Dinner Party

Lee and I are giving a dinner party tonight. I'm in a food and wine pairing class, so we're making the menu that is my final project for a few friends. They're in town for some fraternity stuff, which I am not really a part of, so while they're off, I figure I should probably start our carrot reduction, since it takes hours and there's only hours until we serve it. I call him to see if he wants me to start it and what exactly I should do, since I wasn't home when he made it the first time. He said to chop the carrots into little pieces. We've already learned that the kitchen implements and I don't get along. Lee gets along with the kitchen. He makes culinary masterpieces that delight the senses and tantalize the taste buds. I burn broccoli and make glue when I'm trying to make gravy. Anyway, engineers are problem solvers, and so I solved the problem of getting the carrots into little bits so the blender doesn't choke on them:

And we got a funny looking carrot in the batch too, so I put that in the picture. The dinner party:

Appetizer
Originally uploaded by UnFrogged

We started with sea scallops and Terra Exotic chips with a carrot reduction flavored with anise, salt and pepper. A blenderfull of carrots was pureed with a cup of water and a splash of orange juice. This was left on the stove for hours until it looked powdery and had a consistency somewhere between baby food and clay. The reduction was left thick as a dip for the chips, and cream was added to thin it for the scallops. Each end of the scallops was dipped in an anise/salt/pepper rub and pan seared so it was still juicy on the inside. The plating had some chips stuck into the dip so as to keep them out of the scallop juices and therefore still crunchy. Martini and Rossi Asti was paired with this course. Originally, we were going to go with Iron Horse Brut, but when taste testing, it was too dry for the sweetness of the carrot/anise sauce.

Salad Course
Originally uploaded by UnFrogged

The salad course was just a plain salad to showcase the pairing of the wine and vinaigrette, but plated to keep it fancy. A row of cucumbers, Boston lettuce piled on top, and some carrots next to the greenery with Newman's Own Raspberry and Walnut Vinaigrette was paired with Dievole Tuscan Rosato. This pairing was considered by the guests to be the most interesting, because the wine and salad took on different flavors when tasted together. The tanginess went away and the fruit flavors were brought out in both wine and dressing.

Entree
Originally uploaded by UnFrogged

The entree was pork tenderloin, roasted and cut into medallions, with a habanero jerk sauce, chipotle mashed sweet potatoes, and sweet corn on the cob. The jerk sauce is one of Lee's favorite, most made recipes. He calls it the sauce of happiness. It's good, but usually pretty spicy. The sweet potatoes are mashed with some cream and some chipotle peppers, and have a very smoky flavor but smooth texture. We were going to grill the corn, but the grill is nearly out of gas and we didn't want to risk it. We're not going to refill the whole propane tank since we'll be moving shortly. The wine pairing to go with this was Drylands, a Pinot Noir from New Zealand. I was trying to go with a wine that could handle the smokiness of the potatoes and the spiciness of the sauce while not overpowering the corn and the pork. This was also the only completely untested pairing, and I was quite happy with how it came out.

Dessert
Originally uploaded by UnFrogged

For dessert, we had Bananas Foster on Perry's Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and Nilla Wafers. I made this dish five times the week before, attempting to perfect the recipe. I've learned a bunch of what not to do and got it really good once. You need bananas to be on the far side of ripe, with about 2 Tb butter, 3 Tb brown sugar, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, and 1/8 tsp nutmeg for the sauce. Melt the butter, sugar, and spices in a large pan on low heat (3/9 on our stovetop) until bubbling. Put 4 large bananas (split lengthwise and then cut each half into four pieces) into the sauce and cook about 5 minutes per side. Add 1/4 cup rum and light. Pour over ice cream. This was paired with Blandy's Rainwater Madeira, a dessert beverage that went really well with the Bananas Foster. I did not like it on its own, or with the bananas, but it did pair well.

And that was my lovely dinner party. Delicious food, good friends, and copious amounts of alcohol.

Technology Hates Me

Technology doesn't like me. I never had problems with my laptop, and then about a month after the warranty was over, everything crapped out on me. The keyboard, the battery, and it just runs slowly and is evil. I've killed every thumb drive I've bought, my large external hard drive got fried, and my cell phone has issues. Today, those issues decided to screw me over in an interview call. I had a phone interview at 10 am. The charger was plugged in, I was sitting, nice and comfy, and I was cross stitching, waiting for the phone to ring. The interviewer called late, which is okay, but my phone decided to not ring. I get a voicemail at 10:09. No call, just a voicemail. No record of the call in the missed/incoming call logs. Just the voicemail. Of the interviewer apologizing for calling late and asking to reschedule since she missed me. I of course called right back on Lee's cell phone, trying to get ahold of her, but got her voicemail. Grrrr. Great way to start a Monday, right?

