Dispatches From Elsewhere

     Is anyone watching AMC's "Dispatches from Elsewhere?"  It's inspired me to call myself -

B to the ever to the ly

     Straight fire.  

To Paraphrase the Rolling Stones

     I hate to get my lazy backside out of bed.  That's the way it has always been.  I'm not a morning person; however, I am a breakfast person.  The best incentive for getting up in the morning is, knowing when you turn in the night before, that a yummy breakfast awaits you.  Lately, I've rediscovered bran flakes.  Bran flakes, fat free milk, and a sliced banana make me kick off the covers and run to the kitchen.
     Three weeks ago, I noticed that the box of bran flakes was getting low.  Two weeks ago, I planned to replenish my supply on my weekly shopping excursion.  Gol dang it, the cereal aisle was empty except for a few boxes of Lucky Charms.  Even a pandemic won't make me buy those.  There was an end cap of on-sale Cheerios, but I didn't crave Cheerios.  Like a frustrated zoo animal, I paced up and down the cereal aisle and the adjoining baking aisle.  No cake mixes, no muffin mixes, no flour.  Then I spied a box of low fat, heart smart Bisquick.  I have a zucchini quiche recipe that I love that calls for low fat Bisquick, and zucchini quiche is worth getting up for.  Problem solved.  This week, the bran flakes were back.  I was tempted to buy two boxes, but we mustn't hoard.

     So, you can't always get what you want, but if you are flexible, you'll get what you need, and you might like it even more.

Zucchini Quiche

3 cups grated zucchini, skin included
1 cup low fat (heart smart) Bisquick
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 tsp. each oregano and basil, dried
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. garlic powder or 2 cloves fresh garlic, finely chopped
4 tbs. chopped fresh parsley or 4 tsp. dried parley
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup vegetable oil plus 1/4 water
4 large eggs 

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix.  Pour into a 9" pie plate sprayed with cooking spray.  Bake at 350° for about 45 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve and enjoy.  This warms up well in the microwave. 



     

Petite Shawl

     I saw a pattern for a small shawl.  The designer called it a Summer Shawl, I suppose because her choice of yarn was a cotton/acrylic mix and because the shawl is just big enough to keep the shoulders warm.  That's good when restaurants and other public spaces have the air conditioning cranked up high.  This little accessory would also make a nice winter scarf.  It's big enough to cover one's head and wrap around the neck.

The shawl is about 16" deep and 72" long.  The shawl section was easy, but the ruffled border was a pain in the neck.  It took FOREVER to finish.  I also, made a few mistakes.  A missing stitch here and there in the midst of all that ruffling was not noticeable, so I did not correct some of my boo-boos.  Young Beverly would have frogged (rip it, rip it, rip it) until it was perfect, but elderly Beverly is not so inclined. 

So, how does it look paired with a lousy, old long sleeved T-shirt that I have been wearing for two days? 

Fruit Flavored Sparkling Water

     I grew up in a household where the beverage served at every meal for both children and adults was milk.  So 1950s.  As we offspring started growing up and reaching our full adult bone mass, milk was phased out.  Iced tea, all year round, not just in the summer, became the regular drink.  When I moved out, I always had a pitcher of homemade iced tea in the fridge.  Somewhere along the way, I got lazy and switched to tap water.
     I still mainly drink tap water, but more and more, I find myself giving in to the temptation of those fancy, fruity flavored waters.  Shop Rite is always running specials, piling mountains of fizzy water twelve-packs at the entrance to the store.  Their exotic names belie the fact that they are only subtly flavored and barely sweetened.  Anything with zero calories can't taste that good.  Or can it?
     Dasani was my first.  I tried most of the flavors and settled on Blood Orange and Meyer Lemon as favorites.  I tried mixing some orange juice with the Blood Orange flavor thinking I could create a low calorie Orangina, but the result was bitter tasting.

 

 I remained true to Dasani until someone, offering me a bottle of what they thought was plain water, accidentally gave me a bottle of Poland Spring Sparkling Orange.  There was no going back to Dasani.

