Something Different

At the Greenmarket, I saw a flower-looking thing being sold and asked the vendor/farmer about it. She told me it was a zucchini blossom and that it had to be cooked. Here's how:

Pull out the stamens (or is it the pistils?), trim the stems and rinse the blossoms. There may be dirt or creepy-crawly things in them. Pat dry.



Then dip each blossom in a beaten egg and dredge in flour. I use Wondra. Breadcrumbs can also be used. Heat up olive oil in a pan and fry up the blossoms till golden brown.



It doesn't take long. About 2 to 3 minutes on each side. When done, drain on a paper towel and salt.

Delicious! Crunchy, salty with a light and delicate zucchini taste. It made a perfect appetizer.



In my next posting, I'll have something truly different--some knitting!

Greenmarket Goodies

I approach the Union Square Greenmarket in much the same way as I go to Rhinebeck. I have a plan. First I do online research and take notes. What vendors do others recommend? What's looking good? When I arrive there, my plan is to walk around, look at everything and to jot notes on the places I want to return to.



Then I get to Union Square (or Rhinebeck) and become overwhelmed



by the merchandise and colors. Notes? Plans? What notes and plans??? Yep, just like Rhinebeck!











I go to the greenmarket for the ostrich eggs---NOT!



I went for the tomatoes. I just love, love, love tomatoes this time of year!



Here's my bounty--tomatoes and a few other things.





I immediately made myself lunch from some of these goodies



At least I controlled myself enough that I didn't start gobbling tomatoes before I got home.

One time I went to Rhinebeck and wound yarn in the parking lot. And if I had needles with me, I probably would have started knitting something from the yarn. I'm not known for my restraint when it comes to yarn (or tomatoes.)

Last Day of Fun

One more sunset



and one more sunrise. And then our vacation will be over.



You know it's gonna be a good last full-day of fun by the lake when one has cold pizza for breakfast.

An Adirondack Birthday

Yesterday I had an excellent



While hubster and I are spending the week at one Adirondack lake, one of his brothers and family are spending the week at Lake Placid. That's about an hour away from us. We had planned on getting together one day this week and then another brother and sister (hubster has four of each) who live sort of nearby decided they also had time to come to Lake Placid for a day. Schedules were consulted and yesterday--my birthday--was the day. Many thanks to the BIL and SIL who coordinated and hosted the gathering.

I can't believe I didn't take a photo of the lake! But if you look past the hubster and a BIL, it's there in the background. (BTW, the lake is Mirror Lake not Lake Placid.) It's really a gorgeous view from their place.



Much to my surprise there were some birthday festivities --cards



and, after a delicious lunch, I was presented with a huge, tasty birthday cupcake!



And we held an "orange food" tasting. There has been some dispute in the hubster's family as to who makes the best puffy orange cheese food snack. So this seemed a good opportunity to settle this.



The winner? Wise Cheese Doodles. However, there is much controversy surrounding the result because there was some vote changing and one of the voters may not have tasted all the puffy snacks. Plus only a small sample present participated in the tasting. And only four of the nine siblings were there. This doesn't seem very scientific to me. (My favorite? Snyder's of Berlin Cheese Curls. Not that I'm a sore loser or anything.)

Hubster and I then went into the village of Lake Placid for some birthday gift shopping. It's been a birthday tradition to add a charm or two to my silver, summer charm bracelet every year. This year the moose and the pine tree were added.



And a perfect birthday wouldn't be complete without a visit to a yarn store. Nice store with some lovely yarns. No yarn was bought, though. But I did pick up the new issue of Interweave Knits.



When hubster and I returned to our cabin, we enjoyed a birthday dinner of cheese (the real stuff--not "cheese food") and some homegrown (by a BIL) tomatoes and cucumbers. I love, love, love homegrown tomatoes and I really enjoyed these. And while watching for and hoping for a magnificent Adirondack sunset, I sipped the Vermont chardonnay that was a gift from a SIL.



The sunset didn't get the memo that it was supposed to be spectacular. But it was still a pleasant way to end the day.



And even if I don't win the 64 million dollar lottery (ticket thanks to a SIL)--I would say my birthday was a winner!

Changes

In the last Snit n'Knit post, I decided to bring five projects on vacation. Two bags worth of projects.

But when it came time to load the car, our building's elevator broke. We live on the sixth floor. It would have been impossible to schlep our ton of stuff down six flights of stairs. So we had to edit the boxes, bags, suitcases down to about half a ton and the knitting was a casualty of this downsizing. Two projects --- one bag.



I thought I had grabbed the striped baktus and the almost-completed clapotis.



Yep, that's the striped baktus and the Jackie Sweater. OOOOPS!

An unexpected change in my knitting plans. But that's OK.

Another change:



Look at that temperature! That's what it was when we arrived at the lake. Downright chilly then and, during the night, it got even chillier. Big change from the 90+ NYC temperatures!

However, there are some things that never change. And, for this, I'm happy!

Packed

Packed and ready to go. . .



Well, yes, just the knitting is packed and ready for vacation. The lucky ones going to the mountains:
the Clapotis (I'm so close to finishing!)
the Jackie sweater (Before we know it, fall will be here and won't it be nice to have a new sweater.)
the striped baktus (I always intended that to be the vacation knitting.)
the Giotto scarves (No particular reason except they might be cute when finished.)
the mini lace things (Vacation seems a good time to try something different.)

I've also set aside a few woolen things--socks, shawl and a sweater. The temperatures promise to be a bit chilly.

Now What?

Having finished the baby blanket and with a vacation get-away in a few days, I have the all important decision of what to bring to the mountains.

Here's the contenders:

The Clapotis. Almost finished.



I bought this yarn thinking I'd make a couple of cute, quick scarves. One of them will definitely be a gift.



A sock. There's always a sock.



I've been wanting to knit some of these mini laces just because.



The Jackie Sweater. Fall is coming and I'm still only on the back.



A striped baktus. Pure mindlessness.



Cobweb yarn on size 2 needles. Who am I kidding? But maybe. . . .



Stay tuned . . . I have a few days to decide. All opinions are gladly welcome!

Ready for Summer

One for the pattern, two for the yarn, three to get needles, now go, knitter, go!

Summer Knitting

During the summer, when my mind turns to ricotta cheese, I like to work on something easy-peasy when we go away. When I was knitting the lacy baktus, I kept thinking that I'd like to make a striped baktus during this summer.

Yesterday, I found the perfect yarn for it:



Road to China in the colors Grey Pearl and Light Hematite Baby alpaca, cashmere, camel and silk. Can you imagine the lusciousness of this yarn?!

The original plan was to cast on when we're away in the mountains in August. Summer vacation project. But then I thought that I should start on the 4th of July. However the Summer Solstice is on June 21st--that will the date for casting on. But that's the apex of summer. Summer really begins on Memorial Day. And if the striped baktus is going to be a summer project, I should start it then.

But I do like something big needle/easy to work on when we travel and we'll be on the road in mid-April, I'll get a jump-start on summer knitting by beginning then. Then I thought about the new life symbolism of Easter. New life = starting new knitting project? However, don't we switch to Daylight Saving Time on March 14th? And since that's the time we observe in the summer--perhaps a summer knitting project should be cast on then.

But isn't my imagination larger than my physical state? Can't it be summer in the middle of a snowstorm if I think of the warm sunny days? Right now it's 39 degrees out. But I feel like it's 79.