slug death

slug death
Originally uploaded by itslynzee.

this one is for sandia. if only her garden weren't organic.

sigh.

mishaps

Nothing makes you feel like a bad parent than going out to your garden and finding that, due to your neglect, half of your tomato plant is now upside-down! In my defense, I was sick for one of the days that I didn't water, but even post-watering, the plant has not seemed to perk up. I already think it's infested with a disease that will eventually kill it, so it's not like it was in optimal condition and then my neglect caused it to go downhill overnight, but still.

In other news, I started to make a little crochet animal from The Happy Hooker, from a pattern by Camilla Engman. Somehow, it seemed like a good idea to start this one around midnight last night. It went a little something like this:

1. Start circle for body out of boucle yarn. Find it impossible to tell which are boucle loops and which are crochet loops. Swear. Attempt to tear out the work that you have done. Find that impossible.

2. Repeat step one.

3. Move on to regular wool, one-ply yarn. Find it difficult to slip stitch into only the back loop of the chain. Check directions to make sure that it's really supposed to be a slip stitch and not a single crochet. Decide that the crochet hook you are using isn't pointy enough on the top. Attempt to tear out the work that you have done. Find that impossible because the wool has started to felt to itself. Swear.

4. Change crochet hooks. It's still difficult. Remember how when you first started to crochet, you automatically only crocheted into the back loop because no one told you better. Lament that this process is no longer natural to you. Recheck the directions to make sure it's a slip stitch and not a single crochet.

5. Finally get the hang of it, using a G crochet hook, the smallest one that you have that isn't for crocheting lace. Realize that once there are less increases on the round, the fabric is more stable and easier to crochet into. Finish about 2/3 of the body. Think that it might be a little small. Start to get sleepy.

6. Right before going to bed, notice that the instructions start off with, "With the larger hook," whereas you are using the smaller hook. Go to bed in dispair.

7. The next morning, restart the process.



I still think the body looks a little small. I'm not sure how this guy is going to make it to be 12 inches tall, unless that measurement counts the legs too.

a couple random things

snacksby is cool! you type in stuff that you already have in your pantry or kitchen and it spits out recipes that fit your ingredients! the best part is their tagline.

"like macgyver, but for food"

HAHAHA...

i'm also very excited to potentially be visiting daiso next week. it's sort of a dollar store that is based in japan. recently, however, they opened up their flagship north america store in canada, and shortly after one in lynnwood, washington. =)

i googled it and came up with a couple of cool articles about how the store came to be and about it's founder.

oh! and a recipe for larb. larb?! say it with me now... laaaaarb. =) i had it at a thai restaurant awhile back and have been thinking about making it at home. in a lucky twist of fate, i have all the ingredients at home! (well except for roasted rice powder... who actually HAS that in their pantry at home?!)

donna hay

this cover makes me want to run right out and buy some brown cupcake liners and some purple ribbon! =) donna hay magazine makes me wish that i lived in australia. hahaha... when i used to have a barnes and noble credit card i would occasionally use my accumulated gift certificates to purchase her magazine. now that i longer accumulate gift certificates however, i can't really justify the cost of the magazine. but at least i can still drool over the website!

copia

hey! copia is having a foodie contest. maybe one of you guys will win and bring me along... cause the prize sounds pretty fun. =)

when did i discover i was a foodie? when my exboyfriend said to me... man! do you and your family talk about anything else besides food? HAHAHAHA... maybe that's why he's an EX. ;-)

whiplash

Since I've finished the school year, I was hoping that I would be able to participate in Whiplash, a competition sponsored by Whip-Up (see link on the sidebar). For an introduction, we were supposed to link to a photo of a good example of our crafting. People, I had to dig back to 2005 for these pom pom chickens!

Crafting is in a sad state over here. At least I have been cooking, so I have something to eat/blog about. I hope this will provide the needed impetus to be creative again.

smocks

There's been some talk around the blogsphere lately about smocks and similar tops with not a whole lot of shaping. I'm kind of on the fence. They do kind of look like maternity tops, and there really isn't a whole lot of need for that particular function around these parts, but what can I say? At least it's not a flowy top with a narrow, elasticized band around the bottom so the extra fabric gathers and bunches around the midsection/hips in an unflattering manner? At least I don't have to hold up the item and say to a friend, "Shirt or dress?"

I don't have one, but I have some fabric that might be suitable.

quote of the day

a quote from live from new york

"At times like this, life is not like a box of chocolate. It is more like a carton of Durians."

bumper sticker

i usually don't talk about political type things on here but the other day i saw the BEST bumper sticker...

"if god hadn't created homosexuals then there wouldn't BE any."

that was great. it had me laughing all the way home. =)

chocolate and zucchini

In a stress-induced foodblog browsing attack last weekend, I visited Chocolate and Zucchini. I'm not sure why, but I've never made any recipes from this site, even though they always look delicious. Two recipes in particular stood out, Pesto Fraise Basilic (Stawberry and Basil Pesto) and Cacao & Zucchini Absorption Pasta
maybe for their simplicity, and I've made them in the last week. I didn't take pictures because my camera is MIA under the heaps of books and papers that exploded all over my room.

My pesto turned out a sort of puke-like pink color, but is a really interesting combination of tastes and textures. The ground almonds almost end up feeling like strawberry seeds. There's only a hint of strawberry taste at the beginning of each bite, then the parmesan and then the basil taste, but maybe I'm overanalyzing.

The absorption pasta was pretty tasty as well. The garlic and broth infused into the pasta and I finally got around to eating some zucchinis from my garden. I doubled the recipe, which says it makes "one copious serving," but then proceeded to eat 75% of the dish for lunch. Oh well. Oink oink... which reminds me (I'm not making this up), I added bacon because I didn't have any cacao nibs. I know, bacon substituted for cacao nibs makes no sense, but it was tasty!

hallie hoffman

hallie hoffman
Originally uploaded by itslynzee.

i feel like blogging today. too bad i can't figure out how to get flickr to put more than one picture into the same post. oh well. the one person that reads this blog (sandia i'm referring to you!) will just have to suffer and read individual posts instead.

corndogandrootbeer and i, with baby in tow, headed out to check out a bird in the hand's display in the city. on the way there we stumbled upon a disply of hallie hoffman's handsewn animals inside of doe. tres cute! i also love the postcard that went along with the animals. it got a little mangled in my purse. but i think you get the idea. =)

strawberry

strawberry
Originally uploaded by itslynzee.

i do not have a green thumb. i think a more appropriate description for my thumb is brown. brown in that my thumb is very tanned from being outside all the time, and brown in that my thumb likes to kill all plants.

sometimes when i am out shopping however, i forget that i have this horrible knack for killing plants and i purchase a plant! *gasp* i bought a strawberry plant a few months ago. i remember thinking, "oh! it's only a dollar!" which is usually my rationnale for purchasing unnecessary items.

luckily this little guy is pretty resilient. four weeks of back to back business trips, a hot spell, and a cold spell later... i have a red strawberry! there were a couple others that got big before this one... but for some reason they turned brown. who knows how this one happened to survive. i'm just happy it's alive!

organic pest control

I've been working in the garden instead of crafting. Somehow the presence of living things that depend on care can wield a much more effective guilt trip than, say, an unfinished high-necked lace top. The plants will die, whereas, I will merely forget where I was on the top and have to re-read the instructions.

I have a plot in the apartment community garden, which is organic. If this were not the case, I would probably be throwing around snail pellets with reckless abandon. I read that slugs and snails may experience an electric shock when crawling over copper, so I have a small barrier of pennies around a melon seeding, but I don't have enough pennies to surround my entire garden. As it is, I think I still may end up getting some kind of "organic" snail pellets to control those slimy and disgusting predators. Ugh.

My new enemy, however, is the spotted cucumber beetle. The first time I saw one, I thought, "Aw, it's a green ladybug! They eat pests!" I was so naive. They eat vine plants, such as cucumbers, zucchinis and melons (aka about 50% of my garden). I haven't found any effective organic controls other than scooping them up with my trowel and smashing them against the dirt. Who knew gardening could be so hostile?

The most exciting discovery today has been that if you spray a mixture of 10-30% skim milk and water on leaves affected by powdery mildew (again, the afflicted plant is the zucchini... it can't win!), it helps to eliminate the disease. Yay organic solutions! Maybe this will get me to drink milk again.

P.S. I have a crafting date set up for Sunday. Woohoo!

squash blossoms and gender

I guess the title of the post should really be squash blossoms and sex (biological, not social construction), if I want to get all technical. I'm supposed to be writing a paper on racial and ethnic perspectives on feminism, but instead did a bunch of internet research on squash blossoms.

I ran into a classmate by the community garden after having just flattened a cucumber plant with an overly strong spray from the hose (oops). I showed him my plants and he said that if I ever had the need to give away any of my squash blossoms, then I should feel free. I usually just kind of leave them on the vine since I want the zucchinis, but I had just read some stuff about cucumbers and how the flowers are either male or female and only the female ones actually develop fruit. Lo and behold, zucchinis are the same way, so it's safe to harvest the male flowers without sacrificing any zucchinis, but the male blossoms have pesky anthers that you have to remove.

carrot dip

orange
Originally uploaded by itslynzee.

as per sandia's request here's the carrot dip recipe from food and wine...

the picture in this post is orange in homage to the carrot and because i didn't have a picture of carrots or of the dip in question.

Fiery Carrot Dip

Ingredients

* 2 pounds carrots, cut into 3-inch lengths
* 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
* 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
* 3 garlic cloves, minced
* 1 tablespoon honey (optional)
* 1 1/4 teaspoons harissa or other chile paste
* 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
* 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
* Salt
* 1/4 pound feta cheese, crumbled (about 1 cup)
* 3 pitted black olives

Directions

1. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the carrots and cook over moderately high heat until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain.
2. Transfer the carrots to a food processor. Add the olive oil, vinegar, garlic, honey, harissa, cumin and ginger and process to a smooth puree. Season the dip with salt.
3. Scrape the dip onto a platter or into a bowl. Scatter the feta cheese and olives on top and serve.

MAKE AHEAD The dip can be
refrigerated for 2 days. Serve at room temperature.
*****
lf's modifications were to omit the olives (because olives taste gross) and to use korean chili paste instead of harissa (i don't have harissa in the fridge ok? who has that stuff on hand anyways?)

vending machine art

i picked this little guy up for a mere quarter at a mall in orange county. the sign read coin op gallery and the vending machine was filled with buttons, all of them different. i couldn't resist. turns out my button has a sense of humor. =)

random fyi

Zakka = Japanese style kitsch for the home, see wikipedia for more information

A Bird in the Hand has a show in SF.

P.S. What happened to our tempura guy?

sweet potato quesadillas

I went to Mitsuwa today and even though it was around 90 degrees outside (50% humidity), the guy with the grilled sweet potatos was out there doing his thing. It smelled good even though I don't really like sweet potatos. It's one of those age-old mysteries. All signs point to me liking them (sweet, starchy), but for some reason I don't. Anyway, I thought lf might appreciate this recipe for sweet potato quesadillas that is on Furrybanana's site.