Fat and Crafty.com

I got my Ravelry invite! Wahoo. So far I’ve inventoried my yarns and I’ve added the current work in progress and the next one. I’ve also got to add the pockets project. I’ve also got to list my mitered square project since I’ve identified the amount of yarn I have left for it. I’ve also found part of an unidentifiable project It’s from my laptop bag project, I think and its two strands of yarn knit together. I’ve no clue where it came from though, as the pattern itself doesnt really resemble any of the parts of the pattern that I remember.  It looks kind of nice though.

We’ll see if I’m able to keep up the site

Knitty’s Fall 2007 issue is out, with a number of new fantastic patterns, including one for a hoodie.
If you know me you know that I am a hoodie girl. This is knit from Great Big Sea, a Sea Cell/Wool yarn. Pricing the yarn I discover that a skein of it is $35 and that if I make the pattern in my size its going to be 8-10 skeins.
Really.

While the amount of time it would take me to knit said project might let me get $350 worth of enjoyment from the pattern, I’m just not sure. The pattern designer answered a set of FAQ’s about the pattern, including information about yarn substitution . She includes information about the yarn and the weight and makes a list of suggestions of what you can use. She also says

I must admit that sometimes I’m a bit stymied as to why some knitters take the suggested yarn so seriously

This struck me. Why do knitters take the yarn seriously? Because its what the designer suggests. Thats like asking why take a designers suggested bind off seriously or a particularly decrease method. Knitters take it seriously because you suggest it. The pattern reads the specific kind of yarn. It does not offer suggestion for substitution. It does not read “xx yarn, or other kind of yarn has similar xyz properties” Isnt the first thought supposed to be “If I want my hoodie to come out that nice I’ll have to use that kind of yarn?”

It’s a nice pattern though, and it and Totally Autumn have been added to my list of items to make.

For me it’s polenta. It’s supposed to be this simple dish, and its one I turn to regularly in hopes for a break from rice, pasta, potatoes, quinoa, cous cous.
The fool proof recipe i have is bake it in the oven in a ratio of 3:1 for firm polenta or 4:1 for Soft.
Today I did it over the stove, 4 cups of water, 1 cup of cornmeal, stir stir stir.  add a little salt, add a little cheese, stir stir stir.

When it came to serve it was clearly a salt lick. The salt permated the whole pot in a way that was so insidious, so prevalent that i should not have even served the dish.   Half the time the problem is salt, its either too salty or not salty enough. Adding salt after you have baked it can be as hard as removing overalted bits.  Other times i will try slice or molding and grilling it.  That just gives me “corn smoked” whatever else I’m cooking.

Blah.  Todays pot hit the garbage shortly after dinner.

At least the pork was pretty good

Pork Filled with fruit
1 pork loin butterflied
1 cup pears , dried
1/2 cup cranberries, dried
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 cup blueberry mead (or apple cider)
pinch of cumin
ginger
whole grain mustard

Cook fruit together  with vinegar and mead for about 20 min then add cumin, ginger   chop in food proccessor,  then add  whole grain mustard.   Spread over the pork roast , roll up and tie it. Cook until done

The can of cheddar cheese soup was first purchased for Nacho bar night. It was my idea to get some baked chips, some cheese sauce, seasoned turkey , tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, salsa, onions, quacamole and sour cream, and let folks make a dinner bar of it.

The soup had a recipe on the back, reading it over I was intrigued and a second can was tossed in the cart.

The recipe? Cheeseburger Pasta

Now the version that came off my can was a little different so let me share

Cheeseburger Pasta
From: Campbell’s Kitchen
Prep/Cook Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef
1 can (10 3/4 oz.) Campbell’s® Condensed Cheddar Cheese Soup
1 can (10 3/4 oz.) Campbell’s® Beef Boullion
1/2 cup catsup.
1 1/2 cups water
2 cups uncooked medium shell pasta

To make : Saute ground beef, then drain the oil off.
Add the remaining ingredients, cover and cook until the noodles are soft.

Serves 4

—————-

Note the lack of spicing, note the lack of flavoring layers . I added garlic and onion to mine, but even that didn’t save it. This was a trashy recipe the seems like the epitome of the Midwestern cooking I grew up with.

And the calories?
641 calories
26 G of Fat
64 g of Carbs
1409 mg of sodium (59% of your days worth)
44g of protein.

It was fr to close to the Hamburger helper that haunts my nightmares.

Over dinner last night Leah asked me where the lamb came from. I shrugged my shoulder . “New Zealand? Australia?” The lamb came from Cash and Carry, where I get most of my meat. The prices can’t be beat and the quality is pretty good. The lamb had been a spur of the moment purchase and checking the label this morning I learned it came from Australia.

“mmmm I like my meat soaked in diesel fuel” The birthday boy spoke spearing another chunk of meat. Sunnie the other guest for the night gave a funny look, and then I went into my speiel.

It’s not that I don’t believe in eating locally. I believe in patronizing local businesses and buying local when you can. But I also believe there are times when buying a non local product are as practical as buying a local product. Perhaps its the quality of the product, sometimes its the cost, and sometimes its just more sensible.

Lamb is cheaper from Australia and New Zealand because that is what they do there. If you go there you’ll find pork rarely on the menu, because it’s just as expensive. You can take it further. Should I no longer eat citrus because oranges cant grow in Washington? Should I give up coffee?
Should they be growing apples in Florida?

Should this be like the Canadian purity law where we eat what we have based on the fact that is local and not on the product quality? I like to eat mindfully, not from a 100 mile rule.

I usually don’t bother with a brine. For Aron’s birthday I decided to go all out and work to make his lamb roast the best ever. I pulled it from the deep freeze a day ahead and drowned in a simple brine, salt, water , garlic, brown sugar. It settled for a night, then in the afternoon when i was ready to cook I whipped out my largest cast iron, popped it on the stove and let it heat.

The lamb was seared then popped into a 425 degree oven. I cooked it until the internal temp hit 163, as we were looking for medium well to well. The drippings got measured out into 2 equal amounts, half went back into the pan then became the basis for Yorkshire pudding.

Potatoes were whipped, radishes were cooked*, and corn was made. Add an appetizer of Angel of Death garlic cheese and crackers and you have a birthday dinner to celebrate over.

*Never had cooked radishes? Most folks havent. Cooking Radishes softens them and takes off the bite, but unlike most cooked veg they dont get sweet . I simple simmered/steamed them with a cup of chicken broth.