Coffee Cake...Fresh-baked at Home!

Much belated Happy New Year, and Happy Valentine's Day.......

OK, haven't been blogging as much, as I think I'm spending waaaaay too much time on Facebook - can't help it, as it's too much fun to catch up with family and friends I wouldn't normally catch up with on a regular/semi-regular basis, and basically just fool around on the website....

Anyway, an extremely belated Happy New Year, and as it's 2 days before Valentine's Day, Happy Love/Heart Day too....am lucky to have someone to share it with, though we don't normally make a huge deal out of it. I did get a little spoiled last year, as I got some lovely gifts, but we had come out of a couple of weeks of a rough patch, so he was being ultra-good to me, which I loved!! We've gotten absolutely nothing planned, and I've decided to get in early, and spent tonight baking a coffee cake, and so far it's coming along fine. It's a new recipe I'm trying from Delia Smith's "How to Cook" book, and am hoping it'll be a keeper - coffee cake is a big comfort food for me (my mother bakes a really good one, and she also has a great chocolate cake too, both with butter icing). I did check with the boy recently to ask if he liked coffee cake, and the answer was very much in the positive!!!

I've been doing a bit more cooking in the New Year, and that was somewhat intentional - not so much as a New Year's Resolution (of which I don't have any), but just a new intention; we both want to spend less money on buying breakfasts/lunches/dinners, etc., so I'm trying to do what I can. Of course, I'm spending a lot more money on groceries that I normally would, but it would still work out cheaper on the long run. I still need to improve a lot though, as I'm not as far as planning a whole week's menu yet, so I have a ways to go. Soup seems to be my big thing (it's a perfect winter dish), and we've found a couple of good mushroom soup recipe, along with potato and leek, and carrot and parsnip soups, all from Darina Allen (an Irish chef).

Anyway, here are a few shots of the cake so far (it's cooling), and also a photo of the cake from the book - will add a shot later of when my version is finished, and hopefully, it'll looked good, and taste even better!! It doesn't look the most appetizing yet, but the cake should look better as a finished product.





















I've not been doing as much knitting yet in 2009 - just some small projects over the holidays, and I knit a baby hat for a co-worker who had her first grandchild right before Christmas....... Hopefully that'll change soon, once some knitting motivation comes back; I'm such a hibernator during winter - sure wish I could be living in Florida, California or somewhere sunny from January - March every year ;-)

Anyway, 'til next time....

Continuing to enjoy the Christmas Hols!

This year, with having been employed by my company for 5 years, I've now gotten a 3rd week of added vacation a year, so I've managed to set aside 2 weeks of it for Christmas/New Year's. Originally, I thought and hoped to have gotten back home to visit my family and friends in Ireland. Unfortunately, flight prices were just too expensive, and also, it worked out that my boyfriend didn't have quite the same amount of vacation time left to take off for 2 weeks, so hence our reason for staying put in Baltimore. We cooked dinner up at his Mother's place in York, PA (his hometown), so that worked out fine, though I have to admit, that I probably spent more time in the kitchen than I probably should have - I was a little too ambitious with the amount of side dishes planned, I guess, and couldn't organize myself properly to have himself come help me - my bad!! Anyway, it was still a lovely time....

Here's our Christmas tree, which I was very pleased with how it turned out. We moved into a new place together in October, and it's a very small Baltimore rowhome, and with space being so tight, we weren't sure about being able to accommodate a tree. But luckily, we found a 6-7ft tree, that was quite narrow, and it's worked perfectly for us!

Season's Greetings!

I'm briefly coming out of Blog Hibernation - seem to have not been as involved in recent months, I'm guessing largely due to my fairly recent move-in with my boyfriend. We're renting in the south end of Baltimore City, and have been pretty involved in the move-in process with trying to sort through "stuff" (largely mine!), and where to accommodate it all in our small, cozy place.... It's been a more expensive move than anticipated between trying to purchase furniture for the place, as well as "fixing" the place up...yes, it is a rental property, and we're probably doing more than would be/is expected of tenants, but we're hoping/figuring it'd be worth it. And it works out we've had circuit breaker/washing machine/hot water heater issues, and luckily, our landlord husband-and-wife team have stepped in to fix the circuit breaker, replace the washer/dryer and installed a new hot water heater... All within less than a 2-month timeframe of moving in....more hassles than we expected, but we're working through them...

