Butter and Whiskey

Rad hat, with my first pattern

I've never written a pattern before, so please to forgive. I learned this technique from Jenny Wistrom (who taught me how to make hats and is a super crafty lady), when she stumbled upon it by mistake.

I made an awesome hat last week as a thank you to my producer. I'm going to try and write the pattern here for you guys. Never done this before, so it'll be rough.

I used Rowan Romance and size 10 needles.

Cast on 72 stitches in the round. Join and knit three rounds.

Fourth Round: K2Tog, k10, k2tog, k the rest of the round

Fifth: k2tog, k9, k2tog, k the rest of the round

Sixth: k2tog, k8, k2tog, k the rest of the round

Seventh: k2tog, k7, k2tog, k the rest of the round

Eighth: k2tog, k6, k2tog, k the rest of the round

Ninth: k2tog, k5, k2tog, k the rest of the round

You should now have sixty stitches. The decreasing has *hopefully* made a cute little bunchy uppy area, where you can put a crochet flower.

Bunchy uppy area can be seen on the right.

Anyway, knit to desired length, then decrease as follows:

*K10, K 2 tog, repeat from * for entire round.

*K 9, K 2 tog, repeat from * for entire round.

*K8, K 2 tog, repeat from * for entire round.

*K 7, k 2 tog, repeat from * for entire round.
*K 6, k 2 tog, " " " "
*K 5, k 2 tog, " " " "
*K 4, k 2 tog, " " " "
*K 3, k 2 tog, " " " "
*K 2, k 2 tog, " " " "
*K 1, k 2 tog, " " " "

You may have to transfer to double pointed needles at some point, or you can just thread the yarn through the top stitches and pull tight to close, around K4, k2tog or so.

I wish I could write a pattern for the flower, but I made it up as I went along, and don't really remember what I did. I know that I started a granny square and did one round of granny square HDCs, and then I guess I did a pattern of *SC, HDC, TC, TC, HDC, SC, Slip stitch*, in every "hole" of the granny square. If that makes sense. Which it doesn't.

Wearing the hat pulled down and the flower to the side, it's very Daisy Buchanan.

Whew! That kind of took me all morning.

Catching up on some recipes

You know, for posterity. I made this one up, based on all my hours of Food Network watching.

1 pork loin (3-4 lbs)
olive oil
three cloves garlic, chopped (or 1-2 tbls of the jar stuff)
three small brown yellow or brown onions, sliced thick - chunky
couple splashes of wine - I used a rosé

couple pads of butter
two fennel bulbs
two apples, chopped (I used Fiji)

about one tbls of freshly chopped sage and thyme

salt and pepper, obv
couple tbls flour

Okay.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Coat the pork loin in a little olive oil and the garlic. Salt and pepper very generously. Let the pork rest for about a half hour to get the chill off.

Meanwhile, heat the rest of your olive oil in a large dutch oven or other oven-safe pan. Add ONE of the brown onions and cook until a little soft. Add pork and sear on each side, 2-3 minutes. Add a few splashes of wine or chicken stock to get any brown bits. Simmer for about five minutes. Remove from stove and place in oven, covered, for about 45 minutes, or until a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees.

Remove from oven. Remove pork and onion from pan, and tent with tin foil to keep warm (I put it in my warming drawer, if you have one).

The pan should be full of yummerly juices.

Here's how Ina says to cut the fennel: Remove the stems of the fennel and slice the bulb in half lengthwise. With the cut side down, slice the bulb vertically into 1/2-inch-thick slices, cutting right through the core.

Melt two pads of butter in the pan juices.

Add the fennel, apple, two remaining onions, and some salt and pepper to the pan and cook until just soft, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from pan and tent to keep warm.

Add a bit more wine or stock to the pan, plus any juices that have collected under the pork loin. Season to taste. Add a couple spoonfuls of flour and whisk until a nice gravy forms. At the last moment, throw in the sage and thyme.

Slice pork loin and serve over the fennel mixture with the gravy.

You might want to have a green salad or make another green vegetable, as the whole meal, while delicious, is a bit beige.

Also, the first meal I ever cooked for my now most certainly future in-laws, the Pittseseses:

Lamb Daube and an attempt at Coco's green salad, approximate recipe follows:

Mixed Spring greens
4-5 Green onions, chopped
2-3 Tablespoons of capers
2 avocados, chopped
juice of two lemons
handful of basil

Combine, toss, enjoy!