Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Housekeeping...

Attention, attention, it has occurred to me that I responded to several "commentors" in the past few months by responding to email that blogger sends......I now suspect that I've been an idiot and the commentor has probably not received my email. Also unless I've corresponded with said commentors in the past, I have no email address....

So in the interests of not being rude, Chrisknits asked for my "beet recipe". This is what I sent into the ether, through Blogger......

I used an approximation of this recipe:


http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/roasted-beets-and-sauteed-beet-greens/Detail.aspx

It took over an hour for the beets to roast in the oven. I may try it again with smaller beets, and microwave them for a bit first.


The other odd thing was some of the cooked leftover white beets turned blackish (like a peeled potato) by the next day. I don't know why that would be. Maybe they weren't done enough?


I drizzled balsamic vinegar on em.....yum.


If somehow this message got through...feel free to let me know.

Thanks for your attention!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Delusional or Dumb ....

.... your call.

Back in February I posted this rant:

If I hear one more Democratic congress person, liberal talking head, candidate or any of these other "do-not-know-it-alls" tell me that; "The public doesn't understand the (health care) bill"; " We need to explain it better."; "The public REALLY wants this bill." I'm gonna toss my cookies. For the record--are all you thick heads listening: I have a master's degree in a science/math field; I can read and understand content that would make your little pea brains 'splode; I can write in no less than 5 computer languages; I get really ticked when I'm patronized and marginalized. I do not need any more explanations. I need to have a bill produced and posted for WEEKS before voting, so I can digest the contents--and not on Christmas Eve. I am tired of dirty tricks, secret meetings, union kick-back, big pharma deals, and all the rest of it. While I hold out NO hope that these "things" will end, I will settle for having the opportunity to actually peruse the legislation at my leisure.

Now it can be told. It was posted in response to hearing Sestak on Ingram's radio program. She asked him how he could possibly vote for the "health" care bill when his constituents were were polling solidly against it. He responded that "people don't understand it", if they did, they'd want it.....I don't usually hear Ingram's program, and that a rep from PA was on was serendipitous. Being called ignorant just threw me off the hoop.

Who's ignorant now, Joe?

Thursday, July 22, 2010

On sock puppets and other stuff.....

I think that Dennis Miller is probably the funniest guy on the planet. He rarely expresses malice, but is real high on the snark-o-meter...a man after my own heart. He called Biden a "sock-puppet in a power tie". Seriously....I couldn't stop laughing. Sorry, but I'm still chuckling about it. (He does kinda resemble a sock puppet.) I suspect that based on what I know about Biden, he seems pretty secure ego-wise, he'd probably think it was pretty funny too.

I'm having monkey mind about starting another shawlette/scarf, because you know, ninety degree weather is the perfect weather to knit something one wears around the neck. I also think it means I have too many choices, and too much lovely yarn at my disposal. Yikes!! If I get off my lazy backside this weekend maybe I'll photograph all the choices, and see if that helps. Maybe ya'll can vote to help me.

At a farmer's market on Tuesday evening, I stopped at a booth that was selling yarn, Tamarack Farm. As I was longingly fingering a beautiful 3-ply, fingering/sport weight natural, charcoal colored skein, the proprietor commented "You can always spot a serious knitter. They have no problem feeling up the wool in this weather." It was lovely, and not unreasonably priced. About $8.50 for 188 yards. I'm thinking it might make really warm socks for my DH, who has a, seemingly, deadly fear of cold feet. (But he hates hot weather too. Don't know what to make of this.) I'm just not sure how much yarn I should get. Maybe I should consult one of my sock knitting references...duh. I'm thinking I should get three skeins. I'm guessing a #2, or #3, needle and 400+ yards for a decent pair of male socks, average foot length.

Sometimes I think that I have to illustrate the ....um....odd environment we have here. This is what one sees at the Tuesday night farmer's market in Boalsburg.

Notice anything unusual?

Yes, Virginia, that's a tank. Because I am not a WW scholar, I can't tell you if it is WWI or WWII, however, it is a real, decommissioned tank. (And before any commenter mentions it, yes there is a plaque, but I didn't want to walk back because the weather was threatening.) As I took this shot, I had my back to two 50 foot long anti-aircraft guns from the Battleship Pennsylvania.

We here in Central PA are not expecting an invasion, at least not a hostile invasion. (Our invaders wear sneakers and flip-flops and carry smart phones.) This particular farmer's market is held on the grounds of the Pennsylvania Military Museum. As is usually the case with residents, I've lived about five miles from this museum, share my life with a vet, and have never visited the place. I'm a bad girl. Yes, indeed.

As I was browsing the other wares at the market I happened upon a farmer selling beets. Now I've not been a total beet convert (my experience limited to the kind pickled in jars) but I've been seeing recipes that included sauteed greens (with bacon, can anything with bacon be bad?) so I decided to purchase a bunch. The fellow had three kinds - red, pink, and white (they all had specific varietal names, but....whatever) and I was vacillating undecided. I finally asked for the "pink" and, I think, because he was overwhelmed with beets, he asked if I'd like to try A white beet. Sure I said....he hesitated for a second, and said, here...take a whole bunch. I offered to pay him for the white bunch, but he refused. Nice man..."beeten" down I guess. (HA HA). The story doesn't end there however, my life is never without a complication, I now have two huge bunches of beets sticking up in the back of the Forester. I go to pick up my hubby from his office. He gets in and I say..."hey, guess what? I bought us some fresh beets at the farmers market." His response...."I hate beets". Sigh....I am now beginning to be "beeten" down myself. But the white beets are delicious - very sweet. And I was right about the bacon......

Friday, July 09, 2010

Knitting at last...

...ya' know, I've been knitting really truly....but progress has been deadly slow.

I've had two regular projects going, but because I'm not inclined to take "in-progress" photos, well, there aren't any. I'm slogging along on another CeCe, and it's been slow going. Not because of the pattern, but because of the changes I made to it. I was marooned on sleeve island for A REAL LONG TIME....but, now I'm past the sleeves and am in, what I hope, is the home stretch. My purse knitting is a sock...it's been my purse knitting FOREVER, because I ripped the foot back once. Was lookin' too big and floppy. So eventually, I'll get past my sock.

In the meantime, I may have nearly finished my Christmas, in July, knitting:



OMG NOOOOOO!!! She's knit yet another pair of French Press Felted Slippers....yes, my friends I'm afraid I did.

The red pair is for my sister. Who I hope hasn't found this blog, yet. The last of the Super Bowl Sunday Sale Lamb's Pride.






This is a [poor] closeup of the button:

Pretty, no? I'm still trying to figure out how to use the macro feature well. Maybe I should read the instructions? Nah!

I'm a tad nervous about the fit of these. They may actually have felted too short in the heel. I'm not sure how that happened. But if it is an issue, I'll just make her another pair. I'm also debating about the anti-slip puffy paint on the sole, but I'll just let her decide. She does have mostly hardwood floors, so it will probably be a yes.



I didn't fuss with the quality of the photo, because it was HOT outside. Not triple digits hot, but in the 90's. And because it's July, and it is 90, it must be "Art's Festival" actually it's two competing art festivals in our little "burg". So every person on the east coast is here. Or it feels that way. I work downtown and apparently visitors forget that we...the worker bees are still here -toiling away, when they dash across the streets in front of our vehicles, and stand in the middle of the sidewalks, blocking all access.

Sigh...