Archive for the 'knitting' Category

Icee update and why I shouldn’t knit anymore

Published
by
ashley
on July 23, 2008
in i am ridiculous and knitting
. 1 Comment

Update:  Went to Burger King.  Small Coke Icee, 6 cheesy tots.  My boss paid and I felt it would be rude to decline.  Right?  Also, delicious.  I don’t understand how they can fit so much deliciousness into one tiny tot.

Also, in Thursday’s edition of my newspaper’s In The Know section, there’s a blurb about a couple who got married.  Cute.  But it said their honeymoon was in Baltimore.  Seriously?  Nothing says romance like the murder capital of the nation.  Haven’t you people seen The Wire?

Today turned out to be a halfway decent day.  However, as I am walking home from the metro tonight in the rain, I will be cursing this day for all of eternity.  Also, if the scarf I’m currently knitting gets drenched from the rain and it felts even just SLIGHTLY because of all the moving around in my purse, there will be HELL TO PAY.  HELL TO PAY, rain.

I forgot what a bad knitter I am.  I’m knitting a small thin scarf using number 10 bamboo needles and two skeins of slightly chunky yarn, one gray, one blue.  I bought this yarn two years ago.  When I opened the package, it was three addresses ago.  Yeah.  Seriously.  Anyway, so I’m striping it.  But on the way home the other day, I realized I didn’t have my designated knitting scissors.  I’m frantically searching the metro looking for something sharp to cut my yarn with because I don’t want my stripes to be uneven.  I settle on my keys.  I manage to gnaw it off and it goes from there.  But then yesterday morning, I didn’t bring my keys because Marques was going to pick me up from the metro.  And I’m knitting the blue section.  And I realize, nope, still don’t have my scissors.  So my blue section is about 10 rows longer than everything else.  At this point, I honestly just kind of say screw it, and now all of my stripes are different lengths.  Oh yeah.  And my seams are all on different sides.  I think I might try to give this scarf to a homeless person, but I’m afraid he will reject it due to my shoddy craftsmanship.

Taking inventory

Published
by
ashley
on July 21, 2008
in cooking, friends, i am ridiculous, knitting and work
. 2 Comments

Lorrie’s post on her pantry really got me thinking about mine.  I’ve never been one to keep a fully stocked anything.  In fact, the only meals I can really make are the ones that I planned ahead of time for.  If the zombies ever rise and Marques and I have to hole up in our apartment (which, going off on a slight tangent, our apartment is not even close to zombie-proof.  Ground floor, sliding glass doors, giant full-length window in bedroom.  We would be zombies before the 11:00 news.  Our only hope would be to run upstairs and find a willing neighbor who hasn’t already been zombiefied to let us stay with them, and we would have to destroy the staircases leading up to the fourth floor.) we are pretty much screwed.

Here is all of the food I have in my house currently:

In the freezer:

12 boneless center cut pork chops
5 boneless skinless chicken breasts
3 lbs boneless skinless chicken tenderloins
1 4 oz. sirloin steak
2 4 oz portions Alaskan wild salmon
1 half-full container pistachio ice cream
1 quarter-full container Nutty Neopolitan ice cream
1 half-full container Double Fudge Brownie ice cream

(seriously?  Someone please call an authority to come and make me out an actual grocery list since clearly all I do is buy ice cream everytime I go to the store)

3/4ths of a bag of stir-fry vegetables
2 bags Steamfresh brown rice (i am too lazy to cook rice)
1 bag Steam fresh green beans
1/2 bag Trader Joe’s chicken fried rice (this was gross but I don’t have the heart to throw it away)
1 bag Trader Joe’s edamame
16 fish sticks

In the refrigerator:

2 gallons of 1% milk.  (One has maybe 1/4 cup in it.  I hate drinking the last bit of milk from a container.  Yes, the other one is open.  Again, sad sad sad.)
1 pound REAL butter
1 stick fake butter
3 bananas
1 bottle light ranch dressing, opened, used once, discarded for being disgusting
1 bottle blue cheese dressing, opened, used once, discarded for being disgusting
1 bottle Greek vinaigrette, almost gone because it was not disgusting
1 container light sour cream
1/4 of a watermelon, chunked
3 pluots
2 red plums
2 black plums
2 bags of baby carrots
leftover garlic dip
1 package shredded white cheddar cheese
4 oz. crumbled blue cheese
1 pint heavy cream
4 eggs
8 oz. grated parmesan

In the pantry:

lots of canned tomato goods.  Like crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, etc.
2 cans black beans
1 can garbanzo beans
2 bags kettle chips
9 bags of microwave popcorn (purchased before my healthy decision to pop real corn in the microwave, which brings me to…)
12 oz. popcorn kernels
1 bottle light italian dressing (unopened, but concerned)
2 boxes Frosted Flakes
2 boxes Lucky Charms
1 box Sugar Smacks
1 box Crunchberries
1 box Rice Krispies
1 box Honey Nut Cheerios

(OMG.  I also need to be told not to buy any cereal, too)

1 bag mini marshmallows
2 cans chicken broth
1 bag butterscotch chips
1 bag chow mein noodles (was going to make haystacks but got too lazy)
8 boxes sugar-free Jello pudding (I buy a box almost every time I go to the store.  It’s a sickness)
1 half-eaten bag sourdough pretzel nuggets
1 half-eaten bag Fritos
2 tuna pouches
2 boxes mini penne pasta
1 pound couscous
1 pound basmati rice
brown sugar, white sugar, flour, oil, all that
2 boxes macaroni and cheese
1 jar Newman’s Own Sockarooni (the only jar pasta sauce I buy)

Okay, okay, I might have a FEW meals in there.

Tonight’s meal is mini penne with chicken in a tomato cream sauce.  Marques had to work in Baltimore tonight, so I thought I’d make him one of his favorite meals to alleviate the driving pain.

Also, there’s going to be a knit-off at work.  Second week of August.  Everything will be regulated - needle size, yarn, everything.  First person to knit a certain number of inches wins.  Keep your fingers (but not your yarn) crossed.

velcro revisited

Published
by
ashley
on November 1, 2006
in cooking, design, friends, knitting, life, marques and school
. 0 Comments

i hate it when the weather is trying to decide if it wants to be fall or winter.  when i left my house today at 2 pm, the weather was sunny with just a tiny little nip in the air. 2 hours after i got to work, the sky had turned a dark gray and it’s been cold and rainy all night.  it’s like, my god, just pick one already. 

yesterday, i used the crockpot for the first time.  i made pork tenderloin with carrots and potatoes.  it was pretty good.  when i came home from work, dinner was finished.  i whipped up a box of stove-top stuffing to go with it and we had a really nice dinner.  tonight, i have plans for cuban-esque sandwiches made with the leftovers.  yum. 

i’ve been super boring lately.  even last night, i was so tired that i fell asleep really early.  it was strange.  i think i’m boring myself so much that i’m sleeping just for something to do. 

i e-mailed my adviser so i can figure out what classes to take next semester.  i think i’m changing my major over to advertising.  online journalism just doesn’t appeal to me.  advertising would at least give me a creative outlet.  i’ve been thinking a lot of what i want to be when i grow up (and really, i’m 23.  i should have decided this years ago.  i’m already grown up) and i’ve decided on a couple options.  i still want to be a book cover designer.  like whoa.  i also think it would be neat to be a book editor.  work in publishing.  design posters and packaging and products.  unfortunately, i don’t think there’s a job where i can just sit around and knit scarves and order hello kitty items from ebay. 

i just feel detached, i think, with the whole school thing.  i hate that the last thing most people knew about me was that i had a crappy job, a crappy boyfriend, and a crappy apartment.  i want all those people to know that i have the complete opposite now.  but i’m too detached from everyone. 

i look forward to becoming a little more bustling.  and a lot less tired.

**********
in case you would like to make the pork tenderloin with veggies, here’s my modified recipe:

pork tenderloin with veggies:

1 pork tenderloin, 3 to 4 pounds
8 small red potatoes
2 carrots cut in chunks (i only used 2 because marques doesn’t like carrots… you can add more)
8 whole cloves of garlic
1 can chicken broth
2 tablespoons lemon juice
salt, pepper
1/4 cup parsley, minced
1 package onion soup mix

rub pork with salt and pepper.  sear it on all sides in a hot skillet with a bit of oil.  put the ingredients into the crockpot in the following order:  carrots, potatoes, garlic, pork roast.  mix the chicken broth, lemon juice, parsley and onion soup mix together, then pour over roast.  set crockpot to cook for 10 hours on low. 

mishmash!

