When my parents told me I could make a birthday purchase, I considered doing some clothing shopping but soon decided that what I really wanted was yarn. So I headed to my favorite yarn store of all time, Wild and Woolly, about 95% sure that I would walk away with more Cascade. To my surprise and delight, I fell in love with Beroco’s Virgin Wool. It’s soft, light, and lovely. I bought about a few skeins in different colors, and wound them up:

 (Aren’t yarn winders beautiful?) And for the past couple of weeks, in all my in-between moments, I’ve been knitting a patchwork cardigan. So far, I’ve completed the back and the left front (not pictured).

I feel like my color and design choices really requires no explaining since they’re my quintessential aesthetic: bold hues, a somewhat random assortment of multi-colored squares, patchwork…no big surprises there. Intarsia work does require some patience, but thankfully this Virgin Wool is glorious, like knitting with butter—it just slides along the needles. I opted to use size 8s since I’m a tight knitter and larger needles keep the stitches looser and softer, giving this cardigan a lightness that will be perfect for cool Spring and Summer evenings. Next weekend I’m taking the bus to New York, and Easter weekend the family is driving to Princeton to visit my brother; long commutes are the best knitting time so this cardigan might not take me all that long to complete.

The other thing that keeps me grounded during busier times is the occasional wonderful evening at home. Yesterday afternoon I took my bike into the shop for a tune up so I didn’t have time to cook up anything too complicated, but I felt like having a bit of fun in the kitchen. Fortunately, I recently stumbled upon this recipe for egg muffins and decided to give it a go.

I am very fortunate to have a bountiful (and free!) supply of glorious fresh eggs from my mother’s chickens, so any dish involving eggs immediately catches my eye. These little muffins are brilliant because they’re incredibly simple, nutritious, and as I discovered last night, they’re delicious:

I beat together 5 small eggs, added some steamed and chopped broccoli, shredded gruyere cheese, sun dried tomatoes, and salt. No measuring required; I just eyeball the proportions that looked right—but a good rule of thumb that I learned from my mom is to add one pinch of salt per egg. I baked them in muffin tins at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. They turned out pretty small, so I ended up eating all four—guess I’ll just have to make more!

I also roasted up some Jerusalem artichokes as a side. These are one of my favorite vegetables (they’re actually a species of sunflower) so I was thrilled when Kyle and I stumbled upon them in the grocery store the other day–their season is definitely coming to an end. The good news is that Kyle doesn’t like them which means more for me. The bad news is, well, Jerusalem artichokes are known for their gas-inducing properties, so I try to keep my serving sizes small. I like to roast them for quite a while, anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour depending on the amount, so they are very soft on the inside but still crisp and slightly chewy on the outside.

After such a virtuous and nutritious dinner—basically, pure protein and vegetables—I decided to treat myself to a rather decadent dessert:

That’s the remaining bit of the birthday cake that my mom made for me this weekend: a chocolate cappuccino cheesecake. On the side: chocolate fudge brownie ice cream. What can I say? Sometimes a girl needs… chocolate. (Incidentally, it seems very appropriate that even since I’ve moved out of the house, my mother still manages to keep me well-fed from a distance.)

I’m also very pleased to report that I’ve had two nights in a row during which I got a glorious 8+ hours of sleep—it certainly helps that the beautiful Spring-like weather means afternoon runs in the sunshine and sleeping in. Thank goodness, because tonight Kyle and I are attending the opening of club Royale downtown, so some less-than-virtuous shenanigans may be in order.

A part of me wonders, why have a club opening on a Thursday night? The other more convincing part of me thinks: why not? Of course I can’t say no. As long as I get my share of egg muffin and knitting evenings, I can afford a few crazy nights here and there.

 This might look a little jarring at first, but it’s exquisite. The skin is crispy and the meat underneath is soft, succulent, and fatty. As our waitress pointed out, the bits behind the eye socket are particularly good—but you really have to poke around to get at them. It’s an actually an entrée for two (I shared this with my mom) and even then, there’s a surprising amount of meat, so I thankfully took the remainder home and turned it into split pea soup.

My mother’s split pea soup has always been one of my favorite winter meals, and since winter is coming to a close (hooray!), I’m glad I got the chance to make my own while it’s still somewhat seasonally appropriate. As I’ve said before, I love a nice thick soup and I’d always assumed that my mother’s  stew-like split pea soup had to have some kind of mysterious, thickening ingredient. It turns out, the secret ingredient to split pea soup is…lots of split peas. It really couldn’t be simpler. I glanced at a couple recipes online, and winged it. Two small diced onions, a bag of split peas, and the head:

Cooked in water for a couple of hours until the peas had softened, and voila—no immersion blender required. Most of the meat fell off on its own, but I took out the head and pulled off the remaining bits myself. I also made a wheat-nut anise bread from the Laurel’s Kitchen Bread Book:

Mmm, what a perfect Sunday dinner. Kyle and I followed it up with ice cream sundaes from JP Licks (sundaes on Sunday, we’re so original), but I was too busy enjoying thin mint and cappuccino crunch ice cream to take a picture. (Bad blogger confession: I find excessive picture taking to be obnoxious—too much recording interferes with actual living. So though I do my best to capture the important stuff, I slip every so often.)

On the other end of the bodily spectrum, my recuperated Vegas feet were happy to have a new pair of socks:

I’m quite pleased with how these scrappy socks turned out. Limited means really are the best stimulus for creativity. I like the balance between pattern and spontaneity and, of course, I love having a nice cozy pair of socks to lounge around in on a Sunday evening:

First of all, to my surprise and delight, Vegas involves a lot of walking. Taking a cab along the strip really isn’t worth it unless it’s pouring rain since traffic is slow—and it’s much more fun to walk amongst the crowds anyway. So my feet did a whole lot of strolling. Thankfully, I had an old broken-in pair of flats (shown standing on the sea glass sidewalk outside of Treasure Island):

Naturally, Vegas also involves one amazing night life. So next up is my going out feet, which were bedecked in several pairs of gorgeous shoes that my mom bought me before my departure:

All the casinos start to blend together so I can’t remember exactly where these were taken—The Wynn, Caesar’s, The Venetian, MGM (my favorite)…we did it all. Vegas doesn’t have much in the way of textiles, but the casino carpets are beautiful, no? My going out feet did more than I can recount: they danced, they drank, they saw shows, and they mostly  did things I don’t have pictures of—they even gambled. Yes, it turns out I enjoy Black Jack. This is probably because I had miraculously good luck and never walked away from a table without winning—I think I have the double yokes to thank for that. I realize gambling doesn’t always turn out so nicely.

My going out feet also dined. Oh man did they dine. I don’t think I’ve been to a city with so many amazing restaurants. I can’t possibly recount all the exquisite food, but there are highlights. First of all: the meat. So much good meat. To start, Osso Bucco at Fiamma:

Then duck and seared foie gras at Joel Robuchon:

And wagyu, oh wagyu (domestic and Japanese), at Craftsteak:

There are no words. It was glorious, succulent, melt-in-your mouth good—and hey, it was Kyle’s birthday on Sunday so we felt justified in going a little overboard…all weekend long…

There was also lots and lots of good bread, which certainly inspired the bread baking side of me. Craftsteak starts you out with these miraculous little buttery balls of heaven:

But the true yeasty highlight was the bread cart at Robuchon. This is the kind of place where subtle picture-taking is best so I didn’t snap a shot of the entire cart and all its glory, but I’m estimating 20 different kinds of bread, of which we enjoyed roughly 10 (obviously, not all pictured):

Included in the mix: saffron foccaccio, bacon baguette, gruyere brioche, and milk bread. Saffron-infused bread? Now that’s something I have to try.

We also had lunch at ‘wichcraft (gotta love Tom Colicchio), where I had a ham, cheese, apple, andcaramelized onion sandwich on beautiful marbled pumpernickel, another one that I’m going to have to try making on my own:

Yes, they know how to eat in Vegas. So it’s fortunate that it’s also a really fun city for running. This was perhaps the biggest shock of all—I wasn’t expecting my attempts at maintaining physical fitness to be a highlight of the trip, but I was wrong. I quite enjoyed my running feet mode:

That’s right, those are bare legs. Compared to Boston, Vegas is balmy (in reality, about 65 degrees), so I could actually run with the fresh (well, relatively) air against my skin. But running along the Vegas strip is also wonderful because it is seriously entertaining. You’re so distracted by your surroundings, six plus miles have flown by before you know it—where else can you run through Paris, New York, Venice, and Rome within an hour? Bizarre, but fun. The skywalks also spice things up—let’s just say, sprinting up stairs works a whole other set of muscles. And fyi, if you think running up the down escalators probably isn’t that hard, as I mistakenly concluded when I saw a very muscular young man do it with seemingly no effort, you’re wrong. That’s some hardcore cardio right there. Given these runs, I felt pretty justified in my overindulgences.

