by Kat | Dec 12, 2016 | General, In This Moment
After a warp-speed weekend, Monday dawns dull and grey with rain showers and milder temperatures. It is hard to feel excited about the week when it starts off like this! We did have a dusting of snow when I woke and Saturday – it looked so beautiful outside. However, the rain has washed every bit of snow away. Boo!
However, the weekend was nice – happy hour on Friday was particularly wonderful. Good eats, good companionship, and great cocktails. Ones that were so good you needed a second to confirm that you loved it so much! I am sharing the recipe with you all – it was that good.
I really love classic cocktails, and a Sidecar with Remy Martin V.S.O.P. is one of my favorites this time of the year. But, I like to tweak things – improve them a bit, and especially take advantage of what I have on hand. Oranges are so lovely at the market right now – sweet, juicy and packed full of goodness add to that – my thyme is still growing like mad, despite the cold frosty days we have had. So how could I improve on the classic Sidecar with a bit of thyme and the fresh oranges. Here is my recipe:
Orange-Thyme Sidecars
Makes 2
- 5 ounces Remy Martin VSOP
- 1 ounce Cointreau or Triple Sec (I used Triple Sec, which is what I had on hand)
- 1 ounce Thyme simple syrup*
- The juice from 1.5 oranges **
- The juice from half a lemon **
- 2-4 drops of Orange Bitters
- Sprig of Thyme for garnish
- Orange zest for garnish
Combine all liquid ingredients in a shaker filled with ice. Shake briskly. Pour into chilled martini or coupe glasses and garnish with an orange zest and a thyme sprig. Enjoy!
*To make the thyme simple syrup – combine equal parts water and sugar and heat on stove top until sugar has melted completely. Remove from heat and add 8-10 sprigs of fresh thyme. Cover and let steep 10 minutes. Remove thyme and cool to room temperature and then refrigerate. Syrup will keep in the refrigerator for 2 weeks.
** I juiced 3 oranges and 1 lemon and made 4 cocktails
I completed the final bits of Christmas decorating and I did some reading and a wee bit of knitting. I finally finished Burial Rites and was not impressed – it was a story with so many questions and many of them unanswered. I started reading The Mysteries of Pittsburgh and so far, so good!
On the schedule for this abbreviated week (Steve is taking his last vacation day on Friday!!) is to finish the last bit of Christmas shopping and get wrapped and in the mail.
How was your weekend?
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by Kat | Nov 21, 2016 | General, In This Moment
In a week that comes armed with a list of things to get done, I think it is a good idea to pause and reflect before hitting the ground running.
The weekend started out with crazy and insanely warm weather – it was in the 70’s on Friday and we had windows open much of the day! We contemplated having an outdoor happy hour, but the neighbors’ chorus of leaf blowers made conversation challenging so happy hour was indoors where conversation did not have to be shouted!
Silly neighbors – all they needed to do was wait a day because Saturday brought gale force winds which whisked most of those remaining leaves away.
Saturday also brought our first snow of the season! I don’t know about you but 70’s to 30 and snow in less than 24 hours is some weird weather! The snow persisted much of the day, but little stuck to the ground.
There was a bit of football on Saturday and MICHIGAN WON! One more game to go and then, hopefully, the Big 10 Championship Game!
Sunday morning was even colder and the dusting of snow made everything so magical! Even though my burning bush is now considerably lighter in leaf coverage – there are still a few clinging to the branches and it looked so stunning against the white snow!
We began the planning for Christmas decorating this weekend also. I will begin working on this over the course of the week so I am all finished by the end of next weekend. A little bit each day seems so much more manageable and far less daunting that tackling the entire process in a day or two! Although, it is now apparent that we should have put lights up outside on Friday, I am hoping that the mild weather they are calling for on next Friday is reality and not a “best guesstimate”!
Well, I had better get working on this list – I hope your weekend was refreshing!
by Kat | Nov 20, 2016 | General
Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. Albert Camus
by Kat | Nov 18, 2016 | General, Making
Well, the gauge issues with the Squad Mitts has been solved!
One mitt down, one to go!
I am so happy with how they are turning out – and I am even happier they are 100% handspun yarn, most of which has been spun on a spindle!
And it is Friday!! Bring on the weekend, I am so ready for it! I am starting it off by having tea and some knitting with a friend.
I have nothing else for you except for some links:
Lots of gift knitting ideas here, it is not too late!
Have a fantastic Friday – see you back here tomorrow!!
by Kat | Nov 16, 2016 | General, Making
This week’s knitting and reading are both a jumble of things right now.
My knitting bag has some sleeve knitting, some fingerless mitt knitting, and getting ready to do some swatching (which is not for the fingerless mitts, but sometimes just exactly what you need to do!)
On the reading front – I am reading Hannah Kent’s Burial Rites – I am having some difficulty getting into this book, but I think that is mainly because I am reading at night when I get in bed and I barely get a page done and it is lights out for me!
In my ears is The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead – I just started this yesterday and I am already captivated! It is so powerfully good!
I am also listening to a chapter or so a day of the Moby Dick Big Read Listen Along. So far – 3 chapters, only 132 chapters to go! This is a surprising treat – each chapter is read by a different reader! I should get some additional listening later today as I am winding yarn into balls – the perfect meditative task to listen by!
There you have my varied knitting and reading/listening. What about you? What are you reading or knitting this week?
As usual, I am joining Ginny’s Yarn Along!
