Westfest & Baby Knit

Weekends can be a tough balance of trying to take in as many local events and gatherings with friends as possible and fitting in E's naps.  When E was younger, she would regularly fall asleep in a carrier or in someone's arms while we were out.  But, now that she is becoming more aware of her surroundings (and dogs going for walks with their owners), naps on the go are pretty rare.

It was looking like we might have to miss out on Westfest this year, but we managed to squeeze in a walk up and down the festival area.  Westfest is a free festival in Westboro that has grown every year and just had its 10th anniversary. During the day, most of the focus seemed to be on activities for kids and local stores advertising/selling their products.  At night, the focus shifts toward musical performances.  

Here are just a few shots we took while walking up and down the 14 block strip:

These guys were out advertising the Star Wars Identities exhibit at the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum, which will be in town until September 2nd.

I am always attracted to fruit-filled juices.  I need to find a see-through carafe and an occasion to make something like this.

I'm guessing this seat was a product of the recent Knit in Public day.  Hopefully the city isn't too eager to remove it.  

I definitely want to check out the Ottawa Turkish Festival on July 20-21.

After opening in the Byward Market a few years ago, The Cupcake Lounge has just opened its second location in Westboro.  I guess they're doing something right!

After Wesfest, we attended a friend's shower.  Here is E modelling the baby leg warmers I made for a friend's baby.

Baby leg warmers might be up there as one of my favourite things to knit for a baby.  It's a relatively fast knitting project, but is one of the longest-lasting wearable knits you can make for a baby.  They'll fit most babies from 3 months to 2 years.

Knitting Update

Okay...baby-filled post ahead.  

All of a sudden, E's "radius" is expanding.  For a couple of months, she has been pushing herself backwards, which often resulted in her being further from her goal (usually a toy or person) than when she started.  But, last week, she started pulling herself forward.  It's more of a wounded soldier crawl at the moment.  Let the baby-proofing begin!

I realized that I haven't shared one of my favourite baby knits yet!  This pattern was actually one that Giz found.  Usually when Giz sends me a link to something she finds cute (happens multiple times a week), I take a quick look but assume that I'm not going to be as interested as she is.  But, this one was different.  I couldn't stop thinking about it.  It has a old-fashioned, delicate look to it.  It works as both a casual sweater and something a bit fancier.  

I've learned that the half-buttoned sweaters work really well in terms of longevity.  I also like the 3/4 length sleeve.  You don't have to deal with massive cuffs when the baby is small.  These pictures are several months old.  I'll have to see whether the sweater still fits!

In these next pictures, E is modelling one of the hats I made for her.  I made the mistake of making too many hats for the first winter.  Between gifts and what I've made, she has about 7 hats that probably won't work for more than this past winter.

Since E was born, I've had a hard time finding the time for knitting.  Part of the problem was that I was working on a project that required that I pay attention to the pattern.  It's best for me to just work on something with a consistent pattern so that I don't have to take 10 minutes to figure out where I am every time I pick up the project. I finally got the pattern (a butterfly) done and realized that I didn't do the shaping correctly.  Not a small mistake.  I had to take the entire panel apart.  Now I've abandoned the project because it's a 12 month size and by the time I finish it, it won't fit.

I have picked up a more basic project.  But...it will stay in hiding for now.

MyMemories Digital Scrapbooking Giveaway

Part of me wants time to stop so that I can cuddle a two month old forever.  The other part of me can't wait to get to know E as a 6 month old, a one year old, a toddler, during her school years, etc.  

Watching her clothes get snug is a definite reality check that she's growing.  I'm trying to capture photos and video of it all, but there's always an angle or an expression that is fleeting but unique.  So, as much as I try to keep a camera at arm's length, some moments will just be forgotten.  

When I got contacted by mymemories.com to try out their digital scrapbook software, I thought it would be a great way to organize and capture these early days.  Plus, they're offering a free copy for one of our readers (keep reading for more details on how to enter into the giveaway).  

Here is a quick tutorial on how the program works.  In addition to this, there are a lot of videos online that show you other tips and tricks.

Knowing myself, I could definitely spend hours and hours making scrapbooks.  I decided to start off with one of the scrapbooking templates that come with the software to get to know the program and for the immediate gratification. 

