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.

If You Have OCD Tendencies

and you’re not already on Ravelry, might I make a suggestion? Remove your name from the waiting list. For the love of all that is neurotic and neatly categorized and ordered and cataloged . . .

I wish my invite had not come until next month. Or during my upcoming period of potential unemployment. I should be looking for new jobs, not organizing my yarn. I should be organizing my blogroll and finished projects here, not uploading my WIPs from January. I should be finishing my second Baudelaire sock (I’ve at least turned the heel) not browsing in yet another location for more patterns I will never finish.

Why did I do this the same day I decided to upgrade my flickr account? Is the desire not to bring order to my apartment and life chaos manifesting itself as a desire to rule my electronic environment with an overly controlling fist (or typing fingers . . .)

Must . . . stop . . . cataloging . . . and adding pictures . . .

Holding on to the Last Bit of Green

All it took was a couple of nights when it dipped below 60 degrees and I felt I was ready for a heartier dinner. Never mind the fact that it has inched its way back into the 80s (phew . . . I still have time to pop out a couple of pairs of socks, at least). I wanted substance.

I’d had some tempeh in a chicken-style marinade for a week now that I knew I needed to finish off soon. Add to that the fact that I rarely have the ability to make traditional bread crumbs because I rarely spend the money on gluten-free bread, and suddenly I was digging around my kitchen for something to coat the tempeh with. I came across the tail end of some coconut flakes, a little bit of puffed brown rice cereal and sliced almonds. So, of course I tossed it into my coffee grinder and came up with a crumb coating. It was surprisingly good. I ate this two nights in a row and even liked it enough to come up with a kiwi-mango dipping sauce to accompany it the second time. This sauce features fake coconut milk.” I will always love the Millennium cookbook that suggested adding coconut extract to a vegan milk to create coconut milk. Sometimes I do bring coconut milk in my kitchen, but I never use it in time (or, even think to pour it into ice cube trays). The benefit here is that this works quite well for the splash or two of coconut milk that is required in some sauces and curries.

Fall Knitty

Muir: I’m not sure this would ever be practical for a New York fall. The designer named the shawl after Muir Woods. Is this a sign? Could be . . .

Henry scarf: Dubbed a man’s scarf, but I would love this for myself for days when I’m feeling a little less girly. I’m sure part of this pattern’s appeal is linked to my slight herringbone obsession.

Urchin: Although I suspect the yarn used is part of its charm, and I’ve never seen a vegan thick and thin with such pronounced variation. Not to mention that this would probably make me look like an idiot if I attempted to put it on my head.

I can already tell that, despite what I’ve said about Urchin hat, it’s still the pattern from this Knitty that I’m most likely to knit before year end. When I inevitably do it, I will post pictures and we can all point and laugh at me before I mail it off to someone, anyone, who can pull off the adorable street urchin look.

Fall Is Coming

When I left for San Francisco I swear it was still summer in New York. And I know “they” say that it will be in the 80s by this weekend, but even on this 75 degree day, in a sleeveless dress and a medium-weight cardigan, it feels a little chilly. Which concerns me a little because not only do I not have much in the way of winter clothing, but I have so many things on my Crafting For Other People list (and this excludes holiday gift-making!) that I’m absolutely convinced this will be the winter I freeze to death.

Even though fall brings with it the fear of freezing, it also ushers in some lovely food items: pumpkins, squash and lovely pears (you’ll note the absence of apples . . . is it OK to admit that, other than Macouns, I’m mostly tired of apples). Below I’ve put some of the season’s best to tasty breakfast purposes:

Even though I halved the sugar in Isa’s The Best Pumpkin Muffins and used brown sugar instead of regular, I can see how, unaltered, these would be The Best muffins. What I really wanted was “the best to hold up to a liberal slathering of Earth Balance,” though, which is why I cut back on the sugar. In my next round, I’ll probably sub applesauce for the oil so I can justify an even larger slathering of EB. The quinoa pudding turned out well, too. I really wanted to use pears instead of apples, but I wake up before most of my neighborhood on Sunday mornings, so I had to make do with what I could find.

Later in the day, I was able to take my new Anthropologie capelet variation for a ride. I finished it as my flight was taking off in New York. It’s photographed here at the lovely boutique hotel, Hotel California, which houses the Millennium Restaurant:

Herringbone Lace and Seed Stitch Detailing