Tour de Fleece: Day 1

I spent most of today with my husband taking care of my friends' 3 month old son, which I might add, was an awesome way to spend a Saturday together :-)  After that we went to my favorite Italian restaurant, Polcari's, for dinner.  We then wended our way back home where I had to sit down to prep some music I'm singing tomorrow.  Finally around 8pm is was time for me to get spinning!

My spinning setup & Dr. Who on Netflix

Day 1 Progress - 1oz

Because I had such a full day, I wasn't able to spin up a whole 2oz bump of fleece as I had hoped.  Nevertheless, I am a happy camper for actually sitting down to get Elphaba, my wheel, up and running and also reclaim my spinner's mojo.   It always takes me a bit of time to get back into the steady rhythm of treadling and drafting, but it's kind of like riding a bike (ha ha ha, Tour de France, do you see what I did there? Yes, I can hear you groaning at my horrible joke) so you don't forget how so much as need to reacquaint yourself with the mechanics of things.

I was hoping to be able to spin my singles pretty thin so I could ply two or three together to get a DK or worsted yarn for the final product.  So far it looks like that might actually happen - HUZZAH!

Anyway, just a quick update for you.  I'm hoping to get way more accomplished tomorrow.  Although, I've got a pretty full day planned again.... /facepalm.  Anyway, g'night!

How Does My Garden Grow?

Well, I would have to say, pretty darn well! :D

All of my herbs are flourishing (even the BASIL!!!!) in all this sunshine and heat, although I do have to be careful about watering them every day so they don't get droopy and sad looking.  The only one I barely pay attention to is the basil.  It almost never needs to be watered and likes it that way thank you very much!  So, after 4 years of horrible basil death, I have finally been able to get 1, just one, measly plant to survive and do well.  But, I'll take it!  We used our first harvest of the herbs in some burgers and meatloaf this wek, so I think it's safe to say that my victory is complete...

Come to think of it, I've been able to harvest quite a lot from all of my lovely plants so far, with the exception of my tomatoes.  Don't get me wrong, they are doing just fine.  It's just that the cherries haven't quite ripened yet and the larger ones (I have no idea what they are called) are still in the growing stages and haven't even started turning anything resembling reddish in color.  

 

My cute cherry tomatoes just after a watering.  This plant has been producing so many flowers and then fruit, it's just amazing!  I think there are over 20 little guys developing right now and it just keeps growing!

These are my big fellas.  I have two plants of these and while there aren't as many of them in process, they look very healthy and started producing fruit much later than the cherry plant.  I have 3-4 clusters of 2-3 tomatoes each on these plants.

While it is getting late in the season for my lilies, I have been able to take some nice pictures of the two varieties I have.  I love this ivory one especially.  The other one, picture below, oddly enough matches a yarn I made for Tour de Fleece almost exactly.  Strange huh?

Speaking of Tour de Fleece, I was actually not so good about it this year.  I did make some nice yarns, but I kind of got bored and moved on to other things for the last two weeks of the tour.  I'm ok with that and I did get some nice yarn spun up in the first couple weeks, so while I wasn't a real competitor, I did participate and I think the two weeks has really helped my spinning skills.  I even learned to long draw during the tour, which is one of the methods of drafting fiber that I had never done before.  

Long draw basically means allowing the wheel and the twist you are putting into the yarn to draft out the fibers for you rather than strictly controlling the supply of fiber by using both hands and pinching the fiber at the point where the twist comes into it.  Long draw generally makes less dense yarns because there is more air trapped in between then fibers.  It's still not easy for me, but I CAN do it with some concentration now, so I've very happy about that.  The video below is a good demo of what long draw or woolen spinning looks like.  As an added bonus, the music is pretty good too :)

And finally, the hyper rose has slowed down pushing out its usual riot of pink flowers.  So, the whole plant looks pretty boring right now.  But, I did see a few new flowers and buds poking out, so maybe we're in store for yet another set of blooms.

My Recipe Box: Chicken Lo Mein

Last night hubbie tried out a new recipe for dinner, Chicken Lo Mein! He found the recipe on AllRecipes.com and I think it is a real winner. The only thing I would even think about changing is to add more veggies to the recipe. It only has some green onions and shiitake mushrooms included, but I think adding some sprouts, shredded carrots or sliced up bok choy would be really nice and give the dish more bulk with few extra calories.

