Having resolved to ignore the plaintive mewling of my family and to start cooking “good stuff” again, I went looking for some recipes I developed several years ago (2005! where does the time go?).

Maybe it’s not such a surprise that I still have them kicking around as I am indeed a self-confessed (digital) pack rat. Sure enough, they were still in their directory on my hard drive, each file containing three recipes for healthy, tasty food.

My original plan for these babies was to sell the files at $1.00 each. I thought they’d fly off the Internet, destined for homes of people who wanted to lose weight without having to eat cardboard. My first attempt at marketing them garnered me tons of hate mail…apparently asking for a small token in return for the imagination, testing, writing, photography, and publishing of recipes is a no-no in the weight loss world. Who knew?

My dream of financing a weekly cup of coffee at Starbucks through recipe sales was crushed. And, as the response really just confirmed my initial impression of humans in general, I let the entire issue drop.

Now that four years have passed and I just happened upon the files on my hard drive, I’ve decided to fling them out there onto the great Interweb-thingie FOR FREE!

Menu 1:

* Blueberry-Yogurt Smoothie
* Curried Broccoli Soup
* Sausage and Potato Bake

Menu 2:

* Salade Lyonnaise
* Mashed Cauliflower
* Scallop Cakes

Menu 3:

* Mediterranean Omelette
* Sunomono Salad
* Lemon Chicken Skewers

Menu 4:

* Corn Pancakes
* Spicy Thai Asparagus Soup
* Shepherd’s Pie

Menu 5:

* Spiced oatmeal (or Do-It-Yourself Instant Oatmeal)
* Tuna Melt
* Stamppot

Any and all positive feedback would be greatly appreciated (I need all the help I can get re-motivating myself to cook “good stuff” again)!

Now that it’s all over, I feel safe in blogging about my Christmas knitting this year. Of course, I completely forgot to take photos of things but links to the patterns would still be nice to share, don’t you think?

The Spouse’s knitted gift was a big-ass afghan, knitted from Plymouth Encore. I used ten balls of wool but no pattern per se; it’s just a big rectangle knit in my thatched bamboo stitch and with a garter stitch border.

That was the only family knitted gift of the year as I felt like I bombarded them with knitwear throughout the year. Besides, it’s hard to knit a Glee DVD…

For friends, I knit up two Mineco market bags (Rav link) using KnitPick’s CotLin. For the one of those two recipients who uses dishcloths in her kitchen, I also knit two dishcloths in a nice reversible stitch, the name of which completely escapes me (if I ever knew it to begin with!). It’s k1, p1 across and then knit back.

This was the first time I’d used CotLin and I really liked it. Very easy to work with and it looks fantastic. The leftovers of all that cotton blend will be knit into facecloths which will then be tucked away with some handmade soaps. I reckon they’d make fantastic “emergency” gifts.

One other (female) friend received a pair of socks and a fourth received a Wavy Orange Scarf (Rav link or web link) and a matching Calorimetry (Rav link or web link).

The three male friends I knit for each received A Hat Fit for a Boyfriend (Rav link or web link). These were great to knit up using leftover worsted weight yarns held double with leftover sock yarns. Quick quick quick! (And apparently desirable too as the Spouse has specifically requested one for himself!)

Now that I see the list all written out, I’m wondering why it took me so long to knit all of that! I started in August with the afghan and finished at the end of November. I guess I did knit other things at the same time…socks, a lace shawl, slippers, a cardigan.

Next year, I’ll take pictures…

Sometimes when I first wake up, I let my mind wander. I imagine all sorts of things like:

If my dogs were famous humans, who would they be?

Rogie’s easy. He’d be Simon Pegg.

Streaka? Maybe Katherine Hepburn.

Tighe could be George Clooney. He’s suave, good-looking, and aging well.

Dayton’s the tough one…I just can’t think of a tall, goofy-looking guy with a wicked sense of humour.

Other days (those days when I really don’t want to get up straight away but can still smell the coffee), I wonder if it would be possible to train the dogs to make coffee and bring it to me. I’m sure, given the right equipment, any of them could be trained to make coffee. It’s no problem to teach a dog to push a button and move things around on a counter. But how would they react to the task?

Streaka would just out and out refuse to do it. “Don’t you have staff for that, darling?”

Rogie? Well, he’d get so excited about having made coffee that he’d run back and forth with the mug, spilling it everywhere.

Dayton could make it for sure but he’d drink it all himself.

That leaves Tighe. Clever, eager to please, and not a coffee-drinker…

If only he had thumbs.

[I will preface this by saying that Streaka is also known as “the Queen” and that, ironically as it turns out, both Streaka and Rogie will do anything for a chance to get their snouts into the koi food (made of very stinky fish meal).]

So, one night for dinner, the whippets shared a 2 lb. chub of a fish-blend dog food. What follows is their response:

Streaka: Hmmmm. I don’t recognise this white stuff. Best just eat around it for a bit.

Dayton: Mmmmmmm. Dinner.

Tighe: Mmmmmm. Dinner. <chew, chew. slobber, slobber.>

Rogie: <sniff>

Streaka: Hmmmm. Do I detect a hint of carrot? Ooooo, I like carrots. I wonder if there’s any turnip in here. Turnips are my favourite.

Dayton: Mmmmmmm. This is the catfish, is it? Isn’t that what those Cajun whippets eat? Laissez les bons temps rouler, cher!

Tighe: Mmmmmm. Dinner. <chew, chew. slobber, slobber.>

Rogie: <sniff>

Streaka: Catfish? Darling, you know I don’t eat bottom fish. No wonder it didn’t taste right to me. Tighe! Tighe, come here and deal with this for me.

Tighe: Mmmmmm. Dinner. <chew, chew. slobber, slobber.>

Rogie: Catfish? What is this catfish? We have no catfish in Germany. We have cats. We have fish. But catfish? That is an abomination! I cannot eat this. Tighe! Eat this! Schnell, schnell!

Tighe: Mmmmmm. Dinner. <chew, chew. slobber, slobber.>

Dayton: I’d really like some more of that catfish.

[Dayton looks pensive.]

Dayton: If I show you my boobs, will you give me more? No? That’s just Mardi Gras beads, you say? Even if I show you all ten? No? It’s all gone? Tighe! Save some of Rogie’s for me!

Tighe: Mmmmmm. Dinner. <chew, chew. slobber, slobber.>

So, two thumbs up and two thumbs down. (Or, two dew claws up and two two dew claws down.)