Baby socks

Our godson is just learning to walk on his own, so soon he'll probably be outside jumping in small puddles of water in his rubber boots. And for that, he of course needed a new pair of socks since the old ones already got too small. Since my bigger knitting projects really haven't progressed much, it was nice to get an excuse to do something quick and small in stead. One sock I finished during a couple of not that exciting lessons at the university, the other sock was even quicker. I didn't find any pattern I liked, so I decided to - for the first time ever - make the socks entirely on my own. I simply made them up on the way, improvising and inspired by a pair of socks a friend once knitted for another baby boy. Here's the result:

Pattern: my own

Needles: 3 mm

Yarn: Novita 7 Veljestä

They looked really big when I made them and I thought about starting all over again and making them smaller. But since almost everything I've knitted for our godson so far has been a bit too small, I didn't start over with these. And that was a good descision because apparently they turned out quite the right size after all. It's incredible how fast that boy grows!

Two cats arrived here today. They're spending their time at my place while the owners are on vacation. Can't show you any photos yet, though, since I haven't seen them that much. Right now they're hiding under the bed... Hope they'll come out when they're hungry or when they need to pee.

Chicken pasta

A very long time and no see. Sorry about that. I've just been so incredibly busy that even the thought of updating my blog while I had some spare time made me even more tired. And all my crafting projects have had zero progress... But now when I can actually see the end of this semester in my calendar, it has started to feel a little better. Only six weeks till the summer holidays start.

Well, since my knitting projects look the same as in the end of february, I though I'd in stead share one of my recipes with you. It's a recipe for a chicken pasta that I have come up with myself, although inspired by some other recipes. Over the past few years this has become one of my favourite dishes. But since I've never written down the recipe, it tend to turn out a little bit different each time. So what I write down here are only approximate amounts of everyting.

Chicken pasta

500 g pasta

400 g chicken

1 big onion

1-2 red bell peppers

1 can of mushrooms

200 g sun-dried tomato Crème Bonjour

4 dl milk

1-2 tablespoon butter or margarine

1-2 tbsp of flour

3 teaspoons of red pesto

grated cheese

salt

pepper

(chicken spice)

If you use "normal" pasta, you need to cook it a little bit first, but for example last time I bought some Barilla whole-wheat Piccolo Lasagnette pasta and but them in the casserole just like that.

For the chicken I usually use honey-marinated chicken slices. Fry them on a pan adding some onion, the mushrooms and the pepper. Flavor it with some salt, pepper and chicken spice if needed.

The sauce: let the butter melt in a saucepan before mixing it with the flour. Then, when the pan is hot, add a little bit of the milk at a time, beating it at the same time to avoid lumps. When the sauce is ready, add the Crème bonjour (unripened cheese) and let it melt into the sauce. Flavor it with some red pesto.

Mix the pasta and the chicken (with the veggies) in a big casserole. Pour the sauce on top of it, add some cheese and mix a bit more. Add some more cheese evenly on the top and gratinate it in the oven in 200 ° for about 30-45 min (depending on what pasta you use, but at least until the surface turnes brown). It is now ready to be served.

Of coure you can make a smaller amount of it if you want, I just usually put some of the food in the freezer to take with me for lunch to work.

Bon appetit!