silk and salami

Hello, Everyone,

Then above is the pic of the white scarf I finished.

 Gottta fill the Christmas gift drawer.

It's a warm Monday night in January (Only in San Diego) and I've been knitting and drinking red wine.  I feel good and I'm listening to Jessie Cook play the rising tide or some such.

I finished a hat that is sink and cotton, so light, for containing my hair with open car windows, not warmth. shiney beads for the magpie in me.

 Dan and I wanted to go out, but instead I made some grilled cheese sandwiches with salami.  Real good.

Here is a pic of the new hat with the Wine Dan has been serving, Chiani style but from California.  I love it, fruity an light red.  Bif glass to boot.

Now Blogger is giving me fits, but it does that, and it's free, so I guess I'll try and work with it.

Good night from Lilo.

Love,
Julie
\

Coronado and Tacos El Paisa

Hello, Everyone,
It's a warm Thursday night in San Diego. Winter, what winter?

Dan and I went over to Coronado and had coffee at the ferry landing. Lovely view of the city from across the bay.  I took pics, but Blogger won't load them just now, error message instead.   I love living in beautiful San Diego!  We also have a new favorite taco shop, Tacos El Paisa on Imperial in the "hood". Super yummy and located near a friend's house where we often go for Buddhist meetings.  Open late to boot.  I think I'm in love.  Carne asada to die for and fresh, hot, handmade tortillas on the side. Wow!  Carnitas also great.

This is the side tray they bring to the table with your order.

If blogger lets me, I'll add the Coronado pics later.  I finished a new hat for myself. Lightweight, not for warmth, but to control my hair in the car with the windows open.  Lightweight yarn, lots of lace holes.  A bit of eyelash to make it fun.  Sock yarn leftovers at the brim where it rubs on my forehead so it's soft and comfy.

See ya,
Julie

Olympic Cafe

Hello Everyone,
It's a cold, foggy Thursday night in San Diego.  I'm crocheting an edging on a scarf for Amber, feelin' good and listening to Jessie Cook play Havana on Pandora.  On the way home from a meeting tonight we stopped at the Olympic Cafe to get some dessert and coffee.  It's at Texas and University.  I had chocolate cake (dense, moist and chocolately) and Dan had Greek cookies, sometimes called wedding cookies. He liked them.

I was trying to get the hunky young waiter in the pic, but he stepped aside.  Must be shy.  Son of the owner.  Nice guy.  He made a fresh pot of decaf for me 10 minutes before closing. We'll have to go back for dinner some time.

Lilo is sleeping on my sweater, cold tonight.
See ya,
Julie

Rub a dub-dub

Hello, Everyone,
It's a cool Wednesday night in San Diego.  I am feeling pretty good and listening to Morning Ride by Nestor Torres on Pandora.

Today I was knitting on a sock(so, what's new, Julie) and a scarf I meant to give Amber for Christmas.  I put it aside and forgot it.  If I finish it now do I just give it to her, so put it aside for next Christmas? Hmmmm.

I also found a gift I forgot to give Nate, but his birthday is coming up soon, so I know what I'll do with it.  I have a band-aid on my finger so it's typo city right now.  More fixin' than typin'.

We did laundry today and afterwards Dan was hungry so we caught the happy hour (Tues - Fri)  at Kaiserhof in OB.  Good German beer on tap.

Hofbrau sign.

Happy hour menu

Crazy patio heaters that look like something NASA would build.

And when all the beer and sausages were over, she brought me strudel and decaf coffee to wash it all down.  The staff is very nice.

Lilo is still outside, must not be cold enough yet.

See ya,
Julie

crochet time?

Hello Everyone,
Its a clear, coolish Monday night in San Diego.  I feel ok and I'm listening to Turkish Night by Ottmar Liebert.

I started a cardigan in crochet.  Mix of colors, bright purple with browns, tan, grey and little bits of pink, red, yellow and white.  Edging in Camel.  Hope it comes out good.  

Had dinner at Western steakhouse in North Park, close to where I had a meeting.  I had the wild west burger, crazy good. 1/2 pound, gyros meat and bacon, BBQ sauce.

Dan had chili cheese fries, also superb.  Thay've added air conditioning.  That's great because we used to say we could only go here in the winter, it's too hot in summer.  Now we can go year round.

Lilo is outside.
See ya,
Julie

Goodbye, Bert

Hi, Everyone,
It's a coolish Sunday evening in January in San Diego.  I think winter lost my address. I'm listening to Incendio on Pandora. Laid back flamenco if you can imagine.

We went Bert Rogoway's memorial this afternoon.  What a character he was. What life, from one extreme to another.  He was so lucky to find Jessica, who loved him no matter what.  With that kind of support, and with chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, of course, he was able to make the changes he needed to in order to become a happy, loving granpa.

I went to dinner with Dare (Thank you, Dare) at a little place called the Bamboo Hut. 9172 Mira Mesa Blvd
(between Black Mountain Rd & Rickert Rd) San Diego, CA 92126

They are Hawaiian and the food is kinda mostly Japanese with some Philipino and a bit Islander.  Lots of tasty Sushi with mac salad, Moco Loco, shreddedKalua Pork from the underground oven, with a side of lumpia and seaweed salad..  Crazy good.  Nice waitress.  When they ask, go for the garlic rice, it's really good, like fried rice with garlic.  Not cheap, not expensive, middling money.  Good selection of Japanese beer, comes with a hot sake on the side during happy hour. 

My lanyard broke, dropping my phone on the floor.  So I made a little purple net purse to keep it safe when I want it on my neck. Now I'm trying to figure out where Dan put it when he put it away

Lilo is bad, must not be cold enough for her.  She bit my leg for no reason so I threw her out and her attitude was, "I've been thrown out of better places before."   She must have been there when they wrote the lyrics to "Born to be bad", or was it " Bad to the bone"?  Bad Kitty! She's 8 years old, but still has no manners.  Anybody want her?  She is as beautiful as she is bad, big sigh.

See ya,
Julie

Usd, LY's Garden

Hello, Everyone,
Its a warm Friday evening in January after an 80 degree day.  Global warming for sure!  I feel pretty good and I'm listening to KROQ (Dan's choice). 

We had dinner at Ly's Garden on 54th street.  They're Cambodian.  The food was great but they were heart-breakingly slow. 45 minutes from order to receipt of food. This made us late for the meeting at Evelyn's new house.  So I cast on a new pair of toe-up socks.

Toes for dinner, anyone?  When the food came it was great. Three dishes. 1 jellyfish salad with shrimp., 2 Peking Duck with steamed buns,3  mixed seafood sizzeling platter with rice.  All Yummy.  Green tea.  They have a full bar, but I was not in the mood. had drinks later at home.  Dan is a great mixologist.  Something very strong with cherries.

I love this place but you have to have some considerable time available.  The duck is to die for.  Crispy to the max and served with heavenly fluffy steamed buns, plum sauce, slivered green onion and cucumber strips. Jellyfish crunchy in a different way, Seafood is great with yummy giant black mushrooms. Not totally cheap, but not expensive either.  About $35 total.

My friend, Judy, found a cute pic of Nate at the World Peace festival at USD last fall and she sent it to me.

We were manning the SGI booth.  That's Alex and Doug with us.  I do this every year and it's lots of fun.

I think Nate has lost weight since then.

Lilo is coming by to say "HI" to all her friends.  She is loving this warm weather.  Attention is a good thing. So she's sitting on my foot, with her back to me. 

See ya,
Julie

knit nite

Hello, Everyone,
It's a beautiful clear Tuesday morning in San Diego.  I'm feeling good and listening to the Gypsy Kings on Pandora.  I cut my foot somehow last night so I'm soaking it in epsom salts.  I'm diabetic, so foot injuries are a high priority. Doesn't hurt, but I must look after it.

I forgot to tell you about knit nite. 
Video won't take in blogger, Damn!
Anyway we had a nice potluck and talked about our knitting. it was a lot of fun.

I finished the navy socks with red trim.  The red wants to roll out, but I'm taking that as a design feature.

19th century Irish rounded Ballbrigan heel and toe, nice soft Swedish yarn. Yummy.  I'll see if one of my DMiL's students wants to buy them. 


I had a quiet night at home alone last night so I finally figured out the new 2 loaf bread maker Heather gave me.  I made a 1 pound loaf of Sweet bread, like Hawaiian or Challah.  The other loaf was an attempt at panetone, with fruits and choc chips.  After the loaf was well underway I read the part about adding the choc chips toward the end, so they were added at the beginning.  The result was they got ground up and the bread is lightly chocolately, light brown, with no visible chips.  Now what I intended but very good.

Something about finishing all the "Must do " items for pressies in December makes the "Want to do" creative monster rise up from out of the depths and surface like a grey whale breaching in January.  (It's that time of year right now in San Diego, grey whale playing in Mission Bay yesterday.) With me it's 4 pair of socks on the needles.  And a lot of things that I switched out because I did not finish at Christmas (Oh, I think she'd rather have this cute easy scarf than that tricky time-consuming pair of socks, wouldn't she?)  Lots of road kill abandoned projects this time of year.  I finished a couple and put them aside for Next year already. HA! People ask me how I gift so many homemade knits and I tell them I start the day after Christmas.  It's true!  Many of the early ones are fail-to-finish-in-time projects from the Christmas just past.

Lilo is being good.  It must have been cold last night.

See ya,
Julie

A sweet time with my Pooh

Hello, Everyone,
It's a clear early Monday morning in January.  The usual fog is missing today.  I feel pretty good and I'm listening to Roger Whittaker on Pandora.

