Slow and steady progress is still progress! I may not have picked the best time to try to do 365 days of creative activities, but I’m still going to keep trying because doing these things keeps me grounded, reminds me I’m more than just a mother to my children that I’m also an individual with hobbies that I enjoy a great deal, and can help relax me when I’m feeling really stressed out (which right now, is all of the time).
Meal two from Hello Fresh was hoisin beef, which I was really excited about. Some of my favourite flavours are right there on the plate, and unlike Chef’s Plate where I found the meals almost too small for two people, this one meal seemed gigantic. It could have easily created 4 meals for myself (but of course I shared with the husband, so it came to less than that).
It was easy to prepare, didn’t take many ingredients, and was still packed full of flavour. So far Hello Fresh is shaping up to be one of the better meal delivery services I’ve tried. I do have a basket order of Good Food coming in next week, a family member gave me a coupon for an entire free trial of food (3 meals for 2 people) and they look REALLY fancy. It’ll be interesting to compare and see how the food is. From my cousin’s description she enjoys the flavours of Good Food but the meats in Hello Fresh are incredible.
Either way, it’s great to get out of my comfort zone when it comes to food. Being pregnant and running after a 2 year old all day means that I tend to stick to simple meal plans that I know we’ll enjoy and I can whip up without too much thought. That doesn’t leave a ton of room for creativity. Trying new foods and new flavours is great. Portion size is under control since they send me all of the ingredients, and it’s cheaper than buying fresh produce where I live. I understand that the price of these services is not something everyone wants to pay for, but in my case some weeks it’s simply worth it (plus I’ve only been trying out these services when they’re on sale at a hefty discount. I paid $32 for both Hello Fresh and Chef’s Plate, and Good Food is free… you can’t really go wrong with those prices).
If you ever want to knit something that impresses your friends but is actually quite simple – I highly suggest you look into cables. Cables are a really simple type of stitch that LOOK really complicated, but it’s nothing more than knitting out of order. You typically put a few stitches on a stitch keeper, move it to the front or back of your piece, and then knit the next stitches, then go back and knit the ones you put on your stitch keeper.
That’s it.
It looks complicated watching someone else to do it because you’re dealing with extra needles and/or a stitch keeper hanging out some place, but the stitch itself is simple and you can typically just ignore whatever bit you’re not working with. The overall effect is fancy and impressive. My fingerless gloves are about half way done and I’m slowly working gusset increases for the thumbs. The yarn is a merino / bamboo blend that knits up wonderfully and shows the stitches off – exactly what I was hoping for. I expect this gloves will get a lot of use (I hate full gloves that cover my fingers) and it’s the first time I’ve attempted gloves at all, so I’m pretty proud. For some reason I’ve found them more intimidating than the sweater I knit as well as socks. Probably because I have to knit them on DPN and that can be an awkward procedure (I know I could knit them on 2 circulars, or a smaller circular, or do magic loop, but I’m quite comfortable working with DPN so why not).
I’m also contemplating starting up some Christmas knits early. In specific christmas balls to go along with the Star Wars themed one I knit last year. I’d like a set of 6 (I have one), and I’d like to knit christmas balls for everyone in the family with their names and birthday on it. We’ll see how that goes (if it goes).
You might remember that not too long ago when my husband was in depot, I tried Chef’s Plate, a Canadian version of Blue Apron. Well, I since learned that Hello Fresh is a thing here in Canada, and unlike Chef’s Plate, they deliver here to Saskatchewan. With a 60% off coupon I decided why not try it for three meals and see if it’s something that we want to pursue going forward for healthy portioned meals. Fresh produce this far North is expensive, and I could use a break from all the meal planning from time to time.
I’m counting it as a creative endeavor because I think meals and meal preparation IS a creative task.
First up was garlicky shrimp.
It was amazing. The portion size was perfect, they offered lots of protein and I had zero complaints. I found the meal superior to the meals I had eaten at Chef’s Plate, and well worth the cost. My husband also enjoyed the meal which is great because I wasn’t sure if it was something he would be fond of. The potatoes filled us up, the baby arugula was a unique taste that neither of us would have thought to pair with everything else.
I’m looking forward to the next two meals.
For christmas last year my parents bought me one of those 5-in-1 griddle / panini press things and until yesterday it sat in the box collecting dust under my desk (blocking power cords from llama bean, actually). Then I had an incident with my oven preventing me from using it, so I dug it out so I could make some kabobs and noticed that it had a waffle attachment.
I’ve never made waffles before, I didn’t even know what the difference in recipe would be between waffles and pancakes (turns out not that much, waffles are a bit richer) but heck I was feeling creative so I decided to go for it.
They were pretty good. A bit thicker than I am used to (I’ve never had fresh waffles before, only frozen, so lets be honest here I have nothing to compare them to) but they seemed to turn out pretty well and they were really simple to make. I’d like to try my hand at some savory ones too, eventually. Have waffle recipes you want to share? Let me know in comments.
stargrace