Overall, it is a really good recipe and very flavorful. There was an abundance of sauce left so that leads me to believe that adding the extra veggies wouldn't affect the flavor in any adverse way. So, try this new one out and let me know what you think of it!

Getting Ready to Play in the Dirt

It is officially the time of year that I need to start thinking about what I want to plant in our little garden.  We can't do too much because we don't have a whole heck of a lot of real estate since we currently reside in a first floor apartment however, we are fortunate enough to have two reasonably large planting areas at our disposal.  We don't get a lot of sun, so most of our garden is filled with very forgiving hosta and a rather large, mutant rose bush that will most likely end up taking over the world.  For the past few years, in between the mutant rose and all our other easy going perennials, I have been planting herbs in pots to spruce up our summer culinary options. 

This year I was happy to discover that our oregano, sage, strawberries and chives have all come back.  To supplement this merry band of survivors, I went to Ferjulian's, our local greenhouse, and picked up some dill, rosemary, thyme, another type of oregano, three tomatoes from my mom and two basil plants.  

Sigh.... basil and I do not seem to get along.  I have killed it every year for at least three summers and it's starting to affect my conscience.  So, I'm going to give it another go this year... I think I know what I've been doing wrong.  I think.  Keep your fingers crossed and we'll see how this turns out.  Sadly, I believe my past failure with this herb stems from the fact that the signs of over watering and under watering are the same: things turn yellow.  My basil has always turned yellow.  Then I would panic and water it... so I'm thinking I just drowned the poor things every year :(  My suspicions have be confirmed at least partially by the stake in the pots saying "Loves sun and heat" and "Don't overwater."  We'll see how this goes.  I am diligently water everything except the basil and so far so good.  Hopefully I will get these babies in this ground this week, and won't have to worry about them relying on me quite so much.

Ten on Tuesday: 10 Favorite Snacks

1) Nature Valley Nut Clusters - Just found these when I was picking up as stack at a gas station a few weeks ago.  I was shocked to find such a healthy option.

2) Sensible Portions Veggie Chips and Straws - Another gas station find.  Perhaps HESS should be the place I start looking when I crave new and different snack foods... two out of ten favorites isn't bad. 

3) Stop & Shop Bruscetta Salad on french bread - Had my frst taste of this snack in a long time this weekend.  I totally forgot how yummy it is.  Too bad it seems like a seasonal item at my store.

4) Hood Cottage Cheese with Pineapple - A great sweet and creamy treat.  Almost feels like I'm eating dessert... almost.

5) Quaker Chewie Snack Bars - Good to throw in your pocket when you are running around and very busy.  I really like the chocolate chip ones.

6) Granny Smith Apples and Peanut Butter - Just the right amount of tart, sweet and salty!

7) Blue Diamond Bold Flavors Almonds - My favorites are Wasabi & Soy and Smokehouse.  Very filling and good for you if ou can stick to the serving size.

8) Celery Sticks and Blue Cheese Dressing - A nod to Rick on the Knit Wits Podcast... I must admit this snack is fantastic so long as you aren't trying to record a podcast while you're eating.  Best podcasting bit ever!  Sir, your snark is epic!

9) Bagel, Pepperoni and Blue Cheese Dressing - Might as well continue with the blue cheese theme!  This snack goes back to when I used to do live action role play (LARPing) with some of my friends back in college.  We'd pack up and head down to CT for a weekend and live off of a cooler until Sunday night when we would leave and go out for dinner.  This bagel sandwich was great because you only needed to refridgerate it after the packages were opened and most of the time there wasn't any leftovers to worry about in the first place. 

10) Curry English Muffins - My mom used to make these for us on Christmas eve and they are fantastic!  They are a mixture of olives, curry and cheese served on top of an english muffic and toasted.  So very yummy and a Loranz Family Tradition.

