I went to the "Woolapalooza" and all I came home with is wool

Yup, Mr Yarn and I headed over to the Woolapalooza on Saturday. It was sheep shearing time. The National Audubon Society sanctuary (Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary) a beautiful place right near our house and this was an event there.



So some old hippy guy was shearing the sheep with these big ole scissors. I must say that I felt like he was manhandling that poor sheep a bit and I felt sorry for the poor thing (the sheep not the man).



Next, we went to go see the Nubian goats. This is MY personal favorite. We got to see a baby. Awwww.



About 15 minutes before we got into the barn this cutie was born. Doesn't get much cuter than that (shhhh, I liked the Nubian goat better but don't tell anyone because goats aren't as cool as sheep in knitting circles, but you can make goat cheese out of their milk)



This sheep looked like someone sheared it with a Flowbee. I couldn't stop myself from yelling to it "Hey baldie, looks like you were sheared with kitchen scissors"



We watched the dog boss the sheep around. Those sheep sure knew that the dog meant business. He had them running one way, and then the other and all around and everywhere. I heard one sheep say to the other "Man this dog is a tyrant, I need a drink".



Just because I am a bit odd I took a picture of a chicken. I love chickens. I want to own chickens (Mr. Yarn said that is all good and fine with him but what the hell are we going to do with them in the winter...he won't let me waste electricity heating the coop).

Ok, so that was my Audubon experience and we even became members. Stay tuned for my bird watching adventures (that is after I take up Kayaking and juggling).

More fun with food and snow

So as promised I took a picture of me playing with food.



Here I am wrapping potato strips around a cucumber. Not as easy as it looks. Do not try this in your own home.



Frying it up (have more than one cucumber on hand if you want to do these stupid baskets.

What this basket looks like after you have suffered through making them




NOT worth it. The little morsels that go inside were well worth it though.



The short ribs were fantastic and the meal was a success. Just don't bother making little baskets out of potato strips and you will be fine. Note to self: Don't play with your food...simple is best.

Oh, and while we were cooking and drinking wine on this lovely 50 degree SPRING day, Denis yelled over Neil Young on my iPod: "It is SNOWING". Yup...I thought he was messing with my head but Noooooo

Obsessed in the kitchen...

I just got this cookbook and I want to make everything that is in it. So, I have really obsessed with the potato recipes. This is the one that I am going for first



It is little potato baskets that you make by slicing a potato on a Japanese slicer (makes long long threads) and you wrap the long thread around a cucumber. Then you fry it up in a fryer and slip it off the cucumber. You have a basket. The basket is filled with potato balls that are glazed in a homemade stock that has been reduced to nothing.



So, I made the stock and I fried up the little balls today. You have to fry them a second time but since we can't do this all at the last second you can fry them the first time and freeze them.



This is going to go with Short ribs with mushroom Jam (or something that sounds stupid like that in the recipe). We got that recipe at a cooking class that was given by the chef of a local restaurant. A dinner that we will test out on our neighbor Denis. He is game for anything (as long as there is good wine to go with it).

The new dog in town

ZEPHYR. from Evan Lane on Vimeo.

Evan's girlfriend Lauren just got a new puppy. Evan shot this video.

Flowers and Spring and Whiskers on kittens

Really, I was going to blog about how nice it was yesterday and how my bulbs are coming up. I was going to take a picture of the little green sprout coming out of the ground. I was going to say how it felt like spring was near and 50 degrees felt wonderful. But....



The flakes are the size of boulders.

I still love you California

We are back from our trip to California. Besides the fact that I was sick as a dog with bronchitis and ended up in urgent care, the trip was great. I was on every medication known to man but still was back "home" and happy to be with Annie and Tim and we got to see Evan and my mom and sister and brother. We also got to have dinner with our pals. I miss them all more than words can describe.

So, I took pictures. Lots of em.

First off is my Granddogs



This is Dahlia. I got to meet her for the first time and she is the best. I wanted to sneak both of these guys home in my suitcase but Annie wouldn't let me.

This is Ricky



I didn't get a really good picture of him. He is also the cutest dog in the world (besides Esther).



We drove down 101 to L.A. and I got to see my perfect ocean. Not the fake ocean that I live near now. This is the REAL ocean.



Check out that sky.



How could I ever have taken this for granted? This is Marina Del Rey at its normal. I forgot how beautiful L.A. could be.



Ok, the traffic sucks in L.A. and this is at 9:30 in the morning on a Thursday.

On the way back to the Bay Area





Things I miss about Oakland







It is called DIVERSITY.

Ah yes, and these were sitting outside the Longs Drugstore in February



Back to Annie and Tim's and ready for party time



Birthday girl

Tim built Annie a birthday cake. She is the cupcake queen so this was appropriate



And just in time we made it back home before the storm hit. We are lucky to have the best neighbors in the whole world.



Back to reality