Trying to blog more

I seem to have fallen out of the habit of blogging, and I would like to get back to it. Once a week shouldn't be too much... but we shall see. 

I like to make something out of a cookbook once it's come into my possession, even (or especially) if it's tattered and missing parts. So I found the pages on Dunk Sauces in that James Beard book, and look, there's one starred! (A dunk sauce is what a modern person would call a dip, I believe.)

We have some shrimp and we'll find some veg and bread, and that will be a fun picnic at home. 

Yes, those are green onions and not chives, nor green pepper

I have also started a big knitting project. I tried about five different things with some pretty laceweight yarn, but nothing thrills me. So I bought some dark grey wool-blend yarn and am making a sweater. 

More as the story unfolds... 

A new cookbook

 I am very fond of the system of Little Free Libraries people have made. Give a book, take a book. 

The other day I went to put back into circulation something that I can't even remember now, and I picked up The James Beard Cookbook. I have been searching for years for Beard on Bread, so thought this would be a decent substitute for now. And so well-loved; someone had used this book a lot! 

The first thing I noticed upon getting it home: the entire middle was missing. I do not have pages 129 to 348. I go straight from Baked Fish to Chicken Fricassee. 

I flipped through a bit in the front half, and some days went by before I started in on the second half. 

Someone had had a bit of a misfortune. Could have set the house on fire, it seems!

Ah well. Perhaps it was not meant to be. I will find something in the first half to make, just to say I did it, but then, it's back to the street for this one!

The dress is done

The dress made with the muddy, grizzly-bear-coloured yarn is done. The dress is very cute, and I made some super-cute leg-warmers to go with it, but I still question my choice of yarn! 

The leg-warmers are just the cuffs of some 2-year-size socks. I thought I wouldn't make real socks for a kid who can barely even sit up on her own these days, let alone walk. 

Yesterday I went to Dressew, a sort of Vancouver institution on West Hastings Street. There was a line-up to get in! I found my buttons in record time and didn't stick around to get tempted by fabric. Luckily I have a cousin with a full range of tools in town so I was able to borrow a teensie crochet hook to make the button loop. 

Now I just have to figure out how to get it to the family. The kid won't fit it at all till the fall, I think, so no rush. I'll collect a few things, perhaps. She might even get a matching chapeau!