Yesterday and today: Doctor's appointment, RCIA, and why cooking channels are brilliant

I mention the brilliance of cooking channels, but I should add a caveat to that.....they're brilliant until watching them makes you forget to get on and write your blog post. Yep, that's what happened. I got distracted by Chopped, and then an episode of this show on ABC called Forever. An immortal medical examiner who solves crimes.....even if he weren't really attractive and in possession of a nice accent, the concept would probably still be enough to grab my attention. But I'm not going to complain about the rest of it.

So to recap yesterday, I got up late, puttered around the house, went to the doctor's (apparently, I'm in good health and should not need to see her again for another year.) visited my mom and sister, came home, backed chocolate pumpkin muffins, dashed off to class, came home, had a beer, and wrestled with unanswerable philosophical questions.

All in all, not a bad day. Even if the beer wasn't quite what I was hoping for. I keep hoping to find something with a similar flavor to Guinness but without the weight of a Guinness....if that makes any sense at all.

Anyway, today I got up early, went to mass, puttered around Savannah (with some grumbling at my clock for moving so slowly) and went to Saints and Shamrocks. I love going into that store, but I need to be very careful when I do because I want to take half of the store home. And I just can't afford to do that.

I bought a few new saint medals to add to my charm necklace, two laminated prayer cards to go with the chaplet and the rosary on Etsy, a little statue of Our Lady of Grace, and a copy of Gaelic Storm's "The Full Irish: Greatest Hits".

I kind of feel like I've passed a milestone here. I now own a statue of our Mother. Okay, yeah, it's not the biggest, nor the most detailed, but it's still a very nice little statue. It just makes it all a little more real, if that makes sense.

As for Gaelic Storm, what can I say? I love celtic rock.

I'm hoping to get the listings up by the end of the week. I'm not sure how well it will do, but I hope it'll work out. I've got some ideas for more chaplets, as well as a few other crafts. I've got my heart set on a resin kit for jewelry making that I think will be brilliant, but the stuff I'm listing now needs to do well first.

Anyway, hopefully I'll remember to drag myself away from the tv tomorrow night as well.

Yours always,
Tara

Birthday, boxty, and cleaning

So I am now officially 22 years old. Today has largely been marked by a degree of self-indulgence (hello four empty coke cans) but I have accomplished a few things.

I got up early and went to mass. Now whether or not I'll make it tomorrow morning as well is up in the air, but I do plan to. Honestly, getting up at 6am is not what I want to do, no matter how much I enjoy the end result (that is, attending morning mass). Truthfully, I can knock it back to 6:20, because I don't leave until 6:45 and 25 minutes is more than enough time, even on the morning when I take a shower.

But I got up this morning and went to mass. Then I went home and took an hour long nap because I had a hard time getting to sleep the night before and was still really tired. I'm hoping a shot of amaretto before bed will cure that problem.

After that I worked on my room some. I reorganized some shelves and pulled some books and clothes down to go to goodwill. I still have several more drawers to go through just puling out the stuff I don't wear to get rid of. And more books.

I will be honest, I struggle to get rid of books, even the ones I don't really like. It's just one of those things. I'm a book person. I mean, thinking about the Library of Alexandria makes me want to cry. All those books, gone. And it's even worse when you consider just how much work went into those books! They were hand written!

I've made a decent amount of progress though, so it's not too bad. I've got three boxes to unpack still though, not including my key-board that's sitting in the shed. I need to get the empty boxes out of the corner, and try to move the end table. I'm hoping to maybe replace it with a bookcase, albeit a thin one. Maybe it can hold the million and one odds and ends I have. I also have a bunch of knick-knacks that have to go.

To this day I still can't understand why having a statue of a laughing Buddha is okay but a saint medal is not. My mother gave me the little Buddha, but I bought the saint medal. Of course, now I have several of them, but the first one I bought was St. Catherine of Alexandria, patron saint of librarians and book-keepers.

My dad gave me the St. Barbara medal I have. She's the patron saint of the Field Artillery (and more besides, but that how I know her best). Then I got St. Patrick, and just recently St. Brigid and Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. Mom never liked me wearing the St. Catherine medal. (but she bought me a laughing Buddha?)

