Sommer Designs

Thank you

 

What lovely people you are, thank you for the comments. I think I replied to each one, and now that I have that Typepad Connect thingy on the comments, I'm wondering if replying to each and every comment, as I always try to do, is redundant and boring you to tears. Well, it's one thing if you are the recipient, I think, but if you are reading comments, is it a big yawny stretch to get through my thank yous? Replying to comments has always been very important to me, and I always try to do it, but now I wonder. What do you think? Will you let me know?

I kept going back to those pictures and smirking over how many of them were taken in Mammoth. There is a story there. Mammoth Lakes is one of our most favorite places. Before we were even dating, we used to go skiing there as friends. Our relationship started there; Scott proposed there; and we continue to go almost every year, even though now it's only in summer (I haven't skied for 21 years!). It's such a special place for us, and so beautiful and pure.

Aren't those peonies gorgeous? I bought them for myself. Well, Scott was with me. Trader Joe's, $6.99 for the bunch. I had to have them. And then I cut them short and put them in a pretty vintage vase. They now live on my desk. I have spent the last two days doing desk work;terribly boring desk work, which included reconciling 9 months worth of personal bank statements. I have to admit they made the job easier, or maybe I was just drunk on the fragrance.

In any event, thank you pretty peonies for helping me through that dreaded job. And thank you again, dear people of blog land, for your sweet comments.

20 Years

 

I don't know how it happens, but it does.

 

I don't know where the time went, but it did.

 

Somewhere along the way, without realizing it,

 

life happens, and you go with it.

 

And before you know it,

 

without even trying, you've created something together; your own legacy.

 

It might make you proud; it might make you wonder; but it definitely makes you stop in your tracks and take notice.

 

And it definitely makes me thankful that I married my best friend 20 years ago today.

♥

Knitting: The Sweater vs. The Sock

I am happy to report, I think the sweater has been saved.

 

It just so happened, that before the sweater fiasco even occurred, I had made plans to meet Stephanniefor lunch/knitting on Friday. Luckily, I held off frogging until then. In the meanwhile, I made three different swatches with larger needles; each one, still not getting gauge! Each one, larger and larger stitches, totally losing the lushness of the yarn (for me, in my opinion).

Stephannie immediately had me try on the sweater, which I had not done. I put it on over my tee shirt, which was slightly bulky, and was happy to discover that it fit for the most part; it was just a little snug under the arm. We reasoned that I could certainly block that larger, but I didn't want to do that to the sweater. Instead, while she was there (my confidence is still crap), I ripped back to the arm join, got the stitches back on the needles (by myself! She's just going through them in the picture, making sure) and since then I have added about another inch. It's time to join that arm again (after I try it on, of course! That's the key people!), and move on. Thank you, Stephannie, for being there at that crucial moment!

 

This is why we have multiple projects going at the same time: sanity. I put down the sweater, and picked up my second Hedgerow Sock, completing the heel flap, turning the heel, working the gusset and now, to the finish line toward the toe!

I have downgraded my love for this yarn, however, while knitting (ShiBui Sock). While it is truly gorgeous and feels so good running through your fingers, it isn't very squishy and, for me, knits up very dense. I'm knitting as loose as I possibly can, and the sock is still tight. This will be a winter sock for sure.

Afternoon in Laguna Beach

 

Yesterday, we gathered the offspring, tied them up & gagged them (okay, we didn't, but sometimes...) and drove an hour south to Laguna Beach. As much as I would love to live somewhere with four seasons, I recognize just how blessed we are to have places like this so close to home.

 

It was a completely gorgeous day, and Laguna is one of the most perfect places to just wander around for a few hours.

 

I lost my family in here for a while.

 

They lost me in here for a while.

 

We all got lost in the many galleries along Coast Highway...

 

Watched art created...

 

Watched life go by...

 

And met good friends for a fabulous dinner at one of our favorite places in the world, Cafe Zoolu (if you are local, you HAVE to know about this hole in the wall). This is our core group of friends - the men have known each other since childhood, the wives since high school. There's a lot of history at this table, and our boys got a real earful, something they aren't used to since we usually do dinners as adults only! I think they had fun (it's hard to take a picture in a tiny restaurant, by a hostess/waitress that would rather be somewhere else - if you read the reviews on Yelp, you'll understand. We love this place so much that we look past all her downfalls. And she was actually quite nice to us, even though we brought kids).

It's been a really good weekend. Yours?

Our recipe for the best holiday barbecue ever

Typically, in the week before any long (summer) holiday weekend, Scott reminds me that it's a holiday weekend. Not because I don't know that we will have a blissful extra day off, but to remind me that beef ribs will be on sale, because they almost always are.

It started back in August 1992, when we were subscribers to Bon Appetit, and they ran a recipe for ribs in their RSVP section (that's where readers send in requests for recipes from restaurants, and somehow, the magazine was able to obtain it). In that issue, the recipe was for Stout-Marinated Ribs with Honey Glaze from the Depot Restaurant, which is a favorite of ours in Torrance.

Interestingly enough, we have never seen the dish on the menu. A few years ago, we were having dinner there, and the chef Michael Shafer was making his rounds in the dining room. When he stopped at our table, and after we schmoozed a bit, Scott told him it was one of our favorites and asked why it wasn't on the menu. Chef Shafer told us that apparently he and us are the only people that liked the dish, and it was removed.

I find that inconceivable. More likely, it is a decadent, messy dinner where utensils are optional and highly discouraged, but copious amounts of napkins and dental floss are required on stand by.

I did a Google search for the recipe online, and found several, none with proper credit. So I feel less guilty sharing this, however, due credit is given to Bon Appetit for their superb foresight, and to Chef Shafer, for his gastronomic masterpiece. You will need to start this the night before, and make sure you have extra stout (very cold) to wash it all down with. Since your teeth will be a mess anyway, go ahead and grill some corn on the cob as well - this is as good as it gets; as Guy Fieri would say, 'this is money'. Enjoy!

Stout-Marinated Ribs with Honey Glaze
(recipe from Chef Michael Shafer, the Depot Repot Restaurant, Torrance, CA & printed in Bon Appetit, August 1992) 6 servings - more or less ;)

Ribs:
3 cups Guinness stout
1 large onion, sliced
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup oriental sesame oil
3 tablespoons minced garlic
4 pounds beef short ribs, but crosswise flanken style (about 1/2 inch thick) (note: we just buy the pack of regular beef ribs in the package)

Glaze:
1 cup honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1-1/2 teaspoons ground pepper

For ribs: Whisk  first 6 ingredients in large bowl to blend. Place ribs in glass baking dish. Pour marinade over. Cover and refrigerate overnight. (NOTE: We actually place the ribs in a large plastic baking bag, and pour the marinade on, and place that in the baking dish. This way, you can turn the ribs, making sure every morsel is coated with that marinade. See? Thinking over here!)

For glaze: Whisk all ingredients in medium bowl to blend (but don't do this until you are grilling).

Prepare barbecue (medium heat). Remove ribs from marinade and place on grill. Grill until cooked through, turning occasionally, about 10 minutes. Brush with glaze and cook 1 minute per side. Serve with remaining glaze.

Friday Flickr Favorites

 

Always inspiring to me; you people take amazing photographs.

So ready for the long weekend; I plan to relax, watch some movies, hang with the family, maybe knit (maybe rip and knit), maybe plant some things in the garden (finally), hopefully barbeque and probably daydream. A lot.

Have a wonderful one...

My fiber fix...where it all goes wrong

Workwise, I've done a whole lot of nothing this week. Today the plan was to go down to my favorite yarn shop and pick up another skein of that delicious Malabrigo lace because it looks like I'll need another (although I'm far from completion; more so than I thought this morning, but I don't want to get ahead of myself!).

First, I stopped at the local (expensive) fabric store in Redondo Beach, where I was pleasantly surprised to find they now have an amazing array of Rachel Ashwell fabric!

 

Most of it is lightweight sheeting, but priced pretty well at $8.95/yard. I *wish* I had an idea for it! It's all too gorgeous, but I am a terrible garment maker. In any event, I filed that away for later.

Then I made my way to Twist, where I proudly unveiled my sweater to Cathy...and then I had to go and open my big mouth about how my gauge is slightly off, but I didn't think it was a problem. Cathy immediately expressed concern, and we started measuring and counting, and @$#%*.

 

I can't bear to go into the specifics. Suffice it to say, I'm off enough that I have to start over. I forgot to make a gauge swatch right away, and only did so AFTER I started. And really, I STILL didn't quite understand the whole concept behind the swatch until Cathy spelled it out to me in a little drawing [yes, I am that dense].

 

She made me some tea, I fondled some yarn, and now I am back home where I will make yet another swatch, on bigger needles and psych myself up to rip out my sweater.

Please. Don't say you told me so.

Let me tell you about the ultimate concert upgrade

This is the post where I gush like a little girl. Prepare yourself.

Wednesday confession: we're old rockers. Neil Young, Grateful Dead, Tom Petty, Dire Straits, you name it, we listen to it. But that's the era we grew up in, we are in our mid-40's now and all. We really don't go to concerts that much anymore, the prices are just way too much these days and we have children nearing college (that's going to cost enough right there).

