Thursday Eve Lunch

Mmmm... a ton of different flavors thrown onto a bagel...

Tomorrow I will be out of commission for eating a variety of things for a few weeks, because I am getting horrible, sad times gum surgery. I had the first round of it in December, but had to wait until now due to the limits of dental insurance. I decided that, on the eve of this surgery, I'd have one of my favorite things in the whole world before I'm unable to eat solid foods for a while. This would be the Everything Bagel.

My favorite Everything Bagel exists in two places in Salem. One is at Bagel World (this comes as no surprise). Recently, I think they've changed their recipe so the bagels are less salty. It's a nice touch.

The other is at Gulu Gulu. I have a feeling they don't make their own bagels, and I sadly don't know the origin of this bagel. But it is glorious. It has caraway seeds on it, and just the right amounts of garlic and onion.

Today's Everything Bagel comes from Espresso Royale Cafe, which is a great little coffee shop/cafe around the corner. What I like about this bagel is that it's a whole wheat everything bagel. I also get the impression they don't make their bagels themselves. I think, if I can remember correctly, they're made in Somerville.

So here I sit, enjoying my crusty, tasty, too-many-calories bagel, knowing that in 24 hours I'll be reduced to eating yogurt and pureed sweet potatoes.

I fear I'm becoming one of those people who only blogs about their cat

But this is such a handsome photo of the little guy, I can't resist myself. This is from this past weekend when we were hanging on the couch playing with his stuffed whale. Then he got tired and decided to cuddle for a bit and I took this photo.

Lewis has been settling in nicely. He's been crying less when we leave in the morning for work and enjoys running around when we're home, along with playing with the aforementioned whale. And so far, Alva hasn't been eaten by a kitten, so really... everyone wins.

I think I'll be posting things other than about kittens soon, don't you worry. There's knitting happening and events to attend and food to eat. But... let's be honest... between all that, probably cute pictures of kittens, too.

Happy Valentine's Day, all

So it seems Dunkin Donuts makes a heart-shaped doughnut this year. I woke up Saturday morning to find one waiting for me. It was perhaps way too sweet, but still tasty.

It's definitely a "Hallmark holiday" but this year I'm definitely thinking of all the people (and animals) in my life that I care for greatly. I hope you all have someone or something special in your lives that you feel the same way about.

Welcome...

...Lewis the kitten! Lewis PizzaCat!



Ricky and I have known for awhile that we wanted a kitten. Alva, while great, doesn't really like us to play with him and seems content if we pretty much leave him alone. We tried to play catch with him, but he completely ignored us and swam away from the ball. Sigh, fish. Sigh.

We we decided that once we moved in together and if the landlord allowed it, we'd get a kitten in the wintertime. The landlord said yes, and Valentine's Day weekend seemed the perfect fit. We'd both be home all weekend, and then I would be home with him for five days straight due to gum surgery and President's Day. It was a plan.

After doing some research, we realized that mom cats are usually popping out babies in the wintertime, mainly just in the spring. But we went to the first shelter on our list hoping that there would be one. Sadly, no kittens. Only a few ornery adult cats.

My friend Trish tipped me off that there was a shelter in Salem (it's a shelter system called PALS. They're really great, I'd recommend working with them) that had five brothers for sale. We went there next, and found Lewis. There were only three boys left from the litter. From what the caretakers told me, mom was found in Lynn pregnant and a guy took care of her and her litter until they were all old enough to be adopted. Mom was, at this time, ready to be done with her babies, and was getting a lot of interested bids as well.

We then brought Lewis home we decided to keep him in our bedroom, as it was small and made kitten-proof. He took well to it, and has been very playful. So far he's liking to play ball, necktie, and run around. At night, much to our joy and surprise, he cuddled in with us and slept most of the night without any problems (one wake up at 3:45am to clean himself a little bit, then back to bed).

So look forward to Lewis stories and pictures up here as well!

Finished Object!

Sweater!

Fair warning, this post will pretty much only be interesting to Crystal and Lyndsey, and other people who knit/like talking shop when it comes to knitting.

I finally got around to taking pictures of my latest sweater. I saw the pattern online and loved it. I wanted a sweater that was both warm when outdoors but also wasn't so heavy when I was at work, since my office can get pretty toasty. Given that it's short-sleeved, I thought it'd be a nice balance.

The yarn I used was Sirdar Eco Wool. It's the yarn they suggested for the actual sweater. I decided to just use that, since I found it for a deal online, it had good ratings, and I liked the oatmealy colors of it. I'd definitely use this brand again, since it knits up nicely, and is decently sturdy. The pattern book I got has other sweaters that call for this yarn, so I might peruse it, or check online to see if I can find other suggestions to knit with it.

I started the sweater this past Fall and finished it a few weeks ago. Despite the time it took, it was a fairly quick knit, since it's two squares, a turtleneck, and some ribbing on either side for "sleeves". I just kept picking it up and putting it down, and pretty much only knit on it at night while watching TV or a movie. I liked that it was an easy pattern, but also that the two different kinds of cables made it more interesting, especially since there was no shaping.

Because my frame is petite but my chest is... well, not, I went down a needle size but knit a size larger so it'd still have that bagginess but I wouldn't be swimming in the sweater. I'm very glad I did. It still has the drape I was looking for, but isn't a potato sack.

I've already worn it a few times and LOVE IT. It's very warm when waiting for the train and walking around Boston/Salem, but I don't feel like I'm sitting in a furnace when indoors. I wore it to work a few weeks ago while wearing my Hunter boots, and was told I looked very Scottish and that I was tending to my sheep. I'm taking this as a compliment, since it is from a British pattern book, and it was the feeling I was going for.

These are all pictures I've taken in my own house, but when Ricky and I go for our walk I'll see if he can take pictures of me in action wearing it, so it's not all me into a mirror with a camera hiding my face.

I'll leave you with an up close shot of the cables. I'll definitely use the diamond cable again, perhaps in a hat or a scarf, since I love how it turned out.

Quiet Saturday

Today's a quiet Saturday for me and Ricky. I'm doing a mountain of laundry and some research for something exciting coming our way (announcement coming soon!*) and Ricky's doing work. We're playing classical piano music, there are some candles lit. It's a very nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

I was supposed to have the second half of my gum surgery on Thursday, but the doctor canceled last minute, so we find ourselves with a whole weekend wide open, without me being uncomfortable and on pain meds in bed. It was a very nice problem to have. We may scope out the museum down the street, or share a cheese plate at Gulu Gulu. Something low key.

Since I haven't blogged in about a week, I figure I'll also show you all what I've been up to since Thursday. I had been planning on being out of commission due to gum surgery for a few weeks, so I had stocked the house up with soft things to eat. When the doctor canceled Thursday afternoon, I found myself with a house filled with soft things with a short shelf life. Bananas and yogurt probably wouldn't keep for two weeks. Solution? Whip up a loaf of banana bread:

The bowl is from Erin for Christmas. I must say, it's pretty nice having pretty/nice bowls to mix in instead of the tupperware ones I've been sporting since graduating from college. I had a potato masher, but when I moved it went missing, so I've just been using a fork for light mashing these days. It did the trick.

The recipe calls for buttermilk, but since I didn't have any on hand, I used plain yogurt. It created a nice tang to the bread, and also a bit of denseness, but with that, it's extremely moist. It was very easy to whip up, and used up my slightly too ripe bananas.

I'm very happy with the results, and bread is far nicer to be eating to get nutrients that the protein shakes I should be drinking right now if I had had the surgery.



*I'm neither engaged nor pregnant. Less big news than that.