All about mawata

We lost internet yesterday. It was awful. How do people live without it? I felt completely isolated from the world and positively uninformed. But now it's back and I'm surfing it with vengeance. Don't you ever leave me, internet!

So, what does one do without internet? Well, luckily I got the silk hankies I ordered a while ago in the mail yesterday, so I was able to entertain myself with that. These silk hankies, or mawata in Japanese, are literally expanded cocoons. As you can imagine, pure silk is wonderfully soft, and I intend to knit it. But there are a few steps I had to do before I could start.

100% bombyx silk - colorway: fire on the mountain

First, you separate a hankie from the bunch...

...then you start in the middle and start spreading it...

You pull and tug at it until you have a worsted yarn weight.

It looks delicate, but it's unbelievably strong.

You knit it like you would do with yarn. The result so far is unbelievably soft. Can't wait to see the end product.

Comfort

My ultimate comfort food is this Balkan bean soup, known as "grah". Ever since childhood I loved this thick, filling, hot, flavorful soup accompanied by home-made bread. There are many versions of it online, but the recipe closest to how my mom makes it is here. I don't add smoked meat, though.

My comfort food

I also got a surprise from my hubba today. He has gotten me a book on mastering color knitting. I've been doing a lot of that lately, and there are some unique techniques I would like to master. Well, my dear husband found my Amazon wish list and decided to surprise me. What a sweetie!

Drab winter makes me partial to bright colors

So I've been spending my evening eating grah, reading the book and knitting. Ultimate comfort on a foggy, icky day.

2011 Spring Cleaning Sessions, Part I

As you may already know, I lead an extremely exciting life, as evident in this blog.
After a productive day at work, I came home and then...

1.  Played as many games of McSolitaire as it took to solve one.
2.  Then decided to tackle some house cleaning - today's focus: dining room (an often overlooked area in the house). This entailed the following (please note - the only person who'll enjoy this part is maybe my mom):

• Taking items that do not belong on the dining room table and put them into their proper place (ahem... tools used to hang up the mirror weeks ago).
• Vacuuming the rug and the floors.
• Mopping the hardwood with some Bona (biodegradable hardwood floor cleaner) and my Shark steam cleaner.
• Wiping clean all the light switches and outlets (4 of them? In a dining room? Why?)
• Placing my wilting plant in a more sunlit location in the corner across from the screen door. I also got to salvage that old wooden stand that was on its way to Goodwill.
• Removing layers of dog slobber off the screen door.
• Wiping the dining room table and chairs with some lemony wood polish.

Nobody is allowed into this room - especially you, dog

3.  Then in my domestic frenzy, I also managed to wash and put away a couple of loads of laundry.
4.  Ironed hubba's dressy shirt for tomorrow (being a lawyer's wife requires a lot of ironing).
5.  Blogged about my accomplished evening. You are welcome.

Bon Voyage, mes petites soeurs et ma chère maman!

Have a safe flight!

This morning my little sisters (accompanied by our mom for a few days) left for France. They will be studying there for 4 months. I am going to miss them terribly. They have started a blog to document their adventures in France.  I know I'll be keeping close tabs on them!

Taking family photos before departure

 When I came to work from the airport, I was called down to the lobby, where there was a Valentine's surprise waiting for me. My sister had a couple of students from a local university's choir sing "Til There Was You". It was such a sweet serenade. I had to hug the performers in place of my sisters. I also received a beautiful rose. It totally made me tear up.

Hope all of you are having a happy Valentine's Day. I'm now home with my Valentine, spending the night inside our cozy little home.