Laundry baby

Frankie likes to hang out when we do household chores.

Bzzzz

Spring is here! We have crocus, mini irises, daffodils, and some tulips coming up. Frankie likes to sit on the front porch and soak up the sun. Shirley (my SIL) headed to El Salvador for a quick weekend so we hung out with Brian and the tots. We even walked to Emigration Market for gelato, flavor of the day was pistachio and I forgot my CAMERA! Grrr.

I have some sugar snap pea seed and sweet pea seeds but I'm not sure where to put them. They need to get in the ground ASAP.

I'm just resting my eyes

Éire go Brách

Corned beef (7 days), smiles, green hats, and bells... St. Patrick's Day 2012. I also made the carrot cake recipe mentioned in the book 'Eat Cake.' It was pretty dang good AND used a ton of honey from my stash. Use of honey and tasty, a good thing! It is a recipe that will be repeated.

Little blue wearing hood

Finally, little man modeling his Snug. He enjoys chewing on it. I like it because it is bumpy looking from the way it is knit. With that and the chunky yarn it has a really nice feel to it. I wish it would snow so I could take pictures of it in the snow. The bright blue is a fun color.

It won't fit him for very long as I have found with all baby clothes. He is only 5 1/2 months old and already wearing onesies size 12 months. Anyway, the Snug pattern was a bit confusing in places, in fact, Alan had to translate it twice because I just couldn't understand the wording. Badly worded or maybe I was just tired... :)

Photo from Shibui Knits

Next up in my knitting bag is a Vintage Baby Cardigan in a yarn that I cannot wait to use. It is Shibui Knits Sock in the color Anime. It is such a fun yarn and the pattern looks really cute. I saw the sweater knitted up in person at Blazing Needles and purchased the pattern, yarn, and needles right then. I put it away for a while and when I got it out again I almost cried thinking I'd have to get needles again (I never seem to have the ones I need) but after searching high and low, I found them! Mark it on the calendar, I had the right needles for once!

Photo from Lavender Hill Knits

And speaking of knitting bags, I purchased one on Etsy that I just love. The shop is called Lavendar Hill Knits. The bag is reversible and just the right size for a small-medium project. The fabric is a really nice weight too (and who doesn't love owls and polka dots!). Very well made! In fact there is another bag that I am eyeing now that I have been to her shop again. I also picked up some of the stitch markers, cute owl ones. And for a sweet deal, buy a project bag, get a pattern of your choice for free! Yippee!

Tell me, what are you folks working/crafting on?

Knowing is half the battle

History. It is easily forgotten and often repeated. I always find it interesting to hear tidbits about my family history. I don't know my father or anything (nothing good anyway) about his side of things. I know very little about my mother's family.

A friend of mine posted this story on Facebook. Some nice lady has letters from her great-great-great grandfather to her great-great-great grandmother. So sweet!

Photo from Annalisa Grier's article

I'd love to know names and places from my family. This motivates me but where does one start?!

Chew on this

Now that Frankie is older and wants to put everything within his reach in his mouth, I needed to find jewelry that is baby safe. I'd seen these Chewbead necklaces at Babinski's and purchased a few online.  I ordered black, deep sea blue, and chartreuse.

The beads are bigger than I expected but they are cute in a Flintstones kind of way. Frankie loves to chew on them but they attract every kind of fuzzy and rinsing or washing them does not easily remove said fuzzes. And it rips at the hairs on the back of my neck, very painful! I'll keep wearing them but be aware of the draw backs if you are interested in them. As you can see, Frankie takes his toys very seriously.

Sitting around

I've apparently been slacking. I thought I had written a post a while ago about Frankie and his new ability to sit up on his own. Oops! Must have lost a post. So without further ado... Ro cat in her many 'sitting' modes and Frankie playing with blocks. He has been able to sit on his on for a while. He is still a bit wobbly once he has been sitting for a while. Not bad for a 5 month old!

And from the knitting bag, I finally finished Frankie's Snug (see previous post)! Pictures soon!

Stack 'em up

Recently we headed to the fancy downtown library to get our library cards! Yep, we finally went and applied for our Utah driver licenses so it was time to get to the books. Alan has recently taken up being artsy so we got some art books. Frankie could have gotten a card but we decided to wait until he understood what it meant. The big library is quite nice and has shops around the base of it. Tiny guy enjoyed being carried around, he even growled at a few people. When we were checking out he was so excited that the girl checking us out commented that he must really like art books. :)


Another recent food experiment, potato stacks. I love potatoes in any form and these were fun just to build up. And yes, I recommend a mandoline. I love my mandoline!!!

We piggishly ate 3 stacks each but I'm sure 2 stacks a person would suffice.

POTATO STACKS

Serves 6

Ingredients:

3 white/yukon gold potatoes 1 large yam/sweet potato (whichever has orange flesh)

Olive oil 2 sprigs fresh rosemary salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

1.	Heat oven to 425 degrees. Slice the potatoes into thin discs.
2.	Toss the slices with the rosemary and olive oil in a bowl. Add as much salt and pepper as you see fit.
3.	Stack the slices, alternating white with orange, in muffin tins
4.	Bake 25 minutes or until tender and browning on the edges.

Isala

We have a new addition to our bedroom. We needed a place to store linens and so we trekked to IKEA. I'd been looking at this lovely Isala Cabinet for a while and it just occurred to us that it would fit and be useful in our room! It a a lilac/grey color and it looks fab with our color scheme. I was able to put some bottles and my owl on top and they all look nice. The owl was made by Shirley out of fabric from our wedding (the flower girl's dress). It fits linens and still have more room! Now I just need a solution for storing blankets in the living room. Requirements include, colorful, sturdy, and doesn't make a mess. Have you seen the baskets at various stores? They shed all over the place. Bleck.

Also, I never showed off the curtains that Paula fixed up nice for us in our room. The fabric is also from IKEA and is a great price. I think it is something like $8-$9/yard but it is wider. I think 54 inches wide. It is also a heavier material. The fabric here is a crazy design of leaves and olives. Alan was the one who picked it out and it worked out to well. Frankie likes to stare at them, I think, because of the contrasting colors.

Tonight for dinner, pasta with asparagus...



PASTA WITH ASPARAGUS

Serves 4

Ingredients:

8 ounce package angel hair pasta 1 1/2 oz extra virgin olive oil, divided 1 clove garlic, minced 1 pound fresh asparagus spears, trimmed and chopped 1 cups grape tomatoes, halved (or campari quartered) 8 oz broth or dry white wine

1/2 - 1 teaspoon dried dill freshly ground black pepper to taste 1 cup shredded cheese (Parmesan or similar)

Directions:

1.	Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add angel hair pasta, cook until al dente; drain and toss with 1 tablespoon of olive oil to prevent stickiness.
2.	Heat the remaining olive oil in a skillet over low-medium heat, and cook the garlic for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the asparagus and tomatoes, stirring to coat. Pour in the broth, and continue cooking uncovered 10 minutes, or until the asparagus is tender, but still bright green.
3.	Place the pasta in a large bowl, and toss with the asparagus and tomato mixture. Season with dill and pepper.
4.	Serve pasta with with shredded cheese.

Variation:

Replace half of broth/wine with 2-4 oz lemon juice (to taste) and 2-4 oz butter,  and substitute pine nuts for tomatoes. Top with cheese and zest from a lemon. Shredded chicken is a good addition to either recipe.

Piano Man