Echos of the upper Midwest in San Diego

Hello, Everyone!

It's late on a cold, rainy, windy, Wednesday night in San Diego.  Dan sez it reminds him of Minnesota, but without the snow.  This is what passes for winter weather with us.  Last week we were roasting over 100, sheeesh.

I feel ok.  I had a minor stomach bug, but it seems to have passed.  Maybe it passed to Dan, he went to bed real early tonight, which I did last night, LOL.  I'm listening to piano jazz on sky.fm.  Go, Herbie!

About that discipline and restraint I was working on yesterday, well, I'm doing just fine.  I have not, repeat not, cast on for the new shawl yet.  Actually, I can't find where I put the yarn.  A week or so ago I was cleaning up the area around my "knitting rocker" and I put this lovely ice blue yarn away somewhere, ahem.  But where?  Oh, well, it is doing wonders for my discipline. I'll find it soon and then we'll see....

In honor of the rainy evening, I made a nice, Midwestern supper.   I made real-deal from scratch mashed potatoes with cheddar cheese stirred in. A green salad with tomatoes and my home made pickles. I make my own pickles so I can control the salt.  Then I made Polish sausage with sauerkraut.  Rice pudding for dessert with yogurt sauce.  All very Midwestern.

My sauerkraut is pretty special.  Dan Likes it even though he doesn't generally like sauerkraut.  Well, I am German, you know. He's Polish, so this fits us both.  Here's the recipe if you want to make it.

Julie's Polish Sausage with Sauerkraut.
serves 4, or 2 people twice in my house

1 pound Kielbasa (Polish Sausage), can be frozen!
3 slices of bacon (Yes, I know the word rashers, but it is too old fashioned for me)
1 large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small can sauerkraut.
1 tsp caraway seeds. You can use cumin if you do not stock caraway, they are actually very close.
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
no additional salt, as the bacon, sausage and sauerkraut all have lots
1 Tbsp brown sugar
3/4 cup potato water

Cut the Kielbasa into 4 pieces.  Cut the bacon into bits, and add to a large frying pan that has a lid over med-low heat.  Cook the bacon until crispy.  Just as it is done add the onions and stir it all up.  Add the garlic.  Add the sausage.  Open the kraut can and drain it really well. Taste it.  If it is real puckery sour, rinse it in a colander. Tonight's can was fine without rinsing.  But sometimes you get a real sour one.  Add the kraut to the onions. Add the caraway and pepper and mix well.  Add the sugar.  Stir it frequently as it browns.  Careful, once the sugar is in, it will burn easily.  When it is all yummy and caramelized, add the water.  If you forgot to save the potato water, it's ok to use regular.  Put the lid on and turn the heat down.  Keep it on low heat until the sausages are done, maybe 5-7 minutes. The water will disappear. Serve beside the mashed potatoes with mustard for the sausage.  I don't need to tell you how to make cheesy mashed potatoes do I?

Yum.  My fav.  But then I am German. We drank some nice cocktails made with run, mandarin soda and cherry syrup.  The sort of thing you might get on a cruise ship with a colorful umbrella in it. The drink of the day is...

Wasn't that crazy about the cruise ship with the engine fire off Cabo?  No AC, at first no water, no toilets.  4000 people and no working toilets, wow!  Only cold food like spam.  Not moving at all, dead in the water.  Then they got the aux power on, so cold water and toilets working again.  Great fun I'm sure.  And I really do love to cruise.  But not on that cruise.

I was eating a bowl of the rice pudding with a sauce of strawberry yogurt as I started this post.  Yum!  Lilo kept begging and I kept telling her it was nothing a kitty would like, but she would not believe me.  So I gave her some.  She looked at me like, are you nuts?  Ha, silly kitty.  She's staying inside tonight, spent most of the evening snoozing in my sweaters.  Great, now they'll all have white cat hair on them.

Sorry, I did not get a picture of my plate for you tonight.  I just ate it right up too fast to photograph!  So, I gave you the recipe instead...

Have a good night's sleep, rainy nights are good for that...
Julie and Lilo, yawning and heading for bed

olso walk shawl

Hello, Everyone,

It's a hot (90+) Santa Ana Friday afternoon in November in San Diego.  Listening to the "King", a little less conversation.  But just a few minutes ago the wind shifted, it was sweeping down the mountain passes from the desert like the hot, dry breath of Dante's inferno.  Now it is coming in cool, moist and soft from the ocean.  I'm hoping this is the beginning of the end of  the Santa Ana, as we San Diegans call these "devil winds".  Same idea as "Foehn" in Munich, Sirocco in North Africa, etc.  I feel fine, just a little sniffle from sleeping with the fan blowing on me, it was so brutal hot last night.  What's wacky is that this summer was cool, LOL.  Well, I have an iced coffee in one hand so I'm prepared.

I have not heard from my daughter so I guess I don't have my grandson this weekend.  It all depends on her work schedule.  Too bad, he and I had such fun last weekend.

