Clicking Needles....

This is what I have been working on in the evenings:

I found this fun design while digging in a basket in an antique shop in Rye, England. Cost me a whopping 30p ($0.75 cents)! While the pattern recommends an angora yarn, I am using a very simple but nice smokey grey acrylic, with the birds in an off-white. The pattern recommends using a red yarn for the birds beaks. Can you imagine that? I figure if I don't like the appearance once I have completed the sweater I can stitch in some colour when I am finished. I'll photograph the front of my own soon...oh and put a bird on it!

Summer Rice Salad

Trying to figure out something different for dinner, I was recently wandering the aisles at my local Bulk Barn and noticed the various rice blends they have available. I grabbed some, just to try. When I got home, it occurred to me that these rice blends would be perfect for a cold, rice salad. Most of the blends available have bulger wheat, wheat berries, lentils, et al. and are just screaming to be chilled with a nice vinaigrette!

I settled on a tabouleh recipe: a simple 1/4 cup of lemon juice and 1/2 cup of olive oil. Mark Bittman recommends using lots of freshly ground pepper. Added some red peppers and cilantro I had on hand and voila! It tastes incredible! Next summer party I am making this because it is SO easy!

Makes me HaPpY!

I love this video....shot in France....http://machine-a-voyager.voyages-sncf.com/

The Stupidity of Rhubarb

Oh! Only about a month ago I trekked to pick rhubarb at a secret patch. The motivation: to make a Rhubarb Coffee Cake which I bake every Spring. Thankfully, if you consistently pick your rhubarb patch, you can make the patch last throughout the summer. Otherwise it will go to seed and you must wait another year.

So may this be an electronic reminder to myself!

Secondly, it is important to take pictures of the said cake you are about to write about on a blog you rarely maintain. I secured a picture at the batter stage, but unfortunately ate the results of said cake before photographing it. Perhaps I am just learning how to blog!

Rhubarb Coffee Cake

Cake Batter:
1/2 cup of Oil
1 1/2 cup of White Sugar
1 Egg
1 cup of Sour Milk (add one tsp of vinegar to regular milk to make lumpy)
2 cups of Flour
1 tsp of Vanilla
1/2 tsp of Salt
1/2 tsp of Cinnamon
1 tsp of Baking Soda
3 cups of finely chopped Rhubarb

Topping: (combine the following)
1/3 cups of Sugar
1 tsp of Cinnamon
1/2 cup of Walnuts

1. Dissolve the baking soda in the milk.
2. Beat oil, sugar, vanilla and egg together.
3. Combine your dry ingredients and add wet mixture alternating with milk. Stir in rhubarb.
4. Pour into a 9" x 13" pan and sprinkle with Topping. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.