Knitting Haitus

I’m five days into a sprained forefinger on my left hand. It’s a slowly healing ouch and I am SO missing my knitting. I’m about 1/5th through the palette cleanser. I’ll frog Better Banner while I’m waiting for things to improve to the point I can knit again.

I’m all prepped and ready to start my bra logic video. I’ve got my original patterns, hardware and all the example bras collected up. I’m ready!

I’d love to do it today but I need one more day to finish up the quilt blocks for a scrappy top before I can dive in.

Wadly gets his new garden tractor with mower tomorrow. Over the next couple days I am sure he’ll be out mowing and playing with it. Maybe then.

Back to quilting

I’m blaming it on pillowcases. I was running out and needed replacements for the ones that had worn out. After that spate of creation I felt the need to continue to sew. I had quilt projects already cut out so . . .

4" totally scrappy square danceI’ve started a scrappy square dance. I wasn’t up to doing a coordinated pinwheel quilt so . . . scrappy it is! There are so many favorite fabrics here!

I can’t sew very long . . . it took me over a week to make 10 pillowcases making one or two at a time. I’m trying to be smart about this. I’m making five squares a day. Between selecting the fabrics and sewing them together it’s about 1/2 hour of work. So far I’m handling it okay. If I’m hurting too badly I skip a day. This isn’t a race.

Clearing the decks

Heart StringsHeartstrings. Bamboo Pop in Denim and Pink Joy

I gave away Heartstrings this weekend. Our son brought an old girlfriend to visit. She has one of my sweaters (now two) which she loves and wears. That takes me down to . . . seven? Maybe six? The more I can find homes for the more room I have to make more for me. I’ve been knitting shorties to wear over sleeveless dresses (my normal wear) when the mornings are cool. I like shorties. I don’t have to get up to get them off as they don’t go below my waist. All my other sweaters are long enough to get caught under my hips when sitting. Plus . . . more chances to do freelance design.

Better Banner

Bamboo Pop Banner

I made an awesome sweater I couldn’t wear. It broke my lil ole heart. I have a neck issue. Nothing touches the neck. This sweater broke that rule. The weight of the beads on the front of the sweater tipped the balance and caused the weight of the front of the sweater to pull the sweater toward the front causing the back neck to touch the part of my neck that’s damaged. Ugh. So I gifted it to my niece who loves it.

Sinfonia Better Banner

I still want a banner sweater so as time passed I did a reboot. Using Omega Sinfonia (mercerized cotton) I knit an awesome intarsia collar, worked a conti-rag shoulder and started a new banner. It had an irreparable error AND the yarn proved to be heavier than I could comfortably wear, something closer to worsted than light DK. Still, it’s GORGEOUS . . . just not workable/wearable because of the error and due to the weight of the yarn.

Collar test knits

Using Bamboo Pop Anchor (an incredible color) and a variety of brights in Bamboo Pop and Hobbii Rainbow Bamboo I reknit the collar . . . six (?) times. Yup, not kidding. Too big, too small, too big, too small . . . I even had a conversation with a friend on the issues I was having getting the right collar for the project. Ugh times six. Then I shared the repeat issue. With a repeat of 20 stitches (five colors with five separating background colors) I had a choice of 100 stitches (too small) or 120 stitches (too big). Don’t ask me why I kept repeating the knit big, knit small thing. I love intarsia and I just kept repeating the same things to no avail.
BP Conti-something

At some point I got a clue and realized I needed to change the repeat. I’m pleading FIH at this point. It was a rough week!

I did the math for six (no, just no), seven (ugh), eight (yeah, not gonna work) and finally did the math for nine. GOLDEN! 108 stitches. Perfect! I dug through my stash and picked additional brights and I was off and running.

You can see where this is going right? Yup.

