Tomato-less Bruschetta

I made bruschetta with white nectarines tonight. It's pretty good (the nectarine could have been a little riper). Nectarines diced and tossed in a mixture of balsamic & Marshall's honey on baguette from Arizmendi (I went to the Lakeshore Arizmendi, but they don't have a seperate website).

On My Way To Work Three

This time it was the band of turkeys. I've seen them before. Last time they were (I'm not exaggerating) in the fog, on an early morning, waiting at a crosswalk where the light was red in their direction. And you thought turkeys were dumb.

New Game

Here's the latest game at our house. Scooter gets inside the bathtub. Mowgli sits on the toilet lid. Then they attack each other through the shower curtain. Maybe it's because there's fish on the shower curtain.

This Can't Be

They're sleeping next too each other. No hissing, no biting, no chasing. It will only last a minute, I'm sure. And it's not as if this is happening in the middle of the night when I'm trying to sleep. But still.

Blooming!

Titania is blooming, at just over six feet tall, and she doesn't smell (just kind of greenhouse-y, but no rotting meat smell at all):

Farro

Ann came over for dinner last night, and I made farro with green beans, snap peas, and cherry tomatoes. I'd never had farro before, but it's quite tasty.

Bloom?

There's a corpse flower at the U C Botanical Garden getting ready to bloom. Her name is Titania, and she's supposed to smell like rotting flesh when she opens up. Right now she's still tucked in and growing (almost to six feet so far):

On My Way To Work Two

And then there was this on the path this morning...



...and then this at lunch (coconut pannacotta, courtesy of co-worker Sara)...

On My Way To Work

How many people see this when they're walking from their car to work?















In case you're unfamiliar with our East Bay Goats, they mow the hillsides. A great sustainable way to reduce fire danger (and cute, too!).

Sunflower Scarecrow

Dad decided that since the birds planted a volunteer sunflower in his garden, he could do some art with the tweezers and turn it into a sunflower scarecrow:



Amanda agreed that it made a great mask:

Stich 'n Pitch

My cousin Kathleen & I got to use the free tickets I won at Stiches West to the Giant's Stich 'n Pitch tonight. We got some cool goodies:



And here we are with our knitting in our very chilly seats:



No record making home runs from Bonds, but we still had a great time.

What's In The Bag?

Hmmm...what's in here?



Peek-a-Scooter?

Eggling Incubating

One of my birthday presents was an Eggling which is now incubating mint seeds on a sunny shelf:

The Bridge

Is there a better place for a geology field trip?

Nappy Bag

After a long bout of procrastination, I finally took part of my two weeks off between jobs to sew the nappy bag I've been planning for my friend Sarah's new (sort of) baby. The baby was born in January, but I figure she'll be in diapers for a few more years, so it's okay if it's totally late, right? Scooter helped...



...and Mowgli inspected the changing pad & carrying case along the way...



...and Scooter helped model the final product (note: he made sure you can see the inner lining in different sock monkey combed cotton)...

New Family Member

Look who's come to join our house...



Scooter! He's named after a kitty Amanda used to have. He was born in the backyard of one of the vet tech's at our vet's office. His brother & sister will be living with the vet tech, and Scooter will be here tormenting Mowgli.

Lorax Flowers

I had a going away party at El Rio the other night, since I'm going to be starting a new job soon. A bunch of folks came (thanks, guys!) and my awesome friend Mark gave me these, which will henceforth be known as the Lorax flowers. See what I mean?

My So-Called-Garden

My Dad and I hung window boxes outside my kitchen a few weeks ago, but I never posted the pictures. I thought I would now, since I don't have any new pictures as my camera is living with Amanda for a little while:

Treat!

From the lovely Teacake Bake Shop in Emeryville:

Decadent Breakfast

Farmer's market treats...oatmeal with organic strawberries, organic grapefruit (broiled), Earl Grey & ranunculus:

Female Fettuccine?

I made "Fettuccine Alfreda" (yes, Alfred-A) from my wonderful new vegan cookbook, Vegan with a Vengeance. Yum.



I used nutritional yeast, which I'd never cooked with before. I think next time I'll cut back on it a bit, as the taste is a little overpowering. Otherwise it was quite yummy.

