He knows me well

Mr. sent a cool song along yesterday morning. Here's the youtube.

In disguise

The wiley European fisherman is out to get me for his fish-head stew! Whatever will I do?

Yarn shopping in the Berkshires

After my trip to western MA & upstate NY, I feel compelled to mention a few places that we stopped off at.

First off, Mum, the McCalls and I decided to hit Webs in Northampton, MA. I've been buying thru their online store with great success. They have a huge inventory. It was really great to feel the textures on some of the beautiful-looking skeins pictured at the site. Also, we found some new treasures.

Next, we went up the road a short bit to Northampton Wools. It is right by the center of town and has two store fronts.
On the right side, they have a shop with all yarns & patterns for babies & children. Mum had some success there. The store to the left carried Manos Del Uruguay which I lust after with an unhealthy passion. So, restraining myself, I only bought 2 skeins. It was very tough to walk away!

The McCalls went home and the next day Mum met me in Chatham, NY. We went to lunch with Uncle. Afterwards we went to The Warm Ewe. Such a patient man, I don't think he knew the wait that he was in for when he agreed to sit outside on a bench while we took a "quick" look. We'd been there once before a year or two ago & were mightily impressed. Mum found some more baby projects for her friends soon-to-be grandchildren. I found another skein to match a unfinished project.

So, quite a success. It's good we don't live closer or we'd have all our money tied up in yarns. Anyhow, I'm adding the links to Webs & The Warm Ewe below. There doesn't seem to be a site for Northampton Wool, but I'll post a link that has directions/phone/reviews.

Gifts from Mum

Mum is great the way she encourages my creativity. Today I got a super-useful gift in the mail. It will really help me get all this yarn we went buying into a more organized state - very cool indeed.

Cats and more cats

I've been visiting the North-East for the last week. Looking thru the photos, I am struck by how many cats have been gathering at Aunt Patty's place. At least they're outdoor cats who just come into the garage to sleep in the winter. Still, there are enough of them, I hope they never organize a revolt!

Salud

So Mr. was awake for something like 22 hours yesterday. He got up at 3:30am for work. When we were having brunch with friends around 10am there was talk about no strippers at a bachelor party. Somebody casually suggested a girl jumping out of the middle of a cake. Without missing a beat, Curt voiced his opinion that it would be more interesting to see a cake jump out of the middle of a girl.

By late afternoon he was really fading in and out. We were determined to stay awake until at least around 9pm so that he wouldn't be all outta whack for the next few days. So, he started making a play-list of favorites. We had a couple of drinks and by 11pm he was making me a late dinner of eggs & toast. What in this world is better than sitting on the kitchen counter in the middle of the night, listening to a random mix of the best songs ever, while one's adoring spouse fixes breakfast for you?

Just to give you an idea of where Mr. was at, here's part of a message he sent friends at around 2:30 in the afternoon...
"Tried to take a nap, but my brain's racing and can't get to sleep. To top it off, Serena ended up going and taking a nap, while I'm sitting here listening to Ernie hacking away and thinking of the brainless blueberry people of barmbaband who've come here to paint all houses yellow and all fences pink - no care at all for what you or I may think."

Snacks

Don't ever let anyone tell you we don't know how to snack here at the Meinhold estates. Last Saturday was SS @ the Maxfields & they chose the theme 'pasta.' We wanted to do a dessert pasta.

First, I tried making chocolate linguine. It wasn't bad, but even with a cream sauce, it just seemed rich but not desserty. So, then I moved on to chocolate ravioli's which had a sweet ricotta/mascarpone filling with orange zest. That was better, but still not quite right.

Fortunately, Mr. became inspired by the idea of making fried cones out of boiled lasagna noodles. After a few trial errors, he discovered that the could wrap the noodles around a pastry nozzle to get the desired shape and then tap out the metal piece after the outside had hardened. He created a filling & set to work. Here is his recipe...

Lasagna Cannolis

Lasagna noodles
Cooking oil
Mini chocolate chips
Butter
Toffee pieces
Mascarpone cheese
Cream cheese
Ricotta cheese
Sugar
Vanilla extract
Hazelnut syrup

1. Boil lasagna noodles per package instructions. Cut noodles into quarters.
2. Heat a couple inches of oil in medium sauce pan for deep frying. I don't actually have a thermometer for checking the temperature, but you probably want about 300 degrees.
3. Form quartered noodles into "cone" shapes (I used the tip from a pastry bag), hold with tongs and put into oil just until the surface of the pasta starts to bubble and the noodle holds that shape, maybe 20-30 seconds. Remove from the oil, remove the form that you are using (pastry bag tip), then put the noodle back in until golden in color and crispy - about another 30-45 seconds (estimated times - base it on how hot/cold your oil is)
4. Put formed noodles onto paper towels to drain cool. You can then store them in a plastic bag for who knows how long, if you aren't going to finish them right away.
5. So you can dip the "cones", combine enough chocolate and butter in a thin and tall vessel and melt/mix together. I used a small glass for this. As to amounts, you'll have to base it on how many cones you have. I probably used a good size handful of chips and a tablespoon of butter. Put toffee pieces onto a small plate.
6. Dip the bottom of each cone in the chocolate and let the excess drip away, then roll into the toffee pieces. Place on a cookie sheet with wax paper and refrigerate so the chocolate hardens again.
7. Mix cheeses, sugar, vanilla and hazelnut syrup together. For about fourteen cones, I think that I used about 8 oz. Cream cheese, 4 oz. Mascarpone, and 2 oz. Ricotta. I had a little left over, but not a ton. I probably added about a half-cup of sugar, maybe a teaspoon each of the vanilla and the hazelnut. Just mix stuff and taste it until you like it - this isn't brain surgery. Put mixture into pastry bag and use tip with relatively small opening.
8. Take cones from fridge and pipe cheese mixture into each cone.
9. Put mini chocolate chips on plate and dip cheese at top of cones into chips.
10. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Not to be totally discouraged, I made crab rangoon from this recipe. They turned out really good. The only problem was that some of them cracked & the filling escaped. So, be really careful with the wontons when you're handling them.

Here are some pictures of our efforts. As you can see, there were a lot of rangoons & not nearly enough cannoli...

Street walkers

So, maybe on one of our morning walks, we will have some new company...

On happiness

Our reality is our own, right? Sometimes it's hard to realize that whatever you're feeling, somebody (if not everyone) else has felt too. It is interesting to come across someone who has figured out or can at least describe some internal debate which one has been struggling with for years.

What are happiness and sadness really? Is it all just a constant play for control? Maybe these emotions come thru only in retrospect. Enjoying the here & now often seems quite a challenge (how long can a wonderful time be expected to last after all?)

Tim Kreider makes an exploration along these lines in his entry 'Averted Vision' on the Happy Days blog. Check it out.