And They're off!

Right up there in the world of fiber/sport mashup events is the Tour de Fleece! Started in 2006 on the blog Keep on Kitting in the Free World with only 16 members it's now become an annual spin-along where you set a goal and spin every day that the tour rides (July 3 - July 25) with days of rest on the 12th and the 21st (just like the tour).

Guidelines (NOT RULES):

1. Spin every day the Tour rides, if possible. Saturday July 4th through Sunday July 25th. Days of rest: Monday July 12th, Wednesday July 21st. (Just like the actual tour)

2. Spin something challenging Thursday July 22nd. (The Tour’s toughest mountain stage from Pau up the legendary Col du Tourmalet)

3. Take a button if you want one. Then we can use the button on our blogs in show of solidarity. Take it from here or grab a clean one from the flickr pool.

4. Wear yellow on Sunday July 25th to announce victory. Why not wear yellow on any day you feel particularly successful? (Yellow is the color of the race leader in the Tour - but here we are all ‘race leaders’)

5. Other colors if desired: Green (sprinter - think FAST), Polka-dot (climber - as in uphill), and white (rookie)

I've set out to spin this:



Hopefully into a nice squishy sock yarn to knit up a pair for this winter. Soooo excited! Wish me luck!

Pesto Love

My basil in the front garden is going crazy. I thinned it out, but it still looks nice and bushy. I made a fresh pesto pasta with chicken and tomatoes for a most delicious dinner. I always have a bag of boneless skinless chicken thighs in the freezer, it's one of my few quick-fix meal solutions these days. They add a kick of protein and they are done in about 1/2 an hour on my countertop grill. Minimum of heat added to the house, or this can be made at night when it's cooler and just heated up or eaten cold.

Fresh Pesto

2 cups packed fresh basil
1/4 cup parsley
1-2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup toasted walnuts
1/4 cup parmigano reggiano
3/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Put all ingredients except olive oil into a food processor or blender. Pulse briefly to chop the basil and then run on low as you drizzle the olive oil in until you get a smooth sauce.

Chicken Pesto Pasta

1# short pasta (penne or rotini work well)
1 recipe fresh pesto (about 1 cup)
1# cooked chicken, chopped
1/2 cup toasted walnut pieces
1 pint cherry tomatoes halved
Parmigano reggiano to taste

Toss all the ingredients in a large bowl. Eat, enjoy.

CSA Goodness

It's that time of year again! The abundance of fresh veggies and other surprises in a big box every week. Last year we got a 1/2 share from Valley Family Farm in Milan. This year we decided to upgrade to a full share so that we had more to play with for preserving and putting up in addition to the weekly numnums (yes, that is a technical term people.). At the very beginning of the season our box is heavy with greens. The first week we had a couple of kinds of lettuce, green onions, garlic scapes, and assorted herbs. This week the box was overflowing with even more goodness. We added broccoli, red potatoes, collard greens, lemon balm, garlic chives, and kale to the list from the first week. With the abundance of lettuces it seemed like a good time to turn to the "salads" section of my cookbook (my preferred book is the America's Test Kitchen Cookbook as it has great technique sections in addition to pretty fail-proof recipes). Last week it was pretty straightforward with Caesar salads (we had a whole head of romaine). And this week it was Cobb salads. Nothing dramatic, nothing too in depth. Just simple, wonderful salads. I can't wait until next week to find another one I love!

Asparagus

I am a huge fan of asparagus. Mostly any way that you prepare it (with the exception of commercially canned asparagus - it's the texture) I am in love with this vegetable. We are in the middle of the very brief season for asparagus here in Michigan and so I went about taking advantage of it. I got 10 pounds of asparagus and pickled most of it. As my father is quick to point out, it just isn't a really great Bloody Mary without a great pickled vegetable, and pickled asparagus is always a winner. I did 5 pints of spicy, 5 pints of plain pickled, and I canned a quart of pieces that was just plain - not pickled. Overall I am pretty pleased with my effort and am looking forward to those Bloody Marys this summer as a great cooler.



Fresh


Blanched


Canned


And a bonus just in case you don't have a good bar book handy (but you really should) - a recipe for a basic Bloody Mary. Feel free to tweek to taste!

