Catching up on more new recipes

I've been doing more cooking as we approach the end of the school year. Last weekend, I bought two flats of strawberries and tried making jam. That didn't turn out so well and now we have a lot of third-rate strawberry jam taking up space in our freezer.

Then on Tuesday inflicted some new ideas on my in-laws (they're very patient and encouraging of my cooking efforts). And finally, last night, I didn't want to tackle my pile of grading so I dove into some cooking projects instead.

The first jam recipe I used was the one on the back of the box of pectin. Yikes! Far too much sugar and far too little strawberry, plus the sugar never fully dissolved so now I have four jars of crunchy pink spread that kind of tastes like strawberries.

The second jam recipe I used tastes good, but despite cooking it for longer than required the pectin from the green apple never fully took hold, so it's much more like overcooked strawberry spread than actual jam.

Oh - and I also figured out that my candy thermometer is set about 8 degrees too low. Dang it! This is why I overcook things: the thermometer never thinks that I've quite reached the target temperature.

Blue Apocalypse is one of my new faves in food blogging. Her recipes are pretty open-ended so it takes some independence on my part to get through them, but the results have been A+ thus far. I've previously blogged about her fabulous Prawn-Stuffed Mushrooms, which I modified this time with a large handful of cilantro ground up with the shrimp. They were oh-so-yummy and next time I might serve them without the sauce, because the one I snitched from the pan (pre-sauce) was terrific on its own. I also tried her Fried Spaghetti on Tuesday and despite a little confusion about what a "paprika" is when it isn't a spice, I think it came out really well. I had some fresh mozzarella in the fridge so I served that alongside everything else.

As we head into summer I've been collecting salad recipes, and so I made this Sweet Potato Salad to accompany the two dishes from Blue Apocalypse. I couldn't find my walnuts so I had to sub pine nuts, but the salad was still delicious and different. Planning to make it again this weekend, this time with the walnuts.

I think I'll wait to report on my efforts from last night after everyone eats them for lunch.

New recipe count: 21

WIP... woops... Thursday?

Totally missed WIP Wednesday, and I even made a point of getting a decent shot of my mittens-in-progress so I'd have something to talk about!

Pattern: DROPS 110-39
Yarn: Cascade 220 superwash
Needles: size 3 wooden tip 16" circulars (2)

Ten on Tuesday: 10 favorite TV Moms

This is a tough one for me. My taste in TV shows tends to run toward shows where mothers largely are nonexistent (Numb3rs) or pretty much duds (Angel). However, I'm always happy to try...

1) Sharon Agathon on the revamped "Battlestar Galactica"
2) Bones on "Bones" - and also her BFF, Angela
3) Grissom's mom on "CSI"
3) Callie got to adopt her two favorite kids just as "CSI - Miama" ended... does that count?
4) Snow White on "Once Upon a Time"
5) and also Emma on "Once Upon a Time"
6) Montana on "CSI - NY"
7) Doris McGarrett on "Hawaii 5-0"

Dang, I'm lame. Can't think of any more, and I have to leave for work in a few minutes.

Help me out?

Like I said, I've been knitting LOTS of worsted-weight snowflake mittens in the past couple of months. Here's a summary picture of all the mittens I've done thus far:

Details, Left to Right:
Red: NHM #2, modified to 60 stitches
Navy blue: NHM #5, unmodified
Green: NHM #2, modified to 54 stitches
Medium blue: NHM #12, modified to 54 stitches
Blue and pink: DROPS 110-39
Light blue on bottom: NHM #12, modified to 54 stitches

All knit on #3 needles with Cascade 220 Superwash.

A thumb! another mitten! Boston teams have a tough night!

Another hasty post: After the Kentucky Derby (Orb won, nobody made history) I was watching the Bruins game tonight (ouch! a 2-4 loss to the Maple Leafs) and then I was watching the Red Sox (a 1-5 drubbing by the Texas Rangers) and I managed to finish up G's first mitten (sans thumb) and then to put a thumb onto the first of Sarah's mittens.

Pictured below is the first of G's mittens; it's NHM #5 sized up for a woman's hand.

Pictured above is the thumb of Sarah's mitten, which astute readers will recall as a variation of NHM #12. 

Ten on Tuesday: 10 things I'm looking forward to in the month of May

Yikes! Totally forgot to post yesterday.  Super-quick post now, just before midnight...

1) AP exams (I'm a high school teacher)
2) Graduation
3) My college reunion
4) Really putting my garden together
5) Hanging out in the backyard
6) Long walks with the dog
7) Mother's Day (I hear I may be getting a grill!)
8) Grilling
9) Wearing shorts again
10) Sleeping under something less bulky than a down comforter

Quickly catching up... mittens

I've been working on a huge pile of worsted weight snowflake mittens. More on that later. Here's what I finished up over the weekend:

Pattern: this is a slight modification of DROPS 110-39 (rav link)
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash
Needles: size 3 wooden 16" circulars from Knitpicks

Pattern: this is a slight modification of NHM #12  (rav link) from Selbuvotter by Terri Shea
Yarn: Cascade 220 superwash
Needles: size 3 wooden 16" circulars from Knitpicks