Getting to spring

It's only February, and the beech leaves are still hanging in that pale gold a wonderful sight all winter

Yesterday I got out walking in bright sunshine, after a couple of days of rain and mud got in the way. And in a sheltered spot, the early daffodils are already up, a month before I expected to see them.

Back home my faithful chives are coming through for the umpteenth year in this pot, with no care at all other than to cut them when needed. Seeing them  reminds me I haven't made paneer in a while. I like a few scraps of chive on paneer.

And here are the snow drops, struggling, tiny blooms, but there, just a few of the dozens I planted

 

It's still cold enough for the rotini and spaghetti sauce I mentioned yesterday

 

Happy day, everyone, and here's a thought from the creator of Pogo

I'm writing this early, in bed, just considering the opportunities of the day. Maybe a walk. Reading more of A Few Green Leaves. Knitting. Reading a poem. Making yogurt. Possibly,  if I  can't decide, all of the above.

Knitting, iPod art, spaghetti sauce

Here's S's  current work in progress, full of texture, lovely to touch. She raises the bar for the whole Friday knitting group.

We all played with my woven cowl wrap thingie, and have not come up with a name for it, but someone did a search and found a knit similar to it, with a pattern. So I guess the designer had the same idea. 

R tried it on, proving it's a great unisex item, because he looked terrific in it, and liked how you can choose a few ways to wear it. He's thinking of crocheting one for himself.

Chat ranged over stain-lifting pens, Northern Exposure, eye doctors, mulberry trees, squirrels, grandchildren updates, back strap looms, donated yarn, posh French names for English food, when Norman French ruled, and peasant Anglo Saxon names for the same food, tiaras, diamonds, cufflinks, and book groups. Among other subjects.

I cooked a spag sauce to use Saturday, with the Misfits

hot Italian sausage, plant based, diced tomato and tomato paste. There's wheat rotini to go with it. Simple stuff.

About the chickpea fritters, I found they heat up just fine for a second meal, and a bit of dipping sauce is still good. My accompanying salads are getting plainer and plainer, just spinach and mixed greens with cranberries or today loganberries chucked on. I'm finding they taste better with less dressing on them. Maybe it's an urgent need for spring-tonic  greens that's happening.

And I did a couple of images on my ancient iPod, inherited from Handsome Son years ago and mainly useful for playing freecell.  Emailed them to my phone, screenshot them and imported them here. 

Happy day, everyone! Enjoy whatever subject crosses your mind! As you see, my knitting group is an endless stream of consciousness.

Photo AC 

Baluch rugs and other discoveries

Yesterday's presentation by the Textile Museum Associates was on Baluch rugs, from the general area of Iran and what is now Afghanistan but wasn't back when these rugs were handmade.

I'll just show you a parade, without technical details, since the general impression is the point for those of us, such as me, who are not rug scholars.

I've tried to include the slide notes, where the captioning didn't cover them up. These are marvels of hand work, some of the knotted rugs with hundreds of knots to the square inch, handling like fine fabrics.

While I was in that part of the world, I checked on Haggard Hawks, the etymologist, on his current essay on robins, seasonal for Brits.  Their robin is a different species from the burly north American one misnamed by European settlers who knew damn all about birds.

Their breasts aren't red, but more orange, but there's a history of how, before the fruit was introduced, along with its name, there wasn't really a word for the orange color, so red was the nearest.

Even Chaucer was stuck describing the fur of the fox as

Anyway the orange fruit with its name, traveled across from the far east bringing naranja from Arabic and further back then norange. 

Eventually grammarians got on their pedants' hobbyhorse and said it wasn't a norange, it was an orange. And everyone went along for the sake of a peaceful life 

But here's the bit that thrilled me to little apples (!) : After three ten minute lessons in Arabic, I can read the word for orange!

Reading right to left: Initial nun, medial alef, r sound I had to guess, medial alef, medial nun, final djim. Wheee. 

It's entirely possible that you may be thinking it doesn't take much to get her going, she must be a noisy liability in a quiet library, well, guilty as charged.

In other seasonal excitement, Gary stopped by with the annual hand-dipped chocolate treats made by a mutual friend who's moved away and he saw her recently 

And in total opposition to seasonal food, I really needed something plainer, so I made spaghetti with an ordinary red sauce, just diced tomatoes, turmeric, onions, garlic, parmesan rind, knob of butter, bunch of dried basil hanging in the kitchen for the purpose.

