Cat's Crafty Corner

WWKIP June 13, 2009

***I will leave this at the top and put any new posts below*** Scroll down for new posts.

Another year and time again for Worldwide Knit in Public on June 13, 2009. We will meet from 5:30-8 p.m. at the Saxapahaw Rivermill Farmer's Market and Music Series. Here is a Map of Saxapahaw, NC US, it is easy driving from Greensboro, Raleigh and all points. I will set up in the grassy area under a tree with some helium balloons and of course my knitting. Pack a picnic or there are vendors selling prepared food, (hubby and I bought a bottle of wine, some bread and chutney and chowed down - it was all very good), a blanket or lawn chair, and bug spray. They also have an area for children's activities. If you want to get in touch with me email me here and I can give you any information you might need.

Heading from Burlington, Greensboro or points west you will head east on Interstate 40, take Route 54 South, you will see signs for Saxapahaw. Make a right onto Thom Road (farm on the corner), where road meets major road (Saxapahaw Bethleham Road) make a right and follow the road a short distance, you will pass a gas station with a very mini-mall of about 4 stores. Just past this there will be parking on your left and the event will be held to your right. There are signs up for the Farmer's Market.

From Raleigh and points east you will head west on Interstate 40, take Route 54 North or West (just before the 15/501 exit for Chapel Hill). Follow 54 until you see the signs for Saxapahaw a few miles outside of Carrboro. Turn left onto Saxapahaw Bethlemahm Road and follow road until you reach Sax. If you miss Sax/Beth. Road you can continue a little and turn left on Thom Road (farm on the corner) and then make a right onto Saxapahaw Road.

From Chapel Hill just take Route 54 North or West (not sure how they list the signs), a few miles outside of Carrboro you will see signs for Saxapahaw. Turn left onto Saxapahaw Bethleham Road and follow road until you reach Sax. If you miss Sax/Beth Road you can continue a little and turn left on Thom Road (farm on the corner) and then make a right onto Saxapahaw Road.

Food, Knitting and WendyKnits

I had to share two pictures of happenings in the kitchen. This past weekend DH came in from working outside and proclaimed it was hot. He went into the kitchen and started doing something but wouldn't tell me what. A few minutes later he brought me this. OMG it was awesome. Some of the ingredients I remember are lemon juice, seltzer, mint, ice and some vodka.

This  turned into this a beautiful (if I must say so myself) Fococcia Bread.

I also joined a KAL on Raverly from the group Socks From the Toe Up using Wendy Johnson's book by the same name. Even though I design my own socks, I just had to get this book. If you are interested click on the picture to the right under On My Nightstand. I also put it out to the Yahoo KAL group to see if anyone was interested there. I hope we get lots of knitters to join in.

I am using Pagewood Farms St. Elias in the Watermelon colorway on size 0, 35" circs. using the Magic Loop method, 2 at a time. I increased the toe to 2" as I long a long covering on my toes before the pattern starts. I was also afraid that the lacey pattern would rub in my shoes. I hope you join us, even if you are brand new Wendy has awesome instructions in her book. Wendy will be in Charlotte NC this coming weekend for classes and book signings, I'll be heading down on Sunday. I can't wait!!!

Hugs!!!

Namaste!!!

Dinner Planning for the Week

Life has been real crazy lately, had some bad news from a family member and that always throws me in a tizzy. If you've been wondering why all this organizing - this is one reason. I tend to do that when I get rotten news.

I also put aside my shawl and Mom's knitting to do a small test knit. It was tons of fun but all I will say about it for now.

I overhauled my craft studio - big time. I mean I went through baskets, storage boxes, and shelves, now everything from buttons to scrapbooking supplies is in its place. My knitting is in one area (I do need to go through those baskets and put like yarn with like yarn), sewing in another and scrapbooking another, floors are empty, drafting table clear, new redone corkboard hung up, and pictures rehung.

Monday - Chicken w/Rice and Mushroom
Tuesday - Leftovers (this will be trend until my class is done end of May)
Wednesday - Homemade pizza
Thursday - We might eat out or do quick sandwiches. This is meditation night and sweet DH joined me last Thursday for the first time. He said it was exactly what he needed, so if he comes again we'll go out to eat before, if not the sandwiches. I don't like to push as far as these things go so I'll just let him decide.
Friday - Fish (flounder or tilipia, with rice and asparagus)

If you are wondering why I don't put in the weekends it is because I never know what we are doing. If we are out and running around and get a late start we end up having lunner out. LOL like Saturday we both extremely overslept and didn't get out of the house until 2:00. Did some running around and stopped for lunch. LOL yeah right, when we were back in the car I said to hubby that I'll make some fish and rice tonight for dinner and looked at the time, it was 5:00. I started laughing and said I guess we're not having fish tonight. Sunday's I do cook but it depends sometimes I make a "Sunday dinner," or we just do "grab and growl" which is grab something to eat when your stomach growls. I am also hoping this weekend to head to Charlotte to Ikea.

