eat! craft! live!

Texas loves Ravelry!

This past Saturday I had the chance to meet the Ravelry crew at a little party at The Knitting Nest. But I'm such a social weenie I didn't really talk to any of them other than to stare (politely, I hope) and nod and smile and say hi awkwardly.

The place was crowded and full of energy as Jess, Casey, Mary Heather and Caro made their rounds. It was easy to see where they were at any given moment - you just had to look for the small crowd with eager faces.

The foursome received official certificates proclaiming them "Honorary Texans" and there was a silent auction, door prizes (I got some cuddly yarn!), some spinning and, of course, lots of knitting! I bought more than I should have and talked less than I could have, but had a good time anyway.

To see all my photos from The Knitting Nest Ravelry party, see my Flickr set.

Cissi's RSS Feed

Last Wednesday, I dragged a friend out on the town for a little wine and free dessert. The event for food bloggers, Twitterers, Yelpers and regular folks was wittily named the "RSS (Really Sweet Syn) Feed" - how I could I pass it up? Cissi's Market on South Congress is one of those places that I've passed by a million times, but have never set foot in. And there's a perfectly logical reason for that! It looks completely out of my usual price range. The truth? It's only mostly out of my price range! Hoo-ray!

In all seriousness, the free sweets and discounted wine were definitely what motivated me to do something other than sit around my living room with M and the kitties, knitting and watching 30 Rock on Netflix. Which is what I generally do on a weeknight. And I'm glad I got out! It feels good to be around other humans sometimes. (Not that M doesn't count...he's very human.)

My friend and I opted to get dinner beforehand at Home Slice Pizza, which is conveniently across the street from Cissi's. Assuming (correctly, I might add) that actually eating dinner at Cissi's would prove to be a little beyond our budgetary allowances, the pizza was a nice fill-me-up before the main event. A couple greasy but delicious slices of pepperoni later, we crossed the street and entered a roomy space lined with giant windows and shelves of wine. We were early and there were plenty of spots to sit, so we perched at a high table by one wall of windows and people-watched while we perused the (really entertaining) menu. Waitstaff with trays of delectable goodies wandered here and there, asking, "Would you like some dessert?" Seriously? You had to ask? Who says no to free sweets? Between us, I think we managed to try just about everything. I nibbled a mini Sacher Torte, two skewered Belgian Ale doughnuts with toffee sauce, a surprisingly tasty tangerine financier, some sort of gingerbread muffin which wasn't on the menu so I can't remember what it was called, and two glasses of very pink bubbly wine. (And I have now revealed the true extent of my free food-induced gluttony.)

Here's what the folks at Cissi's had to say about the desserts:

• Belgian Ale Doughnuts: Warm Beer Toffee Sauce, Peanut-Fleur de Sel Toffee
• Tangerine Financier: Browned Butter Almond Cakes infused with fresh Tangerines
• Roasted Peanut Macaron with Caramelized Banana Ganache: Crisp and chewy Almond & Peanut Sandwich Cookies with a Caramelized Banana White Chocolate Ganache
• Mini Sacher Torte: Small Bite-sized version of the classical Austrian dessert. Dense layers of chocolate cake with housemade Apricot Preserves and Dark Chocolate Glaze served with a side of "Schlag" or whipped cream as is done traditionally.

They described them better than I ever could but I'll give you some brief impressions. The Sacher Torte was delicious and soft, but a bit melty which made for some, shall we say, indelicate eating on my part. I passed on the macaroon because the idea of banana ganache made me very unhappy. The thought of anything banana, except bananas, pretty much makes me want to run screaming. The tangerine financier was, as I mentioned, surprisingly delicious. I say surprisingly because I am not generally a huge fan of anything almond flavored, except almonds. (I sense a trend here...) It was moist and just sweet and flavorful enough without being overwhelming. The doughnuts were by far my favorite - they were the little treats I was looking forward to all evening but which were always absent from the trays when the waitstaff came by! I can only imagine that everybody got to them before the trays got to us. Warm, sugary and fried, with a deliciously sweet, warm toffee sauce, they made quite an elegant picture served skewered two at a time on long, narrow white plates. I assure you, they are not to be missed.