And then I celebrated a "big" birthday back in early December, and my mother and one of my sisters came to visit from Ireland for a brief stay. Worked out to be a wonderdul long weekend, and wish they could have stayed for longer, but so be it. I get to stay State-side for Christmas this year, though I had originally hoped to go back home..... Flight costs were just too prohibitive, and the boy doesn't have as much time off as me either, so works out that we stay here in Baltimore. We'll visit his mother in York, PA on Christmas Eve, and stay for about 24 hours, so that we can cook Christmas dinner there...... Should be nice, I hope - got the bulk of my grocery shopping done today, and must check on what else I may need....can't afford to spend too much more, but at least I have the main stuff covered (I hope!!).

Anyway, here's a few Baltimore Christmas photos from Hampden's 34th Street lightshow that's had every year here!

Patriotism

Heard an article on the radio or maybe watched on TV recently (can't remember, but am suffering media-overload lately), regarding patriotism, and what it meant to be patriotic, etc. One viewpoint stuck, and that to be patriotic was to go out and vote. And that I did....! And so, even though I've never felt very patriotic towards any country before (and I can say this from having been born and raised in a country that is not the USA), today, I felt a little patriotic in being able to vote. So many others around the world don't have that privilege, so I feel very lucky.

Now, I'm wondering where to go to watch the results....it's going to be a very exciting night!

Moving, and exhaustion....

It's been a full week since the boy & I finally moved all of my stuff out of storage, and the bulkier stuff out of my old place, and we're just exhausted...!! I finally managed to empty my bedroom, and dust/clean up/vacuum the space in my old place (not officially out of there 'til Wednesday, October 15th), so glad that's done, though I realize that I've still got my small Weber grill out on the porch. So I must contact my old landlady today, anyway, as it works out that we'll be taking her cat, Oliver, as she was at a point of sending him off to a farm, knowing that she'd have no tenant to really look after him properly. So, for the first time in my life, we'll be a pet-owner!

I'd take photos of the new place, but it's nothing but boxes right now, and just a mess. Having said that, it's better than what it was during the week, but will continue to improve once we figure out what goes where... We have to get rid of the Queen-sized bed as the staircase is too small/narrow to get it up there, and the bedrooms are too small for such a bed anyway. Small is the best way to describe the new place, so it'll be an interesting challenge to fit my stuff in. But then again, it'll be a good reason to get rid of stuff, so I'll be working eBay and Craigslist quite a bit soon. Could do with some extra income to purchase a full-size bed, and a new couch, so that'll be good!!

Anyway, off to have some breakfast....

Coming out of the woodwork, if only for a few minutes...

Have been in blog hibernation lately, as there's been stuff going on - C's father passed away at the very end of August (same date as the passing of my own father, strangely/coincidentally enough), after a 3.5 year battle with lymphoma and pancreatic cancer.... So we'd been dealing with that for a little while through early September....

And over the past 2 weeks, I've been dealing with packing to move, as we've very suddenly found a place to move into together, having talked about it for far longer than actually doing anything about it.... As we're on a certain budget, we knew it'd be difficult to find somewhere, but we found a really cute, small, but cozy, 2-bed/1 bath townhouse rental property in Ridgely's Delight. Tomorrow is our first official move-in date, but as I had to give 30 days notice to my landlady, I won't be moving out until October 15 (at least officially), but I hope to have my stuff out of my current abode before then. At least by the w/end beforehand, which will be October 11/12, if not sooner, depending on how the bulk of my move will go this w/end....

So, I'm going through some busy times, in many respects, and so am trying to allow myself to get this one blog in before we say goodbye to September....

Later....'til next time, likely to be well after my move!

Camping Trip, and a finished Scarf!

