Showing posts with label Imbibing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Imbibing. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Spinning, talking cats, and messages from booze

Behold! The first half of this pretty pink and purple merino/sea cell is now spun...

As I progress in this adventure we call spinning, I'm trying to become more mindful of what I'm doing. One thing I'm trying to remember to do is to think ahead to my plans for plying before I begin spinning. So far, I've mostly just spun my fiber, then taken the bobbins and plied them, which works fine if the singles are evenly distributed between an equal number of bobbins. I've found, however, that doesn't usually end up being the case.

This time, I had the forethought to divide the fiber into two equal sections before beginning. I even weighed them. So, technically, I've got an even split of two ounces each, thus I should be able to do a two-ply without much left over on one bobbin at the end. I realize this depends on me spinning both halves the same way, which is not all that likely, but hey...I'm trying. (I have no idea if this is how knowledgeable spinners go about things, but it seemed to make sense to me.)

This fiber is, in a word, delicious. It spins sooooooooo nicely and feels so good as it goes through my fingers. The staple length is long enough that I'm able to draw it out and spin pretty darned fine and fairly consistently. (Or so it seems. The truth will come out on that issue when I begin to ply.)


I think I'm also doing better with the over-spinning. But again, plying will prove me either right or wrong on that.

And do you notice that sunshine on my fiber? Yeah! It is BEAUTIFUL out there today! Had to take pictures outside. But then, that invites company...


And finally...my friends James, Bailey and I hope you had a lovely St. Patrick's Day yesterday!

That's a mug full of Irish coffee sitting in front, which I drank last night, NOT this morning before creating the talking cat montage, thankyouverymuch. ;)

Thursday, January 24, 2008

I never own the right glasses...

Observe: the Pomtini. In a water-ish goblet. Which was previously purchased for containing margaritas. Which has also been used for wine.

Five New Year's Days ago, we had a small shindig...the only kind of shindig I usually ever host because I am not, by nature, a consummate entertainer. I am a stressed-out entertainer, always worrying if my guests are having a good time. Hence the focus on alcoholic beverages. Even a sucky shindig is more enjoyable with booze present, right?

Anyway, five years ago, Jan. 1, we had some friends over to celebrate the New Year. The day included lots of food, a sometimes side-splitting game of Lord of the Rings trivial pursuit, and, yes, margaritas. Only, in planning, I was insistent we purchase glasses appropriate for serving margaritas. My husband, who does not drink alcohol (for health-related issues rather than moral ones) insisted that the crystal wine glasses we owned (because we registered for them when we got married...why we registered for them, I have no idea, because even I did not really drink wine at that time) would be fine. But no! I was not to be deterred. So off to Target we went (where else do you buy classy stemware?) in search of margarita glasses. But we could not FIND margarita glasses. The closest I could get in that post-Christmas economy was these big water goblet-ish glasses. They seemed far more appropriate than crystal wine glasses, so we bought four and went on our merry way.

And indeed, they did quite well to contain the margaritas. If anyone was put off by the fact that they were goblets and not margarita glasses, they didn't let on. A good time was had by all.

So, fast forward a little over five years. I was reading the Jolly Ewe's blog the other day in which she wrote about pomegranate martinis. Now, I have to admit that I've never had a martini of any flavor. Not a gin martini. Not a vodka martini. Not a stirred martini. Not a shaken martini. They always seem far more cultured a drink than anything I -- the lover of the Long Island Iced Tea or the rum and coke, or, heck, the plain ol' beer -- am usually found drinking.

However, last night, I found myself at Max & Erma's for dinner, and there on the drink menu was a Pomtini. Pomegranate juice, orange juice and vodka. It had been a long, long day, so I though, ok, why not? I'll give it a whirl. So I ordered the drink, and the waitress asked, "Straight up?" and I said, "Sure!" (Like I know how a Pomtini is best served? All I know is who needs that ice to water things down...really!)

Well, I'll be darned if it wasn't one of the most tasty beverages I've had in quite some time! So much so that when I was at the grocery store today, I thought I'd just buy me some of that pomegranate juice that comes in the funny, bulbous-shaped bottles and see if I can't whip me up my own Pomtini with the vodka that's been languishing under my kitchen sink since being left over from the oldest kid's wedding reception a year and a half ago.

Not one to get hung up on having an actual recipe, I figured equal parts of all three ingredients would be a good place to start...so into my Tupperware mixer thingy I dumped two shots of each juice and of vodka with a bunch of crushed ice and shook. (I did not KNOW how voluminous a shot actually was -- I don't usually measure, I eyeball...heh...so I got a pretty big quantity of Pomtini for my efforts.) Anyway...I strained that puppy with my pink, plastic, heart-shaped strainer and poured it into my goblet/margarita glass/wine glass/martini glass...and It Was Good. Yee-ha!

The moral of the story is: you can serve a really good alcoholic beverage in a Dora the Explorer sippy cup and it won't matter...it'll serve the purpose and no one will care. As long as you don't accidentally give it to a toddler or something.

Note, however, that the Jolly Ewe drinks her 'tinis from actual, proper martini glasses...she is far more cultured than I...or she had better sense when she did her bridal registry... :}