Has anyone seen the new Interweave Knits?  I just got their email a few minutes ago, I have not actually bought the issue yet.  The Pattern for the pretty lace Oslo Walk Shawl has me all in a lather.  I'm going to have to make that.  Wow! it's pretty.  Let's see if I can get a pic off their email to show you. 

I have some ice blue variegated  lace weight merino yarn that would be just killer in this.  From that hand paint company in Alaska, I forget the name.   I have a pattern for a diamond lace off the Berocco library (it's the edging in a pattern for a little girl's skirt).  I think it is the same lace as the edge.  If I did up a little swatch, and then blocked it, I could sort out the gauge.  Then I could string some sparkly beads, cast on 65 inches of stitches with a knitted on cast on with a bead in each stitch, or maybe every other, knit I repeat of the lace, switch to a razor clam lace, short row the center to add an extra 7 inches in the middle, work 3 inches even in the razor clam and bind off with an I-cord bind off.  Would not be too far off from Oslo, maybe like a Stockholm version.  Hmmm.  We'll see.  Right now I have too many things I'm trying to finish by Christmas.   Must be disciplined!!!

I'll let you know how that discipline thing goes.

Lilo is somewhere hiding from the heat.

Love,
Julie

Halloween

Hi, Everyone,

It's a lovely clear, sunny Tuesday afternoon in San Diego.  I feel fine.  I'm listening to jazzy Christmas music. Ha!

Don't forget to vote.

Here are some Halloween pics from Heather...

and Ron...

Looks like they had fun!

See ya,
Julie

Heather's birthday socks

Hello, Everyone,

It's a nice, warm Monday evening after a warm, bright, clear Indian summer day in October in San Diego.   I feel great.  I'm listening to Mozart.

Heather sent me a pic of the socks I gave her for her birthday.  Thought you might like to see them.  I got them out to her so quickly I did not take the time to capture a pic first.  So, here they are now...

Lilo is making a pest of herself.  She must be hungry.  I'd better go to the kitchen and feed her.  "Hey, Dan, are you tending bar tonight?"  LOL.

Be sure and vote tomorrow!!!!    It's important and it really does matter.

Night,
Julie

Pala is the place for lobster

Hi, Everyone, Happy Halloween!

It's a nice, coolish Sunday night in San Diego.  I'm listening to Enya,  "the memory of trees".  I feel fine, although a bit full.  

Dan and Dare and I went to Pala casino for the buffet.  My street gets so many hundreds (yes, really) of trick or treaters that I either spend $100 and buy 10 big bags of candy, or leave for the evening.  This year I left.

It was a lovely drive through the country to get there and then when we got there,  the buffet was out of this world.  Specifically, they had lobster claws.  All you want.  Dan took a huge pile, spent some considerable time shucking them and then poured melted butter and squeezed lemon over the big pile of lobster meat and ate the whole lot (probably over a pound) in a few minutes.  Yowza, they had good stuff.  Mexican style lamb chops.  Nice salads, nice soups. The sweet potato mash was out of this world.  The creme brulee was so good.  Even the coffee was good.  Pala is definitely "it" for lobster and crab.  The rest of the buffet is good, too.  "Tomorrow" we diet, LOL.   My vote for best buffet.  Here's a pic from their web site.

Here's one from yelp.

Today I proctored a Buddhist study exam at Val's house.  That was a lot of fun.  The season for study exams is ending... a couple of make -up exams and we're done.


I'm knitting on a pair of men's brown socks these days.  Christmas is coming to town!!!  The guys are hard to knit for.  There is a lot more stitches in a pair of socks than a ladies scarf.  I'm looking at my list and there are a lot of men's socks on it yet to knit.   Hmmmm....  I'll have to think of something.  Since I'm thinking of holiday knitting,  I changed the music to north pole radio.  Since it is early in the season, they are playing jazzy or bassa nova songs based on carols, LOL.  I'll have to find my usual German station this year as we get further into the season. 


Lilo is missing in action.  She loves to get out a bit when the weather is nice.  Especially after she's been cooped up in the rain.  Oops, here she comes.  She knows when I type her name.


See y'all soon,
Julie

Dinner with Berta

Hi, Everyone,

It's a lovely, dry Saturday evening after a rainy morning in San Diego.  I feel fine, and I'm listening to Classical Guitar on Sky.com.  Lilo is missing in action, outside taking advantage of the dry weather.

My friend Berta came by and we cooked dinner together, Tortilla Espanola, mixed salad and spinach with bacon.

Yummy, huh!?

Nate was with us today, but he went home with his mom earlier.

See ya,
Julie

once again, with feeling

Hello, Everyone,

It's a nice Tuesday evening after a coolish October day in San Diego.  I just got home from a Buddhist meeting to find that the Video I left up loading onto the blog at 7 pm has finished by now.

Well, I got a different copy of the wedding video from my brother-in-law, Ron, and here it is.  I hope you can see it now.   Ahem, please notice the hand knit veil. Enjoy!

Lilo wants a snack.  I'm off tho the kitchen to get it for her.

