Some thoughts on recipes and recipe boxes and oh yeah, some knitting

Lately I have been cooking more, and looking at more food blogs and recipe books, and I have noticed something. Cookbook writers and food bloggers will go on. Gluten-free Girl, for example, who has a really excellent recipe for pasta sauce that runs to a whole page, takes a paragraph to say "heat up some oil in a pan." That's just for example; I see a lot of gooey rhapsodic undisciplined length in food blogging that makes me think about recipe boxes.

Remember them? Our grandmother and mothers used them, because all their recipes fitted on little cards. That's what I'm nostalgic for these days. And about the time I was savaging a stack of food-blog printouts with my red pen, subliminally editing things down to recipe-card size, Kay got a notion to run a recipe-box contest.

If you stayed awake during first semester econ (I know I did, out of sheer terror), you'll know that the day Kay decides to have a vintage recipe-box contest is not a good day to shop eBay for vintage recipe boxes. Kay and Ann have the power to make or break whole economies; everybody knows that. Nevertheless, I was able to secure one I liked for $2.99. Plus shipping, of course; that's how they getcha.

It's actually sort of semi-vintage; it's from the 70s, pretending to be from the 30s. The 70s really had a thing for the 3os, which is why I love the 70s. That and the fact that I'm from the 70s. Anyway, it's got a really nice view of Niagara Falls on the side of the box, which adds class. (Up top is my dad's recipe for bran muffins; it's one of the few examples of his handwriting I own. It's precious, though I prefer how Ed Brown's come out.)

So I hear we're in for a wintry mix this weekend, and I plan to spend it organizing my recipe box. Because I finished my Joelle's Favorite Yoke Sweater. Yay! There wasn't much light today; I'll have to take a picture tomorrow.

Kniting Garden Party

Happy July - and stunning outdoor knitting weather! And eating as well (of course):Ginger Snaps, Prosciutto Wrapped Melon, Blue Cheese Stuffed Olives & Tomolives, Snap Peas, Pesto Bruschetta Toasties, and (not chown) delicious homemade Orange Florentine Lace Cookies, much Cheese and Crackers, Macaroons, and also, Raspberry Pear Tarts:After the initial feeding frenzy, to the Knitting!

I diligently plowed through La Chou......
....looks like lettuce, no?
...And helped Max get started on hers. The Invisible Cast-On seems to be one of those things that is so freakishly simple that you just cannot grasp it (similar to, say, a YO the first time you do it). The pattern, not being charted, is a nuisance to make sense of, but seems to come together after some initial hiccups. I think I'm finding it to be overly complicated in the wordiness.

While the knitting of La Chou is technically an -along, I cheated and cast on the end of last week, and made some progress prior to yesterday's knitting. I've found this to be a handy/helpful way of going about things; I can act as our knitting group's Beta Tester. I can get a grasp of the pattern and the "voice" it is written in, along with noting any errata or potential snags. I think it's my SuperPower - you know, for when I become a SuperHero. "Fixes knitting issues and patterns at a moment's notice!" What will my name be? What will YOUR name and superpower be?

Ramen

My co-worker brought me a whole bunch of ripped-out yarn. I thought he was bringing me a huge bag of Ramen: