Knit gifts

Although I am the world's slowest knitter, I have managed to finish a few gifts this summer. First, I wanted to make a little something for my lovely cousin Pam and settled on a scarf. I wanted something that was feminine and lacy, but still warm and functional. I found the Cat's Paw scarf, which according to the designer is an old Shetland pattern. I don't really see a cat's paw, just a very pretty patttern. It was interesting enough to keep my attention, but not so difficult that I couldn’t talk and knit at the same time.

The yarn is Malabrigo Silky Mernio, which looks and feels so luxuriant. It is 51% silk, 49% Merino wool, and 100% luscious. The color is so rich, it seems to shimmer.

Note: The light spots in the photo are from sunlight, not any flaw in the yarn.

In the past few weeks, I have knit not one but two minion hats. When we moved here, the very first friends I made were with a family that waited at the same school bus stop. Back in the fall of 2010, I gave little Julien a candy corn hat that I knit and I found out earlier in the summer that he is still wearing the hat, although it is stretched out and barely fits him anymore. That boy is certainly knitworthy! I told him I would knit him another hat that fits him now, and he asked for a minion hat. A one-eyed minion hat, if you please. When Julien’s older sister found out that I was knitting a minion hat for him, she asked if I could knit one for her, too - a two eyed minion.

Assemble the minions!

Mofongo

I adore Cuban food, and while I like living in the greater Syracuse area, there is no Cuban food to be found. Sigh.

We are always on the lookout for interesting places to eat and somehow James stumbled upon a mention of Las Delicias, a Puerto Rican restaurant on Westcott Street. Although we are not familiar with Puerto Rican food specifically, they had us at empañadas and fried plantains! We went there for lunch yesterday and had a delicious visit.

It is a small, hole-in-the-wall kind of place. The woman working the counter was friendly and happy to answer our questions, and we had quite a few. The first question we asked was, "What is mofongo?" which figured prominently in the online reviews we read and on the menu. Mofongo is fried green plantains that are mashed with broth, garlic, olive oil, and pork cracklings or bits of bacon. The description intrigued me so I ordered it served with onions and fried pork chunks. Aidan also ordered mofongo (to our surprise), but with shrimp creole. James chose stewed oxtail with yellow rice. We also ordered fried sweet plantains and three empañadas.

The empañadas were hot, delicious and disappeared in record time. The fried sweet plantains were also very tasty, although Aidan decided that he doesn't not care for them. More for James and me! Then our meals arrived and I got so wrapped up in eating that I forgot to snap photos before we started. James was clearly pleased with his stewed oxtail:

Here is my plate of mofongo and pork, with the plate of plantains barely visible in the upper left corner:

I cannot even begin to describe the taste of mofongo; it is unlike anything I have ever eaten. It was good but very dense, and while I am glad that I tried it, I would not order it again. (I will, however, say "mofongo" whenever I please, because it is quite fun to say.) I liked creating a bite that included the pork, onion and mofongo together.

Aidan really enjoyed eating his shrimp but did not like the mofongo at all. He helped me out by eating some of my pork and enthusiastically ate oxtail, which was delicious. We put together a leftover box of yellow rice, oxtail and plantains, which James will enjoy for lunch tomorrow.

There were several dishes on the menu that we want to try and will do so in a future visit. So while it isn't a Cuban restaurant, Las Delicias delivers many of the flavors we enjoy. Happy sigh.