I may have mentioned at some point last week that we had some fresh lobster that needed to be consumed. Friday night was the night. The boy and I made a Lobster and corn chowder, biscuits (Grands) and cooked up some lobster meat plain. We also cracked open a bottle of Port that we bought during our tour of the Finger Lakes. We opened the port primarily because we needed brandy for the chowder and we didn’t have any. 
The port worked just as well. It was a very yummy and lovely dinner. Even if it indicates that we are now getting old. Drinking a glass of wine while cooking dinner…sigh, what have we come to? 
Wanna see our yummy dinner?
Chowder cooking, lobster meat steaming
Lobstah meat for the chowdah.
Lobstah meat plain
The boy rescuing the meat from the shell
Fox Run Port purchased during our trip through the Finger Lakes
A complete meal, bowl of chowdah, fresh lobstah, a biscuit and a glass of port.
I surprised myself with how much I really enjoyed the port. It also gave me a bit of a kick. I wasn’t expecting that. The bottle had enough for a glass for each of us and the 2 tbsp we needed for the chowder. Perfect portion.
While in the midst of perusing Ravelry for sock patterns I found and fell in love with these socks by Adrian Bizilia of Hello Yarn: Cable Twist Socks. They looked super comfy and also appeared to be a supremely quick knit. I s’pose knitting worsted weight socks will do that to you.
I was struck again by the “I know what gauge this yarn is” pitfall that has been plaguing me of late. I thought this yarn was worsted but on Ravelry it’s listed as DK although I would really beg to differ. The other fun part is that the label is almost entirely in Japanese. As I went to rip back my swatch I suddenly realized this yarn has mohair in it. Woops. I then proceeded with the knowledge that I can not make any mistakes. Luckily I did quite well and didn’t have to rip back once.
As always Adrian’s directions are great and really make it easy to learn a new technique - the cable twist. I plan to make these socks again for some loved ones. They were a really nice break from knitting very long man socks. The men in my life need to have shorter feet.
View from the top
Description: Squishy socks for me.
Pattern: Cable Twist Socks. by Adrian Bizilia of Hello Yarn
Yarn used: 2.36 skeins of Olympus Make Make in colorway 3 (90% wool, 10% mohair) 25 g / 68 yds
Care Instructions: Hand wash
Needle Size: US 3 (3.25 mm)
Modifications: I knit the cuff shorter, only 3 pattern repeats, because I didn’t have as much yarn as the pattern called for. Also, I wasn’t sure I could make up 64 yds in a 2 shoe size length difference.
Finished Size: Ladies US 7
Date Started: 10/14/2008
Date Completed: 10/24/2008
Notes: I would definitely make these again. Preferably with a little more yarn on hand next time.
full view of socks
mismatched socks
The pictures of the rose I took on Tuesday were quite pretty in my opinion but I didn’t want to wait to share them until today. For today’s Eye Candy Friday we have the bouquet my Grandmother sent for my aunt’s funeral and a needlepoint piece my cousin made for her mother.
Flowers from Grandma to her sister
Translation = “1000 Welcomes” The phone piece was made because my aunt worked for the phone company and I belive that’s her wedding photo in the bottom right.
I finished knitting my first pair of socktoberfest socks tonight. Hooray! FO post to come. Now I need to buckle down on the other sock on the needles.
One of the requirements for traveling to New England is to bring back fresh seafood. My amusing cousins kept trying to tell us that lobster is fresher on Wednesdays so we wouldn’t leave Tuesday evening. Before we split we went to Schermerhorn’s and Donut Dip to pick up seafood and donuts respectively to bring home. The donuts were for the boy because we missed the Pumpkin Festival on Saturday and when my aunt Millie mentioned that Donut Dip had pumpkin donuts I said we had to go. At Schermerhorn’s I got 2 live lobsters, 2 tuna steaks and 2 stuffed clams for the boy and I to try. My mom took home 4 live lobster for her household.
Tonight the boy and I whipped up the tuna steaks from a recipe I have been wanting to try. The trouble with living in Central Ohio is that I wasn’t sure where to go to get fresh tuna steaks and I wasn’t really willing to risk our health by getting not so fresh fish. The tuna cooked up wonderfully and has been added to our “to make again list.”
The boy pan searing the tuna steaks.
Tuna steak rare to medium rare
This just looks so scrumptious to me.
After making the tuna we decided to partially cook the lobsters so that we wouldn’t have to find a place for them to live until we are ready to cook with them on Friday. We found instructions online and nervously went about placing them in the pot. Thankfully there was no screaming.
The lobsters hanging in the cooler.
Alas, one lobster did try to get away and squirmed out of the tong’s grasp landing on our stove. We managed to wrestle him into the pot though. Now they are relaxing in the refrigerator until I can make the lobster chowder and lobster tail on Friday. Mmmm. The stuffed clams will be tomorrow’s dinner. We have to get all this fresh seafood eaten up before the boy leaves for Japan on Sunday. (Anyone else jealous that he gets to go to Japan?)