But overindulgences also require the occasional recalibration, so I kept up with my daily headstands. Hence my upside down feet:

I’ve barely scraped the surface of the past few days, but let’s just say Vegas agreed with me more than I thought it would. Don’t get me wrong: I won’t be moving there any time soon, and the overall ethos of the place is hardly one that I admire. But, if you take this city for what it is—over-the-top and wild, with no pretense of having a refined culture or respectable moral values—it’s fun.

Fun…and exhausting. By the end of a few days, my Vegas feet were blistered, sore, and wacked. So much so that I bought a $5 pair of flip flops to wear on the journey home so my poor toes could breath:

I was quite happy to get on the plane and back to my crafting ways. On the flight there, I finished my first scrappy sock, and by the end of my return flights, I was a bit more than mid-way through the second (I probably would have finished it if I haven’t been so desperate to sleep):

Pardon the mediocre shot, but you’re not really supposed to take pictures on planes so I had to be quick. This is a happy, resting, warm foot—on its way home!

And here’s a better shot of the socks.

They’re my own pattern which means very simple: basically, a tube with an afterthought heel. A bit of a pattern has emerged amongst the stripes and cubes, but the color placements follow no rhyme or reason–and they certainly don’t match.

Finally, I should probably mention that today is my birthday: I’m a ripe 23 years old. Actually, writing that makes me feel really young and very grateful, as if I can’t believe all that I’ve done in a rather short amount of time. I guess that’s a good thing, right? Who knows where my feet will take me next.

So this weekend, in addition to finishing my gigantic Mexican napkin pillow, I made a dress using the formal pattern cutting, measuring, and proper sewing procedures that one should. One of the many benefits of working at a quilting magazine is being sent free copies of books like this one:

Without getting too far into product-review territory, I’ll just say that this book is awesome and full of very doable, very adorable dress patterns that are based on just a few basic designs. For instance, “Rock the Boatneck”:

Do you recognize the fabrics by any chance? They’re from the stash that my mom gave me after cleaning out our basement a few weeks ago. The combination of four different fabrics is Wendy’s idea, but of course I couldn’t stick with plain old solids.

Basically, I woke up this past Sunday morning with the urge for a little machine sewing and a break from the hand-stitched applique that I’ve been so focused on. I then remembered that my house guest rarely wakes up before noon (actually, she woke up at 1 pm when her alarm went off) so I used the time to cut out the necessary pattern pieces. Later that evening, it took me about 2 hours to sew it all together, hem the seams, etc. I realize the fabric looks a tad wrinkly even though I’ve ironed it to death so some steaming might be in order. It also looks shapeless, but I promise it’s very cute when it’s on. It’s quite short, which complements the looser fit; fun, but not overly scandalous There isn’t a dress in this book that I’m not dying to make so you can expect to see many more frocks in my future.

On Tuesday night, I tried out something a little different: fabric-based, of course, but no sewing required. It recently came to my attention that Lexington Community Education offers random winter classes in a variety of fields, including Fine and Fabric Arts. A couple of months ago I signed up for French memo boards. The class took place in my old high school (weird!) and included myself, the instructor, and two other women. Small classes are the best since there’s no jockeying for the teacher’s attention. It was informal, fun, and oh-so-gratifying. After an hour and a half, I had created this:

I’ll just cut to the chase and say that I’m completely hooked and my mind is already swarming with ideas for more memo boards. I mean, they’re a very practical room accessory, good for keeping track of all the little fliers and postcards that accumulate along the way:

But they’re also beautiful and not overly time-consuming. I have a new crafting love and have already informed my family and friends that they will be receiving memo boards whether they like it or not (fortunately, they mostly seem to like it).

It’s a good thing I’ve been getting my fabric fix these days because tomorrow morning Kyle and I leave for Las Vegas (we have a 6 am flight—early even for me) where I doubt I’ll be doing much sewing (I have my knitting, don’t worry). This is fine: I’m in for a different sort of trip. I feel like if you’re going to go to Vegas, you might as well go all out, and in preparation for the potential madness, I’ve been taking it easy this week with plenty of sleep and simple meals made out of whatever needs to be used up in the fridge. It’s been quite a while since I’ve really grocery shopped and am at the point where there isn’t too much left to work with so I’ve been eating lots of  cheese sandwiches for lunch. This isn’t as sad as it sounds: lots of gooey, melted cheese can be just as satisfying as any combination of multiple fancy ingredients. Dinners have been a hodgepodge of random foods but fortunately, my mom recently restocked my collection of fresh chicken eggs which are my new favorite dinner ingredient.

There is nothing like fresh eggs. Once you’ve had them, it’s hard to go back. Their yokes really are yellow, and they really are loaded with flavor; store-bought eggs are pale and bland in comparison. The other wonderful thing about fresh eggs is the frequent appearance of double yokes:

The first time I got one of these, I was so excited that I took a picture on my phone and sent it to my mom. I’ve had several by now, but I still texted her last night as soon as I saw two happy yellow yokes floating in my skillet. It just never gets old. A quick Google search turns up no real consensus on what a double yoke actually means—everything from good luck to the likelihood of giving birth to evil twins. All I know is it gives me an inexplicably good feeling. Double yokes makes me feel blessed—and even if I’m wrong about the good luck, at least I’m getting the double the nutrients in one go.

One of my favorite ways to have eggs is over easy on top of…pretty much anything: stir-fried veggies and rice, polenta, pasta—but last night, I decided to try something a little different. I broke into a long-forgotten carton of oats and made myself some savory oatmeal:

Yes, it looks like regular oatmeal, but it’s made with chicken broth, lots of cheese, and a bit of salt. My morning oatmeal of choice is loaded with milk, cinnamon and brown sugar—but this was equally delicious in a different way, and served as a lovely base for my eggs. That, plus a roasted acorn squash (which I planned on eating half of, but just couldn’t resist), and some green veggies for good measure, made for a satisfying and saintly dinner:

Being good can be such fun, but so is a healthy dose of bad behavior…Vegas, here I come.

They’ve always had a special bond.

Anyway, we had a far too brief reunion weekend. This involved some delicious Dim Sum at Windsor Cafe—which inspired me to add another item to my ever-expanding list of things to create: those miraculously cloud-like dumplings. Oh. So. Good. Sorry, I was too busy inhaling them to take a picture.

We also tried chicken feet:

Turns out, chicken feet are pretty much just bone and skin. They’re actually not bad, but, well, kind of what you would expect when eating a foot.

Saturday night involved drinks at Upstairs on the Square, a Harvard classic that apparently serves delicious egg white cocktails, with my sister Charlie (who, by the way, is in the midst of creating her own blog! If you are a runner/fitness enthusiast or admirer of those who are, you are in for a treat. I’ll post the link as soon as it’s up.)

(Charlie took the picture which is why she isn’t actually in it.)

Let’s just say that the rest of the evening involved more friends and fabulous, college-like behavior which I either 1. Didn’t photograph or 2. Am not going to post pictures of. Let’s just say bacon burgers were enjoyed, 40s were imbibed, and good friends got even friendlier than normal.

Somehow, amidst all this, I managed to finish up a project that you probably thought I’d forgotten about. Actually, I kind of had—or, at least, I’d temporarily lost interest. But shortly after starting my red and blue quilt, I felt a pang of guilt for having abandoned my Mexican napkin project. So I decided to finish this up before it devolved into UFO territory.

First off, I realized that too much wonkiness really is possible, and I wanted my stitching lines to be somewhat straight, so I decided to place strips of masking tape as guides. Several hours of hand stitching (running, zigaag, cross stitch) later, and the napkins were complete.

But, as I mentioned before, I only bought nine which amount to about 60″ x 60″, an odd in-between size. This is too small for a quilt, but I decided it was just right for a giant pillow:

Oh yes, I went there. And I felt legit insane the whole time I was putting this together, but it has made me happier than any of my creations have in a long time. I mean, think about it. What is more glorious than a giant, bed-like pillow? It’s basically a doggy bed for human beings.

I stuffed it with a grand total of eight bags of polyester fiber fill ($2 a pop at Sewfisticated, but don’t try to get your own any time soon since I depleted their supply.) I was so excited when I finished it, I emailed my brother a picture (he’s away at Princeton but has always had a strange understanding of my wacky crafty ways). His reply pretty much sums this one up:

So I first read this email a couple days ago. I’m napping in my bed, my phone makes its little notification tone, I wake up and semi-consciously read about a human-sized, Mexican napkin pillow. At the time I was sure I’d misunderstood something, so I went back to sleep. But no, it seems I understood clearly. Ironically, I’m surprised by how little surprised I was to see this. Pippa makes a Mexican napkin pillow? Yeah, it happens. Right on. – Gordon

Sunday night’s dinner was the perfect combination of fun and comfort. After what feels like a too-long break from yeasty bread baking, I decided to try something a little different: soft pretzels. I followed this recipe pretty closely (but substituted whole wheat flour) since this was my first attempt and experimenting would  have been unwise.

The first stage is not so different from other breads—and oh how I’ve missed the delicious smell of rising dough as it doubles in size and transforms into a big, soft, spongy mass.

But then things get a little tricky, and I had to really psych myself up for the next part. After rolling the dough into ropes, then pretzel-like shapes (incidentally, I had to do a Google Image search for pretzels to make sure I got the right shape and this turned up some very odd images, including a pretzel-legged merman, worth checking out if you have some spare time), you plop each pretzel into a sauce pan of boiling water + baking soda for 30 seconds. I was very, very dubious that this was going to be a successful operation. But, thanks to my mother’s superb kitchen setup skills, I happen to own a large, flat spatula-like object that was perfect for this procedure. Turns out, pretzels really do float:

Once boiled, the pretzels have to bake for about 10-12 minutes (12-14 according to the recipe but I think I have a hotter-than-average oven). And voila:

I’m just going to come right out and say it: I am super proud of these! Baking or cooking something that you were fairly convinced was out of your league is a very gratifying endeavor. Fresh, warm pretzels dipped in homemade butternut squash and bacon soup (which was really more like mashed squash since I like uber-thick soups):

Pretty much the best possible way to end the weekend. Well, maybe second best. This felt pretty darn good, too:

Being frugal hasn’t meant giving up any of these; in fact, frugality doesn’t result in scarcity as much as simplicity, and we could all use a bit more of that in our lives.

For instance, the rest of my V-day was lovely and low-key. Kyle and I lounged in our flannel PJ bottoms and he made the most delicious meal. We split pesto shrimp to start, followed by ginger miso salmon, baked sweet potatoes, and artichokes.

 Turns out, the boy can cook! This was a delicious, satisfying meal—and I’m going to encourage him to cultivate his culinary skills. We ended the night with homemade whole wheat waffle cones made with my Chef’s Choice waffle cone maker (plus passion fruit ice cream, but when you’re eating a freshly made cone, the ice cream could be grass-flavored and it wouldn’t really matter).

The next day, I had the most delightful brunch with my sisters. Charlie brought champagne and cranberry juice plus homemade chocolate macaroons, Z brought a fruit salad, and I made scrambled eggs (from my mother’s hens), bacon, and heart-shaped waffles (made with my Chef’s Choice waffle maker):

All easy—and all cheap. Plus, when you’re eating in celebration—even if it’s only to celebrate the fact that you’re sisters—the food isn’t the most important part. We ate for 20 minutes, but we talked for about 2 hours.

As for fabrics, I’m blessed to live approximately 8 minutes away from one of the most delightful discount fabric stores: Sewfisticated. OK, I’ll be the first to admit that the place is a tad grungy, massively disorganized, and hardly reliable—but that’s part of the fun. You can’t conjure up your dream quilt and walk in expecting to find the exact right fabrics, but you can enter with a vague plan—or better yet no plan at all—and let the fabrics be your guide. Having finished my Onion Quilt, I decided to take this approach and walked away with yards and yards of fabrics that came to about $20:

Basically, I’m turning these into another Onion-like quilt (appliqué, reverse appliqué, lots of hand stitching) but I decided to start this one with a patchwork base. Blue and red is my go-to favorite color combination—but I soon realized that this is rather like the American flag, so without meaning to I’m making a very patriotic-looking quilt (Z, who has “Made in the USA” tattooed across the side of her upper ribcage, was delighted).  

