Busy Bea Knits

I met Jared Flood this weekend. I even asked for a vacation day at work just so I could attend his book signing. Well, I didn’t have to…but you know there’s this taco stand in Santa Barbara called La Super Rica, and as long as I’m going to SB there should be a stop at La Super Rica somewhere on the itinerary. I ordered a tamal de verduras (a vegetable tamale covered in a white sauce), a #20 a gordita de frijoles (a thick corn tortilla stuffed inside with pinto beans) and a #6 a quesadilla de rajas (2 fresh corn tortillas topped with melted cheese, roasted chile pasilla strips, onions and herbs)…amazing, sublime, ethereal, but I digress. So where was I? Yes. I met Jared Flood! It was such a special occasion. I actually met him and heard his voice. It’s so interesting to meet someone you’ve only read about through the blogosphere. I wasn’t exactly sure what he looked like. Am I the only one? His photography is amazing, but he doesn't show his face too often on his blog. He was very gracious. He’s also younger than I thought. I'm so glad I took the opportunity to meet such a talented designer who has so much to offer our knitting community. I'm looking forward to knitting some of the patterns from Made In Brooklyn.
I got to Loop & Leaf early enough to get a parking spot behind the shop. I bought my copy of Made in Brooklyn, found a few skeins of Frog Tree alpaca in a beautiful shade of pumpkin for Nancy’s blanket, and I bought a raffle ticket. Loop & Leaf is celebrating their two year anniversary and is giving away three bags from Offhand Designs. All of the raffle ticket proceeds go to charity. And Jared would pick the winning ticket at Friday's book signing.

Being a scaredy cat about driving at night, I didn’t stay long at the book signing. I took a few photos, got my pattern booklet signed and headed home. What a party pooper I am! Celeste Varner's parents brought out some amazing hors d’oeuvres platters of stuffed figs, goat cheese with slivered almonds and drizzled honey, White Stilton cheese with dried apricots, and sparkling wine with jasmine tea ice cubes. I should have stayed. Just about the time I got back home, my cell phone starts ringing. I picked it up and it was Jared. I won the three bags! My heart fluttered and I think I may have screamed. I think I was hyperventilating too. The combination of Jared Flood calling me and winning three Offhand Designs bags was enough to make me lightheaded.

So today I went back to Loop & Leaf with Nancy and Stephanie. I got a beautiful Zelda Weekender in the Foliage leaf design along with a deluxe knitting clutch in the Jack green velvet design and a Stella Bella clutch in the Chicks in a Row design. You know a knitter can’t have too many bags. I feel so lucky to have won such an exquisite set of bags from Loop & Leaf. I think the only way to enjoy it more is to share it. I asked Nancy and Stephanie if they would accept the accessory bags as early Christmas gifts. And Nancy actually had a tougher decision to make. I offered her the choice of a completed February Lady Sweater in Berroco Alpaca Peat Mix #6277 or one of the Offhand Design accessory bags. Well, it was a tough choice but she went home with a warm hand knitted sweater. I will be sure to take photos of her wearing her hand knitter Christmas gift very soon! And Stephanie picked the super cute Stella Bella clutch.

We completed our field trip to Santa Barbara by stopping at Pascucci Restaurant for dinner. That Stephanie knows all of the great places to eat. There are Italian restaurants and there are Italian restaurants. This was the latter. (An obvious twist on one of my favorite lines in Casino Royale, where Eva Green's character, Vesper Lynd explains the difference between dinner jackets and dinner jackets). It was a good weekend.

There’s plenty of 7-Bone Pot Roast meat leftover to make another one of my favorite recipes: shredded beef tacos. Here’s how I make them. Start by preparing your toppings first: shredded sharp cheddar cheese, diced tomatoes, shredded iceburg lettuce, and some pico de gallo if you like.

I added a can of fire roasted diced jalapeños to my pico de gallo because today I didn’t feel like fussing with fresh jalapeños. Grab a couple of Mission yellow corn tortillas and have them ready to warm up. Line a serving platter with paper towels to absorb excess oil from the tacos once they’re done, and keep it close to the stove before you begin. Add a generous amount of vegetable oil to a 12 inch fry pan. Let it get really hot over a medium high flame. Test it by adding a small piece of tortilla. When it begins to sizzle on contact, that’s when the oil is ready. In the meantime, take out just enough shredded beef for the tacos you’re planning to make. Mix in just enough Herdez green salsa to moisten the beef as it warms up in a skillet. I like Herdez green salsa because it's mild, chunky and fresh tasting for a small can and a small price.

