Going to the Zoo and Sheep Shearing @ Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY.

One of these days I dragged DH alongwith me to the Prospect Park in Brooklyn, NY. Apparently, there was a sheep festival going on. We had a good fun filled day.



Although, we ended up walking quite a lot and only saw the Prospect Park Zoo it was a day well spent between the two of us. I must say though I totally did not realize until now that the apparent sheep festival only turned out to be periodic sheep shearing demos... LOL.

All in all I enjoyed the Sea Lions and MeerKats and had fun with all these animals the entire day :)

These are tiniest deadliest frogs in the image below. The picture is not so clear because of the thick glass through which the pictures were taken. But just look at the brilliant colors they come in.
Following is a video of sheep shearing demo at Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York.



Looking for Yarn? Check this Out.... the Website KnitMap gives you all stores in your area if you put in your zipcode in the search box.

Thrifty Cook - Vegetable Fried Rice

Another recipe - this time for the vegetarians.

Vegetable Fried Rice
Enough for 4 people.
Ingredients:

• 2-3 Red Onions

• 1 Table Spoon Ginger Garlic Paste
• 1 Green Bell Pepper Finely Chopped

• 1 Portabella Mushroom
• 4 Medium Red Tomatoes

• 1/2 Table Spoon Soy Sauce

• 1 and 1/2 Cup Rice (To be Boiled)
• Salt to taste
• 1 tea spoon ground black pepper
• 1 cup oil (as per your preference)

Preparation:

• Boil 1 and 1/2 rice
• Peel and Dice the onions
• Dice the tomatoes
• Finely chop the Green Bell Pepper (Capsicum)
• Dice the Mushroom

Cooking Process:

• In a flat wide pan heat the oil.
• Add the onions and the ginger garlic paste and fry till golden brown.

• Add salt to taste and 1 tea spoon of ground black pepper.
• Add the mushroom and cook for about 5 mins.
• Add the finely chopped capsicum and fry till completely cooked.

• Add the tomatoes and let cook.

• Add the soya sauce and cook everything for 5 more minutes.
• Now add the boiled rice and mix everything well.

Serve hot with salad leaves (and sliced boiled eggs - optional)

Happy Cooking.

Recipe - Poppy Seed Chicken

If you know me, you know I love to cook, but wait not the everyday food but experimenting with various ingredients to come up with something tasty. Well, there are a lot of recipes that I have come up with, that taste good so I thought of sharing them with everyone.

Poppy Seed Chicken
Makes enough for 4 people

Ingredients: Obviously chicken (8-9 skinless drumsticks)
2-3 medium onions (peeled and sliced)
Salt to taste
Black Pepper (a pinch or 1 tea spoon max. depending on your own preference)
1 table spoon of poppy seeds.
1 table spoon Ginger Garlic Paste (either make fresh or use readymade)
4 big red tomatoes (I love tomatoes)
1 table spoon oil (whichever you prefer, I used groundnut refined oil)
2-3 cloves
2 green cardamoms
1 tea spoon turmeric powder
Chilli Flakes (use more if you want more spicy)

Preparation:
Wash, peel and slice the onions.

Procedure:

In a wide pan heat the oil. Add the sliced onions, poppy seeds, ginger garlic paste, salt to taste, cloves, green cardamoms, chilli flakes, and pinch of pepper and fry till onions are golden brown.



Now add the chicken, stir to mix everything together and cook covered on medium-high heat. Keep checking the chicken till cooked thoroughly. Takes approx. 15 mins

Meanwhile puree the tomatoes. Once chicken is cooked, add the puree and the turmeric powder and cook covered stirring at regular intervals. It cooks in approx. 20-30mins.

I would have loved to season it with some fresh coriander leaves (cilantro) but I didn't have it. Serve hot with boiled Basmati rice. Yummy !!!!!!

Hyperbolic Crochet - Coral Reef Project exhibition (NY) @ World Financial Center

Last night me and hubby(yeah he went just because I wanted to :) how sweet !) went to the World Financial Center to see the Hyperbolic Crochet Exhibits. I know a lot of people out there would like to see it but some might not get to, so here is a little virtual tour for you.












As you can see some of the pictures are not that great (thanks to the glass) so I thought a video tour would be appropriate. See below:

Some knitting buddies meet !!!

As you know I have been frantically working on completing some designs for a new Website (obviously I keep saying that since its a secret. I will be sure to reveal it as soon as I can.) Meanwhile, there have been lotsa things happening in the past few weeks which I have not been able to post about. One of these is spending some quality knitting time with new knitting buddy Rima's (from yarnydays) house.

Last week I spent Tuesday evening at Rima's place knitting and eating dinner. We were also joined by Bitsy(in front) and Katrice(behind) and all of us had a lot of fun.

First thing that I noticed when I entered her house and couldn't help but gasp was the huge Bookshelf she had in her living room.

I felt so envious especially since I have not been able to buy one yet and meanwhile my books rest in cartons.

Both of us started a crochet project together (our own little CAL): Crochet Crop Cardigan by Monica Brown. Rima is showing her's off in the picture above. Here is how far I have gotten till date. (I will keep you posted on further progress.) Ravel it here.

Both of us feel that the pattern could have been written for a better fit back. It kinda sticks out a bit. Details to follow in subsequent posts.

At one of our earlier meetups Rima mentioned how much she liked the new design (Colorplay) hat that I was knitting. So I made one in her size and brought it with me for her. She was completely thrilled. Rima thanks for modelling it for my camera :)

This is one of my new designs and the pattern will be available soon on a new Website.


Later on we had a very tasty dinner. Rima had made Goan Pork Sausage curry and some delicious chocolate walnut cookies. Awesome !!! Rima I still want the recipe, when do I get it?
For more details on the dinner see here.

Coming soon:

• Another new free pattern
• Sneak Previews of my second design.
• Some tasty chicken recipes. (Shay I am so sorry I have not gotten around to posting them, as a bonus I'll post an additional one.)
• A new Book Review 
• Progress of my WIPs (see sidebar tool)
• Some things I want to make.

• Ideas on what I might make next.
• Picture and Video tour of the Coral Reef Project Exhibition at World Financial Center in New York.
• Last but not the least... more resources.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Sock Wars III

Have you signed up for Sock Wars III yet? The last date is May 3rd.

I had a hard time figuring out what "Nom de Guerre" meant :D
I guess it means alias?

The gauge is 8sts to an inch using 2.75mm (US2) needles.
All the Best to everyone !

Crochet Cup Cozy - Free Pattern

This one is an easy stashbusting project which was originally intended to be a Crocheted Belt. However, since I can only work on my knitting during weekends I had not been able to complete it before I signed up for a Sit 'n Knit Meetup. On the night before the meetup I saw a mail from our group administrator Anne-Marie that there was a cup cozy contest and those of us who get a cup cozy would be given an extra raffle ticket for the yarn draw.

Both were good enough insentives for me... :) so in a matter of about 15mins I converted my 3 crocheted squares into a cup cozy.
Here is what I did.

Motif Pattern:


Step1: Chain(ch) 4.
Step2: Join with a slip stitch(ss) to the first chain to form a ring.
Step3: ch1, 12 single chains(sc) in the ring. ss with 1st ch.
Step4: ch3 and 1double crochet (dc) in first sc, *1dc in the next 2 stitches(2), 2dc in the next sc, repeat from * to the end. ss in beginning ch3
Step5: ch3 and 1dc in the first dc, *1dc in the next 3 dc, 2dc in the next dc, repeat from * to the end. ss in beginning ch3. Bind off.

For Cup Cozy:
Make 3 squares.
Join the sides of the three squares to form a ring.
SC around the top edge and bottom edge of the ring. (2rows)
Bind Off
Weave in ends.

Ravel it here. You know you could totally wear this as a Cuff. Look at my winning photo below.
Well that's that...

At the Sit 'n Knit Spring Party, as usual I met some new very cool knitters and crocheters as well as some I had already met in the past meetups.

That's Meli modelling her handknit sweater happily :)

And guess what? I won yarn in the first raffle draw :D. I almost squealed... (it's me).

That's Lyni wearing her awesome cotton knit top.
No I am not sleeping... :) I had to sink in the win :)

The yarn is gorgeous.

It was donated by a very awesome lace knitter Annmarie (Yeah the same name as our organizer but two different ladies - and if you noticed the names are spelled differently).

All in all... an awesome day.