Walk On In

Okay, this new clinic I've been assigned to (and people worry about socialized medicine? we don't have doctor choice already, people! unless we're Donald Trump) takes walk-ins. I walked in and saw a physician's assistant. I generally prefer PAs to family practice docs anyway. So, I've had blood work and an abdominal sonogram already. (And an annual screening mammogram, too, while I was at it.) Maybe a cyst on the spleen??? Who knows. Anyway, it shot the whole day in the head. Should know more tomorrow.

Whining

Sick as a dog. A whole raft of weird symptoms and getting worse every day. Trying to get a doctor's appointment is like pulling teeth. (Yes, I've got one -- for the 20th!) I'm on the verge of heading to the ER, but fighting to resist the urge every inch of the way.

In the meantime, I gotta pay bills. If it isn't one thing, it's something else. I need a glass of whine.

And Yet More Tomatoes

Greek Salad - pg. 53

Well, as long as I'm at it, why not make Alice's version of the classic Greek Salad. In spite of the fact that I don't like raw tomatoes, I've eaten a yacht-sized load of Greek salads in the last few years. It all started when we were in Greece for a couple weeks not long ago. In the summer, in Greece, every restaurant serves endless quantities of Greek salad; and it's all delicious. Very simple. Tomatoes, cucumbers, olives and feta cheese with lots of herbs and vinegar & oil dressing. You can hide the taste of anything under plenty of olives and feta. Alice's version is a little more elaborate, adding thinly sliced red onion and red sweet pepper. It was good. I'd forgotten how much I like Greek salad, in spite of it being loaded with raw tomatoes. Of course, nearly anything tastes better on the plaza of a restaurant at the base of the Acropolis, in the evening, in the summer. Or on a sailboat at anchor along the Aegean, at noon, in the summer. Oh sigh. I'm so grateful that I've been there and have done that.

103 recipes completed; a mere 202 recipes to go

Tomatoes

pg. 241 - Sliced Tomatoes with Basil

As you know by now, I do not like raw tomatoes. I consider this to be a moral failure on my part, a personality defect, if you will. For decades I forced myself, off and on, to eat raw tomatoes, hoping in vain that eventually I'd "get it," that something would snap into place and I'd join the ranks of adult tomato lovers. I'm 62. It has never happened. I've pretty much accepted this personal defect and have admitted defeat. I do not like raw tomatoes.

As you also know, I chose my Alice Waters cooking project to actually learn to cook well. My goal is to make every recipe in TAOSF. I figured that would take me into uncharted territory and that I wouldn't necessary like everything I made. The cucumbers in cream and mint certainly wasn't my favorite thing, but today I tackled something I knew I wouldn't even be able to sample: Sliced Tomatoes with Basil. It's a very simple salad, easy to make. It's typical of Alice's celebration of fresh, local, seasonal ingredients. But, good grief, it's basically a plate of sliced raw tomatoes.

For his lunch today, I made Sliced Tomatoes with Basil for my husband. I didn't even have one little bite. Not a taste. Not a lick. Spread out on an antique yellow fiesta plate, all that glistening red and green was indeed gorgeous and glorious. He ate every last scrap of it, bless his heart. And I can now mark that particular recipe off my list.

102 recipes completed; 203 recipes to go -- I HAVE COMPLETED 1/3 OF MY PROJECT!!

"Screw Calm and Get Angry" (and Cucumbers)

pg. 247 - Cucumbers with Cream and Mint

"Screw Calm and Get Angry" is the title of a cool little book of quotations that I just got. Just in time for the facebook campaign I'm waging against the Tea Party and its attack on government. I'm so sick of the crap that's going on in Washington I could just scream. I can't understand for the life of me when -- or why -- or how -- the majority of people in this country became so self-absorbed that they've decided to engage, en mass, in cutting off their noses to get revenge of some sort against their own faces. How have we lost any sense of community, any sense of being all in this lifeboat together? I don't understand. And I'm pissed.

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, it's that time of year when I become convinced, annually, that there is absolutely no need for us to have a garden since we are awash in a sea of vegetables gifted to us by our wonderful friends and neighbors. Eggplants, tomatoes, peppers, chili peppers, cucumbers of several types, summer squash. There's a great BIG bowl of the stuff in the kitchen. I'll be the first to admit that summer vegetables are still an acquired taste for me. I really love meat and fat and sugar. Beans, rice and pasta, yes. Cheese and dairy, yes. Fruit, yes. Spring, winter and fall vegetables, yes. Summer vegetables? Well......... I don't like raw tomatoes, for one thing. I've already had a lifetime quota of summer squash. Cucumbers? Not so much. It's these heat-of-summer things that mostly leave me cold.

So there they were, staring at me: FOUR lemon cucumbers. (It's not bad enough that we get the neighbors generous offerings, Randy brings yet more of this stuff home from Farmers Market! Two lemon cukes from the neighbors + 2 brought home by RDK. After saying to him: DON'T BUY VEGETABLES THIS WEEK! JUST FRUIT!) Yup, 2 people in this house. FOUR lemon cucumbers. Fortunately, I had cream in the frig. And lots of spearmint in the herb garden. So, I turned to page 247 for Cucumbers with Cream and Mint. Now, I suppose this really is one of the world's greatest salads, but it didn't do much for me. Nonetheless, it's another recipe completed. Nobody said I'd love 'em all.

On another front, I've purchased "Slow Cooker Revolution" from America's Test Kitchen, as well as their recommended slow cooker, the Crock-Pot Touchscreen Slow Cooker. Three reasons: (1) Randy will be teaching again come 2012 and it's often hard to time dinner when he's teaching late afternoon labs, (2) I want to be able to have some main courses stashed in the freezer for times when there just isn't time to cook, and (3) when we entertain, I prefer to have everything ready before guests arrive so I can be with them, not in the kitchen.

Last weekend I tested goal #3 with Moroccan Chicken Stew, served with an old favorite of mine, Ina Garten's Curried Cous Cous which is made ahead of time and served at room temperature. One of the guests brought a green salad. I did go a little overboard on dessert, but it was all made ahead of time. Randy took care of beverages. I got to hang out with our guests. Afterwards clean up was fast and easy. And we still had dinner twice more from the leftovers!

Earlier this week I made Fancy Pork Stew with Fennel and Prunes. I have 3 meals worth in the freezer right now. Yeah for goal #2! This weekend I'll make marinara sauce or maybe some chili. After a dinner or two, the rest will go into the freezer.

Who would ever have guessed that food and cooking would become a new passion for me? Although, Randy is making dinner tonight at my request. I just can't face that big bowl of vegetables on the kitchen counter. And he'll be making fried okra for himself, too. Oh well.

101 recipes completed; 204 yet to conquer!

Stuff I Hate. Stuff I Love.

Hate. Right-wing fundamentalists who can't think. You know: do research, analyze the information, and come up with a slightly original thought (perhaps a thought of their own?).

Love. Crab cakes.

Hate. Frying crab cakes. ("Frying" is not my forte in the kitchen.)

Love. Cheese-stuffed roasted peppers.

Hate. Myself when I spend too much time on the computer.

Love. My car.

Hate. When husband takes my car for the day.

Love. Cats.

Hate. Cleaning litter boxes (well, who doesn't?).

Love. Modern medicine.

Hate. Going to the doctor.

Love. Our recent trip to LA.

Tuesday: Check in to the Ambrose

Walk the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica

Watch filming of "Private Practice"

(Tim Daly from "Wings"!)

Dinner at Josie's

Wednesday: Breakfast at the hotel

Warner Brothers VIP Tour

New Dinosaur Hall at the Museum of Natural History

Dinner at The Bazaar at SLS

Thursday: Breakfast at the hotel

The Getty Center

Hollywood Bowl (LA Symphony: Beethoven's 9th)

Dinner at the Bowl (take-out picnic)

Friday: Breakfast at the hotel

Huntington Gardens

Lunch at Celestino's

Hate. Oh, snap. I guess I'm fresh out of hate for the day.

Recipe #100

Lemon Curd - pg. 199

Yeah, yeah. I know. It's been awhile. Travel (his and ours). Sick cat. Garage cleaning (a major project, but part of moving into the not-so-new-anymore house). Ya da, ya da, ya da. You know the drill.

So, I declared today to be cooking day. First, I had 2 test recipes from America's Test Kitchen (home of _Cook's Illustrated_ magazine, a favorite of mine) to make: Simple Almond Granola, and Kale and Sunflower Pesto. Both were delicious and lots of fun to make. Since we're awash in the stuff, I'm also looking forward to making Mark Bittman's Mint "Pesto". (I've recently bought his great cookbook, _How to Cook Everything_, which is billed as a hipper version of _The Joy of Cooking_. It looks to be a more useful cookbook, too. I've never been a fan of _Joy_.)

And I made Lemon Curd! Man, I could eat this stuff straight up. Turns out to be easy to make (since I'm actually a whiz at separating eggs, as well as "stirring constantly") and totally delicious made from Meyer lemons. In the homemade stuff, you add a good bit of lemon zest which really "ups" the flavor. Alice says you can also make fruit curd from any citrus! Oranges! Grapefruit! Limes! Tangerines! Considering that you can also make candied citrus from any citrus, this is an area for further exploration that I'm pretty sure will be made in heaven. Okay, actually made in my kitchen. And -- you can make fruit curd from any berry puree. Who knew!?

