Today I came across a very clever knitting, food, fun blog called Pretending Sanity. What’s cool about the internet is that I didn’t find this site by doing some mass search on Google or consult some list. I found it because it’s owner, Allison, gave Heather of dooce a knitted scarf, Heather wore it for Halloween and posted about it. I don’t know if Allison and Heather know each other, but a guess would be probably not. Is it no wonder that this blog thing has taken the world by storm?
You can gather a lot of very useful information by surfing the blogs. For instance, this is what I’ve collected this morning:
- a non-pork and easy green chile recipe - one of the few things I miss from my youth in Texas. Other less fond memories include learning the Davy Crockett song instead of the national anthem and knowing at the age of 7 what to do if you’re stung by a scorpion.
- a very very tiny and readable freeware font called silkscreen - made by Jason Kottke. He’s included a brief description of the process of making this font, interesting to me because the last time I designed a font it was with ink on paper using one of those curvy rulers (what did we call those?). Anyhow, as I can always use another project, yeah right, I’m going to look into Macromedia’s Fontographer… time lapse as I actually do this … wow, it’s pricey at $349.
- a good tip on breadcrumbing from Marmalade - because I know that I’ll be upgrading to MovableType 3.1 sometime soon, I’ve been bookmarking any technical advice I come across in the mean time.
- a funny banner to share in honor of election day. Have you voted yet? Bob and I voted three weeks ago because that’s how they do it in Oregon - all ballots are mailed in. I’m amazed at how split the country is in this election - all the way down to me and my mother. Come tomorrow, one of us is going to be very upset. In fact, tomorrow 49% of the entire country is going to be horrified. And it could be either half. Scary.
- finally, as a big Harry Potter fan, I was very interested to see this alternative path for the story line created by the “jenny turpish slapped me” guy (I don’t know his real name), called Harry Potter and the Silver Sword. It’s incomplete, but a nice diversion.
Finally, one of the American magazines has come out with an issue I thought was worth buying, and did. Besides Amy’s debut, there are at least 4 or 5 sweaters I would consider making, should I ever find the time to pick up a pair of needles and, what was that stuff? Oh! Yarn. Yeah. I miss that stuff.
[Placeholder for pictures of mini-kitchen restoration project - “Project Morter Bomb” - coming soon]
Looking for out of the ordinary recipes to wow Bob’s family this Thanksgiving, I ran across Out of the Frying Pan. We’ll have thirteen for dinner, and though frazzled with trying to get our newly purchased, unpainted, kitchen floor-less house into shape for the holidays, I couldn’t be more excited.
See hand-picked recipes »
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Party Food
Samosas - fried Indian veggie pocket hors d’oeuvres
Rebecca’s Olives - garlic stuffed olives surrounded by a baked cheese-based crust
Tomato-Mozzarella Skewers - who knew grape tomatoes and mozzarella could be so pretty? Yum.
Roasted Turkey - good tips on keeping juicy and browned
Caesar Salad - with home-made dressing
Potatoes Au Gratin - simple recipe with leeks
Cornbread - wow, from stratch - add corn and jalapenõs for Texas hushpuppies
Ann’s Stuffed Mushroom Caps
- simple recipe
Feisty White Bean Dip
- a little twist on the aveage bean dip
Mushroom and Turkey Enchiladas with Green Chile Sour Cream Sauce - use up little bits of turkey left-overs
Apple Cranberry Stuffing
Carol’s Summer Salad - This is the prettiest salad
Herb Dumplings - great substitute for the simple roll
Glazed Cranberry Rolls - easy breakfast snack the morning after
French Toast Stars
- the star shapes are cute but it’s what you put in the batter that makes these interesting
Cocktails
Lynchburg Lemonade - Jack, Triple Sec, Sweet n Sour and 7-Up
Electric Lemonade - Vodka, Blue Curacao, Sweet n Sour and 7-Up
Long Island Ice Tea - Gin, Vodka, Triple Sec, White Rum, Sweet n Sour, and Coke
Long Beach Ice Tea - a Long Island with Cranberry instead of Coke
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Things have been pretty quiet on the knitting front lately as Bob and I have been immersed in the joys of house hunting, buying, and fixing up. A 3 month process. And in 1 week, we’ll finally get to move in.
Years of living in the rental have instilled in me a loathing of the white wall. Thus, I’ve spent countless hours perusing the paint chip aisle at Home Depot and endured many conversations with Bob arguing that beige is just another, darker, version of white. Through it all, I believe I’m coming to the unfortunate conclusion that I have a radical color sense, an eye for contrast and a blind eye for soothing blends. And I want the soothing blends. So I’ve just ordered “Annie Sloan’s Color Schemes: For Every Room” to help me see the light, and the paint that reflects it. I’ll let you know how it goes. In the mean time, this is the planned color of my Kitchen.
The best part about the house is the yarn/sewing/inspiration gathering room I’m setting up on the second floor. Yarn store-like cubes of stash will line the walls and my sewing machine will have a permanent home next to the window. Pictures to come when it’s a reality…
It’s that time of the year again and this time I’m really going to go for it. NaNoWriMo has returned. For those of you who have not yet come across the insane challenge these folks have extended to aspiring writers the last five years, let me sum up:
Write a 50,000 novel in the 30 days of November. You post your progress online and are cheered on and challenged by the hundreds of other participants as you bang out unedited, misspelled drivel. But the goal is that the drivel can be edited later into something beautiful and interesting and publishable. Just get it down on paper. This year, I even have an outline.
Join me?
[UPDATE: I let another November go by without writing more than a couple paragraphs. Well, I’ll always have hope for next year.]
