Friday Food - Raspberries

If you grew up in the Canadian prairies, chances are someone in your family grew raspberries. My Mum didn't, but both of my grandmothers did. When we were first married, we lived in the house my grandparents had lived in for their retirement. Grandma's raspberry patch was still in the same place it had always been, the northeast corner of the lot, at the back of the garden.

When we moved, we planted raspberries in the northwest corner of our lot, again at the back, against the fence. For anyone who is not aware, raspberries, if not kept in check, will spread. You will find shoots coming up metres away, in the rest of the garden, and in the lawn.

Needless to say, I was excited when I saw the raspberries in the backyard of our new house. And they are prolific. More so than mine ever were. I can get 2 cups in a day, and that's just the easy pickings. A good thing too, since E can ingest at least a cup a day. That boy loves his raspberries. I would normally buy, at a minimum, a pint of raspberries a week. Since we've been in this house (about a month now) I have not had to buy them.

I feel like I should share a recipe or something for raspberries, but they're just so good fresh out of the bowl, or sprinkled over some ice cream. You don't need recipes when in-season raspberries are bursting with flavour. But, here's an idea for fresh raspberries on a lazy weekend morning:

Lazy Raspberry Cream Sauce

Raspberries
Heavy cream
Sugar to taste

Mash the raspberries slightly with a fork. Not too much. Pour over some cream to make a thick sauce, and stir in some sugar. Drizzle over pancakes, waffles, or crepes.

What are some of your favourite ways to eat raspberries?

WIP Wednesday - Broken Rib Cardigan

Pattern: Broken Rib Cardigan by Debbie Bliss, Yarn: Lion Brand Wool Ease thick & Quick in Wood

Would you believe this is the fourth project I ever started? Like my Mum, my thought process was 'go big or go home' (her first knitting project ever was a sweater).

It's a cardigan for Hubs. To warm him up in the winter. For cozying up at home or at the cabin. It's already close to two years old and I'm still working on it. For a few reasons:

•  It's huge. At 6'2", Hubs is a big guy, and hence needs a substantial sweater.
• It's repetitive. Two rows to know.
• I'm on the sleeves and the shaping scares me.
• I haven't found appropriate buttons yet, which means I can't get going on one of the front panels.

 So far, I've finished the back and one front panel. I'm 3/4 through one sleeve. So, I'm technically over 50% done, but considering I pick it up once a month to work on, there's still a long way to go!

 

(Apologies for the poor picture. This was one of my first cracks and photographing my knitting, and I also had to grab the picture back off Ravelry because I'm on a different computer.)

 

For more WIP Wednesday goodies from this week, head on over to Tami's!

Sundays are for Quotes

"Friendship doubles our joys and halves our griefs." Dolley Madison

Friday Food - Beef Bacon

In the summer, as many Saturday mornings as we can, we drive out to our 'local' famer's market. It's not really local to me anymore, but my parents still live in the area. The season always seems far too short. There's a couple markets in the city that I'm sure are closer, but I find it far more satisfying to go to an outdoor farmers market; it seems more authentic, and I think Millarville is the largest outdoor market in Alberta.

Anyway, we discovered Alpine Ranch this year at the market. They raise hormone-free, antibiotic-free, steroid-free beef (they're free of more than just those too). It is some of the best tasting local beef I've had. And I've had some.

Our favourite product is the beef bacon, or as we like to call it, 'steakon'. Thinly sliced beef strips, taken from the cow in a similar place to where bacon would be taken from a pig. Think of nice, thin, crispy bacon, but with an unexpected flavour of a juicy steak.

We barbeque ours over low heat, resulting in a nice, chewy texture, with very little fat. So carniverously yummy.

Apparently Unpacking is NOT Going Well

I'm supposed to leave for a weekend in the mountains tomorrow afternoon. I'm driving, but once there, I will have a lot of time spent sitting and relaxing, which for me = knitting time! (I may get my brother to drive on the way home!)

But I can't find the socks that I started and wanted to work on, since my shawl is coming to an end. I used them as lightweight filling in one of the moving boxes and have not found them yet. Other projects are too heavy and hot to work on while sitting on the deck in the sun, I'm leaving them for fall.

I was sure I would have come across them by now, as they were in one of the last boxes to be packed. Along with them, is my 'support' bag. The little bag I keep with my needles for weaving in ends, my measuring tape, the pins I use for blocking projects. Without that little bag, I foresee an endless list of UFO's (unfinished objects) in my future.

So, when I get home on Sunday night, I am not allowing myself to open a book and read. Nor will I be allowed to pull out a DVD to watch (Netflix is grounded too). Once the car is unloaded, and the laundry started, unpacking resumes.

The past week I have used many excuses. I'm back at work. I only want to arrange the furniture and unpack once. But, it's time. The floor plans are done. I am fully capable of moving furniture myself. If I have to unload a box in one room and walk things across the house because I'm too weak to move the box, so be it. This needs to get done.

Because, dude, I'm excited about those socks. It's the first time I've used a yarn with a colour pattern that I'm unsure about. It took me a long time to work up the nerve to wind and start knitting with this yarn. And I can't wait to see them when they're done.

WIP Wednesday - Dishcloths

For a Christmas gift for all the ladies in my family, I thought I would make a week's worth of dishcloths. I like working on them because they're fast, small, and I don't necessarily need to carry around a pattern. Just in the car ride to and from the mountains, I can knock off 2 or 3 of them, as long as Hubs does all the driving. So far I've made 17 of them, all in various colours. Most are a basic pattern, but I'm trying to make some picture cloths as well.

 
In all, I'll need 35 for gifts, 42 if I want to keep some for myself.

Knit dishcloths are fantastic. They make fantastic scrubbers due to the stitches, but are gentle on dishes and cookware.

I haven't tried getting 2 cloths out of one ball of cotton yet, as they seem to use just over half. But, maybe mine will be made with colourful leftovers.

Head on over to Tami's Amis and Other Creations for other WIP Wednesday fun!

Sundays are for Quotes

(Haha, I just about typed 'Gouts')

I'm attempting to start a weekly post on Sundays that will bring you quotes that (I hope) sum up the week previous.

This week, in reflection of moving and unpacking:

"It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing." Thomas Jefferson