What's Good in February

Really, I must sit down and write a substantive post one of these days. The problem is, recently I only feel inspired to write when I'm at work. ( I should clarify: I feel like writing for my blog. I DO NOT feel like working on an academic article; hell, I've got five more years to worry about tenure.) Once I'm home, I only really want to do four things: eat, drink, knit or read. But mostly, I sleep.

Anyway.

1. Valentine's Day. Last weekend we went to Chicago to deliver a birthday cake to my son, and to take him out to lunch to celebrate his Valentine's birthday. We ate at The Gage, near Millenium Park. Afterwards, we wandered down to State Street to check out H&M and browse the furniture galleries in Macy's (the old Marshall Field's). A quick trip, but a lovely day, despite the gloomy and freezing weather.




2. Seduction Bread. While I was in Chicago, I ran into Whole Foods to purchase a couple of loaves of their amazing Seduction Bread. Does anyone have a recipe for this, preferably one that works in a bread machine? I've scoured the web to no avail. It apparently takes sourdough starter, which intimidates me a little but since this bread is so good and the closest Whole Foods is two-plus hours away, I'm game to try. Here are the ingredients, which I copied from the label: whole wheat flour, water, millet, honey, canola oil, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, molasses, sea salt, fresh yeast [duh], sourdough starter (white flour, whole wheat flour, sea salt). I'm not savvy enough to create a recipe from scratch, so any recommendations would be much appreciated.

3. Rammstein. As I mentioned before, I've taken to working out at five in the morning. I throw around some weights to warm up and then I settle in for a good half-hour-plus run on the treadmill. I like to push it--why get up so damn early if I'm not going to move some major calories?--so I run interval inclines. Well, I've found that Rammstein is a supreme motivator for getting over those mountains. Have you ever seen these guys??! The teutonic growl of the lead singer, Till, is truly inspiring, and then you imagine this guy literally on fire and you forget all about your burning calf muscles--you feel like you could run all day! Or at least until the song ends.


A close second is Rob Zombie. Especially Living Dead Girl.

4. Knitting. Here's what I'm working on now:


The pattern is from Louisa Harding's Knitting Little Luxuries. It's coming together beautifully. I have my eye on some pretty Kaffe Fassett fabric for the lining.

You see, I hate being stuck with nothing to do so I always have a tote bag with me. It could include some or all of the following: a book or magazine, sudoku puzzles, a book on French phrases (the accompanying CD is loaded on my iPod), my knitting and parts of a quilt I'm lap quilting. If I had an iPhone, thus having internet access at all times (in theory), I could be happy anywhere!

5.Hyacinths. See, mine are almost blooming! I hope they smell amazing--at the moment there's only a whiff of fragrance.