Here's where we stand. It's a milestone of sorts.

100 recipes down; 205 recipes yet to make

Lemons and Spiders

Candied Citrus Peel -- pg. 382

Good lord, what a week. Couple of weeks. Month.

Did I mention our pet spiders? Two orb web spiders have set up shop on the outside of our kitchen windows. They are Big Girls who have lived there for at least a month now. (We've had to instruct our cleaning ladies to leave their webs alone.) Absolutely fascinating to watch. They're nocturnal, coming out about 8:30 in the evening. They're back in the sack before I get up in the morning. I'm not normally a big fan of spiders, although I'm not an arachnaphobe either. I mean, I'm willing to go mano a mano with the snarliest of black widow spiders. But these 2 are pretty cool. I was cheering for one last night as she caught and ate a small cricket. What a woman!

Did I mention that we were essentially stood up for a dinner date a couple weeks ago? I mean, a dinner I was making? After buying $120 worth of groceries, developing a menu, and planning a day of cooking? (Who does something like that?!) Soooooo, we've been eating endless homemade tomato soup and pork loin chops and potato salad. And then there's that 4 pounds of Meyer lemons. Well, when life gives me lemons, I check the index in TAOS.

Ta-da! Candied Citrus Peel! In this case, Candied Lemon Peel. Sometimes I read these recipes in TAOS and wonder what the heck Alice is thinking. Who wants to make candied citrus peel, for heaven's sake? Then I actually make the recipe and all is revealed. Here's a great way to use (instead of throw away) the peels left over after juicing citrus. Candying the peel is a two-day process, but is simple. Honestly. Then you put the candied peel in a glass jar in the frig and there you have it! Free candy! Dessert. Toppings for pudding, fruit, ice cream, cupcakes, and so on and so forth. Or just a little treat right out of the jar. Oh yum. I think I finally have a reason to squeeze fresh orange juice. I'll never throw away a citrus peel again.

99 recipes down; 206 recipes to go

Potato Salad, Recipe Testing, a Nook & Uninvited Dogs

Potato Salad - pg. 245

Alice's potato salad is what you call a French potato salad. Made with a vinaigrette. I used Chaparral Gardens Winter Ambrosia vinegar which I totally love. The recipe is very simple, which not everything in _The Art of Simple Food_ is. Actually I've made this twice in the last week. Believe it or not, I don't think I've ever made potato salad before in my entire life. I learned that the potatoes have to be whacked up into smaller pieces than you might at first think, and that both the potatoes and eggs chop up far more easily when chilled. I love this potato salad.

Here's more fun in the kitchen-- I'm now on Cooks Illustrated list to test recipes. Yippee! Someone actually wants my opinions! Tonight I made Spaghetti al Vino Rosso with Swiss Chard and Pinenuts, except I used walnuts since pinenuts are way too darned expensive right now. Simple Almond Granola is the next recipe to test. Bring 'em on!

Even though you'll never see me get over my life long love of real books, I have purchased a Nook Color (Barnes & Noble). Randy bought the simplest Nook Reader a few weeks ago and said we could "share." Right. ... (Crickets chirping in the background) ... Every time Randy has come home with something "we can share," we don't. However, I did some research and decided that if I were to get a Nook, I would want the color version since it does just about everything an iPad can do for a lot less money. And then a refund check came in the mail. Made out to ME! Seems that the insurance is paying for more of my implanted molar than the oral surgery thought they would. Mmmmmmmmmmm. What to do with this sudden windfall? Guess. I thought it was the voice of God speaking to me, "Buy a Nook Color, Sally." So I did. I'm learning my way around it a little bit every day. And still reading real books.

Now about the dogs. Well, let's back up a bit. A week ago we were expecting dinner guests for whom I had planned a terrific dinner and bought a $$$lot$$$ of groceries, if you take my meaning. They backed out at the last minute for no good reason. (And you wonder why I've been making all this potato salad....) Fortunately, we also had wonderful house guests early this week; they took the sting out. But then, my weaving study group came yesterday morning. Two women arrived with a total of 3 uninvited, unexpected dogs. I'll spare you the details except to say that I now have a trashed window screen that has to be entirely replaced, and a scratched-up front door. This is the fancy-shmancy custom-made-in-Santa-Fe Big Splurge front door. I could kill. Who in hell takes unleashed, unsupervised dogs to someone's house uninvited and unexpected??? I was speechless to say the least. When do you think that any of these people will be invited to my house again? You got it.

Well, so much for that. We really did enjoy the heck out of our house guests this week. One of Randy's PhD students from when he was at OSU, with his wife and son. They're doing to college tour thing, hunting for exactly the right school for their son. I'm cheering for CalTech so they can stop and see us more often. We're also expecting the wonderful plein aire artist, Becky Joy, to stay with us again in October. Becky wanted to come back to our house and we are totally delighted to have her. We have 2 of her paintings from last year and may add one or two this year.

Now all I have to do is use up 4 pounds of Meyer lemons that I bought for the fizzled dinner party. Sherbet, pies, sauces, chicken and olives and lemons (it's Tunisian). Yippee! Oh yes, and candied citrus peel. That's on page 382. Stay tuned.

98 recipes completed; 207 to go (time to get cracking here, Girl!)

It's Saturday!

Yup, it's Saturday and I'm STILL being a Responsible Adult. Okay, maybe that's Responsible Adult Lite, but that still counts, doesn't it? I did a necessary but Pain in the Butt (PITA) task this afternoon. Put away winter clothes and brought out summer clothes. If I had fewer clothes (I'm working toward that; really I am) or a bigger closet (as if this one couldn't house a small family in a third-world country) I wouldn't have to do this. In fact, I never had to do this in Los Osos since it doesn't get hot there in the summer (for the most part) and I could always stuff extras in other closets. But here in Atascadero there is a decided winter and summer, and usually an actual spring and fall, too. So, the toasty fleeces, hats, sweaters and wraps get put up on the high shelf for the summer while the short-sleeved tees and linen tops get brought down. Like I say, it's a PITA that I keep putting off because it involves numerous trips up and down the little step ladder. But I did it. And it's done.

In the fiberist area, I bought a black wire mannequin sort of thing at Ross Dress for Less today after our weekly trip to farmers market. Eventually I'll make a custom dress form and this thing will be the stand. Something I've wanted to do for a long time, but didn't know what to use for a stand and was, apparently, too lazy to research and solve the problem. Well, it's solved now. So there. And in the mean, the mannequin will adorably show off my latest whatevers. Cool.

More About Iterative Development

But first, a word about today's Be A Responsible Adult goal. I haven't tended my composting worms in about 6 weeks, although they don't need a lot of attention. Today I just checked them out (they've gotten a lot of work done in 6 weeks!), added some vegetable scraps that themselves had gotten pretty, ah-hem, degraded. I cleaned the dust and dirt off the bins, set the legs into water-filled plastic containers since I found a few ants in the bin, refilled the vinegar fly trap, and drained off accumulated worm tea to feed to plants under the big oak. While I was at it, I cleaned off the outside of the front door and wiped off a few exterior window sills.

But, on to iterative development. I got some helpful feedback from Tien after I emailed her that her WeaveTech post was turning out to be very useful for me right now. I had also commented on iterative development on facebook and received a reply from a retired IT friend of mine, Bill who was just on the Alaska adventure with me and my husband and Bill's wife Mary. Mary is a pretty serious knitter, so Bill was able to see how iterative development might apply to a fuzzy goal (I love the bad joke there) such as "become a better knitter". I added that using iterative development, one might decide over time to specialize in 1 or more specific types of knitting. The beauty of it is that that decision would not have to be made right up front, or even ever really. It would just emerge. Anyway, it was helpful to me that Bill also recognized what I was getting at.

So, feeling that the pressure to perform is now off, I assigned a particular area of endeavor to each of the 5 weekdays. Of course, this is flexible and subject to change, but it ensures that I don't get stuck on any one project or type of work. For the moment, Friday is beadwork day. Today I made a new neckpiece for a much-loved elaborate locket. The previous neckpiece had broken twice. I'll fix something once, but if it breaks again, it clearly is a design that isn't working well. I also didn't want to spend a lot of time on it. I had earlier made a multi-strand ribbon neckpiece with a beaded clasp for a similar locket, so I used that idea for a variation for this locket. Done. What I learned is that my beading skills are a little rusty. Surprise, surprise.

Dinner was Trader Joe's lasagna. But, I think I've found a scarf pattern for my skein of qiviut.

"Setting Goals as a Fiberist"

Maybe that's what I should call myself. A fiberist. But no one knows what that means either. I think I've met exactly one person who knew what I was talking about when I said that I'm a fiber artist. Anyway, that's not the point here.

The point is that my Responsibility Goal today was/is to clear 6 things off my desk. Just start at the top of the pile and start working at it. I got to a really interesting post from Tien Chiu (a very talented and accomplished fiberist) written a couple years ago on the topic of setting goals as a fiberist. I knew that Tien would have something really meaty to say on the subject, so I printed the post from the WeaveTech list. Studying it today was great timing for me.

