Too Much Information

Knitting up Rhinebeck 2008: Sliver Moon Leaf Lace Cowl

2012-01-24T11:24:00.000-08:00

2008, my first Rhinebeck Sheepand Wool festival...a feast for the eyes, an orgy for an unapologetic yarn-petter. The textures! The colors! Little did I know that the very first row of vendors I visited would include so many that would become favorites. Sliver Moon was among these.

Being utterly in love with bright green, I grabbed many green yarns that day, including this skein which was one of my very first purchases. Simple, pure, bright, apple green: 280 yards of blissful soft merino wool.

I thought I would combine it with another Sliver Moon skein that combines green, purple and yellow in one insanely brilliant colorway, but the greens don't quite mesh the way I hoped. So, what to do with a single skein of bright springtime green? Why a leaf-patterned lace something, of course!

Having picked a leaf-lace scarf pattern off Ravelry, I cast on and did 2 repeats and...I found it really hard going for no good reason. Besides, I have plenty of green scarves. But green cowls? I recently made 2 small Moebius-strip scarves, one of which is short enough to be sort of a cowl, and I like it a lot -- easy to wear, no winding or knotting required. So I frogged and re-started the lace pattern in the round, and I LOVED working it that way. In just 2 days I had a fabulous finished project, and I do love wearing it!

Phalaenopsis deliciosa

2011-12-19T21:15:00.000-08:00

Phalaenopsis deliciosa, for a while known as Kingidium deliciosum and also for a while called a Doritis, remains a dainty rarity in the world dominated by its enormous ubiquitous hybrid relatives.

The plant and even the flowers are not unusually small among Phal species -- there are a few that are even smaller, like Phal. lobbii and Phal. minus. There is something rather appealing though about having those tiny sugar-crystal cotton-candy pink flowers appear on long branching spikes, rather than all gathered about the base of the plant. It makes them more butterfly-like, more fairy-dust.

Mine has been blooming since I acquired it from Orchids Limited in June at the Silva Shore Orchid Fest. Just as the original spike petered out a new, more vigorous one sprang up and branched and has ever since sported a healthy crop of buds, with the expected one or two flowers open in succession. The original spike has meanwhile begun to sprout a keiki, which makes me happy, as backups are always a good plan!

I keep this about 10" below the center of my light tubes, in a tray that is allowed to gather water and then evaporate it. I haven't yet replaced the sphagnum it's in, but the roots are quite happy inside the pot and just beginning to wander about.

Knitting up Rhinebeck 2010: Steam Valley Fiber Silk Yarn

2011-11-14T20:54:00.000-08:00

I finally made an attempt to "organize" my Rhinebeck yarns this summer. This attempt consisted of purchasing two large clear plastic bins, and then filling each bin with yarn. Success!

In the course of this effort, I came across this super beautiful yarn from Steam Valley Fiber, of which I purchased a single skein. The name of the color is Tidepool, but the shifting shining colors are more like a mature male peacock in the sun. The hand is lovely soft and strokeable, owing to the combo of 50% silk and 50% superfine Merino. The price was $40, explaining why I only bought one skein. Happily it is 270 yards, so I thought "Hurrah! Enough for an actual 1-skein project!"

With no elasticity to speak of, the yarn cried out to become a luscious scarf...hat or gloves would have been problematic, you see. And so because I really enjoyed the Enchanting lace pattern with a similar yarn, I decided to make another Moebius scarf. Except that I didn't quite calculate the width correctly first time, and feared having too short of a non-stretchy bit of lace. So I frogged and cast on only 3 repeats of the lace, really the bare minimum, and have ended up with a nice long scarf that is taking bloody forever to finish. Really, 270 yards has taken me from August to November to finish, even with carrying the project everywhere I go. Granted I only work on it during long bus trips when I have sufficient elbow room, or during boring board meetings. However the end is finally in sight...and then I get to enjoy deep anxiety over washing this yarn.

www.steamvalleyfiber.com

It Bloomed! Habenaria medusa BLOOMED!!

2011-11-14T19:48:00.000-08:00

Well, I had 2 tubers sprout, but 1 conked out before it could spike -- I suspect overwatering.

However, the bigger healthier one went on to strut its stuff.

Naturally, the first flowers opened just before we left for a 4-day vacation! But when we returned, the plant and flowers had survived their time in the heat and dark (July, no a/c and no lights on while we're away). They all lasted about 10 days each. All of them opened. I am very thrilled indeed.

And now I am watching both empty little pots anxiously, dribbling water on their empty surfaces in hopes of maintaining the tubers til next year. Habenaria rhodochilia is still in leaf and will soon join them.

Shore Orchid Fest Purchases

2011-06-25T22:19:00.000-07:00

Silva Orchids held a very fun and very welcome Orchid Festival a couple of weekends ago, inviting a bunch of other orchid vendors to share their territory for a weekend and enabling a lot of NY-NJ-CT-PA orchid folks to socialize and binge on awesome orchids.

I attended Sunday, the last day of the Fest, but still found plenty of nifty things to buy. I swore I could only buy very few plants because contrary to prior years' experience, hardly any of my recent purchases have perished. In fact most of my orchids are thriving, and many were recently moved up a pot size. This causes problems of course when your space really is finite. So I used the same trick I used at a few other sales: I brought a small (recycled plastic) Whole Foods bag that is excellent for orchid transportation (being thick, flat-bottomed and with longish handles), and intended to just fill it. Alas I forgot, once again, that this wonderful bag is infinitely expandable. I bought and bought and STILL had room...well it helped that the plants were mostly in 2- or 3-inch pots.

Spread out a bit, this haul fit in two plastic takeout tray/boxes, as seen above:

Angraecum leonis (an old favorite, a nice healthy plant)
Bulbophyllum frostii (could not resist another)
Gastrochilus japonicus (currently in flower)
Goodyeara pusilla (really gorgeous dark sparkly leaves)
Holcoglossum subulifolium (Oak Hill, a huge plant for cheap!)
Liparis bootanensis (a little underwhelming florally, but I may learn to love it)
Liparis viridiflora (replaces one I had for many years but managed to kill)
Macodes petula (yet another one...they are NOT the easiest jewels to maintain!)
Oeceoclades maculata (yes I know it's a weed, but I don't care)
Paphiopedilum purpuratum (Silva has a nice assortment of paph species)
Paphiopedilum Yakushiji (malipoense x weshanense) (compact, in spike!)
Phalaenopsis deliciosa (wanted one for years!)
Pholidota chinensis (one of my VERY favorite species)
Podochilus muricatus (I could not help myself but to get another...alas the one I got in March bit the dust)
Tolumnia Genting Volcano (a nice dark pink)

Most of these new guys have found places more or less OK for them but a few are hanging out with some of the SEPOS plants that still haven't found exactly the right spot. I also have to pot the bare-root Liparis. And since the beginning of the year I managed to acquire a number of other plants as well...shall record them soon.

Pretty Red Orchids!

2011-06-24T20:06:00.000-07:00

I still think this is Potinara Ching Hua Flame 'Red Rose' but still can't be 100% sure -- it might just be an SLC Jewel Box clone, but I don't think so. The plant is too compact and neatly upright, and not very big, and the flowers have much better substance. This NOID came from a raffle following the New York International Orchid Show; Kawamoto Orchids was a vendor, and they do carry this clone, and the picture and description match my plant pretty well. (The original price tag matched their price at the time too.)

This is the best set of blooms it's ever had! Being very close under the lights helps...gee, getting lots of water and food seems to help too, not to mention air circulation in hot weather. Frankly I'm amazed to get such red red red flowers in summer, when cool weather usually produces brighter reds.

Now if only the rest of my mini catts would get in line...

SEPOS/Longwood Gardens 2011: My purchases

2011-05-23T13:45:00.000-07:00

Another fantastic orchid show come and gone. We spent 3 hours in a car to get there from NYC, anticipating the beautiful things we'd see. And what do my friends and I do first? Why hit the sales tent of course.

Aerangis hyaloides -- an entire compot in flower!
Anoectochilus burmannicus
Anoectochilus albo-lineatus
Bromheadia brevifoli (mounted, adorable pointy green leaves)
Bulbophyllum comingii
Cynorkis fastigiata (I know, I know, it's a weed, go away)
Dendrochilum javieri
Dendrobium normandbyense
Dend. tosaense
Dend. Angel Baby (fantastic awesome hybrid, and covered in buds)
Dend. Aussie Chip (another one, yes)
Habenaria medusa (yes I've lost my mind)
Podochilus muricatus (mounted, adorable rounded green leaves)
Stenoglottis woodii (adorable fat little green leaves)
(SLC Dream Cloud x BLC Love Sound)

About my usual ratio of species to hybrids, lately.
Once the shopping was done, I could begin the important business of taking lots and lots and lots of photographs. Lots and lots. Ooh, lots.

(All this happened in March, of course, and here I am only now remembering to finish & publish the post. So a few updates are going to overlap this...o well.)

Aerangis hyaloides

2011-04-10T20:17:00.000-07:00

Miniature orchids don't get much cuter than Aerangis hyaloides. They are perfect scale miniature versions of larger more familiar species like A. biloba or A. citrata, and that of course increases their cuteness factor by many orders of magnitude.

When I saw compots of this species for sale by H&R Orchids at the SEPOS/Longwood show, for only $50, I flipped and immediately bought one. Not only were the plants all fantastically green and healthy, they were all in flower. Well not all. But nearly every one that was big enough had at least 1 spike and the pot was peppered with sweet crystalline white flowers.

Considering what individual blooming-size plants cost...yeah. No brainer. So today I finally took the compot apart, and ended up with a simply ridiculous number of mature plants and babies. 12 with spikes!! and another 10 that are nearly blooming size. I potted them in sphagnum moss in tiny plastic pots, for now. The biggest ones are solo, the next size are sharing pots in pairs; the tiniest ones got a new compot arrangement for now.

Having wonderful adorable little planties to trade or sell is a good thing! Now to find ideal spots for the big ones I'm actually keeping...

Anoectochilus albo-lineatus

2011-04-09T21:57:00.000-07:00

Jewel orchids fill me with wonder. Even simple "ordinary" Ludisia discolor charms and amazes me with its beautiful deep velvety leaves sparkling with golden crystals.

Anoectochilus albolineatus is fairly small, I suppose, for a jewel orchid, and doesn't make many leaves before it flowers. There is nothing especially spectacular about its foliage -- as sparkly and lovely as it is, I wouldnt' be able to tell it apart from most other Anoectochilus-es at a glance. But when I spotted them for sale at the Longwood Gardens show -- at a mere $10 apiece!!!! -- I snapped up four of the little darlings. Each darling consisting of 2 tiny darlings -- so eight?

A couple of the growths were kind of limp, doubless due to the trauma of show transportation. Since drought = death to these delicate dainties, I had to figure out impromptu terraria for them. I stripped off the outer layers of sphagnum moss from their tiny root systems and carefully tucked them into clear plastic wine tumblers with a nice moist layer of fresh clean sphagnum. I covered them loosely with a little plastic wrap. The photo shows the result. (One was limper than the rest, and that one is in a larger plastic covered dish along with other plants needing a bit of spa treatment. It's perked up nicely.)

I remember a friend of mine once nursing along a tiny scrap of A. roxburghii, using fresh live sphagnum moss in a brandy snifter. Things kept nibbling at it, and finally it did rot away, but that high humidity did keep it going a long time. I appreciate the hardiness of Ludisias all the more, now.

Habenaria medusa, or Unbridled Optimism

2011-04-03T15:44:00.000-07:00

I happen to love terrestrial orchids of all sorts, and lately have been making real efforts to grow more varieties. Modest success with fairly easy plants such as Ludisia discolor v. alba, Stenosarchos Vanguard and Stenoglottis sceptrodes is one thing; modest success with Habenaria rhodochila is a pleasant thing indeed. (I refuse to speak of my numerous attempts to cultivate Macodes petula. Suffice to say I will Try Try Again.) So I recently obtained two Habenaria medusa tubers with nice healthy sprouts. I love H. medusa. I have seen it alive and in person, and this is how it looks:

Or at any rate, this is how it looks when my friend Lenny grows it. This is another view of another plant grown by my friend Marc:

That is to say, when grown by people who know what they're doing. This, on the other hand, is what I have to work with:

I've potted them in the same mix in 2 different pots: Peat-Lite soil-less mix combined with seedling orchid mix (fir bark, perlite, charcoal) and scraps of osmunda (from a pretty old bag I kept around for nostalgia I guess). One is in plastic, one in clay.

Along with the other terrestrials I'll be tracking their progress pretty closely. I'd like to not screw these up...

New Orchids from Deep Cut Show 2011

2011-03-27T21:02:00.000-07:00

One thing about tight space in one's collection...and by tight space I mean Nowhere to go outside the light zone...is you can always find room for a few new plants if you're creative enough. And if you've killed enough older plants. I was determined to be disciplined in my shopping at this show simply because I had to be...and I knew going there that I was probably going to be shopping at the SEPOS show at Longwood Gardens in March where there are even more vendors of stuff I adore. And I was good. I didn't overbuy. Not by too much. Only by a few. Really. The Deep Cut show was in mid-February. So yeah, I'm a little late writing this up. Oh well. Here's what I got...

Doritaenopsis Purple Martin "Kingsir" (Kenneth Schubert x Phal violacea). A real cutie pie. Tiny flowers for the size of the plant, but the spike keeps going and going. And the color is marvellous, that lovely lavender that coerulea Phals have.

Paph. Lynleigh Koopowitz (delenatii "Dumbo" x malipoense "Beheaded"). Because, awesome. The fan is enormous, and should show a spike ANY DAY now.

Maxillaria schunkeana. My second attempt at this singularly awesome species.

Maxillaria pulla. This one is going to live on the windowsill next to the surviving masdevallia.

Epicattleya Landwoods "NN" Not-too-tall plant, and gorgeous extremely full, waxy flowers. I looooooove green flowers, especially on Cattleyas and Epicatts. Oh, and fragrant!

Not too shabby a bunch. And I did find room for them all.

February Big Beers Flight

2011-02-21T20:20:00.000-08:00

David Copperfield's has had some truly wonderful stuff on tap these past few months. Craft brewers have been rocking the winter and "big" beer categories for a while now - and we got to taste not only fresh offerings but vintage brews as well, from 2009! So a couple of weeks ago it was impossible to resist the multiple temptations on offer, and we ordered a flight of five and two pints besideds.

Wexford Irish Cream Ale was not a big beer or a winter warmer. It was at least an ale, of sorts. Blandly easy to drink, smooth, malty and light on hops.

Likewise, the Smuttynose Baltic Porter was surely a porter. A textbook porter: smooth, dark, ligth body, the usual coffee/toffee notes, sweetish finish. A perfectly nice porter if you are in the mood for one without much challenge.

Stone Lukcy Bastard was surely a Stone brew. You could tell with one sniff, you thought you were settling into a nice half grapefruit for breakfast. Reputedly an oaked blend of Arrogant Bastard and Double Bastard, it does have that malty oomph that makes Stone superior to Rogue if you think beer superior to citrus peel. There was really nothing memorable about it.

Stone did much better with its Imperial Russian Stout 2009. Hops were pretty much absent from this offering, as one would expect, in lieu of deep rich caramel and chocolate flavors and a few welcome coffee notes. The brew was dense, rich, winy, deep, a bit sharp on the tongue, really a perfect example of the style. Wonderful stuff.

Founder's Breakfast Stout 2009 was quite interesting, and as Spouse ordered a pint of it we had much to contemplate. The notes say it is brewed with an "abundance of flaked oats, bitter and sweetened imported chocolates, Sumatra and Kona coffee." The coffee notes were actually a bit muted for all that. There's a light coffee aroma, mingled with rich malt. Strong fizz, light body. The coffee and chocolate flavors blend nicely without tasting burnt, and there's a clean, sweetish finish. No hop bitterness to speak of. I didn't miss it.

Unibroue is one of my favorite breweries, and I will always gladly try whatever they make. Trois Pistoles was an absolute treat. As an abbey-style strong dark ale, it's still (no fizz) and dense. The aroma was full with sweet rich fruit and malt. The apple/apricot fruit flavors shaded ever so slightly into bubblegum esters on the finish, but the stronger essences were cherries and port. Seriously! In just an abbey dark ale! Lovely with food, too. I've since had a full serving of this brew and loved it even more.

Finally, there was Smuttynose Gravitation. Unlike the porter, there was nothing else to really compare this to. This powerful brew (12% abv! that's wine!) is a Belgian Quad made extra-oomphy by the addition of "200 pounds of raisin puree per batch." The nose is fruity (it better be!) with distinct raisin and prune notes. The body is oddly light, nearly porter-like. I found distinct concord grape, cherry and berry flavors mixed in with the rich caramel malts. The finish was clean, a bit sweet and tart. Spouse complained of an unpleasant undertaste, that I either did not notice or mind. I would like to try it again some night before an hour of eating and drinking caused congestion to foul up my finer taste abilities.

Some fantastic beers out there. Cheers!

Knitting Up Rhinebeck 2008: Silk Bubbles

2011-02-03T09:40:00.000-08:00

I have a thing for novelty yarns, even if I seldom make anything from them. I have a whole basket of fantastically colored or amazingly textured yarns that are mostly for inspiration. Some of them will eventually become mini-scarves, or trim on a sweater collar & cuffs, but others well I dunno. They are For Pretty. For petting. For gazing at. Each luscious skein called to me in the yarn store, and I heeded the call.

I really tried to buy "project" yarns at Rhinebeck, not petting/gazing yarns, if only because their cost was high compared to most LYS impulse purchases. Then I found this stuff.

A Touch of Twist had mostly sort of plain yarns, at pretty low prices. I got a sweater's worth of black alpaca, and also a nice wool blend in lace weight for a shawl. Then I fell for Silk Bubbles.

Slinky nubby multicolored silk yarn, that cheap? That pretty? That...fingering weight?

After my usual long delay I wound the skeins and made a swatch. It was...limp. What was I going to do with it? I figured, scarf! Which is my default item I guess. The stuff was too thin for a hat, not stretchy enough for anything else. So I cast on and started knitting.

I remembered why I have only ever liked knitting wool boucle. (Don't get me started on Lion Brand Boucle, which is the NASTIEST stuff I ever tried to crochet. Only slightly friendlier as a knit fabric. Ugh!) Wool boucle (like my favorite black cardigan) is bouncy and stretchy, and even though you inevitably keep sticking your needles into the loops of fiber instead of the loops of yarn, it's easy to recover and keep going. Not so silk boucle. Oh no indeed. It was like knitting with linen or mercerized cotton, only without any give whatsoever, and half-blinded by nubbins. It was slow. It was frustrating. It felt lovely in my hands, but it took ages and ages to do a row.

I got as far as shown in the picture, and I stopped. After 4 inches of teensy tiny stitches I called it quits. I tossed it in the Hibernation Pile and forgot about it.

Now...well, I'm trying to record all my Rhinebeck mania, so I found it and I'll give it another go. Doubling the yarn might help, and there should be enough for a small Moebius scarf like the one I made from the Maple Creek silk blend. I'll give it a try this weekend. We'll see.