Next, warm up the tortillas so that when they’re folded in half they won’t break apart. Fill tortillas with meat and fold in half. Carefully place tacos in hot oil one at a time, being careful not to overcrowd. My 12 inch fry pan fits about 4 tacos at once.

Allow them to fry to a dark golden brown color (I think my two past the golden stage…oops!). Turn them over with tongs and brown on other side. Remove from frying pan and absorb excess oil with paper towels. Add cheddar cheese immediately so it can melt over meat. Top with lettuce, tomato and pico de gallo. Enjoy!

Whenever 7-Bone Pot Roast is on sale, I’ll stock up and make a few of my favorite recipes with it. One of those recipes is shredded beef empanadas. Here is a picture tutorial of my decidedly unauthentic empanada recipe. It’s a favorite in our house, and several folks have asked for the recipe. This is a recipe I came up with using ingredients that are easy to find in your local grocery store and one that I'm happy to share with you!

Shredded Beef Empanadas
Meat Filling
2 c. shredded beef
1 c. frozen vegetables
2 medium potatoes, diced
½ medium onion, diced
Tomato Soup Sauce
1 can tomato soup
1 can El Pato Sauce, hot tomato sauce (yellow can)
½ can tomato paste
2 c. shredded medium cheddar cheese
Pastry dough
1 canister Pillsbury Grand Biscuits
1 c. flour and rolling pin for rolling out biscuits

This is definitely a weekend recipe. Ideally you should slow cook your meat the day before you want to eat the empanadas. Crock pots are excellent slow cookers for this recipe. Season meat however you normally would and slow cook it for 6-8 hours, or until the meat falls off the bone. Shred the meat after it cools, and store it in the refrigerator till you’re ready to make the meat filling. This weekend, the 7-Bone Pot Roast was too big for my 6 quart crock pot, so I used my oven roaster instead and cooked it for 2 ½ hours at 350 degrees. I used two cups for this recipe. The rest is for flautas or BBQ beef sandwiches later this week.


To make the tomato soup sauce, mix together one can of tomato soup, one can of Pato Sauce and ½ can of tomato paste. Set aside and use approximately 1 cup in this recipe. The rest you can freeze for later use.
To make the meat filling, first panfry the potatoes in a skillet with some oil till they are soft. Then add the onion and sauté till they are clear. Next add 2 cups of the shredded meat along with 1 cup of tomato soup sauce and 1 cup of frozen vegetables. Stir well until meat is completely incorporated into sauce and warm. Transfer meat filling to a mixing bowl.
You’ll need a smooth clean table surface to roll out the Pillsbury Grand Biscuits out like tortillas with a rolling pin and plenty of flour.

Flour the table work surface, flour the rolling pin, and flour each biscuit. Roll out a biscuit till it measure about 6 inches in diameter.

Use approx. ¼ cup of meat filling on top of flattened biscuit. Top with shredded medium cheddar cheese and seal ends of the biscuit securely.

Use a fork to help seal the edges.
Repeat this till you have used all eight biscuits.


Follow cooking directions for the biscuits, about 12 minutes at 375 degrees. Enjoy!

The morning air is getting much cooler when I go to the gym now. The row of Big Leaf Maple trees along the corridor entrance road of campus is so beautiful this time of year. I just love the small glimpse of fall colors these trees provide in an otherwise unchanged green landscape.

The anticipation of wearing my Cozy Cabin Jacket this fall and winter season is building up. I have to take a few more progress pictures of this intriguing and genius pattern that’s inspired by Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Tomtem Jacket. One of these days, I’ll get around to reading all of EZ’s books and be able to “intuitively” knit as she once did. In the meantime, I’ll continue taking classes at Stitches West every year it comes to Santa Clara, CA. By the way, I went online the day registration opened up (Wednesday, October 6th) and signed up for two classes: Armhole Success with Judy Pascale and Joy of Finishing with Chris Blysma. Stephanie signed up for her classes on Thursday (including Judy Pascale’s class), and she mentioned that Joy of Finishing was already full.

