“Mexican” Fondue

• 1/4 cup beer, cheap is fine, room temperature and preferably a little flat
• 1/4 cup salsa, from a jar? Fine.
• 1T minced garlic
• Shredded Cheddar cheese* — about two cups, maybe more, maybe less
• Flour
• Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, cilantro (all optional)

*Note: At least at my grocery store, pre-shredded cheese costs the same per ounce as a block. I find this handy for omelets, nachos, and last-minute fondue.

Put the shredded cheese in a bowl and toss with a tiny bit of flour. You just want a light coating on the cheese.

Meanwhile, put the beer, salsa and garlic into a nonstick skillet and turn the heat up to medium-high. Stir and bring to a simmer. Once you’ve got reasonable bubbles going, add a tongful of cheese — about a meatball’s worth. Stir! After that melts, add a little more cheese. Keep going, a half cup or so of cheese at a time, stirring all the while, until you have achieved your desired thickness. As long as you keep stirring you shouldn’t have problems with burning. This doesn’t take very long. If you want, you can do this all in a double boiler, but it takes longer; same with a microwave.

Once the cheese is melted, keep stirring and cooking for another minute or so, just to cook the flour taste out. Take it off the heat and add worcestershire (a dash), hot sauce (same), cilantro, or whatever you please. Stick it in a bowl and eat.

That was fast, right? So, now that you’ve got that down, you can also try:

Swiss Fondue

• 1/4-1/2c white wine
• 1T garlic
• 1t mustard powder
• shot of kirchwasser (optional)
• Shredded Swiss (Gruyere is good) cheese
• flour
• pepper

Cheddar Fondue

• Same as the “Mexican” fondue, but with less salsa, more beer, and mustard powder. Oh, and pepper.

Once you get the hang of this, you can really try any combination of liquid with any old lot of cheese you might have lingering about.

I did get a betta, and I named him Finnick Odair. He’s living happily in an Aqueon MiniBow 2.5 gallon tank. I took the filter out because last week, he jumped up onto it. Fortunately I heard the jumping sound and retrieved him, but until I can figure out how to block it off, he’s filterless and getting more frequent, larger water changes. Here he is, flaring at his reflection in a mirror (which is not there all the time; never fear):

The house had really gotten out of hand. I’ve been struggling with my OCD, which I’m not sure I’ve mentioned here. Anyway, I has it, and it’s been pretty bad lately. Sometimes I get to feeling like most of the house is “contaminated” and I can’t touch things, and then get focused on cleaning one particular little area to the detriment of everything else. I’ve been slowly bringing it back around and doing more general detailed cleaning. It’s still really difficult, though. If I could afford to hire someone to come in and do a rescue clean, I would, so I could just keep it up from there. One of the major issues is my lack of furniture and closet space, so I’m trying to keep control of the clutter by getting rid of things that don’t have a home and that I don’t really need, anyway.

This weekend, I got a couple of new things: A Swiffer WetJet (on sale, with coupons, for $8ish), and a full size sheet set. For $6.24. Thanks, Target! I rearranged the bedroom furniture so it’s a little more open and it feels a lot nicer, too.

I haven’t been cooking much at all due to the aforementioned OCD issues. Most everything I eat has to be in a “safe” package. So, while it wasn’t originally my intention to talk very openly about these struggles, it’s about all I’ve got right now. Finances are super tight while I look for another job, and stress increases my anxiety.

I wonder if setting a project every other day and blogging about it would help?

Anyway, I think I’m going to get a 2.5 gallon Mini Bow aquarium, like so:

It has a blue lid. I like that. I think possibly the filter that comes with it will do well enough, but I need to learn a bit more. I know it has an incandescent light source, which may be adequate to heat such a small amount of water, but I still want to look into that more. Would a betta do betta (ha ha) with a CFL and a separate heater? Should the lights be off at night (which would basically require a heater)? Etc.

It has a lid, too, which I understand is important so the fish don’t leap to their deaths. Even if they weren’t jumpy, I do have three cats, for whom I anticipate this will be a pleasant form of Kitty TV. I’ve been told they shouldn’t traumatize the fish much. I hope that’s true.

