X marks the spot

I meant to post yesterday, I did really. I'd gotten all my pics downloaded and I knew what I wanted to write about but then I realized it was 5pm and that maybe perhaps it was possible that I could talk my sweetie into going out to dinner with me. I gave it a shot, called him and he said okay, so long as I could be downtown in half an hour. So sorry, abandoned ya'all without hesitation.

First off, let me show you yesterday's progress on the current quilt. Believe it or not, it actually looks a little washed out in the pictures.

I have been pondering leaving the quilt similar to how it is now: a big wide "border" running the length of the left side only. And then all the Xs and Os over on the middle and right, just like they are now, only more of them.

I'm ahead on making Xs, since Os are boring. As I was laying these down, just for kicks I used the extra Xs and I actually like how it looks. Might incorporate that into the final plan.

One of the reason the Xs are so much fun is that I'm angling the width sometimes on the strip inserts. The units look funny before they are trimmed:

but it's easy to whack off that excess fabric. For now I'm leaving the strange angles on the sides of the blocks, not trying to square (or rectangular) anything up. That way I can lay one of these puppies down next to an O, and slice an angle into that letter, thus keeping my fun angle. More of that later. Probably. Unless I get sick of all the darn angles and just slice 'em off. I can do that. I have the power to make this quilt however I choose.

Just for now I'm experimenting and having fun. Can I take a rectangle and end up with a square X unit by using wide strips? What happens if I whack off some of this triangle here before I add that strip there.... Oops that strip is too wide, angle it up, baby.

So yeah, that's me sewing.

Dinner last night was well worth abandoning ya'all for. We went to my favorite Lebanese restuarant, which we haven't been to in ages. Especially for Darcie (who once asked what the food was like here and I kept neglecting to write about it until now), this is what we had:

• Hummus: pureed chickpea dip
• Motabbal: roasted eggplant puree with a smokey flavor (usually called baba ghanug)
• Fattoush: sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, onion, lettuce salad with a lemony dressing and fried pita bread "croutons"
• Felafel: fried chickpea patties (the Egyptians make something similar, but made with fava beans)
• Fried Kubbeh: ground meat, spices, and pine nuts in a breading (I always call this one Kobeiba, the Egyptian name since one time I ordered it and ended up with the raw minced lamb - the name of that dish is really similar)
• Shish Tawouk - grilled chicken
• Kofta - grilled lamb

Yes, a true feast. We have leftovers for tonight, which is part of the reason for ordering so much - that and it's all so darn good. Believe me, could have ordered twice this much and have been thrilled with all of it.

A lot of these dishes have an equivalent in Egyptian cooking altho they may have a different name. There are some particularly Egyptian dishes that I haven't tried, such as Molokheya, which is a really slimy, nasty smelling green sludge; a nameless stew (it has a name, I just can't remember it) with tomatoes and lentils that my hubby enjoyed except for the bits of chewy bits that might have been intestine; and koshari which is made with pasta, lentils, and chickpeas(?) with fried onions and lots of people really love but I refuse to eat that many carbs.

Hubby and I are nearing the end of "Stargate: Atlantis" and I am loving the comparisons of Shephard to Kirk and the doctor to McCoy (tho he sounds just like Scotty). They make me laugh every time. We've started rewatching the second season of "Alias" - I got the fourth season for Christmas and there is just no way we'll have a clue what's going on without rewatching the whole thing. Not that there's really any chance of understanding it...

"Mythbusters" has all been repeats which my husband is willing to watch over and over again, but I have been bailing out on and coming in and playing online instead. What makes me crazy is that there are still several episodes we've never seen. Swear they've never been on here, but noooo we'll just keep showing the boom catapult over and over again.

Pokey's demanding some attention now, so I gotta go throw a mousie for her and then maybe get some more sewing done.