Comfort Food and Quickie Gifts
I bought a bag of 17 Bean Soup Blend from Trader Joe's in November and decided last week it was time for the bag to stop collecting dust, so I set the beans to soak on Saturday night, bought the ingredients I still needed, and spent yesterday evening making a big pot of 17 Bean Soup. I enjoy cooking, but chopping up veggies, even with the fabulous time saving slicer I bought from Pampered Chef at the end of '11 (God bless mandoline and V-slicers, for they are truly a cook's friend!), was tedious and felt like it took forever. Once that was done, I had to cook them up in a pan with some olive oil until they were soft, then dump them in with the beans and broth, which I'd already started simmering to get a jump on things. The recipe said to simmer the soup for an hour, but it took longer than that for the thickest beans to soften up enough to make for easy (enough) eating. The final result was good, if a bit over-peppered. My mom loves her a good bean soup, so she had some for her supper tonight and voiced her approval, which means she'll be taking some of the soup in her lunches this week. As for me, between the soup and Mexican Lasagna, I'm very set for lunch and supper for a bit.
I'm up to my neck in knitting and cross stitch projects for weddings and babies and have been for over a year. What is it with all my friends deciding they need to pair off and regularly reproduce? I have to finish the cross stitch design on one cotton baby blanket for a cousin, and when that's finished, I have to work on the replacement/alternate gift for a cotton baby blanket I promised to someone else in an IOU at a baby shower last year (the edges have frayed too much, so it was get a new kit and start all over again, or make something else that wouldn't take months to finish). When I'm not working on the cotton blankets, I've been knitting baby blankets for the sprogs my friends keep popping out, and I'm thankful at the moment there's only one sprog baking I have to finish a blanket for. Then I need to get a bridal shower gift for a friend whose shower is the 27th of next month and a wedding gift for her wedding in June. I found a pair of pillowcases with a nice stamped design to cross stitch at the store today, so I'm doing that as the bridal shower gift and I think I'll get her something from her registry at Bed Bath and Beyond for the wedding gift. I'd love to do a cross stitched wedding announcement, but I don't know if I'd have the time. I want to get back to working on my novel, and with the other things I have on my daily To Do list, once I get back to work, I doubt I'd have time for crafting and writing.
I'm up to my neck in knitting and cross stitch projects for weddings and babies and have been for over a year. What is it with all my friends deciding they need to pair off and regularly reproduce? I have to finish the cross stitch design on one cotton baby blanket for a cousin, and when that's finished, I have to work on the replacement/alternate gift for a cotton baby blanket I promised to someone else in an IOU at a baby shower last year (the edges have frayed too much, so it was get a new kit and start all over again, or make something else that wouldn't take months to finish). When I'm not working on the cotton blankets, I've been knitting baby blankets for the sprogs my friends keep popping out, and I'm thankful at the moment there's only one sprog baking I have to finish a blanket for. Then I need to get a bridal shower gift for a friend whose shower is the 27th of next month and a wedding gift for her wedding in June. I found a pair of pillowcases with a nice stamped design to cross stitch at the store today, so I'm doing that as the bridal shower gift and I think I'll get her something from her registry at Bed Bath and Beyond for the wedding gift. I'd love to do a cross stitched wedding announcement, but I don't know if I'd have the time. I want to get back to working on my novel, and with the other things I have on my daily To Do list, once I get back to work, I doubt I'd have time for crafting and writing.