Knitting related.

see My post on my fiber blog

What?!!! Who?!! Have I been in contact with this person?!!!

I just got this e-mail from our Human Resources person;

Hello All,

Please remind your staff that if they are sick, & especially if they have a fever, to not come to work. We have our first official case of h1n1 in our factory. Don’t freak out…let’s just do our best to not let it spread. If you know one of your employees is sick & they have come into work, send them home. Please communicate with each other about holes in your staffing & be ready to help out other departments. Also, if you see your staff sneezing in their hands, remind them to sneeze or cough in the bend of their elbows instead.

Squash infestations and violence

Over the past few weeks there has been a steadily growing number of squashes, pumpkins and gourds inhabiting the front steps to the house. Last night i decided I should do something to quell this infestation. I grabbed a kitchen knife and went out to face the pests down. A couple of them turned quite menacing, and I backed down, for now.
I may have to try a surprise attack. I've heard that after halloween they can turn into zombies.

I'm Pickled

4 weeks ago I came home from work to find that Geoff had bought cucumbers for me to make dill pickles, of course it had to be on a Monday. Dutiful little Hausfrau that I am, I immediately washed them...
...and put them into the "crock". in my case, a large plastic bucket made for fermenting homemade beer. Note, making ones own beer is fun once or twice, but is a lot of work, especially the part where you have to bottle it.

After fermenting for 4 weeks it was time to bottle them.

20 quarts of dill pickles ready for the winter. That's a lot of hamburgers to look forward to.

Apple pie seems to be all the rage just now.

Martin in Broda made one because Mr. Urs made one. So now I have to show them how it's really done, what do the Swiss and Germans know about true pie ;P, their version is actually a tart.
1 cup of butter cut into 2 cups of flour with a pinch of salt until crumbly looking.

Using a fork stir in 5 Tablespoons of cold water and 1 Tablespoon of vinegar just until it holds together.
Divide dough in half shaping it into balls, DO NOT KNEAD IT. Roll out 1 crust and fit into pie plate. Roll out second and set aside.

Mix sliced apples, a pinch of cinnamon, plumped raisins, chopped nuts and brown sugar together.
This pie was 4 large apples, all other ingredient measurements are to your preference.
Stir in 2 Tablespoons granulated tapioca or flour to absorb excess juices.
Fill the pie, add top crust cut to vent steam and bake at 350-375F. for 45 minutes to an hour.

I really wish that there had been vanilla ice cream in the house when it came out of the oven. I'll have to plan ahead next time.