In the Kitchen with Phineas

Or Why I will Never be Skinny

Phineas is great in the kitchen. And on Tuesday night I was reminded just how much I enjoy cooking with him. In fact, I'm a bit surprised that I haven't dedicated any posts to cooking yet.

Anyway, here is Tuesday night's dinner: Homemade Pappardelli and Meaty-Bones Sauce with roasted broccoli. Now, before you jump to conclusions, we do not eat like this every night. This was over the top. For both of us, cooking is a way of demonstrating our love, and I was in need of some tlc this week.

Meaty-Bones Sauce is a ragu - beef bones (soup bones), browned and then braised with red wine, crushed tomato, onion, garlic and whatever herbs or spices you like. When the meat is falling off the bones, remove it from the pot, shred it and then put it back in. Voila!

Basic pasta dough is just flour, eggs, olive oil and a pinch of salt. We rolled it out with a pasta machine and then cut it into long strips.

The broccoli is so delicious that it deserves its own post...

6674

That is the number of steps I walked yesterday according to my new (replacement) pedometer. I'm disappointed, although it should probably be about 1000 steps higher since I forgot to put it back on after my yoga class.

Many walking clubs use 10,000 steps as a goal for what could be considered an "active" lifestyle, which is a great goal. But I think that what I will do is figure out how much I generally walk in a day and then walk and additional 2000-3000 steps.

I've already racked up 5618 steps today. Let's hope I don't lose this pedometer!

To Do List

I have a growing list of projects, which is great! Here they are in no particular order.

1. Clutch purse for Calliope
2. Water bottle tote for Mom
3. Easy/flowy summer linen pants for yours truly
4. Wide leg/sarong capri's or pants for Polyhymnia (for her bday)
   

The clutch is by far my most ambitious project to date. Not only will I have to learn how to install a zipper and create and attach a ruffle, but all the measurements are going to have to be exact if the pieces and various pockets are to line up correctly. There isn't a lot of room for error.

I started yesterday by ironing the fabric and cutting out all the pieces. Wish me luck.

Hugger Mugger

I recently bought a new yoga mat. This would be my 4th yoga mat in about 1 year. Apparently I am the princess and the pea. But I have finally found the mat for me - an incredibly thick, very grippy Hugger Mugger mat that has quickly become my knees' best friend.

The one and only flaw with the mat is that, because of its 1/4 inch of glorious knee protecting thickness, it rolls up larger than the standard mat and so doesn't fit into a yoga mat bag. But because of my new status as a Domestic Godesss (heh heh heh), this was no problem.

I used a home decor weight fabric that MS gave me a few months ago to create this custom-sized yoga mat bag from a pattern by Lotta Jansdotter.


I tested the bag out on Friday and it was great! This is the first project that combines two of my obsessions - yoga and sewing.

Altered

So Phineas awoke one Saturday morning to find me ripping apart a pair of trousers that were too big at the waist.

My real motivation for learning to sew was the high price of paying my local seamstress, Helen the Dressmaker, to tailor suits and dresses so that they fit on top. Somehow I ended up with a much smaller top and waist than bottom.

My first alteration job - a sheath dress which was huge on top - now fits. It used to look more like a potato sack, but now because of the miracle of darts, it's more sleek.

And the trousers are now 4 inches smaller at the waist than they once were. They're not perfect - the pockets don't lay totally flat - but overall the altered version is a clear improvement over the baggy version.

I'd like to get better at tailoring clothing but there doesn't seem to be any book or guide specifically about altering already finished clothes. But every time I look thru my closet something seems to need a little tuck or slight change. And at this point I'm worried that I will end up with a Humpty Dumpty project on my hands - once I take it apart, I might not be able to put it back together again!

My New Doctor is a Neurotic Hypochondriac

This is not a bad thing. I'm a bit of a hypochondriac myself.

I visited a travel medicine specialist as I will be going to Asia for the first time in April. We decided that I needed 5 vaccinations in order to survive the trip (see, hypochondriac): flu, Tdap (tetinus), Hep A and Typhoid Fever (both food-borne), and Hep B (good for my iron issues).

Here's why I say neurotic: this is the schedule he wrote on a post-it so I remember to take 1 dose of typhoid every other day for 7 days (ie: 4 doses total).

We also discussed drinking water and jet lag, as well as malaria, measles, mumps, and chicken pox. We visited the CDC's web page on travel to Taiwan and discussed Avian flu. I was sternly warned not to touch any dead ducks I might find at the side of the road. He did not even crack a smile when I said "I'll be sure to write that down." Speaking of writing down, I now have a yellow card itemizing all my vaccinations specially designed to fit in my passport. Just for future reference.

Now this might sound a bit crazy, but I am very seriously thinking of making him my GP. With him worrying so much about my health, I think I would worry less. Oh, and he is a fan of email. Does your doctor respond to 1 am emails about your vaccinations? I don't think so. See, neurotic hypochondriac.

The Thing about my Mother-In-Law

Or Sleep Mask: Redux

So, I just finished making a new and improved sleep mask to replace the one that met a bad end on Christmas Eve. Here's what happened: my mother-in-law gave the sachets and sleep mask that I made for my new sister-in-law (who was not there) to her friend Betty, who she had invited over on Christmas Eve. No, she did not ask me in advance if this would be ok or if I had extras.

Shocked. Horrified. Livid. I'm not sure any of those words adequately expresses my range of emotions as this transpired across the room in slow motion. Who does that? Who?

She "thought it would be ok" since she "didn't see a name on the bag". (You know, because Santa brings extra gifts with no names on them. Gifts that aren't for anyone specific. Like a Christmas wild card. That kind of gift.)

Coincidentally, my sister-in-law had ordered a gift for me that was on back-order, which made me feel somewhat better about not having a gift for her, and we had a laugh over the whole thing.

The thing about my mother-in-law is that I really don't believe there was any malice intended or thought that she might be doing something wrong. She just has no filter. And you can't argue with a person like that without driving yourself nuts. Because, at the end of the day, she just doesn't get it.