I have been so fortunate to meet so many wonderful people over the years thru blogging and the internet.  One of the nicest I have had the pleasure of meeting this past fall was Nathalie Fisher.  I met Nathalie and her sister in law this past fall during my annual trek to Rhinebeck.  They joined Anne, Beckie, Kim and I on our annual luncheon trip to the Culinary Institute of America  We had  so much fun laughing and just having a good time in general over a fabulous lunch.

Both Nathalie and her husband work at the CIA, so we were treated to a behind the scenes tour of the facility….fascinating!  It was fun to see all of the young students in their chef hats diligently listening to their instructors and quietly working.

A little while back, Anne did a review of this new cook book from the institute….and I was so impressed.  I mentioned that this would be my CIA purchase on my next trip as I have really taken a keen interest in Italian cooking lately.  Well…….a wonderful little surprise ended up on my doorstep last week and oh my!!  What an amazing treat this book is!!  Amazing!!!  Thank you Nathalie!!

Another really nice person I have met via blogging is Adri Barr Crocetti of the Front Burner Blog.

If you look at the picture of the cookbook, you will see my little Corzetti tool.  If you remember a little while back I posted about this purchase and the recipe that I discovered to go along with this beautiful stamp.

Adri's recipe is the one that I used for the sauce in that blog post.  Since then she and I have chatted back and forth a few times and she asked if she could use my picture on her blog.  I was very flattered, except that the picture was taken in such poor light, that I decided today to play with pasta again.

The recipe that I use for the pasta itself is rich, calling for 6 egg yolks, but it is the one fool proof recipe that I have used.  It never needs tweaking and it always comes out scrumptious.  I will definitely read more about pasta recipes however in the new cookbook for reliable recipes with a little less fat.

When I cooked up the corzetti this time, I opted for the Pesto recipe instead of the brown butter, so that I could use up some of the basil that I saved from last summer's garden.  Adri's recipe for Pesto is almost identical to mine except that I use toasted pine nuts instead of walnuts.  It always makes me smile to take that little bit of summer out of my freezer for dinner.

Mmmmmm…..doesn't that look good?  Corzetti is a bit time consuming to make, but the rewards are SOOOO worth it!  Mangia!

I had to laugh this morning when I saw Margene, Carole and Terry's posts on weekending, because I knew my post was going to be another" what did I do this weekend" post, as I have not posted since last Monday…LOL.  I think I may make this my weekly Monday post. 🙂

One of the nice things about working one job is the little extra free time that I now have, especially since I am not at the computer nearly as much.  Weekends have become more about relaxing and doing the things that I like to do, which is so nice!

I have been using some of that time to get reacquainted with my lonely sewing machines and I am thoroughly enjoying it.

I have to admit that once something gets stuck in my head, I obsess about it and coming up with a bigger bag is what is stuck in there now.  I'm not quite there yet, but pretty darn close.:-)

Of course the one downside to coming up with something means that some fabric is getting wasted and that does make me a wee bit crazy, but then I justify it to myself by saying I can just cut it up and use it again……at least that sounds good right?  LOL.

I did whip up a few of my smaller sock bags and will be working on more all week with a shop update on Friday. 🙂

There was also time for knitting.  I am currently working on a shawl designed by Rose Beck called "And So Are You" .  This pattern is part of a 5 pattern e-book and each pattern is so lovely….go take a peek.

I'm hoping to have this finished…maybe…next weekend. 🙂

The best part of my weekend however was spent shopping at Quilted Threads and having lunch with Terry. 

Of course with bag obsession comes fabric fever…and Quilted Threads is one of my favorite quilt shops.

Having the extra time to spend with friends and doing things that I enjoy instead of working 7 days a week has made my life a much happier place to be.

I hope you had a fun weekend too!

I actually had some free time this weekend…..yay!  I used that time to play with fabric, which I have really wanted to do for quite some time now, but just could not find the free hours. 

I have been planning to make a larger knitting bag, so I got out the scissors, fabric and sewing machine and started playing.  So much fun!

What you see above is a prototype that I would like to increase to a size large enough to hold a sweater in process.  This bag is larger than my wee bunny sock bags, but a bit smaller than needed to hold a sweater.

What things do you like most in a knitting bag?

Hmm….so this Ten on Tuesday is a bit of a cruel joke for those of us who live in the Northern New England.  This week's Topic is Ten Reasons To Be Happy It's Spring…and the picture that you see is what greeted me this morning when I put the dogs out. 
Another 6 inches of wet snow……Big sigh!

