Looking at yesterday, busier than it seemed at the time

Yesterday, wondering what to do for lunch, I decided on the banza (chickpea) pasta. I was just trying it for a change, but for some people it's a gluten free option.

So I tried it, with another new item, a great crushed tomato sauce with garlic and basil. I figured with this sauce, a chunk of parmesan rind added in, the pasta couldn't go far wrong.

And, waste not, want not, when I rinsed the jar, I saved the rinse water for soup, not wanting to throw away flavor. I do the same with the blender, too, when I've blended something like pesto.

Anyway, the pasta: the instructions say expect foam. So I thought, yes, chickpeas do foam up, not a problem. However at the point of being cooked, the pasta began to give off huge billows of foam, like a stovetop volcano. 

It ended happily though, 

and most of it will be lunch tomorrow for Handsome Son, with roast chicken and hot sausage.  We'll see how he likes the banza. I found it okay, not wonderful, acceptable.

 We're moving to monthly lunches rather than dinners because of his work schedule, because he gets only one day off a week, and getting into beach season, I think he'd rather go to the shore. He works late afternoon through evening, so lunch fits in.

Did you notice in the background up there, a banana bread! I forgot to mention that. I was baking that for tomorrow's dessert.

With ginger and golden raisins. Samples now happily received next door and down the street. 

I realized one of the reasons my spirits were down was the loss of Jackie, friend and keen bakery tester. So I realized that Chris, another good cook and neighbor, might enjoy a little something, too. She did. 

Contrary to expectations, good cooks are terrific audiences because they're so appreciative. Artists are terrific art students, same reason. And now I have a new addition to the little something distribution list. And I've cheered up.

Yesterday was beautiful, good for walking and seeing spring in action, complete with dragonflies like this biplane friend, on a twig near a huge fallen tree trunk, no doubt a great place for wildlife needing shelter.

And flowers, official and otherwise

And rabbits like this baby, too young to realize he should run

Then afternoon on the deck, reading Maisie Dobbs with intervals of Gardening with Gary, who's all excited about planting seeds.

The experiment in brioche knitting continues, with different yarn, same game plan. 

It needs a yarn with good stitch definition, translation: where you can see what you're doing. So I'm trying yet again, with a cotton yarn, before I finish the other one of this pair. 

I did a super stretchy cast on for the brioche, which I either invented or adapted, anyway good for a sock top. This is a pale mauve, not as white as it looks here.

And when I wanted a change from knitting, I started installing the lining on the vest.

So far so good. Today there's a Textiles and Tea event. Lately the offerings in general of various textile events I follow have been a bit feeble. 

Either they were so plagued with technical breakdowns they were nonstarters, or they were really really dull. Nice people doing  projects like buying an old weaving mill, overhauling the looms and talking about gears. Just not my thing, more like Mechanics Quarterly than textile art. But it has its place. 

So, as an insurance policy, in case this afternoon's presentation doesn't enchant, here's a couple of textile art offerings

Happy day everyone!