So, it is that time of year where the seed companies are sending out their catalogs full of glossy photos of beautiful vegetables, flowers, and herbs. We got our first catalog of the season on Friday and Bry and I have been thumbing through it all weekend, oggling the colorful vegetables. This spring’s planting will require a bit more thought since we will be moving in July/August due to my finishing grad school. So, we must plan for crops which we can harvest before that time. It seems like our main focus will be herbs, peas, and lettuce. We have already started on the lettuce front. One of our potted house plants wasn’t doing so well, so it was composted and the soil in the pot amended. In the pot went a few red romaine seeds and a few spinach seeds. Now, if we can keep the cats from pawing at the dirt until the seeds germinate, we will have a lovely coffee table centerpiece planter of salad greens. Yum!

When my life gets stressful with lots of due dates and major life decisions I try and find escape in fantasy, where the characters face much greater, life-threatening challenges than I ever will. It helps to put my own challenges in perspective. Usually this fantasy takes the form of some large novel, possibly a series. It almost always leads to obsessive reading.

Currently, while I embark on the task of trying to secure a job post grad school, I find myself seeking sanctuary in the SciFi (and no I will not start type ScyFy, no matter how cute the SciFi channel thinks it is being) series StarGate SG-1.  This show is great as it appeals to my nerdy science-mathy side as well as my nerdy anthropology side. If you have never seen or heard of the show, the premise is that what many of our ancient cultures thought were gods were actually aliens whose advanced technology made them appear god-like to our ancestors. There are lots of neat ties to Egyptian and Norse mythology. The show also explores the dark and light sides of human nature in a way that very much reminds me of Doctor Who. Actually, I have begun to think of the show as a cross between Star Trek and Dr. Who, both of which are shows I love.

Anyhow, what does this have to do with knitting. Well, usually, if my escape from reality takes the form of a novel, I can’t very well knit while I read. However, watching SG-1, I am able to get a bunch of knitting done while I escape. It doubles the enjoyment. By the way, if you are interested in watching SG-1, seasons 1 thru 8 are available on Hulu now through May of next year.

I am currently working on a short sleeve blouse with a diamond stitch pattern in it. You can see pictures of it in my last post. However, yesterday I found a project which I had lost during the move. I was beginning to think it was lost forever, but low an behold it was tucked away in a drawer I overlooked.

Bamboo Beach Cover-up recently found

The project is one I started last May. I had intended to finish it before our Florida trip this last summer, but due to the franticness of moving to a new house, it didn’t happen. Then, during the move it got stashed away (for safe keeping I am sure), and was lost to me until yesterday, when I searched the house in another desperate attempt to find it. I could have always started the project again, but I was really missing all the little knitting supplies that were in the bag with that projects: row counters, tape measures, stitch markers, stitch holders, etc. Now I have them all back again, yey! Anyhow, now the goal is to finish this project before the next summer trip. I think I can handle that.

I think I have reached a new level of zen in knitting.  The latest project I have been working on, a diamond pattern blouse from Vintage Knits, had to be frogged (read completely ripped [ribbit] out and started anew).  I had initially thought I could modify the pattern to be in the round. However, the area that would have been the side seams ended up looking quite ugly. Of course, I could not see that this was so until I had about 9″ of the blouse done. In the past, if I had had this much of a project done (at least 50%), I would have seriously debated ripping the whole thing out and starting over.  I think the difference this time was two fold. First, the yarn I am using is GGH Tajmahal. It is a merino/cashmere/silk blend, and yes it cost a pretty penny. So there was a part of me that wanted to do the yarn justice. It is such a beautiful soft yarn, it deserves to be knit into something beautiful.  Secondly, it struck me that the fun is in the knitting, so if I spend more time on the garment, I get more pleasure out of the yarn. Of course it is nice when you are wearing something you made and some compliments it, but it doesn’t compare to the pleasure of actually knitting it up.  This, I think is a new level of zen knitting for me. In the past it has always been about the end product and not about the journey leading to that end result. Perhaps I have evolved slightly as a knitter.

The first bit after I had frogged the project.

Here you can start to see some of the diamond pattern.