Recipe: Balsamic Marinated Grilled Vegetables

Well, it's official... the grill has emerged!  Due to the tremendous amount of snow we got this year (that has only recently melted away I might add) we haven't been able to grill at least since December.  But now that we can actually get to the darn thing, we have a freezer chock full of Omahas Steaks stuff that is just begging to see the fire.  While meat is nice and all, I am trying to eat better these days, so when hubbie wielded his grilling tongs for the first time last weekend, I decided to have him make us something healthy in the grill stir fry basket.  Here's the recipe I came up with:

Balsamic Marinated Grilled Vegetables

1 bell pepper, cut into 1x1 inch pieces (this time I used a bunch of different mini bell peppers)

1 head of broccoli, split up into bite sized pieces

1 onion, cut into 1x1 inch pieces

2 baby zucchini or summer squash, cut in half then cut into 1 inch pieces

1 container button mushrooms, large ones cut in half, small ones left whole

3/4 cup balsamic vinegar

4 tbsp. olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Basically all you have to do is cut up your veggies as specified, throw them into a large resealable bag along with the olive oil, balsamic, salt and pepper and then let them sit in the bag to marinate for about an hour.  I tend to just flip the bag over every once and awhile to redistribute the marinade so all the veggies get an adequate coating.  You can let them sit for less time if you don't want to wait the whole hour.  Just tonight I think they only got about 15 minutes before hitting the fire and they tasted great.  We have a grill basket and once the grill is all heated up my hubbie then just dumps the contents of the bag into the basket and cooks the veggies on the side of the grill where there is no flame until they are tender.

Voila!  A really easy and healthy side dish :-)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

I always have so many great ideas for blog posts but only rarely seem to follow through on their creation.  Must get my blogging priorities straight!!!  Today's post is another addition to My Recipe Box: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles.  I made these in honor of Valentine's Day for my fiber group, the FiberKnots (cool name huh?). Our real name is Fiber, Knot Just for Knitting, but I really like the shortened version.  If you are local to Worcester, MA and are looking for a friendly bunch of knitters, crocheters, weavers and spinners, we meet every Tuesday night at 6:30 at the Leicester Senior Center in Leicester, MA.  You can get to know the group beforehand by checking out our Ravelry Group. 

So, now that I've babbled on forever about the FiberKnots, lets get on to the recipe shall we?  I have to admit that it was a fairy easy recipe.  The only thing I had trouble with was the whole dipping in chocolate thing, but I'll get to that part later.

Most of this recipe ended up being "dump everything in a bowl and stir" which worked out just fine for me!



Mmmm, mini chocolate chips... some might have escaped and never quite made it into the bowl ;-)

  

I made all the truffles with my handy cookie scoop.  I believe it dishes out 1 ounce portions, but don't quote me on that.  They were about 1 inch in diameter.  Once they were all set on the tray I had to put them in the fridge for about 15 minutes to harden up before dipping them.



So, I mentioned that had some chocolate dipping issues.  The truffles shown above are the ones I dipped with chips melted in the microwave.  Not my best work.... I don't always follow directions (because my way is better of course) and this was one choice that didn't end up working out so well.  While the chocolate melted just fine, as it quickly cooled in the bowl, I had an increasingly difficult time getting the chocolate to coat the cookie dough centers evenly.  



For my second batch I actually followed the directions and made use of a double boiler (small pot with an inch or two of boiling water in it and a glass bowl perched on top).  It is a bit of a pain, but on the second batch I realized why it was so important.  Instead of the chocolate cooling down and getting gloppy and hard in a bowl, I kept the glass bowl on the heat and dipped the centers right at the stove by using a fork.  The chocolate stayed warm and dippable.  Once the center was coated all I had to do was pick it up with the fork and gently tap the middle of the fork on the side of the bowl to have the excess fall back into the rest of the warm chocolate goo.  Needless to say, batch two went waaaaay better! 



Overall, I think these truffles were a success.  They do come with a bit of a warning though:

They are very sweet, so don't eat too many or you will get a belly ache (trust me, I know first hand).

Introducing: My Recipe Box

Recently I have noticed I've been cooking a whole lot more than I have been in a very long time.  I thought it might be nice to start sharing those recipes with you in a format that would be easy for you to go back into later, so I have started a new page on my blog called My Recipe Box.  A link to the page is up at the top of my blog underneath the header and allows me have a list of all the good (and free) recipes I have come across and tried. 

I'm grouping them according to the standard cookbook headings i.e side dishes, main dishes, desserts, etc. to make the recipes a little bit easier to weed through if you are looking for something.  Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.  If I can keep my act together in the long run, I am going to link each recipe to the blog post that I talk about it in so you can see pictures and my comments before trying it out yourself.

