Round 1 projects - Nerdwars

So here are some of my submissions from NerdWars Tournament 8, round 1 -

Moustache mug cozy...

Curt calls my friend Carl "el Moustachio"  even though they both have goatees & moustaches.. so since I wax,  I'm without a moustache or beard, so I can join in when using this cozy!!!

Christopher's Baptism.

The Angie is Christopher's Godmother (God help him!)

NerdWars Dissertation

Wish me luck!  I haven't done that well with my summertime dissertations in NerdWars.  This summer, I'm going for three pairs of socks.  Two are toe up, one is top down.  One is on standard DPNs, one is on a 9in sock circular, one is on 2 circ's.  Three different heels are being done - including an afterthought heel that I've never done before.  Since NerdWars requires a swatch for your dissertation proposal - here's the pictures.

Update on the PuppetMasters Against the Mameshiba Hoard

We came in second place!!  Woot woot!








 

Fluffy

I'm about a month behind here.  I do have stuff to tell/show you - but some of it will be condensed in the next few days.  I'm hoping a new app I put on my phone might make it easier to blog stuff.  We shall see.. when I was young I wanted to journal and that never worked for me either!

Last night, we had tickets to a comedy concert by Gabriel Iglesias.  He's one of the Angie's favorite comics so when she got out of work at 4:30 - she took 3 trains and made it to Newark Penn Station at 7:52.  We met her outside the station and walked the 4 or 5 blocks to NJPAC and got to our seats just as the opening act was starting. (for those of you who have seen "fluffy" on tv - yes, there is really a Martin, and he is really a f'd up but very funny guy.)



Curt and I got to Newark about 2 hours early.  We left based on the traffic Curt sees heading east while he's driving home west after work, and how long it takes to get parked when I go to the Devils games.   There was barely any traffic - I'm thinking a lot of people may be taking vacation next week for July 4th, and escaped work early.  Or were going away for the weekend and escaped early ( I do encounter more cars on the way home on Fridays in the summer - at 2-3pm - I think for this reason.

We walked around that part of Newark - and we saw them start getting the plaza outside the Prudential Center (the Rock) for the "stronger than the Storm" fan fest to go along with the  NHL draft which is being held at the Rock tomorrow.





We went next door to Dinosaur Bar B Que, which several people have told us was really good. (when I go to hockey games it's really packed).  We split a couple appy's - wings, chicken & sausage gumbo, fried green tomatoes, salmon fritters  - I had  a Guiness, Curt had something else.  The food was excellent, the waitress was dumb as sh*t, she couldn't answer any questions with out checking (not for nothing - but if a place advertises 20 beers on tap - and I want to know what the Sam Adams seasonal is  - the answer isn't seasonal) She wasn't especially fun or friendly either.



As we were leaving the restaurant and heading to the train station, we saw that it had rained pretty hard while we were inside.  There was  a double rainbow in the sky - right over the giant hockey player.  I'm taking it as a positive omen for the Devils' season next year!

At least I'm funny!

I took a personality survey to determine my top 5 strengths... well at least I'm funny...

In Between Nerd Wars Fun Times

Tournament 7 just ended for NerdWars, and Tournament 8 won't start until June 1.  Different teams are doing different things to pass the off month.  Team Fraggle - true to it's Sesame Street heritage - are doing a stitch a day through the alphabet.  My plan is to attempt a hexi-flat for as many of the stitches as I can ( I'll be done with my quilt by the time I'm 100 at the rate I'm going)

Today was our first one.  A is for Argyle!

Didn't do traffic

My mom wanted me to meet her after work today, and since receiving was jammed, I didn't get out until after 2. By time I was done with her it was after 5 and Curt called saying he was leaving work late. Since there was going to be horrible traffic on the ride home at that time, he detoured around and met me at work so we could have dinner while traffic dissipated. (my mom said he spoiled me... And I really can't argue)

We went to Bahama Breeze. Had never been there before. We sat out on the deck.  They actually had Smithwicks! Sure an island themed restaurant carries my default Irish beer.  We split an appetizer of empanadas, I had mahi mahi tacos, he had jerk chicken and we split coconut bread pudding.

