Sheetar

Foreign

Scotland!

By Sheetar 22 June 2009 22 June 2009

From June 13th to the 20th, I was in Scotland with the husband. Husband had a class in Aberdeen for work, so I had a great excuse to go and play tourist. The flights getting there were a little weird – I left from Philadelphia on Saturday and ended up at the hotel in Aberdeen on Sunday with the husband coming from Angola (Africa) straight from work, arriving a few hours after me.

Once settled, we went into town for dinner and wound up at Old Blackfriars for food and their incredible selection of cask ales. Went back to the hotel and had a hard time falling asleep since the sun set and rise times are drastically different from those near Philadelphia. The sun set at about 11pm and rose around 4am – we get about 9pm for the set and 5:30 for the rise. The hotel’s black-out curtains did the trick though and we finally got some shut-eye.

Monday I took my time to explore the city. Picked up a walking tour map from the tourism office and walked all over town, stopping off at the Duthie Park winter gardens. By that point, I had made a HUGE circle around the city and was pretty hungry. Thankfully, the husband called up and came into town for dinner. We ended up at the Illicit Still for some neat atmosphere and great food.

Tuesday was spent on a castle tour in the local area. Picked up the van outside the tourist office and went immediately to Crathes Castle and gardens. Sadly, no photos were allowed inside the castle, but it was really neat to wander around and check out the rooms. Outside was a beautiful garden that was in perfect bloom – talk about the right time to visit! Then we went on to Stonehaven to wander around and check out the little fishing village. I was able to take a walk out to the beach and dip my toes in the north sea. It felt like ice water, but the view of the surrounding area from there was really gorgeous and it was nice to be alone on the windy beach and just take it all in. Then we were on to Dunnottar Castle – a big ruin on a cliff with the waves crashing around you. Very dramatic. Also dramatic was the ridiculous staircase that led you down to the bottom of the cliff and then back up into the castle (lather, rinse, repeat to get back to the van). 100% worth it though and I got some incredible photos. Got back into Aberdeen and met up with the husband at the hotel for dinner along with two of his classmates for a relaxed evening.

Wednesday was the rainy day, so I took a quick trip out to Wool for Ewe to check out the local yarn store. From there I went to the Maritime Museum and the Art Museum to try and stay out of the cold and wet weather. Also did a little bit of tourist shopping and finally went back to the hotel again for dinner with the husband and his classmates.

Thursday I took the train out to Inverness and went on a tour with Jacobite Cruises after doing some shopping around the Victorian Market. I picked up the bus in the center of town and took it down to the boat dock while a guide gave us a history of Loch Ness and some of the mystery behind the monster said to inhabit the huge freshwater lake. Sadly, we didn’t see Nessie during our half hour cruise, but we ended up at Urquhart Castle so I guess that was okay. The castle was another huge ruin and I had just enough time to run around with the camera and get some great photos. After a short video on the history of the castle, I was back on the bus and taken into Inverness again just in time to catch my train to Aberdeen. Got back to Aberdeen around 7pm and found the husband at the Irish pub, Malones (yep, Irish pub, in Scotland). We went over to Slains Castle Pub which was inside an old cathedral. Really neat ambiance – the sort of place you’d expect Dracula to show up for dinner. Then I went over to the Belmont Cinema Cafe to meet up with the Aberdeen Stitch ‘n’ Bitch group. Got in about a half hour of knitting (I showed up late) and then went back to Slains to meet up with the husband and go back to the hotel.

Friday, the husband was done with class for the week and we had scheduled a whisky tour, but it ended up being cancelled due to lack of interest (meaning, we were the only people who wanted to go on a whisky tasting tour on Friday, geez people). We got on the train and ended up in Keith at the Strathisla distillery, the oldest constantly running legal distillery in Scotland. Most of their whisky goes into the Chivas Regal blends, but we got to sample some of the distillery’s whisky that they sold outside of the Chivas brand. A lot of the beer brewing knowledge we have helped us appreciate the tour more and understand the whole thing better. We brought home a bottle of cask strength whisky that was aged in a sherry barrel. Did a quick lunch in town and then went back to the hotel where the husband went straight to bed while I went down and grabbed dinner at the hotel’s bar.

Saturday was up early and on the plane back to home.

A few other things of note about the trip:

Seagulls. Aberdeen has lots of them, and they’re the BIGGEST seagulls I have ever seen in my life. I’m fairly sure they could eat most small dogs for dinner and not blink twice. They’ve been known to go on shoplifting sprees and attack people for whatever food they’re holding. There’s even a facebook group dedicated to their demise.

Temperatures were about 60F for the high and only about 50F for the low. The north sea pumps out some cold air that keeps the temperatures steadily cool. There was only one day that it rained all day, Wednesday, but most days would give you a few brief periods of rain mixed with sun. They say that if you don’t like the weather in Scotland, just wait 15 minutes – it’ll change.

To make things easier, the husband and I picked up a pre-paid SIM card for our phones at T-Mobile in Aberdeen for 5GBP. I got a week’s free internet access which helped me out A LOT with the G1 phone I’ve got – I was able to pull up google maps wherever we were and know exactly where I was and where to go. When the husband finished his classes, he’d call, we’d meet up, and it made life SO much easier. Definitely worth the money.

The exchange rate sucked. 1.62 GBP to the US dollar. And most of the prices, say a pair of jeans was 24.99 GBP.. about what you’d expect to pay for the same jeans in USD, just take out the pound sign and put in the dollar sign. But NO! No. The exhange rate made them 1.62 times more expensive.

Just a few photos here, the rest are in this set on flickr.

One Local Summer

OLS: Week 3

By Sheetar 22 June 2009 22 June 2009

I’m a little late on this one, but we spent all of week 3 in Scotland. So, I think that’s okay, right?

For the record, this was a lunch meal and I tend to go heavier on the green things and lighter on the meat for lunches, hence the big blob of green on the plate and little bitty blob of chicken. In the back is red lettuce from Kimberton Whole Foods, marked as grown locally, unknown farm. On top of the salad are little turnip chips – dehydrated turnip slices from turnips found at the Phoenixville Farmer’s Market during Week 1. In the very front is that delicious back-porch dill and goat’s milk yogurt from Week 2 (frozen while we were away, and then thawed to enjoy again). The chicken roulade is made with chicken again from Eberly Poultry – pounded out thin. Inside the chicken is dill and basil from the deck, bacon from Country Time Farm, sundried tomatoes from last year’s garden, and ‘Dillicious’ cheese from Clover Creek Cheese Cellar.

Not Local: Olive oil for cooking the roulade and the salad dressing.

This meal gave me a whole lot of leftovers since I used the whole pound of chicken for the roulade and will likely keep me well fed for the week. I still have the leftovers from last week’s meal in the freezer too! I think I’ll make a trip to the Anselma Market on Wednesday to find ingredients for Week four. If anyone knows of a source of local flour, I’d love to hear about it! I might be up to try my hand at home made pasta for something different.

One Local Summer

OLS: Week 2

By Sheetar 11 June 2009 11 June 2009

Week 2 of One Local Summer is cooked and consumed already.

I did say dill last week right? I should’ve said yogurt would be the theme of this week’s meal. Let’s go over what’s on that plate. In the front, Sugar Snap Peas picked up at Kimberton Whole Foods (KWF) in Kimberton, PA. They were labelled as being grown locally, but didn’t mention which farm. The skewered chicken, also found at KWF is from Eberly Poultry and was marinated in olive oil and lemon juice before being tossed on the grill. The sauce over the chicken is a sort of cucumberless tzatziki sauce using goat’s milk yogurt from Shellbark Hollow Farm and dill from the deck planter. In the back is wilted turnip greens from the Phoenixville Farmer’s Market with a few sun-dried tomatoes from last year’s garden (roasted and then frozen, thawed, dehydrated). Dessert is the same goat’s milk yogurt with some fresh Lancaster County farm-stand strawberries blended in.

Non-local ingredients: Olive Oil, lemon juice, spices (marinade for the chicken)

Now let’s go over why I LOVE LOVE LOVE this meal. First, my obsession with dill – it’s limitless. I pretty much believe that dill belongs in everything and I love the Oregon Herb bread that the Great Harvest Bread Company makes because the herb pretty much means dill. Sadly, I don’t think cucumbers are in season around here yet, but even without the cucumber, that tzatziki sauce was delicious. MMMmm dill. And the chicken with the marinade worked out perfectly – so soft and juicy and DELICIOUS. But, my new find of the week and a new favorite is that goat’s milk yogurt from Shellbark Hollow Farm. There’s something about the goat’s milk that gives the yogurt a little extra zip or zing or pizzazz. You should go and check out the website for Shellbark Hollow and watching the “awwwww” inspiring videos on the goat of the month page. I have a feeling that the goat’s milk products will be making a regular appearance in my diet now that I’ve found out how incredible they taste. And now, as I sit here and digest that wonderful meal, I’m already making plans for the leftovers.. Frozen Goat’s Milk Strawberry Yogurt anyone?

