See, I did come back!

Busy weekend for me ...lots of running around and yesterday and today were soooo windy that it's just exhausting to be out.

Let's see. Yesterday. Started out with a venti iced soy latte and newspaper from Starbucks (mmmmm) and then drove to the park to enjoy the beautiful morning. (This was before the wind really picked up). It was a lovely morning and the park was great.

Then we decided to go to Hyde Park and kick around there for awhile. Stopped at Fresh Market http://www.thefreshmarket.com/ to get some of their ciabatta rolls and some quinoa as they were having a very good sale on that. The rolls make great sandwiches so I got regular and multi-grain. Yummy.

Then went to Sur La Table to pick up a glass container for juice drinks. Oh yeah...a few weeks ago I broke down and got a VitaMix www.vitamix.com and have been making vegetable/fruit drinks everyday. I haven't used it for anything else but am working my way up to it. I tend not to use machines for any cooking if I don't have to but this will be good, especially for crushing nuts because it's so strong that I don't have to soak them overnight anymore. Also got a tiny whisk to use for mixing egg replacer as I figured it will work better than a fork.

Next we stopped at Popeye's because mom loves their jambalaya. I just sit and watch her enjoy it because there isn't anything there for me to eat but that's fine with me. After the latte I wasn't hungry anyway.

Next was a stop at Hank www.hankyarn.com to get a pair of size 7 dpn's. Now I know that I have some because I used them a few months ago but I can't find them anywhere! I keep all needles in the same place but it's not the worst thing because I didn't really like that pair..old and plastic ..so I bought a pair of HiyaHiya stainless steel's 6". Much better. I had to have them because the other day I inadvertantly shrunk (whisper that) one of my socks that I designed. *GASP*. I didn't realize that I had thrown it in the wash. I was surprised that it felted since it's a front loader but the good thing is that I had only washed one so I only have to reknit one. So now I have a lovely set of dpn's to work with.

Let's see....where did we go next? Oh yes...Coffee Emporium http://www.coffee-emporium.com/ to get some tea. I bought some Walnut green, which has pieces of walnut and  pineapple (I'm having a pot now), and a few other kinds. Plus they have a tea/coffee club where you buy so much and then you get 2 ounces of tea free and I think it's a half pound of coffee. So I got my free 2 oz of walnut green and now I'm set for awhile.

The last stop was Penzey's spice store www.penzeys.com which was great fun. We went a few weeks ago but I was running out of the dehydrated garlic (the Best!!!) and I was there so why not? Picked up some different spices and can't wait to try them.

The other day was so chilly that I stayed and did some slow cooking in the crock pots. Made some bean and cabbage soup and tempeh choucroute garnie which is basically tempeh and sausage with sauerkraut,potatoes, caraway seeds and juniper berries. Just delicious. I will definately make both again.

Just finished another kal for the solidsockknitters group on Ravelry. The theme was yellow and the yarn is something that I had in my stash. I made them for Amanda and I hope she likes them.

Okay. Off to make some more tea and knit. Have a great night.