My dad will eat anything as a sandwich. I have literally seen the man make a sandwich with spaghetti and tomato sauce. But then again, he’s also a firm believer that any disparate foods will get along, as long as they’re all combined in scrambled eggs (I think of him when I add random veggies to the onion tart I wrote about a while ago).

One sandwich he made all the time was peanut butter, onion and cheese on toast. It used to gross me out when I was a kid, but Dad finally convinced me to try it one day. And it is good. I have no idea how, but it actually is tasty. I make the sandwich sometimes just to remember him making it, but Dad would probably think I was fancyin’ up the place with my whole grain bread and red, not white, onion.

Chris is perhaps understandably horrified by this sandwich. But seriously, just try it.

Last week, out of no where, there were little squares of space chained off in my work building’s lobby. Inside the squares were pallets of canned goods. Everyone who worked for the building was busy, so I didn’t get a chance to ask was it was about.

The next day, ta-da!

Sculptures made from the cans! Turns out, it’s a group of architects that break into teams and practice assembling these for weeks — and then go to locations and race to finish first. They’re on display through the end of the month, and then the cans are donated to the food drive.

I finished the shawl I mentioned in this post. Here’s the whole thing:

Not a square!

I started this in April or May of this year, and for a while, it was a slog. It took me a long time to learn the pattern repeats, and I had to count the stitches after every row to make sure I was on track. I also had to rip back a lot, because I wanted this to be made correctly, without fudged “fixes” for mistakes I made. I think it was worth the effort, though.

Why hello, lens flare.

It’s really pretty, and I’m amazed at the difference blocking made — it went from lumpy and bumpy (and looking pretty awful) to flat and smooth. The lace really opened up, though I wasn’t able to block it as severely as I would have liked because I was afraid of breaking the yarn. I think I should give it another try, though, because the lace is reverting to its previous lumpy state.

I used a skein of Cascade Sierra, a cotton/wool yarn that I had left over from making a Clapotis for Mom last year. I am really glad to be done with the yarn, because it splits, and the cotton hurts my hands because it has no bounce. I need to make a project that uses 100% wool, so that I can work with a yarn that have some stretch.

The baby kimono I mentioned in the previous post is almost finished. All the pieces are knitted, but I have to seam them together, and crochet an edging and ties, then block it. I cannot express to you how bad my seaming is, and I hate doing it. These two things seem to feed one another…

Ok, one more scarf photo.

We didn’t go out for Halloween, but we made dinner for a few friends. Well, Chris made dinner. I mostly cut up a few veggies. There were short ribs:

Mmm. Seared goodness.

These were seared and then braised in wine, tomato paste and mirepoix. I know you don’t eat meat now, but these smelled amazing. When people came over, they came in and then stopped short and then headed toward the kitchen, asking what was cooking. We also had sauteed kale and this farro recipe.

So, so good. Totally worth cleaning the apartment and having people over.

ook, it’s Daily Drop Cap! Quisque suscipit congue neque id adipiscing. Vivamus ornare nisl id lacus egestas quis varius dolor vehicula. Cras ac lacus in massa sagittis sollicitudin quis in lorem. Aliquam et diam ac massa convallis tincidunt. Aenean convallis consequat tincidunt. Vestibulum lobortis, nibh at sodales eleifend, nunc lorem sodales arcu, sit amet sodales diam felis ac nisl. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. In arcu ante, adipiscing nec pharetra ut, cursus vitae lorem. Nam eget mauris eget neque sagittis vulputate. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Donec diam enim, pretium iaculis elementum id, faucibus non lacus.

I found out a couple days ago that there’s a problem with having only black cats: When the power goes out, you can’t see them in the shadows. You can only hear them. And it’s a little scary, especially when one is known to attack.

Tuesday, LA had high winds — at one point, someone told me they were 40 mph — which knocked out lines (and power) all over the city because it’s just not built to sustain it. I was at a restaurant with May that still was serving, despite there being no power. The ambiance was great! But when I got home, the kitties were hiding in the shadows and hard to see. And racing each other all over the apartment.