Bloody Mary (From the Mr. Boston Bartender's Guide)
1 1/2 oz Vodka
3 oz Tomato Juice
1 dash Lemon Juice
1/2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
2-3 drops Tabasco Sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste

Shake with ice and strain into ice-filled old-fashioned glass. Garnish with a lime wedge, celery, or pickled veg. Drink and Enjoy!

Spin me right 'round baby

I've been having fun spinning lately. As I have been airing out the stash in anticipation of spring and summer knitting I found a whole bunch of half finished fiber projects that I've been playing with. I found 4oz of Falkland roving that I got a couple of years ago with the intention of spinning it up and giving it as a Christmas present to a friend. Well, Christmas has come and gone two times now and it didn't happen.. but I found it about a month ago and it spun up like butter. The beautiful blues greens and purples were inspired by the area around where this particular friend grew up. It spun up beautifully to a sport/DK weight. So later this week it will wing it's way off to her :)

The second is a exercise in procrastination. The roving is 4 oz of Louet Northern Lights pencil roving that I bought at Lettuce Knit in Toronto during my honeymoon. I spun the singles over a year ago on my little antique wheel, wound them off onto toilet paper cores and put them in a box and promptly forgot about them. I was going through a box and found the singles and trying to figure out what I wanted to do with them. If I did a regular 2ply I would have ended up with roughly a worsted weight yarn enough for a hat or something along those lines. Instead I decided to ply it with a black thread. It set off the colors nicely, over doubled my yardage, and gave the yarn a nice texture. I think it will eventually turn into a Skinny Ruffles Shawlette by Linden Heflin (whom by the way, I am in love with). Her patterns are always so well written, timeless, and just darn cute!

My next summer spinning project is probably going to involve a pound of Shetland roving that I got at a previous Fiber Expo in Ann Arbor. It's soft and smooshy and I think I'm going to aim for a DK or Worsted weight to combine with a commercial yarn for a sweater when the weather gets cooler.



"Deckerville"


"Rainbow Sherbet"

A tired cheesemonger eats dinner.

I know, it doesn't seem that exciting to hear. But I get asked every day that I'm at work how on earth I work behind the cheese counter and not be flipping huge!? It generally boggles my mind that these people think so little of their own self control that they think I just gorge myself everyday. Truth be told, I eat very little cheese outside of work. When it comes to eating, it's almost work overload to have cheese at home, because I do eat a fair bit as a part of my job (how else would I know what fab suggestions to make when you people come in, pick out a cheese to taste and then hate what you picked?). But I do find ways to sneak it in here and there.



Pasta with Tuna and Veggies

1# small pasta (I used a Sardinian pasta that looks like little grubs, avoid spaghetti unless it is the only pasta you can find at the store. Rigatoni work well)
1 can San Marzano tomatoes diced
1/2# fire-roasted artichokes, chopped (regular will work, but the fire-roasted give a nice depth of flavor)
6 oz jar Spanish Tuna in olive oil
1/4 cup capers
1/4# feta cheese, crumbled
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup agradolche or muscatel vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Start the pasta in a large pot with plenty of salted boiling water. In a bowl large enough to contain the finished pasta mix the garlic, capers, artichokes, tomatoes, and the vinegar in the bottom of the bowl, mixing so the vinegar coats all of the veggies. When the pasta is done cooking, add to the vegetables and mix well. Add in the tuna, feta, and olive oil, tossing to coat. Crack fresh pepper over the top and enjoy!

Thing are Springing Up!

I am very pleased to introduce the newest members of the homestead. 27 darling little peeping chicks have taken up residence in a brooding box in my shed. For those of you who know what my house and yard look like, no, we are not keeping all 27. Some of them are roosters and such and will become delicious dinner once they are big enough (about September..) We ordered a mixed batch of heritage breeds from Sand Hill Preservation and recieved: 4 Black Australorp, 6 Buff Minorca, 6 Exchequer (Scottish) Leghorn, 4 Golden Polis, 4 White Crested Black Polish, 3 White Cubalaya. I'm super excited about my little babies!