Anyway! So as part of my dinner I had half a boxty. I've decided that, the next time I make these, I'm going to make them thinner. Also, my marmalade did not set, so I have pickled onions, and not onion marmalade. Still tastes good, but also still disappointing.

I've got a lot of cleaning to do tonight when I get home though. The exterminator comes tomorrow and I need to get it cleaned up so he can do his job, regardless of whether I'm there or not. This means that I need to get the pile of clothes on my bed bagged up to go, and get the pile of clothes on my floor sorted and put where it goes. I need to move my knitting tower onto it's new home, and maybe try to move entertainment center slightly so that I can get the last piece of it in place and out of the middle of my floor.

Of course, I'd also like to finish this stupid stole....so I'd best get to work.

Good night dear readers,
Yours always,
Tara

Kit-kat bars and thrice-cursed shawls

Stole, actually, but we're not here to be finicky, dear readers.

About a month before my mother found out she was pregnant, a lady at her church requested that I make her a stole for the Prayer Shawl Companion. I agreed...and promptly regreted it after the third week slogging through the thrice-cursed cabling on the thing! Given that she hasn't been at church and I've been working on other things, the stole has sat abandoned a mere 36 rows shy of completion. She was at church last week and inquired about it. I said I'd have it done by Sunday. That means 36 rows of the misery inducing cables, followed by a complete crochet edging and then washing and blocking. I'm also 10 rows shy of finishing a bootie for Shawna, which leaves me with one more to do and I'm frankly desperate to take a break and knit those Irish Ale socks!

I'm actually hoping against all hope that I'll finish the knitted portion of the stole tonight and then just crochet the edges tomorrow. I'd do it when I get home, but I want to go to mass tomorrow morning. I'll turn 22 tomorrow, and I'd like to start my birthday off properly.

We didn't go out for lunch after church, instead we went to dinner on Saturday. We went to the Macaroni grill, which actually probably wasn't the best idea given how hot it was. Heavy food on the hottest day so far? Not the best idea.

Sunday after mass I stopped by the store and picked up a few things, including hair dye. I'm trying to get my hair back to it's natural light brown color (or as I call it, mouse brown) and would prefer not to look to strange as my hair grows out. I got a natural henna dye, so it shouldn't damage my hair any.

I made boxty and onion marmalade today. I don't know if the marmalade has set properly though, and I'm actually really worried about that. As for the boxty, it was really good, but I don't know how anyone eats a full one. It fills you up really quickly.

Although that might just be because I don't eat a lot in one sitting unless it's Thanksgiving. And even then, I tend to nibble continuously rather than gorge.

Speaking of the coming holiday season, they have Halloween candy out already! YES! hello 2-for-5 kit-kat bars and mini peanut butter cups!

You see the kind of sweet tooth I have.

My socks are taunting me. Sitting there, just two little balls of yarn and two new sets of double points. Taunting me I tell you! But, the booties and the stole come first.

I found this rosary on ebay that I have my heart set on. Of course, as per my usual, I don't intend to bid on it until the last possible moment, even so, fingers crossed!

I'm signing off for the moment, but I'll talk with you later!

Yours always,
Tara

Powered by egg-rolls

Or at least my step-dad seems to think we are.

I went over to my mom's this morning after mass to make egg-rolls and just spend time with her. She scared the crap out of me, with her standing on her head and all. Apparently, Little Bird is still laying sideways when she needs to turn her little tail feathers around and lay head down, you know, to get ready? And so the mid-wife had advised my mother to lie with her butt up on the couch and her body on pillows on the floor. While she was doing this, my mother started laughing, which apparently hurt really badly and scared the tar out of little old me.

Did I mention that I don't do well with loved ones in pain?

Thankfully she was okay and she no longer has to do that.

The egg-rolls turned out good. The recipe is a traditional Vietnamese recipe that my mom got from a friend of hers who's husband was Vietnamese. Apparently it's his family's recipe. Either way, we've been making them forever and they are delicious. No photo's I'm afraid, but believe me when I say these are better than any egg-roll you've ever had a you local Chinese place.

My mother ate 3 and then had a energy boost, so to speak, P ate a belly full of them, and I ate 3 and got a move on myself, hence why my step-dad thinks that egg-rolls are apparently a power-boost.

