Hot Sauce

Today I made all the chiles I picked earlier this week into a nice green hot sauce! And I found these great little 'woozy' bottles at the local homebrew store this morning.

Here was my recipe, of which I made 4 batches:

3 - 3.5 cups coarsely sliced fresh chiles
1/2 onion, coarsely chopped
6 garlic cloves
2 tbsp salt
3/4 cup white vinegar
2 cups water
Boil these in a pot for about 30 minutes. Remove from heat and add
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp oil
another 1/2 cup white vinegar
Either transfer to a blender or use an immersion blender to liquefy. Mine turned out med - med. hot.

Rock.

We Call Upon the Author

We went and saw Nick Cave in concert this week in Seattle. It was so, sooo good.

I've loved Nick Cave for, oh, 13 years now and I never really thought I'd get to see him. The show exceeded my expectations in a lot of ways. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds did a great and energetic live show. They played a really great mix of old and new stuff which surprised me because it seems like when a band is touring to support a new album most of what they play comes off the new album.

I really can't say enough about what a good time I had. After it was over I got one of the sound guys to give me a copy of the set list, which I've scanned in below. They also did a 3-song encore which included "Get Ready for Love," but I can't quite remember what the other 2 songs were. Oh, and it's on the set list, but they didn't do "The Weeping Song," which is too bad because it would've been interesting to hear him do it with someone other than Blixa Bargeld (I love that man's name). Oh, and "We Call Upon the Author"? Really outstanding.

Picked a Pepper

Slugs have found my pepper plants, and since the weather is getting cooler anyway I decided it was time to act. Yesterday evening I picked all these off the four Mystery Pepper plants.



And just to give you an idea of the size of these things...



I also picked all the stubby little jalapenos off the two jalapeno plants, which the deer seem to love to graze on.



I haven't picked anything off the two cayenne plants, because it seems somehow wrong to pick those before they turn red. But seeing as how it's fall now and it never did get hot enough to really ripen anything, I might pick those tomorrow.

I'm planning on turning all these peppers into hot sauce tomorrow. Of course, it probably won't be all that 'hot.' I might save a few out and make some fresh salsa. We'll see.

Do Yer Part, Matey!

Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Here at the library we're celebratin'! ARRRRRRRR!! We've got candy, pirate books, and pirate cake. This be the best part o' me job.

Pumpkin Brew Day

I love pumpkin beer. Really. I mean, I luuuurrrvve it. I look forward to the fall and the first pumpkin beer of the season. And when I lived in Tucson I could get as much of it as I wanted. I could just go down to Plaza Liquor, where they sell hundreds of different brews, by the bottle, and knock myself out. Literally.

But now I live in Washington, where all the liquor stores are state-owned and focus more on actual liquor than on beer and wine and where the grocery stores, even the better ones, just don't have the selection I crave. So far I have seen only two pumpkin beers for sale here: Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale (owned by Coors) and Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale (owned by Anheuser-Busch). The beer snob in me finds this simply unacceptable.

What to do, what to do?

Since I started learning how to brew this summer the obvious answer is to make my own damn pumpkin beer. So I am.

A warning: I have only just started learning how to brew. So far I have only made two beers, each from a kit, plus today's pumpkin ale. I found the recipe called Thunderstruck Pumpkin Ale, by Yuri Rage, here. Credit where it's due. Because I'm so new I am doing the extract rather than the all-grain version.

So how's it done?

Well, first you take 60 oz. pure pumpkin puree

and spread it out on a cookie sheet.

Then you bake it at 350 degrees for an hour.

I know, it looks pretty much the same, right? Notice the difference in color, though. Now that pumpkin is carmelized! While you're doing that you take your flavoring grains,

and put them in a mesh bag, which you steep in 155 degree water for about 45 minutes.

Once that's done you remove the grain bag and bring the pot to a boil, then you add the light malt extract

and the baked pumpkin and stir like crazy until it comes back to a boil, at which point you add your bittering hops

and start your timer.

After boiling for 50 minutes you add the Irish moss

which is apparently some kind of dried seaweed that helps to clarify the beer, and because of all that pumpkin puree this beer will need clarifying. Then you boil for 10 more minutes. Then you chill the mixture, which is called the wort. You can chill the wort any number of ways. I put the pot on ice and add enough cold filtered water to make 5 gallons. When the wort is chilled you strain it into the primary fermenter

aka Big White Bucket, add your yeast, seal it up, pop in the water-lock and wait. In two weeks I'll transfer it to a secondary fermenter, add the flavoring spices, and wait again. Two weeks after that I'll bottle it, and two weeks after that I'll taste it to see how it's doing. It will probably need to age a little bit more. And hopefully it won't suck. I think it'll be pretty good. I'll keep you posted.

