El Paso 2015

Dave and I went to El Paso mid April for the national bowling tournament.  I have never been to Mexico and normally would have been thrilled to bring my passport along to walk across the border.  However, El Paso borders Juarez and due to the recent drug cartel activity, violence and travel warnings, we steered clear of all that.  We restricted our driving to I-10 which was insane and awful to navigate but even further south was the border highway where you had to pay tolls.

 I did my homework before we left and wanted to go to The Saddleblanket.  It's a 2 acre souvenir store off I-10.  There are one way service roads on either side of I-10 that lead to the businesses there and God help you if you miss your turn because you have to get back on I-10 to turn around and when you try to ease back into the traffic on these service roads, you hold your breath and punch it because there are no traffic lights.  We are used to the spread out midwest where we have clover leafs and wide turn around areas.  Every time we were out driving, it was always busy.  Always.

 We walked through the entire two acres and I got this woven basket/bowl for $16.  They had beautiful and colorful Mexican pottery but I knew I'd never get it home in one piece and I bought Polish pottery last year and didn't need any more.  This shop does ship anywhere though.  They had all manner of southwest decor and items.  Dave passed on a rattlesnake skin wallet. 

 Another place off I-10 was the Ranch Market chain of grocery stores.  It was a Mexican import grocery and I'd called ahead asking if they had Mexican vanilla.  The woman I spoke to assured me that they did in aisle 6 but when we got there, they had only Molina brand which I can get here in town at Cub. 

 It was interesting walking around in there and looking at everything.  They had a whole bar of agua frescas which are flavored waters ladled out to order.

They had a whole area of fresh authentic border/Mexican food as well as seating to eat it.

One of my favorite things was visiting Wyler Aerial Tramway for a view of the Franklin Mountain Range.  $8 buys you a round trip ticket up and down the mountain via gondola car where you can look into Juarez and New Mexico.  You can see a quarry in the background of this photo where components for asphalt are excavated.

There is a one way ticket option for $4 for those who want to hike up and ride down or ride up and hike down.  I was amazed there weren't people laying on the mountainside with broken ankles because the "trail" looked absolutely treacherous!  One of the biggest disappointments was the Rio Grande.  I thought it would be a thunderous river like the Mississippi but it is in fact a stream!  You can literally step over it!  There were telescopes up on the mountain and we were sure we'd see it from up there but friends of ours took a tour around the city and area and reported this disappointing news to us.

Clint Eastwood starred in a movie called Blood Work featuring a scene filmed at the tramway site.  You can see the autographed red movie poster in the background of this photo.  The tramway boasts the highest altitude gift shop in all the southwest.  I bought a compulsory patch here.

 They also had the highest altitude toilet!

We stayed at the La Quinta on Mesa street which was ideal to drive up the street to see what businesses El Paso had to offer and also the University of Texas El Paso campus.  We visted Belle Sucre Bakery and scored some macaroons!  They were delicious (better than Cossetta's) and very local and unique.  The cinnamon dusted white one on the left was a horchata macaroon which is based on a rice pudding drink that is common in Mexico.  The magenta one was a jamaica flower or hibiscus flavored one, the yellow a mango-lime (which was my favorite) and the green was pistachio.  Dee-LISH. 

 Speaking of the La Quinta, we stayed there because it was cheap, clean and quiet and they also had free breakfast every morning.  Not only did they have free breakfast, but they had a Belgian waffle iron in the shape of the state of Texas!  If that doesn't make you want to stay there, I don't know what will!  I had one every morning for breakfast!

This is one of the lamp post banners in the downtown area made to look like Mexican cut paper decorations.  The bowling stadium was set up in the Civic Center and if you walk across the street and down El Paso Street, you will enter the "shopping district" of El Paso.  To me, the term "shopping district" evokes brand names and specialty stores.  That was not the case in El Paso.

 The shopping district instead consisted of a few blocks of packed stores of mainly made-in-China household items, seconds and expired foodstuffs.  Lots of Mexicans cross the border to frequent these shops.  We saw lots of lingerie, household goods, licensed sporting goods, jeans, etc.  Most shops were so closely packed that you had to walk sideways.

 Here is the interior of a typical shop.

 I did get a clear vinyl tablecloth ($3) for my IKEA table and a mock vinyl crocheted lace tablecloth ($5) to put over top of it.  I have to say it looks quite stunning even if it is fake vinyl crochet.  A friend of ours traveling with us used to run a store and said she used to sell those same tablecloths for $30 so I think I got a deal.