Yesterday, with the power back on and the sun shining, visibility was much better:

Ash still is a little hard to see, but I blame the camera phone and not the lighting for that.

Private message to Tasha’s mommy: Hi Mama K! You’re not the halfway point between us, but I’m going to pretend you are. Mostly because Ohio is the only place we’re guaranteed to meet up!

I’ve been making this onion tart recipe a lot recently. It’s super simple to make, and lends itself to a lot of adaptations. This time, I added some chopped mushrooms to the onions and caramelized them as well, which gave the tart a nice (fake) meatiness.

Deeelicious.

I don’t measure anything for this, after making it the first time — it’s basically scrambled eggs baked in a pan — and I just throw in whatever leftover veggies or meat that I think would be good. I’ve used asparagus, summer squash, peppers, etc. It’s always good; might be b/c of the cheese on top.

On Sunday, Chris and I carved our pumpkin. We didn’t get one from the pumpkin patch, but from Your Dekalb Farmers Market, a huge grocery store near us that apparently doesn’t approve of using apostrophes. The place is at least the size of a Meijer, and it has everything from a cheese counter to a bakery to a deli to produce to canned goods. The meat there is expensive, but the produce is ridiculously cheap — I bought a container of sage there for 39 cents.

There are no pictures of the pumpkin carving, which is good because I was wearing pajamas and was also coloring my hair. We don’t have a kitchen table, so I threw down some newspaper on the kitchen floor. I was in charge of scooping and seed extraction, while Chris did most of the cutting, since he likes to play with knives. I did the final clean-up of the cutting, though, because Chris was getting exasperated with it:

Him: “Why did you pick an ‘advanced’ pattern?”
Me: “Uh… I like it?”

Clearly we have different approaches here. I think it turned out pretty well, and I learned a bit about trying to photograph things in the dark. I’m not happy with the way saving the images for the web messed with the color, but you get the idea.

Oh, and say hi to Mama K! I sent her the link a little while ago.

First, I have to write that the grammarian in me hates when people say and write anxious when they really mean eager. They’re not interchangeable, people! Anxiety has a nervous element to it.

And now, after that PSA, I’m feeling both emotions about this:

Sunday, Josh and I toured 13 houses. And if you ever have to view 13 houses with Chris (or 13 apartments, or 13 stores), you will be picking up what I’m putting down.

We put in five offers on Monday. Oh, yes. Five. That makes a total of eight so far. One of our previous offers (a short sale) was submitted to the bank for approval. Which means it’s probably ours if we want it. Two other houses countered, but it’s likely would could get them. The house above also is a short sale and submitting our offer to the bank. And it’s the one we want. And it’s likely that we’ll get it. It’s making me feel a lot of anxiety — four hours of sleep last night! — and a lot of eagerness.

It’s a big house: three bedrooms (one’s a master suite), 1 3/4 baths, a living room, a family room, a dining area, a large kitchen, detached two-car garage, patio, backyard.  It’s 1,700 sq. ft., which is one of the largest we’ve seen. I might never move again. Short sales can take up to three months. Let’s cross our fingers and hope everything goes smoothly and this house is mine before the end of January.

I have a ring I bought in Nashville two falls ago. It’s copper plated, but the copper is wearing off, and I’m thinking about checking Etsy’s Alchemy feature, to see if someone can replate it.

I am hard on rings.

I’m not sure what the base metal is, but it can’t be that strong, as there’s some pitting on the band. Some of that might be intentional, but I don’t think so. I think the inside was plated as well, but I think it was only on the band, not the back of the leaf.

It looks kind of interesting now, but I don’t really want a beat-up, distressed-looking ring. I loved the shiny copper look, and I still liked it when the copper got a bit of a patina and darkened. I don’t like the bland, dull finish it has now.

I bought the ring itself for about $25, and I don’t want to spend a ton to replate it. I doubt I will take care of this right now; it might go on my “Deal with it when I have a job” checklist, or I might have Chris take care of it as a Christmas gift. Any thoughts about how much this might cost? I could also just post on Alchemy and ask for estimates.
(And that light box I was talking about? I think I need to get on that!)