Here's what I came up with for this week's tilapia lunch -

Recipe and some yummy yarn comin' up tomorrow!

My new toy!

It's here at last! A new yarn ball winder from Joann. After hearing about nightmares from knitters that tried to knit directly from a hank without winding it into a ball first, I spent some time learning how to wind a center pull ball by hand. Then I figured, a $23 investment in a ball winder was worth the time I would be spending in winding about 440 yards per hank by hand. So, I bought it, tried it and love it. I don't have a swift so I ended up using a upturned table leg and my foot to keep the yarn stretched. The key is to keep the yarn taut, both at the yarn guide (that metal thing you see) and at the hank to avoid tangles.

The yarn you're seeing is Knitpicks Shadow in Sunset Heather - a lace weight yarn that is about to become a fan and feather scarf for my sister. My first lace project. On size 3 needles!!!


Speaking of needles, I have 3 active projects and 2 on hold. Here are the active ones.

Basic ribbed hat in Lion Homespun (Quartz), size 11 needles - I made this hat first in a different pattern with a ribbed brim and garter body. But it ended up pretty large, so this time I cast on 48 and am sticking with k2p2 ribbing throughout. For my sis to go with her Homespun scarf in the same colorway.

A felted tote in Cascade 220. I'm using this free pattern - http://www.gogetyoursmock.org/TheCocoBagWeb.pdf.

My first attempt at socks using Knitpicks Palette in Blush. I'm not using any one pattern, but rather combining several tutorials I found online. I think I may have made a mistake by choosing to use all 5 needles, but so far I'm not having any trouble with it.

On hold I have a shawl I started in Homespun Baroque back when I still thought Homespun was good value. I'm using Bryspun needles with it which is the absolute wrong combination. Plastic + Acrylic = Squeaking! It gets on my nerves so it's on a shelf until I free up my metal needles to work on it. The pattern is a diamond stitch pattern I converted into a shawl.
The other project on hold is an afghan I'm making in Knitpicks Suri Dream, which is a brushed suri alpaca. It's pretty, soft and easy to work with once you get the hang of it. The roadblock here is the size of the afghan. It's huge and being worked in a garter st (anything fancy is lost in this yarn), so it's much slower than I'd expected.
Happy Tuesday!

For quite a while now, I've wondered at the American fascination with all food Italian. Food Network seems to be dominated with Italian cooks, some sounding authentic some not so much. Consider that Germans constitute the largest ancestry group in America, and as of 2000 only about 5.6% of the population was made up of Italian origin. So guess which cuisine has caught everyone's fancy? Yup, IT food.

Over time, however, my taste buds have cleared up any confusion my brain might have had. And inasmuch as my limited knowledge of Italian food goes, I'm a fan. For our dinner last night, I chose to make the most common of them all - pasta.

This is whole wheat penne rigate in a roasted red pepper sauce with bay scallops. Easy, yummy, healthy. Hard to beat that.
I sautéed half an onion with 3 cloves of chopped garlic until golden brown, then added a jar of fire roasted red peppers (chopped). Season it with salt, oregano and red chili powder. Puree the mixture in a blender, then back to the pan. Adjust seasoning, add some parsley. Cook the pasta as per the package directions. Drain well and add to the sauce. Toss, top with a tiny bit of grated good parmigiano-reggiano cheese.
I served it with lightly sautéed veggies and homemade bread. Piacere!

Alpaca and Tilapia

How appropriate that my first real entry should be about two delightful discoveries.

First, alpaca. A beautiful animal, exquisitely soft fiber. As a relatively new knitter, I have seen alpaca classified as a luxury fiber often enough to expect it to be priced much higher than it actually is. I recently acquired 2 ultra-soft balls of KnitPicks Andean Treasure in Sunset, a couple skeins of Elann Peruvian Pure Alpaca in Garnet and some Baby Alpaca DK in Tan by Plymouth. Here's all that gorgeous yarn. More on these when I knit them up.

Next discovery - a new way to make Tilapia that Mr.P and I totally dig. Now, I've never been a fish fan. Probably never will be. But Mr.P enjoys it and I know all the yah yah's about how its healthful and mild-tasting, and therefore we have.. the crispy pan-fried tilapia! Magic with Old bay.

Recipe:
1. Sprinkle both sides of the tilapia fillet with old bay seasoning and let it marinate in the fridge for about 30 min.
2. Make a coating with - 1 tbsp yellow cornmeal, 1 tbsp all-purpose flour, 1/2 tsp old bay seasoning.
3. Heat a non-stick skillet and add a teaspoon of mustard oil.
4. Pour 1/4 tsp buttermilk on either side of the fillet and spread with fingers, then coat with the above mixture.
5. W hen the oil is hot, place the coated fillet in it and do not stir or move around. Flip and cook the other side.
6. Cook each side for 3-4 minutes. Tilapia is done when the flesh is fully white and it flakes easily.
7. I serve this with steamed/roasted vegetables and a small portion of brown rice or couscous.

After much hemming and hawing

I finally have a blog!