where's finn?

peek-a-boo!

playing games like peek-a-boo is one of finn's favorite things. i love this age--he is an absolute blast right now! :)

marathon

the weekend before last, the hippie and i hosted an Event. we've been talking about it for a long time, but we finally got things together enough to have some close friends and family over for a marathon viewing of the entire lord of the rings series (extended editions) and a day of eating like hobbits. we had 7 meals over the course of the day, along with much socializing, a couple of epic backyard battles, and some actual watching of the movies. we had gorgeous weather, and everyone we invited came out. we got our geek on in a hardcore way, and It. Was. Awesome. and really, in the end, it was all about the food. here's the rundown, complete with bad pictures and recipes (or links to recipes) where i can provide them:

meal #1: breakfast
we kicked off the day with breakfast, baked eggs with kale and bacon. i found this recipe on one of my absolute favorite food blogs, use real butter, and i've been wanting to try it for weeks. as usual, jennifer yu proved that she can be trusted to provide a nearly fool proof recipe. i used small ramekins for this and put only one egg in each one. i was trying hard to keep the portions small so we could pace ourselves. that said, every single person at breakfast asked for seconds. i will most definitely be making these again. further, i think you could get really adventurous here and put just about anything in those eggs. we'll see what i come up with as spring approaches and the farmers markets start to fill with new and interesting herbs and veggies. :)

meal #2: second breakfast
for second breakfast, we had cinnamon muffins with homemade peach butter and a fruit salad. the muffin recipe is from muffins and quick breads from the williams sonoma kitchen library. this little book is filled with great recipes and has many ideas for flavored butters and spreads as well. loosely following their guidelines, i made some peach butter by mixing 1/2 a cup of butter with 1/4 cup of confectioners sugar and about 1/3 of a cup of peach jam that my friend meredith made--it was DELICIOUS! the butter was actually a little more like icing than butter, and really--how is that a bad thing?

meal #3: elevenses
for our third meal of the day, i decided to keep it simple. i threw together a place of meats and cheeses, and added some dried peaches, a fig and almond bar, and a loaf of really good rustic bread. thought simple, i think this is always a well-received combination of offerings--i try to include a soft double or triple cream of some kind, a simple and flavorful cows milk cheese, and something more interesting, like a sheeps milk cheese or a morbier or something. this works well, even if your eaters are picky. the meats here are an herb crusted salami and a lovely italian rosemary ham from fra'mani.

meal #4: lunch
for lunch, i tried something completly new to me: meat pies. i did a lot of researching, and decided on this version i found on epicurious. they're made in muffin tins, so they are of uniform size, and they made perfect individual portions that were very easy to eat with your hands. the only real changes we made to the recipe were related to the crust. the recipe calls for frozen crust, but we made our own instead: a double batch of regular buttery pie crust, leaving out the sugar and adding a couple of teaspoons of paprika. the directions say to cut two circles of crust for the top and bottom, but i decided to go for a more rustic approach. i rolled out the crust, cut out 16 circles about 6 inches in diameter, and then just folded them over in a somewhat pleated fashion, leaving a hole in the middle for venting. i made 1.5 the amount of filling in the recipe and it was perfect for 16 pies. we served these with some spicy mustard and an apple and onion chutney made by my friend sonya. i HIGHLY recommend a fruit chutney with these, by the way. it truly elevated them to a different level, though they were good on their own already. in fact, i'd call these the surprise hit of the day.

meal #5: tea
tea is a no brainer for me. it's not tea without scones and cake! i made a chocolate pound cake from bundt classics from nordic ware. it's a simple recipe that just works. i will tell you that the quality of cocoa you use in this makes a big difference--get something dutch processed, and you will truly taste the difference. i also made some blueberry scones from a book i got as a gift a few years ago, breakfast lunch tea. it's an interesting book, in that the amounts of ingredients are a little rough--a handful of cornmeal, two handfuls of blueberries, two very heaping tablespoons of baking powder--but yet, the baked goods always come out smelling and tasting divine. the scone recipe in this book is my favorite. i served the scones with devon double cream and pear ginger jam, again from meredith. (she gave us a bunch of homemade jams and fruit butters for christmas, and we are getting some major mileage out of them!) and of course, we made tea--lots of good strong black tea with milk and sugar.