Tien talked about iterative development from the realm of software development. Basically you develop your "product" in quick iterations EACH OF WHICH PRODUCES A USABLE PRODUCT. For me, personally, I see this as a call to quit thinking about it and just start doing it. (Yes, I often suffer from the paralysis of analysis.) I see this as looking at my UFOs in a whole new light. Here's the new attitude:

Each project, each UFO, is a lesson -- a learning opportunity, if you will -- in design, technique, whatever, that I can then carry on into the next project. So the projects, the learning, keep accumulating like Russian dolls getting bigger and bigger and bigger. This approach puts the emphasis on the process while still offering the payoff of completed projects. All of which builds toward mastery and excellence, which is really my goal in everything I pursue in the fiberist world.

That's it.

Still Responsible...

July 5 - The monthly trek to Costco and Petsmart. (Mostly for soy milk, toilet paper, paper towels, cat food and cat litter.) I even stopped in at my salon and made appointments for a pedicure and hair cut.

Jyly 6 - (That would be today.) Did piles of laundry. But, the real GOAL today was to clean out -- and clean -- the kitchen cabinets under the kitchen sinks. I understand how they get so messy, but I will never understand how they get so dirty. Anyway, they're neat and clean now.

As a reward for being so damned responsible, I'm back in the studio again. I'll probably spend the rest of my life just making stuff I've already planned to make, but that's okay. Most of the time. Saves me a lot of shopping time. A few years ago I got some great fringy, tasselly trim in pink, blue, green and ivory and some upholstery fabric that looks great with it. This afternoon I started making a bag out of it. I want more bags (what we used to call purses), so get to it, I say. I've got plenty of fabric, even a few patterns. I'm even taking process photos since soon, very soon, a daily goal will be to get up to speed in that area.

In the meantime, I'm watching So You Think You Can Dance and continuing to knit the aqua mohair and silver crochet thread strand ribs-and-lace scarf that has given me vast quantities of grief in the last couple of months. Yeah, I'll take a photo of that, too.

Is there anything philosophical to discuss tonight? Nothing knew. Same old stuff. How do I become the person I'd like to be instead of the one I am? I'm 62. I haven't got all day.

Dinner tonight? A melange of leftovers. Leftover control is a constant battle since there are only 2 of us. What does Alice do with leftovers, that's what I want to know.

Moving on With Alice!

Cauliflower Salad with Olives and Capers - pg. 247

Good grief! It's been nearly 4 months since I last worked on my cooking project, which is cooking my way through Alice Waters' cookbook, The Art of Simple Food. Well, I was on a pretty strict diet for awhile, then we went to Alaska for a couple weeks, then I had a bad cold. That's just the way life is.

Yesterday we got a call to attend an impromptu 4th of July neighborhood potluck. Aha! What's in the frig? A cauliflower, capers, frozen lemons (for juice for dressing). Looks like the start of a salad to me! I zipped out for a couple jars of kalamata olives, which I should have on hand anyway, and a red bell pepper for color in the salad. I picked a fistful of spearmint from the garden. Whack, whack, squeeze, squeeze, steam and toss. And an excellent salad that was well received by everyone at the potluck was born. Okay, husband wasn't thrilled with the olives, but then he doesn't like olives. Neighbor Tom, OTOH, praised the addition of the olives.

I've got a long way to go. 97 recipes completed; 208 recipes to go. I've learned so much already. My confidence in the kitchen is so very much greater. I'm excited to see where I'm going to be after another 100 recipes, then at the very end.

Otherwise, I'm feeling scared about a potential health issue which is, in all probability, nothing. And I'm feeling that I'm not being responsible or disciplined, but then again I never do. During July I'm trying to have one, just one, I MUST DO THIS RESPONSIBLE THING TODAY goal each day. And I MUST do that one thing.

July 1: Catch up with spending records and bill paying. DONE

July 2: Box up Bill's bird book and Mary's birthday present to mail next week. DONE

July 3: Sort out rug wool that's been living in the guest shower. DONE

July 4: Clean cat fountain and order new filters for the coming year. DONE

Will I ever reach a point in my life where I don't feel guilty for falling short in all areas of life? Oh, probably not. But life goes on.

97 down, 208 to go, so let's keep cooking!

Part of a New Tooth; Sore Throat

Life is strange and bizarre.

Thursday I had another round with my oral surgeon to place the root of the implant molar that will replace the tooth I lost in January. I'm a whimp. I had general anaesthesia again. Worth every penny. Probably makes the surgeon's job a lot easier, too. Result? Perfect placement. No bleeding. No pain. No kidding.

(Here's the best part: once again Dr. Whitcher's FABULOUS surgical assistant, Susan, wrote me a THANK YOU NOTE afterwards! "Thanks for being a great patient..." "Call if you have any questions." I love these people!)

So, after a frappuchino and a couple of errands, hubby took me home to sleep off the anaesthesia. I woke up with a dreadful sore throat. Didn't take me too long to realize it had nothing to do with the tooth. Just a wretched-bad summer cold, probably picked up on the way home from Alaska. Viral, of course, since I'm on a week's worth of antibiotics which is standard practice for this kind of oral surgery. Meaning that the antibiotics won't do me any good for the cold.

Such is life. I sleep. I knit. Today I'm better, so I'm at the computer a little. The knitting is a specific project which I'll describe tomorrow.

Where Did The MONTH Go?!?

Just to keep from dropping off the face of the blogging world, I gotta share that I've been working very hard at weight loss, specifically "releasing" fat. Basically by aiming at 1200 calories/day of lean protein and plants, and working my butt off at the health club. Can you picture me starting to kick box?? Well, picture it. I'm making great progress, but hanging at the club so much is sucking up a lot of my time. Such is life.

Where Did The Week Go?

It's true. The older I get, the faster time whizzes by. I'm in the habit of taking a shower nearly every morning before I get dressed. Then I feel awake and fit to tackle the day. Sometimes I feel like I'm just going from shower to shower to shower to shower. Does anything happen between showers? Do I actually DO anything, ACCOMPLISH anything, between showers?

Well, I'm just getting that first batch of full-sized sample napkins hemmed and I've made some adjustments on the loom's cables to get a better shed. I've wrestled with the horrible health care system we have in this county, and lost this round. But, my toe is healing nicely. I've run a lot of errands and drunk numerous chai lattes. I've taken advantage of Randy's being out of town for a couple days by seeing 4 movies. (Win Win, Winter in Wartime, The Conspirator, and Jane Eyre, all of which were good.) I found containers for my rolls of paper and my weaving reeds, something I've been hunting for for many months. I've taken Roxanne W. Furrperson to our new vet for a meet-and-greet checkup. I've read lots of bits about weaving and attended my study group's monthly meeting. But it feels like I've done nothing.

Well, better luck this week.

The Full-Size Sample Club

To jump-start my return to weaving, I signed up to participate in an international serviette/napkin exchange. I did this once before years ago. It's really fun. We're still using, on a daily basis, the napkins I received in exchange for the ones I submitted.

I decided to weave 8-shaft broken twill blocks since our local study group is exploring twill this year. I love the look of broken twill blocks. It's one of those structures that can look way more complex than it really is. Appearance-wise, it's probably the closest you can get to damask on 8 shafts.

Since I have a lot of 8/2 unmercerized yarn that I want to use up (it's time to move on to finer and better yarns), I've going to make a whole slew of different color-combinations, all of which will work with our collection of Fiesta dishes.

Well, I'm still getting re-aquainted with my 8-shaft Harrisville loom. It's a quirky little thing. At least I think it's quirky. Maybe it's me that's quirky. And I've never weaved broken twill blocks, so I'm making full-sized samples. It's not that I don't believe in sampling. I do. It's just that I want something to show for it. And I know, from experience, that small samples and the full-sized real item do not necessarily behave the same way all the way through the final wet finishing.

Sooo, I'm in the throes of weaving boysenberry napkins, maybe about 4 of them, with gold and teal stripes. The stripes are the width of blocks, all of which are 1 inch wide and, hopefully, 1 inch square. nnnnvggggggb (That comment is from Stewart.) Of course there is lots of room for variation. It's a good exercise. I'm slowly getting on better terms with this loom. I certainly need all the practice warping that I can get. And, I'll be able to fine-tune a few things based on how these puppies turn out, especially the size of the blocks and the napkins.. Hopefully, the napkins will turn out. Well, that's sort of the point of sampling.

Friday

Okay. Not a terribly exciting day.

Mostly I threaded heddles and I'm still not done.

Randy helped me finish the set-up of the 4-shaft Newcomb which is designed to be a rug loom, but will weave anything. It has a MASSIVE red and black carpet-warp warp already on the sectional backbeam. My father put that warp on years ago and I do mean years. Maybe 20-25 years ago. I haven't a clue what he had in mind other than it was no doubt for rag rugs because that's what he wove. I have boxes and boxes of Pendleton wool strips for rugs that will be perfect for the black and red warp once I figure out how to thread and "tromp" it. It appears to still be in perfect condition. But after those Pendlestrips are woven off????? Well, stay tuned for further adventures. I took Randy out to lunch at Pier 46 to say "thank you."

When we got home, I kept threading heddles. I don't dislike the process, but it does suck up a lot of time because I am not fast at it. Oh well. It's part of the process.

Whine. Sort Of.

Toe that had surgery last week is feeling achy tonight. And I'm feeling whiney as a result. Oh well. Blog for awhile and then crawl into bed with a good book and a couple magazines.

