Guilty Pleasures
Valentine's Day is generally full of guilty pleasures, but as a knitter, mine are usually on the "Real knitters are going to needle me about this" side.
I don't know whether it's winter or cabin fever, but this is the third time I've been tempted into knitting socks with acrylic baby yarn.
This time it's TLC Baby "Fizzy Print" on US size 1 (2.25mm) needles. I love that deep rose. The sherbet green and sherbet orange are okay, but every time that intense rose comes around again it makes me unreasonably happy.
Speaking of guilty pleasures, I got dressed this morning to an NPR interview with Nigella Lawson discussing chocolate cake. At the end they said two of her recipes (Chocolate Raspberry Heart Cake from Feast and Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake from How to Be a Domestic Goddess) were up on NPR's webpage, so I'm grabbing those right now. (Looks like the measurements on the NPR page are all in US equivalents.)
She says a good chocolate cake should have a hint of pudding about it -- I think I'm in love.
My husband and I don't do much on Valentine's Day. One memorable year, I twisted his arm and told him he was buying me flowers and chocolate, and he brought me a blooming gardenia plant.
From what I remember, he came home about 40 minutes late, because not being a flower-buying kind of guy, he had assumed that on Valentine's Day, he could just walk into any florist at 5pm and buy some roses or something. (Yeah. I laughed, too!)
The gardenia was what he finally got in desperation after driving from florist to florist. Luckily for him, I love those thick, white waxy petals and their undeniably opulent scent. And it bloomed for weeks.
These days, we get a trip in to the Chocolate Cafe when we can. And I buy myself flowers when the winter white finally starts to get to me.
Labels: baking, sock knitting
posted by Alwen | 8:35 AM
3 Comments:
You are a wise woman. The trick in suggesting presents, I find, is to play to their strengths! (In my case, that means anything to do with coffee or sporting goods.) Hope you're staying warm and dry :)
Oh, the dense chocolate loaf is THE BEST! On it's own, or with cream or ice-cream, or berries. YUM. Mmmm, might have to make one this weekend...
I love gardenias - I think a lovely blooming plant much better than roses on Valentine's Day. (it's the gift that keeps on giving). And buying flowers for yourself is the perfect treat.
I buy my own flowers when I feel like I want/need some, too. This year we waited until today (15th) because it was Friday and we left work early and met at a restaurant for a nice lunch. It was lovely to have a peaceful, delicious lunch and not to be at work. And now a long weekend (although a rainy one) ahead. Sounds about perfect to me.
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