Food Porn

Lately my husband has been making fun of me for taking pictures of some of the meals/dishes I cook. I realize that this may seem odd to some but I got the idea from a few other blogs and as it turns out its refered to as "Food Porn". I also decided that if I spend more than an hour making something I have every right to photograph it.

So I give you my most recent creations (well, some of mine and some of Martha's):

Maple Glazed Pork Loin with Baked Apples & Onions, complete with homemade mashed potatoes, Butternut Squash, roasted for soup and Baked Brie with Fig Paste, wheat crackers & Bartlett pears.


The pork loin was soooo good, its only problem was that the glaze is made with maple syrup and balsamic vinegar and when it cools it becomes more hard candy than glaze. But it was still great, especially with the roasted apples and onions.

I try to make more elaborate (i.e. 'time-consuming') dishes on Saturday nights or Sunday afternoons when I have time to kill. I'm still looking for today's recipe. Maybe Chicken Kiev or a Pork Roast. I'm definitely making cupcakes though, I have new frosting toys to play with so stay tuned for more food porn.

Things I made this weekend

In an effort to de-stress from the last few weeks of work I did a lot of cooking and making-of-things this weekend. Friday night I made homemade Mac & Cheese, with Munster, Havarti & Sharp White Cheddar. It was sooo good, I don't even want to think about how many calories it had.

Yesterday, I started work on my napkins, aka 'my first sewing project'. My mother came over Thursday to show me how to work the thing and I picked out a supposedly 'easy' project from this month's Martha mag. I'm sure it's easy for someone who can cut straight lines. I washed my fabric and ironed it (per mom's instructions) then began the tedious task of pinning rickrack all around the edges of the napkin square. I pinned some of it too close to the edge of the fabric so as I sewed it on some of the sewing missed some of the rickrack. So maybe the first napkin is the learning one and the second one will be better? I hope. I've already started pinning the rickrack on napkin #2.

In an effort to try to pretend it's fall since the 89-degree weather is anything but fall-like, I bought some ornamental cabbage, pansies and violas to plant for the front porch. Who knew cabbage could be so pretty? The one in the planter is called "Osaka Pink" and as it grows it will get pinker in the center of the head.

Also, in an effort to bring on fall, I got out my Halloween decorations. Usually I find cartoon characters as holiday displays irritating but I love Peanuts. So I have two of the Halloween displays. Watching "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" and "A Charlie Brown Christmas" is one of my favorite things about the holidays. It's something I've watched consistently since I was a child. I think it's just comforting that it's something that doesn't change from year to year. You can always count on seeing poor Charlie Brown getting rocks in his candy bag.

Today I rounded out my weekend of making things with making chocolate chip cookies (with some Heath Bar chips added) We now have cookies for days. I should have halved the recipe because I ended up being a slave to the oven for two hours, waiting on cookies to bake, cool and repeat. But they're delicious, if not a little bit crispy.

In the midst of all my making of things, I found time to become engrossed in a teen drama on "The N" network. When I was little we didn't have cable so we watched a whole lot of PBS. One of the shows on PBS in the mid-'80's was Degrassi Junior High about Canadian teenagers in high school. Well years later the creators started another show "Degrassi: the Next Generation". I started watching it Friday night while the husband was away and I'm ashamed to admit I'm now hooked. Who doesn't love a good teen drama?

Homemade

Lately I've developed a desire to be super-crafty. I've always been somewhat crafty (as is my mother, maybe it's genetic?) but in the last few months I've become obsessed with "homemade". I've been knitting but I also wanted to learn how to sew, so I bought a refurbished Brother from Ebay. Of course the only thing I've managed to do is to get it threaded. Every time I try to sew it eats the fabric and thread. My mother is coming over Thursday to hopefully show me how to use the thing. I've already bought some fabric and a book. I have dreams of making throw pillows, curtains and skirts...

In my search of wonderful homemade goodies the husband and I drove to Chicago last weekend to go to the Renegade Craft Fair. It was pretty awesome, I'm an Etsy-addict so this only fed my addiction. I managed not to buy everything I wanted but I did come away with hand-dyed yarn, some birdie barrettes, two tiny hand-stamped pillows, some Sublime Stitching transfers and a signature Renegade tote.

