White rabbits, pancakes, and soup

Yesterday, way back in March, white rabbits,  I  found a great recipe, which I adapted, of course, for chickpea flour pancakes and spicy vegetables. I learned that you need to have thought of this earlier, because you need an hour to get the batter to hydrate fully. 

Here it's broccoli stems, peeled, diced, with onions, garlic and Serrano peppers, hot sauce, lovely spicy mix with a contrast of the pancakes. 

See how the hydrated mixture bubbles nicely in the pan. Yessss.

you're suppose to enclose the veggies in the folded pancake, but I liked them separated like this. Dessert was yogurt and cane sugar, great follow on for spicy lunch.

Then, since no Easterly things are happening till Wednesday, I was free to make soup, first making the stock, and baking a butternut squash, ready to scoop and dice and add. Also carrots.

And plenty of chili powder, some salt, quite a bit of milk.

Here's spicy cream of carrot and butternut squash soup. It's one of the better soups I ever made, really good. And there are six more helpings to go. Slice of toast broken into it like easy croutons, so good.

I also wove while I listened to more Ken Follett, that book is going on and on. It's like a part time job. It's good, and I don't think I'll take in another very soon.

I'm liking how this is coming along. I have an actual real pinloom on order, thinking well, why not. Not an expensive plastic modern type, a vintage metal one. So it won't trigger more manufacturing, and will eventually be biodegradable. And other such rationalizing.  That's a strength ;)

Knitting, soup and Bob Newhart

Here's the slow progress of the current  Sock Ministry socks, with the lingerie lingering in the background. The socks, being smaller needles and gauge, are harder on my neck, so it's much easier to pantknit. 

Under the socks you see a bit of the blanket I knitted for Handsome Partner long ago, still in use. The cats used to love this one, warm and fuzzy, and I still check for cats when I throw it off, force of habit.

And I found a large bag of carrots in the freezer, also some cooked butternut squash, so I made a pot of soup, enough for about six meals.  It's still soup weather. Sprig of curry leaves for extra flavor.

Northern Exposure is still going, and other people seem to be revisiting it, too, holds on it, so I can't renew. A couple of episodes after dinner, with hot chocolate, are just the ticket.

And I was reminded, by an internet friend yesterday,  of Bob Newhart's early stand-up, still funny after decades. I found some on YouTube. It's worth checking out. This was long before his TV series, which I think didn't really use his talent.

I have favorite routines, this one, the guard in his first night on the job at the Empire State building, when King Kong climbs it, trying to scare him away with a broom..

I'm told that in Danish, it's Kong King, because King in Danish is Kong. But don't ask me, I only blog here, and it might be Swedish.

Happy day everyone, find something to amuse you today, if possible, stressful times. Cleaners here today, so I'll be out on errands.

Appointment, now you see it, now you don't, but there's soup

 Yesterday I thought I had covid and rsv vax set up. One today, one next week. Then last evening I got two texts from CVS marked urgent and cancelling them, vaccine not available. Oh. Please reschedule. Which I attempted to do, their site crashing three times after I'd reentered multiple screens of info. 

So I switched to another pharmacy chain, and after an evening of hitting buttons, have rsv scheduled this morning, covid for Friday. Hoping when I get there, they'll have the vaccine. If so, I'll see how I do, then decide whether I'm up for another shot on Friday.  

We did this dance last time I had the covid booster, the website setting up appointments, the pharmacies not receiving vaccine. So we'll see.

Good thing I made soup before all this. Butternut squash, carrot, with long pepper, kosher salt, nutmeg, chili powder and turmeric. Italian basil for fancy.

A large pot, as you see. Between this and the chili and  yogurt, I'm ready for anything.

Oh, an update on the Irish gymnastics situation. 

This is the gist, I'm guessing done under duress from lawyers, and finally an admission of wrongdoing. Now some of us are asking if the offending official was fired, no news on that. So all it took was 18 months, millions of protests from many countries, threats of lawsuits, and worldwide shame,  to acknowledge a bad act.

Happy day,  everyone, keep on keeping on, hope springs eternal, and other such cliches. Off to knit a glove.

