September Update

So much has been going in the last two months that I figured I would use a couple of posts to bring everyone up to speed. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Jake and I put an offer in on a house at the beginning of the month. At the same time, I traveled to London on business. Poor Jake, he always gets stuck with messes while I'm gone. Actually it wasn't too bad, the offer was accepted and we had done all of the loan paperwork, it was really just scheduling inspections and watching interest rates. Speaking of interest rates, leave it to us to to make the biggest financial decision of our marriage (so far), during a time when the banking and lending industry was in collapse. Luckily for us our bank wasn't taken over or merging during this or I might have had a stroke. Even still I was on the phone with our loan officer almost daily checking rates and making sure we were still getting our mortgage. She has the patience of a saint ;)
Also during September, Jake and I went to Florida. After a very brief visit we set off in their old, but our new Volkswagon Vanagon. We took a 3 day road trip back from Florida to Pennsylvania in a 1987 VW Camper van.







The first of many adventures! Those of you who are up on your East Coast geography may have noticed that there was no North Carolina sign. Well, we were distracted by PEDRO
That pretty much wraps up the month of September. Check back soon for the October update.

One Year Ago...

Today we celebrate our one year wedding anniversary.

Buying a House

If the posts have been a little sporadic lately, it's because we have a lot going on in the S-K household. We have decided to put an offer in on a house and have been bogged down with going thru our stuff, filling out mortgage applications and just general running around. All of this in conjunction with working and trying to get outside and enjoy the rest of summer (August in the Northeast has been wonderful - sunny and hot, but not too hot). I will try to do a better job in the upcoming months of posting more frequently. Until then, enjoy this picture of Emma...

Jammed

The summer harvest continues. My tomatoes are coming in beautifully - we've enjoyed several Tomato and Basil salads this summer fresh out of the garden. Today I ventured out to Willow Creek Orchards. They have a beautiful selection of produce and other locally produced food. I picked up some peaches, coffee and locally raised buffalo. While I was there I decided to pick some blackberries...enough blackberries to make some jam. How many blackberries do you need in order to make jam? I wasn't really sure either, but I knew you needed a lot. So I picked A LOT. 2 baskets full of blackberries.
The biggest challenge to making jam is not picking the berries, but finding pectin in our grocery stores. I had to go to the Menonite market and still had trouble finding it.
At the end of the day I was able to make about 8 cups of blackberry jam still with lots of blackberries to spare. Now...what to do with the leftover blackberries...Any ideas?

Growing

My container garden is loving the sun and heat of the past few weeks.

Everyday I notice another small, green tomato beginning to grow.

Today I saw a couple of small pepper buds and to my surprise a pretty sizeable pepper.

The resident spider is keeping away the small pests - if only he could do something about our nemesis the squirrel - which is reeking havoc on the strawberries.

Photo meme

I normally don't get around to doing any MEME's, but I liked this one (which I saw on Skrilla Knits, and she borrowed from Katywhumpus.

The Rules:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker).

the questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

Hot Child in the City

It's been about 90 degrees with about 90% humidity the past few weeks - and both weekends we decided it would be a "great" idea to hang out in Philadelphia. Sticky can only begin to describe it...the only saving grace was that we were able to get into A/C by bar hopping ;)

Assateague 2008

On my summer vacation camped at the beach in Assateague Island (Maryland).

We ate Maryland Blue Crabs in Ocean City, MD:


We flew kites on the beach:


We canoed around the bay:

We saw wild ponies:


We got sandblased on a hike down the beach in 35mph winds:

Unfortunately we had to leave a day early, because I'm too chicken to sleep in a tent during a lightning storm with forecasted 70mph winds...but we had fun.

Fiber and Farm Animal Festivities

This weekend was filled with a lot of farm animal fun! On Saturday Jake and I went down to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. We woke up early and made the two and a half hour pilgramige down to the biggest fiber festival I have ever seen. I knew it would be big, but I had no idea just how overwhelming it would be. There were thousands...no really THOUSANDS, of knitters, spinners and fiber enthusiasts at the Howard County Fairgrounds, not to mention the hundreds of farmers and shephards (?) that were there showing, shearing and selling their sheep. For those non-knitters, it is hard to imagine all the excitement, so I am posting evidence of the frenzy.
Here is a picture of the parking lot:


...and the crowd:


I met up with other Ravelers at the Ravelry party:


I even got to meet Jess and Casey, the founders of Ravelry:


There were Sheep Dog Trials:


...and Sheep, of course:


Even Jake found a favorite Sheep:


There were even baby Emu's:


I had so much fun (and didn't even break the bank!). I did purchase a ball winder and swift, and some Natural colored wool (which I don't have pictures yet...I will post later) and a T-Shirt.

And as if that weren't enough...

Sunday, Jake and I went to the Annual Sly Fox Bock Festival and Goat Race. This is always such a fun event, and this year was no exception. The weather was beautiful and the beer was delicious. Who wants to go to the Derby when you can go to the goat race? Not Me.

Celebrity Sightings

I'll start off with apologies...sorry that the posts have been so sporadic lately. I've been working A LOT and when I come home the last thing I feel like doing is updating my blog. I'm hoping to get better about regular posting (no promises, though). I'm not going to write a ridiculously long post filling you in on all of the happenings of the last few months. Suffice it to say that I've been busy working, going out with friends, sampling Delicious libations and knitting. Now back to the present....



