Roasted Vegetables

Turnips, potatoes, and okra; improbably good. Also scrambled eggs with chives and sweet potato. The spouse couldn't get over the last, raved about it, gobbled it up, and wondered how I was so smart as to think of it. Here's how: I was planning on eggs for dinner because I hadn't planned anything else in advance; as I was on my way to scramble them I passed our toaster oven and realized I had left a whole baked sweet potato in it from the night before. I thought "that looks like dinner-bulk to me!" and tossed it (potato not toaster) in.

Roast Pork Rib-end

with sweet potatoes and salad. What is there in the world better and easier than roasted meat? Here's what I did: I took the meat out of its package, put it in a dish, stuck it in a 350 degree oven for an hour and a half, and took it out. And it was scrumptious! Sweet and golden and juicy! Heat + meat = miracle.

Peanut Stew

with quinoa. I assume it was delicious, but due to a recent cold I can't taste anything but salt.

Pretty Doll

I recently bought a doll from a Southern folk art center; both I and my daughter are fascinated by it. So we made one ourselves! Here she is, made from sewing-room scraps, stitched by me, design directed by my daughter.

Fried Chicken

with corn on the cob and pan-roasted okra. That latter was my spouse's idea, following a meal he had in a restaurant. You just toss whole okra (no topping and tailing! Let alone slicing up!) into a hot grill pan that has been lightly oiled and cook until the pods are wilted and charred. I'm sure it was delicious, but I have a cold that prevents me from tasting anything.

Aerogarden Pesto

on whole-wheat tri-color elbow macaroni; with salad. The Areogarden is a gift to pesto-making; one harvest equals one meal's worth, and you don't even have to go outside! Threw in some parsley too, and whether for that reason or not, the pesto stayed bright green. I dislike an oxidized pesto, but am usually helpless to prevent it.

Chicken Sausage

with steamed crook-neck squash and baked sweet potatoes.

Bacon and Eggs

Delicious Miss Sue's eggs, and scrummy bacon-of-the-month club bacon. A Big Girls Only dinner.

Marc Jacobs

OMG I love Marc Jacobs and I can't help it. I don't want to because he's so mega-huge and liking him does not make me look smart or interesting or distinctive but o. m g. I love him. The spring 2209 rtw collection is so awesome.

Peanut Stew, Re-Vamped

I swapped the pumpkin/butternut for spaghetti squash, took out the cumin and cinnamon and added lemongrass and lemon juice, and tossed in a whopping dollop of concentrated coconut. Came out a treat.

Leftover Chicken Sausage

with brown rice and a fantastic salad mix salad made with herbs from our Aerogarden (see the Aerogarden post under "My Favorite Things").

A Swatch with Stature

This swatch is exciting to me for kintterly reasons that won't make sense to non-knitters, so let's just say this one thing: I learned to knit backwards on it!

Strawberry Hill

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Originally uploaded by tinyloop.

The latest sweater, and boy, was this one taxing. Not because it was difficult (it was easy as pie) but because halfway through I realized that knitting with yarn in a color even close to a neutral is Not My Thing. So I lost steam and had to push myself to the finish line. But here it is, and I'm not unhappy with it; it might even not drain all the life from my skin if I wear it with some other color next to my face.

On an unrelated note: my quasi Olympic metaphor above reminds me that if you haven't yet read the Onion article entitled "Michael Phelps Returns to his Tank at Sea World" you've got a real treat in store.

Pork Chops

broiled, with okra and corn on the cob.

Leftover Peanut Stew

with brown rice and a sublime salad mix salad.

Coho Salmon

with quinoa and roasted cauliflower. Hard to beat.

African Groundnut Stew, Round II

Just as good as the first time, maybe a little better: this time I threw in an ear's worth of fresh corn.

Rodarte

Speaking of knits, we have to talk Rodarte. Do you know who they are? They are sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy, born, raised, and still residing in Pasadena, California, in their parents' house, no less. Let me reiterate: they are sisters in their mid-twenties, living at home, and they are already more or less legends in the fashion world, with show after show that simply flattens people with their imagination and craftsmanship. I am a raving fan. This is the second season in which they have shown lots of knits, and I'm of two minds. On the one hand, I think the photo here is pretty rad, and I get where they're going with the concept. On the other, and I say this having examined the goods up close on my last trip to LA, they are a knitter's nightmare. Gigantic gauge! Synthetic novelty fibers! The knitter in me dies a little every time I look at it.

Alexander McQeen

I had a dream about Alexander McQueen last night. I was at his house, and he was demonstrating that he was as ingenious and skilled a cook as he is a designer; I was also focused on the fact that (the fashion magazines tell me) all his friends call him Lee. Anyway, it was a moody, strange, pleasant dream, so today I looked up his fall show on Style.com. As it turns out, the subtitle of his show could well have been "Knitter's Paradise," so full of marvelous knits (many of them lace, oh heaven) is it. I could have picked any number of pictures, but for sheer volume of stitches, this one wins.

Skirt Steak

with roasted cauliflower and shiitakes, and the best conr on the cob the campus farmer's market has to offer--outrageously good.