Sunday cooking

Hi! did you miss me? I took a few days off, went to Winnipeg to meet my daughter and shop, eat, visit - we got facials and had an all round good time. Hooked up with my friend Heather and went to Ram Wools - oohed, awed and felt our way around the store - she said that since becoming a machine knitter, she really missed the tactile experience of hand knitting yarns, so we both had a good time. I even scored a couple of buttons to go on my current project (a black and tan wool crepe deluxe fairisle jacket - I'll tell you more about that another day) and what a great feeling when I got home and saw they were a perfect complement - not bad since I had not thought to take a swatch with me!!
So, back in the office, I've spent the last two days going over and editing our updated index. What a great tool it is turning out to be - I love it!! In case you don't know what I'm talking about, we have, on cd, a comprehensive, sortable index of the entire KNITWORDS magazine, all the way from No 1 to 45 (we just added the last year)!! There are 17 categories, from issue number, season, designer, title, etc to really valueable stuff, like yarn, gauge - both machine and swatch, technique, style, etc that make finding something much easier than opening every magazine - I love it because when I'm going to do a project, it's quite easy to find all the patterns I've used the same yarn in and maybe check different details, look up a technique, such as cables and find all those patterns, or see when was the last time I did a raglan!! You gotta get one - no special program is required because it works off your web browser and it's very easy to use. See our bookstore for more info!
Okay, enough of the commercial, I'm cooking today, my family is coming to dinner. We're having steaks on the barby, a couple of salads, rice with fresh salsa, and a new strawberry/caramel cheesecake thing that I'm working on (if it turns out, I'll share it with you). Here's the salsa recipe - I got this from my friend Bob (Sonia's hubby) in Florida - he served it with broiled tilapia - fresh, tasty and healthy!! We loved it!! I tweaked it just a tad...

Fresh Salsa
2 large fresh hot house tomatoes, seeded, drained and chopped
1 med vidalia (sweet) onion, finely chopped
4 shallots, finely chopped
1/4 C fresh basil, chopped
small jar capers, drained and rinsed
juice and zest of 1 lemon
1/2 C olive oil
1 tsp each kosher salt, black pepper

Mix together, cover and let sit at least 2 hrs (the longer the better - I usually try to make it in the morning). Adjust salt to taste. It becomes more liquidy as it sits. Serve on just about anything - grilled or broiled fish, chicken, pork, whatever! Great with Tilapia! OR stir half of above into 2 cups long grain rice cooked in chicken stock. Yum!! makes a great summer dish - warm or cold! OR warm up and serve on pasta - the gnocchi style shells are great!! Tastes even better next day and keeps well for up to a week (like that's gonna happen)!