I Like This Chick!

Read this. I'll wait here.

So--are you in?

These are my kind of resolutions. I hate the ones that say "I'm going to stop blah blah blah" or "I'm not going to blah blah blah". And considering the fact that I shaved my legs yesterday, I can already check one off!

I Couldn't Help Myself

Hey--You Gotta Eat

Those of you who know me in real life know that I have been out of work for quite some time. Which sucks! I actually like to work, I like being around other people and I like to have a regular steady income.

None of which I've had lately.

I don't think I've been those broke in over 20 years but it amazes me what can be accomplished with very little. Especially when it comes to food. I love to cook and I love to experiment in my kitchen--sometimes with great results, sometimes with not so great--but my budget has really limited the ingredients I can choose. At first I was a little sulky about it but then I realized that Yonkers has great resources for food (another reason the Y.O. is a great place to live). We have a very diverse population which brings along with it some really amazing cuisines.

So I'm throwing a food challenge down to you today. Go to a market that is waaaaaay outside your normal. If you are African American and live in a predominantly African American neighborhood--head out to Chinatown. If you are hispanic (see the note above about the neighborhood), find your way to a community of Greek immigrants. If you are Irish American (like me), check out all of them.

Here are some of the ingredients that I have found that are dead cheap and are not readily available in my neighborhood.

• Turkey Wings--Dude you are going to love these. Rub them with a little olive oil (the cheap stuff will do) and salt and pepper and roast them in the oven with some cut up onions (don't even bother to take the skin off the onions). Dump the whole thing into a big pot, cover with water and as it simmers add whatever veggies you want. Amazing turkey soup. That is if you can resist picking the meat off the roasted turkey wings before they make it into the soup pot. They're delicious.
  

• Pork Shoulder--I can regularly get this for under a dollar a pound. I keep a container of garlic paste in my fridge at all times and I recommend that you do too. Take 50 peeled cloves of garlic (you can get the big jug of pre-peeled ones at Costco for a song and really, this is not the place to be a garlic snob--it's just not necessary). Put them in the blender with 1/2 cup of water and let her rip until they're all nicely pureed. You can use this on all sorts of things. I cut little slits in a pork shoulder, salt and pepper it and then rub it with puree. Into the roasting pan, cover it with foil and roast it very slowly (25o - 300 degrees). After about 3 or 4 hours, take the foil off so it crisps up. You now have several meals ready to rock and roll. Slice it and serve it with some of the pan juice over rice. Shred some and mix it with barbecue sauce and have it on a roll (or over noodles). Shred some more and add it to some sauteed onions, spread it on a tortilla, top with cheese and another tortilla, a few minutes on each side in a hot pan and, ta da, instant delicious quesadilla.

• Save those condiments. New boy brought Mexican food over last week. There were delicious red and green sauces but they sent way too much. Seared some chicken thighs (they are always on sale somewhere), took them out of my trusty black skillet and then added in the green sauce with some chicken stock to thin it. I wanted to deglaze the pan with a few tablespoons of tequila but I didn't have any so I skipped that step. Put the chicken back in the pan and then popped the whole mess into the oven for 40 minutes or so. Delicious!!!!!!!! And elegant enough for company. I'm freezing some of the sauces to see how they hold up.

So what are you going to find (and remember--it has to be inexpensive) and how are you going to cook it? Life is an adventure and, just because I'm broke doesn't mean I can't enjoy the ride.

Does Anyone Else Have A Cat Who Does This?

I think this is the feline equivalent of eating cereal out of the box. Heatherthecat seems to think it is the greatest treat in the world to rip open the cat food bag and stick her whole head right in!

So sorry the blog has been dark for so long. Life has been, well, life lately and we all know how that can get.

Personal Life = Complicated
Career = Complicated
Knitting = Thank god I knit or I would have taken a rock to my forehead ages ago!

I have some finished things to show you.

These are Kathleen's birthday socks.