Viva McLane Creek

This afternoon Nico and I bottled some amber ale and then headed out to McLane Creek to wander around and amaze ourselves at how beautiful Washington can be. To former desert dwellers like ourselves, this kind of nature is mythic. It's hard to believe that places like this actually exist outside of movies and storybooks, much less exist in our general neighborhood. It sounds totally silly but the presence of trees, ferns, water, moss, etc., is more thrilling than the average northerner can imagine. I plan to explore these trails more thoroughly in the coming weeks, but for now here's some eye candy:

Sarah Palin is in Yer Liberries, Banning Yer Books

I don't normally rant about politics on this blog, and I know I'm a little late on the uptake with this one, but I need to mention this because it's an issue so close to my professional life and my own personal beliefs. In case you haven't seen the New York Times article or the Time Magazine article, the big hairy deal is that when Sarah Palin first became mayor of Wasilla, AK, she tried to have some books banned. When the librarian stood up to her she either threatened the woman's job or did fire her and then reinstate her when it appeared she had gone too far.

Between bookstores and libraries I have over 8 years experience working with the reading public, and during that time I have heard more people than I can remember express incredulity that anyone still tries to ban books in this day and age, and disgust that they often get away with it. Yes folks, people in this country do still try to ban books. And Sarah Palin is one of them.

Folks, this is not OK. You do not ban books. You do not ban books from a public library. You do not ban books from a public library in a small town. Small towns often have no bookstores; if you ban a book in a small-town library you are completely denying access to that book for the people who use and need the library most: children, people without internet, people who don't have the money to just order the book online. This is just one more thing to add to the shit-heap that is the Republican campaign.

For more information on challenged and banned books, visit the website for the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom.

Sugar Glass and the Tooth Fairy

So last weekend was a long weekend for both Nico and I, and this is rare. We wanted to do something special. We thought we'd drive the Olympic Peninsula on Monday as a last summer hurrah and get it neatly crossed off the to-do list. But when I was telling a friend about the plan, she made a teensy tiny comment: "Oh, that's a lot of driving for one day." Hmm. It didn't make much of an impact at first, but it stuck with me and kept ringing in my ears until Sunday night, when I finally decided to Google the route and found out that it would be 8 - 10 hours. Of driving. Oh, and then the next day? I'd be getting my wisdom teeth out.

Yeah. Not so much.

So we decided to drive to Tacoma instead, which is only about half an hour away. We went to the Museum of Glass. It was pretty awesome. If you're not familiar with it, the Museum of Glass is this very cool but relatively small art museum devoted to (you catch on quick) glass. There's a cone-shaped room called the Hot Shop where you can watch glass artists actually making and working with the stuff, then there are a couple of galleries and a number of installments. Outside of the museum is the Chihuly Bridge of Glass, which is like a gallery in and of itself. All of this has to do with the fact that Tacoma is Dale Chihuly's hometown.

Here's the Hot Shop as seen from across the bridge:


Here's part of the Seaform Pavilion on the bridge. These are actually looking up, at the ceiling:



And here are the Crystal Towers, which are not actually glass but are instead a synthetic (Polyvitro). They make me think of sugar crystals. If I remember correctly, actual glass would've been too heavy to achieve this:



And after that my camera crapped out, so that's all you get. No pics of the Venetian Wall or of anything inside the actual museum.

I had seen photographs of Chihuly's work before and even though I thought it was impressive I never had gotten too excited about it. I thought glass was, well, maybe just a little bit boring. Paintings I can get on board with, sculpture and photography? Sure! I just never thought that glass was that interesting. But I was wrong. I found myself pretty intensely fascinated the whole time, and it wasn't all about Chihuly either. A couple of the galleries were closed because they were in transition, but I'm looking forward to going back again. I would very much recommend this museum to anyone in the area or anyone who makes the trip out here. And if you're arriving by car? The best thing to do is get free parking at the Tacoma Dome and take the Link lightrail (also free) to University Station, walk across the Bridge of Glass and you're there. Beautiful.

