What's Cooking?

Busy in our kitchen lately. What have we been eating, you ask?


Quinoa muffins (veganized from Martha's recipe)


Chickpea cutlets from Vegan0micon


Vegan Lemon Squares from Vegweb


Spinach Nuggets (my vegan recipe)

I've been busy knitting too, but no pics of finished objects to speak of. I'm working on another felted bag, a stash-buster scarf, some dishcloths. I still need to finish (well start, really) my other legwarmer. One legwarmer is no use to me, you know!

Sooooo very cold

Okay, I'm posting here because why the hell not? It's my blog, and isn't that why you're reading it, because you love me and want to know about me? In fact, I'm mostly posting here because the Internet is a wonderful, magical thing, and I'd love some insight from anyone who may stumble across this page.

I've been absolutely freezing for a couple years now. I just can't warm up. My hands and feet are cold, but more alarmingly, my core is also really cold. I've started tracking my body temperature lately, and I almost always come in under 97 degrees. In fact, just now I read 98.2, which is the absolute highest I've seen since I started doing this a month ago. Usually it's around 96 degrees. Oh, and my blood pressure is quite low too. Bizarre stuff.

Anyway, so I was diagnosed with a severe B-12 deficiency a month ago, so I've been getting B-12 shots now for 4 or 5 weeks. I haven't noticed much of a change in the body temp thing (my doc was really hoping that was it), although some other oft-B-12-related symptoms have made some curious progress. I've got one colleague who's been emailing me stuff from Mystery Diagnosis, and a friend who told me that she's been experiencing a similar thing-- according to her, WebMD told her that we may have the plague. :) So what I'm saying is, if your brother's girlfriend's roommate's aunt had these same symptoms and found a mystery cure, please let me know, so I can join the club!

Finished Objects

I've been busy! Too busy for knitting, in fact, as I have barely picked up my needles since Thanksgiving. I know part of it is my frustration from the ill-fitting Vee sweater, but I really will get around to fixing that. In the mean time, I have finished up a couple of other random little things.

Some finished objects, mostly with no pics:
1) Another feather and fan scarf, this time one that was sitting quite literally 99% finished in some ottoman for at least 9 months.
2) Another Calorimetry
3) Another felted striped bag for my boss for Christmas


I also finally found my almost-finished Hederas sock with the broken DPN, swapped the needle for a non-broken one, and have almost finished with that one. I'm worried that it's been so very long since I've worked on it that I will have forgotten the changes by the time I go to knit the second one. Take notes, kids: WRITE DOWN YOUR CHANGES. Is it any coincidence that I can't follow a knitting pattern or a recipe? I think not.

2007 Round-up

Where did you begin 2007?
Passed out in a hotel room in Istanbul.

What was your status by Valentine's Day?
Married.

Were you in school (anytime this year)?
Yes! Failed half my Musicology comps, then aced my Piano Lit class.

Did you have to go to the hospital?
Nope, not once.

Did you have any encounters with the police?
Amicable encounters, yes. I never ended up in handcuffs, if that's what you're asking.

Where did you go on vacation?
Turkey and the beach in NC

What did you purchase that was over $500?
Two semesters of grad school

Did you know anybody who got married?
Yes, a couple people.

Did you know anybody who passed away?
My grandmother.

Did you move anywhere?
Nope.

What sporting events did you attend?
Motorcross/monster truck rally, NHL game.

What concerts/shows did you go to?
Cesaria Evora with Seu Jorge, Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan

Where do you live now?
This same goddamn house.

Describe your birthday:
Sweet potato fries, pirates, beer, friends, and foosball

What has been your favorite moment(s)?
Mr.'s birthday was pretty good, Thanksgiving was nice (but too short)

What's something you learned about yourself?
I'm a crazy person. I kind of knew it anyway, but 2007 definitely cemented it.

Any new additions to your family?
Nope.

What was your best month?
August.

What music will you remember 2007 by?
Elvis Costello, Brahms

Made new friends?
Yes, I'm getting better at it! I count my sit-and-knit girls as new friends, and that's actually one of my resolutions this year, to make new friends.

Any regrets?
Oof, that holiday party a couple weeks ago will definitely go down in history.

What do you want to change in 2008?
See resolutions below.

Overall, how would you rate this year?
2007 was pretty awful.

What would you change about 2007?
I'd skip it altogether.

What did you like most about 2007?
Quitting my job.

Other than home, where did you spend most of your time?
Work and the library. Very exciting. :)

Have any life changes in 2007?
Change in job, change in school, physical changes, etc. etc. etc.

Change your hairstyle?
Big time! I chopped about 18 inches!

Buy a new car?
Nope.

Get a new job?
Yes. Although technically I was recruited in late 2006.

How old did you turn this year?
26.

Do you have a New Year's resolution?
Plenty! Take vitamins, make new friends, travel more, visit sisters more often, be kinder to myself.

Do anything embarrassing?
See above, regrets. I won't go into details.

Buy anything new from eBay?
Motorcycle goggles, motorcycle gloves (that suck, BTW), a yoga CD.

What was your favorite purchase?
100% Pure Silk yarn. (I bought the yarn in 2007, but I will make the shrug in 2008.)

Get married or divorced?
Not in 2007.

Get arrested?
Not in 2007.

Be honest - did you watch American Idol?
Not even once!

Did you get sick this year?
A little cold here and there, but mostly it's this body temperature regulation thing.

Start a new hobby?
Not really, although I've been trying to pay better attention to old hobbies.

Been snowboarding?
No.

Are you happy to see 2007 go?
Oh very happy.

Drank Starbucks in 2007?
Never.

Been naughty or nice?
Quite naughty.

What are you wishing for in 2008?
To be happy and healthy and excited and exciting.

Chocolate Apple Cake

Made this one from the Vegweb Iron Chef contest. So tasty! This would make a really fabulous vegan molten cake. More pics to come with the chocolate ganache drizzle later.



Like the pounds and pounds of apple peelings? We made the applesauce from scratch, of course.

Finished object and WIP

I accidentally left my socks at work yesterday, and the sweater pattern I wanted to buy could take days for my e-check to clear (grrrrrrr), so I cast on Calorimetry last night. Easy peasy! I did the whole thing (with modifications) in less than an hour, and used only leftovers from my ugly Tubey sweater. Too bad I don't have the long hair any more to cascade out the back. I think these will make good Christmas prezzies.



Excuse the very messy hair.

Oh, and also check out my lace socks! I actually found the 2x2 ribbing and the straight stockinette on my first socks a little tedious, so I thought that it would be great to break it up with a pretty lace pattern, like this one. I'm loving it!

Bored at work

You better be thankful I don't get bored at work often, because when I do, this is the shit I come up with: