And they're off! Also pasta capers

I got the socks and gloves nicely pressed and mailed off, ETA Friday.  Now I'll see what else to knit. I make a lot of items but reserve my knitting group time for the Sock 'n Glove Ministry, or maybe comfort dolls. Probably time to make a little gang of dolls for the children I sent to before, come to think of it.

Today I made a Yeung Man Cooking recipe for pasta, really good. I know I always say this, but he does make reliably interesting food.

It's usually very calming, quietly cutting and sorting and mixing spices. I've ordered smoked paprika because I only have sweet, and often both are needed. But I'm not getting dark soy sauce, since I find Worcestershire subs for it.

This is not as hot as you might think, and it's very good. What he calls two helpings I call four. I like how he adds in the scallions right at the end, so when you eat the pasta, they're still crisp. This is fresh fettuccine, needing only a couple of minutes to cook. I used the purple garlic here, not sure what's the difference in use from the white, up to now. 

Anyway this is a really cheering lunch without too much prep, all on top of the stove.

And, other cheerful news: I think my hip is healing. Two days with very little pain, despite activity including walking, getting up and down stairs, in and out of the car etc.  I'll take it! 

Speaking of which, my doctor recommended a gel to apply, which I sometimes remember. The instructions say after application to wash hands thoroughly. Then it adds "unless you are treating your hands"! Duh, I think.

In other news: I've made a housekeeping change in my blog, removing the anonymous comment option. I kept it for a while because I was hearing from iPad users that they could only post that way. 

However I'm starting to get drive-by type angry or grandstanding  anonymous comments  and, though I think I know the origin, I reluctantly have closed the anonymous function. 

It's not hard to open your own blog to express yourself, so I encourage everyone to do that. Do the work of setting it up, writing, editing, planning, publishing, but, please,  don't expect to come in to my blog to post your lengthy opinions, particularly when they don't relate to the issues in the post. That goes for links without any content explanation.  I don't want to spend energy on them.

I've been building, designing and tending this blog daily since 2008, so I reserve the right to decide the content. That's why I have comment moderation in place.  And it's how we keep this a place of respite, which we need.

We do have a spam issue with comments vanishing into the ether, so if yours doesn't appear, I may not have even seen it, so don't assume I've banned it! I try to respond quickly, though when I do see comments waiting to be moderated. And I try not to be too thin skinned about their content.

I  respond when I'm found to be in the wrong, not a problem,  that's reasonable commenting. I will either correct or expand on the point if I wasn't clear. 

It's better coming from people who read regularly in here, though, rather than unknown people who swoop in to object,  then go away again. 

Happy day everyone, pas d'elle yeux Rhone que nous, comme d'habitude!