Curry leaves, knitting/stitching group, Textiles and Tea

 My neighbor stopped in with these curry leaves, from  her garden

Curry leaves, great deep flavor for practically any savory dish. I'll share with friends.

A few leaves have now gone to friends at the Tuesday Knitting Group.

New participant today, crocheting a scarf for an October trip to Wisconsin, she'll be ready for fall.

She also won a ribbon recently at the County Fair for a mancala board she crocheted, featuring waves and 3D ducks in the design. She's very creative, good to know her.

I did a brief demo with the spurtzleur, using a length of yarn, so a spinning friend could see the action, and try it.

Our conversation ranged over state fairs, spinning, flax, Viking ships, library work, heat waves, the DMV, kitchen renovation cooking with curry leaves, slot and tab fabric books, the art of teaching, YouTube demos, Sheep and Wool Festivals, and housing regulations.

Home again, just in time, as I pulled in, to see the first hummingbird of the year,  working on the Russian sage flowers. Too fleeting for a picture, but thrilling.

Then I sat out on the deck,  with a cup of tea, having a stare-off with a squirrel,  probably waiting for me to go away and let him collect the cantaloupe rind he left lying around on the deck

Textiles and Tea brought Caroline Hicks Sawyer, a weaver in floating warps, making massive installation art.

Here's a work in progress on the loom

earlier she used to create functional clothing

She was an electrical engineer, then in retirement developed her lifelong weaving interest into a serious art career. She uses various looms including the rigid heddle loom, and likes to move the warp relative to the heddle rather than the other way around.

Her physicist husband collaborates on some technical aspects of the work, designing bits of equipment to help float the warp threads evenly, hang installations and other ideas needing a  second opinion!

Happy day everyone! Weave the way you want, whatever anyone says.

Hummingbird and poptarts

Yesterday was the first sighting this year of a hummingbird. In the butterfly bush next door. My heart literally leaps when I see her, that slight movement that catches my eye, then a few minutes of watching as she feeds here and there around the bush before flying straight up over the roof. No pictures, no chance!  We see few hummers, and only once did I ever see two at one time.

Then, as if that weren't enough, the first monarch butterfly of the year suddenly showed up. This year we've seen very few butterflies so this was a banner day for spotting nature, right from my sofa. The butterfly bush flowers just opened, so they wasted no time.

It was the universe rewarding my finally sharpening the knives. It's the noise of the sharpener that puts me off. But the three main ones are done. Friday is a Misfits box day, so I need them sharp for prepping vegetables.

But I did have what may become a biannual Junk Food Bake. In April 2019 I blogged about making poptarts, the only junk food I've ever been interested in. And yesterday I thought I'd make a batch again.

This is my translation of Jack Monroe's English recipe. She's a wonderful person, activist, humanist, writer, cook who understands poverty, just admirable. She also knows the mental health value of the occasional foray into making junk food amidst healthy eating.

First I had to make the jam, since as you may know, it's a pastry event with jam inside.

Blueberry jam, small quantity, another Jack Monroe idea, small quantity of jam rather than masses, because you might have a small quantity of fruit and sugar.

Then the pastry, cooled for an hour before rolling out

Cut into rectangles using the bench scraper

Then spreading the jam, and closing the sandwich. Pretty artisanal compared to the machine made shop ones.

And sealing the edges. 350°f for 15 minutes.

Pink icing once cooled. And a text to Handsome Son to mention them in case he would like to visit and sample one. Shameless, me.

This will do it for the next couple of years!

A sighting and a harvest

This afternoon just feeling a bit dull, too hot to walk, when I noticed a bit of activity on the patio.

Thinking goldfinches maybe or butterflies, both in short supply this year, I peered out, and saw, wheee a hummingbird! First this year. That instantly cheered me up, and reminded me to see if my container of potatoes was ready to lift yet.

And they were, couple of good meals there. They're the golden skinned, not Yukon, something else, which roast wonderfully with that cheese crust I like. 

These grew from a small potato with eyes I planted a few weeks ago. I'm surprised they didn't rot in the endless rainstorms.

So the day suddenly improved quite dramatically.