Currently I’m working (slowly) on updating links within this blog, and I’ve got some other ideas in mind too. If you notice anything broken or wonky, please let me know so I can make sure it’s on my to-do list!
I am also looking for books that cover the basics of WordPress 2, since I’m finding that the support and forums over at WordPress.com are helpful but a bit of a pain for me to use. I like being able to do things like slap a sticky note onto a page in a book and write something on it.
There are some basic problems I’m having with the new setup that are outside of WordPress – I can’t seem to get my new email set up, for example, even though it was supposed to be super easy. If I had more time on my hands, I think I wouldn’t mind so much.
Recipe: Perfect Vegan Sugar Cookies from the John & Kristie blog; includes recipe for the icing and photos showing how to dip the cookies. I used the edge of the bowl to gently smoosh off some of the excess, and sprinkled the vampires with sparkling sugar while the icing was still wet.
The icing needs to set for several hours before the cookies can be stacked; if you are also in Hawai'i and dealing with those super-annoying tiny ants that can get into just about anything, including Tupperware, and wondering how I managed, I laid them out in the snap-top plastic containers with the rubber lined lids – the ones I have are branded "Xeonic" and "Snapware" and I've purchased them at Don Quijote. It did occur to me this morning that I could have put them on a tray in the fridge for about an hour – I put the leftover icing in the fridge and it got solid very quickly.
You can find edible glitter, sanding sugar, and crystal sugar at Bake It Pretty (bakeitpretty.com), and they also carry cookie cutters (pine tree, "folk" pine tree, and "folk" gingerbread boy). I found cutters at a local grocery store (Star Market). Bake It Pretty will also be selling gel color paste soon. I used Wilton's Leaf Green gel color paste – about 1/2 teaspoon for half a batch of icing. I was worried about how long it might take to get in the mail (because I waited too long: note to self, order all Christmas-related stuff by Dec. 10th), so instead I had to go to three different stores before I found a white sparkling sugar at a specialty store (Executive Chef in Ward Shopping Center). It's the Dean Jacob's Sparkling Sprinkles. The ingredients list for the white sprinkles looks vegan, but the other colors in the container (I had to buy it as a set of 4) contain confectioner's glaze, which can be vegan but sometimes isn't.
If you are not familiar with Twilight, I like Cleolinda Jones' Twilight in 15 Minutes. I reviewed the book as "I have all kinds of problems with the characters, the plot, the writing style…and I could barely put it down. Grrf." Kidlet, she LOVES the books and the movie, and when the idea for Sparkling Vampire Sugar Cookies popped into my head, I knew what I was making for Christmas.
Foolhardy surfers out in the water despite the risks (underwater debris, contaminants, having to pick their way across the debris on the sand).
We were really, really lucky (the news footage explains why). I managed to get both bedrooms cleaned up by myself yesterday (including ripping out the carpet and carpet pad in my room), and after I mop the floors again (this time with a disinfectant solution), I plan to check for signs of mold on the furniture, sort through my stuff to see what will get thrown out, what I’ll keep, and what can be donated (I decided last night while clearing off the bookshelf that I definitely have Too Much Stuff), and then start moving things back into place (although I’m thinking about waiting until Sunday – it’s raining again as I type).
The urban industrial chic of my now-bare concrete bedroom floor (with edgy bonus of carpet tacks! – to be pulled out over the weekend) has little charm for me, but that just means I’ve got a good reason to think about knitting or crocheting some throw rugs. I won’t put down a new floor for at least a couple of months, and even when I do, it will probably be cheap tile.
If you've seen the news reports, yes, our area flooded. We're fine. Water came up just over the lip of the doorway, but the water went back down quickly, the dogs think it's awesome that they get to hang out in my cottage, and it looks like the only damage we'll be dealing with is minor stuff. The carpet in my bedroom got soaked, so later today I'll be moving out the heavy furniture and ripping out the carpet and then assessing what to salvage and what to toss. Much of my stash was stored at floor level, but in plastic tubs (and inside that, in plastic zip-top bags) so I'm pretty sure that most of it is fine.
The power is still on (at least for now), we have clean running water, and hey, I even have the internet. It might go out later today, though; some Etsy transactions may be delayed but I'll get them sent out as quickly as I can.
One of my globe-trotting friends sent me this gorgeous card, made in El Salvador with wildflowers. The cards are sold by Hope For Women, based in Vermont, and you can see more cards and get more information about the production of the cards and other fair trade products on their website.
From the back of the notecard: "Every woman is paid a fair, livable wage under safe and healthy working conditions. Each of these handmade cards of natural wildflowers and stylish expression carries their hope: to change their lives and the lives of their children for the better."
Kidlet wanted to go somewhere else for college and so she is; I'll be going with her to do things like drive, choose a rice cooker to buy, move things, and get really tired of being in a T*rget. It's not all drudgery for me; I can't afford to take much time off of work and I'm going to miss at least one class but I did manage to stick on a weekend in Portland, OR at the end of it. I'm going to be too late for the September Tigard Knitting Guild meeting and the TKGA Knit & Crochet Show but I could make it to the Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival. You might remember the last time I was in Oregon and went to the Flock & Fiber, where I spent 45 minutes crouched on the floor of the Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth, trying to choose yarn without getting hit by a shopper (I don't think any of them intended to hurt anyone but dang if you want to see some yarn enthusiasts get a little thin on the etiquette, open a fresh box of Socks That Rock), and my companions were entertained for approximately 20 minutes by the show alpacas (maybe more like 10. They tried to be polite about it). Because it's been almost 2 years since I've spent time with some of my nearest and dearest, I will probably skip the festival and stick to a short list including a trip to the Naked Sheep Knit Shop. The last time I was there, I took a dear one by the shop briefly so I could buy a gift certificate for someone else, and she took a liking to the shop and her latent crochet bug flared up (I'd taught her years before but for some of us, having a baby can really reorganize ones priorities). I will also definitely go to Powell's Books. The rest of it is maybe – the International Rose Test Garden, the Button Emporium & Ribbonry, the Moon & Sixpence Pub (best fish & chips I've ever had outside the UK and better than a lot of what I had there, Scotland included), Pearl Bakery, and even the Saturday Portland Farmer's Market will be a maybe (although if there are cherries and apples…we'll see).
