Cooking Extravaganza!

Today was a pretty leisurely day - we got some big fluffy white snow here in CO - so it felt like JUUUUST the right day to cook up a storm in the kitchen.

For breakfast, it was pancakes from scratch with fresh strawberry jam (Thanks Ashley!). It was my first time making pancakes at a high altitude, and I must say, they were great! I found some really helpful "high altitude cooking tips" online, and edited my recipe (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Good-Old-Fashioned-Pancakes/Detail.aspx) from there.

THEN - I decided to try my hand at making rice pudding from scratch.

Rice pudding is a fave of my husbands, my dads, and my bosses, and I am staying with my boss in the upcoming week, and my dad is visiting the next - so I figured - perfect time, let's do it.

I edited the recipe that I got from allrecipes.com (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Rice-Pudding/Detail.aspx) by scalding the milk with a split Madagascar vanilla bean in it - chucking the bean once the milk was heated - and I'm thinking it was because of the altitude, but it took me over an hour to cook it. It came out great - (see picture) - and I am confident that I can replicate it for my company.

While the rice pudding was baking - I finished knitting up the body of "Sheldon" a cute little turtle that I have yet to decide the recipient for (though I do have an idea). (See pictures)
He looks a little funny without his shell and legs, but according to the images on the pattern, he's coming along well.

We're up to dinner - Guinness Burgers! I kinda winged this on - no recipe, but they were delicious! Ground meat, 21 Seasoning Salute (god bless Trader Joe's), garlic powder, panko breadcrumbs, a little olive oil, vinegar, and salt, and a healthy amount of... you guessed it... Guiness Stout! Some tomatoes, onions, pickles, and ketchup - and we were in business. Bellisimo!

Well, I am off to have some rice pudding and make some legs for poor Sheldon.

Arrivederci!

Organizing ye olde craft room... Part DEUX

WELL!

After many hours of re-spooling countless skeins of yarn, going through all of my stash, taking inventory of my circular, double pointed and straight needles and crochet hooks, one trip to Wal*Mart, and a dozen printed labels later.... I am DONE!

I officially have an organized craft room. *sigh* (see pictures)

I ended up not taking inventory of my whole stash because I didn't have labels for most of the yarn. Instead, I grouped them by color: Neutrals, Reds, Blues, Greens, and Multis. This seemed to cover most of my stash - albeit taking some "poetic license" with color (i.e. white/yellow ombre got filed as 'Neutral', purple is in with 'Reds'). This seems to do the trick for me, and plus, it looks pretty :)

I also have a big 'crushable' bag on the side that is underneath my ball winder of "to frog and spool"/"to respool" - type items that didn't have a place.

All in all, I think it was a pretty successful day. :)

Looking forward to knitting in my new place tomorrow! :)

Siiiiiianara.

Organizing ye olde craft room... Part ONE

Well, since this will be my first 'blog' ever - what better way to start than a post about wiping the slate clean and starting anew?

My husband and I have recently moved from NY to CO, and are LOVING it... and I am loving the extra bedroom/guestroom/CRAFT room! He generously downgraded his computer desk to give it over to me as a craft desk (lots of compartments!) and I could not be happier... well... maybe...if it was organized, that is. :)

I am a craft junkie. There - I've said it. I have a serious problem. So much so that when my sister was helping me pack up in NY, and we were using one of THEEE largest boxes in the whole place to pack my yarn - she looked at me and said.. well, "You have a serious problem". It's okay though, because my obsession makes lots of people happy. Was she thinking about the amazing buttery colored yellow alpaca lace scarf that I knit her (albeit over the period of a year... but whatever) when she told me I have a problem? No. Or the baby sweaters I seem to be knitting everyone but myself? Nope. So - it's a 'productive' obsession. And clearly, one I feel I need to be well stocked for. (See picture.)

I can not pass up a good deal on yarn EVER - because you never know what awesome pattern you are going to come across or who is going to need a rainbow boucle dishtowel - naturally -... so.... I'm well stocked.

My goal for today is to turn this madness into "managed chaos" and have a place to sit and knit when I'm all through. Gone are the days of leaving circular needles and stitch holders all over the place - we are at the dawn of a new era. The era of organized crafting.

My hope for when it's all through is to have the guest bed set up as a "daybed", compartments assigned for various things, all of my yarn 'stashed' (inventoried) on Ravelry, and all of my circular, straight, and double pointed needles and crochet hooks listed on Ravelry. This is an all day project, if you haven't guessed by now.

Stay tuned for how this process progresses. :)