summertime

Not only is today the last day of classes for the quarter, the temperature has climbed into the 80s! I've already turned in grades, and I'm free from teaching until late September. It truly feels like summer now. This summer I'm working only ONE job, and only part-time -- what a luxury. That means more time for my research and writing, as well as for knitting, hitting the farmer's market, going for long walks, and petting all the neighborhood dogs. ;-)

I picked up a couple delicious heirloom tomatoes at the Green City Market yesterday, and put together a Parmesan Tomato Tart for lunch today. Wonderful recipe -- it's all about simplicity and high quality ingredients.

I've switched to Trader Joe's frozen puff pastry rather than the standard Pepperidge Farms stuff after reading Nicole's review. It's packaged flat (rather than folded), so it's much easier to use; also, the ingredient list is much less frightening.

Other recent successes in the kitchen:

- Low Fat Fudgy Brownies ~ semisweet Callebaut chocolate worked very well

- Chicken Souvlaki (from Cooking Light) ~ I doubled the amount of chicken so that we would have leftovers for lunch.

Alison (AKA brainylady) sent me this beautiful sage-green yarn as part of her laceweight leftovers swap. It's just lovely! There's a pretty good amount leftover -- perhaps enough for a whole scarf.

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Is anybody else having trouble with Ravelry and Gmail in Firefox? I've had to use the dreaded IE lately (shudder).

kharma

Remember how lucky I have been lately? The trend continues! Sarah at The Plucky Knitter sent me this beautiful skein of incredibly soft merino sock yarn in the most gorgeous shades of blue.

Varsity Blues

Sarah's a new indie dyer, and she has an amazing eye for color, especially for subtle variations in dreamy shades. Check out her Etsy shop!

Simultaneously teaching summer session and starting a new job while trying to work on my research has been exhausting. I'm half done with my second Waterloose sock, and I need to cast on for the Sockapalooza socks ASAP. The Kai cable pullover just needs seaming and finishing.

I have been puttering around in the kitchen some (when it isn't too hot). This recipe for Rhubarb Streusel Bread turned out quite well -- moist and fruity, with a little cinnamon-sugar crunch.

getting lucky

Apparently I'm on a lucky streak (remember I just won a signed copy of a Yarn Harlot book in Chris's recent contest), since I'm also a winner over the Cider Moon Yarniversary contest.

My "loot" is a skein of this beautiful yarn:

Hocus Crocus

I ganked the photo from the website -- it's so pretty! I've gushed about Cider Moon yarn before. I loved knitting my "Winter Twilight" Cider Moon socks, and I have stashed away a good bit of their sock yarn. This is a good thing, since quite soon they have to raise their prices a bit due to increased costs on their base yarn.