horrible habits

so, i have this terrible habit of putting things in the freezer i know i won't eat. here is an example.


what the hell is that?

here it is, about 30 minutes later. any ideas? those ice crystals are pretty cool, huh?


here it is this morning. i know, i could have tossed it last night, but i really wanted to know...


sadness! it's my favorite post-huge meal meal. everything dumped into a baking dish and mushed. this one looks like turkey, some veggies, zucchini pie, some stuffing...this was from last thanksgiving. it was sitting in my freezer for almost 9 months.

see, i wanted the pyrex back a few months ago but thought, "gee, maybe i'll eat that." no.

this morning, as i gazed upon the unfrozen mush in the sink i thought, "gee, maybe i'll eat that." no.

whoa! she's alive!

yes yes, bla bla bla

what have i been up to? in a nutshell...

* school! yah, i'm officially in grad school now and took my third class during the first summer session. that ended, thankfully, 7/21.
* work! i got a great new job at my current association that gives me more responsibility, travel and moolah!
* travel! a week in sexy kansas city, mo. not so awesome.
* vacation! i'm taking this week and next week off in between my old and new jobs. i'm not really planning on going anywhere, and i'm really bored already.
* computer! bought a new macbook. sweet.
* photos! i had a show of my Polaroid prints at the awesome Java Shack near me. My prints were only supposed to be up for the month of May, but I finally took them down in July!
* food! i'm trying to move towards a more bean-focused diet to replace the meat protein i'm not getting. i like beans, anyway. i think they're super tasty. save your jokes.

last week i tried this recipe, originally from about.com here

• 2 cups mashed garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1/2 onion, minced
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 cup flour
• salt and pepper to taste
• oil for frying

Preparation:

Mash together all ingredients, except oil, thoroughly. Form into patties and lightly fry on each side in oil until golden brown. You can also barbecue these veggie burgers on a hot grill.

all i did was add some cumin, and you know how much i hate cumin. they are really good. i got four patties out of this mix.


then i cooked them up. i need to work on my fry practice.


i put my burger on a bun, which is kind of silly, but a later version had muenster cheese and dijon mustard. i'm salivating just typing this.


also went on another photo day trip to pearmund cellers. here i am in no condition to drive home yet. (i spent another two hours there after this pic was taken, so relax.) i took two awesome rolls, then lost one! argh. i was so upset. you can imagine how relieved i was when i found the lost roll....in the bottom of the washing machine. >sigh<

so, what have YOU been up to?

dull update

i'm alive.

hello readers in bulgaria! (i know you're there...i can see you on my tracking info. thanks for stopping by.)

quickly...

i learned how to knot pearls. here is a bracelet i made for danielle. she wore it on her wedding day last month!


practice makes perfect...


we had a going away party for dan at the end of september. i made the cake. orange chocolate with orange sauce.




went apple picking in october.

wait, no, that's a chicken.

here are some apples...

oops, sorry. another chicken.


yay!

here is the pie i made later...

it was tasty.

here is josh ritter and the band at the 9:30 club in october. >sigh<


more >sigh<

pasta salad, more knitted stuff, some crocheted stuff too

first off, here's mr. dante. i went to visit him on saturday. said hi to his mom while i was there, too.


next, i went to the national symphony orchestra's labor day concert on the capitol lawn on sunday with some friends. they brought drinks and sandwiches, i brought pasta salad.

ok here's what i did...
1 bag multi colored rotini (this one was called "wacky pasta" or something. it was 6 servings when cooked)
1/4 cup italian dressing (maybe a little less)
3 T sundried tomatoes, drained
1 container feta cheese (i don't know, 6, 8 oz?)
about 10 cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 small can sliced black olives
2 green onion tops, thinly sliced

cook the pasta about 30 seconds less than normal and drain. rinse with cold water to stop cooking. toss to dry as much as possible. add pasta and all ingredients in a large bowl and toss to mix. adjust add-ins as desired. refrigerate until serving time.

so i'm making a hat for a friend's mom who's going to lose her hair to chemo soon. here's a crocheted flower that i hand felted. i used lamb's pride worsted wool. love it. LOVE it! anyway, i didn't like any patterns for flowers that i found online so i sort of made up my own. i like the way it came out. if i can figure out how to do it again, i'll post directions. to felt, i used rubber gloves for some extra agitation. worked really well, probably took about 5 mintues. very warm water, drop of DISH SOAP in the water.


here's lurlene modeling the knitted hat. i used lion brand organic cotton in "strawberry" for a basic cap with a rib. it's quite soft. the flower is still a bit damp but should dry by tomorrow. i'll sew it on tomorrow. the flower can be worn on either side. i'm concerned that it's a little too big, but i think i can fix that by making something of a seem up the back. (can you tell i've been watching plastic surgery shows all summer?)

