Blowtorch Crafts

With this weekend comes another Drunken Crochet – wine- and crochet-night with some friends. This time, I am the hostess, and I am very much looking forward to making pie for the occasion. I LOVE pie, just like I love a million other dishes, but this is one of my favourites because it takes a bit of effort to make. It is quite complex, but sometimes, that is part of the joy of cooking :)

I am a bit uninspired at the moment, hopefully this will untangle very soon… Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

I have finished one mitten and started the next, but it is not very interesting yet. More on the mittens when they are done! In the meantime, I have started on a hat/scarf thingy. This first one is very much a prototype, but I saw something like it at Anthropologie before cristmas, and have been thinking about it ever since.

Unfortunately, the image quality is VERY poor, but you get the idea – a hat with extended ear flaps to make a scarf. I have made it in brown kitten mohair, and in double crochet as I’m lazy. I will improve the next one I make. It needs to be more pointy for one thing, and the flaps must be made to narrow gradually. It will perhaps be better in a thicker yarn as well. But trial and error is a good thing :) It actually looks better on my head. No, really.

The muffins are possibly not sweet enough for the average taste. I rather like them, as I’m not too fond of sweets. I will frost them as well, perhaps that will help. I ran out of regular flour and had to replace with oats, but that went really well I think. We’ll see what the girls think. Frosting is necessary, though.

So, project felted/crocheted mittens is underway. I am a bit worried that I am making them too large, but then I’ll just have to felt them over again, I think. I am using a fairly thin yarn, PT2, and working them in double crochet. Not only is it faster, but I think the felt will be thinner as well. The samples in double crochet seemed all right, but I am using a smaller hook than in the samples.

Tomorrow I’m meeting a couple of friends for crafts and wine. This seems like a good idea, but I have a sneaking feeling that the wine may not be very smart… We’ll find out. Drunken crochet, anyone? I plan on trying a new batch of muffins for the occation, this time with all milk and no oil, and chocolate chips. Perhaps I’ll try a little cardamom or vanilla as well – or maybe both?

I came back from Trondheim on sunday, and I was exhausted. This year was more than usually tiresome for this festival, and I will not do it again next year. It has progressively gotten worse regarding management and preparations, and this year was almost hopeless. No thank you, I’d rather be at work… After that joyful experience, I came back to work in time for the launch of a big campaign, and spent hours punching code yesterday.

On the bright side, I won 500 kr off a lottery ticket (something I normally do not buy). I decided to use these money on a new headset, something I would not normally afford on the spur of a moment. I researched a bit, and bought a Sennheiser HD 465 headset. It is HUGE, compared to my old Koss PortaPro, but the sound is amazing. The downside is that my old speakers at home sounds like crap in comparison… So this will be expensive over time! I am not like most girls in this respect – good sound is very important to me, like shoes are for other girls. I am, sadly, hooked now. Ah well. Kitchen improvements will have to wait…

I tried making banana and chocolate muffins yesterday, from a recipe I found on a forum. They were good as a basis, but as usual, I feel the need to change them to my taste. I have this unfortunate tendency: I am not able to leave well enough alone. Especially with food, recently also with crafts. As I grow more confident, I need to alter things. I have been food confident for a long time, but altering craft is also fun :)

So, the muffins… They were not quite moist enough, so I plan on replacing the oil with something else. Maybe sour milk? They also lacked a hint of spice, so I will try with a little cardamom. And perhaps some vanilla? Chocolate chips as well as cocoa might also be a good idea…

The sleeves are now attatched to the jacket, but I have not taken any pictures yet. More on this tomorrow!

In the meantime, food is today’s issue. This is partly inspired by Vox’s Question of the Day from a couple of days ago:
“What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?”
As some may know, I was the kind of child who couldn’t resist a dare. So, aside from various plants and bugs, my answer to that question would be one of the following:
1. A small stone
2. Pine bark
3. A raw fish heart
The pine bark was very dry and hard, but tasted somewhat interesting. I suspect the stone is still somewhere inside me – my appendix perhaps? The fish heart was truly disgusting, but luckily quite small.

The other part of today’s inspiration stems from Susan at Farmgirl Fare from some months ago:
How do you know you’re a foodie?
I am most definitely a foodie, as all my friends and family will testify to. This is my answer to that question:
I’ve had several “defining moments”.
The first was when my friend pointed out that I hum while eating.
The next was when I discovered that, strangely, not all people sort their ingredients by what meal they belong to.
Most recently was a couple of days ago, when one of my colleagues (I work in a bookstore) told me excitedly that five gorgeous young men had arrived, wearing only aprons and tight boxer shorts, to promote a new cookbook. My response was: “Ooh, did they bring food?”
Everyone looked at me rather strangely.

Autumn makes me long for warm, hearty dishes like cassoulet, pasta carbonara, pea soup and meat pies. Mmmmmmmmm. I make a wicked cassoulet, if I say so myself, and I found a great recipe a couple of years ago (of course, I made a few changes). Unfortunately, it seems to have disappeared while I was moving house. I will try to dig it up and post it – it is really pretty easy. Naturally, there are some preparations to make, a lot of chopping and braising and peeling (orange zest), but once that is done, voila! The pan will simmer prettily for a couple of hours, and you can do something else. Like lay the table or take a bath or watch a movie. And it gets better if you make it a day in advance, cool it and reheat it. Great for dinner parties, or just for you. It freezes wonderfully as well.

If I can’t find it, I’ll have to try and reconstruct it. It really is good.

Hungry now? Then you are at least some kind of foodie…