05.16.07
Posted in Musings at 2:04 pm by trueepicure
This past Monday night was the local Stitch N’ Pitch event at RFK Stadium. It is the first year that the Washington Nationals participated in the Stitch N’ Pitch festivities. I was totally exhausted by the time I got home, but it was completely worth it!
There was an article in today’s paper about the game. I’m kind of surprised that we’re not in it because we were chatting with a photographer from the Post who must have taken a bazillion pictures of my friends and me*. Maybe we weren’t old enough, or maybe we weren’t young and hip enough. Who knows. I guess it doesn’t really matter because the Nats won, and we had a good time eating, knitting, and cheering!
*Yes, that is correct grammar - just in case you were wondering.
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Posted in Food, Musings, Soapbox at 11:27 am by trueepicure
According to the Wall Street Journal, the FDA’s new food safety plan isn’t going over so well. The Department of Health and Human Services (parent agency of the FDA) rejected the FDA’s proposal for increased regulations on food handling. I’d like to see more about this, because it sounds to me like the FDA is only focused on part of the problem.
Handling food safely is an important part of the production of food, but it is only part of the chain of events. No one seems to be looking at the complete picture of where are food comes from and what the ENTIRE sequence of events is from the sun’s energy to our table. I think if we took a more holistic approach to food safety, we, and the FDA, would have better luck fixing the problems.
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05.14.07
Posted in Musings at 4:18 pm by trueepicure
My cousin is a photographer, among other things, and took this picture in Nueva York.
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05.10.07
Posted in Books, Musings at 9:06 pm by trueepicure
Twinkie, Deconstructed
: My Journey to Discover How the Ingredients Found in Processed Foods Are Grown, Mined (Yes, Mined), and Manipulated Into What America Eats (Steve Ettlinger)
I’d seen this book on a couple of different blogs, and I thought it would be a really interesting read. Turns out it is interesting and enlightening. Ettlinger presents the Twinkie as a vehicle for understanding what happens to our food before we eat it. It’s an interesting and somewhat frightening book that I really encourage you to read. It’s not at all gross like Fast Food Nation
sometimes was, so you don’t need to worry about that. Did you know that some of the oils we eat (soy, for example) is extracted from the plant using hexane, a product of natural gas and a common component of gasoline? It kind of puts another spin on the idea that we are addicted to fossil fuels.
If you’re needing a Harry Potter fix, check out the His Dark Materials Trilogy 
: The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass (Philip Pullman). I will tell you, do not read The Subtle Knife without having The Amber Spyglass close at hand. The ending of the Subtle Knife is more like the edge of a cliff, not the edge of a knife.
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Posted in Musings, knit at 8:54 pm by trueepicure
Excuse me while I wipe the tears from my eyes… I’m laughing so hard that I almost fell of the couch! Yes, I did find this in Wil Wheaton’s Flickrstream, and I stumbled on it because of a knitter’s blog. Strange, huh?
You have to click the picture to read Wil’s caption. It’s the best part.
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Posted in Craft, Musings, Travel, fiber at 10:24 am by trueepicure
A picture of some of the loot I procured at MSDW.
Finally, I now own a Yarn Requirements pamphlet. It’s about darned time. Maybe now I will make some better judgements about how much yarn to buy at a time.
The red/orange yarn is 450 yards of baby Alpaca from The Fibre Company in Maine. They only sell retail at MSDW, so it made the purchase extra special. It is SO soft.
The green is 400 yards of superwash merino sock yarn from Spirit Trail Fiberworks. Lovely, green, VIRGINIA yarn!
The pattern is The Incredible Circular Rectangular Mitered Scarf from Strickwear. I purchased it at the Just Our Yarn booth in the main barn. They had lots of beautiful yarn, but I was trying to keep to a budget. They’re also local to Virginia, Falls Church to be exact, so I’ll be contacting them at some point in the future. The only bummer is that they don’t have a storefront. They will be at a number of festivals this year. Check out their website for more information.
Not pictured are my spinning fiber purchases: Yak down, loose carded Buffalo down, and Chinese Camel down. Hopefully one of my partners in crime can help me remember the name of the place I purchased it.
I didn’t end up purchasing a lot, but they were all worthwhile items that I didn’t turn around the next day and discover that I had purchased fugly fug. All in all, a good weekend.
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05.06.07
Posted in Craft, Musings, Travel, fiber at 10:57 am by trueepicure
I spent yesterday with two friends at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival - what an awesome day! We drove up Friday night (and spent several hours in wicked traffic) and stayed in Columbia. We arrived at the Howard County Fairgrounds at 9 AM, and easily found a place to park the E-Mobile (Thanks again, Honey! It would have been hard-going without the truck.)
I made K and Ashley promise to not let me purchase anything for at least the first 20 minutes that we were there. I was good and I didn’t buy anything for at least an hour.
We did some fiber shopping, and met some woolly folks:
I wanted to bring them all home with me, but even though our lease doesn’t say anything about livestock, I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t like living in the confines of the balcony. 
All in all, a great day. I’ll post photos of my loot later.
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05.04.07
Posted in Musings at 9:09 am by trueepicure
I’m off to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this afternoon! It’s my first time, and I’m SO excited. So many vendors… so little time!
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