And then I hit the next snag. I’ve been fighting the spring-off from a standing crew-shaped collar to my conti-something shoulder for YEARS. Not religiously, mind you, just occasional attempts whenever the wild hare came racing through. This time I nailed it. I’m in absolutely in alt. After reknitting until I got a result I was happy with (for posterity, the solution was add a stitch between each background color column to get me closer to a workable starting stitch count adding a total of 9×3 then knit the restraining row of herringbone stitch and work k2tog/gsrt for the drop stitches [if this totally baffles you let me know and I’ll explain]) I then hit the shoulder issue. Mind you, I hadn’t frogged the Sinfonia start. I *could* have looked at it to see what had gone before. Did I? Oh hell no.

Conti-something detail

I LOVE my conti-something shoulder so in total mindless bliss that’s what I knit from the collar out. Uh . . . yeah. Not gonna work. The conti-something technique requires adding a stitch every other row to increase the width of the sleeve and that breaks the integrity of the 2-stitch intarsia columsn. <crying> Yeah, totally ruins the plot.

This unforced error resulted in two choices, (1) frog back the start of the banner and delay it to where it starts passed the sleeve increases (a totally workable solution) or (2) frog the beautiful and flawless conti-something shoulder and restart using the modified conti-rag.

Because everything up to this point on the sweater is literally flawless, I’m going with door number 2.

New tank top

I had to develop a new tank top design and because I can’t do anything simple I decided to add some intarsia. I like the result. I’ll get a finished pic when it’s been washed. Interestingly enough, the variegated yarn for the blocks seems to have something (fixer or dye?) that’s causing pin blisters on my forefinger. I’m hoping washing it is the necessary fix.

Ziggerat shoulder

I bought the Ziggerat sweater workshop on Knit Stars and have watched it through to the end. Åsa Söderman is a lovely person and her videos are fun to watch. As with anything there are a few things she does differently but that’s okay. Knitting is a product, not a method.

I’m going to knit up a sweater using her shoulder to see how it feels when worn. Fun times!

Shattered Plaid

I’m been working on Shattered Plaid, a vneck shortie sweater. Overall I love how it’s looking, it just needs a couple tweaks. I’m going to frog back the plaid bit and restart the graphic. I’ve hit the three mistakes thing. I’m going to switch to intarsia in the round with the change of direction in the background color under the arm. I’m not going to carry the background color behind the red. I’ll add an additional ball of yarn. I’ve made enough mistakes and I’ve learned enough new stuff to make the next attempt go more smoothly. I think I’m also going to either double the two thinner yarns or swap them out for thicker yarns of the same color to even out the impact. Letting the thumb skeins dangle was messing with the color tension so I’m pinning them to the work with dpns. It’s a nifty solution to the problem. Overall I love how it’s looking, it just needs a couple tweaks in how it’s done.

Working through my stash

My current “this makes me happy” project is a long sleeved shortie sweater I can wear over my day-wear in the morning when it’s too cool to go without sleeves. I like shorties for a couple of reasons . . .

  • They knit up quickly
  • They’re a wonderful canvas for whatever idea is currently tickling my mind
  • They’re perfect stash busters
  • They’re perfect for using up bits of yarn, mismatched yarn, yarn from different manufacturers

This latest shortie is currently on hold. I ran out of yarn 5″ from completion of the last sleeve. Yup, total fail at yarn chicken. I’m taking the gamble and have ordered another ball of the necessary color despite something close to a zero chance for a dye lot match. If it’s close and will blend in using Helix I’ll frog back 3″ of the WIP sleeve and helix the rest. If the dye lot is too far off I’ll replicate the existing body hem in miniature making the sweater just that bit more couture.

A quick note about the accent yarn. I got this linen blend yarn off ebay about a decade ago. I love the colors but had a problem figuring out what to do with it. It wasn’t really sport and it wasn’t quite DK. However much I love Bamboo Pop, when it took a $3 jump in price I totally balked at restocking it. I switched to Hobbii’s Rainbow Bamboo (on sale), a comparable weight and composition for fewer dollars and much more reasonable (and faster) shipping. One of the colors that enchanted me was Deep Teal. It just so happens it’s a perfect match for the teal in the variegated linen blend. Score!