Tulipomania

Dad gave me a beautiful bunch of tulips from his garden. He has hundreds (literally) blooming right now. Here's Mowgli posing with the tulips:



And here's a closeup:

Otter Pile

There is a fantastic new temporary exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Wild About Otters Exhibit where, among many cool things, we saw this pile of Asian Small-Clawed Otters:

Home & Garden Show

We went to the home & garden show at the Cow Palace today. There were lots of cool gardens & booths. My favorite garden was the underwater one (of course). This was the best part:



And the absolutely best news was that my favorite ceramic artists are back. John Benn & Colleen Gallagher create some really amazing pottery, and I had a tradition of buying a (small) piece every year, but they hadn't been there the last two years. They don't have a website, nor do they exhibit their work anywhere in particular. I'd all but given up, until I turned the corner of the exhibit hall and there was John. I'll post pictures later of what I got.

Valentine's Day Treats

After a couple of weeks of a virus, absolutely no voice, and a nasty ear infection I seem to be about 95% normal (why do ears take so long to go back to normal???). Thankfully, I was at the tail end of it in time to create some crafty & yummy Valentine's treats. Here's the bag I made for Amanda's roomate (it really hangs vertically, it just doesn't seem to want to here...):



And their Valentine's zipper pouches (with added treats) and Valentine's cupcakes:

Happy Tummy

I don't know why I've felt compelled to cook so much the last two days. First it was Meyer Lemon Marmelade:



Then tonight it was Lentil Stew with Winter Vegetables (which includes all kinds of things like turnips, beets, butternut squash, dino kale, and Bucheron goat cheese...yum!):



and then chocolate vegan cupcakes with goji berries and blue vegan creamcheese frosting. Why blue? Because it matched the Happy Feet prize from the Cherrios box, of course:

Ranunculus

Aren't they beautiful? I got pink ones last week, but I like the peachy hues of these more (although I did succumb to pink tulips this week).

Brunch & BIP 2

Yesterday we celebrated my Dad's birthday with brunch at the Wente Vineyard in Livermore. Here we are with Dad modeling his birthday scarf:



And tonight I finished the knitting portion of my Sophie Bag, thanks to the marvelous Knitting Help site. Here it is before felting. I'll post the post-felted pics after my next trip to Mom & Dad's washing machine.

Rogue Cheese

My dinner tonight:



Spinach, roasted beets, Rogue Creamery Smokey Blue Cheese (we met the cheese maker at the market this morning), and Aunt Floore's Pecans. What's that last one? My friend Susie makes these pecans every year, it's her great aunt Floore's recipe. The last three years, a bunch of us have been getting together around Thanksgiving to roast a couple of batches. Suzie gets the pecans from Texas (where she grew up). I froze some of mine for later (like tonight!). Here's the recipe:

Susie'’s Pecans

2 pounds pecans
1 stick of butter
10-12 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1+ tsp chipotle sauce
salt to taste

1. Melt butter & add other seasonings except salt
2. Mix pecans & butter-sauce in a large bowl
3. Spread coated pecans in a single layer on 2 cookie sheets
4. Roast at 300° for 30 minutes
5. Spread on newsprint & sprinkle with salt
6. If desired, mix & re spread & sprinkle
7. Let cool before packaging

Pecan Source:
Vending Nut Company
2222 Montgomery Street
Fort Worth, TX 76107
(817) 737-3071.

The pecans are best during the fall harvest & freeze very well. Maybe this year I'll remember to bring my camera & take pictures of the roasting party.

BIP?

So, I've seen an abbreviation lately, WIP for Work In Progress. This is the BIP, Bag In Progress. I'm making a Sophie Bag. Well, actually this is a test run bag before I make the real deal for a birthday gift. Since I am having to teach myself several new skills (picking up stitches, i-cording, etc) I thought I should do a test bag for myself first and make sure I can do it right. Here's how it looks so far (I just picked up stiches around the bag bottom & started the circular knitting):

Finished at Last

Over a year ago, I started knitting a scarf for my Dad for his birthday (it's in January). It was looking great, but alas, two skeins later it was not long enough. Wouldn't you know it, the yarn was nowhere to be found. And I really mean nowhere. So the lovely folks at Noe Knit ordered a third skein for me. It took forever, but it finally arrived...after the birthday. So it went into the stack of projects to be finished...and stayed there...until tonight! Lo & behold, Dad's birthday scarf:

They're Back!

Tulips are my all time favorite flower, and on Saturday at the Ferry Building Farmer's Market, I found these: