an update

quick update, I will no longer be posting on Write Stuff. Don't fret, you can still reach my pearls of wisdom via my new blog.

quick update: writing stuff

Things have been busy with the move and getting settled into a new job here, but I have found some time to continue writing. Here are some snippets with more to follow soon:

+ Lady Sovereign interview
+ No Doubt summary
+ Easter dining preview in Press of AC

Also, this past weekend I attended the Summit of Awesome hosted by Hello Craft. It was very much awesome, as per the name. Here's a picture of D.J. and I looking very sweaty at Saturday's Show of Awesome.

Container Garden: Day 8

It's only been a week since I began phase one of my container garden and thus far it's a smashing success. I am proud to report that the radishes have begun to sprout up through the dirt. In just a few weeks I'm going to have the best radish-based salad ever.

Radishes (growing quite nicely in my makeshift milk-turned-container):











Plus the kale and lettuce are really happy!


Lovely kale:









And the lettuce Mix:

From My Kitchen To Yours: Adobo Chicken

From mashed potatoes to Mac-n-Cheese, I have found that comfort foods often have a tie to one's childhood. Often times it is what you ate when you home sick from school or what you scarfed down when you were upset or anxious.

In my case, one of my all-time comfort foods is my Mom's adobo chicken. It's probably one of the easiest, yet delicious meals I make. I am starting to realize most Filipino dishes are that way.

Ingredients:
- 1/2 pound chicken wings
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 minced garlic clove
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tablespoons peanut oil




Directions:
1) Put all ingredients in a medium-sized pot and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to about medium low and let softly boil for approximately 1/2 hour. If the liquid starts to boil down then feel free to add more water.











2) Warm the 2 tablespoons of peanut oil in a skillet on medium high heat. Place the chicken in the skillet and brown them on both sides.









3) Dump the chicken back in the liquid broth. Bring back to a boil and let simmer for approximately 10 minutes. Serve over fresh rice.

DIY Project: flower brooch for spring

It is nearly 70 degrees today and I'm absolutely loving it. Unfortunately the weather peeps are predicting thundershowers and rain for tomorrow. So to avoid starting my work week bummed with the crappy weather, I made a pretty flower brooch to wear.

I promise it will ward off all negative feelings caused by the weather (or at least it does the trick in my case)










directions here: http://tinyurl.com/c2sofx

DIY Project: easy wall art

I'm tired of the space above my dresser being bare and stark white. Thus I made some decorations with the extra fabric and embroidery hoops I recently scored while thrifting at Unique.

I had to find a nice balance between what I found pretty and what the BF found too girly as I don't have the luxury of residing by myself. In fact, all my roommates are boys except the kitties.

Also I'd like to point out the pretty rose perched on top of my dresser. It was the present waiting for me after my first day of work.

A close up of the lovely trio:










Also I'll have to thank the lovely BF for taking a break from writing to hammer in some nails where I can't reach:

From My Kitchen To Yours: Gyoza

Gyoza. Dumplings. Pot stickers. No matter what you call 'em they are delish. I once walked like 30 minutes into the heart of Chinatown in NYC to get dumplings. Five for a $1. I wish I could do that anytime I pleased, but since I cannot I headed into the kitchen to give my gyoza cravings some justice.

I'm proud to report I tried my hand at making my own and the results were wonderful. Plus the best part is that you can get creative and put whatever you want in these little suckers and they will most likely be awesome.

I was lucky to find a little Asian store in the DC suburbs selling most of my favourite ingredients. Since it's off the beaten path and one of those tiny-aisle, full-on-fish-on-ice types of places, everything is dirt cheap. I got the wrappers for less than a buck.

Once you track down the pre-made dough for the Gyoza (although you can make it if you have a lot of time on your hands) you'll need the following ingredients:
- About a pound of ground chicken for the filling. (I used chicken as per my man's request but beef, shrimp, pork, veggies, tofu can all be used.)
- 1 scallion finely chopped
- 2 cups cabbage (I ended up using Bok Choy because I had an abundance of it laying around and I honestly didn't notice a difference in taste)
- a dash of garlic powder
- 1 egg
- 1 carrot finely chopped
- a little less than half of an onion chopped
- a dash of both vegetable oil and sesame oil
- a pinch of minced garlic
- less than half a cup of water

Make sure you have defrosted the Gyoza wrappers ahead of time. Then you sautee the garlic and onions with in some vegetable oil. Once the onion becomes transcluent in color, add the cabbage, scallion and carrot until the cabbage leaves are wilted. This takes about 3 to 5 minutes. Then throw in your filling, the garlic powder and the egg. Once the meat (or tofu, etc) is cooked through and the egg isn't runny remove from heat.










