Summer meets September

This summer, I decided I would take better care. You could list just about anything there, and it would fit. Eat better, walk more, cook (I used to) more, separate from work more, connect with friends, write a letter, sew, clean, read...

The last few years I have been particularly unkind to myself, and it doesn't help me care for others particularly well. I got a little lost.

This summer I took a couple road trips. It sounds super ridiculous any way I type it, (and I've backspaced five times now), but I had lost track of my better me.

I'm happy to report that I'm hanging onto a bit of that summer resolution. The fact that I'm hanging onto a bit of it in what is usually a whirlwind month of activity is pretty remarkable.

My alarm just went off. I have to get a cup of tea going so I can get into my next several hours of work with lots of people.

Here's a glimpse of my September report:







I'll come back for story telling. In the meanwhile, I hope you'll make something yummy. I may make another apple crumble tonight!

Spring, if we squint

I made it to our first farmer's market day - a limited market, naturally. With a little Memorial Day domesticity, I found I had a nice little spring collection on my counter. The maple syrup is from Trader Joe's - the "lesser grade" deemed good for cooking is just the thing, I think. I rather like it as a standard table syrup. Reminds me of homemade: my uncle has a tradition of making his own maple syrup when the spring works for him. (He has quite the setup. I wish I lived near enough or were flexible with my schedule enough to go up and do the maple thing with him.)


At the farmer's market I picked up rhubarb and made a crumble straight away. This is now an ex crumble. It was particularly good. The 3 bunches of asparagus are now down to one. It's cool, today, and I think I'll be using up the rest in a small batch of asparagus avgolemono from the Moosewood Simple Suppers. I think that's the book in which I saw the recipe.

Spring cooking is a good break from reading mountains of papers.


So is startitis.


Dishcloths from yarn remnants.

Not sexy knitting, but I really needed breaks.


Yes, that many papers.

Elizabeth at Sable will soon despair of endless blog images of cowls, the next ubiquitous fingerless mitt. I promise to tackle something challenging soon.

This is Nova Seal's Birthday Cowl.

The yarn has more blue than I captured. I didn't permit myself time for better photography during my breaks from paper reading.

And on that note, with grades in, I go home to unplug for a day.
I hear it may rain - a perfect spring stay-in-and-knit day.
(Perhaps not a good day for more squinty photography.)

Today's lunch brought to you by.....

Now I did do some cooking this weekend. I made a crockpot of ratatouille. Used up some leftover kale and mushroom saute in a midsized pasta bake concoction.

Today, though, I dine courtesy of UK marketing and global groceries. The international foodie aisle at my local market had this marked down, I believe for lack of interest. The date was still good. The soup is a fine contrast to the usual, and I find myself inspired to make soup this weekend.



For really good soup recipes from some UK soup mavens, go to the home of glittrgirl and scumkitten and search SOUP.

Breakfast of Twin Peaks Champions

Holiday ritual: I make a cherry pie and share the eating AND often the baking with my aunt. She's the family's pastry guru. This year my mother was around for the fun, too. The weather and the pate brisee were not on good speaking terms. My lattice was horrifically fake, but the pastry in the end? Buttery good.

Afterwards, we all cracked open the cookbooks to decide what pastry strategies I should work on next. Julia and Martha do share detailed baking information, after all. My mother reminded me (as she has before) that the way to really master pie crust is to do it regularly.


They insisted I take a piece home for the next day's breakfast.

Still, I don't think I need to be eating pie EVERY day. I'll just have to live with the skills of a sporadic pie baker.