August 2010 Archives

Here's a sock that I'm knitting. I thought I wanted some cables and then changed my mind, and then thought that I wanted them again, and then again decided no. I was adamant though about not ripping back. So I'm calling these experimental socks.

Yesterday I told you about my first pie, I also recently made my first soup... from scratch... by myself.

It was the most delicious soup I have ever eaten. I really love Panera's Broccoli Cheddar soup. We've tried some canned versions, which have been terrible. For a while, we talked about making our own, but never really searched out a recipe. I don't remember exactly how I came across the recipe, but when I read it a few weeks ago, it just sounded perfect.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup by Not without Salt

Start with some butter in your pot:

Prepare the broccoli stems and onions, and the garlic and parsley:

Prepare the broccoli florets, butter and flour:

Measure out stock. I used homemade turkey stock that's been in the freezer since Thanksgiving:

Add broccoli stalks and onions to butter:

Saute until onions are tender:

Add stock and bring to a boil. As soon as the stock hit the heat, the entire kitchen smelled like Thanksgiving:

Reduce heat to a simmer:

Grate the cheese and measure out the cream:

When the broccoli stalks are tender, blend everything until smooth:

Add flour and butter mixture to thicken, and add cream:

Add broccoli florets and cook to near desired doneness:

Add in cheese until get ready to eat!

Yum yum yummy!!!!!!

I think the two things that made this soup incredible was the cheese and the stock. We used really good Cabot extra sharp cheddar. The stock was homemade and turkey based. I want to make the soup again, but we're out of homemade stock and it is still to hot outside to convince Kevin to cook a turkey just to make stock. Even reheated the next day, the soup was amazing. I could eat this every day all day long.

Well, not really my first pie, but my first full sized pie. I've made little pies and rustic pies, but this was my first big pie and a real pie dish.

Before baking...

After baking...

Close up...

The pie was quite delicious. It was filled with 4 yellow peaches, 1 white peach, 1 raspberry pluot, and some strawberries. Basically I used whatever fruits I had on hand. It probably could have held more filling, but I ran out of fruit. Either way, it was yummy!!

According to Ravelry, I started these socks on August 19, 2009.

I just finished them this afternoon.

As far as I can tell, I haven't even ever blogged about these socks. Moreover, I never even gave them a name. On Ravelry, I just titled them "A Sock."

So here you have them... A Sock... the first socks that I've finished in over a year that took an entire year to complete.

So I was checking out the videos that I've posted on the Youtube and I was shocked to see that my "Baby Surprise Jacket" video has received over 50,000 views! Wow!! There are other videos that have verbal instructions, that are longer, that show the entire knitting process, but apparently my poorly filmed silent video has some popularity.

So I typed started to type "Baby Surprise Jacket" into the search box on Youtube and we all know by now that Google sometimes makes funny suggestions when you start typing things in. Well, I got "baby surprise" typed and it offered "baby surprised by own fart." Ok, I was curious and watched...

Hahaha! And of course Google thought if I liked that, I should check out this one:


Panda babies!! Everything comes back to Pandas. Did you see the Panda Gators?

I like to read advice columns. Mostly I'm interested in the questions and often the advice is not great, but not terrible. This week's Dear Prudence contains just terrible advice.

Dear Prudence, I am a female law student who is employed for the summer (and potentially for the school year) at a small firm that I'm really enjoying. The law office shares a floor of an office building with a bigger law firm, and my cubicle is "on the border." All of the attorneys at both firms are male, but at the other firm, the men are far from politically correct. I have two issues: First, one of the attorneys, "Jerry," often makes comments to me about my appearance. These range from annoying but harmless ("Nice tan") to creepy ("I like that skirt," in a lecherous tone). I have tried to ignore him or subtly indicate his comments aren't welcome, but neither approach has worked. I'm tempted to speak to one of my firm's partners, but I fear it would make me look like a little girl running to a man to fight my battles. I'm also considering documenting all his comments until I have enough for a sexual harassment suit so I can make his firm pay for the legal education I used to nail it. Second, I overhear a lot of conversations I find highly offensive. The men are fond of using homosexuality-based insults, calling one another or opponents "fag" and "homo." The work environment is becoming so unpleasant that I wonder how long I can stand it. What should I do? --Livid but Lost Law Student

