Home Alone

I'm sitting at home alone watching the Grammy's now that the Celtic Women special is over. I have progressed from arguing with the dog about me changing the channel to the Celtic Women special. But really Beyonce should not channel Alanis. No matter what Heidi thinks. Just a moment ago I was yelling at the kitchen because Norah Jones didn't get nominated for any Grammy's. Facebook is offering a moderate amount of human contact. And then I remembered that "Hey, I have a blog. It is set up just for me to ramble nonsensically to no one in particular."

So I got some of that new sweetener, Truvia. With the current congestion going on, I have been sucking down tea like there is no tomorrow. Well I have to have my regular tea with milk and sugar and I sweeten my peppermint tea too. I need an option besides sugar. But I really hate sweeteners. It is the same reason I can't drink diet sodas. That fake sweet taste is just awful. And I had a coupon. And I really like it. It sweetens well, but doesn't have an aftertaste. It is kind of pricy, but if I use it just for tea I think it will last and be quite worth the cost. Yay!

I made a pair of socks. They are my first toe up socks and I love them. I used WendyKnits Toe-Up Socks with a Difference. I love them. They are toe up so I can use up all of my yarn, but it has a heel flap and not a short row heel. They are super warm and comfy.

This is just to make Becca jealous. I made Chicken Halushki (is that the right name, I googled it and a bunch of cabbage dishes came up). It was so good. I even made the homemade noodles you scrape off of the bottom of a pan. It was even fairly easy. I'm thinking I need to make this more often. And I'm trying to figure out if I can turn it into a crock pot meal.Oh and I went to Borders today. I needed to go to the mall to get my ring inspected and since I still have a Borders gift card to spend I spent some time looking around. I finally found the Interweave Crochet magazine (really I just need to subscribe to it and Interweave Knits and Spin Off. I would probably save money). They also had a bunch of office supplies and stuff on sale 75% off. I found this adorable lunch box with a matching thermos. I got both for 5 dollars. Wooo! I don't normally make a lunch to take to work. I tend to forget to make it or forget to take it even if I prepare it the night before. I stick with frozen meals that I take to work in a bunch. But I might use it to carry around knitting. Of course. Pretty much every bag I own is designated to hold knitting. Except for my purse. And sometimes it even holds knitting.
BTW, one should not google new food products you've just tried. I do not like when side effects are one of the first listings.

And hey, writing this apparently made Zach come home. So thanks for listening. And also kudos to Zach and the Coraline DVD. The Coraline DVD for having 3-D glasses and Zach for remembering this so that we could watch the Michael Jackson 3-D tribute thingy. Not that it was that thrilling. :)

In which I talk about food

I was thinking about food a lot yesterday. Mostly it involved me wanting to bake everything in the universe. I still do. But I have decided to try and limit myself, because otherwise I end up with enough sugary things laying around my house to feed a small country.

But really, can you blame me after discovering Bakerella's website. I mean really, balls of cake on sticks covered in chocolate. So I've decided to give it a try with some pumpkin cake, cream cheese frosting and orange colored white chocolate and then I'm going to decorate them like pumpkins. I'm very excited about this.

I also want to make more Marshmallows. They are so tasty. Nothing like the kind you get in bags from the grocery store. My favorite marshmallow recipe is here. I've tried a few and think this is my favorite because she has done the math to split the recipe in half. She also has included a couple of great ideas for changing the flavor. Besides adding a puree or candy to the mix I replace part of the vanilla extract with some of the concentrated candy flavorings. My most recent experiment was with about 1/2 a vial of the orange flavoring. I added 2 tsp of vanilla extract and 1 tsp of orange zest. Then I dipped them in chocolate. ZOMG! good! You might wonder what to do with these pillows of awesome. Well, I just eat them straight or they would taste delicious in a cup of hot chocolate (especially with my next plan of replacing sugar in the marshmallows with crushed candy canes, peppermint cocoa, yum!).

I also have the ingredients sitting out for chocolate chip cookies. And I've been wanting to do some chocolate molds of pumpkins. I got a cute new mold on sale from AC Moore.

Another way I was thinking about food was I learned about the 3/50 project (I know, I am very behind the times). It is kind of an interesting idea. In a month, spend 50 dollars (total) at 3 local places. And then I sat down and thought about 3 local businesses that would suck if they dissapeared. Two of those are resturants. More food.

Java Joint. OMG! What would I do without them? They are kind enough to allow 10 or so crazy crafters take up there entire back room once a week. They have great coffee and drinks. Their food is amazing. I eat things there that I hate otherwise. Tomato soup, the olives and tomatoes on their greek pizza. I even love their vegitarian alternatives such as their veggie burgers. Nom. And the desserts, well, I can't really talk about those without getting drool on the keyboard. So good. And to be honest, if I spend my minimum amount there each week (usually about 10-12 dollars on dinner, drink and dessert) I have nearly hit my $50 mark.

Zach and I have recently discovered a relatively new resturant, Rib Station. The ribs are amazing, smokey meat popsicles. The turkey is moist and smokey and delicious. The banana pudding is superb. Their portions are huge and the price is great. You can get a 1/2 rack of ribs plus a side for about $9. Desserts are $1! I got a turkey sandwich last time and it was huge. My brain did not process the actual size of a 5 inch bun. Huge. So even with it being so reasonable priced, I think I've hit the $50 mark.

And then of course you add in the Yarn and More and I am well over. Although I haven't been in a while. I need to start saving for Christmas presents so I won't be spending much on me for a while.

And so this should be post number 198. Getting close to 200. I wonder what my giveaway will be. But no seriously if you know, could you send me a hint. That would be super. Now I am off to make some cake balls. Yay!