At the very end of the street is the border area.  To the left is the walking bridge to cross and you can see Mexicans coming across to shop.  To the right of the administration building was a huge parking lot.  We walked a little further and were stopped by security.  They said we could safely walk a little further without crossing the border but not to take any more pictures.  We turned around and went back.  Never did get to see the Rio Grande. 

I asked a park ranger at the tramway about Mexican imports and he recommended El Loco to us.  We found it on Sunday but it was closed as were many businesses we noticed. 

They had authentic Mexican pottery-like you see when you watch Rick Bayless-for a song.  I bought a small pitcher for $2.50 and a platter for $5.  I also got a rosary with the Virgin of Guadalupe for $1.25 and the beads were the color of the Mexican flag.

They had all manner of Mexican candy but I never took Spanish in high school and couldn't read what they were.  I did get several teas and bought some of this peanut candy.

I spent $10 on a cast iron made-in-Mexico tortilla press which incidentally put me over our suitcase weight with Southwest.  I hate Southwest, I won't lie.  I've been spoiled by Delta, Northwest, Icelandic Air, KLM and heck, even SAS when they were up and running.  The worst they ever did to me was put the shameful "heavy" tag on my bag.  Southwest was going to charge me $75 for the suitcase being over 50 lbs unless I could remove items.  I rifled through my suitcase at the check-in desk and stuffed Dave's bowling shoes and the table cloths into my carry-on.  I could have taken the tortilla press out but I was worried security would have a problem with that in my carry-on.  This store only carried Molina vanilla too and just as well because if I'd bought jugs of Mexican vanilla, I wouldn't have been able to get it home.

We visted the Magoffin House which was a treasure trove of local history.  We were the only ones on our hourly guided tour and learned all kinds of history of the area.  It was right smack downtown between the jail and the courthouse and bail bonds businesses and retirement homes.  God bless the historians that saw the value of preserving and saving what they could of this significant property.  $4 for adult admission but we got a 2 for one admission because of Dave's bowling coupon book.  Well worth the visit.

Speaking of bowling, of COURSE there was plenty of bowling on this trip.  We saw these huge bowling pin pinatas everywhere, even at Magoffin House.  I overheard some poor airport employee exclaim, "I am so tired of bowling balls!" 

 I did find it amazing that they'd BROUGHT a bowling stadium to El Paso.  The entire set up, including the same vendors, was the same as in Reno.  How do they haul all that and replicate it?

 Here is a picture of my El Paso knitting.  I am working on a Zick Zack scarf from the Katia yarn I bought in Poland.  It is a lovely mindless scarf but I had to place markers between all my repeats or I lose track of where I am.  Really liking this knitting.

And on the subject of knitting, if Dave gets to bowl in a tournament that requires air travel, then Katie certainly deserves to visit the local yarn shop!

 In this case it was THE local yarn shop because this was the only one I found in El Paso.  I can't imagine they wear a lot of sweaters in Texas! We went to Mayaluna Yarns and it was very close to our hotel and well worth the trip.

Fabulous selection of yarns so I tried to find something I couldn't get at my own LYS.  Pictured is the wonderfully helpful Bethany who assisted me.  We were there on a Friday shortly after opening because Dave had team practice that afternoon and the next days the shop was open, we were busy with his bowling.  She also showed us the gorgeous crochet project she was working on.

 I came away with 6 skeins of Araucania sock weight and 4 skeins of some Louisa Harding.  The latter I have in mind for another Zick Zack scarf and the former is for a cardigan I've been eyeing.

Dave and I have been PAINTING for the last 2 weekends!  I took some before pictures of our upstairs bathroom but forgot to take pictures of everything else.  We also painted our downstairs entryway, hallway, bathroom and living room.  My parents were up visiting the first weekend we were home and my mother showed me how to spackle, remove and replace caulking, paint and hang items using anchors.  Now that I've had Mother's Bob Villa Home Course In Decorating, I'm ready to tackle the rest of the house bit by bit.

My brother and his family are moving to Duluth next month and gave us their sectional sofa for our upstairs living room and I can't tell you the difference it makes!  Now Dave has his little man cave sports area downstairs with the big TV and I have a sofa to recline on upstairs to watch PBS.  Our house is truly starting to look like a house.

We came home to this mystery bush in our front garden blooming.  We missed it the first summer we were in the house and I forgot to take pictures of it last year.  Dad did a bunch of garden work for us in the front yard when they were here.  He trimmed back our rose bush, planted a peony bush he brought from Iowa, and planted a bunch of pansies. 

My sister in law and nieces also visited us that weekend with their beagles and I just love this picture of my niece eating a beef stick with 3 dogs intently watching her.  Spring has certainly sprung here and after today, maybe summer is here too!

