YARN - lots o' mittens none with fingers!

My sister claims these are called "handwarmers" but Ms. Martha called them fingerless mittens and I am afraid of her so fingerless mittens it is.

A few weeks ago I opened up the January issue of Martha Stewart and saw these mittens and I was smitten. I never even turned the page - just grabbed some random yarn I got for free at work (could one of the reasons RedEnvelope failed be because there was sh*t like yarn just sitting around - free for the taking??) and got to work.

This project was fun for many reasons - 1. I have never made mittens or gloves or anything of the sort 2. I have never used doublepoint needles and 3. you don't really have to count stitches you can eyeball it - and I don't like to count or follow directions 4. how friggin cute are these???

Here is the link to the pattern -
http://www.marthastewart.com/how-to/fingerless-mittens?autonomy_kw=mitten&rsc=header_7

These quickly became my new obsession. All in all - I have made 7 pairs - even one by commission - thanks Alisa!! While in New York - I visited a cute little yarn shop in Park Slope, Brooklyn with Carrie and Alisa and it was just brimming with mittens. I picked up another mitten pattern (free from the nice owner lady) this one with ribbing detail.



The ribbing is fun - almost gives it a lacey kinda look - especially in the white organic cotton one. But I have to say that the roll top original Martha one is my favorite - it has that urban pauper look - so very Olsen twins circa 2006.

Anyhoo - if you need mittens with no fingers - call me! I can't seem to stop.



Cheers!

B.L.E.

FOOD - pistachio biscotti

I am not usually a craver of sweets (more of a chips and guacamole kinda person) but I love biscotti - probably because it is not overly sweet. I decided to make some today so Adam had an easy breakfast to bring to work (biscotti has to be better than a giant bagel with cream cheese).

Here is the recipe link -
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/pistachio-biscotti-recipe/index.html

A few comments on the ingredients -

1. I always add a little extra vanilla
2. Pistachios alone are a little boring - usually I will cut the nuts to 1 cup and then add 1 cup some sort of dried berry (cherries are great with pistachios). I have also made this recipe with almonds and cranberries.
3. I added 1/2 cup chocolates chips to one half of the mix (1 log) just because I had them - excellent addition but really makes it much more cookie-like.

General comments -

1. I had pistachios in the house - they were just in the shell. My poor thumb is raw from cracking all of them. Seriously a pain in the ass but I did get through those pistachios that have been sitting in the kitchen since before Christmas and caught up on The Real Housewives of Orange County at the same time.
   
2. I was happily mixing my ingredients butter, sugar, eggs, la da da pouring in the flour when I realized I was 1/2 a cup short. F*ck - oven was on, mixer was going, wearing my slippers and homepants and I had to run to the little man store (in the pouring rain) to get a bag of flour.
3. Be very careful not to overcook - overbaked biscotti gets really really dry. The recipe calls for 5 mins of baking on each side after they are cut into cookies - I did 3-4 and it was perfectly browned - any more would have probably ruined the whole batch.
4. I really need another silicone baking mat - why on earth do I only have one?? When have I ever baked only one sheet of anything?
   

Enjoy!

B.L.E.

FOOD - orzo salad

I love orzo feta salad - my mom makes it upon request (begging) and I even buy it from the Safeway deli (where is is called Mediterranean salad, randomly). Not really sure why I have never made it - so I did and it is delicious.

Here is the recipe link -
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/photo/Orzo-Feta-and-Tomato-Salad-with-Marjoram-Vinaigrette-108235

A few comments on ingredients -

1. I reduced the tomatoes to 1.5 baskets (15 oz. instead of 24) because 24 ounces just seemed like a lot of damn cherry tomatoes.
   
2. I added 1 cucumber - peeled, seeded and sliced to add a little crunch.
3. I added a few artichoke hearts because these are in my mom's version and I like them.

General comments -

1. From the time I started boiling the water for the pasta to when I put it in the fridge to "develop" took ~1 hour. This is mainly because of how damn long it takes to cut up all the ingredients. Seriously - 20 minutes alone to pit and quarter 1 cup of olives.
   
2. Ohhh how much time I would have saved if I had two fancy Williams-Sonomaesque tools. The olive/cherry pitter as well as a handheld citrus juicer.
   
3. For a meat-free recipe it is really not that cheap - a few key ingredients really up the cost - $7 worth of olives, $6 of tomatoes, $6 of feta plus everything else.
   
4. That being said - it makes oh so very very much salad. Supposedly 8 servings but as a side dish - it is really more like 12. Need a dish for a potluck? This is can be your new staple - large, delicious and unexpected.
   

I'll be serving this tonight with a simple broiled salmon and then eating it 3 meals a day for the next few days...

Tra -
B.L.E.

I used to have a job...

In my long term envisioned life plan - I was never going to be married by 30 and certainly not unemployed at 29. But here I am - 29 and a housewife. Then again - I thought I was going to be a single successful vegetarian lawyer with long princess hair on the fast track to becoming the next judge on the People's Court - so maybe life does turn out the way it is supposed to.

A double degree in Political Science and Art History gets you a nice career in corporate retail (Gap followed by RedEnvelope). A sh*t economy gets you a company that files for bankruptcy, that is then purchased by a major conglomerate, whose offices moved to San Diego, a sweet sweet severance package and no job in the worst time in history to be in retail.

Rather than mope I should set goals and blog about them. So here they are (in no particular order)...

1. read lots of books (1 a week) and post witty insightful comments on these books.

2. learn how to cook - for reals. I will make lots of delicious foods that involve real fresh ingredients and not just opening cans and swirling things around or using the telephone. I already make a fantastic 7 layer dip and delicious pigs in a blanket - I'm 1/2 way there.

3. learn to sew something besides sock monkeys and pillow covers. Document all my gorgeous creative projects on this blog and become the envy the crafting world.

4. learn to knit something besides hats and scarves. Document all my gorgeous creative projects on this blog and become the envy the crafting world and start a worldwide craze of my insanely brilliant creations and become Scrooge McDuck style rich. Yes - I want to swim in gold coins and wear no pants.

5. go to the gym 4-6 a week to become leaner, less wiggly and unnaturally bendy. Quantified goal is to lose 30 pounds and have one single taut chin.

6. control the paper and laundry gnomes that wreak havoc on my apartment. Never in the 5 years that I have lived here have all pieces of laundry been put away at once. I am a generally clean and organized person - yet create these insanity piles of mail, magazines, billing statements and paper recycling. Gnomes then take these piles - move them around the apartment and send more everyday in the mail. It needs to stop - there is a desk - there is a dresser - there are chairs (2 of them!) in the bedroom and I need to reclaim them.

7. take care of my husband (gag I know) and be a fantastic wife. Seriously - this is a forever thing and I found a fantastic hunk of a manfriend and I should to be sweet to him. He has a job - I don't - why not be a dutiful housewife and take care of him and the house and us? Why not even actually enjoy it? So yeah - I will be packing lunches with sweet notes and making dinner (part of goal #2 anyway) and pick up the drycleaning and blah blah etc etc. There will be no feet rubbing though - those things are like prehistoric 1/2 flying bird & 1/2 reptile claw feet.

8. find a job. Duh. Preferably a life altering dream job - something involving creating outfits for performing monkeys or reading online gossip and posting witty comments. Eventualy I'll settle for something in my field that pays more than my rent that doesn't require me to declaw cats or pluck chickens.

These are my goals and I'm sticking to them - at least until something shiny comes along and distracts me.

Tra for now -
B.L.E.