October 24, 2013

Best Salad Ever - And It's With Kale!



I've mentioned before how much I love the produce from Ironwood Farm. Yesterday, Movita arrived with another Ironwood box of good things - including beautiful bags of baby spinach and kale.
I looked at a number of recipes for kale salad and then devised my own, based on the research, and the ingredients on hand. It turned out to be one of the best salads we have ever eaten!

 Kale Salad Recipe:

Four servings:
About five cups of kale, chopped into very small pieces and massaged to release the aroma of the fresh greens and to soften the texture
Manzanilla olives, sliced
Two small tomatoes, coarsely diced
1/4 cup chopped red onion
2/3 cup toasted walnut pieces
Small red pepper, diced
Feta cheese, about a two inch cube, crumbled

Dressing:
I made up a mixture of 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar, 1/4 tsp. black pepper and tossed the salad with enough to moisten adequately.

And here's another pair of socks - basic, timeless tweed.

 
Pattern: K4P2 Ribbing
Yarn: Trekking Tweed
Colour: 260
Needles: Circular - 2.25 mm



I have wanted to start a pullover for myself for ages, using this lovely yarn I purchased at a yarn store in Lille, France that Isa urged me to explore, but somehow I always end up starting another pair of socks! I swear that any day now, I will settle on a pattern size and cast on a turtleneck for the winter. This yarn is a blend of wool, silk, rayon, and cashmere.

Golden Girl gave me Amy Herzog's Knit To Flatter - a marvellous book about choosing the right size, style, amount of negative or positive ease, etc. to produce a sweater that fits well and flatters. I am going to use that as my guide.

October 03, 2013

A Purl of a Gurl

Look what arrived in the mail today!
A surprise package from Melissa, in Toronto, who asked her brother to pick this up when he was in New York.
 

 I have never been to New York. We sometimes talk about going and if we went, I would surely go to Purl Soho. They have such a lovely website. The colours they use, the yarns and other materials, the projects they feature, the beautiful photography, all make you want to stop whatever you are doing and work on whatever they are highlighting that day

 
And just last week, I was lamenting that I did not have a good bag, just the right size, for carrying my knitting projects around! Grocery bags do nothing to enhance your creativity. Now I can tote my work in style.
 
Thank you so much, Melissa. Your thoughtfulness is appreciated even more than the lovely bag itself. And thanks to Derek for making a side trip!