Tilden Park Scarf on Stash & Burn

The Tilden Park Scarf pattern is the June Sock Stash Knitdown prize for the Stash & Burn podcast! Knit something out of your sock yarn stash, follow the instructions June SSK thread on Ravelry, and you are entered to win a free copy of my pattern. Additionally, from now until the end of July, you can get $1 off my pattern by entering the promotion code stashandburn at checkout.

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Easy Pork Rillette

  

I had one of those problems that really wasn't a problem last week: what to do with 1.5 pounds of pork belly? Originally, I wanted to buy a pork shoulder from Marin Sun Farms, but by the time I went the farmer's market, they were out of that cut. Since I wanted to buy some meat for the week, I grabbed a packet of fresh pork belly instead with the intention of making thit kho, a Vietnamese dish consisting of caramelized pork and eggs.

I had a last minute change of stomach when it was thit kao making day, and instead decided to make a pork rillette. Whenever we order the Butcher Block at Wood Tavern, some sort of rillette is featured, and while I know the cured meats take some dedication, the rillettes seemed like an "afternoon project" kind of dish.

Rummaging around my pantry, I found dried apricots, juniper berries, bay leaves, and a cinnamon stick. I also added a few cloves of garlic, a tablespoon of salt, a few grinds of pepper, and a cup of dry vermouth. The pork belly was cut into 1/2" squares, the apricots were chopped, the garlic cloves had their skins removed, and the juniper berries were lightly crushed. Everything was tossed into a cast iron pot with a lid, and the whole thing went into a 250°F oven for 4 hours.

After two hours, the pork belly had rendered enough fat to poach the meat, and after 4 hours, the meat was falling apart. I shredded the meat with two forks, similar to making ropa vieja or carnitas. I added more salt while shredding the meat - the meat should be on the verge of being too salty since this will be spread onto bread.

The shredded pork mixture is strained, with the fat and juices reserved, and then pressed into a dish. I put them into a big baking round, but more traditionally the meat is pressed into ramekins.

The reserved juice and fat is poured back over the meat, the dish is covered and refrigerated for at least 24 hours so the flavors can mingle.

Before serving, let the rillette warm up to room temperature so the fat will be easy to spread. Enjoy it smeared onto a slice of baguette with a touch of mustard and a cornichon.

First Tomato

My first tomato of the season! It's been unusually wet and cool this summer, and that equals a tardy tomato crop. So, while others are sustaining themselves from their gardens on a daily basis, I've been monitoring this one little tomato for the past few weeks. Solemnly, I took a photo, then popped it into my mouth. Bliss.

This is a close up of my worm bin. Last week, I tossed some bok choy ends into the bin. This week, they're all regenerating and kind of freaking me out. It's hard to tell in this photo, but there are three sprouts (is that the right word?) coming from the stem. The boy wants to plant these and add them to his little discarded vegetable garden which thus far only has some sprouted onion tops that are thriving. The problem with those sprouted onion tops is that the old onion tops are still attached and they look rotten, so I'm not quite sure what is going on there. However, the boy will persevere because he likes thinking of himself as the punk gardener who goes around breaking conventional gardening rules.

Accidentally, this bin became a second compost bin. It's been going strong for a few years, dutifully digesting paper egg cartons and overflow vegetable scraps that my official worm bin cannot handle, and to my astonishment, worms have magically appeared inside the bin. Mind you, there's no holes in this bin and it sits on a concrete slab. How did they get in there? I suspect that our pitchfork was the vector. Regardless, I'll have to decide when it's done so I can let it rest and fully decompose.  Currently, although only 1/4 full, it feels like it's full of lead.

Gaia

Another cardigan down! Wait, didn't I say last time that it was time to stop knitting cardigans??? This makes my 5th cardigan of the year, and I'm beginning to think I should have joined one of those knit 12 sweaters a year challenges.

As you can see, I am procrastinating my sock knitting with cardigans. Usually, that would be just fine, but since I'm going to Sock Summit this year, I do want to have a sweet pair of socks to show off!

This is Gaia by Kristen TenDyke. It is knit using Spud & Chloe's Sweater in colorway 7515. Sadly, I bought this yarn Stash's going out of business sale. Sigh, that was such a fantastic store. I wrote a bunch of notes about this pattern on my Rav page, so I'll spare you them here. The one thing I should mention is that I used a lot less yarn than specified; I could have knit this using 3 balls of Spud & Chloe if I would have made it a bit shorter.

It was fun knitting set in sleeves again, and I'm especially happy with the method used in this pattern to knit the sleeve cap in place. Very, very slick.

OK, socks are next FO. At least one sock. I promise. However, I've been obsessively sketching cardigans in my design notebook, so I hope have the resolve to not knit up that last sweater's worth of yarn in my stash.

Friday Dog Butt Picture

The boy built this fence to keep the dogs away from our delicate ferns.

If I cook like it's summer, will summer come?

Sunshine seems increasingly rare these days, and the past weekend was full of wind and rain. Yet, I had a 1/4 pound of cherries that needed a purpose. Since they weren't that sweet, I stewed the cherries with some vanilla sugar, a pinch of salt, bourbon, and a splash of balsamic vinegar.