P.S. Thank you Hulu for having all eight season of StarGate SG-1 available right now. It has made for great fun while knitting this project. I think I will always associated this project with that show.  I am currently on season 3. Hopefully, there are enough episodes left to get me through the rest of my project.

Here is my upated list:

1. The Shack by William P. Young
2. Omnivor’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
3. Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich
4. Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich
5. Four to Score by Janet Evanovich
6. High Five by Janet Evanovich
7. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
8. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
9. Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer (link)
10. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
11. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
12. Dead Until Dark by Charaline Harris
13. Hot Six by Janet Evanovich
14. Seven Up by Janet Evanovich
15. Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich
16. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
17. Eragon by Christopher Paolini
18. Inheritance by Christopher Paolini

I finished Inheritance quite a while ago, I just never added it in. I’ve taken a little break from reading to catch up on some knitting and other stuff. I am planning on checking the Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver out from the library soon. However, I think I would like to read the third book in the Eragon series first.

First, I just want to say that I love fall weather. I love sweaters and scarves, the way the cool air feels on your face while you are all bundled up, the way the sun shines on red and golden leaves, the way you want to sip on hot tea and knit a bit,  and the way fall makes you cuddle up with someone you love around a toasty campfire. Yes, I love fall.

On to Glee! Last night I watched the pilot episode of Glee on Youtube. OMG!!! When they sang “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey, I got chills. It was so freakin’ awesome. I love when anyone does a great cover of that song, but the Glee version was particularly excellent. You can listed to a pretty good recording of it on Youtube.

Last Saturday I picked up some mild lamb sausage from one of the local meat farmers.  I have never really cooked with lamb sausage before, so what a whipped up last night was a bit of an experiment. However, it turned out so delicious I thought I should post the recipe.

Lamb & Spinach Puff Pockets

The name “puff pockets” come from the fact that my husband compared them to hot pockets (but better) and they use puff pastry dough.

1. Puff pastry usually comes in frozen sheets. You will need to thaw the dough before you can use it. To do this, just leave the puff pastry out on the counter for 1-2 hours before you intend to start. Or the night before you want to use it, move the dough out of the freezer and into the fridge.
2. Before you start making the lamb and spinach stuffing, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
3. The quantities of this stuff recipe make enough to stuff 8 pockets with some left over to do other things with (see below). Brown 1 lbs of lamb sausage. When sausage is almost done add 1 onion diced, 1 lbs of frozen spinach, 1/4 cup sherry, salt and pepper to taste. Let most of the sherry boil off.
4. In a small mixing bowl, combine 1/2 cup of Dijon mustard, 1 cup of Hellman’s or Best Food’s mayonnaise,  a hand full of fresh basil (chopped), and salt and pepper to taste.
5. Carefully unfold the puff pastry dough. Cut each sheet into quarters (each will make 4 squares totaling to 8 squares). Smear some of the Dijon sauce in the center of each square. Next, place enough sausage mix in the middle of each square so that it is full the the corners, when pulled up, can still touch. Then, gather each of the four corners, pinch them together, and then push a toothpick through them to hold them together. Place each puff pocket on parchment paper on a baking sheet.
6. Whisk together an egg white with a teaspoon of milk. Using a pastry brush, brush the egg wash over the tops of the pastry puff pockets. This will help them turn golden brown and delicious.
7. Bake until golden brown. I believe this was about 20 minutes (but I wasn’t watching the clock to closely last night). Just keep an eye on them, when they look golden and delicious they are done.
8. Serve while hot. Any extra Dijon sauce can be served with them as an extra topping. If you don’t eat them all, save them for lunch the next day. Yum!

I have another to add to the list. While I was taking care of Vern after she got her wisdom teeth pulled, I read Eragon by Christopher Paolini. I was a bit shocked to find out that he was only 15 when he started writing the book. I would not have suspected that from the quality of the writing.