I’m also looking into which type of betta to get. There are so many, and I’d rather not just grab one at Petco, you know? I’ve found out there are online fish auctions. Online fish auctions. No, really.

I’ve got a lot to learn, and I’m planning to buy the tank and cycle it before I get my fish. Plenty of time. Meanwhile, I’ve got about 900 links to look through and a few books on the way to reserve at the library….

While I was organizing some of my knitting stuff (I need bigger plastic bags to store and separate my yarn), I also decided to clear out and repurpose a basket to keep next to the couch for current projects. Right now, it mostly consists of needlework stuff, my tiny knitting project, and my sketchbook. Looking at the things I have was really inspiring and I spent a fair few hours this weekend on projects. I thought I’d share some pictures, and not just so you can see my hideous hand-me-down couch.

First, the project I’m putting the most time into right now: The Baltimore Beauty blackwork chart from The Gift of Stitching magazine. I really like this magazine, which is purely digital; I find a higher percentage of the projects are very appealing to me versus magazines like Just Cross Stitch. I had purchased a number of the back issues and today got a regular yearly subscription, and now have the issues neatly stored on my external (blue!) hard drive.

At any rate, here it is; it’s stitched in some variegated silk from Hand-Dyed Fibers on some 28ct cotton from JoAnn Fabrics. I really need at least a small stash of linen, and that’s one of my allowed purchases for the fall, since I have really been enjoying needlework. It must be said that when viewed not in a macro photo, the holes in the fabric are far less obvious.

Next up, the WIP-basket, in case you were interested. On the bottom are my knitting needles and some accessories; my Art Bin with HDF floss; yarn for the potholder; then a mesh bag which I use to keep my project on Q-Snaps along with some floss and its chart. Behind is my sketchbook, paper linen from Hand-Dyed Fibers, and in back a copy of Sampler and Antique Needlework Quarterly featuring a GORGEOUS crewelwork stitching purse. That was a gift from someone on the HDF forums, and a wonderful one at that.

And finally, some of my tiny, tiny stash of HDF silks. From top to bottom, I believe they are:

• Examplar Blueberry Soup
• Examplar Cocoa Bear
• Paua Abalone
• Hemlock 3111
• Nile Blue 2425
• Bird Feathers 4103
• Variegated pink (a forum points spool; used in Baltimore Beauty)
• Earth Dragon
• Variegated green (another forum points spool, also used in Baltimore Beauty)
• A variegated dark blue/green single stranded premium (forum points again)
• On the right, skeins of Pressed Petals and Nile Blue 2421.

Doesn’t that just make you want to stitch something?

I’ve gotten used to the scroll frame now, although it involves stitching upside-down. Soon I’ll have to start right side up again and I expect that will be confusing. I’ve got an ArtBin box I picked up for a few dollars that I use to organize the floss I’m working with, which is all, of course, silk from Vikki at Hand-Dyed Fibers. And which is lovely and a joy to work with, so go buy some. Really.

Here’s the project box; the colors I use more often are in the small compartments at the bottom for easy access, while most of the rest live on the tags they came with. For $3 I really love this box; much tidier than having a bunch of Ziploc bags floating around. Isn’t my couch just hideous?

And here’s my progress on the chart as of this evening. I got a fair bit done tonight. My entire weekend plan was to finish up some audio books, watch the new Pillars of the Earth adaptation (to which I give two thumbs down, ugh), and stitch. So far, so good.

So. Most all of my crafty stuff has been coming here piecewise from Michigan, as Zack remembers to bring it on his visits. I still haven’t knit anything since God only knows when and the 90F weather is not exactly motivational when it comes to wool, but I have projects that need to be finished and so I’m hoping to get back to it soon. I can’t seem to find half my knitting needles, though, and that is Bad. Anyway, hot, missing kit, no knitting.

I’ve got the fabric to make some fabulous throw pillows, but I haven’t yet found coordinating cotton or silk in just the right color, so the fabric is just kind of sitting.