Oh yeah! I had wine too! Which led to an ill-advised shopping moment after we left Cissi's where I said to my friend before we entered the store, "Don't let me buy anything because I'll think it's all a really good idea!" I won't go into detail about the wine because I don't know what it was - only that it was pink, bubbly, sweet and delicious.

South Austin Airstream Tour

Last Saturday, as I mentioned in my last post, I went on the South Austin Airstream Tour. Well, sort of. I dragged along a somewhat willing friend for the adventure and we showed up at Flip Happy Crepes around 11AM, only to see a very long line. Despite the chilly temperatures (and the wind!) we waited patiently to place our orders at the window of the delightful Airstream trailer. My friend got the salmon and I ordered the (heavenly) ham and gruyere with mornay sauce and green onions. Oh. My. Heavens. Delicious! The crepes were perfectly cooked and deliciously eggy. My fillings were warm and well-proportioned. And they are surprisingly easy to hold in your hand and eat, even though it looks, at first glance, like it's going to be a nightmare of ham blobs and dripping cheese. My only complaint about the place is the extremely limited hours!

Next up was La Dee Dah, which I skipped in lieu of going to Hill Country Weavers instead to buy some yarn. Because...it's conveniently located directly across the street from the last official destination - Hey Cupcake!

I've mentioned Hey Cupcake! before, I think... When you're selling sweet, tasty cupcakes out of a shiny Airstream trailer with a giant rotating cupcake on top...well, it's just really hard to go wrong! I got my usual, the Snowcap - chocolate cake with vanilla icing. I always forget that their chocolate cake has chocolate chunks in it, which I adore. The icing is nothing special and a bit too sweet for me, but the atmosphere (and the proximity to a yarn shop!) is hard to beat.

So why the "Well, sort of" up the first paragraph? My main complaint about the day, and it has nothing to do with any of the places we actually went, was that I never actually met the other "tourists." Since the whole thing was organized over the internet and I didn't already know anybody that was going, I wasn't really sure who to look for. There were a handful of people I was pretty sure were part of the tour, and I think I saw the organizer, but all in all, I didn't feel overly social. Which is largely my own fault, I'm sure...I'm not exactly the most outgoing person. (Far from it!) Hopefully, at the next event I attend along these lines, it will be a little more obvious who's there as part of the group and who's just there with their kids on a blustery Saturday morning!

For a few more photos of the tour, check out my Flickr set.

election day cookies

It's election day, baby! (Uh...in case you hadn't noticed...) My nervous energy is manifesting itself in the form of chicken and dumplings and a batch of good ol' chocolate chip cookies. I feel like Izzie, cooking under stress...

The chicken and dumplings turned out really well - warm and flavorful with light, fluffy dumplings. Probably my best ever! The cookies are giant and haphazard - I keep plopping them on the baking sheet quickly in order to get back over here to my laptop and check election results. Like they've changed in the minute and a half it takes me to scoop cookie dough, throw them in the oven and walk the six feet back into the living room...

Do you have a favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe? I usually just go for the one on the back of the package but I'm sure there are some real winners out there I haven't tried! What about you? Grandma's recipe? An old family recipe, passed down through the generations? A favorite cookie cookbook? Something brand-spankin'-new just out on some blog somewhere?

Alright, I have to obsess over election results again. I honestly didn't think I'd care this much but I'm finding myself tied to the computer, poring over every little new piece of information... Off I go!

moving pictures!

Remember how I said I had a little video of the singing Tesla coils? Here it is. It's short. And not nearly as impressive as seeing it in person. (Much like trying to photograph the Grand Canyon, only...different.)