Knitting Up Rhinebeck 2008: Bamboo Silk

2011-01-21T10:21:00.000-08:00

I was never much of a fan of one-skein projects before I discovered handpainted luxury yarns. Ever practical, for years I preferred to buy yarns in bulk and make sweaters. Anything left over could become a scarf. I really didn't make hats, and I never made a shawl. I do remember buying massive amounts of rainbows of acrylics to make huge afghans and throws when I was in high school and college, but that ardor cooled...cos really, how many of those do you really need?

My current yarn stash began in the mid-to-late 90s, when I took up knitting again with a vengeance. At the start I once again thought in terms of sweater projects instead of mini projects. Now and then another scarf or hat experiment. The only yarn I regularly bought in small amounts was to make stuff for my friends' babies and kids.

The combination of Ravelry and Rhinebeck blew my attitudes out of the water. Hats! I wanted LOTS of hats! Well, I needed some anyway, my old ones were a bit old after all. And new scarves! I'd only made a couple in the past 10 years and one of those was so massive (imagine a fuzzy fluffy overly warm gray Tom Baker Dr Who scarf...) I hardly ever wore it. Rhinebeck got my mind percolating. "I'll make hats and scarves and shawls and who knows what else!" I fingered skein after skein of yummy colorful expensive stuff, and bought things I really had no idea what to do with...but I had to have them. Like the stuff picture above.

Maple Creek Yarn bamboo silk blend. OMG. Soft, silky, drapey, shimmery, sweet beautiful colors, but the price! I couldn't make a garment from it. Maybe 2 skeins? No, just one. I came home with just one. And what to do with it? Well, a skinny little scarf, I figured. Something light and springtimey. Lace. It took 2 years for me to actually get around to it, but I did it. Happily, it even turned out to be useful! This little Moebius loop scarf I made drapes perfectly to cover...um, the deeply plunged necklines of several sweaters I made while I was not working 9-5 in an office. Not too warm to wear indoors all day, and it feels nice against my skin. What more could I possibly want?

Knitting Up Rhinebeck 2008: Good Shepherd Yarn

2011-01-19T20:56:00.000-08:00

Color, color, color, color...Rhinebeck is all about color, from subtle to gaudy. I always knew I had an eye for gaudy but managed to keep it under control...but handpaint yarns really push that button.

And so I came to Good Shepherd, and found many many beautiful colorways in single ply wool. And so I siezed 4 skeins of the Arizona Sunrise. I normally don't gravitate towards orange and yellow yarn, if only because I'm sure they look terrible against my complexion. Somehow I found myself buying 2 different yarns in shades of orange that day. Strange, that. (I wanted another colorway very badly, but they only took cash and I hadn't enough. I took care of that little problem in 2009.)

There wasn't really enough yarn for anything but hat & scarf combo. I rather like the pooling of colors on both pieces. I used checkerboard patterns in order to mix up the colors between smooth & bumpy stockinette, yet another way to really push exotic handpaints around.

A little bit scratchy on my head, alas, but then so is most wool that isn't superwash or ultrafine merino. More washing of the hat might help, but I don't want to risk felting it.

I was good; I made this set only a couple of months after the Festival. So in the course of blogging these yarns and projects, I've come to the happy realization that I have made 5 entire projects (well, the CD purple scarf is still a Work in Progress) from my Rhinebeck 2008 stash, have begun a 6th, and have firm intentions for 2 more in the near future. I honestly thought I was even worse off than that...but some of that yummy stuff remaining is going to prove a bit of a challenge, for various reasons.

Knitting Up Rhinebeck 2008: Creatively Dyed Gloves

2011-01-17T12:50:00.000-08:00

While I made many many happy discoveries of talented and awesome fiber artists at Rhinebeck 2008, perhaps my most happy discovery was Creatively Dyed Yarn. The lady COOKS. Her yarns are crazy gorgeous. Wild wild color combos, itty bitty bits of color next to big stretches of contrasting color, everything pops, everything sings and dances and cries out to become something beautiful that you can stare at and be constantly inspired by.

Well besides just sticking a couple of her skeins in my Inspiration Basket -- I might have to explain this another time -- I got busy winding the 2 hanks of deeply magenta-purple-violet merino sock yarn I had to had to had to have. Lace scarf and gloves, no question about it, and maybe a hat as well. I delved into Ravelry's free lace scarf patterns and found one I thought would show off the yarn best.

I worked with handpaint yarns enough by then to appreciate a few tricks. One is that while some colorways blend beautifully into plain stockinette, others need a little help. Slip stitches make a great fabric, mixing up colors from row to row. Chevron & other zig-zag stripes are a popular solution -- lots of Koigu patterns do this -- to blend multiple colorways used together.

Lace...that's a trickier one! Hadn't done much with lace before, but in studying pictures of variegated lace I saw that a very open pattern suits both fine yarn in subtle variations and chunky yarn in bolder color changes. Well, I wanted to see some flat areas of the purple CD stuff to appreciate the colors all right up against each other, with a bit of shaping to really mix them up as well. So I picked a design with more flat than open areas, that got the yarn moving in ripples. Also, it would be warmer as a scarf.

I cast on that scarf two years ago...it became my steady Take-Along knit project for nearly a year...and I've nearly finished one skein. One!! DAMN sock yarn takes bloody forever to knit into a decent length! It didn't help that I lost track of the 2nd skein for a little while...urgh. So I let the project hibernate until I found it again YAY! and felt confident to resume. But my first action upon finding the 2nd skein was to grab the DPNs and make fingerless mitts.

After all, here I was after 3 Rhinebecks the proud owner of um, yeah, LOTS of CD yarn, and I had yet to make and FINISH anything in it! Honestly I do wonder about my brain sometimes. Is it self-torture? Strength through denial? Mostly I think it's indecision. With somewhat costly yarns of strong character, you have to be cautious approaching the moment of cast-on. Horrible mistakes of judgement are harder to put behind one.

The mitts took 2 days of really easy knitting. I've been wearing them for the past 2 months. I love them. They are warm and really pretty (and make wintertime photography much pleasanter). Couldn't be simpler either: Ann Budd's all-purpose pattern for gloves, minus the thumb tip and fingers, ribbed at the top. Should've made them a bit snugger, but that's a pretty mild complaint.

Knitting Up Rhinebeck 2008: Marshmallow

2011-01-17T12:00:00.000-08:00

The first yarn I seized at Rhinebeck Sheep & Wool 2008 was bright orange Creme Brulee by Decadent Fibers. The colors were an irresistible reminder of the beautiful autumn day. The 2nd yarn, at the same booth, was Marshmallow in shades of blue and violet.

I love love love variegated yarns. I love handpaints of most any color combination, subtle or strong. Here I fell for beautiful tones that reminded me of a Monet lily pond. Also the yarn itself, a blend of merino and alpaca, was soft but also seemed durable.

This yarn cried out to be a soft cuddly hat…so within a couple of weeks of Rhinebeck I took a deep breath and knitted my first ever beret, using the One Day Beret pattern I found on Ravelry. The pattern is really easy and fast to work, but I had to frog the 1st attempt at the rib band…I forgot Alpaca yarns aren’t stretchy!!! I reknit the band with fewer stitches until it fit.

I'm pretty hard on all my knitted projects. Having access to a washing machine with a "woolens" setting, I take full advantage of it and throw in things that in retrospect I should NEVER have had the nerve to abuse that way...but I've never had a problem with felting or wear and tear, so I shall continue this reckless course. The Marshmallow Beret has been thusly washed many times already as it is seeing me through its third winter. The colors are just a bit faded, more heathered...the ribbing is a tiny bit stretched out so the hat is looser than it once was. But I seriously still love it. A little too thin for the coldest days, but perfect for most of the winter.

There's still a bit of yarn left over from the skein. I'd make gloves but it's not quite stretchy enough, and there's not enough for a full scarf. Might be good for stranded knitting or some Kaffe Fasset sort of project, so I'm hanging onto it for now.

Knitting Up Rhinebeck 2008: Black Alpaca

2011-01-16T21:27:00.001-08:00

I love a bargain. All knitters love a bargain. As much as I love fabulous decadent yarns like the silk & bead Tilli Thomas that costs about $4 a yard, what I really want is to be able to knit an entire sweater for about $4. I could if I used bargain-bin acrylics -- I used to LOVE the bags of Mystery Yarn Woolworths sold for $3 a pound -- but eh, while I don't think of myself as a Yarn Snob I also have learned over the years what wears well and what doesn't. Cheap acrylic yarns are scratchy, and they pill like crazy. Acrylic/wool blends are better, and have more variety in feel and color. Pure wool...ahh. That's what Rhinebeck is all about.

I did not approach my first Rhinebeck Sheep & Wool Festival thinking I would find bargains. I wanted the amazing artisianal stuff that would inspire me as I fingered and smooshed it and sighed over it. I happily paid the dyers and spinners what they asked and deserved, and I loved what I got. But here and there...here and there a Bargain beckoned. Helpless to resist my inner Yarn Magpie, I gave in. I bought 4 skeins of lush black "A Touch of Twist" Peruvian Alpaca in 2-ply fingering weight. $44 for more than 1300 yards of it.

My previous experiences with alpaca yarns were mixed. I really enjoyed knitting with Lion Brand Al-Pa-Ka, which was a pleasant and hard-wearing blend of alpaca, wool and acrylic. On the other hand, I once knit a sample garment for a wannabe sweater designer that made my life hell for 2 weeks. The yarn was thin, limp black alpaca...the sweater was utterly Boring. Just a plain black stockinette pullover in limp thin black yarn. The yarn had no stretch, no bounce. It shed a bit. The designer loved the result. I never wanted to knit with alpaca again.

But there I was at Rhinebeck 2008, and I bought black alpaca thinking I'd make a lace cardigan. And here I am in 2011, two weeks after discovering my favorite plain black cashmere cardigan was shredding and unwearable in public. As I live in New York City, I risk deportation without a plain black cardigan. (My old plain black cotton cardigan is shabby but still serviceable, but really limited to hanging out at the office when the heating is inadequate. And the cushy black boucle cardi I made several years ago is a bit too warm for everyday use.)

Yesterday I finally cast on the lace cardigan of my imagination. The thin yarn is plump and springy, a delight to knit! I'll discuss the logistics more in another post...but it's a top-down raglan, and I'm adding a simple lace design to the sleeves and fronts. I'm about to place the markers for the sleeve increases. Whee!

Itty Bitty Orchids: Dendrobium auriculatum

2011-01-01T20:47:00.000-08:00

Orchid serendipity! At the H&R booth at the 2010 SEPOS show at Longwood Gardens, I came upon a number of awesome species I wasn't quite familiar with...but brought home because H&R Orchids can always be trusted to offer things well worth having.

Among other things, I picked up 2 wee plants of Dendrobium auriculatum. The thin canes are dressed in thin pointy leaves, and the plants closely resemble mini Oerstedellas. I had a good feeling about them, figuring they'd be perfect for my warm conditions. The plants had thick roots (also like Oerstedellas) clinging to little chunks of wood; I merely put the wood into slightly larger plastic pots, with well-draining bark mix, leaving the (extremely compact) rhizome and growing points well above the surface. I placed it on the lower (cooler) shelf of my light garden, with the cane tops several inches below the center portion of the fluorescent tubes.

Only a couple of weeks later, a friend brought a large, lovingly tended speciment to the GNYOS show table, and I was thrilled at the potential of my little guys! He grows indoors on a windowsill and thought this species a real winner for its ease of growth and lovely, large, fragrant flowers.

The larger of my plants, only about 5 inches tall, flowered with one huge wonderful bloom (shown above) in June, 2 months after my friend's plant. The sweet citrusy fragrance was wonderful, filling the room at precisely 1 hour before sundown every evening.

I gave one away. The remaining plant has done well, only showing a bit of stress during our 100+ degree summer heat. Fall and winter, growth resumed on young canes, and I do hope this spring brings new flowers.

Knitting up Rhinebeck 2008: Creme Brulee

2010-12-27T18:48:00.000-08:00

This is the yarn that I grabbed first at my first Rhinebeck Sheep & Wool Festival. It was a gorgeous crisp sparkling blue-sky autumn day, and the plentiful maple trees were in fantastic color all around the fair grounds. I wandered into this building with straw on the floor, flooded with sunlight, stuffed with amazing yarn. I found myself in the booth run by Decadent Fibers, and I wanted ALL OF IT.

I settled for 2 skeins from them. The absolute first choice was this hank of Creme Brulee, because the color was going to be my souvenir of the day. The yarn is absolutely a perfect reflection of autumn leaves, so I had to make something "leafy" out of it.

Merino, silk and mohair blend in a soft, chunky gently twisted strand...it cried out to be a beret, even though I had some fear of itchiness. I invented a circular leaf-lace pattern suitable for a hat, then added the mitts and scarf using a standard Barbara Walker leafy lace.

Lemme tell ya, inventing a lace beret pattern is HARD. I frogged the darn thing at least 6 times because I kept making it too big. It's really hard to measure something scrunched up on a tiny circular needle! Especially as it was only the 2nd beret I'd ever made. I finished the beret in 2009, but only wore it when winter was nearly over! The mitts and scarf waited even longer. I only finished the scarf in early December 2010.

The other thing that was hard was letting this yarn take me out of my personal color comfort zone. I've never been a huge fan of orange, and never thought it looked good against my skin. But there are enough complicated color changes in this yarn to allow me to ignore that small issue.

Rhinebeck 2010 Stash

2010-12-26T21:42:00.000-08:00

I was pretty restrained at the 2010 Sheep & Wool Festival. Mindful of having 2 years of gorgeous yarn still just sitting around at home unusued, mindful of having to still get rid of a lot of less special yarn, mindful of having less time than ever to knit, I did a lot more looking than buying. In fact, I finally saw the entire Festival! I finally made it into 2 buildings I never did before, and I enjoyed more browsing, and I enjoyed the walking and the beautiful day so much more than when I was anxious for MORE MORE MORE YARN.

I'm quite happy with what I got, and had projects in mind for all of it as I bought it. There are 9 projects here -- 7 entire, and 2 more that are new additions to previous year's purchases cos I love the yarn so much, I wanted to make sure I had enough!

So now that I've posted all my 3 Rhinebeck stashes, I'll next start posting the projects...

Belated Rhinebeck 2009...

2010-12-21T21:24:00.000-08:00

Still not sure exactly what happened, but I suppose into every blog a temporal gap must fall. Or appear. Perhaps I had a sense that my life was entirely too leisurely, and chose to focus on other things instead. Harrumph. Well, now that life is no longer leisurely, now that I've returned to a 9-5 job for several months, now I can force myself to find time to blog again. Of course.

To catch up on one thing at a time, my 2009 Rhinebeck trip yielded yet another treasure trove of fantastic yarn goodies. See above. I figure, if you're going to a place like Rhinebeck Sheep & Wool Festival, one might as well support true fiber artisans making really nommy handmade or handpainted stuff. ("Support" of course means in this context "hand over large sums of cash".)

From the above picture, I have actually begun a whopping uh, two projects. Two! And neither is finished. I might have to partly frog one, only 1/4 done.

But the good news is that from Rhinebeck 2008 I actually finished knitting 1 entire skein of yarn! The bad news is...Rhinebeck 2010. Next post....

Itty Bitty Baby Orchids

2010-04-10T19:56:00.000-07:00

When one goes to orchid shows and one already grows orchids, one inevitably buys more orchids. I was again lucky enough to go to the Southeast Pennsylvania Orchid Society Show at Longwood Gardens in March. This time, however, due to new time obligations, I was able to-- rather, forced to -- skip the setup AND the early morning trip! Instead we spent about 4 hours there on Saturday.

I went into OMG THOUSANDS OF ORCHIDS!!!! mode, and went frantically about making 2 rounds of the show with two different lenses on my Sony a300 camera: first the 100mm macro lens for close-by flowers, then the 75-300mm macro zoom lens for everything else. Seriously loved using the zoom, as I was able to get really nice pics of plants waaaay in the back of the exhibits (and some of those bloody exhibits are like 10 feet deep), not to mention the miniatures on the floor and anything wired to a tree over my head.

I hate doing an orchid show rant since there are now so few, but here: I really HATE it when tiny flowers end up at ankle-level in a display. SMALL = EYE LEVEL. The BIG plants should go on the ground, where you can't miss them! Eensy-weensy mini-catts haven't a chance of being noticed or photographed or judged properly when you can't see them! Nobody sane would put a Masdevallia infracta on the floor, but plenty of displays put brachypetalum paphs there!

Nevertheless, I got plenty of satisfaction from the show, which was gorgeous and full of amazing and choice species and hybrids, and some very cool displays. And I got bagfuls of new planties. H&R alone, I went crazy. Will have some great recommendations up soon...

Belated Book Enthusiasm: John Thorne

2009-10-07T15:47:00.000-07:00

I meant to post this on September 25, but forgot to copy it from facebook.

All of John Thorne's books are good. I'm finally settling down with "Mouth Wide Open: A Cook and His Appetite" which actually came out last year but I gave away my copy as a present. New copy showed up today. Hard to stop reading and actually cook dinner!

Thorne writes about food in ways that bring little gasps and smiles of recognition to any true food lover. He truly loves things that taste good, whether highbrow or lowbrow. He has a gift of sharing the sensation he's enjoyed. Choosing a recipe by appetite, slicing an onion, frying an egg, even doctoring canned tamales with shredded cheese and pricey Austrian pumpkinseed oil: all grist for his mill. And the tiny essay "Five Month Old Croissant" made me laugh out loud.

Here is a sample of what I love about Thorne, comparing soup to a bright spring morning: "When Matt and I began to eat the minestrone, we kept wondering what the spinach, the zucchini, the parsley, the potato, etcetera, did for the dish; perhaps some of these components could be left out. But gradually we came to understand that each did do something, even if we couldn't easily put our finger on it...pause and pay attention and a quiet pleasure unfolds, one that has a depth to which you were previously oblivious, a harmony composed of many now identifiable parts...the main goal of the cook is to let all the parts shine through."

This minestrone recipe is about technique as much as ingredients, like nearly every dish Thorne dissects and analyzes. Days after reading the chapter, I went and made a pretty good minestrone out of the leftover vegs in the fridge. It wasn't quite his recipe, but now I've made it my own, which is the whole point of his cookery exercises.

And I can particularly relate to this passage, having once been a recipe hoarder:

"...you would have found a single file folder containing, say, twenty or thirty recipes for French onion soup. I didn't collect these because I thought that one day I'd hold a cook-off to discover which one was best. No, like a teenage boy who covers his bedroom wall with photographs of Christina Aguilera, I just couldn't have too many glimpses of the same desirable object."

He goes on and on about spaghetti with simple savory toppings, such as anchovies, olives and capers. Similar to a dish I used to make but forgot about. Now I've rediscovered it for weekend lunches. Spouse heartily approves, since I seem to have a blind spot about cooking weekend lunches.

The recipes are nice, but I also read Thorne for the same reasons I read Oliver Sacks or Stephen Jay Gould. I learn something and enjoy the intellectual exercise, but I enjoy the words for themselves too. Damn good writing.

