In lieu of knitting, a cat. Plus, ice cream.

I did a fair bit of knitting this weekend, though I've decided to keep the particulars under wraps for now, since it's something I'm designing and I haven't decided what I'm going to do with the pattern once I'm done.

HOWEVER, as a ploy to distract you from how genuinely annoying my smug secret-keeping really is—I could have just not mentioned it—here is a CAT:

And a recipe for very, very good chocolate ice cream.
Very, Very Good Chocolate Ice Cream
adapted from Nigella Lawson in one of her books, possibly the domestic goddess one

2 egg yolks
1 egg
2/3 c. plus 2 T sugar
1/4 c. cocoa
2 c. milk
3 1/2 oz. semisweet chocolate, melted

Whisk the eggs and 2/3 c. of sugar in a bowl until thick and creamy. Whisk in cocoa. Bring the milk to a boil and add to the egg mixture, pouring slowly and beating all the while. Whisk the melted chocolate into the eggs and milk. Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir until everything is smooth and amalgamated and beginning to thicken.

Put the remaining 2 T sugar into a saucepan and turn the heat to high. Heat until it's dark brown and molten, then whisk into the chocolate custard. Cool and thoroughly chill the mixture, then freeze in an ice cream maker.

Finally, a weekend at home

I hadn't had an unstructured weekend by myself like this in a while, and I really needed it. I kicked things off by going out for Thai food in Queens with some friends Friday night. They ordered for the table before I got there, so I'm not entirely sure what we had (range of appetizers, at least a couple of curries, several vegetable dishes, desserts) but there was a ton of food and everything was fantastic.

I finally got around to weaving in the ends on this handspun sweater. (I sewed and cut the steek too, but that deserves a post of its own.)

I made my new favorite lunch, 101 Cookbooks' caramelized tofu on shredded brussels sprouts. I left out the pecans and cilantro and added some crushed red pepper. One pan, a handful of ingredients, crispy, sweet-spicy-sprouty deliciousness.

And a big batch of spaghetti carbonara for dinner on Saturday. No real recipe: while the pasta cooks, crisp up some bacon, add some garlic and white wine. In a bowl, beat a couple of eggs and some parmesan together. Drain the pasta, mix the hot bacon/wine into it, then add the egg mixture and stir very briskly until the heat of the pasta cooks the eggs into the silkiest, dreamiest sauce imaginable. I threw some frozen peas in with the pasta when it was almost done for a little extra flavor and texture.

Not pictured: a batch of sadly but truly inedible bread (too much other stuff — wheat germ, bran, flaxmeal, ground oats — not enough flour). I didn't actually try to hammer a nail with it, but I bet I could have. And I made a big batch of oatmeal to bring to work for breakfast all week, and a big batch of lentil/barley soup with all of the vegetables that were circling the drain in the fridge (carrots, red cabbage, fennel, spinach, mushrooms) that I portioned out for lunches.

It had been a while since I had taken a long walk with a camera and since I needed ("needed;" I always wince internally when I use that word in this context) some things from Ikea, I burned some shoe leather trekking over to Red Hook on Sunday.

And back at the home front, I haz a cat now. She came with the new apartment (long story).
Internet, meet Luz. She is in no small part evil and sometimes tries to steal my soul when I'm falling asleep, but I like her awfully.