Maker Faire Austin 2008

I was lucky enough to unexpectedly attend Maker Faire here in Austin on Sunday. (Thanks, Leslie!!!) It was amazing. I left feeling overwhelmed and inspired and sometime puzzled about the things people choose to spend their time on. As if I don't have enough hobbies and interests already, I now want to add more! And get involved with the various communities here that interest me. Realistically, I only have a finite amount of time and it's pretty jam-packed as it is, but I may find the time to squeeze in a few more activities...

This will not be one of those things. Singing Tesla coils. I heard about it beforehand and happened to walk right into the noon show. Wow. I have a very brief video I'll try to post soon. Did I mention wow?

There was a car covered in yarn. Artfully covered in yarn, that is... it wasn't like I just took a pile of yarn and tossed it on. Careful, meticulous application...amazing!

Naturally, I gravitated toward the fiber arts and food areas. The Weavers and Spinners Society of Austin had a booth full of fibery goodness. I had the opportunity to weave a bit on a little table loom and watch some other giant looms at work. Several children learned to spin while I stood there taking it all in.

While I'm not a huge fan of most lacey things myself, I was in awe watching some folks make lace! I had never stopped to consider the art of lace making, being a relatively non-frilly girl, but it was such a crazy thing to see! Little strings of colored cobwebs tacked down and moved around in such a way that created intricate, symmetrical patterns.

After all that fiber, and loads of stuff I haven't even mentioned - like glass blowing, metalsmithing, lasers, construction, shopping, books and more - I headed over to the food makers area where I stumbled into this guy's presentation on mixing drinks. There's a story here: I have him to thank for my fiance. He threw a party one night almost exactly three years ago and the rest is history!

And there were cupcakes. How can I not photograph the cupcakes? (And eat two of them...shhh!) They were by this gal and they were a-MA-zing. I entered a raffle to win a dozen. Yum.

The food makers tent was inspiring. What's more DIY than growing your own food? There's not much more basic than that, or more satisfying! I finally got motivated to investigate Greenling, which could be a blessing or a curse, depending on how often I feel like ordering local cheeses... I learned more about the Green Corn Project, whose fundraiser is this Sunday, Austinites! I might attend...if I can drag M out of the house. I played "Name That Seed" and won a packet of pumpkin seeds. (I switched beets and okra. Silly me!)

All in all, it was an extraordinary day filled with inspirational booths, people and events. Start making!

The rest of my photos are hanging out here.

:: photo friday :: scenes from the CRAFT release party

knit in public

Today was World Wide Knit in Public Day and I "celebrated" by, well, knitting in public, of course! I bussed my little crafty self on down to the Capitol grounds where some local Austin knitters would be gathering to knit in plain view of the public. Oh! Scandalous! Somebody apparently thought (and I have no idea why...) that we were actually protesting knitting. Yeah. With our...knitting.

There were a good many knitters there, lounging in collapsable chairs and on colorful blankets under the trees in front of the Capitol. It was hot, but the heat didn't get to me nearly as much as all the sitting on the hard ground and having my legs fall asleep. Of course, once one would fall asleep then I had to be extra careful not to move so I wouldn't get that giddy pins-and-needles sensation that would have sent me into shrieking hysterical laughter, clutching wildly at my leg to try to remedy it. Not around a bunch of strangers anyway! Nice friendly strangers, to be sure, but I didn't want to do anything to make them look at me sideways and slowly inch their blankets away from mine.

It was really neat to see what everybody was working on, ooh and aah over their knitting skills and fondle their luscious yarns. There was a variety of skill levels present - everything from complete novice to experienced lace knitter. I brought one of my Christmas projects (that's it up there at the top!) so I'm not going to talk about for fear of ruining the surprise for the intended recipient! (Can you believe I'm working on a Christmas project already? I can't. But I knew I had to get started or I'd never get them all done in time!)

