Oh, Hello

Yep, I'm still here. Haven't forgotten about ye olde bloggg, but haven't had much time to catch a breath since getting back from a wonderful vacation in Florida.

I've spent lots of time playing with my new toy, a Cuisinart ice-cream maker. Notable for two reasons. First, I had to actively rearrange/eat up/dispose of things in my cabinets to make it happen. When we moved into this house a year and a half ago, I very carefully made a list of kitchen things I needed and managed to make them all fit in the storage space we have. (There isn't a lot.) I'm not really an appliance gal, save the coffee maker, the crock-pot and the kitchenaid mixer. It's often easier to do something by hand than to pull out an appliance and do it.

But I started wanting an ice cream maker last spring. More than a year ago, when my pal Kim started writing about homemade ice creams. Which means it's also notable because I managed to really delay gratification (coughcough, something I can never do with yarn) and make sure I wanted it. Ohhh, I wanted it.

The tipping point was the new book, The Perfect Scoop, by David Lebovitz. So far I've made three batches of frozen desserts -- strawberry sorbet from the Cuisinart pamphlet and two of Lebovitz's recipes,

Roasted Banana Ice Cream:

and Chocolate Ice Cream (really, chocolate frozen custard):

After I made the Roasted Banana Ice Cream, I told Erin it was the best thing I've ever made. I was wrong. The best thing I've ever made was the Chocolate Ice Cream the next night. And together? Heaven. Total blissful heaven. Totally worth some extra sessions at the gym.

So that's taken up a lot of free time, but I have been knitting. The body of Serrano is complete, and is waiting for some time this weekend to get pinned out. One Charade sock is done:

And I have turned the heel and am closing in on finishing the second Charade sock. It's at that awkward just-turned-heel stage and is refusing to pose for the camera.

Also in free time: playing with Ravelry. (My username is fidgetknits.) It definitely is a Project to get my stash organized, but it's a good endeavor. Also, it's proving to be a good way to get to know my new camera, figuring out what it likes as far as focal lengths, colors, lighting, etc.

[Confidential to Typepad bloggers - I'm having trouble commenting on your site. It doesn't seem to accept my blog URL because it doesn't start with a www. Any hints?]

Back next week... Have a great long weekend!