Crocheted coasters and tomato pie

My crocheted WIP wrap is coming along nicely, though slowly, and I get impatient, looking for immediate results. To quell my need for instant or quicker crochet gratification I've ordered this from Amazon:



Crocheted Socks! I thought you could only knit socks! I'm very excited to give it a whirl--but, must wait for my mail lady to bring me the book. Which hasn't even been shipped out yet.

So.....I found a pattern for these:



Crocheted coasters--they're simple and can be "hooked up" in a matter of mere minutes.

Coasters

Crochet hook, size G (that's what I used)
Rounds 1 and 2 measure 2" in diameter, depending on type of yarn used. I used what I had on hand--which happen to be Lion Brand Wool Ease.

Each dc and ch-3 counts a 1 st.

My finished coasters measure approximately 5 inches in diameter, make them as small or large as your mugs and glasses require.

Ch 4.

Round 1: 11 dc into fourth ch from hook. Join with slip st to top of ch-3 -- 12 sts.

Round 2: Ch 3, dc into same st as slip st. *2dc into next dc. Repeat from * around, ending row with slip st to top of ch-3 -- 24 sts.

Round 3: Ch 3, dc into same st as slip st, *dc into next dc, 2 dc into each of next 2 dc, dc into next dc, 2 dc into next dc. Repeat from * around, ending round with dc into next dc, 2 dc into each of the next 2 dc. Slip st to top of ch-3 --39 sts.

Round 4: Ch 4, dc into same st as slip st, *dc int next dc, 2 dc into next dc. Repeat from * around. Join with slip st to ch-3 -- 59 sts. Fasten off.

Voila! A coaster. Or many coasters depending on your mood.


Now another tomato recipe. I found several recipes for tomato pie, but didn't have all the ingredients needed for any of them so, I improvised, (gasp!). This is the pie before it baked:



I pre-baked a Pillsbury pie crust for about 13 minutes.

While the crust baked I sliced 4 tomatoes, sprinkled them with salt and let them drain in a colander.

After the baked crust had cooled for a few minutes, I layered the tomato slices in the pie crust.

I chopped a handful of basil leaves and scattered them and some salt and pepper over the tomatoes.

Many recipes I found call for mayo and I hesitate using so much of it. Often I'll cut back the amount recommended and use this:


Note the olive oil--which of course means its good for me....

Okay, I found about 1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese in my fridge, mixed it with 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese and 1 cup shredded hard white cheese--nope, not sure what it was. The label was removed. It tastes like a cross between Parmesan and asiago, very tasty. Use whatever cheeses you like best.

Mixed the shredded cheeses with about 1/2 cup mayo and spread the mixture over the tomatoes. Baked the pie for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

The end result:

Very tasty! Also makes good leftovers for lunch. mmmmm.......

Fresh tomatoes and okra, oh my!

Our tomatoes and okra are finally coming in at a faster pace. All the rain we've had the past few days has helped immensely. Now I must keep up with feeding us fresh veggies as they are picked--the only thing I desire to can this year is cold packed pickled okra.


We've been eating a salad of tomatoes, fresh basil, fresh mozzarella, olive oil and salt and pepper almost every day. Now I've run out of mozzarella. Until I make the 30 mile trip for more mozzarella I need to improvise.

So I improvised and came up with this:


Okay, so maybe I need some sort of food designer who can plate my food to look appetizing! But it really tastes pretty good.

I fried about a half pound of bacon and crumbled it. Then chopped up a couple of tomatoes, mixed them with the bacon. I tossed in about a handful of torn basil and parsley from the garden. I whisked some mayo--maybe one quarter cup--a couple of splashs of red wine vinegar and salt and pepper. Drizzled this on the tomato, bacon, basil, parsley mixture and tossed. It was yummy.

Now for the okra:


This is a recipe Husband found last year when our okra crop was humongous, gigantic and extremely prolific.

Easy Indian Style Okra

3 tbs butter
1 med onion, chopped
1 lb sliced, fresh okra
1/2 tsp each--cumin, ginger, coriander
1/4 tsp black pepper

Melt butter, add onion, cook until tender. Stir in okra, add seasonings. Cook and stir a few minutes, reduce heat to med-low, cover and cook for 20 min., stirring occasionally.

Other than breaded and deep fried, it's our family's favorite way to eat okra. Of course, I'm not sure if any of us really LIKES okra, but we enjoy eating it.......

It's time to introduce...

Jingles the not so amazing wonder cat, so named by my three sons after many days and many names, this one stuck. She was a mere 6 weeks old when we first brought her home and she loved sleeping in oldest son's slippers. She can't fit in shoes anymore, but she still enjoys cuddling on laps and nuzzling necks.

Granted this is not a very flattering photo.


This scowl seems pretty permanent since the arrival of:


This is Fry, our grand-cat. He belongs to eldest son and daughter-in-law who are living in not-pet-friendly housing at this time--we are cat-sitting.

Fry (yes, that Fry,the Futurama guy) is a great cat. He's quirky and soft and affectionate. Though he is quite big--bigger than any cat we've ever had before.

We've all been speculating on whether or not Fry has some Maine coon in him. He's just about a year old and already weighs in at 15 lbs! According to Wikipedia average adult male Maine coons weigh between 13 and 20 lbs. It also mentions that Maine Coons growth is slower than most cats, with Maines sometimes not reaching full size until age 4 or 5. Yikes!

Since we're not doing any kind of dna or paternity testing on Fry, we'll just have to wait it out and see just how big he gets! I'll keep you posted.

Jingles does scowl an awful lot, her life was peaceful and solitary until Fry. It took a few weeks of hiding in the basement and hissing whenever Fry came near, just to show him who exactly was in charge, now she's adjusted very well to Fry and they spend many hours sliding along the hardwood floors.


Cats are warm, comforting, and of course, entertaining.

I can crochet!

It's been 25+ years since I've attempted to crochet anything. When I did yarn play those years ago my most ambitious projects were all afghans of one stitch type, simply repeated over and over.

Late this past spring I got the itch to stitch and found loads of books with wonderful exciting patterns. Since then I've been hooked! Ha!

This is my current work-in-progress:


Can you guess what it's "growing" to be?

Give up?

Here's a couple of photos:

That's the front and here's the back:

I still have a long way to go!

I started the wrap project in May but took a break to attempt my first baby sweater.


Success! My beautiful granddaughter wearing my finished product. Just a little big, but she'll grow into it, right?

Here's the pattern photo:


Several times, okay, more than several times, I had to unravel and unravel and unravel, and pull yarn away from cats and dogs who always think I'm playing with them! I stuck with it, though, image of my granddaughter wearing my homemade sweater in my mind and voila!

Now I'm surfing the web for crochet books, blogs and websites. There is sooo much out there. Just a few of my favorites: Monster Crochet , the Lion Brand Yarn site, BeginnerCrocheting.com , and About.com/crochet.

YouTube even has a few learn to crochet movies.

I'll update my progress on the wrap, in the meantime, though I've come across a few patterns for some really neat looking striped socks...hmm....how hard can they be?

Sunflower Christmas Tree

Yes, that's what I call this:


This sunflower "tree" stands about 8 feet tall and, along with several other sunflowers popped up in our vegetable garden. Mind you, this year I planted NO giant/mammoth sunflower seeds anywhere!

Last year I planted these:


Yes, that's Youngest Son standing in front of the garden for proportion purposes.

I also planted these next to the porch:


The seeds were called Mammoth Sunflowers--that they were!

This year I planted seeds for miniature sunflowers next to the porch. Maybe two plants came up.

I was pleasantly surprised to watch my sunflower tree grow and grow and add bloom after bloom. Unfortunately it's shaded the cucumber plants Husband planted. We've had one small cucumber so far. The vine has traveled up the sunflowers and is flowering. I'm hopeful we'll get a least a few more cukes--if it ever rains again.



Sunflowers are so easy to grow, even someone with a --what would be the opposite of a green thumb-- well, whatever it is, it's what I've got. My gardening and plant successes rank right up there with my cooking without a recipe successes.



Anyway, we've thoroughly enjoyed our "naturalization" sunflowers. Supplying the birds with the dried flower heads last year has rewarded us greatly.

I wonder what we'll have growing next year?

P.S. Did you know that there are two types of sunflower seeds--black oil and striped? I didn't. This website lists which birds prefer which seeds.