The patter is Spring Forward from the Summer 2008 Knitty. The yarn is Knit Picks Stroll in Twinkle Heather. Nice yarn for this project and very reasonably priced (see the career = complicated note above). I started this pattern when it first came out in a very vivid red hand painted yarn and although I loved both the pattern and the yarn, they just didn't go together. Kind of like Whoopie Goldberg and Ted Danson--love them both but knew from the git go that relationship was doomed. This was a much better choice. I made Kathleen her first pair of hand knit socks for her birthday last year and anyone who shows them off as much as she does deserves a drawer full of them. Until she gets sick of only get socks as gifts.

And here are Pop's Christmas socks.


Okay so they didn't exactly make it under the Christmas tree but I got them to him before Valentine's Day and that's always a plus. (P.S. Granny's scarf still isn't done.) My basic sock pattern that I've had for a million years also in Knit Picks Stroll. This time the color was Pine. Now, frankly, Pop would wear a pair of pink socks but I just didn't have it in me to force them on him. He is very conservative in his clothing (in 44 years I've never seen him wear a t-shirt) but he does like to make a little fashion statement with his socks.

This week, I've dug into my UFO basket and am finishing things up. Sissy's Hey Teach may actually get finished in the next few weeks and my little leaf mittens are so close to done. Brought them to knitting group last night but I get so distracted by what other people are working on that I don't seem to get a lot of my own work done (but that's another blog post).

Greetings From the Party

Ooo-there are lots of cool people here. Check out this guest. I think these are way too cool and will be digging around my cupboards for plates and candlesticks.

And there are lots of cupcakes and gooey treats. Come by and have some.

Blog Party Today!

I'm going to a Blog Party over at Permission to Unwind today! For some reason I can't do a link so you'll have to find your way to www.permissiontounwind.blogspot.com

You must stop by and say hello! Here's what I'm bringing.


SPINACH DIP

1 10 oz. package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dray
1 package cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 14 oz. can artichoke hearts (not in oil), drained and chopped

Mix all the ingredients together. Spread in a shallow dish and sprinkle with more parmesan. Either bake at 375 degrees for 1/2 hour or, preferably, microwave on high for 15 minutes. Serve with Ritz crackers.

And I'm going to make it in real life to celebrate our impending snowstorm tomorrow!

Check back this afternoon and I'll give you all the gossip from the party. I hope there are some cute guys there.

Am I That Obvious?

I think I'm pretty easy going and predictable. And I don't think that's a bad thing at all. "Good evening and welcome to (fill in the blank) restaurant/bar/pub/etc. Can I get you something to drink?" "Why yes thank you. I'll have a chardonnay." Every time. Easy peasy. If I've been somewhere more than once they don't even ask me anymore. I've often wondered if perhaps I should expand my horizons. I do have the occasional Bailey's but, really, I'm predictable. I do love the bubbly but for some reason, that's a home drink for me.

And in the past week, my predictability has worked out just fine and dandy for me. First I got this.

My wonderful neighbor went to visit my wonderful friend (his wonderful daughter) in Marghera Italy for the holidays. And this is what came home for me (me! me! me!). Yeah--that's some gorgeous bulky rose colored yarn, cookies from Venice and a truly gorgeous bottle of prosecco (mine! mine! mine!).

Then there was this.

Yeah dammit! That's some gorgeous treats in that bag. Flying Fingers had a bag-o-yarn for $25 sale over the weekend. As soon as I got the email, I shot one right back to make sure that they were going to have them in the store--not just online. They're so wonderful that when I got there on Saturday they had four bags made up for me to choose from. Elise told me that she had given Dillon some specifics on what I would like for one of the bags and, lo and behold, that was the one that I picked. It's funny, I carried this bag and another one that had some pretty pinks in it around the store but this one kept whispering to me to ditch the pink bag and go home with it. So I did. As fate would have it, my friend Jean got the pink one the next day!

So am I predictable? Yes I am. Am I boring? God I hope not.