Ravioli Makin' and Other Adventures

Oh man, I think I gained about 10 pounds this weekend. We ate like kings! Saturday afternoon, AJB helped me make prosciutto ravioli. These little pockets were filled with yummy goodness- spinach, prosciutto, and ricotta cheese. We made about 48 of them and froze half to make next time. It was better the next day when I fried a couple of them and grated pecorino cheese on top. Great TV watching snack.

The Ravioli Maker:


You can't even tell which ones she made:


For breakfast today, we checked out a little breakfast place across town called Over Easy. Its an old school Taco Bell (you know the brick buildings with the arches) turned quaint little diner. The food was amazingly good and we'll be sure to be back to try some other dishes. I had the specialty of the house- The Over Easy. Brioche bread baked in the restaurant topped with spinach, an over easy egg and the piece de resistance...bacon sauce. In my best Homer impression, I said "Butter up that bacon, boy!" Because, basically, that's what it was- bacon gravy with butter. It was SO good but SO bad at the same time. Seriously, I need to make it back to the gym.

After filling up our stomachs, we decided to check out Star Nursery to walk off the calories and get some ideas for our backyard. Right now, we have dirt, rocks, and plastic toys in our yard. We've lived in this house for almost four years and we still haven't gotten around to landscaping the backyard. Its just bloody expensive to do. We've decided a few things- extend the patio, build a pergola, get a cottonwood, a fruit tree or two (we found some apple trees that will grow out here), some shading trees for the east side of the house, and some rose bushes. I never thought I would be into rose bushes. I like gerbera daisies, calla lillies, orchids...all of which probably wouldn't grow out in the AZ heat. And when DH suggested roses a few years ago, I wasn't happy. Roses?? No, thanks...not my fave. But then today, I realized that DH was Sean Thornton. He was excited about the plans for the roses, where to plant them, how to take care of them, which ones to get...and he was very adorable. Its moments like that I'm forever grateful that we're married.


Today, I finished up the anthropologie capelet. It's on the table as we speak being blocked. I just need to find a pin for it! WOO HOO!!




And I leave you with some pictures from the nursery...

My (Un)Finished Objects

Three years ago, when I first had the itch to start knitting, I didn't start off making scarves- it was smack dab the middle of Spring and if you've even been to Phoenix during Springtime, you know that it is not scarf weather! I took an hour long class at Michael's to learn the basics- casting on, knit, purl, binding off...I wanted to jump right in and start a project that would be wearable when complete- well, wearable on AJB, that is. I ended up picking Victoria, a free dress pattern from Berocco. It looked easy enough and it was! I picked out Berocco Cotton Twist in a variegated color- almost sherbert like in shades of magenta, orange, light pink...I even got fancy at the edge and knitted a lace edging along the bottom! AJB wore it all the time. Every time she wore it, she received compliments on it. I was so proud of it. So what happened to this sherbert dress you ask? Funny story...I noticed that one of the threads made itself loose. I placed it on the couch and thought to fix it later on that day. I never got around to it and I never put it away. It just laid there til Saturday morning. At that time, AJB was just about 2 1/2 years old. She was at the age where she was starting to get out of bed by herself. She usually crawls into bed with us but on this particular Saturday morning, she didn't. I, wanting to keep sleeping, didn't get out of bed to check up on her. About 10 minutes later, I heard her footsteps coming towards our bedroom. I pretended to be sleeping and I could feel her face close to mine and she said "Mama, I'm sorry!" I opened my eyes...and in her little hands was a HUGE pile of unraveled yarn!! I looked passed her and there was a trail- like she was leaving it behind to find her way back. I followed the trail to the dress that was still on the couch. I couldn't get mad at anyone but myself. Lessons learned- weave ends in!! and keep knitting away from curious little hands! Luckily, she just unraveled the edging. Unluckily, I have no idea where I got the pattern for the edging and it's been balled up in my closet. I'll have to see what I can do with it.






A more recent (un)finished object is my Anthropologie-Inspired Capelet by Julia Allen. Its been hanging in my closet for the past two months needing to be blocked and a decorative pin at the top. I just tried it on and I've decided to frog the ribbing and add more to the body. Its a little short- comes just below my boobs. It makes them look HUGE! And not in a good, babuh babuh way, either! So, that one is going back on the needles for a few more rows.






Really quickly, we saw Horton Hears a Who a couple weekends ago. AJB saw a commercial for IHOP's Who's at IHOP menu. Basically, pancakes with icing and candy on top. I'm surprised she's not bouncing off the walls right now!

BEFORE:


AFTER: