Current Project Status: 1 Complete, 2 at ~50%

I have this problem that I'm always in the middle of some 100 different things at a time.  Okay, maybe 100 is a bit of hyperbole, but I have never done well with boredom, and so I always find new things to do.  As the semester draws to a close and the things I have to do demand more of my time, it's a good idea to finish projects without immediately starting new ones.  And since I'm excited about a couple that are currently going on or just finished, I'm going to talk about them here.

The first thing I want to talk about is a pair of socks I just finished knitting.  I started these in January, intending to give them to my dear friend Bonita for her birthday at the end of the month.  Unfortunately, I drastically underestimated the amount of time they would require, and overestimated my free time.  Four months later, I finally finished these, just in time to give them as a graduation present.

My halfway-done other project is not nearly so time-consuming, although it takes a long time to complete.  A month ago, I started making limoncello (lemon-infused vodka, basically), using this recipe.  Since Meyer lemons are expensive, I ended up substituting regular lemons in place of about half of them.  To make this, 100 proof vodka is poured over many lemon peels and set in an airtight jar in a closet somewhere for 40 days.  After 40 days (i.e. last night for me) a simple syrup and more vodka is added, and the whole concoction is once again left to sit in a cool, dark place for 40 days.  Word on the internet is that the longer you let this age, the smoother the taste gets. That said, the end of May should be pretty awesome.

93. Fig Pinwheels
My other halfway-complete project is my usual cookie baking, which I continued this week with an unusual take on Fig Newtons.  The dough for these consists of butter, sugar, flour, vanilla, salt, and egg, like any standard cookie recipe.  The filling was made by boiling dried figs and golden raisins in apple and orange juice for about 40 minutes, and then putting it through a food processor until it was spreadable.  Once the cookie dough was made, it had to be chilled until I could roll it out into long sheets.  After spreading the fig mixture on these sheets, I rolled them up and cooled them until I could slice them without the rolls deforming too much.  Although this was a very easy recipe, the duration of this recipe (that is, time from mixing dough to finishing baking) was quite long, so I ended up doing laundry at the same time.  At the end of the day, these cookies turned out to be chewy and a little sweet, with the fig filling introducing just a little bit of stickiness to the texture experience.  They also look pretty impressive, and it turns out that dried figs are a lot cheaper than many other dried fruit I've had to purchase.  All in all, if I need to do chores around the house all day, these may be a good selection to make again.