Just wanted to add a few photos of our first camping trip of the season, down at Point Lookout State Park, in St. Mary's County in southern Maryland. Apart from a brief, and very light shower, late on Friday afternoon, while we were setting up the tent, we had great weather all weekend. Couldn't have been more perfect for a mid-August trip - not too hot, and certainly didn't feel too humid at all. Maybe, our geographical location helped out some, as the State Park is located right where the Potomac River meets the Chesapeake, so that did allow for a certain amount of breeze to help cool things down, even just a little. And there's a narrow stretch of beach on the Potomac River side that we were able to get to on Sunday morning, and got in for a couple of relaxing swims to help cool us down even further!!

The only major drawback was that C's back problems kicked in earlier in the week before we left, and still continue over 10 days later, so I'm hopeful that he'll get to a doctor like he's mentioned he just might do. He hasn't had his back problem checked out in years, and it could be worth a medical visit, but like so many men, he's never in a rush to visit a doctor.... But, this time, he may be forced to, so we'll see.....






























We got to visit St. Mary's City, while we were in the locale, and even though it was a very small place, it was very scenic. We saw a wedding having been set up on the grounds of the Capitol Building, overlooking St. Mary's river (a tributary of the Potomac), and it was a wonderfully perfect spot. Hope the couple enjoyed their special day, as we did see the limo with the bride and her party arrive as we were leaving, but she got there at least 30 minutes early!! She must have been anxious to get that ring on her finger, though not that we saw her, as she stayed put in the car for a little while, and we weren't inclined to hang out and wait for her for half-an-hour!

And, I finally got my latest scarf finished too! We had a leisurely drive home, and drove around the campus of St. Mary's College, as well as stopping at a marina from where we recently had a great boat (a 40' Passport) donated to us at the
Downtown Sailing Center. We finally stopped in Annapolis for dinner, and icecream afterwards (a weakness for us both!). We went for what ended up being a very quick stroll, as C's back problem was too much for him to be able to walk around for too long. But being in the car for a 2.5 hour drive home, as well as some knitting time while we were camping, allowed me to finish my scarf. And here it is!

Keeping very quiet, and helping out

Not that I've been so swamped this summer, but I haven't gotten to blog as often as I thought I would. Have had 1 sailing cruise so far this season, as well as a number of day sails out from the Inner Harbor, with more cruising plans for possibly September, and definitely October, and even into November! And we're heading off on our first camping trip of the season tomorrow, to Point Lookout State Park in St. Mary's County in southern Maryland. We've never been, and so are really looking forward to it.

In the meantime, for all you cat and pet lovers out there, please help out Anne with a neighbor's cat that she's had to take to the vet's - her blog would explain the circumstances better than I ever could!

An Interesting and Varied Weekend.....

I had a 3-day weekend this weekend, as I had decided to give my boyfriend an early birthday gift (his birthday is not until 11th July) of tickets to see Alison Krauss and Robert Plant at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD, an event we were both so looking forward to, and did very much enjoy. Excellent musicians and playing excellent music!! Loved it!

We were able to chill, relax, and hang out together for the day on Friday, and when we got home on Friday afternoon from doing some errands, he went online to check his email to get the news of Tim Russert's death. Needless to say, we were, and still are, stunned at the news. Neither of us are terribly into politics, nor even watch his show much (though I used to watch it a little more frequently when I used to live in DC), but we both really liked Tim Russert, who seemed so passionate about politics, his family, his hometown, his Irish and Catholic background, and had a great sense of loving life, and was living it to it's fullest. Such a genuine human being - and such a loss to have him taken so soon. May he Rest in Peace.

I got to head to Hampden for the Annual Honfest here in Baltimore, and had a great time. Wanted to visit Lovelyarns to participate in the World Wide Knit in Public Day, but I didn't get there 'til much later in the day, as I bumped into some sailing friends, some of whom I knew would be there, so I hung out with them for much of the day. But here is a taste of what I saw......





Finally left my sailing friends around 5pm or so, and finally got a little bit of knitting in. Luckily, got a call from the boy, who had been down at the DSC teaching sailing for the day, and he came up from the Inner Harbor with a fellow sailing instructor, and so we hung out watching and enjoying a band for a bit, and bumped into another fellow sailor with his lady friend, so that was fun. Good times with some sailors at a non-sailing event!!

