C in DC

I’ve started assigning photo IDs to the contacts in my cell phone. For each person, I composed a still life that reminded me of them and took a picture of it.  

 Examples:

 Mom

 Sister

 Cousin E

 Cousin S

Grandparents

I’m having a lot of fun with this so far. 

This soup is really tasty, and low-carb as well. Adapted from Kalyn’s Kitchen.

1 can chickpeas
1 can small white beans
1 cup diced shallots or onions
1-2 cloves minced garlic
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup diced carrots
Olive oil
1 Tbsp very finely chopped fresh rosemary, plus a couple whole sprigs
1 can beef stock
3 cans chicken stock
Salt and pepper
1/2 lb. leg of lamb or lamb shoulder meat, all fat trimmed, then cut into 1/2 inch pieces

Rinse the chickpeas and white beans in a colander and let them drain.

Heat olive oil in large heavy frying pan. Add shallots, garlic, carrots, and celery and saute 3 minutes, until vegetables are starting to soften. Add chopped rosemary and saute 2-3 minutes more.

Put vegetables into a crockpot or large soup pot, then add beef stock, chicken stock, and beans. Add salt and pepper to taste (I found it needs a lot to bring out the flavors). Simmer 1 hour.

Brown lamb in same pan you sauteed the vegetables in, adding a little more olive oil if needed. Add browned lamb to soup. Rinse out pan with a little water, scraping off any browned bits, and add to soup. Throw in some rosemary sprigs to infuse the broth. Simmer about one more hour, until beans are very soft and flavors are well blended. Pull out the rosemary sprigs and serve.

Materials: 1900 yds honey-colored lace weight merino, 32″ size 3 circulars, 5000 bronze 8/0 seed beads

I know tea cozies are awfully kitsch, but at least they’re Charming Old Lady Kitsch (acceptable in small quantities), as opposed to White Trash Kitsch (never acceptable). And I did need a cozy for this teapot, which is made of glass and incapable of keeping the tea warm for more than 10 minutes.

Tea cozies, I’ve discovered, are very unphotogenic, especially when you’re trying to take a picture of one with a cell phone. Anyway, I did manage to get an action shot:

I used this pattern and some mystery acrylic. I made the small version but had to add six extra rows to the top; also, I made an I-cord instead of a crochet chain for the loop. It was a fun little project that I was able to do in a single night.

Here are the cupcakes E and I made for my housewarming party:

We made the vanilla buttermilk date cupcakes from the The Sweet Kitchen, and a buttercream of our own invention. We’ve made this recipe before and it’s really good.

My rose petal tip was missing so I had to forgo my original plan to decorate half the cupcakes with roses. It’s just as well because I barely had enough frosting to decorate 20 cupcakes with the little flowers. I was surprised by how quickly these cakes disappeared at the party!

I’d been wanting to make C a hat similar to this one, since she’s a big fan of Mary J Blige and even looks a bit like her. I used this pattern but modified it to make the hat deeper and to replace the back ribbing with more cables. The brim turned out bigger that I intended but hopefully C won’t mind. 

The yarn is Cascade Baby Alpaca Chunky, which is so soft and light it’s like knitting with a cloud (I still haven’t decided if that’s a good thing or not).

I finished the knitting part the night our house was burglarized, so the project got lost in the chaos for a while, but I finally got around to buying the buttons and brim material. Since my camera’s been stolen, I had to use my cell phone camera to take pictures– I hope the quality’s not too bad. Here’s a closeup of the cables.