Hangin' round downtown by myself

And I had too much caffeine And I was thinkin' 'bout myself

Now that I have finally caught up on my sleep I am ready to go back to work and start all over again. Last week in Jersey was actually much better than expected, even though the training was intense, everyone seemed to find it valuable. This was the most fun I have ever had on a business trip, though I am getting too old to stay up late drinking everynight.

I didn't get as much knitting done as I would have liked ( knitting and caffeine don't mix ) I still managed to do more than I thought. I will post pictures soon.

David left for Albany again tonight. I have Thursday and Friday off this week, so I am planning to take Amtrak up on Thurs and drive back with him on Friday. So far he likes the training and is enjoying the work. He called me little while ago to ask me if I would go to parent orientation at the HS Tuesday night for the boys. I told him I would, this way we know what is going on with the kids now that they have started HS. But it means I will miss LIC SnB, which I am really not happy about - I was looking forward to seeing everyone, especially since I missed last weeks meeting. This will also be Maritza's last Tuesday in NY, she is leaving for Cambridge at the end of the week. I hate to miss it, but David would really like one of us at the school and it is important that we are involved in the boys education so I will have to miss it.

Speaking of Maritza, she just open her own Etsy shop, check it out!

City of the dead At the end of another lost highway

Signs misleading to nowhere

Yes I got lost on the way to Somerset on Sunday. I always get lost in NJ - I swear this state has something against me. My 1 hour drive (ha - even without getting lost it would have taken me more than an hour) took 2 1/2 hours. But I arrived safely and have been working ever since.

I will miss the LIC SnB tmrw - that is what I really regret, but at least David is gone this week too so I am not home alone.

I have finished about 10" on the Sundara Pattern, so I will have progress shots soon. I am liking it more and more as it is knitting up!

I can't wait to get home on Friday though, living out of a suitcase lost it's appeal awhile ago. I am "overly caffeinated" tonight so if I am not making much sense, blame the beer.

Later.......

We're traveled like gypsies Only with worse luck and far less gold

I am leaving Sunday for a week in NJ - another business trip. Yesterday my drive back from Hartford took 3 1/2 hours and my check engine light is on again. Oh well.

I did the swatch for Melissa's test pattern last night - her recommended needle size is 5 but I got gauge with a 3 and I am spot on perfect row and stitch! See:



18 stitches and 31 rows = 4"

So now I have cast on and am knitting the test pattern - I will post pictures as I progress, they will just be slightly obscure, since the pattern won't be available from Sundara till the end of September.

Doesn't the yarn remind you of these:

I showed the yarn to a few people who read my blog and they thought that the picture doesn't do justice to the color.

Figs and leaves and autumn sun

My yarn from Sundara came today:



Isn't it lovely - the color reminds me of a bowl of fresh figs. The color is the picture is a little too bright the yarn is actually much subtler in person. This yarn is so soft and cushy and knits like a dream, I am knitting the swatch now and will post pictures shortly.

On another note - I have joined the International Scarf Exchange 3 - I was a part of both 1 and 2 - the first time I received a lovely loopy scarf in red/black Point 5, # 2 flaked on me and I never received anything, I should have let the organizers know, but I heard from her and she told me she was sending it late so I didn't say anything, but never got the scarf either. I had fun making the scarf for my partner - it was in elann's baby cashmere and I was really pleased with how it turned out. I enjoyed being part of the exchange and that's all that matters, so I signed up for round three.

Tomorrow I will be in Hartford all day, I am hoping I get back to the city by 6 - it is a 2 hour drive from my home to Hartford. I want to get home and work on my new yarn - I want to get it set up before I leave for NJ next week. A whole week at the Doubletree hotel and conference center - oh joy! At least I will have something gorgeous to work on at night!

Someone left the cake out in the rain

I don't think that I can take it
'Cause it took so long to bake it
And I'll never have that recipe again
Oh, no!

Fortunately, I didn't leave it in the rain and I do still have the recipe - here it is:

Flourless Chocolate Cake

7 oz good quality dark chocolate (I used Lindt 1 bar each of 85% Cocoa and 99% cocoa)
200 gr. butter (about 7 oz on the scale - a little less than 1 1/4 sticks)
1 1/4 cup sugar ( if you use a sweeter dark chocolate only use 1 cup sugar) divided in 1/2
4 eggs separated
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350

break up the chocolate and melt with the butter - add the vanilla, cayenne and cinnamon

Beat 1/2 the sugar with the egg yolks till creamy and light yellow
Beat 1/2 the sugar and the egg whites till stiff peaks form

Fold the egg yolk mixture into the the chocolate
Fold the egg whites into the chocolate - gently, it should be light and fluffy.

I use a 2 piece pan - the kind where the bottom separates from the sides so all I did was grease it - if you use a regular 9" cake pan you need to line it with parchment paper then grease it - the cake is very sticky.

Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake at 350 for 40 or till a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Be careful not to over bake - this is more like a souffle - it will rise up very high then drop and the resulting cake is intensely chocolate and chewy, but not very sweet.

This cake tastes best served with whipped cream, or vanilla ice cream on the side.

Enjoy!

I remember, I remember when I lost my mind...

Lots to post today.