Today, we went to Sunday Brunch at Ryan's Daughter up in Belvedere Square, as I wanted to celebrate Father's Day - C's kids are up in York, PA still living with their mother, and he didn't have plans to be up there today, so we had our own celebration here in Baltimore. He's playing golf this afternoon with a friend from an old job from several years ago, so he's having fun with that...... I haven't decided yet what to do with the rest of my afternoon, but I do have some grocery shopping to do, so will likely head to Trader Joe's in Towson.....and then decided from there what all else I'll do.

In the meantime, Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there - hoping it's a good one!

More Knitting, and Ouch at the Gas pump

I'm addicted to the Ruffles Scarf Pattern from Pam Allen's Scarf Style book, and am currently in the middle of knitting my 3rd one in a row!! I took it with me yesterday to the LPGA at Bulle Rock Golf Course in Harve de Grace, MD - I was lucky enough to get free tickets from work, and my boyfriend and I were able to attend. We had a great time, even surviving the scorching heat, by using plenty of sunscreen, and drinking LOTS of fluid, mostly water....... And in between, I got the opportunity to work some more on my knitting....



On the way home, we had to stop for gas, as my tank was getting pretty empty (the warning light had come on, which I haven't allowed it to happen in months!), and low-and-behold, I spent $54 to fill up my car!! I was shocked a few weeks ago to have spent over the $40 mark (I think I spent about $44 that time), but I have never, ever, with any car I've had, spent over $50 before, so this is a first. And I don't consider my 2001 Mitsubishi Galant to be a gas guzzler either :-/ Thankfully, I don't own an SUV, and don't see one of those vehicles in my future......, but am wondering about how to work around the increased prices, as I'm sure many, many people are......

Made it to the MD Sheep & Wool Festival yesterday....

...and didn't do any major damage, thankfully, so I was glad of the certain self-restraint! So much I would have loved to have purchased, but realize that I'm working on not putting myself into debt for the sake of having more "stuff", of which I have plenty of already anyway, and have yet to practice the art of simple living. Got to purchase yarn, of which I know I already have a pattern for (next step is to seek and find said pattern!), and another scarf pattern which will be great for skeins of yarn that I've no idea what to use for yet. And then there were some non-knitting purchases, like 2 hand-made soaps for a Gettysburg, PA-based pottery, a small basket from some locally-based ladies in MD, a magnet hook for my frig from a local lady who uses old spoons/forks/knives/utensils to make things with, some herbs in a bag for use as a moth-ball, a couple of wooden needles, and 2 notebooks for the frig (great to make lists/notes with)..... And here is a photo to show off all the products!



Looking forward to next year already!!

Finished Ruffles Scarf, and another one started....

Finished my Ruffles Scarf a couple of weeks ago, and have started into another one, but will hopefully post pics of that at a later date......

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to the Sheep and Wool Festival this weekend at the Howard County Fairgrounds in West Friendship, MD....hopefully, I won't get to do any unnecessary damage!!

Springtime and an Addiction

Am sooooooo glad the Spring is here, as I'm so not a fan of the cold, dull weather (though I think snow is fun, fun, fun!!). It's great to see the daffodils and tulips starting to bud and flower, and am excited to see the sailing season starting to kick off! Got out for my first sail of the season yesterday, and it was an unexpected invite, and very last minute too. Alas, no photos as none of us had our cameras with us, but it was so much fun all the same!

Anyhow, in the meantime, I've become addicted to the scarf I started knitting towards the end of our trip to Florida, and have been posting some of my progress on Ravelry which is a knitting website I've starting to use more and more in recent weeks, am enjoying it immensely! I won't get to enjoy wearing the scarf until next winter, due to the yarn being wool, but it's so colorful, that it'll help brighten up my winter!! Here is my latest photo of it's progress....

Settling back to life in Baltimore......

