January 03, 2007
A Wiser Woman
What I learned during the holidays:
1. My ability to cook is directly related to my ability to acquire bananas. Cooking and I—ever ships in the night. But somehow during the last three weeks I’ve made two banana cream pies and one loaf of banana bread, all consumed by others with a minimum of digestive discomfort and even a modicum of delight. On New Year’s Eve there was even, I believe, a small bloodless spat over the last slice of banana bread. My heart runneth over.
My trick for good banana bread: Use buddah and, please God, leave out the nuts. The loaf will be heavy enough to sink a ship but will be uber bananalicious. If the bread is cold, nuke it just enough to melt, need I say it?, more buddah.
2. Still on the subject of cooking and, indeed, bread-like products, there is no better way to start the new year than with a slice of home-made bread, courtesy of TMK and her KitchenAid mixer:
Drooling much?
3. Dulaan hats make good Christmas tree ornaments. The proof, thanks to knitter Jo. However...
4. Eight hats stacked on top of each other, rather than looking fetchingly decorative, look like the world’s largest, outlandishly striped, knit and, one would assume, woefully itchy condom, especially when the hat on top is finished with an i-cord rosette.
That, and I desperately need an intervention because that is, indeed, eight Dulaan Avalanche Hats, one knit pretty much right after the other because I Could Not Stop. So that my brain didn’t explode with the sameness of it, I made them all a wee bit different, including one which, sadly, came out looking like a shower cap. (Hmmmm. I knit things that look like condoms and shower caps. Perhaps it’s time for me to retire from this particular craft before I do irreperable damage to the Mongolian psyche.) I used seed stitch (the original stitch called for), double seed stitch, triple seed stitch, miscellaneous purl rows thrown in to break up the pattern, a purl crown instead a stockinette one, stacked triangles—oh, I went completely whackadoo, yes, indeed.
5. Under the right circumstances, I will flip-flop on even my most sacred of beliefs. Watch.
The Sacred, Unshakeable Belief: I hate bobbles. Loathe bobbles. Consider them the creamed spinach of the knitting world, the nails-on-a-chalkboard of the knitting world, the smell-of-half-a-ton-of-dead-fish-rotting-in-the-afternoon-sun of the knitting world. Would gladly sell my soul to Beelzebub before ever putting a bobble on a knitted item.
Then I came across this picture.
The Flip-Flop: Perhaps there’s a place in this world for bobbles after all. Badda-bing, badda-boom; I’m a soulless, spineless wonder.
Either that or I want to have a baby. Everybody panic.
Hats are easier to make, and easier to store.
Posted by: MaryB in Richmond on January 3, 2007 10:46 AMAnd a whole heck of a lot less expensive to create and maintain. Nor will a hat refer to you as 'old and brittle' when it reaches adolescence.
Welcome back!
Posted by: no-blog-rachel on January 3, 2007 10:52 AMI have two banana loaves in the oven right now, without nuts of course!
The hats make me think of a box of crayons, love the colours. Now that holiday knitting is over, Dulaan look out.
You may like the bobbles on Sarah's hat, but little Sarah looks *pissed*.
She's still adorable, though.
Posted by: Kirsten on January 3, 2007 11:22 AMThat photo makes me remember the book, "Caps for Sale!"
Dear Lord, no babies! Puppies yes, babies no. Actually, I think that pic should come with a cuteness warning label. You know, like the monkey petting the cat pics?
Kathy
Welcome back and I've never tried banana bread without nuts. Can you actually DO that? I don't know...
Nice stack 'o hats, fer sure.
Well, except for that unfortunate morphine incident of the past year, I'd vote baby. But those still look like yarn boogers to me.
I schmear my banana bread with cream cheese. YUM. I like it when it's cool, because the top gets sticky. Damn, I need some banana bread.
i'm allergic to bananas. i can't even stand the smell of banana bread cooking *shudder*
however, i love creamed spinach. to me, bobbles are the banana bread of the knitting world.
and i'm on a hat frenzy as well
Posted by: minnie on January 3, 2007 12:02 PMIt's not the bobbles. It's just that time of year. I was thinking babies the other day, too. I keep hoping the feeling will pass before the boy finds out. o.0
Oh, and thank you. Now I need banana bread. :?
Posted by: Cookie on January 3, 2007 12:04 PMYes! I thought of "Caps for Sale" too!
Posted by: Emily in Philly on January 3, 2007 12:05 PMAmen! Bring on the butter and please hold the nuts! My favorite banana product though is banana cake, and excellent recipe passed down from my mother and (I suspect) my grandmother before that. It refers to things such as a "shallow pan" and a "moderate oven". The best way to eat it (after it is more than a few hours old)? COLD from the fridge, with room-temp butter. Yum.