[Can I just tell you I hate Justin Timberlake - I have fuse on in the background and the are showing Sexyback - maybe it is just me, but no f*in way sexy and JT go in the same sentence.]

Back to our regularly scheduled blogging

I had a good week, it was great coming hoe to a quite empty apartment, but I missed David a lot at night, I haven't had a good nights sleep since he left last Sunday to go camping. I don't know what I will do while he is away in Albany - Excedrin PM?

At least Tuesday night was LIC knitters, Burt, one of the knitters, brought a shopping bag full of fresh pears. They are sitting in a brown bag in my kitchen ripening. I see a pear tart in my future. I really enjoy Tuesday nights.

I finally got my car fixed - new sensor no check engine light. I brought it in Tuesday morning, but the part never came so I had to bring it back on Wednesday, but now it is running nicely. Oh and I didn't have to drive the VP afterall - one of the Account Manager's took him instead. He was meeting his wife at the airport, she was supposed to arrive at 5, but will all the increased security and tension on Wed, she didn't even board her flight till after 4. I don't think she landed till after 8.

Thursday night I went out with some friends for drinks, it's been a long time since I sat around drinking and laughing with my girlfriends. Seems like all the women I was really close to just drifted away; family, work, life, just seemed to push us apart. Slowly, steadily - like the continental drift, before you realize, the whole map has changed. I didn't notice till it was too late. I had a great time, we were loud, overly caffeinated and laughing really hard. It was a good thing.

Of course Friday morning I wasn't exactly in peak form, and I had to run a webex training session at 7:30 that morning, and I hadn't exactly gone through the material completely beforehand - it's a good thing I can think fast on my feet. I had a professor once that said, if you aren't really sure, but you sound like you know what you are talking about, people will believe you. It's true. I held another session at 4 and that one went smoother.

Last night I went over Marilyn's - we ordered in Greek food and ate out in the yard. I really wish I had a backyard. Today I am supposed to clean house before David gets home tmrw. I am blogging instead.

I won a bid on eBay for cashmere yarn from ColourmartUK 3 cones of 1150 yards each 3500 total:



They are mill ends so the yarn needs to be washed after knitting to bloom, they recommend knitting a swatch, then washing it so see how it looks. It is lace wt so I am thinking I could double it to make a sweater - it would also make a beautiful shawl - maybe I will use one for a shawl and 2 cones together for a sweater, or does anyone know of a good lace wt sweater pattern?

I also ordered 3 skeins of Zephyr from theknitter.com in vanilla:


I am planning on using this for the Flirty Ruffles Shawl from Fibertrends.

and here is the cell phone cover I made:

What should I do with him

~dress him in my apparel and make him my waiting gentlewoman? He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man; and he that is more than a youth is not for me, and he that is less than a man, I am not for him.

So here I sit watching ShakespeaRe-Told on BBC America, drinking vodka and limeade. I have the apartment to myself, David and the boys left this morning for Summer camp, they will be gone all week. When they come back, David will be home for a week then he leaves for 4 weeks trainingg in Albany - he will be home on the weekends, but gone all week. Some time after that he will be going to Atlanta for 2 weeks - I am thinking of meeting him down there for the weekend - it all depends on what his schedule is like and if I can swing it.

Tonight, though I am happily alone, finishing (finally) the back LUG and really enjoying this version of Much Ado!

I went to AC Moore today, bought some more beads, I had a few ideas for some new pieces and I even crocheted a new cellphone holder - I post a picture soon.

Tomorrow I need to take my car in to be fixed - the check engine light keeps coming on and it drives like crap lately - the heat last week didn't help either. I am supposed to drive the new VP back to the airport on Thursday and I want to make sure my car is running and we don't breakdown on the parkway - that would be career suicide!

Through the fiery caverns we sail

Virgil at my side my guide and master
Questing through the nine plains of hell
Infernal wisdom shall fill my soul
Slowly now the days departing
The darkened air releases me

Ok, so maybe it is not that hot out, but it is close. Of course I am now sitting in my office, wearing a fleece jacket over my sundress and my portable heater is on under my desk - that doesn't change the fact that it really is 100 degrees out. The A/C in my building is a little wacked - in the back by the conference rooms, where my office is - is freezing!! But up front where the branch office and the counter are - not so much. The warehouse is a sweatbox.

I have no a/c in my car and normally that does not bother me, see I never planned on Global Warming being part of my car buying decision process. It was so hot driving home last night I was actually feeling a little woosey; when I got home, I jumped in a cool shower and put my pj's on. It was too hot to even go knit with the LIC SnB - the thought of getting dressed again and getting back in my Korean torture devise commonly know as a Hyundai was just too much. I stayed on my sofa with the a/c on going through the new interweave Knits. There are a few patterns in there I would like to make especially the Wonderlust Hoodie and the Swallowtail Shawl. I love when new knit mags show up in my mail.

Tonight I have to run out to the store w/David - he went shopping for work clothes yesterday for his new rr job, he also picked up work boots - 'cept they are 2 different boots and they are both left feet. Now I know he had 2 left feet, but buying boots to fit em won't help that problem.

On another note - one of the women in my SnB makes jewelry and has opened and Etsy shop - check out Susan's work - it is lovely.