Knitting, Singing, the Universe and all....

Here is the first of the four little wraps I promised for our Chinese friends.... this one is for Anne and is made of 100% American Buffalo fibers- a nice rich bison-brown color.Soft and lofty, this should keep the wind off her lovely neck! And here, the Portabello Mushroom kit from Stan and Bev, is beginning to bloom We got a couple nice sized ones to make an omelet with - and there are more coming.m! Lastly, Missoula's annual Hospice Ball was this week - Jonathan played with the Ed Norton Big Band  

A friend of ours invites a bunch of us over for music making, a bottle of wine, and dinner every so often - and we always have a grand time. But, I have never appreciated her hospitality more than last week, when she had us over and served us "Persian" Chicken and Rice! We walked in the house and dinner smelled.... enticing, a bit floral, and toasty. She set out the dish, and the browned chicken looked lovely nestled in a golden rice pilaf. But it was the first bite, and then the second, that sent me over the edge - I might have actually moaned at the table. Composing myself again, I casually asked (while pouring her another glass of wine) if I could peek at the recipe - she claims to have gotten it from a piano student's mother years ago. The next day, I picked up a fresh chicken and an orange, and I was cooking! It's actually the rice that is " Persian "... and you could make the rice as a stand-alone side dish. Here's how: cook 1 1/2 c. jasmine...

This greeted Jonathan on the morning of his birthday... a luscious chocolate cake (re-make of a family recipe) and an almost-there-just-a-few-more-rows-honey sweater...... The sweater was finished three days later, as was the cake! Jonathan's Super Chocolaty, No Crumb Left Behind, Gluten-Free, Very Good Birthday Cake (yes, we were still eating off the Christmas plates.... they finally got put away for the year after finishing the sweater - I've got priorities, after all!) The original version of this cake featured rich milk chocolate flavors, a moist buttermilk crumb, and has been the "Rose Family" birthday cake since Jonathan and Louise's childhood. This year, I made a Gluten free cake, and incorporated super dark chocolate for a "mature" guy's birthday cake! Sift together - or dump in a large bowl and "fluff" with a fork! - the following: 1 c. fine brown rice flour 1 c. almond flour 1/2 c. each: tapioca flour, potato flour 1 tsp. xan...

OK, Here we go! Let's see if I can finish 2 (out of the 4 promised!) Chinese New Years gifts between the Opening ceremonies and when the flame is extinguished! I have purchased (at dear price!) a skein of American Buffalo Yarn - fingering weight, 2 ply - as soft as a cloud! First 2 shawls are for Annie and Rosita.....After that, I promised both Cassie and Anne as well. When I showed a variety of patterns to all 4 friends last night, they ALL chose the same pattern! I will have to figure out how to make this a interesting challenge as well- what can I do to the basic pattern to create something absolutely unique for each woman?! Stay posted!

Makes you wonder Who would be able to vote if we had literacy tests. .....about Tom Tancredo.....and his friends..... and who he thinks are his followers?! Former Congressman and 2008 Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo told an audience on Thursday at the Tea Party Convention in Nashville that "people who could not even spell the word 'vote', or say it in English, put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House." "His name," Tancredo said, "is Barack Hussein Obama." Tancredo delivered the opening keynote speech at the convention where several hundred Tea Party conservatives have gathered. Makes you proud to be an American, don’t it? Of course, the thing they’re ignoring is that Barack Obama, and his wife, could have passed any literacy test invented by the good ole boys who spell those signs.

A trip to China always means I get to find new yarn shops - thanks to Ravelry.com's China Knitters forum, I have found more than a few!! Here I am in front of Cheer Wool ( see their English web site here ) in Hong Kong. Following the directions I had in hand, we found a very tall (20+ stories) building shrouded in blue plastic and bamboo scaffolding. Thinking that we must be mis-reading the street numbers, we walked around the block again a few times, and finally asked in another shop if they knew where the yarn shop was. It was, of course, about 2 blocks up on the opposite side of the street... always an adventure! I found some Australian cashmere and purchased some children's needles and scissors for Nan. Alas, at age 3, Nan was more interested in the scissors than the yarn. Oh well, there is always next trip to indoctrinate her! While Nan played "cooking" with her scissors, I finished up 3 washcloths to leave with our friends ....