I feel like a hunter-gatherer today. At our monthly weaving guild meetings we hold a raffle. You bring in stuff you don't want anymore (I donated 4 partial cones of red and orange weaving yarns), buy 4/$1.00 raffle tickets (I always buy $5.00 worth; it supports the guild), and put your tickets into paper cups next to stuff you want. I won a book (_The Root of Wild Madder_ by Brian Murphy; it's about Persian rugs), a nice batch of hang tags for selling handwovens, and a wonderful skein of black wool yarn flecked with white that I had to rescue when Stewart and Nicholas just ran off with it (Stewart has a thing about wool and mohair skeins; he thinks they are wild animals). And, I bought a back copy of Handwoven magazine that I didn't already have.

After the meeting I took a Borders gift card that I have on a shopping expedition for the latest copy of Vanity Fair, Stampington's newest Haute Handbags, and a very interesting book by Jeff Sharlet: _The Family, The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power_, although I'm not sure what's so secret about it.

To top it off, when I got home my copy of _The Art of Bolivian Highland Weaving_ had arrived. This is a very exciting (to me) out-of-print book that I found on Etsy for all of $11.00 with shipping. Elsewhere it costs at least $30. And on up. So I was pretty excited to find it at a bargain price. Turns out it is signed by one of the 2 authors, and it arrived with a bunch of weaving patterns and notes from the original owner who was obviously a weaver!

Last but not least, I brought home Roxanne W. Furrperson's heart pills and my toenail fungus pills, and 2 Linn's chicken pot pies for dinner. Linn's is a local company that makes the best pies, both sweet and savory, in the world. We hadn't had Linn's pot pies for dinner in a long time. They are a little pricey, but worth every penny. It was a grand dinner. I also got a multigrain baguette, and made a green salad which I served with a little of that Rogue River Caveman Blue cheese.

To top the day, we just watched an Atlas rocket launch from Vandenberg from our south-facing upstairs balcony.

Okay. Tomorrow I thread those heddles for sure. I promise. I can't wait to start weaving those broken twill block serviettes!

Landscaping

The other thing that's been going on around here is landscaping the areas right around the house, especially on the south and east sides. We hired a company, Sage Ecological Landscapes, to do that work. Design-wise we were all on the same page in the hymnal. Lots and lots of native bunch grasses, some striking agaves, and a few other native shrubs and perennials. Three big California buckeye trees on the north side. And culinary herbs around the birdbath right outside our bedroom window. Sage reworked the flagstone pathway on the south side and added a french drain under the balcony. The guys pretty much finished up today. They were totally wonderful. Friday they'll return to plant my culinary bay laurel tree, a Saratoga cultivar. And they will add more grasses in a couple weeks when those plants are big enough to plant. We generally used smaller plants and put the money into gopher baskets for everything. I think going with smaller plants and baskets is going to pay off in the long run. We bought the baskets ourselves and have plenty left over for future expansion of plantings on the north and west sides where Randy is working of restoring native vegetation. The three men who did the actual work here over the last 2.5 weeks were fabulously skilled and very professional. I'm kind of going to miss them.

I did the tie-up and sleyed the reed for my first batch of serviettes. This is exciting, to be making fabric again. It seems quite magical to me.

Weaving and Stuff

I know. I've not been the daily blogger I mean to be. Stuff on my mind. Politics. Religion. The future of life on the planet, if any. And my big toe.

Ah yes! The big toe! The right one. I've got this cool podiatrist. He's helping me get rid of my toenail fungus. Heading my call to fix problems now while I'm "young" and can still actually reach my toes, he allowed as how he could remove, permanently, the outside parts of that nail. While it hasn't bothered me in years, that ingrown nail did give me a lot of grief when I was younger, so I volunteered to go along with his plans for a little quicky surgery. All went well when he whacked on me a week ago. But it looks like hamburger and is a little bruised and sore. I couldn't do yoga for a week, and even now will have to be pretty careful with it until it heals. Well, whimp that I am becoming, I did volunteer for this one.

Cooking? Venison! Not in TAOSF. Venison pot roast the first day, following a a Cooks Illustrated method for beef. Venison in left-over sauce over noodles the second day. And tonight, risotto with red wine, broccoli, and diced venison. I love venison. I was testing, tonight, Alice's thoughts on using risotto as a base for assorted odds and ends in the frig. I think we're on to something here. I think that risotto is the new meatloaf. Odds and ends used in this risotto: broccoli, venison pot roast, ends of parmesan, odd bit of leftover beef stock, and opened red wine.

Weaving? Yes, I'm weaving again. A large reason for starting to think about building this house we now live in is that I did not have room at our old house to weave. Right now, all 3 of my floor looms are sitting side-by-side in their permanent locations in my new studio. The Harrisville is in use. The Newcomb rug loom is nearly ready to go. And then I'll start working on the 16 shaft Macomber that I've never been able to use although I've had it for years.

What I'm working on is my contribution to The 2011 Occasional International Serviette/Napkin Exchange. I'm planning to make tons of napkins since my goal is to make a bunch for myself as well as for the exchange. My inspiration is our Fiesta dishes, of which we have a lot, both vintage and new. I'm using 8/2 unmercerized cottons from my stash, since I'm looking for casual napkins that will hold up well to constant use and laundry. And, I don't want to buy new yarn! I've got a monster stash to use up! The yarn colors I'm using are all echoed somewhere in the Fiesta collection.

The hard part, of course, is figuring out what sort of structure to weave. I'm starting with 8-shaft, 2-block, broken twill. The blocks are 1-inch square across a 20" wide warp set at 24 epi. The first group of 4 napkins are on a mostly red-purple warp with yellow-orange and blue-green stripes that coincide with the blocks. I'll start with a plaid sort of layout and see what develops. I'm a member of the full-sized sample club.... If this warp works out well, I'll simply use the end of the warp to tie on succeeding warps in other colorways.

In any event, today I made all these decisions and wound the first warp. Tomorrow, the world. Or something.

Life

It's true. I haven't blogged for awhile. First, I was too pissed off about what's been going on Wisconsin (and Michigan, and Ohio). You don't even want to get me started. Then I was too shocked and saddened about what's been happening in Japan. Then I got busy weaving again. And I still don't know what to say. But I'll try. Honest I will.

I Am a Risotto Master

Risotto Bianco - pg. 105

No kidding. I am a risotto master. I knocked off risotto bianco tonight, along with a loaf of no-knead walnut and raisin bread. Of course, I can't resist screwing around with recipes these days, I'm getting so cocky in the kitchen. So, I added chopped brown mushrooms to the onions at the beginning and tossed in a few fresh shrimp toward the end. It wasn't very "bianco," but it sure was good. (Roxanne W. Furrperson got a cooked, chopped shrimp after our dinner. She loves shrimp.)

I've decided that (1) risotto is easy, and (2) risotto is my new meat loaf. (1) I didn't even bother measuring anything to make the risotto bianco since you judge everything as you go along by taste and texture anyway. How easy is that! (2) Like meat loaf, you can put any weird stuff you have in the frig into risotto. Whatever odds and ends of cooked veggies, meat, cheese you happen to have on hand. Just toss it in. I certainly wasn't sure about combining mushrooms and shrimp, but it was delicious.

I'm so into this risotto thing that I just ordered Vialone Nano rice and Carnaroli rice from igourmet. It would be fun to have a dinner party comparing risottos made from these 2 rices with some made with Arborio (which is easy to find locally; the other 2 are not).

Otherwise, as we wait for massive explosions and/or meltdowns and radiation releases from 6 (count them: SIX) stricken nuclear reactors in Japan, I tied on my red chenille warp. Tomorrow I weave! Yeah!

96 recipes completed; a mere 209 yet to make

Big Week for Cooking

Moroccan Carrot Salad with Ginger - pg. 246

Earlier this week we hosted our neighborhood foodies for a north-African themed dinner. This involved days of menu planning, shopping, and cooking. I loved every minute of it.

I made bread, a total of 4 loaves so guests could take some home, too. Served simply, family style, were lamb tagine, curried cous cous, and carrot salad with ginger. Numerous bottles of wine and sparkling water littered the table.

For desert I made red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and chocolate cupcakes filled with chocolate ganache and frosted with Mexican chocolate frosting. Tom brought a nice dry champagne to go with.

As you might imagine, everyone went home with cupcakes as well as bread; and we've been eating leftovers ever since. What a way to go!

95 recipes conquered (more or less) and 210 left to tackle

It's All About Japan Right Now

Apparently I'm the only person who has had trouble tearing herself away from the TV and what's been going on in Japan and around the Pacific Rim. We are one earth. These things impact all of us. I remember 3-Mile Island. Southern California is way overdue for a Big One. The question is not "if". The only question is WHEN. Are we paying attention? Are we learning anything at all from Japan's experience?

A Day of Round Two-its

Oh, you know what I mean. All those little niddling tasks that pile up all over the place. The ones you don't want to do right now. So, you'll do them some time when you get a round to it. Today, I did a lot of round two-its.

Boxed up stuff in the garage that will be donated somewhere. It's all in boxes in the car, which is 90% of the battle. First donation drop-off I pass gets it.

Cleaned and slightly reorganized several drawers in the kitchen. As I'm getting more and more into cooking and baking, where things should be stored is becoming more obvious.

Resolved a bunch of pending projects in my closet. (Where should this go? Where should that go? Fix broken earring? Nah, toss it. Put jewelry back in appropriate places. Dust -- that would be a verb, not a noun. Etc.)

Put stuff away in my studio. (There is always stuff in my studio that needs to be put away.)

How on god's green earth can this stuff take all day? I haven't a clue, but it does.

Rice Again

Plain Rice: Absorption Method One - pg. 100

I tell ya, I've just about got this rice thing under my belt! Tonight I poured Trader Joe's green curry tuna over short-grain rice, prepared by Alice's first absorption method. I can also make pilaf and risotto, so as soon as I make "boiled and baked long-grain rice" and risotto blanco (I always make gussied-up risottos), I'll have this whole rice conundrum conquered. No small achievement for a girl who was brought up on Minute Rice. Heck, that was the only kind I made for decades. I mean, decades.

Otherwise, we shopped today for our neighborhood foodies dinner next week. I made a shopping list in the morning. We went to farmers market, lunch, our new favorite winery, Trader Joe's, and Home Depot for blocks to extend our upper retaining wall. Farmers market yielded red-leaf lettuce, strawberries, green onions, fennel, cilantro, and flat-leaf parsley. We found a nice organic cauliflower where we had a not-so-impressive lunch. Mostly I wanted the cauliflower for the Blue Bunny label....

Our new favorite winery is Dubost on the west side out of Paso Robles. We bought Reserve Syrah and Zinfandel after tasting a variety of red wines and one chardonay. I'm feeling sad tonight, though, since I've learned that the family's 34-year-old son and head winemaker was killed in a vehicular accident just 6 months ago. What a terrible loss for many people.

Well, life goes on and so did we. To Trader Joe's for most of the rest of what I need, and to Joebella for coffee. Truthfully, I almost always get chai lattes these days. They are especially good at Joebella.

We picked up our blocks, came home. Randy placed the blocks. I made dinner. And here we are. Basically, that was the day. A good day to be alive and a beautiful day on the Central Coast.

P.S. I also made glazed carrots for dinner. Randy, who is not a big carrot fan on the best of days, said they were the best carrots ever. Yeah!

94 recipes down and 211 to go, more or less

Boy, Am I Steamed

Steamed Sole - pg. 331

Yeah, well, besides the bullshit that's going on in Wisconsin and Ohio.... Don't even get me started.

Other than going to yoga and the grocery store, I literally spent the day in the kitchen. I'm searching for a good lavender cupcake. Tried 2 different batches today, although neither one was the lavender cupcake of my dreams. Topped them both with a lemoncello frosting which seemed a good complement for the lavender flavor. ...Not to mention that I washed all those same dishes 3 times!

And I finished and baked my second no-knead rye loaf. This one came out much better than the first rye loaf. I just let that sucker ferment away for a full 48 hours! Nice to know you can mix the dough and just ignore it.

For dinner, I tacked steaming fish, dover sole in this case. This was somewhat difficult since I don't really have whatever appropriate equipment you're supposed to use to steam fish, but it was still okay. And quick. And seems pretty fool-proof. Served with oven roasted butternut squash and potatoes. And the rye bread, of course.

Whew. I'm pooped.

93 recipes down; 212 recipes to go (100 recipes down or bust!)

Carcass. I Love That Word. Carcass.

Turkey Soup with Kale - pg. 254

The first ingredient in this recipe is "1 roasted turkey carcass." Alice says this is "a good soup to make the day after Thanksgiving." Alice, apparently, thinks I make turkey for Thanksgiving. Alice is wrong. What I make for Thanksgiving is reservations. For which I then proceed to give thanks. However, I happen to have a meaty chicken carcass left from the recent French Chicken in a Pot. More importantly, I have everything else I need, so Poultry Soup with Kale it is.

I can't say this is the most exciting thing I've ever made or eaten. Alice seems to have a fondness for thin, light soups. I have a fondness for soups you eat with a fork and knife (almost). But, it's in the book and I've made it and I can now check this recipe off the list.

92 recipes completed with a mere 213 recipes to go

Tuesday was Shopping Day

I don't often get in the mood to shop. But it hit me yesterday. Must be that first-of-the-month thing when I'm feeling flush.

#1 Petsmart for cat food, kitty litter and pill pockets.

#2 Costco for assorted groceries and a memory foam contoured pillow since I've taken to stealing Randy's when he's out of bed before me in the mornings.

#3 New Frontiers for bulk rye flour and whole wheat flour. And organic lavender. I want to make lavender cupcakes.

#4 Two black T-shirts from the sale rack at Chico's. My uniform of choice these days on top of black jeans. Or blue jeans.

Topped with a movie and dinner with my dear friend Laurel. We laughed out loud all the way through "My Dog Tulip". Ya gotta love British humor. Dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant, Thai Palace.

This morning it's back to the gym since I ditched yoga yesterday for shopping. A girl's got to do what a girl's got to do. Although I did start another loaf of no-knead rye bread before I left home yesterday morning. That counts for something, doesn't it?

TGI Monday

I've noticed lately than Mondays seem to be lost days for me. I just don't seem to get anything accomplished on Mondays. This is NOT a good way to start a week, since it's all downhill from there as often as not. Soooooo, I made an extra effort today to have a plan and to stick to it. It worked.

#1 NO HOUSEWORK! Housefrauing can quickly eat up a lot of time, plunging the day into creative darkness. Housefrauing NOT done!

#2 Clean the rug loom's canvas apron. It had fallen pray to what appears to have been a large kitty hairball of the soggy type while it was in the garage at the old house. Desperately needed a thorough cleaning. And I do mean desperately. With Chlorox spray cleaner followed by lots of water and sunlight. Done!

#3 Clean and set up the little 8-shaft Harrisville floor loom. It needed all of its pieces and parts thoroughly dusted and put into their proper places, wing nuts tightened, that sort of thing. Fortunately, it survived its years of inactivity and the move to the new house in better shape than I had feared. It's all ready to warp. Done!

#4 Unpack, sort, and organize weaving tools. Some went into what I now call the Ba-Bye Box. Everything else is cleaned and put in appropriate places. Done!

#5 Finished a loaf of no-knead rye bread. Oh yum! Done!

#6 Went to the Paso Robles Kennedy Club for my favorite yoga class, Chai Ball. (I know it sounds weird, but it's wonderful. Trust me on this.) Done!

Damn, that was good.

Fennel!

Sauted Fennel - pg. 306

Fennel is becoming one of my new favorite vegetables. Who knew it was so easy to saute and so tasty with a little of our local Pepper Plant Sauce and a healthy squeeze of lemon added right before serving?! This was another of Alice Waters' recipe in TAOSF.

I also made French Chicken in a Pot from America's Test Kitchen and Cooks Illustrated. You can google it. Best chicken I've ever had, and chicken au jus. I've never had chicken au jus until tonight. OMG.

And we ate the last part of The Perfect Bread. (Rise, rye dough. Rise.)

And I did housefrau stuff today since I am NOT, NOT, NOT doing any cleaning or laundry this week. No, no, no.

And I spent too much time on the computer.

And life goes on.

91 recipes completed and 214 yet to tackle

At Last! Bread!

I've kneaded bread in the traditional way. I don't care to ever do it again. I don't have the arm muscles of a cross-channel swimmer. I am a confirmed bread machine bread baker. I love my Zojurushi. But still, I have lusted after that perfect artisan bread that usually costs a small fortune at fancy bakeries, if you can find it at all, which, in San Luis Obispo County, you cannot. It's that crunchy-crusted round full of holes that you rip apart and dunk in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It's the bread of my dreams.

So, months ago I purchased Jim Lahey's book, "My Bread." It's a no-knead, no-work (no kidding) method that yields that bread of my dreams: the Perfect Bread. I've also been prompted, by Jim and my other cooking experiments, to invest in 3 covered cast iron pots, all of which get used a lot these days. Friday I finally got my courage up (my cooking courage has grown immeasurably in the intervening months) and started a loaf of the basic bread.

The key to Jim's method is a very slow rise using little yeast. Twelve-18 hours normally. Since it's been a bit nippy here, I let my first rise go nearly 24 hours, which was just fine. The second rise was increased from 2 hours to about 4-5. My point is that if you don't get around to whatever the next step is right away, it's not a big deal. After 2 rises, and NO KNEADING between, you just dump the dough into a hot pot and bake.

Out of the oven came . . . ta-da . . . The Perfect Bread. OMG.

Since it takes all of 10 minutes, even for pokey me, to get a batch going, I've already started a rye loaf. Even my picky, picky, picky, highly critical husband says this is the bread of his dreams. And, believe me, he is impossible to please.

So, get the book. Read it. And make bread. I know, I know. The recipe is on the internet. However, as is the case in many things, the information on the internet isn't necessary everything you need to know to get The Perfect Bread. Believe me on this one. Plus, Jim's book tells you all about both the science and the art of The Perfect Bread. And, he gives you lots and lots and lots and lots of other ideas and recipe connected with the dough. Pizza! Focaccia! The sandwiches of your dreams! And what to do with any leftovers that get stale, as if that will ever happen.

Rice! Another Peak Experience!

Plain Rice: Absorption Method Two - pg. 100

As mentioned in an earlier post, I've never been able to cook rice. It's been a bloody mystery to me. I was heartened to read this from Alice: "Cooking plain rice used to seem mysteriously difficult to me...." If Alice has struggled with rice, it's okay that I, a mere kitchen mortal, have endured the same struggle.

