Happy Spring!

Here in Winona we celebrated the first day of Spring with 6-8 inches of snow. *sigh* Mobi and I did get out for a walk before the ground was covered again, and she was quite happy to be running around. Juan and I forgo Valentine's Day in favor of the first day of spring. Our celebrating usually consists of eating good food and going to the local bookstore to get each other a book. I got him A Thousand Splendid Suns, since he loved the Kite Runner, and he got me The Monsters of Templeton. I'm going to try to read it before bed when I'm too tired to work on the dissertation.

I decided to go for an Asian-style dinner because I wanted fresh food that would remind us that spring is not too far away. We started off with edamame dumplings. I recorded the process on our new camera:
I mixed edamame with cumin, fresh lemon juice, and sesame oil in the food processor until smooth.Then I placed a teaspoon of the mixture on the middle of wonton wrappers, then brushed water on the sides to help them stick together.After browning and then steaming them (taking all of three minutes the whole process), they were reading for dipping in the soy sauce, honey and green onion dip.The main course was glass noodle salad with shrimp and chicken in a spicy mint sauce over red lettuce leaves.For dessert, I went with a traditional tapioca pudding. I wished I had the green pearls they use in Thai restaurants!

Long aside:
Organizing my cooking magazines two weekends ago, I came across a series of how to make pudding from the August 2006 Cooking Light issue. I immediately made chocolate pudding. This week it's the tapioca and for next week I have my sights set on mocha. I am usually an ice cream freak, but I'm liking pudding as a winter, ahem, spring, substitute.

Happy Spring!

Funnies

I was reading the paper yesterday and two comics struck me as particularly funny. The first is obviously knitters' humor. And the second is just completely my sense of humor. (Click on the picture to enlarge it)

Babies in sweaters!

WARNING: Major Cuteness Ahead!
Recognize these? Of course, first I see the adorable babies, but then I notice all my mistakes and imperfections in the sweaters, then I go back to the babies..awwww- but you can just stay focused on the sweet little faces.
Graham was so inspired by his sweater that he just had to shake a maraca. (Yeah, I do that, too, when I finish a sweater)
Ella strikes a pose, while Jack wants to stop sitting still already and go play!

The Funky Leaf Pullover: Completed

I just finished a really fun project that is unlike anything I own. It's a pullover knit from side-to-side and then the ribbed bottom and collar are picked up afterwards. The pattern is Iceland, from the Rowan 42 magazine. It didn't have a collar originally, but I had plenty of yarn and I thought it suited the look better. I can wear it up or as a cowl. Here are some shots with the neck up:I keep looking down because I want to make sure I'm not covering the buttons. There are three on each side.Here you can see the collar in cowl style, with the buttons very visible.I want to focus on the buttons a minute because they are very special to me. I was searching Etsy.com for some original wooden buttons when I came across Woodturner's storefront. I was excited to see he makes custom buttons by hand and even happier when I realized he is more or less across the river from me in WI. He offers a variety of button styles in different woods, and he even made the holes of mine bigger than normal to accommodate yarn instead of thread. He made them the exact size needed for my project in the wood and style I requested, and when they came, they were accompanied by a hand-written note (in beautiful penmanship, by the way) telling me where the wood had been harvested and the process he used to make the buttons. He even included an extra one in case one got lost! It was such a fun, easy experience that I will definitely be contacting him anytime I need wooden buttons for a project. He also has other gorgeous hand-turned objects in his store, like bottle stoppers, wooden jewelry, an amazing birdhouse ornament, and a wand (for those Harry Potter fans?)After carefully picking out the pattern and the right yarn, and then knitting it to my size and style, it's just that much more special to also have these unique, handmade buttons to complete the piece.