Beer and Spam and Chores

I'm in the process of a lot of home improvement projects all at once, so the cocktail of choice today is an easy-to-prepare bottle of beer. I haven't knit a stitch in about 48 hours, which is crazy for me, but I did paint ALL the white trim in my downstairs., which is alot. I am not touching the main parts of the walls, or I'd have to shoot myself. It's been about 6 hours today, and the downstairs is done. But the upstairs beckons and I'm not happy.

I'm am happy, however that an entire a case of beer is on hand.

It's related to the sweater below, which I decided to name Naragansett, in honor of my favorite beach beer in a can. Nevermind that these are bottles. That's what they had at the store and we're not at the beach yet.

So, the sweater is taking shape and now just needs to be written and then reknit in PluckyKnitter Worsted. A light cloudy day gray should do the trick, and Moody Broody #2 will be ready. The beach is more of a springtime moody, right? My goal is to have this ready by late March/early April, but the house projects might keep getting in the way, as the list that I've been handed is looong, and I am way too cheap to hire actual talent to do any of it.

I bunched it all up so you can't tell what it looks like ;-)

My do it cheap streak didn't get in the way last week, when it was time to make appetizers for a little gathering we were having. We went all out! My grandma's recipe books have been taunting me for a while, so Craig and I decided it was time to buy the orange cheese, the toothpicks, and yes, the Spam.

The orange cheese appetizer is actually kind of great. You take little squares of cheese and big green olives with pimento in them. Spear each olive onto the cheese block with a pretzel stick. Honestly, it's the easiest appetizer ever and the mix of salty and cheesy and olivey is kind of perfect. Plus, they do look just about the right amount of crazy, don't they?

The second recipe I have to share is much scarier.
These are called surprise cubes.

And yep, the surprise is...... Spam.

Cut in squares, slathered with cream cheese and rolled in chopped parsley. It was just too weird and retro and kind of gross that we had to make them. I'd never actually bought Spam before. The best part was when people tried them and then guessed what the surprise was - loads of entertainment for me and Craig :-)

There were a few others, but the photos aren't as entertaining, so you'll just have to wait for the next party to see what we whip up again.