We like to eat!

 

Vacation for the Nation

Since Kyle's work gave him the 3rd of July off, as well as the 4th, I decided to take it off as well. Being my mom's birthday and a long weekend, we took the opportunity to drive up and hang out with my parents at Carter Lake. Of course, since we were near (sort of?) Fort Collins, I finally got my spinning wheel from Lambspun! I loves it so much! Then we headed to the lake and hung out with my Aunt Connie and cousin Laura and their families. It was a lot of fun, as my Dad busted out the jet skies and Barley got to romp around in the water some. Turns out he only really likes to splash around in it and not actually swim, unless we're in the water, then he'll swim to Kyle and I just to hang out.


Also started and finished a golf club cover for Kyle with a skull design
with a crooked mouth. Mostly designed for fun and also to sort of go with the mythic brewery name we have of Crooked Mouth Brewing, from the name Campbell. It was my first Fair isle, and it was pretty fun, as long as I had my chart to go from. Also, finished Gracie's top by trying steeking for the first time. Not as scary as I though, but I need to work on picking up the stitches after steeking to give a more delicate edge. Hmm, what else? Also tried navajo plying on my drop spindle for the first time, and I love how it turned out! Turned out to be a very fibery weekend, as I started spinning some chocolate brown merino, and decided I should ply it with another color. Had some undyed wool roving around and so I decided to dye it a slightly varigated sky blue for later spinning and plying. And while I was dyeing, I dyed up some KnitPicks sock yarn with a range of plummy colors, for knitting into Kristi's wonderful Froot Loops socks. Overall, it was a very, very relaxing weekend, with lots of fun time with family, sun, water, pup antics, and of course, beer.

Sprains, Pains, and Rot

So lots has been happening lately. Our big plan for last weekend was to travel up to the Colorado BrewFest on St in Ft. Collins, stopping to get me a spinning wheel (yay!) on the way. Instead, due to an unfortunate meeting in the dog park, our Barley managed to hurt his leg, which prompted a very stressful night and morning in the vet's office on Sat morning. Turns out it's just a bad sprain, no bones broken, and the vet wrapped him up and sent him home. he's been doing really well and actually got the wrap off this morning, so he should be back to his active self in no time. Of course, after we were leaving the vet, I noticed a large bolt/nail in the tread surface of my car's passenger tire. We thought "oh, crap, but at least it can be patched!" Nope, instead we needed all 4 tires replaced. Why you ask? Well, turns out that tires can rot! Did you know this, cause I had no idea. Guess after a few years, especially in dry climes or coastal climes (hmm, like San Diego or Colorado, ...yeah) the tires can rot and be unstable. So while we dropped a cool grand before noon on Sat on nothing fun, at least we're assured that my tires won't explode (I hope!) on my commute and that our pup is happy and healthy. Needless to say, I didn't get a spinning wheel that weekend though.

But as Barley was feeling better, we did decide to make the trek up to Fort Collins with a few (somewhat new) friends Andy and Kristi. Even though quite toasty out, it was fun to go somewhere and chat about beer and stuff with new people. Of course, Kristi isn't quite new to me, as I met her as part of the wonderful knitting group I joined in winter, and then she got be started on drop spindling too. And of course, she let me try out her lovely Lendrum DT, prompting my growing need for a wheel of my very own. But it was nice for Kyle to finally meet some of my new friends, especially when it involves beer.

Long time, no see

Yeah, yeah, I'm a horrible blogger with 18 months between posts. But instead of the long version, here's a quick recap: working as chemist at Catalent Pharma (formerly Cardinal Health); visiting families over 2007; went to see Keith and Abigail in Seattle and went to the yummy Cheese festival and had lots of beer there; some cooking but not as much as Kyle would like; Comic-Con again but sadly this time no pics of me with my personal heroes; many friends had babies (so cute!); big fires hit San Diego in the fall and lots of people were evacuated and the city pretty much shut down for a week; got back into crocheting and then learned to knit; knitting quickly became a large passion (just look at the pics in my Flickr if you don't believe me); visited Jimmy and Mirka for Thanksgiving and had a blast; Kyle defended and got his doctorate in Physics, yay!; he accepted a job in Colorado, and we moved in the winter; I'm working as QA Manager in Denver at company called Eurofins; I joined an awesome knitting group and made lots of great friends (see blog lists); we met some awesome beer people from Great Divide and are enjoying lots of yummy local beer; my brother has also started homebrewing, and Kyle's started back up again and got a fancy new brewpot, and he's updating his blog; spending lots of time with my family, and also Kyle's by visits; started using a drop spindle and am now spinning my own yarn!; considering purchasing a lovely Lendrum double-treadle spinning wheel; looking at buying a house in the fall/winter; adopted a wonderful 1 year Corgi mix dog from the Boulder Humane Society and named him Barley......