I'm knitting 4 socks on one circ.  One pair  is a black pair with red toes and heels and cuffs.  The other is a dark blue one. I undid the bind off and put it back on the needles with the other pair so that I could add a red top edge to cheer it up a bit.  When I'm done I will have bound off in red on the blue sock and the black ones will be an inch or so longer.  I probably have another #3 circ somewhere, but I did not want to make the effort to find it.  So I'm doing the 4 on1 thing instead.  Also drinking herbal tea and eating bonbons.  The other evening Dan and I were leaving a meeting at 8:30 and thinking about having dinner.  I told him I needed an antacid, so he stopped at CVS to get me one.  He was in there a long time and when he approached the car he was carrying 3 big bags.  That's a lot of antacid, I thought. But, no, it was the remains of an after-Christmas sale on chocolates and cookies.  So now we have a little something for our tea, as Pooh Bear would say.  He is so good to me.

See you later,
Julie

beginning the new year

Hello, Everyone,
So far 2012 is turning out fine.  It's a coolish Sunday night in January in San Diego.  The weather is cool and clear, warm for January.  The full moon is out of this world, bright enough to knit by. I feel fine and I'm listening to Dan play classical music.  No idea what the piece is. 

We had dinner with Dare tonight at Red Lobster.  It was great.  Dare is so wonderful to take us to dinner once a week.  Great kindness to the old folks.

We finally decided on a calendar, bought it anad put it up.  I feel better now.  it's "In the pink". Silly piggy photos.  Nice and funny.

Lilo is being very good.  When it's cold she does not want to get put out, I think. No biting right now.

Heather bought me a new coffee maker (made here is San Diego, Aroma brand, 92123) for a Christmas pressie.  I just love it.  It makes my morning coffee or tea so easy.  4 minutes and I'm smelling coffee.  Nutty Doodle (coffee with hazelnuts, cinnamon and nutmeg).  When you grind the coffee it all grinds in.  Until then you can see the nut pieces in the bag!  I get it from a local supplier in Old Town.  Perfect for winter mornings.  By spring we'll be drinking more tea in the mornings.  In the evening we usually drink decaf tea year round. Like right now, cinnamon spice holiday tea.

Keep warm and snug, my loves.
Julie

Hello, Everyone,

It's a warm Wednesday evening in January, what's with that?  I'm feeling good and listening to Phoebe Snow on Pandora.

I told my friend, My condolences on the new computer thing. I agree about the upgrade/downgrade confusion. I'm still not 100% on my new computer.  I'm still having problems with syncing.

Here's my lil buddy. Cute, huh?

I agree with my friend on Lipton Mandarin Orange Green Tea. Crazy about it. I get my hubby to take me to Denny's for it. Not that we don't have a ton of tea in the house. But sometimes I like to get out...

The time after Christmas feels so great as it is a time of knitting just what I feel like knitting, nothing to do with finishing a list.  I sent a couple of pairs of socks to my mother-in-law that were knit to her specs and she sold them to her students.  So, now I have 3 more pair for her.  I guess I ended up in the custom sock knitting business.  So far so good. 

I hope this link works.  Blogger wouldn't let me post the video so here is a link.
http://external.ak.fbcdn.net/safe_image.php?d=AQByehofL-VpdilM&url=http%3A%2F%2Fvthumb.ak.fbcdn.net%2Fhvthumb-ak-snc4%2F50793_326416430711427_326415854044818_18709_1360_b.jpg

Lilo is back being the "bad kitty".  Last night she decided I was inconvenient to her in my bed, she wanted it all to herself.  So she got up, set her ears back, walked over to my legs and bit me.  I threw her out of the room, big sigh.  Here we go with the bad kitty phase again.  I had hoped she was over that. 


G'nite,

Julie in San Diego, where it is warm right now, like a misplaced spring we lost a couple of years ago, turning up unexpectedly now in winter 2012.  So much for the Mayans, they got it wrong.   Warm winter, not world annihilation.

Maybe now we can blog?

Hello Everyone,
I finally got my camera syncing with my computer.  Maybe now we can blog?

It's a surprisingly warm Tuesday morning in San Diego.  I'm feeling ok, although my right hand is giving me trouble. Listening to Cherry Poppin Daddies on Pandora. It's fun after all the Christmas carols.

These are some Noro socks I'm working on now that the holidays are over.  They look like bark.  Size 1 Crystal Palace needles, as the yarn is very think N thin. I'm not sure I understand why people are so crazy about this yarn.  I finished off 3 pairs of socks after Christmas that were already started.  They are the beginning of my 2012 Christmas gift drawer.  I cut back this year.  Only 71 hand made Christmas pressies.  Next year I will cut back more. I swear, although it's hard.

Lilo sez "Good Afternoon" to all her many fans.  She's lying in the sun of the open dooeway.

See ya,
Julie