The Sweatshop of Love Blog

Stupid Tote

I have been working on this mesh bag for a couple days now and I feel like now I can safely say I hate it. Not the bag, the pattern. The bag is cute, so I’ll give it to Elisa; she wrote a cute pattern. But GOD I had to rip this thing out twice. Granted, one of the times was because I was too stubborn to look at the pattern once I got going, but still. The numbers never worked out, I was constantly counting and you know how much I hate that. Granted, I added like 20 stitches to the pattern because I wanted a wider bag, but still! It is supposed to be a 2 stitch pattern over four rows. That should still work with 20 extra stitches!

SOO Messed Up!

So, close up you can see how messed up this pattern is. It should be in nice little rows, all the mesh working out and being stripey and cute. Not. Gonna. Happen. I don’t mind, of course, it is just a bag I’m going to have over my shoulder when biking, it is the principle of the matter.

So you are supposed to knit a big rectangle, fold it in half, and crochet-seam the sides, which ended up looking crappy and I wish I would have just stuck to my gut and knit this thing in the round from the top down, ending with the three needle bind off. Am I right?!

The handles are amazing, though. Along the top of the bag you work the i-cord while picking up stitches along the top, so no handle seaming. And I love the i-cord!

Beet, Carrot, Diakon Salad with Pecan/Garlic/Grapefruit Dressing

Almost as much as I loved this salad from last night. Yes, you read that right. This was a beet, carrot, and diakon salad with a pecan, garlic, and grapefruit dressing. Sprinkled on top? Some fancy Irish cheese. Serious love.

It made up for the bag it was so good. Stupid bag.

I have been eating amazingly well over the past three days. Just uploading the pictures I’ve taken since Thursday inspired the title of this post. No one in the world has eaten better than I, starting with Thursday’s dinner party with my friends Kasia and Anders. PT and I made guacamole (PT made guacamole), which was nothing compared to what we were served.

Goat Cheese Flan

Starting with this beautiful Goat Cheese Flan served on a bed of salad. The Goat Cheese Flan was unbelievably good until you hit the halfway point, when it became ridiculously rich. I wanted to eat every bit of it, but just couldn’t! It was creamy and thick and cheesy! But non of us could finish it.

Beet Soup

This beet soup on the other hand! I scraped the bowl clean. I’ve never had beet soup before, or chilled soup for that matter, but this was so good. Especially when you got a scoop with goat cheese in it.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie with Basil Ice Cream

But the highlight of the night was the dessert. This Strawberry Rhubarb Pie was one of the best pies I’ve ever eaten. The crust was buttery and crisp and flaky, the filling tasted like strawberries sweetly kissed by God. If God had just finished eating a sugar cane field. And the sugar cane field had been danced in by rhubarb fairies. The whole thing was set off so nicely by the basil ice cream! The whole dish was so fresh and seriously perfect in every way.

Friday's Dinner of Sides

Friday for dinner PT and I had some food that needed to be eaten so we combined it into a dinner of sides. Brussel sprouts, plantains, and corn dogs. The brussel sprouts were broiled in the oven in olive oil, salt and pepper. The brussel sprouts themselves are amazing, but the best part of this method is when the outer leaves fall off while cooking and become brussel sprout chips, all crispy and salty!

Poor brussel sprouts get a bad rap. They are usually over cooked and droned in butter at Thanksgiving by meat eaters who have no idea what they are doing.

Fried Plantains

We also had some sad looking plantains laying around that had to be cooked Friday or not at all. So brussel sprouts and fried plantains? Sounds good to me! I pan fried these up in oil and they were better than ever. I had been trying fake butter before, but oil is the way to go. They cook faster and get browner and sweeter in the oil.

After dinner PT and I watched some baseball (the Tigers broke their 7 game winning streak/Twins won= one of us was happy), but it was such a lovely night PT suggested some ice cream. The Sweatshop has had a big week; a nonprofit asked for class donations (exposure! fame!), and I got a nice link on Carrots N Cake (exposure! fame!). There is no better place to celebrate exposure and fame than Margies.

Large Chocolate Sundae, Anyone?

We shared, which I don’t like doing, but it was midnight, and a lady can only eat so much ice cream after midnight before she starts looking like a balloon.

PT was excited. And yes, the sundae warranted that face. Margies never lets us down.

Two spoiled days down, one to go!

Loving Frank Cram Session 2009 – I’m up to page 182! Which is halfway. With three reading days left I’m on my 60 pages a day pace to finish by Knitting Book Club Monday. I haven’t forced myself to read this much for a deadline since my Columbia days.

Remember back in 2008 when I had a beet off? I knew I was supposed to like beets but had no idea what to do with them? I put them in a salad and wanted to die. I cooked them up with onions and garlic and also wanted to die. But I just knew that beets and I would someday get along, I just couldn’t think of a way to do it on my own.

Beet Salad

Behold the Mark Bittman Beet Salad. What is amazing is that in the same picture you can see the fanciest thing PT and I have ever made. And maybe the most delicious.

With no food processor we just used a garlic press and chopped the walnuts. Without orange juice we used lemon juice. We roasted those beets, we mixed them up in the dressing, we did top it with some fresh Parmesan (AMAZING!), and served it over romaine.

Last night beets and I turned a corner. Thank goodness, because I really don’t want to live in a world where I don’t like a vegetable.

List of foods I don’t like:

Olives (including green and black, especially black)

The end.

Summer Sweater

Not only have I been making progress on Loving Frank, but I’ve been rocking out this Summer Sweater! Don’t you love the little leaves? I also love a sweater where I don’t have to worry about the sizing. It is supposed to hang! And with tonight’s impromptu car trip to the suburbs for a very special evening, I’ll be able to get even more done.

But more on that later.