After strolling through the gardens we stopped by the Farmer's Market, the strawberries were just in and the veggies looked amazing. I do miss shopping here a couple of times a week, I was a bit spoiled that way in college. We followed up our browsing with lunch at the NC Seafood Restaurant and enjoyed one of my favorite lunches (not the most healthy meal but absolutely delicious).
And this cool license plate was parked out front.
We signed up for milk home delivery and our first order arrived this morning. A friend mentioned how fresh the milk was straight from the dairy and turns out he was right on the money.
So after such a beautiful day on Saturday, I must admit I was very surprised to wake up Sunday morning to white out. We only ended up with about 4 inches that melted as the day wore on. It did give me a great excuse to heat up the oven and make some muffins.
Early Sunday was a perfect snowy New England morning and there was lots of knitting going on. Christine was helping out one of our newer knitters and 
Mary was intently working away on her sock. From knitting Julie and I went by Idylwilde to l
ook around. I 
haven't quite found such a neat "farm stand" in Boulder. Look at these veggies! Then off to Quilter's Way where I picke
d up the fabric for the lastest ba
by quilt I will be making. As if this wasn't enough we went back to Julie's and she was so kind as to show me her soap making secrets. I will de
finitely be trying this at home. It isn't near as scary as it sounds :).
And to top it off Jason had made a wonderful dinner (gone before pictures) and dessert.
After quite a large lunch at KT's, I wanted something light for dinner. I put together an easy salad of mixed greens, pears, and toasted pecans-if only I had remembered the blue cheese while I was at the store.
Then with all the spinning that has been about in blog land, I was motivated to dust off my wheel and take it out for a spin. I am definitely a bit rusty, but it was nice to sit down with it for a while this evening.
Warning Picture Heavy Post ! I can not believe it is December! We were fortunate to take some extra time off over the holiday and visit both of my 
grandmothers and my Mom. We flew into Rockford, IL very close to my mom's place late Thursday evening (the 15th) and stayed a quick night with my Grandma K (mom's mom). 
Mom was extremely generous and lent us her car to make the 6+ hour drive up to visit Grandma E (dad's mom). Grandma E lives in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan on Lake Superior, beautiful country but not the easiest place to get too especially this time of year. Keith and I had a nice drive up on Friday and arrived to the wonderful aroma of homemade stew...sorry no pictures it was gone too quickly. We had a wonderful visit, very low key with lots of knitting and visiting. We woke Sat
urday to a dusting of snow and headed out to three lovely yarn stores and warmed up with some coffee at Babycakes. I picked up some Frog Tree Alpaca Chunky in Ecru and cast on for a The Single Cable Scarf from One Skein ( I did use 4 skeins to make it longer). Sunday Grandma E and I w
ent out to breakfast and took a drive through Presque Isle and spotted this red-headed woodpecker. 
Whether I travel for business or pleasure, I always enjoy local c
ulinary treats and I have to say no one makes these better than Grandma E, we indulged in one of my all time favorites, pasties. These are truly a labor of love, making them is a two day process and the effort is much appreciated. Keith had forgotten his hat and asked if I would make him one. After I finished up the scarf we picked up a few more balls of that wonderful alpaca yarn and a set of circular needles. This was a quick knit after dinner Sunday evening, of course I had to check my decreases and then the finished product
. It was most enjoyable to sit with Grandma E crocheting, me knitting and Keith reading in the evenings. Grandma knit wonderful hats, scarves and mittens each year when I was younger.
We headed back 
down to Illinois bright and early Tuesday morning to visit with my Mom, step Dad, step Brother and stay with my Grandma K and her new furry friends. Sampson and Delilah are the t
wo newest additions to the family. They are approximately 8 weeks old and bundles of energy and curiosity. They provided endless entertainment during our stay. I spent a good deal of Wednesday baking while Keith helped out with a few l
ingering chores around the house. Wednesday evening I was lucky enough to join Madame Purl and her regular knitting group for a bit. And then she was able to come over Thanksgiving morning for some more chatting, knitting, and playtime with the youngsters( they were intrigued by the clear knitting bag).
After the pies finished up we headed over to Mom's house for a lovely Thanksgiving dinner.
Friday was my step brother's birthday and seeing as how h
e recently moved to IL from GA, I thought a scarf was in order. And Grandma K also recently moved from TN to IL and that lovely Frog Tree scarf found a new home. 
Baked apple with a touch of ice cream and carmel sauce.
Mom brought us a fantastic housewarming present....lots of fun grains and flour to experiment with. Can you believe she stashed all this wonderful goodness in her suitcase? I am looking forward to baking with it and Keith is looking forward to the sampling :)
This weekend I decided to put my new found bread baking knowledge 
to the test. I made a batch of Multi Grain bread from my recent class . Last night I set the grain
s to soaking and started the pre ferment. This afternoon I made up the rest of the dough, I don't think I have ever had that volume of ingredients in my mixer. 
The recipe yields three loaves but I decided to make two loaves and some dinner rolls. 
One rise, two rise and an oven picture. The final product...the loaves are still cooling but the rolls turned out nicely and house smells fantastic to boot. 
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