Baking & the chaos that ensues

Around the holidays, I get the baking bug. Big time. And last Friday night was my night in the kitchen. But before I could bake, I had to shop.

So I dug around and found my famous fudge recipe. The fudge recipe that has earned me praises at many a holiday gatherings. I found it, added the goodies on my grocery list and headed out the door with the hubby to grab some dinner before hitting the grocery store. I know, hot Friday night plans.

I came home and quickly got to work on the Cranberry Chocolate bread recipe I found on Shannon's blog. Then with 50 mins to kill while the bread baked, I decided to get to the bottom of the funky smell in the kitchen. First the trash went out. Still had a linger. Then I cleaned out the fridge, because, well, you know how that goes. Still something was amiss. So I took care of the recycling. (And by "taking care of it," I mean I made the hubby take it all out.) Then the sweet smell of baking bread began to over power whatever was causing such a stir in my kitchen.

Now it was time to get to my famous fudge. But there was a problem. My fudge recipe was missing. I frantically retraced my steps and then it hit me. Just like a flash back from "How I Met Your Mother," I saw it all: I had jotted down what I needed on the grocery list. Then I took the list and the recipe and put it on the kitchen table right as we were leaving for dinner. But while the hubby took a few minutes to get ready, I decided to be efficient and clean out my purse. I pulled out past receipts and old grocery lists and just made a little pile on the table instead of throwing them away because hubby was now ready. You can probably guess where this is going. While I was madly cleaning the kitchen, I picked up the pile of crap from my purse and dumped it in the trash. And my famous fudge recipe was on the bottom of that pile.

(The bread tastes great with hot cocoa with marshmallows!)

Lucky for me I was able to find another recipe online. And you know, it's pretty good. I think I'll keep track of this one a little better.

Christmas Q & A

I saw this posting on Shannon's blog and I really liked it! Since I love all things Christmas, and learning new things about other people, I thought I'd post my own. Plus, I feel like all I've been posting about lately is how much I hate the condo construction. My blog needs a little Christmas cheer.

1. Color/theme of your Christmas tree: No theme, multi-colored lights and ornaments that remind me of trips I've taken (I like to buy an ornament when I travel) and ones people have given me over the years.

2. What tops your tree? A silver star that I found at Target for like 9 bucks.

3. Favorite ornament: some old silver and glitter balls that used to belong to my grandmother and a few "First Christmas" together ornaments.

4. When do you put up your tree? Personally, I'm ready to put it up once the dishes are cleared from Thanksgiving dinner!

5. When do you take it down? First weekend in January that's after New Years.

6. Favorite gift received during childhood: a Teddy bear from Santa that I still have and my Cabbage Patch Dolls (ok..still have those too).

7. Favorite gift received during adulthood: ??? Nothing is coming to mind...but I'm sure something is out there...

8. Eggnog or cocoa? Cocoa

9. Christmas music: old classics or modern remakes? Old classics

10. Favorite Christmas song? The 12 Days of Christmas sung by John Denver and the Muppets (which is the BEST Christmas CD ever!)

11. Wrapped gifts or gift bags? Depends on the gift, but I do like to wrap them.

12. Do you put out cookies and milk for Santa? Always!

13. Do you open gifts Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? One on Christmas Eve, the rest in the morning.

14. Favorite Christmas movie: Miracle on 34th Street

15. Gingerbread men or chocolate fudge? Fudge

16. Rudolph or Frosty the Snowman? Frosty!

17. Last-minute shopper or organized buyer? I like to be organized and get it done, but I always end up buying last minute.

18. Easiest person to shop for: my mom

19. Hardest person to shop for: Oddly, this year, the hardest people to buy for are usually the two easiest for me: my sister and my hubby.

20. Favorite Christmas tradition: I love Christmas morning. Getting up early and opening our presents while we're all still in our pj's. We open our stockings first, then move (quickly) on the goodies under the tree! Then we spend all day playing with new toys, reading new books, or playing new games and of course eating good food! I also love all the holiday cooking and baking!

The squeaky wheel gets her mail

And so do the other squeaky wheels in my condo. Apparently, I wasn't the only one writing a strongly worded email to the construction people, who then followed it up with a phone call to the Seattle post office.

When I spoke (again) with the postal delivery supervisor today to make sure they knew about the new lights the construction folks installed on Monday, she said they decided to start delivering our mail again, because, "it was piling up in the post office and taking up their space." Gee, I hate to think this ordeal caused them any stress.

Through sleet and snow, but not construction

There was an interesting little letter left for our building from our postal carrier. Apparently, he feels our foyer (where the mailboxes are) is unsafe due to the lack of lighting. The "lack of lighting" is due to the construction. I'll admit, it's darker than normal, but at 3 pm, when the mail is usually delivered, it's fine.


So until this "issue" is resolved, no more pick up or delivery for us. I guess the US Post Office doesn't give a damn that it's the holidays, that some of us have packages that should have been delivered two days ago, or that the Christmas cards we ordered to send out are also sitting somewhere in the postal system abyss.


I've already written a strongly worded letter to our construction people and building management, hopefully it'll get taken care of quickly. Otherwise I'll have to up the "strongliness" of my letters.

Test run results: quite tasty!

Last night we invited a few friends over to be, well, guinea pigs. The hubby and I are making Christmas dinner for my family and we decided, since we were trying a bunch of new recipes, that we should do a test run.

The hubby made a Horseradish, Rosemary and Garlic encrusted prime rib.

(ah...no, the wine isn't part of the dish, it's for the cook!)

I was in charge of the other dishes. I tried out the Butternut Squash Gratin with Blue Cheese and Sage in this month's issue of Cooking Light.

We also had spinach salad, rolls and more of my homemade raspberry jam. The guinea pigs, er...dear friends.... decided everything was a hit and they'd be happy to our guinea pigs anytime we wanted to experiment with the culinary arts!

Decked: check

Our place is now ready for Christmas!

The knitted stockings are hung...

And my favorite ornaments are up....

(these use to belong to my grandmother)

Plus, I'm hoping all the pretty twinkly lights will help me forget that I live in a condo wrapped in plastic. With no view. And a hole still in the wall (which is getting bigger I swear. Or the lack of fresh air is making me think that it's getting bigger. I'm not sure.)

The finishing continues

Done: Easy Baby Sweater by Elizabeth Zimmerman

Yarn: Nashua Handknits Creative Focus Worsted

This pattern was a challenge but I'm glad I powered through. It's a super cute sweater and it's going to a super cute baby!

The love is back

And the baby sweater for Jossy is back on track! With all the finishing of projects around here at the Knitting Knot, the thought of finishing another project is keeping me knitting!

Another gift done

But this one is a surprise. And here at the Knitting Knot, we like surprises so no peeking until Christmas!

2001

That's the last time (I think) I had short hair. Until now.

Done and done

Finally. My dad's socks are done. The second sock stripped perfectly, unlike the first one. My gauge was much better with the second one. I'm just going to tell my dad the non-stripped sock is the "left" one. He's my dad. Just like the funky, clunky coffee mug I once made him in pottery class when I was a kid, he'll love them.

Project: Simple Socks - Cat Bordhi

Yarn: ShibuiKnits Sock

Road trip knittin'

The bags are packed (mostly), the gas tank is full (I think), but the knitting bag is ready to go! We're off to beautiful Moscow, Idaho to watch the University of Idaho Vandals crush the BCS Bowl dreams of those pesky Boise State Univ. Broncos! It'll be great. Or it'll be total carnage since BSU is ranked like 8 in the nation and we're ranked, well, let's just say, it ain't good.

But either way it'll be a fun road trip to see family and friends, do a little road trip knittin' on some Christmas goodies and most importantly - get the hell out of the cave for a weekend!!! (We've now started calling the condo the cave. There will be an update soon.)

Why I know your Seattle tax dollars are working

Tonight the bus driver was pulled over by a bike cop. Impressive. I will admit, the bus driver totally deserved his speeding ticket.

Finally...some Smooshy of my very own

After listening to my fellow knitters rave about how wonderful Smooshy is, I finally got a skein of my own! I bought Classy Worsted Weight in Happy Forest to knit up a few goodies for Christmas. So sadly, this Smooshy won't stay mine for long!

I've also been on the hunt for a new hat lately...either to buy or to knit. After I spotted this darling hat on Holly, I knew the hunt was over. Soon it'll be mine in this lovely shade of gray in the uber soft baby alpaca chunky from Cascade Yarns.

Gotta go....lots of knitting to do!
(And yes, I still have to finish that damn baby sweater!)

It'll never grow

That's the point of the sock that I'm at. You know, where you knit, knit, knit and knit some more only to pull out the measuring tape to discover that you're .5 inches away from where you were 20 minutes earlier. But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel on my dad's socks and that gives me the energy needed to keep going! That and I can finally cross one gift off my Christmas-to-make list - and that keeps me knitting faster and faster!

Construction Zone Update

The other morning as I was getting ready to leave for work, I noticed a construction worker on the scaffolding waving and trying to get my attention. He was pointing to me, to the very large saw in his hand and to our ceiling. I thought, huh....he's either:

a) trying to tell me he's going to come in and hack me to pieces with his very large saw

or

b) trying to tell me he's going to come in hack my ceiling to pieces with his very large saw

Since they let me leave without any type of trouble I figured it was option b. It was confirmed when I came home and found the ceiling in my entry way was replaced with a "temporary" one made of plywood and plastic. The construction foreman assured me that it "should" hold up from the big storms that were predicted for Seattle.

"Should," now there's a comforting term to hear from a construction worker.

I've been tagged!

Thanks Shannon! Here I go....

A. Attached or Single - Attached

B. Best Friend - Hmm. I have a couple of those. I'd have to say my sister, Kelli, and the hubby ranks right up there too.

C. Cake or Pie - Cake! Extra frosting please!

D. Day of Choice - Saturday

E. Essential Item - my planner (I'm an old fashion girl - I heart my paper planner!)

F. Favorite Color - Pink

G Gummy Bears or Worms - Bears

H. Hometown - Boise

I. Favorite Indulgence - a mani/pedi

J. January or July - July! It's birthday month and summertime!

K. Kids - Nada

L. Last movie you watched in a theater - The Duchess

M. Marriage Date - June 16, 2007

N. No. of Brothers & Sisters - 1 sister, Lindsay

O. Oranges or Apples - Apples

P. Phobias - Can't think of anything...but I really don't like having the whole body of a being on my plate (ex: shrimp, crab, fish - basically seafood).

Q. Quotes - "If you obey all the rules, you'll miss all the fun." Katherine Hepburn

R. Reasons to Smile - Lots! Fresh baked cookies, fall leaves, homemade soup, spending time with friends, a yarn sale, a date with the hubby.....

S. Season of Choice - Summer! Summer fun baby!!

T. Tag 5 people - Sara, Jen, April, Rebecca and Heather

U. Unknown fact about me - I don't like to read instructions or rules.

V. Vegetable - Steamed green beans

W. Worst Habit - I kind of like to swear....I am working on being better though.....except when I drive. What can I say? Those people are a bunch of jacka$$e$!

X. X-Ray or Ultrasound - Ummm....I've never had either one. Except dental x-rays and those don't really count, do they?

Y. Your Favorite Food - Soup, ham and cheese sandwiches, popcorn

Z. Zodiac Sign - Leo

Project Update: the condo construction

It's been several weeks since our building was wrapped in plastic. And I'll be honest, it totally and completely sucks the big one.

I came home from work on Friday to find this:

It's a hole in the wall. The construction workers put it in the wall sometime on Friday, then left it for the weekend. Thoughtful huh. Luckily, since the building is wrapped in plastic, not that much cold air is getting in.

Falling for food

I saw this idea on another blog (I believe the original idea is from the one and only Martha) and I had to try it! It's simply pie crust that you cut into shapes (fall leaves for me) then you brush it with egg whites, then I sprinkled half with a mix of garlic salt and sea salt. The others got a mix of cinnamon and sugar. And they were tasty.

They looked lovely on the homemade leek and potato soup I made.

A conversation hear around the condo....

The hubby recently bought himself a new flat screen t.v. This purchase has long been talked about, thought about and researched, because, well that's just the type of guy he is. (Totally opposite of me, but whatever.) So the new t.v. meant that we need a new t.v stand. This made me very happy because I hate his current t.v. stand which screams, "I'm the cheap crap that a bachelor has and many a beer can has perched on top of me over the years!"

Lots of discussion went on about the type of new t.v. stand on which to perch this new fancy t.v. They hubby kept saying, I just want it to be minimal - no shelves, no drawers, no cupboards. I kept saying, we need those to store the DVDs, CDs, and etc. I thought, why? Why would you not want a place to store things? So in my usual, reporter ways, I kept saying, "Why? Why not?"

And just like a good reporter who badgers who interviewee until he cracks, I got my answer:

The Hubby: "Because I don't want to open a drawer and find more yarn!"

Me: "Oh. OK. Point taken."