But tonight! With Alice's guidance! I have triumphed! I used her method of pre-washing the long-grain rice to remove excess starch and then soaking it before adding heat. And now I know to let rice rest after cooking, too. It worked! Nice, perfectly cooked, fluffy rice. Seriously! A triumph!

I just topped the rice with a Trader Joe's find: tuna in green curry sauce. Sounds a little weird, but it's really good as are most things from TJ's.

Next I will track down some short-grain rice and try absorption method one. And the boiled and baked long-grain rice. This rice study is really paying off for me. My confidence is soaring.

90 recipes completed and a mere 215 to go...

Awww, Nuts

Roasted Almonds with Herbs - pg.216

Leftover Red Rice Pilaf for dinner tonight, followed by an apple crisp which I've been meaning to make for about 6 weeks now.... But I'm still on a roll! What else new can I make from TAOSF? There is a chapter called "A Little Something..." which includes some stuff that looks pretty ambitious to me, but the chapter starts with roasted nuts. I have nuts. I have fresh sage leaves. I'm good to go.

Alice says to roast the nuts in the oven. No way, Alice! I know that roasting nuts can go over the edge into charcoal land in a flash, so I did mine on the cooktop where I could watch them like Fannie Foxtail watches finches on the birdfeeder. I mean every second. I'm not sure what the point of the fresh herbs is, since those went off into charcoal land pretty fast. But the final product, a mix of pecans, almonds and walnuts, was scrumptious. We inhaled them with our leftover pilaf.

Otherwise... Have I mentioned how much I love my Chai Ball class, which is one of my yoga classes? Yoga resterday. Chai Ball today. Restorative yoga tomorrow. Love it, love it, love it.

Then I went on a hunt for 7/8" ID plastic tubing. Nothing locally, but darned if I wasn't able to track it down in an instant on Amazon. No shipping. No sales tax. I'll get 6 feet of the stuff when I only really need 18", but at least I'll have it. Shopping in the 21st century.

Still unpacking rug loom parts. Thank heaven the heddles are in good shape. I have to get all new heddles for the 16 shaft Macomber which is going to cost a fortune. And, I fished out the Harrisville brochures, so I hope I can get that one up and running in the next few days.

89 recipes completed & 216 yet to tackle!

I'm On a Roll (or Maybe It Was Leftover Herb Bread)

Red Rice Pilaf - pg. 102

I've always struggled with cooking any rice other than Minute Rice. I make Randy do it when I need rice. Alice, however, has an entire chapter just on rice. Shoot (and that's not exactly the word I am really thinking). I gotta do this. I gotta cook rice. Sooooo, I started the rice chapter with Red Rice Pilaf. The rice is actually sauteed in olive oil and already-sweated onions before you add the liquid which, in this case, is chicken broth. This might help me.

The other thing that's cool about this recipe is that it calls for a bunch of stuff I happen to have: leftover chicken, a couple Roma tomatoes, and some broccoli. You could make this recipe using any weird leftovers, however, which makes it a great go-to dinner.

Long story short, it turned out GREAT! I know enough to leave the lid on, since I've looked too often many times before. And I know enough to let the damned thing just rest for awhile after the heat comes off, although Alice has you do that, too.

I am a happy camper. I cooked rice. Randy was amazed. So was I. And I hardly thought about politics all day.

88 recipes completed; 217 to go

Back to Alice Waters and The Art of Simple Food

Herb Bread - pg. 60

Good grief! It's been 2 months since I've cooked something from my TAOSF project. I've taken a lot of side trips during that time. To Cooks Illustrated. To The Barefoot Contessa. To Martha Stewart. To Fine Cooking. To recipes discovered on the internet. And to some of my own creations.

Today I made Herb Bread for dinner, along with a salad. Actually, Alice uses the same recipe for both herb bread and pizza. So, I made something half way between, a gussied-up herb bread topped with sliced roma tomatoes, whole kalamata olives, chopped sage and parsley, and lots of shredded mozzarella. It was amazingly good. It's a dough with character, provided by the inclusion of rye flour. Plus, I got to use my Breville stand mixer to mix the ingredients (which took seconds) and knead the dough.

I'm amazed at how much I actually have learned about cooking since I started this project a little over a year ago. I read. I watch the Food Network. I talk about cooking with other foodies. But ultimately, nothing substitutes for doing it. My confidence is building. I'm feeling more in control in the kitchen. I'm understanding the science of cooking more and more. It's quite an adventure.

Otherwise, I'm getting all the pieces of my rug loom unpacked, cleaned, and assembled in my studio. It's going to be quite the jigsaw puzzle to put it all back together. Tell me it will happen. I'm filled with doubt.

87 recipes completed; 218 left to explore

Busy Day for the Brain in My Head

Stuff I've been thinking about today. And it's only 3:30 p.m.

It occurs to me that because she reads my blog, my mother-in-law knows more about me than anyone. (She certainly knows more about me by now than does my husband!) Well, this is true with the possible exception of my friend Giana/Georgiana/Georg.

I've been thinking about which is more important: the message or the messenger. Do you dismiss an important message because it comes at a time when it isn't truly relevant, or via a messenger you don't like?

What IS the "mainstream media"? NBC/CBS/ABC/Fox? CNN? MSNBC? PBS? NPR? The New York Times? The Los Angeles Times? The Washington Post? Newsweek? Time? People Magazine? Star? Which ones are owned by corporations? Which are owned by individuals? Which are owned by us citizens? How do you define "mainstream media"? And what, if anything, is wrong with "mainstream media"?

Has political discourse EVER been civil and well mannered? Ever?

What IS the purpose of government? The people banding together to do for themselves and their fellow citizens what individuals cannot do singly or in very small groups? That's what I think. Or should we leave most of those tasks and obligations to civil groups or religious groups or individuals and just band together for national defense and leave it at that.

When did our government become The Enemy to so many people? Why did those people turn their backs on their own responsibilities to keep that from happening? Or is The Enemy just a convenient boogeyman to blame when life is tough (and it always is)?

What will it take for the middle class in the USA to start standing up for itself?

I'm thinking of how proud I am to have been part of the public employee labor movement in Wisconsin. I was the first Grievance Committee Chairman, married to the first President, of the only public employee labor union that successfully struck in the entire history of the state of Wisconsin. Man, how I wish I were in Madison right now to add my voice to those at the Capital.

How do I know if my stand mixer is really kneading dough properly?

Will I be able to figure out how to set up my looms? And weave? It's been so long. I'm more scared right now than eager.

What should I do about the quilt top I just finished that has the wrong yellow (it's too green) in the setting strips? Ignore it? Toss it (send it to Goodwill)? Finish the quilt anyway, since it won't be the only weird quilt I've ever made?

How do I know if bread dough has been sufficiently kneaded? If all those little glutens have been sufficiently developed?

Why is there a chicken over there?

Progress, or Lack Thereof...

I guess I'm just hard on myself, but I never seem to have a truly productive day. So this morning I made one of those lists with priorities A, B, and C, and a few other things. Well, son of a gun, I actually got A, B, and C all accomplished. And nearly all of the rest of it, although "the rest of it" consisted of such thrilling things as laundry and ironing, repairing a shirt of Randy's, and cleaning litter boxes.

Dinner was excellent: whole wheat spaghetti with kale and shredded chicken. I'm sometimes quite amazed at the progress I'm making with my cooking skills. Passing up all those prepared-food type recipes in favor of "from scratch" approaches to cooking is really paying off. The flavors and textures are worth the time investment.

But still I wonder: will I ever grow up? or just grow old?

Red Velvet

But first another word about my toenail fungus! (Appetizing thought, isn't it?) Over the years I've tried knocking it out with Vicks, Miranol, vinegar, bleach, and many bottle of tea tree oil. Plus, vigorous clipping and filing with sterilized equipment. All the over-the-counter and witch-doctor self-help ministrations known to man. I'd say that slow progress has been made. The good news is that my nails and nailbeds are actually in pretty good condition as a result. Except for the stubborn fungus. #$%^&@*&!

What finally drove me to the podiatrist is that one nail has become so raised and misshapen that I can't wear normal dress shoes anymore. This is not necessarily a big problem now, but it might be when I am truly geriatric, God willing I should live that long. If I ever become truly elderly, I may not physically be able to care for my toenails as thoroughly as I do now. I want to go forward in time with my body in as good a condition as I can get it (given my love of food and fat... ahem). That's why I had my hiatal hernia fixed. That's why I joined a health club and do lots of yoga.

Another reason I saw a podiatrist is that the FDA has recently approved laser treatments for toenail fungus. However, after discussing all the pros and cons of various approaches with the podiatrist I decided to follow his recommendation to try oral medication. What the heck; why not. Tea tree oil. Pills. As of now, I'm doing both simultaneously. My concern is more with results than it is with method. If I can't get that one misshapen nail under control now, it might eventually have to be removed altogether. Ick. Don't want to go there at all.

So, yes. Right now I am taking oral antifungal medication AND continuing my use of tea tree oil, at least twice a day, as a topical treatment. (Stuff stinks, though.)

On to Red Velvet! Cupcakes, that is. I finally used my new Breville stand mixer (which I now love, love, love). Last night I made nearly 2.5 dozen red velvet cupcakes using Bobbie Flay's recipe. This morning, I made his cream cheese frosting and finished the little cakes. YUM. I'm looking forward to making more cupcakes, which I love, love, love; and using the Breville again and again. It's a gem. Very intuitive to use. Very easy to clean.

