fat mama robin

Why is it that female birds are dull and brown while male birds get to dress up in spectacular feathers?

I know, attracting a mate, yada yada yada. But it would make toy birdies so much cuter if beautiful, colourful birds laid the eggs.

Until the animal kingdom changes its ways, I guess I'll have to pretend.

Let me introduce you to the latest installment in my Susan B. Anderson knitted toy extravaganza knitting fest obsession, Fat Mama Robin.

e-i-e-i-o

This project started with a bit of hubris, an 'I could make that!" declaration in a store. The store-bought play kit had a fold-up barn made out of cloth and a cute collection of felt animals.

I quickly decided my barn would be a much simpler drawstring bag, but I didn't really intend for my animals to be quite as, ahem, rudimentary as they turned out. I think it goes without saying that I didn't use a pattern, but just whipped out these critters with little regard for the details. I like the horse, but all of my animals kind of remind me of what you'd get during craft time in kindergarden. But whatever. They looked enough like animals for my kid say, 'oh, this must be a cow!' or in her words, 'mooo.'

And then I saw these felt animals at Ikea -- too cute! I had to buy them. I planned to just toss my animals and let these new ones live in the barn, but now I can't bring myself to throw mine away. I've grown attached! And I'm kind of touched that my kid doesn't seem to have a preference for the professional-grade barn animals.

So I think we'll keep all of them for a little while longer. Mine will fall apart soon anyway.

in season

Strawberry rhubarb crisp :: and there are two more in the freezer for those sad, dull days when these two lovebirds are not in season together.

spaghetti and swiss chard

Looking for what to do with swiss chard? We're kind of stuck in a rut with the leafy green, though it is a lovely, tasty little rut.

We either saute it up a la Simply Recipes or make this spaghetti and swiss chard with garlic chips from Gourmet. The flavour combo of salty feta, sweet currants, bitter chard, and toasted garlic is unique and oh-so delicious. It's a fabulous way to enjoy our farmer's market chard.

Head over to Gourmet for the recipe. (sigh, I miss Gourmet magazine.)