Look, She Can Cook!

Hubbie and I decided to have a nice quiet Valentine's day this year.  Not that we normally do anything extravagant or outrageous in any way... we just didn't want to add to the already large crowds seeking out a romantic dinner at the handful of romantic local restaurants.  Instead I said I would just make us a nice dinner at home.  You see, my poor husband suffers from the fact that I don't cook for him all that often.  While I can cook just fine... he is generally the one who sees to our daily sustenance.  So, since I generally get home at least 2 whole hours before him, I thought it would be a change for me to give him a it of a treat.  

I made us a nice big lasagna, salad, garlic bread and a new recipe I had been wanting to try out: Caramelized Brussels Sprouts with Cranberries and Bacon.  Oh my gosh.... those sprouts were so stinking good.  Ok, I thought they were good.  Brian reaffirmed the fact that he hated them.  Oh well, more for me!  

I was originally going to make us dessert as well, but were were both way too full to even contemplate the idea.  Instead we both nibbled on the chocolate covered strawberries and apples we had delivered to each other at work earlier in the day.  It's so nice coming back to your desk to see a little note saying that a package was waiting for you in the fridge.  Now I like chocolate covered strawberries, don't get me wrong, but really, the best are those amazing chocolate dipped granny smith apple slices.  

Now that I think about it, I can't believe hubbie actually remembered I liked those since I've only had them one other time.  Drool....  on that note, off to the fridge to show the last one who's boss.  Bye!

Snow Day!!!

So, as of last night at around 10:00 pm I knew that I had a snow day today.  We don't get them very often, so I was pretty excited to have a day to relax and truly do what I wanted.  I even got to take some photos which I haven't really been able to do in a while, so that made me happy.

I woke up around 7:30, which actually is sleeping late for me.  I rolled outside to capture the blizzard in full force.  It really looks like most people got to stay home today, which I think is a really good thing.  I didn't even think about going out until much later on in the day. 

After I retreated to the warmth of the apartment again and snuggled back into bed, Brian attempted to go to work rather unsuccessfully.  When he went to go out the door of the building he couldn't open the door enough to get out!  So, needless to say, he decided to try to work from home.  At that point I decided it was time for breakfast and whipped up a bunch of cinnamon french toast and bacon for us. YUMMY!!!

After a large helping of knitting while watching food network, I dragged my camera outside again to see the progress the storm had made.  At this point, I think around noonish, the snow had slowed down.

See what I mean about the snow blocking the door?  I could get out, but this was the back doorway, not the front.

After a viewing of the BBC Pride & Prejudice miniseries and a bit of a nap, I decided I should probably try to move my car so that the plows stood a chance of plowing out the parking lot.  As you can see, they hadn't done much when I first got outside.  There was still about a half a foot of snow in the little circle around our complex that hadn't even been touched by a plow when I went outside at around 6pm.  The poor guy was just driving circles around the lots slowly taking swipes off the piles.

Brian had very sweetly already cleaned off my car about an hour before, so there wasn't much to do other than clear the windshields and floor it out of the 12+ inches of snow surrounding my car.  Shovel? Why?  I have all wheel drive :D

The lone plow truck for our complex.  I think this guy deserves an award.  Although, I'm still a little peeved that I moved my, car out of my spot, left for 15 minutes of so and he still hadn't plowed it out. Grrr....

As annoying as the digging out was, I met some of my neighbors for the first time and saw more activity around the complex than I ever do...  well, besides when the fire trucks come because of a cooking smoke out anyway.  It was nice to see so many people being helpful and friendly.  One nice gentleman offered me a pair of gloves when he saw me slowly chipping at the ice on my car.  I had some, just didn't have them on yet due to laziness.  So, it was a nice day, full of rest and relaxation.  Now it's time to have some dinner and prepare for work tomorrow.  Have a good night all!

The Vegitarian Adventures of a Carnivore, Part 1

One of my very good friends (DarthCoco) who I hang out with often is a vegetarian.  We both really enjoy cooking, but there is a problem.  I am a definite carnivore.  Recently we decided to try to get together and cook every once and awhile to exercise our culinary chops and yes, to eat new and fun things.   

