what's for lunch?

Today I decided to raid the refrigerator after I went grocery shopping to try to use up some of the older food and make room for the new stuff.

We had Chinese take-out Friday night and didn't eat the white rice. So I started with that.
I added some green olives cut up in pieces
about 3 oz. crumbled feta cheese
cut up some grape tomatoes
cut some canned beets
and hearts of palm
and finally to about 3/4 cup of mayo added one diced chipotle pepper... mixed together and then added to the rice salad.

It was quite yummo.... with that we had some sliced tomatoes, mozzerella and basil sprayed with a bit of olive oil.


Dinner came late.... spinach empanadas, corn empanadas and blue cheese, nut and celery empanadas.....

For dessert..... Emeril's key lime pie YUM

DD went to Dorney Park with a friend and the boys stayed home. DH was at church ALL day. The in-laws and I hung out with the boys... not a bad day.

perigee moon

picture from nasa of the moon rising above the Lincoln Memorial I use this because my own picture isn't that good and it was later and not nearly as large.

Tonight our great friends came for dinner... Manicotti (or canneloni) with homemade crepe shells some with vodka sauce, others with puttanesca sauce and some with cheese and spinach filling with alfredo sauce. For dessert just see the pics below. To say I'm stuffed is an understatement.

alfajores











ricotta pie






tiramisu

After it was all said and done and everyone (well almost everyone) had gone to bed, the middle child and I spent some time writing notes to each other. Then we spent another hour talking. I wonder how long he'll put up with doing that with his old fart mother.

This is my pathetic shot of the moon last night...



A local photographer Hub Willson has a WONDERFUL photo that he took last night with a 900mm lens... breathtaking

preparing

my big fat Greek dinner party

Hors d'oeuvres:
garlic hummus & red pepper hummus (χούμους)
with warm pita triangles (πίτα)
olive tapinade (ελιάς)
dolmadas (ντολμάδες)
mozzarella cheese balls for the kids

crudité (λαχανικά)

Entrée
Caesar Salad (Σαλάτα Caeser)
Lentil Soup (φακές σούπα)
Spanokopita (σπανακόπιτα)

Dessert:
Greek butter cookies (μπισκότα βουτύρου)
Greek lemon cake (κέικ λεμονιού)- yes in the bundt pan have to pay tribute to the flick somehow.... now how to fix the hole????



it's the family of an old student of DH that we've grown accustomed to/fond of


Hope Santa was good to you.. I'm still recovering!

Last night our neighbors dryer caught on fire. There were 3 fire trucks police and everything on the block. Never leave your dryer run unattended.... especially if you aren't home.Fortunately she was home and got herself and the baby and dog out with no one being harmed. They were already scheduled for a new dryer delivery on Thursday. Scary what can happen when you least expect it.

I found some more information on my broccoli... and tonight we ate it. The kids (well the older two) loved it...it takes like a cross between cauliflower and broccoli.. more like cauliflower. But they like broccoli so that was the seller.

DS1 has to give a report in character of a person who was important in history. He chose Leonardo daVinci... so the question is how to make the beard?? I had made this newsboy cap for him for a music concert he had in KDG. We're attaching long black yarn for long hair but I have to figure the beard out.
So I crocheted a single chain attached to the cap... then attached yarn to the chain that will hang down in front... kind of like this

I hope he's happy with it

I had a nice long nap this afternoon around 4:45 just as it was turning dark. I swear, if I was alone, I'd be in bed by 5 in this season. I feel like a wild animal... ready to retire when it's dark. Kind of depressing! Last night I was sound asleep by 10 and woke up with no alarm this morning around 7. If only I could sleep like that during
the week...

I want to put a lining in the purses before I post them... It's cut, now just to get the ambition to clean the machine and sew the lining...

summer, ah!

We're all off from school now. Swim lessons start tmrw. Kids finished Friday. I was done Tuesday. I'm forgetting all about the place. I still have no clue where I'll be come Aug 24 so I really am not going to waste any of my summer planning... phhhhhhhhhhhbbbbbbt!