Even while working with limited materials (incidentally, my last Onion Quilt was made entirely from leftovers in my stash; I only purchased the backing fabric), I’ve stumbled upon an aesthetic that feels very natural to me. There’s something I love about the freedom of appliqué (still combined with a bit of patchwork, of course), the added visual texture of embroidery floss, and the relaxation of slow hand stitching. Sometimes I feel like I’m always coming up with the next idea, but I think I’ll be taking this approach for quite a while.

I also inherited some free fabrics the other day. I come from a family of savers—but we’re also cleansers. Fortunately, my Mom recently decided to do some cleaning and came across a big plastic bag of random fabrics. They needed a serious washing, but I’ve picked through and discovered some pretty fun patterns:

What I love about inheriting fabrics is you end up with something you wouldn’t normally select, but unexpectedly love—and limited means always sparks true creativity. Who knows what I’ll conjure up with these.

This is turning into a rather lengthy blog post but I feel like sharing one of my favorite, super-easy and cheap recipes: baked acorn squash stuffed with baked beans. This is an extremely simplified version of baked beans but, you know what, it tastes delicious and it’s low maintenance, staple qualities of the frugal life

Acorn Squash and Baked Beans

1 acorn squash

2 T butter

Salt

Chili pepper

1 cup red beans

¼ cup molasses

1 T ketchup

2 strips of bacon, broken into little bits (optional)

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Carefully cut the acorn squash in half and scrape out the seeds and stringy buts with a spoon. Rub the inside of each half with 1 T of butter and sprinkle with salt and chili pepper. Place the halves flesh-side up in a baking dish filled with a ¼ inch of water. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the molasses and ketchup in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Stir for about 3-5 minutes. Add the beans and continue to stir for another 5 minutes. Ad this point, you can add the bacon bits if you are including them.

Divide the beans evenly and add to the cavities of the acorn squash. Bake for another 35-40 minutes, until the squash is soft when pierced with a fork—but you’ll want to eat this dish with a spoon.

                I find this to be a seriously satisfying meal—plus beans are a bargain as well as a nutritional powerhouse.

                Of course, sometimes you still feel like going out for dinner and enjoying some fresh air while wandering around Davis Square—but who says a night on the town can’t involve burritos from Blue Shirt Café and JP Licks ice cream?

                Sometimes that’s just as good as a super-fancy 5-course meal. That being said, I was delighted to receive a phone call from EVOO last night inviting Kyle and I to attend their final dinner this evening. This is both delightful and sad since you’ve probably noticed I have a disproportionate fondness for this restaurant—it’s the perfect balance of class, casualness, and comfortingly delicious food. In fact, I’m sure we got the invite because the wonderful folks who work there know the serious withdrawal that I’m in for while they switch locations. Where else can you get “Turf in Surf” (soft-shell crab stuffed with chicken sausage) or cornmeal fried oysters with goat cheese dipping sauce—where else will the waitress sit and chat with you at the table for 15 minutes while you wait for your perpetually late boyfriend?

               I’m thankful they’re not closing altogether, but I’ll always have a special affection for their little nook on Beacon St. Then again, less easy access to EVOO could be good news for my bank account.

Naturally, I’m spending tonight with Kyle (he’s making dinner, let the culinary adventures begin!). He’s camera shy so a shot of the gorgeous roses that he sent to my office this week will have to do:

But yesterday was a celebration of some of my other loves. I spent most of the day cutting up scrappy strips and turning them into binding for my Onion Quilt.

 To be honest, I don’t know if I can really call this part of the quilting process a love since hours spent ironing bias binding aren’t really that much fun, but I do enjoy all that slip stitching. Anyway, I have officially finished the Onion Quilt:

 Hooray! Naturally, I love finishing a quilt—but it’s also a tad sad, like letting go of an old companion. I really enjoyed working on this one too, and have to force myself to stop adding lines of running stitch lest I overwhelm it.

What better way to celebrate a completed quilt than with an evening of love? First, pre-dinner drinks at Grafton St. (and delicious truffled mac and cheese) with a friend:

Apparently Alicia and I need as many ‘last’ get togethers as possible before she moves to Connecticut. The official move is on Tuesday and I’m going to miss her so, but am consoled by the fact that we already have plans for an NYC reunion.

Then dinner (and some pretty fabulous cocktails) with another dear friend:

My darling Welton. Doesn’t he look like a model? We went to a new restaurant called East by Northeast which serves tapas-style Asian fusion. Mmmm sweet potato fritters, butternut squash dumplings…my belly was quite content.