Hummus Among Us

 Yesterday I made hummus!  I love the stuff and always bought it ready made in the store but my sister and her husband have made it at home for years using canned chickpeas.  We stayed at their home in Rochester for Easter and I always have to make a trip to the International Spice and Grocery when in town.  I am never disappointed there and stocked up on all kinds of stuff.  Not only did I buy the tahini and dried chickpeas for the hummus, but I also got citric acid and almond oil for bath bombs, 20# of kalijira rice, Bosnian/Turkish coffee, a couple different teas, CHOCOLATE, etc.  It is a little oasis for the Muslim community in Rochester.  They have international newspapers and movie rentals, toiletry and hygiene products that are also common in the UK, Bosnian/Turkish coffee sets and cezve/ibriks, cookware and bakeware, etc.  I love this store and usually have to be dragged out of there.  My brother in law is pretty chummy with the owner too, so I feel like I have connections!  ;)

Back to the hummus.  I started from scratch with my dried chickpeas and used this recipe.  DEE-lish.  You rinse and cook the chickpeas in a crack pot and let them cool.  Then process them together with garlic, salt, lemon juice, olive oil, water and tahini which is sesame seed paste and tastes almost like a slightly bitter peanut butter.  Here are the chickpeas after they've been pulsed a few times because I forgot to take a picture of them just cooked.  One pound of dried chickpeas cost $2.99 and made almost 6 cups of hummus.  I packed it up in old Noosa yogurt containers and will freeze them and use as we go.  I've thrown away a lot of hummus over the years because I didn't eat it before the expiration date.  I had no idea you could freeze it.  This hummus was no frills, no pine nuts, no red pepper or the sundry of varieties available, but it is so flavorful.  It just pops and my brother and I ate a whole container full with a sleeve of crackers in one sitting last night.  I read that if frozen for any length of time, it is still just as nutritious, but the flavor dulls.  I am very loyal to Sabra brand store bought hummus, but it doesn't hold a candle to this homemade.

And speaking of crack pots, RIP my beloved crack pot!  :(  My mother gave this to me back in 2000 when I was still in nursing school so it's had a good run.  I put my chickpeas in before I went to bed and set it on low.  Woke up the next morning and ran out to check them and it was just barely warm.  I tried a few different outlets to make sure it was indeed the crack pot that had failed and deduced the poor thing had died.  I'm just thankful I didn't have a $20 roast in there!  Luckily my aunt Julie gave us a larger oval crack pot as a wedding gift so I used that one instead and the hummus was just delayed.  I was really spoiled with 2 crack pots.  They are so handy when company comes and we had both of them running nonstop when everyone was here for Christmas.  Even though this one is no more, I am going to save the actual stoneware crock and lid.  I'm sure I can use it for something.

50 Shades Of Lefse

Oh what a wonderful day it was yesterday!  I had my first glass of stevia sweetened iced coffee from the batch I'd made the day before.  The coffee concentrate is made 2 quarts at a time using this recipe.  I baked frosted sugar cookies for upcoming Easter and then decided kind of at the last minute to make a batch of lefse.  I had about 4.5 pounds of russet potatoes that I needed to use up and set to work making some lefse.  It was a beautiful warm sunny day and I got to stare out the window and deck door at the pond while I was baking.  We even got a mild thunderstorm last night.  Bliss.

 I really appreciate lefse and realize that many who eat it do not understand the ins and outs of it.  The dough is simple and delicious.  You roll it out paper thin and can see the eyes of the potatoes as flecks in the dough.

 It is baked on a 500 degree griddle and as soon as it is transferred onto the heat, it blisters and bubbles up, shrinking at the edges.

 It is turned once and the first surface is freckled with brown spots where the bubbles rested on the griddle.

 Then it is flipped onto a dish towel to cool and the other side has a shinier surface and darker brown freckles.  The wonderful scent of potato bread wafts from the griddle and it is hard to not eat from the pile!  My go-to recipe for lefse is 5 pounds of russet potatoes peeled, cooked and riced twice.  Allow to completely cool before adding 1/2 c. butter, 1/2 c. cream and 1 1/2 Tbsp. salt.  Stir in 2 cups of flour, portion out, roll, cook.  Num num.

Here is a photo of my new herb dish towel I got at The Afternoon when Melissa and I went in February.  My herbs are starting to wake up for the year.  The chives are sprouting through outside.  My sage has survived the winter on my window sill but the leaves were the size of my pinkie nail all season.  This last week, they've started getting bigger and longer which I find truly miraculous.  How does the plant know to do that?  How does it know it is spring?  Does it realize it is receiving the magic number of sunny minutes in a day?  I'm waiting to see if my rosemary goes crazy too.