Reasons I am Grouchy Today

1. I have to work tomorrow (Saturday) from 8:15AM until Noon handing out cards to people who don’t want them. Fun.
2. Office Depot copy chick won’t have my posters ready until 5PM, this is a problem because the office closes at 3PM so this means my posters can’t go up until Monday.
3. Tomorrow is going to be H.E.L.L. I have to work until noon, then we’re driving to Covington for Heritage Day then driving back home to hang out with our friends tomorrow night – at our house – which I have to clean – tonight. *sob*
4. I have a lot of zits sprouting up.
5. It’s really hot outside.
6. It’s really hot outside and it’s September 21.
7. I have to go to Target after work for SOS pads, sponges, bottled water and cat food. For some reason the Target in my ‘hood is always overrun with people at 3:00 in the afternoon of Friday. Why?

Finished socks and new scarves

I finally finished the baby socks I have been working on since May. The problem with the baby socks was that I got busy and the first sock was done in June but I knit it too loose and instead of fitting a 3-6 month old infant it was big enough for a 3 year old. So I ripped it out and started all over again. I kept putting it down and doing other things and then in the middle of August we took a little trip to the Florida Panhandle and I was able to finish one of the sock and halfway finish the other. Once we got home I again put it aside for awhile until this past weekend when I made myself finish them before I'd let myself start another project. Sadly the person they were initially intended for has already had said baby and so I'll just save these for someone else.

My next project is Wendy Bernard's "Flickering Flame" lace scarf, knit with the fantasically beautiful Koigu. This is my first attempt at a lace project so I hope I don't screw it up too bad. It's still about 9 million degrees here but I need to start my making my Christmas knit-gift list. There are still a few people that didn't get scarves last year so I'd like to make a few of those, plus I'd love to make some socks but that's a little iffy.

Just in case I get around to those socks I bought more of the coveted Koigu (don't even ask how much it cost, I'm embarrassed to admit how much I spent at the LYS on Saturday)

The husband and I have been talking about taking a trip to Toronto in October and I have to admit one of the main reasons I suggested Toronto was so I could go to Lettuce Knit. I'm starting to plan vacations around yarn stores.....

Pink Lines

Three weeks ago I spent $13.78 buying a package of 10 (yes 10) pregnancy tests from an online company in Canada. You might wonder why I would have need for 10 pregnancy tests. Well, in the midst of undergoing fertility treatments there's this terrible thing called the "Two Week Wait" this is the period of time between the treatment and the date you can take a home pregnancy test to see if the treatment worked or not. This is possibly the longest two weeks of your entire life and you spend it thinking every twinge, cramp, sneeze, etc. just might be an indicator of pregnancy. It's not. Most normal home pregnancy tests tell you you shouldn't test until your period is actually late. Hah. In the world of infertility you become obsessed and began testing as early as 7 days after ovulation, thus the need for a ten pack of pregnancy tests. Two weeks ago today I had a treatment cycle which we knew probably wouldn't work but we thought we'd try anyway. So of course, I started my obsessive "peeing on a stick" last Sunday. I used one pregnancy test a day until yesterday, when my body made it quite apparent I was indeed most definitely not pregnant.

The longer you stare at the test you try to convince yourself you see a second pink line and then the next thing you know you're using a nail file to pry open the plastic case just to get a closer look at the pee stick. Alas, no matter how many times you stare or what manner of light or PhotoShop manipulation you use there's nothing that can make a second pink line appear.

On to next month...

Drink, drink, drink

I do not have a huge tolerance for alcohol. Usually I can make it through two glasses of wine or two bottles of Woodchuck (hard cider). I am also a sleepy drunk, by the time I finish the second bottle of Woodchuck I'm usually ready for bed.

