O Happy Day, my mattress arrived on Thursday and sleeping in it is the most absolute, incredible bliss.

So much for not knitting, now you’ll know what I’m doing instead. . .sleeping, continuously, for glorious 24 hour stretches. Cooking? Pshaw. Knitting? Please. Sleep is so fantastic, I’ll just be doing that all the time.

Ah. Would that that could be my life.

Have I ever mentioned that my aunt runs an Indian restaurant in Milwaukee? And that she’s an amazing cook? Herein lies a small space for a vent that I will always have regarding any Indian restaurant that is not hers:

I am all for people trying new foods and broadening their taste horizons. However, I will venture to say that the majority of Indian restaurants out there are trash. That is, they do not serve real Indian food, they serve Indian restaurant food. In western cooking terms, it’s not like you have perfectly grilled steak at home every day, right? Well, in Indian restaurants, you get a set selection of mostly Northern Indian specialties, often badly made (but we won’t go there), often overly rich, and generally lots of meat. Okay, hello people, at least 80% of India is Hindu. As in, vegetarian!! Restaurants that serve decent vegetarian fare are few and far between!! The meals that you will get if you visit someone’s home and the meal that you would get at an Indian restaurant are NIGHT AND DAY different. (That is of course, except for my aunt’s restaurant. I know I’m biased, but she really is a genius.)

So what am I saying. I guess, get out of your butter chicken fixation and go try something different. Indian food varies depending on the region the chef comes from, the language they speak, even the religion they practice. My parents are from two different regions of India and their food couldn’t be more different. My aunt, who’s from Gujarat in Western India, has picked up recipes from all over India to serve at her restaurant. Why? Because she likes to play with her food and she’s good at it. And if you walked into the restaurant, she’d serve you the same things she would serve you at her own house. So get out there, folks, and experiment with Indian food. And if you’re in Chicago, New York, or Milwaukee, and looking for a recommendation, email me or comment on the blog, and I’ll be happy to help.

Rant over. Back to sleep. Hee hee. 

Interesting. I used to be able to upload pretty little thumbnails which you could then click on to enlarge if necessary. Now, however, not only can I NOT do that, I am also unable to upload pictures and then post them in a single step, because there are “errors on the page”. I wonder if this has anything to do with my browser, because it worked seamlessly the once that I tried it with Firefox. Grrr.

 In any case, here is the SECOND lovely gift from my wonderful beautiful secret pal. You’ll note the dark green Auracania 100% wool (which I think will felt up beautifully), the unnamed light green wool. . (which, I wonder, does she think I should use it for the branching out scarf?ooooo. . .that would be so PRETTY) and all the luscious CHOCOLATE.  .which has long since been broken into but not completely consumed (I’m a one piece at a time kind of girl).

In other news, my friend Suni is on The Panopticon, because she went this weekend to the Dulaan knit in that Franklin organized. I was at the Iowa-Northwestern game (yes, in Iowa, go Cats!), so I was unable to join her, but she nearly finished the hat she started. Just look for pictures of a stunning indian woman, you can’t miss her. . .her smile is a mile wide.

Christmas knitting started, but coming along painfully slow, as is the case with everything these days. The interminable baby blanket. . .still working on it, like a row at a time.

Secret Pal, thank you so much for your lovely gifts, I can’t wait to make your acquaintance!

So gorgeous, so beautiful, it defies description. . .but what the heck, let me give it a try. . .

There are 3 beautiful hanks of Atacama 100% Alpaca, hand dyed.

There is a set of stunning, gorgeous, beautiful, green stitch markers.

And then there’s the cute ribbon-type baby hat kit with 2 lovely yarns.

Now do ya see why I’ve been so irritated about not posting this stuff?

I am belatedly realizing that every time in recent days as I’ve tried to post these pics, my husband always has programs running in the background. OK, so he’s a computer science grad student and needs the computer. . .where as I do not NEED the computer, I merely enjoy its use. Today, for the first time, he is off at class and I am actually home, and this worked!!! 

Okay. . .having finally found the time to take semi-decent photographs of the beautiful, beautiful yarn that my secret pal sent me (and yes, there’s more, package #2 arrived last week), I now CANNOT UPLOAD THE PICTURES.  This officially makes me cranky, seeing as how the yarn she sent is completely stunning, and there is excellent dark chocolate involved as well.

In a week from now, I’ll finally be able to tell you guys what it is that’s been consuming me for the last 7 weeks or so. . .not that it will be done, by any stretch of the imagination, but at least it will be of a stage that it can safely be revealed with no harm done, I hope.

 In other news, I am so excited. . .I’m getting a real bed. Okay. Well, not a bed, a mattress. A fancy-schmancy tempur-pedic one. Which, honestly, better be worth what we paid for it! We’ve been sleeping on an Ikea mattress since, forever. . .way before we were married. . .almost 6 years old now. Which means, we both wake up with sore backs (and we also feel extremely old). So, on Thursday of this week, we are getting the new mattress delivered and the old one REMOVED. Gone, forgotten, forever, hooray!

In knitting news, socktoberfest has come and gone and all I have left to show is an incomplete Jaywalker. I just have not had time to knit these days. But I’m now sidelining the Jaywalkers in favor of my brother’s Christmas toque (in cashmere, no less!) and my friend Becky’s super-bulky scarf and hat.

 That’s all the news that’s fit to print, for now. When I have more time to shake my computer into submission, I’ll get those photos up. Boo, wordpress!