I didn't get around to the boxty or the onion marmalade, so I'll have to do those tomorrow.

Sunday we're celebrating my birthday. We're going to go out for lunch after church, so that'll be nice. I spent  about an hour trying to decide where to go because I live for food that's good and cheap, and sadly that's not something you find in restaurants. I've settled on an Italian joint in Savannah, but I won't say where until Monday.

I went to mass this morning, although I almost didn't. For some reason I had a really hard time getting to bed last night and I did not want to get up this morning. I did though, and as always I'm glad that I did.

I'm headed to bed now, but I'll talk to you tomorrow.
Yours always,
Tara

Snakes, Roses, Stars, and lot's of bread

 

Hiss! I'll bite you!

So, I'm trying something a little different with my pictures today. Bear with me, dear readers.


It's day 4 with no AC and a balmy 89*F, when last I checked the thermostat. We have all the doors thrown open and with that comes the risk of snakes. Which, wouldn't be a huge problem, except that we are in South Georgia, dear readers, and the last time we had a snake in the building it was a juvenile water moccasin. Not what you want to find in your place of employment, I assure you.


On a more pleasant note, I got a new rosary today.

Much better than the last one I bought, I don't feel like this one will break apart in my hands. The beads are wood, with little swirls carved into the sides (they're supposed to look like roses) and the entire thing smells like roses....or rather, like rose water. I've never found roses to be very fragrant, but if distilled in water there is a very distinctive scent. The weight of it is nice, and while it's certainly not my favorite rosary ever, I think it'll do nicely for everyday use.

I finally finished my hat. The pattern is called the Star of County Down and it took me two days of sporadic knitting to finish it. It didn't turn out exactly like the pictures. There's supposed to be small "holes" all around the outside edges, in between the points of the star. The holes are actually there, but for some reason you can't tell. I wet blocked it last night (on a dinner plate, as per their instructions) and wore it part of today (since I can't wear hats at work).

And yes, I did giggle like an idiot when The Star of County Down started playing on my iPod.

I love "Celtic" music. The High Kings, The Dubliners, The Young Dubliners, The Bollox, Gaelic Storm, you name it. I even like Dropkick Murphys, which has a bad habit of being unintelligible.

I did some baking this morning before work, as well as scratch making some mashed potatoes to make boxty with tomorrow.

And mash! two, three, four!

First off, let's give a round of applause to everyone who came before who had to cook. Scratch made mashed potatoes are brilliant....except when you have to mash them with an old potato masher such as the one seen here.

Great upper body work out though! Burn off the calories of those potatoes before you even get the chance to eat them! Of course we have a food processor.....somewhere. It was given to my granma by my mom and has never once been taken out of the box. I however have no idea where it is, and did not feel like trying to find it when the more *ahem* traditional tool was right there.

The entire point of making mashed potatoes from scratch, after all, was the clumpy texture that instant potatoes just don't have.

I'm pleased to report that, though I lack stamina and upper-body strength, I did manage to successfully mash the potatoes into the absolutely perfect looking product you see to the right!

Totally worth the extra effort! Nothing beats scratch made mashed potatoes, though I fully admit that I have no problem using instant and will continue to do so most of the time because, as much as I love scratch made potatoes they are incredible time consuming.

Of course, adding to the amount of time it took was the fact that I was also up to my wrists with a loaf of Old-fashioned Spiced Gingerbread and a loaf of Classic Irish Soda Bread.






In the mix



Getting hot in here

 



Ta-da!

 

 

 The Gingerbread is brilliant. Well, I say that, I haven't actually been able to cut into any of my new creations (which sucks) because they hadn't finished cooling when I left. So they're all sitting on the counter, wrapped in clean dish towels.  Based off the batter (and yes, I did lick the beaters like a small child) the gingerbread is really good, but also really heavy on the ginger. I just followed the recipe.


Dry ingredients first



Hot hot hot!



tad to dark on top, but still perfect!