Canadice Grapes and Shishito Peppers

2009-09-25T17:35:00.000-07:00

Love love love Union Square Greenmarket. Today was a gorgeous blue sky sunny cool autumn day, and I enjoyed roaming even the abbreviated Friday market with all its odd goodies. Friday and Wednesday in fact host many farms that are a bit smaller and funkier than the Saturday crowd. Lots more organic/semi-organic produce, and oddball varieties.

Many stands offer Concord grapes and various other lambrusca varieties. I'm a wuss and I like seedless grapes best, and a few years ago I fell in love with Canadice grapes. They're only available for a few weeks starting in September, and only a few stands offer them. They are AWESOME. They taste like sweet juicy spicy mildly grape-flavored candies. The skins are a tiny bit tough but stuff enough in your mouth and you hardly notice. I ate a whole bunch on the bus going home. Spouse ate another bunch waiting for dinner. The bunches are small and very tightly packed, so this is not as indulgent as it sounds. And, y'know, grapes!

Shishito peppers are wholly new to me. I found them at a stand offering lots of other Asian veggie varieties. They look a bit like skinny, dark green pepperoncini. The helpful written sign said they should be seared in hot oil and eaten sprinkled with salt. Folks on line seem to agree. I will try these. I love roasted green peppers more than red peppers, especially in salad, so I'll probably like them. But I cooked gumbo tonight, so maybe tomorrow.

UPDATE: Shishito peppers are fantastic! And super easy. Just heat a little olive oil in a nonstick frying pan, and toss in the washed peppers, stems and all. When they start to brown on one side, shake them up. Turn them and shake them until evenly browned and tender, almost like regular roasted peppers. Sprinkle with salt. Eat while still warm. The clump of seeds is a bit hot, as one would expect, but entirely edible. VERY good eaten with sharp sheep cheese and a crisp Moscato or NZ Suavignon Blanc.

NYC Craft Beer Awesomeness #1

2009-09-20T19:49:00.000-07:00

So it's been Craft Beer Week in New York City this week, and by Saturday we had utterly failed to actually visit any good bars and drink any awesome craft beers. Fortunately our good friend the Uber Queen of Beer celebrated her birthday this week -- how entirely appropriate -- and Saturday a great number of us ended up at Rattle and Hum. This wonderful establishment was at first rather over-crowded with um, Washington Huskies fans?!? when we arrived, but once they were satisfied with the outcome of the game they mostly departed and had only drunk up some of the craft offerings (I was rather disappointed the Allagash White was gone, but o well, I've had it before).

Now Craft Beer Week means no commonplace big-brewery offerings: no Guinness, no Hoegaarden, not even Sam Adams! The lovely things on tap included -- o be still my heart! -- 20 count 'em 20 -- CASKS of OMG awesome things...alas I hardly tasted any tho. I am just not an IPA fan, and most of the casks seemed to contain IPAs. However in between the loud party camaraderie, I managed to order and cadge and taste a total of eight beverages mostly new to me.

Ommegang 3 Philosophers: had this once before in the big Ommegang bottle. Tastes very different on draft. Belgian-style like all the brewery's offerings, it's a sweet, rich dark Quad (that is, even darker than Dubbel or Tripel). The nose is wholly familiar to dark Belgian brews. It's still and calm on the tongue, with plentiful caramel notes. Syrupy and crisp at the same time. Lovely stuff. Best as a finisher, not a starter...practically a dessert.

Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous: this American Strong Ale (per the menu) is as powerful as any Stone stuff I've had...but not as good as Stone Arrogant Bastard. O well! There's a powerful bitter grapefruity Cascade hop aroma. The Cascade assault faded as the beer warmed up (it was served a bit too cold), so we could appreciate the smoky, rich caramel flavors, especially in the finish.

Stone Smoked Porter: I didn't expect to like this...not a fan of smoked beers...but even chilled this was powerful and tasty, rich and smoky without being too overwhelming. However I just prefer smoky charred flavors on steak rather than beer.

Captain Lawrence Liquid Gold: Nice! Very traditional Belgian pale ale. Not really a standout in the growing field of American-Belgians. But quite pleasant, smooth, drinkable. Comparable to Palm or lighter Chimay. I think I missed the orange and spice notes alas, in the heat of the guzzle.

Schmaltz Coney Island Sword Swallower: I love every beer I've had from these guys. This "strong lager" made with 8 hops and 4 malts perhaps does not quite live up to the expectation of such a complicated recipe. It's pleasant enough, made in IPA style. Frankly, I was getting a bit buzzed by the time this appeared, and I gulped it down without thinking too much about it...that probably says it all.

Captain Lawrence Sour: "Golden ale with Cabernet grapes still in the barrel." Well what the hell! I had to try this casker. How could I not?!? Well. Um. That'll teach me to be recklessly adventurous...not that I'm about to take up base jumping...but this stuff. Wow. The smell, not the bouquet, hit me like super-cheap wine that was out uncorked for a couple days. Not to denigrate cheap wine, I drink plenty of it. So the taste...um. Cheap sweet wine with hops added. Sour and sweet at the same time. Um. I'm glad I had the fairly innocuous Sword Swallower before this. Spouse and I managed to finish it, as Spouse generally finishes his beers. I am not so thorough and decorous.

Allagash Interlude: Ahh! This was the stuff craft brewing dreams are made of!! Billed as an "American Wild Ale" which I took to mean Belgian-lambic style. Yes! Though the brewery's description sounds a bit different from that method, the results are quite similar. Really more gueze-like even. So! The color is bright orangey, cloudy. The strong nose is musty and sour but invitingly so, if you like lambics. The flavor...bold, bright, fruity, cidery, delicious for sipping not slurping. Knowing how it's made, I can't wait to try it again in calmer surroundings. Because by now the party was quite lively, and we'd eaten and drunk a fair amount. I will note, the Interlude actually went quite nicely with both birthday cakes.

Sixpoint Otis Oatmeal Stout: The OTHER Brooklyn brewery, I've quite liked most of their brews I've had. There wasn't anything outstanding about this stout, it's fairly typical of this style but I liked it better than Heartland's as it is less smoky and coffee-like. Really, it's more like a porter than a stout. But I'm not complaining. The sips I cadged were tasty and a fine finish for a busy evening.

Rock Lives!

2009-08-31T11:28:00.000-07:00

Still reading up on 60s pop music of England and America. The old record company rationale for leaving hit singles off of pop albums was based on simple marketing. Since a majority of a band or singer's fans wanted the hit singles and fewer would buy the albums, they figured having all-new material on the album was a nice "thank you" to the even more eager fans, not sticking them with a 33-1/3 dupe of material they already owned as a 45. That eventually changed when many acts no longer focused on hit singles, but even today there are "album versions" of some radio singles. Sometimes those versions are just padded out dance numbers, but now and then add something new.

So everything old is new again. The album isn't dead, but fans have gone back to an older mode of buying and listening to music. The digital download is just the modern equivalent of the 45 (the CD single having been a non-starter). Groups that have high-quality thematic material and particularly eager (or perhaps indulgent) fans still sell albums.

Or at least they'd sell them if fucking pirates didn't rip them off constantly.

Corn Chowder Fu...The Next Generation

2009-08-30T19:42:00.000-07:00

Made an even heartier version of my basic corn-tomato soup this week. Took the basic recipe and added canned pinto beans and 1 bunch of chard, shredded (including the cleaned stems which are quite tasty if added about 5 minutes sooner than the greens) and, for extra flavor, a heaping spoonful of home-made basil-parsley pesto. We ate this with cheese and bread as usual.

Then I got fancy with the leftovers. The next night I added chopped Al Fresco All Natural chicken sausage and made a heartier soup that way. It was good.

The final installment, there being not much left, took another tack. I sauteed 1/2 lb pork sausage and added the remaining soup, minus the broth (it went down the sink...). I whirled 2 fist-sized pieces of fresh baguette and a couple ounces white cheddar in the food processor. I stuck 2 cleaned halves of an acorn squash and 2 hollowed-out red peppers in the oven to pre-cook at 400 degrees (oiled and salted) about 10 minutes. I combined the sausage/soup and the bread/cheese, mixed in an egg and some extra oregano and thyme, and pushed the mixture into the squash halves and peppers. Baked them 40 minutes at 375. Cooked some broccoli rabe in olive oil. All good...the squash, fresh from the greenmarket, was awesome meaty tasty wonderful, the stuffing bold and chewy. But we still have leftovers. Spouse will take them to work for lunch.

Oyster Bay Suavignon Blanc 2008

2009-08-30T19:23:00.000-07:00

I've had the shock of my wine-drinking life! Thanks to spouse, we've made a thrilling discovery. He's been doing household paperwork and decided his thirst required a nice crisp white wine. (No remarks. He's macho as they come, but he's got a lotta depth. And he'll drink pretty much anything as long as it tastes good...lager, stout, suav blanc, zinfandel, rum, scotch, you get the idea.) Fortunately I had one chilling in the fridge: Oyster Bay Suavignon Blanc 2008, from New Zealand. I figured I'd save it for a nice dinner of fish and veggies, or chicken, or salad.

I had different plans for tonight's dinner: I had a couple bottles of beer chilling too. Because dinner was spicy black beans with sun-dried tomato chicken sausage, served with a polenta casserole.* Spicy black beans with Suavignon Blanc?!? Horrors! The wine could never withstand such an assault! Never!

Well, duh. Spouse was entirely right. The wine was delicious with the food. Better than even a lighter less tannic red wine would have been. Better than a Riesling or Gewurtztraminer? Dunno. Maybe. This is a rich, complex Suav Blanc: fruity, dry, flinty, but also spicy, nearly as aggressive as an unoaked Chardonnay. Sipping it alone it's just plain delicious. I'm impressed.

*Spicy black beans: saute chopped onion, chopped red pepper, chopped zucchini, sliced chicken sausage (Al Fresco All Natural brand, from the supermarket); add 1 can black beans, 1 chopped beefsteak tomato, 1 ear corn sliced off the cob; add spices salt, pepper, cumin, coriander, oregano, thyme, Penzey's Chili 9000 blend. Cook about 20 minutes total.
Polenta casserole (based on a 1997 Food & Wine Magazine recipe): chop & saute (in grapeseed oil) 1 small onion, 1 small red pepper, 1 yellow or green zucchini; cool slightly. Beat 2 eggs with 1-1/2 cup milk; add 3/4 cup cornmeal/polenta, 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup grated Parmesan, salt, 1 tsp dry thyme. Combine with cooled veg. Pour into casserole dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes. Makes 4-5 servings.

Any hope for this poor ugly flower?

2009-08-27T13:11:00.000-07:00

Orchid people get very excited when a first-bloom seedling turns out even half-decent. Good color, good shape, good substance, these are all signs of hope for the next flowerings to be even better, when the plant is stronger and hitting its stride. Now and then a first-bloomer is so good you hope the next time it might even be award-quality.

Orchid people buy hybrid seedlings rather than clones because it's exciting to be the first on your block to see the results from a good hybrid. Sometimes all we ever see from a hybrid cross is one clone, maybe two, that hits the mass market because the original grower decided to bloom out the seedlings and pick the best early bloomers for themselves. Sometimes only a few plants from a cross are any good, and they never get cloned at all; we see them in the award pages, and none others.

If you have little space to spare on growing up unbloomed seedlings that may or may not turn out to be to your liking, then buying mature plants in flower, or mericlones of known quality, makes perfect sense. If you like the thrill of the chase, then compots and seedlings and near-blooming-size plants are right for you.

Well, you pays your money and you takes your chances. Way back in December I bought a bunch of cute baby mini catts from Carter & Holmes. One has bloomed! (Lc Mini Purple "Tamiami-4n" x Slc Precious Katie) surprised me, I had no idea it was even in bud and one day as I was watering the bottom shelf there was a bright purple flower!

Um...except that's the flower pictured above. It is a few days past its prime, the petals are wilting a bit, but overall even in its prime...bleah. The lip is nice and round, but the petals are dire, and the sepals...where the hell are the sepals?!? The two lower sepals are mere nubbins!

I am soft-hearted, and I will not discard the poor mite just yet. It's obviously an eager bloomer. I'll repot it when a new growth appears, and try and be more vigilant with water & food, and see if the next flowering is any improvement. After that...

My Corn Chowder Fu is Unstoppable

2009-08-24T15:49:00.001-07:00

I love making meals that aren't based on recipes, just techniques. Summer tomato-corn chowder is a perfect example. I failed to record the source of the original recipe, but it was so simple I fell in love with it and I made it over and over again every summer for the past 10 years.

Basic Tomato-Corn Soup

Makes 4 servings

Chop about 1 cup yellow onion, 1/2 cup of sweet red pepper, mince a clove of garlic, saute in 2 tbsp olive oil with salt and pepper. Chop 1 or 2 zucchini into dice (depends how much you like zucchini), add to the pot. Chop about 3 fist-sized beefsteak tomatoes, coarsely, and add to the pot before the zucchini is quite cooked. Slice the kernels from 3-4 ears of corn (depending on size); bicolor or yellow corn is best, being more flavorful. Add to the pot. The mixture is likely a bit thick, even though the tomatoes are yielding their juice, so add water til it looks "soupy" to your liking. Add seasonings at this point: more salt and pepper, and whatever fresh summer herbs you like...basil, thyme, rosemary, parsley, diced scallions, dill...in whatever quantity suits your taste. Cover and cook over very low heat about 10 minutes.

Serve with crusty dunkable bread, and plenty of sharp white cheddar cheese. Hot sauce optional. Chilled rose, vinho verde, suavignon blanc or reisling go great with this.

Tomato-Corn-Fish Chowder
Makes 4 servings
My lazy-ass version of boulliabaise. Make the above recipe but make several additions: finely chopped fresh fennel bulb to taste; fish and/or seafood; and instead of water use white wine, clam juice or mild fish stock.

The fish can be any firm white fish that won't fall apart into mushy bits: cod, scrod, halibut, hake, rockfish, tilapia, catfish, baja, snapper, grouper...see, anything! Oily fish like bluefish or salmon aren't to my taste, but you can try. Be my guest. Cut the fillets in bite-size pieces, keeping in mind that some pieces will flake apart, and add them to the pot so they get cooked no more than 10 minutes. Small shrimp, cut-up squid and whole live mussels are also very good additions. They need only about 5 minutes cooking.

Feel free to season this version liberally with pepper and herbs. Add a splash of dry white wine if you didn't use fish stock or clam juice. A splash of Pernod or other anise liqueur just before the tomatoes go in, will add to that mock-bouilliabaise sensation.

Serve with crusty bread. Hot sauces are optional, but we really like Outerbridge Sherry Peppers Sauce with this -- the real stuff from Bermuda. We might have to take another cruise there to stock up again. White or rose wine, or Belgian or German-style wit (white or wheat) beer are excellent accompaniment.

Indian Tomato-Corn-Lentil Chowder
Makes 4 servings

This takes the whole concept to a new level. It's slightly more complicated, but in the end just as flexible to adjust to your tastes.

After the onion, garlic and red pepper are sauteeing in a neutral oil (like grapeseed), add a tablespoon of yellow or black whole mustard seeds. Stir well. Add at least a teaspoon each of ground cumin, ground coriander, turmeric and (horrors!) commercial curry powder you like. Cayenne pepper or fresh hot peppers are optional. Add the zucchini and the tomatoes. Immediately add 1 cup of cleaned rinsed red split lentils, and at least 1 cup of water. The red lentils need at least 15 minutes to become soft. Add the corn as they're softening. Add chopped spinach, or purslane, if available. Also add a generous cup of chopped coriander/cilantro before turning off the heat.

Serve with crusty bread or naan, plenty of thick strained yogurt, and chilled lager or pilsener. Riesling or Gewurtztraminer are also good.

Purslane is easy to find in the Union Square Greenmarket in summer, especially on Saturdays. It's commonly used in Turkish and Indian cooking as a green vegetable, and a lovely person I know from Ravelry who owns a farm also adds it to salads. It adds quite a nutritional punch to this soup, making it a real one-bowl meal.

Easy Peachy Pie

2009-08-15T18:09:00.000-07:00

Peaches and nectarines might be my favorite fruit. After tristar-hybrid strawberries. And really ripe juicy raspberries. I love peaches all ripe and juicy, slurpy, just peeled and eaten right off the pit...preferably leaning over the sink. Or cut up and mixed with strawberries and raspberries. White peaches and nectarines are best eaten raw. Their light flowery flavor doesn't survive cooking. I have some white donut peaches waiting to be devoured tomorrow, when they're going to be even more tender and drippy.

This week I got a half dozen nice peaches from the greenmarket...and a slight disappointment. While California peaches have been intense and spicy this year, the local ones are kind of insipid. Too much rain? Not enough sun?

I made 2 peach pies so far this summer, mixing the fruit with others. 1st pie was Peach-Apricot-Blueberry. The apricots were tart and gave the peaches a lovely boost. The blueberries were just cos I had some and feared the pie wouldn't be full enough. Oops, it overflowed. No harm done, just a bit extra of browned juices on one side. 2nd pie was Peach-Raspberry-Blackberry, to boost the local fruit.

While I happen to prefer double-crust cherry pie, I like strusel toppings best on apple, peach and mixed berry pies. My fave recipe for peach pie topping came from Cooking Light of all places. Super-easy. I've changed it a bit.

Eyeball the 9-inch frozen pie-crust you've got handy (I use Whole Foods organic crusts). Line it with foil and pie weights (that is, dried beans over a year old that won't cook well anyway), bake 10 minutes at 425 deg. Remove from oven, remove foil & weights, cool a few minutes. Lower oven to 375 deg.

While that's baking, peel & slice enough peaches to fill the crust. Use an old pie tin as a bowl if eyeballing is not your specialty. If you don't have enough peaches, include whatever juicy summer berries, apricots or plums are handy. Mix this fruit with about 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup minute tapioca (less if you prefer a runnier pie), some salt, and a good teaspoon of good vanilla extract. Cinnamon is good too. Let this sit about 10 minutes so the tapioca can expand.

Topping: melt 2 tbsp butter in a glass bowl in the microwave. Add 1/3 cup rolled oats, 1/3 cup all-purpose flour, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup flaked sweetened coconut, dash salt. Mix well (get those lumps outta the sugar), so the entire mixture is buttery.

Pour the filling into the crust. Spoon the strusel topping evenly all over the top, especially around the edges where juices are likeliest to escape. Pop the pie in the oven for about 1 hour. Check towards the end to make sure it's not burning round the edges.

You really should put a foil-lined baking sheet under the pie, or at least under the rack. Or just a foil sheet on the oven rack. Something to catch all the juices that might spill out.

When everything looks toasty and done, let pie cool completely before cutting. This might take hours. Be patient. Serve with vanilla ice cream...or dulce de leche ice cream...or Haagen Dasz Hawaiian Honey Sweet Cream ice cream...you get the idea.

Long Long Longwood Days

2009-03-29T20:07:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to have been to the Southeast Pennsylvania Orchid Society show at Longwood Gardens this year. Having heard such wonderful things about it, I can only say they were true, but still hardly prepared me for the reality. Longwood's massive conservatory complex is impressive enough on it's own unique scale. Adding the gorgeous orchids of the SEPOS participants was porcini and red wine gravy. Icing on the Martha Stewart wedding cake. Beauty writ large as sunshiny vistas of perfect lawns and masses of color, and writ small as perfect Dockrillas and Pleurothallids.

