Of Carrie’s 100-push ups challenge begins. So far it hasn’t been as hard as I expected. Not that it isn’t a challenge–I  can definitely feel the burn. But at least I’ve been able to do the number of pushups according to the schedule. Today was the hardest so far, but I was still able to finish up with double the minimum on the final set. Yippee!

It was great timing for this, since I was also starting up with the Wii Fit. I didn’t really have much of a plan as to how I would divide up my time for various types of exercises, but with the push up program, I’ve figured it out. Push ups and other strength-building exercises 3 times a week, with walking or other aerobic-type exercises 3 to 4 times a week.  I also do some of the yoga exercises on the strength-building days. On the aerobic days, I also try to do some of the yoga stretches and some balance exercises.

I saw the Yellow Guy again yesterday. On 45th South near Highland Drive. All in yellow again, except for his shorts, which were white. All of his yellow ones must be in the wash. But he was still pumping his hand weights as he walked. It was hard to resist the temptation to swerve to the side of the road and stop to take a photo with my camera phone. But since I was driving my mother home after some errands, I was able to control myself.  Maybe one of these days I’ll get lucky enough to get a pic.

I had one of THOSE nights last night while knitting the Summer Leaves top. I had one back piece and the front piece finished, so I thought I’d sew them together so I could make sure the fit seemed right before I started the other back piece. I started with the shoulder seams, but they looked really strange. I thought maybe I’d messed up the shoulder shaping (there wasn’t any in the pattern - I just made some up). It LOOKED like I did them right, but they didn’t seem to work when I put them together. I decided to give up on that and deal with it in the morning. I’d already pinned it together earlier, so I knew the fit was probably OK, so I decided to just cast on for the right back. After 5 or 6 rows, I realized that although I had been doing the moss stitch with the contrast color, I hadn’t been doing the moss stitch for the main color to make the hem. CRAPOLA. Well, OK, let’s just rip that out. Good thing it was only a few rows. But by then it was getting kind of late and I didn’t want to start it again. I figured I could at least sew the side seam, and then just figure out the shoulders later. A short while later I was smugly congratulating myself on a lovely seaming job. Until I held it up, and realized I was holding a tube that was not much bigger than a sleeve. Yep, I’d seamed both sides of the front piece together instead of seaming the front to the back. DOUBLE CRAPOLA. I was pretty tired and ready for bed, but I wasn’t going to finish on a failure. So I ripped out the seam and sewed pieces together correctly. Whew! Now at least I could sleep.

As for the shoulders? I decided that I didn’t shape them incorrectly, they just had too much of a slope. I just ripped back part of the shaping and bound off again. They’re much better now.

I stopped at the wine store yesterday, but sadly, there was no more 2006 Honig Sauvignon Blanc, only 2007. I bought some anyway - hopefully it will be as good.  Maybe I’ll make some shrimp or fish tacos tomorrow night and let you know.

Today was one of those days where I didn’t have much fresh food in the house to eat, but I didn’t feel like going shopping. So instead, I had to figure out what I could make for dinner from what I had on hand.

I found 5 tomatoes in the freezer from last year’s harvest (I just freeze them whole, then defrost them for sauces throughout the year). Usually they’re gone much sooner, but these managed to get overlooked. Oops.

I also had some cooked, frozen shrimp on hand. That made an easy decision - shrimp in a tomato sauce, over pasta.

I defrosted the tomatoes in the microwave, at which time it was easy to rip off the skins and discard the liquid, leaving just the tomato pulp. Meanwhile, I defrosted the shrimp under cold, running water, and looked for other things to add to the mix.

This is what I came up with - and boy, was it a winner!

Shrimp ala Freezer

5 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and diced (mine were frozen and defrosted)
1 lb. cooked shrimp (frozen, defrosted)
olive oil
1 or 2 ribs of celery, minced
3 or 4 mushrooms, sliced
1/2 tsp minced garlic (or more, if you’re really into garlic)
fresh tarragon, chopped (I didn’t measure - maybe 1 1/2 to 2 tsp?)
fresh basil, chopped (about the same amount)
salt to taste - not a lot, maybe 1/4 tsp, but add to your taste
8 oz linguine, cooked
feta cheese

First I sauteed the celery in a couple of tablespoons of good olive oil. When they were pretty soft, I added the sliced mushrooms and continued cooking until the mushrooms were soft. Then I added the garlic and stirred for a minute. Then I threw in the tomatoes, tarragon, basil, and salt.

If you don’t have fresh herbs, try starting with 1/2 tsp dried.

Simmer the sauce, uncovered, while you cook the pasta.

About 5 minutes before the pasta was ready, I threw the cooked shrimp into the sauce to heat.

To serve, top pasta with sauce, and then sprinkle on some feta cheese.

Note: I had some Ouzo standing by to add to the sauce if necessary, but the fresh tarragon gave the sauce plenty of flavor by itself, so I skipped it. But just so you know - adding a bit of Ouzo or Sambuca to a tomato sauce is excellent with shrimp. As is the tarragon.

This was expected to serve 4. However, it was so damn good we ate it all.

We had a bottle of Honig Sauvignon Blanc 2006 (about $13) in the fridge, which turned out to be an absolutely perfect pairing. This was the first time we’d tried this wine, but I’m definitely going back to the wine store to see if they still have it. It just happened to be what we had chilled, but I don’t think we could have picked a more suitable wine.

Grrrr. I had one back piece done on the Summer Leaves top, and the front done almost to the armholes, when I realized I’d done all of the increases and decreases on the front one inch too low. So I had to rip out the entire front down to 6 rows from the lower band.

At least it’s otherwise quick to knit. Sometimes ya just gotta love aran-weight yarn and big needles.

Oh, and by the way, did you know that Karen Allen (actress, “Indiana Jones”) is a knitter? She has a fiber arts store where she sells her work. The pieces are done with Japanese knitting machines, but they’re interesting. Heh. Wonder if she’s on Ravelry.

Yep, it’s Pioneer Day in Utah. Time for the Days of ‘47 Parade - the biggest parade of the year in Utah. People set up camp on the parking strips the night before in order to reserve their preferred spots.

We live one street away from the main parade route. Of course, in the 10 years my husband has owned this house, we’ve never once walked over to see the parade. In fact, the last (and only) time I ever watched the parade in person was 11 years ago. I used to watch it on TV when I was a kid, though.

This morning I decided to break my non-parade-watching tradition, and walk over to see at least part of it. I mean, after all, it’s only a few yards away. But personally, if I’m going to a parade, I’d rather it be something a bit more fun, like the St. Patrick’s Day parade, or the Gay Pride Parade. The best parade I ever went to was the Doo-Dah Parade in Pasadena, where I was treated to such entries as the Marching Frida Kahlos, and the precision briefcase drill team.

Nonetheless, it was a lovely day for parade watching, and while we didn’t stay for the whole thing, I can at least say I did it. And I shall now torture you with my home movies photos.

Of course, click any thumbnail for bigger.

This one was very cute. Seagulls grilling crickets on the barbie.	“Creative Pioneering” - a shaggy dog pulling a stagecoach, being motivated by marshmallows (?) on a stick.	Men in Kilts!
Aye, there be Pirates here!	Utah’s version of Captain Jack Sparrow, I presume.	Paso Fino horses, showing off their beautiful gait.
A little Hawaiian Tropic?	Parade crowd. No, I don’t know what the guy in the lower right corner is smoking.	More crowd. Yep, they definitely line the streets.

I must admit that one of the most amusing items I saw was along the marathon route rather than the parade route. Somebody certainly has a sense of humor with their business name: