I blame a lack of sunlight...

... but it may just be my own lack of a greenthumb.

When I planted my herb and tomato garden in the spring, it was with the hopes that by Labor Day I would be enjoying an abundance of tomatoes and fresh herbs from my very own little plot. I even fantasized about having to make a vat of sauce and jar my bounty at summer's end. However, as we near Columbus Day, all I have to show for my tomato garden is this:

Two puny green tomatoes.
The "large" one is golf-ball-sized.

I did, however, have success with my mint and my basil did ok, too, the last of which will soon be made into chimichurri (the mint) and pesto (the basil) and frozen for the winter.

Oh well. Perhaps next year I will find a sunnier spot.

Belated Birthday for Phineas

With weddings behind us, I finally got back to some long dormant projects, including birthday shirts for Phineas.

Starting to look like a shirt!

I'm using Kwik Sew 3484, which seems to get universal praise for ease and style. Since I have not yet tackled collared shirts and I don't have a lot of experience with buttons, I decided to buy some inexpensive cotton that was on sale for my first attempt at this shirt. If I botch it horribly, it was no more expensive than muslin and if it comes out wonderful, well, Phineas can go ahead and wear it.

I had cut out and marked the fabric weeks ago, so this weekend I was ready to set right to work. As you can see, the shirt is in a half done state - collar, front and shoulders done, but no side seams, hems or buttons. I had a moment of duh with the collar, which looks ok anyway. But I definitly feel like next time it will go much more smoothly. Since Phineas didn't want a pocket, I decided to add trim to make it a little more interesting.

I'm not sure how I feel about it. It looks like it is making the fabric pucker around the trim. I'll have to see how it looks after I press it. I'm not really sure what to do to fix it, if it needs fixing.

Pecan Pie Paradox: Episode II: A New Hope

My very excellent friend and fellow baking enthusiast, MarMar, really took my corn syrup woes to heart and emailed the wonderful folks at King Arthur Flour on my behalf. And here is their response (woo hoo hoo!):

Good afternoon,

A great substitute for corn syrup is Lyle's Golden Syrup. Unfortunately it can be kind of hard to find as it's made in the UK. These links will give you some good information about it:

http://www.lylesgoldensyrup.com/lylesgoldensyrup/default.html or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_syrup. I would suggest doing an online search to see where you might be able to purchase it in the US if you're interested.

You can also substitute maple syrup in a lot of recipes calling for corn syrup. Here are a couple of links to great sounding pecan pies using maple syrup:

http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/18/Traditional-Pecan-Pie
http://southernfood.about.com/od/pecanpies/r/bl50714f.html

If just a small amount is called for (i.e. a Tablespoon or two) you can also use honey. I hope this helps. Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.

Sincerely,

T***
Customer Care
King Arthur Flour

I can barely contain myself. YAY!! Just the other day I was fretting that I needed to start testing things out for Thanksgiving and winter baking, so this comes at the perfect time! Let the experiments begin... pie test-taster candidates may submit their qualifications via the comments field.

Seattle (a stomach's eye view, as usual)

As usual, Phineas and I did a whirlwind tour - with many stops for refreshments - in Seattle. We had some great experiences, ate some great local cuisine and hung out with some excellent people. Here is the round-up in pictures.

Pike Place Market: where they toss the fish.

Mmmm... a latte at Espresso Vivace.

Seattle Art Museum

Strolling around Pioneer Square

Chiccaroneos (aka: Italian chicharrones) at Salumi. All hail Papa Batali!

"Seafest" and local beer at the Crab Pot


Phineas at the Space Needle

A brunch cruise on Elliot Bay ended our weekend.

Now, if you think that covers all our eating, well, that just shows that you probably have more self control than me and Phin, especially when let loose on a new city. We also sampled local cheese, gorgeous California nectarines from the market, and broiled oysters at Emmett Watson's Oyster Bar. Also, Seattle for some reason has a fascination with donuts. There was even at donut bar at the wedding. As Homer says, "Donuts.... is there anything they can't do?"

Congratulations Greg & Han!

We are back from Seattle. Han & Greg had a beautiful wedding which was the highlight of a great weekend. More on our trip later.

Shrug: final outcome

A few more photos from Terpischore's wedding can be found at Hatnim Lee's blog. Hatnim is Minwin's assistant photographer.

This one shows off my nephew Linus' enormous blue peepers as well as the shrug I made for Mom Muse. Check out the trim around the collar. That was my favorite part of the project.

Off to Seattle

So, this evening we fly to Seattle for Greg and Han's wedding.


No time to post at present, but here is a picture of one of Orpheus' inventions from last year, illustrated by G'ma (Mom Muse). For some unknown reason, the pogostick plunger has not yet been patented or put into production. Although, now that Orpheus is so into Harry Potter, perhaps I will have to ask him how wizards plunge their toilets.