Anyways……here goes my ten reasons….

1.  The birds come home….I love listening to their frantic Spring chatter.
2.  If it snows in March and April….it melts fairly fast
3.  The tourists all go home 
4.  I love getting out in the garden before the black flies arrive
5.  Going for walks and not freezing
6.  Opening the windows and letting the warm air in
7.  The geese come back to the pond across the street.  I love listening to their gentle night time honking.
8.  Baby robins….we have a nest of them every year
9.  Sitting in the late afternoon sun with a glass of wine and reading a book
10.  Packing all of the heavy clothes away for another season

Now if the snow would just stay away until next year I would be extra happy for Spring. 😉

Rain scatters plum petals;
Weeping stains the earth.
One can only take shelter
And wait for clearing. 

The greatest sorrow of life is witnessing.  Experiencing our own sufferings is not as difficult as watching others held in fate's mighty grip.  Bearing our own problems is easier because we are always aware that we can exercise other options.  However, it hurts when we can do nothing for others.  The greatest sorrow is to see those we love suffer helplessly.
Deng Ming~Dao

You may wonder why this quote is under this picture as they are totally unrelated…and they are.  This was a hard week for myself and my children.  We lost a young member of our family in a tragic way….and while we gathered together to support each other and enjoy those that we have not seen for some time, it was hard to witness the pain and heartbreak that this young man's Mom and Dad were feeling….it is indeed a helpless feeling, but I think we all helped by being there if in just a small way, which is good.

Ok….back to the little wallets.  Remember last week I mentioned that I was taking an all day sewing class?  Well, this is what we made.  Many many years ago I used to sew a lot of not only my own clothes, but my children's as well.  Mother of necessity as it would be during those day.  Setting a zipper in a pair of pants was not something that I thought much about, but 20 years later, I was scratching my head about putting zippers in things….yikes!  I figured it would be a good thing to take a class to learn the correct way instead of my usual guessing. 😉
(it's nice to have the time for classes now)

 
Of course it came right back to me quickly…and I probably didn't need to take that class, but it was fun!  It was fun to sit and enjoy the company of new aquaintences…..something I have missed over the years. 🙂

Ashley and Courtney quickly snagged those little wallets….and one is on the horizon for Hannah.  It makes me smile that the girls enjoy the fruits of my labor. 🙂

I have lots of new fabrics and lots of new ideas kicking around in my head….now I just have to find the time to help those ideas come to fruition. 🙂

(picture is from allposters.com)
This week's Ten on Tuesday topic is Pies in celebration of Pi day (3/14).  I don't eat pie that often because I have a wonderful baker friend who makes pie much better than I, so when I need a pie I just give him a call. ;0)

I do love to eat pie though, so here are my top ten favorite pies

1.  My all time favorite pie is Blueberry with a little vanilla ice cream and lemon sauce…mmmmm.
2.  Coconut Cream (this one is Ken's favorite)
3.  Mince pie, but only at Thanksgiving with a dollop of whipped cream
4.  Boston Cream Pie, even though it really is a cake. :0)
5.  Pumpkin or Squash pie, topped with ice cream
6.  Key Lime Pie
7.  Pizza Pie….especially bacon
8.  Strawberry Rhubarb
9.  Banana Cream Pie
10.  American Pie…not a pie at all but one of my most favorite songs and movie.

Tomorrow I am attending an all day sewing class….I share more about that soon. 🙂

Arctic breath coils the mountain,
Rattling the forests' bones.
Raindrops cling to branches
Jewelled adornment flung to earth.

Trees in winter lose their leaves.  Some trees may even fall during storms, but most stand patiently and bear their fortune.

They endure rain, snow, wind and cold.  They bear the adornment of glycerin raindrops, glimmering icicles, or crowns of snow without care.  They stand, and they wait, the power of their growth apparently dormant.  But inside, a burgeoning is building imperceptibly.

Theirs is the forbearance of being true to their inner natures.  It is with this power that they withstand both the vicissitudes and adornment of life, for neither bad fortune nor good fortune will alter what they are.  We should be the same way.

We may have great fortune or bad, but we should patiently bear both.  No matter what, we must always be true to our inner selves.
Deng Ming ~Dao

This post was going to be a rant on how tired I am of winter, especially after the 6 inch snow fall we received today on top of the foot still on the ground…. but as I thumbed through my favorite little book for a quote and read the above passage, I decided that ranting really wasn't appropriate, so I will let the following picture say the rest….

