Life With Abby!

I can't even begin to explain how much joy this sweet little dog has brought into our lives. She is so well behaved and mild mannered I can't get over it. However, I feel so stretched thin and stressed out. I am not used to waking up and having to immediately get out of my warm cozy bed and taking the dog out to pee. I am used to be able to hit the snooze button on morning that I really need it, but now not so much. I mean we are still working hard on this whole potting training thing and I don't want to blow it. Then on nights like last night where I worked until 7:15, then had to go to the grocery store, then had to cook dinner, had to feed the dog, had to give the dog medicine, hoping to get everything done by 8 so I could watch House! Whew! Fortunately, Walt is really great about covering the late night potty times. So he takes night shift and I take day shift. Next week Abby goes back for her first injection for her heartworms and we have to drop her off at the vet at 7:30 am. Which means we will have to wake up at 6:30 am....uggghhh! We also won't be allowed to pick her back up until 4pm. I am going to be so worried about my baby. She got to go to the dog park this weekend and meet some other dogs. I think that is going to take some time. She is also super protective of her mommy. I can't help but to smile when I watch her sleep and she starts to dream. I love when she sees that her daddy is sleeping in the morning and whines really loud to wake him up. I love our new puppy.

Welcome Home Abby!!

Where to start? Well, early Saturday morning Walt received a phone call from his brother Phillip. Phillip asked if we were allowed to have pets. Walt told him that we were, but it probably wasn't a good idea. Well, shortly after hanging up the phone with Phillip all Walt could think of was 'Olga' (that was Abby's name before). Phillip had told us that she had been at the SPCA for a long time because no one wanted her because she only had one eye.

So we decided that we would go take a look at 'Olga'. Granted there were some reservations. She is heart worm positive and there can be some danger in the treatment. We got to the SPCA and instantly fell in love with 'Olga'. She was so mellow and shy. So we decided we would take her home. First, things first though, we would have to change her name. So we named her Abby! After filling out all of the paperwork and getting all the necessary paperwork we walked next door to set an appointment for Abby to see the Vet and get her heart worms taken care of. (Her first appointment is tomorrow, I am so nervous). Next stop, PetSupermarket!! I then decided to spend entirely too much money, but how can you say no to that face! She has been so great these past 2 days and has brought many smiles & lots of laughter into our home!

Quick, Quick!!

Not much time to post, but I just felt the need to share what we had for dinner last night. Zuppa Toscana (which you will usually find at Olive Garden) made at home from scratch. It was so yummy! It is Walt's favorite thing from Olive Garden so I found the recipe here on CopyKat.com. I also made corn fritters which can be found through the Hillbilly Housewife blog. So that it is it. Just wanted to share yummy dinner.

Back To Knitting

My knitting world has been very strange lately. Lots of new techniques and unexpected projects. I started working on my first every lace project, which is Gail this beautiful shawl that kind of looks like peacock feathers when it is all finished. I am using this beautiful yarn that Francesca sent me.

 So, things started really well. I was really shocked and concerned that I hadn't had any issues. I mean so many seasoned lace knitters where really having problems with this shawl. So 1st repeat done, and the 2nd, and the 3rd, and the 4th, and the 5th, and then the 6th repeat came and something went so wrong. Not really sure what happened but I was suddenly short a stitch. So I tinked back a few rows and things were good and then suddenly I was short 1 stitch again. WTF??!!?? Well, the last lifeline (so thankful I used these I tend to skip those extra steps like swatching) was at the end of the 4th repeat which meant I had to take out the 5th & 6th repeat. Not that big of a deal because I am certainly a process knitter and well I am really enjoying the process of this shawl. Got almost to the end of the 5th repeat and I was short 1 stitch again all of a sudden. I feel like I am losing a stitch somewhere on my purl row but I can find it. Hmmmm. I am starting to get frustrated just because I hate not being able to do something right. I CAN follow directions! Well, Gail is currently taking a backseat since I working on a top secret project for Francesca. I will say that it requires about 700 yards of fingering weight and is Halloween themed to go with the theme of of next swap package. It is going really well and rather quickly. Walt even really likes and he doesn't often drool over the things that I knit. Speaking of Walt his socks are still on hold. They will be the death of me. They have become a project knit instead of a process and well I have just kind of been avoiding them. I know they will be fantastic when they are finished, but I have frogged them about 3 times now and just can't really stand to touch them at the moment. They are also plain socks which can be so boring at times. Lastly, I recently made a bunch of coasters to sell at the First Friday event. I was only given a weeks notice and had to whip up what I could as quick as I could. I also made a ton of soap in different scents, bases, colors, shapes, etc... I still have some lace/fingering weight yarn that I am trying to spin that has been sitting on the back burner since my spinning section of the couch has been blocked by a tote full of randomness.

