The Slippery Stash Slope

For the first 2½ years of my knitting life, I managed to avoid accumulating a stash, even prided myself on it.

I only had yarn for my current project and you'd be hard-pressed to get me to select a yarn without a specific project mind (though it did occasionally happen - leading, for instance to the Honeymoon Mini-Cardi, but in full disclosure I probably made my brand-new husband nuts in my indecision to purchase that yarn while on our honeymoon). I even was obsessive about using up the leftovers of the yarn I had.

And then it happened.

I went into my local yarn shop to pick up some sock yarn and "lo-and-behold!" all the yarn in the bins on the floor was only a dollar. Even I couldn't resist that bargain and so I grabbed these five balls of silk.

What am I going to make with it? Who knows! Though Ravelry has provided some intriguing options, namely this and this.

Not too long after I purchased the silk, I went back to the same store to buy some stitch markers for a sweater I'm knitting up and came out with these:

Granted, this is for a specific project, but one I likely won't start for some time.

And then that same old yarn shop, in honor of Mother's Day and Government Rebate checks decided to have a 25% off of everything sale. So I got this sock yarn that I was ogling when I bought the last sock yarn.

Now, I'm sure some hard-cord yarn collectors will scoff at my measly 9 skeins, but it's a slippery slope I say! A very slippery slope.

At least I'm using some of my yarn...

But I'm fairly certain I'm going to have a ball leftover.

I think I'll make it into a hippo. 

Fair is Foul and Foul is Fair

Karisa Bruin, Megan Faye Schutt & Tien Doman (Witches) with Dana Wall (Macbeth) in Greasy Joan & Co.'s production of MACBETH.  Photo by Michael Brosilow.

Tonight, after months of work, Macbeth is opening!

I'm really proud of this production, so if you're in the Chicago area I'd encourage you to come down and see it.

Sunny Lemon Sorbet

It is 5:30pm in Chicago, sunny and 58°F. This is a cause for celebration.

And there's no better way to celebrate good weather than by pulling out the ice cream maker - one of the many wonderful and incredibly useful wedding gifts Mr. Cleaver and I received. We use our ice cream maker at least once a month, even throughout the winter, so to those who think an ice cream maker is that wedding gift that gets used twice and never again, I prove you wrong in this instance.

Now in interest of full disclosure, I made this sorbet a week ago when it was 35°, but after a long Chicago winter, when it finally hits 35 people start pulling out their shorts.

I had previously made a dark chocolate sorbet from that most wonderful of food-centric websites, Chocolate and Zucchini. It definitely a make again, but the sorbet, I think is really suited to the lightness and sweetness of fresh fruit. So, to bring a ray of sunshine into my kitchen, I opted for a Sunny Lemon Sorbet.

Lemon Sorbet is maybe the easiest thing to make ever.

The ingredients:

• 1 cup of fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• That's it! I love food with a small number of ingredients.

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and place in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours, again - I always let it sit over night before I put it into the ice cream maker. This will allow the sugar to dissolve and the mixture to cool, so the machine doesn't have to work as hard.

Pour sorbet mixture into the ice cream machine and churn for about 30-45 minutes for a smooth, sweet and refreshing treat! Would pair well with shortbread cookies.

Lent Week 5

Day 35.

Day 29-31.

Day 32-34.

Whenever I do a fast like this, there comes a time, without fail, that it becomes habit. As in, I don't miss wearing jeans anymore. Now when I pick out my clothes in the morning it isn't "what do I want to wear instead of jeans," it's "do I want to wear khakis or slacks today?"

Good thing too, since I realized today that Lent is 40 days until Palm Sunday + another seven days after that.

In other news, my life has gotten less crazy enough between an opening and rehearsal and dealing with way too many emails about ticketing that I was able to pull out the full seven photos this week (though don't look at Day 30 too closely - I was wicked tired and it shows). As and added bonus, I actually have some non-Lent posts lined up for later in the week - yay!

In other other news, I need a hair cut. My hair flip is getting outta control.

In other other other news, it's supposed to be 50 degrees tomorrow, glory hallelujah!

Lent Week 1

1. No Jeans Lent - Day 1, 2. Paperwhites, 3. Lent Day 2, 4. Lent Day 3, 5. Lent Day 4,

6. Lent Day 5, 7. Lent Day 6, 8. Paperwhites, 9. Lent Day 7

(click on the titles if you want to see the whole photo) 

You know those moments when you're looking at something, but not actually looking at what you're looking at?

Um yeah, that was me in the closet this morning. Not to say that I'm running on empty on day seven here, but that the continuous really cruddy weather here in Chicago makes getting dressed less about choice and fashion and more about "what will get me to the train station without freezing."

