Music that isn't depressing

I got a new car last month and it came with six-months of Sirius radio free. I kind of ignored it at first but then I got a little addicted. I still listen to my beloved WEVL on regular radio, but I've picked up on a lot of new songs on satellite radio. A lot of songs that are way less doom and gloom than my regular musical tastes.

Sleigh Bells "Rill Rill"

Passion Pit "Little Secrets"


Amos Lee "Windows Are Rolled Down"


The Naked and Famous "Young Blood"

Tiny knitted things

These are some of my finished-knitting-objects so far this year. You can read more about them on my other blog here.

Greenleaf hat done in Bee Sweet Taffy and Pom-Pom Cap in Madelinetosh DK (also all my purls are twisted because I forgot how to correctly throw my yarn for a whole project!?)

Bitty Cabled Cardigan in Madelinetosh Vintage. The buttons are little goldfish bowls! I bought them at Stash in Memphis this past NYE.

Pebble in Rowan Felted Tweed. Buttons are from a online Japanese store I can't remember the name of.

Owlie Sleep Sack & hat in Madelinetosh Vintage

I'm working on two more sweaters right now that I should have finished soon. As far as knitting for me goes, I just finished the sleeves increases for the Featherweight cardigan. I attempted to knit it last year with Malabrigo lace but it just kept getting stuck to itself. This time I'm using Madeleinetosh Merino Light from the yarn club. It's thicker than Malabrigo and easier to knit with.

Spring-y

New tiny orchid

 Hostas emerging

 Compost bulbs

 Volunteer tomato sprouts

 Garden 2011 seeds have arrived

 New spring scarf from here

Patio furniture on which to enjoy the spring weather

Tuesdays with Dorie: Citrus Currant Sunshine Muffins & Honey Nut Brownies

Last week's recipe was chosen by Lauryn of Bella Baker. I really liked these muffins but they didn't keep as well I think they should have. I made them Sunday morning and by Monday morning they were pretty tough and dry. I did not use currants because the only place around here that sells dried currants is Whole Foods and I didn't want to fight the crowds. Instead I used dried cranberries, which I think worked really well.

This week's recipe was chosen by Suzy of Suzy Homemaker. I used Orange Blossom honey in these brownies and almonds for the nuts. It could be my oven but these brownies took about 25 minutes longer to bake then the recipe called for.After 45 minutes the knife came out with wet batter on it. The top was already browned so I covered it with foil tent and baked it for 25 minutes more. After they were done I let them cool before cutting into them. The honey flavor is very strong so I would make sure to use good honey while making them. I liked these, they are not your typical brownie but they're still very good and reminiscent of a cake. They're also not very photogenic...

Traveling plans

I am alive, despite my lack of posting last week. I'm in that fun area of full-time work + part-time school + doctor/acupuncture appointments. Luckily spring break is next week so I won't have to go to school and most of doctor appointments have ceased until next month. 

We've been making traveling plans for the spring. In mid-March we're going to Columbus, Ohio for an indie comic thing (SPACE), the first weekend in April we're going to St. Louis for Adam Corolla live (Doug really likes his podcast) and in late-April we're going to Chicago for a Cubs game. I wanted to go to San Francisco for my 30th (gulp) birthday in April but it's the same week as Passover (i.e. really busy time at work) so we're  delaying that trip for a month or so until after school is out. I also have enough frequent flier miles for a Delta ticket which I may use for a Seattle trip sometime in late-summer. We've also toyed around with the idea of driving to Austin for Renegade in May but the timing may not work out.

(image from Something Cakes, found via weheartit)

Tuesdays with Dorie: Toasted Almond Scones & Chocolate Pots de Creme

Last week and this week's since I'm behind in posting.

I loved the scones, I'm a big almond fan and these were delicious, albeit crumbly. I think these would be even better with the addition of dried cherries. Thanks to Mike of Living Out West who chose the scones. Go visit his blog, you won't regret it!

This week's recipe was Chocolate Pots de Creme, chosen by Christine of Black Cat Cooking. Pots de Creme are kind of like a souffley pudding. I halved the recipe but I didn't think the two of us should have eight desserts on hand. The recipe was pretty simple and turned out delicious. Don't forget to chill it, it's much better chilled. 

V-Day Treat

I don't really have strong feelings about Valentine's Day one way or another. I probably cared more when I was in middle school/high school and wished I had a boyfriend to send me flowers. These days though it's kind of off my radar. I did get a little card/print for us, my friend Lynsey alerted it to me on Etsy. It's hanging in our living room now.

Now to the treat part - I committed a cardinal 'sin' - I used boxed cake and pre-made frosting! If that's not bad enough I used it to make cake balls (or if you're more refined cake 'truffles'! Shameful, but I so do not care. Y'all they are good. I'm almost positive there is nothing 'natural' in them but you what? that's okay. Sometimes you just want junky things. I used the recipe from How Sweet It Is (she has some fabulous pictures and more obscenely good-looking treat recipes). I bought Duncan Hines Strawberry Deluxe cake mix and cream cheese frosting and used Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips for the chocolate coating.

