooking/travel adventures while I'm away! I look forward to reading all about them on your blogs that I've come to treasure so much!

Well I almost made it....

The plan was no more yarn/knitting stuff until after France. (I also had to amend that plan to include no new fabric after several trips to the fabric shop resulted in lots of new pretty fabric in the craft closet.) So what do I do five days before I leave? Bought new needles for my latest project: Springtime Bandit Scarf.

Oh well, at least I'm holding off until buying the rest of the yarn until I get back. So it almost counts....right?

Look! Look! Look!

I can see out my windows! My view is back!!!

I came home yesterday and the plastic construction wrap was gone, but the scaffolding was still there!

Then, I came home today and the scaffolding was gone!

I'll admit it, I got a little misty....

I guess the hubby was listening

Last Friday night, as I was finishing my first sock, I was singing the praises of just knitting on one project at a time. I quickly cast on for the second sock and got to work. I showed the hubby my fabulous new sock and he too agreed, it was fabulous, then went back to watching T.V.

Fast forward 48 hours to Sunday night. I was getting ready to pick up the sock, when I was distracted by the lovely new scarf pattern Rebecca sent me, Springtime Bandit. Then I realized this lovely yarn I had needed the perfect pattern to go with it. And there you have it. The beginning of my next project.

So here I was: in one hand, the pattern, in the other, my luscious yarn. Then I heard it:

The hubby: "What are you doing? You can't start another project until your socks are done. Isn't that what you were talking about the other night?"

Me: "Ah....huh."

Hubby: "Where's your sock? Put that down and finish your sock."

Me: "Uh, O.K."

What's a wife to do? That's right. I knit on the sock on Sunday night. And on Monday at my knitting group, I started the scarf. Pictures to come later. Stay tuned.

Well huh.

I've been using the "Erin" method of knitting (focus on only one project instead of my usual three at the same time) for a while now and it still amazes me at how quickly I get things done.

Like this sock for instance. It is supposed to be my travel knitting project, but clearly I'm just whipping right through it. I've got the first one done and the second one is well on its way. I guess I'll just have to wear them around France instead of working on them!

Now to find another project....perhaps the hubby will get a hand knit pair of socks for being understanding about this two week trip with my mom and sister to France that he wasn't invited on.

Getting closer...

Je suis tres enthousiaste por mon vogage a France avec mon mere et mon soeur!

It's getting closer and I've been so busy lately that I just realized it's less than two weeks away! I've been brushing up on my French. I feel pretty good about it. I've got some of the basics down:

- Where is the bathroom? Ou es les toilettes?
- I'd like a chocolate eclair please. Je voudrais un chocolate eclair s'il vous plais.
- I'd like a glass of white wine please. Je voudrais un verre de vin blanc s'il vous plais.

Really, do I need much else in France?

If you have any great French travel tips, places I should see, cafes I should stop and get a bit to eat in, please share! Merci!

They are not so much stripes...

...as they are diagonals. But it's better than the yarn pooling so I'll take it.

The things you find in houses

The hubby and I have started house hunting. It's kind of exciting and scary at the same time. I guess it's time to give up our renting ways to put down some roots.

We've been out with our realtor a couple of times now and well, there's a lot of overpriced crap out there. There's also some interesting crap out there. You never know what you're going to find when house hunting.

Like today for instance. We went into one one house and saw not one, but two, organs that seems liked the house -which was built in the 1920's - was literally built around them. They were tucked away in these cubby like organ holes. The one on the main level was huge, then I went into the basement to discover there was another one:

Ah, the things you find in houses. The organs were also for sale so if you're in the market for one, I can hook you up with the realtor.

The Nebraska Gift of the Month CLub

For the hubby's birthday his year, his sisters gave him a 6 month membership to the Nebraska Gift of the Month Club. Now, I'm sure you're wondering why Nebraska. Well, a very small town in Nebraska called Guide Rock is where the hubby's dad and his four brothers grew up on a farm.

So for the last few months we've enjoyed salsa from Nebraska, and Italian salad dressing (I know, who knew). Now, being the massive popcorn lover that I am, I was waiting for the box of popcorn to arrive.

And arrive, it finally did.

In the box was 5 flavors of popcorn: carmel, kettle, salt & vinegar, cheese and tutti frutti.

Now I have to say, I was a little frightened at this. I'm a popcorn purist. I believe all you need is just the butter. The carmel and kettle corns were quite tasty. We tried the salt & vinegar, but neither of us liked it so we pawned it off on a friend. But the cheese and tutti fruitti just scare us.

For one thing, the tutti fruitti weights 10 oz. All that candy coating is quite heavy on the popcorn. And I'm sure you're curious about what exactly is shellacked on the popcorn since its not naturally flavored like strawberries, grapes and bananas. Such natural ingredients like; sodium bensoate, lecithin, mono and diglycerides. Yum.

The hubby is taking the cheese and tutti fruitti flavors to work in the hopes that some people will eat them so I don't have to feel guilty about throwing the food away. Although I'm sure with all of those preservatives, it wouldn't go bad.

Project Update: Condo Progress!

Since another busy week around the Knitting Knot means little progress on knitting, I thought I'd share some progress on the condo construction!

Construction crews finally installed the insulation in our entry way along with new drywall that's now all patched up! It's nice to finally have insulation again now that spring is coming up. I mean, it's not like I needed it December and January when we were having record low temps.

And the new windows are really nice too! The new skylights will look great once I can look up and see the sky instead of construction workers.

They've also started adding the new exterior siding. It's darker than I'd like, but as long as I don't look out the window and see the mold growing on the side of my condo, I'm quite happy.

And the best news is, they've started taking the scaffolding and plastic wrap down on the other two buildings! Ours is hopefully not far off either. In fact, I used my journalistic interviewing skills to get to the bottom of this matter. The following interview was conducted in my elevator as I headed to the bus stop this morning:

Me: "Hey, how's it going?"

Construction guy who happened to get into the elevator with me: "Good, and you?"

Me: "Good thanks."

CG: "Good."

Me: "So, um, when are you going to be done?"

CG: Laughing. "Uh, well, we're starting to take down the scaffolding on the second building today so yours should start to come down in about two weeks."

Me: Playing it journalisticly cool, "Really? Ohmygosh that's so great! Really? You're not just making that up?"

CG: Now trying to get off the elevator and get to work, "Uh, yeah. Have a nice day."

Back in the saddle again

It's been a very long week and sadly, there has been no knitting. Last week I finished my project (a gift to be shown later). And to top it off, I also finished my book! I don't like that anxious feeling of what to knit next as I dig through the yarn stash while also flipping through my library of knitting books. Usually, I don't have this issue as I have projects lined up. But not this time. And this crazy week I just had didn't leave me with any knitting time, let alone much free time anyway.

But I'm happy to say it's a new week. And a new project was cast on this morning in fact. Then progress was made when I met up with Jessica, Rebecca and new knitter Margaret at Trophy Cupcake for knitting and a sweet treat! Nothing like friends and a good sugar rush to get a sock project off to a good start!

Idiot

That's me.

Or maybe super-duper stubborn.

But really, just desperate to knit.

I'm kind of in between projects right now. I've just finished a series of little knitted gifts. I'm waiting to start a sweater for myself until after I get back from my trip to France as I have a really bad habit of starting big projects, then setting them aside, only to pick them up and royally screw them up. And I don't want that to happen again, so I wait.

With lots of sock yarn sitting in my pretty yarn stash, I thought, perfect. I can whip out a pair for me and be on my happily knitted way. However, I don't have a swift to wind yarn. And I've tried winding yarn using my winder without a swift. And it generally ends up with me annoyed at myself, swearing and untangling knots until midnight.

And once again I have done just that. Only this time I started earlier in the evening, but it still took a while to hand wind, and untangle, 380 yards of Socks That Rock in Nodding Violet. And now I'm throwing my no-money-on-knitting-rule-until-after-France out the window and going to amazon.com and buying a damn swift.

"Pieced" Dreams

I've been kicking around this idea for a simple sewing project. One that would let me do one of my favorite thing about sewing: mix and match all the pretty fabric! Last weekend, I threw caution to the wind and jumped head first into the fabric creativity! Here's what my idea ended up looking like:


I'm calling it "Pieced" Dreams. I'm sure there are other patterns out there similar to this, but this is my own design. I really enjoyed the creative process of putting my own design together. I love the mix/match of the fabric. And I love the freedom of not following a pattern but gleaming ideas off of other projects that have inspired me along the way.

