Kismet

Eating and Knitting

Janis -- stay your hand!

Yesterday I got a card with the morning mail to say that the Post Office was holding a package for me on which quite a lot of money had to be paid. I knew what that was -- the KF Magyar kit I'd won on Ebay, arriving from California. Yarn is duty-able but I'd got my last two or three packages in under the radar, and was beginning to think that I was above the law (to mix a metaphor). Not so.

So I trudged up to the Post Office and got it. The route leads past the door of what is undoubtedly the best Italian grocer in Britain, Valvona and Crolla -- with prices to match. On the way back, I stopped in, figuring that I couldn't do myself too much harm with my arms encumbered by a large, awkward box of yarn, and my wallet much depleted. I bought a packet of crinkly spaghetti and then proceeded to the fresh fruit and veg, ignoring temptation to the right and left like Odysseus sailing past the Sirens. Any fresh garlic? No. But they had -- Amalfi lemons.

What could I do? I bought two. I already had the other ingredients. I tried the recipe (Wednesday's post). It wasn't terribly successful. I wonder if I cooked it long enough? Jamie says "golden and bubbling". Perhaps mine hadn't quite reached that stage. The taste was interesting enough, but the cheese was tough and chewy. Not much use as an appetiser if it only lasts four minutes after coming out of the oven.

So be warned, Janis, and if you do try it, please let me know how you get on. The pith, by the way, should remain in the lemons when you remove the interior.

Knitting

So tomorrow we'll have a picture of the Magyar yarn. It's all sort of worsted weight -- not one of the patterns in which the Great Man uses fine yarns doubled or trebled to increase the colour interest to fever pitch.

I'm within a few stitches of the end of row 9 of the Princess Shawl border. It's easy enough that I can knit right through the evening Tiredness Tsunami. Row 10, however, involves an interesting asymetricality. But of course, that'll be where I start, today.

Comments

Two separate heroes of mine commented yesterday, Mar and Franklin. Many thanks. Sometimes I think I'd get more comments if I ranted occasionally, or had a more interesting life. Other times, like this one, I feel greatly blessed with the readership I've got.