Oddly, the potluck group where I took the cupcakes was not impressed. I didn't think Randy and I could eat 2 dozen cupcakes on our own. So, I stopped at one of my favorite eating spots, Fig Good Food here in Atascadero, and shared them with the staff and customers there. Got good reviews, too.

Another hot event today was the Central Coast Weavers' first Pay-It-Forward event. Members who wanted to participate brought books, yarn, equipment and supplies they no longer wanted and took home new stuff that other participants no longer wanted. No money was exchanged at all. Several looms changed hands, lots and lots of yarn, some spinning fibers, and a wealth of books and miscellaneous stuff. The only firm rule is that you had to take your own stuff home if no one else took it.

As you might guess, I was thrilled with the stuff I brought home since it all speaks immediately to things I'm interested in right now. My first pick was some fine mohair weaving yarn that is of a quality I don't think you can even buy anymore. It's a rich golden yellow color, and used to belong to the grand dame of our guild, Ena Marston, who passed away a few years ago at nearly 100. I want to weave a twill scarf with this yarn as a memory of Ena and the encouragement she gave me, and many others, as a beginning weaver.

Which reminds me. Ena's mother was pregnant with Ena and living in San Francisco at the time of the Great Earthquake there. A pretty cool memory.

More Surgery! Wow! Yippee!

You know that I'm a frustrated health care provider. I get a big charge out of being a one-woman medical experiment. In fact, I even did that for real once and would do it again. (The drug in question that time was giving us test subjects neurological problem, so the study was ended abruptly.) As it turns out (who knew?!), the older you get, the more opportunities you get to be a medical test subject. It's just one experiment/experience after another!

At age 62 I have a family physician and a physician's assistant, a dentist and an oral surgeon, an ophthalmologist, a general/vascular/thoracic surgeon, an orthopedic surgeon and a physical therapist, a pulmonologist and a gastroenterologist, a menopausal medicine specialist and a nurse practitioner, and -- now -- a podiatrist! (This is in addition to the women who cut my hair and give me pedicures.) (I used to have a psychologist and a psychiatrist, but now I take pills.) For extra measure, I'll throw my pharmacist into the mix since I consider him a valuable and valued member of my health care team. Good lord.

Which brings me to the podiatrist. In an effort to get on top of health issues before I get really old and decrepit, I saw this guy to see what could be done about the toenail fungus (ick!) that I've battled for a very long time. I will soon be taking more pills for that. He says the outlook for me is good. While he was at it, he noticed that I have a large toenail that is prone to being ingrown. I've battled with that one since I was a little girl, but it hasn't bothered me in a long time so I've taken to ignoring it. "That," he informed me, "could easily be permanently fixed with a little 'procedure'." I LOVE how they call whacking your body up with sharp things "procedures." I'm game! So, in 6-7 weeks I'm in it for more surgery! Yippee! Also, turns out that Dear Hubby had this same "procedure" when he was a teenager. Who knew? He doesn't tell me anything, but that's another story.

Otherwise, yesterday I attended my weaving guild's study group meeting. I didn't learn all that much, but got to eat brownies and knit, both of which activities are hard to do at home since Stuart loves to see what I'm eating and to run off with my yarn. And, I went to the second meeting of my Islam class, a lecture and discussion about Mohammed. Our rapidly expanding class met in a local movie theater so we had the option of buying popcorn. I admit it. I bought popcorn.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Money and Food

Two of the things that dominate our lives, eh? Money and food.

I spent a good part of the day working on financial records since one of my resolutions for 2011 is to keep better track of where my money is going. I'm actually breaking ALL expenditures down by category. I want to find out, e.g. how much I spend each month on groceries, on art supplies, and so on. It's a pain. I have to write down everything, every penny I spend. But, hopefully, with better information I will be able to manage my money more effectively.

Yeah, no one wants to talk about death, sex or money. So, how about food instead?

Last night I made a simplified version of coq au vin with my expensive "leftover" zin. I was pretty disappointed, even though I followed Julia Childs' directions to the letter. I just didn't think it was anything special, and the sauce desperately needed reduction. So tonight I reduced the sauce and gussied it up with mustard, pepper, spinach and green bean pieces (the latter 2 remainders from the depths of the veggie drawer). Tossed in some of the leftover chicken, shredded, and served it all over lightly buttered pasta. Much better. Much better indeed. This version was good. Watching "Chopped" on TV is making me much braver in creating meals from odds and ends and leftovers.

I also took a shot at making spicy hot chocolate as a sort of late-afternoon snack for Randy and me. Wonderful stuff. Basically, hot chocolate with cinnamon and cayenne. I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to the plain stuff.

I wouldn't call this a productive day. Shuffling numbers is not my idea of great fun. But, I'll admit, I feel more secure and holier-than-thou after getting caught up with financial stuff. Plus, American Idol is finally getting good. I love Hollywood Week. Finally! People who can actually sing!

It's Been Awhile, Eh?

Lordy, lordy, where does the time go?

The turquoise mohair lace scarf with the silver thread and silver beads is knitting along quite nicely. I had to start the thing over about 8 times to get everything right (needle size, how to manage the 2 strands plus beads, knit-3-together on very fuzzy yarn which is hard to do). It is going slow, however, since I can only work on it OUT OF THE HOUSE. Why? Stuart loves, loves, loves to run off with the ball of mohair. He's very persistent. He's a kitten. Need I say more?

I'm almost ready to try downward dog again. I'm feeling stronger and more secure in yoga. I stretch until serious pain sets in during yoga classes. I need to do that and it's really helping. I love my yoga classes. Seriously.

What else.... We're starting work on landscaping. By which I mean we have a signed contract with the landscaper and a place on their calendar for early next month. Can't wait to see all those grasses and agaves in the ground!

Randy's brother and his wife were here for part of the weekend. We went to a guitar concert, ate a lot, and yakked.

I shopped. I did laundry. I cleaned. My last 2 cooking attempts were flops, in my opinion. Well, they can't all be great successes. Ya gotta learn by doing. Fortunately, even the flops are still edible. So far.

I finished and reviewed (on Amazon) _The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet_ by Reif Larsen. Loved it, but it's strange.

Accompanied RDK to a winemaker fundraising dinner on Sunday. Excellent food, drink and company. Plus, I got to bring home a couple opened bottles of wine for cooking. Expensive opened bottles of wine for cooking. A rare treat.

Today I have GOT to tackle the current pile of crap on my desk. Which I did Friday, too. How does this happen?

Did I mention the Taste of Islam class? Thursday evenings for 6 weeks? Sponsered by Congregation Beth David, Mosque of the Nasreen, St. Andrew's Greek Orthodox Church, Mt. Carmel Lutherna Church, and SLO United Methodist Church. Led by Rev. Jane Voight (who must be a stand-up comic in her spare time), Dr. Stephen Lloyd-Moffett from Calpoly (a terrific lecturer), and Dr. Rushdi Abdul-Cader (who is so good looking, he gets me tongue-tied). The class is free and absolutely jam-packed with about 4-5 times the number of participants who were expected. How cool is that?

Last, but far from least, I am now an ordained priest in The Church of the Latter-Day Dude. Only because The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster doesn't seem to have an ordination program. But, Dudeism is good for me. Reminds me to not take things too seriously, which I have a tendency to do.

Okay. Back to that pile of crap.

I'm Still Here!

Made saffron risotto with oven-roasted butternut squash for dinner. Then spent a couple hours researching agaves for our landscape. I've chosen A. gentryi 'Jaws', A. montana 'Baccarat', and A. zebra. Just what you always wanted to know.

I've been so busy! Working like mad on what is turning out to be a rather bizarre quilt. Getting back to the fitness center -- yoga is not for whimps.

Forgive me for straying, yet again, from TAOSF. The risotto is an Ina Garten dish. Because we have a squash on the kitchen counter and because I've had a craving for risotto.

The Packers won!! Yeah!!!

We went to a free dress rehearsal of the SLO symphony.

I found 2 large Calphalon pots at Ross and snapped them both up. Also, 3 T-shirts and 1 pair of shoes. Under the new regime, 3 shirts IN means 3 shirts OUT. So far I've offed only 2..... And 1 pair of shoes IN means 1 pair of shoes OUT. I did that.

Did I mention that yoga is not for whimps?

Working on a Quilt Top (Yes, It's a UFO...)

On my way to yoga last night, I took the brown tweed yarn to Laurel. She likes it. I thought she would. I think it will work perfectly for the project she has in mind for it. She turned me on to a cool web site for knitters and crocheters: Ravelry. I joined and found a good pattern for a NEW project (of manageable size) that I have in mind. Unlike so many web sites, this one has tons and tons of actually useful, accessible content. ... My only problem with doing a knitting project right now is Stuart. Stuart has a new pastime. He likes to pick things up in his mouth and run off with them. Pieces of plastic wrap. Measuring tapes. Pencils and pens. But his very favorite? Balls of yarn. ... Balls of yarn. ... Oh well.

Lately I have been madly working on a UFO quilt. It's called Building Blocks, for lack of a better name right now. The fabric is all hand dyes, made by me and collected in swaps. The blocks are done. Today I'm working on the setting strips (b-o-r-i-n-g). I'd love to have this top and back done by the end of the week. So, I'd better quit writing and get back to it. Okay.

Letting Go and Moving On

Another UFO is out the door.