Parmesan on top with red peppers, pretty good, and more for today. It reheats well.

I'm hoping my delayed Misfits box arrives today, though I don't envy the driver, since we're about to have a rain and snow storm.

Happy day everyone, keep warm, or cool, dry and pleased with life if possible.

Statice, the return of spag sauce and why

There's a reason for the first spaghetti sauce in I dunamany months. It's comfort food. Largely because of my stressful recent events and the impending dryer, which is weighing on me all out of proportion.  

So, nice old fashioned red sauce with added tomato paste, onions, garlic, sage pesto, parmesan

And plenty of it,  over pasta whose name I forget. Any blogista who knows, please say. 

Extra hot peppers scattered over, extra parmesan grated on.  Very calming.

And it was flower time, so statice is the pick because of that saturated blue

While I was buying flowers I added in groceries including the first chicken since February 2020. I can't ask anyone to guess what I want in the way of chicken. 

It depends how it looks, how it's priced, what parts are available,  maybe I'll buy a lot if it's a good buy, all that. So I bought what is, for me, a lot of boned chicken breasts, pounded them, and roasted the lot so as to have them in the freezer for various meals. Had one with a side of pasta last night.

 
Good thing I had loaded with comfort food, because the installers failed to make the promised call yesterday to set the time. 

The appliance people had assured me they would call Friday night, when I got in touch late Friday afternoon. Nothing. Emailed asking for their number so I could reach them. First thing this morning, I have to hand it to the appliance guy, he's on it, email with number. Which I call and the voicemail box is full, it hangs up on me.

Tenant happens to have today off, promises to stay home and let them in and alert me. I don't think he should have to. He gets little time off and I expect had other plans. Irritated email to the appliance man.

Shortly after, installer calls, sets up time, apologizes for yesterday, now we're set. He sounds competent, and will call again as he leaves previous job, so I have time to get over and meet him. 

Doing better now. Hoping for an otherwise uneventful installation. I only do this once about every ten years. Just as well.

Breathing.

Yesterday there was a phishing attack I think on a number of Blogger blogs including mine. I think it's resolved now, in case you were alarmed. No, I don't do bad things on my blog, I have safeguards in place,  and if you get messages in red telling you to click for better protection, don't. They're not from me, and I wouldn't give you weird links to follow. But I expect you figured that.

I can't say it was a welcome addition to the day, though.

Survivor Spaghetti and Meatballs

I rarely have any interest in eating meat other than chicken, but with the long season of vegetables and variations thereon, I suddenly thought, hm, get some nice Italian sausage, make meatballs.  Using breadcrumbs from my homebaked bread. To go with the spaghetti sauce I have in the freezer, made from farm tomatoes.  It seemed like such an innocent decision.

So I made the meatballs, which involved baking them in a very hot oven.  Which started up the smoke alarm.  Much waving of newspapers, then blessed quiet while I got on with my cooking, only to start up again once it got its breath.  

Meanwhile, under all this row, don't ask me why the builders put the smoke alarm so close to the open kitchen that a slice of toast will set it off, anyway, I took out the bag of frozen spaghetti sauce and put it in the microwave to start thawing.  

Then, while I was watching and checking the progress of the spaghetti, and waving newspapers at the smoke alarm, I noticed a red tide in the microwave.  The bag had opened, ziploc fail. 

So now I had to rescue the sauce, clean up the microwave, watch the meatballs and the spaghetti and wave newspapers at the smoke alarm. No, you can't turn it off by removing the battery, it's wired into the system of the house.

Finally, meatballs done, last blast from the smoke alarm as I took them out of the oven, spaghetti just right, sauce recovered and heated, red peppers found for sprinkling with parmesan cheese, and I served myself a nice dinner.  

Before putting it on the table I thought I should close the curtains where all the plants are, so as not to be eating on a lighted stage.  And found I was standing in a puddle of water.  One of the big plants had burst its banks.  So now I had rapid cleanup, since laminate floors and flooding hate each other.

Finally, dinner got on the table. Too spent to make pix at that point, but here's the leftovers for today's lunch.  

And I must say it tasted wonderful. Best meatballs evah.  Which may be as much a reflection of what I went through to get them served as anything. Like a nice glass of water at the top of a mountain.  And the glass of red wine that went with wasn't bad, either.

We are survivors!