First Family 5K

 This morning, Andrew, Willow, and I walked the Brandywine Y's first 5K race - our first 5K as a family. Piper was there, too - and you can see by the look on her face how much she enjoyed it... She was okay for the first 20 minutes, but then after that she wasn't interested in looking in other people's leftover Halloween decorations and the pretty foliage. All in all, we were timed at 53:45, which was a little more than 17 minutes per mile. This was slower than my time of 51 minutes a few weeks ago, but then again, I was pushing 50 pounds of toddler and stroller in this race, so I will accept the extra 3 minutes! I really hope we can do this again as a family soon - although I don't know how much longer we will be able to manage this with Piper in a stroller (sneaker bugger knows how to undo her seatbelt straps!)

It's That Time Again - NaBloPoMo!

You know, I have to look that up every time - I can never remember the abbreviation.

 

 It's getting harder and harder to maintain this blog - other social media outlets are so much easier to maintain and quicker to update. But, I'm going to make the effort to blog every day in November for National Blog Posting Month, even if it is just a quick snapshot to let you know something that happened that day.

 I don't have any big creative thing planned today - it's just a start. The picture above was taken last weekend when we were at the final day of the PA Rennfaire - I love autumn for the changing colors, and this leaf was just sitting on the floorboards of the place we were sitting at for lunch. Piper picked it up and carried it around for a while afterward and I don't think she realized how fragile it was and how easily it would disintegrate in her hands. But once she figured out that, she made it her mission to crunch as many leaves as possible. Yes, we still call her Piperzilla for a reason.

 

 Me and Piper painting a pumpkin at the Rennfaire. Or rather, me trying to keep Piper from getting paint all over every surface but the pumpkin. Andrew said Jackson Pollock would have been proud.

We're Alive, Just Busy...

DSCN1039, originally uploaded by jochibi.

There you go, Mom. More posts to come - I just need time to organize everything.

Sisters Watching Doctor Who

IMG_0874, originally uploaded by jochibi.

Yes, we started Piper early on Doctor Who. We didn't think she was paying attention at first, but now she knows characters names and the music. She does, however, insist on calling it the 'Scary Show.' At first she would just play around us as we watched the show - but as you see now - she snuggles up to Willow on the sofa and they watch it together.

Blog? What Blog?

P9042683, originally uploaded by jochibi.

Forget about the fact that I seem to be forgetting about my blog. Enjoy this cute picture of me and the girls instead.

Family Picture 2013

IMG_0791, originally uploaded by jochibi.

My Auntie Daryth took this picture in her garden in Nanaimo, BC. The lovely dog is Rosie, who decided she had to be in the picture, too.

Rennfaire 2013

DSCN0841, originally uploaded by jochibi.

I still think we need to get one of these installed in the backyard - and see - this one has two levels! It would fit both girls!

Holy Noodle

When I was growing up, my Mom had a few different containers for pasta - in truth, I think they were old ice cream containers or maybe mayonnaise jars re-purposed to hold noodles, but they were categorized by how long they took to cook.  There was a 6-7 minute jar, a 8-9 minutes jar, and I think a third for those noodles that took longer to cook.  When Mom would make homemade macaroni and cheese (and believe me when I say my Mom makes damned good macaroni and cheese!), she would just scoop out of one of the jars, and we would get a mixture of penne and spiral noodles and sometimes just straight up elbow macaroni.

I think I need to follow her lead here.

Piper was taking forever to eat her dinner tonight, so I wandered into the kitchen, putting stuff away, picking stuff off the floor, etc. I noticed my sugar jar was empty, so I went to the pantry to get the sugar bin to fill it.  That led to me cleaning up the pantry.  In the end, after purging a bunch of stuff way beyond its best before date, I had 17 different boxes and packages of pasta.

SEVENTEEN.

Clearly, I need help.  Penne - three or four different kinds.  High protein, white fiber, mini penne. Pastini. Whole wheat orzo. Shells.  Moscatelli.  Rigatoni.  Spirals.  Linguine, thin spaghetti, angel hair pasta.  These cool noodles I got from Whole Foods that look like long skinny lasagna noodles, but you eat them like linguine.

Guess what I am buying the next time I go to Target?

I think a couple of these should do me.  And I can finally consolidate some space in my not-terribly-spacious pantry cupboard.

P.S.
And apparently I secretly want to pair these noodles with curry, because I had no less than 8 different kinds of curry in the cupboard, from Japanese curry roux to different kinds of simmer sauces to Punjabi curried eggplant mix.

P.P.S.
And we are not even going to talk about the chocolate.

Finished Object: East End Sweater

You know when you see a design, and you think to yourself, "Omigod, I have to make this sweater!!"? This was one of those times. But I was apprehensive... this sweater was made from fingering weight yarn. In linen. And I am not a small girl.

But I volunteered to test the pattern despite my apprehension, and I am so pleased with the results!

 

 Here is a shot of my backside - not normally a view I display willingly, but I wanted to show the neat shaping on the back - it flares out below the hip and creates a beautifully feminine shape:

 

The Particulars:

Pattern: East End by Alicia Plummer
Yarn: Quince and Co. Sparrow, 9 skeins in 'Port.'  Knitting with linen was a completely new experience for me - it's so very crunchy when you knit with it, but it becomes extremely soft once it is washed and dried (yes, you can put it in the washer and dryer!).
Needles: Size 5 circulars in different lengths (depending on the part of the sweater I was knitting).
Would I knit this pattern again? Definitely! Someone in our test group knit hers in Madtosh merino light, and I would love to try that as well. I did do some modifications to the pattern to better suit my short, narrow-shouldered, curvy figure. The original neckline was very wide on me, so I worked a 1x1 ribbing for 9 rows around the neck to bring the sweater in a bit. I also extended the sleeves (with no decreases) to an elbow-length, and then knit 10 rows of 1x1 ribbing there as well. I really like the flirty pattern at the bottom hem, and the A-line of the pattern is very flattering on me.

Thank you for letting me test this pattern, Alicia! I love this sweater!

And I have to say that this was a very quick photoshoot. Not only was it 93'F in the shade, but there were gnats everywhere - as evidenced by this picture and the "ACK! BUGS!" look on my face:

 

Zinnia Visitor

Zinnia Visitor, originally uploaded by jochibi.

I don't know if it is a moth or a butterfly, but it sure was pretty.

Piper Ballerina

Peach Lilies

DSCN0762, originally uploaded by jochibi.

Found these in my father-in-law's garden on the weekend. So pretty!

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Finished Object: Willow's Lighthouse Keeper's Wife Cardigan

Okay, can I start with saying how beautiful this girl is?



This cardigan has been finished for a little while, but we have had torrential rain on and off for the last two weeks, so it has been difficult to get out and take pictures.

Full body:



The funniest thing happened with this sweater.  I normally knit when Willow and I watch TV together, so she had seen me working on this all along.  I have made a few things for Piper recently - but because she is so much smaller, they get completed much faster.  I finished my last little bits, balled it up, and tossed the sweater in Willow's lap.  Willow: "What's this for?" Me: "Try it on." Willow: "It's for ME?!"  It was nice to be able to pull this over on her in the open!

Side view



Back:



The Particulars: 

Pattern: Lighthouse Keeper's Wife by Melissa Schaschwary. A great simple, straightforward top-down pattern.
Yarn: Naturally Caron Spa (a little over 2 skeins for the XS size) - a bamboo/acrylic blend.
Needles: size 13 bamboo circulars (not my favorite needles - way too blunt!), and a J-size crochet hook. Would I Knit This Pattern Again? Definitely - and the next one will be for me - but not in this yarn. This yarn made a nice, airy summer-weight sweater, but was so splitty, especially with these blunt needles. The next time I do this I am going to use a provisional cast on for the hood so I can kitchener the hood rather than seaming. I opted to make long short sleeves (about elbow length) for Willow as this will be a summer cardigan. I created a stabilizing band for buttons by doing three rows of half double crochet along the button bands and hood. I did the same with the ends of the sleeves. The bottom of the sweater I opted for 5 rounds of garter stitch so the sweater wouldn’t roll up. I then added 2 small buttons on the front.



Knitting things for Willow can be a little hit or miss - so I am really happy that she likes this one.  It's also nice that she fits into the ladies' XS size, because there are so many more women's patterns out there than tween girl patterns.

Somehow

Somehow, we have gone from this on her first day of Kindergarten:

to this on her last day of 5th grade:

My amazing firstborn graduated with Distinguished Honors (straight As for the entire year), received an award for leadership, as well a certificate for being involved in the Math Olympiad.  Willow, you never cease to amaze us - we love you so much!

Everyday

DSCN0679, originally uploaded by jochibi.

This is the state of our living room at least once a day - if not multiple times a day. Cleaning up after Piper has seriously cut into my reading and knitting time...

Finished Objects: Sebago Cove 1.0 and 2.0

Wow, am I ever remiss here. I was all ready to post my Finished Object post for the tunic sweater I finished last night for Piper when I realized I hadn't created a post for my original version of the same sweater! So here we go -

 Sebago Cove 1.0

 

and Sebago Cove 2.0

 

Same pattern, but in different yarns! Why did I knit 2 sweaters in the same pattern in short order? When my friend Alicia selected me to be on of the testers for her Sebago Cove pattern, I ordered the yarn she designed it with, and the yarn had to come all the way from Australia from the lovely Augustbird. It took about two weeks, but in the meantime, I was chomping at the bit to get started on the sweater. I dug around in my stash, and found some red merino/acrylic blend called Les Laines du Petit Poucet Colorado that I achieved gauge with, and I ran with it.

 

 As you can see, there are some rainbow colors woven through the yarn, and I didn't bother with the color blocking as the pattern describes, but I think it made a pretty cute tunic sweater. Piper liked it so much, she stole it out of my knitting bag so she could play dress up with it even before I had a chance to weave in all the ends - and if that isn't a ringing endorsement, I don't know what is!

 When my yarn from Augustbird arrived, I was nigh-finished another test knit for another talented friend, Melissa... which I haven't posted here yet, either. How did I get so far behind? Anyway, I wanted to finish my Sturgeon test knit before I started a new sweater. I had never knit anything with Augustbird yarns before, and I was in for an amazing treat. The colors are so saturated in the yarn, and it felt so incredibly nice to knit with. The Augustbird Hearty DK definitely shows the stitch definition much better than the Les Laines du Petit Poucet Colorado - I love the eyelets at the raglan shoulders, and the YO increases along the sides of the tunic:

 

The Particulars: 

Pattern: Sebago Cove by Alicia Plummer. You can purchase the pattern at this link on Ravelry - and please do!

Needles: Size 6 and 8 16" circulars and size 7 dpns (the pattern called for size 6 dpns, but I couldn't find mine). I made the 4T size. If you were to make a larger size, you would need longer circulars.

Yarn: Sebago Cove 1.0 was in Les Laines du Petit Poucet Colorado and Sebago Cove 2.0 was in Augustbird Hearty DK

Would I Knit This Pattern Again? Oh yes, in fact - I already have yarn to make Piper another one. I have a sneaky feeling that Piper will be wearing these all fall and winter long this year!

 

 Seriously - doesn't Piper look gorgeous in purple?

Piper Bright Eyes

Bright Eyes in her Sebago Cove 2.0 A, originally uploaded by jochibi.

Where on earth did she get eyes like this? My Mom and my sister Jaime both have light coloured eyes, but not like this.

Dinner Tonight: Mabo Turkey Lettuce Wraps

A few weeks ago, I had lettuce wraps at our local Asian Fusion restaurant, and my taste buds fell in love. I wanted to try making my own, but I was feeling very lazy. The ingredients were easy enough - but I was stuck on the sauce. On Friday night, I was searching Pinterest for variations on lettuce wraps, when I saw one for Mapo Tofu lettuce wraps and it occurred to me that I had some Mabo Nasu sauce in my pantry. Yes, I know that is an Indonesian website, but it was the only link I could find for Mabo Nasu. It's a common Chinese sauce mix (seet and a bit spicy) that you should be able to find at most Asian grocery stores. So - let's get started - here are my ingredients:

 

 The only things missing from the picture are the olive oil, garlic, and the cashews.

Ingredients

 1.25lbs extra lean ground turkey breast (99% fat free)
1 package Mabo Nasu sauce
2 TBSP minced fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
5 water chesnuts, chopped
1.5 TBSP olive oil
1.5c shredded carrots (about 3 handfuls)
3 scallions, chopped (whites and greens)
1 head of iceberg lettuce, leaves washed, dried, and put in fridge to keep cold.
0.25c cashews, chopped

 Rice - cook separately (as much as you think you may need - it's a side dish)

 Put your olive oil, turkey, garlic, and ginger in a pot, and cook the turkey over medium-high heat until completely white - breaking it up with a wooden spoon into small bits. You shouldn't need to drain it because there is so little fat here. Add in your carrots and Mabo Nasu sauce mix, and stir. Turn the mixture to low, and add in the scallions, water chestnuts, and cashews. Cook until thoroughly combined and carrots have softened a little.

 

 I have to say - the most difficult thing about this entire process was trying to peel the leaves off the head of lettuce intact! There must be a secret to this.

 Makes 5 servings (our in our case, dinner for everyone and lunch for me tomorrow!)

 Spoon a little meat mix into a lettuce leaf, roll in a bit so the stuffing doesn't fall out, and enjoy!

 

 Even Piper enjoyed her more deconstructed wraps:

 

It was funny - I gave her bits separately because I thought she would prefer it that way - but when she saw us wrapping ours up, she started to do the same thing with hers. Smart girl!

 

And if you have run out of lettuce leaves, you can eat the rest with some rice!

I do think I will make some adjustments to this the next time I make it - I would like it to be a bit saucier, so I think I will use 2 sauce packages next time. It could also be kicked up a notch in spice level - maybe a pinch or two of red pepper and maybe double the ginger? But all in all, everyone liked it and looks forward to having it again.

Willow's Spring Concert

Willow had her Spring Chorus Concert this afternoon, but unfortunately I wasn't able to attend. Andrew was, and he took these wonderful videos for me:

 Part 1:

 

 Part 2:

 

 Seriously - can I tell you how much I love this camera!