G'Night,
Julie

dinner with Evva at Mario's

Hi, Everyone,

It's a cool Monday night after a rainy fall day in San Diego. I feel fine.  No music tonight. 

I'm sewing on a "sock bug", a bug shaped bag the right size to hold a sock knitting project.  Hmmm, I'll show you when I'm done.  It's cute.

Saturday night we had dinner with Evva at Mario's Fiesta Maya in Huntington Beach.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/marios-fiesta-maya-huntington-beach

Lots of fun to get everyone together.    It's nice to see Evva once in a while, she lives so far away.  Nate had to sit with Grampa, of course.  Grampa had his "World's Best Upside-down Grampa" tee shirt on.   Dare couldn't make it.

Here's Amber's new do:

We had fun, the food was good.  Mexican seafood is their specialty, I had the crab enchiladas.  Very rich and cheesy, lots of crab, yum.  Evva's Siete Mares soup was out of this world. Enough for 4 people.   Amber had a huge seafood salad, also wowsers.  Dan's steak Fajitas came on an oval plate of a size suitable for a Thanksgiving turkey.

Heather brought her new shawl, an early Christmas present from me, although it is not in the picture.  It's a variant on the swallowtail, more rows of nupps at the bottom, a different edging lace, less budding lace, a sharper rate of increase to make it wider and shorter and a panel of mirror image nupps in a central panel.  All mods to her specs.  Actually, not really much of a swallowtail at all any more, lol.  Same yarn as the swallowtail I made for Evva last spring.  For comparison, here is Evva's shawl. http://dragondotr.blogspot.com/2010/03/shawls-shawls-shawls.html

Here it is when it was finished blocking. Heather's kitty had to examine and approve it.

Here it is hanging from the rafters from a pair of hooks intended for bikes in Heather's garage.  Our new rainy day shawl drying system. Note the fan.  Her niffty little Smart car only takes up 1/4 of the garage, so there is plenty of room for both cars AND shawl drying.   And other things.  We used a big table at my house to pin it out to the bottom section of a bed sheet, then sent it home with Heather to use the rafter hooks to dry it. Since it is on the bottom section, you can reach the shawl if you need to adjust any pins.

Here is another hanging shot.

Here it is when it came inside to have it's many, many safety pins removed to release it from the bed sheet. Percy immediately took possession.  That cat understands quality.

Heather sent me this photo of her mother of the groom jacket.

Lilo is asleep on my bed, she has more sense than to be up wandering around the cold house at this hour, lol.

Ta-ta, 'til later,
Julie

Brad and Shannon's Wedding photos

Hello, Everyone,

It's a rainy Monday afternoon in San Diego.  I'm listening to Santana's Supernatural.  I'm feeling OK, a little tired after going to Anaheim yesterday in the rain and struggling to walk at the theater in the round, the Heritage Forum.  But the show was great, the kids tried hard.  There were 3 expert Taiko drummers that  knocked everyone's socks off.  The little kids were cute.  Nate loved the Jazz Bans, which was playing swing music.  My friend Leroy was on Sax, and Audrey played guitar.  They had a new drummer, a young kid, and he was super.  Nate stretched out the tail of his toy lizard and played it like a bass viol, in time to the music, so funny. 

Here are some pics of Brad and Shannon's wedding.  Heather and I went swimming to day and afterward stopped for a spot of tea and I got this file from her...   I sure hope this uploaded nicely so you all can see it.

Big sigh,...... Well, one of these days Blogger will let me post this.  Maybe it was too big.  The upload ran all night and then showed error in the morning.


Lilo is sleeping on the foot of my bed, she had a dim view of rainy days and generlly does not bother to get out of bed if it's raining!

See ya,
Julie

It was a great wedding

Hello, Everyone,

It's an early, misty Friday morning.  I'm listening to Julian Bream play guitar.   I feel ok, although my lower back hurts.  I wonder what I did to cause that? Sigh...  Well, my back woke me up and I can't get back to sleep, so I thought I'd share pics of the wedding with you. 

The wedding was lovely and the pics are starting to be posted on Facebook.

My brother-in-law, Ron, made this composite to look like a newspaper.

It was a beautiful spot with a view of the lake, hawks wheeling overhead, some small boats scooting about and others parked in the reeds fishing on the lake, and small airplanes using the lake as a landmark for their left turn toward Mexico.

Notice the hand knit lace weight shawl she is using for her veil.  Yuppers, that's the one I knit. Bead clusters on the points of the shawl and all. 

It was a fun reception.  The food was provided by a BBQ guy, the kind who rolls up with a smoker in tow.  His stuff was really good, the meats were tender and juicy and smokey. The beans were really tasty.  The slaw was good, too.  I was surprised at how good the whole meal was.  Not just a snack, a big plate of BBQ.  Whole lot of fun.  I have this crazy idea to ask the BBQ guy if he smokes turkeys for Thanksgiving...  Hm...  Easy for me.....

Lilo came out, rubbed against my legs and then went back to bed.  She thinks I'm crazy to be up this early.

Have a great day!
Love,
Julie