Bitch & Stitch Session

It's not just your grandmother's past time anymore.  Knitting and crocheting is a great way to be creative, keep your mind sharp, and relieve stress.  If Sex in the City star does it in public, it can't be too lame right?



I know the basics of knitting too, but I'm not too quick.  I prefer to crocheting.   For me, it's faster and easier.  I recently crocheted a Spiderman ski mask for The Boy.  He loved it and it has been super useful during this cold snap.  I bought the right shade of red and pale yellow to attempt an iron man ski  mask.  Now, just trying to get motivated to make it. I have to be in the mood to crochet, otherwise it's just work.   Much like 'other things' in life too *wiggles eyebrows* heehee.

Not sure if there is interest, but I'll put it out there.  Anyone interested in getting together to crochet/knit over some snacks/wine/coffee?   Some ideas come to mind for a get together:

• Newbie session - you don't know how, but we can teach each other


• Help the Homeless - we each make a couple of granny squares during the session and make a blanket


• Keep Preemies Warm - we could make a preemie hat to donate to hospitals


• Work on your own stuff with an excuse to b*tch about our husbands/bf/both (LOL), see each other  and eat rich food

Hopefully I don't get caught up with all these questions in my head or suffer Paralysis by Analysis.

Date, time, location, topic will be arranged based on interest.  Vote using the poll below or comment and let me know if you want to make a made-with-love, hand-crafted, cool hat/toy/blanket/booties/mitts for your special person.

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Baked Brie

I had never tasted this delicious, creamy, combination in my 20+ years before I met a great French Canadian friend of mine.  Baked Brie was never served at my family functions back then.  It is now though!  It seemed so uppity when I first heard of it, but really it's easy and delicious.   I just had never been exposed to such rich gorgeous cheese that goes so well with the sweet butter and brown sugar combination and fruit that was served with a satisfying crunch on a cracker.

There are so many other ways to make this.  I've heard of it being served in puff pastry with more savory flavours, but I like this recipe because it is so easy and I usually have everything on hand except the cheese.  Also, I've never worked with puff pastry, so it sounds a bit intimidating.

It takes only 10 minutes of prep before you stick it into the oven.  And you look so fancy and worked so hard on it when you impress those lucky taste buds of your guests.

Ingredients:

1 wheel of Brie or Camembert cheese
butter
brown sugar
chopped dried fruit (i.e. cranberries, apricots)
crackers

Steps:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spread a thin layer of butter on top of Brie.

Spread a thin layer of brown sugar on top of buttered Brie.

Spread a thin layer of chopped fruit on top of brown sugared Brie.

Place cheese on a rimmed baking sheet; bake until softened, 15 to 20 minutes.

Transfer to a serving plate; cool about 15 minutes.

Serve with crackers.

NOTE:  If I'm going to bring it to a friend/family function, I place it in my circular cake pan and open the Brie, but not take it out of the package, just exposing the top.  Prepare a Brie with the butter, brown sugar, and half a wheel with cranberries and the other half with apricots.  The wrap it back up.   Now you can easily bring it with you and bake on location.

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