Last weekend Jake and I took a pilgrimage to a yarn shop in Kennett Square so that I could partake in Franklin Habit's 1000 Knitters project. I couldn't believe how many knitters had come out. We arrived late, due to bad directions by Google (aside: I've noticed that Google Directions have become increasingly bad lately. So much so that I've started to wonder if they merged with Mapquest.), and I wasn't sure if we should wait around. Jake convinced me to stay and wait, especially since we had made the trip and I am a big fan of Franklin's blog. I put my name in and we went across the street to have a beer and kill some time. For those who have not been to the Wool Gathering in Kennett Square and live in the area, it is well worth the trip. The shop is very nice, with a large selection. Also, the staff is very friendly and knowledgeable. They especially seemed familiar with popular patterns and designers, which makes me think that they are aware of the online knitting community (another aside: I often find shops that are not familiar with the presence knitting has online- which suggests to me that they are out of touch with a very large market demographic.) Anyway, Franklin was a pleasure to meet and I was very happy to be part of the project.



The second celebrity sighting of the week was even more exciting (sorry Franklin). A local book store was hosting a book signing for Discovery Channel's book about the show "Deadliest Catch". Three of the Captian's were in town on the promotional tour - Sig Hansen and brother Johnathan and Andy Hillstrand (with a book of their own). We arrived just as their limo pulled up. We got to see them exit the limo, they said hi and headed into the bookstore. What we were not expecting was how crowded the store would be! There had to be about 1000 people waiting to get books signed. We listened to them answer questions but did not wait to get anything signed (plus, the shop had run out of books). It was fun to get to see the people from our favorite show on television (the only show Jake and I watch regularly).

Out with the old....

And in with the NEW CAR! Last month I upgraded my poor, old 1995 Subaru Impreza for it's younger, sportier sister. I only feel slightly guilty. My old car had treated my well, its' Carribean Metallic Green exterior was easy to spot in any parking lot, the absent cup holder increased my dexterity and coordination while shifting gears and the lack of power windows and door locks made me feel like I was "roughing it". Yet, even with all of it's endearing qualities, it was time for me to get a "grown-up" car. A car that looks like an adult with a paycheck drives it, not a poor college girl. Say hello to my new ride...

Snow Day...day of rest

Today it snowed. The forecast called for Snow, followed by freezing rain. I made the executive decision at 5am this morning, that I would start my weekend early and went back to bed. Ahhhh...very nice.

Europeans ruined my dinner....or "Why I hate the Metric system"

I am usually a pretty good cook, I've made several course dinners for family and friends that have turned out better than many restaurant meals. Tonight's dinner, unfortunately, was not one of those instances.

The menu:
London Broil
Oven Roasted Brussel Sprouts
French Bread

Let me start by saying, I have cooked London broil several times...however, mostly on the grill. Today was cold and a little snowy, not grilling weather. I decided to try it in the oven. I found a highly rated recipe by Rachel Ray on the food networks website, my usual "go to" recipe site. Season and broil 6 minutes on each side for medium rare. No problem, right? Here's how the events played out:

First side went fine, browned nicely, good crust. Flip. 6 minutes....check temperature 48 degrees...what?! "Maybe the middle of the steak was still refrigerator cold?" Leave it in longer, while I like my meat rare, i don't like it raw and Jake has a food "doneness" paranoia that he's just beginning to outgrow. 5 more minutes, "56 degrees, are you kidding!?" Is there something wrong with the oven?
Leave it a little longer, 10 more minutes elapse...67 degrees. What the hell!...Rachel Ray is a liar, 6 minutes per side, right! I cut the middle open, hard to tell, still some pink but better be sure. Brussel Sprouts go in on the top rack and the london broil gets tented with foil (becuase the outside is DONE) and moved to the bottom.
10 minutes later, brussel sprouts are done, that meat has GOT to be done by now! Check temp. 72 degrees, the thermometer must be broken because it's been in for like an hour now! Take it out...let it rest.
Jake: "Did you check the temp. of this lately"
Me: "Yeah, but something must be wrong with the thermometer, b/c it still was only registering in the 70's and this meat is done"
J: "Do you realize that the thermometer is reading in Celsius?"
Me: "F@$%#!!!!!!!!!"

There is a little button in the back of our digital thermometer that switches the readings from F to C. I must have inadvertatly hit the button and since I was checking the temp. with the meat still in the oven (rack pulled out) I didn't see the little C on the digital readout. Sorry Rachel, I shouldn't have blamed you, you know what you're talking about, I just can't read.

The meat was overdone....way overdone! Jake was sweet, saying "it's ok, just put some A1 on it". We had no A1. Instead, we used some hot sauce we had in the fridge. With the hot sauce, it was still overdone. Inedible to me, Jake sweetly choked it down. The dog loved it.

What a fiasco...oh well, at least the bread was good.

Zig-Zagging across the country

Me Snowshoeing with my Aunt

Whew! I just returned from what feels like two weeks of travel. I was lucky enough to visit family in Utah for my grandmothers birthday party. I spent a couple of days staying with my aunt and uncle and visiting with my parents and grandmother. It was very nice. I got to meet my cousin's son for the first time (what a cute baby) and hang out. Lots of fun!

I flew the red eye out from Utah Sunday night/Monday morning only to fly to Huntsville, AL for work Tuesday afternoon. I came home last night, just in time to eat dinner and go to bed!

Groundhog Day

Today, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shawdow...6 more weeks of winter. Great. More good news. 2008 has started off kind of rocky...I've been plagued with car troubles, a crazy work schedule and no time for much of anything else (including the gym, knitting or reading). UGH! I think I'm going to name Groundhog Day my new "New Year", otherwise 2008 isn't going to be very much fun.

So let's try again...HAPPY NEW YEAR!