OH I found a wonderful little give away at Embroidery Treasures - 21 Fat Quarters. I stumbled on her site yesterday when I was browsing the Internet before bed and loved it, I subscribed to her feed.

Saturday I made a Date, Raisin, Walnut bread to have for Sunday breakfast (it has to sit overnight in an airtight container), hubby made eggs and we also had leftover biscuits (I made them the other night to have with strawberries). The bread ended up delic. especially with cream cheese. I had all the ingredients on hand which I love, I hate seeing a recipe and then have to go out to get something for it. I love dates, and I always have them on hand. For dinner I opted to stay home, so hubby made some delicious Orange and Ginger fish with black rice and beans YUM!!!! For dessert he made rice pudding from the black rice. LOL the black rice turns a purple after cooking, it was really very good even though it looked funky.

Hugs!!!
Namaste!!!!

Sausages!

WARNING!! Graphic Intense

Thank you everyone for your wonderful comments yesterday on the corkboard. It really means a lot to me.

Today was the day I made the sausage. DH stopped to Williams and Sonoma and picked up my stuffer attachment for the KitchenAid's Meat Grinder.

The casing is packed in salt so first thing was to soak the casing in warm water for 30 minutes, then rinse a few times. I then grabbed a section and ran warm water through it.

I mixed together, 1 pound each - Turkey, Pork and Beef, added 1/2 tsp Anise, 1/2 TBSP Fennel, Salt, and Pepper and 4 cloves Garlic crushed. It asked for 1/2 cup of chilled red wine, I didn't have any chilled, so I used the ice water substitute it called for. Since this was my first time I didn't want to play to much. Next time I'm going to experiment with different flavors.

Next I greased the stuffer attachment and put on the casing.

I tied a string around the end, and realized I didn't need such a big string. I also could have tied the casing.

Here are the first three links:

I twisted in-between each link, but later I took the string and tied them off, as I couldn't get the twists to stay. I'll read up on that later to see which is the proper way to do this.

A close-up.

First Batch:

All done!!! The top six links, which were my last six to do, have Queso cheese inside. DH bought this cheese by mistake and it only tastes good when melted (at least to us), so I thought it would be perfect in his sausage for tonight.

This made about 23 links and my friend Mary Ann from Three Waters Farm will get a few links. I'm not going to spin night at her shop tonight in Carrborro, so I'll drop them off to her tomorrow on my way to meditation. I put six links aside for DH's dinner and froze the rest. He tends to take his lunch from leftovers so I'm making a few extra for his lunch tomorrow. From beginning to end it took me two hours which I didn't think was bad considering it was my first time. I also have some of that bread dough resting and will throw that in the oven and then make some pasta and sauce for dinner.

Hugs!!!
Namaste!!!

Because I Love You All

Hey I'm an enabler. LOLOL I know Red Dirt Knitter, this is a little different then the email I sent you LOL this one has caffeine LOL.

Hugs!!!
Namaste!!!

Family Recipes

I thought I had posted about my recipe binder but I guess I haven't. I know I wanted to around the time that Mason Dixon Knitting was having a recipe box contest because that was when I was straightening out my loose recipes. Oh well LOL I will now.

There are two blogs that I just love, they are very dangerous and are full of wonderful ideas - they are Homespun Living and Junie Moon. It really is uncanny, but Junie Moon and I tend to be on the same cleaning path - I finished up my bathrooms and she posts she did hers, I clean my car, she posts she did hers, well, you get the thrift. Again we are on the same page, yesterday among my purchases was nice bordered paper to print out my favorite recipes to add to my Family Recipe Collection binder, today Junie has a post about her family recipes.

A few Christmas' back my Mom decided to write out her family recipes and put them into binders and give as gifts. I loved mine and have been wanting to add my recipes to it. I thought I had scrapbook paper with different flowered borders but I must have been dreaming because I can't find it. I've been searching all the craft stores for them and still can't find any. My trip to Wally World netted some rose bordered paper on clearance. I've been printing out my favorites and adding to this lovely recipe collection.