Now for the fun part....spoon about a tablespoon of the filling in the middle of a gyoza wrapper. Pinch it closed. You can use some water or egg white or oil to seal it.

Then add the sesame oil to the same pan and brown the gyoza on both sides. Make sure not to burn them.

Finally add the water to the pan and cover. The water should come up to less than halfway on the little guys. Let them steam and remove from heat once all the water is gone.










Now get ready to induce some food coma. When I made these the plan was to share with my entire house. The plan miserably failed as none were left in the end. In all honestly I burned a few from the batch making them inedible, but not THAT many. I think the man and I just started eating and couldn't finish until they were all gone.

DIY Project: eyeglass cloth

Last weekend something absolutely dreadful happened...I dropped my Versace glasses (case and all) into a puddle. It wasn't just any puddle. It was a puddle of greasy oil in the Post Office parking lot.

If you know me at all, you know I love my glasses. I also loved the wonderful case and little eyeglass cloth that came with it. The case was able to be salvaged but I decided it was time to trash the wonderful eyeglass cloth -- Versace logo and all.

Thus to get over my grief I decided to create a new eyeglass cloth.

Made of the softest cashmere I had in my stash, I'd say it's better than the cloth that came originally with my glasses.

I also embroidered a little pair of glasses on, because A) it looks cute and B) I have more than enough free time on my hands right now.

DIY Project: bookshelf for too many books on the cheap

It's true, I own way too many things....especially books. So now that I have to add my books to the bf's collection it is obviously time to get a bookcase so there are not random stacks laying around like in my previous place.

We had an empty wall that is perfect the home for our books, but we didn't want to spend a bunch of money at Ikea for something that would break in a year as most of their furniture has in my experience. Thus, we borrowed an idea from my friends Erin & Chippy and decided to build one with wood and garden stones. (Their shelf was for CD's so we had to adjust as necessary for the varying heights of books).

All we needed were 5 pieces of lumber that we later sanded and a shit ton of garden stones:





















We stacked the stones like so:












After stacking the stones, the bookcase became stable:











Thus it was time to fill it up:









I think the bookshelf makes a great focal point for the room. It's also right across from the bed so I'll have something else pleasing to look at every morning (other than the bf who was patient enough to listen to my idea for the bookshelf, then help me make it).

DIY Project: desk for the corner

The bf and I recently moved into the master bedroom of a great house and the room is huge. This is good news as I'm a pack rat who tends to keep everything (which was apparent when my stuff helped to overfill a car and a moving van).

Thus we're trying to keep our new room minimal, yet functional. The bf bought me a great dresser that also doubles as a desk which is perfect for storing my laptop. However, he has a desktop and we needed a place for it without taking up a lot of room.

We found the solution in a folding table from IKEA for about $60. When it is folded in half it fits perfectly in one of our corners.











The shape was perfect but it was kind of an ugly looking. So I decided fabric in a pretty, yet manly design (this is for the bf, not me) would make it an excellent addition to our room. Before covering it with fabric, we gathered some paper bags from Trader Joe's and Whole Foods and cut them into long strips which we covered the table with to protect it as we might want to use the table for something else down the line.











Once covered with the strips of paper bags it looked like a miniature ironing board:











Then we flipped it over and began to cover it with fabric. It was easier to do so with the table upside down, especially when working with a hot glue gun that pretty much burned me every chance it got:











When finished it look like so:











And finally all set up in the corner:

sock it to you

I've been dreading the attempt to make socks ever since I started knitting. A few weeks ago I got over my fear and about 2.5 hours later I had to frog the whole thing. It looked like it would fit a baby which is cool cause I love babies. And I'm sure a few of my soon-to-be expecting friends would love some socks. The problem is the socks were supposed to be for ME. Thus, this business of making socks isn't as easy as I thought it would be and it confirms why I've been subconsciously avoiding them.

Yet, I'm back on the sock bandwagon and so far things are going swell. Now I just need to get used to knitting with 5 needles and feel like I'm wrestling an ornery octopus.

See what I am about the mess of controlling 5 DPN's at once?









And this time there's lots of ribbing so hopefully the sock will stretch to fit properly:

Sailing By Night

Tonight the bf, Rusty and I ventured out into the wintry tundra to see Here We Go Magic and Department of Eagles at the Brattle Theater. It was definitely worth it.

Here We Go Magic is basically the Luke Temple I remember with a full band. I'm really looking to getting my hands on their new album. And I was totally psyched to see Department of Eagles perform the majority of one of my favorite records of 2k8 live.

Here We Go Magic:











Department of Eagles:

2k8 musical wrap-up of sorts

I’m wrapping up 2k8 a little later than I aimed to do so, but it’s better late than never methinks….