And then on Tuesday I had my wisdom teeth out. They put me to sleep, which was pretty awesome. One minute they're putting the IV in the back of my hand, and the next minute I'm waking up in a dark recovery room with my mouth packed full of gauze and Nico at my side. I couldn't have asked for anything easier. Hopefully this will be my only medical adventure for the year. The oral surgeon as Tooth Fairy was easily a million times better than the podiatrist as Toe Butcher, which was last year's adventure. Eaaugh.

So, mostly all week I've just been hanging out on the couch and crunching down the Vicodin. Which I love. I finished knitting some cabled wristies for a friend in AZ:


I'm also working on a good wool garter-stitch scarf, because last winter convinced me that all those pretty, flimsy scarves that worked so well in an AZ winter? Not cutting it in the Pac NW. I have big plans for this scarf. Secret plans. Secret, secret scarfy plans. Shhh.


And I started a new sock last night. This is the Pumpkin Pie yarn I bought last fall. I want to be wearing these socks in plenty of time for pie season this year. So far it looks less like pie and more like Tigger. Oh well. I've got a good pie-like stitch pattern planned for the cuff.


And the last thing is that yesterday, I. Well. I sort of ... signed up for a sock club. Over at Cables & Lace. This was totally unplanned, because I'm supposed to be on a budget, dammit. A simple little moment of weakness. I blame the Vicodin.

Upside-Down Blue Monkey

That's the name of the new socks I just finished knitting this week:




That's Cookie A.'s Monkey worked toe-up with an eye of partridge heel. I did the foot on a half-size smaller needle than the pattern calls for, then switched to a larger needle after the ankle. The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock, colorway Tropical Storm. I'm pretty pleased with them, and they're a bit lighter than the other socks I've made so I can wear them in slightly warmer weather.

It's been a while since I mentioned my chile plants. Well, those that were eaten by beasts of the forest have recovered quite well. They are all flowering and they all have peppers growing. I had to pick 3 off one of the mystery plants because they have some spectacular blossom-end rot going on:



I've run into this once or twice before while growing peppers and tomatoes. It has something to do with the amount of moisture and calcium the plant is getting. Sad. Hopefully this won't be too big a problem. I'm really hoping to make some home-grown hot sauce this year.

PZS Rocks OK

Last weekend I went to the Portland Zine Symposium! On the Library's dime! They sent me! Isn't that rad? All those zines I made in high school are finally paying off. Just like I knew they would...

OOOH! Smell those radical politics:





What? People are still making zines?

Basically, the library system is in the process of adding zines to the collection. One of the large branches is trying them out and if it goes well there, then the other branches that want to will be able to have zine collections as well. Our main zine librarian couldn't make it to the symposium so she asked me if I wanted to go instead. Did I ever!

The PZS did a lot to renew my interest in zines. One of my friends volunteers at the Independent Press Resource Center in Portland and she's been asking if I'd like to do a zine with her. Well, now I certainly do! It would be a lot of fun if we could get it off the ground and have a table at the PZS next year.

Walking around and looking at all the tables was pretty awesome, but I really almost liked the workshops better. I didn't get to go to all the ones I wanted to because several of them were happening at the same time (curses!) but I did manage to attend: Multnomah County Library Tour, How To Do Everything, Queer Zine History, Zinester's Guide to the US Mail, and Bi-Weekly Madness. I also think it would be cool if next year all the zine librarians got together as a panel and did a workshop for all the zinesters who are interested in getting their zines into library collections. But eh, we'll see.

First Sweater

Here it is:



This is the Wicked, finished, blocked and modeled. This is my first sweater, started in January and finished in August. Despite the pooling, I am very proud.

In one of my recent posts one of my friends commented that the trouble I had had with Wicked has convinced her to never start knitting. Whenever I hear someone say something like that I have two very strong gut reactions. One is, 'More yarn for me!'. The other is, 'How sad. You don't know what you're missing.'.

Yes, this sweater took forever and yes, I had to rip it back a lot and try things again. It was a straightforward pattern, but it wasn't easy for me. I struggled, it's true. But now look what I have: I have a garment made with my own hands to fit no one else but me. I have a sweater made from 100% wool, which is tougher and tougher to find these days. My sweater is warm and soft, thicker than anything store-bought, and it clings to me where I want it to. The sweater's boat-neck is nice and wide, and it sits on the edges of my shoulders just the way I hoped it would. The sleeves are comfy and over-long, which is my favorite way for sleeves to be and which I can almost never find in a store-bought sweater. Roll your eyes if you will, but wearing this sweater feels like wearing a warm hug. It feels just right.

