Knititude

This & that

Fall in Como comes late, last week in fact.  Aren't the gold leaves on that ginkgo tree gorgeous?   I pass it every day when I take the kids to school.  And the tiny house is in fact a shrine, to the Virgin, I believe (given that the street is called "Via della Madonetta").

Oh, did I ever mention that PAM ALLEN CALLED ME A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO?!  Excuse me, but I still can hardly believe that the editor of Interweave Knits actually called me to tell me they accepted one of my pattern submissions for the summer 2007 issue!  I can't believe that they even sent the yarn for the sample to my address here in Italy; it just arrived yesterday.  (Believe it, dearie, because your pattern and sample are due in less than 2 weeks!)

A Thanksgiving Story,

a day late due to internet noncompliance.  (More knitting someday!)

It's a little-known fact that the Pilgrims much preferred toad tails to turkey; so when I was at the Esselunga supermarket on Thanksgiving morning, and I spotted these lovely specimens, well!  I just had to buy them. 

The truth?  Whole turkeys are hard to come by in Italy; word is you can order one ahead of time, but from the few turkey dishes I've had here, I just wasn't sure what we would end up with.  So we decided to do a turkey when we're Stateside for Christmas, and when I asked my son to choose something else for Thanksgiving, he answered, "Grandma's fish."  Super-easy (recipe at the end), very good; not especially festive, but then the "fest" really comes from family & friends, right?  (Does "fester" mean the bacteria are having a party?  Anyway.) 

So I entered the Esselunga looking simply for the freshest white fish fillets they had, and I found these.  When I got home I decided to look up the name:  "Coda"--tail; "Rospo"--toad.  Yum. 

(They turned out to be pretty good, with a firm texture like monkfish.)

Grandma's fish:  2 servings.  Place 1 lb. mild white fish fillets (cod, haddock, sea bass, etc.) in a microwave-safe baking dish and cover with plastic wrap; poke a few holes in the wrap.  Chop a half dozen scallions; peel a thumb-sized piece of ginger and cut into matchsticks.  Put fish in microwave and cook on high just until done--3-5 minutes depending on the microwave.  While the fish is cooking, saute ginger and scallions over low heat in a generous amount of oil; add several tbsp of soysauce and a tsp of sugar OR maple syrup.  Cook only until scallions are wilted.  Take the fish out and drain off any accumulated liquid; add scallion/ginger sauce, a little more soy sauce to taste, and serve over steamed rice.   

 

Magari

"Magari" is one of those words that you hear often when Italians converse, and it's one of those words which is hard to translate precisely into English. One of our English-Italian dictionaries (we have many:  my husband and I each carry one everywhere, and then we have three more at home) translates it as "perhaps even," while another gives several equivalents, including "if only!," "and how!," "perhaps," and "even."  When you ask someone what it means, you get "perhaps maybe,"perhaps never", "I wish"...anyway.  I've been thinking for awhile that I'd love to design some colorwork, something intricate, Byzantine, simultaneously subtle and bold, and when the husband and I visited Budapest last week, and I saw the interior of the Matthias Church, I thought, "Magari.  Magari, magari, magari."  (Look at the patterned background behind the deer in the last photo:  those colors!  I'm in love.)

Look at what the putto* dragged in.

I figure I won't be living in a house adorned with putti* forever, so I'd better make use of them while I can.  I especially like the spiderwebs, which I've concluded must be good luck here in Italy, as no one seems willing to remove them.

Anyway, the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran for my own Sherwood has arrived!  I was concerned that it would be too teal, but in fact it is the color of lake shadows, a lovely deep blue calmed with gray, and leaning only slightly toward green.  It's also deliciously soft; I have a feeling this won't be the last time I use this yarn for something.

Full disclosure:  this announcement is somewhat disingenuous, as it gives the impression that I will be getting to work straightaway on Sherwood for me.  I cannot use the word "unfortunately," because I am delighted to say that I have had several pattern submissions accepted for various publications (trying to walk a fine line between being coy and braggartly here), but the simple truth is that, since they are all due by the end of December, I probably won't have much time for Sherwood until January.

*"Putto," plural "putti":  in Renaissance or Baroque art: an idealized representation of a naked young boy or cherub, often with wings.  Etymology:  17th century Italian, from Latin putus:  boy.  www.allwords.com

A cheap trick

I just realized that my first blogiversary is coming up at the end of the month.  Last November, I had no idea I would be living in Italy a year later!  Anyway, here are my first, second and third posts; I'd say they are somewhere around a 7 or 8 on a 1-10 scale of silliness, 1 being somewhere around here or here, and 10 being here or here.  (And I mean no offense to fans of big balls...of twine; lovers of Hello Kitty; or devotees of Marilyn Manson.  Or any combination thereof.)

I know it's a cheap trick to recycle old posts as new, but hopefully I'll soon be done swatching with this yarn so I can post a photo or two, and the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino I ordered from Angel Yarns for my adult Sherwood is en route!