Am I 80?

Basicpurple beginning
Originally uploaded by moonshae

I've been spending my nights very predictably since The Boy and I moved in with Housemate. The boys go and do some sort of WOW raid in the study and I sit on the couch and knit. The last couple of nights I've mixed it up and cut things out to sew - dice bags for an order, hand bags for a Craftster swap. But still, 9/10 evenings are spent with me sitting on the couch watching such high television quality as Bondi Vet, and even at times Neighbours, mostly because I can't be bothered changing the channel between The Simpsons at 6 and NCIS at 8:30.

While I do feel a little boring and am REALLY going to try and DO stuff (or at least watch better shows) I'm feeling quite accomplished! I am making myself a cardigan! I take a bit of string and two pointy sticks and CREATE! The photo is when I just started, I've finished that back section now, and the left front. I'm 3 inches into the right front now. Just that and the sleeves to go! Yay! The pattern is Basic Black which I found on Ravelry and I'm working on it with The Visual Guide to Knitting which is great because it's full of pictures. Sure, many websites can show me how to knit particular stitches, but my internet doesn't reach the couch.

I'm really getting into the 'making from scratch' ideal. My lunch today contains one processed thing, which is the miso for my soup and the chicken marinade. I'm already feeling SO much better after my gluten binge. I'm so much more with the moment!! And being with the moment I can go to a party tonight instead of saying I'm too tired. A party with friends who have bought me snacks so I can join in. One of those snacks? Popcorn. Simple, everyone can have it. My mother is good at making me food when I'm at a family thing, I ate well at Easter lunch. But there was a separate lasagna for me (an entire one, many leftovers!) and it made me feel a little weird. I can eat SO much food but I still get corralled off to one side. No one would even try my lasagna, I'm not sure if it was because it was "mine" or because it was gluten free. Or maybe they were full. Who knows? Yes, many gluten free packaged foods are bad. Dry, crumbly and utterly awful. You know what's good? The nibbles I brought as my part of the lunch. I could eat every bite of the rice crackers with double brie, the dried fruit, the basil pesto chunky dip and the pears wrapped in prosciutto.
If anyone is reading this that ISN'T gluten intolerant and has a friend/family member/work colleague that is, try to include them! Food is such a social activity and while it's nice that you thought of them and bought a packet of cookies or whatever, why not serve sushi instead of sandwiches at that work lunch? Or go to Crust or Pizza Capers for pizza as they can have a gluten free pizza and be part of the group.

In my first review for a long time let me happily say I've found a new place that will deliver me pizza that isn't Crust, whom I haven't gone back to (they may have gluten free bases, but their toppings are labeled ambiguously, or were at the time). PIZZA CAPERS are a Queensland chain that have recently expanded to Victoria and there's one in Malvern somewhere (near Central Park I think). I have no idea where, I just know that a kind friend got their menu in the mail and thought I'd like it. Oh yeah. The bases remind me of the GF burgers at Grill'd, sort of corn like in flavour, which is different than what you'd remember pizza tasting like, but still good. They aren't a crisp pizza though, which makes me sad, but that's the only real flaw that I can see. I particularly like the antipasto pizza.

And finally, the easiest food wanky recipe ever - Pear with Prosciutto:
Slice up pear into thinnish slices, wrap with some prosciutto. Repeat until you're out of ingredients or the plate is full. Eat! I used Buerre Bosch pears at Easter lunch and they were very tasty.