We had our first culinary adventure this past Saturday.  For our two recipes we chose Corn Fritters (because who doesn't like fried things in balls and on sticks?) and Crispy Smashed Potatoes (which required 3 ingredients and generally describes out attention span).    The recipes came from a cooking magazine that DarthCoco brought with her that day.  I can't remember the name of the magazine, but I was really surprised how many really good recipes were in it.  First...  the fritters....

Mini scoops are great for all kinds of things like making cookies and portioning out the fritters into the hot oil.

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble....  this was the first time either one of us had fried anything, so I think we were both waiting for some kind of disaster to occur.

Done!  Don't they look so yummy? We salted them the second they came out to the oil so they would be really flavorful.

We were really happy with how the fritters came out.  Between the two of us, we came up with two good dips to serve them with: maple syrup if you like them sweet and sour cream mixed with chives, salt and pepper if you are in a more savory mood.

Actually, we started the Crispy Smashed Potatoes first, but the cooking time on them was so long because you have to first boil the potatoes, smash them with the palm of your hand, let them cool completely (argh!!!!) and then bake them after pouring olive oil on them and giving them a nice seasoning with salt and pepper. Whew!  The recipe was so simple but it took forever...  This is what they looked like right out of the over. 

Edit: Found an online recipe that seems the same as the one we made.  You can find the recipe here.

Now that is what I call crispy, crunchy, potatoey goodness!  We had these with the rest of the chive sour cream I made for the fritters and they were heavenly.  Needless to say, we were both very happy with how the recipes came out and would definitely make them again.  Not much of what we made survived past the day we made it, although I did have my leftover fritters for breakfast the next morning.  Talk about a nice way to start your day :)

Ten on Tuesday: 10 Things in Your Refrigerator Right Now

Not much!  Our refrigerator seems really bare for some reason.  Oh yeah, it could be that we actually cleaned it out :P

1. Dole Caesar Salad Kit
2. Stop & Shop Cottage Cheese and Pineapple
3. Chocolate Fruit Dip
4. Apple pie
5. Lots of onions...
6. Butter
7. Sour cream
8. Leftover kielbasa from last night
9. Mayo (leftover from epic pasta salad making last week) 
10. Condiments galore!  And I mean everything you could ever think of too.  We adore condiments in my family and my mom always seems to have some neat new mustard or sauce every time she sees us.

Ten on Tuesday - 10 Reasons to Love Bacon

1) It's bad for you, but not too bad for you to not have it once and a while.

2) Anything wrapped in it tastes like heaven. (Dates, scallops, shrimp, steak, you name it!)

3) You can even find vegan varieties for those of the anti-meat persuasion. (see Tastefully Simple's Bacon Bacon Dip mix)

4) It's &%$@# delicious!

5) When you have to get up early on a weekend, nothing makes it more worthwhile than a hot breakfast involving bacon.

6) Ummmm..... I can't think of any more reasons because the previous 5 are enough for me!

Tour de Fleece Update - Day 15 - Drooling Over Merino

Not too much to report here.  I haven't had much time to spin for the last few days, but I did manage to mostly finish the second bobbin of my beautiful red merino today.  Hopefully I will be able to get the last bobbin done tomorrow and then will be able to ply up my first non-Navajo plied three ply yarn as well.  Very excited.

I also managed to get another repeat done on my Mystery Summer Wrap today, but that is about it since I had a really big to do list for the day.  Oh well, there's always tomorrow!

In other news, my cherry tomato crop is officially insane!  In the past few days, I've harvested 20+ little tomato-lings.  So, in an effort to use up said produce, I actually cooked today (Brian, try not to keel over when you read that).  I just have so many of the little fruits and I felt like pasta, so I made myself a small amount of tomato sauce.  Well, it was actually more like a tomato compote because it was so think in the end, but it was extremely yummy.

I will make sure to share my basic recipe in the next few days.  I don't really do the measuring thing, so everything will be a guestimate.  Well, I'm off to retrieve laundry and attempt to find my bed under all the stuff that needs folding.  Ta!

$2.00 Worth of Endless Entertainment and other Farmer's Market Adventures

I never would have thought that picking up a little can of cat grass at the Farmer's Market at Longfellow's Wayside Inn last weekend would provide my husband and I with so much entertainment...  As you can see, Molly REALLY likes her cat grass!  Actually, she gets so into eating it that she picks the whole container up, noms for a bit and then drops it on the floor.  This of course leaves a lovely little pile of dirt for me to clean up and that's kind of hard to do when you are giggling :-)

So, I bought this cute little plant from a couple of tweens who were selling inexpensive pet treats at their little stand at the farmers market.  Their set up was so cute I had to take a picture of it (see below).  While the market was fairly small I was ok with that since I didn't have a lot of time to wander.

