Busy Bea Knits

Our vacation in Maui last month was restful and relaxing.  Unfortunately, I broke my foot a week before our vacation, so we had to slightly adjust our plans to accomodate for my temporary disability.  The Jones fracture I sustained was a clean break on the fifth metatarsal of my right foot.  Luckily, no surgery was required; I just needed a lace-up ankle brace and hot/cold treatment to promote healing of the bone fracture.  We were really impressed with LAX and Maui airports' wheelchair accomodations; we were quickly whisked to the front of the TSA line; however, I did have to go through full body patdown since I couldn't walk through the regular scanner.

We rented a wheelchair upon arrival in Maui, and Kurt was so wonderful about taking me everywhere including shopping, restaurants, evening sunset watching, and daily trips to the swimming pool and jacuzzi.  I took two books (The Kite Runner and Pretty Birds) and two knitting projects (Amiga and Leaf Lace Shawl).  Memorable foods on this vacation included Fried Rice from The Gazebo (rice with Portugese sausage, bacon, Maui onions, green onions, diced purple cabbage, and scrambled eggs), French Toast and Moco Loco from The Seahouse, Mai Tais and Coconut Shrimp from Cheeseburger in Paradise, and Meadow Gold POG for breakfast everyday.


I mostly worked on the Leaf Lace Shawl during our week in Maui so it's near completion...I'm halfway through the Edging Lace chart, so eight more rows and I can bind off.  I charted in Excel the main body repeat of the Leaf Lace Shawl pattern and printed it out so it would be easy to work on while on the plane and while on vacation (see photo above).  It worked out so well, I'd highly recommend this for any travel knitting with charts.  No plans to incorporate beads on the edging.  The yarn I chose for this project is Madelinetosh Pashmina in Baltic, a dark rich shade of blue.  Finished project photos coming soon.

Lumpia are one of my favorite deep fried foods...pork filling, vegetables, seasonings, and a wafer thin wrapper all deep fried.  What's not to like?  This past week I watched quite a few You Tube videos on how to make lumpia.   I took ingredients that I liked most and combined them for my version below:

Pork Lumpia
1 lb. lean ground pork
1 carrot finely grated
1/3 c. cilantro finely chopped
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 egg
salt and pepper
1 Tbsp. canola oil
1 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
1/3 c. chopped white onion
1/3 c. chopped green onion
1/2 c. finely shredded cabbage
2 c. canola oil for frying
1 raw scrambled egg for sealing each lumpia

Place first seven ingredients in large bowl and mix together with a spoon (or your hands if you like).  Set aside.  In a small fry pan, heat 1 tablespoon canola oil over medium heat.  Add ginger and garlic first.  Wait 10-15 seconds, then add white and green onions and shredded cabbage.  Saute quickly for 2 minutes just until vegetables begin to soften.  Pour into meat mixture.  Fill each lumpia wrapper with 1 tablespoon of filling (it doesn't take a lot) and seal with egg wash.  Filling will yield 36 to 42 lumpia.  Deep fry in oil 2-3 minutes.  Then carefully place on a platter with paper towels to soak up any excess oil.  Use sweet chili sauce for dipping and enjoy!

My lunch today: corn on the cob with butter, mayonnaise, parmesan cheese, and tapatio sauce.  Parmesan cheese is a convenient substitute for Mexican grated cotija cheese.  This tasty and popular street food is a big favorite at our family barbeques all summer long.  The sweet white corn is such a treat all by itself.  If you're not a big fan of mayonnaise, try it with lime and chile powder.



Arranging the ears of corn upright in my tamal steamer I was able to steam 20 at once.  Split in half, they go a long way as an appetizer while all of the tri-tip and chicken are grilling away.  What's your favorite summer food?

Happy Summer Solstice!  Enjoy the longest day of the year with some knitting and a cold beverage (just a minute while I go get one from the frig).  Okay now it feels like summer. 

So what's been on the needles for the last six months?  Well, one not so good version of Featherweight Cardigan because the armholes on the first pattern iteration were not so flattering.  So that's in a timeout until I decide what to do with three gorgeous hanks of Punta Yarns Mericash.  Oy vey.  But I did finish something.  It's a beautiful swing jacket that I found on Ravelry last fall.  Pole is so cleverly designed to flatter so many body shapes;  it's basically shaped like a donut with a retangle in the center and two sleeves knitted on each side.  Take a look at my Pole sweater:



Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage in Graphite (all 7 skeins of it) that I bought from WEBS at Stitches West 2011 was everything I hoped it would be.  It definitely has lived up to all the positive reviews on Ravelry.  It certainly has lots of bloom when washed and blocked, and it feels more like a heavy worsted than a light worsted.  Just to give you an idea, I used a US 10 1/2 needle for the body portion of the sweater.
I've worn it everywhere!  Love, love, love.  What a wonderful pattern that Joji Locatelli designed...and twice the talent to offer it in two languages: English and Castillian Spanish.  Joji is a gem.