Thank you for all the well-wishes for my hands – things are getting better, and I’m being treated for it by the primary at work (who made a hmmmm noise when I gave a brief explanation that glossed over just how bad it had gotten – the sort of hmmmm that says “I know you are omitting information but I’m not going to say anything about it right now”).
Now that I’m not spending as much time on the computer or with my hands full of yarn, I’m getting caught up on my for-fun reading. I’m currently engrossed in The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic–and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World – so much so that I missed my bus stop on the way home yesterday. I already knew the basics of the epidemic and about John Snow, but this book explains, on multiple levels, the nature of the epidemic and of cholera and the ways humans and microbes interact in a way that is both easy to understand and fascinating. This is an amazing book!
caoutchouc on the knithappens.com Virtual SNB forum – I can’t seem to log in to the forum, which is why I haven’t gotten back to you – I charted out the increases and I am working on the chart for the decreases.
I’m having some trouble with the stitch legend; the gray squares are the ‘no stitch’ but the legend shows a blank square. I’m also not understanding why the legend has two listings for knit.
2 1/2 cups lemon/lime/calamansi juice (I’m working with a heap of assorted citrus)
what was supposed to be 1/2 pint fresh blueberries, but I ate some
(bought them at the co-op – expensive! But sweet and flavorful)
Half the water in a small pot with the sugar and blueberries, brought
to boil and then simmered until the blueberries started to pop. Mashed
the blueberries and then added the zest from one lemon to the mix and
let it cool, then strained out the blueberries. Mixed all together and served over ice, garnished with a few more blueberries. It’s a really pretty bright pinky-purple, and I can taste
blueberry, but not as strongly as I’d like to. Next time I think I’ll use frozen blueberries and blend them up with the immersible blender and leave them in the lemonade. I might also use about 1/2 cup – 3/4 cup agave nectar and leave out the sugar (agave nectar is sweeter than cane sugar). I was a little concerned about the taste of the agave, but the light version is very mild.
Yes, yes, I could try making mango lemonade… :P
I used this metric conversion table to figure out the metric version of the recipe, but I did guess a bit at the weights:
1.25 liters water
170 grams turbinado sugar (I don’t know if this goes by another
name overseas – I also see it called raw sugar, although it’s been
processed and isn’t truly raw).
125 ml light agave nectar
The end of the semester is coming up fast but I’m still finding time to do some unrelated reading.
Yesterday, after reading a review of The Achewood Cookbook on the Redshirt Knitting Blog, I went over to the Achewood site and bought it. The Teen has been wanting to learn to cook more than scrambled eggs and chocolate chip cookies, but what I consider basic and what she considers basic doesn’t mesh so well. Last night I made Chicken Piccata, which I think is easy and she thinks is whoa back up and do I really have to touch raw chicken with my hands?
I missed the memo about Achewood and so hadn’t even read a single comic strip until I went over to buy the cookbook. Like Erika, I don’t really “get” most of the humor, but I do get that this is a great way to explain how to cut potatoes for home fries:
The Right Cut
The home fry potato should be cut into uniform cubes about the size of computer keyboard keys. This makes them big enough to get a crispy surface while just turning creamy soft on the inside. It also makes them easier to pick up with a fork and stick some eggs with. Much smaller and they’d be trouble to a fork.
(A meditation on home fries, thoughts & recipe by Roast Beef)
Chris Onstad’s career as an online cartoonist is related some to an ongoing conversation on Ravelry about “copyleft” and other alternative business models, like “1,000 True Fans.” John Scalzi’s blog post, The Problem With 1,000 True Fans, Robert Rich’s blog post 1000 True Fans (an answer), and the recent NY Times Magazine article “Sex, Drugs, and Updating Your Blog” by Clive Thompson (Jonathan Coulton and other internet-based musicians on how they make their living) have been giving me food for thought. Without the internet, I don’t think I would have gotten into knit/crochet design work. I didn’t know how things would develop – I started my own blog primarily because it’s part of the business plan, such as it is. Mostly it was because Jodi Green said something to me along the lines of “dude, you are too hard to find” and she was right. Some of this business is very new territory, and so much of it I could not have anticipated. Right now I think I’m lucky that knit/crochet design is not my primary job, and I’m really glad that the potential for me to grow slowly is there. I’m still finding out what works for me and makes other people happy too.
– so much so that I missed my bus stop on the way home yesterday. I already knew the basics of the epidemic and about John Snow, but this book explains, on multiple levels, the nature of the epidemic and of cholera and the ways humans and microbes interact in a way that is both easy to understand and fascinating. This is an amazing book!
although I’ve set it aside until I finish Ghost Map.
, I look forward to comparing Chris Onstad’s take on a basic cookbook with Mollie Katzen’s. 
