Things I would like to accomplish tonight:
1. Read the rest of B and all of C in the Pictorial Webster’s.
2. Finish The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell.
3. Start a new jigsaw puzzle.
4. Put away clean laundry.
5. Watch the President’s State of the Union Address.
6. Right something in my journal.
Somehow I think that if I write this down I will actually get all these things done. Wish me luck.
My mother made me banana bread.
Today was free day at the Milwaukee Art Museum (thanks to Target), so I spent a few hours there this afternoon. It was a 2 hour wait to see the Impressionist exhibit, so I skipped that and spent my time in the museum’s collections.
Here are 5 pieces of art that I liked at the Milwaukee Art Museum:
Le Pere Jacques by Jules Bastien-Lepage
The Horseman by Marc Chagall (one of my favorite painters)
The Quai, Venice by Kees van Dongen
It’s Raining Anita Huffington by Larry Rivers
London Visitors by James Tissot
I know that my photos to do not show off the art all that well. That’s in part intentional. If you want to see it, come visit me and I’ll take you.
Okay. That’s all.
I’ve joined a CSA (community supported agriculture) this year. We got our first box last Thursday. Lots of lettuce. Really good, but a lot. I have made quite a few good salads, of course. Here is one from this morning:
CSA lettuce, arugula, and grapes, tomatoes, and poached egg, rhubarb and ginger muffin
I also made a great cabbage salad that I haven’t made in years. I made it all the time when I was in grad school and I completely forgot about it. It’s great.
yellow and orange peppers, red cabbage, CSA bok choi and scallions, peas, tempeh, cilantro, rice noodles, and chili lime dressing
Okay. I think that I’m going to have to do some great planning if I’m going to be successful with comsuming all these veggies. Here’s what I’m thinking for this week. We receieved tatsoi in the box this week. It’s a green that looks like big spoons, I guess. I found this recipe that looks good. I also think I’ll make a spinach frittata. Perhaps I’ll also make some zucchini bread or grilled zucchini.
On the knitting front, I’ve been making tons of hats:
Pasha
Here is Pasha that I made for:
Friend Valerie’s son that I met last weekend. So cute. Both the baby and the penguin.
Yesterday I went up to Madison for Friend Carolin’s 30th Birthday Party. Happy Birthday!
Birthday Girl
Today I planted my patio garden. I decided that it was time to re-pot some of my houseplants, some of which have never been re-potted – like the jade plant that my friend Lisa got me for graduation… 12 years ago! I think I have about 35 plants out there. I haven’t organized the space yet, but I’ll get to that this week.
Let’s see. Per Friend Michelle, it’s been a while. Sorry.
May 6th Bento
Here’s my bento lunch from May 6ht. I’m still having fun making them. We have muenster cheese, greens, edamame, ginger dressing, veggie dumplings, and almonds (including two chocolate-covered one).
cookie decorating table
This weekend I went into Chicago for Mother’s Day. The brunch yesterday was incredible. The desserts were served in a separate room. There were 4 different dessert tables. I was so stuffed from the brunch, but I did manage to save enough room for dessert. They even had a cookie decorating table!
Las Vegas
Two weeks ago I went to state #47 – Nevada. A couple friends and I went to Las Vegas for a long weekend. Good fun.
socks
I’ve been working on a couple pairs of socks, a clutch, and another penguin.
That’s about all.
I just spent the weekend down in Charlotte. My sister and her husband flew me down for the weekend to take care of my niece and nephew while they went away for the weekend (thanks!). It was a gorgeous weekend – or 75 degrees and sunny the entire time. We spent a lot of time outside.
I took pictures of a quilt that I made a few years ago for my niece and nephew while I was down there. Five of the embroidered squares were made by my grandmother. My grandma is my crafting inspiration – she was a wonderful knitter, seamstress, and quilter. She always designed her own embroidery patterns.
Here are a couple shots of the bento lunches (is that redundant? I don’t actually know what bento translates to…) I’ve made recently:
hard-boiled egg, gouda cheese, salad with pea shoots and spring greens, and lemon pepper pasta with sauteed asparagus
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homemade whey bread, hummus, olive tapenade, omelette roll-ups with tapenade, and salad with spinach, grape tomatoes, and homemade cheese
Hiya. I’ve been cooking and baking this weekend. I got inspired to make cheese yesterday. For Christmas, my sister got me a few cheese making supplies, so I’ve been waiting for a calm moment to try some out. I made a cow’s milk mozzarella. It only took about 25 minutes – start to finish – to make the cheese and I got a great yield from the gallon of milk that I started with. Not having a kitchen scale, I’d guess that I have over a pound of cheese. Yum. It turned out great, but I think next time I should add more salt. I tend to be pretty conservative with salting things. Here’s a shot of the finished product (cue the not very attractive picture of the vat ‘o cheese):
So, then, I had all this leftover whey. Great. I can’t just waste it, so I decided to make whey bread. I started with the recipe from the cheese making class that I took last year. I should have known that something was up when the ingredient list calls for yeast, but it never says when it should be added. I checked some recipes online and decided to wing it. The recipe also called for 4 c. of whey (check – I had loads of whey!) and 4 c. of flour – which just made a big gluey mess. I kept adding flour until I had something that I could work with. I ended up with 4 sizable loaves – two went in the freezer and one is going to the parentals.
Last night’s dinner was lovely. I whipped up some olive tapenade and had that, wine, and the cheese and bread that I made. Yum.
Like I wrote, I went to a Japanese market on Saturday. One of my purchases was a very cute bento box. Truth be told, this one won me over with the cute cloth napkin that came with it. Well, last night I made my first lunch for the bento box. Here we have yaki-soba noodles with orange peppers, baked tofu, and seaweed salad. Yum! I also had a cup of miso soup. I have plenty leftover to have the same thing tomorrow.
Tonight I was a very good girl. After getting home from a meeting at 8pm, I did the paperwork for a meeting that I have in the morning and I wrote two reports. Now, off to bed!