And so I am left with needlework, which is something I’ve toyed with since I embroidered a pillowcase for myself (very badly) at some point in elementary school. I love embroidery, but only very specific sorts; for example, while I enjoy doing cross-stitch, I don’t like most of the designs that are available at JoAnn. Well, really, I don’t like any of them. Also, stitching with DMC cotton is the opposite of relaxing, what with the grating texture and the knots and the snags.

Fortunately there’s the Internet, and the Hand-Dyed Fibers forums, and that means easy access to charts I like and plenty of lovely, lovely silk thread. Thanks to the folks at HDF, I am putting together a nice collection of bookmarks that will presumably lead me down the path of historical embroidery, but that’s another post for another time.

This was all a rather long-winded way of getting to the fact that I am currently working on stitching a sampler from Long Dog, called “Froth & Bubble.” It’s a band sampler modeled after older band samplers, although entirely in cross-stitch. (I want to expand my embroidery techniques but I feel I need someone to perhaps show me in person.) I am working mine in HDF silks on an antique white 28ct evenweave cotton, one over one. I really need a magnifying lens. Please do go look at the design, because the photo of my progress so far will give you no idea at all what it actually looks like.

I’ve started over once already, because I did some of the black outlining stitches first and seriously disliked the way it looked when I filled in. So from now on, lighter colors first. I wonder if there’s some guideline about that. Probably. Here it is as of this evening; I’m about to put on my audiobook (Tears of the Giraffe, by the way) and try to put a few more strands down.

I guess I’ve settled on a sort of Deco/Nouveau/Craftsman bastardized bungalow theme for my decorating. I think it’ll look good in this house, and if I do move and/or buy a place, I expect to look for a bungalow of some sort which means it’ll all transfer over. (I note at this point that this post is far too full of commas.)

So I’ve already mentioned the Liberty of London for Target comforter set I got. It’s sort of a large paisley print in grey and teal and mustard yellow, and I’m trying to play off of that. The next logical step? Pillows. Throw pillows, everywhere. I guess technically the next step ought to be curtains but I still haven’t found any I like (currently planning to make some of muslin with nice fabrics at the hem… someday). Plus, I don’t have curtain rods, and I want to see if I can make the existing hardware work.

Anyway. Pillows. I spent about a week poking around, looking at fabrics, changing my mind about what I wanted. I finally narrowed it down to four fabrics, which I bought a little of today on Etsy. Zack is bringing my sewing stuff down this weekend when he comes to visit (YAY).

At any rate, I am now living in Pittsburgh again, thank God. I’ve got a real job for the first time in years, and I just moved into a new place this month. It was built in 1930, and it’s got some fabulous Arts and Crafts stuff going on. Everything needs a little TLC, but it could be potentially the most awesome place ever… if I can keep myself on track.

I’ve been reading other blogs, and embarking on fruitless searches for window coverings I actually want to pay for, sheets that don’t clash, and ways to organize the kitchen. I think I may be blogging again, here, so that you all can see the transformation as the house takes shape. Also, I have my own kitchen again, which means more cooking.

So, if anyone’s out there: What would you do first? I’ve got a bedroom, a giant living room, a kitchen and a bathroom to make my own. I did manage to score a sweet comforter at Target (Liberty of London for, etc.) so I can at least base the bedroom around that, but otherwise I’m kind of at a loss. Curtains ought to be the first priority, so the neighbors don’t have to witness me, half-dressed, drying my hair to get ready for work. What would you do first?

• MONDAY: Oktoberfest! Soft pretzels; bratwurst, sauerkraut and onion; boiled red potatoes with butter and dill; braised fruit. Also mit beer!
• TUESDAY: Chili, cornbread. (Brown extra meat for Wednesday and Friday.)
• WEDNESDAY: Shepherd’s pie. (Make extra mashed potatoes for Thursday.)
• THURSDAY: Pork and sauerkraut; mashed potatoes.
• FRIDAY: Stuffed baked potatoes; green salad.
• SATURDAY: Split pea soup; Vienna bread (from bread machine).