Got fish?

As a matter of fact, yes, yes we do have fish. Salmon. Yesterday morning they were swimming in a river and by the evening, they were in our freezer in nice, neat filets.

James went on a guided fishing trip (Fly Guy's Guide Service) yesterday to the Salmon River. It was his birthday present, although the trip was a little over a month after his birthday. Take a look at the following photos and tell me whether or not he enjoyed his birthday present:




I think it's safe to say that he had a great time. The fish? Not so much.

This and that

Nothing big has been going on at our house (which I think is a good thing) but lots of small events have taken place instead. I have been very productive lately (what is up with that?) and have made excellent progress on my "to do" list.

One item first appeared on my list back in January of 2009, as a new year's resolution: organize my recipes. My recipe notebook was stuffed full of newspaper clippings, pages printed off the Internet, and scribbled notes. I finally bought the supplies I needed and, section by section, I sorted, culled and put them in usable order. I didn't get all crazy and retype anything on fancy cooking-motif paper; I rather like seeing the notes I've written in the margins, the splatters of ingredients on the recipes. I simply put the recipes in sleeve protectors and placed them in my trusty 3-ring recipe binder. Not only are my recipes now easy to find and protected from additional splatters, but I found recipes that I had forgotten - it's like having new recipes to cook!

Speaking of new recipes, I have tried two new ones in the last two weeks that were wildly successful. The first was Slow-Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala from one of my favorite blogs, Foodie With Family. It is an Indian-inspired dish with rich, flavorful spices such as coriander, cumin and garam masala. We all liked it - I thought Aidan was going to lick his plate - and I think I liked it even more when I ate it for lunch two days later. Swoon.

The second new recipe was Chicken and Biscuit Casserole, which came to me as a daily recipe from AllRecipes.com. I substituted frozen peas for the canned peas but otherwise stayed true to the recipe. It was a big hit with us and with our friends who came over for dinner that night. I was nervous about serving a rookie recipe to guests but everyone liked it and the casserole dish was scraped clean. The next morning Aidan asked me when I was going to make it again!

I also finished three knitting projects. I made another sparkly sock yarn ornament:


I made this lacy, luscious cowl for me:


LOVE the color, the sheen and the softness of the yarn, which is Lana Grossa Chiara.

Last year while in Lake Placid, I bought a hank of Fleece Artist Big Merino as my trip souvenir. It was the perfect amount to make the Shroom hat, which is described as a slouchy tuque; it fits close around the head but then shrooms out into a slouchy beret:


It is difficult to see in my photo how the hat really looks, so go to this Knitty.com page to see better photos.

Not only did I buy the yarn while in the Adirondacks but the colors remind me of the Adirondacks: the blues of the clear lakes and sky, the greens of the trees and plants, and browns of the tree trunks and ground.

Once I started taking photos of the finished hat, Spenser roused himself from an hours-long nap to investigate and pose:


Thank goodness that he did not attempt to try it on, or else there would have been an ugly scene. Paws off my hat!

Quick knits

One of my knitting friends describes herself as a "dreadfully slow" knitter, which also describes me. My tortoise-like knitting speed is one of the reasons that I have thus far avoided large projects, such as garments, and I always appreciate a quick, almost instant gratification project.

I recently completed two such projects. The first is a very pink, very frothy scarf:




I made it out of Katia Triana Lux, which is mesh ruffle yarn. It is not knit like standard yarn but is knit only through an opening at one edge, thereby creating the ruffles. Although a simple garter stitch scarf, the yarn can be quite a pain to knit and woe to you if you drop a stitch - it is almost impossible to find!

I bought the yarn while on vacation in the Adirondacks at a store called Close Knit. There were several of the scarves on display and the friendly ladies in the shop were me how to work with the yarn. I intend to give it to my young friend Kennedy who, like many girls, adores the color pink. It is a cute scarf, but it will be a while before I work with that yarn again.

Yesterday (yes, yesterday - start to finish in one day) I made this fun little ornament:


It was knit with Patons Kroy Socks yarn and some #6 beads. The hardest part of the whole project was getting the beads onto the yarn (great fun when wearing bifocals) and getting the first few rows started. After that, it was a fun, quick project that I completed while watching the Temple-Penn State football game. Better that game than last night's Ohio State-Miami disaster; I would have thrown the entire project at the television in exasperation.

I do not knit socks but I adore the great colors and textures of sock yarn, so I seek out non-sock projects that use it. As soon as my eyes feel up to the challenge, I am going to string more beads (100 to be exact) on a different yarn and knit another ornament.

Something beautiful remains

After Aidan boarded the bus for school this morning, I went on a two mile walk around the village. It was perfect walking weather: sunny and just a bit cool. As always, I had podcasts on my iPod and for most of this morning's walk, I was listening to Cast On, episode 100. I adore Brenda Dayne's podcasts; she is warm and funny, she talks about knitting and she shares sounds and stories from Wales, where she lives.