Intarsia in the round on crack

I’ve started a new project, a sweater with vertical stripes. I’ve been pondering this project for a while and just happened to hit a sweet spot in yarn for the project.

I’ve had some chained bamboo with colors I love (instead of strands of thread spun into a yarn, it’s a strand of thread chained into yarn) . . . a solid and a variegated that has been in my stash forever, but I couldn’t figure out what to do with it. I had one cake of each, not enough to do anything truly productive but way too nice to dump. It sat in my stash occasionally played with but never a star.

Then I started knitting with Hobbii’s Rainbow Bamboo (a lovely cotton/bamboo yarn). I bought sweater quantities of colors I really like, a graphite, a navy and a dark teal that perfectly matched the teal in the variegated chained bamboo. Trust me, this was not a deliberate choice but . . . score! Then I had some left over Universal Yarn’s Bamboo Pop “Sand” from another project (a shortie fade to wear over my day dress in the morning when it’s chilly). Like I said, kismet. The stars had aligned.

From there it was just a matter of figuring out what pattern would work with the quantities of yarn I had available. I’ve finally got a plan and it’s in the works. Woot! 16 stitches of background color (teal), four stitches of BP Sand, six stitches of the chained bamboo variegated, six stitches of the chained bamboo tan, repeat x 10).

I posted a brief sketch of my project on FB and alarmed/impressed/confused/wowed a bunch of knitters. Apparently this way of doing is a weird thing. I love sharing new stuff so it’s all good. Embrace the weird.

 

Pork Stir Fry

Tonight’s dinner was fabulous! Does anyone else open the spice cupboard and throw in whatever looks like it will work? That was tonight’s dinner. I marinated the cubed pork in sesame oil, chili sauce, fish sauce, Italian seasoning, aged balsamic vinegar, merlot, Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke. The veges where red, yellow and green bell peppers, carrot, yellow onion and cabbage. It was REALLY good.

The computer story

I build my own computer. I’ve done it since Lorr (48 this year) was a 2 year old. My first computer was a Heath/Zenith Z71, a kit where the parts came in little bags and had to be soldered onto the boards. I had a bad component which was replaced by the tech at H/Z and it booted right up. That’s back when floppy disks were 8″ across. Ancient times, right?
The case I’ve got now is a really awesome powder coated aluminum desktop (oriented flat=desktop instead of tall=tower) and I’ve had it for . . . 20 years? I keep it updated by swapping out parts at the beginning of each year. Last major update (<$800) was a bit of a squeeze but everything fits! This year I bought a new video card. I REALLY need a new vid card so I spent the $300 bucks and bought a good one with 12g of memory and 2 fans. Not top end (>$700) but it’ll work nicely for my purpose, a good middle ground between economy and function.
The video card came. Woot! Daisy (one of a pair of Goldens) LOVES tearing up plastic bags and cardboard anything. I look out the window and there she is, decimating the cardboard box. She hasn’t hurt the shrink wrapped box around the card but has completely decimated the outer cardboard box and the plastic bag the delivery guy put the package in . . . little bits all over the yard. NICE doggy (grr).
I unpack and admire my new board and read the quick installation guide. I get out my screw driver and flash light, open my case, uninstall my GTX 750 TI (old vid card) and . . . new card WILL NOT fit, the card is too long to fit in my legacy case.
So . . . I’ve spent two days researching new cases. They are all so BIG!! ENORMOUS. And they all have glass windows (gag) and lights (double-gag). I don’t need that! I really don’t! I don’t need to admire daily, I just need the thing to work. So I finally choose a case from the manufacturer of the case I’ve had for 20 years and love. It’s a mini-atx not really a tower but not a desktop thing with great air flow. It gets rave reviews from builders. And it’ll be here in five days.

Life’s been good . . .

I hope life has been good for you. It’s been okay for us. We’re fostering a pair of Golden Retrievers. OMGosh they are DUMB. I will NEVER adopt a golden retriever to be an “us” dog. NEVER. They are not a breed whose personality I admire or could tolerate. They are STUPID. And the hand lick thing . . . yeah, that’s a hell of a NO. Other than that they’re pretty and friendly and love EVERYBODY, friend or foe. I did tell you they were stupid, didn’t I? Yeah, DUMB.
I got the bathrobe I was working on finished. It’s going to work just fine. It’s so stretchy my neck doesn’t complain when I put it on. I’m 2/3 done with the belt. Another “sit and knit” and I’ll be done.
And the bad news . . . our rescue kitty has reached the point in her life where her bladder control has failed. She sleeps on the bed and her bladder leaks. On our bed. Ugh. I’ve washed the bed clothes all the way to the mattress (treated with odor solve each time to mediate the problem). This whole thing makes me want to cry. I know she was old when we got her so this isn’t a horrible surprise. At this point she has to be an outside cat. She’s still getting her special food . . . baked chicken and canned tuna . . . and milk (probably not good for her) and that will have to be the “going forward” plan. I can’t wash all the bedclothes and treat the mattress every day. I just can’t. I wish it wasn’t winter. This would be so much easier to accept if it was spring or summer. It makes my heart ache.

Refining the fit

First pairI’ve made one pair of socks and they’re comfortable but a bit loose with wrinkles over the top of my instep. So . . . adjustments.

Because they’re a bit too big around I decreased the number of rows knitted before starting the short rows. From the original calculation of 18 rows I dropped to 17 which reduced the total rows by at least two, possibly as many as four. Fewer rows means fewer stitches which means fewer short row turns which means fewer total rows (SRTs + original rows). The original pattern doesn’t have short rows so if you’re embarking on this project and don’t understand what I did with short rows to level the ankle and toe opening, message me and I’ll draw you a picture.

Second pair topBecause the finished sock had wrinkles across the instep I stopped doing increases for the instep wedge at the start of the short rows. This was marvelously successful. It produced a shorter (from ankle to toe) instep which resulted in a better fit.

Second pair sideThe result of fewer rows produced fewer short rows which produced fewer ankle and toe stitches and shorter instep run giving a better fit.

New sock pattern with adaptation

I’ve tried all sorts of sock patterns; Fleegal, Sockmatician (I joined his brioche kickstarter – an awesome knitter I was delighted to support), Cat Biori’s tomato heel, gusset, bigger gusset. If you’ve followed my blog over the years you already know this. I don’t have a single pair of socks that I’ve knitted and kept. They were all sent to my sister who has lower volume feet (same length). This is the FIRST sock design that’s shown promise for a truly comfortable fit. It’s dead easy to knit. No fuss, nothing difficult (assuming you’re comfortable with short rows) . . . and it was an easy and intuitive adjustment from the original pattern for my short high volume feet.

Short and high volumeI have a horrible time getting shoes and socks that fit. I have insanely short feet with unbelievably high arches. I am not kidding, my foot is shorter in length than the measure around my foot at the arch. 9.5″ around, 8.25″ long. Manufacturers do not make shoes that fit feet like mine. The new barefoot movement has promise but even there the shoes that purport to be made for high volume feet don’t have enough volume.

So . . . socks. As you can guess, socks are also a problem. If they’re the right length they aren’t big enough around. If they are big enough around they hang off my toes.

As writtenI bought two patterns from Cita Steinmeier that hold great promise. They’re both knit the same way from the heel out but with different starts. The bit I don’t care for is the knitting of the heel section ends at an awkward angle where the leg and toe are destined to be knit. In addition, the edges traveled too far up the back of my leg and down the bottom of my foot toward the toe. (I did say insanely short feet with unbelievably high arches. When I had boots made they were judged to be 3FF (US), so . . . yeah . . . totally abnormal.)

