East Meets on West

As some of you may know, we divide our time (in the warmer months) between our home on the Eastside of Worcester & the Westside. Last year, after making some great new friends at EYC (Espress Yourself Coffee, 2C Richmond Ave), we celebrated the end of summer with dinner at Westside Steak & BBQ (2A Richmond Ave). This year we started the summer off with the same idea. On June 1 we gathered with friends for an evening of BBQ, beer & music. Luckily, one of the attendees is a fabulous photographer and captured the event. The rest of the pix can be seen at http://gallery.mac.com/sespach#100009

If you are interested in joining the next dinner, look for us at the end of summer. Or look for us on any given day or night at EYC.

Westside Steak & BBQ won Best BBQ in Worcester Magazine Best Of 2008. They also were runner-up in the Best Ribs & Best Wings categories.

Photos by Greg Shevchuk

Louise & Jen Wood's Summer Sweet Tea

This sweet tea recipe was created by Louise Wood (my friend's mom, no relation). I have tweaked it in the last few years. We drink this all summer at our house.

Summer Sweet Tea

3 tea bags (any black tea will do.

we use Red Rose cuz you get a little animal figurine in every box.)

2 or 3 stalks of fresh mint

2 or 3 stalks of fresh lemon balm

boiling water

3 TBSP sugar

I use a 2 1/4 qt pitcher (anything smaller & you may want to use less tea bags & herbs).

Pour water over tea bags & herbs.

Steep for 15 mins.

Remove tea bags & herbs.

Add 3 TBSP sugar.

I usually let it cool for another 15 or 20 mins before putting it in fridge.

Give it a couple of hours to chill &

Enjoy

If you do not have fresh mint or lemon balm you can omit them, it's delicious without them.

If you would like fresh mint or lemon balm, please let me know.

If you have ever planted mint in your garden, then you know how much one can have.

Mint is like that friend you have that comes around so much that your other friends start coming around less often. You don't want to get rid of them, you just need some breathing room.

You must stay on top of trimming or it will kill you in your sleep.

35 Going on 9

In the last week I have rediscovered 2 things from my childhood. First, I found my favorite book on EBay. It is the tale of King Pilaf, of Mulligatawny, in search of a queen who can bake gingerbread. He finds Princess Calliope who also has some marriage requirements. She is in search of a husband who can play the slide trombone. It is based on a German folktale. I would take this book out every time my Mom & I went to the library.

I was a weird kid.

Second, I found a cartoon on YouTube that no one seems to remember. So I thought.
These are The Barbapapas. I think they were on really early on Saturday or Sunday.
I don't remember much about them. They seem to be a family of blobs. They are each a different color.

A Knitter's Sigh of Relief

DEATH, TAXES & THE MOON?

Dear IRS,

They say you can't get blood from a stone. You can, however, get my tax payment from one really big stone.

I saw a report on 60 Minutes this week about NASA spending $ .15 per person per day on the space program. I assume this is my tax money being used. I do not support the space program. I, like most people, barely have a handle on this planet. Therefore, I believe that NASA owes me $54.75 this year. I have been working & paying taxes now for 19 years. That is now a total of $1,040.25.

I'm not sure who at NASA you should speak to, but I would like to use this towards my tax payment for this year (2007). Please send the outstanding bill to Mr. George W. Bush, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington, DC. I'm sure his company has misused other moneys that I paid to you for, what I was assuming, important things here on Earth.

Thank you,

Jennifer Wood

Thank You Ralph

Ralph Moberly

1945 - 2008

Local Legend & Entrepreneur

You will be greatly missed.

Thanks for the memories.

The Best of Me

About a month ago I started the Top Seed Shawl from Cast On (issue May-July 2007). I did my gauge swatches, found the right needles & was off and running. I was very pleased with the yarn I

 chose. Reynolds Saucy Sport. A lovely sage green. I was so lucky to have purchased 10 skeins from someone in my weekly knitting group (thanks Erin).

Right from the start I knew I was short 1 or 2 skeins. The corner cutter that I am, I thought I could slip 1 or 2 skeins of another dye lot

 in without anyone noticing. WRRRONG! I got about 10" done before I noticed. Honestly, I didn't even notice. The lighting in my house is so terrible I couldn't see that my beautiful Tiny Bowknot stitch was 2 very different colors. It was embarrassingly pointed out to me. Devastated, I took it home & threw it in the corner. It took me 2 weeks to confront it. I finally frogged it, rewound the yarn and started it all over. I had a plan (really it was Steve's plan). I would knit the body with the 10 skeins of "good yarn", as I began calling it, and do the sleeves with the 2 skeins of "bad yarn".

10" along, again, I discovered that I still won't have enough yarn to do the body! I also had decided this would be a Mother's Day gift. With a little over a month to go, I would need to knit about 2.5 - 3" every day to finish.

Back to not having enough yarn. I am getting gauge, but it is 4" wider than it is suppose to be. Why? I have no friggin idea. I am, however, getting 5" of length out of each skein. It doesn't take a genius to figure out if I cut 4" of width off I will have enough yarn for the body.

I just keep knitting. I am in denial. This is exactly what I do with everything. Just keep going & pretend it's not there. It's April 7 & I haven't even looked at my taxes. Say no more.

I love knitting, but there is something that I am missing. The ability to stop when things aren't going right & do it over & over & over if it's necessary. I think, "It's not perfect, so what." Why put all that work into it if it's not wearable?

I started the sleeves & put the body away for a bit. Let's be honest, there is more frogging in my future. Good news, I get to cut 18 stitches off of pattern when I start over.