Here are a few pictures of the the stands I visited while I was at the market.

The Wayside Inn had a table featuring lots of homemade baked items.  I picked up some blueberry scones, a single serving apple pie (which was way more than one serving) and some corn rolls which were made with corm meal that was ground at the inn's Grist Mill just a little down the road.  The Grist Mill has been in operation since 1929 and is a beautiful place to take pictures.  People commonly get wedding photos taken there if they get married at the Martha Mary Chapel across the street.  Click here to see an online tour of historic Sudbury.  You can even print out the tour and follow it by "foot, horse, or coach." :-)

My day would not be complete with out seeing some baby alpaca. Soooo cute!  Plus they are from a very local farm called Twillingate where is the future I could arrange to purchase a whole alpaca blanket (fleece) to process and spin.  So much potential!

I got a nice handmade memo basket for my dad for father's day from the people at this stand.  I filled it up with a bunch of locally grown veggies, a sampling of the herbs from our garden and other various items I bought at the farmer's market. 

I think the best find of the day was this HUGE cherry tomato plant I got from a farmer based in Bolton.  It was only $16 which is think is a steal!  What was great was that there were already little red tomatoes all over it that were ready to be picked so we could enjoy them right away.  Since putting it out in our garden the plant has produced a bunch more, so I'm really happy.

Well, that's about it.  I would highly recommend checking out the Wayside Inn Farmer's Market if you are local.  The market is running every Saturday this summer from 10am-2:30pm through October 2nd.  I definately plan on going back every few weeks to see what is new and get some more of those delicious corn rolls. 

Since it isn't so big you may want to plan to do some other things in the area as well such walking the Tour of Historic Sudbury I mentioned above, walking the Garden in the Woods in Framingham, or rent a kayak or canoe and navigate the Concord River from the South Bridge Boat House in Concord.  There are lots of things to do in the area, so you can really make a day of the trip if you are coming from far away and do a little bit of planning.

From One Murloc Productions: At least I got Chicken! - or how to BBQ your bird

Grrr... Brian snuck in a non-Jo-approved transition on this video.  My bad video production sense is tingling >:-[ Beware the pinwheel of death!

Ten on Tuesday: 10 Favorite Cookout Foods

1) Cucumber Salad - my version of what they serve at Tennessee's and Firefly's.  They key lies in the rice wine vinegar.

2) Brian's burger flavor of the moment - whatever he comes up with is always outstanding.  Last week we had burgers with fresh herbs, chipotle in adobo and I believe some bbq sauce for good measure.  Yummy!

3) Roasted baby red potatoes - slathered in fresh dill, olive oil, kosher salt and left on the grill to crisp up.

4) Grilled meatloaf - best meatloaf ever!

5) Cheddarwurst - a pork and beef sausage that has bit of cheddar cheese in it.  Excellent on your run of the mill hot dog bun and over the top good with kraut or spicy mustard.

6) Grilled pineapple rings - these are are best on top of vanilla bean ice cream.

7) Ice cream sandwiches made with home made chocolate chip cookies - had these at a friend's cookout recently and they were amazing.  I happened to stumble on one filled with coffee ice cream.  It was divine!

8) Pasta salad - I have a pretty darn good recipe for this now, with plenty of fresh veggies for crunch.

9) Watermelon wedges - enough said.

10) Cole slaw - great on the side and even better when used as a burger topping!

Ten on Tuesday - 10 Favorite TV Shows

1) Bones - (FOX) David Boreanaz plays an FBI agent working with Dr. Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel) who is a forensic anthropologist and her team at the Jeffersonian.  The two team up to solve murders.  Hilarious and science geeky.  Oh, and.... Phalanges!!!!!!

2) Castle - (ABC) Nathan Fillian is a mystery writer teamed up with a homicide cop who is reluctantly saddled with him.  Excellent chemistry between these two and Fillian, as usual is hilarious!

3) Caprica - (SyFy) Set 58 years prior to the recent Battlestar Galactica series, Caprica tells the story of the creation of the Cylons.  An excellent drama with lots of storylines that make you think.