Welton had to hit the books post-dinner (Harvard Law School ain’t easy) so I spent the rest of the night with the boys:

That’s Mikey on the right, my surrogate big brother whom I’ve known for more than ten years, and Brecher Bear (Andrew Brecher) on the left who gets his nickname from the fact that he’s about 6’8” and gigantic (keep in mind, I’m pretty tall myself):

And, of course, Lucas (the only person I know to have made a living off of gambling for about two years):

Now, I’m not much of a beer drinker but I love these boys enough to get into the spirit of it all:

Ah, the things we’ll do for love. Of course, in the end, a girl’s first and truest love will always be one man:

 Me and my Dad at the end of a lovely dinner at EVOO on Thursday, which ended with another great love:

Oh Warm Chocolate Truffle Cake. Why are you so good?!

 And tomorrow? A Valentine’s Day brunch with my sisters–and, of course, so much more sewing. Love really is all around.

It’s kind of odd to have all that anticipation and, in the end, no heaping piles of snow to show for it. I have mixed feelings since:

1. I love the snow! It’s beautiful and a good excuse to stay huddled indoors (read: sew), but
2. Snow makes for treacherous driving and I have a Prius (an older model that hasn’t been recalled but I still don’t trust it in bad weather) and I’ve been enjoying my outdoor runs these days.

Anyway, this storm-that-wasn’t did mean that I found myself home early. Kyle had a business dinner to attend to, so I cozied up with my Onion Quilt (running stitch is flowing from fingers uncontrollably) and had the time to make myself a leisurely dinner.

Now, I love my boyfriend, but I also love those evenings all to myself where I can indulge in my SSB: secret single behavior (I hope at least some of you get the Sex and the City reference—incidentally, watching Sex and the City is one of my secret single behaviors, but it’s the least strange of them all …)

I also love making dinner for one. You get to eat exactly what you want and sometimes enjoy the leftovers for days to come. On the other hand, I don’t always want leftovers, especially if I know I’ll be out for a few days. I experience enormous guilt when food goes bad. So last night I came up with a wonderful solo dining solution that was delicious, fun, easy to make, and leftovers-free.

Pizza for One

3/4 cups whole wheat flour

½ T baking powder

Pinch of salt*

Pinch of oregano

¼ cup room temperature water

Dollop of EVOO

Combine the whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt, and oregano in a medium bowl. Form a well in the middle of the flour mixture and add the water and EVOO. Fold in the flour until you have a kneadable dough (you may need slightly more water; add just a bit at a time).

Knead the dough for about 4-6 minutes (yes, this is slightly tricky since it’s such a small amount, but you can still press it with the heel of your hand, rotate, etc.). Allow the dough to rest in an airtight plastic bag for about an hour.

Meanwhile, prepare your ingredients. For this pizza, I steamed a few broccoli florets and roasted some butternut squash.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

Grease a pizza stone (I use the bottom of my La Cloche) or baking sheet. Press the dough into an approximately 8″ circle (or larger if you prefer a thinner crust). Cover with your toppings. I topped mine with tomato sauce, the broccoli and butternut squash, chopped dates, feta cheese, and sharp cheddar.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until the crust starts to brown slightly and the cheese has melted.

*It used to drive me crazy when recipes had vague terms like “pinch” and “dollop” in them—but honestly, that’s how real cooking happens. You’ll get the feel for these amounts soon enough, and then you’ll really be enjoying the process.

So I was a happy lady last night with homemade pizza and hand sewing to keep me company. On the other hand, I’m also looking forward to another dinner at EVOO tonight. Maybe this time I’ll remember to snag a snapshot of my glorious, favorite chocolate cake in the world before I polish it off.

The one thing about lots of hand sewing is my fingers get a bit tender after a couple of hours, which is when I switch over to a more finger-friendly activity: knitting. Check out these scrappy socks that I’m working on with all my little bits of Cascade:

I have no pattern or plan for these babies; it’s just one stripe at a time. Improvisation seems to be my working method of choice these days. It’s making these socks such fun to work on, and it keeps me on my toes, so to speak!

I’ve decided that 3 was a good number for me this weekend. After attending a welcome reception with Kyle at Harvard Business School on Friday night, we went to my favorite burger place where I devoured my go-to meal:

I almost always get the same 3 things at BGood: Westside burger, sweet potato fries, and crisp veggies.