 

 Then came the coronavirus grocery shopping experience.  You can go to the store with a list, but be prepared to make substitutions.  During Week #1 of sheltering in place, I bought one of the three remaining loaves of rye bread from the specialty bakery because every other loaf, roll, bagel, muffin, and pita was gone.  I like rye bread, but you don't schmear it with strawberry preserves at breakfast time.  The water and soda aisles were stripped bare, and there were limits on how much one shopper could buy.  During Week #2, I found a pallet of AHA Sparkling at the end of the soda aisle.  It was even on sale.  I grabbed Orange-Grapefruit (delicious mixed with OJ) and Apple-Ginger (yummy mixed with apple juice).  During this third week's grocery run, I grabbed a case of Peach-Honey.  I mixed this flavor with some Kosher for Passover peach flavored sparkling grape juice.  Tasty.

   
The world of sparkling water just gets better and better.  I'm beginning to prefer this water to my usual wine.  Never thought I would see that day come.
     

     

Masks

     My first attempt at making masks was a failure.  The pleated, rectangular kind with string ties fit poorly and my hair tangled in the ties.  Then my neighbor emailed some pictures of masks that she made along with written directions and a video.  I washed and dried a bunch of 100% cotton fabric and made a batch of masks.

My selfies look ridiculous, with the goofy neck angles and the extended arms.  I have solved the problem by photographing myself in the mirror.  I liked the red mask.  I felt frisky instead of elderly when I put it on.  Then I remembered the Edgar Allen Poe story titled "The Mask of the Red Death."  Maybe red fabric was a poor choice.  I decided that only English majors would make the connection. 

Each person's noggin is unique.  I didn't want the mask to pull too hard on my ears, so I made the elastic on this first mask a half inch longer than directed.  It turned out that I should have cut it a half inch shorter than directed to get a perfect fit.  My subsequent masks were adjusted accordingly. 

In order to make Mask #1 wearable, I shortened the elastic by folding it in half and tacking it 1/2" from the end.  Perfect fit.

This brown fabric was the only one I had that was not girly.

I made nine masks - some for me and some to share.  Since I used scrap fabric and elastic that I had on hand, I spent $0 on this project.  Governor Murphy says we have to wear masks when we go to stores now.  I'm ready. 

 

Red, White, and Blue Afghan

     Each year, in time for Fourth of July delivery, the South Jersey Crochet Guild makes red, white, and blue afghans for veterans and  military families.  Guild members can't meet because of Covid-19 restrictions, but we continue to crochet in our virus free isolation.  I just finished my patriotic blanket.

There you have it.  The designer warned that the border might ripple. I did not follow her advice to use a smaller hook for making the border, so I have rippling down the long edges.  Washing and drying might rectify that.  

The afghan is worked in a simple V-stitch.  This project was easy to combine with binge watching HBO's "High Maintenance." 

     
     Here's a link to the directions: https://daisyfarmcrafts.com/crochet-modern-v-stitch-in-red-white-and-blue/      

More Hearts

     Paper hearts - quick, easy, and you can make an endless supply in no time.  Crocheted hearts take a bit longer, but they're worth it.  I got a few patterns from Pinterest and ravelry.com.  I made my hearts out of #3 red cotton thread.  Then I stiffened them with straight out of the bottle laundry starch.  Some people use white glue for stiffening crochet projects.  The old timey method for hardening crocheted pieces is to use 2 parts sugar dissolved in 1 part water. 

The starching process was messy.  I put some starch in an old plastic bowl and soaked a heart for a few seconds until it was saturated.  I wrung out the excess starch, then blotted the heart on an old towel.  The next step was to shape the heart on some layers of cardboard which I covered with plastic wrap.  Once the heart was shaped, I pinned it with stainless steel pins and let it dry.  After drying overnight, I removed the pins and checked to see if the hearts were stiff enough.  I thought they could use more starching, so I used an old paint brush to coat them with some more starch.  The next day, I added strings for hanging. 

     I sent these hearts to a friend who plans to hang them in her windows. 

The hearts have arrived.