Here are some of the scrapbook pages I put together to capture E wearing some of the knits that I made while pregnant.  

The two professional shots of E were taken by a local newborn photographer, Sara McConnell (click on link for more shots of E at around 2.5 weeks).

I can't wait to keep playing with the program.  It includes music and video options, which I'm really excited about.  

So - now the cool part:  A GIVEAWAY!  Mymemories.com is giving away a free copy of the digital scrapbooking software for one of our readers.  

Here's how to enter:

Leave a comment below telling us, "What photos you'd use in your first digital scrapbook." We'd love to know!

Extra Entries:

Become friends with Equal Opportunity Kitchen on Facebook and leave a separate comment telling me you did so.

Follow Equal Opportunity Kitchen on Twitter and leave a separate comment telling me you did so.

Follow Equal Opportunity Kitchen on Pinterest and leave a separate comment telling me you did so.  

Tweet this statement to your followers and leave a separate comment telling me you did so: 

Enter to win a @MyMemoriesSuite digital scrapbooking software hosted by @equaloppkitchen http://tinyurl.com/9e97tlc

Deadline to enter is Friday,October 12, 2012. Contest is open to everyone. Winner will be chosen at random.

Quesadillas & Sweet Potato Chips with Lime

Only a small handful of friends even know that I have a food blog. Usually when I take pictures of food around friends, they just chalk it up to me being strange.  But, when I invited friends for dinner a couple of weekends ago and started taking pictures, they immediately said, "Do you have a food blog?"

Uhhh....what?  I'm just taking pictures...why would you assume that I have a...what are they called....a food blog?

Yeah.  I'm not a good liar.

For this meal, I wanted to be as close to vegan as possible.  I knew that my guests would eat dairy products when out at friends, but I'd really prefer to make my guests feel as comfortable (and unconflicted) as possible when eating at my home.

As an appetizer, I served some melba rounds with preserved bruschetta.  Everyone that I serve this bruschetta to seems to really like it.  Personally, I'm not a big fan.

For the main, I wanted to do something interactive.  I think it sets an informal tone while allowing guests to customize their own meal.  This is particularly useful when you have guests that have food restrictions and are fussy eaters.  Of course, you don't get the 'wow factor' that you might get when you put down nicely plated food or even set out a large dish for a family-style dinner.  But, you can always add in these elements in your side dishes or for the dessert.

For the main, I prepared a mise-en-place of ingredients for quesadillas.  The selection of ingredients included black beans, mushrooms, shallots, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, chipotles in adobo sauce and vegan cheese (Daiya).  

Daiya is a Canadian-based cheese company that is known among vegans as being one of the better options.  It started appearing in Ottawa a couple of years ago.  It melts up well, tastes good and you wouldn't even miss mozzarella if you use it.  

The picture of the quesadilla is a bit shoddy -- due to time constraints.  But, basically, we put one fajita shell on the pan, flipped it after a minute and then added the desired ingredients.  Then, the second fajita goes on top. After a couple of minutes, we carefully flipped the whole thing.  I'd also recommend putting a lid on the pan while it cooks just to get a bit of steam to the cheese.


I think it went over well.  The only issue is that it wouldn't really work if you had a lot of guests because each quesadilla basically requires its own pan and you don't want people eating at different times or eating cold food while they wait for others to finish.

In addition to the quesadillas, I went with Noble Pig's Sweet Potato Chips with Lime.

Easy to make and tasted great!  I thought I might have too much with two pans of thinly sliced sweets potatoes (about 3 large).  But, they shrank down a fair bit and I'm sure if I had made more, they would have been eaten.

My guests brought a nice salad (no picture) and the meal was great!

The dessert was a bit more of an experiment. I thought it would be a calculated experiment to make trifle, which everyone loves, but use soy milk.  But I learned the hard way that soy milk doesn't work with regular instant pudding mixes the same way that milk does.  Apparently animal fat (found in milk) is required for the pudding to actually thicken up.  It probably didn't help the thickening issue that I also bought kosher instant pudding to make sure that it didn't have any gelatine in it.  Next time, I'll buy a vegan instant pudding mix.

In the end, I had to head up the milkshake-like mixture and add a lot of cornstarch (mixed into water).  Even then, it didn't thicken up until it cooled down in the freezer.   Thankfully, it worked out (despite burning some of the vanilla pudding when trying to get it to thicken.  Maybe a bit more of a creme brulee flavour than usual, but still very tasty!