Photo AC

Leaves in progress, Misfits quirks, and soup

 I've been on an Alison Weir trip, with this rather dry history

and this much more lively historical novel same characters

Between shopping in the freezer and making soup.

I used up a couple of quarts of homemade vegetable stock, plus the cooked butternut squash and most of the carrots from the freezer to make this. Since the weather had dropped to the 80s f. I rationalized that it was soup weather. 

It's a favorite meal, with pita bread toasted with sharp cheddar, as seen here. 

And the wall hanging is starting to take shape, here with a couple of blocks tentatively in place

 

current blocks close up, top left in progress

I love working on one block at a time, completely engrossed in the intricacy of it, working in hand. You can see the size from the measurements on the cutting block they're resting on.

The little open work yellow leaf on the blue leaf is the same one as the orange insert under the yellow leaf, just cut with more detail.

I do like modular, in art and gardening. You get to continue designing as you go, many chances to change and reorganize. I've made some big artworks consisting of small components.

My gardening is similar -- containers beat planting in the ground for me. I do both, but I know which I prefer.

I notice a new Misfits quirk. It used to pay to order as soon as the window opened, because they would sell out so quickly. So I'm in the habit of checking in promptly. 

But now I'm finding most produce  labeled sold out even before I get started, within minutes. This week the entire fruit section was sold out. Nothing to buy. So I started my list anyway. The window is open for a couple of days before they close it and charge you. Then I had an idea, went back in later. The whole fruit department was now stocked.

I think whoever opens the window is faster than whoever stocks the shelves! It's like unlocking the shop door while they're still running items onto the floor. 

I had a similar situation years ago, when people still did bank operations manually. Every check I wrote one month on our local country bank, into which my husband's salary was deposited, was bounced.  Written a  full day after the deposit. 

I hared in and demanded the manager explain and grovel. He explained that the lady in charge of bouncing checks was faster than the lady in charge of posting deposits! 

I made him write and sign a handful of letters  explaining their blunder, for all the people now charging us for nonpayment, and swallow the fees for me.  He did all this but was noncommittal about my suggestion he switch the ladies over to avoid this kind of snafu.

Misfits is simpler, just wait  a day!

And if there's anyone still wondering about the dad riddle, well, if he had a  widow he'd be dead! So it's unlikely he'd marry her sister. Many times people start up figuring the degree of  relationship, the law etc., reading widow as wife!  Not our sharp blogistas, nooo.

And justice continues to roll down on tfg. Georgia is the most likely to be crushing. He can't get out of state charges even if, God forbid, he gets reelected. Between the New York, the Florida, the DC and now Georgia charges and indictments, the walls,  I pray, are finally closing in on him and his gang.

Happy day everyone! Continue to take care, covid is still around, though not in the news.

Scarves, socks, supplies and soup

Today I finished the scarf, and here it is.

Now I'm planning the next. That was a good piece of learning. And today, using Joanne's family darning mushroom, I repaired my  sock, which had developed a hole around  the toe

Fairly wobbly darn, which became invisible when I put the sock on.

Meanwhile, since the weaving isn't portable, I started a new pair of socks for the Ministry, so as to have something to bring to the knitting group.

Then I had to sort out yarn, to find washable wool for the next ministry scarf. 

This looks like a good supply, but, reading heaps left to right

In the box are miscellaneous small unlabeled amounts which I can't use for ministry knitting, don't know if they are machine washable.

Next cotton remnants, socks okay, maybe another pair, scarves no, not warm enough.

Next a small supply of super wash, which can be socks or scarves, good. Next definitely not, hand wash, dry flat is for my use only, can't expect anyone else to do it.

And that's about it. As you see, I'm eking out the black yarn in stripes because I have a good supply of the (terminally boring) grey, but not much black.

So that's where we are.  Next parcel to Sister M. will be the scarf, which to my surprise, is nice enough to give, and two pairs of socks.

Yesterday I also finished

And recommend it as a well written, passionate auto, written with a ghost, they all are, but with a genuineness about it and great narrative ability. I've heard part of the audiobook version read by him, and his narratives talent really shines.

It's sad to read his struggles, despite the seemingly golden good fortune of birth and wealth, quite a bit of which is illusory.  The endless pursuit by the gutter press which printed literally thousands of slanderous articles and hundreds of books, none with permission, from the moment his mother died, when he was 12, is stunning.  

Then on to the savage press coverage of his biracial son's birth, with images and descriptions that I wouldn't repeat, so vile.  The scurrilous articles about Meghan can't be repeated here.

And his father cancelling his sll important security detail, while another source leaked his location, it's all so House of Cards, it's stunning.  

In the 24 hours after the news broke that he but not Meghan would attend the coronation, one single newspaper rushed out over 30 articles attacking her. One paper. 24 hours.  This is on top of six years of non-stop spying and hundreds of unauthorized books , thousands of unauthorized articles.

I think one Netflix show, one Winfrey interview and one book, are a very mild and courteous response on his part. He doesn't criticize his relatives, just relates his puzzlement over their actions and words. He criticizes the media. 

I'm glad he not only has established safety in the US but has made the press and the family who colludes with them, grasp they've taken on the wrong people. 

He's probably the most capable and intelligent of his family,  and has a great partnership with a strong woman. That's the good part. It's a long but readable book.

Here's the immediate supply

by the stove, left olive, right avocado. You can see color differences. 

The main supply is kept in a cooler place, behind a closed cabinet door, light not being very good for oil. They come in dark glass bottles, too.

While we're in the kitchen, here's lunch

Red lentil flatbread with cream of butternut squash, carrot and sweet potato soup. 

The garnish is lemon balm, which I think is in the mint family. It grows to world domination, but is a great lemon flavor for all kinds of food, such as lemon chicken, lemonade, any place you want the flavor of lemons.

Happy day everyone, enjoy your weaving, whatever form it takes!

Knitting, Augmented Reality and soup

Today, still feeling perfectly well,  wanting to go to the knitting group, but concerned about possible infection,  I hauled out the government issued Covid test kits. 

Two boxes had directions only in Spanish. The diagrams were clear, but I still needed the text. The third box had only English. Why the feds didn't give both to everyone is beyond me.

I got a clear, definitive negative, yay.  So plans were on for the group this afternoon. I routinely mask everywhere but at home anyway.

Meanwhile some Misfits got busy in soup. Butternut squash, the remains of the giant one plus the current one, and carrots. My doctor wants me to hold back on salt, so I omitted it and bumped up the spices.

A lot of people like their soup like this, with veggies in chunks. Except for pasta fazool or other soups where the point is to have chunks, I usually blend mine

And, to make sure I remember to eat raw carrots and add parsley and cilantro to everything that doesn't move, I make them obvious, when I open the fridge 

Pita bread, filled with blueberries, is often breakfast, or toasted, filled with cheese, goes with soup for lunch.  There's salt in pita bread, and in Tony's chocolate (!),  so I'll avoid it elsewhere.. I think I'll reeducate my palate to need less salt. I don't use a lot, but less is fine.

Yesterday's winnowing was several paper files, which resulted in a mass of soaked unreadable paper for the recycle and several manila file folders just the ticket for the ArtShaped torso, I think.

Out of half a dozen files, only a few pieces of paper were keepers. The rest was ancient stuff no longer relevant to anything 

Then this afternoon, on to the knitting group where this fabulous finished Slightly Slanted Sarah Swett sweater was in attendance.

Meg is glam, and this turned out a treat. Oversized as planned, it's beautiful, with great finishing detail..

Meanwhile Randy, young artist, and I were deep in art talk, my Object Involving a Head, and his current experiments in augmented reality. 

He created a video on the spot, to show me how it worked,  with one of his own cartoon figures inserted onto the chair next to me!

Mind-blowing, needs the latest iPhone to work this. He has a lot of ideas on directions to take this. You can move the virtual figure in real space, move around it, mix it, or multiples, to interact with real people on video.  By next week this will probably look old to him because he'll have leapt ahead.

So that's what's up with our talented bunch today.

Happy day everyone, stay well, I plan to 

I hope your own reality is augmented interestingly this weekend.