Thursday setup was overcast and [we] only began after 1pm, we left at about 7pm, stopped at Friendlys for dinner, and thanks to rain and slightly slowed traffic on the NJ Tpike didn't roll back into New York City til pretty late...reached my front door at 11:30pm. Hit Facebook, my email, uploaded pictures, and finally got to bed 1am. Up again at 5:15am, out the door by 5:35am for bagels at H&H on 2nd Ave, into a cab, and over to the west side to await my ride. I have never ever got across town in only 5 minutes before. 1 minute from 79th & 2nd to 79th and 5th!! The five of us arrived in timely fashion: parked at exactly 8:30am, as intended! The 2 folks clerking went off to work. The rest of us went shopping. O god did we go shopping. Eventually we made it to the show...left at a reasonable time mid-afternoon...I got home 7pm, ready for a sashimi delivery dinner.

Having taken well over 1000 digital pix and still going through them, I took a break today from culling and naming them and finally tucked my new babies into their new home. Only 12, not as bad as it could have been. Paphs and mini phals and a few choice species. Can't make sense of them yet...have too much to do after so many days burning out on orchids...will photograph them and list them eventually.

Ada Lovelace Day Blog Post!

2009-03-23T21:07:00.000-07:00

I'm grateful to my parents for many things, but foremost might be that they never once told me there was something, anything I could not do just because I'm a girl. They might've been horrified if I took up football or skydiving or international banking, but it wouldn't have been because "girls don't do that." ("Sane people don't do that" would be more like it.) Dad was an engineer, he worked for the telephone company for years and knew how to climb telephone poles -- still could at 62 and how cool was that??! -- and spent WWII and the Korean War in the Signal Corps. Mom was artistic, wanted to paint and loved to sew, but she also could take apart radios and wield power drills.

So I took after both parents, and ended up a graphic designer using Adobe PageMaker and InDesign and Photoshop. I was pretty good at math, in 10th and 11th grade, and by then I'd heard of Basic...so in college, in 1980, I took my first computer programming class even though I'd already declared an art major. PL-C. Piece of cake! Assembler was a bit less cakey...and I stumbled blindly through Fortran hating every minute of it. No more programming classes. Painting and printmaking, much better. I still liked computers though. I admired a college screenwriting teacher who admitted she wrote several novels so she could afford a computer and printer in order to write more novels. (Is that tech-ie? Maybe...)

So I learned to use word processors, and bought my first (Radio Shack) PC (no hard drive) in 1986. Bought my next one (30 mb hard drive) in 1987. Cruel irony had me doing both DBase IV programming and PageMaker classes for a job. And even crueller irony that in a corporate role as a graphic designer/business communications guru I now and then ended up using my old nemesis Fortran on the VAX system to gather data. Irony complete when I, a designer on PCs, married a man who programmed on Macs. I'm writing this blog entry on my 7th lifetime owned computer.

But all this is everyday stuff. I'm just a geeky, nerdy female human who is not scared of math or technology, and make use of computers my everyday life. I admire everyone of my generation, and older, who has done this, same as I admire everyone who incorporates art in their everyday lives (by playing music or drawing or writing or taking pictures or dancing, whatever moves them).

I'm dedicating this (uh, mostly autobiographical) Ada Lovelace Day blog post to ladies of my personal acquaintance: Dr Margaret McMahon (rocket scientist) and Lori Bechtold (aircraft engineer). Fellow alumni of Hunter College High School, class of 78/79. We bonded over a mutual love of science fiction. They do stuff I can barely wrap my brain around, and they do it well, and I am extremely glad we live in a world where they and other women like them were encouraged and able to make the most of their talents and interests. You rock.

And also honorable mention to Barbara Krasnoff, who writes so well about techie-computer matters and makes it accessable to many other people over the years. And who also entered my life through interest in science fiction. And, Happy Birthday, Barbara!

May all of us be so fortunate as to find their bliss and follow it.

More Orchidy Goodness

2009-03-23T17:36:00.000-07:00

Never did rant on about the orchids I picked up at the very nice Deep Cut Orchid Show in February. I figure since I'm heading to the SEPOS Orchid Show at Longwood Gardens this week, I might as well take stock...

Goodaleara Eurostar (above) is pretty much my Ideal Notion of an Under-Lights Friendly Oncidium Alliance Hybrid. Shortish spikes, 2 spikes per growth, abundant flowers, short leaves, and extremely compact growth habit. 7 spikes in a 3-inch pot! Damn! The whole plant is only about 1 foot tall.

Paphiopedilum (Stone Lovely x In-Charm White) is pretty awesome. I've seen few In Charm hybrids I haven't coveted. Love love love the perfect egg-shaped greeny pouch! Love those spotty petals! And it's got slightly mottled leaves, with multiple growths, so here's hoping it's a piece of cake to keep going.

Also got a Phal Mini Mark of large size and vigorious spike from Parkside, I've been wanting one for years and just never did. Glad I waited. Got Maxillaria sanguinea, which is not complaining since shedding a few old leaves the first 2 weeks of captivity. No new growths yet.

Also got an interesting small hybrid Odcdm Bob Burr "Yellow Cat". Strange parentage: one half its tree is straightforward old-fashioned Odontoglossum breeding, with a shot of Oncidium crispum for seasoning, while the other half is Odcdm Tiger Butter + Odm. harryanum, one of the funkier and prettier Odontoglossum species. (Tiger Butter also boasts Onc. crispum as an ancestor, same generation.) The buds are quite yellow with a few brown/red spots, and growling nicely.

Two phals I got last year bit the dust. Boo. Worse, they suffered the same horrible top-down leaf death my older batches of phals used to succumb to. I fear for the babies on the other shelves. I'm trying to keep them happy and well-sprayed with water and soap. I'm also not going to buy any more phals this year until I'm sure the contagion is contained.

The Oeniella polystachys that I got from Cal-orchid in January bloomed a few weeks ago, and they were incredible. 5 flowers the size of chocolate chips filled the entire living room with a haunting fragrance similar to carnations.

Fishy Experiments

2009-03-23T16:32:00.001-07:00

We tried fresh sturgeon last week. That is, I saw fresh sturgeon fillets at the fish counter at Agata & Valentinas, and decided it was high time I finally gave it a go. Being told the texture was dense and firm, similar to Chilean sea bass, and that it takes well to broiling, grilling, sauteing or roasting, I went with sauteing.

The first time I cook a "new" type of fish I try to keep it as simple as possible, so we can really taste the fish itself and not just the seasoning. So I used butter/olive oil as the cooking fat, and used only salt and pepper on the fish. The fillet was about 3/4 inch thick, and cooked up in the usual amount of time, less than 10 minutes.

As warned, the skin was rubbery and not appealing to eat. The flesh itself was not flaky, cooked texture very similar to tuna, firm and meaty. And it tasted a bit like tuna too, like yellowfin steaks cooked well done. Interesting. But no compusion for a repeat.

Then we tried Alaskan black cod fillet, which also was abundant in the fish dept. I know I cooked it at least once or twice before but couldn't remember the results, which probably says much. This is the fish that Japanese restaurants (Nobu first, I think) marinate in miso before grilling. I did the minimal-seasoning thing again, in butter/oil again, but I added a dash of Penzey's Sunny Paris seasoning. The skin and flesh both browned nicely. The flesh was amazingly light on the tongue, like sole or turbot, and quite tasty. I'll use less oil next time...

Local wine store's March sales include Notro 2007 Torrontes, a lovely white wine from Argentina. The label boasts pairing with salads, light fish dishes, and spicy Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese cuisine. They're right! Excellent with all the white fishes we've been eating. And with sushi too. REALLY good with sushi.

Please note: Penzeys Spices ROCK. I miss Ariana's Caravan being the spice merchant of Grand Central's food market, but Penzey's is totally cool too. I have never in my life used pre-blended seasonings other than Herbs de Provence or curry powder, feeling they were somehow cheating. And yes, pre-mixed curry powder is not subtle and I really only use it on a few vegs like buttered corn, when I'm too lazy to make my own mix for a small quantity. But Sunny Paris is completely addictive, utterly delicious, and I never would've thought of it myself. Contains purple shallots, chives, green peppercorn, basil, tarragon, chervil, bay leaf and dill weed. Smells a bit sharp in the bottle, but once it hits the warmth of the pan it transforms and blossoms into come-hither yumminess perfect on fish, chicken, veggies, mashed potatoes and eggs. The price is pretty steep but a little goes a long way. Entirely worth it.

Orchids Galore

2009-02-25T11:55:00.001-08:00

The Carter & Holmes minicatts have all settled in nicely, though I still haven't found ideal spots for a couple of them. They're all making new roots and new growths, even the 2 dug-ups whose roots were a bit sparse and I had to pot in sphagnum moss. They like the moss. Whew. I stopped using sphagnum moss years ago for anything but sickly plants, but I might re-think that and start using it for minis again.

A few of us went to Silva Orchids in January for their open house, and as usual found some nifty things. Paph (argus x niveum) has 2 big healthy growths. I'm such a sucker for paph primaries. Paph (Pinocchio x armeniacum) is a real honey, not the best shape in the world but great color and it lasts a long time. (see above) I also got Coelogyne mossiae even though I'll probably kill it even before summer begins. Guest vendor Cal-Orchid had brilliant offerings, and I picked up a fantastic Oeniella polystachys in spike, and a robust Leptotes bicolor in bud.

And then, the Deep Cut Orchid Show and all its vendors and splendors...I'm still wondering just where everything will end up, but I'm very pleased with the goodies I scored.

Uber Queen of Leftovers!

2009-02-25T11:09:00.000-08:00

A typical meal can become not just 1 but 2 levels of leftover goodness! Observe:

Dinner ,#1. Lamb burgers: 2 lbs ground lamb, 1 slice soft bread, thyme, oregano, black pepper, salt. Form 4 patties per lb of meat. Cook in a very thin film of olive oil: don't turn them until the cooked part comes halfway up the sides. Then flip. 5 minutes later, flip back. 5 minutes later, flip back. Both sides should be very brown and crusty. The pan will be full of fat and juices. Turn off heat, remove burgers to a clean dish to sit 5 minutes. (Same as all cooked pieces of meat.)

Serve with rice or mashed potatoes, ketchup, and lots of veggies on the side (asparagus, broccoli, corn, whatever). 2 burgers per person is plenty. It's not a good idea calorie-wise to spoon the brown crusty pan juices over the starch, but it does taste wonderful.

Dinner, #2. Lamb burger hash: In olive oil, saute a chopped onion, some diced butternut squash and 1/2 bunch asparagus cut into 1 inch pieces. Frozen corn is good to add too. When nearing done-ness, add finely shredded Tuscan black kale and 1/2 cup slivered sun-dried tomatoes. Add leftover lamb burgers cut into bite-size pieces. Add a little water if the pan seems dry. Cover and let cook till the veggies are all tender. Serve with rice or potatoes or noodles.

Lunch, #3. Lamb burger bean hash: If you have more than 1 cup left of the hash, then put it in a frying pan with a bit of olive oil, and as it heats add 1 can drained/rinsed cannelini beans. Add leftover rice if you've got it. Cover and let cook till thoroughly heated. If you didn't add rice, serve over rice or couscous or whatever you've got.

I have made "hash" out of roast beef, corned beef, roast chicken, roast turkey, roast lamb, veal burgers, lamb burgers, and cooked salmon. General principles? Don't overcook the already cooked meat. Cut the vegs in nice small even pieces, and add them to the pan in some sort of order -- fastest cooking go in last. Diced potatoes are the foundation of most traditional beef hashes, but I'd rather spoon a potato-free hash over mashies.

Easy Fish Soup

2009-01-31T19:07:00.000-08:00

Low-fat, extremely tasty, relatively cheap to make...what's not to like?

For 4 people:
Saute 1 chopped large onion, 1 chopped small fennel bulb, in olive oil, until translucent.
Add a generous spoonful of minced garlic.
Add 2 regular cans petite diced tomatoes (organic plz - Muir Glen or Del Monte)
Add 2 small bottles clam juice (I'm lucky to get a no-preservatives brand), or 2 cups fish stock
Add generous spoonful each fresh or dried thyme and oregano. Grind a lot of pepper too.
(Salt optional, unless it's low-sodium tomatoes)
Add: 1 can white beans, or 1 cup frozen baby limas
Add: several handfuls of baby spinach
Simmer about 5 minutes to get flavors blended.
Add: 1 lb mixed white fish fillets & steaks, deboned & skinned, cut into bite-size pieces (I've used hake, baja, blackfish, halibut...whatever's cheap is fine, and frozen is ok).
I also like to add a few shrimp for flavor too, no shells, cut in bite-size bits. Squid are great, cut into bite-size bits. Clams or mussels too. As many as you like per person.
SIMMER until the fish are all cooked through, and tender, about 7 minutes.
Optional: chopped red pepper, chopped celery to taste. That becomes more gumbo-like.

Serve with firm crusty dunkable bread, and Outerbridge Bermudan Sherry Peppers Sauce.
Also a nice dry white wine, like a Suavignon Blanc, or La Vielle Ferme Cotes du Luberon Blanc, or Sancerre...or else a wheat beer like Hoegaarten.

I promise you it's really good.

More 2008 Music, and 2009 Too

2009-01-31T09:02:00.000-08:00

Finally did more listening to more albums...

David Byrne & Brian Eno "Everything that Happens will Happen Today": "Rei Momo" and "Uh-Oh" were terrific, but this might be Byrne's best solo album. Not coincidentally, it sounds the most like the last couple of Talking Heads albums. Catchy melodies, great arrangements, everything you'd hope for from a Byrne-Eno project.

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds "Dig Lazarus Dig": I'm not the only listener who thinks Cave has finally made a commercial-sounding album. And I really like it. I would worry if Cave ever created an easy-to-listen-to record, and this comes close on a few tracks, but his lyrics are as edgy and amusing as ever. So whew.

Derek Trucks Band "Already Free": My new favorite album! My god this is good stuff. Super-sophisticated Allmans-flavored rock, virtuoso guitar and soulful manly singing, great songs...the radio track, Dylan cover "Down in the Flood", is just a taste of what awaits. Their earlier album "Songlines" was more experimental with world-music flavors and I'd love to hear more of that from this band, but I'm quite satisfied as is.

Bulbophyllum Confusion

2009-01-31T08:20:00.000-08:00

I'm sometimes sorry I'm such a sucker for species orchids. And bulbophyllums.

This charming plant above, that I have nurtured and coddled for at least seven years, has been all along mis-labelled. It claimed to be Bulbo. curtisii "Pololei" but it wasn't. After my struggle with the newer plant I got that turned out to be Bulbo. corolliferum (but is still called Cirrhopetalum curtisii in Siegerist's book), it was clear that this older plant and the newer are two quite different things. "Pololei" would appear to in fact be Bulbophyllum lepidum, also very common in cultivation. Except that Bulbo. lepidum is no longer that, it is now Cirrhopetalum flabellovernis, or was, if you want to look at it from the perspective of that name being the older one by 34 years or so.

All fine and well! But I have one other elder plant in this pool: a Bulbophyllum makoyanum that had failed to flower for the past five years out of six. It looks just like "Pololei" vegetatively. As I hadn't photographed the flower six years ago, I forgot what it looked like, except that it was yellow and daisy-shaped. I was entirely satisfied it was the plant as labelled. Silly me.

Responding well to improved care -- lots more water, and a boost closer to the light source -- my supposed B. makoyanum has flowered again. As I remembered, it's yellow and daisy-shaped. But it's not B. makoyanum. The flowers are too short. They're not rolled. What I've in fact got is another Cirrhopetalum flabellovernis, a yellow-er form than my other plant.

Sigh.

Well, I'll keep both. They're cute. I like them. But I seriously, seriously have to repot both too. They have never been repotted. I hate repotting bulbophyllums. I am going to use very shallow pots and fill them with bark and sphagnum moss and hope for the best...tomorrow.

2008 Music #2

2008-12-28T21:05:00.000-08:00

The 2008 albums I actually bought in 2008:

Black Keys "Attack and Release": Two guys playing dark dirty blues, this might be their best album.

Raconteurs "Consolers of the Lonely": Full of the dark/light grace and roots music of good Zep.

Foxboro Hot Tubs "Stop Drop & Roll": Sharp lyrics and great 50s garage sound from Green Day. Very very repeatable.

TV on the Radio "Dear Science": Yay Brooklyn! Sophisticated quirky sound and vocals, brash and sweet and keeps you engaged. Rolling Stone picked this as album of the year but I like it anyway. TV's earlier album "Cookie Mountain" was great too.

Beck "Modern Guilt": As deep as you need it to be. Quite melodic too. He might be getting old.

Kaiser Chiefs "Off With Their Heads": Loud Brit pop/rock with catchy riffs and singalong lyrics. Their 2 other albums are great too.

Elvis Costello "Momofuku": Press Play and be magically transported back to the late 70s! An entirely pop and rhythm-driven approachable new EC album. My god.

Kings of Leon "Only By the Night": A pretty good kick-ass assortment of songs in southern-rock style.

Mudcrutch "Mudcrutch": Tom Petty in disguise with his 1st band, gone back to blues and country rock stylings he kinda let alone for a while. A repeater.

MGMT "Oracular Spectacular": Boys angst without the emo. I almost wish I didn't feel like a cougar listening to this. These guys kick the Jonas Bro's collective arse.

Switches "Lay Down the Law": More well-crafted Brit pop/rock, reminiscent of Kaiser Chiefs and the Coral and Franz Ferdinand. Every track keeps it moving along.

Wolf Parade "At Mount Zoomer": Very alt, Reminiscent of the Shins and Interpol, with similar twang and depth to the sound. Crunchy.

Moby "Last Night": Pleasant, not spectacular, a bit heavy on the 'ludes.

REM "Accelerator": Middle age sucks. But they can still write melodies that sound like the 80s.

The Pete Best Band "Hayman's Green": Sounds like a "lost Beatles album," a tuneful 60s memoir in music. Reminiscent but not derivative. Sweet and thoughtful.

Black Francis "Svn Fngrs": Pretty much what you'd expect from Frank Black's more Pixie-ated alter ego. Hard sounds, growling/howling vocals and weird lyrics. Fun!!

Nada Surf "Lucky": A pleasant mellow set of semi-memorable pop songs that sound older than 2008. That's all. Not a bad thing.

Fleet Foxes "Fleet Foxes": I didn't expect to like this but I do. Alt folk? Alt choral? Late-night bad dreams music. Listen with the lights on.

Stephen Malkmus "Real Emotional Trash": Moody and strange. Might be dangerous. I like it!

Counting Crows "Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings": No surprises, and that's a good thing from this band. Only 1 or 2 cringe-worthy tracks.

Carbon/Silicon "The Last Post": No surprises from Mick Jones' latest project, but a good beat and you can skank to it.

