Nha means House

Currently I belong to a quilting group on Flickr.  Basically it’s a group of 12 quilters, one for each month of the year.  Each quilter gets to choose a month to send out fabrics to each of the other 11 quilters. This month is the fabrics that was sent to me.

Our instructions were from Marblesbestfriend:

• “I’ve requested 12.5 inch, non-wonky, log cabin style blocks. There is a 3.5 inch square piece of fabric in each pack to use as the "center". It can be off-center if you choose. My favorite style of log cabin block is made by sewing "logs" to the top and bottom of center and then adding "logs" to the left and right. If you run short on fabric, I can add to the block to build up to size.
  Edited to add – improvisational log cabin blocks are great, too. Just prefer no wild angles. Think squares and rectangles rather than shapes with acute or obtuse angles.”

This particular book, 5500 Quilt Block Designs by Maggie Malone, has been both inspirational and made me change my mind dozens of times, because I kept find better and better block designs to make.

But I finally narrow it down to a spiral log cabin, 3293.

And here is the final result, a modified spiral log cabin.  Though I have to admit it was hard to make the spiral work with all the fabrics, so in the end, I do believe this is rather more like a modified log cabin and not quite a spiral one.  But I have to admit Marblesbestfriend chose some beautiful colors and fabrics for her month, I hope she likes it.

This is a a great link for questions and patterns for the Jaywalker sock.  I’m using Lorna’s Laces, Shepherd Sock, hand-dyed yarns which I brought from Weaving Works in Seattle, WA, by the way is a great yarn store to browse in or ask lots of questions about your current project.  Lorna’s yarn has a great twist and feels really great while knitting.  I love the variegated look of the blues and greens of this yarn.  This sock is a Christmas gift for girlrobot, per her request, plus another set is in the works for my new brother-in-law, boyrobot.  His sock colors consist of mainly blues and green with a hint of brown which I think as a nice masculine look to his socks.

My friend, Myra, introduced me to this particular pattern and I just love it.  I have always knitted scarves and have never had the nerve to start knitting a sock before she encouraged me and now have become an avid sock knitter.

Just a few tips for beginner sock knitters for this pattern:

1. Follow the instructions exactly.  Many people have knitted this particular pattern and have worked out all the knicks in the patterns, so if it looks funny, unravel your mistake because most likely it was a mistake. Overall this is a pretty simple pattern to follow and do.
2. Abbreviations to know and how to video (please click on the link for the video):

• k-f/b: increase 1 stitch by knitting in the front and back loops of the same stitch
• ssk: slip slip knot – slip 2 stitches individually as if to knit, then knit them together through the back loop
• dd: double decrease  – slip 2 stitches together as if to knit, knit the next stitch, pas the slipped stitches over the knitted stitch
• sl1: slip 1 stitch as if to purl

If you are just starting out on knitting, I highly suggest that you join Raverly.  It is a great resource and community to have for knitting.  Happy knitting!

Now that the temperature has drop, hot pot, or lẩu as we call it in Vietnamese, is the ideal meal to share with your friends on a chilly night and it’s very simple to put together.

Rules to having a hot pot:

1. You must have a large group of friends that loves to eat and talk for hours
2. Have at least the following proteins:
   • - thinly sliced beef, pork, chicken or lamb (***I usually choose the eye of round steak cut, because it is easy to slice and tender)
   • - some sort of firm fish, we served halibut last night
   • - prawns, with the head and shell on, this will flavor the broth even more
   • - clams and/or mussels
   • - different types of fish paste balls
   • - squid, cuttlefish, octopus
   • - firm tofu, fresh or fried
3. Vegetables are equally as important to have
   • - bok choy, I personally like baby bok choy and besides they are cute too!
   • - choy sum
   • - napa cabbage
   • - fat choy
   • - any type of mushrooms like enoki, shitake, matsutake, king oyster mushrooms

      

   • - squash or pumpkin
   • - tomato
   • - corn, I sliced them into one inch chunks so they would be easier to eat, plus it will      sweeten the broth as you cook it
4. Noodles like rice, egg or wheat and try to find the fresh variety in the refrigerated section of the Asian grocery store.
5. Dipping sauce are essential to hot pot and usually the base is soy sauce and sesame oil and some people add rice vinegar and some sort of hot sauce, like shacha.
6. But the most important thing to have is a good broth. We had a good chicken broth flavored with Thai Tom Yum seasonings along with some slowed roasted tomatoes from my P-Patch. 

Some more links for how to and recipes about how to do your own hot pot at your house:

1. The Spice House
2. NPR
3. Foodista

Here are some recommendations for drinks with your meal. (These were the wines that we paired with last night meal)

1. 2007 Rose, Spring Run, Columbia Valley, Stillwater Creek Vineyard
2. 2007 Gewurztraminer, Benson Vineyards Estate Winery
3. 2007 Riesling, Gerhard, Kabinett Halbtrocken

We ended the meal with a chocolate coconut layered cake with Caffe Vita coffee and Sa Japanese Hoji Cha Tea.

If you never had Sa Japanese Tea, you must try it.  I ran across it when I went to the Northwest Tea Festival that was held at the Seattle Center earlier this month.  By far the Sa Japanese Teas was the best green tea I have ever had.  I especially adore the Genmai cha, and I can see why it won the World Tea Expo in 2008 for the best tea in the blended/flavored green tea category.

*** A secret tip for buying Caffe Vita coffee if you live in the Seattle Area, every day they have a daily special and if you love the Sumatra Blend (which I do), on Friday they are discounted down to $8 instead of  $12 for their 12 oz bag.

For the past six and half months, I have been volunteering at The Herbfarm, not at the restaurant but actually at the farm.  They have a five acre field in Redmond/Woodinville, and it is absolutely amazing.  I have been enjoying working on the farm and taking care of the animals but meeting the people has been the best part of this volunteer program. 

Here is Bill Vingelen, the head gardener at The Herbfarm, behind him is the quails that we drove to Puyallup, WA, and picked up over the summer:

Beside learning about organic gardening, we also take care of the Mangalitsa Pigs,Chicken, Ducks and Quails. 

Here is a picture of the wooly Mangalitsa Pigs hungrily gobbling up the food that I just gave them.  They are known for their seven inch layer of fat and they love good hard scratches on their back and around their faces, especially behind their ears:

Every Friday I go to Hopelink, a food bank in Kirkland, and gather as much bread, vegetables and fruits as my car will hold, for example my first trip to Hopelink in the spring, which is quite a lot as you can see, the bread was literally spilling out of my car when I opened the door.

Next month, The Herbfarm from November 5th to 15th is doing “Makin’ Bacon” menu, which should be an absolute must if you are a pork lover, so call and make a reservation before they are all sold out.

Currently these are the crops that we are growing and harvesting right now:  cabbage, kale, rutabaga, brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, daikon radish, turnips, parsnips, salsify, burdock and beans.

Here are some sunset beans that I spent some time harvesting on Friday.  They are so beautiful and astounding to see for the first time, the purples and pinks are just brilliant and glow in my hand. (The iphone does not do these bean any justice at all.)  The first picture is us cutting it open to see if the beans are ready to be picked.  As you can see in the second picture, the beans are a pretty good size.  The far right picture shows them hanging from their vine, ready to be picked by me.

Here some purple kohlrabi peeping out of the ground.  They will not be ready to be picked for awhile and are very hardy and can get as large as tennis balls.

That’s my update for the week, check again next week to see what else is going on at The Herbfarm.  Below is a beautiful maple tree from behind the restaurant and its fallen leaves on the ground.  Happy Fall Everyone!