Ah well. Gardiner Yarn Works, who I test knit for, has their Fall/Winter preview up. I tested the Whitecap Socks pattern, and since you can see the official sample up on the site, here's a picture of mine:

Of course, I took the picture with the jog facing right out, so it's not the best side, but I like how they turned out. VERY quick socks to knit, only took me four days from start of the first to the Kitchener of the second. And I got rid of some stash yarn, go me!

Leaving Rochester...Maybe...Stupid Rochester...

It snowed today. Not much, just enough to be snow. In April. April 30th. Not like April Fool's Day or anything, but on the last day of April. The saying goes "April showers bring May flowers" and it's supposed to be RAIN showers, not snow. Oh well. I may be nearly done in Rochester. Or not. Who knows? Not me. At least, not yet.

Lee and I interviewed with Kanazawa Technical College for teaching positions in Japan. Send some good karma our way for that! They know we want to move together and are considering hiring us as a pair. That would be excellent. I'm really really REALLY hoping that's how it works out. If so, I'll be enlisting the aid of the Japanese Knitters group over on Ravelry for tips/advice/meetups once there. Though after a quick search, looks like there aren't any knitters/crocheters from Kanazawa on Ravelry. Ah well. Send good thoughts anyway! Japan for three years would be excellent. They say 10 - 14 days before they'll contact us, so we'll just have to wait and see!

The Zoo

I finally went to the Seneca Zoo, here in Rochester. This is my fifth year at RIT, and I finally got someone to take me. Lee and I went for a couple of hours when I realized I didn't have rehearsal and he didn't have anything planned either. Get ahead on homework? Work more on the job search? No, extra time + beautiful day = zoo + dinner at Delmonico's.



I've also finally got pictures of Thelonius, but not pictures of the baby dresses I'm crocheting now. I plan to offer the English translation once I've finished, since the pattern is currently only in Danish. I'm pretty sure I've translated it correctly. At least, it looks like what it's supposed to!


I'm still plugging away at my crocheted baby items, and I've also started working on my Cinderella Castle cross stitch again. I shall finish the castle today and start working on the moat. The worst part about such things is that they take so freaking long, and if you accidentally grab the light pearl grey because in the fluorescent lighting it looks like white and then use it for a bunch of parts, only to realize when you get home that it's not right and then rip it out again, it takes even longer.

Pictures!

Chinatown is a wonderful movie. Simply wonderful. I loved it a lot. Which is good, because I wasn't sure how good all those AFI movies would be. I'm very glad to have found one I really enjoyed, instead of just saying either "yeah, I can see why that's on the list" or "how the !@#%$#% did that get on the list?"

I will have you know that, as I am typing this, I am also wearing one sock because I have just finished knitting the first sock of the test knit pair. I have also bought the zipper for the hoodie. I should be finishing both this weekend, and maybe the two little almost done amigurumi. I will also probably be starting the baby dresses and/or booties before finishing all that, though, because if I finish the four before starting anything else, I will be below 10, and once I get below 10, I shall be trying to stay that way. So I gotta get the interesting new projects done so they don't tempt me while I'm finishing Blaze. Or Rogue. Or Peasantry. Or cross stitching. Wow, are those three sweaters really the only unfinished knit items I have with me? Except for the sock I'm frogging, they are. Wow.

Hey, speaking of the sock I'm frogging, if I finish all four PLUS frog the sock, I will be at 8, and therefore can make new things because as long as I finish one before the next, I'll still be below 10. Awesome.

As promised, here are some lovely pictures of things that have been going on:

Present I received from the lovely Angela:

Lovely laceweight that will be paired with my leftover MS3 black for a flame scarf.

Warm and toasty for the ears. Which is actually really good, because, living here in a cold climate, I have a hat that I've crocheted for myself. One. And I don't wear it all that often either. Every cold day, I say, I really should make me something to cover my ears. I'm not so much a hat person, but something like this or a calorimetry is what I have been coveting. And now I have one, in a very beautiful colorway, yay! Just in time for this:

In March. Yeah. Love you, Rochester!

And look, I'm crafty in other ways too! Painted chocolates. I had most of a pound of white chocolate leftover from Easter, so I colored a bunch of it and made Care Bears. Not all actually in the correct color scheme, but tasty nonetheless.

I got a picture of the almost done Thelonius (now finished) with some flowers, yay! Spring does exist in Rochester!

Quick Update

So, I finished a pair of socks, and started a pair of socks. Another test knit for Gardiner Yarn Works. I finished all the knitting on the Little Cabled Hoodie (again, Gardiner Yarn Works) and just need to get a zipper to finish it all up. I also have two little amigurumi that need just a little bit of work to be completed. I also have a friend who's had?...having?...haven't spoken to him in a couple months...anyway, there is/will be a little girl sometime around now-ish. So, I'm thinking of making a couple cute little quick baby dresses (Ravelry) from stash yarn and a matching pair of baby booties (Ravelry). I have black and white, so I was going to make one black dress with a contrasting (maybe white, maybe something else) stripe near the bottom, and one white with a black stripe near the bottom, and a pair of booties that are black on the bottom and white on the top. I have the yarn, I just need the correct size crochet hook and the time. I've also been really wanting to cross stitch recently.

I tossed Blaze into my backpack, since I finished the hoodie, so I can make advances upon it. It would be great for the fall, so hopefully I'll get it done by then. It would be great to get it done sooner than the fall, say, by the end of the month so it's done already, but it's a bit tedious. Not sure it'll happen. But I won't be putting other crafts into the backpack, so I should make some grudging progress. I also carry my purse with my backpack, and I have socks in there. The real question is how many pairs of Christmas socks I'll finish while putting off working on Blaze...

I haven't been making much headway in my 101 things, but I have been reading. The movies I've been watching have been not so much on the list. I've found that Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf, is a much better read when you're drinking tequila. Makes ever so much more sense that way. I'm still angry at It for having missing pages. Stupid book...

Pictures of things in my camera. I will be getting them off of my camera and onto the internets either tonight or tomorrow, since I will have uninterrupted computer time as Lee is in Fort Wayne, Indiana for a job interview. Send good vibes his way!

Stupid Rochester

So on Monday, I spent the gorgeous sunny day wishing I had my camera with me. The sun was shining, birds were singing, it was warm out, and it really felt like spring. I even saw Spring; there was a beautiful little bunch of purple flowers, newly blooming in one of the garden plots. I had my Thelonius socks with me and they matched the flowers beautifully! I had my Rogue with me and I grafted the hood; it would have been lovely to take its picture (sans sleeves as of yet) at the oriental garden near the art building. The sun was glinting through the windows in my Food and Wine pairing class, shining off of and through the colorful wines we had poured in our five Riedel glasses. That, along with the plate of delicious food, would have made a most excellent image. But alas, there was no camera to be had. I did not bring my camera yesterday because I would not have had any time to be taking any pictures, though it was again a lovely, sunny day.

Today, I brought my camera, determined to photograph my lovely socks during my lunch break with the flowers that went oh so well with them. Rogue is now at home, so wouldn't have gotten photographed. Also the body of the hoodie I'm working on is at home since it's waiting for the sleeves, and I'm just starting those. It was gorgeous all morning as I was cleaning and doing homework (and sleeping in late since I just haven't been sleeping well in general). Lee went out for a bike ride and wore shorts today. I wore a long sleeved shirt, jeans, and sandals, because I'm always cold, but was thinking I'd have been fine in short sleeves as I was walking in. I'm sitting in my noon class, waiting for it to be over so I can go back outside to enjoy the lovely day and take pictures while scarfing down lunch so I can go back to the labs and do more homework. I'm getting apprehensive because the sky is starting to look dark. It always looks dark because someone decided to make the windows in the engineering building act like sunglasses. Because that's necessary in a place where it's cloudy 75% of the time the building is in use...So I'm ready to go take my pictures, and it starts raining as I walk out. Stupid @#%@$^ Rochester. And of course, when I've finished my homework and am sitting inside, tutoring, until my 6 - 8 class, it's all sunny again. Why does Rochester like to torment me so???

I did not finish my Thelonius for Monday's meeting. I instead finished the body of the hoodie I'm test knitting for and worked on Rogue a bit. I finished the hood because I thought I needed the circular connector for an extra long needle to magic loop the sleeves of the child's hoodie I'm test knitting. Sleeves are only 32 stitches around, so the magic loop doesn't quite work. I got size 10 DPNs instead. Now that Rogue is not taking up any useful materials, I do believe she'll go into hibernation for awhile. I won't be wearing her until it gets cold again, and I have a bunch of other projects I can work on. Also I swear I got 11 or 12 skeins of yarn, and only currently have 10. I think I accidentally left the other two in my Albany yarn boxes. Which means I probably can't finish her now, since I think it'll take a bit more than 1.5 skeins per sleeve. If I get more, it won't be of the same dye lot, so I'd have to knit one row of each dye lot starting at the bottom of the sleeves so it wouldn't be noticed. Which means I can't start the sleeves until I find the errant skein or two, or break down and get more. She looks great though, even without the sleeves! Pictures to come, along with a post about the pocket and the hood graft, as well as my sizing choices. Because you all want to know about that, right?