Posted by: carrie on January 3, 2007 12:15 PMI'm very fond of banana bread myself, though I admit liking the male version too :)
Your hats are wonderful and I love the picture of the stack there. Great colors!
You are NOT spinless because you think those bobbles on that hat are acceptable and cute. You are flexible and adaptable in your feeling about bobbles rather than rigid and unyeilding. A smart person knows when changing their mind or making amendments to a previously unassailable opinion is dersireable :)
So good to be a reasonable individual, isn't it?
Posted by: Robbyn on January 3, 2007 12:17 PMThat sure is one biiiiiggggg condom.
Posted by: Leanne on January 3, 2007 12:26 PMI guess this, our day of disagreement, had to happen eventually. Pecans when I'm lazy, black walnuts when I'm willing to endure the shelling process, and macadamias when my pants are especially fancy. But no nut? Whatrya supposed to do to keep your teeth busy?
Posted by: marylee on January 3, 2007 12:31 PMCompletely off-topic (except for another vote here for "Caps for Sale" - whoo-hoo for memorable children's literature!): thanks, Ryan, for making your Dublin Bay socks pattern available gratis. My just-finished pair, in Wildfoote Purple Splendor, is my first FO of 2007, and absolutely splendid. Grazie!
Posted by: jeanne on January 3, 2007 12:42 PMBanana loaf trick: use mini chocolate chips instead of nuts. Yum!!!
Posted by: Sharon on January 3, 2007 02:41 PMI think Sarah's hat looks infected. :p
Posted by: Jessica on January 3, 2007 04:53 PMHey, I like creamed spinach. Don't diss my creamed spinach. I agree with you on the b-bread recipe, not nuts and lots of buddah (yum). Oh, and the bananas have to be really brown and mushy.
I've got a Dulaan hat and scarf on the needles.
Posted by: Kat on January 3, 2007 05:48 PMEven into my second cup of coffee I read what you wrote thusly: "My trick for good banana bread: Use *buddha* and, please God, leave out the nuts." Your imprecation, therefore, hit my mind as such a complex melange of theology and cookery that my head exploded. Thanks, Cuz. Now look at this mess I have to clean up. Mooj! You bring that back here right now!
Posted by: Cuzzin Tom on January 3, 2007 06:47 PMMore appropriate bobbles for you: http://jennnknits.livejournal.com/6756.html#cutid1
and on the booger: http://gonzopants.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=283&g2_serialNumber=2
I personally think you and TMK would make fabulous parents. What a talented kid you'd produce-knitting, cooking, woodworking, graphic design, charity-running, animal-loving, bobble-hating [truly important IMHO!], gardening... But, dude, I gotta talk to you about that banana thing--EEEWWWWW!!!
Posted by: Kristen on January 3, 2007 08:38 PMWelcome back Ryan and TMK! Hope you had a blessed holiday! I love banana bread, but never had it sans nuts......must try that. Of course you realize that TMK is slowly developing into superheroine status? She does so much with yarn and wood, still has a cute dog AND makes what looks like yummy bread? Sweet Madre Dios, can you clone her? I've got first dibbies on a TMK clone...........
Posted by: Nancy O. on January 4, 2007 07:02 AMOnce my eyes focused properly and I realized you were not suggesting the key to good banana bread was Buddha, I did indeed begin to drool. And I like it better without nuts, too.
In your spare timely, kindly knit me the guy who goes along with that condom. Thank you.
Posted by: Franklin on January 4, 2007 10:33 AMI was doing okay, Jen, until I read "bobbles on the booger". Nuts or no nuts, I'm done now.
Posted by: joan on January 4, 2007 11:31 AMSee, I turn my back for a few measly months and you now like bobbles and want a baby?
Good grief Charlie Brown. :)
Posted by: Lisa in Oregon on January 4, 2007 11:41 AMI love your hats! If I squint a little, they look like one giant hat a la Marge Simpson!
Posted by: Pat in Virginia on January 4, 2007 12:58 PMIt is totally the adorable little girl selling the bobbles. She could wear anything and our ovaries would ache.
Posted by: Laurie on January 4, 2007 01:47 PMI like me some chopped walnuts baked on *top* of the b-bread. I've named my Kitchenaide...Ms. Blessyou. I love her. I have to admit to hating bobbles but couldn't agree more about Sarah's hat, seriously cute.
Posted by: Marianne on January 5, 2007 04:42 AMThose are not real bobbles, so it's ok to like them. I think they are just crocheted on after. Crocheted polkadot bumps. Yep. I can't help with the baby thing, though.
Posted by: mary lou on January 5, 2007 05:54 AMwell, now I don't feel so bad for reading it as *Buddha*, too, with such illuminaries as Cuzzin Tom and Franklin doing the same.
However, we won't mention how MANY times I had to read it before it registered as *butter/buddah* instead of *Buddha*.....
:-p
Posted by: Phyllis on January 5, 2007 09:01 AM