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.

Related Sweatshop Love:

• July 12, 2009 -- Quick and Dirty
• December 10, 2009 -- ‘Well, I’d Leave That Table Hungry’
• November 27, 2009 -- Black Friday Beets
• September 2, 2009 -- Pantry Eating. Sort Of.

I’ve taken a couple anti-technology days this week. It is nice out, I’ve had this eye strain related head ache for a few days, and some boy issues. I added all that up and it equalled outdoor trash reading. I finished I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti by Giulia Melucci in three days, which helped. It was silly and all about how retarded boys are, with recipes, which helped. But now I’m back and I’ve got a plethora of food pictures.

So we are going to do this quick and dirty:

Homemade Personal Pizza

Earlier in the week PT and I made homemade pizzas. We haven’t done that in a really long time and I have no idea why. We should be eating pizza every day, these pizzas are so good.

Seriously? Seriously.

Mine was pineapple, caramelized onion, and roasted red pepper with fresh parmesan. PT’s was the same, plus olives, of course.

Pumpkin Cookies

I’ve been craving cookies but didn’t feel like making any, so I made cake cookies and mini cupcakes using a pumpkin cake mix. I spiced them up a little and baked them up, but I  need some big chocolate chip cookies something fierce. I’ll have to take care of that, and soon.

Grapefruit, Shrimp, and Avocado Salad

We have been looking for ways to eat everything in our produce box, so PT found a recipe that used the greens and grapefruit in this amazing salad. It had a light citrus/mustard vinaigrette on top! Very good. And the grapefruit was outstanding.

The Diakon

And speaking of the produce box, I tackled the diakon Friday. It looks a lot like a huge white carrot and tastes really peppery, slightly milder than a regular red radish, but, obviously, much larger.

Potato Stir Fry

I thought I would potato stir fry it up, with potatoes, carrots, and onions.

Outdoor Stir Fry

I finished it with broccoli, snap peas (from the produce box), and corn. Throw a little ketchup on that and eat it outside? The perfect summer meal.

Drool

And then there was the banana. I knew exactly what to do with this beauty. But not before I peeled it slowly, smelling it, caressing it. Loving it like my own child I was about to eat.

Oats and Toast, Banana Style

The exaggeration thing I do is going to get in the way again from expressing how I actually feel, but this was the best breakfast I’ve had in a really, really long time. I chopped up half that banana and put it in my oats with a nectarine from the produce box. Also in the mix? Honey nut Scooters (Malt-O-Meal Cheerios), raisins, and a sprinkle of cinnamon. The rest of that banana went with peanut butter on my toast.

If for some reason I wanted my final meal to be nutritional (I always answer that question with a very particular brownie sundae I’ll most likely describe to you in full someday), it would be this meal. Banana? Let me count the ways.

French Toast with Raspberries

This morning I cooked up some french toast, and sprinkled some raspberries on top. Simple and delicious and the perfect Sunday morning breakfast.

So, technology, thanks for the break. I appreciated it. Now to get to my inbox.

Related Sweatshop Love:

• March 24, 2009 -- Irrationally Loving Oats
• September 22, 2009 -- A LOT of Food
• July 13, 2009 -- Hate. This. Pattern.
• June 23, 2009 -- The Biggest Cooking Failure of All Time