Published
by
ashley
on October 8, 2006
in cooking, family, knitting and life
. 0 Comments

tonight at work, we were all talking about states.  like, united states states.  my manager, andy, is from new jersey, and never fails to remind us of this.  it’s like a constant stream of, “well, in new jersey…” or “oh, man, new jersey has…” and it makes me laugh.  andy loves new jersey.  personally, i’ve only driven through new jersey, and i was like, 9 years old.  i remember my mom daring me to put my finger up my nose and keep it there for an hour, and i did, and i kept it in there for about 15 minutes before my mom started laughing because she said she could picture me going to meet my great aunt and uncle in rhode island and one nostril is stretched out and bigger than the other.  my mom is mean.

anyway, so did you know that new jersey has a state dinosaur?  that is awesome!  seriously!  it’s the hadrosaurus.  i would like west virginia’s state dinosaur to be the triceratops because it looks gentle.  except for the horns.

also, new jersey’s state fruit is the blueberry.  which sparked another conversation from sweet little lisa, who said that she saw a segment on 20/20 that the blueberries in pre-packaged blueberry muffins were not actually blueberries, but blueberry flavored worms.  seriously.  i’ve been trying to research it on google, but i can’t find any record of it. lisa swears she saw it.  she also said she got a blueberry muffin out of our vending machine and confirmed that it had blueberry flavored worms in it.  gross.

occasionally, crickets will infiltrate our bathroom.  it’s disturbing to be sitting on the toilet, peeing, and then all of a sudden, cricket attack.  i am afraid of all bugs, and i know in my heart that crickets can’t bite me or kill me or anything, but they’re really scary looking and i don’t want it near my feet.  i shrieked the other day — while i was peeing, TWO crickets came hopping up and marques had to come in and kill them.  now i am on cricket alert. 

yesterday, i went to charleston to go see my grandma.  she’s on bedrest with a case of cellulitis and i felt bad for her.  she’s bored.  plus, she can’t get up and do anything.  she has to be on bedrest for 85 percent of the time.  and my grandfather is there too, recovering from his latest hospital stay.  so there they are — two divorced people living in the same house. 

and my cousin’s birthday was a couple weeks ago, so i wanted to get her a gift.  i still think birthdays are important.  so i went to my grandma’s and made rachel’s tortilla soup (recipe at the end) for her and ate pizza and cake with my family.  i actually had a really good time.  normally, we get into at least one fight, but this time, it was really fun.  i think it’s because i hadn’t seen my family in a long time, whereas before, i usually saw them once every few weeks or so.  so that was nice.

and my cousin is 15!  that’s insane!  and now i feel old. 

yesterday, i bought some new yarn.  a.c. moore had balls of a debbie bliss cashmerino knockoff on clearance for about 5 dollars each (72 yds) and i was tempted.  very tempted.  but i did not partake.  i bought 200 yard skeins of a nice merino wool (one in dark green and one in a green/brown mix… that’s for darby’s christmas scarf, and harry potter gryffindor colors!) and that will suffice for now.  i’m set on knitting projects.  i need to finish up a grass green chunky garter-stitch scarf, and then i need to finish up a blue and green striped scarf.  and then i can start my new scarves. 

i like scarves.  and knitting. 

******
RACHEL’S TORTILLA SOUP

my friend rachel gave me this recipe.  it was originally called 6 can tortilla soup, but i’m not a big fan of canned chicken, so i did a little modification.

ingredients:

  • cooked chicken.  i don’t care if you use boneless skinless chicken breasts or a whole chicken.  what i normally do is cut up a couple boneless, skinless chicken breasts into small pieces and saute them with a bit of chopped onion, garlic, chili powder, and a pinch of cayenne.  but you could boil chicken, too, and use that.  whichever is easiest.
  • 2 cans of chicken broth
  • 1 can of corn
  • 1 can of black beans
  • 1 can of diced tomatoes with chiles

combine all ingredients together in a pot.  let simmer.  serve with cheddar cheese, tortilla strips/chips or sour cream on top.