week's worth of updates

ok so i'll go backwards from arkansas...

on the plane ride back i worked on a shawl...i finished it this evening but haven't taken a photo yet. i will soon.


next, i took some pics for slides. here's one in sepia.


need to crop this a little, but it's called "after party"


i started a simple baby hat for a co-worker's three months old on friday. she was born a month early and she's still tiny.


and here it is....i finished it this afternoon.


i made a mock banana sundae this weekend, too. used plain yogurt instead of ice cream. was really good. also peanut butter and choco syrup.


went to a bead show on saturday. this is all i bought! i was able to control myself somewhat. i've already used two strands for two pieces, so i'm well on my way to using some of what i got. i have plans for the pearls, too. plans!


i shoved some oat hay into this grass ball and doll played with it for a while. looked like a lot of fun.

plums, popcorn and josh rouse

Country Mouse, City House arrived in my mailbox today, along with a companion CD! YAAAAY! i left my ipod at work, though. should have gone back to it. i have josh's new music on my home computer, and i will have it on my work computer soon. ipod tomorrow night, though. i was hoping to listen on my way tomorrow morning, but oh well. the last two hours of listening have been great!

i went out to martinsburg, wv last weekend. got some deeeelish yellow plums. they're about 2/3 as big as regular plums. doll approves.


also i have a new favorite method of making popcorn.
big metal bowl on the stovetop.

popcorn, bit of oil, bit of salt, make sure all is coated.
foil cover on top of bowl.
lots of holes from toothpick.
heat on medium/medium-low.
gently move around every 30 seconds or so when popping starts.
continue until 2-3 seconds between pops.
remove foil CAREFULLY.
enjoy!

booties, bananas and bunny

i am making felted booties for little feet now. i made my first pair yesterday and today. now i think i got the hang of it. i will felt them tomorrow night and see how they turn out.
here are dante's booties, in notre dame blue and green!

last night i made tasty chicken on my cast iron grill pan. i bought some bananas in the morning and figured i'd cook 'em up! i quartered the banana with the skin ON and cooked them for about 2 minutes. the pan was HOT HOT.

then i drizzled some honey and raspberries...

i lured doll up on to the couch a few days ago, then stuck the camera under her face. i like these pics...even though one is a little blurry. ooo look how big and threatening she looks!

heh heh heh...

life's a beach!

bobble-claw crab! mini beer bottles! palm trees! shells! beach fun barbie!

cake was so tasty! everyone was happy! no cake left! deeeelish!

wha-hoo! cake and josh rouse!

wonder of wonders, i went to another concert alone last night. i reached a point about two years ago where i said, "screw this. if i can't find anyone join me at a great show, i'm going alone!" i don't see it as depressing or anything. i can sing along and piss off strangers. i have no problem with that. (i WAS supposed to have someone with me...but that didn't happen and i couldn't sell the other ticket...so i lost some cash.)

last night was josh rouse at the birchmere. he rocks. he cracked some jokes and was in a general happy mood. they played some of my favs, too. i met him last year at an XM recording session. here's a pic from that....
i cut my coworker out because he was so far away anyway.

then i came home and continued work on the cake for the super secret going away party today.
here are the cakes, cooling.

then i trimmed them and put cherry filling in the middle. had a little accident and the top piece broke. i think i fixed it up, though.

i did a "prep" layer of frosting, put the cake in the fridge to firm up a bit, then a finishing layer of frosting so it wound up looking much better than i thought it would.

and for the beach scene...

i found this spray-on cake color at the craft store, so i used it for the sand. then yellow sugar crystals and blue edible glitter. (if you notice, i put the cake on four pieces of wax paper as i decorated. then all you have to do is slide the pieces out and you have a clean cake bottom and clean cake tray. it doesn't really look that messy. in fact, it's pretty sleek looking.)

then i put it in the box and fridge for the night with some tooth picks here and there to keep the box from getting TOO close to the cake, took it in on the metro this morning, and was surprised that it's actually in pretty decent shape now. it's in the fridge here, and i'll just have to do a bit of touch up later this afternoon. another department member is in charge of beverages and we will be making a mojito-inspired limeade and mint beverage. sure, we'd love some liquor in the middle of the day here, but that mystery bottle of scotch in the lunchroom is gone...

on another subject, i think i'm going to trim this and make a slide. going to order a whole new batch of them this weekend so if my PRINTER EVER COMES i'll be ready.

success on several levels!

allison, if you're reading this post...stop now because i talk about
you and the party you "don't know about."

seriously. stop it.