Usually spring time is associated with spring cleaning, but my spring cleaning seems to be a year round effort. I always keep an extra large bag in the spare bedroom specifically for Goodwill donations. As soon as it’s full, I immediately drop it off and get a tax deductible slip. Perhaps it’s my aversion to anything remotely resembling pack rat living. In any case, I de-cluttered my yarn stash on the weekend of our 805-Knitters’ Retreat in Morro Bay (pretty cool name, huh?) My White Elephant gift included 7 skeins of Patons Classic Merino in a rich chocolate shade. This yarn was nicely packaged in a beautiful Däv raingear bag (Large East/West in Lime-Dark Brown). I didn’t pay full price for the bag, so it created quite a stir during the White Elephant exchange. It's quite the fetching bag. The other yarns I de-cluttered, traded and exchanged were 10-skein bags of Cascade Bollicine Holiday in Blue, Pink and Brown. I came home with some money and a couple of skeins of sock yarn. Not bad for a weekend of spring cleaning.

All throughout the knitting retreat weekend and the five-day cruise that hubby and I took to Cabo San Lucas, I maintained my morning exercise routine. I was pretty impressed with that accomplishment and the fact that I only gained a pound after eating so much. Every morning for breakfast I had 3 toasted bagel halves with lox, cream cheese, tomatoes, red onions, capers and fresh squeezed lemon juice (my mouth is watering just typing about it!). We had a good relaxing time and we got lots of rest. It rained in Cabo the day we were there, but it was overall a great, reasonably priced vacation.

Something that I’ve taken a liking to this summer is gardening. The toughest part was getting started by removing all the weeds. Now I look forward to smelling the fertile wet soil and seeing the progress of the various plants that have taken root in my yard: white amaryllis, lemon verbena, mint, rosemary, green onions and lots of verdolagas (purslane in English). I had a few good meals already using this recipe for verdolagas. Next year I’ll need to work on getting some chayote vines and some new cactus growing. My cactus didn’t have any new growth this past year, so I pruned it in hopes that next year it will do better. I did notice cochineal scale insects on it, so I quickly removed them. Hopefully they haven’t done any permanent damage. I’m not interested in using the cochineal carmine for fiber dying and don’t want them anywhere near my cactus.

Did I mention my other interest – cooking? Lately I’m interested in learning how to cook with Indian spices. There’s a local restaurant called The Curry Leaf. I’m so impressed with the vegetarian dishes and how satisfying a meatless meal can be when prepared with Indian spices. I asked the restaurant owner where he gets his spices and went to Apna Spiceland in Thousand Oaks following his good advice. What a treasure of a small grocery store! The well stocked spice aisle has so many spices in various sized plastic bags. The prices are as impressive as the variety. By skipping the fancy tin containers, glass jars or other expensive packaging, the prices are kept remarkably low, which is great news for a newbie like me. I picked out some turmeric, cumin seeds, cardamom and garam masala then headed for the pre-made sauce aisle and selected a few jars of Tikka Masala paste and a Korma sauce that I’m looking forward to testing out with chicken. I couldn’t leave without getting a couple of fresh items in the produce section: the eggplant and ginger both looked especially fresh. With spices in hand, I was ready to begin my gastronomic adventure. First on the list was hummus. I made a few good batches using this recipe and shared with friends and family. Successful. Next on the list was Baingan ka Bharta by Meena Agarwal. I tried this recipe and it was a huge success! Third on the list was Basmati Rice. Not as successful…I guess you need to cover the boiling rice with a lid for it to turn out right? The quick and easy solution was a rice steamer that I found on sale yesterday at Fry’s Electronics. What’s on the menu this weekend? I’d like to try this recipe for Spicy Chickpea Curry by Ele and this recipe for Masoor Daal.

This is a knitting blog, right? Well, maybe next post I’ll have some progress pictures of my Cozy Cabin Jacket. For now all I have are words...which reminds me: I need to get back to reading The Kite Runner. I’m on chapter seven.

