yummy easy recipe from Karissa:

Chili Verde – aka “sorta-kinda Arroz con Pollo”

1 can Italian recipe stewed tomatoes

1 cup chicken broth

2 lb chicken – cut in chunks

1 small can diced green chilis

1 diced onion

That’s the original recipe I got from a friend but I usually use two cans of tomatoes and the entire can of chicken broth. It makes it a little thicker.

Brown chicken. Cook onion (separately from chicken) in a little bit of oil but don’t brown. Combine chicken, onion, tomatoes, chicken broth and chilis in a large pot and simmer for 2-2 1/2 hours.

I’m not really sure what you’re supposed to do with it but I always serve it w/ lots of shredded cheese, rice with tortillas. Kind of like a messed up version of arroz con pollo. It makes a lot and with rice is pretty filling – we can usually feed 4 people and have some leftovers. My old roommate and I always froze single servings in ziplock bags for quick dinners. It’s really yummy!

The kitty hat spotted on a co-worker at Halloween has been leant to me! yay! I’m going to attempt to recreate the pattern, or at least get good documentation of it so that I can attempt it when I have a bit experience. It was made by Brooklyn Handknit, who might have a site at www.brooklynhandknit.com (it’s being slow or nonexistent), but you can see a lot of great stuff in this interview (check out all three pages). I love the skirt seen in the first pictures on this page. Yay for knitted things which aren’t ugly!

i troll martha stewart so you don’t have to: new products

• baby dragees are admittedly very cute
• gem soap kit
• dremel multi pro tool
• handy clear grid rulers with angle lines and everything
• crafters hole punch
• cast iron heart muffin/brownie/treat pan
• red chewy scottie doggies
• lipped boot tray (I’ve had too many run-ins with cheap rubber mats)
• pull-down indoor clothes line

I figured out which yarn it was at the store which was similar to Geisha – Trendsetter’s Zucca. Anyone make anything with it? How did the yarn wear?

The knitting books I ordered finally arrived. I decided to go light before I invested in any major references (and while I’m still at the Knitting Square Things stage). I got The Knitter’s Companion which is blissfully spiral bound (all books used while doing something else – knitting, cooking, stained glass – should be spiral bound, there should be a law) and the Vogue Knitting On The Go Scarves book because why not? It’s a strange little book, like a mini version of the cheap hardcovered textbooks from middle school. At least it has clear instructions for when I want to try my first cabled thing. Thanks to everyone who gave suggestions!

Harrumph on the search for a doggie sweater turned up this pattern for a fleece dog sweater. My dog Scruffy would never suffer our attempts at a dress up party with her involved. She mastered the art of sliding backwards and running far away.

mmmm recipe for Fresh Tomato Sauce with Garlic and Basil at ugly green chair

this thread on Glitter about those slide-top tin lip balms of yore lead to Impress Rubber Stamps site, which carries a bunch of great stuff. In containers they have slide top lip balm tins, two sizes of hinged mint tins, cd tins (!), and those glass topped tins. They have a whole lot of colored paper eyelets. In elements they have mini brads and shink plastic. And they carry a bunch of great gift tags.

very happy news via erica mulherin – BUST is back! you can join in the bust life support drive by subscribing using a credit card or paypal, yay!

ljc alerted me to a great beading site: WigJig which has a great amount of instruction in the WigJig University

The Girl From Auntie visits the Harry Potter scarf problem in both theory and practice. Very nice, check it out.

Squibnocket posts a great, easy recipe for kettle corn to make in her Whirley-Pop. I have a Whirley-Pop and I love it, but I burned a black spot in the bottom using too much oil and sugar a while back. Here is Squibnocket’s:

1/2 cup corn

1 teaspoon oil

1 tablespoon white sugar

Yay!

now that I feel a little more comfortable with knitting, I’m really appreciating the Tips Archive at ChicKnits (no direct link, frames), and take a look at all the great stuff in her Gallery

some notable lip balm supplies (which are new to me):

• cobalt blue tubes at Sunburst Bottle
• screw top rust free lip balm tins at Majestic Mountain Sage (scroll down)
• stevia powder at Stuff Julie Likes – stevia powder for sweetening is something my all-natural-aware dad told me about years ago, and I knew it was being used to sweeten lip balms, but I didn’t know where to get it. she includes instructions and conversions, very appreciated.
• and I’d like to point out the fancy lip balm pot (second item) natural plastic lip balm tubes at Stuff Julie Likes because I like those too

My second knitted thing is done – fuzzy wuzzy scarf made out of Geisha yarn, sooo soft. And I used the Pony Pearl needles, which I adore.