Short and Sweet

Hi all
I made salmon tonight from my Wednesday delivery from Blue Apron.  Their photo then mine.

That's Seared Salmon on spinachy barley with sorrel and dill on top.

There's mine looking small, but I think that's because it is a big plate.

And hurray,  I finished the shirt for my son-in-law.  Here it is.

This is, of course, without him in it.  Maybe I will get a photo of him wearing it sometime.

It's map fabric in greys, white, pale blue, tan.  I found the buttons in my button box and they work well with it.

My cat, Eddie, has discovered the blue rug I set my spinning wheel on.

He doesn't seem to mind sharing.

Silly Eddie.  

Until next time, eat a piece of cake.  Enjoy.

My Blue Apron

Ah, it has arrived and as of today I have made 2 of the 3 recipes for this delivery.  What arrived?   Oh this . . . 

My first box from Blue Apron.

Excitement.

Well, insulated.

The veggies on top. Well, they're actually on the table in this photo.

A lemon, an onion, garlic and yellow fingerling potatoes are visible.

This is most of it spread on the counter.

I've invited my friend, Pam, for dinner tonight.  I was too excited to do this first one alone. And so I start preparing.

 Asparagus,chives, ramps and dill.

Shaving strips off the asparagus for a salad.

The cut up asparagus

 The dill.

The ramps.

Browning the fingerlings.

The steaks cooked and resting.

Mixing it up.

Two servings.

Sliced flat iron steak, fingerling potatoes and asparagus with an asparagus and shallot salad topped with creme fraiche, dill and chives.

It was very good and only one pan, but I did use lots of little bowls and plates as I prepared.

Each one of the dishes comes with a Knick Knack bag.

Butter, creme fraiche and a shallot.

Thank you for joining me for my first adventure with Blue Apron.

All gone.

P.S. Please note: The spotty apple which appears in one of the photos above was not used in the preparation of this meal.

Cooking?

Cooking?  Do you love to? Hate it?  Just put up with it?  My cooking story goes like this.   A long time ago, I thought I would like cooking and so I tried to cook.  I was okay.  When I had kids I started to love trying new recipes and even going back in time to favorite meals from my childhood or from "The Little House on the Prairie"   I wanted to make 'vanity cakes' but I never could figure it out. 

Then there was Sesame Street and Ten Tiny Turtles song, so we tried rutabagas and artichokes. I made up a recipe called "Chick-kung Fooey".  We liked it, but not so much any more.

Ten Tiny Turtles Song here

My kids were good at trying new things.  Much later they would cook.  That was fun too.  Now everyone is gone, grown into their own lives and doing well.  Now I don't want to cook.

My daughter who is single cooks for herself and she's a whiz.  She makes things and takes them for lunch and/or freezes it for later. I don't want to do that.  See her yummy blog here. Well, I have done that.  One day about 8 months ago, I made chili,  scotch broth (from the Harry Potter Cookbook) and a mushroom barley thing from Scotland magazine.  This was extremely rare and out of character for me.  It went well as I froze a lot and it was nice to go to the freezer instead of the store.

Here's the Scotch Broth.  The chili was good, but the photos aren't.

You say this isn't a cooking blog?   Yes, you are totally correct.  But I have discovered . . . . . Wait a minute  . . . . . . .

BLUE APRON

It's not something to wear while cooking it's better. Follow the link and read all about it HERE

 Tomorrow my first box of meal ingredients arrives.  Inside will be everything I need to make three meals for 2 people (6 meals for one).  Everything will be fresh and measured out in the amounts needed.  The directions for preparing will be there.

Come back. I will take photos and show what I do.  I hope it will be a great adventure for all of us.

Some Finished

Finished brown batik dress.  Well, in this photo, I hadn't done the hem.  It's done now.  I'm going to stop using my phone for photos, some times it works well, but not always.  This photo is trash.  The dress turned out nicely.  I added a bit of braid at the waist.  I took a close-up, but it was terribly blurry.

Teal jersey top made from a kit from Craftsy.  The price included fabric, thread, and pattern.   In this photo I hadn't attached the front self facing down.  I needed some advice as to how to accomplish that.  The pattern instructions were unclear to me.   I spoke with a very nice gal at Meisner's in Folsom who is knowledgeable in knits.  She recommended Steam-a-seam to hold it down smoothly without showing any stitching.   I have some now and I'm going to give it a try. Thanks to my friend, Pam, for letting me try some of hers.

These garments are made for my two daughters and I'm thrilled they fit.  Perhaps I will get a photo of them wearing them soon.

Also I finished a pair of salmon pink (or coral) crop pants.  By default, my daughter will have them as they didn't work out for the original recipient.  Moi.

In knitting, I finished two piggy dishcloths.  I only have a photo of one of them.  Oh, gosh, I can't find it.  Well, never mind.

I'm thrilled to be sewing and must get on with it.  I'll be back soon.

Post 100

Sometimes when people hit a milestone they want to have a little review.  Me too.  So here goes.

When I started my blog, July 13,  2013, it was called Finishing the Unfinished.  Here is a photo of some of my unfinished items.

The yellow/green socks are finished. The blue pullover (rt) is coming along.


I really wanted to finish the things I had started but it didn't work out for me.  So I changed the name of my blog to Whatever Whenever.  And thus it has remained.

On looking back, I'm not sure at which post I changed the name because Blogger changed the name on all the posts.

The Monkey on the Branch  is one of my favorite posts.  I was showing off my new kitchen curtains which I started and finished in a timely manner.  That was post #14.

Here is the post from one year ago. Almost.  I find myself once again longing for the sea.  I hope that in the future I will live closer to it, so I can go more often.  Maybe every day.

I'll go here.  Want to go with me?














Alas, I have run out of enthusiasm for this post.  I was going to return to one 6 months ago and then a month ago,  but let me just suggest you look them up yourself if you happen to be interested.  The cloudy day has clouded my mind.  This is all right with me.  We are just hoping and praying there will be more rain.

If you like sewing, you may enjoy the The Great British Sewing Bee which you can find on You Tube.  There have been three seasons.  I started with season 2 and so far it's my favorite for the challenges, but all are great. Look for it here.

Ciao.

Finnish Twill Towels

All finished and so happy.  I see room for improvement, but I'm still excited to have woven something beautiful and useful.

A close-up.

Thank you for oohing and aahing over my weaving.  You didn't? You were struck speechless? No?  Oh, well, it's fine.  I like them enough for both of us. :D

Short and sweet this time.  Bye for now.

Checking in

I am still here.  So I'm checking in in case I'm missed.   Since I have finished my Finnish towels, but haven't a photo to share I'll skip that.

Did I tell you I bought a new loom? And while I was there I bought a spinning wheel as well. Both used.

My loom is a Gilmore 40" 4 harness  which I bought at the Gilmore Loom Company in Stockton, CA. When they get one of their looms back in trade, they clean and repair them and sell them with all the equipment that they sell with a new loom.

The owners had just received several items in from someone who was getting rid of them. Some looms and a couple of spinning wheels.  So crazy me, I bought a wheel that looks old fashioned to use at the Gold Discovery Park where I am a docent.  My other wheel, the Schacht Sidekick is just too modern.

You see what I mean?













All these photos are from the internet.

Well, I am off now. I'm cutting out several patterns so I can sew without having to cut out for a while.

       Another beautiful gift from God right out my back door. I happily share it with you.