This past week was all about trying new things, which ran the gamut from baking, to crocheting rag rugs, to visiting The Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, MA.

My first new attempt was crocheting a rag rug. A few years ago my mom taught me how to make granny squares but since then I’ve been a little out of practice. Not having my mom around, I figured youtube, craft blogs and about.com would be the best places to refresh my crochet skills. I used Craftsanity and the Vintage Chica blog posts (tutorials) as inspiration for my rug creation. Ripping old sheets to make rags was quite therapeutic, and the overall crochet process only takes a few hours (for a newbie like me). I will definitely be making these for everyone I know this holiday season (sorry guys).

Read more »

• Russell Orchards in Ipswich MA is the ultimate New England autumn destination. Apple goodness! http://www.russellorchardsma.com/ #
• ripping apart sheets to crochet a rag rug. http://bit.ly/NHXcR #
• my cat sits like Buddha. #
• making no-knead rosemary foccacia http://bit.ly/kKxGp #
• my parents are in town! So nice of them to visit (not sarcastic). #
• this is seriously one amazing summer day in late september… you have to be here to believe it! #
• thinking about visiting the Fruitlands museum this weekend http://www.fruitlands.org/home #
• what do you do with a head full of ideas but no idea where to start? #

• The Cambridge Carnival 2009 was an incredible mix of music, delicious food, and incredible costumes. http://www.cambridgecarnival.org/ #
• gonna make my mom's greek lentil soup recipe! #
• has got craft projects up the wazoo: crochet rag rug, kureyon log cabin afghan.. Now all I need are the supplies! #
• i so wanna make these Memphis Sweet Potato Fries http://trunc.it/1ylxi #
• Watching The Soup while sipping on some earl grey tea. #
• Philadelphia Libraries are staying open! Thank goodness there is still some good in the world! http://trunc.it/20pxb #
• checkin out the legendary Ahmad Jamal tonite http://www.ahmadjamal.net #

As we move to the fall season and the temperatures drop, I start thinking of knitting, warm soups and comfort food (apple crisp, memphis sweet potato fries, warm apple cider). So yesterday I put together a greek lentil soup based on my mom’s recipe. And it goes a little something like this:

Read more »

• loves cool fall-like Sundays. #
• can't stop eating kettle corn! #
• reading Veg News magazine http://www.vegnews.com/ and waiting for a Dell technician to come and fix my broken computer. #
• playing #worldendswithyou on DS and can't get past this stupid level. #
• Baking two veggie lasagnas today, will share photos later! #
• nothing beats a homemade matcha soy latte… yum! #
• Just a heads up: USPS charges 20cents extra to mail square envelopes. Colour me surprised! #
• fall weather makes me think of pumpkins, apple cider, leaves the colour of fire, Halloween and knitting. Such an awesome season. #
• something in the air… makes me want to sleep all day. #

A couple months ago my best bud Nat and I had made a veggie lasagna that tasted heavenly so I wanted to recreate it for tim and his family (one with eggs/dairy and a vegan one). It was challenging balancing two different lasagnas (baking times and ingredients) but everyone took seconds so I think it was a success. Both the Veggie and the Vegan one were inspired by recipes on Allrecipes.com but I’ve put my adapted recipe here…

Read more »

As a lot of you already know Tim and I adopted a cat from the Cape Ann Animal Aid by the name of Miss Nellie. As I’m typing this she’s sitting on the couch next to me, cleaning herself noisily and thoroughly.

Since I was a wee lass I’ve always wanted to have a pet companion but my parents were against us having any pets in the house. One time for my 19th birthday, my little brother who was 10 at the time found a cat in our backyard and brought her into the house thinking this would be a great present for me. But my mother flipped out and it also turned out that she was the neighbors cat,  so alas it was not meant to be.

So… nearing 28, I never had the chance to adopt a wonderful pet up until this opportunity. Tim and I looked at several other cats and kittens at the shelter and took a whole week to mull things over. It was really difficult to pick which one would make a suitable companion. But in the end Miss Nellie’s endless purrs were just too much to ignore. Apparently she had gotten a UTI and her previous owners refused to treat it so she was eventually brought to the Cape Ann Animal Aid. Unimaginable that someone would refuse to treat this bundle of joy!

The first day we had her – she made sure to smell and climb on everything she physically could reach in the house. And then when it came to bedtime she let us rub her belly for about half an hour.

Other interesting facts about Miss Nellie include: soft, cuddly, 16lbs, 4 years old, sits and poses like a human, rollie-pollie. She’s weary of the other two adult cats in the house, but they aren’t trying to rip each others throats out so it seems that they’ll be able to peacefully coexist.

I am so happy to have Miss Nellie around… we couldn’t have picked a better cat!

• sent out all 50 pages of her green card / work permit application… now the waiting game begins. #
• reading @jamie_oliver 's magazine Jamie http://www.jamieoliver.com/magazine/. Love the photos and recipes! #
• this is a great way to play SNES and NES games on your computer http://www.jbox.com/PRODUCT/JC-U2208TRD #
• why is the Food Network such great background noise? #
• No one should die because they can't afford healthcare, and no one should go broke because they get sick. #
• just adopted a cat named Miss Nellie that looks like Garfield! #