A Mindful Life

Four 100-yard balls of Classic Elite Waterlily extra fine merino wool, colorway 1927, lot 6209, on size 9 needles This will be a gift. I didn’t enjoy the yarn as much as I would like, because it split so easily. However, the color variation gave it depth and the stitch texture is great. I’m pleased [...]

What we become depends on what we read after all of the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is a collection of books. –Thomas Carlyle

Well, Donna did it, so I thought I’d play along. It makes me think I should aim for more auspicious first sentences of my own (some of these are quotes). January: Answering a question posed by a reader who wanted to know what one of the bulletin board quotes was (it was too blurry) February: [...]

I’m really agitated at the moment. I came home from a wonderful tea date with a friend (my first formal tea ever) to a letter from our landlords. They want to give the house to their son (which we knew upon moving in they might do in 3-4 years, so we were hoping to get [...]

I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. –Galileo Galilei

Years ago I borrowed my brother’s copy of The Northern Exposure Cookbook (which, unfortunately, is only available used starting around $30). There were two recipes I adopted from the book. One is below. Lightfeather Duncan’s Mashed Potatoes 12 medium-sized red potatoes 2 Tbsp. olive oil 1 large yellow onion 1/4 cup butter 1 cup sour [...]

Yesterday Christmas Part 2 arrived. (See this post for Part One if you missed it.) My Blogging By Mail package came! Gili sent me a passel of goodies for my sweet tooth, with some New York City coffee to complement them. I look foward to savoring the Chocobillys chocolate chunk cookies with a strong cup [...]

Last week my cousin-once-removed visited me for the first time before heading to L.A. to see family. Today he came back through and spent the afternoon and evening. I really enjoyed seeing him; we went to a Barefoot Coffee Roasters to hang out and then to Cosentino’s for dinner fixings. I made a recipe from [...]

My cousin sent me a small cookbook last year full of simple recipes. Since he was visiting today, I decided to make him dinner from the book. It turned out to be so delicious, so simple, and thus rather elegant. Saint Hubert Fish Stew Makes 6 servings (6 Weight Watcher points per serving) 2 onions, [...]