But the best 3 of all was my 3 cousins who visited from St. Louis and Providence:

Amy, Erica, Charlotte (sister), Jamie (and me).

Such gorgeous ladies We spent Saturday night out on the town, from drinks at Eastern Standard to delicious Mexican food and margaritas at La Verdad (where, incidentally, I got the combo of 3 different kinds of tacos) and more drinks at the Foundation Lounge. Cousins are just marvelous.

As for Sunday, well, as far as I’m concerned the Superbowl = an excuse to eat chili and get in some quality knitting time. By the end of the first quarter, I had completed my 3-block hat:

I don’t have the size 1 circular needles that the pattern called for so I improvised with size 5 and a 3×3 rib. Somehow, despite the fact that I totally winged this and didn’t count stitches/check gauge/measure my head…it fits! And, as luck would have it, my stash of Cascade is still relatively plentiful. I may have even cast on some socks to keep me occupied for the rest of the game. How I love football.

I also added the 3rd layer to my onion quilt. At Sewfisticated (incidentally, owned by the mother of the guy who owns BGood–how random is that!) I found this green plaid fabric, which does and doesn’t match to just the right degree:

Now I’m working on adding long running stitches to hold it all together.

Finally, I kicked off my Monday with one last 3. Much to my own surprise, I have registered for a triathlon. A super short (and hopefully easy) one, but a triathlon none the less. I’m equally terrified and excited. I’m one of those people who actually enjoys working out (sorry) so I happen to be decent at running and swimming (biking…not so much, though I manage to pant my way through spinning classes every now and then). But I’ve never competed in any kind of athletic event so my goal is quite simply to complete this crazy endeavor without any major mishaps or embarrassments.  My boss somehow pursuaded me, and while my first instinct was a big fat resounding ‘no,’ the idea is really growing on me. Either way, I don’t plan on coming home with any medals which takes some of the pressure off

So far, all I really know about training for these types of events is that you get to ‘carbo load.’ I know, I have many months before I really need to be doing this, but isn’t that just the best excuse to re-devote some attention to my bread baking? I think so.

 Any amount of travel requires me to make some adjustments to my fabric-related goals. Obviously, I don’t expect to get much sewing done—and even my recent hand sewing obsession would be hard to whip out on an airplane. In other words, travel = knitting.

But when I realized I wouldn’t be traveling this weekend, I instantly started making all kinds of plans—Saturday night dancing, Sunday brunch—and all kinds of crafting goals. Maybe I’ll finish my onion quilt! Maybe I’ll start another, even bigger onion quilt and complete the first layer! Maybe I’ll also finish my giant Mexican napkin pillow…I can be a bit overambitious.

Then I try to remember a simple little phrase: Keep It Simple Silly. Or, KISS. Yes, I know, this is rather hokey—but worth keeping in mind as well. Productivity is certainly gratifying, and Lord knows I’ll enjoy some sewing time this weekend. But perhaps I won’t make any goals. Perhaps I’ll stick to the original plan, which was to slowly work away at my latest knitting project.

I’ve been making the Three Block Cap from Vivian Hoxbro’s “Knit to be Square”, using my own color combinations, of course. I love the funky construction of domino knitting (even though I’m rather mediocre at picking up stitches) and this hat is put together in a particularly odd way. It’s basically composed of three nine-patches which are connected into a bowl-like shape:

 Right now, it looks like some kind of weird octopus creature. I’m in the process of filling in those gaps.

And, oh, the colors!

I seem to have a never-ending supply of leftover Cascade yarn. Not that I’m complaining.

 I’ve been working on this hat for months—it’s the project I squeeze in at odd moments on the subway, in line at the grocery store, etc. And I have no real ambitions about when I want to complete it. So, inspired by Soule Mama’s Slow Knitting, I’m going to stick with the original plan and take it easy this weekend. Oh, sure, I’ll probably pay a visit to Sewfisticated and squeeze in some hand stitching–and I wouldn’t mind finding the time to make Jessica’s Creamy White Bean Dip; this girl and her amazing recipes are my latest blog crush–but I have no goals. I’m just going to knit, one triangle at a time.

Come to think of it, KISS could also be: Knitting In Slow Steps, Knitting Is Slow & Steady… or something like that…