first and most importantly, the homeless man i see all the time finally got soup. we went to lunch at uno's to celebrate allison's last friday at work, and on our way out, i picked up some soup. we saw the dude on the walk back.

me - sir, would you like some soup?
dude - oh yes! (pause) what kind is it?
me - broccoli cheese.
dude - broccoli cheese. thank you, god bless you!
me - enjoy!

now, i wasn't after the thank you or anything, that defeats the purpose of giving the soup. he seemed happy.

next, we will be throwing a "super secret" going away party for allison on tuesday. uh...shhh. i was asked to make the cake. i'm going to do a bang-up decorating job, i tell you! this is what she knows so far...chocolate/yellow cake marbled together. two layers with cherry pie filling in the middle (her request) and some stuff on top. here's the secret part...she is moving south to a city mentioned in a will smith song. i bought some doll house plastic palm trees and shells to make a beach scene. i just need a doll for my main character, and i'm set. i'm going to go to toys-r-us later today to hunt for one. didn't see anything that fit my imagination while at the craft store this morning.

also, my brother wants me to make him a "blood puddle pillow" like these so i got the fabric and i'm going to work on it tonight. i have no idea about how to make it up, but it should be pretty easy. updates to follow. lots of pictures in the next two posts, i'm guessing.

small hands...smell like cabbage. bye, bye ktdid! (and, so long, eddie stubbs)

first off, so long, eddie stubbs. thanks for the great music. i have listened to you nearly every sunday for the past 6 years. here's some info on the eddie stubbs show on NPR.

i was invited to a supper club today. it was lots of fun, and i got to socialize with some lovely ladies. the theme was ethiopian food, so i asked one of my coworkers what i should make. cabbage, of course!

1 med. head green cabbage, chopped into 1" pieces
2 onions, cut into 1" pieces
2 carrots, cut into 1" pieces
potatoes (i used about 10 red new potatoes, cut into about 1/4" slices)
1 T grated fresh ginger
3-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 jalepeno pepper, sliced lengthwise into quarters and seeds and veins removed
oilve oil
salt & pepper

in a large pot, sautee onions in oil on med heat until pale, add ginger and garlic. add potatoes and carrots. add cabbage and turn occasionally so all pieces cook. add salt now to help the cabbage release water, and add pepper. (i kept the pot covered for a bit so the top would wilt, then i took the top off so some of the liquid would evaporate.) add in the four (or 8, i wound up making smaller slices) pieces of jalepeno.

i was instructed to "cook until done, but not mushy." there's still a tiny bit of crunch left, but it should be mostly soft. enjoy with injera!


katie moved to ny this weekend. i'm sad that she left, but she has promised to update her blog so that we can follow along on her culinary adventures! she stopped by on friday and brought me this delicious creme egg!

maybe that's why i ran around my apartment in a hyper state of being for hours before finally going to sleep.

also, doll insisted on being treated like a queen. i gave her a crown.

a sweater update! plus, food and sondre lerche

i'm making great progress on luke's sweater! the back is finished, as are the two inner pocket linings. i am now working on the front of the sweater. soon i will join the linings in the middle of the front piece. ("what?" you say. don't worry, i'll post pics when i do it.)


i went to see sondre lerche on thursday at the birchmere. finally! i've been waiting for him to come back to dc since he was last at IOTA about two years ago. here i am with sondre and two members of his band, the faces down. (his bass player looks a little sleepy...) i also realized i've been wearing this outfit for several days. i have, mind you, washed the blue shirt. i keep wearing different tanks with it, though. plus, you can see the paste magazine on the table. finally! all four on the cover have signed! i think i'll put sondre over there on the right in the "music" section.

i will also add willy mason to the music section. he was one of sondre's opening acts and was totally amazing. i bought his latest album. give a listen here at his myspace page.

i made tilapia on thursday for a passover dinner. here's a rough recipe for one serving. you can easily make more, as each serving gets its own pouch...
1 piece tilapia fillet (i don't know how much, enough for you...)
4 lemon slices
4 slices red onion
4-5 grape tomatoes, halved
1 large clove garlic, finely minced
1 tsp dried basil
salt
pepper
drizzle of oilve oil

preheat toaster oven to 400 degrees. cut a piece of parchment paper appx. 18" long. place two lemon slices and two onion slices on the first half of the paper. coat the tilapia with the garlic, salt, pepper and dried basil. lay fish on the lemon and onion slices and place two more slices of lemon and onion on top. add the tomatoes. drizzle with olive oil. fold the paper over and tightly fold up each side a few times to make a tight pocket. place a few staples in the paper to make sure it's secure. bake for about 18 minutes. carefully open the pocket. there will be a lot of steam. enjoy!