A few random things

I took a couple of days off work last week and the weather could not have been better. The ball and chain and I went for a hike (more of a walk) at a park in Hamilton and enjoyed the day. Check out the colours in this shrub. I love the red branches combined with the sprouting leaves.

I've been making some progress on craft projects too. I made Lazy Girl's Miranda Day Bag with fabric from my LQS. It was really fun to make. The instructions were very clear for people like me who are challenged in the sewing arena.

I was going to use a "real" handle for the bag but the one I have is the wrong colour so I made fabric handles instead. I did learn that you have to really anchor those suckers or they come apart from the bag in about 5 minutes. Unfortunately, I discovered this while walking up York Street in Toronto. Fortunately, nothing fell out when the bag crashed to the ground, I bought pins to temporarily repair things and kept going. There is now quite a bit of reinforcement in the form of several sewing lines.

On that same day, I went to visit the Purple Purl, a very nice yarn shop in the east end of Toronto. I did a little damage there. Not so much that I couldn't find storage room when I got home.

I've also finished this beautiful Lace Wrap from Vogue Knitting Fall 2005 edition. I made it out of Handmaiden Silk Maiden (I think, can't find the ball band) and I'm really happy with it.

Gum Graft - Yuck!

I had a gum graft last week which is definitely not a pleasant experience. The process took about 2 hours. That was probably the best bit because the freezing at least makes it painless. I did get a little freaked out when the dentist lost the sewing needle between my teeth. Not really his fault; I have trouble getting dental floss between my teeth so anything larger would not be easy.

Afterwards, there was a little pain - not much really - a bit of bleeding, swelling and a week long (and counting) bruise on my chin and neck. I felt a little self conscious at first but got used to it. It was mostly yellow so I don't think too many people noticed it. The people I know would have said something if they had.

Late this week, the stitches started coming out of the site on the roof of my mouth where he took the tissue from. That has been nothing short of distracting, not to mention gross. The stitches kind of hang down in the mouth. It's really difficult not to play with them with my tongue constantly.

On the bright side, I have lost between 5 or 6 pounds. It's difficult to eat when you can't open your mouth very wide. I would have to say that I'm pretty tired of soup and all week was generally hungry. My fruit snacks were not so easy to eat when I only had a couple of molars in use.

Tonight I finally had an almost real dinner. I made cedar planked salmon with a leek and brie sauce and roast potatoes. Very delicious and satisfying.

Fingers firmly crossed that the procedure worked. I do have to go through it again on the other side of my mouth. I'm not sure I really want to do it. Maybe I can put it off until next spring so I can again lose those few winter pounds!

Two very different quilts

I recently got 2 very different quilts back from an excellent quilter. So far when I've made quilts, they have been small enough for me to quilt on my machine but these are full bed size. The first, a queen, I started ages ago with all of the crazy bright fat quarters I picked up when I first got interested in quilting. I didn't quilt it for so long because it is so bright I started to second guess myself. But I decided that I was the only one that had to love it so I pieced the back together and off it went. It is bright and a little crazy but I absolutely love it.

The other quilt is an Amy Butler quilt using a pattern called Twinkle. It was put together in a kit at my LQS, Quilter's Garden Patch and I couldn't resist buying it. Prior to seeing this quilt, I wasn't a big fan of Amy Butler fabric but once I saw it, I changed my mind. I'm so happy with the result and it looks so good on the bed in the spare room.

Cake Disaster

It was a very rainy day yesterday. Lots of wind too so after the gym and groceries, I hibernated. I worked on my, not sure if I like how it's turning out, Kaffe Fassett New Orleans Star quilt with Amy Butler fabric and did some baking.

On the positive front, I got 3 squares done. I realize working on this quilt that I don't really enjoy small piecing projects. This is good information for choosing future projects.

I also made some excellent Chocolate Biscotti from Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours. There are some really good recipes in that book.

On the not so great front, I also made the Flourless Chocolate Cake from Caprial's Desserts. It was an absolute disaster. A throw in the compost pail disaster. I've looked at the internet this morning to see if there was a problem with the recipe and didn't find anything. I don't know if I missed something in the recipe. I've reviewed it a bunch of times and don't think so. It was obviously very disappointing. However, huge calorie avoidance from all of the pieces of cake I won't be eating this week.

Seeds

This is one of my favourite times of year. Spring is in the air, the days are getting longer and my seeds arrive for planting in my little area in the basement. I always order too many but I just can't help myself. I usually just order veggies but this year went a bit crazy and picked up some perennials and annuals too.

The last 2 years I've ordered seeds from The Cottage Gardener, an heirloom and organic seed company located in Southern Ontario. Their catalogue is fun to read because they provide stories about the seeds. I have had great success so far with these seeds. The ones I've tried have had an excellent germination rate and the veggies have been very tasty varieties.

I just finished reading The Gentle Art of Domesticity by Jane Brocket. This is a very nice book. It includes lovely photos that inspire me to get creating, cooking and appreciating the world around me.

Great Cookbook

Before Christmas I picked up a copy of the book "Bite Me" by Julie Albert and Lisa Gnat. In addition to being a goofy read (which I am highly in favour of), the recipes are really good.

The first recipe I tried out of the book was Crusted Lamb Chops with Balsamic Reduction, an excellent and fast recipe for rack of lamb. The lamb is coated with a breadcrumb Dijon crust which tastes fantastic with the flavours in the Balsamic Reduction.

Sara Lisa's Iced Banana Cake has more banana flavour than an actual banana largely due to the banana in the icing. Yum.

Other favourites: Walnut-Crusted Halibut with Lemon Wine Sauce, Balsamic Chicken with Sweet Peppers, Southwestern Sweet Potato Fries, Sweet Balsamic Roasted Carrots, Oasted Ray Egetables-Vay with Pecans and Parmesan ...

Books

I am addicted to books. Unfortunately, I am really bad at starting books, particularly non fiction, and not finishing. I have made a resolution to finish my half-finished books before I buy anymore. I am in the middle of Younger Next Year for Women, one of the French Women Don't Get Fat books (the second one), The Gospel According to U2, a Platter of Figs (I enjoy reading cookbooks) and probably some others I have forgotten about.

I've mentioned the Younger Next Year book on the blog before and am enjoying it. It is a bit repetitive given that 3/4 of it has been about exercising 6 days a week and I'm generally at 5 so feel a bit like the choir. Having said that, reinforcements on the benefits of exercise are always motivational.

I am also cognizant of the fact that my blog is called Knit, Quilt, Cook and I haven't talked about cooking once. I seem to be in a little of a cooking lull at the moment for some reason. Likely because I've been spending most spare time on the weekends quilting and now that the Olympics are on, knitting. I'm solo dining tonight and remembered that I had some chili in the freezer and am quite enjoying it with some excellent walnut bread from Longos and the Olympics on TV. I must confess that while I'm excited about the hockey, I really like the curling so am watching that mainly and flipping to the women's gold medal game. the curling is almost over unless something crazy happens so will be full time on hockey before the chili is done.