One Local Summer

OLS: Week 1

By Sheetar 6 June 2009 6 June 2009

This is my first week doing the One Local Summer challenge. Here’s my entry!

In the front are some DELICIOUS oyster mushrooms from Oley Valley Mushrooms. In the back is a turkey breast from Mountain View Poultry, cooked up using the rotisserie in our mega toaster oven. That toaster oven sees way more action than our big oven since it makes more sense for the two of us (and usually the one of me), using less energy and not heating up the whole house like the big oven does. A 9×9 pan fits comfortably in the toaster oven which is generally more than enough for me. The pesto sauce was made from the container full of basil on the back deck and was brushed on while the turkey was cooking as well as on the finished product. Salad greens are from, well I can’t remember which farm was selling them at the Phoenixville Farmer’s Market, but they were the highlight of the whole plate, honest. Crisp and fresh and very tasty.

Non-local items used: Olive oil (on the mushrooms, salad, and in the pesto sauce), Salt, Pepper, Pine nuts (Pesto sauce), and vinegar (salad).

Not bad for a first try, huh? I found it really challenging to come up with something not using olive oil – I use it all the time and it’s difficult to think up a meal that doesn’t need some king of oil when cooking. For next week, I think the dill plant will be up for a serious pruning. 🙂

2009 Knitting, Socks, Spinning

April and May wrap-up

By Sheetar 4 June 2009 7 February 2012

Hah, I knew at one point during the year, I’d miss a month or get lazy or even give up completely on the resolutions. So far, though, doing okay, and still chugging along.

Going back in time to January again for the knitting resolutions..

2. Knit two sweaters this year
Started one. It’s tough knitting a sweater in the summer. I had a big rush of excitement when I started, gushing over the gorgeous color, dyed by Becky of dkKnits and then set it aside about 30% of the way down the body to do socks and lace and other fun summer type projects.

3. Knit one pair of socks per month
Got both of those!


April – Blue Angee Socks	May – Twisted Devon Socks
Pattern: Angee	Pattern: Devon
Designer: Cookie A.	Designer: Cookie A.
Needles: US 1 ½ / 2.5 mm	Needles: US 1 ½ / 2.5 mm
Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Sock, colorway, “Impressionist Sky”	Yarn: Twisted Fiber Art Kabam! in colorway, “Terrain”
-Ravelry Project Link-	-Ravelry Project Link-
These were finished just in time to go to Stitch n’ Pitch with the Phillies. Sadly, we were soundly beaten by the Nationals, but the socks told me that they didn’t mind. The pattern is from Cookie A’s new book, Sock Innovation, and I’m absolutely in love with all of the patterns. This one was pretty simple, but with a great effect. And the yarn! There’s a reason why we call it MMMmmmmmmalabrigo. Squishy, Yum.	Another entry from Cookie A’s Book. Both the yarn and the pattern came together to produce an absolute delight to knit and wear, even if one sock somehow tricked me into knitting an extra repeat on the leg. I’d go back and rip the longer top down to match the shorter one, but there’s a cuff-to-leg transition set of stitches that I wouldn’t be able to do if I knitted back up the cuff. So, we’re going to call them unique and leave them as they are, unmatched and beautiful.

4. Spin four ounces of roving per month.
My poor wheel has been feeling woefully neglected. I did get my 4oz for May though.

Corriedale from Maisy Day Handspun in colorway, “Water Lily.” I never really liked corriedale, until now. I got my hands on the raw roving in the past and did a little nose wrinkle – scratchy. It’s not merino. But, after it’s spun up and plied? Not so bad. I probably still wouldn’t make a scarf out of it, but it’s pretty and squishy and I rather enjoyed spinning it. It clocks in at 285 yards and is about sport weight.

And that’s the wrap-up for the last two months of acheiving resolutions. There has been more knitting, of course, that I haven’t detailed here, but with the garden growing, the lawn needing mowed, and a whole host of fun outdoors stuff to do in the lovely weather we’ve been having, knitting has mostly taken a back seat to a lot of seasonal things to do.