Got back to my boyfriend's place in Gaithersburg on Sunday night after a long road-trip on Sat/Sun from St. Petersburg, FL, where we met up with friends from my Washington, DC days - can't believe that I know them for over 10 years now! Drove straight to work in Baltimore on Monday morning, after an early start (for me anyway) of hitting the road at 7am, and taking 1.5 hours to get to work - not a coummute I'd normally like to do!!

Anyway, am still settling back after a wonderfully relaxing trip, enjoying the beach, biking, golfing, chillin', and enjoying all the sunshine and the proximity to the surf!! Adjusting to dirty ol' Baltimore, and being back at work again is, ummmmm, interesting, as mentally, I'm still in Florida, biking down to the beach, and just hangin' out!

Here's a couple of photos of typical of our week......



By the way, Happy Birthday today to my older brother (who is back in Ireland with the rest of my family) - hope it's a great day!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! And a Finished Knitting Project too!

Had hoped to post more stuff about my knitting, as I'm using this blog more frequently over the past year or so, but am so up in the air about what to write about, it literally seems to be more about whatever is happening the day that I decide to write in this blog.... Fairly directionless, I know, but tends to be how I feel that I am a lot of the time, which, of course, is never a good thing :-(

But, here is a toddler sweater that I have FINALLY finished over the weekend....it's the Boat Sweater pattern by Debbie Bliss, from a recent book (published about a year ago), and I can't remember the exact title of it, but it's something related to Family Knits (25 patterns are included if memory serves me right). I don't have my own copy of the book, as I borrowed it from the library, but copied this pattern, as it was the perfect pattern for me to knit for sailing friends who had a baby back last October. I wanted to get a nautical theme, and ended up deciding between this sweater, and another pattern, and this one won out on the day. I've figured that I really don't like sewing up all the seams, etc., so next time, I'll aim to do the seamless kind of sweater, by knitting in the round. I have a basic children and adult sweater pattern, that can be varied to spice it up. I'm not that confident in my knitting yet to vary the basic pattern too easily, but I knit with my Stitch 'n Bitch group on a fairly regular basis, that they could hopefully help me the next time I decide to tackle a sweater again!

Anyway, here are a some photos of Niko's sweater, which I hope to get to his parents this week, all going well (will be heading off to FL on Friday, so hence hoping to get it to them this week!)





And happy Paddy's day to all the Irish, and wannabe Irish, and anyone who is Irish just for this one day of the year!! Hope you all enjoy!

Another Vacation planned....

Yes!

I got my vacation request for Easter Week confirmed by my supervisor today, and my boyfriend and I are planning to head to Florida for the first time since Christmas 2004. His parents have a place on the west coast, in an over-55 community, and because of their failing health, are putting their winter home for the past 20 years up for sale. I had been encouraging my boy since before Christmas that, if possible, we could/should try to get down there sometime in first quarter of the year, as a last opportunity to have somewhere to stay before it's sold to another new owner...

And, we finally got our ducks in a row since earlier this week, and along with my vacation approval today, so we're all set to head to the Sunshine state. My man just has to verify the dates with his boss at work, which is not a problem, as luck would have it! We've decided to drive down to save on flights and car rentals, so we must plan our route, but that's part of the fun....

But, Florida, here we come!!!

Total Eclipse of the Moon

Just had to get out tonight to have the opportunity to see the eclipse of the moon which I had been hearing about, mostly on the radio on WYPR (88.1FM), my local NPR station here in Baltimore.

Included are a couple of my (very, very amateur) photos, which SO do not do the lunar eclipse justice, but you get an idea.

And it's a cold night here in Baltimore too - we got our 1-2 inches of snow had been predicted, so the ground was nice and white, though luckily, it didn't stick to the roads. Though that could be different in the morning, depending on the overnight temps, so we'll see what tomorrow's daylight brings.....

Trying to keep busy this weekend....!!

I was seriously considering going on a hike today with the Baltimore Hiking Group of which I'm a member through Meetup.com. But by the time I got my laundry started, coffee/breakfast made and eaten, I just didn't have time to get up to the Gunpowder Falls State Park in time for the 10:30am meetup time, so I decided to take a day trip to Gettysburg, PA instead.

