New Feature: Where to shop

Some colorful yarn found at What's Needlin' Ewe, a yarn shop in Mount Airy, N.C./ All photos by E.A. Seagraves

Go check out my feature on What's Needlin' Ewe, a Mount Airy, N.C., yarn shop owned by mother and daughter duo, Sharon and Natalie Johnson, on my blog Small Travels and Musings.

Finished the last (belated) Christmas gift

I finished my final (belated) Christmas gift Saturday night!

I plan to drop these socks in the mail later this week. By this time, my sister, Jamie, may have already forgotten about them. So maybe it'll be a nice surprise for her later in the week. :)

I used the same pattern to make socks for my mom and myself here, and spoke of the book here. I plan to try the other patterns in Cindy Guggemos' book, but I still recommend this as a beginning sock maker's guide.

Now I'm working on some fingerless gloves for the hubby. I'm improvising since I couldn't find a pattern I really liked. More on this later . . . I hope.

Chocolate bread pudding with butterscotch sauce

Although I didn't give Chris any Valentine's Day gifts, I did make him, what I thought was, a delicious meal.

The highlight, I think, was the dessert — chocolate bread pudding with butterscotch sauce.

I found the recipes earlier in the month when checking on one of my favorite blogs — Amy Karol's angry chicken. You can find the post here.

Reading through the recipes and Karol's post about her experience with the desserts, I knew then I'd found a way to my hubby's heart! :)

The dessert wasn't as chocolatey as I would have liked, but it's still delicious, especially warmed. I used homemade wheat bread, not the cinnamon-raisin suggested in the recipe. And I sprinkled powdered sugar on top.

Since butterscotch is one of Chris' favorite flavors, I doubled the recipe, making a little more than a pint of gooey sauce. It's got a nice, rich flavor. I couldn't find heavy cream at our local Super Dollar grocery store, so I used whipping cream instead, which worked out well.

I never did decide on a main course so I had Chris choose.

He liked the sound of Rachael Ray's Rosemary Chicken Breasts and Brown Butter and Balsamic Ravioli from her "30 Minute Meals: Get Togethers."

I used apple cider vinegar in place of balsamic vinegar in both recipes.

Both recipes are keepers. The vinegar gave the chicken an added layer of flavor and mixed well with the rosemary and garlic. (I used dried rosemary since I already had that on hand. I hope to start some rosemary from my parents' garden later this year.)

I was most surprised about the ravioli. I didn't know how vinegar would taste with the pasta but it had surprising flavor created by the vinegar, (dried) parsley and parmesan cheese that I added.

I'm certain these recipes will make a return appearance on our plates sometime down the road.