betrayal of the corny variety...

after eighteen(ish) Summers of watching me lose my mind over the arrival of fresh corn season, my favorite animator recently confided in me that he is not a fan of the stuff. he only ate it because i cooked it. i contemplated walking out on him right then and there. however, i remembered that i still have the rest of the week of being solely responsible for litter-scooping and kitty-feeding on account of that bet i lost Saturday. so, i am still here... for now. but i am struggling to figure out how i will live with this betrayal of the corny variety. 

on the plus side, i no longer have to take him into consideration when deciding how to indulge in the best thing to come from this steamy, sweaty, allergy-assaulting time of the year. a short while later, i was trying to figure out how to make a meal from some leftover barbecued things on skewers... when inspiration struck!

this meal took all of five minutes to come together, and it may just be my new favorite way to enjoy fresh corn. it began with a quick search in the container of random sauce packets. one mini envelope of spicy instant ramen broth later, and i had the start of something amazing. i added that to boiling water and tossed in some sliced bits of previously-cooked kebab and an ear of fresh corn cut into neat rounds. 

while that simmered for a few minutes, i boiled rice noodles briefly in a separate pan, then rinsed them in cold water to stop them from getting soggy once combined with the broth. the noodles went into a bowl, topped by the contents of the broth pot, plus a few strands of cilantro and red onion slices. then i remembered all the nasturtiums in this year's balcony garden project, so i added a handful of freshly-harvested, locally-grown, organically-nurtured, sustainably-farmed, ethically-sourced, free-range nasturtium leaves to the bowl. just doing my part to save the planet.

then i sat down to eat. it was amazing! i especially enjoyed the bites with a bit of noodles, meat, and a nasturtium leaf. nasturtium leaves have a sharp, peppery bite similar to a spicy radish, but they also have the unmistakable earthy, borderline-bitter flavor of fresh dark greens. trust me... this combination was sheer culinary perfection. 

the absolute best bits, however, were those rounds of fresh, sweet corn cooked briefly in that delicious broth infused with the smoky, meaty flavors from the leftover kebabs. 

i sat there, completely enraptured by the slight pop of each plump, sweet kernel being bitten away from the cob, and in that moment, i could only feel pity for the animator whose life will never know such joy. sad. 

insane by association...

i broke a tooth while eating popcorn one day last week. this is not a misguided plea for any kind of sympathy. i just need you to understand the insanity that passes for normal in our home.

so... i woke up the next day to find the animator grinning from ear-to-ear, and i instantly knew that something was wrong.

him: i made an appointment for you to go to the dentist.

me: since when are you making appointments for me? aren't you the one who usually makes me do that sort of thing because you hate talking on the phone? 

him: yeh, but i made it for you anyway...

me: ... because you know i'd probably put off doing it myself for as long as i can.

him: something like that. oh, and i also made an appointment to take Titty to the vet. i did that first.

Titty (Titania, aka "Mama Kitty"), the oldest of our three two cats, has cancer. i will weep about that some other day. for now, we are trying to make her life as comfortable and enjoyable as possible in the time she has left. 

so... he called the vet before the dentist.

him: the receptionist asked if it was an emergency with Titty. is she eating? is she throwing up? or if she is meowing a lot like she might be in pain. i told her, she's eating. not throwing up. and no, she's not meowing or anything.

me: uhm... okay.

him: so then i called the dentist, and the receptionist asked how you chipped your tooth. i said eating popcorn. she asked if it's bleeding. i said no. then she asked if it's an emergency, if you're experiencing any pain...

me: and...?

him: so i said, "no, she's not meowing or anything".

so now i get to look forward to entering the dentist's office with the receptionist already convinced that i might be insane by association. 

speaking of insane associations...

mom called me one day, about a month or so ago. i was deeply concerned from "hello". 

mom: N—, i have to tell you something, and i don't want you to get upset.

me: okay...? [already dreading whatever she will say next]

mom: the plants are coming up in the garden.

then i turned toward the nearest window, and gazed out into the third (or fourth... i lost count at some point) snowstorm over the span of that week. 

i bring this up last bit up because it is currently the last day of April—Spring having officially begun more than a month ago—and we had a snowstorm as recently as a last week. but, apparently, this insanity is what i signed up for. 

it has been a while since my last post. i draw a firm line at keeping this space on the lighter side of life (dying cats get a pass for sheer sadness factor). i kept writing draft after draft, but i always hesitated when it came time to hit "publish". it is really hard to keep a lighthearted focus on the absurd side of life when so much of it feels anything but these days. still, i figured i would send up a smoke signal of sorts to say that i am still here. 

so... hello again!

i lost my crafting mojo for a while, but it seems to be back in (almost) full force. i considered doing a week month of daily short posts to try to document some of the stuff i have made over the past year... or two. however, committing to that will require an even larger dose of 'jo. 

there is one pretty cool thing that happened recently that has definitely added to the urge to get back to my crafty activities. 

i won a thing!

i left a comment on a You Tube video, which entered me into a raffle from Ewethful Fiber Farm and Mill... and i WON!!! 

this is honestly one of the two (or three) knitting-related channels i keep up with these days. the mill owner/operator Kim is a lovely person, and her YT videos offers glimpses into their life on the farm (which includes the family grass seed business and a menagerie of ridiculous animals). she also gives us regular behind the scene tours of the production process. it never stops being fascinating to see piles of dirty wool being turned into clean, beautiful yarn.

she sources fiber from small farms in her area, and she often has wool from breeds of sheep beyond the ones that get used for most things (Merino, Corriedale, Cormo, BFL, and those other "regulars"). i have been making an effort to seek out new (to me) breeds when purchasing fleeces over the past couple-few years, so i was especially drawn to the eclectic blends of fibers Kim utilizes. 

the original prize on offer included mohair, but that was more than my allergies can handle, so i asked Kim to substitute something (mohair-free) in a natural, dark color that i could blend together with some of the (closet-full of) white fleece waiting to be spun. i received a blend of Alpaca and Shetland wool (from one of Kim's own sheep named Drilla). 

i opted for un-spun fiber, so it arrived as a long rope (called roving, for the uninitiated who have made it this far). 

i found the beginning of the roving, and it was sooo tempting to start spinning away. however, i will stick to the original plan. this will become part of a lovely, heathery handspun yarn... someday. thank you so much for the generous gift, Kim (and Drilla).