1. The Shivers “Beaks to the Moon” [Whiskey and Apples]
I did not hear this album until the year was more than halfway over. It's a shame because “Beaks to the Moon” has been on my constant rotation ever since my friend Dan let me hear it in its entirety after we saw them at CMJ. Note: the moment they won me over might have been their brilliant Suicide cover…

At any rate, the track “Half Invisible” is probably what made me fall in love with “Beaks to the Moon.” The first minute or so makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It’s exactly like the first time I heard CAN’s “Yoo Do Right” and that is more than okay with me.

And the rest are as follows:
2. Frightened Rabbit “The Midnight Organ Fight” [Fat Cat]
3. Department of Eagles “In Ear Park” [4AD]
4. Mates of State – “Re-Arrange Us” [Polyvinyl]
5. The Walkmen “You & Me” [Gigantic]
6. The Night Marchers “See You In Magic” [Vagrant]
7. Sleeping in the Aviary “Expensive Vomit in a Cheap Hotel” [Science of Sound]
8. WHY? “Alopecia” [Anticon]
9. Wax Fang “La La Land” [Don’t Panic Records]
10. Jay Reatard “Matador Singles” [Matador]
11. TV On the Radio “Dear Science” [Interscope]

Albums I Wish I Spent More Time With (aka honorable mentions):
Chad VanGaalen – “Soft Airplane”
Ladyhawk – “Shots”
The Dodos – “Visiter”

long vacation = feather explosions ?

I've locked myself in the guest bedroom of my parent's house and have been working pretty much all vacation on a few projects I've been meaning to begin during the past few months. With the prodding of the little sister, most recently we've created a beautiful feather eruption (while managing to avoid what could have been a terrible hot glue mess).

I'm most likely wearing this to the upcoming dinner & drinks date with friends in Atlantic City:









Which looks like one this when worn:












Also, this little guy almost didn't make it. Yet it managed to survive and is one of my favorites from the whole night:








Finally plenty of embroidering fun going on:

Last Minute Christmas Gifts

With Christmas just around the corner and vacation til January 5, I've been busy finishing up knitting projects that have been on the back burner as of late. Since I'm home, my little sister Ember can model everything for me (when the kitties aren't getting in the way).

The first is a scarf for the love of my life. He's about to spend his first winter in Boston and has no idea how bitter cold it is going to get in the upcoming months. So I whipped up something luxurious and warm while still being manly.

It's a simple garter stitch which usually bores me to no end especially when it is for a never ending scarf. Fortunately this was the perfect project for killing time commuting to work or any activity that doesn't require my hands or much thought. (SEE: long ass phone calls at work or with my mom.)




It's pretty long and weighs more than you think:











Kitties also apparently love it:













There's also a neckwarmer I made for my Mom Mom that needs something to keep her warm
when she walks her dog in the brisk morning air everyday. It knits up super fast (I casted on last night and it was finished this morning). I found it on Ravelry and it the whole cowl takes less than a skein which is great for folks like me making gifts on a budget.








The neckwarmer can also be worn a number of ways....although I very much doubt my Mom Mom cares more about versatility than she cares about being warm:

Knitting Project: Scarf turns to Mini Scarf

Fall is just around the corner. My body can definitely sense the shift in seasons as it has been putting me through torture with a terrible hell of a sickness with the recent change in weather. On second thought, it also could be due to the fact that I've been detoxing the past few weeks and my body is craving junk food, cigarettes and booze.

At any rate, I've been working on some "warm" knitting projects to prepare for the impending coldness -- the first being a mini scarf.

It was initially supposed to be a gift in the form of a scarf, but due to circumstances out of the locus of my control the gift was no longer warranted.

With my tendency to always be cold I figured what better reason to turn the beginning of the scarf into a mini scarf.

Also, I'd like to note I got the kickass button from Windsor Button in Downtown Crossing. I spent about an hour there trying to figure out which button would work best for my mini scarf and I think I made the right decision.


Here it the scarf flat:







And here's the little guy wrapped around:











And the kickass button which I think really makes the scarf:

Knitting Project: Coaster for Gregy

This past week, coasters are my favourite thing to knit for two reasons -- they get rid of my endless supply of scrap yarn and they are great to make in a short amount of time (i.e. stuck on the traing or waiting for an appointment both of which I did this past week while on vacation).










For Gregy's birthday I decided to make him a coaster for his new desk at work. I was about a month or so late getting it to him so I decided to sacrifice one of my t-shirts from junior high to make it more special than just something I knitted up.

I miss this shirt, but now it really stopped fitting me properly a few years ago and now I get to see it every time I pass by Gregy's desk.










And check out the basketweave on this adorable creation!