I've been spinning up a storm... did some sheep and cheingora, reclaiming wool from sweaters, knitting and trying to finish off a project or two. This is the latest accomplishment. All the lizard ridge squares are now blocked and I've begun to sew them into strips.. I hope to have the blanket assembled by next week, so I can work on the border. If it's complete in time, I *may* enter it in the Allentown fair... we'll see.

I've started a clapotis for an unnamed recipient.

And we had guests for dinner last night. I made this yummo Rachel Ray recipe with lemon pesto on penne with asparagus, zuchinni and french green beans. Very fresh and summery. Finished the meal with homemade tiramisu. There were other yummies to munch on as well, but you get the drift! I sent the lady of the evening home with my cloth experiment:


Yarn: Elmore Pisgah cotton
Color: Potpourri
Pattern: my own unvention
Needle: US7
Recipient: Boksans

Here's the pattern as I remember:
CO 45
K 1 row
k2, [knit 3 pass first knit stitch over other 2, YO] repeat to last stitch K1
purl
k1 [knit 3 pass first knit stitch over other 2, YO] repeat to last stitch K2
purl
bind off when length desired is reached.
Not terribly exciting
Use it if you'd like for whatever but please don't call it your own. You can link back here although I'm sure I didn't make up the stitch myself... It's unvented

overdue shots

These have either been long promised or new pictures that need to be posted TONIGHT.

My proof that Martha Stewart has not one thing on me (OK she has a lot more than 1 thing, but this one I thought of before her help) My heart shaped brownies, served ath my DD party on Valentine's Day. They disappeared in a heartbeat


Next is the 16th square for the Lizard ridge and I'll follow that immediately with square 17.

Noro Kureyon 153A

Noro Kureyon 188D

Here are a couple of pictures from DD's party of the girls working on their crafts and them all together showing off their necklaces.

first thing - make the goodie bags


next we made bracelets... DH wasn't taking pictures then. He escaped to the basement. But you can see one of the creations on the wrist in this picture.


The heart necklaces were the last crafty thing. you can see all the girls wearing them here.

Between all the crafts, we ate pizza, decorated heart cookies and ate them, and decorated the heart shaped cupcakes. All this while the girls sang their hearts out to the Mama Mia! soundtrack

Here is the bracelet DH gave em for Valentine's Day. You can see the sheep and ball of yarn.

At the concert on Sunday as I was listening to the choir sing I was playing with y new bracelet and admiring it and it dawned on me that the chain is reminiscent of an i-cord. I don't know if I was able to catch it in this shot or not.


And finally my creation du jour.


Pattern: Ballband toilet paper cover by hakucho
Yarn: Lily's Sugar and Cream
Colors: hot green and hot blue
Needle: US7

Thanks hakucho, I've had this in my queue forever. Finally got around to it today. Gives me an idea for my upstairs bath to try to make one to match my shower curtain... kind of a jaquard plaid... I'll let you know how it goes.

DH's vest is back to the armhole deccreases again. I want to look at a vest that fits him to see how to go about the next step.

Off to do some schoolwork. Tmrw is a long day for me. Need to get ready for the sub on Thursday as well :-) and prepare for the spinning afternoon.

it hits again!

Well now the bookend children are on their second round of the stomach bug. DH has been a real trooper. He's been home 3 out of 4 days this week playing nurse and comforter, AND he'll be home tomorrow with them as well since they have off from school, but I don't (snow day make-up). What my school should have done is closed anyway. The number of absences is astonishing! All those kids should stay home for a good long weekend and stop sharing germs.

Having said that, I made valentine candy tonight and mini heart brownies. Except my brownie missed her meeting. I used the Ghirardelli brownie mix and admit to cheating a bit.....but it was soooooooo worth it. You should try them. one word YUM!

I raveled the red/orange silk/cotton/wool sweater yesterday and started the Old Navy rust one today. It's really relaxing to do. I'll wait to wash them together. I have so maany plans, just not enough time....sigh

silvia has returned :-)

with a new optical drive and double the RAM. Thanks Greg.... love havin' a geek in the family.

So much to share and where to start?

Last Monday we had a day out with Thomas the Tank Engine We went with another family that are wonderful friends with 2 boys. Everyone had a blast. We took picnic lunches and ate under the shade of the trees by the train museum in Strasburg. There was so much to do that we were all exhausted by day's end.