4) Warehouse 13 - (SyFy) A funny cop buddy series set in a secret service warehouse a la Raiders of the Lost Ark.  Has some very steampunk elements if you are into that genre.

5) Sanctuary - (SyFy) Starring Amanda Tapping from the original Stargate series, Dr. Helen Magnus runs one of many sanctuaries for abnormals (people/creatures with special powers) in order to help protect them from people who can and will exploit them.

6) Flash Forward - (ABC) A mysterious event causes almost everyone on the planet to black out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds.  During the blackout people see a flash forward of April 29, 2010.  Two FBI agents investigate the blackout and try to figure out how it happened and if it will happen again.  This show has tons of suspense similar to LOST.

7) Food Network Challenge - (Food Network) This show is basically a series of competitions between different chefs and covers every topic from burgers to cakes.  Really fun and tends to have some entertaining disasters.

8) Ninja Warrior (Sasuke) - (G4) A Japanese obstacle course game show that is a cult classic.  A handful of contestants are serious athletes who put their skills to the test when attempting this incredible 4 stage course.  However, many contestants normal folks just for comic relief and end up falling into the cold waters of Mt. Midoriyama full of failure.

9) Glee - (FOX) A show centered around a teacher and group of unlikely high school kids who belong to the glee club.  There is lots of high school drama both between the kids and the teachers, not to mention some damn amazing music which can then be downloaded from iTunes.

10) Adventures with Ruth - (PBS) I have only seen one episode of this show, but I absolutely adored it.  Ruth is the editor in chief for Gourmet Magazine and she travels to different countries to learn about local cuisine and culture.

Ten on Tuesday - 10 ways you know your ready for summer (if you're me anyway)

1) You remember you have a patio and actually decide to use it (see picture of our dinner last night).

2) You sit outside at a picnic bench for 3 hours on the first sunny weekend day and get a (slight) sunburn.

3) You staked out said picnic table in the morning and got mad when you noticed someone who looked like they might hoard it for the entire day.  You have plans for that table already!!!!

4) You arrange for your favorite hardwood lump charcoal to be mysteriously purchased for your husband as an "Easter present."

5) Your large office window is a curse for the sunny world outside begins to mock your inability to enjoy it.

6) The windows of your apartment have been open since the temperature regularly went above 40 degrees.

7) You're already thinking about the beach and sailing and getting sea spray all over you.

8) You've ordered more contacts so that you don't run out when you want to wear your "not a blind person" sunglasses on those nice sunny days.

9) You are thinking of all the cool outdoor only crafting/fiber projects you can do.  Background paper making and yarn dying here I come!

10) You start dreaming of all the combinations of boxed cake mix and jello flavors you can combine to make the perfect summer party jello cake.

Ten on Tuesday: 10 Little Things That Make My Day

So, there's no Ten on Tuesday subject this week and I kind of missed last week's entirely... so I thought I would do my own in an effort to pick up the blogging pace.  Here are 10 Little Things Can That Make My Day:

1) Starting a new project - Whether it be knitting, crocheting, stamping or whatever.  There is just something exciting about starting something new.

2) An attentive purring cat - Molly is NOT a lap cat, so whenever she chooses to lavish attention on me, it's a good day.

3) A beautiful sunrise/sunset - I don't know what it is, but whenever I see a particularly pretty sunrise or sunset, it seems to alter my mood for the better.

4) A surprise visit from the iced coffee fairy - You know who you are and I am always grateful.

5) Comments left on my blogs - Hint, hint... :D

6) When that awesome smell in the hallway when I come home is actually coming from our apartment - I am so fortunate I have a hubbie who can cook and is not afraid to try new things in the kitchen.  Brian's Peanut Chicken and Heavy Kodo Stew from the MMO Cookbook are my favorites.

7) Checking things off of my to do list - Sad I know, but I get a thrill when everything is done.

8) Getting a new achievement in World of Warcraft - Yes, this is a bit specific, but when you haven't played in a few weeks and then your computer croaks, you realize just how happy you got about silly things like these.

9) Chocolate - Enough said.

10) Having someone favorite one of my projects on Ravelry - It's a nice little pat on the back, usually from a complete stranger, but it's nice to see that people like my work.