There was a guy on the deck playing steel drums, so I sent the Angie a 15 sec clip to make her nuts. ( she decided at 5 she wanted steel drums at her wedding and says she still does:

Just for Benne

Yes, for my friend Benne I am now stalking birds at the lake. This geese couple is apparently the first to hatch their eggs, the rest of the geese don't have whatever baby geese are called.

I really hope the swan's matter is sitting on eggs some where. Last summer they had 5 whatever baby swans are called, but this spring I've only been seeing one swan on the water, I'd hate to think something bad happened over the winter.

Spaghetti Squash

 


Since Curt was away at his computer Geek conference, I decided to experiment with Spaaghetti Squash yesterday.  Since I have a bad habit of not measuring - it's usually tough for me to share my recipes. Also it means if you like something I cook, you better savor every bite as I probably can never reproduce it.  I'm going to try to appease my friends a little and blog photo recipes once in the while - so here's the first:

I took one small spaghetti squash - not much bigger than what fits in my cupped hands, cut it in half, sprayed some olive oil on the cut half and put it cut side down in the oven at 375 for a half hour.  I like my veggies and my pasta to have some bite - so if you want it really soft  you may want to give it 5 more minutes.



While this was baking - I chopped up a link and a half (had them leftover) and started browning them on medium heat in olive oil with added omega3.



I cut up some baby bellas (always have - buy 3-4 packs at a time 2 or 3 times a week) and asparagus (looked good at the farm store) to add once the sausage started browning.



I also sliced half of a smallish green squash.



Once these started to soften I added about 2 or 2 1/2 cups of baby kale I chopped.



I then took the squash halves and pulled a fork lengthwise - the strands almost fell out of the squash - I really didn't have to invest much scraping action.



I tossed the strands with olive oil and basil - oh my god yum.. next time I may just do this and add some parm.



I added a bit of stock, savory, marjoram and thyme to the veggies and let the stock simmer down.



I put some of the squash at the bottom of the bowl, and topped with veggies, then added some grated parmesan and asiago cheeses.  The small squash I got is a good full two servings.  The carbs in spaghetti squash have a nice low glycemic index of 41 - so 2 hour post prandial blood glucose was nice and stable!

I finished!! Zipper and all!!

I had to have Curt take pictures before he went off to his computer geek conference, so at this point there is no zipper and the ends are all still loose.




One thing I wish I realized - arms are always too long when I buy sweaters and sweatshirts (actually mine are 2 short - you know how your wingspan should equal your height??  And both Curt and the Angie's exceed theirs?  Mine comes up 2 1/2 inches short ... sigh)  I should have made shorter arms.. but then again - I wouldn't know what to do with arms that fit!

Christopher

Ok, I figure my sister has had almost 2 weeks to tell everyone she is going to tell, so it should be safe to put up pictures of her spawn.  ( I did already on Ravelry - but I am 1,000,000% sure she knows nobody there) He was due on the 12th - but as many of us expected he was late.  They induced her and he was born on the 16th.  (sorry Grace - she told me but I wasn't really paying much attention) He was 20 3/4 inches - and 7 and a halfish? pounds.  He seems really tiny to me - the Angie was almost 8 pounds and 23 1/2 inches long - and  a month early!  He's very very different from the Angie - he likes being swaddled!  The Angie would wiggle until the blanket came undone even while still in the hospital, fussing the whole time until she was free.  Also - he's not a real good feeder.  They have to tickle and wiggle him to keep him awake long enough to eat?!  I guess being too lazy to eat runs in his genes.  (those of you who know the vegetarian story know what I mean)

I need to finish this by Sunday!!!!

I have to seam the shoulders, knit the hood on, seam, weave in ends and ... gulp... sew in a zipper!