And of course, with the addition of a new dog, life is a little more crazy but way, way more fun. Hmm, don't think I forgot anything major, but feel free to remind me :)

Long time gone

So....it's been about a year since writing this blog, and I guess I just stopped doing it for some reason, mostly cause I got lazy. But Kyle and I hung out with a friend (down for ComicCon, more on that later!) yesterday who mentioned the blog and limoncello, and I thought why not start posting again and at least post the recipe for him to use all those lemons with. So first things first, here's my limoncello recipe:

*6-7 thick-skinned lemons, preferably organic so no pesticides
*2 cups vodka (Smirnoff Red works well; don't use a really cheap vodka, but yummy Grey goose would be wasted here)
*1 cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar
*1 1/4 cup water

Wash the lemons in hot water before starting with veggie brush to remove any dirt or wax. Remove the peel with a veggie peeler, removing all the white pith on the back so it doesn't turn all bitter. Put the peels in a large jar (enough to hold 4-5 cups) that can be sealed tightly. A mason jar with lid works well, but so does the cool flip top jars. Add 1 cup of vodka to jar and swish around. Cover the jar with cap, date it and put it in a dark place at room temp.

After 20 days, take out mixture. In a saucepan over med-high heat, make a simple sugar syrup from all the water and sugar. Let boil for 3-5 minutes. Let syrup cool completely, then add to vodka lemon mixture, also adding the last cup of vodka. Mix well, cover, and date again.

Let sit in a dark, room temp place for about 2 weeks, at which time taste every so often until it's to your liking. The mixture should be sweet but tart, and smell a lot of lemons. When done, strain the mixture (discard lemon peels) and place in pretty, capped bottles. Really good cold as a sipping drink, but also good poured over fresh fruit or pound cake. Enjoy!
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Okay, hope that helps. Anyway, I've been up to a lot in the last 10 months. Hmm, we got a kitty (Kaylee) who is just so sweet, even though she always wakes me up at 6:30 in the morning. Also, since we had such a great time adopting here from the county shelter, I now volunteer at the central shelter. There's a link posted, for those looking for more info.



Also, Kyle has started to make his own beer, which is very good. So far he's made a porter and a German whit beer, both of which are nice and not too hoppy, so I can drink them ;) he's so sweet! As for me, I have started making jam and preserves quite a bit, and also started making cheese. I know, I get teased about being Amish all the time. I realize most people don't make cheese, but actually for soft cheese it's not too hard. I tried a gervais cheese (like cream cheese), ricotta, and mozzarella, and they all were quite delicious.



What else? Well, lots of cooking things I'm sure, and other stuff I can't really remember right now. Oh, but this is important! I've found a fabulous new show to watch that I totally love! Veronica Mars, and everyone should watch it, it's an amazing show! If you liked any Joss Whedon work at all, you would love this simply because it has a fresh, strong woman as the lead with amazing character development, storylines, and dialogue. Which leads me to the most exciting news ever!

I met Joss Whedon!!!!!!

That's right, I went with Kyle to San Diego ComicCon this year, and saw tons of amazing things, but most of all I met Joss Whedon and got him to sign my Fray comic book that he wrote. Seriously, I can't stop smiling about it:) For those who don't know, I am obsessed with all things Joss, such as Buffy, Angel, and Firefly, three amazing shows that everyone should watch.



Otherwise, it's just been horribly, horribly hot and humid here. We have both fans going full time, and it's barely made a dent. I don't remember it ever being this bad. I don't even want to think about cooking or dishes or laundry in heat like this. Luckily our complex has a pool (what one doesn't in SoCal!) so I think I'll take a swim. Hopefully it won't be another 10 months till I remember to post again ;)