Vampire Weekend "Vampire Weekend": A few great tracks with great hooks, the rest meh. Gotta love the "M79" song...my fave bus!

My Morning Jacket "Evil Urges": I HATE the 2 singles "I'm Amazed" and "Touch Me" so I trashed them, but I like the title track a lot, and a couple of the quirkier other tracks. I liked their old album Z more. Still, I'm glad they're getting lots of attention.

Death Cab for Cutie "Narrow Stairs": A few memorable radio tracks, the rest ain't bad either. A more diverse set of sounds for them. Nice pop hooks.

Snow Patrol "A Hundred Million Suns": see above.

Coldplay "Viva la Vida": see above. Brian Eno must be stopped.

Haven't listened yet:

David Byrne & Brian Eno "Everything that Happens will Happen Today"

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds "Dig Lazarus Dig"

Bob Dylan "Tell Tale Signs - Bootleg Vol 8"

The Stills "Oceans Will Rise"

The Killers "Day and Age"

2008 Music #1

2008-12-28T18:00:00.000-08:00

There is obviously no such band as The Chesterfield Kings. "Psychedelic Sunrise" (from Wicked Cool Records) is obviously a collection of unreleased Rolling Stones tracks from 1966 - 1971. "Inside Looking Out" for example was probably going to be the b-side for "Lady Jane." "Yesterday's Sorrows" should have been on "Exile on Main Street." "Up and Down" was an alternative version of "She's a Rainbow." That said, it's a hell of a lot better album than the stuff the Stones released between "Exile" and "Some Girls." Andrew Loog Oldham's album notes are just a tip-off, a wink if you please.

Beck's "Modern Guilt" came up next in the CD tray. Not a bad segue.

Catasetum Success

2008-12-28T17:48:00.000-08:00

So my encouragement post worked, and Catasetum atratum is blooming again! And this time I'm paying much better attention. After being open 2 days the 5 flowers are definitely fragrant, a sweet generic honey-like aroma. Dunno how I missed that before. I wish the flowers were better organized instead of pointing every which way, but with flowers this odd that's like complaining my cat only drives me crazy half the time.

I need to take the plant out of its plastic "pot" and snip away the dead oldest roots, maybe remove the very oldest pseudobulbs too. I'm quite pleased that this season's growth is one of the most robust yet.

I Believe in You

2008-12-20T20:11:00.000-08:00

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying holds up remarkably well. I never noticed before that the executives all speak Westchester-ese, and the secretaries all have broad Bronx-Brooklyn-Queens accents, especially when singing.

Best quote: "I feel sorry for men who don't knit. They lead empty lives."

You have the cool, clear
Eyes of a seeker of wisdom and truth;
Yet there's that upturned chin
And that grin of impetuous youth.
Oh, I believe in you. I believe in you.
I hear the sound of good, solid judgment
Whenever you talk;
Yet there's the bold, brave spring of the tiger
That quickens your walk.
Oh, I believe in you. I believe in you.
And when my faith in my fellow man
All but falls apart,
I've but to feel your hand grasping mine
And I take heart; I take heart
To see the cool, clear
Eyes of a seeker of wisdom and truth;
Yet, with the slam-bang tang
Reminiscent of gin and vermouth.
Oh, I believe in you. I believe in you.

50 American Wines

2008-12-20T13:07:00.000-08:00

This article is a must-read for wine-drinkers. How close have I come to multi-state wine experiences? I regularly drink California, Oregon and Washington State wines, and now and then New York state rieslings and dessert wines from the Finger Lakes region. I've had Long Island wine too, but I won't rush into that. I might've had a bottle of white wine from Virginia once, but with my aging failing memory can't swear to that. (And looky, I took the trouble of looking up Gary V's book and website, as his recommendations tend to rock.)

Beer, now that's another story! I've had local brew in every state I've ever visited other than Kentucky. I've drunk beers from all the favored microbrew regions. As much as I love the idea of expanding America's wine industry past the usual suspects, maybe Kentucky should stick to bourbon and New England should stick with IPAs.

Cooking Without a Map

2008-12-19T15:32:00.001-08:00

In the process of dumping a couple years of accumulated magazines, I have to page through some of them for tidbits worth saving: a page of photos, a neat diagram, a reference to a book, a sweater with great colors...but mostly it's recipes. When I find a recipe I want, I go to the magazine's website and copy the recipe to a notepad file. Later when I'm in the mood I copy those recipes to larger formatted documents. I have hundreds of pages of saved recipes, from avocado-sour cream dip to elaborate cakes and pastries. Recognizing that I'll never in a lifetime manage to plow through a tenth of these, lately I've been deleting like crazy, and, most importantly, not adding new recipes unless they sound both very different from all others (in a good way) and are brief and simple enough to entice lazy-ass me into trying them.

Some of my all-time favorite dishes come from saved magazine recipes. Cornmeal biscuits. Sweet potato biscuits. Brussels sprouts with pecans and roasted chestnuts. Raspberry jam brownies. But most days, I just decide what I'd like to eat for dinner, and shop accordingly. Sometimes there's leftovers I build a new meal around, not wanting to waste them. I've been known to buy ingredients for soup for dinner just because the LaBrea 3-cheese semolina bread was still warm when I passed it in D'Agostinos and I just had to buy it.

This article by chef Daniel Patterson says very concisely what I experience every day in my tiny kitchen. It's also what I experience teaching inexperienced gardeners about orchid growing. You come to understand that every vegetable and every fish is different, and you have to poke and prod and taste the food as it cooks to know when it's done or how to season it; a recipe gives a hint for doneness, but after that you judge for yourself; the seasoning that caught your eye reading the recipe may need adjusting to your own taste. Likewise, figuring out if a plant wants or needs repotting or just more water or food or light becomes second nature. Recipes, and gardening advice, are very good starting points, but after a while the process should become intuitive.

Yay, New Orchids!!!

2008-12-18T16:19:00.001-08:00

My "oh noes it's mid-December and my AOS 2-year renewal $30 coupon expires in January so I have to order now before the weather gets worse" orchids from Carter & Holmes arrived today. Soooooo happy! So here's what I got.

Bulbophyllum barbigerum (tiny plant) and Bulbophyllum frostii (bigger plant, bare-root). Whee! I last owned barbigerum years and years ago. Can't wait to see those wiggly little lips again! I'm entirely delighted to encourage seed-grown Bulbos being sold.

Stenocoryne vitellina seedling, nice and healthy, at least 1 year from blooming. For a brief glorious few months about 20 years ago, I was the Stenocoryne Queen of the East Coast. I had 4 species. Four! And they all bloomed and thrived until I had a wave of bad luck, and long vacations, that decimated my collection. I'm so pleased a large nursery like C&H is distributing these!

The rest is mini-catts, some are mericlones and some are seedlings:

Lc Tiny Treasure x Slc Angel Face. Ought to be a splash-petal cutie. Nice healthy plant too.

Lc Mini Purple "Tamiami-4n" x Slc Precious Katie. C&H says these are mostly purples, some are red.

Blc Waikiki Gold "Lea" x Laelia briegeri "Star of Brazil." L briegeri hybrids tend to be fantastic free-blooming darlings, so let's hope. It's a tall plant, as expected.

Slc Precious Stones x Slc Barefoot Mailman. These have to be gorgeous red-orange stars.

Potinara Brady Crocker (Pot. Mem. Shirley Moore x Slc. Precious Katie). Sounded good, and described as red, blooming on small plants.

Lctna Flying Colors "Mendenhall". My Otaara and other -tonia hybrids do well, time to try this. I guess I still have a weakness for splash petals.

Eplc Tinker Toy "Sprite." Always wanted one of these little pink & white cuties.

I got two bonus plants too, which totally rocks. One is (C loddigesii x Sc Beaufort), which I'm figuring will be pink and yellow. Heh. The other is a healthy young plant of Cattleya percivaliana. There is no way I can grow that thing to flowering maturity, so once I've potted it and established it some lucky pal of mine will end up with it.

Whole Lotta Ho Ho Ho

2008-12-18T15:05:00.000-08:00

I heard on the news that the Post Office has declared this holiday season "cancelled." Nobody's mailing anything. Are they right? I was in two of my local POs twice this week, thanks to brisk ebay sales. Last year at this time, a week before Christmas, the lines were out the door at both locations. This year, not so much. In fact, I only waited in line as long as I do on any reasonably busy day. And only a few people were burdened with parcels, the vast majority had only smaller items or Priority Mail envelopes.

What's up, I think, might be that everyone who is doing gifts this year decided to go for bargains online and had those retailers ship directly. Saves effort, saves $$, what's not to like? And some of us are doing charity donations in lieu of material presents. And e-cards and Facebook hugs instead of paper cards.

All of this is fine with me. Our holiday cheer is in short supply this year. I might buy an evergreen bough for a vase on the table, and I desperately want a bottle of Sams Serious Eggnog (from the Waterfront Ale House), but that's about it. As good as I feel about the new regime in DC, this country is still so seriously f**cked-up that I'll save my cheering for January 20. And hope my friends seeking jobs will find them. And hope someone will buy my book...

I did have a personal Awesome Moment yesterday thanks to ebay: I had the rare privilege of mailing an item to North Pole, Alaska, and enjoyed the look on the clerk's face. We agreed Santa obviously really does buy stuff on ebay to re-gift.

And a Hey Lookit! moment today: 2 fire trucks bearing Santa, elves (rather fat ones) and fire fighters in Santa hats, whirring along at 86th and 3rd Ave. Awww!

One Two Reislings

2008-12-11T18:43:00.000-08:00

Rudolf Muller 2007 Riesling Pfalz.
Billed as "Rabbit" Reisling, or "The Bunny Wine" thanks to its untraditionally graphically attractive label design of a plump hopping bunny. The label is also untraditionally helpful, being in English. And the price is pretty reasonable too for a pleasant if not especially interesting German Riesling. It's light and fruity though refreshingly semi-dry, with the label-promised peaches and pears rather than more tropical overtones. Recommended dishes of firm cheeses, cream-sauced pastas, light seafood and Asian spices are perfectly suited. I'd also say light chicken and pork dishes would be a good match.

Hazlitt Finger Lakes Riesling 2007.
We "discovered" this winery's riesling about 10 years ago, and went through a case a year for several years. The latest vintage is as good as past ones. The wine is light, fresh and tasty. The label boasts peach and tangerine and I agree, there's a clear tropical whiff to the nose and palate. Nice acidity, not over-sweet, not over-assertive. The label recommends grilled trout, soft-shell crab or fruit salad as good food matches. We've drunk this wine with pretty much everything and enjoyed it every time.

Reading again

2008-12-10T12:33:00.001-08:00

Two new old books this week:

The Curse of the Giant Hogweed, by Charlotte MacLeod. I read this book when it was new in 1985, as at the time my father was still hauling all new mystery books home from the library quick as they were stocked. It was delightful, one of the silliest things I'd ever read, a horticultural fantasy romp full of British myth and daunting Welsh names, and I remember absolutely nothing else about it. With a glad cry I pounced upon a copy in my library's book sale room. I shall begin re-reading it immediately.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, by Anita Loos. Everyone knows "diamonds are a girl's best friend," and might vaguely remember Marilyn Monroe in the movie. I never finished the book years ago, so I'll be having a new go at it.

A great passage from near the beginning:
And Mr Eisman likes me to have what the French people call a "salo" which
means that people all get together in the evening and improve their minds. So I
invited all of the brainy gentlemen I could think up. So I thought up a gentleman who is the professor of all the economics up at Columbia College, and the editor who is the famous editor of the New York Transcript and another gentleman who is a famous playwright...so Sam asked if he could bring a gentleman who writes novels from England...and then we all got together...and the gentleman brought their own liquor. So of course the place was a wreck this morning and Lulu and I worked like proverbial dogs to get it cleaned up, but Heaven knows how long it will take to get the chandelier fixed.

Banana Coconut Chocolate Chip Muffins

2008-12-05T15:41:00.000-08:00

I might as well record this for posterity. It's not my original recipe, but based on one from my fave muffin book.

Preheat oven to 375 deg. Prep 12-muffin tin with nonstick spray.

Combine in small bowl: 1.5 cups flour, 1.5 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt. You may substitute white whole wheat flour for part or all of the flour, or substitute up to 1/2 cup graham flour.

Combine in larger bowl: 1 beaten egg, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick) cooled, 1/2 cup mashed bananas (2 small/medium), 1/2 cup plain or vanilla yogurt (not nonfat), 1 tsp vanilla extract (if using plain yogurt), 1 cup lightly packed sweetened flaked coconut.

Gently fold the flour mixture into the wet mixture. Before the flour is gone add 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips. Spoon into the muffin tin.

Bake 20-25 minutes depending on your oven. They should be nicely crusty and browned.

These reheat very nicely in a toaster oven at 375 for 5-10 minutes.

I haven't tried substituting brown sugar, or more banana/less yogurt, but I will someday.

Woot!

2008-12-04T08:36:00.000-08:00

Woot! After a long dull stretch of inactivity, the orchids are starting up some winter cheer. 4 plants in bud! Woot!

Beallara Lembaba has a nice spike along with a new growth. Mystery Oncidium Hybrid that I got from Silva in March has budded beautifully, allaying my fears that the older slightly twisted growths were typical and would bollocks future blooming. The older speciment of Bulbophyllum curtisii "Pololei" has been flowering wonderfully ever since I boosted its light levels and been more careful about watering.

Phalaenopsis Tsay's Evergreen "Fangtastic" made my mouth water first time I saw it five years ago. I bought one in February, and I've been eagerly awaiting new flowers ever since. The flowers on the old spike lasted two months, with new ones forming every few weeks. Right now it's got 2 healthy spikes and two buds showing on the bigger one. I only wish the plant didn't look so craptastic, the leaves a bit mottled. I know I let it go too dry too often the past couple months. I'm being better now. I even fed it.

And, after disappointing me last year, Catasetum atratum is back on track, with a nice fat spike and five buds only a month late compared to past flowerings. I think I might have to "repot" it next year, trimming old roots and removing the very oldest pseudobulbs before replacing it in its happy home, the CD box. I refuse to mess with success. The older Catasetum on the window got a bit too dry this fall, and I don't think I'm seeing flowers again this year. I need to repot that sucker.

I need to repot like a dozen things. Mostly phals in those crappy flimsy clear plastic containers full of dank rotting sphagnum moss. Ugh. They're all making loads of new roots. Yay!

Yarn Riot!!!!

2008-12-02T16:41:00.001-08:00

My perfect record continues, of hitting the annual Smileys Manhattan Yarn Riot on the first day. I don't think there's a prize, other than personal satisfaction, and first crack at the few items that are in Limited Quantities. Since Rowan Plaid doesn't float my boat, I settle for satisfaction.

So happy with what I got. I was so restrained. I could afford to be, having gone to Smileys Queens store twice in two months to stock up on baby yarns for my friends' babies. Now I actually have to knit up some of that stuff. I was horrified to realize that of all the dozens of yarns in my Ravelry stash, I have only used up ONE since I joined. That's inexcusable.

Despite all the yarny goodness surrounding me everywhere I go in this house, I'm feeling a bit uninspired. WTF? I think I'm burnt out. I made Good Lawd TEN charity sweaters in the past two months. Full child-to-teen-sized wool sweaters. Even the top-down raglan method takes a few days per sweater, even the littler ones. The desired goal, of Giving Back while reducing the redickulus Olde Wool Stash, has mostly been met. Mostly. Because being the freak that I am, I couldn't just knit charity sweaters that are the dull gray colors of the stash yarns (WTF I was thinking buying all that ugly gray yarn I really cannot imagine). No. I had to buy some prettier colors to mix with those gray yarns. Of course I did. Some Knitpicks, some Smileys Chaco Wool...suddenly I have a new bagful of wool to use up. Bleah. At least its prettier wool...

I did finish a couple more baby sweaters too. Now I have to start some holiday gift knitting. Stuff for, uh, six kids and two infants. And finish a few things for myself too. Cos all that other yarn ain't knitting itself.

Inkberry Shiraz Cabernet 2006

2008-11-28T19:50:00.000-08:00

This blend of 60% Shiraz 40% Cabernet Sauvignon is exactly as advertised. Intense dark color? Yes. Deep rich flavors? Yes.

Like most reds, the wine needs to sit in the glass at least a few minutes to breathe. The aroma remains full and fruity with overtones of leather. The flavor improves, the tannins soften, the fruit comes forward and the spicy notes envelop your tongue. The blend carries the best characteristics of both grapes. Definitely a Drink Again selection, especially at less than $10.

We drank this with massive slices of rare rib roast. There is no easier thing to roast. I coated the 2-bone, 4 pound roast in olive oil mixed with kosher salt, black pepper, thyme and Herbes de Provence. The wee adorable Butterball potatoes sharing the pan were coated in more of the same. 20 minutes at 450, 50 minutes at 400, 15 minutes resting. Carve. I made sides of boiled and buttered brussels sprouts, and some pan-fried white mushrooms. We also had the leftover green beans, turnips and stuffing from yesterday's wonderful meal at Spouse's cousins.

The delicious sweet potatoes with candied pecan-praline topping that another cousin made is, however, dessert instead. Warmed a bit in the microwave, eaten with whipped cream. Nom.

A Cheery Ditty and a Chess Game

2008-11-07T09:22:00.000-08:00

I just felt like seeing this again. It always makes me smile.

And thanks to my chess playing spouse, we have this too.

And now we shall eat fresh-baked pumpkin muffins. mmmm. I needed new breakfast treats. Banana muffins with coconut & chocolate chips are still nommy but a change is good.

This week is going to be rough...errands, orchid meeting, fridge defrosting, spousal board meeting, spousal chess game, friend's concert, friend coming in from out of town, and my BFF having babies on Friday. Two babies! Two baby boys! Aieee!! We put together the cribs yesterday. I guess it's really happening...

Pondering the Election Map...

2008-11-05T15:51:00.000-08:00

...McCain won 21 states and Obama 29 plus DC...of the 21 Red states, only 5 have double-digit Electoral Votes. Texas has 34, Georgia 15, Tennessee and Missouri each have 11, Arizona 10.

Is the Republican base becoming confined to mostly low-population states with low numbers of both college grads and minorities?

Denial is Just a River in Egypt

2008-11-03T09:29:00.000-08:00

I forgot to blog about the Rhinebeck 2008 Sheep and Wool festival. Well, I didn't so much forget as put it off. Cos I've been knitting like a madwoman ever since I got back.

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from this. I knew there were sheep and alpacas and other cuddy smelly fiber-bearing critters, I knew there were autumn leaves and crafts and probably some yarn for sale. I thought of it as a state fair lite.

For the record, I became utterly overwhelmed in just the first building of yarn vendors. By the time I got to the seventh or eighth WALL OF YARN, in the fourth building, I was dragging two bags and my credit card was smoldering. I stood and stared at the wall of yarn, at the shimmering colors of the handpaint wool/mohair blends, stroked the soft soft yarn, and I felt paralyzed. I wanted desperately to buy armloads of this yarn, but I couldn't decide. I couldn't decide what to buy. I stood and stared, and took pictures of it. The autumn sunlight played on the fiber rainbow...and finally two more skeins went into the bags.