 Notice anything weird about these ducks and geese?  They are not swimming, they are sitting on the thin glaze of ice that appears every night.  It just looks so strange to see them sitting still and not gliding through the water.  Every morning they just mill around waiting for the pool to open.  I had no idea ducks and geese had that kind of insulation/stamina.  Imagine how cold that water must be! 

It was nice to be outside this morning because I have been eating ibuprofen like candy and hiding in dim rooms since Sunday with a migraine.  I got an appointment with somebody/anybody at my regular clinic to either get some different medications, have my head cut off or be euthanized, whichever was easiest.  I saw a lovely doctor and her U of M medical student and they prescribed me a great different rescue med as well as a preventative med that I will take every night at bedtime.  I took the new med when I got home and laid down for an hour.  When I got up, I felt great with no headache and no muscular side effects.  I was singing in the choir again!  In visiting with the doctor, I'd mentioned that I noticed the headaches had slowed down quite a bit while I was cutting back on Diet Coke and she said that aspartame is a common migraine trigger.  Dang.  I guess that means I am a former Diet Coke drinker now.

 I finished my Aran snow suit and took it off the blocking board today!  I caught myself tossing it in the air like you would a baby.  This will look so nice with a fat baby in it!  I keep thinking of my grandpa Maynerd when I look at this.  He would refer to any small child as a 'little jigger' and I think any kid would look like a little jigger in this!

The yarn was kind of expensive at $12.50/ball and I used 4 balls for this but it is a very soft wool/silk blend and is nice for babies.  It is a light gray but could look like a pale blue or lavender depending on what you pair it with.  I used mother of pearl buttons to finish it.  I halfway want a suit like this for mySELF!  ;)

Context

 What a serene winter landscape.  Normally in November, this scene would be calming, welcome, and beautiful to a Minnesotan.  However, today is March 23rd and I'll bet everyone in the state could spit nails right now especially since 2 weeks ago we had temperatures in the upper 60's.  Mother Nature is such a tease around this time of year and I fell for it.  I re potted all my house plants and I started thinking about the garden, etc.  We always have to have a winter relapse or two before spring truly arrives and really this isn't too bad. 

I put out my Easter decorations yesterday including the wooden painted eggs I bought in Poland this fall.  I'd had this ceramic egg holder and used to put the real dyed and hollowed eggs Melissa and I've made over the years in it.  It was always short lived though because I'd end up putting it safely up somewhere the eggs wouldn't be disturbed and then no one would see them.  These are perfect because they aren't fragile.  They are proudly smack in the middle of the table.

 My parents returned home from their trip to Bosnia and Croatia on Saturday and we had an informal and late St. Patrick's Day meal waiting for them.  I made a corned beef brisket in the crack pot with red potatoes, carrots and cabbage as well as croissant rolls from scratch.  For dessert we had an Irish Queen of Puddings which is basically a milk, bread crumb and egg yolk custard on the bottom, topped with melted strawberry jam, and then the egg whites are whipped into a meringue and piled up and browned to finish.  Num num.  I used the heel of the french loaf I baked this week for my bread crumbs.  Recycling at it's finest!

Someone is sleeping on my pattern! I love my dawg!

Sensible Shoes

Yesterday I finished and blocked some booties and a little hat to go along with my Hoot Cardigan.  Everyone needs a pair of sensible shoes and when wearing this sweater, these booties fit the bill!  The hat pattern was made up using the owl cable motif but the bootie pattern came from Knitting Gifts For Baby.  I wanted to round out the cardigan so I could enter this as a 3 piece baby set in the fairs this summer.  Yes, I am already thinking about fair season.  Once a 4-H kid, always a 4-H kid.

March 17th

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  I know these aren't shamrocks, it is in fact the ivy garland draped over my china cabinet.  The holly garland I found and put up over the holidays added so much and the hutch looked very plain without it.  Since then, we've had valentine garland for February, this ivy for March and for the non holiday portion of the year, and later this week I will put up the gorgeous Easter garland I got last year on ridiculous clearance but had no where to hang.  While shopping for some year-round greenery, I looked at some simple florals and vines and then found the ivy.  My Grandma Helen had an ivy kitchen:  ivy curtains and valences, ivy wallpaper, ivy potholders, etc.  Now whenever I see this, I think of time spent with her in the kitchen and our trips to Fargo.