meal #6: dinner
for dinner i got a little creative. my idea was to make some actual coney stew, but i couldn't find any rabbit. so. everyone (who's had rabbit) knows that rabbits taste like a richer version of dark meat chicken, so i used chicken thighs browned in bacon fat to approximate. i made this in the crock pot, and it made the house smell just awesome. in retrospect, i should have borrowed a second slow cooker and doubled this. here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS
~3 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs
3-4 tbsp bacon fat (enough to cover the bottom of your skillet completely)
3 good sized parsnips, peeled and sliced
4 large carrots, peeled and sliced
8 oz sliced baby portabella mushrooms
8 shallots, peeled and halved or quartered, depending on size
1/2 a bottle of red wine
1 cup pacific vegetable broth
5-6 sprigs fresh thyme
3-4 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 quart chicken stock
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
4 strips bacon, fried
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS
heat bacon fat over medium high heat. brown chicken thighs just until golden. (do NOT wash the pan!) add chicken thighs, parsnips, carrots, mushrooms, shallots, wine, vegetable broth, and herbs to slow cooker, and cook on high for about 5 hours, until chicken starts to come apart. remove herb sprig (they will just be sticks at this point.) shred chicken with two forks, stir in chicken stock, and season with salt and pepper. keep the slow cooker on while you make a roux: melt the butter in the same pan as you browned the chicken thighs. when the butter is melted, add the flour and cook over medium heat until roux is starting to brown. stir quickly into stew. serve immediately with good bread. we served a good simple salad with this as well. there was NOTHING left.

meal #7: supper
whew! are you hungry yet? for the last meal of the day, we went simple again. we had a selection of chicken sausages, which the hippie grilled, and i made some hot crash potatoes. the potatoes are from another blog i enjoy, pioneer woman, and they are wonderful, like a slightly healthier twice baked potato with lots of herbs and olive oil. i could eat 5 of them! this was the one thing we made all day that had any leftovers to speak of--i think everyone was just too full! i can't say i'm sorry though. it made for a fantastic breakfast the next morning with some fried eggs and toast with a little peach butter.

this whole day was just a blast, as was researching all the recipes and getting to try some very new things in the kitchen. i think we might make it a yearly event. i would recommend ANYTHING we ate, too--not one thing didn't turn out well all day long, which i consider something of a miracle.

hope y'all are drooling now, and ready to get in the kitchen! :)

january's handmade

january hasn't exactly gone as well as i'd hoped, what with all the sickness and bad news. but i've been thinking about my yearly goals in spite of it all. i am making time to knit--gg's cardigan progresses apace in spite of the universe's attempts to derail all my best-laid plans. and--i've actually managed to squeeze under the wire with a small handmade gift for laura, the first recipient of my 2011 handmade facebook meme. for january's handmade item, i give you a simple pair of earrings:

note that you've seen these before, when i made a set of jewelry for my friend kerstin's birthday a while ago. the earrings were my favorite part of that set, and kerstin has loved them and wears them all the time. i had exactly the right amount of stuff to replicate them one more time, and i thought reproducing a prior creation would be a great way to get back into the jewels, which i've wanted to do for a while. plus, i really didn't want to knit something for laura, who is an avid and skilled spinner, dyer, and knitter who owns her own yarn store, so i went trolling through pictures of laura facebook for ideas. i decided that the style of these little glass leaves suits her very well, and i think they will look fabulous with her february lady sweater. :)

what the hell have i been doing?

i swear i look up and months have passed. it's a tad disconcerting. today, out of nowhere, i actually feel caught up enough to write something, so let's catch up, shall we?

today, i am 28 weeks pregnant. and TIRED. but otherwise, it's good. normal complaints from any woman in the 3rd trimester, but so far, all is well. baby is healthy, mama is healthy, and the rest of the family is adjusting to the whole mess. we're keepin' on keepin' on, as it were.

in the past couple of months, a lot has happened. there have been some excursions: we went to the celebrity dairy open house again, like we did last year. it was awesome again, too, but sadly i can find the pictures from that excursion nowhere, so you will just have to imagine cute baby goats, chickens, the critter playing on a bobcat, and us buying goat cheese having forgotten that i can't eat it right now. oops!

on march 7th, gabriella turned seven. it's impossible to believe how grown up she is. she's almost done with first grade, and she's so much fun to talk to and so beautiful. she is smart and funny and a blast, and although she's not mine, i still love her like she is. i am so glad for a little girl i can get my girl on with, especially now that i know i'm not having a girl of my own. she's still the best big sister the critter could ever have, and such a huge part of his village and life. we're lucky to know her.

