Many Things, or Cranberry Madness

Okay, first of all I'd like to thank everyone who voted on my Threadless design! It finished scoring early early this morning and came out with a final score of 2.46 out of 5 total. I hope that's good enough to be printed, and I'll definitely keep you all posted as to what the next stage is!

Also, BLAAARRGGHALISJFLUGAOISHDHGA;LJSJROAIUHGD I LEFT MY CAMERA AT MY BOYFRIEND'S WHEN I WENT TO VISIT THIS PAST WEEKEND!!!!! And he's not coming to visit me until August 3 and there's NO way I'm having him put a Nikon DSLR in the mail, so until he comes to see me I'm camera-less. Meaning I am nice-camera-less and will, for the time being, be using my dad's little Canon point-and-shoot. I have some pictures of a new yarn I bought that I have to download, but not having my camera means that the few pictures I got to shoot of my pies (which were pretty delicious, by the way) won't be up until early August. Which sucks.

And now, to come to the second part of this entry's title. Yes, Cranberry Madness. The lovely yarn that I just bought, mentioned in the paragraph above, is actually really nice. It's Green Mountain Spinnery mohair yarn died in this wonderful deep red color, and the more I work with it the softer it gets. The problem is that the combination of it and the pattern for which I'm using it is driving me absolutely nutso.

I can guess what some of you are thinking. You're not even done with your beret yet; what are you doing taking on other projects??

Well, for your information, I'm done with three point five inches of the lacework on my beret, and I think that it's good to take a bit of a break every once in a while. Don't you? I expect this side project to be a quick knit, and then I can go back to my beret all contented-like.

Well, I expected it to be quick. Since I first cast on yesterday afternoon I have restarted this beast at least fifteen times. Either the stitches are too loose, or the spaces in between them are horridly uneven, or it's just a disgusting excuse for a first row and it's easier to sack it than try to fix it. Uurgh. As a result, I have huge cramps in my left pinky and I'm going a bit cross-eyed. I will complete this project, though. Just you wait and see.

VOTE VOTE VOTE!!!

Hey everyone, my design is up for a vote on Threadless! Which means YOU SHOULD ALL GO VOTE FOR IT!!!

You can find it, vote for it, and see a bigger image here: http://www.threadless.com/submission/284069/Self_Expression

Threadless is an online store for shirts and hoodies that has a really extensive, involved community. They hold an ongoing contest to find new t-shirt designs to print, and each design is up for only 7 days. The designs with the most votes and positive comments can then be selected to print!

Please, please go vote for my design. It's up until July 15 and I need all the help I can get! It takes five seconds to make an account if you haven't already, and then you're home free! (plus, Threadless is an awesome community to be a part of anyway-- just wait until they have another $10 sale and then you'll thank me!)  :)

Thanks to everyone who has already voted and those who will vote before next Thursday. I love you all!




(Up next-- plum and blueberry pies. Stay tuned!)

Barbecue Sauce

Cooking in my family is sometimes hard. My dad abhors tamarind, while my mom likes almost nothing containing coriander or molasses. Any recipe I come across is instantly doctored to suit my family's tastes. And in this case, it worked out for the better-- I made this barbecue sauce recipe that I found on Annie's Eats (she does have wonderful recipes), and the only thing I can say is mmmmm!

Let me back track a bit, and start by saying that my family only eats homemade barbecue sauce. Seriously. The homemade stuff packs a spice-filled tang with which the sickly sweet store-bought stuff can't compete. The only problem is that we cheat a little, as I think do most people whose bbq sauce is "homemade"-- my mom usually uses a ketchup base. So when I found this recipe that makes the sauce from scratch, I pounced.

That being said, I've changed the recipe a bit, and have ended up with a much different result that Annie's. We both halved the recipe, but while she ended up with 2.5 Mason jars of it, I ended up with a little less than 3 cups, or enough to fill a Mason jar, coat 3 racks of ribs, and have a little bit extra. 

I still think it's missing a bit of something-- next time I would add cayenne pepper as well as more cumin, chili powder, and a bit more molasses. Rather than using store-bought chili powder which packs a lot of extra salt, we make our own. If you're interested, its recipe is below. Annie has the bbq sauce recipe she used posted at her website (the link is above), but because I've doctored it, here is my changed recipe* as well!

*you should all note that because I've doctored the halved recipe, that's the one I'll be posting. "Scant" means "not quite," and for the spice measurements feel free to add a bit more than what's called for.

Chili Powder

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon oregano

2 teaspoons garlic powder

Combine ingredients thoroughly and store in an airtight container. 

Barbecue Sauce

Scant 1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil

1 large onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp ground cumin

2 tbsp unsulfured molasses

Scant 1/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1 can crushed tomatoes

3/8 cup cider vinegar (or halfway between 1/4 and 1/2 cup)

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Black pepper to taste

In a large pot, heat the oil over medium-low heat with the onions and garlic. Sauté until the onions are translucent and tender. Mix in kosher salt, chili powder, and cumin, then add the dark brown sugar and molasses. Mix well and boil for about a minute and a half, then stir in the tomatoes and cider vinegar. 

Bring the mixture to a boil and then simmer for about an hour and a half, or until the sauce becomes thick and has darkened.

Above, the sauce before thickening. Below, after simmering for 1.5 hours.

Stir in the Worcestershire sauce and ground black pepper. Add the mixture to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth (here, Annie adds water to ease the blending process and achieve a less viscous consistency, but I liked the consistency of the sauce without the extra water and had no trouble blending it. Feel free to add water, 1/4 cup at a time, if you are having trouble blending or if the sauce is too thick for your  tastes). 

Happy barbecuing, everyone!

BOOM CRACKLE FIZZZZZZ

Happy 4th, everybody! I hope you're all having a wonderful day outside with your friends and families and lighting crazy things on fire.

In honor of Independence Day I'm trying the barbecue sauce recipe I found on Annie's Eats, though not actually today because my aunt and uncle are coming over with their munchkins, and I don't want to serve anything when we don't know what it tastes like. We do have a rack of ribs in the fridge, though, that has this barbecue sauce's name on it, so I'll keep you all posted as to how it turns out!

In other news, I've restarted my beret again. Third time's the charm, eh?