Speaking of Fargo, I am about to do one of my most favorite things....start a new knitting project!  Weeeeeeeeeeee!  This is some Rowan Baby Merino Silk DK that I bought 2 Fargo trips ago at Prairie Yarns.  We were in town for my cousin's graduation and it was our first trip to Fargo with Lopi.  Again I must stress we are not pregnant nor trying but I've been dying to knit this Aran baby snowsuit and it seems appropriate to start some Aran knitting on St. Patrick's Day!  I have a couple items blocking as we speak and will post pictures of those later in the week.  Top O' The Mornin' To Ya!

Crocus Done!

 I finished and blocked my Crocus Blanket last night and am pleased as punch with it!  This pattern came from the book My Grandmother's Knitting.  Over the Christmas/New Year holiday, I discovered the fabulous closeout sales from WEBS and found the yarn first and then chose a suitable pattern. 

 The yarn was a wool/silk/cashmere blend from Zen Garden and even on sale, I paid $27/skein and used just over 3 skeins for the blanket.  It is a lovely soft fingering weight yarn and I used US 3 needles so you can imagine the work was slow going!  The blanket is 165 stitches wide and you start with 16 rows of garter stitch.  No problem there but it took almost 2 hours to do those 16 rows and then I screwed up on the very first 2 rows of the lace pattern and had to rip it all out.  I have never been more ready to quit something but I'd paid top dollar for the yarn.  I mustered my patience and started again.

 This was some fussy knitting but so worth it!  I stopped to count my stitches after each pattern repeat and kept track of each section with stitch markers.  This was not TV knitting and I had to really be mindful of watch I was watching or listening to because the work required all my wits!  I worked on the last big sections of it in the bowling alley watching Dave bowl.  The yarn is kettle dyed a pale yellow with some slightly darker mustard mottles.  Here you can kind of see some of the mottling.  Gorgeous.

I really feel accomplished as a knitter after making this!  When I was folding and arranging it for the pictures, I was reminded of the already knit lace shawls we bought in Russia.  I'm not comparing this to Orenburg lace by any means, but I made this!  Years ago I bought a pattern and yarn for a Shetland shawl IN Shetland in the hopes that some day I will be accomplished enough to knit it and I feel like I'm getting closer!  I love that you learn and become more experienced with each project tackled in knitting.  This will keep a baby very warm some day but my heart will bleed the first time it gets pooped on!

Pastry Practice

I absolutely love this pastry dough recipe and have wanted to try using it for things other than the hand pies in the recipe.  It is such a lovely flaky mock puff pastry that is a cinch to make.  The dough is assembled and ready in under an hour versus real puff pastry dough that takes all day to make.  It has just the right buttery salty flavor that works well with both sweet and savory baked treats.

 Last week I had some leftover chicken meat after I processed a whole chicken.  I'd never cooked a chicken like that before and it was delicious and moist.  It was also the cleanest I'd ever gotten the carcass!  We had all kinds of chicken pieces to top salads and I used some along with the broth for a fabulous chicken noodle soup.  The last of the leftovers were made into chicken pot pies.  I made up my own gravy using onions, carrots and celery softened in butter with some salt and pepper.  I added some flour and chicken stock for the roux and finished it with some dried thyme, dried sage and some frozen peas.  I let it cool completely before spooning it into my wide ramekins.  I topped each with a round of this pastry and baked it.  These made for some elegant work lunches in the break room!

Today is a glorious sunny day with temperatures in the 60's!  It's a regular heat wave!  I have the deck door and the bedroom window open to air out the house.  Lopi is laying in the sun on the deck and I am baking.  I only used half the pastry dough I mixed up last week and had the bright idea to try my hand at some sausage rolls.  These are eaten everywhere in England.  They are a crumbled sausage wrapped in puff pastry.  I had half a tube of Jimmy Dean sausage in my freezer that I browned and cooled.  The sausage in the UK version is more of a nutmeg sausage but this worked just fine.  Next time I will try to make some from scratch with some ground pork.  I used an egg wash and these browned quite nicely.  Num num.  Dave will have a nice after school snack today.

I was able to make 6 sausage rolls with the amount of meat I had so I used the last scraps of dough to make 2 jam tarts using my strawberry freezer jam.  Delish.  I never thought to use jam for these and almost wish I didn't know they'd turn out so well because now this means I don't have to wait for summer raspberries.  I can literally make these at the drop of a hat.

And finally, here is a photo of Lopi's blue feet.  She got ahold of a ball point pen and chewed it to bits.  She couldn't deny it if she wanted because the evidence speaks for itself!