One Local Summer

By Sheetar 30 May 2009 30 May 2009

I remember seeing the One Local Summer blog posts when we were getting settled into our new home that is conveniently located within walking distance of our local farmer’s market. We have some really fantastic vendors and it’s a thing I’ve grown to love in the two years that we’ve lived here. SUCH a wide variety of goods from bison to chicken and pork to all sorts of vegetables and some of the best bread I’ve ever had. Having never participated, I figured this would be the year! Admittedly, I’m not much of a cook, but I can do the basics when I have to and this gives me a fun summer goal and a way to eat better and eat locally grown goods. So, here’s to the start of one local summer!

Photography

Just a pretty picture

By Sheetar 26 May 2009 26 May 2009

On May 12th, the husband and I went over to our town’s Dogwood Festival. It was just past dinner time and the sky was starting to get dark, so I brought the camera and the crappy little tripod, itching to get a few long-exposure shots of the nutty carnival rides. She shoots, she scores. I like this one, and it’s gathered a bit of interest on flickr too, so I’m sharing it here too. 🙂

Reviews

Customer Service

By Sheetar 15 May 2009 15 May 2009

Today I took a trip out to the Pottstown Sewing & Crafts store with my late grandmother’s Singer Athena 2000 sewing machine (circa 1978). It had started making this awful grinding noise when sewing and I knew something was really wrong. I called the store the other day to check and see if they did repair on site which they did, so I hauled the machine into the store and was greeted immediately by a staff member. The repair tech was on the phone, but the woman who greeted me started poking around, trying to see what was going on, finding the same unpleasant ‘clunk’ that I had found when turning the hand wheel. The repair tech came over and, no joke, in a matter of seconds, had a solid hunch of what was going on which was confirmed when he brought the machine over to his work area and popped open the bottom to take a look. He was right. Incredible. I just love seeing that kind of knowledge from any kind of technician or repair person. The tech explained the costs involved in repairing the machine, pointed out the parts, showed me the 30 year old circuit boards, and advised a course of treatment. Fixing the whole shebang would be $300. Fixing what needs to be fixed to make it functional would be about $120. His caveat was that even if I went the high road, the machine is so old that something else that’s not replaceable could break the day after I get it back home. If I went the low road, it would be funcional for light work, but wouldn’t be able to hem a pair of jeans (something my vertically challenged self does OFTEN). He did encourage me to keep it regardless since it was the first computerized sewing machine and has historical value as well as the obvious sentimental value. Still gabbing about the sewing machine, he smiled and said that the Athena was the first sewing machine he ever sold and even told me the exact year that particular color came on the market. You could just tell that he loved his job and enjoyed knowing everything there was to know about sewing machines.

I was sort of ready for a grim diagnosis. I know grandma used the machine a lot, and I put a good deal of time into it as well. The $300 estimate is pretty close to a new machine anyway, and I immediately thought about the stack of pants sitting on the cabinet and the husband’s last set of patches that need to be applied. Yeah, going without a sewing machine isn’t really an option. The woman who initally greeted me took me around to a few machines and gave me demonstrations of the features I used often – button holes, straight sewing – and even a few of the new bells and whistles that have come about in the last thirty years. (Dude, sewing machines cut the thread for you now and there’s no foot pedal!) She was incredibly sweet and patient with me and I think she had more fun that I did, showing me all the neat features of each machine in my price range.

In the end, I walked out with a new sewing machine, left the old one for the basic repair (at half price since I bought the new one), and got two free classes with the machine on basic use and maintenance. While I was checking out, in case I didn’t love these people enough already, another woman came in with a vacuum cleaner that she said was smoking when she used it. The tech came over, flipped the vacuum over on the counter, replaced the belt, pulled some hair and fuzz off the beater bar, and tested the vacuum. THEN, he showed the woman how to do the very same repair at home and only charged her for the belt he used.

I walked out with a smile on my face and feeling really spectacular. I think all the big-box and chain stores have destroyed that good-customer-service ideal with their bureaucracy and metrics, but the little local mom-and-pop stores still get it. The folks at the Pottstown Sewing & Crafts store were just doing what was right because it was the right thing to do – that’s just SO hard to find! I know I look younger than I am and am sometimes treated like an idiot teenager (hi, I’m almost 30), but I didn’t feel like that at all today. Their honesty and friendly attitude was really refreshing, and if you live in the area, I would suggest that you go pay them a visit. I know I’m going to be a loyal customer from now on!