I roughly mashed them after stewing, then folded them into vanilla ice cream batter. Since I was feeling lazy, I didn't commit to making a vanilla custard. Instead, with a nod to the Ben and Jerry's ice cream recipe book, I whipped a couple of eggs and added sugar, milk, and cream to the batter. It was simple and more airy than a custard based ice cream, but the drawback is that it isn't as rich (only 2 egg yolks versus the 4-6 I'd normally use) and is hard to scoop. Still, is there such a thing as bad ice cream, especially when served with bourbon whipped cream?

I'm almost finished with another cardigan (someone please stop me!) that I can post soon. But for now, I'll leave you with a picture of my afghan. I stated the afghan on 5/24/10, and as of today I have 85 rows complete. I'd love to have this complete by the end of summer, although with the way this summer is starting out,  I should try to finish this ASAP.

Dropping the Knit Bomb

As I was walking around town, disconnected with everything surrounding me because I was stuck thinking about mundane tasks that needed to be done, it was nice to be snapped back to the present by a bit of unexpected knitting.

The knitting revolution has begun!

Slow Knitting

Can anyone guess this sock pattern? It's been my zen project - you know, the type of project you have to buckle down and give your undivided attention. No listening to podcasts, certainly no television watching, and no gabbing on the phone. Just knitting. This project was just crawling along until I figured out how to knit 1x1 cables without a cable needle. Also, I was fumbling with different circular knitting methods.

This project started out as magic loop because I only had one 32-inch circular needle that was the right size. It was an Addi Turbo lace needle, and as much as I love them, the cables were a bit too stiff for the magic loop method and I was getting huge ladders on the sides. Then, I got my second circular needle back that was the right size (it was on loan), and I did my trusty 2-circ needle method. This would have been ideal, except my two circular needles were insanely long and kept getting in my way. Off to the LYS I went with every intent of buying another Addi Turbo lace needle that was only 16-inches. However, the Kollage square knitting needles caught my attention, especially since they were 1/2 the price of the Addi Turbos.

Knitting on DPNs is not my favorite, but I've used them before and the novelty of knitting with square needles is keeping me interested. I did have a "duh" moment when I first switched the project to DPNs and I completely removed one double pointed needle from my project. And then I freaked out. And then I put the project in a time out until I could collect myself. However, now I've finally found my groove. Sock Summit is my project deadline, although I really hope I'm done before then.

To counteract my "must concentrate" sock pattern, I've been crocheting on my neverending afghan. It's one year and two days since I first started it, and 80 rows are complete. I'm probably 60% complete. My afghan's days as my go-to knit night project are probably limited because it's a little odd to bring a blanket with you to cafes and pubs, even if I am working on it. I'm beginning to see the appeal of modular blanket squares.

To make up for the lack of pics, I leave you with Imploring Fifty ("if you just open the front door and let me give the dog a quick shove, problem solved!") and a blurry side by side comparison of Fifty-Fifty and Greaseball. Fifty's probably average cat size, weighing in at 11 pounds. Greaseball, on the other hand, is a whopping 20+ pounds the last time I checked. He's a jabba!

Miso Decanting

The sweet miso I started last month is finally done! Well, it's a little overdone, but more on that later. When I first opened the crock, it smelled strongly of sake, a logical smell since koji is used in sake production.

I spooned it into the food processor and let it whiz about until it was blended to a velvety smooth paste, about 3 minutes.

 The end result was 5 cups of sweet miso. Due to the actual summer temperatures early on during the fermentation time, I think I could have pulled this miso out of the crock about a week earlier. I can taste lactic acid, one of the main acids that gives sauerkraut and sourdough bread their tang, in the miso. Still, I made a batch of miso soup with it, and it was very warm and comforting on this drizzly, gray day. I even got the boy to down a mug, without force, which was a surprise. He wasn't thrilled when I fed him a spoonful of plain miso paste earlier in the day, so the fact that he voluntarily drank that soup is a testament that it wasn't too sour.

I don't know if I'll be using this batch of miso for salad dressings, but I do think it will be a wonderful addition to marinades. Any additional thoughts on what to do with tangy miso?

Vintage Cardigan

 Another cardigan complete!  This is Miette by TheAndiPants, a free pattern on Ravelry. So far, I've knit 4 cardigans for myself in 2011(Aidez, Ocean Beach, Swingy Cardi) - I needed some more cardi action in my wardrobe.

 

The yarn is Spud & Chloe Sweater, a 45% organic cotton and 55% superwash wool blend. Knitting with the yarn was more pleasant than ordinary cotton yarn due to elasticity of the wool, but the finished yarn does feel very much like cotton to me. And so far, it's stretching like cotton, too. Remember that if you knit with the stuff - add some negative ease!

I'm a shortie, so again many shortie-specific modifications were made. For the details, see my Rav project page.

The flower buttons were a lucky find. The wall of buttons made my eyes cross at the craft store, and I almost missed them.

My next FO will hopefully be a pair of socks, the Twisted Flower by Cookie A. I need to finish up my sock stash before Sock Summit!