Connie is getting married

Connie and Maria
Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto.

We had her bachelorette last night. We went to Izakaya for dinner and then to the Flatiron for drinks, where we played charades and asked everyone for a condom. Can you believe that no one at the bar had a condom, at least no one admitted they had one. What kind of bar is this? One where no one is planning on scoring on a Saturday night, that’s the kind of bar it is.

Connie‘s wedding will take place on October 6th And 7th (a two-day-wedding, just my kind of party!) Unfortunately I won’t be able to attend, since I’m flying down to Los Angeles on the 3rd and staying with my sister until Thanksgiving Monday. Connie is a really good friend and I wish her the best, Dave is so lucky to be marrying her. Here she is showing off her Takara Chu Hi Lychee, directly imported from Japan.

Finally, here’s a picture of my dinner. I have the chili beef ramen. It was delicious, and it reminded me of a restaurant I used to frequent when I lived in London, it’s called Wagamama, it’s a delicious place and I’ve always wondered how come we don’t have a Wagamama in Toronto.

I wanna blog

Really, I want to. I just don’t know what to write about. I’ve been so busy, but nothing very interesting for my readers.

Oh well, I guess the only news I got is that I missed Stitch ‘n Bitch last night. I went to Jamie Kennedy’s Wine Bar for dinner. It was very delicious. Afterwards I went to the Flatiron where James joined me for a pint. And this girl that I had just met sitting beside me at the bar got us 3 shots! We had so much fun. James was hungry but I really didn’t have anything in the fridge for him to snack on in the middle of the night.

Knitting is going well, but not as fast as I would like to.

BTW, does anyone know why Dr. House is limping again? I missed the episode last week. How come his treatment didn’t work?

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Just when I thought it was safe to look out the window

There he was…
…
FATMAN!

I thought he had moved, I thought that balcony wasn’t his anymore. All those flowers. No sunbathing in his speedo all summer. No view of the man boobs. Nothing. I thought he was gone. I was living in peace.

But I just saw him. He is back and fatter than ever. And I am pleased to say he has a friend, he was talking to this guy in the balcony.

Ah, the good old days!

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I am definitely obsessed with yarn

So even though I have 2 sweaters in the works and all my regular stash, I could not help myself and went and got more yarn this past week.
On Wednesday, during SnB at Lettuce Knit I got:

One more skein of Alchemy Silk Purse to complete a nice scarf, since I have some leftover from my sleeveless top. It doesn’t matter that it’ll be the same colour as the shirt.
I also bought one ball of Debbie Bliss Casmerino Aran, I will be making the fingerless gloves in Knitty.
I also bought 5 balls of Misti Cotton?

I already used this yarn for the Seaberry Shell and now I will be making the camisa on KnitScene.
On Saturday I made my first ever trip all the way to Knitomatic (I know it’s far and north of Bloor, but bear with me, I was in the neighbourhood. No, really).

I bought a kit to make the HandMaiden Cashmere Cloche. It is so soft. i have a really colourful colourway and will probably be using two balls (from the same skein) to make the colours a bit more even.

I also bought two balls of Lamb’s Pride Bulky. I will be making a hat for my brother, who just moved to Paris. It’s the man’s hat on KnitSimple.

Finally, I went back to Romni Wools and changed the Colinette Parisienne that I bought two weeks ago. I was never convinced of that blue, so I changed the colour to a colourway Moss. I am really excited about this mohair.
Finally, I finished the Zara hat that I made for my sister. It is the first of at least two, maybe 3, depending on yarn availability.

I have a lot of projects on the works, and I’m quite excited about them. Now all I need is time!

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Still the best chicken wings

I just came back from Hemingway’s. They still have the best chicken wings in Toronto, but now I know the secret. You have to ask for MEDIUM chicken wings. In the menu they say they have barbecue and hot, but if you ask for medium they will make a concoction of both the barbecue and hot sauces. Now that’s delicious. The chicken wings are still dry so you can get as much sauce on each wing as you want.
Still the best buffalo style wings. Go, get them!

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True North

“This is a film about why good people do bad things” said director Steve Hudson last night at the world premiere of his first feature film True North. We were at the Paramount for the Toronto International Film Festival.

The film is about a group of fishermen that pick up a cargo of illegal Chinese immigrants just to make some extra money. Instead of going directly to Scotland they need to get a catch to be able to fool the authorities, but they run into lots of difficulties while the Chinese immigrants are downstairs in the cargo room.

