Hand Models

I went over to a friend's house this week for craft night. She hosts craft night every 3 weeks. The last time I was there was 6 months ago and I hadn't made any progress on my project. I'm a craft lover at heart but obviously don't make a lot of time for it in my daily life. I have lots of ideas and use to keep a craft journal of future artsy endeavors. My first undertaking was to create a blog where I would try and use the word "craft" in as many sentences as possible until all things crafty in a 10 block radius would spontaneously explode. It was going to be the highlight of my crafting career.

I am trying to relearn knitting. I have only knitted silver wire for my jewelery business and wanted to try yarn. Well I tried it and it was crappy. I'd pick up my knitting project from time to time and contemplate how I could improve it. I concluded if the yarn wasn't going to put in any effort to look better why should I. I decided the best thing for everybody was to punish my knitted mess for being so ugly. So I left it in the corner for 6 months and gave it my best cold shoulder.

Then it was time for craft night. I took my sorry excuse for knitting to my friend's house and tried again. I unraveled my bastard child and gave birth to my new favorite. One day she is going to grow up and be a scarf. Not just any scarf but one that came from a humble Value Village beginning to an overachieving front porch star. She'll put all my other winter accessories to shame. She's only 30 cm long but may one day wrap all around my neck if I don't run out of yarn. When you see me all bundled up on a winter's day sometime in the near future, don't forget to compliment me on my scarf.

Blue Cheese Dip with Sweet Potato Chips

4 large sweet potatoes
3 tbsp olive oil
4 oz blue cheese
2 heaping tbsp cream cheese
1 cup yoghurt
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp fresh rosemary
2 tbsp fresh dill
1/2 tsp hot sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Slice sweet potatoes 1/8 " thick and toss in olive oil. Bake at 415 F for 10-15 on each side or until crispy. Combine the rest of the ingredients together in a bowl. Mash together well and serve with warm sweet potato chips.
NOTE: I would like to take this opportunity to thank my two hand models in the photo above. Laura and Emily, I couldn't of done it without you. There would be no blue cheese dip without your dipping support.

Getting On

I was over at my neighbours house Saturday evening and boy did she put on a good spread. It was a casual late afternoon/early evening thingy and there were appetizers galore. There was guacamole, eggplant relish, crostini with an olives, anchovy, parmesan mixture, homemade pizza, lots of veggies, and lots of good drink. I brought a bean dip. It tasted better than it sounds.

There were several other women there. It was your basic chick party. Our conversation was varied and interesting. At one point we started talking about getting older and how our bodies and faces are changing. The words I heard were not all kind. This was a roomful of attractive, accomplished and intelligent women. We should all be patting ourselves on the back for how awesome we are. I'm not saying I don't have insecurities, or that I've never fretted about being the skinniest or smartest person in the room, but I have never worried about my wrinkles or getting old. I love that I look all of my 38 years, and that I've had the pleasure of living this long. I think our society has it all wrong. Why would you fight against aging when you have no chance of winning. I have no desire to look 20 or to do my twenties over again. I look forward to getting older. Every decade holds new possibilities and I'm eager to greet them even if they come with a few more wrinkles.

Here's the recipe for the dip I made. Bean dip sounds boring but it's worth the trip to beantown. It's guaranteed to make you look your age but you'll look good eating it.

Bean Dip

2 cups cooked kidney beans (1-15 oz can), rinsed and drained
2 tbs fresh lemon juice
1 medium sized tomato
1 to 2 medium cloves of garlic, minced
a handful of parsley
a handful of cilantro
3/4 tsp of cumin
1 scallion minced
1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt
black pepper and cayenne to taste

Peel and seed the tomato by dropping it in a pan of boiling water for 10 seconds. Remove it and peel off the skin. Cut the tomato in half and squeeze out and discard the seeds. Chop the remaining pulp. Put tomato and the rest of the ingredients in a food processor and blend it up. Serve with veggies, chips or eat with a spoon.