aside: g's birthday party was a bug-themed affair at the NC museum of life and science, which is an awesome place. the critter had so much fun running around digging for fossils, sitting on dinosaurs, looking at butterflies, and petting farm animals, we ended up joining the place so we can go back there often. highly recommended!

my friend emily and i snuck away for a beach weekend in march, which we seem to be making a yearly tradition. unlike last year, this time we had lovely weather, and i took not a single photograph.we spent time shopping in beaufort, eating seafood, walking on the beach, knitting, talking, and making a ninja strike on the salty sheep on the way out of town. i learned that amber, one of the owners of that most loved of all yarn stores, is also expecting a baby this summer. so cool.

easter happened. we didn't do that much, but we did set up a little egg hunt for the critter in our front yard, and then we went over and crashed a larger hunt in jennifer's cul de sac on the other side of the neighborhood. this year, the critter really GOT the egg-hunting thing, which was really fun. we put a couple of m&ms in each of his eggs, and then hid one larger one with a reese's peanut butter egg (the hippie's favorite!) inside. the kid was thrilled to discover this and to get to eat candy for breakfast. he was so cute looking for his eggs, i couldn't stop taking pictures of him. it's hard to believe that we are only a week away from his second birthday. the kid blows my mind.

in more recent news...

on gardening

hippie and i have long discussed the possibility of adding a charleston-style garden down the side of our house. it's damp and shady, and it seems like a perfect place to make a walk with shade plants, ground covers, and big pots of things that will bloom. we've been slowly collecting pots and ideas and making plans, and last weekend, we jumped into it with both feet. it's a work in progress, but the photos you see here are the work of two critter naps plus a couple more hours. so far, i love how it's coming out. there's much to do yet, but we've done enough now that i can SEE it coming together in my mind. i can visualize what it will be like in 5 years, when the periwinkle and hastas have taken hold and the mosses we planted are all around the flagstones will will soon add to the path we're making. this, more than anything else we've done, really makes me feel like we truly live in this house--like we will be here for a long time. we are making it our own. so awesome.

in addition to the side garden, we've also been refining things along the front walk: getting the grass to take hold at last, replenishing the herb garden, adding annuals here and there, mulching around the perennials that have come back from last year and the year before. we have veggies (radishes, lettuce, onions, black cherokee, red pear, and flame tomatoes, orange bell peppers) in the garden box in the back, although this, too, is a work in progress. and the trees we've planted are thriving, and will one day give us a shady corner in the back where we will be able to add blueberry bushes. my head is full of plans, which is my absolute favorite place to be. loving the yard this year!

on cooking and eating

the farmers market is open again! this means i am inspired to cook. i've also been watching jamie oliver's food revolution, which only strengthens my resolve to feed my family well, to try new things, and to keep on cooking fresh, healthy things for all of us. i have come, over the past few years, to look at this as a serious investment in my health and future, as well as those of my family and friends. i am a food evangelist--i can't help it. and yes, i still love me some cupcakes, which i think is just fine. i don't make them every day, and i really only want the ones made by me or someone i know didn't add a bunch of random junk to them. anyway--i'm not about to start a massive food rant here (again)--i just want to say--hurray for spring and the farmers market and local fresh things that make me want to cook them.

this is a roasted pork loin from fickle creek farm (recipe here)with some fresh grilled asparagus (from whole foods still--asparagus isn't in here yet) that i made on sunday. on monday, in accordance with my and the hippie's new plan to eat less meat and more veggies, i made a lovely roasted potato and wilted kale salad (recipe here). it was SO GOOD! i can't tell y'all how much i am loving the world of food blogs and epicurious right now. the food porn available is truly inspirational to me in the kitchen, plus trying to make more vegetarian dishes has sent me searching for new recipes at least 3 times a week. it also helps that my friend meredith has been having some of the same kinds of food epiphanies that we have over these past years, and that she and i have long loved to cook together. we madly share recipes and ideas, and it's been just great. loving my kitchen as much as the garden right now!

so. in conclusion--life is very full. overall, it's happy and good. as always, i want more time, more sleep, more time, more money, and more time. ain't that always the way, though? knitting and critter and pregnancy updates to come, but i have no more blog in me right now, plus i am totally out of writing time. y'all have a good afternoon and night, and tomorrow i'll show you my new yarn.

olympics progress

as stated in the last post, i had people over and cast on my project for the knitting olympics. and then i ripped it out. turns out i can't actuall watch the olympics and knit lace at the same time. so i restarted on saturday, and made some headway by knitting through the critter's nap on both saturday and sunday. then monday, i had the day off and the critter was at his nanny's house, so i made some more progress. i knitted a couple of rows at lunch today, too. then i had a little progress photo shoot here at work where the lighting is bad and there's nowhere very light colored to pin out the shawl so you can see it. the light green chair in our work training room was the best i could do. but anyway--progress! yay! of course, it's getting slower and slower as i go, since the rows are getting longer and longer. that's just the way of things i suppose. it's still going to be an absolute miracle if i manage to finish this thing by the end of the olympics!

so back to friday night for a minute. my friend amy made dessert int he form of this lovely cake. this is an AWFUL picture i know, as i had only my phone available to snap a quick one. this picture that THK took is way better, so go look at hers. but anyway--how cute is that?

meanwhile, i also have to say that i really enjoyed the opening ceremonies this time. punk rock tap dancing bluegrass fiddlers covered in tattoos? i mean--how can you go wrong with that. and that poet they found on YouTube??? go canada is all i have to say about that. awesome. no wonder i couldn't concentrate on the actual knitting.

the knitting olympics, 2010

it's time once again, for the knitting olympics. and as I did in 2006, i am going to participate by starting a project tonight that i will hopefully, by some miracle, finish by the 28th when the torch goes out. last time, if you recall, i had only known how to knit for a few months, and i knitted a clapotis from some wonderful cashmere yarn--i had to pull an all-nighter to finish. but that clapotis remains one of my favorite and most worn knitted items. i am hoping for similar results this go'round.

i've chosen to knit a shoalwater shawl from some lovely prism lace wool that the hippie gave me as a gift a few years ago. my friend beth tells me this isn't challenging enough, but for me, it's definitely going to be a challenge. this will be my first time working with lace-weight yarn for one thing, plus i am not very experienced with lace. so while this is a simpler lace pattern, i still think it's going to require a lot of focus from me. in addition, the sheer volume of knitting involved is insane. if i finish, it will be a small miracle, especially when you add in that whole, pregnant, tired-as-hell, atttention span of a gnat thing. cross your fingers for me, people!

tonight, i have invited all my local knitting friends over for a little cast-on party during the opening ceremonies. i've made two lasagnas and a salad, and the hippie is on board to help with the critter so i can actually knit a thing. of course, now the weather people claim it might snow (AGAIN!), so i may end up all alone with two whole lasagnas, a place no pregnant woman should be. anyway--here's to getting off to a good start. i'll keep you posted as t hings progress. :)

snow days

here in the South, getting any snow is like an earth-stopping Event. no one leaves the house unless they must, except to go play. they predict snow--we plan to stay in. we run to the grocery store to stock up on food and beer, and in my case, stuff to cook. when they said on thursday that it would snow on friday, i hit both whole foods, and the asian market. i had Plans. and luckily for me, it DID snow, so i was able to follow through on them and cook warm and comforting foods both days this weekend.

on saturday, i made chinese pork rib soup, which i found on use real butter. and yes, i know that my pictures do not hold even a tiny small match to jennifer yu's, but i am posting them anyway as evidence of my efforts. this is the first time in a long while that i have made something completely new to me, following someone else's recipe and using some unfamiliar ingredients. i forgot how much fun that is! the soup was pretty damned good, and i will definitely make it again. however, there are a couple of small changes i would make for the second time around. the broth had a fantastic flavor, but it was just a little intense for me, even after i added a cup of unsalted chicken broth i had in the freezer. next time, i'll back off on the soy sauce a little bit as well as the star anise, maybe to 2/3 or 3/4 of the called for amounts. i would plan to add a little more chicken broth or water at the end to cut the salt a bit as well. lastly,i think i might add more ginger next time--you can never have enough ginger for me! all of that said, however, it was good enough that i can promise you there will be a next time. the flavor that the broth gave to the noodles and the spinach was just amazing, and the meat was out of this world. i think the meat and broth would freeze well, so next time, i will double or triple this and put what we don't eat in the freezer for some ready-made-meals. the hippie ate two huge bowls of it, and the critter was all about the broth, so this was definitely a success for the whole family. highly recommend!

on sunday, i made some lamb stew. this is something i almost feel obligated to make when it snows--it's SUCH comfort food! i picked up some good crusty bread from la farm on friday to go with, which was absolutely the right thing. i'm having some leftovers from this for lunch today for sure. and since this is my own concoction and is tried and true, i figured i'd share the recipe with y'all:

INGREDIENTS
2 lb lamb stew meat (or really, any stew meat--beef, venison, etc.)
3-4 garlic cloves, cut in half
~2-3 tbsp olive oil
1.5 cups red wine
1 qt. beef broth
1 qt. water
3-4 bay leaves
4-5 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 tbsp butter
1 bag frozen pearl onions
1 8-oz pkg baby portabella mushrooms, sliced
1 small bag frozen peas

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2/3 cup flour

DIRECTIONS
in a large-ish pot, heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan until pretty hot. add the lamb and garlic and turn until lamb is browned on all sides. add the red wine, beef broth, water, and bay leaves. bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover. simmer for an hour or so, and then get to work on the rest of the stuff.

peel and slice your carrots, then add them to the pot. melt butter in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. add pearl onions, and saute until onions are golden. add them to the pot. saute mushrooms in the same pan until they get a bit of a sear on them and begin to sweat, then add them to the pot as well. cover, and continue to simmer for another hour or so until the meat has become tender. stir in the peas, turn the heat up to medium, and set about making a roux.

melt a stick of butter in your skillet, then add the flour all at once. stir rapidly and constantly until the mixture stabilizes and begins to darken. pay attention--this is easy to burn! you want the roux to be still a bit liquid-y and about the color of good caramel. when the roux is done, stir it into the stew. voila. you are done.

serve in big bowls with some hefty bread and a big glass of red wine.

and that's not all! it was snow, so there was also playing in the snow! we took the critter out for a romp, and he LOVED it! WAY WAY better than last year, when he was less than pleased. he stomped, threw powdery snow into the air, and generally had a time of it. he cried when we came inside, but i consoled him with some hot chocolate, which he also loved. he drank all of his, half of his daddy's, and would have been happy to keep going. lol. boy, i love this kid.

yummy yummy yummy

my friend meredith, who is a fellow food person and with whom i have often happily shared and traded off sous chef-ing duties, recommended a fabulous food blog to me. it's called use real butter, and i cannot get enough of reading it and looking at the gorgeous photography. you should, too. it's cold here, so i'm gravitating to the soups. i'm DYING to make this french onion soup as well as this tomato soup that meredith made this weekend and swears is lovely and delicious. luckily, i just made a big batch of chicken stock last night--it's time to get cookin'! YUM!

new toy!

this little video camera is my new favorite toy. i wish i had had it sooner! the hippie asked me when the critter was born if i thought we needed a video camera, and i was all--nah--i'll never use it. I COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MORE WRONG! i have a friend with this one, and as soon as i saw it i was beside myself with jealousy. and now--i have one too! yay! this thing came just in time for the weekend, and i think i made like 25 videos in a day and a half. HIGHLY recommend. this one is my favorite so far:

and now for a little something different...

last night i blew off all responsibility after the critter fell asleep and retreated to my studio to make a spontaneous birthday present. i haven't made any jewelry in ages, but one apparently doesn't forget how to do it. i am pretty pleased with how this came out, and kerstin LOVES it, so WIN! this is a stone pendant ( i think it's jasper) and many many glass beads (the leaves may be smokey quartz actually--i can't remember), with matching earrings. analysis in 3 parts:

1. the necklace is on beading wire with crimped ends. sadly, my crimps are a bit assy. turns out that my crimping pliers a little too large for my tubes, so i am a little concerned that the crimps aren't going to hold--we'll see. could be i'll be re-stringing this in a week.

2. the earrings, which i basically made as an afterthought, are my favorite part--for once i am actually really proud of myself: the wraps are beautiful. this is a tiny detail that no one who doesn't make jewelry would ever notice, but to me, getting them right is absolutely crucial.

3. i am a fan of a) making necklaces adjustable in length, and b) adding a little fob detail to any open chain end. this is what my friend rita, who is a phenomenal jewelry designer, always does. i think if i take my cues from her, i can't go wrong.

so yay for some pretty jewelry! now i want to make more stuff. stuff begets stuff, people. it really does.

quickie

this past weekend, my friend emily and i snuck away for a little overnight jaunt to the beach to hang out, knit, eat, visit a fabulous yarn store, and walk on the beach. it was refreshing and awesome, and we got a bit of a break in that the weather turned out to just be cold instead of cold and rainy. here are some photos from our walk to make you jealous:

the rest are here.

ps--stayed in the seahawk motor lodge. it was all good till my bed was full of sand. ew. next time, we're trying the atlantis. it's been recommended, and the sign alone makes me want to stay there.