I usually ask myself this after Labor Day. This summer was actually productive between visiting relatives, working in the garden and the beginning of a steady exercise routine. There isn’t a whole lot of knitting to show you, but that shouldn’t keep me from estranging my blog, right?

One of the knitting projects that I’ve been working on is the Cozy Cabin Jacket designed by Anne Lecrivain-Cozzoli. Last week, I seamed together the four log cabin squares that form the bottom half of the jacket. I’ve only taken one progress picture so far…the yarn is a worsted weight yarn from Crystal Palace called Mochi Plus in Violets Rainbow (color #553). I’m enjoying the colors, the soft wool feeling of a single-ply yarn, and the way it looks in garter stitch blocks. The color palette should fit right in with most of my winter clothes, so I’m looking forward to wearing it this winter season. This is the main knitting project I’ll be taking with me to our knitting retreat in Los Osos next weekend. We’ll be staying at the Villa Antonio once again so it will feel familiar and cozy.
And what about the exercise routine you ask? Well, it started August 10th and seems to be working out better than I had imagined. My weekday mornings begin at 4:45 AM. That’s enough time to get out of bed, brush my teeth, put my hair in a ponytail, put the gym clothes on, take a sweat towel, the iPod, and a water bottle and drive to the gym by 5:00 AM for a 45 minute cardio workout. What’s remarkably effective is mental preparation and planning the night before: setting out the gym clothes, the sneakers, the socks, the towel and the iPod all in front of my vanity. I use a refillable water bottle and keep that on the frig door and ready to go. Mental preparation and visualization are powerful tools for achieving exercise and weight loss goals. For years I’ve wanted to get back into a regular exercise routine, wanting something that would fit into my day to day routine. I was ready to try a morning routine…there are so many reasons why it's working. A Mon-Fri routine before work is ideal because I have to get up anyway. The extra time after work is freed up for making dinner for Kurt and me, or going out with friends, knitting, gardening, shopping, doing errands, etc. I only need to take one shower per day if my workouts are in the mornings – a timesaver when we’re going out to dinner on a weeknight.

I'm paying closer attention to what I eat and have made some changes that I can live with. I like spinach, but now I’ve been using it more anytime I eat or pack my lunch. On weekends I'll treat myself to two eggs over easy over a bed of baby spinach, a warm wheat tortilla, sriracha mayo and crumbled feta cheese. It's my sisters concoction and I'm addicted to it now.

If I pack pasta for lunch, then I put a handful of spinach on top of the warm pasta. It wilts quickly enough just from the warmth of the pasta. If we’re having salad, I’ll add a handful to all our salads now. One of my favorite snacks is chips and salsa. The not so good part is the tortilla chips that I like are deep fried in vegetable oil. The bag of tortilla chips from Valu+ market ooze with oil. The shelves are oily, the plastic bags are oily and shiny. It's pretty obvious why they taste so good. So what I’ve been doing is baking my own tortillas and tortilla chips. Two baking sheets can fit a dozen regular sized tortillas in the oven, or two dozen smaller tortillas called corinas. Rub them lightly with olive oil…just enough to make the surface shiny and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. It’s a satisfying low calorie snack with about 1 gram of fat. One of my favorite toppings is nonfat cottage cheese with salsa, lettuce and tomato. This is the kind of snack I could live with and not feel deprived. I’ve started buying Oroweat Sandwich Thins since Vons started carrying them a couple of months ago. They are delicious, satisfying and they don’t feel like wimpy pieces of low calorie bread. I like both whole wheat and multi-grain varieties. Kurt grills fish once a week now. Last week was salmon, this week was ahi tuna steaks, so maybe next week will be halibut.

One other switch I made was with yogurt. I started buying Trader Joe’s Greek Style nonfat yogurt. One 8 oz. serving contains 22g of protein and 120 calories. That’s more protein than a serving of canned tuna! The “eureka” moment came about the same time that I started exercising. I love yogurt anyway, but having yogurt that will keep me satisfied till lunch time is even better. I saw that Trader Joe’s carried three varieties: regular, low-fat and non-fat. So I bought all three so I could decide which had the best taste and how the lower fat varieties compared to the regular. I was amazed at the quality and thick, creamy, custard like texture of this Greek yogurt. My favorite was the plain yogurt with honey. I prefer having plain yogurt so I can add fresh fruits like bananas and/or fresh berries. And the nonfat tasted just as good as the regular. Why didn’t I try this yogurt sooner?! So now I stock honey and agave nectar in my cupboard. I’m hesitant about consuming any kind of sugar substitutes even if they taste good. The extra calories in the honey and agave nectar are worth it to me.

