What To Set Out for Santa

I might be suffering from technical difficulties.  I am woefully unaccustomed to Internet Explorer.  I had thought I was linking to my pictures,  but it seems I am not and, frankly I’m tired.  After knitting late until the wee hours of the morning (not necessarily a bad thing as I finally got to see The Science of Sleep, which I had wanted to see in the theaters but every time I tried to see it was sadly sold out so I gave up) and still finding myself miles away from where I should be, I am exhausted.

But I took a break to make some cookies and prep some more chocolate gingerbread for Christmas.  The oven will largely be occupied by a turkey most of tomorrow, unfortunately, so I definitely had to get dessert out of the way. I’m quite glad with how the cookies turned out.  These were the Cranberry-Pistachio Cookies I was tinkering with last weekend (was it really only a week ago?).  They’re a little more cakey than the first version and quite tasty.  Despite the fact that my mother had just slandered all vegan baked goods as “dry” (not just mine, Native Foods’s carrot cake was caught up in the broad sweep), she seemed to have no problem choking down a few all the while offering advice – this might be the appropriate time to point out that my mother has never baked a cookie that didn’t come from a package in her life.

Pistachio Cranberry Cookies (Makes 16)

* Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Sift together: 

1.5 c. sorghum flour

1/2 c. chickpea flour

2 tsp. xanthan gum

1 tsp. baking powder

Cream together:

1/2 c. Earth Balance

1/4 c. + 1 tbsp. non-hydrogenated shortening

1 1/2 c. brown sugar

* Then add

1 tbsp. lemon zest

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. almond extract

1/8 c. soymilk

* Add dry ingredients to the wet, plus:

1 c. dried cranberries

1 c. shelled pistachios

* Combine well.  Uncooked dough should be able to hold shape when pressed together.  If it does not, you might need to add a splash more liquid.

* Roll dough into balls containing approximately 1 tbsp. worth of dough.  Flatten on the cookie sheet and cook for 10-12 minutes.

I’m actually a little sad I can’t show the progress of my Christmas gifts as I’ve been working my tail off and yet still seem to be getting nowhere  (but there is always my flickr stream for the curious until I’m able to get things working on this end).  I think I’ve been crafting into a black hole.  It’s possible I’d be a little further along if my mother would leave me alone long enough for me to finish her gift, but she can’t because she’s a little obsessed with my company.

Not Frantic Yet

Normally nothing would make me happier than a large plate full of tater tots, but I had heard rumors that Whole Foods had waffle fries. Apparently, that would be the Whole Foods in Long Island only, unless there’s hope for the Bowery location. I had to have instant something, though, so I went for tater tots instead. On day 1 of Christmas Crafting for the Family they were a bit of a let down, but they weren’t supposed to be my prime focus. My grandmother’s lap quilt was:

I didn’t have the time to spare to move the pieced bits off of my bed, so yes . . . I slept on my grandmother’s quilt. Fortunately, this is not one of the evenings I slept on a sewing needle. Or a crochet hook. Or scissors. Or knitting needles. Clearly, I need to stop crafting in bed.

Compulsion

When people pull back the curtains to reveal a huge yarn stash, they pretend to be embarrassed. The truth is, they’re not. Knitters with a lot of yarn own their compulsion. They’re not easily distracted by people who see their pictures online or, even worse, come into their homes and mutter things like “psychological disorder” and “in need professional help.”

Erica Thompson’s stash. This is only half of what she admits to owning. I’m a little envious because it would be sort of wonderful to want to start a project and have anything you could need at your disposal. For non-knitters, you have to think of this like a painter having every paint color s/he might need. I mean, I’ve never heard anyone use the word “hoarding” in conjunction with any of my artist friends’ supplies.

It Came From the Deep

A glove without a hand looks like a sea creature

I like to humiliate myself online by posting pictures of things which I’m highly unlikely to finish (like my Finished Garments section, which is woefully incomplete) and half sets, like socks and slippers and gloves. For further proof, witness the left slipper I crocheted. I am working on it at the same time as the gloves just to up guarantee that these will go into the WIP of doom pile.

I was winging it here. I consider this slipper to be a test as my parents are always clamoring for slippers and blankets for Christmas. Since it’s too late for blankets (well the craft swap DPN’s would come in handy for this if I, um, didn’t already have another project on them), slippers are becoming a must-make. Clearly, they’re a bit roomy up front, but this one’s cotton and cotton doesn’t have much give. I wanted to make sure I allowed for that. Oh. I also messed up my own pattern by leaving out a row of the light pink. A row that contained decreases. The thing of it is, this one still fits better than Take 2 (not pictured). Look at the back/bottom:

It seems to be doing fine.  So if I work out where to add the final decreases without cutting off circulation (first pair was a little uncomfortable after a few minutes), my mother’s covered. The jury’s still out on whether my father will wear pink and green Mary Jane slippers, however. It could be worse. I could be trying to get him into these:

This is no slight on the pattern.  I kind of want these for myself, (but they’re certainly not going to cut it for my father). For those times that I think I’m a princess. But only after I make curtains for my new apartment. I don’t want my neighbors talking about the crazy knitting girl in a tutu and knit ballet slippers from across the way.

So Little to Show for Myself

I went to Boston for a wedding. This is not Boston, though. These are a bunch of stumps off the side of the ferry in New London, Connecticut. I took this picture because I was trying to pretend that I would like the idea of living in Connecticut. Truth be told, I’m not so sure, but I’m afraid that by next year I may not have a choice. It’s nice to have a standing room offered by someone who is not related to me (sorry, Mom and Dad, but there’s a reason we continue to get along . . . I think it is called 3000 miles). I, of course, have still not finished the gift. Which is lame. Especially as you only have a year post-wedding to give the gift before you become a total tool. And as I have a birthday blanket that is two years overdue I’m a little nervous. I should probably start working on the new bride’s baby blanket now, too, in the event that she becomes “with child” anytime in the next five years.

It’s a rare thing to go to a wedding and be able to eat as a vegan, but most of the food at this one was. (OK. It’s also rare for me to go to weddings, but that is another story.) The bride even made sure my allergy-ridden self was covered. I received a lovely grilled vegetable terrine served over lentils studded with artichokes. Lentils are my second-favorite legume, right behind chickpeas and slightly ahead of cannellini beans. I probably wouldn’t normally take pictures of food at a wedding reception, but  food porn somehow felt appropriate given the crowd.

Sadly, last Thursday’s dinner/Friday morning’s breakfast is a little blurry, but oh so good. I might post the recipe for these chickpea-butternut squash fritters soon after I finish with some last minute tweaking. They were particularly lovely with a pomegranate-balsamic reduction. I’m usually too lazy to do reductions, but when I had dinner at FreckleFoot’s about a month ago or so, she reminded me just how good they can be.

There she grows. Remember this? It’s the huge granny square that will be flanked by normal-sized granny squares. Truth be told, it’s a little wonky, but I’ve only been crocheting since April or so, so I’ll do my best not to be too hard on myself. I’m kind of excited because this is a blanket I actually get to keep unlike all of the other soul sucking blankets (sorry to friends and family who shall be receiving blanket gifts . . . they’re lovely and appreciated usually, but they are evil, easily-abandoned crafty endeavors) I have made and am currently making. Although, goodness knows if I’ll have a bed to put it on soon, since I have a bad feeling I’ll be crammed into a tiny room in Connecticut come December. (I’ll speak more of this lately, but if I take the time right now to contemplate how badly my NYC/Brooklyn roommate search is going, I might crawl into what space is left beneath my cubicle.)

Oh. And I’m also patiently waiting on the recipe for this lovely creation:

I was kind of sad to learn that the lovely chickpea cutlets in Isa’s upcoming Veganomicon that everyone has been discussing for ages live and die by gluten. But Isa has more than brought it. Chickpeas and tempeh = love. I can’t wait to make this.