The best part of this experiment thus far? Finding ways to make daily pictures of myself interesting to myself. The basket on my head? Only the beginning my friends, only the beginning.  

Doughnuts, Croissants, and Diamonds

Or my Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Nothing says class like a pair of giants lips. 

Saturday morning was the second official meeting of my two-person book club, and as regular readers might recall, the book choice for this session was Truman Capote's "Breakfast at Tiffany's."

Since Chicago just happens to have a Tiffany's, Kasey and I had no choice but to meet there for breakfast. Between the doughnuts here and the East of Eden sandwich at our first meeting, we're creating a trend here.

We haven't chosen our next book yet, but if we keep to trend it'll probably be something along the lines of Like Water for Chocolate or Inge's Picnic, anything we can build around food, really. What can I say? I like to read and I like to eat.

Particularly giants lips in feathered nests. 

"Breakfast at Tiffany's" is one of the few book-to-film adaptations that have eclipsed the original. This is not to say the the movie is better than the book, but I think I can definitely say that it is the more famous of the two. Another example could be Brokeback Mountain. While most film adaptations feel disappointing, largely because they lack the richness of the source material, I think these two examples work well because they are adapted from short stories or novellas.

With the novel, something almost always has to get cut. With the short story/novella there is room to do the entire story justice and even to expand. 

 

Still, Tiffany's is a classy place. 

This is not to say all we did was compare the film and book, while we sat in the nearby Pottery Barn and discussed, but I'll admit, it was a good chunk of it. After breakfast and discussion, we did a little Holly Golightly inspired shopping, where I got an awesome White House/Black Market dress for about 15 bucks, after which we went back to my apartment and watched , yep, Breakfast at Tiffany's.

And I am a classy gal. 

Chocolate Chip Cookie

Although our apartment doesn't have the greatest view (McDonald's parking lot anyone?), we have a pretty great place in a nice building.

One the best parts? Our cadre of doormen - kindly folks who open doors when our arms are full of groceries, sign for our packages, give movie recommendations, discuss local sports, and know both my maiden and married names. I don't know who is in charge of hiring these people,  but seriously, they are awesome and deserving of the best cookies I know how to make - Ghirardelli chocolate chip.

Happy New Year! 

Because of the pre-holiday craziness and a lack of all-purpose flour, I didn't get a chance to make these in time for Christmas - so now they get to be surprise New Year's cookies.

This recipe comes from the back of the Ghirardelli chocolate chip bag and is good.

I grew up in the Bay Area so I have a special place in my taste buds for Ghirardelli chocolate, it's not the fanciest chocolate out there, but among the brands commonly found in grocery stores, I think it's the best - so take that Toll House!

Our Cast O' Characters 

Adapted from 

Ghirardelli Chocolate Chip Cookies 

Yield: 4 dozen 

• 1/2 bag Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• 1/2 bag of 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
• 2 sticks butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup(s) sugar
• 3/4 cup(s) package brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoon(s) vanilla
• 2 1/4 cup(s) all purpose flour (I use wheat flour for the 1/4 cup - it makes me feel a teensy bit healthier about the whole 2 sticks of butter thing)
• 1 teaspoon(s) baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) salt

Heat oven to 375ºF.

Cream together butter, sugar and brown sugar. Although the Kitchen Aid Mixer is the traditional wedding gift in our family, Mr. Cleaver and I opted out on that one. If I don't make butter cream by hand how would I work my biceps?

Baker's Workout - Butter Cream

Add vanilla and eggs to the butter cream. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt, mix well. Add the flour mixture to the butter cream. This cookie dough is VERY dry, so this also takes a little oomph - more calories burned for me! (See new year's working out is easy!).

After the dough is mixed well add in the chocolate chips. Jewel had a buy one-get-one-free offer of chocolate chips, so I used two different kind here: semi- and bittersweet, but it works fine with just one.

Maybe one the most wonderful sights in baking. 

The finished dough on the way to my mouth.  My mother always said that the sugar counteracts the egg, so you can't get salmonella, I chose to believe her.

Pretty Maids all in a row. 

I've found the cooking time on these varies wildly from oven to oven - until I moved into my current apartment it always took around 12, but now it takes eight.  So watch the first batch carefully.

I like my cookies on the larger side - who doesn't - but I usually end up with fewer than the four dozen the recipe indicates, in tonight's case - it was 39. 

Err, 38. Quality control. 

Touristy Time at Home

In sticking with a long personal tradition of being attacked by dinosaur skeletons. Mr. Cleaver and I made a visit to Sue at Chicago's Field Museum on Saturday.

Sometime in the Early 90's

August, 2005

Saturday, 2007

Mr. Cleaver is more concerned really...

I have no shame, really, about being touristy in the place I live. Particularly when the library hands out free museum passes to those lucky enough to snag them (we've managed four: MCA, Art Institute, Adler and Field, in a little over a year). This might come from having lived predominately in touristy Meccas (Napa, Chicago, not to mention "Vacationland").  I also believe there is a reason people come to see these things.

Now I have no plans to go to the top of the Sears Tower, so I do have a little shame about these things, but what shame I had didn't stop me from also visiting the Billy Goat Tavern this weekend, which was totally worth it.

Chili Weather

When the weather is like this...

One can't help but make this...

This chili is adapted from the one my mother always made growing up, but I substitute ground turkey meat for my mother's ground beef, a move she says, "just sounds wrong." I assure you that is tastes great either way.

This recipe is really simple and can pretty much be expanded or added to indefinitely. Mr. Cleaver particularly enjoys it for the chili dogs that come the next day. Best of all, it can be made in one pot and would work great for crock-pot loving people (Ignore the skillet in the above photo, I normally don't use it for this, I just needed to thaw my meat quickly).

Simple Turkey Chili (serves 3-4)1 lb Ground turkey or beef1-2 cans red kidney beans, drained1 can tomato sauce2 Tbl Chili powder (or to taste)½ onion, diced (optional)bell pepper (optional)cheese (optional)If using onion, saute in pan with a small amount of butter in a large pot (3 qts or more). Add the meat, breaking it apart with a spoon and brown (Though I've always wondered why the phrase is "brown" since almost all meat turns more of a white or grey color).

Once the meat is browned, stir in the tomato sauce, drained kidney beans and chili powder. Two tablespoons makes for a fairly mild chili, so feel free to punch it up as desired at any point in the cooking process. As I recall, my brother always liked to add about half a bottle.

At this point, turn the heat down as low as possible, and cover. It can sit for hours like this, with only occasional stirring. I usually make corn muffins or bread at this point and serve dinner when the muffins come out of the oven.

Serve leftovers the next day as chili dogs. Or try my personal favorite, the "tail-wagger:" chili on top on Fritos - the brain child of the folks at Mutt's, the Chicago-style hot dog place across from old high school.

Steinbeck: Makes a Good Book and a Good Sandwich

As promised, my two-person book club met up at the Bourgeois Pig last week for some serious Steinbeck dissection.

Ms. Kasey and I knew we had truly chosen the right locale for our meeting when we found an "East of Eden" sandwich on the menu board. We of course had to order one (as seen above) and I nabbed a chicken sandwich to satiate any meat-eating needs for the evening. Though the "Eden" sandwich was quite the veggi delight with avocados, mushroom that tasted like chicken and lots of leafy greens.

We actually discussed the book for at least a half and hour to 45 minutes, not bad for book-club beginners, before we descended into letting the brunette with the laptop at the next table learn much too much about our personal lives.

As for the book?

I love - love - Steinbeck. In high school and college I had a tiny Mitsubishi pickup truck I named Rocinante in honor of Steinbeck's truck from Travels with Charley, a truck that my parents took a special trip to Salinas to so I could see the real thing. My Rocinante is currently living his third incarnation with some family friends on Mt. Veeder, having survived several trips to Oregon and a run-in with some overnight hit-and-runners in Santa Cruz.

I grew up in the Bay Area, so the worlds of Steinbeck's novels are something familiar and dear to me. His writing is honest and he is fair man who gives the bum and rich man equal dignity, with perhaps more dignity to the bum.

My two favorite Steinbeck works are the aforementioned Travels with Charley and East of Eden. Charley is a love letter to America - a kind-hearted real-life roadtrip filled with the beauty of the America landscape and the kindness of strangers. 

Eden dances on the boundary of fiction and non-fiction: the Trasks and the Hamiltons are real people, with a very young Steinbeck even making an appearance. But beyond these family trees, what is really true?

Invented or not, the epic of these families is both touching and painful.  Most of our discussion on Thursday focused on the familial relationships: sibling rivalries, the love of between parent and child - how our own lives intersect and different from the Hamiltons and the Trasks. Intersections, I'm sure, even the brunette with the laptop would understand.

PS: We're currently looking for our next book selection: preferably something classic, wintery and shorter than Eden. If I hadn't just read Call of the Wild it would have been perfect. I'm thinking maybe Ethan Frome? I'd love to hear any suggestions!