To me, that is so important in the creative process.

This project (and it's matching mate because you do need two matching pillowcases) went to a friend who is a very creative fabric force.

I can't wait to get back to the sewing machine and see what happens next!

Knitting Adventures....

The other night I was working on a cabled project with my DPNs (that's double pointed needles for my non-knitting readers). I realized that I had, um, "misplaced" one of the DPNs. Now, if you're wondering where DPNs get their name, well, it's because they have pointy ends on both ends (hence the name). And you might imagine that its not good to "misplace" something that has two pointy ends. So I started looking around where I was sitting. It wasn't in the quilt. It wasn't in my knitting bag or the under the chair. Not to concerned, I grabbed something else that would work and went on my knitting way.

About an hour later, it was time for bed. I still hadn't found the DPN. So I looked again. Still no luck. About this time, the hubby is now wondering why I'm on my hands an knees looking around the recliner. I fessed up that I "misplaced" a DPN, but that as long as he continued to sit on the couch, he'd be in no danger of "accidentally" finding it.

He muttered: "Alright."
Which I translated: "I can't believe you've lost another one of those pointy needles in the furniture! You better find it soon!" This isn't the first time I've "misplaced" a DPN in the furniture.

So I decided it was just time for bed. I went into the bathroom to get ready, and guess what. I found the damn DPN. I had stuck in my ponytail for safe keeping. And it was safe. And sadly, that isn't the first time I've "misplaced" a DPN in my pony tail.

Baby Boom!

There is a baby boom around the Knitting Knot these days (no it's not me, sorry to disappoint mom, Sara, Rebecca, and April!). Two coworkers wives had (and are having) babies soon. And a very close, dear friend called me with the news that she is going to have her second baby! So right away all projects came to a screeching halt as I quickly dove into the stash for yarn, needles and my standard go-to baby hat pattern.

Here are the results:

Both hats are the Child's Cotton Hat from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I just switched out the bow for a gender neutral stripe for my friend's baby. That way if Daddy gets his wish for a boy, the hat will work just fine. And if big sis (who's 2) gets her wish for a little sister, then her sister will just be Sporty Baby.

Um...I'm not so sure how I feel about this

Apparently the latest Jane Austen craze is to have zombies attack the Bennet women. As if finding a suitable husband and practicing such useful skills as the pianoforte and needle work weren't stressful enough for a woman wearing several layers and a whale bone corset.

The book, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is due out in April.

And if we're lucky (note sarcasm), I'm sure we'll see Mr. Darcy slaying the zombies while riding through what was once the green peaceful meadows now drenched in blood from the mere commoners unable to flee their undead fate on the big screen.

Mmmm....now these are good

I'm always on the lookout for good snack recipes - especially granola bars. I don't like store bought ones, they just don't taste right. So the other day, when I saw this posting over at Living Senses, I knew I had to give these a whirl.

Just like Heather, I improvised a few ingredients to work with what was in my pantry (and my taste buds). Here's what I ended up with. And let me tell you, they are yummy!

Groovy Granola Bars (adapted slightly from Heather's recipe)

2 cups rolled oats

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup wheat bran

1/4 cup ground flax seed (I used flax seeds as I couldn't get my food processor to grind them)
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup Whole Wheat flour

1/2 cup regular flour

3/4 cup dried cranberries

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup honey

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Once I had it all mixed together I decided my granola bars needed chocolate chips. I threw in a handful of chocolate chips. Ok 2 handfuls. Ok, they were generous handfuls.

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. The mixture will be slightly crumbly. Press into a well greased 9X13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Heather warns to cut the granola bars after 5 minutes of cooling.

I really don't think I'll be buying granola bars again as my search is over!

Capitan Hat

While it may look like there hasn't been a lot of knitting around the Knitting Knot lately, it's because I've been too busy knitting to blog about it. But now I'm done:

Project: Capitan

Yarn: Lambs Pride Chunky in Dark Gray

You can't really see the cables and the band due to the dark color of the yarn and lack of natural light in my plastic wrapped home.

It was a quick and easy knit. I'm ready for more cooler temps in Seattle!

Maybe it's just me?

But right now, I'm not loving the idea of a crock pot? Maybe I'm not using the right recipes which incidentally, I'm getting from the recipe book that came with the slow cooker that I have.

