I went all out this time – I pulled the jumbo canning pot from the garage and kept going until I ran out of jars.

I made: Dilly Beans, Dill Pickles, Bread & Butter Pickles, Caraway (Purple) Cauliflower, Spiced Figs, Dill Pickled Okra, Random Dilled Leftover Vegetables from the Fridge.

Favorite canning reference materials in no particular order:

– Ball Blue Book of Canning I think I bought this at the store at the same time I bought my canning pot, but I am not quite sure. It has fantastic recipes and very thorough instructions for the beginner.

– Mustards, Pickles and Chutneys I got this at Half Priced books a long time ago. All of the measurements are metric, and I re-evaluate the acidity/preserving capability of each recipe because I think many of them were written for refrigerator storage.

– Summer in a Jar: Making Pickles, Jams, and More.. Genius book that has single-jar recipes. The smallest batch possible! I don’t have a full review of this yet, but the method involves adding many more spices directly to the jar than I am accustomed to. I am used to simmer ing the spices with the vinegar, and only adding a small selection of spices to the jar. I wonder if these recipes will be dramatically different in flavor….

Favorite local places to get canning supplies. In particular order with my favorite first:

1) Ace Pasttime Hardware, El Cerrito. Nice selection all year long. Ask an employee to show you where the canning supplies are, otherwise you could get lost in the maze of aisles.

2) The store formerly known as Big Longs (now converted to CVS). Tons of supplies all year, and open late! For your midnight jam sessions….

3) Berkeley Bowl. They have some canning supplies tucked under the produce. Limited selection that was totally picked over and not replenished by the end of October. But it is handy to get your dill heads and jars at the same place.

Several twitter crafters report using whirlweds graphic, label paper and packing tape to make shiny replicas for themselves.

In my area, I spied at least two different types of stickers:

Amanda directed me to a picture of Ohio’s sticker:

What does your sticker look like? Snap a picture and send us a link!

I hope you were able to get out and vote today. To celebrate Election Day, I am offering free US shipping in my etsy shop. Just leave a note that says “I Voted” and I will refund your shipping.

We went to Alcatraz

Don’t let this photo fool you – I really like it there

Did you know that some of the prisoners crocheted? Something tells me they weren’t really using pink yarn…

We tasted wine

Ancient vines at Valley of the Moon Winery

And we went to Daiso AND Japantown – see why we get along? I had to make a pit stop and by the time I made it into Kinokuniya, Amanda had already found the craft books. The next two hours are a blur. Despite the complete variety of books, I inadvertently chose only crochet books:

Motif crochet winter accessories

Tiny crochet accessories

Magic Scrubbers Part 8

Title translations are from some helpful Ravelers. The books have served as the focus of my crafting since I got them. Stay tuned for finished projects!

Whew! That’s a lot of crap. If you click through to Flickr you can see all of the notes that describe my clean-up strategy. Wish me luck!

I can’t figure out what to wish for…. A nice pair of Danskos. A Crock pot for dyeing roving… I think I will wish for a jar of buttons. Sounds do-able. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

If you are in the east bay tomorrow and want to check out the sale, I recommend heading up to the recycling center on Schmidt or the community center on Moeser to pick up a map to get you started. What is your junky wish?

Edit: As I am getting ready this morning, I remembered that I really want a guillotine-style paper cutter. I think that might be pushing it….

Mamere told me a little about her recipe. Apparently she got it it when she worked at the General Motors factory (must have been late 40’s) from a girl whose father worked in the kitchen at the Waldorf. Amazingly, the internet lists the Waldorf Astoria as the possible origin of the recipe. I am from Ohio and have eaten this cake almost every birthday of my life, so I certainly wouldn’t say this is a southern recipe, but somehow it has that reputation. See the end of this post for the recipe.

On to the birthday loot… I had to show you a few pictures of some gifts I got. Ingrid showed up with a perfectly wrapped gift… She sewed a little bag to serve as the giftwrap!

inside…. Last Minute Fabric Gifts Awesome!

Some other goodies include the cutest doormat in the world (from target!) and The Meat Club cookbook

I am off to finish my whiplash entry… Click ‘more’ if you don’t see Mamere’s Red Velvet Recipe below

Warning: This cake is a lot of work and takes a long time. After making it you will realize why cake mixes were invented. And it doesn’t stop at the cake. The frosting is something that I think many people of my (young) age have never even bothered to try – You have to cook it. There is flour involved… a lot of things could go wrong. BUT it is a delicious cake and even if it doesn’t turn out perfectly, you will enjoy it.

Mamere’s Red Velvet Cake

Traditionally, this cake is made in two small pans, and layered. Lazily, i made it in a 9 x 13 pan and had an extra thick layer of frosting on the top. Don’t even try this recipe without an electric mixer.
Cake:
1/2 cup butter (Mamere uses sweet cream butter and it doesn’t seem too salty to me)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups cake flour (sifted)
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 oz red food coloring
2 Tablespoons cocoa
2 eggs
1 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 Tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

Mix the cocoa and food coloring together into a paste.
Cream butter and sugar together with a mixer. Add eggs one at a time and mix well. Add the food coloring/cocoa paste and mix well. Add salt and vanilla. Alternate sifted flour and buttermilk, mixing well. TURN of off the mixer and get out a spatula and get ready to be quick. In a small bowl mix together the vinegar and baking soda. while it is still fizzing, pour it into the batter. Then gently FOLD it into the batter. Don’t mix it with the mixer or you’ll beat all of the bubbles out.

pour the mixture into a greased 9×13 pan and bake at 350 F for 30 minutes.