This has 12 divided sections, 12 pocket pages for clippings and they are lined so you can write what is in the pocket, 36 lined recipe pages, 12 clear full pages, 12 clear pocket pages for recipe cards & photos, and 24 recipe cards. Then my Mom added her favorite recipes in her lovely handwriting.

Now my additions printed out as my handwriting sucks.

All recipes get put into plastic sleeve protectors so when accidental slops get onto them while cooking, it is easy to wipe off.

I also stopped to the Goodwill store and picked up a few recipe books.

I can't wait to make some of the tea breads and coffeecakes. The recipe book on the far left is not from GW, but one that the townspeople of Halcott Center (where my parents live) put together to sell. It has a lot of my Mom's recipes in it.

Hugs!!!
Namaste!!!!

Pazzo Pizza Order Review

I'll post some knitting later.

Hubby meet a friend in Chapel Hill yesterday morning to leave our car there, (I can drive from Chapel Hill) and get a ride into Raleigh to get his new company vehicle. He left it in Southern Village - a wonderful self-contained community with apartments, townhouses, houses, shops - which include a bank, post office, movie theatre and restaurants to name a few. We opted to do dinner at Southern Village instead of cooking when we got home, which would have been around 7:30 p.m.

We decided to stop into Pazzo's Pizza Order for our dinner. This is a very interesting bistro/restaurant, it has outdoor seating, a pizza area and restaurant inside. Besides tables for the pizza area, you can sit at a bar and watch the chefs on the restaurant side cook. It is on the upscale side and pricing does reflect this.

We decided we would take our order to go from the pizza side. I just felt we weren't dressed for the restaurant side, as Kris was still in work clothes of jeans, oxford shirt with company logo, and steel toe sneakers. Me in my slop around the house clothes of capri pants and t-shirt, I didn't think we were going to stop anywhere for dinner.

We ordered a cheese pizza XXL $13.95 and I opted for the antipasto $8.95, as it sounded really delicious, sliced meats, onions and peppers agro dolce, marinated olives, fresh mozzerella, stuffed peppers and a balsamic reduction. This was listed under the salad section of the menu not under appetizer.

We ordered a slice of their Rio Ranch pizza to share while we waited. The slice was $3.25, a little high I thought, but OMG was this slice out of this world good. The first bite was a medley of tomato, bacon and ranch - the flavors reminiscent of a wonderful club sandwich with a hint of ranch. It was really, really good but very rich. I could not eat two slices of this pizza.

Our order was ready and we headed home. Hubby set our pizza box and antipasto tray on the island and I proceeded to get us dishes to share the antipasto. I opened the lid to this...

You definitely need to click on this picture to enlarge and get the full effect.

My jaw just about dropped. Definitely not what I was expecting. Since it was listed under the salad section I was expecting greens; however, if it was listed under the appetizer section and did not mention greens I would not have expected it. Antipasto's that I order tend to be hefty amounts of salamis including Capicola, Prosciutto, olives, peppers, and various marinated vegetables. This salad consisted of two slices of salami, a small sliver of ham (Prosciutto I think), three mozzarella slices (the size of two quarters put together, five olives, a dallop of red peppers and onions, and one very small (two quarters again) stuffed peppers. All this for $8.95 - good thing I was not relying on this solely for my meal. I will admit the flavors were very good. The balsamic reduction had a wonderful flavor and was not bitter as some tend to be. I would love other people's comments on how antipasto's are in their area.

The cheese pizza was very good, but not $13.95 good. I would much rather go to Pizzera Roma located on Witherspoon Blvd in Durham off of 15/501, an extra 10 minute drive. Their regular pizza is huge - I'll do a review on them this weekend.

Now hubby did call Pazzo's to ask them about the antipasto. Since we have never eaten there before we were not familiar with this dish. We thought maybe they had forgotten the salad, not to say that the salad would have made up the difference, but at least it would have been something more. According to the person he spoke to, it sounded the same, but he referred us to the owner Seth Kingsbury. Mr. Kingsbury did call me this morning. To begin with he sounded as if it was an inconvenience that he called me, he then told me that he changes his menu frequently but the antipasto always stays because it is a favorite of his patrons and he has never received a complaint on the portion. He then proceeded to describe it which sounded way more than what we had received. I then said 'let me tell you what we received,' and he stopped me and commented 'no, that is okay, I don't want to say if there was anything wrong with your portion or not, how about I offer you a free antipasto in the restaurant or have that amount deducted when you come in.' I replied 'that would be wonderful, I would love to try the antipasto again to compare it, thank you.' He then thanked me and we left it at that.

I do have an email out to a dear friend who was my Maid of Honor, and her family had owned one of the best Italian restaurants that I know of, we had our reception at her restaurant. Everyone that has ever eaten at DeMarfio's always raved how delicious Millie (her grandmother) or Grace's (her mother) dishes were. I'll see what she has to say what an antipasto should be, but I would really love your comments also.

UPDATE: Angie's reply

hey cat,

 

salami, provolone, black olives, roasted red peppers, cappicolla( italian hot ham), pepperocini peppers, marinated articokes

sliced cooked egg, eggplant salad,  over a bed of lettuce and sprinkled with balsalmic vinegar and olive oil sprinkle with oregano (optional)

 

love ya angie 

Hugs!!!!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

I had this post set to come up this morning at 6 a.m. but for some reason either Typepad lost it or I did something wrong. Kris came home as I was just getting ready to save it and I was busy talking so I might have messed something up. Well anyway here we go again.

I have corned beef, cabbage and potatoes waiting to be cooked. Yesterday I made some awesome scones. I went searching online to find some different scone recipes and I managed to find quite a few. One of the ones I have is with lemon and poppy seeds and then a plain one. I found this scone recipe from Joy of Baking and OMG are they delicious. I changed a few things; I used 1/2 & 1/2 instead of whipping cream and I used self-rising flour and omitted the baking powder, and salt. I took their advice and doubled my pans and lined one with parchment paper. My scones came out a little darker than theirs but OMG are they delicious. When I moved them over off the parchment and sifted the confectioner's sugar on top I felt how soft they were so when they came out of the broiler I had to try one and make sure they stayed that soft after the broiler. OMG it was awesome. Did I mention how delicious these are? I put Bing cherry jam on mine, oh was it good. Next time I think I'll add some cranberries to them.

I have been wanting to reread my copy of In Cold Blood by Truman Capote for a while now.

Everytime I see it on my bookshelf I keep telling myself I should read it, but hesitate because I am in the middle of another book. There must be something in the air - I'm not sure if there is this whole revitalization thing going on or what, but Ann over at Wandering Cyberspace From the Cornfields mentioned that her daughter wanted her to read this book (I believe her daughter heard about it from one of her college classes, but Ann's site is down for maintenance and I can't double check that) and then I've seen a few posts about Truman Capote himself, so I gave into my urges and started reading. I noticed that my copy was a first edition printing so for the heck of it I went online to see what they are selling for. OMG I nearly had a heart attack, the lowest was $500.00. Now I know my copy won't bring that much, I bought it used at a library sale back in the mid-70's and it is well used. I also won't sell it, I am a book collector and find it hard to sell any of my good books.

UPDATE: I found out why the interest in Truman Capote and In Cold Blood. It seems that April of 2005 was the 40th anniversary of the book. For a photo jounal you can check out In Cold Blood: A Legacy in Photos

Thank You Mr. George Lewis from Food Lion

I hope I am spelling your last name correctly. Mr. Lewis called me yesterday and gave me a heartfelt apology for the way I was treated in the store. He wanted to know if there was anything he could do and I told him "you just did what your Assistant Manager was unable to do, give me an apology."

Seriously that is all I wanted was an apology. I have worked since I was 15 - my first job was for my parents in their deli. Customer service was always stressed. Even though you are a 15 year old smart ass you do not talk to customers in that way. And believe me some of those customers would tug at your last nerve. The only place of employment where CS was not an issue was for MetLife approving Blue Cross medical claims, I guess that is because the co. wanted you to save them money.

So I was very glad to receive his call, his apology and his statement that these things do NOT go on in my store and I WILL be taking care of this. He then made sure he had the right people who were involved.

Maybe there is hope

Haw River Vineyards

I never realized how many vineyards there were around me. I knew I had one around the block, Benjamin Vineyards, but never thought they would have wine tasting. When my parents were here we passed by the vineyard and thought to look online and see what they offered. We all decided to go the next day, Wednesday, but unfortunately they don't open until Thursday. While I was online checking them out I found a listing for different Haw River vineyards. WOW!!! Was I surprised. There are also nearby vineyards in Siler City, Burlington and Elon. So Mom, Dad and I went to Iron Gate Vineyards in Mebane. Their wines were a little acidic and the tannin taste really came through, but we did find two wines we liked. One is there Green Apple wine, a white, fruity wine, not to sweet and not a dry wine. The other was their Flue Fire - which was a blend of grapes - the Niagara and the Muscadine. This wine was a little dry but had a nice fruity flavor and aroma. Now for those who enjoy a real sweet wine, that would remind you of Kool-Aid or Tootsie Pops, that would be there Blackberry Wine. Not bad but I just couldn't handle that much sweetness. Here is a picture of Mom and Dad with their purchases. Only one of those bottles are mine, but to be fair to them the bags also hold the free glasses you get when you do a wine tasting.

