Wednesday, July 31, 2013

frozen watermelon?

I think I’m going to turn this into a food blog or maybe a drink blog…not that our summer has been so great but I do like making these watermelon cocktails – get yourself a nice ‘seedless’ (not) watermelon – I say ‘not’ because they aren’t really seedless, just not full of the regular black seeds. What can I say? it’s one of those oxymorons that I love! So, back to the drink -  cut up the watermelon – make about 1 inch cubes and throw them in a flat pan and into the freezer – you can leave them indefinitely (after they are fully frozen and I’m not going to use them right away, I shovel them into a ziplock bag for better storage) or at least several hours. Then at drink-time, haul out the blender, grab a few fresh mint leaves off the plant out on the deck and get the vodka.
After a few weeks of experimenting, I do believe I have the perfect recipe. Put about 2 drinks (maybe 2 cups) worth of the frozen watermelon cubes into the blender. Add 4 to 5 mint leaves. Then, .5 oz fresh lime juice, 1 oz limoncello and 3 oz of your favourite plain vodka. Pulse until smooth. Pour into 2 glasses. Grind a half a turn of sea salt on top of each and enjoy with lucky company! The drink can be made with unfrozen watermelon, just add ice cubes but then, that waters down the drink – just sayin’…
So, about my knitting, you say? well, I did finish that unraveled denim – didn’t get a hood out of it and changed my mind about the zipper and went with neckband, button band and buttons like ‘Simple-icity’ from Serial Stuff 1 – I’ll be honest with you and reveal the real reason there is no zipper. I lengthened it just slightly from the original without really thinking it through and ended up with the smaller waistline of the original design actually just above my hip line – you know, that muffin-top area and it would have been okay if I could have used a two-way zipper but didn’t have the time to search the ‘net or wait for it to arrive so opted for buttons because I can leave the bottom button undone…
Then, on a roll with cardigans and still thinking summer, I whipped up a WCD pale grey ‘Peachy Keen’ from No 53, without the ruffle.  Made the sleeves, made the back and, again, without thinking it through, I started the front and forgot to leave the few stitches off at the centre front and didn’t realize it until  I was casting off the underarm shaping. Figured well, okay, I actually need that extra bit across my bust so I’ll leave it in and another few rows later thought, oh no! the neckline is going to be too big – Ah-h, my brain at work – sidebar here - I hardly ever make round neck cardigans and again the truth (I’m going to have to stop drinking!) on a vee neck, MAO, you never notice this because you’re just decreasing down to the shoulder – so what would happen if I just decrease the 4 to 5 stitches that should not be there to allow room for the band from just above the bust in the next 3 to 4 inches? Long story short, it works for me!

And, you may not believe this, but I just realized that I do not own a white cardigan – I’ll get on that soon but tomorrow my yarn for my next KnS project is arriving, so I thought I better get this update to you before I get involved in that! Don’t worry; I’m out of frozen watermelon…