The startSo, the fix . . . I started by changing the caston. I did the classic thumb caston (3 stitches) followed by this setup worked in the round.
Round 1. K
Round 2. Inc every stitch
Round 3. K
Round 4. Inc every stitch knitting equally off onto 3 DPNs
Round 5. K

Arch kitcheneredThe original pattern calls for two increases per section every fourth row. I like one increase per section every other row. It’s the same number of increases, just distributed differently. After setup the rows alternate between a row knit without increases a row knit with increases. The increase rows alternate between one increase at the beginning of each of the two sections on each DPN or the end of each of the two sections on each DPN. In other words, one round has an increase at the start of each section, the next increase round has it at the end of each section. I know that seems confusing. Once it’s a work in progress it’s dead simple. Knit one round. Knit the next round with an increase at the start of each section. Knit one round. Knit the next round with an increase at the end of each section. Repeat.

Test fit!When the work was about one inch from closing over the top of my arch I started doing short rows to level the work. The SRTs are separated by three stitches. Work the short row turn on the fourth stitch from the previous turn, stop working SRTs when the section marker is reached. Don’t work any short row turns on the arch portions.

I’m really happy with how this fits.

This works!I think this will work for me. Thank you Cita Steinmeier for the pattern to start me off. (The fat ankle is the result of a horse/carriage accident. Totally my fault. The fat ankle thingy is permanent.)

Update on hot cocoa

Update on the keto hot cocoa thing. I’ve streamlined the process and wanted to share.

Put 3/4 cup of your favorite granulated keto-safe sweetener into the bottom of your blender jar. Put 3/4 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder (I use Hershey’s Special Dark) on top the sweetener.

Cut open a Thai Kitchen Coconut Milk box. I use this brand because it has two ingredients, coconut and water. No sweeteners, no fillers . . . of course that makes it a little more difficult to deal with . . . you can’t shake it and mix it up. It just doesn’t work. When you look at the customer rating for this brand you’ll see it’s rated at ~3.5 stars. It can’t be because of the quality of the product, it has to be because you can’t mix the settled out solids into the liquids by shaking. I solve the problem by dumping it in a blender. Open the box by folding out the ears and flattening the ends. Hold it bottom end up and cut off a corner and pour some of it into a blender carafe, then cut the entire end off and dump liquid and solids into the carafe. Tilt the carafe and carefully dump the solids to avoid splashing the liquidy bits everywhere.
Stick the lid on and blend until fully mixed.

Pour into a quart jar, put a lid on and refrigerate. Don’t try and scrape the carafe clean. Add 2/3 of a cup of almond milk (JMPO, Walmart’s Great Value brand is the best I’ve tried). Scrape the sides down into the cocoa, put the lid on and blend.

Pour into a cup and microwave. Enjoy.

You now have cocoa mix that can be used hot or cold. 1/4 cup mix, 2/3-3/4 cup almond milk according to your taste. Fast, easy, hot or cold.

Don’t forget the MaxMallow Marshmallows if you need the extra oomph.

Cream of broccoli soup

OMGosh I had the most FABULOUS soup last night. First, a bit of history. Wadly and I don’t always eat the same things. We may have the main part of the meal the same (fried chicken for example) but we have different veges. He has spinach. I love spinach but I also love broccoli. He will eat it but he really prefers spinach. So when I cook broccoli I usually cook a bit more for using in soup or stir fry or chicken alfredo or . . . you get the idea.
To make GOOD steamed broccoli I have to pull it out of the instant pot the instant it’s done or it’s overdone. Nobody likes overdone broccoli, nobody.
Well, it was inevitable. That happened. I got distracted, stopped watching the instant pot and the broccoli got left in for natural release. Not quite mush but . . . nobody’s gonna eat it.
I got on the internet and found a recipe for keto cream of broccoli soup. I couldn’t follow the recipe exactly because it used raw broccoli, something I patently didn’t have, and regular paprika, so I improvised. If you’ve already got the broccoli overcooked and you have the necessary ingredients, this stuff comes together in under 15 minutes.
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp paprika (I’ve got some fabulous smoked paprika so that’s what I used)
1 tbsp butter
4 oz cream cheese (half a block of cream cheese)
Put that in a pan and heat it up while stirring until it’s well combined and hot. And 2 cups chicken broth, 1/2 cup heavy cream and bring it to a good healthy simmer for 5-8 minutes
Add 8 ounces of chopped broccoli. Bring it back up to a simmer.
The original recipe calls for garnishing with sharp cheddar. I didn’t. IT. WAS. FABULOUS.