I made a hat already, and started two scarves. I wound up a few skeins into balls for inspiration. The enormous skein of bright orangy handpaint is destined to be a hat and scarf souvenir of a perfect autumn day; the rest shall be shawls, scarves, hats and cardigans. Perhaps by 2010 I will have made a dent in this year's supply, so that by 2011 I can make a dent in next year's purchases...

A Foodie Experience

2008-11-03T08:30:00.000-08:00

I'm not big on the celebrity chef thing, I don't own a lot of "chef" cookbooks or make efforts to eat at the latest "chef" restaurant. I wouldn't turn down a free meal at any Thomas Keller establishment, mind you; I enjoyed Charlie Palmer's Aureole, Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill does a lovely lunch, I went to a taping of Emeril Live when opportunity knocked, I think Mario Batali's food is pretty good, and if someone offered me a table at Red Cat, Grayz, Le Bernadin or BLT Prime and picked up the tab I'd dimple with glee. But effort? I'd just as soon hit our neighborhood French bistro for steak frites, with a morning-of reservation, and be happy.

So when our friends in Montreal suggested Au Pied De Cochon for a special dinner together during our recent visit, we looked at the pdf menu and I said YES! HELL YES! MAKE A RESERVATION! The unhealthiest restaurant in the Western Hemisphere? AWESOME!

See, I grew up with Northern European peasant food: pork shoulder stewed in onions and sauerkraut, pig trotters cooked in their own aspic, lamb shanks, smoked tongue, oxtails, blutwurst, liverwurst...I happily eat calf liver, chicken liver, calf brains, veal kidneys, pork intestine, beef heart, pig jowls, chicken's tails...I learned early on not to be all skeered of the quivery bits inside an animal. If I'm willing to eat the steak, I'll eat the tripe too. It's less wasteful overall. Delicate sensibilities need not apply at my dinner table.

PDC is everything advertised and more. On a chilly Saturday night, the atmosphere is warm and relaxed, the noise level far less obnoxious than most restaurants its size. The chef was spotted in the open kitchen, looking just as muss-haired and unshaven as in his "album" and DVD. The aroma, the deeply delicious smell of many pots bubbling, made us eager as we waited for our seats and sipped St-Ambroise beers. Our waiter's close resemblance to a 20-years younger Neil Gaiman, including being dressed all in black, added greatly to the joys of the female members of our party...elegant technique handling the wine bottles, monsieur! *sigh*

We HAD to order the Foie-Gras Poutine. We did. It came...we stared...we dove in...I sliced the slab of foie-gras into four quarters...we ate...we wiped the plate clean with bread. It might have been the most delicious gravy I've ever eaten. I swear I detected porcini mushroom notes. It made this humble dish of french fries, cheese curds and gravy an Experience far beyond the usual Canadian bar food.

The rest of the meal was nearly overwhelming. The dishes ordered were Cassoulet (superb, rich, perfectly tender meat and beans), Duck in a Can (more foie gras, also lovely red cabbage and rare chewy maigret), Boudin Tart (slices of blood sausage and sauteed onions strewn over delicate buttery puff pastry OMG I'm drooling again), and, of course, my own choice, the Pied de Cochon! Which was enormous. I was actually expecting trotter, but I got an enormous pork shank/hock, the delicious stewed meat nestled in a lake of melted onions, cabbage and pork fat lapping against a firm shoreline of mashed potatoes. A square deep-fried "crouton" of pork fat, marrow and knuckle topped things off. The potatoes were the only disappointment: they were heavy and gluey as if made in a food processor, and resisted soaking up the juices. Boo. But the pork was delicious, reminding me of my mom's cooking as I chewed shreds of meat and fat together...pork fat rules. Yes it does.

We ate, and ate, and ate, and drank beer, and ate. We stared at each other in the glow of contentment and camaraderie. We sighed and ate more. And more. Our eyes began to bulge. We ate some more. At last we could not eat more, or else plates were empty. And then two of us split a dessert, an almond-cranberry tart, because we desperately wanted something tart and refreshing but non-alcoholic to help our groaning stomachs, and everything else on the dessert menu looked just as rich as the entrees. So that would be my only suggestion for change...add some fruitier desserts please! Cranberry sorbet, something like that!

I look forward to return trips next year, to try the bison & venison and other pork offerings, to have the boudin tart again, to perhaps have a green salad with the lot...and yeah, that foie-gras poutine. Maybe each of us our own helping.

Summer in a Bowl

2008-10-11T18:41:00.000-07:00

The Greenmarket is at that summer/autumn transition stage where tomatoes are piled beside apples, cauliflowers beside corn. Tonight I made our favorite easy easy soup for dinner, to sort of kiss summer's produce goodbye, even if there's still both main ingredients aplenty next week.

Tomato Corn Soup
Per person: 1/2 onion, 1 large ripe beefsteak tomato, 1 ear of corn.
Chop onion, saute in olive oil til translucent. Add chopped tomatoes. Add generous sprigs of fresh thyme, basil and rosemary. After tomatoes are heated and simmering, add corn that has been cut from the cob. Add salt and pepper, and about 1/2 cup water per tomato. Stir. Cover. Cook over low heat for about 10-15 minutes. Do not overcook.

Serve with:
Diced sharp white cheddar cheese; it melts into the soup and becomes pure yum.
Fresh baked sourdough or other crusty bread.
Lemonade or Vinho Verde.

Particulars:
I like to include 1 yellow beefsteak tomato in each batch, as the soup turns a most beautiful golden color. I prefer white or bicolor corn, they're sweeter. I don't include garlic, it overwhelms the delicate flavors. The only possible other veggie to include would be yellow zucchini, finely diced, but that's only if you have tons of zucchini to use and have become desperate.

Needless to say, this recipe should NEVER be attempted with canned tomatoes, frozen corn and dried herbs. This would result only in a cruel parody of the fresh version. But it does reheat pretty well, so make lots and eat it day after day til summer is over.

Megapanos Savatiano 2006

2008-10-09T17:57:00.000-07:00

Regional wine of Spata. "Renowned grape variety of Mesoghea." "All dishes of Mediterranean cuisine."
Greek wines rock. This one is new to me, a cut above the usual fairly bland Demestica and Botari offerings. The color in the glass is a rich honey-gold. The bouquet, and the taste, reminds me strongly of the strong syrupy dessert wine served in thimble glasses by my fave Med UWS restaurant. This is far drier, but just as luscious and yummy. The scent is leather, honey, a hint of strong bitter apple cider, nearly like a really good aged mead. The taste builds on that impression. The finish is floral and spicy.
This would be my choice to replace the ubiquitous chardonnay in aperitif glasses. Love.

Three White Wines

2008-10-09T16:21:00.000-07:00

Gaujal de Saint Bon Picpoul Cuvee Dames 2006, Coteaux du Languedoc
The bottle is pretty, first of all, deep green of shape reminiscent of reisling, with elegant ring at the base and ocean waves around the neck, a celtic cross embossed above the label. I'll admit the bottle was one reason I picked up this wine in the first place, that and the price ($11 at Best Cellars), and the store's enticing description.
The wine is delicious, fresh, summery, crisp. I really don't test the temperature when I serve chilled wine, either it's cold or not, but this wine does want to be cold. Per the recommendation in the links I found, next time we'll try it after it's breathed a bit.
We've had it with fish, chicken, vegetables, and it's always appropriate.
I have to confess I like the wine's story too. Wine making ladies!

Espiral Vinho Verde
Is vinho verde worth contemplating? Heck yes. Some of it is just grape-juicy water, and insipid. This stuff is not. It is dirt cheap, a Trader Joe special, and so we were excited to try it just for the price. It is in fact very tasty, bubbly, fresh, light, and exactly what one wants of this type of wine. The only other VV we like as much is the blue-lace label one who's name escapes me, but for some reason this summer it was not stocked in my local UES wine shops. Boo.

Santa Julia Chardonnay Organica 2008 Familia Zuccardi
I dislike oaky chardonnay. It's more an endurance feat than an enjoyable glass of wine. So I'm always hunting fresher chardonnays to pair with roast chicken and sometimes salmon, as the richness of those foods just cries for a rich wine complement.
This Argentine offering emphasizes the tropical fruitiness of good chardonnay, instead of burying it in an oak coffin. And it's organic! Woot! The label suggests seafood, grilled mushrooms, chicken or salads as partners. I'd agree with that.

More Book List

2008-10-09T09:46:00.001-07:00

The unread book pile has grown, dagnabbit. I realized I left off a few from an earlier list, and now somehow more books have sneaked into the house when I was trying not to look.

The newer list:

The Welsh Girl > Peter Ho Davies
The Yiddish Policemen's Union > Michael Chabon
Empires of the Word, a Language History of the World > Nicholas Ostler
The Crow Road > Iain Banks
Something Rotten > Jasper Fforde

There are also of course all those terrible terrible accusing SF and fantasy books looming on the shelves unread, unread. Too many books. Sarah Canary, Passage, Jack Faust, Iron Council, things from years ago still unread...

Heads or tails

2008-10-09T09:25:00.001-07:00

I'm sitting here seriously arguing with myself over whether to go to a huge YARN SALE today, and I'm still not sure who's winning. This is less fun than it sounds like. As addictions go, yarn is less dangerous than food or alcohol, it's prettier than most tattoos (unless you buy Red Heart acrylic or you're one of these tasty people), it's not fragile like vintage teacups, but it takes up a helluva lot more space than stamps. At least it weighs less than books.

I've been awfully proud of myself for hitting the olde stash wools that I have no personal use for, and making charity sweaters at the clip of 1 every 4-5 days for the past couple weeks; I was quite determined that I would NOT immediately fill up the vacated space with new yarn. I really was quite determined. Quite quite determined. But there's this yarn sale. And another one in November. And I'm going to the Rhinebeck Sheep & Wool Festival in a couple of weeks, where, I am told, quite a lot of nice yarn is available for retail purchase by enthusiastic attendees.

BTW Some of those stash wools are 30 or more years old and came with me to 4 different apartments. At no time did I consider getting rid of them, apparently believing that I would find a Good Use for them someday. Well I did, but really it took too long. Why so much gray wool? Why? Yes it's a safe color and can be paired with nearly any other color (except maybe beige), but why so much of it? I will likely ten years from now look back and say Why so much purple cotton? but that is ten years from now, not today.

Aw fuck it. I'll go to the yarn sale.

Brains and Tails

2008-09-24T06:50:00.000-07:00

Internet awesomeness knows no boundaries.

And here's a picture of lemurs in the Bronx Zoo. I love the Bronx Zoo. I actually didn't realize how easy it is to get there by train. My childhood memories were colored with very very long hikes in hot weather, which now appears to be an exaggeration. The Madagascar exhibit is very worthwhile, as it contains lemurs. Yay, lemurs!

Also, I like to encourage a positive attitude whenever possible. Boom da yada!

Welcome, Angry Bear Readers

2008-09-23T20:57:00.001-07:00

I promise, no more economics, politics or ascerbic commentary here. Well, maybe a little bit.

And Happy Belated Talk Like a Pirate Day:
Arrr! Nationalize the banks, ye scurvy dogs! Hoist the stockprrrices! Aye, we'll be makin' the shorrt sellers walk the plank!

Lud-in-the-Mist

2008-09-21T18:58:00.000-07:00

Finished "The Singing Sands," Josephine Tey. Love. Need to read/reread all other Tey.

Finished "Lud-in-the-Mist," Hope Mirrlees. What an odd little fantasy novel! The writing is wonderfully approachable, even when it goes off into wild flights of descriptive fancy of the weather or flowers or the characters. The style very much follows convention of the time of Tell Don't Show, but I found it delightful nevertheless. I have little to add to Michael Swanwick's excellent analysis, but that I wish more modern fantasists would take heed of her lesson and follow unconventional models in world building.

Finished "Soon I Will Be Invincible," Austin Grossman. This book is prominently displayed in many B&N and Borders. BUY IT. The casual asides that tear asunder the tropes of comic book villainy and heroism...page after page that demand to be read aloud...it does not matter whether you know or even like comic books. If you've ever seen a Superman or Batman or Spider-Man movie, you will love this book. Seriously.

Finished "Black Powder War" and "Empire of Ivory" by Naomi Novik. Nice dragons, babe. I do like Temeraire. He's like a large precocious child challenging everything his human companions hold dear, and yet they learn nothing at all. And will Laurence for heaven's sake please finally quit acting on his pre-judgements as they are always wrong? He's always wrong but so damned pleasant about it that Temeraire still hasn't eaten him. Maybe in book 5???

Currently reading: The Flanders Panel, by Arturo Perez-Reverte. Spouse found this book used, and because it involves chess he had to have it. On his recommendation I began it. I am hooked. Hook-ed, like a fish. It's extremely Euro in style, and I have no idea if the translation is any good but I really like the descriptions of art and the way the characters interact. The author's other novels sound interesting but I doubt I'll get to them any time soon.

Besides, I have lots and lots of knitting to do. Lots and lots. Before Christmas. Gotta go.

Rheingau 2005 Pinot Noir Edition Maximillian

2008-09-21T18:50:00.000-07:00

Our friends poured us this wine, and after we sipped and said "Nice! Very nice!" they said they bought it at Trader Joes for about $6, and oh by the way it's German. As one of these friends grew up with a family Rhiesling vineyard in Germany, he knows a thing or two. Not only is this pinot noir very nice to drink compared to most red wines in this price range, as he said, "for a German red wine it's amazing you can drink it at all!"

While it's not successful as a pinot noir compared to highfalutin' pinot noirs that go for $25 or more, it certainly beats every other bottle I've had in the $15 or less range. There is nothing complicated about this wine. It has no tannins whatsoever. It's rich, sweet, grapey and at 11.5% alcohol very very easy to drink. Very very very easy. Yum.

Channeling Fafblog

2008-09-21T18:41:00.001-07:00

Spouse: So, now that we own AIG Insurance, what shall we do with it?
Me: I dunno. Eliminate any dress code, first? Install day care programs at each office? Take junk food out of the vending machines?
Spouse: Do you think we ought to have them sell health insurance?
Me: No, we should encourage them to be better at selling their existing insurance products first.
Spouse: You mean we should let them keep insuring bad financial deals??
Me: Well, someone has to do it.
Spouse: Regardless, I think the bailout bill has to include executions of the executives.
Me: Good idea! Public beheadings, I think.
Spouse: That can be a bit messy. Hanging is very efficient.
Me: Yes, but you need lots of rope and a skilled hangman. A block and axe is simpler.
Spouse: The public square area at the corner of Wall and Broad, between the Stock Exchange and JP Morgan Building would be perfect. Leave them all hanging as an example. The pigeons will peck out their eyes.
Me: Pigeons and seagulls. Remember the olde English reserved the block and axe for royalty. Everyone else was strung up on a gibbet. So the top-level executives get the axe, everyone else dangles.
Spouse: Pigeons and the peregrine falcons, too.
Me: And the heads can go on pikes, like Oliver Cromwell's.
Spouse: You're right!
Me: So which of us was the Medium Lobster?
Spouse: I think you were, and I was Giblets.
Me: Me? I thought I was Fafnir.
Spouse: You were Fafnir all along.

Cyclopogon lindleyanum

2008-09-09T10:11:00.001-07:00

What a cutie this is! A miniature terrestrial "painted orchid" with pretty striped leaves (though this clone is nothing to compete with its Sarcoglottis neighbor in the pic).

Cyclopogon lindleyanum (or maybe C. lindleyanus? Google both and see which you prefer) is from Colombia and Ecuador. My friend who gifted me a potful keeps it in active growth year-round in moderate shade (about the same light as Ludisia), plenty of water, warm temperatures; his conditions include a cool period in spring and fall when he brings the plants in/out of the house. His assertion that it grows like a weed and flowers any time a growth matures might be justified by his having five large potfuls of it all grown from 1 he got just a couple of years ago.

I love love love the teeny flowers. So cute. And look how many buds remain unopened on that spike!

Several orchid nurseries offer 'Silver Screen' CHM/AOS which has very pretty striped silver leaves. I have hopes my clump will become prettier being kept under lights...slugbait likely does nothing for its beauty.

Josephine Tey, she Rocketh

2008-09-02T18:09:00.000-07:00

Add "The Singing Sands" to the Just Completed booklist. This novel was published posthumously, so it was the last Inspector Alan Grant story.

I read half the book aloud to Spouse, both of us delighting in the lively dyspeptic prose, its ascerbic assessments of Scots, Englishmen and the world in general. Nothing very much happens, there is hardly any action other than people going back and forth in cars or boats, people going fishing or talking to one another. Nevertheless it is a true page-turner. 200 pages. The ending was a bit of a letdown, but I wonder if Tey hadn't a chance to rework it before her death. The tantalizing glimpse of Grant's future is left to our imaginations.

I'm seriously annoyed I can't find my copy of "Daughter of Time" as it remains a shining example of how to make scholarship and history enjoyable. My parents had the paperback but I read it only after having to read "The Franchise Affair" in high school English (god yes Hunter was a very strange school). Meanwhile "Brat Farrar" is on the shelf awaiting its turn. (On the bright side, digging through the 2 paperback bookcases looking for "DoT" turned up about 20 paperbacks we no longer needed or somehow had 2 copies of despite our frequent doubles-purges. Scary but not suprising how many doubles books we really had when blending our collections. How we ended up with triples of the Journal of Irreproducable Results is however a mystery.)

Domaine des Cassagnoles white wine

2008-09-02T18:02:00.000-07:00

Domaine des Cassagnoles 2007, Vin du Pays des Cotes de Gascogne.

Nice for a late-summer sushi dinner. Fragrant of lemons, reminiscent of a nice minerally suav blanc. I noticed a lemon/lime zest finish. Crisp. Dry. Yummy. A very likeable wine overall, perfect for seafood or salad, light cheeses and fruit, or even sipping. And a screw-top to boot. And I paid only $11 for it. Happy.

Too...many...books...

2008-08-14T22:22:00.000-07:00

So o god we've inherited about 8 cartons of (mostly) sci-fi books from friends who are moving. I'm supposed to sell most of them if possible. Right. Of course while examining them, looking up their ebay prices etc I end up, um, reading many of them. I don't have time for this.

Currently reading (not from the inheritance collection):

Soon I Will Be Invincible > Austin Grossman
The Last Witchfinder > James Morrow
About Writing > Samuel Delany
Clapton the Autobiography > Eric Clapton*
Blues: the British Connection > Bob Brunning*
The Cult of the Mother Goddess > EO James*
Black Powder War > Naomi Novik

Just finished (not from the inheritance collection):

Sorcery & Cecelia > Patricia Wede
His Majesty's Dragon & Empire of Jade > Naomi Novik
Gentlemen of the Road > Michael Chabon
Musicophilia > Oliver Sacks
The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies > Robert Kirk, Andrew Lang*
The Execution Channel > Ken MacLeod
The Nag Hammaradi Scriptures (only skimmed)
The Search for the Last Undiscovered Animals > Karl Shuker
The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Horse Breeds & Horse Care*

Queued up (not from the inheritance collection):

Lud-in-the-Mist > Hope Mirrlees

The Iron Dragon's Daughter > Michael Swanwick

The Confusion > Neal Stephenson

The Singing Sands > Josephine Tey

The Alchymist's Journal > Evan Connell

Halting State > Charles Stross

Girl in Landscape: A Novel > Jonathan Lethem

Books marked * are technically research for the novel, but I'd be reading them anyhow most likely.