And you know what? My next sweater will probably be a lot easier and will go a lot quicker. There is a learning curve for these sorts of things. Just look at my first pair of socks, for example: they took forever (May 2006-January 2007) and they came out weird and too big and at first I thought I would probably never knit another pair of socks again because they were such a pain. But now I knit socks all the time, they're not that hard and they don't take too long and THEY'RE AWESOME! And maybe it'll be like that with sweaters too: the first one takes a while but I learn, and it gets better.

So. I also wanted to share that last night another friend had a New Kitten Party to honor her new kitty. It was of course lots of fun and there was dancing and wine and snacks... and these:



These are Cat Poop Cupcakes. I made them firstly to honor the new little cat but also because I promised I would and because they crack me up. They were, you can imagine, a big hit. The original version is over here.

Wicked Finish

I'm done. Last night I bound off on the Wicked sweater and I am finally, finally satisfied enough to call it done, and to say that I knit the best first sweater I could. I will weave in the ends, block it, and post pictures once that's done. I may still overdye it with black in the future, but that's a different adventure. For right now, the sweater is done.

Ghosts and Gurus

First, I must show you the very cute little ghost-in-a-tin that I received from the lovely Sara in the Monster Living in a Tin swap I was in. He's a bookworm ghost, and he's very cool.



Alright, so remember when I said that the Wicked is my guru? Well, the problem with gurus is that they test you. Observe:



Looks like the sweater's pretty much done, right? Just a few ends to weave in and then... But wait....
What's this?



It's the hem. It looks like it's...



Why, yes. It's rolling. It's goddamn rolling! The seed stitch hem called for in the pattern is all F'ed up. So I'm going to, say it with me, rip it back and knit it again. How many times have I ripped back on this sweater? I've lost count. When I reknit it I'm going to do it in the crossover ribbing of the neckline and cuffs on a size larger needle. This means that almost nothing of the written pattern has worked out for me. I have changed almost every detail on the pattern. But it still looks like a Wicked, doesn't it?

Also, look at that pooling! Geez! Why why why didn't I choose a solid color? Blech. So, should I leave it the color it is, or should I try to overdye it with something darker? Any thoughts? Vote now!

I drive because I have so much money to burn.

Not really, but sometimes it seems that way. This week NPR ran a story about how Tucson AZ has the lowest gas prices in the country. Meanwhile, the Pac NW seems to have some of the highest.

But here I am, throwing caution and money to the wind! Not only do I commute by car 2 hours every day to and from work, but I also drive on my weekends! I'm a wild woman! Not really.

Last Monday I had the day off, which is rare, so Nico and I drove up to Seattle for a few hours to do some regular touristy things. We went on the Space Needle, which was the second time for me and the first time for him.



Mmmm, Seattle...



And we also went on the monorail. Being on the monorail is, of course, being in the future. The monorail is the TRANSPORTATION! OF! THE! FUTURE!!! Srsly, in the future we will allllll be on the monorail. Sigh. The monorail in Seattle goes for only 1 mile. And it's been there since the 1960's, so they've had plenty of time to expand. This does not bode well for the future, my friends.

So, here's us being very happy on the monorail:



And then we walked around the Pike Place market, bought some wine jelly, ate lunch, walked around again, and went home. It was ver' nice.

Today we'll drive down to Portland because some friends just got a new house and we must see it! Yayyy! Housey.

Also, my pepper plants have a little pepper growing! Whee!

AAAAAAUUGHH!!!!

Because it is an election year, because our country is at war and because it is the 4th of July, my plan had been to have today's post be thoughtful and political. And just so you'd know I wasn't too stuck up, I was going to start the whole thing off with a Morrissey quote.

But plans have changed. When I woke up this morning and stood in the kitchen drinking a glass of water I noticed my cat crouched at the back door, making little cat grunts. I followed her gaze and saw a bunny sitting out in the grass, rapidly inhaling some dandelions. And then I notice something else...

This:



And this:



And this:



Something ate my pepper plants! Gah! And they were ALL flowering or JUST ABOUT to flower! They were getting so tall, and just last night Nico had commented that the peppers were exploding with growth. And now they're stubby and it will take them forever to recover.

What creature was the culprit? Was it rabbits? We've seen deer walk past outside, was it a deer? An ambitious squirrel? Something else? Was it the hand of God reaching down to pluck the flowered crowns off my beloved plants? Who knows.

I'm very sad.

So far, the 4 peppers that are in the ground rather than in pots are still there...



I have to cover them up with something so they'll be safe. Sigh. I'm not used to this.