We stayed over at the Holiday Inn Express next to the Rockvale Outlets. The idea was to go shopping. Aba and I went that night while the men took the kids to the pool, but the next day we didn't hit any stores because DD convinced DH that we HAD to go to Dutch Wonderland which was down the street from the hotel. We had been there 2 years ago and I guess she had a great time. This time DS1 could go on every ride in the park. We stayed until a bit after 3 because DS1 had gymnastics class at 5:30. I went to the school board meeting in the district where I work for some evening entertainment. Honestly, I can't believe the poor ethics of the directors there. But I guess having all my previous knowledge I shouldn't have been too surprised.

Wednesday was a quiet day (we needed to recuperate) DD had gymnastics in the evening.


Thursday was DS1's birthday and we had a kid party at Bounce U. I'm telling you they take care of everything. It's a parent's dream party. The cake was even tasty... we had dominoes pizza, beverages and cake from Weis Markets. He opted for a power ranger cake.


We had workmen at the house all day Thursday and Friday installing AC in the kids rooms. I have to say the 2nd floor is so comfortable now. And the units on the wall are very small and unobtrusive. I'm very happy :-) But that meant that we were out chopping down the rose bushes so they wouldn't eat the poor guys doing all the installation. It's a condensor unit outside that has some copper tubing and wiring that goes into the unit which hangs on the wall. There is a small hole through the side of the house in which all the pipes etc travel. Gives me even more resolve to stay here for quite some time.

Yesterday we had the family party for DS1. It was cookout style. Hamburgers and hotdogs for those meat eaters and veg stuff for us. This was the first year that I didn't make his cake. We got it our our local grocery Wegmans I did, however, make yummy potato salad and a kind of Waldorf salad. I didn't really measure anything but this is somewhat how it goes

Carole's Blue Cheese Waldorf Salad:

• 8 celery cut into 1/2" chunks
  
• 4 granny smith apples cut into 1" chunks
  
• 1 c chopped walnuts
  
• 1 c crumbled blue cheese
  
• 6 T mayonnaise (more or less)
  

Mix together and refrigerate until serving.

Sorry I forgot to take a picture. If I make it again I'll post the picture here with the recipe.

I finished DH's socks. Here's one... I'm hoping he'll model them. A funny story to go along with them. We were singing at a union ceremony on the 14th. We were invited to a rehearsal dinner at which the accompanist would be there as well as some other performers (there wasn't a rehearsal per se) so of course I took along my knitting. And thinking I'd be knitting up a storm, took along the finished sock to have something to measure the 2nd one against. While we were rehearsing with the accompanist (and waiting our turn) I pulled out the sock to knit... unknowingly dropping the completed sock on the floor) We left later that evening and went to our hotel (yes the first night ever away from the kids together) and I noticed I was missing sock #1. So I called the folks and asked them to bring it to the wedding. They did but we all had our thoughts turned elsewhere, so when it came time to leave the reception, they told us that the sock was around somewhere but they didn't exactly know where at that moment because it had been carried around all day. Well I knew DH would see them the next week so I wasn't too worried, but the thought that maybe it decided to walk away by itself did cross my mind. I finished the 2nd sock without it's mate and DH brought it home today to reunite the two. I'll post more details about the pattern with a picture of the couple together.

I started a pair of socks for myself as well. They're going faster than DH's. It's with yarn I bought on ebay. I believe it's a company called ColorMe.


I had a misfortunate occurence today. I broke one of my Lantern Moon needles. It snapped in two... along with it snapped my heart! I only use these to knit on the Lizard Ridge... I guess I'll be making a short needle and a DPN ... I wrote to Lantern Moon to see if by any chance they have a replacement policy... keeping my fingers crossed.

I need to start a Squatty Sidekick for MIL and I need to find something to knit for me for the knitting olympics on ravelry. I had wanted to do the wild stripes for a friend who is due at the end of Sept. Thought it would give me a push... but that doesn't qualify since it's not for me! Oh what to do. Also signed up for the tour de fleece in which I hope to finish spinning the yarn for DH's vest. Maybe I can get that made for him for Christmas!

well nuff said for now... I'm so glad silvia is back. How I missed you!