It was really great to sit around with a bunch of people who automatically share at least one of my own interests. And inevitably, once we got talking we discovered we usually had more in common than just knitting. For instance, one very nice woman I spoke with had spent the previous evening making jam! So we talked about making jam and preserves and I told her about my experience last weekend making peach butter. It seemed like one of those old-timey get-togethers, like a quilting bee or a barn raising, that gets people together to do something that needs to be done while visiting and socializing and having a good time. Though, of course, all of our knitting in this day and age could really be considered strictly optional, with all our industrial production capabilities. But there's something really great about making items by hand - as a maker I find great satisfaction in it and as a recipient I hope people (I know I do) feel something of the love and care that went into the sometimes painstaking production of that item.

KIP!

Well, the basil I mentioned yesterday isn't fully dried yet, but it looks like it will be done by tomorrow, or the day after at the latest!

So instead of discussing how wonderful and delicious basil is, I'll tell you all about knitting in public! For those of you who don't know, this Saturday, June 14th is World Wide Knit in Public Day. There's a full history here, but basically the event started in 2005 as a way to get knitters out and about and knitting with other like-minded folks. Knitting is such a solitary activity, it's easy to get lost in your own little world! (Which is partly why I like it, honestly!) Anyway, it takes place the second Saturday of June every year, and this year there are tons of events all over the world. I hope to be down at the Capitol here in Austin on Saturday, knitting...something. My second sock will hopefully be finished already (fingers crossed!) and I'm not sure I want to knit on my lace scarf...maybe I'll start something new! Any suggestions?

It should be entertaining. I almost always knit alone, or at least without other knitters, but I knit in public nearly every day. As a general rule, you will find my busy little hands working on some knitted object every morning and afternoon on the bus to and from work. Very few people even seem to notice, and it's usually men (oddly, I think) that comment on it. A youngish (maybe high school aged?) boy was staring at me knitting this afternoon, nearly to the point of being rude. I look forward to seeing how and what other people are knitting!

Craft!

I went to the Craft magazine release party here in Austin today. Issue 7 is now out! And I'm getting it for free! (They had a deal - if you subscribed, they'd give you an extra issue, how could I resist?) It was a rockin' good time.

The shindig took place at the wonderful Work*Shop on Anderson Lane. It was great to finally get over there - I hadn't been since they relocated from their previous home on 6th. Plus, it's right next to a toy store, so that's an extra bonus! Crafts and toys! How perfect!

There were sweet treats provided by My Goodness Confectionery, whom I'd not previously heard of. They. Were. Amazing. Seriously. Little tiny morsels of to-die-for cupcakes, yum! I would have eaten all of them if that wouldn't have made me look, well, horrible and greedy. There were also delicious delights from Cookie Madness, though, sadly, I didn't get to try any of those...

There were door prizes galore! I didn't win anything...but I also didn't have the stamina to stick around until the very end... (Not knowing how long I would have to wait for my bus out in the blistering afternoon heat, I decided to leave a little early.) Goodies included the boxed set of the first year of Craft, tidbits from Naughty Secretary Club, little wallets from Anne Marie, gorgeous little cards from Round Robin Press, and much, much more! (Seriously! They could have given all of us a prize, there were tons of really great things!)

Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching was there with some of her goodies. A couple folks from Craft were there with their goodies, infecting us with subscription lust, which I (and many others, from the look of it) ultimately acted upon. Vickie Howell, of knitting fame, was also in attendance and apparently announced that she has signed on as knitting editor for Craft Gossip.

And, of course, none of this would have been possible without Rachel Hobson (Average Jane Crafter) and Leslie Bonnell of Stitch Lab. Thanks to all the fabulous folks who helped make today's event possible!

So what did I do while I was there? I thought you'd never ask! I made (with much difficulty, I might add) this lovely button bracelet! Apparently, I totally suck at sewing buttons on a length of elastic! You wouldn't think it would be so hard...but my sun-addled brain just couldn't handle it. (I am happy with how it turned out in the end.)

Now I can't wait to get my very first issue of Craft in the mail! Yay!