Scott works with a woman (Sharon), whose husband (Gerry) is one of the attorneys for the Allman Brothers, and they get to see the band all over the country, with unlimited passes. So 3 weeks ago, Sharon mentioned to Scott that they had 2 extra tickets to the Allman Brothers at the Greek Theater, did we want them? Since today is Scott's birthday, we thought, sure! We still had to pay, we had no idea WHERE the seats would be, but knew they'd be good.

After driving forever (we live in the boondocks!), we finally arrive and pick up our tickets. Not bad seats, Section A, Row M, Seats 17/19. We were quite pleased.

 

It's amazing how much things have changed over the years with regard to cameras at concert venues. There really is very little they can do about it now, and I don't think they even try. The concert had *just* started here, when I looked over toward the aisle and saw Sharon waving us over. We go out and she says, We can get you backstage. We're like, okaaaay!

I thought we were just going to loiter backstage, but no. We are ushered ONTO THE STAGE where they have three rows of 4 chairs lined up. Scott & Sharon immediately sat down in the second row and I was planning to stand, until a very nice gentleman, in the FIRST ROW got up and told me to sit in his seat.

And that is how I was upgraded to this.

 

Dudes. That is fracking Gregg Allman, 10 feet away from me, jamming on his old school keyboard/organ.

It didn't end there. 5 minutes later, Bruce Willis came in and sat NEXT TO ME. Okay, I died. I couldn't look over because I was afraid I'd bust out laughing so hard. Bruce got up at the next song to jam with them on his harmonica - and let me tell you, Bruce looks DAMN NICE jamming on that harmonica!

 

That's him in the baseball cap. It doesn't end there. Tom Petty & a couple Heartbreakers...looking a little scruffy, but man, he's still got it too.

 

The first guy on the right is rock legend Warren Haynes, who plays with the Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers and his own band, Gov't Mule, and who my husband is just a huge fan of.

Some interesting observations from the stage: the sound is totally different. You don't hear the vocals very well because obviously, the speakers are pointing out. It is a VERY good people watching vantage point - I was amazed at a couple in the front row that just sat there. Just. Sat. There. People - you're in the front row! Do something!!! As soon as we walked on stage, I was holding my Blackberry (planning on Twittering the concert, of course!) and was immediately told no texting, no cameras. As soon as I saw other people taking pictures on stage, I did also, very discreetly.

This was a once in a lifetime experience, and we couldn't stop thanking Sharon & Gerry. And one final picture for the birthday boy:

 

Scott & Warren Haynes backstage. I can't think of better birthday present. Happy Birthday Scotty! ♥

P.S. I got him a shirt too, but that's buptkiss at this point, right?

Fabric Sale!

 

I'm in organizing and cleaning out mode again - and have reduced some great designer fabrics over at my fabric Etsy store, Fabric Carnival. Check it out, if you're in the market to grow your stash. They are priced by the yard; if you are interested in more than 1 yard, shoot me a convo and I'll see if I have the yardage!

Weekend Recap: Cal Strawberry Festival

 

I nearly didn't make it to this spot today. I came very close to blowing off posting, and want very much to crawl upstairs and take a nap. For three days. But, since sleep and I don't get along very well, here I am!

 

This was, byfar, the largest event/show/festival I have EVER done. The sheer magnitude of this event just blew me away. I have never seen so many people in one place, really & truly, for a festival. I ended up with pretty good placement, near one of four gates, and in the first row where I could watch the sea of cars arriving into the parking area.

 

My neighbors told me attendance was actually down from previous years'. There did appear to be less actual shopping than you would think (based on the number of bags I saw); that is something I've noticed in the last couple of months, largely thanks to the economy. But for the most part, it was a busy (and tiring!) weekend!

 

I was really happy to have stepped out of my comfort zone and tried something new. I met a lot of really nice (seasoned) vendors and customers, and actually met a few who knew me and had ordered from me online - that blew me away, and was a great feeling.

 

My friends Lisa & Rudy came down from Santa Barbara, it's always so fun to see them, I wish they lived closer (I wish I lived closer to them!).

 

All in all, a good report here! I didn't get home until after 10 p.m. last night - it was so nice to set up on Friday and take my time, but that tear down after the festival closes on Sunday is just a killer. I'm so glad we don't have plans for this upcoming weekend, because right now, I just want to veg. My next event isn't for a couple of weeks, and I just have to fill in some holes in my inventory here and there, but I foresee a lot of downtime this week! That's a darn good thing - hope you all had a great weekend too! ♥