47, 48, 49

How unexpected--I made some socks! (This is the last 3 weeks' worth... I should mix it up a bit, pattern-wise, huh?)







And muffins.



I drive home from practice past 4 Dunkin Donuts (wait, I forgot one... 5... plus an unknown number on parallel streets). So naturally, I was hungry for muffins by the time I got home this morning--and this is one of the days I work at home (or, you know, knit and prowl the internet), so I set out to make some.

I read an interview with a chef once, in which the chef explained that there was no need to follow recipes TOO exactly--often, the recipe calls for 4 tomatoes because there were 4 perfectly ripe tomatoes in the kitchen that day, not because they'd conducted scientific taste tests with varying quantities of tomatoes and found that 4 tomatoes produced 83% better sauce. The chef, of course, meant when cooking, and would be scandalized to learn that I apply the theory to baking as well.

In this case, the muffins were called oatmeal raisin, but the recipe didn't specify a quantity of raisins, so I put in the rest of a partly full container. I didn't have nutmeg, so I substituted cloves. I didn't have buttermilk (I never do), so I substituted vinegar, and reconstituted powdered milk (I never have regular milk either). I didn't have applesauce, so I used a partial banana. I used olive oil instead of vegetable oil (because we only ever have olive oil). And then I forgot the eggs (which we did have) entirely.

Strangely, I think they turned out quite tastily! Although the recipe implied that they'd rise dramatically, and they only rose a bit. Perhaps that was the eggs?