Here’s the 411 on the chicken broth. Mine was left over from making chicken to use in chicken alfredo (also fabulous). I always keep the broth because I can use it in chowder or soup and because it’s well seasoned it enhances the flavor of the dish it’s used in.

Using my big instant pot I put two chicken hindquarters in flat on the bottom, not stacked. Add 1 tsp Italian seasoning, 1 tsp poultry seasoning, 4 cardamom pods, a dash of salt and 4″ worth of the tough leaves at the top of a leek (the ones you normally throw away) or two slices of onion.

Once everything’s in the pot add about half an inch of water (don’t cover the chicken – add water to halfway up the sides of the pieces of chicken, no more). Cook for ~27 minutes on full pressure. Pull out the chicken, strain the liquid and throw anything else away (leek leaves, onion, cardamom pods). The broth should pretty much fill a pint jar all things being equal. Use it wherever broth is required in a recipe.

Sausage and egg sandwichThis is my current favorite thing to eat for breakfast. It’s SO good!

The bread is a quick bread made of egg, almond flour, baking powder and butter. I use silicone molds for the shape. Mix it, divide it into two molds, pop it in the microwave and cook for 1:40. Easy.

The egg thing is done in the same mold. Sautee bell pepper, onion, mushroom and sausage in a bit of butter. Whisk an egg in a bowl and add the veges. Mix. Scrape it into a mold and stick it in the microwave for 3 minutes. Assemble with a bit of mayo and a slice of tomato.

 

Chicken Alfredo! SO good!

I made chicken alfredo for dinner tonight. It was so good! And so easy!

I buy chicken hindquarters in ten pound bags from Walmart. Wadly buys chicken thighs (Tyson) from Safeway. He pays $2+ a pound, I pay $0.67. His are soaked in or injected with stuff that makes my stomach hurt. He likes his, I like mine. It works!

So when it comes time to do something with chicken that I’m going to eat, I use my cheapo untreated/uncontaminated chicken to offset the cost of what I’m going to do with it. Tonight was chicken alfredo over steamed broccoli. This isn’t a fast meal but it is an easy meal. The jar of Rao alfredo sauce is a bit pricey but it doesn’t trigger any of my allergies and is gluten free. Plus it’s really delicious and keto friendly.

I put the chicken thighs (I used three tonight because this batch of hindquarters is mostly made up of smaller pieces) in my big instant pot with a cup of water, a tsp of Italian seasoning, a tsp of poultry seasoning and salt and pepper. I laid the thick leaves of 1/3 of a leek over the top of the chicken and pressure cooked on high for ~26 minutes. After natural release I separated the meat from the skin, gristle and bone and cut the chicken into not too small pieces.

Before doing the deboning I put the broccoli on to steam and started the onion/pepper/mushroom sauteeing. I steam broccoli florets in my smaller instant pot (steamer basket, 1 cup of water) for 0.00 minutes on low and released the pressure valve as soon as the pressure is achieved

While the chicken was being deboned I sautee onion, green bell pepper, orange bell pepper (it’s what I had) and sliced mushrooms in butter until tender. I dumped the chicken in on top, stirred, poured in a bottle of Rao Alfredo Sauce and heated until it’s warmed completely through.

I divided the broccoli into servings and ladled the alfredo mix over the top. Easy (not quick) and delicious! The longest thing to wait on was the chicken cooking. Steaming the broccoli didn’t take long (about the time it took to debone the chicken) and heating all the ingredients gave me a minute to clean up before dishing out. It worked!

Planning the new plant wall

I’ve been working on plans for my plant wall; sourcing materials, working through ideas, thinking through what will work and what won’t.

I’ve got the room reorganized with crafts and knitting shelves moved, my desk and sewing/craft table resituated to maximize wall space for new plant wall. I’m ready. My plans, however, aren’t. There are pesky little things outstanding.

