Dinner Party!

I've spent the last six weeks flying back and forth across the country and working 13 hour shifts at CVS. It's been a while since I have been this exhausted and sick, but it's almost over. One seminar presentation and three more death-shifts left and I will be free.

In the meantime, I orchestrated another dinner party as stress relief! So this will be a picture heavy and content light post. I stumbled over to Buster Blue's house and we all started come cooking.


The menu consisted of prosciutto and cheese turnovers:



Herbed crispy chicken strips with dill:

The egg was not looking forward to its batter-y fate.

Andy was, though.

Haricots verts with tomatoes and parsley:


Spinach and ricotta stuffed shells:



And chocolate orange cake with chocolate ganache:


We stuffed ourselves and then laid around watching TV. It was an awesome way to spend a stress free evening.

Except for the egg.

Of Monsters and Men

Or, I'm in a hotel in Rochester scrambling for a blog topic and Cody is great at finding music.

I don't know how he does it, but the lovely Cody, at least once a week, finds some new fabulous band. And then proceeds to linkspam me everything about them. A few months ago it was Of Monsters and Men. I just got around to really listening to the whole album recently, and it's fantastic. I'm hoping to find a way to work it into my nano soundtrack for next year.

They're an Icelandic indie/folk group with a pretty unique sound.



I really enjoy the percussion. I also feel like their accents add to the winsome tone of the singers. And the rest of their instrumentation - but really, I'm a sucker for delightful guitar with punchy brass and smatterings of accordion. They're touring through the US soon and Cody snapped himself up a ticket minutes after they went on sale. Good thing too, because they sold out in a few minutes and now I can sneak to Seattle, quietly incapacitate him, and steal it.

I've got to use all of this pharmacy knowledge for something, right?



Yes, I'm using my powers for evil. Shh.

Sleeves Can Suck It

I have finally finished another sweater!

This one:


As you can see, it has no sleeves. Because sleeves are of the devil. The pattern is Sparreholm, out of Noro Revisited by Corneli Hamilton.

This is the one, however, that tried to kill me by lying about the amount of yarn required. I would have finished it on Halloween and gone as a competent knitter if I hadn't run out of yarn and thrown a hissy fit. Instead, I was a sexy librarian. Sarah can attest to this.

Anyway, behold the finished sweater!

Yes, I'm wearing penguin pajama pants. Today was rough.

I'm still trying to be happy with the fact that Noro yarns aren't supposed to match up, even when you desperately try. Despite what every beautiful pattern picture shows. It's absolutely maddening to me that the stripes don't match. I'm not tearing this beast out, however.

Oh look, a hood! And more of the penguin pj pants.

This is the next sweater I'll be embarking on, as I have the yarn and it also lacks those cursed sleeves. My rebellion continues!