I have only been up there once before, and that was over 10 years ago, back in the Fall of 1997, so I figured I was way overdue a visit again! I had certain memories of my previous visit, which I did with 2 girlfriends at the time, but have since lost all contact with (they were from my Washington, DC days, which seems like such a lifetime ago!), so it was time to make new memories for myself. There were a couple of places that I remembered, which was nice, but even better was the fact that I didn't remember enough places from my last visit, and that I was able to create what seemed like a totally new first-time visit, though old memories of my life back then came seeping back, but that's how life is......

Anyway, I came back to Baltimore hungry, and took home some Chinese, and am now here online watching 60 Minutes on CBS, so it's sooooo not a SuperBowl night for me. I had been invited to a party, but am mentally not up for it, so I'm relaxing at home instead......

Here are some photos from my trip to Gettysburg today...... Must finish up here soon, as I'm pretty beat - the drive up and down to PA, as well as some short walks and hikes while in Gettysburg have taken more out of me than I thought, but hope that'll help me sleep better tonight!

A Little "Me" Time!

Had my first weekend day to myself in a long time, and spent some time doing stuff only I wanted to do!!

Started off by having to bring my car in to have the front left tire checked out. When I got out of work on Thursday evening, I discovered (not straight away, unfortunately!), a fairly flat tire, but was lucky enough to have enough air in it to get to a fairly close gas station on the way home, and fill it up. Noticed by yesterday that it seemed to have had a slow leak, so took it to my "new" local car shop (recommended to me by Knitting friends from Stitch 'n Bitch group - thank you Sarah and Lynn!), where a nail was discovered..... Got it fixed in no time at only $15, to which I was quite relieved, as I was worried about the possibility of having to replace the tire. Due to still paying for my flight home for Christmas, and also the work done to the car right before I left on vacation, I really didn't want another added unexpected expense to add to the list!

Got to have a pleasant walk afterwards at a local park that the boy and I had talked about and make a slight attempt to walk around before (Wyman Park by JHU), but never really did, so today was my day to take that walk!! Seems to be the thing that I do when in times of "trouble".....

Got to my local Panera Bread (a few miles north of where I live) by mid-morning for late breakfast, and from there, I decided to head further north for some hiking (again, it seems to be the thing I do in difficult times!), and so I enjoyed that, and felt so much better for it. I've lucked out in the weather, as temps were rather mild today, with absolutely no rain, unlike yesterday, when it poured out of the heavens like it was going out of fashion!

Then I went window-shopping at a local mall, and managed to bump into a friend, which was always a nice surprise (2nd time that's happened so far this year, and I love it!!). Didn't get to hang out with her for too long (she introduced me to her daughters who were shopping in the store we all were at), as I had bought a movie ticket a half-hour previously, and the movie was starting 10/15 minutes from when I bumped into them, so ended up having a more rushed conversation with them than I would have liked........ But I did get to see "27 Dresses" which I thoroughly enjoyed, as I really needed to see a "girly" movie, and this was the one for me. Two movies at the movie theater in 2 weeks - not at all typical of me, but as it's winter, and the best time of the year to be watching/going to the movies, I figured, why the heck not?!!

Anyhow, got in a little bit of grocery shopping too, so felt good about that, but am now at a point of slowing down, as I'm getting rather sleepy - I did wake up very early this morning (around 6:20am!), but then again, I was falling asleep way too early last night (around 8:30pm - how sad on a Friday night!!). It was largely due to not having slept too well all week, so it finally caught up with me by week's end. I was glad to have finally gotten the sleep I needed, and did feel quite refreshed today, so hence that helped me feel pretty good, at least for the most part anyway!! Weird what some stress will do to you, but such is way of life sometimes.

Gotta take the bad with the good, and how one deals with the stresses/strains one's dealt with is a test of one's character. I have to admit to not being good at with dealing with life's knocks, so it's something I have to work on (along with plenty of other "issues" I feel I have!), as I "could always do better"!!! And with that, I'll say goodnight, as I really am starting to fade...... zzzzz-time is here, so gotta go!!