  • I’ve sourced the expanded PVC sheet needed for the back of the plant wall. The manufacturer has a plant mere minutes away from our son’s home. The snag . . . they don’t do will call. They *must* ship. We’re going to have to work through this issue.
  • How are we going to hang the plant wall so the supports don’t provide a potential path to the wall for water wicking.
  • How am I going to get an accurate enough cut of the 6″ pvc pipe to glue the 1/3 circumference pipe frame to the expanded pvc and get an absolutely perfect water tight seal with perfect mitered corners.
  • I still haven’t sourced the variety of stainless steel screws to fasten the pvc sheet to the plywood back and the felt to the expanded pvc back. This is probably the most minor issue we have.

Wadly came up with a brilliant idea for hanging the plant wall. For those of you who haven’t been in my living/bedroom, I’ve got two places where I spend my time, at my desk and in my knitting nest. The knitting nest is a hammock chair suspended from a heavy logging chain which runs from one side of the room to the other. It swivels, it swings, it’s just what I need for extended stretches of knitting. The chain is held up by big eye bolts which go through the wall. It’s plenty heavy duty. In one of the moves it was easier to install a new eye bolt than move one from the previous location. So, I have this beautiful shiny eyebolt sticking out of the wall just to the left of where my plant wall will live. Wadly suggested installing a second eye bolt and run a rod through the pair to hang the plant wall. THIS IS BRILLIANT! It keeps the plant wall off the wall, gives us the ability to move/remove/maintain the wall without having to undo/unscrew anything! Absolutely brilliant! All that’s needed is two standoff legs at the bottom to keep it off the wall. Plan!

Good times!

Tomorrow my desk gets rotated. That’s one more step toward a new and bigger plant wall. The crafting shelving unit with table has been moved, the bookshelf with all the magazines and WIP quilt projects and equipment has been moved, the new area rug is down . . . I’m getting closer!

Good news, despite fears to the contrary the aquarium does not leak. That’s $200 I don’t need to spend which gives me more money to spend on plants . . . and that’s going to be the largest cost of the build. I’m still researching what plants I want to add. I want another ricinifolia immense (Hawaiian begonia), some smaller varieties of philodendrons, ficus, smaller varieties of fern, strawberry and angel wing begonias, a few different antherium . . . The goal is to not have anything that protrudes more than 30″ from the wall. I’m going to try to pin on some of the more vibrant moss growing on the maples beside the deck. I’ve already got a 50L bag of leka (expanded clay pellets) to use for putting the plants into the wall. As I get plants I’ll bare root them and get them going in the leka substrate so they’re ready when I finally get the wall built. That will help ensure I don’t get anything added to the wall that isn’t perfectly healthy.

The area below our property has been logged. While I dislike the fact we’ve lost that buffer of trees, we can now see Mt. St. Helens from our house, assuming the weather is clear. At our request they also logged the trees on our easement (as opposed to them being taken down by the wind as happened with our neighbor last night . . . ouch). With the pulp wood being stacked for firewood and the better logs held to be processed for lumber, that will provide a very little bit of income Lorr can use toward property stuff.

Good times.

Shrimp Frittata

I had a frittata for breakfast. SO good! Plus I have half left over for another meal!

  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup cream cheese
  • 2/3 cup cheese (I used Colby/Jack)
  • 6 large shrimp cut into thirds
  • 3-4 green onions
  • handful of shiitake mushrooms halved and sliced
  • 2/3 cup chopped cooked broccoli (I cook it in my instant pot and put it in the fridge for adding to soups, stews, omelettes, etc.)

Sautee the mushrooms and green onions in butter. Add more butter if the pan starts to look dry. Mushrooms absorb oil while cooking and stuffing them with butter makes them extra delicious. Add the shrimp and broccoli. Cook until the shrimp is opaque.

While the veges are cooking mix the eggs and cream cheese until smooth. I use the whisk on my immersion blender. It’s fast and cleanup is pretty easy. Add the cheese.

