banana, banana, go go banana.

I made banana bread yesterday, but I forgot to take a photo of it and now it's sliced up! It turned out perfectly again, and virtually jumped out of the pan. This time I added walnuts and chocolate chips.

You can look at the photo from last time. It looks exactly the same, except I didn't make muffins.

still crafty.

Even though I haven't been blogging about it very much, I am still being crafty. The ribs and lace tank is chugging along - only the straps to go! And then I have to shape the back, which is a sneaky way to add more knitting time to the project. Hurumph. If it fits well enough, I might just make it a halter. I am not excited about knitting 11 inches of stockingette on 18 stitches (9 per strap).


I already have plans for two new projects! One of them is a gift, so I can't blog about it (even though I doubt the recipient looks at this site). I've already knit a test swatch for it and cast on the first row. The target completion date is end of September. The next project lined up is a tunic from the summer issue of knit.1 magazine.


I already have the yarn too! I love going to Michael's and buying inexpensive yarn... I also love shopping at my LYS but always feel guilty over the price. This pattern only uses 3 skeins - that seems unreal. At first I reached for a reddish pink shade, then I remembered that I already have a sweater-dress/tunic in pink. So I opted for a mottled green and taupe colour, "Mediterranean".


Time to get knitting!

new appliances.

Oooooo new housewares are so much fun! Yesterday T-man and I went to the Bay and bought a new coffee maker (our old one conked out a few weeks ago)...


The only feature that I really wanted was a programmable start time, so that coffee will be ready for me in the morning. Mmmm coffee. It came with a re-usable "gold" filter, and it was on sale! 50% off!! We were about to buy a different one, and the customer service rep pointed out that the Kitchenaid models were on sale.

I also bought a slow cooker...


I've wanted one for a while. I picked up a cookbook way back in April! There are so many models that it was hard to choose. This one is pretty basic: only three settings, no timer, but it's not too big. As you can see in the photo, it's already in use too! T-man is so happy that these two new items are already out of the bag, out of their boxes and made to feel at home. (I tend to leave new things in the bag and set aside, to save their "newness". It's kind of weird.)

Dinner is simmering away right now! It's "Arroz non pollo" from Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson.


It's not a magic time-saving tool, because you still have to prep all the veggies. But it moves the prep time to either the morning (ha ha ha) or the night before. Instead of coming home from work, cleaning up, making food and then eating, the new schedule will be come home from work, eat, clean up, prep food.

monster cookies.

Last weekend I made these cookies. Unfortunately, I did not take pics and now there's only one left! The first batch was a little overcooked, but the second batch turned out well. I was happy to be able to use natural peanut butter in a cookie recipe - the last time I made peanut butter cookies using a conventional recipe, it was a disaster. Ms. Pattycake and I had a little discussion about it, and she uses a "just peanuts" type of peanut butter and thus encouraged me to try this recipe.

The cookies were good. I didn't love them... perhaps it was the honey... next time I'll use maple syrup for a sweeter cookie. And next time I'll take photos!