The hot pink sugar is from Bake It Pretty. The best part about these is that the cake is pink, very fun. They are really, really rich and sweet and I say that knowing I have a high tolerance for sugar.

I did have a hard time dipping them into the chocolate, not all of the cake part got covered. So there you have it, one of the few times I have used boxed cake mix and I don't feel bad about it. 

Tuesdays with Dorie: Bourbon Bread Pudding

It's Thursday, not Tuesday. I know. I meant to make this on Sunday but didn't get around to it. Yesterday we got snow so my night classes were canceled, SO I finally got the chance to make bread pudding. I didn't have any bourbon so I used a splash of Jack Daniels. I also didn't use the water bath to bake it in, I'm far too lazy for that.

I love bread pudding, it's my favorite dessert, and this one did not disappoint. Thanks to Sharon of Simply Southern for this week's selection.

Wonky Curtains

I sewed something, not very well though. I have wanted to make curtains for our kitchen door and kitchen window for ages. I looked at different fabric options and fell in love with some really cute Michael Miller prints (and I can't find now) but I couldn't justify spending the money. Instead I pawed around in the fabric stash I've been accumulating and decided to use fabric I bought last year when I went to San Antonio. The pattern is American Jane by Moda.

For the door curtains I used some lace at the bottom that I bought at an estate sale. There wasn't enough yardage left for the cafe curtains but I think that's okay. The seams are not really straight, but maybe no one will scold me. I'm just glad I had enough of an attention span to finish them. I'm sure there's a more proper way to make these, measuring and such, but being lazy and having a short attention span I just winged it.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Great Grains Muffins

These muffins seem so unsuspecting but gosh they're good, I think they might be my new favorite muffin recipe. I followed the recipe just as Dorie states, but left out nuts and used Red Flame Raisins for the fruit.

I loved the way they tasted, the cornmeal was crunchy and the maple syrup and raisins added the right amount of sweetness. I will be adding these to my weekend breakfast rotation.

Thanks to Christine of Happy Tummy for these week's selection!

Look what I finally finished

Just in time too! The little ones these are intended for are set to arrive within the next week.

Once I did one sleeve the others were easier to do. I learned that I really need to pay better attention to the edges when knitting something that's going to be seamed. The buttons sewing isn't 100% perfect, my technique needs work, but for my first major seaming/button sewing attempt I'd say it's pretty good. I bought the buttons at Churchmouse Yarn on Bainbridge Island in December and I really like the way they look with the yarn colors.

 

The Madelinetosh sock yarn softens up a lot after washing and now it's really squishable and soft. I can only hope one of the twins has longer arms than the other one because the sleeves on the green sweater are shorter than the blue-ish one. Oops. All in all I'm still really happy with the way these turned out and hopefully the recipients will enjoy them too.

I also made bunny hats for them in Madelinetosh DK, the green color is Creme de Menthe and the ivory color is Milk. So sweet! I can't wait to see these topping little baby heads.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Nutty Chocolately Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake

This is the part where I show you a lovely picture of my bundt cake. Which I would love to do except my bundt cake got stuck in the bundt pan. So instead of that lovely picture I have this to show you. 

I'm pretty sure this is my fault. I kind of took liberty with the amount of filling, which I believe caused the problem because I buttered and floured the pan really well. 

Luckily, the cake still eats. It's really, really good too. I kind of love the orange/pecan/chocolate/cinnamon flavors. However, next time I'll stick to the recipe amounts for the filling.

Thanks to Jennifer of Cooking for Comfort for this week's selection!

Alpaca and angora

This past weekend my friend Kenan and I drove (will she drove, I rode) to nearby Oxford, Mississippi for a fiber festival.

There were promisesof real, live alpaca and we just couldn't pass up that opportunity. The festival itself was pretty small but there were two alpaca, not as friendly as the ones we met in Colorado, and angora rabbits. 

 

The rabbits were pretty much the cuter things ever. They're bigger than my cats and look like giant balls of fluff, we almost could find the eyes on one of them. I wanted to take one home with me, although Doug seems to have a strict policy on animals other than cats living at our current house. 

 

After wandering around the festival we walked around the square stopping at Amelia, a tiny but completely adorable shop. She had items from several Etsy artists as well as other things I hadn't seen before. I bought a Shanna Murray decal, which I had been coveting for awhile but never ordered, a printed tea towel and a coffee mug. 

 

Down the street was Bottletree Bakery they were serving lunch but were decidedly low on pastries. We each got something sweet and wandered back down the street to have lunch at Boure. After lunch we stopped at Square Books and then later had coffee at High Point (which used to be in Memphis before it went out of business here). 

Before we left town we went to Knit 1 Oxford, Oxford's only yarn store. The staff was super nice and they seemed to have an adequate amount of basics. K and I couldn't stop petting the Cascade Baby Alpaca yarn. It is so flipping soft that despite my promise to buy any yarn I bought one luscious little skein of Chunky Baby Alpaca. Very soon it will become a neckwarmer/cowl - even thought I don't need another one.