Frosting:
5 teaspoons flour
1 cup milk

1 cup butter (this should be room temperature)
1 c sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

On the stove top on very low heat cook together the flour and milk until thick. If anything turns brown, throw it out an start over. The goal here is to make an Elmer’s glue-like substance. Once thickened LET IT COOL COMPLETELY (this takes a while). Meanwhile, Cream together the butter and sugar in a mixer. Add vanilla. When cool add the flour/milk mixture and whip until fluff. Ice the cake when cool.

That’s it. If you make one, let me know how it turns out.

And they happen to match! How cute!

Speaking of cute, I noticed that Superbuzzy is having a sale on some of their items. If you haven’t shopped there before, Superbuzzy carries a TON of cute Japanese import fabric. Be warned – it is too adorable to resist. Here is a selection from one of my previous purchases.

I noticed that there are some cute cross-stitch tape kits on sale too. Tempting…..

Hopefully next time I post I will have finished a pair of handknit socks for myself.

I can’t believe I didn’t steal one. What I am I up to now? Did I mention that I ate some mangoes this weekend? And then when i got home I ate another… Apparently I am more allergic to mangoes than previously thought. I mean, I know they are in the poison oak family, and I know they usually make my lips and palette itch. Yesterday I woke up and my lips itched (not that unusual since I am allergic to everything). I noticed that it seemed like I had a cold sore, and my lips were a little splitty and weepy (gross). Then I walked by the mirror and saw that my face was twice it’s normal size. I must have looked hideous because I didn’t even have to do any convincing to get a shot at the student health center. Today, I’m mostly recovered. All I have is hives and this giant set of lips

That’s me. My lips aren’t usually that huge. Check here for comparison if you don’t know what I usually look like.

Why didn’t this happen to me on Sunday morning since I had a mango on Saturday as well? Well, I did have a little bit of irritation in the corner of my mouth that I thought might be a cold sore. The internets seem to think that rinsing your mouth out after eating a mango helps minimize the reaction, so I will credit the Bourbon slushies and the wine for preventing me from blowing up like a balloon. And the internets also seem to think that some mangoes are worse than others.

i think I might have to add mangoes to the list of things to permanently avoid. It’ll be right up there under peanuts. Are you allergic to anything?

It is my crazy notes on how many rows and increases remain. The eagle-eyed might also notice that for some reason I have indicated the time to increase with the letter d. Makes sense to me for some reason….

edit: I have been get a lot of inquiries about the yarn. It is Araucania Nature wool Chunky in color #129

A while ago CraftyGinger tagged me for a meme, and it is about time I participated:

Here’s how it goes – once you’re tagged write a short blog post about your favorite word, and what makes it your favorite. Of course you can have more than one! Be as long-winded as you like! Just make sure to copy & paste this text into your post, and tag four friends!

CraftyGinger chose a repectable word: luminous. Ever since I was tagged for this challenge a few weeks ago I have had the same word in my head. I tried to pick something literary, serious, insightful or at least descriptive, but I just keep coming back to the same word. Gravy.

Why would I claim that my favorite word is gravy?

• I like gravy. It is delicious. It is the dinner equivalent of the ever-famous dessert mainstay – icing.
• I am good at making gravy, and I make a lot of it. Ask anyone that has had Thanksgiving dinner with me. My grandma has had me in training my whole lfe
• I think everyone might like gravy. I have never heard someone say “I’ll have the chicken-fried steak, but hold the gravy.” But I am from Ohio. I actually don’t think I have heard anyone other than myself say “I’ll have the chicken-fried steak” since I moved to California. But that is not the point.
• I have absolutely no bad connotations or associations with gravy… Me and gravy = good times
• It makes an excellent pet name and currently holds the top spot and my most-likely-next-pet-name. Give it a try. “Graaaavvvyyy… Come here you little cutie!” Totally works.
• It can hold its own as a word… When used a slang, it means good. No one ever clenches their fists and shakes them at the sky wailing “Gravy!!” Instead it is only used when someone is pleased and smugly declares “gravy.”

So what is your favorite word? I am sending tags out to some of my commenters: 5thelementknitr, Amber, Kimchi, and Chris. but, of course if you don’t want to participate (sometimes memes stress me out) no hard feelings, let me know and I’ll tag differently :).

While I was neglecting this blog, I got a mention on Apartment Therapy for my recipe cards – shout out to Apartment Therapy! Thanks! Speaking of recipe cards I got a few recipes as thanks via email today. Thanks Vicki! Oh! And one more LOOONG overdue shoutout to Joan over at AnthropoMorphCo… When I was frustrated at the lack of cute recipe cards, I mentioned to her that her veggies would be perfect for recipe cards. So she made some! And they are sweet!

You can pick some up in her etsy shop.

Let’s see what else have I been up to… well, I followed this advice(scroll down) to prepare myself for the release of the new Harry Potter book. I’m mostly muggle and have only read one book (desperately bored at my parents house one Christmas). I recently saw the new movie (in which Harry is an intolerable Skywalker-ish whiny teen. Enough with the orphan drama). But after brushing up on the ol’ Potter storyline I knew what to do when I ran across a copy of the book. I picked it up and read the last two chapters. HA!! Now I am a big spoiler waiting to happen.

Finally, when i would have normally been posting here, I was playing with colors over at COLOURLovers. Ever since I went King Salmon fishing, I have had some colors stuck in my head. This was a much easier way to get them out than trying to dye yarn or roving See how this

made me think of this

. Of you go play over there, i am ‘girlontherocks’ so send some votes my way….

Oh! I just remembered that I haven’t entered anything for Whiplash this month… I think I can sneak in just under the wire. Off to craft!