So I didn't tell you about our deep frying extravanganza a few weeks ago. My sister-in-law was given a deep fryer as a wedding present and we decided to try it out.
Onion rings
Chicken wings
Spring rolls
Wontons (dumplings)
Those were SERIOUSLY the best chicken wings I have had in a loooong time. It's my sister-in-law's sister-in-law's recipe. It's sweet, salty, crispy and wonderful all at once.
For teh onion rings, Chris found a recipe for beer batter online and we used that. They were good too, but not as good as the wings. Sssshhh.. don't tell Chris that ;)
Alex loved the spring rolls. What am I saying? Alex loves spring rolls all the time. He insisted that eh wanted a spring roll that day, so we gave him one. He fells asleep eating it but refused to relinquish his hold on it. When I tried to extract it from his greasy little fist, he batted me away with his free hand and moved the springroll to hide it behind his head.
All this while his eyes were closed!
Yes, that is a springroll he is holding behind his head!
All that greasiness makes me queasy just looking at the photos, but I can't help but regret that I didn't indulge in another chicken wing or two!
I have been rather busy lately. I have done some spinning and putting the fruits of my labour up for sale on
Etsy.
This is the latest:
I call it flame thrower. It's a lovely hank of squishiness that is typical of merino wool. The colours don't photograph as well as I would have liked as it is a deep intense read with blue and yellow higghlights. It's not as cherry-ish as the picture shows.
I have another hank that is just under 300m in length that will be listed tomorrow or the day after. It's a softly spun skein of single ply yarn from hand-dyed pure Corriedale wool.
Recently I participated in a swap on Ravelry. I sent out a skein of handdyed alpaca in girly pink tones. I received these balls of wooly pleasure:
Mmmm.. what shall I make with it?
I do have other sewing news but I'll leave that for another day.
Labels: Alex, etsy, life, spinning
Let's start with the shorts...
When I saw this fabric at Spotlight, I just knew that I had to make something out of it for Alex. Alex is totally "wheels" crazy. He loves everything with wheels - cars, buses, vans, trains (which don't really have wheels, I suppose), tractors, you name it, he loves it. In fact, one of his first "real" attempts at saying 3-syllable words is "bulldozer" which comes out more as "zoozozer".
Then there's the fabric that I used for the trim on these shorts
Alex loves these very much. He did not want to let me take them off.
The pattern that I used was Burda 9793. It has a good range of sizes (2 to 6) and comes in three different lengths and styles. What I love most are the hip pockets (a first for me) and the mock fly (another first for me). I haven't quite perfected the mock fly yet, but we're getting there.
Now for the calzones.
I was craving pizza but didn't really want to get some yucky chain store ones so I made my own on the weekend. Well, I made calzones as we wanted to see whether Alex would enjoy them.
I started with some basic pizza dough
I kneaded and rolled
And for dinner we had calzones!
I was a little over-enthusiastic with the dough and made enough for pizzas the next day!
For the filling we had an assortment of different things including leftover bolognaise sauce, sauteed mushrooms, onions and chorizo, and vegetables.
Alex calls it bread. I tried to tell him it's calzone but he said, "No, BREAD!"
Labels: calzones, sewing
This is my second post for the month! I don't think I have posted this frequently in quite a while.
I have been knitting a lot lately, considering that the weather has warmed up a lot as well. In the past week, I have completed a cabled hat using
this pattern, and am about half way through the
Irish Hiking scarf. It's a matching set (in case you didn't notice). I am using some hand-dyed alpaca in variegated pinks and lilac. It's pretty, and I want to keep it for myself! Unfortunately, it will be posted out shortly after I am done as it is for a swap on Ravelry.
The theme of the swap is "No sheep for you", so I am knitting with a 100% alpaca yarn. It's soft and buttery and almost feels like it will melt in my hands. Hmm, perhaps it IS melting in my hands.
Weather has been a little strange lately. Super hot days (for spring) and then rain and storms.
Labels: knitting
so little time.
I really should post more than once a month. Well, now that I have signed up for the Backtack swap, I will have to, won't I? The rules say that I have to post regularly. At least once a week is what it says, I think. So you'll see more of me (or Alex) even if it is only to say "hi" and provide evidence that I am still alive and knitting/sewing/spinning.
I guess I should start buy announcing that I have (finally) restocked both my stores with new yarn. About time, eh? I have put up for sale some skeins of 8ply (DK) and 4ply(sock/fingering) weight yarns at the
Ozebaby store and some 4ply yarns at the
Etsy store. Bear with me while I experiment with the photos. All the photos I have taken look quite dark and don't really show off the colours of the yarns all that well.
And.. that brings us to our project for the long weekend. Chris has said he will make me a lightbox. We're going to try out a few things tomorrow and go to the shops for the stuff we don't have. I hope that by Monday, my photos will be looking much better!
Not a lot has been accomplished in the past month. I have managed to do some knitting, weaving and spinning, btu don't really have much to show for it.
Let's see, first there is the Hourglass sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
I used some KnitPicks Andean Silk in chocolate. Well, when I say "some", I really mean "some 13+ balls"! It's a good fit, but I only just completed it days before the warmer weather hit us. I have worn it twice and now it has to be put away for next winter.
This jumper of Alex's will also not see much use
He has worn it a few times since it was completed, but since tehre isn't much room for growth (who's a silly Mummy now?), it is unlikely he will wear it next year. What a pity! The Waverley Mills merino that I used for it is lovely and soft too.
Speaking of Alex... he has been growing like a weed. Fortunately (or unfortunately) the growth seems to be focused on height and there is next to nothing happening to his circumference. He has been eating like a horse, and probably can eat a horse too, if we let him!
Recently he has discovered that my handbag is a good place to look for delicious "bikkies" (biscuits/cookies).
I now have to put my handbag where he can't reach it. In fact I have to put all edibles (and non-edibles) that I don't want him to touch where he can't reach them.
One evening when I brought some groceries home, I left them outside the kitchen while I started cooking dinner. Alex was sitting outside the kitchen as he is not allowed to wander around in it. I could hear him naming all the things he was pulling out of my bag - "capcum" (capsicum), bread, "ah neen" (onion), "tay toe" (potato) and so on. All of a sudden he was quiet. I peered around the corner and there he was, sitting on the floor with a mouthful of crumpets. He had found a packet of crumpets in the bag, opened them and helped himself to them! When he saw me, he offered me the package, "Mummy, mumpet?". I started scolding him for not asking before opening a package, and he gave me the saddest look and said, "ungwee.."(hungry). How could I be angry when he didn't know any better? Needless to say, he had an early dinner that night.
Of late, he has been eating more of our food. I have stopped cooking him his own "special" food unless we are out where the food is too heavily seasoned for him. We've found that he loves his noodles. He can say noodles and pasta and can't tell them apart. It doesn't matter as he likes both as much.
As you can see, there is much slurping action in the dining room when pasta or noodles is on the menu.
Tonight we found out that he enjoys pizza too. I made lebanese bread pizzas for dinner with a homemade tomato sauce on the base. He ate about a third of a lebanese bread, and believe me, those things are LARGE! On his pizza, I used some minced beef, carrots, peas and corn for topping and then added some shredded cheddar and mozzarella on top.
Here's a photo of him pre-haircut. We cut his hair tonight. He squirmed and protested. "Itchy itchy", he said. "TICK ISH" (ticklish) he scremed, but I persevered.
I'll have a post-haircut photo for you in the next post.
Labels: Alex, HourGlass Sweater, knitting
