Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving - Canada

It is the Thanksgiving weekend here up North. I've been here years, am now a Canadian citizen and remain unsure if there is a specific day to actually eat turkey or if the meal can take place anytime during the weekend. It appears the latter is more correct than the former, but perhaps a native can let me know so I stop wondering about it. At any rate it is a three day weekend, and I've taken advantage of that extra day for knitting and other fun. This post is about the other fun, knitting will follow.

Save On Meat, 43 W. Hastings, Vancouver

Last night I drove downtown to Save On Meats to take a three+ hour class on how to make bacon, pancetta and sausage. (I know what a shock, the German girl is interested in making sausage!) Save On Meats is on W. Hastings next to Pigeon Park (for you out-of-towners, it is in the midst of some of the seediest part of Vancouver) The shop includes both a meat market and diner both locally owned. (If you click on the link above you're see Mark Brand, one of the co-owners talking about the impact his renewed venture has had in this area. It is part of a Vancity promotion but still well worth a look.) The owners have purchased the space to help insure the meat market and diner continue to offer a positive impact on the neighborhood. Apparently the remodeling process was documented on OWN in a series called "Gastown Gamble." In the end I feel good about patronizing a business that is so seriously attempting to be socially conscientious.

While there I made about a pound of bacon which needs to cure an additional 7 days, a pound of sausage (we ground and seasoned it to our own tastes) that I chose to not put in casing, and a pound of pancetta that will cure for 21 days before it can be used. I got some great recipes to play with and came home inspired to start curing small amounts of my own meat. BTW I also came home smelling mighty good as far as Mike, the cat, was concerned. He was very happy to lick my fingers; seasoned raw fresh meat, baby, even Mike was inspired.

Starting at 11 o'clock, bacon, pancetta, recipes and sausage.

This morning I portioned the sausage into small patties using a cookie scoop and then flattening out the mound. I also fried one up for breakfast, and even if I do sound like I'm bragging I have to say it was mighty fine. I have been attempting to make sausage on my own for a few months using recipes I've found online. My pork apple/fennel, pork sun dried tomato/feta and chicken and Italian spiced sausages were each great, but the onion sausage, uhmmmm. It is best used in stuffing or mixed into scrambled eggs meaning it shouldn't been eaten on its own.

Today I'm sourcing pink salt and dried juniper berries two of the key ingredients used in my Save On Meat products. I'm also drying some blueberries I have in the freezer so I can make my own chicken sausage with blueberries and maple syrup.

My grandmother is probably smiling down on me. Grandma Mielke (nee Schultz; do we know where the German came from?) surely knew how to do all of this in her day. She lived on a farm, butchered much of her own meat with relatives who lived in the area, and smoked all sorts of meat in the day. By the time I came along grocery stores carried all sorts of meats so I didn't think to ask her about this part of her many great food preparation skills. So Grandma this one's for you; I sensed you're with me on the adventure.

Anatomy of a Sock

I've been knitting socks for a relatively short time. One of the disconcerting things for me as I started following patterns for socks is the pattern designer assumes the knitter (in this case that would be me) knows all the parts of a sock. So I thought I'd devote a post to improve my own knowledge about the anatomy of a sock and maybe some of you will learn something about the humble yet necessary sock as well. Here's the names of the parts of the foot as I know them. #49 ankle, #50 heel, #51, instep, #52 ball, #53 big toe, #54 toe, #55 little toe, #56 toenail. There are some parts more important for this discussion; first the heel of a foot is generally used to refer to the entire C-shape from the ankle to the instep. Speaking of the instep, it refers to that curve near the bottom of the foot. And what seems to be missing in the design above is the sole which generally refers to the bottom of the foot in total or plantar aspect in more technical terms. (BTW

Ode to the Cat

It has been six months since Mike, the cat's, passing. I think of him every day and miss him especially when Paul is away. Mike was a being in the house with me and we were close. Grieving his death has been muddled with my Dad's passing and sometimes I feel guilty about that happening. As time passes the ache becomes less hurtful for both and I am starting to get mostly good memories in its place. Recently I helped celebrate Pablo Neruda's birthday with Jami, my poet and overall very creative friend. Guests were asked to select one poem written by Neruda to read to the small group who gathered for the celebration. I picked this one: Ode To The Cat -- Pablo Neruda There was something wrong with the animals: their tails were too long, and they had unfortunate heads. Then they started coming together, little by little fitting together to make a landscape, developing birthmarks, grace, flight. But the cat, only the cat turned out finished, and

Knitting-Related Guinness World Records

I had to share some of the Guinness World Records connected with knitting. It is amazing to me the type of skill, stamina and unique characteristics these record holders have in common. How about trying to knit with these SPNs?? Ingrid Wagner and her large needles and knitted swatch The largest knitting needles measured 3.5 m (11 ft 5.8 in) long and had a diameter of 8 cm (3.15 in). Ingrid Wagner, a rug and art creation artist, from the UK used the needles to knit a tension square of ten stitches by ten rows at the Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, on March, 10 2008. (And I complained about getting certain SPNs stuck in my clothes.) See how this swatch was done with merely 5 people managing the needles. And what about the yarn? It is truly ex-bulky. It looks like they're knitting in a warehouse, but with a wingspan of almost 24 feet or 7 m, you'd need all that space. Or how about the longest piece of finger knitting that measured 4,321.4 m

Flagel Knitting Files

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