The Sweatshop of Love Blog

Coconut Cream Pie

Once upon a time I was eating pie and I thought, ‘You really don’t need to eat anything but pie.’ It’s true. Everything is better in pie form. Everything is better with pie. Somehow that thought turned into Pieapalooza! The date: July 3rd, a Friday that pretty much everyone had off because of the holiday. The request? Bring a pie paired with a cocktail! I cooked up this coconut cream pie (who knew it was so easy to make coconut cream pie? It is no bake, you just throw some stuff together in a saucepan, heat, make up a pie crust, pour the coconut mixture in the crust and cool it in the fridge. Spread whip cream, sprinkle with toasted coconut, serve) to be served with coconut rum and cokes. Cute, right?

PT and Brat

Kasia and Anders thought we should eat real food first, so we met a few hours before Pieapalooza! was scheduled to start and grilled.

Tofurkey Brat

Kasia picked up these toferkey brats, which I’ve never had before but really enjoyed! I never really liked those Bocca brats, I don’t think they make them anymore. They were always really dry. But this was great! I topped it with sauerkraut, mustard, and ketchup, like pretty much everyone else did.

Chris and Anne, and Brats

I, of course, had my brain on pie. My coconut cream pie and Chris and Anne’s Jewel strawberry rhubarb pie (don’t judge; Emeril’s strawberry pie recipe was total crap so this was a last minute grab) were just sitting on the blanket, screaming at me, ‘Eat! Eat! I’m so good!’

Three Pies to Start

Kasia and Anders, and Pie

Kasia and Anders made the most amazing cherry pie I have ever eaten. And that is saying a lot considering I’m from Michigan and we take our cherries very serious. This was a sweet cherry pie in the same amazing crust her strawberry rhubarb was in last week.

Love

Tally:

1 piece strawberry rhubarb/champagne
1 piece cherry/cherry lemonade
1 piece coconut cream pie/coconut rum and coke

Lemon Pie, Peach Pie

We were barely recovered from the first round when in came more!

1 piece lemon pie/summer shandy
1 piece peach pie

Getting Messy

A couple pieces pi(e) – neapple (clever, and a welcomed break).

Shepard's Pie

I couldn’t eat this one, but it’s so pretty! And patriotic. And this was the only pie that was eaten completely so it must have been great. Or people just felt they needed some protein.

Drag Queen Pie

This beauty is a drag queen pie, or raspberry lemonade pie, frozen and like sherbet! It was fun and pretty and tart as hell!

1 piece drag queen pie/2 vodka tonics (… they were good)

Gil (and Martin)'s Fabric Bag

Between the eating and the drinking and the frisbee-ing, there was a lot of knitting going on. I was a proud mama! Gil finished up her fabric knit bag which turned out so cute! Her bf Martin picked up some knitting skills with this bag, so he gets credit, too.

Bound Off Bottom!

Tara bound off the bottom of her sweater! It looks so cute. See the admirers behind her? Today in Sweater Club she finished a sleeve, so this sweater is really close to being done.

Oh god

We made a mess. There were tiny plates and tiny cups everywhere, people had their hands and forks in pie remnants between laying down quiet time. We would play a little frisbee to make room for more pie.

Pieapalooza!

I was trying not to keep track of the pie I ate on Friday, and I was trying not to add it up afterward. There is nothing I can do about it, all that pie was eaten, there is no use worrying about calories. Thanks to this post, though, I know I ate six pieces of pie and had six drinks. How I’m still alive I’m not quite sure, but we all made it through Pieapalooza! with tales to tell. Pieapalooza! is totally going to be a thing now! Because who wouldn’t want to sit around eating pie and drinking all afternoon?

However, it is not going to happen again any time soon. The party wrapped up around 7 and if the Tigers wouldn’t have gone into extra innings I would have been asleep by 9:30. The Tigers kept me up with a sad, bloaty tummy till after midnight. The whole time I was thinking about how pissed I’d be if they ended up losing and I could have been sleeping it off instead of awake and in pain. It was totally worth it! But seriously I don’t want to be in that kind of pain again for a long time.

Like, a week at least.

PT and I are taking the same steps to recover from our cooking misstep this weekend.

PT's Pasta

PT cooked up some delicious (well, minus the olives) asparagus, mushroom, and olive pasta with parmesan for lunch earlier this week.

My Pasta

For dinner last night I made some simple red sauce and poured it over some broccoli, asparagus, and mushrooms, with parmesan, too.

Our healing process is slow. The heat is keeping us out of the kitchen, too, naturally. I brewed some ice tea earlier and I had to close off half the house.

… shit, and I’m pretty sure it’s still on the stove.

Someone who doesn’t need any healing?

Hello, Gorgeous

Tara is rocking out her sweater for Sweater Club! Look at it! I’m a very proud mama. I never know if I’m going to get a picture of a huge mistake or amazing success, so I was very happy to open this attachment and behold this pretty work in progress!

First sweater, people. Holla.

While I’m coughing a lot still and can’t quite muster up my regular energy, I’m feeling much better. I went for an afternoon walk with my friend Rachel yesterday and by the end of it I was wiped. What normally would be an easy 2 hour stroll around the boulevards felt like a half marathon. I hate it. Of course I get sick four days into my gym membership! I haven’t been in a week.

Sick Person Food?

More like cold person food. It is 57 and rainy and all I wanted was soup when I clomped my way home from work in my rain boots. I stole a can of PT’s Progresso lentil soup, which was pretty good. I made an amazing grilled cheese to go with it, and have been drinking chamomile tea all afternoon.

Egg Sandwich and Potatoes

For dinner last night mixed four eggs, a couple spoonfuls of chunky salsa, some onion and a splash of milk together and poured it into two big muffin cups. I baked them, sliced them, melted some cheddar on them, and ate them as a sandwich with potatoes. This little improvised egg sandwich was great! So tasty with the salsa and cheddar. And you see how beautiful my bread looks? This was a really good batch.

Toe Up Sock

Tuesday was part one of my Toe Up Sock Class, so I got to start my next pair! Last night after dinner PT and I walked over to Streetside to watch the Tigers Sox game and I worked on this the whole time. I’m about an inch away from where I need to be for Toe Up Sock Class Part Two – The Heel.

Tonight is Sweater Club. I just ordered more yarn for my Summer Sweater, and a couple skeins of sock yarn, so I’ll be working on my sweater pattern tonight. I’ve gotten a few calls for sweater help, so I’m not expecting much knitting time for myself, however. I’ve got to make sure my ladies are on the right track!

First of all, I’m on page 79 of Loving Frank! I figured out that if I read 60 pages a day I’ll finish by Monday. Today I need to get to 120, so I’m well on my way. Lots of sex and shirt waist ripping makes for excellent afternoon reading.

Last night I got to thinking about the sweater I’m knitting for Sweater Club. I knew I had a half finished sweater I hated laying around here somewhere that I was planning on ripping out so I could use that yarn for the sweater. While looking for it, though, I struck gold.

Knit Picks ShineSport! Four Skeins!

I completely forgot I bought seven skeins of Knit Picks ShineSport like three years ago for a sweater, started it and seriously hated every minute of it. I have four of this Cherry and three Butter. It is the perfect yarn for the sweater! I found the light blue half finished sweater, too, but that yarn would have been a lot harder to work with. The Knit Picks is a cotton blend, which softens it up.

Can't Stop Myself

So I of course got really excited about the yarn and had to start the pattern. But I figured if I kept up with my reading I could reward myself with a tiny bit of knitting, right?

The lacy leaf pattern is really fun! I love the yarn overs and the three stitch decreases. It makes me want to knit it. (glances lovingly at the 11 rows already on the needle) It is a nice change of pace from the socks. Once you finish turning that heel its over, just ribbing for like 14 inches. (glances lovingly at her two pairs of pretty self stripped socks)

So, my next few days are pretty set. Knit through baseball, read while not knitting. I’m expecting another great series for the Tigers this weekend and it is a good thing since this pattern takes a little concentration. I don’t need to be screaming and throwing things AND trying to lace! No one deserves that.

Saturday was a big day for The Sweatshop of Love. We celebrated our three year anniversary! It was sunny and warm for the first time all week and I couldn’t have been more excited about it. I frosted the cupcakes, I got my knitting together, I grabbed some books to swap, and then realized there was still four hours until the party started.

Muffin Club

Although the blackberry muffins I just kind of made up the recipe for fell, they were still very delicious, and they were more delicious walking around the boulevards in the sunshine.

I Love Rachel

Something else that tastes good in the sunshine? Sure, I made cupcakes, but my love Rachel made this Sweatshop cake! How cute is that? I promised her I wouldn’t send it into Cake Wrecks, and of course it wouldn’t even make it on Cake Wrecks because it is so beautiful, but it had to go on a blog somewhere. Have I mentioned how much I love Rachel?

Tara, Gil, and Martin

It was breezy, it was warm most of the time, and we all stuffed our faces.

Rachael, Erin, and Colleen

Everyone got some knitting in and some Vitamin D. I’m really excited to get another knitting afternoon together very soon, so keep your eyes on your inbox for Sweatshop newsletters!

For me the fun Saturday didn’t stop there.

Sun Dried Tomato, Artichoke Heart, and Olive Deep Dish Pizza

A couple friends and I got together and between the five of us we threw together a green bean and beet salad and this delicious deep dish pizza (thanks Shawna!).

Today was full of classes! The last Sunday morning Sweater Club class, then I ran home, watched the beginning of the tigers game, then ran to Entrelac Workshop. Whew! All the knitting must have gotten my brain working because DAMN PT and I knocked dinner out of the park tonight.

The Best Fish Tacos EVER

After many many tries, PT and I have finally gotten our recipe for fish tacos down perfectly. Pan fry the fish brushed with a little oil and seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Meanwhile, we slice up the avocado and mango. We heat up the taco shells by toast them on the stove top burner. We put down the avocado slices on the shells. When the fish is cooked we flake it and put it on the avocado slices, then put some spicy chunky salsa on the fish and fresh mango on the salsa. Before we eat them we squeeze on a little lime. Holy. Shit. Amazing. But it didn’t end there.

Fried Plantain Split

We pan fried up a plantain in butter, sliced it, and put ice cream on it. It was salty and sweet and SO good! I can’t figure out why this isn’t a thing at every restaurant. Warm and creamy.

‘Do you remember when we made fried plantain splits?’ PT just asked me, three hours after we ate them.

Yes, PT. Oh yes I do.

This weekend was great! Sunny, warm, full of knitting and friends and amazing food. And I’m going to sleep well tonight.