Wright Brothers Steakhouse

I need to write to someone regarding out meal at Wright Brothers Steak House last night. We have eaten at your other wonderful establishments due to recommendations of family and friends and have had wonderful pleasant meals. However, we have always wondered why we never received any recommendations to eat at Wright Brothers. So, last night we decide to try your restaurant. When I first looked at your menu, I thought to myself, wow not a lot of choices here, I was actually thinking of just finishing our drinks and heading to another restaurant, but I asked my husband if he had decided what he wanted and he had, the Prime Rib Special. I ordered the grilled trout and my husband ordered his. The waitress had delivered our drinks with a loaf of cold bread; I didn’t think this was unusual though until she came out with a second loaf that was actually warm, even though it had a line of uncooked dough in it. His came with a salad and since mine didn’t I decided to try his, it tasted very watery, I didn’t say anything out loud, but husband says, “this salad tastes watery for some reason.” Our food is delivered and my husband has to cut away a huge hunk of fat, now mind you, he says that fat is good because it gives it good flavor. In my opinion it was 1/3 of his prime rib. Then he cuts into it and it is raw, I mean still mooing raw. He asks the waitress if they could please cook it more since it is still raw. She does, brings his plate back, and he cuts into it, guess what? Yes, it still is raw. He wasn’t going to say anything, just ask for a box and split it among our dogs. I told him, ‘you just paid over $18.00 for that prime rib, and you need to say something.’ While he is away from the table the waitress stops by and I tell her that my husband didn’t want to say anything but the prime rib is still raw. She tells me that she will get a manager and he will be over. We wait and wait, finally after 10 minutes she comes back and says the manager will offer us a free dessert. Well, I don’t know about you, but we were not in the mood to stay any longer, yet eat dessert. Not only that but if that was the manager that was hanging out by the kitchen and kept looking at us, at least he could have done was come over and apologized or said something to us. I also want to add that the trout looked wonderful, but it had no taste and was very watery tasting. Thank goodness the sweet potato was very good and fulfilling. Now we normally are not fussy customers and we do not complain unless something is extraordinarily unpalatable, and I truly believe his prime rib special makes the grade. This was the dinner special, you would think your restaurant would know how to cook it, especially since you are a steakhouse. I could almost understand not knowing how to cook it if you did not serve prime rib under normal circumstances, but again you are a steakhouse. I do want to give your our information – Ashley was our server ..... the rest is receipt information. This was an email I sent on the 26th of August, which bounced back as undeliverable. I tried a few more times and it still bounced. Today after receiving a coupon in my email I tried again. Well was I just surprised. I received a call today from Randy at Wright Brothers Steakhouse apologizing profusely about the bounced emails and the fact that the manger never came to our table. He said they stress that with their managers and this one failed to do it. He said I should be hearing from someone this afternoon and he would check back next week to make sure I did. Well we will see. So my thought here is this okay steakhouse - prime rib, they go hand in hand right? You would think a steakhouse would know how to cook a prime rib? HA! So we thought. DH ordered it medium.... this is what he got.
This is after the second cooking!!!! The first time it was raw, not rare, mooing raw. Really gross looking. He asked the waitress if she could please have it recooked to medium. It came back again, and you guessed it raw.

It is funny, because we are relatively new to this area, almost four years now. When we ask friends and neighbors for good places to eat, Wright Bros. was never recommended. They have two other eateries, Blue Ribbon Diner and the Village Grill, both recommended highly and I would also recommended, especially Blue Ribbon; a vintage 60's diner with music, food and atmosphere to match. Great place. The only reason we went to Wright Bros. was that every time DS2 and I went to Tae Kwon Do he would suggest eating there, and this time DH and I decided to try it. Big Mistake! I will join my neighbors and friends and never recommend this place. Unless management can do something to change my mind. Oh! also their menu is very limited and after we ordered our drinks and I was checking out the menu, I was thinking - hmmm maybe we should just finish our drinks and go somewhere else. LOL maybe we should have, gut instinct I suppose.