Yep. Too many bloody books.

Coming Unraveled

2008-08-05T14:40:00.000-07:00

O god I've gone and joined Ravelry.com, and now I've been obssessed by yarn and knitting for three straight days. Not actually knitting, mind you, just photographing projects and stash skeins and updating my project notebook (a Good Thing) and re-arranging the bags of projects for more convenience.

Ravelry rocks. The databases make it a seriously useful tool for tracking projects and stash yarns. The pictures make it easy to see what other people have done with similar yarn. The pattern lists are fantastic. The groups are wide-ranging and filled with great fun people.

I only have five cartons of SF books to process, research, photograph, write up and post to ebay. I only have a dozen knit projects. I only have a few unfinished chapters left in the novel. I only have to leave the house in an hour for a birthday party. I only have to go to the grocery store, clean, feed teh kitteh, sort mail, shred mail, water plants, mend clothes and make sense of things. Only a few more yarns to add to my Stash list.

Orchid abuse

2008-07-29T09:29:00.000-07:00

See, this is what happens when you shove a plant into the back row so it gets enough light, but then you keep forgetting to hit it with the watering can, and the plant food, and also you forget to repot it even though it came to you with clear signs of needing new mix. (Like old mossy bits of bark, and half the roots being exposed.)

Nice flowers, a rich dark velvety red. Too bad they're on a growth half the size of the old ones, and they're barely out of the sheath while the old browned flower stalks are several inches long.

I won this plant in a GNYOS raffle last year. As there's no label, I've no idea what this is, my only clue being the $45 price sticker on one leaf. It might be Pot. Ching Hua Flame 'Red Rose.' I mainly doubt it's Jewel Box because of the price; "Dark Waters" is a good match for the color of the flower, but also the plant is too compact and upright. Jewel Box is a sloppy plant that gets rather large if allowed.

I'll repot the poor thing as soon as I see a new growth with new roots. Meanwhile it's getting plenty more water, along with all its mates in the back row.

Cuil not cool yet

2008-07-28T07:53:00.000-07:00

Has anyone tried Cuil yet?

So far most of the picture links are missing, and for several searches I ran this morning it didn't pick up even a small percentage of the hits I get from Google.

Thinking of my Yarn Archive blog, I typed in "missoni yarn knit" and got 4,850 hits in Google (including, thank you, my yarn blog). I got 3 in Cuil.

For a laugh I typed in "cuil blogs" in both engines.

Google returned a load of blog pages referring to the new search engine.

Cuil returned a load of pages...about a town in Ireland.

Ha ha.

Heckboy II

2008-07-28T07:33:00.001-07:00

I don't consider myself a "fan" of too many artists, musicians, actors or directors, but I suppose having seen The Devil's Backbone, Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy and now Hellboy II I've probably seen a larger proportion of Guillermo del Toro movies (relative to total ouvre) than most.

PL, the first of his films I saw, perhaps set my expectations pretty high. The grim story, the unflinching magical realism, the (for American audiences) exotic setting, the superb acting and everything about it was a real treat. (Never mind disagreements I've had with a few people over a couple of plot points.)

DB was next (though an older film I only saw it on cable about 18 months ago) and I was blown away by its very human story and characters: people behaving badly in terrible circumstances, some rise above and others sink deeper than ever. The supernatural element was important but not dominant, the acting again superb and the directorial challenge of having a lot happen in just a few tighly-controlled sets worked really well.

Hellboy was a wild thrill-ride romp. I'm glad to have read GdT was a fan of the comic before he directed it. Unfortunately my indie comic-collecting days waned a couple of years before that series began, so I missed its debut and never followed it. I might have to fix that wee oversight, as the tropes and characters are certainly right up my alley, sort of Alan Moore-lite.

I liked the film's grim cocky humor, I liked the characters even if I didn't understand most of the origin stories, and I liked the silly plot just jumping right in with both feet. I definitely felt like I was being brought into a well-established universe with its own rules. And I never would have guessed the same director created DB or PL.

Hellboy II...blah. I wanted really badly to like it. I've read more of the comic but was fine with this Golden Army thing being an original plot devised just for the movie version of Hellboy. I was anticipating European legend being stirred into the American-slanted mix in interesting ways, especially with The Hobbit looming in GdT's future. But...blah.

What it is, I'm really tired of BIG BIG BIG SETS with BIG STUFF HAPPENING that makes no sense. After a promising start setting up Big Intrigue and lost magical talismans, the fantasy elements became soooo generic I found myself longing for even a few Celtic knots and claymores. I mean, Elfquest is more true to source! And please, I had a real problem accepting Elvish golden robots. And if you're going to have the entrance to the Otherworld near the Giant's Causeway, then show the bloody landscape properly! If there's a Celtic mythic connection, use it! (An army of the dead risen from Arawn's magic cauldron would make better mythical sense and be much creepier...but that's my movie, not GdT's. Sigh.)

That said, Johann Krauss stole much of the middle of the film. Great voicing, and really great puppet work humanizing his robotic suit. The opening puppet-story sequences are brilliant as well. GdT just does that sort of animation better than nearly anyone.

Sudden flashes of absolute genius

2008-07-25T19:39:00.000-07:00

I'm sure I'll later go looking and find this advice on a dozen other knit blogs and forums, but here goes.

When knitting the two fronts of a cardigan at the same time -- because not doing that is just plain lame -- and knitting the button-band and buttonholes into the front edges, do yourself a huge favor and knit a "reminder" stitch into the band where the button will be attached.

This occurred to me the old-fashioned way, i.e., I made a mistake. I knitted a buttonhole on both bands of my current project, and didn't realize it until many rows later. I decided it wasn't worth doing a tedious undo-three-stitches-crochet-upwards-after fixing thing, since I would be able to just sew the button right over the hole -- BING! In the case of this project, a lacy scrap of stuff made slinky and exciting with Classic Elite Cotton BamBoo, the button band is 5-stitch wide garter and I am now using a single centered purl stitch on the same row as the buttonhole. I will do this for the rest of my knitting life. It is SO much easier than tying in a yarn marker.

(I think I recall reading someone's clever advice -- probably Elizabeth Zimmerman's -- that when knitting a baby sweater in advance of the happy event, you should knit buttonholes on both bands and then sew the buttons over the appropriate side once the gender is known. Frankly I've lost track of what's male/female sided any more. I have jeans that zip one way and shorts that zip another. I've never been too good with gender-assigned clothing convention, other than Real Men Don't Wear Lace.)

Vina Aljibes Rosado 2006

2008-07-25T19:14:00.000-07:00

Another intriguing Spanish rosado came to our table tonight. Vina Aljibes, "vino de la tierra de Castilla" looks elegant with its silver label trappings, and provides surprises in the glass. "Obtained from our best Syrah grapes, this rose is produced using a low temperature fermentation process." I've had Syrah-based roses before and quite liked them, so here goes.

First off the color is not the typical rosy pink of a rose or rosado. It's dark in the clear bottle and in the glass, the color of mixed fruit juice like a cherry-cranberry mix. The bouquet is rich, fruity, spicy. Chilled, the flavor is dry and spicy, very distinctly mingled cherry, black-currant and blackberry, but not jammy like a full Syrah or sugary like some roses. I think there's some black-pepper notes too.

Spouse thinks it would go very very well with lamb but might overwhelm beef unless it's richly sauced! (I'd rather have a red with beef, hands down.) Also he suggested glazed ham and chicken mole, but not any plainer version of chicken. And veal stew or veal parmesan, richly seasoned, would work well. Perhaps a rich vegetarian curry, or one of my fave pasta/bean/bacon dishes. Definite no to fish or seafood. I think tomatoes would clash, but Spouse disagrees. We'll have to try.

We drank this with irresistible pork chops I found on sale, very simply browned on both sides in olive oil with salt, black pepper and oregano crust. The key to really tasty pork chops is to get that fat well-browned, if only on one side. Sides of organic broccoli, organic golden haricots vert, final sugar snap peas of the season (what kind of microclimate does that one Greenmarket farm have, for heavens sake?? all the other ss-peas were gnarly and looked inedible) and an heirloom striped/ridged zucchini sauteed in the pork drippings with sliced red pepper and Vidalia onion. To follow, a peach/white peach/raspberry/blackberry pie.

Transmogrify Pesky Stomach Fat Into Gold!

2008-07-24T16:08:00.000-07:00

How perfectly lovely that the first "sponsored ads" that popped up as I perused Arthur Waite's Collectanea Chemica under Forgotten Books/Google Books were for oil management systems, potassium permangate by the pound and only secondarily for tarot and mastery of the astral plane. Woo. And pyrotechnic supplies. Woo. And, of course, how to lose stomach fat. I think stomach fat ads are guaranteed to pop up regardless of the subject. Woo. Although as the early pages of the Hermetic Tracts concern themselves with the Alkahest and the superiority of human urine above all others for alchemical purposes (good as then there's no need to go bothering any other beasts for some), well, I suppose fat reduction and colon cleansing ads are just possibly appropriate...woo woo.

And of course, a peek into The Corpus Hermeticum yields ads for spiritual guidance, and Hermes boutiques. Woo.

Summer in a Glass

2008-07-23T13:28:00.000-07:00

Screw recipes. See what's good in the fridge. Take down a pint glass. Add: a few strawberries cut in pieces, mostly ones that aren't perfectly ripe and might otherwise go to waste. A handful of fresh blueberries. Enough chunks of watermelon to overfill the glass. Pour contents into blender jar. Add a couple small extra chunks of melon for their liquid content. Blend till frothy. Drink. Ahh. Bonus points: calculate # of servings of daily 5 fruit/veg that were just consumed without any added fats or sugar. Three, I think, as the pint glass holds about 3 cups. Ahh. That pluot eaten just before the smoothie, that was pretty damn good too. Nearly the size of a baseball, weighed nearly a pound, deep ruby red flesh, juice explosion...ahh.

Con, With Occasional Musings

2008-07-21T19:05:00.000-07:00

Readercon 19 is over. Saturday morning, following 3 panels that covered, in order, neuro-biological responses to fantasy-fiction tropes, neglected historical periods for fictional settings, and philology's role in worldbuilding, I felt I was back at Brooklyn College where my first two years in the experimental New School of Liberal Arts consisted of a 4-hour seminar class every day, 4 days a week. I often feel like that at Readercon.

Jonathan Lethem and James Patrick Kelly were Guests of Honor. I don't read much short fiction these days aside from ancient anthologies I feel compelled to collect so I'm not familiar with most of Kelly's work. Lethem's written prose is terrific, and the two hour-long interviews with him were insightful, entertaining and encouraging. (Gordon Van Gelder managed about three questions edgewise, and Rob Killheffer I think managed four.) I admire Lethem's indifference to "genre" boundaries. I never understood the need for critics and analysts nurtured in tiny narrow academia incubators to succumb to the worst impusles of human nature and slag any writing that doesn't quite fit through the mail slots of their artificial habitats. I'm glad authors like Lethem -- and Atwood and Salman Rushdie and Michael Chabon and whoever else -- enjoy challenging the NYT and NYRB and other reviewers simply by being good regardless of the odd tropes they use to tell their stories. I'm glad the book-reading public now and then removes its head from its romance/chick lit/thriller/extruded fantasy product-saturated behind and gives something new a chance. (Why anyone might still give a damn what newspaper critics think of JK Rowling and the Harry Potter books, for example, baffles me...the millions of people who bought and loved the books certainly don't care whether Rowling is a woman or a man, and what is the opinion of someone educated to think only books with angst-ridden modern couples being unfaithful to each other are worth reading.)

James Patrick Kelly comported himself nobly during the Kirk Poland Bad Prose Competition, but I think it was Patrick O'Leary (in absentia but author of Seuss-like "A Yak of Siam" that blended beautifully with the chosen Bad Ending) and Yves Meynard (once again champion! and author of the amazing "Alphabetical Torture" segment) who I stole the show.

The book dealer tables were fruitful, the freebie book tables were generous (I think we now own half of Daniel Dern's former collection -- thanks, Daniel!) and the general vibe was as always awesome. There were familiar faces I missed but many new ones I very much enjoyed meeting. (Michael Kandel, on the very off-chance you see this, I forgot we own Captain Jack Zodiac!)

The lobster salad rolls at Travelers Food and Books were as superb as always. The Long Trail Hefeweizen was cold and refreshing. Chipping sparrows played on the lawn by the wooden moose. I found a hardcover copy of Allingham's Tiger in the Smoke for $2.50 in the basement bookstore. Win.

And thanks to the (beta) launch of TOR.com, I now have Dave McKean’s cover art for Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town by Cory Doctorow, as my wallpaper. Sweet.

Follow the Reader

2008-07-15T16:42:00.001-07:00

We're pleased as punch to be attending Readercon again this year. I'll likely write about it next week, and whatever goodies we discover at the Food and Books diner by Mass Rte 30. (They make a rockin' lobster roll, much better than Legal Seafoods, I hope it's on the menu Thursday.) I've been catching up on reading GoH Jonathan Lethem, even though Spouse is very impatient that I finally finish The Execution Channel so he can crack jokes about stuff in it. Hell, I still have to go through the bagful of old books we bought last year and haven't yet read so we don't accidentally buy them again...

Whither July?!

2008-07-15T11:19:00.000-07:00

I really don't understand where the past 2.5 weeks went. We kept busy enough, we were even social -- good grief, we attended seven separate social events, some of them involving more than one person! -- and yet I scarcely can account for the time without my datebook. Besides visits with friends and lunches, Spouse also played a lot of chess and saw the dentist twice. (I saw the dentist once, but that was Only Yesterday and the memories will surely linger.) I saw a friends' photo exhibit opening, saw "Wall-E" and visited Dave & Busters with another friend, saw the Murakami exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum, and generally had a pretty good time (aside from seeing the dentist yesterday).

Food and wine have been a bit dull, as poor Spouse has been avoiding alcohol and chewy foods as part of his ongoing dental treatments. The prospect of a summer without corn on the cob depressed him, but I promised corn every other which way which cheered him. I have a dozen lovely ways of preparing fresh corn. I eagerly await the first full-sized ears at the Greenmarket.

Been knitting, of course, lots and lots of knitting, mostly baby stuff for my twin-laden friend. I have discovered I adore using sock yarn, but I am sooo not a sock knitter. Knitting socks is...well, at the end, I've got something to wear on my feet and frankly I'm really hard on my clothes and especially on socks, tending to shove them into boots and shoes with less delicacy than perhaps some people. My nice thick warm angora-wool blend socks from the Gap collect pills like mad. Lesser socks simply go holey. And as I really prefer very lightweight socks and stockings anyway -- the days New York goes utterly sub-arctic these days can be counted on the fingers and toes of one side -- and the socks are utterly hidden by my pants legs and shoes or boots, well what's the point in knitting them?? I know lots of people walk around their house in socking feet, but with cat fur and litter a constant threat I prefer slippers. So lovely handmade socks are not for me. Besides, I really hate knitting in the round at the diameter of a sock. The needles get in each others way. The yarn gets tangled. The circular needles method is too complicated for my poor aged brain. So no. It's cheaper and easier just to buy stuff!

But I did make a very happy discovery that avoided wasted knitting: in digging up my oldest yarn stash the other month, I unearthed a pair of ribbed pieces still on needles, made of Encore DK, that were an actual if reluctant attempt to create ribbed flat-knitted socks (to eventually end up in the round as the heel approached). This ridiculous project, entirely in the wrong yarn and gauge, sat unmolested and was about to be unravelled until I realized the width of each panel was perfect for infant hats! And so I only undid a couple of inches of each panel until the proper height (length?) remained, put the panel back on needles, did 4 rows of k2tog decreases, and viola! Near-instant snug little hats! By "near-instant" I mean "about twenty minutes" including unravel and final stitch-up.

Been writing my novel too, chugging along, weaving together sub-plots and finishing chapters and coming to blinding realizations such as one particular character holding the key to a more satisfactory conclusion if only I make him the son of X & Y instead of nobody in particular. Amazing. Working at novel length is entirely new for me, even after two and a half years of this project. My years of dedicated if misguided study of "how to write a novel"-sort of literature didn't really prepare me for the reality of characters who pop up out of nowhere, say Ahem and proceed to take over scene after scene in utterly ruthless fashion. Or for subplots that invade my weary head after I thought I was done for the night.

All my most satisfactory Trek-zine experience was humorous short stories. The one time I attempted to work at a bigger story, a three-part series, the results were...mixed. I had a tendency at that time in my late teens to zone and drift through life, sometimes for months on end. I wrote and we published part one, I worked diligently on part two, sent it to my zine team for the next issue...and um they had to break it to me gently that I'd already written part two and it was in the previous issue. The previous issue I'd also forgotten existed and added to the pile of stuff on my desk without a second thought. Huh? But dang, they were right. There was part two, following one, just like they said. Dang. And of course, the two versions of part two were entirely different! And the second one was a bit better. So with a few tweaks that became part three and all was once again well. And I woke up a bit. And I mourned that the only computers I had available were the highly-sought terminals at school. Re-writing all those pages would've been sooo much easier on a word processor...

All orchids great and small

2008-06-29T14:40:00.001-07:00

Everything from Lepanthes calodictyon (above) and pleurothallids resembling moss, to great leafy Coelogyne dayanum (below) and massive Stanhopeas all under one roof, and that's why I love J&L Orchids.

I'm posting most of my visit photos on Flickr. The new jewel orchids and very pretty Phal schilleriana seedling -- practically a jewel orchid in its own right -- are settling in well with their neighbors.

I as usual drooled over the stunning Masdevallias but I was strong, I resisted, despite it looking like the yellow nameless hybrid might actually have survived the heatwave...

Invaders from Rigel, by Fletcher Pratt

2008-06-28T15:23:00.001-07:00

I love love love this cover. It's got a moving rocketship, and it's fiery blast hasn't made any impact on the people right below. It's got a ray gun. It's got green guys in bubble-helmet space suits. What more can we ask?

1964 Airmont Books, NY paperback edition, #SF4.

From the back cover:
"Astronomers had observed the comet for some time, and had predicted its course. It would collide with Earth. There was no hysteria; scientists were apparently convinced that the results wouldn't be dangerous to life.
But Murray Lee woke up with a feeling of overpowering stiffness in every muscle...and received the shock of his life. The motion was attended by a creaking clang, and his elbow felt like a complex wheel.
Why -- he was metal all over!"

Author Fletcher Pratt knew how to play for laughs. Oh my yes.

The Bright Phoenix, by Harold Mead

2008-06-28T15:01:00.000-07:00

I've got a thousand of these to get through, I ought to really get cracking. This cover, I think, exemplifies the mid-50s semi-abstract art from Ballantine Books. Not always easy to divine the contents from the design, but here I think art and text work rather well together.