The Soda bread looks really good to. My mom gave me a bag of the stone-ground whole wheat flour, so I didn't have to buy it. Apparently it's been taking up space in her cabinet for a while now. It only took 30 minutes to bake, so I might try baking a loaf every few days if it's good. I  bet it'd go really well with the recipe I have for Beef and Guinness stew I have. Last time I made the stew it was a little greasy from where I didn't drain the meat well enough, but this time I'll be better prepared. Of course, I have to cut the recipe in third because of how much is makes! But I'm sure it'll be great. 

I've decided to go to morning mass tomorrow because I have so much to get done. I'm going over to my mom's to make egg-rolls, and I'll take the stuff for the boxty so I can get those done to. When I get home I've got cleaning to do, and then I'm going to wash two of my new pint jars and make Onion marmalade. Unlike the stew recipe, which makes enough to feed a small army, the marmalade recipe makes enough for two little jars, which are then stored in the fridge. If I like it, I can always multiply the recipe and make a proper batch to be stored on the shelf until opened.

Anyway, I'm back to baby knitting, so I'd best get to it. A quick break for dinner, and then to work!

I'll talk to ya'll tomorrow!
Yours always,
Tara



Our Lady Star of the Sea chaplet and day 3 with no AC

I got the center and the crucifix for the Our Lady Star of the Sea chaplet I wanted to make today. It did indeed turn out to be a chaplet, and not a rosary, though it was sort of up in the air for a while, but given how long it would have been, judging off ten of the pearls strung together, it would have been highly impractical as a rosary.

The crucifix and center are both bronze, the chain and pins are iron that's been treated to look like bronze. It's not an exact match, but it's close enough. The 12 beads of the main section are fresh-water pearls, and the three beads connecting the center and the crucifix are mother-of-pearl. It's all nice and appropriately nautical, so I'm happy with it, even if I do think the mother-of-pearl beads might be a bit big. Besides, I kind of like the way it looks. Now I have to figure out who it's for.

Sometimes, I make things, just to make them, and I don't know who it's for or if it's for any one at all! Sometimes, the item becomes mine, sometimes, I figure out who the owner is, and sometimes I'm left with a funny feeling that it isn't mine.....but I don't know who it's for. Very frustrating. 

I'm still knitting away at my hat. I've got about 15 rows or so left, so I should be able to finish it before I leave tonight. Then tomorrow it's back to booties and mittens. *sigh*

In the spirit of today's episode of Mother Angelica Classics (yes, I have been watching Mother Angelica, and I LOVE her!) I have decided to treat my current frustration (i.e. knitting the same three baby patterns over and over) as a gift towards sanctification. This is not nearly as spiritual as it sounds, and is based primarily off the fact that if I don't think of it in those terms, I'll be tempted to strangle Shawna with the yarn!

Hey, I never said I was a good Christian, just that I'm trying my best.

It's really cool though, because I didn't even know we got EWTN at the house! I mean, I listen to the radio all the time on my computer, but we actually get the tv channel and it's kind of nice! I sat and worked on my hat for an hour earlier while watching Mother Angelica. Very enjoyable.

Friday promises to be busy. I plan on making Vietnamese egg rolls, going to mid-day mass, and making boxty and ginger-bread. Oh! and soda bread. I might do the soda bread and ginger bread tomorrow, along with the mashed potatoes for the boxty. Oh! And onion marmalade! I have a fantastic cook book of Irish recipes.

Buy it! I promise it's good!

 

I have no idea who David Bowers is, but I will forever adore him for writing this cookbook. It has the best recipe for shepherd's pie ever! And that's coming from me! I love shepherd's pie! It's like the ultimate comfort food (tied with Granma's spaghetti) and I could literally eat it every day of the week with no guilt. The first time I made the recipe from this book, I was sick with a small cold. First bite was pure heaven!

 

I pretty much just want to make every recipe in this cook book.

 

Except the oysters. I'm not very fond of oysters.

 

Anyway! Wow, that was off-subject. Sorry. I just really love to cook. I'll try to post pictures of my dishes, but I make no promises as to the quality of those photos. I'm not a photographer.

 

It's day three with no AC at work, but today I've got a fan, so it's not quiet as miserable. It'll probably be November before they get it fixed, and then the heater will go out! Ah well, such is life.

 

I might be back on again later this evening, but I don't know yet. Until later!

 

Yours always,

Tara