In between the snipping and the ironing I made the slightly delayed taco salads for dinner. There’s ground pork cooked with onions, salt, cumin, chili powder, granulated garlic and granulated onion. I warmed the tortilla chips then topped them with the meat, refried beans, lettuce, tomato, avocado, cheddar cheese, green onions and a homemade version of ranch dressing. It was very quick and easy, just what I needed on such a busy knight, err night.

Here’s the latest bag. This one goes to Carole who’s name I drew from among the folks donating to my Relay For Life fundraising campaign. I love the little stripey pocket. Thanks again Carole! I’ll pop it in the mail today.

Now it’s time to draw another name.

When you have teenage boys, you never know *what* you’ll get as a Mother’s Day gift. Chris called me Sunday morning in the midst of finishing a 30-page paper for one of his classes. He was a bit punchy and hyped up on too much caffeine but it was lovely to hear from him. Daniel made this ring in art metals- it’s a skull and crossed knitting needles. Hmm…

And there’s still more sewing going on. I made a set like this for Debbi as a thankyou and presented it to her last Sunday, I think she liked it. Just her colors!

This morning I baked some more of these chocolate cookies (half of them as a thankyou and the other half are coming for a late knitting session tonight). These are the same chocolate cooking that I baked for the picnic last Saturday. When he saw them he wanted to know why I always bake good cookies to take somewhere and weird cookies for home. Weird cookies? I have no idea what he means by that.

Chocolate Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Transfer butter to the bowl of a mixer and beat together with the sugar at medium speed 2 or 3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and beat another 2 or 3 minutes until the mixture emulsifies. Gradually add the dry ingredients a little at a time until they are all incorporated. Chill batter about 45 minutes.

Form mixture into balls about 1-inch in diameter and space about an inch apart on a nonstick cookie sheet. Press them with a fingertip to flatten slightly. Bake ten minutes. Cool 5 minutes on the pan and then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Daniel’s been working hard in art metals class. The ring on the left is a sword he was making that didn’t turn out so he bent it and created a ring. The white one is some sort of a shield that was then shaped into a ring but I can’t recall what type of shield he said it was. He’s got some other nice projects but those are Christmas gifts so I won’t show them yet. This week they are learning to anneal glass powder onto metal by firing in a kiln. It looks amazing.

Yesterday I put together a Chinese takeout bag for Jena’s pink auctions. I had done the pink and white knitted bracelet but the end came undone as I was giving it to her. I don’t want someone to pay for something and have it come apart so I’ll save the bracelets until I work out the kinks and stick to things I have more experience with. This pattern was a first for me and it’s got a few little kinks but nothing fatal I think. There are some flaps on the inside that I’ll modify next time to make them smaller and this was my first attempt at a hand buttonhole. I like the hand-done one much better than machine ones so I think I’ll keep trying at this and hopefully I’ll improve. It seems much sturdier, I’ve always been annoyed by the machine ones that invariably fray.

Daniel is taking art metals this semester and the first project was a cuff. His teacher was very complimentary and he’s really pleased with how it came out. I think he’s really going to enjoy that class. He’s already drafting out a design for the next project.

I’m really going to miss the CSA pickups when they are over. So often now I base my Wednesday dinner before knitting on what’s nicest in the box. Yesterday I used some leftover brown rice for a stir fry.

CSA stir fry

2 cups cooked and cooled brown rice
1 summer squash, chopped
4 beets, peeled and chopped
1 small green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 small yellow bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 small red onion, peeled and chopped
garlic seasoning
2 teaspoons low sodium soy sauce
olive oil

Saute onions and veggies in olive oil until soft, season with garlic salt. Toss rice with a bit of olive oil and soy sauce and add to the saute. Cook until heated through.