Hopefully Spring is coming soon…….

One of the things I told myself that I would do once I was working at one job instead of two was to blog more often.  I have less verbal contact with people now that I am not having to answer the phone all day, so it's important to me to not only be surrounded by a community of like minded friends, but to also exercise my brain. 🙂

So in saying this,I am going to join Carole with her Ten on Tueday posts.  This week the topic is Ten Favorite Smells.  She mentions the smell of Spring in her post, but there is no such smell here in the mountains yet.  We still have a lot of snow on the ground as you can see peeking out in the above picture. So here I go….

1.  The smell of rain just before it starts in the summer……
2.  Fresh coffee brewing while I am still in bed
3.  Puppy breath
4.  Freshly picked basil…I love the licorice smell
5.  Roses growing outside on the bush
6.  Freshly mowed grass
7.  Dried fall leaves crunching underfoot in October
8.  My honeysuckle tree
9.  Downy fabric softener…reminds me of my kids when they were babies
10. Beautiful perfume.  My kids will tell you I have worn it forever! LOL

Whew…that wasn't too hard. 🙂

Pattern:  Eliza
Yarn:  Woolen Rabbit Lucent
Colorway:  Lady Slipper
Needles: 2.25mm

I haven't talked much about knitting lately, have I? 

That would probably be because there has not been a lot of knitting happening around here.  What little knitting I have been doing has been fingerless mitts.  Whereas I am horrible about getting that second sock finished, I am pretty darn good at knitting a pair of mitts….go figure..LOL.

The above pair of mitts was knit using Anne's Eliza pattern.  She and I were paired to do a non-sock club project for yarn4socks.  Anne's theme was "My Fair Lady" and I love her interpretation of Eliza Doolittle.  The pretty little pleats and lace were just perfect!

  
Next on tap….

Pattern:  Curling
Yarn:  Woolen Rabbit Lucent
Colorway:  Birch Beer (knit before photographed…whoops)
Needles:  2.25mm

I LOVE these mitts.  Even though I knit them as a show display, these ones will be mine.  I will knit another pair for show. 😉

….and yet another mitt I am working on….yikes! 

I do have a few larger projects slated for this spring and summer, so I am enjoying the fast knits while I can. 🙂

This mitt is Fallberry from Knitty.  It's a free pattern and quite enjoy enjoyable to knit.  The yarn I am using is a new yarn that I am bringing in.  It's an 8 ply superwash sport weight yarn.

Anne and I were talking last week about yarns and we both agreed that there needs to be some nice artisan washable yarns for children and adults who don't want to be bothered with hand washing.  This week I have listed a sportweight called Pixie and a dk/worsted weight yarn called Frolic.  I will be adding new colors next week for both yarns.

I will admit that I am not a huge fan of superwash yarn, but I have a grandson who keeps begging his grammy to knit him a sweater and I know his mother is not careful enough not to toss that sweater into the wash, so it is for him that I am adding a few new superwash yarns into the mix.  He deserves a beautiful handknit sweater. 🙂
Thanks Aidan!

I am so surprised that no one, not even my good friend Manise knew what my little stamp is used for.  Manise grew up in Greece and while that is not Italy, she is usually pretty good with all things European.

Please excuse the quality of the pictures.  I hate using a flash, so I didn't…but dinner time here comes at a time when it is getting dark, so the pictures reflect that. 😦

The little stamp is used in making Corzetti…..little pasta coins.  One end of the stamp works similar to a cookie cutter, then you press the cut out coin between the 2 stamped ends and get these lovely stamped pasta coins.  I discovered this tool when reading this blog a few weeks ago.

I absolutely love making pasta, so when I read this post and then saw these beautiful wooden stamps I was completely intrigued.  I skipped over to the Artisanal Pasta Tool page and was immediately hooked.  Terry clearly shares the same love for finely crafted wooden tools as I….his work is beautiful!

So, after I ordered a Corzetti stamp I wasted spent a lot of time watching the pasta videos from the Fine Cooking Culinary School.  What a great way to learn new pasta making techniques.  I came away inspired to try new things. 🙂

Last night I christened the corzetti stamp with this recipe.  Of course the lighting in my picture sucks, so scroll down and see the Front Burner's Brown Butter recipe and picture…..it was a fabulous meal!

I can see a few more wooden pasta tools in my very near future. Mangia!