I will be the first to admit that my husband and I are a little bit on the coffee snob side. We are very picky about our coffee and love trying unique blends. These can also be pricey blends, so on the rare occasions that we have a little coffee left in the pot, pouring it out would be like pouring money down the drain (for me, anyway). So I stick it in the fridge and save it. Then the problem becomes what to do with it--I can only drink so much iced coffee in any given day.

I saw a dessert on Food Network made out of coffee and started playing with that idea. I have a small, electric ice cream maker and just wanted to make a small amount that would use left over coffee. Here is the recipe that I came up with. It serves about 4 people.

Hot Damn Coffee Granita

1.5 c coffee, the stronger the better
1/2 c fat-free Half and Half
1/2 c sugar
1 T cocoa
1.5 oz Hot Damn Cinnamon Schnapps
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix all ingredients together and place in a small, electric ice cream freezer (instructions will vary by freezer). For me, it took about 20 minutes to freeze. You can also pour it into a casserole dish and place in the freezer, then stir every 45 minutes or so to disperse the ice crystals. It won't freeze real hard because of the alcohol in it. You could substitute other alcohols with a little experimenting. I can tell you we won't be tossing out any coffee. Here is a good article on theKitchn with some more ideas for making the most of left over coffee.

Note: I tried this recipe with peppermint Schnapps and it was quite tasty. I upped the cocoa to 2 T and added 3 oz of Schnapps instead of the cinnamon. It was really good!!

We have a Weimaraner, Babe, who is 18 years old and has arthritis, particularly in his hindquarters. To top it off, he some how jerked the nail out of one toe and it got infected. That means horse pill sized antibiotics twice a day, along with pills for his arthritis. He is way to big for me to wrestle down and stuff pills down his throat plus he is so old I don't want to do that to him. Actually, I don't want to do that to any dog.

I have yet to meet a dog that doesn't love peanut butter. We never keep things around like Velveeta or hot dogs, in part because the people in the house can't leave them alone and they settle straight to the bottom and clog arteries. My husband always has flour tortillas in the fridge, however. I tore off a little piece of tortilla, smeared it with peanut butter, stuck the pills in it and folded it up. When I offered it to Babe, he snarfed it down, no questions asked. Certainly makes my life easier and he thinks he is getting a yummy treat twice a day. Now if he would just stop butting me with his E-collar....I'll be glad when that toe gets well.

Skill level: Beginner

Supplies:

• Caron Simply Soft in pastel blue, green and yellow. Sorry, but these were left overs so I don't have the color name and number. Which tells me I need to organize my yarn better. I'd suggest digging through your stash for little bits of various colored worsted weight yarns because it doesn't take much and you can use just about any color, especially if you use one color as the base through the entire hat.
  
• Cable needle #10 (US) with 12" cable
  
• One stitch marker
  
• Size G crochet hook
• Needle for weaving in ends

The gauge was approximately 3.25 stitches per inch. However, you should check your gauge simply because I tend to knit loose. I forgot to get an accurate measure of gauge before I popped it in the mail, so this is an estimate.

Pattern:
Cast on 58 stitches using two different colored strands. I started with green and blue. Join, being careful not to twist, and place a marker at the beginning of the round. Continue knitting in the round (this is stockinette stitch) for about 2" from starting row, then change one color. In this picture, I dropped the blue and picked up yellow. I did not cut and fasten off the blue, but just left it to carry up later when I picked it back up.

Continue knitting with the two strands, green and yellow, for another 2 inches (4 inches total from beginning round). Change colors again at the marker, in this case I dropped the green, picked up the blue and continued with blue and yellow. Knit until the total length of your hat is 7 inches, then bind off. 

Finishing
Divide the 'top' of the hat into three equal parts to create a Y-shaped crown, with each leg of the Y of equal length. Using a double strand of one color (in this case yellow), single crochet through each stitch to join the sides of each leg of the Y. I crocheted across two legs and fastened off. I then started at the outside tip of the third leg and when I reached the middle, pulled a loop through the crocheted edging at the center of the other two legs so they were all three attached in the middle. Fasten off and weave in ends.

You can leave the brim of the hat without an edging if you choose, in which case it will naturally roll up (stockinette stitch always rolls on the edges). However, I chose to add a crocheted edging using two strands of the yellow. I crocheted one round of single crochet in each stitch of the brim, then added a second round of half-double crochet. Fasten off and weave in ends.

Useful Tips
The hat is basically a knitted tube, sized to fit your favorite head, with the tri-lobed finish on the crown and a rolled or crocheted edge at the brim, combining two strands of yarn in varying colors to get a variegated effect. You could use any yarn or combination simply by checking your gauge and adjusting accordingly. 

To get the size of the hat, measure your head of choice, then make the hat about 1inch smaller to allow for stretching. For example, if the head measures 18 inches around (which is about average toddler size), check your gauge by knitting a swatch (say three stitches per inch as an example), then multiply 3 stitches/inch times 17 inches (18 inches head measurement minus 1) to get the number of stitches needed for cast on (3 x 17 = 51). Then knit away.

If you have not tried circular knitting, then knit it on a straight needle, remembering to knit the right side row and purl the wrong side row for a stockinette stitch. Then bind off and seam up the hat when it reaches 7 inches in length and finish as above.

The Mayans may have been on to something because 2012 was a life changing year for our family. We had a parent living with us who suffered most of the year from complications of a bad fall and broken leg that would not heal. After her second surgery, she had a heart attack and succumbed to those complications just a week ago. I've been out of commission since August with what doctors have now decided is a very large ganglion cyst in my hip joint. Treatment with aspiration and cortisone is just a stop gap measure. It will require surgery. When the small museum where I worked started laying people off, I volunteered for layoff because we had so many personal issues going on that I did not know when I could return to work. I did not want a co-worker laid off who could work when I could not. So I have been amongst the unemployed since Thanksgiving. Oi.

Now we are trying to get back into the swing of things, but the swing will look and feel different for us, I think. We've had a lot of time to think about what really matters in life and sticking with a job you aren't happy with just for the paycheck has been a topic of many discussions. Putting things off until you have time 'after we retire' is also getting a lot of conversation...life is just too short and unpredictable.

Live large, be happy, follow your dreams...and have a great New Year.