You haven't heard from me in a while because I have been studying like mad for my (hopefully) last big written exam that I have to take in Boston on Monday. This one is on the short story of Buenos Aires. I am really enjoying the subject, and I think my dissertation will somehow be related to this. But first, I want to just get through these written qualifying exams. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

I have had some time to knit, however, since I can't read all day and all night. I finished Juan's front- notice how there are now decreases for the sleeves and for the neck? Now, I can't finish the last sleeve because I didn't buy enough yarn. I took a gamble on the necessary yardage, and it fell short. Mind you, I am using 100% alpaca, which is not cheap, so I didn't want to buy too much if I didn't have to. So, at some point during my vacation in Maine, we'll have to get to the store where I bought the yarn over Christmas break. (And maybe get me some new stuff, too!)

The other night while watching the Oscars, I really, really wanted to be knitting something. So, I went on a hunch- I have a lovely blue cotton sweater that I made last year, but didn't really like how it turned out- the fit was off. I wanted to see if I could get the same gauge with that yarn for one of the sweaters in the new Rowan magazine. And guess what.... it worked! So, wanna guess what this is going to make?

While you're thinking about that, I'll mention some yummy dinners we've had around here thanks to some of my fav chefs. I tried two more recipes from EI: polenta and chicken piccata. I served the polenta with a meat tomato sauce Juan had made the day before. It was our first venture with polenta- basically just cornmeal, butter, and salt. It was good, but it would have been too plain without the tomato sauce. The chicken piccata was chicken cutlets with a caper and lemon sauce. The best part about the meal was how quick it was to prepare. We've also had a couple of treats from the Barefoot Contessa- a lentil soup with turkey sausage and for a fun potluck with some university folk on Friday I brought her Chinese chicken salad, which is so amazing and should not be called chicken salad because it is so much better than the mayo concoction that usually carries that name. You absolutely have to try this- it's in her "Parties" cookbook. I usually half the recipe, but for this event I made the full 12 servings. And I'm proud to say, there was not a speck left at the end of the night. For the Oscars we had take-out, in. I made one of my favorite soups- portabella tortelloni with a curry cream broth and I threw together some chicken fried rice to use up some leftover ingredients I had bought for the Chinese chicken salad. Yum, yum, yum- I could talk about food all night. However, I will do you a favor and just leave you here with the "mystery" pattern I'm working on at the moment: Antoinette from Rowan Magazine 39

And now, if you will excuse me, I'll head back to my studies.