Dear Livid,
I hope you don't view your law degree as a carte blanche to take to court everyone who makes you uncomfortable. If you tell a judge that getting the compliment "I like that skirt" made you unable to discharge your own legal duties, the conclusion may be that you need to find another line of work, not that the firm of Blowhard, Homophobe & Creep owes you a tuition check. The law firm you're working for likely won't be impressed with your enterprising spirit if they find out you've filed suit against the guys next door. Let's deal with Jerry. As you've discovered, being subtle isn't working. I assume your legal education is teaching you to state your position plainly, so do so. Next time Jerry comes over, tell him, "Jerry, I'd appreciate it if you would cease remarking on my appearance. I find your comments disruptive and your tone hostile. I hope you understand what I'm saying and that I won't have to say it again. Thanks." Only if he escalates should you take it to one of your partners, explaining that you've tried to deal with him yourself. As for the frat boys next door--get a sound-blocking headset if you must. Yes, their comments are repugnant, but you don't want to be the Carrie Nation of your floor. Let's hope this is resolved one day when a client of the firm who doesn't share their sensibilities overhears the office banter.
--Prudie

I agree that Livid should not file a sexual harassment suit just for the purpose of paying off her law student loans. That's not right. But what Livid describes is clearly sexual harassment. Even if the "Jerry" didn't pick up on her subtle hints to stop, she did make an effort to express her displeasure. A more direct attempt may help end the comments, or it may escalate the behavior. Moreover, the rude comments about homosexuals creates a hostile environment and should not just be blocked out. Just because "Jerry" isn't propositioning her ("give me a blow job and I'll give you a real job at my firm") and the comments aren't directly regarding her sexuality, doesn't mean that this behavior isn't sexual harassment. If Livid doesn't think that her own bosses will be understanding of what is and is not blatant sexual harassment and a hostile environment (and tell me that's not a shitty law firm that doesn't know the law), then she should seek advice from the EEOC and file a formal complaint. Livid doesn't need to take the other lawyers to court and suing just to make money is absolutely abhorrent, but sexual harassment and discrimination are illegal and should be dealt with swiftly and appropriately.

And yes, I did email what I wrote above to Prudence. And I did it from my work email. I briefly looked at the comments following the article and would rather refrain from getting into a hate war there (I'm gun-shy about their comment forums because last time I commented on a Slate related article people were quite vicious and I was referred to as "psycho-prof" instead of "psych-prof").

Have you been reading the installments of "Fit to Flatter?" I noticed several bloggie friends posted links and I decided to check it out.

In the introduction, the author states:

The non-modeled shots are the ones that really fire me up. What we do as knitters is difficult, often expensive, and results in beautiful pieces of art that should be worn and loved. Why is that so often not the case? Why aren't we proclaiming to the universe that our handiwork is not only fun and challenging but results in pieces that make us feel beautiful?

And just a week ago I said:

Compared to when I first started knitting and would make anything regardless of whether it would turn out well or if I'd really wear it, I'm much more selective. I don't want to waste what little knitting time (or yarn money) I have on dud projects that go into the sweater box and never return.

Good timing or what?

So I read through the introduction and the second installment. And then I stopped. Because while there was really great and helpful advice, I really couldn't use it without knowing what my own body shape is. The pictures of various models are helpful and I identified one that I thought looked most like my inner representation of myself, but I realized that following what I thought in my mind's eye might not be reality. If this information is really going to be helpful, I need to know what my body shape really is.

I found a mostly white space in my apartment, set the timer on my camera and snapped some less than flattering shots. (Do I really want to post these on the internet?? Ok, deep breath...)

The picture on the left fits very well the mental image that I had... bottom heavy. Hips and thighs wider than chest and shoulders. But after thinking about the second installment of Fit to Flatter and the concept of vertical lines widening, I thought, what if I scrunched up the tank so it wasn't cutting directly across my hips/thighs. And there you get the picture on the right. Suddenly less bottom heavy.

So let's get technical. In the introduction, she talks about drawing three vertical lines across your body at your two widest points (shoulders/chest and hips/thighs) and narrowest part (waist). I drew 5 lines because I wanted to be thorough.

I was quite shocked with the result. I'm widest at the shoulders (not chest... ok, that one didn't surprise me) and at the thighs (not hips... not hugely shocking either); the shocker is that my shoulders and thighs are balanced. Hello?! What?! I'm not bottom heavy? I'm actually balanced?! My belief in my bottom heaviness may have actually come from wearing long shirts thinking that they cover bad areas, but in fact enhance them!?

Well, now I really need to finish reading the next 8 installments because I had no idea that I was balanced.

Updated: Hhmmmm... I just got to installment 4 and the author instructs you to take the photos that I did. So I jumped the gun. It seems that I misplaced the top line on my shoulders.

So looking at the new purple and yellow lines, I wasn't wrong... I am bottom heavy. Damn... now I have to go back and reread the first three installments!