1956 Ballantine Books paperback. An original novel, not reprint.

From the back cover:
"Bright Phoenix is the story of a "perfect" State, founded on worship of the spirit of Man and dedicated to the mission of resettling the devastated areas of the world. Officers, Workers, Colonists--everyone believed in the State.
Everyone but one man. This is his story--of the Colony he led to the Island...of the primitive race he found there...and of the desperate plan to escape from a Utopia that had become a living hell.
Richness of texture, really skillful and sympathetic writing and a talent for poignancy make Mr Mead's novel very good weight for your money."

Mm, weight about 7 ounces. The book is still in my eBay store, so go get it while it lasts.

From the inside teaser page:
"John Waterville was an explorer, part of the Leader Group for the new Colony. Every member of the party -- Officers, Colonists, Reconditioneds -- had been carefully selected and trained for survival on the Island. But the State had overlooked one fact:
The Island was already inhabited.
Deep in the forests lived a primitive race who worshiped savage gods -- and who would not surrender their land.
In the fierce conflict that developed, Waterville saw two things: that the Islanders were a free people fighting for survival, that the Colonists were arrogant slaves of a despotic State."

Arrogant slaves. That's pretty good.

Fresh air! Times Square!

2008-06-28T14:15:00.000-07:00

Spouse and I had a lovely time in the big bad city last night, dinner at Chevy's and then Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Spouse I fear enjoyed even more than the play, the prominent error message adorning the computerized billboard on the Port Authority building.

The Roundabout Theatre Company does marvellous productions. This year we've seen 3 of their adaptations of London productions: The 39 Steps, Sunday in the Park with George, and now Liaisons, using Christopher Hampton's play upon which Dangerous Liaisons was based. (God I wish I'd seen Alan Rickman as Valmont...)

The sets for these three productions couldn't be more different. 39 Steps used 4 actors playing a giant game of Let's Pretend with stuff they might've found in the attic, and it was frantic absolute perfection. Sunday's set was bare slightly battered white walls decorated with ever-changing cgi paintings that moved and flowed and helped tell the story. And Liaisons has dark mirrors and glass panels, mixed with curtains and swags, that both reflect and hide the characters as they run about their business, so that sometimes a person who just exited remains shadowy, visible, just behind the glass watching the new scene. Wonderful stuff.

Oh how I miss my balcony sometimes

2008-06-28T13:33:00.000-07:00

Didn't New Guinea impatiens all used to be much more colorful? I used to grow them in Brooklyn on my balcony. The leaves were beautiful even if the plants were a bit touchy. Every time I see plants for sale now, it's all green-leaved varieties. The Greenmarket vendors offer them in every flower color available but for example on Wednesday only this plant, out of hundreds, had the old variegated foliage I remember. Now and then I'm tempted to try one under lights, but I have The Fear of bringing garden-center plants amid my orchids, and besides there's just no room. Although maybe that kill-zone way in the back of my upper lights shelf might be perfect...

Greenmarkety Goodness

2008-06-23T12:37:00.000-07:00

My visit to Union Square last week yielded all I hoped it would. Magnificent sweet, fragrant, luscious local strawberries. Tender kuta squash. Silky fresh sugar snap peas. Baby white turnips with crisp tasty tops. Pretty golden chard.

Personally I'm not wild about chard, but it's leafy and green and unlike spinach or beets the stems are tasty when stringed and cut small and added to a pan of mixed vegs. I didn't get beets Friday as I didn't want to carry them and the turnips, but I'll get some Wednesday. Beet tops are tastiest in spring; we've found autumn beet roots are delicious but the tops can be unpleasantly metallic, even if parboiled with mixed greens southern-style.

Stir-fried random tonight will be a treat, as I'm still plowing through the bounty I brought home Friday. Jersey asparagus is just ending but Agata & Valentina's still has some, so that goes in the pan with the squash, peas, turnip tops and chard stems. Also sliced sweet onion.Then diagonally-sliced Chinese sausage, just 2 or 3. A handful of walnut halves. Garlic. Ponzu, sesame oil, sesame seeds to finish. Served over rice, or maybe I'll finish up the rice noodles I bought over the winter but keep forgetting to cook.

The strawberries are superb just as is. I'm finally making that coconut-streusel peach pie this afternoon and I might just toss in a few, along with some blueberries. Once that's gone I'll do a mixed berry pie with an oat-crumble topping. And muffins. O my yes.

Snow Fury, by Richard Holden

2008-06-23T10:12:00.001-07:00

While we're at it, let's do this one too. Striking, yes? I was compelled to read this one before it went on eBay. The prose was much less striking than the artwork, alas, but not terrible.

1956 from Perma Books M-3034. 1st paperback edition.

"The snow had come early to New Hampshire. Nothing sinister about that. But a strange light, like moonshine, rose wherever it lay. People became uneasy. A young couple, whose car had been trapped in a drift, were found dead with their faces shrunken beyond recognition. What was there about the snow that brought death? Then David Storm discovered the most horrible fact of all..."

I could spoil it (the snow eats people!) (oh I just did, sorry) (it's infected with some chemical that of course isn't radioactivity it's something else entirely) (I think) (oh and did you catch that David Storm solves a weather mystery?) but how likely are most people to ever read this, never mind hold a copy themselves?

Outpost Mars, by Cyril Judd

2008-06-23T10:06:00.000-07:00

Keeping up the lovely vintage SF paperback covers...this was another book from my father-in-law's collection, long ago since sold on ebay.

1952 1st paperback edition from Dell.

"Mars was no paradise...but to Dr. Tony Hellman, it meant a second chance for man -- and to Hugo Brenner it meant a world to plunder...whose vast wealth was based on Earthmen's tragic addiction to the vicious drug, marcaine...Brenner's success would mean the end of their better world. Could the struggling colony survive the assaults of entrenched greed and persecution?"

Sounds timely enough for me! Notable also for the Theodore Sturgeon thumbs-up at top.

She prays like a Roman with her eyes on fire

2008-06-21T21:39:00.000-07:00

Steely Dan, as seen at the Beacon Theatre Saturday June 21, is a bit odd. Songs and style trapped in amber, no surprises but a satisfying re-affirmation of why we like the music. Not quite a relic, not quite an oldies act -- o god are they? No, Motley Crue is an oldies act not unlike doo-wop package shows, and Vince Neil's had nearly as much cosmetic surgery as that Wildenstein catwoman, while Donald Fagen mans the keyboard looking like a nebbishy white version of Ray Charles. ahem. They expertly played the smooth funky jazz-pop you expect, you'd never mistake them for Paul Motian Trio at the Village Vanguard or John Zorn at Tonic, but I credit them for priming my ears for real jazz later in life. While I'm always happy to hear something that makes me say, Hey! Another way for music to sound! I'm not entirely sure I'd appreciate modern jazz and bebop as much as I now do without Messrs Fagen and Becker's guidance.

Show opened with "The Royal Scam" and chugged along from there through what I think of as a pleasant steady groove but to be honest it was a lot of those songs that all sorta sound the same at ten minutes each...like "Babylon Sisters" and "Gaucho" (sung by Becker!!)...and "Hey Nineteen" thrown in with a little Becker patter. Sorry, not a fave song of mine. Yeah, I was 19 when the song came out...uh yeah I kinda dug older guys...o never mind.

God, even the band's roadies are old. Um can I just see that MGMT video again, with the young half-naked guy doing stuff half-naked...?

They finished the first big chunk of show -- I refuse to call 5 songs an encore -- with more uptempo stuff, the crowd-pleasers, "Josie" and "FM" which wow, based on the studio record I just never envisioned as a number to get the crowd on its feet dancing. "Love is Like an Itching in My Heart" -- a great Supremes song -- helped showcase the backup singers and the band. Then "Peg" "Don't Take Me Alive" "Kid Charlemagne" (YES there's gas in the car).

Fannish devotion ran quite the gamut, from the fellows hollering "Cuervo Gold!!!!!!!" to the guy at the end who screamed SCUMBAAAAGS!!!! apparently because the band failed to play "Deacon Blues." Hey dude, you're a good argument in favor of allowing reefer in the theater. Like, chill. Seriously. It's Steely Dan. They have a lot of good songs. It's not like after 2 hours Skynyrd forgot to play "Free Bird."

Yeah, I would've liked to hear "Deacon Blues," yeah, also "King of the World," "Bodhisattva," "Black Friday," "Pretzel Logic" and definitely "Do It Again" but you enjoy the show in your mind after you enjoy the show you had a ticket for...

I don't think there was anything from "2 Against Nature" or "Everything Must Go." I haven't etched those albums into my brain, and I'm extremely unlikely to do so. The songs are catchy but I just can't care a whole lot about them. They're lacking that spark of genius, I guess, that I expect from a great SD track. They're also lacking subtlety. O well. Not that I always treasure subtlety, I still listen to the Ramones and the Buzzcocks too...

PS I love when my iPod on perpetual shuffle reads my mind, like the second song it played? after I left the show? like I got to the bus stop and it was totally "Josie" man!! (Okay so the first one was "Game of Love" by Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders. Get it, dude? The Mindbenders!)

Early Peaches

2008-06-18T21:26:00.000-07:00

Early-season peaches from California usually disappoint, being woody and dry despite smelling great and passing the Gentle Pressure test, but early-season CA nectarines are often succulent. This year the early white peaches are fantastic, being ripe, tender and juicy to the point of brandy-headiness. The smaller nectarines are perfect, the larger ones blah. Four white peaches and four very large, slightly bi-lobed yellow peaches are scenting the entire living room far superior to any darn candle. The yellows are huge but irregular, and their skins are nearly mahogany in some places. Their flavor is deep and tongue-tingling rich, that perfect mix of sweet and tart only the finest fruit ever achieves.

Mingling cut juicy peach with ripe raspberries, strawberries and very thick Greek yogurt, plus a generous sprinkle of Stark Sisters almond granola...that's breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The early Carolina peaches are all green at my local supermarket, so I'm avoiding them. I've been so much happier with peach buying since I learned somewhere, no idea now where, that a peach showing green around the stem will never ripen off the tree. As I am utterly baffled by otherwise nice people who claim to dislike ripe juicy peaches and prefer them apple-like in texture, I've hardly bought a bad peach since.

Early Georgia peaches, smaller the better, are a bit over-sweet and not complex but good in pie. I think I heard this year's crop will be poor from bad weather. But our local New Jersey peaches are in the Greenmarket at the same time anyway.

If time permits I'm just going to have to revisit the store tomorrow and hope there are still enough ripe yellows to make a peach pie. My favorite recipe is from Cooking Light, and it's dead simple. The combo of peach and coconut seemed too bizarre for words but it works amazingly well. Ignore the b*s about refrigerated pie pastry, use good frozen pie shell pastry from Whole Foods (or in NYC from Fresh Direct or even, in a moment of sheer extravagance, Eli's/Zabars). Also, don't bother if the peaches are so under-ripe the potato-peeler is called for. They might be good for something - a softball game perhaps - but never pie.

Masdevallia Doomsday

2008-06-18T21:05:00.000-07:00

The temperature right now is 58F, just after midnight. It rained today for a little while in Manhattan, though a friend in the East Bronx experienced a light hailstorm. Great weather. Glad there's no levees around here.

The coolth has come too late. The 2 big healthy masdevallias I bought in the spring are just about nearly completely dead. 4 days of near-100F heat crisped nearly every mature leaf, despite my efforts to keep the lights stand cool with plenty of air movement. Slightly different mode of demise than I experienced years ago with my once-great Brooklyn pleurothallid collection; the summer of doom that put an end to those poor plants was just as hot but because the plants were kept too wet the leaves did that amazing still-green-but-touch-it-PLUNK trick.

If I had the heart I'd buy yet another of these generic yellow or orange plants and try putting it by the bedroom air conditioner during a hot spell. In the interest of horticultural science.

But this Zygoneria shall be my last, even if it does pull through. It has hardly any leaves left, and the new growth has rotted, despite being right by the mega-fan and open window.

Nearly every other orchid has come through OK. The mature phals with empty spikes did fine leafwise, but every spent spike that was still green turned brown during the heatwave. Onc. Twinkle, which showed very sudden leaf-tip spotting in the heat, shows no further distress and the new growths continue to mature. The Coelogyne didn't so much as develop a spot. Amazing.

And Neofinetia falcata flowered magnificently, all buds opened despite the heat. I wish I weren't afraid to repot it, as all the roots are a-wandering. And Mystery GNYOS Raffle Mini-catt, that I nearly forgot about in the back row of the middle shelf, has several buds visible in a nice fat sheath on its still-maturing growth. I've no idea what it is but the old price sticker still on one leaf says $45 so it must be pretty good. Right?

More orchidy goodness

2008-06-11T09:12:00.000-07:00

I've seen these around lately. Oncidium Lambaba "Cutie" seems to be the right name a hybrid of Beallara Vashon and Oncidium ornithorhyncum, only one half of which seems rather obvious just from looking at the flower. I'm a bit confused how the labels say one thing but vendors call it another...is this the first sign of fallout from revising Oncidium Alliance hybrids to all be called Oncidium?

The flowers seem very variable despite being clones. Some have bigger lips than others, or shorter spikes, so I'm guessing either the meristem tissue was wonky or the plants are extremely susceptible to cultural practicies. I hope I have a chance to find out. As I love O. ornithorhyncum -- come on, same scientific name as the platypus! -- I couldn't resist a plant that looks like that species on steroids. It even has a faintly pleasant scent. Supposedly warmth-tolerant, we'll see if that holds up.

97 degrees. Oy. I'm seeing signs of heat stress on the 2 masdevallias, the Oncidium Twinkle, the Zygoneria and even the Phal amablis. The large paphiopedilums, minicatts, jewel orchids and other phals seem fine. Even Coelogyne mooreana (which isn't) is doing alright, probably due to being in the window right behind the big living room fan and beside the open window; last year it grew magnificently but then again we had a very cool summer.

Ga ga ga ga ga

2008-06-11T09:01:00.000-07:00

I love being able to hear Spoon on the radio. I only feel a little bit smug over having discovered them three years ago, along with Interpol and Franz Ferdinand. The whole GGGGG album is great. "Don't You Evah" is a great track. How can you not love a band with song names like "Believing is Art" and "The Beast and Dragon, Adored" and "The Ghost of You Lingers." Okay, so their album titles suck. Big deal.

Hot town, summer in the city

2008-06-11T08:46:00.001-07:00

Oops, it's not summer yet. 97 frickin' degrees, three days in a row, and one of the weirdest windstorms I've ever seen finally ended it. Last night around 9:30 the calm still night outside my window suddenly went SLAM and the street trees were bending over eastward! Stuff started rattling down the street, the curtains blew in, dust and crud came blowing in the open window, and this kept up for at least ten minutes before the lightning, thunder and rain started. The temperature dropped from 87 to 70 in the next hour -- effectively a 30 degree drop from the midday high. Well. Tornado Alley this ain't but that might've been a taste...

Knitting baby trousseau items to keep babies warm while the temperature is in the 90s became too bizarre. I ordered a batch of Essentials sock yarn from KnitPicks last week, to make cute warm wee sweaters for my friend's future kids who will need them this winter, and somehow gosh darn it 11 skeins of Key Lime CotLin yarn found their way into the box too.

CotLin might be my new favorite yarn. I have some Classic Elite Cotton Bamboo in the knit queue and making the swatch was pure pleasure, but the CotLin goes just a bit quicker and oh is it ever light and supple. Bamboo needles suit it perfectly; I started knitting it on bamboo straights but I don't have circular #5 or #6 in bamboo, and the Inox circular needle I've put the project onto is only...okay. The yarn is so light the aluminum needles feel clumsy. On the other hand, the wool-blend sock yarn feels just fine on aluminum #2s. I suppose I'll just have to force myself to buy a full kit of bamboo straights and circulars now...I have to find a Japanese junk store, they usually have the straights pretty cheap...

Rose Rioja #1: Aradon Rosado

2008-06-07T18:41:00.000-07:00

A pleasant discovery! The label was plastered with 2005 silver medals, the 2004 vintage bottle was less than $12, it's summer, I love Spanish rosado wines, I chilled it tonight to eat with leftover Indian food. What a good idea that was.

The color is beautiful, a rich pale scarlet. Chilled, the bouquet is rich and fruity rather than floral, worthy of a full red Rioja. Spouse's first sip made him think, "Hemp???" and then "Hops???" Fuggles hops, not Cascade. Mine made me think plum, raisin, white pepper, with sharpness appropriate to a rosado. It's spicy on the tongue, and lingers well with berry overtones.

Loved it with our Indian meal. As Uber Queen of leftovers, I have set ways of handling certain ones. Our favorite takeout makes combo meals of appetizer/entree. We ate the ka-choris and all the Malai koftas and one carton of rice and most of the saag panir Friday. An hour ago the 2 potato samosas and their spicy chickpea sauce were chopped up and heated in the same pan as the second carton of rice; a roll-cut zucchini and handful of frozen haricots vert were heated with the remaining saag. Thick fresh-made Greek yogurt (from the neighborhood Greek grocers) mixed with honey, salt, black pepper and cumin makes terrific quick raita.

It was 93 freakin' degrees outside today but never got warmer than 81 in the house, even without using the a/c. We braved the heat and brought towels & sheets to a cat rescue team, found wonderful vintage porcelain cups and some wacky Time-Life books at a church street fair, went home to recover, then did Street Fair Safari on First Avenue to bag Copa soaps for both of us, a non-fruity carry bag for Spouse's cell phone and Moleskin notebook, black socks for Spouse (born and bred in NYC, he cannot imagine buying socks in a normal store), and a couple of bargain phalaenopsis orchids for me. Lunched at the Barking Dog, where truly excellent french fries are just an everyday pleasure. Came home and vigorously attacked the sloppy bagfuls of yarn stash lurking by the bedroom a/c...wrestled it into submission, forced into the large wood cabinet! Discarded several battered shopping bags, uncovered a few skeins I'd been hunting to no avail, returned missing knitting needles to the jar. Knitted more stuff for a friend's baby trousseau. A good day. A good day.

Nature's perfect breakfast

2008-06-07T08:29:00.001-07:00

My poor spouse had a tooth pulled this week -- the oral surgeon jocularly called it "the tooth from hell" -- and so soft items of diet have ruled our roost. Fortunately I've been able to recall how I survived after having my lower impacted wisdom tooth strip-mined ten years ago, and while he's now heartily sick of hummus my poor spouse at least hasn't gone hungry.

Banana milkshakes are just the best thing ever. I first saw them made on a Food Network show about an ice cream parlor or maybe a diner somewhere in the midwest. Ultra simple recipe: take 1 ripe banana, a couple spoonfuls of vanilla ice cream, some malted milk powder, fill the glass with milk, blend! Of course I've had to build on that. Spouse loves Fox's U-Bet chocolate syrup added. If we have chocolate ice cream, that subs for the vanilla. My Elvis version adds peanut butter -- either Skippy Creamy or PB & Co Dark Chocolate Dreams -- and that's practically a complete meal with all that healthy peanut protein. (Malted powder and peanut butter however are not happily compatible, to my taste buds.) This morning's version used up what was left of a pint of Haagen Dazs Triple Chocolate...mmmmmm.