Can't Get It Off My Mind!!!

What you ask? Food! I have recently reawakened my passion for food and cooking. I remember being really young and always wanting to make sure the food my mom had prepared was placed on the table just right so that it would look as beautiful as possible. I remember getting in trouble for “playing” restaurant with my Great Grandmother’s fine china. I was never afraid to try new foods and that still stays with me. There are some things that are so visually appealing to me that even though I have tried them several times and not enjoyed them I will continue to do so, I guess I am hoping it is a taste that I will acquire. Sushi is one of those foods for me, it is beautiful, so meticulously made, I mean people spend years trying to perfect their sushi making skills and well, it shows. Unfortunately, for me I just can’t seem to enjoy it. I do try it every time we go to a Chinese buffet. Lately, I have been really eager to improve my cooking skills (what few I have). I find that getting recipes and cooking them aren’t usually too hard; I mean I can follow directions, but I would like to have more finesse in the kitchen. I would like to understand why things cook the way the do & if I can improve upon that. I want to be more creative in creating my own recipes. So to try and improved my creativeness I decided that I would need to learn more about other cultures and what they eat and different cooking techniques they use. So I have spent the better part of my day looking at French recipes and techniques and it looks like we will be having a French food day at home soon!!

Cooking Bug!

So lately I have really had a serious cooking bug. I mean I have always loved to cook and create new dishes, but lately I have wanted to find new recipes & buy giant recipe books with cool tips and tricks. I have also been really drawn to international cuisine lately. So I have been cruising around lots of websites such as allrecipes.com and some blogs such as hillbilly housewife. I really would like to get a bread maker and start canning stuff (such as pickles and my own red sauces). I am finding that I have a hard time branching out. I like to try lots of stuff, but so many recipes call for ingredients I don’t have on hand and can’t afford to get on hand. So what’s a girl to do?? Well,  my plan is to buy one jarred/bottled spice every week when I go grocery shopping as these are the things I always seem to need and not have especially when trying to recreate international cuisine. So what have I made lately? Well, 2 weekends ago we had a total Middle East lunch that consisted of Fried Cauliflower with Tahini Sauce; Homemade Hummus; Couscous with Baby Portabellas, Onion, Bell Pepper; & Tabia Polo. It was so good! Walt really liked the Fried Cauliflower. We had homemade Tacos Sunday & Monday, Breakfast for dinner last night which consisted of scrambled eggs; sausage, biscuits, & gravy; & hash brown casserole. It was so good. Tonight’s menu is spaghetti with lots of mushrooms because we love the little fungi, sausage instead of groud beef because it was on sale, and homemade garlic bread. Forgot to mention I also recently made vegan chocolate cupcakes with vegan peanut butter frosting. They were super yummy! Well, I am off to find some more recipes. Any ideas please share…..

DB: Swiss Swirl Ice Cream Cake

This month's Daring Bakers' challenge was the Swiss Swirl Ice Cream Cake!

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.-

Since I currently do not have internet at home I will not be able to get the pictures up until this weekend when I am at the coffee shop. This challenge made me feel really proud of myself and was also very yummy. I was really excited to be making ice cream from scratch both with out eggs or an ice cream maker. I didn't know that you could make ice cream without an ice cream maker. So not only did I make both chocolate and vanilla ice cream from scratch I also made cake, whipped cream, & fudge sauce from scratch. I am telling you this recipe was so yummy. It was a bit on the time consuming side because of having to wait for the ice cream to set. You can find the recipe for the Swiss Swirl Ice Cream Cake here! This was so yummy. I loved the ice cream and the whipped cream although I wasn't too fond of the frozen cake & I think I would have like for it to have more of a chocolate flavor. I promise I will post pictures by the end of the week, so check back for yummy photos.