2 weeks in pictures

Yes it has been quiet here, but to distract you from the fact that I have little to talk about because all I have been doing is gardening since I got back from Victoria... I give you a ton of photos of everything but my knitting. There is some knitting will be another post for another day.

Kids who are bigger and almost as big as me.

They started out so small, how did it happen?

A boy who is finds a little peace in a park full of screaming kids

A nephew who knows a good pillow

A musical interlude, they were really good!

Make the baby laugh
Dad's who are getting old... well not really old but we like to tease him about it.

Back at the farm, the beauty continues

The dragonflies are out in huge numbers

but taking a picture of a dragonfly is really hard

I have been planting flowers
and going to wedding showers

*reposted, hopefully the pics are all here now

Strawberry rhubarb crisp

I love rhubarb and we are lucky enough to have about 5 plants that grow in our yard. I started playing with this recipe last week and after I tried it again this weekend, I think it's now ready to post.

Preheat the oven to 350

4 cups sliced rhubarb
4 cups slices strawberries
1/4 cup sugar ( I use raw sugar but white or brown would work just fine)

Combine these 3 ingredients in a medium shallow size casserole dish and prepare topping

In a large bowl combine
2/3 cup brown rice flour
2/3 cup white rice flour
1/3 cup tapioca flour
2/3 cup brown sugar

Stir the flours and sugar together and then add

2/3 cup softened butter ( margarine would work as well but I prefer butter)

Using 2 knives or a pastry mixer blend the butter into the flour mixture until it is well mixed. Using the pastry mixer will mix the butter more completely but as long as the butter is cut into small pieces and mixed throughout the flour mixture it will work fine.

Add the mixture to the top of the casserole dish pushing it down around the edges, so that it doesn't spill out. (My casserole looks very full once I add the topping but the fruit cooks down and it doesn't spill over the edges. )

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes

Serve warm with ice cream, whipping cream or plain. I like all 3 ways.

I'm not here, I'm there

Where is there you may ask? There is in Victoria but I couldn't say anything because I was surprising R for her 16th birthday. I got here on Saturday morning and am staying through this week as my Dad's birthday is tomorrow and Mother's day was yesterday. It was a good week to come.
I have winners in this years blog contest. Thanks for all the great links! Malva and Lo Sing are the lucky randomly drawn winners ( my mom and sister helped). If you send your snail mail address to me bagknitter(at)yahoo(dot)ca I will get those out in the mail when I am back in Ottawa.

The was some stash enhancing today at Beehive, just one thing but it was one really fantastic thing ( because my sister is fabulous and split it with me). I was sad that they did not have it in a shade of blue but I'll love the red just as much I am sure.

Alrights, that's it. I'll be back when I am land locked again.

F.O

My new bag, the pattern is my own, I kinda just made it up as I went along. I knit it with 3 skeins of Noro, hand felted it and then lined it and added a pocket inside. I added a braided cable so that the endless rows of stockinette would not make my head explode.
I bought the straps in California from this company (I'll add the link later, can't find it at the moment), I really like them and they are far better than the i cord handles that I have made in the past.

This is Norberta II, I made in Cascades alpaca/wool blend. She is really soft and I hope the wee person to whom she now belongs enjoys her.

Last day for my blog contest, there are lots of great links in the comments to all sorts of great patterns. I will announce a winner early next week, I have a busy 3 days ahead of me and definitely won't get to it. Have a good weekend, I know I will.

CSI - Lanark County

It was a sunny Wednesday morning when the tragedy was discovered

A newly bloomed tulip was viciously decapitated by an unknown assailant

and left on the sidewalk for all the other tulips to see

The neighbours were interviewed but no one saw anything

The usual suspects were sought out and questioned about their where abouts at the time of the incident

these two had a realistic alibi given that they are already behind bars

and this one was sleeping and had a witness to corroborate her story

One small black cat is still at large, she is considered armed (with claws) and dangerous. If spotted please notify the authorities as she needs to be questioned in the case of the decapitated tulip

prizes anyone

I can't believe that I have been blogging for 3 years, amazing how time flies. In honor of this momentous occasion I though I would give away some loot..., Canadian loot at that.

Prize number 1,
Yes my friends you can have one of these very lovely Fleece Artist sock kits (picture stolen from here , thanks for sharing), I got one at my LYS, sorry you don't have any vote on the color as I just picked up what they had last time that they had them. It will be a surprise.

Prize number 2, a skien of Fleece artist sock yarn (sorry no picture), again the the color will be surprise.

To enter the contest all you have to do is leave a comment telling me what your favourite free online knitting pattern is. I am always looking for inspiration and I thought this would be a good way to generate a list. It needs to be a free pattern and if you have the link feel free to throw it in. Contest is open to all, 2 winners will be chosen randomly from all who enter and if you win I will mail off your yarn with a few other little treats as soon as can get it all organised.

You can leave your comments here until May 15, that's 1 week from now. I will draw from the entries on May 16.

FYI, not knitting related at all but I have started a 2nd blog to put some of my gluten free recipes on, you can find it here.

Roasted Potato Salad

There is something about warm weather that makes me want to eat potato salad, I am not sure why I always feel so drawn to it but I do. I am often on the look out for new ideas, ways to make those potatoes sing with flavour. Last week I was inspired by a few other recipes and after a little trial and error I came up with this, enjoy.

3 pounds of 2 different types of potatoes, (I used red and yellow) cut into wedges about 1 inch in length. I leave the peels on but without would work as well.
2 large sweet peppers (red, yellow or orange) cut each pepper into 6 or 8 long slices for roasting
1 pound fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces.
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
24 Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped

Dressing

1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
1/8 cup red wine vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
1 large clove garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
1 teaspoon of each of the following oregano, basil and rosemary ( I use dried)
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oven to 425 f. Add the olive oil to the bottom of a roasting pan large enough for the potatoes and peppers. Heat the oil for 5 minutes, remove pan from oven and add the wedged potatoes, mix well to coat the potatoes in the worm oil. Arrange potatoes so that they occupy 2/3 of the pan, add the cut peppers in the empty space. I find that keeping the potatoes and peppers separate works best. Place the pan in to the oven. Cook for 10 minutes, remove pan, mix the potatoes well and turn the peppers, return pan to oven to cook for another 10 minutes. Then remove the pan and repeat the process. The potatoes should be cooked after about 30 minutes, transfer them from the pan into a bowl and put the peppers back in the oven for another 10 minutes. You want the roasted peppers to be soft enough that you can peel the skins off, in my oven this takes about 40 minutes total.

While the peppers and potatoes are roasting cook the green beans. Add the cut green beans to a pot of boiling water and cook for about 5 minutes or until they tender, rinse them immediately with cold water to stop them from becoming over cooked. Drain and place onto a clean towel, pat dry. Add the sliced onion, chopped olives and cooked beans to the bowl with the potato wedges.

Remove the peppers from the oven, allow them to cool until they can be handled easily. When they are cool the skins should peel away easily ( use a small knife if they don't come away). Peel all the pepper pieces and discard the skins. Chop the peeled pepper pieces into bite size chunks and add them to the bowl.

Make the dressing. In a blender combine the garlic, spices, oil and vinegar, blend until the garlic is minced and the dressing is well mixed, about 1 minute.

Add the dressing to the salad and mix well. This salad is best if made ahead and allowed to to sit at room temperature for 2 or 3 hours. If made the day before remove it from the fridge early enough to allow the salad time to come to room temp. before serving

Great for barbeque's and summer potlucks.

FYI - I experimented with roasting the potatoes and peppers on the barbeque, it worked quiet well but in the end took about the same amount of time as in the oven