What I've been up to

    I have been working on my crocheted leg warmers, at least the first one. It's coming along better than I anticipated. I decided to do short rows of ribbing for the top, since it has to be bigger than the ankle part. Every 5 or 6 rib ridges, I do the shirt row thing. It's working out well, the top is now noticeably wider than the bottom. And it's curling around the leg nicely.


    You remember my post about roasting chestnuts? Well, I decided to do it again. I felt that the first batch weren't fully cooked. When peeled, most of them were still pretty white. So I bought more the other day, and today I felt the urge to roast them. My mouth was watering for them.


    I pre-heated the oven, and set to scoring all the nuts, as per the directions I read. When done, I put them in the oven on my Pampered Chef baking sheet, and set the timer for 35 minutes.


    After the time was up, I let them sit for about 10 minutes before I began shelling them. They were still pretty hot, but I was able to handle them. This time, I had much less trouble with the shelling. I'd say that about 90% shelled very easily. The other 10% I had to fight with a little.


   Thanks to my due diligence, there was only one ucky one this time. When I was at the store, I examined each nut to look for splitting or holes. Those are bad, by the way. So I purchased only whole, unblemished nuts this time. Last time, I just grabbed handfuls and tossed them into the bag. Now I know better. I should have read the instructions before buying the nuts.


    Anyway, the nuts are delicious. I have eaten a bunch already. Is there anything tastier than a still warm chestnut? I think not!

Happy New Year

    This post has been a long time in the writing. I had a really hard time since the last time, deciding what to tell you about. Christmas was nice this year, with the new baby and all. We have our family gathering after the holiday, due to the many sub-branches wishing to celebrate with their own families.


    This year, we had dinner out on Saturday the 28th. It went swimmingly, even though my older son, his wife and two kids were unable to attend due to the kids being sick. They didn't want to endanger the baby or my mother. The dinner and gift exchange afterwards at son Jesse's house went better than I had hoped. 


    Everyone loved seeing the new baby, and my nephew Christopher really seemed enamored of him. He really is a sweet kid.

 

    And then New Years Eve came along. It just so happened that I was in the grocery store and found loose chestnuts in the produce section. I had been buying the ones in foil bags until I discovered that they are a product of China. And that is a bad thing. So I had vowed to not buy any more of those bags.


   So I was delighted to find the ones in the produce section! I scooped up about a pound of the little buggers and took them home, vowing to look up on the internet how to roast them myself.


    I was successful, finding two slightly different methods. I tried one last night, and it worked. The chestnuts were even better than the ones from China. Next time, I'll try the other method which steams them a little first before roasting. Supposedly it loosens the shell and skin, and makes it easier to remove them.


    Hubs helped me shell the hot nuts. They were very tasty indeed! Kudos to Hubs for helping, since he doesn't even like chestnuts! Unfortunately, we both fell asleep before the ball dropped at 12. We had been watching the Walking Dead marathon nearly all day. We only stopped at 10 pm to watch The Big Bang Theory. It was really fun to watch the first two seasons again.


    Here's hoping we all have a happy and healthy new year! With the "Big Storm" that's heading our way, I hope all the people I care about stay safe. Love to all!


    P.S. I have made some progress on my crocheted leg warmers, the first one is getting quite wide! I try to do at least two rows a day. So far, so good....