Years ago when I worked for the County I knitted in staff meetings to avoid strangling my co-workers. I know. I had knitting needles in my hands, but my hands were kept busy, which is how I avoided wrapping them around the throats around me. (I'm on medication now. Don't worry.)

So, in those meetings I made most of a sweater from some lovely brown tweed Phildar Superwash wool. But eventually the project got set aside and forgotten. Last year, in the process of packing and moving, I "unknitted" all the yarn and started another project with it, but it just wasn't happening for me. Since this project has been toward the top of the overall UFO pile, it's been on my mind lately. Last night at dinner I was telling my sister knitter, Laurel, about it and she, the goddesses bless her, expressed a desire to have the yarn for her very own. Yippee!! This morning I happily boxed up the whole thing and will take the yarn to her this weekend.

In this case I have to admit that the value of the project was in the process, not in the end result. I got my money's worth out of that yarn sitting knitting away in those meetings. Been there, done that. Let it go and move on. I've honestly never had this experience before, that is, the experience of knowing in my heart that the value of the thing was in the process, not in the product, and that it was okay -- good even -- to let the thing go and move on to something else that really interests and excites me right now. Wow.

Not to mention that giving the yarn away gets yet one more UFO out of my studio.

Life is good.

That First Box of UFOs

After I blogged last night I was gripped by the spirit and stay up late dealing with that first box of UFOs. I managed to whittle the remaining contents down to 2 projects. One is a small quilt that I really like and will finish. The more I think about it, the more I think I'll just have someone else machine quilt it so I'll only have to bind it. The other is an antique wedding ring quilt which was hand pieced and really needs to be remade so that it can be finished. But, that's a BIG project that can wait for another time. It can just go on the shelf for the time being.

I tied up a lot of little loose ends today. It's always hard to know where to start. I just picked a pile and started. Funny how when I take that approach I tend to get a lot of collateral tasks accomplished, too. So, this all is part of the grand get-organized-and-unpacked project. I also got set up to bind the last big quilt I had machine quilted. It's a Hunter Star quilt, blue and green with gold stars. Very scrappy. Probably the biggest quilt I've made. It's about 120" long which was necessary to accommodate the design. Now I'm getting excited to get it finished. I love the colors and fabrics. I'm going to get a lot of kitty help with this project....

Tonight I started going back to the gym/health club/fitness center/whatever you want to call it. Kennedy. The name of the place is Kennedy. I went to my favorite class, Chi Ball. Sort of a yoga class, but more active. And I did about 20 minutes of intervals on the stationary bike to warm up beforehand. Man, I'm pooped. Hope I'll be able to get out of bed tomorrow.

Life is good.

The Bucket List

There is one thing that is definitely on my Bucket List: offing the UFOs. Finish 'em. Trash 'em. Recycle 'em. Repurpose 'em. Whatever. Today, another one went the way of all flesh. It's a tulips-and-butterflies small quilt top that at one time I felt obligated to make because a dear friend gave me the pattern. It was an epic failure. I managed to upgrade it to a mere failure, but I never finished it. To me, it didn't even rise to the level of a charity quilt. However, after not laying eyes on it for a number of years, it looked to me today like it could at least become part of a quilt back. Quilt backs take a lot of fabric, so I use weird stuff for quilt backs. Anyway, they should be fun. Quilt backs that is.

Most of the time I don't even know something's on my Bucket List until I do it. Case in point. I've always loved Pendleton wool Indian blanket coats. A couple years ago we were in Santa Fe and I rather spontaneously picked one out and Randy gave it to me for Christmas that year. At that point, I realized that having a Pendleton wool Indian blanket coat was on my Bucket List.

I've always loved Ladysmith Black Mambazo. I loved them before Paul Simon produced Graceland. Last night we saw them in concert and I was mesmerized. Totally. For one thing, their music has much in common with that of Phillip Glass. I didn't know. And I love Phillip Glass. Years ago, when I was single in fact, I went to a Glass performance of 12 Pieces -- all 8 hours of it. And loved every minute. How was I to know that seeing Ladysmith Black Mambazo in concert was on my Bucket List? It was, and now I can check it off.

And I'm thrilled that the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers won their playoff games today. It's gonna be a great Super Bowl!

P.S. This means I can officially check 4 UFOs off the list. Four!!

Another One (2 Actually) Bites the Dust

I brought out the first of many boxes full of UFOs yesterday. Given my new attitude toward life in general --and a burning desire to off as many UFOs as possible as fast as possible-- I've decided to think creatively about them. First out of the box were some small quilt tops, (#1) a group of 3 improvisationals and (#2) 1 I made as a demonstration for block-of-the-month years ago. All too good to hit the garbage can, but none worthy of finishing as small quilts. So... 3 of the four pieces have become part of 2 quilt storage bags which I'm still making for my existing (and future) bed quilts. The 4th one will be incorporated into a quilt back for a specific quilt that's in the UFO pile. Yeah!

Last night we went to an all-JS Bach organ concert which was just wonderful. When I was in high school I had the privilege of playing my church's pipe organ. Yup, I was a bona fide church organist for a year or two. I loved that instrument, along with the baritone horn. Those have been my favorites.

And today my big project was in the kitchen. I made chicken broth/stock from an actual chicken and the carcass of a roasted chicken I made awhile back. From there I went ahead and made Chicken Chowder. I followed directions from Cook's Illustrated, but I don't think Alice would mind since Cook's is all about fresh food, seasonality, and other good food practices. The chowder took some time but wasn't at all difficult. No exotic ingredients or tricky directions.

Oh yes! I seasoned the Chowder with my new favorite flavor: smoked salt. I've used coarse smoked salt as a finishing salt. This was the first time I used fine smoked salt in a dish. I think it really added some wonderful flavor.

Okay then. Off to another concert tonight. We're such social butterflies. Ha!

YES!! (fist pump, fist pump)

It's only 2:00 p.m. and already I have declared my studio FINISHED and I have FINISHED a small quilt I started in (gulp) 1999 and I have STARTED a little sketchbook collage. Holy cow!

There's still some fine-tuning to do in the studio. I need to put the rest of my Barbies on the doll shelves. What do I do with old (expensive) cameras and Kodachrome slides and and my slide projector? I have to get some Command strip hooks to hang wall dolls I've made. Eventually I will probably sell my spinning wheel. Maybe not. I've not come to a final decision about that. But next week I can launch into setting up my looms. And I'm otherwise good to go on everything else. Done! Finished! Life is good!

To celebrate, I FINISHED a small wall quilt I started a light year or so ago. It is "cute" and there is no way I would do "cute" at this point in my life. I hardly did "cute" even then. The story is that I made one for my quilt guild's annual small quilt auction. I thought it would be a very fast project (it wasn't), so I started 2 of them: one for the auction and one for some other unspecified purpose. The auction quilt has long since gone on to some other home. Today I finally finished the other one. For the time being, it hangs in our sitting room (or TV room or whatever you want to call it) between my studio and Randy's office. Considering the length of its journey, time wise, I'm not going to part with it real soon. (Yes, I hung it immediately. That was part of getting it finished. I LOVE those 3M Command strip hooks. For this purpose I use their photo clips.)

As for the collage... My sketchbook is full of lots of stuff, but not very many sketches. Mostly it's collages of various kinds. Often involving color schemes. Sometimes just ideas and compositions. This is the first one heading in a new direction: practicing using materials and methods that are new to me. They aren't meant to be anything more than exercises just to see "what happens if." It's nice to be back in that place again, doing "what happens if" things.

Life is good. Which probably means I'll be killed in a car accident this afternoon. Every time life is good, I wait for the other shoe to drop. Life is so good right now that I expect all of Zappos to fall from the sky on my head momentarily. Oh well. I'm just going to enjoy it at as long as it lasts.

Why Travel?

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts." --Mark Twain (1835-1910)

My Studio is Coming Together

Yesterday Robert, one of the terrific young men from Semmes & Company who built our passive-solar strawbale house, came over for 4 hours to hang shelving in my studio. So now I am in the final stages of unpacking and organizing, including a little more purging. As big as it is, storage space (aka "places to put stuff") is not unlimited here. (Nor would I want it to be.) I am so excited! Not to mention that working with Robert is a joy. He's a smart, talented young man. He lives in a house of women (his gorgeous wife and 3 adorable daughters), so he knows very well how to work with women. That alone is worth everything to me.

So, today I'll finish (more or less) the unpacking and organizing. Yippee!!

P.S. Last night for dinner I made an original dish. Chicken and brussels sprouts tossed with egg noodles (good ones from Trader Joe's) and a sort of an Alfredo sauce made with cream cheese, white cheddar and pecorino romano. I know this won't sound great to all of my readers but, believe me, it was. Fortunately there is enough sauce left for another round of something similar.

Adult Truths

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die. 2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong. 3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger. 4. There is great need for a sarcasm font. 5. How the heck are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet? 6. Was learning cursive really necessary? 7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on # 5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood. 8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died. 9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired. 10. Bad decisions make good stories. 11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day. 12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again. 13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report that I swear I did not make any changes to. 14. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call. 15. I think the freezer deserves a light as well. 16. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay. 17. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option. 18. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger. 19. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said? 20. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters! 21. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever. 22. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is. 23. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time. 24. The first testicular guard, the "Cup," was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. That means it only took 100 years for men to realize that their brain is also important.