Here's my issue:

If this gadget is supposed to save me precious time/energy in the kitchen, then why the hell do I have to get up at 7 or 8 am to brown the pot roast and chop the veggies in order to eat dinner at a normal time? Because 7 or 8 am on a weekend isn't normal to me.

While the pot roast is very good (and last time I did this I did wash/chop everything the night before), but come on, browning meat at 8 am on a Saturday isn't my idea of saving me time or energy.

A little help here please?

I HEART the Fabric Depot

The next time you are in the Portland area (and you are a crafter), you must check out the Fabric Depot. It's 1 1/2 acres of fabric, sewing supplies, all kinds of notions and crafting supplies. It's huge. It's overwhelming. It's fabulous. While the place itself isn't that impressive (it's in an old Fred Meyer store or something like that and has terrible signage), the fabric collection is very impressive. Oh, and did I mention that everything is basically 30% off? And that it's in Portland, Oregon - no sales tax! And when you're coming from a state like Washington with high sales tax, it's essentially like another 10% off!

Here what pretty things that made it home with me:

Some pretty fabric for a variety of projects.

This soft and cuddly flannel for a baby that will grace us with his/her presence later this year.

And these Moda fabric squares. I'll admit, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these, but I'm very into the retro fabrics as they remind me of my Grandma Doris - the original crafter/artist in my life. I feel like collecting the fabrics that remind of me of her will somehow bring her closer to me even though she's no longer here. I'm thinking these may end up in a lap quilt. I'm also thinking if that's the case, I'll need another pack or two of them.

So, when you go to the Fabric Depot - be prepared. Go with a list. Go with a plan. Do spend time wandering the fabrics and feeling the pretty softness of it all, but don't let it overtake you. Thanks to Jessica for this tip and the idea of checking it out in the first place! This will be a permanent stop on all my trips down south! Maybe I'll see you all there sometime!

*Editor's note: I'd like to apologize to my dad for this post. He did ask me not to mention this place to my mom, as her fabric collection spans two rooms in their house (including what was formerly known as Meg's Room, now the Fabric Room Annex). But, dad, we crafters must stick together. And come on, how many sporting good/hardware stores have we girls wandered through as you checked out all the gadgets and gizmos? Yeah, thought so.

So outraged, I almost asked for my money back

Tonight as I was heading home, I finalized plans for an impromptu happy hour with a friend I hadn't seen in a long time. It wasn't anything fancy, we were just meeting up at my place for a glass of wine and whatever I could manage to find to eat. Knowing there wasn't much the in cupboards, I made a quick decision to stop at a little market to pick up some nacho stuff (I had wanted to go to Mexican place so I was still craving the food.)

As I was heading into the shop, I noticed this woman with a sign near the door:
"Pregnant mother of two. Just lost my job. Anything helps!"

Now, as a big city resident who uses public transportation and works in the heart of downtown, I see these signs daily. I'm asked pretty much every time I leave my office if I can spare some change. And I'll be honest, I don't. I choose to donate my money in other ways. But this woman, who couldn't be more than a few years older than me, made an impact on me. I smiled and said, sorry, I don't have any change, as I jetted into the store to look for some non-nutritional, non-essential items.

While I was contemplating which salsa to buy, I started thinking about her. I was thankful that my hubby and I both have good jobs that afford the basics and the little luxuries we cherish so much. I didn't need to be in that store buying nacho ingredients, but I was, because I could. So I got a couple of bucks for my change, folded them up and walked out of the store.

I smiled and handed her the money. She smiled, got a little misty, and said, "Thank you so much!" I got a little misty and headed to my car. As I was getting in, something caught my eye. I turned around to see that she was SMOKING!!!

I think my mouth actually dropped. I was outraged that 1) she was smoking while pregnant and 2) that the money I had just given her could possibly be used to buy more cigarettes. I should have taken that money to buy some food (which was my first instinct - some apples, and milk or something but decided cash was better). While it was only $3, it still outraged me to see her endangering her unborn child's' health (and I'm guessing she smokes around her young kids too).

I think if I see her again, perhaps I'll remind her about Washington's state law that prohibits people from smoking within 25 feet of an open door, window or ventilation system, meaning she'll have to do her smoking and panhandling in the middle of Phinney Way. Perhaps she'll think about it twice then!