knitted project-don't let the picture scare you.

It's a great windy day - weather has dropped by almost 20 degrees- great for wearing a sweater that I just completed. The yarn for this sweater is bamboo and I thought it would be great for summer wear, what with all the lacy, open features of the knit. Turns out it is feel good yarn but very heavy and warm. Surprised me. So I will wear a cotton knit shirt under it in the spring & autumm. My knitting compadres at Rumpelstiltskin had many ideas on how to wear it.
Also had another computer class today and I'm learning another way to watermark the photos. Really a short cut from the first way I did it. But I haven't quite mastered it - so next week I'll go in with a lot more questions.
Now I'm picking up a long sleeve wool sweater I quit working on when summer hit. Only have the sleeves to finish. Piece of cake!
ダイアナ

Food

Well, I'm not really obsessed with food although this site mainly talks about food. So be it.
I want to share a site that has given me some incredible tastes lately. New York Time's Mark Bitten on Food has a video on his site that shows you how to make soba spinach salad that is delicious.
I brought this salad to my own birthday dinner this weekend. My daughter in law made a tandoori chicken bar-be-que that was delicious which she got from Cook Pad, a Japanese site. She even marinated thickly sliced onions in the tandoori sauce and then sauteed the onions while our son cooked the chicken on the barbeque. It was a great meal with some favorite people.
Our daughter and her husband gave me a birthday dinner that was as simple as it was delicious. It was a chili-dog with coleslaw and any condiment you wanted to add. I love lots of dijon mustard so that's what I added. Then the four of us watched a movie and then visited. It was another perfect birthday. The grandkids were doing their own activities so we got a taste of things to come. NO KIDS!
Using some of the tomatoes I've been growing in another of Bitten's recipe's, Pappa al Pomodoro, was a comfort food success the other night. I used a half a loaf of sour dough french bread but I think you could substitue using everything from pasta to rice and still have quite a success. After the tomatoes are gone, I plan to use canned chopped tomatoes.
Well no pictures. I should have photographed the Chirashi Zushi that I ordered when a friend took me out for my birthday but I didn't think about it. The Banzai do a good job with their sashimi.
Enough talk about food - till next time.
ダイアナ

Farm Fresh Produce

Today we got our monthly box of vegetables and fruit from Farm Fresh To You an organic farm that delivers produce the same day picked. Recipes that use the vegetables and fruit are always included in the box. So today I hope to turn these beets into beet chips(using a low temp. oven).
Also got more heirloom tomatoes and I am going to make a"Pappa al Pomodoro" Tomato Soup With Bread. IT IS A COOKING FRENZY DAY!!! Whopee !　More hopefully this afternoon.
ダイアナ



Beet Chips

Well these were easy to make and salty/crunchy but the finished product was dark like a beet.

1 bunch beets (there were 3 in my bunch)
1-cup water
1-cup sugar
Olive oil
Peel beets with a vegetable peeler, then slice thin with a slicer or knife, using stems as handles.

Bring water and sugar to a boil in a 3 -quart heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Add beets, then remove pan from heat and let stand 15 minutes. Drain beets in a colander, discarding liquid, then let stand in colander 15 minutes more.

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat over to 225 degrees F.
Grease a shallow baking pan with olive oil, then arrange beet slices snugly in 1 layer. Season beets with salt and pepper.

Bake beets until dry, about 1 hour. Immediately transfer chips to a rack to cool. Chips will crisp as they cool. Serve immediately.

Well, I enjoyed these chips and had to put them away to keep from eating them up. But not everyone liked them. I have no idea how to store them or how long they will keep. I fried potatoes with eggplant, onions and garlic yesterday and it turned out okay. Maybe I'll add the beets to the leftovers. Though I'm afraid it will turn the mixture pink.
I didn't cook as much as I thought I would. Got caught up in reading a novel by Margaret Atwood.

Bruchetta for lunch

There are still tomatoes ripening and the large eggplant is growing at least 5. The "nasu" started blossoming again and I guess there will be another round of Japanese eggplant coming. Oh, am I going to miss the vegetable garden! I can see the basil is slowing down and today it was a little difficult to find the amount of basil I wanted for the bruchetta. Lately I've been fixing a bruchetta and eggplant mixture for pasta that is my favorite.


The leaves are looking a little peaked. We'll see if the flowers develop.


But I'll have bruchetta for a while longer. They were selling basil plants in the vegetable section of the grocery store today.
Big event this afternoon is a reunion potluck of the teachers of the high school I taught at. It will be fun to see what every one is doing these days. I'm bringing a butter lettuce, mushroom, purple onion & mandarin orange salad with homemade blue cheese vinaigrette dressing.

As you might have guessed, I am learning to do all kinds of things with this site. Everything from taking pictures, to watermarking them to learning how to upload them. I have a lesson tomorrow and will ask to be reminded on how to link a work to someone's site.
Cheers! ダイアナ

Take a look at "Tonight's dinner" at gingergarden

Kobe Cream

Wish I could claim this lovely bun filled with a cream filling but it comes from a new bakery called Mahoroba. Some of the offerings in this bakery make you think you are back in Japan.
My grandkids think it is a taste of home. As it was my turn to bring a goody to my calligraphy class, I remembered having a Kobe Cream that was so special. I think the owners of this bakery have one in Kobe. Sacramento is living big!



読み方：秋夜運筆の時　（しゅうやうんびつのとき）

Fall nights, the time for writing. (My interpretation)

Much work is still needed on this assignment. The style is called sousho 草書(そうしょ）or grass style (of Japanese calligraphy).　Sensei always corrects with this color ink. I'm lucky to not have more marks.

Calligraphy translation is my interpretation

"Preserve our culture which is our fortune"
This is the lesson for September that our class is practicing. The sample on this blog is one of mine before my sensei corrected it. The translation is also my interpretation. I know there must be a better one but this gives the essence of the work. We practice the work of Kampo Sensei.
I took the month of August off and it shows.

Eating again with friends

This tofu,shitake, kimchee flavored stew came to the table bubbling hot. We cracked an egg into the stew and I let mine cook a little before I mixed it in. In the little dishes were: daikon in kimchee sauce, sauteed squash with a garlic/sesame flavor, boiled potato, a cucumber tsukemono, kimchee, spinach with sesame and finally, bean sprouts. Also a big bowl of rice. Delicious meal! and a nice change from the Julia Child style of cooking from the previous days.
My clothes are getting tight. Oh Oh!