Tuesday, August 03, 2010

best. cookies. ever.

 in the kitchen

The melt-in-your-mouth buttermilk chocolate cookies recipe from Baking Bites truly lives up to its name.  These are amazingly good.  Rich and chocolatey, chewy and just a little bit tangy.  The recipe doesn't call for any eggs, which is surprising and also very handy to have in your recipe arsenal.  Then again, it's quite rare that my fridge is stocked with buttermilk but no eggs.
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on & off the needles

The baby boom continues among my friends and relative (it must be an early-thirties thing), so I'm working on baby gifts!  This is my first foray into knitting wool soakers, a concept that's simultaneously awesome and kind of gross. 
Pattern: Adaptation, by Connie Stults (free!)
Yarn: Stonehedge Fiber Mill Shepherd's Wool, "Lakeshore," ~ 2/3 skein
Needles: US 5 and 7 straights, US 7 DPNs
Size: medium (21" hips)

Notes:
An easy and quick pattern!  These are knit flat in one piece and then seamed up the sides.  You then pick up stitches for the legs.  I had a hard time figuring out how loosely to bind off the leg openings.  We'll see how they work!  Next time I'd try a pattern that's knit in the round, as the seams may be a bit annoying.  These are worn over bulky diapers, so the seams won't be next to the skin at least.
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on the tube

I'm totally hooked on The Fabulous Beekman Boys on the Green channel this summer.  Brent and Josh, a couple of "big city" guys, have renovated a beautiful farm in upstate New York and are building a business making goat cheese and goat milk soap, two of my favorite things in the world. These guys are a hoot, and I just love how Farmer John cares so much for his goats.  Brent's really something -- kind of a drama queen, and Josh manages to keep the couple tethered down to earth. Josh, of course, is a Wisconsin native. :-)
Aren't their goats adorable?  

On the subject of cheese and Wisconsin, check out this recent Lottie & Doof (foodie) blog post on visiting Madison, my alma mater. If you haven't made it to Madison yet, you should go now.  Like stat. But don't tell me about it, as I'll be very jealous.

10 comments:

Hilary said...

Ha! I'm so glad to hear that I'm not the only one who thinks the concept of a soaker is kinda gross. :) I know about a million pregnant ladies, too. There was a big boom a couple of years ago and it's starting up again. Must be something in the water!

Unknown said...

Gotta LOVE the goats! Wish I had the Green channel--do you know if past episodes are available online anywhere?

Hilary, I've noticed the same pattern amongst my friends: baby boom-lull-boom again. I was realizing the other day that when my mom was my exact age now, she was pregnant with her 3rd. Yikes!

Katie M. said...

Oh man, now I wish I had the Green channel, too. Not that I need more TV in my life, quite the opposite really. Also, I love how the soakers look, empty of baby: alien pants!

Chris said...

That sounds like one tasty cookie!

Cute soaker. :)

peaknits said...

What a full post! I am so making those cookies! And the little soaker is adorable. I would love to see that show, I wonder if I can get that? And great showcase of yummy Madison goodies - within minutes of reading your post I had my husband convinced that we must go to the farmer's market saturday - it was the spicy cheese bread that convinced me:)

Caffeine Girl said...

You know what I'm going to say: Come on up!

Seriously, we could eat and knit!

Mia said...

I understand the idea behind using soakers. But I can't imagine knitting them.

And I will have to watch that show when I go to my dad's. I normally keep it on the History Channel or Discovery.

Caroline said...

I swear I got a little sniff of baby urine when I saw your pic of the soaker, ha, ha. We used used wool diaper covers with our daughter, which was basically the same. For the some reason, by the time, my son came along, we thought that maybe we would choose other areas to be environmentally responsible and use Pampers instead.

knitseashore said...

I'm not entirely sure I understand "soakers" (none of my friends have kids, and we don't), but I'm guessing from the name that it isn't pleasant. I think I'll stick to buying books and knitting a little sweater for new moms. :)

I've not seen the show, but I think anytime city people go to a farm, it's going to be hilarious. How far we have come from the time that everyone had to provide for themselves from the land.

Connie, the daisyhead said...

Thanks! I'm glad you liked my Adaptation pattern! It turned out cute. I hope it has worked out for the momma!