A few nights ago, I came up with this recipe after seeing one for a Mexican polenta casserole. With the move coming up, I’ve been looking for easy recipes that we can make with things in our pantry both to use up what we have, and to develop a collection of recipes to rely on in Alaska when daily trips to the grocery are not an option. Selma loves polenta (or grits), so I had a feeling this would be an instant favorite, and it was!

Ingredients

• 1 tube of already prepared polenta (or, you can make your own with 1 cup of dry polenta and 2 cups water or broth)
• 1/2 lb of firm tofu, drained
• 1 8 oz can of organic tomato sauce
• cheezy topping of your choice (I like this sesame “parmesan,” or this tahini sauce, or you could use organic mozzarella cheese, like that from Organic Valley.)
• olive oil
• 1 t dried oregano

Preheat the oven to 325 Fahrenheit. Open the package of polenta and mash into the bottom of an 8×8″ glass baking dish using a potato masher.

Pour half of the can of tomato sauce over top of the polenta and spread evenly with the back of a spoon.

Sprinkle the tomato sauce with 1/2 of the dried oregano.

Slice the tofu into 1/8-1/4″ slices and lay them on top of the tomato sauce.

Spread the remaining tomato sauce on top of the tofu. Sprinkle the 2nd half of the oregano on top of the tomato sauce, and drizzle the olive oil over the top.

Top with cheezy topping of your choice.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until everything is heated through.

Enjoy with a salad or carrot sticks or a steamed vegetable.

This made great leftovers when reheated the next day, too, so when I make it again, I might double the recipe and do it in a 9×13″ pan.

I awoke this morning, sandwiched between James and Jay, who occasionally squirms his way into our bed before it’s fully light outside. And it wasn’t the lack of space that woke me up–tho my pillow had been taken over by Jay… it was the voices. Jay was saying, “I want cupcakes!” and patting me on the head to make sure I wouldn’t miss the point. James, who occasionally dreams of ship driving was muttering, “I need to order a new anchor and chain.”

This non-conversation worked itself out when James finally awoke, (maybe due in part to a few gentle nudges from me since he had slept through his snooze button twice). He told me he had slept in to avoid the traffic caused by the Pope’s visit to DC. The guys went downstairs to forage for food. By the time I had showered and dressed, there was happy chatting going on in the dining room and a sizzling griddle. James and Jay had compromised and he was making pancakes for breakfast. On a school day! What a nice treat.

Last night we had a fabulous craftnite–Emily has a great blow-by-blow write-up, so please read her hilarious account. I just wanted to add that our crafts were inspired almost entirely by recent blog-reading. Marri over at the Subliminal Rabbit was the inspiration for the Shrinky Dinks. and Karrie at Girl on the Rocks sold me the original beautiful “decrease” argyle stitch markers that made me want to make my own symbol versions. (Hers are very professional-looking markers that you can buy on her Etsy shop. She also makes letter markers which are great if you’re knitting from Cat Bordhi’s new book, New Pathways for Sock Knitters.)

She’s also the inspiration for the crochet hook key chain–she made hers over a year ago. I’m not sure how she got the aluminum hook to bend, ours disintigrated almost immediately. We decided to try a steel hook I had in my collection (it’s stamped 15 cents, so I must have gotten it a a thrift store or yard sale), I cut it with the pliers, and James (man of steel, as Emily so aptly put it) helped bend it. A little filing down the rough edges and we were good to go! We modified Karrie’s design a little further by adding a key ring between the clasp and the crochet hook. (All the hardware other than the hook was from our local hardware store, Strosneiders).

I also made a pair of earrings (inspired by my cherry tablecloth, and a zipper pull for my crochet hook case. (The case is a Mead pencil case which I like because it stands up on it’s own and has a tiny pouch inside the bigger one to hold small notions). You can see the earrings in the background of this photo.

OK, I’ve been telling myself this bad pun all day, (as well as to James and the kids), and it still makes me giggle, so I’m sorry for subjecting you to it. Tawashi is Japanese for “dish scrubbie.” (No, that’s not a literal translation, it’s just what I’ve been told at Tawashi Town [ravelry link], my new favorite group on Ravelry.)

I grew up in a household of folks who used dishrags cloths to wash the dishes and wipe up the counters [ETA: my mom wrote and suggested I need to note that we actually distinguished between dish cloths which are special cloths just for dishes and countertops and “rags” which are old worn out cloths that are used for yuckier jobs like wiping floors and cleaning dirtier messes].

James, on the other hand, likes sponges and scrubbies… I wasn’t convinced until I discovered cute ones you can crochet. Recently, there’s been a big surge in tawashi popularity, and now there are lots of patterns online (in Japanese) showing how to make them. You don’t have to read Japanese because the patterns are all done with charts and diagrams.

In Tawashi Town, I heard about special yarn for scrubbies that was super-scratchy acrylic (good for scrubbing), and treated with special silver ions to make it antibacterial. I found a link to some on Etsy, and last night, when we got home from the bus stop, it was on our stoop. Selma was more impressed with the Japanese newspaper that the package was wrapped with than the yarn.

This morning, I used the tawashi as a creative warm-up to get my brain and fingers going before starting work on a sweater. Here’s the result getting some sun near a patch of chives in the yard.

Hopefully, when her break’s over she’ll get to work because I could use some help with the dishes!

Well I’ve finished the yoke, and now I need to separate the sleeves from the body. I’ve changed stitch patterns to differentiate the yoke from the rest of the sweater. I’m still really enjoying crocheting this, when I get a moment to do it. (The kids and James have all been sick last week and I’ve barely had a minute to myself). I can’t wait to see how it looks finished.

Oh, and this will be my Project Spectrum project since it falls well into the “earth” category. I actually had some stuff appropriate to “fire” going last quarter, but unfortunately, they weren’t “bloggable.” I’ll do a late round-up of my fire projects when they’re published.

I recently received a skein of yarn from Prism Yarns called Tencel Tape. Tencel is the more eco-friendly cousin to Rayon. It’s made from cellulose, in this case wood pulp, like rayon, but the chemical processing is a “closed circut” meaning they clean and reuse all the chemicals involved instead of dumping them into the environment.

I’ve been intrigued by tencel yarns for some time, but it’s hard to find 100% tencel, and those that are out there are mostly lace weight. (Just our yarns has some lovely laceweight tencel). Prism is a hand-dying company and they are famous for their novelty yarn “Stuff.” I was pleasantly surprised to see this more subdued yarn come out of their dyepots.

The yarn is a knitted construction–tencel thread is machine knit into a tube and subsequently hand-dyed by the folks at Prism Yarns. Like Rayon, Tencel has drape and sheen and softness, this tape construction is a bit on the bulky side. I used a 6mm hook to get an appropriate gauge when crocheting it.

One of the nice things about the yarn is the color saturation. My photos don’t do it justice. The colors are truly beautiful. Prism offers the yarn in 64 variegated colorways and 66 “sandwashed” solids.

When I swatched, I first tried a 5mm hook and the result was way too dense:

I then switched to a 6mm hook and the swatch was much nicer.

It also makes a very pretty solid fabric:

It can be very hard sometimes to crochet with variegated yarns because everything ends up looking like “camouflage.” Tencel Tape seems like it was dyed with crocheters in mind because the short repeats of color mean you don’t end up with splotches and strange color pooling.

I’m enjoying working on this v-stitch swatch that I think I’ll turn it into a little scarf à la Kim’s Model Citizen.

It’s a beautiful, sunny 60 degree day here in Maryland. Jay is sleeping, James is sleeping, Selma and a friend have been riding bikes and now they’re picnicking in the back yard (they requested sliced oranges, hummus and tortilla chips). Sophie, Selma’s guest said, “this is such a great play date!” I think they’re relishing in their new 8-year-old freedom of being basically in control of their free time. The house is quiet and I’m liking my free time too.

I did some laundry and picked up the really awful messes of the past day or so, but when I started on a pile on a couch side-table, I realized, what looked at first like clutter was a project in progress. We have a lot of “active” clutter in the house because its small, we don’t have dedicated room for the kids to do crafts, and although they have a play room they play everywhere.

And looking around, I realized, I didn’t mind this kind of clutter, I actually like it. It’s interesting to see what activities are happening in the house by what little piles are being created. That said, sometimes an “active” pile becomes stagnant–I just spotted the remnants of our Christmas card project. Before I can really put that away, I need to enter new addresses into my address book. But it isn’t an active project any more, it’s stuck.

With our impending move, I’ve had to be a lot more pro-active about sorting. I don’t want to take any unnecessary stuff to Alaska, and I want to have room for stocking up on needed supplies. I’ve already done a pass on all the bedrooms, and the rest of the house is much harder. My mom and I have promised each other that we’d tackle one small de-cluttering task per day on our houses, so today, I’m going to have a go at a problematic kitchen cupboard.

