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<

my universe now revolves around josh ritter's new album

(bit of a long catch up post again today)

i posted a josh video here a few weeks ago. here's another one.
(hi doug!)

the new album is called "the historical conquests of josh ritter" and came out aug 21. hey josh, don't forget about us old fans who came to see you back in the day when you opened for joan baez!
(josh is from latah county, id. COUNTIES!)

next, here's another baby hat from last week. i added a pom-pom after i took the pic, too. i've made about 4 hats in the last week. they take me about two metro rides and a lunch break. i'm going to start on some child size ones soon.


i'm going to do a happy heads, dc push in the next month. if you have a knitting related list or friends who knit, please let them know about happy heads. our 4th year!

i started a scarf for my boss's (almost) three year old daughter. now i have about 24" finished...about 2" yellow, 4" pink, rest purple. i'm doing two little cables in it, too. i think it's pretty cute. i'll take another pic tonight. i'll probably make it about 32" long. she's really little. i think she'll like it a lot. i'm using left over blue sky cotton.


do note the stain on my couch. that's from cheese. i wound up cleaning the covers of the cushions on saturday, and then i stitched up some bunny-related holes.

dante came to visit on saturday, too. he brought his mom and dad. he's just starting to crawl and sit up on his own.


(don't worry, dolley wanted nothing to do with him.)

dante was interested in the aflac duck i have. don't know where i got it, but if you squeeze it you hear its annoying "aflaaaaac" thing.


here he's showing off his two fabulous bottom teeth.

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!

Josh Rouse, 'Hollywood Bassplayer'

josh rouse is awesome. here's a new video from his upcoming album Country Mouse, City House
(yes, another musical josh)

Josh Ritter's New Album: The First Sounds (Preview)

gaaaaaaa

i love josh ritter.

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.

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!

DSM, friends and my favorite model gets a new sweater

i spent a few days in iowa for work. i took these pics on the plane on the way back. i also took some in the airport at 630 in the am and was convinced i'd get cuffed, interrogated and put on several "lists." good thing no one paid attention...
i finally see some iowa farmland.

sorry, but this was just too freggin' awesome to pass up.

luke is getting a new sweater! he has outgrown this one so i am going to make a new one for him. his dad said that he enjoyed wearing the striped one, so i feel i've done well. i told him to keep it for their next kid, too.
for the next project, i have chosen a moss stitch sweater with collar in the cotton DK from Number Three. so far i've accomplished a lot after starting tuesday night!


a boxty update...they are headed to the arlington street people's assistance network soon, hopefully. i hope they will be enjoyed.

also to follow up...the music goes on! more music postings soon. i'm glad that won't end. :)

FINE! you want to see the sweater?

here it is, sickos.



see? failure. failure. i really don't want to talk about it anymore unless you have some suggestions. and don't tell me i made it the wrong size. i am a small...i am barely 5'3" but i tend to have problems in the shoulder area. in that case i could have made a medium, but this was just so messed up everywhere that i don't know if it would have made a difference. the arms are ok, right? and no, it's not supposed to be a midriff baring piece.

doll took some time to relax on her tummy in the sun this afternoon.


here i am about 25 minutes later with calmer hair, along with a pissed off rabbit. (fyi...i didn't take her away from the sun. she came over to me and therefore she was fair game for the photo.)


here is alton brown's baked mac and cheese that i made for our black history month potluck at work yesterday. we're supposed to make something "traditional" from our family, or whatever. i didn't. i make this every year cause it rocks and people love it. (though, i do admit, last year i put too many onions in it and didn't let it cook long enough, so it was kind of oniony, but i got it right this time.) someone always brings in a stouffer's frozen mac and cheese, which i don't get. this year, that contribution was at least presented in a corningware dish, so it didn't look as icky, at least some thought was put into presentation.


ag has a gig tonight, so i'm excited. scap will be playing, too, as the event is his creation. yaaaay.