Once all the cooked stuff is ready add it to the egg mix and stir until combined.

Pour it in a buttered dish/pan. Bake at 350 for 30 min. Serve it with diced tomato.

Low carb (keto) hot cocoa

This one is fabulous, contains no dairy and has maybe 1 carb.

Mix equal parts Dutch processed cocoa powder (I’m using Hershey’s Special Dark) and the sweetener of your choice. I’m using xylitol. Yes I know it’s poisonous to dogs but chocolate isn’t good for dogs either so I’m good. Plus I’m not about to share my hot cocoa. Once you taste it I think you’ll agree. I mix a cup of cocoa powder and sweetener at a time and store the result in a glass jar with a well fitted lid where it’s available whenever cocoa craving strikes. If you don’t want to premix, add 1 heaping teaspoon of cocoa powder and 1 heaping teaspoon of sweetener. I know that seems weird but when you mix cocoa and sweetener together it takes up close to the same volume as the sweetener because the cocoa nests into the spaces between the grains when they are mixed together.

Put a heaping teaspoon of the mix in the bottom of a cup. Add ~1/4c coconut milk (make sure you shake the carton first). Using a spoon mix the cocoa/sweetener/coconut mix until all the cocoa powder has been incorporated. Add another 1/4 cup coconut milk and 1/2 cup almond milk (make sure you shake the carton first). Stir. Microwave for 2 minutes or whatever time is suitable for your microwave. Mine’s low powered so 2 minutes works.

If you can use erythritol (I can’t) add two Max Mallow marshmallows to the top. They are fabulous and yes, it breaks my heart that I can’t eat them. Regardless, with or without, the hot cocoa is fabulous. ‘Scuse me while I go fix a cup . . .

 

Amazingly good beef and cabbage

Wadly brought home some chuck steak. I already had a cabbage. I’ve looked and looked for good simple recipes for beef and cabbage and am truly underwhelmed. I’ve tried cabbage rolls which are time intensive, carb heavy (rice) and not very good. Today was a headache day and there’s no way I was up to anything but simple, so I improvised. The result got an “absolutely delicious” from Wadly so I’m rating this one as a solid win.

Cube the beef. Brown it in equal parts garlic/onion oil and butter.

While that’s browning add to the Instant Pot 1 cup of water, 1/4 cup of red wine (I used a good merlo), a couple dashes of Worcestershire Sauce and a good sprinkling of rosemary (I used dried ground).

When the beef is done browning scrape everything out of the pan into the Instant Pot. Add salt and pepper. Lay the tougher outer leaves of 1/3 of a leek on top. Save the tender inner leaves for the cabbage mix. Pressure cook on high for 45 min.

Slice half a cabbage. I halved the head, cut one half into quarters and thin-sliced the quarters so I wouldn’t have long strips of cabbage leaf. Thin slice 1/2 a bell pepper. I used orange for a nice splash of color. Diagonally slice the remaining leek leaves . Sautee the three ingredients in a dash of garlic/onion oil and 2-3 tbsp butter. Don’t overcook. You want it done but still with crunchy bits.

When the pressure falls off the Instant Pot (natural release) pick off and dispose of the leek leaves, add 1/2 small can of diced tomatoes (1 cup), bring up to a simmer, add corn starch to thicken. Serve over the cabbage. Amazingly good. I’ll do this again. My tummy thought it was really good as well.

I know you think I only share this stuff for your benefit but I also do it because I can’t remember what I did from one time to the next and recording my recipes here gives me a place to go to when I need to know exactly what I did.

Update: I need to add a tweak and a comment. I was trying to use up some peppers and onion. I only had about 1/3 of a large orange bell pepper so I added a few scraps of green bell pepper and a slice of yellow onion to the cabbage mix. When the Instant Pot finished venting I pulled the leak leaves and taste tested the liquid. It was a little on the sour side so I added a tablespoon of keto friendly sweetener. When the entire dish was assembled it tasted fabulous. Lots of rich subtle flavor. Wadly loved it.