Pizza! Pizza!

I can never, ever, ever get enough pizza. I love it to death. Even though I had it for dinner last night, I still went ahead and made a different version of pizza for lunch today.



It's a spin on this Rachel Ray recipe. Instead of spinach I had baby arugula in the fridge. And I made sure I tossed it well with olive oil, salt and pepper. Other than that it's the same, as simple as it gets. Refrigerated pizza dough, olive oil, arugula, tomatoes and fresh goat cheese. Yum! Really, I'm a sucker for goat cheese on anything. But I understand people who don't like it, you either love it or you hate it probably. Just like a lot of people and arugula. I happen to adore both. Can you image how good this will be if I can make it again in the summer with my own tomatoes?



Look at those happy little guys just growing away! All I can hope for is that the growing continues this way when I put them in the ground in about 6 weeks. If that happens the Recession Garden will surely be a success.

In the meantime Central Park Hoodie is growing also. I'm knitting the fronts at the same time to make sure they're even. Also to avoid second front syndrome. This way when the fronts are done, they're done!

Avalanche!!!!

Now I can be a cluttered person at times but this really is a bit much...



See the slanted piece of wood next to the desk? It's attached to a small cabinet. It, the cabinet and a small but very cherished collection of action figures, knick knacks and toys used to be resting on top of the desk. Thursday night after getting a check with some extra expendable income we were expecting in the mail, and after finding out I'd only have to work a half day on Friday our beloved desk and toys and collection decided to somehow all implode on itself when we tried to hook the husband's laptop into the cable modem. Miraculously, the work laptop, the home computer, home monitor, external hard drive, printer, etc. all escaped without a single scratch. However the toy collection and our sanities were given a bit of a shake up. And well the afternoon off from work, and that little bit of expendable income of course went right out the window since we knew I'd have to go right to Staples the next day and get something to replace the 14 year old pile of IKEA particleboard we had probably entrusted way too much of our life to. But I think I did ok.





Aah, order and organization has been restored. Along with order and organization there's a lot of spring green around here lately. I'm starting the plants for the Recession Garden inside from seeds. They've just begun to poke through the dirt a little, I think I'll have a really good picture of them for you next week, at the moment they look mostly just like a box of dirt. Other green things: the back of the Central Park Hoodie is done.



Pretty! And then I have this hat that I've started but I'm not exactly sure where it's going.



A very loosely based amalgamation of the Twiggy Bobble Hat and Le Slouch this is my current traveling project. Knitting the Misti Alpaca Worsted stockinette in the round is lucious enough to make me enjoy knitting it alone. I think this is going to be one of those slouchy, baggy rasta type hats you're seeing everywhere that I'm probably too old to wear at this point. But still it's so fun. I keep re-naming it. On Ravelry it's Slouchy Mc Slouchington. Sometimes is Slouch-o-rama. Sometimes it's Slouchilicious. Either way, at least I'm having fun knitting it. And re-naming it constantly. That should count for something...

New Jersey-The Garden State

Yes, New Jersey really is known as the Garden State. In keeping with this theme I picked up a couple of new books yesterday.


In my job, which is really pretty boring unless you do it too, trust me, fraud is not an uncommon occurrence unfortunately. We are constantly getting updates and warnings from our underwriters, FDIC etc. about whatever new real estate scheme is going down. I've actually heard important people at important meetings refer to New Jersey as "a hotbed of fraud" and talk about the many "Fraudsters" (that one makes me giggle especially hard) peppering our landscape. So when someone recommended The Soprano State to me earlier this week I had to pick it up. It is supposed to be J-U-I-C-Y baby! I can't wait to hear about some more Fraudsters! It's always so funny it's sad, and by the look of the index and the names named so far, I don't think it will disappoint.

As for the gardening book it's hopefully going to help me with what I've referred to as my Recession Garden.



Because thanks to the Fraudsters people, we are in the middle of a Recession and I figure when everything starts doubling in price it might not hurt to have some free food around. This is my first official gardening adventure and I'm pretty excited about it so far. I've started seeds for peppers, tomatoes, flowers and herbs. I like working outside in the yard and I've always wanted a garden so I figure I'll give it a try. Worse case scenario, nothing takes and I'm just left with the box of dirt I started with in the beginning right?

In knitting news the bandwagon ride has been going along smoothly...



Chris in my knitting group originally suggested that we should all knit the Central Park Hoodie as a race. Being the person who would have to knit the biggest sweater I put the kibosh on that right away. It just wouldn't be fair. However, I don't think anyone else has really started that much... and Chris has been on vacation in Florida where I'm certain it's got to be too hot to be knitting a Central Park Hoodie right? I might actually be in the lead so... race on ladies!!! Eat my dust! Ok, just kidding, who cares when anyone finishes. I'll just be happy if the end result does not look like a circus tent or a sausage casing. That's how I usually gauge my sweater success. Aim high right? And if it comes out the wrong size I'll just have to go and find someone that it will fit to own it.

Wool... and some golden brown deliciousness....

The top down raglan quietly blocks and I wait...



To find out if this is a weekend sweater or if this sweater will be good enough to qualify as during the week workwear status. The neckband was a little wavy when I tried it on the other night. I hope the blocking stopped that. By the way what do you think of my new blocking board. I think it's totally awesome! We realized that the store that my mom works at carries table pads made by the same company that makes the boards. So since she was able to get one with that steep employee discount it was one of my Christmas gifts. It's pretty nifty if I do say so myself.

In the meantime I started swatching the Queensland Kathmandu Aran I bought from WEBS at the last Stitches. I'm going to be jumping on that Central Park Hoodie bandwagon this week and I just can wait...



In food news this evening I made this Chicken Tetrazzini recipe from Everday Food. Something tells me like the Stuffed Shells I made with my mom a few months back that Chicken Tetrazzini probably qualifies as retro food.



It has that 50's casserole-ey aura about it and I'm pretty sure it's something that I probably rejected eating a few times as a kid. But the last time I visited my sister this very recipe was the meal she had waiting for us when we got to her house from the airport. Something about being tired, going into a family members home, being served food, such good feelings you know? So that memory probably makes it even better. But still, if you want to try something you might not have eaten as a kid, it's really is pretty good eats on it's own. Chicken, mushrooms, peas, pasta, smooth Parmesan cream sauce with wine? Either my mom didn't make it this good when I was six or those taste buds just had not developed yet I guess. And the recipe makes enough for one dinner now and one to freeze for another time. You couldn't beat it with a whip if you tried!