I'll leave you with a photo of a recent knitting project that I completed.  A free pattern of this leaf-patterned baby blanket can be found here (if you're a Ravelry member).  The photo on the left is before blocking and the photo on the right is after blocking.

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Stanley's & Sunnyside Cardigan

A couple of weekends ago, we joined some friends at Stanley's Old Maple Lane Farm. They have a sugarbush there (buffet style, with a smallish selection).  The standout for me were the farm animals.

These are just a selection of them:

Did you know that it takes 40 buckets of sap to make one bucket of syrup?  Kind of makes me feel a bit better about the high price we pay for maple syrup.  Well...sorta.

Aside from that, we spent time running after our friends' kids.  Stanley's is a great place to take kids on a nice day.  Get them sugared up with maple syrup and then let them run around.

I'm still wrapping my mind around this idea of having a little one around all of the time.  We've pretty much been limited to 3-4 hour chunks to this point.  I'm not sure that there is a way to truly prepare yourself for that.

So far, our preparations (in general) have been fairly minimal.  Basically, it has consisted of knitting and reading information online (which can be really informative or scary depending on what your search turns up).

This is probably one of my favourite knits.  I actually started it before getting pregnant, with the intention to give it to a friend.  But, now I can't part with it:



This is the Sunnyside pattern.  It's quite popular and versatile.

I promise I won't share every article of clothing that we buy...but this one is really cute.  R bought in while on a recent trip to Boston.  My favourite part is quote on the back.

Adding a Blogger to the Mix

I always work best with a deadline. Give me an infinite amount of time to get one thing done and it may never happen. Give me a deadline to get five things done and then we're in business.

So, I guess you could say I have a deadline. At first it seemed like 9 months would last forever...but with under 4 months to go, I think I'm going to have to kick it into high gear.

(Junior (baby's current name) is quite comfortable facing inward, so the profile shot is taken 
from a distance and kind of blurry. The line over the body is Junior's legs.  )

Here are a few of the items I've made for Junior:

Aviatrix Hat:

Baby Chalice Blanket (pre-blocking):

Owlie Sleep Sack:

I'll have several more projects (currently at various stages) to share in the near future!

Socks Two Ways

It has been a while since I've posted any finished knitting projects, which is odd because I've been doing a lot of knitting this winter.  I've added a link to my ravelry page on the sidebar.  If you knit or crochet (or like to look at that kind of stuff), definitely sign up.  It is probably the most comprehensive knitting site around.  Plus, you can create your own profile, keep track of your projects, stash, needles, projects in the queue, etc.  

Here are two completed projects...

Here is my first pair of socks.  I took a course at a local knitting store, Wabi Sabi.

These next ones took me forever!  I am jealous of the people who seem to bang out intricate sock designs on a weekly basis.  These were my first toe-up socks.  From these socks, I learned to make the toes wider and make sure to not knit too tightly when casting off (otherwise you won't get them past your heel).

I showed these socks to my Baba and she said, "Who has such big feet?"  Thanks Baba...

I'm probably not destined to be a regular sock knitter.  Now that I've put so much energy into making the socks I don't want to ruin them.  So, they mainly sit in my drawer.

Stay tuned for another knitting post in the near future.

Knitting Update

Just a quick break from regular food blogging...
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There's nothing like the birth of a friend's baby to motivate you to finish that knitting project you had in mind as a baby gift. In this case, the motivation to finish the project was even stronger since the sizing is meant for a 3-6 months old.

This pattern comes from Close Knit in Stratford, Ontario.

A big THANK YOU goes to Janette at Close Knit for helping me out with some questions about the pattern. You know you're dealing with a patient person when she is willing to exchange multiple emails with a person in a different city, knit a portion of the pattern, take pictures and send them to a complete stranger. Makes me want to go back to Stratford, just to visit the knitting store.





Next up is a shawl pattern I saw at Close Knit. You can find the pattern here. I'm switching things up a bit and am going with a thicker wool that I got while in Cape Breton from Bellemeade Farm. I really hope I have enough wool! This could be a hard lesson to learn since it would be nearly impossible to match the hand-dyed wool.