Anyhow, here is my upated list:

1. The Shack by William P. Young
2. Omnivor’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
3. Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich
4. Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich
5. Four to Score by Janet Evanovich
6. High Five by Janet Evanovich
7. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
8. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
9. Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer (link)
10. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
11. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
12. Dead Until Dark by Charaline Harris
13. Hot Six by Janet Evanovich
14. Seven Up by Janet Evanovich
15. Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich
16. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
17. Eragon by Christopher Paolini

The past two weekends I have been freezing stone fruits, mostly peaches but some cherries too. I wanted to put the recipe up here so that I wouldn’t forget.

Process of Freezing Peaches:

1. Wash peaches off.
2. Remove skins by boiling in water for 45-60 seconds and then removing to an ice bath. Skins should peel off with little effort.
3. Once skins are removed cut peaches in half and remove pits. I should note here that there are some varieties of peaches in which the pits are easier to remove than others. The white peaches seem to have harder to remove pits. At this point, you can either keep the peaches in halves or cut them into slices.
4. Sprinkle peaches with citric acid or lemon juice (enough to lightly coat). When you stir the peaches up with the citric acid they should look shinier, sort of glossy. This will keep the peaches from browning.
5. Dissolve 3 cups of white sugar into 6 cups of boiling water. Let cool.
6. Spoon peaches into 1 qt bag (note it takes about 4-5 peaches to fill 1 qt). Then ladle enough of the sugar water over the peaches just to cover.
7. Place in freezer.

We have been buying peaches in 1/2 pecks (yes, a half-a-peck-a-peaches … say that 10 times fast), which is about 12-15 peaches and we are able to get three quart ziplock bags to freeze.

Update on the 50 Book Challenge: While traveling to Colorado and California I was able to finish reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.  It was a really great read and has inspired me to try harder at keep our (Bryan and I) food chain as local as possible. Since we moved to a new house right in the middle of the growing season we do not yet have a vegetable garden. So, Bryan and I have been taking Saturday morning dates to the local Farmer’s Market. Bryan also brings home a couple of bags full of fresh veggies each week from the garden-farm he works at. I think my favorite so far has been the acorn squash we bough last week. Here is the recipe for the most amazing acorn squash I have ever tasted.

1. Take 1 acorn squash and cut it in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and pulp in the center.
2. With a fork, mash together 1/4 c. soften butter (that is 1/2 a stick of butter), 1/4 c. brown sugar, a palm full of ground sage, and salt and pepper to taste.
3. Smear the butter mixture on the insides of each of the acorn halves.
4. Place in a baking dish and bake for 1 hour at 400 degrees F.

We have one more acorn squash at home and I can’t wait to make this again. It was so delicious!

Updated list of books read so far this year:

here is my updated list:

1. The Shack by William P. Young
2. Omnivor’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
3. Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich
4. Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich
5. Four to Score by Janet Evanovich
6. High Five by Janet Evanovich
7. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
8. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
9. Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer (link)
10. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
11. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
12. Dead Until Dark by Charaline Harris
13. Hot Six by Janet Evanovich
14. Seven Up by Janet Evanovich
15. Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich
16. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

I have another book to add to my list which brings me up to 15 books this year. My goal for the year is 20, so I am feeling good about getting up to 15 even before the half-way mark of the year.  I am co-writing a textbook over the summer. Can I add that book to the list at the end of the summer? I suppose I will have read it a hundred times over.  It probably shouldn’t count though. Awwww … well … here is my updated list:

1. The Shack by William P. Young
2. Omnivor’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
3. Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich
4. Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich
5. Four to Score by Janet Evanovich
6. High Five by Janet Evanovich
7. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
8. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
9. Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer (link)
10. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
11. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
12. Dead Until Dark by Charaline Harris
13. Hot Six by Janet Evanovich
14. Seven Up by Janet Evanovich
15. Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich

One more book to add to my list, Seven Up by Janet Evanovich.  Yes, that is another book in the Stephanie Plum series.

Here is my updated list:

1. The Shack by William P. Young
2. Omnivor’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
3. Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich
4. Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich
5. Four to Score by Janet Evanovich
6. High Five by Janet Evanovich
7. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
8. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
9. Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer (link)
10. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
11. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
12. Dead Until Dark by Charaline Harris
13. Hot Six by Janet Evanovich
14. Seven Up by Janet Evanovich