The move to my new domain has prompted me to finally tell you about another much bigger, real move for our family. First, maybe a bit of background. I don’t talk about family stuff that much on the blog, and I’ve realized that the last time I mentioned my husband James’ work was back in 2006 and only once before that in 2005.

James is a Lieutenant Commander in the Coast Guard. We met when we were both in college: he at the Coast Guard Academy and I at Connecticut College in New London. (He auditioned for the a capella group I was starting, but that’s another story…) Anyway, military life has always meant lots of moving. Since leaving Connecticut in 1994, we’ve lived in Seattle, North Carolina, Seattle again, New Jersey (where James did a 1-year graduate program), and Maryland. Selma, who’s now eight had moved four times by the time she was five. Jay, on the other hand, was five months old when we moved here to Maryland, and he’s known nothing else.

We came to maryland in the summer of 2005 (the same time I started the blog), and we knew that we’d be here for about three years. We’ve loved Takoma Park. We live in an amazing neighborhood full of kids and we’ve made great friends and I’ve found a huge fiber-loving community. But James missed being at sea. He’s a true sailor and although working at Coast Guard headquarters has it’s rewarding challenges, it’s not the same as being on a ship. In January, James was awarded command of the United States Coast Guard Cutter Sycamore, homeported in Cordova, Alaska.

We were thrilled that he was going to be a ship’s captain again, and certainly in shock about the move to such a remote place. In fact, I was out of town on my way to The Needle Arts Association trade show when we got the news, and we had to do our soul-searching and decision-making over the phone. (The fact that James could convince me to move to Alaska by telephone reminded me how caring, thoughtful, and convincing he really is!)

We’re sad to be leaving Takoma Park, but I’m actually quite a fan of the periodic moving. I love setting up house in a new place, learning about what an area has to offer and experiencing different parts of the country. Cordova, Alaska is going to be different from anywhere else we’ve ever lived. Obviously, there’s the whole Alaskan winter thing, but on top of that, Cordova is not connected to the rest of the world except by plane or ferry–it’s kind of like being on an island. It’s a small fishing town with a large science center built on money collected as a result of the Exxon-Valdez oil spill. The science center means that Cordova has more Phd’s per capita than any other US city.

We won’t be able to visit until we actually move, but we’ve already done a bit of legwork to get settled. We’ve found a lovely-sounding house to rent on a lake that’s walking distance to school and town. I’ve found out there’s a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm in Washington State that makes weekly deliveries of organic produce. And importantly, there’s a yarn store! It’s called the Net Loft, and they don’t have a web site, but I’ve heard from many sources that it’s a great shop. I’m looking forward to getting to know a new LYS.

I’m sure I’ll be talking lots about Alaska and our move in the coming months, but I’ll leave you with a couple of my favorite shots of Cordova:

As promised before the yarn party, I’ve finally put the finishing touches on the patterns for Nhoj’s Raglan–an top-down crocheted men’s sweater, and the Antique Lace Shawl–a triangle lace crocheted shawl worked in one ball (plus oddments for the edging) of Knit One Crochet Too douceur et soie. More pictures for both the shawl and the sweater are on ravelry.

Without further ado…

Crochetroo designed this amazing Year of the Rat hat and booties–I love the rat tail on the top of the hat, and the adorable nose toes for the booties. I’m hoping I hear about a baby I can make these for this year!

I made significant progress on the round yoke last night… If you consider my ripping out 4 hours of crocheting this morning progress. I do, actually, I’ve now got a sound grasp of the concept, As Robyn said, “It’s like crocheting a flat circle but with a hole in the middle.” and I’ve codified it, working out my own gauge, stitch pattern and placement of increases. I had to rip simply because I wanted a wider neckline to start. I’m looking forward to digging back in, but it’s going to have to wait until I get some more mundane computer stuff done.

I’m sorry I didn’t photograph my piece before I ripped, so you’re going to have to be satisfied with the swatch, above. It’s a sneak peak for a garment I’m working on for a fall magazine in the luscious Lorna’s Laces green line. I just love the very subtle shading in this yarn and it is made of a super-soft organic merino and dyed using sustainable methods.

Oh, and we have a winner for the Apron Contest! Steel City Knitter who has plans to give it away to her mom. Congratulations!