If only every day were like this Sunday. It wasn’t silent and gray. Although the temperature hovered in the low-50’s (that’s freezing in NorCal), today was a pretty perfect end to the weekend. I was planning on impressing y’all with my step-by-step photos of the bread, but I figured I’ve scared enough readers away with yesterday’s bathtub antics. Besides, if you want to know how great it is, come on over, I’ll cook you some or try the recipie for yourself. It’s absurd something that easy could be that delicious.

Speaking of tubby, my gut feels even bigger than it looked soaking in the bath—now that it’s full of my first home-baked bread. The simplicity and tastiness of that recipe have ruined commercial bread forever. It may have also ruined the world of artisinal bread now that I can make $6 boules in my own kitchen. I foresee a whole world of baking in my future. Heck, I own a SilPat now! I’ve never had a sweet tooth, so cookies, cakes and pies are lost on me. The savory is my friend. Gimme some starch and I’ll be yours. The only thing more dangerous than this little bit of carbohydrate cooking cuisine would be if I owned my own FryDaddy.

We enjoyed the bread with some hearty pea soup (did you know vegan could taste so good?). Don’t be silly, of course it was also cooked from scratch. (I recommend red wine vinegar AND toasted sesame oil as condiments). With Janie snoring next to me on the couch, Mr. Man eating kielbasa (not vegan), and the TV telling us that Walmart is bad for America (thank you, Frontline from 2004), I can’t imagine anything better…

…unless I didn’t have to go to work tomorrow. Just five more days until a week’s break.

You’d think with a title like that, I’d be posting about my dog. Alas, I’m not. We did give Ms. Janie Sparkles a bath last night, her first in a few weeks. Tonight, I decided to indulge in a bath of my own for the first time in this place. Why did I wait over a year and a half to try out the tub?

I’m rocking the babushka in case my Mom is reading. If you wander over to flickr.com, you’ll see a more provocative photo, but not that provocative!

What’s better than knitting by candlelight in a bath while listening to Cast On? (Feel better, Brenda!) The relaxing was followed by a home-cooked meal that contained not one, not two, but three veggies from the organic CSA box from a local farm. Baked potatoes, brocolli, and my famous 5-minute beets (shredded beets tossed in melted butter, covered after 1/4 of water to steam for 5 minutes, salt, pepper and a glob of sour cream or yogurt).

Tomorrow, I’ll be baking the dough that’s chilling over by the warmish radiator. Maybe some pea soup to accompany the bread?

It’s been a while since I’ve done a gratuitous dog posting, so here’s a little photo documentary of Janie Sparkles’ day at the beach with the handsome Bibby. No matter how gray and cold it may be where you are, I hope these pictures from two weeks ago brighten your day.

I keep finding myself staying up past my perceived bedtime reading up on the Interwebs and finally slamming out a few words here. I promise that I will write earlier in the day tomorrow. While I can’t promise scintillating, I will try for something meatier in knitting content.

In the meantime, go read Eric’s blog. My very dear friend, fellow runner and yogini, dietitian (yes, it’s spelled with two “t’s”), and co-worker Tara has been writing about her new adventue as a mother (and daddy Aaron writes, too). Little Eric arrived very eary (only 26 weeks and a few days). After three months in the hospital, he’s gone home and is doing FABULOUSLY!

I’ve laughed, I’ve cried and I’ve smiled at the videos, reading how Eric has progressed. His is my mom’s favorite blog. As someone whos worked in NICU, she’s been explaining to me what’s going on and how positive things have been. He’s a tough little cookie and I can’t wait to meet him in person! I owe Mommy and Daddy some of my famous Mac & Cheese (via Martha). I’m sure the little guy could use some knitted goods. Let me know your favorite baby yarns and/or any little guy patterns. Heck, if you want to knit something yourself, I’ll pass it along!

I don’t read a lot of food blogs, so I understand how I missed the latest buzz. My next-door neighbor came swung by tonight and mentioned the No-Knead Bread recipe from Jim Lahey’s column in the 11/18 New York Times (free registration required). She showed me the video on nytimes.com and I was ready to run out and buy some instant yeast.

It’s all over the Interwebs. Coincidentally, said neighbor (who has two French bulldogs) read all about it at Becks & Posh. She (of B&P) happens to be friends with the one food blogger I read, who happens to be one of the Nor Cal contacts for FBRN where we got our Frenchie, Ms. Janie Sparkles.

The neighbor will be baking her third batch of the bread this weekend to share with us, but I may try my hand at this simplest, and hopefully tastiest, recipes ever. I’m not a cookie or dessert baking kind of guy, but perhaps I can start rocking a savory holiday tradition of my own!

Let’s get baked. If you have tried or do try the recipe, let me know.

…but it still feels like Tuesday for me. I could run around the corner for Trannyshack, if I was so inclined. But I’m not.

I just got home from a cocktail holiday party for one of my work’s online agencies. It was held at the same place as our holiday party last week. I’m not typically a cocktail kind of guy, but I enjoyed an evening of conversation with the fella who’s my new boss who just happens to be friends with one of the founding partners at this interactive design firm.

There’s not much more to say, other than I’m waiting with baited breath to hear how Scout’s KG shoot went today. I believe it was the last episode of the seasons 7 & 8 shoot. I got an email from my fabulous producer Sonya today saying she’s leaving on Friday, as her freelance gig is up. If you ever need a diligent, kind and efficient producer, contact me and I’ll get you her info… she was incredible!

Sleep tight!

A big, huge THANK YOU to Scout. (Wish her Good Luck on her KG shoot tomorrow afternoon!) The yarn she made for me arrived today… well, it arrived at my desk. I think it came late Friday or over the weekend, but since work wasn’t open, I didn’t get it until this morning. I’ve already posted her photo and will post my own when I get it balled up. There were a few other new things in her package: one notion, one car decoration and some smelly samples that I look forward to using.

However, a less tangible new thing, and something that will take up infinitely more time in my life is Threadless.com. I’ve known about this crowd-sourcing, online t-shirt design community and even considered buying pieces. However, there was a story on NPR this morning, then an email from the VP of Marketing, so I decided to poke around and create an account.

I am hooked. I could spend hours trolling this webby/nerd/hipster zeitgeist. The kids these days. In my infinite spare time, I imagine trying my hand at a design or two. I haven’t seen much knitting imagery, and God knows we’re what’s happening, right?

What could make Threadless better? They’re having a $10/shirt sale right now. Seriously. It’s on until Thursday at 11am CST. Get your (cheap) inexpensive holiday shopping on!

‘Twas a productive weekend… the sock should be finished by week’s end (I really need to branch out into another pattern) and the newly designed object (a gift-to-be and perhaps a submission) is coming along nicely. Photos when I’m done…

Thanks for the comments on yesterday’s post, but ignore the first one… that’s the photographer himself vying for more time to be spent in the Guess where SF flickr pool.

Our view is so different from the sky shots I see on Paul and Dave’s blogs. Their east coast winter silhouettes are part of my childhood. My mild and moist Northern California hues seem so out of place at this time of year.

Ugg. I’m so not ready for the holidays.

This is what we see from our kitchen as we’re making coffee. By we, I mean my wife, Mr. Man. On Friday, it was a spectacular sunrise that I’ve been meaning to share with y’all. The sky flamed through a range of colors before it awoke into the bright, clear morning.

They’ve predicted three days of rain since Friday, but we’ve been lucky with just a few downpours and mild gray blahs. Not that I’d mind, I’m still overrun with this cold, so I have no business being outside, regardless of weather. Swim practice saw me sitting on the side of the pool trying to coach people into a joined move in a circle.

I napped this afternoon after a gesture towards cleaning up the house that only resulted in recycling two bags of free magazines (brought home from work over the years). I suffered through the swim team’s holiday party, but I had a sock to keep me company: finished the heel flap, turned it and completed the gusset.

In the spirit of good blogging intentions, IOU photos of my step-outs from KG. I need to finish the cleaning job begun today and put the half-finished away, but not before capturing them for posterity.

Now, I have to get back to my tea before bed.

(Mr. Man has taken a whole series of morning photos if you’re in the mood for pretty SF skies and urban landscapes.)

Only 10 minutes left in the day for me to get a post in. Just got home from our here, the locattion of our holiday party. Think fast, mister…

I didn’t get Scout love in the form of sock yarn today because they never processed the mail at work. That’s my most reliable shipping address.

Tonight was our company’s holiday party and they sent everyone home after lunch and our surprise guest speaker. It was Al Gore. Yeah, that Al Gore. Sadly I have no pictures to prove it, but I did pul lthe curtain back for him and take his jacket after his speech before the Q&A.

We’ve had Julia “Butterfly” Hill and Michael Pollan, but I’d never expect the former next president of the United States!