Knitting and Pickling

Joy and I had a great time hanging out this weekend. We did a fun bit of shopping and were finally able to check out two local book stores, The Book Lady and E. Shaver Books, where I picked up Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food." I had a gift certificate for Barnes & Noble, so I picked up a beautiful bound collection of Jane Austen's seven novels (that's right: seven. I had never heard of "Lady Susan" and can't wait to read it!).


We had a blast poking around the World Market (cheap, flavorful herbs and fun home dec). I was able to get three vanilla beans for $5 instead of one bean for $9 at Publix. Sad, but that is the kind of thing about which I get excited. When I made a new batch of yogurt, I steeped a bean in the milk while it was heating and made vanilla yogurt! It is still not as sweet as store bought yogurt (which is fine, in my opinion) but it did add a nice hint of flavor; subtle and not overpowering.


I also had a gift certificate to Michael's from Christmas two years ago and used it up buying supplies to make stitch markers. I am much happier with this set than the beaded ones I made two weekends ago. And I have found that stitch markers really are helpful when learning to do lace patterns.

Harley was not happy about going to the groomer, but I think she enjoyed having an extra set of hands around to pet and scratch her. Joy got messy in the kitchen using my friend Diana's zucchini bread recipe and made two booming loafs. Silly, really, to call it zucchini "bread" because the loaf shape is the only thing to which that name applies. For all intents and purposes it is a cake. But if it is called "bread" then it is acceptable to eat for breakfast, yes?


Speaking of Diana, I remembered the amazing dill pickles she and Jay used to make. Having just enjoyed homemade pickles at the Dover's, I was inspired to try my hand at it. Making dill pickles was really much easier than I expected. Though it is disappointing that I have to wait three weeks before I can try them!