This is a really rough film and very realistic. It’s really well made and I liked it a lot. I was wondering how Steve Hudson got the idea of the Chinese immigrants into the UK, and it made me think of the thousands of illegal immigrants that try to cross the border from Mexico to the US, I also remembered my trip to Morocco and how there were some kids that tried to hang on to our tour bus to get into Spain. I wondered how come he had thought of Chinese immigrants specifically, being that illegal immigrants could come from lots of different places in the world. He said it was after he heard the news in 2000 that 58 Chinese illegal immigrants had been found dead in the back of a lorry coming from Belgium. The link to the news article from BBC is here.

The stars of the film Martin Compston and Peter Mullan were there and it was their first time watching the film too. Peter Mullan’s performance is amazing.

The film is great and not to be missed.

True North will show again on Wednesday, September 13 at 9:45 AM at the Paramount and on Friday, September 15 at 5:00 PM at the Cumberland.

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My first attempt at designing

This weekend I made my first knitting design: a pair of wrist warmers. The lucky recipient will get them tomorrow, Monday.
Here is the pattern that I designed and used (I know it’s not rocket science, but bear with me, people, it’s my first pattern ever). It fits a small to medium wrist (6″ to 7″)

Materials:
Mission Falls 1824 wool, 1 ball
1 set of 5 mm DPN needles
Stitch marker
Darning needle

Instructions:
On 5 mm DPN, cast on 36 stitches, join for knitting in the round and place marker.
Work on k1 p1 for 3 rounds
After ribbing:
Rounds 1 and 2:
*p2 k4* repeat from * to end of round.
Round 3:
*p2 c4f* repeat from * to end of round.
Repeat Rounds 1-3 3 more times.
Repeat rounds 1 and 2 once more.
k1 p1 for 3 rounds
Bind off in rib
Darn in ends

Repeat for second wrist warmer.

I hope everyone enjoys this pattern, I am proud of having designed it and I am sure my friend is going to enjoy his wrist warmers.

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Really busy

Sorry about the lack of posting, I’ve been really busy with work and parties. Yesterday I wasn’t feeling well and actually missed my flamenco class. But I posted a recipe for roasted garlic and tomato pizza on Garlicster, it is delicious!
Tonight I’m going to Joyce’s to do some knitting, so much fun!

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Productive weekend

Green
Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto.

After going shopping in Buffalo and having a great time, I went and did the exchanges I wanted to do at Romni Wools.
I did some research on the Classic Elite Allure that the Tangelo cardigan on Knitscene calls for. Well, for one it is not available in Toronto, and it is $25 US a skein. I thought that was a bit too much (although it is cashmere, angora and merino). So I went to Romni Wools looking for something in forest green (I really didn’t want to make that sweater in orange after all the orange Zara that I just ripped from the neverending sweater). I found this beautiful Crystal Palace Creme made of 70% wool and 30% silk. I don’t quite have the gauge so I will be making the bigger size, wish me luck on that one!
I casted on last night and tried to do the magic loop for the first sleeve, but it was stretching a lot, so today I went and bought a set of double-pointed needles and the second sleeve is turning out quite nicely. I will rip the first sleeve and do it again. For the flowers I bought Stop mohair. Now I hope I have luck with the mohair because I couldn’t resist myself and bought something that was totally unplanned:

Four skeins of Colinette Parisienne in a really nice blue colour (Velvet Damson colourway). I will be making either the sleeveless top or the cardigan in theColinette Parisienne pattern book.

Finally, I’ve been making a lot of progress on the red cardigan.

I finished the two sleeves and the back, I casted on and started knitting the left front. I am really enjoying my first cable project.

Rajas con crema

Rajas
Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto.

From Wikipedia:

Rajas con crema is the name given to a Mexican dish consisting of sliced Poblano pepper with cream (the name literally means “slices with cream” in Spanish). It is very popular in Mexico, particularly in the central and southern parts of the country. It is one of the dishes most commonly served during taquizas (taco parties), together with tinga, mole, chicharrón, and papas con chorizo.

I had James over for dinner and I wanted to make some Mexican food suited for a vegetarian. I went to the St. Lawrence Market and bought a can of Rajas Verdes de Chile Poblano. This is how I made the rajas:
In a spoonful of corn oil, saute a half chopped onion, two chopped zucchini, the rajas (drained) and half a can of yellow corn (drained).

Add cream to cover the whole thing, reduce heat and let boil for about 10 minutes.
Finally, turn off the heat, add shredded mozzarella and cover pot with its lid. Let it stand for 5 minutes. The cheese will melt without sticking to the pot.
Serve on a tortilla to make tacos. Accompany with beans (I got them from a can) and a Corona.

James said it was an interesting dish but really rich. You don’t want to stuff your face in this one, hee hee.