Perhaps it’s my age, but I’m not satisfied with just losing weight. I’m more interested in slowly and permanently changing my lifestyle and how to make better food choices at every meal. It’s a slower process, but I’ve learned to be patient. It's similar to the patience required for knitting a large or more complicated project. You take it section by section, piece by piece, and sometimes one knitting chart line at a time. The finished product is a beautifully hand crafted garment made by your hands. After six weeks, the results are slowly beginning to show and the clothes is fitting better…so here’s hoping!

I savor the summer months here in Southern California. You can stay outdoors till way past sundown, feel the cool breezes gently wrap around you as you reach for a comfy fleece blanket or an old but favorite broken in sweatshirt. Mine happens to be a sweatshirt hoodie in a faded shade of teal green. We take our electronic gadgets, a beverage or two, and perhaps a dessert snack then head to the backyard and stay out late till the stars come out. We've had some really neat bonfires in our backyard this summer...we're definitely taking advantage of our bonfire pit.
One of my sisters came to visit in June/July. We had great quality time at the beach, over coffee and sharing our spiritual journeys and challenges. This is a sister who was like a mom to me. She watched over me: my homework, my bedtime, my chores, my laundry and made sure I had clean clothes to wear to school. Being the youngest of ten, it was all too easy for some tasks to get overlooked in the busyness of everyday life. So Mom assigned my sister Martha to be my "mom." She was more than a great sis, she was a terrific mentor and friend. I vividly can recall the day she explained the birds and the bees to me. Succinct and memorable! Hopefully she will be able to move back to California in the near future. In the meantime, I'll cherish the good times we had during her visit.

One of the trips I took photos to share with is of our Big Sur weekend.

Just before arriving to our camping destination, we stopped at Nepenthe to take in the spectacular coastal views. Just look at this photo taken at 1:30 PM. You can still see some fog hovering over the waters. It was perfect weather all weekend, not too hot and not too cold. We went hiking up to Pfeiffer Falls and Valley View on our first day. That was a good two hour hike (round trip). Our second day, we walked to Andrew Molera State Beach on a 1.5 mile walking trail with magnificent and majestic mountain views. Take a look at this photo below:

When you get to the beach, the landscape changes dramatically and it's amazing how you can go from mountain views to coastal views!


After a nice morning at the beach, we made our way to Monterey to visit a friend and new homeowner. Monterey has a nice coastal community and Wharf. Our last day, we explored our campground's walking/hiking trails and found some beautiful spots we'd like to come back to visit on future trips. On the way home, we stopped to see the Elephant Seals in Piedras Blancas. This is part of a Mammal Marine Sanctuary along the Pacific Coast and near San Simeon. Take a look at this big fellow:

Needless to say, I have been knitting very little this summer! I will post some knitting next time. Hope your summer is going well.

Have you noticed that my knitting this year seems to be repeating itself? I knit about a dozen Dolores Park Cowls, some of which I never took photos. Then I knit 4 pair of Felted Clogs (Fiber Trends pattern AC-33). And now? I completed my second February Lady Sweater. Why? Because I can that's why.


So, the third February Lady Sweater that I'm knitting now is with Berroco Ultra Alpaca (#6277 Peat Mix). It's such a dark rich green...and the feel of alpaca and merino is so soft.

Have I shown you my latest stitch markers? These were made by Ginny from our Thursday night knitting group.


The flexible ring is well constructed and does not get in the way as much as metal rings. I love her choice of beads. It was really difficult to decide which ones to buy!

These were made by Nancy. I picked up a whole bunch of beads from Bead Time in Ventura. And asked Nancy to make me a few sets. I love how they all came out. My favorite is the pink and green. I think the small beads are all Swarovski crystals and the rest are miscellaneous glass beads from Bead Time.



I sure hope the Jesusita Fire gets fully contained this weekend. It's just devastating to our Santa Barbara neighbors.