open house at the celebrity dairy

a couple of weeks ago, we went with friends to the bi-annual open house at the celebrity dairy, which is a working goat farm and B&B in siler city, nc. they sell cheese and eggs, and many of our local shops and restaurants feature their products. it was one of those absolutely gorgeous warm sunny days we sometimes get in the late winter here in north carolina--one of the many reasons i love living here. i've made a pact with myself to start searching out and taking advantage of some of the many free, cool, and interesting things my area has to offer, and to get kieran outside to see his world as much as possible this year. (thanks to betsy for letting us know about thisone!)

we met up for brunch, then headed to the dairy with jenn and harry and betsy and all the girls. there, we hooked up with amy and kelly and baby sage. we spent the afternoon tromping around the farm (in the mud!), checking out baby goats, pigs, one bright blue peacock, and about 700 chickens. gabriella chased chickens for two solid hours and then cried when we left because she couldn't bring one home with her--she is a born farm girl. even kieran got to get his little paws on one of them, which utterly delighted him, of couse. afterwards, kelly and amy spontaneously came back to our house to grill out and eat goat cheese (not me--because ew--but everyone else did), and we threw the boys into the tub so that the babies would have that clean baby smell and be a little less farm-ish. all in all, a fabulous, wonderful day.

the complete set of pictures is here.

gotta have it

sometimes a girl just needs a little instant gratification. retail therapy. whatever you want to call it. today at lunchtime i ran out, drove all over hell and half of georgia, and came back with these: crazy aunt purl's drunk divorced and covered in cat hair, which i cannot WAIT to read (LOVE crazy aunt purl--hey girl!), and a beautiful little natural ball of kidsilk haze, with which i will, in my copious free time, knit a branching out scarf as a gift for my lovely work friend janie, who is both awesome and a really tremendous help to me. why i had to have these things TODAY, i am not sure, but i did. and now i have them. so yay! besides, who can argue with the benefits of a yarn store visit at lunchtime. that's just good stuff right there.

ps--that second picture is just there because i like it--love the sunlight this time of day.

weekend excursions, part one: sailing

y'all, i have been running hard the last couple of weeks. i guess you probably figured that out from my conspicuous silence. so this will be the first of three posts to get us all caught up. think of it like this--you have called me to chat, but i have only about 15 minutes, and too much has been going on to catch you up in that tiny little phone call, so we're gonna have to talk again tomorrow--ok? ok. so.

weekend before last the hippie and i went sailing with our friend harry at his boat, which is a 25-foot o'day. it's moored down at this place called the river rat yacht club outside belhaven, nc. in other words--it's in the middle of nowhere. and we're definitely using the term "yacht club" pretty loosely here. but i digress...

sailing rocks! it was really fun, and only a little bit scary on occasion, and i really want to go again. i learned more sailing terms than i even wanted to know--i now know which side of the boat is port and which is starboard, what a-lee means, what shrouds are, and how to tie a bunch of different knots. (i am better at the knots than the hippie is, but don't tell him i said that. heh.) no one fell in the water, which i think is a good thing since the river in which we were sailing was brackish and filled with jellyfish and crabs--YUCK! the wind was high and the sailing was fast and rowdy--apparently just the way the boys like it. and me, too, if i am honest. it was downright exhilarating! however, i am sorry to say that i have few pictures to show for it. i was just too afraid of dropping my camera into the river!

sleeping on that boat is as close to camping as i care to get, by the way. it's close and cramped, but good enough for a night or two. the saving grace is that the club house has a shower and a full kitchen. this came in pretty handy considering that the second saturday of every month is a big pot luck thing down there. i made crab dip and roasted potatoes with old bay and rosemary. yum! the crab dip in particular was a hit--it's a recipe from a church cookbook i bought last christmas in beaufort. very easy and awesome, so y'all just ask me if you want to know how to make it. anyway--we managed to get some work done on the boat (and by we, i mean harry and the hippie--i was knitting while they did that icky work stuff) and still go sailing both days. totally, totally fun! the only bad thing is that i got a weird--ass sunburn in the shape of a gigantic X in the middle of my back. now i just look retarded. stupid sunscreen...

tomorrow, news of this past weekend, when i was in new york playing and also news of all my new yarn--there's a lot to tell, people.

UPDATE 06/21: harry read this post and protested that the river rat IS a real yacht club, and he's right--i added the quotes lest y'all think it was a yacht club in the sense of white jackets and caviar and captain's hats. it's a shack in the woods. also, apparently the boat isn't moored--it's docked. i made a sailing faux pas there... oops!