Not Knitting

There is no knitting in this post. Consider yourself warned. It's not that I haven't been knitting, of course. But the Drunken Bee #2 looks only one pattern repeat longer than it did in the last entry. Scroll down and imagine that cuff, but longer. Now you're all caught up. Maybe by the next entry I'll at least have turned the heel.

No, today's entry is more about food. Like food that comes from the garden. My garden overfloweth, at least with green plants.

The tomatoes of last week were clearly the overachievers. The rest of the tomatoes are just now starting to turn shades of yellow and orange. I am going to have to be diligent about picking them as early as I can stand, though -- we are sharing our yard with at least two rabbits, and a big fat heirloom tomato was swiped by a critter last week about a day before it would be picked. Drat!

I think the ladybug with those tomatoes is protecting them from evil rabbits. Meanwhile, I staked some of the outrageous cucumber vines two weeks ago. The vines found their way to the fence, which is good. But it's yielding some interesting results:

In other news, I've been on a bit of a cooking spree inside. I turned some delicious blueberries into these No-Bake Blueberry Cheesecake Bars, which turned out really good. (And easy to modify to low-fat, thankfully). They also had the good sense to come together in the food processor and be ready in an hour.

On the other side of the spectrum, the be-all, end-all Chocolate Chip Cookies, also from the NY Times. They needed 36 hours to rest before they were ready to go in the oven.

I followed the recipe exactly as written (special props to a moving friend who destashed her bread flour my way.) I'll have to wait for the birthday girl to render a formal opinion, but I'll just go out on a limb and say that these are cookies that you could sell for $3 each in a bakery, they're that good. Wonderful texture and the chocolate discs (located at Balducci's) are pure indulgence. See the sea salt on top? It elevates the whole thing a step closer to heaven. It took me a full glass of milk to get through one small cookie. But oh man - every girl needs a recipe like this in her arsenal.

First Harvest

The tomatoes are starting to arrive! I've been watching with great excitement all week as a few little cherry tomatoes raced ahead of the pack to ripen. This morning, I decided to pick them before any harm could come to them.

Three cherry tomatoes. And they tasted just as good as you'd expect, still slightly warm from the sun. This is the essence of summer to me. I'm a happy gardener:

***
In other news, I have picked up the second Drunken Bee sock and am finding it exponentially easier the second time around. As in, I don't have to look at the chart for every single stitch -- maybe just once a row or so. That's making for much more enjoyable knitting. Which is good, because I want these socks to wear come fall.

I'm especially glad that the pattern clicked because it means I can focus more on watching Mad Men (OMG LOVE IT) and less on the knitting. They're a good marriage, this crazy sock knitting and the cuckoo characters.

Mid-July, Already?

I can't really wrap my mind around the fact that summer is already half-over. For one, it feels like Memorial Day was just yesterday! And for two, this is, so far, the mildest summer I can remember in the 12 I've spent in DC. It was about 80 degrees this morning when I ate breakfast outside. Of course it gets hotter and stickier by the day's end, but it's nothing like the weeks of scorch we've had in the past. Usually by this point I'm counting down the hours until fall... now I'm still relishing the comforting warmth of summer. (But check back with me in August.)

I've spent far too much time outside or doing schoolwork to do much knitting, but I did *finally* finish the Marigold Socks:

Marigold Socks
Pattern: Marigold Socks by Pamela Wynne
Yarn: Claudia's Handpaint, Red Wagon colorway
Needles: US1 Addi Turbos
Modifications: None!

This is a clever little pattern that, like Monkeys, is easy to memorize and a wee bit addictive. It works really well on variegated yarns, with a purl row thrown in every so often to help break up the pattern.

The yarn reminds me of Cherry Limeades for some reason. (Sonic! Oh how I miss Sonic!) I've had it in stash for at least two years -- in love with the vivid reds and strong limes but not quite sure what to make with it. It ended up in stripes -- thankfully the same stripes from both skeins. I think it's just perfect for summer.

In other news, the garden continues to explode.

The tomatoes have officially outgrown their three-foot stakes. JT is off today to find five-foot ones. There are tomatoes on almost all the plants, but the cherry tomatoes are officially out of control. I can't wait!

He's also going to pick up smaller stakes for the eggplants and the cucumbers. (Maybe I should have staked the cukes earlier? I didn't know to, but now they are totally threatening the lettuce and MUST BE STOPPED.) The eggplants are getting ready to flower:

Sam prefers to sit in the yard and guard the garden.

He's 6 months old now -- hard to believe! He graduates from puppy school soon and is pretty good at basic obedience. It's so fun to watch him learn.

He also loves his new toy, a long stuffed snake:

We discovered that wrapping it around his neck or his body is a great source of amusement for all parties.

And, in closing, possibly the cutest picture I've ever taken. Friends' daughter Ava, 1 year old, practicing her headstand (or maybe down-dog?):

Sigh.

Sign posted over a register at the grocery store by my office:

OPEN
COME ON UP
AND AS ALL WAS
THANKS FOR SHOPPING GIANT!

Dog Days

Yeah, so Sam is sort of running the daily agenda in our parts these days. He'll be 6 months old next week, and he's really loving that summer means that he can be outside all the time. Not loving the heat so much. Thankfully it's been (relatively) mild so far - only a few days above 90.

And it's cooler in the morning. We met a down-the-street neighbor and his puppy at the park a few weeks back, and now he brings her over around breakfast-time. Sophie is an English Sheepdog about 9 months old, and she is Sam's best friend. They usually play for 30-45 minutes -- enough to tire Sam out for a good chunk of the day.

It's particularly good because while Sam is faster, Sophie is bigger (but she is still really quick). They take turns being the aggressor, chasing each other or picking up a toy and trying to run off with it. The only downside is sometimes they get distracted and end up in the flowerbeds. This morning some petunias gave their lives to the great cause of puppy play.

In the evening, Sam gets some more run-around time before dinner. A friend of mine brought her full-grown lab over and the two dogs ran around for about an hour.... So cute to watch.

Luckily, the garden has been spared serious puppy invasion. We had some good thunderstorms this past week, so everything grew up a little bit more...

The latest addition: cherry tomatoes. I hope there are more than just these three on the way -- I love cherry tomatoes!

Not so much time for knitting, but the second Marigold sock looks to be pretty close to the first. No crazy pooling, thankfully.

I'm thinking I'll have a new pair of socks by the end of the weekend! I suppose I should start thinking about what's next...