I've actually gotten some knitting done over the past few weeks. Mainly for Bea's babies (she's expecting twins): a ball made in Noro Kureyon, and two sets of stay-on booties (from Knitting for Baby) in Plymouth Encore. I'm working now on a teddy bear in Lion Brand's Wool-Ease. Baby projects are great for using up the yarns in my stash!
I've also been reading a bunch of knitting books: Knitter's Book of Yarn, No Sheep for You, Things I Learned from Knitting (Whether I Wanted to or Not). The best of the bunch is Clara Parkes' Knitter's Book of Yarn, although Amy Singer's book had some useful tips (and charts) as well. It was fun to realize that I own a number of books suggested by Parkes, who has a definite bias towards Interweave Knits (she suggested Vicki Square's Knitter's Companion over the similar Vogue Knitting Quick Reference, which I own).
Been reading "real" books as well. Finished (and enjoyed) The Balloonist, and I've been dipping into two short story collections: Tellers of Tales (edited by W. Somerset Maugham) and World of the Short Story (edited by Clifton Fadiman). I also picked up Daniel Halpern's The Art of the Tale, but it seems superficial. Because I heard about Maugham's collection of 19th and early 20th century stories from John Lithgow, I really wanted to like it. The story "Monkey's Paw" is definitely frightening, and worthy to commit to memory. But, in the end, I'll probably hunt down a copy of Fadiman's collection of 20th century stories. Every one I've read so far has been a winner. The funny thing is that although the Fadiman collection has about half the stories, both books are about the same size.
A library trip last Monday also meant a new slew of books for Nikita to enjoy. Thank goodness for Jim Trelease's list. In particular, Nikita's really taken to Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears by Verna Aardema (sometimes, he calls it "Why People Buzz in Mosquito's Ears") and More Pies! by Robert Munsch. He's getting good at finding Waldo, too, so I'm trying to get him to recognize words as he knows most (if not all) of the alphabet. Meanwhile, Vanya seems to like books with pictures of babies (like my Knitting for Baby) or animals - particularly interactive books like Where is Baby's Belly Button? or DK's Touch and Feel series.
Finally, I've been cooking, mainly soups: shchi (Russian soup, with cabbage and some sort of meat - I usually use pork); my Dad's beef soup with cabbage and bok choy; turkey meatball soup with cauliflower and spinach. It was my first time to make Dad's soup from scratch, and it was a winner. Nikita even thought my Dad had made it. Igor loves it, too, which is a relief. And the soup is so easy: boil meat (preferably shank, but I usually have an easier time finding some chuck instead) in beef bouillon (my dad uses cubes) for an hour, until it's soft. You can keep the cooked meat for a while after the cooking. Before serving, all you have to do is cook the vegetables as the meat reheats. First, the cabbage (a few minutes), then the bok choy - a few minutes for each vegetable. I throw in the stalks before the leaves. Excellent with white rice.
Below are some fruit recipes I gathered over the past week. The first was from Kathy, a cashier at Russo's; the other two are from Jane, a colleague, who brought fruit salads to yesterday's barbecue.
- Cut fresh figs (not all the way) into quarters. Stuff with some chevre, then a candied walnut. Yum.
- Fruit salad of cherries and cantaloupe with vanilla and mint dressing. Dressing: mash up some mint leaves into sugar; add a little vanilla extract.
- Fruit salad of nectarines, strawberries, and blackberries with basil and black pepper dressing. Dressing: mash up basil leaves into sugar; add black pepper. I preferred this dressing.
My contribution to the barbecue was a batch of World Peace cookies from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours. I had high expectations for the cookies, but the cookies came out only okay. Very chocolatey, and the salt was a nice touch - it seemed to make the chocolate "sparkle". But the texture was too granular - because of the extra white sugar? I didn't have light brown sugar, so made do with half white and half dark brown. Maybe next time, I'll also try sifting the dry ingredients, although I doubt that it will make a difference (I used a little less flour to compensate).
Speaking of cookbooks, I also skimmed The L.L. Bean Game and Fish Cookbook by Angus Cameron and Judith Jones and Culinary Classics and Improvisations by Michael Field. The Cameron and Jones book is really interesting; almost makes me want to hunt - or at least camp with hunters. Both books are worthy of a bookfinder hunt, although I wonder whether I can simply copy the names of Field's "Improvisations" - i.e., leftovers.
Finally, I discovered a new use for my pastry scraper: to scrape the grease off my oven hood. Gross.