And how clever is this tuck stitch sleeve?  I love a ruched sleeve.  Look at it.  Isn't it beautiful?  I'm planning on making another one, possibly from my stash using some Rowan Wool Cotton in a dark purple or the Malabrigo Silky Merino (Velvet Grapes) that I bought at Stitches West 2011.

Happy belated Thanksgiving!  Hope you're still out there knitting and cooking away.  The cold weather sure has been perfect for lots of knitting.  I finished Mythos a while ago, but haven't taken the opportunity to blog about it...not without photos in hand.  It took a while for the right weather and some time to find the right brooch.  I found the brooch at Lisa Toland's hand made jewelry booth at the Harvest Festival.  She crochets wire jewelry pieces, each is so unique, delicate and exquisite piece of art work.  This particular piece has two different shades of purple wire with green baguette beads incorporated along all the petals and center.

I think a hand made brooch is a great compliment to a hand made cardigan, no?  I used my sock yarn stash to knit Mythos:  Colinette Jitterbug Velvet Plum and Mixed Berries, Koigu somewhat solid in burgundy, and Pagewood Farms Aleska 5 in Fuschia Fizz. I changed yarns approximately every 8 rows to come up with the striped effect you see in the final product.  I knitted a provisional cast on at the top of the sleeves and knitted the left and right body pieces first.  Then I grafted the two pieces together along the center of the back.  I knitted the sleeves last on double pointed needles and reversed engineered the sleeve instructions.

There were 100 stitches on each back piece that had to be grafted together.  It took less than an hour to kitchener stitch up the back, and I did take a break halfway through the grafting.  I'd have to say it was the most intense part of the whole pattern, but well worth the adventure.  The other intense part was the sideways construction...that alone made knitting this pattern so worthwhile.  I'd consider knitting a second one in the near future because I'm so happy with the look and fit of Mythos. 

After finishing this sweater, I've started and completed another sweater that's a hybrid between the February Lady Sweater by Pamela Wynne and the Cabled Feather Cowl by Cindy Craig.  It's blocking right now, but hopefully I'll have photos to share with you in the coming week.  It's knitted up in Classic Elite Yarns Wool Bam Boo.  What a beautiful yarn to work with.  I highly recommend it.  And today I cast on for the Cosmic Teleidoscope Vest.  It's basically an EZ-inspired Pi Shawl pattern knitted up into a vest (EZ is knit speak for Elizabeth Zimmermann).  I'm using yet more of my sock yarn stash to knit this beautiful vest and can hardly wait to show you. 
As far as cooking, I've been experimenting with an enchilada recipe that was a hit this weekend here at home.  I've got to get the proportions down in recipe form before I can share with you, but I hope you'll stay tuned.  I should have plenty of follow along photos and a recipe in the next week or so.  Have a great week.

This past week we've had tomatoes in a few ways: bruschetta, caprese salad and tomato pizza.  But the one that I really wanted to share with you was this photo.  The recipe was perfect for our garden sweet tomatoes and our overcast Fall weekend weather.  My sister made Ina Garten's Roasted Tomato and Basil Soup last weekend.  We all liked the recipe so much, we made some more this weekend.  It just doesn't get much better than the Barefoot Contessa's soup.  Somehow her combination of ingredients makes the tomatoes really shine.  I love, love this recipe.  My sister kept her version hearty and chunky (photographed below) and she added cream at the very end.


I really wanted a smoother soup, so I put mine in the food processor (container on the right, pictured below).  Both versions came out great.  We'll definitely be having grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup this week.


Yesterday I was looking for recipes to use up leftover roasted/pureed butternut squash.  I've already made butternut squash muffins and butternut squash pancakes with candied walnuts and maple syrup.  Then yesterday I stumbled on this recipe on Flickr.  How can I describe these soft, fluffy little treats?  Well, they were so good that this is the only one left to photograph!  I should have made a double batch as recommended by Danielle.  Good thing I still have some butternut squash leftover for another batch.  One of the advantages of using butternut squash in place of canned pumpkin in recipes is that you can get away with using less sugar plus it has a brighter, more vibrant shade of orange.  So what's cooking in your kitchen lately?