Farmer’s Market Week 3

Apricot Pie bought at the Casa de Fruta stand at today’s Farmers Market.

We had this for dessert, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  I’m somewhat of a purist when it comes to pie – rarely satisfied with a commercial crust.  But this one is a winner!  The apricots were perfect, not too sweet, and the crust was tender and flaky.  No hint of store-bought with this one.  Still warm from the oven and only $10.  They also had apple, cherry and peach but, in this family, apricot wins every time.

This was my haul last week.  The strawberries really were bigger than the apricots; the purple veggie on the right is kohlrabi.  It looks a bit like a space ship when it’s standing up but is really quite good.  We had one of them raw with ranch dip on Memorial Day.  I will probably cook the other 2 tomorrow for dinner, maybe steamed with a little butter.  The sugar snap peas were delicious and the asparagus, which is grown here in our county, was much fresher than we get in the supermarket.  The raisins are from the Central Valley and are yummy.  We first bought these year before last but they didn’t bring any to last year’s markets.  Being used to packaged supermarket raisins, these were a real eye-opener for us.

The bottle in front is lotion made from goat’s milk.  I haven’t tried it yet (except for the tester at the market). I was surprised to find out that the owner of this business is a well-known local quilter. 

 

One of the vendors sells orchids.  He has a really wonderful selection at very reasonable prices.  This one was only $8.

 

 

 

 

 

I have a checkered history with orchids.  The Husband often would buy me one for Mother’s Day/my birthday from one of the sellers who appear in local parking lots around holidays.  And every year, it would last about two weeks and it was all over.  Finally one year I managed to keep it going all through the bloom and into the next bloom, until the grandchildren, horsing around near the plant, knocked it over.  I tried repotting it but no luck.  Another orchid bit the dust.  But the man is very persistent and, the following year, here comes another orchid.  Actually, 4 orchids in a basket.  That was in 2007 and one of them is blooming for the third time, with smaller flowers and healthy-looking leaves.  One died (I’m not sure why) and the other two bloomed the second year but now are just hanging on.  Their leaves look pretty good but no blooms.  I think I will try repotting them and giving them some fertilizer. 

Today we bought more asparagus (the season will probably only last another week or two), more sugar snap peas, a basket of strawberries, some stone fruit (peaches and apricots) and a cauliflower.  Also a bottle of olive oil made from olives grown in the grove in front of San Juan Oaks golf course.  We’ll have to do a taste test to see if it’s better than what I buy at Costco.

Catching Up, Part 2

KNITTING

Despite having three unfinished lace shawls, I have started another one, the 2009 Goddess Anniversary Shawl. I had hoped to finish the 2008 shawl before starting this one but I broke a needle and had to wait for the replacement.

This pattern is different from other styles I have attempted. There are six triangular sections with a straight center section. The first clue was uploaded last Saturday morning and I started that evening. There are only 33 stitches to start with but you increase 12 stitches every four rows, so the piece gets bigger pretty fast. I finished Row 64 last night, just in time for Clue 2 which was released this morning. This one only has 40 rows, but again, the increases will add a total of 120 stitches by the time the clue is finished.

End of Clue 1 on 2009 shawl. The circular needle isn't long enough to stretch the entire piece out.

This is a pair of socks I made using Cat Bordhi’s Simple Sock pattern from “Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles.” I can’t remember what the yarn was and it’s not in my Ravelry stash and I can’t find the remaining yarn, so that will have to be a mystery for a while. I mostly knit toe-up patterns and this one is a top down, but it fits pretty well so I am using it for the Jojoland Melody that I bought at KnitWicks in Rogers, Arkansas when we were on vacation last year.

It is really soft and such a gorgeous teal color. I’m about 3/4 finished with the second sock; may be able to complete it later this week if I finish Clue 2 of the shawl quickly.

This photo shows both colors of the Melody, although the pink one is really more of a dark peach.

The 2008 CAL afghan blocks are ready to be sewn together. To make the job easier, I crocheted the same two-row edging around each of the 15 blocks. This was supposed to be a stash project but I ran out of the lavender I was using for the edging with about 5 blocks to go and had to buy another skein. It’s labeled as no dye lot but it does not match exactly. Once they are sewn together, I will start edging the entire piece. Not sure yet what pattern I will use but I will definitely use only stash. If I run out before a row is completed, I’ll switch to another color. I did the squares in a variegated, so I have a lot of leeway. I’m using pure acrylic for this one. Nobody can call me a yarn snob.

I have only done one 2009 CAL afghan block so far. Actually two – a 12” and a 6”. So that means I’m four months behind, soon to be five. However, these blocks can usually be crocheted in about two hours, so I’m not worried.

Coming Soon: Quilting and Sewing

Catching Up Part 1

Not much blogging going on around here, but lots of other stuff happening:

FAMILY

Mom has come to stay with us again, so life is a lot more structured – 3 proper meals a day, no peanut butter sandwiches with hot chocolate for dinner. But we are settling in just fine (and definitely eating better).

It has taken about a month but we are now into a workable schedule as to baths and laundry. We replaced the bathtub in the family bathroom with a new shower. Big improvement in looks and comfort. The shower in the master bath is quite small so The Husband prefers to use the front bathroom. I didn’t get a before photo but here is the new shower.

GD2 made her First Communion in early May. She was able to wear her sister’s dress with just a few alterations to the underslip. We thought the crowded church would be too much for Mom, so she and I stayed at the house. That worked out well as I was able to help with the meal preparation.

I did not make the cake but forgot to get any photos of the other food. The purple roses were very much in demand among the children present.

GARDENING

The summer vegetable garden is partially planted. Our son came down the day before Mother’s Day with a box full of plants.

There were 3 different kinds of tomatoes, a summer squash, 3 six-packs of lettuce and a variety of peppers, including one habanero.

We had already planted 4 tomatoes, 6 eggplants, 12 cucumbers and 6 Anaheim peppers. There are some volunteer beans in with the Costco tomatoes, Santa Maria pinquito I think. Still need to plant more beans, onions and some more squash. Also mesclun and arugula for summer salads.

Mom wanted to give me a pomegranate tree/bush for my birthday, so we caravanned out to the nursery on Southside Road. They had two very small plants, each in a 5 gallon can. We bought the taller one and it is now planted out by my greenhouse. Probably no fruit this year, but we are hoping for some next year. When I was a child, I remember visiting my step-grandfather’s sister Marie Trescony. She lived in the old adobe house on their ranch near San Lucas and the walled garden was very old California. The big attraction for me was the pomegranate. As a city girl, I was really impressed about being able to pick something off a tree and eat it. In those days it seems I was always hungry, no matter how often I was fed. Actually, I guess I haven’t changed that much…

For Mother’s Day 2008 we gave Mom a self-watering planter box with a rolling stand to raise it so that she wouldn’t have to bend. She grew tomatoes, peppers, onion and basil that year with pretty good results. This year we did the planting for her: a cherry tomato and a mild green pepper. We’ll probably add some basil seeds and maybe a few green onions.

The sunflower seeds we planted in April are growing up nicely. They need to be thinned but I just can’t make myself pull up a healthy plant. I know it needs to be done for the health of the remaining plants, but it’s so hard.

We also planted over a dozen dahlia tubers on the other side of the front walk. They are almost all up and growing fast. We should have a good supply of cut blossoms for the house this summer.

GENEALOGY

Nothing has been done in this department but I really need to get my Spencer Stout info together because I hope to visit Montague Co, TX and Cedar Co, MO on our vacation this year.

I cancelled my Ancestry World Deluxe membership and went back to the US Deluxe. There is just so much information still to find in this country, that I don’t see myself using it enough to warrant the price difference. I need to check with the Gilroy library to see if they have World in case I need it on down the line.

Knitting, Quilting and Sewing catch-up will follow soon.