Last night the husband and I, plus a friend of ours and a friend of hers, trekked down to the Memphis Italian Festival. It's an annual event with bocce ball, local music, food and lots and lots of wine. It was also pretty warm when we first got there, so we found a little cafe that had set up shop with tables and chairs and plenty of wine to buy. In order to purchase said wine, as well as food, you had to buy these little tickets, and each food item or drink cost X number of tickets. For example one bottle of Cabernet cost 28 tickets. Between the four of us (well really three because the husband only drank about a glass) we went through five bottles of wine. I think it may have been six though but I'm a little fuzzy about that. By the end of the night I had to hold on to my husband for dear life in order to not stagger out of Marquette Park and back to our car.

I woke up at 2:50AM this morning with a runny nose, a cough and the feeling that I could drink a gallon of water. It took me forever to fall back asleep. My stomach felt okay at first but now, after three Krispy Kreme donuts and a 20 ounce mocha I'm feeling a little queasy. Blah. No more drinking for a loooong time.

Dreams do come true (sometimes)

So last week I bought a mountain bike at Target, it wasn't really what I wanted but I figured it would do to learn on. Doug, however, was not impressed by anything that Target had to offer and decided instead to go to a bike shop to look around. He picked out a bike there for himself and while there found My Dream Bike. He took me to the bike shop where I promptly fell in love with a bubble-gum pink Trek cruiser (aka My Dream Bike). I had to have it so we bought it right then and there. I brought it home yesterday afternoon and I keep going outside to pet it. It's so much more comfortable to sit on and seems like its going to be easier to ride too. Now I must have a basket for the front. Off to shop...

It’s just like riding a bike…or not

I admit it, I’m twenty-six years old and I’ve never learned how to ride a bike. It is a teensy bit embarrassing. I’ve been saying for years I was going to learn but never did. Ever since Doug and I got married he’s been bugging me to learn. He thinks it would be fun and good exercise, I don’t disagree. So Sunday night we got a wild hair and drove out to Super Target and bought a $114 Schwinn Women’s Mountain Bike for me. While it isn’t the pink Schwinn Cruiser of my dreams it’s something I can learn on.

Last night we went in the back yard and tried to (unsuccessfully) get going with falling over. It was a learning experience. I’m hoping that by the end of the week I’ll be able to actually ride the damn thing. Here’s to hoping….

Flowers I've planted that haven't died.....yet

So now that we've bought a house I've been trying to plant some flowers in an effort to make the place look nice. My green thumb is a little brown, I have a tendency to plant things and then neglect them, especially in the middle of the Memphis summer when its about eight thousand degrees. But I've been doing better. This is the sunflower I bought at the plant sale at the Lichterman Nature Center in April, it's about to be in full-bloom.









There's another one that's also opening up but it's a tad shorter. All I've done is plant it in the ground and water it. It's in an especially sunny spot so that's helped a lot too.

I also planted a red geranium and some dusty miller in a pot and set them on the patio. They're thriving too with water and a sunny spot. They even survived the cold snap we had in the middle of April:
So while I don't have my grandmother or my mother's green thumbs I'm doing okay so far.

Knitting for other people's babies

I'm working on a knitting a pair of baby socks for my husband's co-worker who's expecting her second child in a few months. They're a pair of teeny, tiny socks knit in very soft baby blue cashmerino, which is merino wool with a little bit of cashmere in it. I started and re-started them about three times last week and I finally got the cuff and the body done and now I need to turn the heel and I have no idea how to do that. I need to make a trip to the LYS (local yarn store) and beg for help so I can finish them before the child's too big to wear them.

While this is the first pair of baby socks I've made I've been making baby blankets for about a year now. It's a little depressing because I keep knitting baby blankets for other people and I have to wonder when will I get to knit a baby blanket for myself? Infertility sucks and it sucks even more when everyone you know is pregnant. There's so much uncertainty and that drives me crazy. You're spending a lot of money on something that isn't even guaranteed to get you pregnant and you have to wait for what seems like an eternity. It's been a little over a year since our failed cycle of IVF. We decided to try IUI again since we don't have the immediate funds for another round of IVF right now so I called last week to make an appointment with our RE (Reproductive Endocrinologist) and the soonest they could see us is JULY! Ridiculous. Babies aren't getting made on their own around here.

So in the meantime, I'll keep knitting socks and blankets for other people's babies and hope that someday I'll be knitting my own.