At one point during the podcast, she was walking through the Welsh village of Laugharne where poet Dylan Thomas lived for many years, and she was narrating what she saw. She stopped in a cemetery (where Dylan Thomas is NOT buried) and read what is written on a tombstone:

The tide recedes but leaves behind bright seashells on the sand.
The sun goes down, but gentle warmth still lingers on the land.
The music stops, and yet it echoes on in sweet refrains...
For every joy that passes, something beautiful remains.

I like it. There are those who will roll their eyes and think it is schmaltzy, but that's okay; the poem made me smile, and made me think of what has remained in my life after joy has passed.


Note: The poem was not written by Dylan Thomas and a quick Google search failed to turn up the poet's name; it is listed as unknown on the various sites where I found the text of the poem.

Apple picking time

It's that time of the year again in New York: apple season. Fresh apples have been appearing in Wegmans for several weeks, but yesterday was our first opportunity to drive down to Beak and Skiff apple farm to pick our own apples.

Jonamacs were the only apples available to pick, but we were able to buy other already picked varieties in their country store. We rode the cart out into the orchard and started picking. The trees were loaded with beautiful fruit:


Apple picking is apparently serious work:


The best apples are always up high:


When we got home, I made an apple crunch pie with a mix of Jonamac, Spy and Paula Red apples:


As good as the pie looks, I can assure you that it tastes even better.

Babes, bus adventures and a bad boy

Thank you to my friend Jennifer for the title of this post!

School started in B'ville on this past Wednesday. YAY! Both Aidan and I were more than ready for the first day. And although Aidan is attending a new-to-him school this year due to the move into our house, he walked in knowing quite a number of children thanks to Cub Scouts and the playground program he attended this past summer; he didn't really feel like a new kid. He came home the first day wearing a big smile and excited about the coming year.

Babes: Aidan came home quite taken with his teacher. "She has red hair, Mommy! And not from the salon like yours!" Thank you, dear son, for pointing out that information. He was also a bit smitten with a little girl who sits next to him, whom he said kept looking at him and smiling.

Bus adventures: I failed to notice that the information sent to us by the district transportation department showed that Aidan rides two different buses: 55 to school and 54 home. At the end of the first day, he got on bus 55, which did let him out at the corner where it picked him up. The bus driver waved me over and said that Aidan was not on his list as an afternoon rider. A call to the transportation department revealed that he does, indeed, ride home on a different bus. So although the children who live next door to us ride home on bus 55, Aidan rides home on bus 54. What is even funnier is that the two buses usually are together, so the first one stops at the corner and lets off students, then the other bus stops and lets off more children at the very same corner.

Bad boy: A boy we know to be rather undisciplined is in Aidan's class, and he got in trouble on the very first day. I was relieved that it wasn't Aidan whose name was on the board with a check next to it!

When I relayed the day's account to Jennifer in an email message, she responded: "Babes, bus adventures and bad boy to take the heat off Aidan. Sweet!" Indeed!

Lucky me

Within the space of two days, I won two different giveaways - lucky me!

The first item I won was a copy of the book Louise's War by Sarah R. Shaber:


I have been a fan of Ms. Shaber's Simon Shaw mysteries for several years. Simon is a history professor at a college in Raleigh, North Carolina, and aside from being excellent mysteries, reading the books lets me visit I place I adore. So when I saw on Facebook that Ms. Shaber started writing a new series and was giving away four copies of the book, I entered. And I won!

Louise's War features Louise Pearlie, a young woman working at the OSS in Washington, DC during World War II. It was an engaging read with interesting characters, espionage, a solid plot, some unanswered questions and a few laugh-at-loud parts. I will enjoy seeing Louise develop in future books, since Louise's War was announced as the first book in a new series, but I hope Ms. Shaber doesn't completely abandon Simon Shaw.

The other prize came to me by way of a contest at Very Culinary, a food blog that I recently started reading, but the prize was actually from Prima Pasta, which makes 100% natural pastas and sauces. Since the pastas are refrigerated, they were sent to me in a cooler box via FedEx overnight. Here is what that cooler box contained:


Last night for dinner, I prepared the Grilled Chicken and Mozzarella Ravioli in a simple broth and cream sauce, and it was out of this world delicious. The ravioli were flavorful and not at all doughy, and the cream sauce was the perfect delivery method for the herb and cheese seasoning packet that was included. The only bad news is that Prima Pasta is only available near us at Sam's Club and only seasonally, and at Costco. The nearest Costco is in Kingston, Ontario, so I just might have to put aside my aversion to all things Sam Walton-related and set food in a Sam's Club (shudder) - the pasta is that good.