Rose's Crescent

Hanaa and I had so much fun baking the Panettone together last December so we decided we should bake together more often. We don't want to have anything formal like a baking club but more of "let's bake together when we feel like it." This way works better because it's more flexible and easier.

We both own Rose's Christmas cookies but have not used it much so we decided that's what we will bake from. Hanaa chose Rose's Crescent for this round of bake-a-long.

FO Friday 6

Project: Felicity
Needle: US 8 and US 9
Yarn: 1 skein of Malabrigo Worsted in Red Mahogany

On the WIP Wednesday post this week I had mentioned that I made a felicity hat in Red Mahogany.

Here it is!

I LOVE this hat!

Yes I know that seems to be a common expression with malabrigo yarn.

The pattern is very easy, fast, and fun. The result? A comfy, cuddly, soft, and warm hat.

I cast on 80 sts with size 8 needles. Then switched to size 9 needles as per pattern.

Please check out Tami Ami's blog for more fabulous FO's.

Snap Thursday: Roxborough Park

I went to Roxborough State Park earlier this month to test out the my new Sigma WA lens. It was cold and snow-packed. Took me forever to walk around one of their shortest trail, but I did it and came back home with a hundred pictures.

So I will be showing pictures from my short walk in the next several weeks. I hope you guys will like them.

Click here for a larger image

To join Snap Thursday: Post your photograph on your blog on Thursdays and leave your link in the comment section of my Snap Thursday post. Please also link back to my site. Click here to get your widget.

WIP Wednesday 9

Another TV knitting this week. Felicity hat.

I am making this for my best friend, using Malabrigo Worsted in the Amoroso colorway.

This is the 2nd felicity hat I made this week. The first one was using Malabrigo Worsted as well but in the Red Mahogany colorway.

Banana Bread

This is my go-to banana bread recipe. I like it so much I have never tried any other banana bread recipes.

I got this recipe from a friend a long time ago. She and I has since lost contact but the recipe remained.

FO Friday 5

Project: Big Herringbone Cowl
Needle: US 17
Yarn: 3 skeins of Manos del Uruguay Maxima in Coral

I finished the Big Herringbone Cowl and I am in LOVE!!!

I wore it several times this week. It is so squishy and cuddly and soft and warm. It definitely helped on Tuesday morning when the temperature was in the teens.

WIP Wednesday 8

Whenever I almost finish one project, I always want to start a new one.

So last week, as I was nearing the end of the Celery Cardigan, I started this Shaelyn shawl, using Malabrigo Sock yarn in Aquas colorway.

I am so in love with this yarn. It's so soft and fun to knit with. The colorway is so pretty too. I love the muted green and the little variation of color in it.

The pattern is super easy to knit with. It's two different sections that you repeat over and over. After 2 repetition of the pattern I had it memorized already.

So this is one of those fun TV knitting for sure.

I am on the 5th pattern repeat and I plan to keep on going until I run out of yarn.

Please visit Tami Ami's blog for more awesome WIP's.

Barefoot Contessa's Outrageous Brownie

I made Barefoot Contessa's Outrageous Brownie yesterday.

My friend Anne told me about this recipe last week. I have never even heard of it. Seeing that it has almost 500 reviews, I felt like I have missed the boat.

Time to catch up.

Snap Thursday: Lights

I have been slacking on my photography. The weather has been cold so I've been spending most of my free time knitting by the fireplace. This is one of my stashed photos. I took it last Fall, when the weather just started to get cooler at night. I wanted to play with low shutter speed and moving cars. It was really fun to do and I like the result.

To join Snap Thursday: Post your photograph on your blog on Thursdays and leave your link in the comment section of my Snap Thursday post. Please also link back to my site. Click here to get your widget.

WIP Wednesday 7

For the WIP this week, I want to share my progress on the Celery Cardigan.

I've finished the front band and collar part and am now working on the sleeve.

I was aiming to complete one sleeve by today's WIP but that didn't happen. And this morning while photographing it I saw a mistake about halfway through the sleeve. So tonight I will be undoing about 5 inches of the sleeve. Ugghh..

You can't really see the mistake on the picture but it's there and it's visible. And since I know it's there, it will bug me, so I have to fix it :).

I am super excited that I am on the sleeve part though and the cardigan is coming together. I can't wait to finish it and wear it. Hopefully I will finish it in time for next week's FO Friday.

Please visit Tami Ami's blog for more awesome WIP's.

Rugelach

I love Rose's cookie book and I want to make everything from it. I know I will. In time.

Rose said in a recent Q&A that the rugelach is her favorite Christmas cookie to make and to eat. So I made it this past weekend.

I am on the fence about whether it's the best to eat. But it sure is fun to make. First, you make the dough by creaming room temperature cream cheese and butter in the mixer. Add in vanilla and egg, then add in bleached AP flour slowly.

The mixture is pretty soft and has to be refrigerated for at least 2 hours.

While the dough is resting, I made the filling. Pretty easy. Coarsely chopped walnuts is mixed with brown sugar, granulated sugar, golden raisin, and cinnamon.

After the 2 hour mark, I took out the dough to roll. This part was a bit confusing. I thought that the recipe would say to roll out the dough like how I would roll out croissant dough. I mean, after all, the rugelach is kinda shaped like a croissant. But the recipe actually said to split the dough into 4 pieces and roll each one into a circle. That doesn't make a lot of sense for me. So I just sort of roll each piece into a messy rectangle.

The only fruit preserves I have in the house is orange marmalade so I used that. I was a bit worried that it would affect the taste or make it bitter. But then again apricot preserves doesn't have a lot of taste. And I figured that its main purpose would be to wet the dough so the filling can stick to it. So orange marmalade it is. I didn't even try to water it down, just dip the brush into it and brush it onto the pastry.

I wish I had shaped these rugelach better. They are not very uniform, some are big and some are small. But I think they are cute.

They are pretty tasty. I would not say I'm a huge fan of them. They tasted more like bread to me and not a cross between pastry and cookie like Rose said.

Recipe: Rose's Christmas Cookies

FO Friday 4

Project: Beaded Purple Summer Flies
Needle: US 6
Yarn: Madelinetosh Sock in Oxblood

I finally finished the Summer Flies shawl this week! As I mentioned on the WIP Wednesday a couple of weeks ago, I had fun with this project. I ran out of yarn, didn't want to buy another one, rip off some sections, I was still not happy with it, and then started over with a smaller needle.

2nd time around was better. I finished it with about 20 inches of yarn leftover (cutting it close!).

Denver Zoo, part 2

This is part 2 of my Denver Zoo post. I thought this creature is interesting. It is called Slate-Pencil Urchin. If you are interested in learning more about it, you can check out the wikipedia link here. It has a lot of biology jargon (is it latin?) that went over my head. For me, I photograph it because it looked awesome, :).

I never would have thought there would be a baking reference at the zoo. This pretty starfish is called Chocolate Chip Starfish.

Denver Zoo, part 1

Christmas break we went to the Zoo and had a lot of fun! Lots of animals to see and photography.

We were lucky it was a nice day. There was still snow on the ground but it was sunny and the temperature is in the 50's.