First paycheck!

Tomorrow. We are going to T-Rex from 3-6 this Saturday if you want join us. MMM cocktails.

Finished object

Very nice. Silk garden by Noro.

Portland

Here in Portland for Memorial Day. Down to Eureka tomorrow then back to Berkeley on Wed.
Using a computer at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry right now.

Coming to a city near you!

Well I am on my big tour of the Pacific Northwest again. Currently sitting in a cafe in Boise. Headed up to Salmon this afternoon then onto St Maries (and possible Spokane) then Seattle and Portland for Memorial Day weekend. Picking up my little brother in Salmon. He just turned 21 and this will be the first time anyone has driven the big circle with me. Going counter clockwise this year instead of clockwise so we can be in Portland for Memorial Day.
Then bro and I are going to check out a few things (read vineyards and brewery and bars) around the Bay Area until June 2nd. I probably won't be in contact most of the time.
Man I feel so yuppie. Blogging in a cafe. :)

Thanks Secret Pal

Little package from secret pal a couple days ago. Thanks!

First square.

Well not quite so little. The 4 inch square. Didn't do it it quite right and had to sew the edges. I have improved since then.

Weaving time...

More fun with Ebay. I got a couple of different mini weaving contraptions on ebay in the past couple weeks. The first two are Weave It's, which are both highly rated at eLoomaNation. The 4 inch is in excellent condition despite it being the older wooden version. The 2 inch is slightly more used but still is pretty good condition.
The third one is a Wonder Weaver and works a bit more like a real loom. I checked out the loom site to get a rating but didn't see it until after I had bid. Apparently this is not top rated because it tends to slip when you use it. I can totally see where that would be a big problem. Still going to try it out. Stay tuned for little squares which may or may not become much bigger objects.

Are you being watched?

Sometimes I feel eyes on the back of my neck. This is usually what I see when I turn around.

Lamb's Pride Scarf

I took the lamb's pride bulky that my secret pal from secret pal 10 sent me and produced this short scarf. It is in 1 x 1 rib about 12 stitches across using size 15 needles. I am not sure how I want to finish it. It is pretty plain and only about 5 feet long so I was thinking of edging it in some black yarn and then putting some fringe on it. I think I have some cascade 109 that is about the same thickness. I also have some fingering weight black alpaca yarn that also might look nice. I go back and forth. Until I decide this is going to stay in my almost finished pile. Any thoughts?

Botanical Garden Sale

This weekend was the university's annual botanical garden sale. We showed up right before the doors opened and headed straight for the carnivore plants. Karrie and I both picked up an abalone shell filled with tiny little bug eaters; mine was mainly sundews and venus fly traps.





Also in that general vicinity was all of the succulants along with a bowl of salsa and some Mexicana music. I picked up three, an Oscularia deltoides azioaceae, an Echeveria crassulaceae, and an Aeonium crassulaceae. It hasn't been that sunny since I got them so they are getting enough light.






Finally, I picked up two Tillandsia sometimes called air plants. I really like these little guys. We met one of the volunteers who cares for them, and she puts them on these neat drift wood pieces. One of mine is a butzii and the other is a caulescens.
I like all my new plants, and thankfully Pablo has not shown any interest on gnawing on them. I am keeping the carnivores well out of his way though.

Cooking on a Sunday...

I spent a good part of the afternoon with the oven on. It made the house nice and toasty. It also meant that I now have lots of tasty stuff to eat.

First off, I made bake some swedish meat balls from Ikea with some potatoes and cream sauce. Tasty.

Next, I made a recipe that came from a cookbook that my third grade class made as a class project for some holiday like Christmas or Mother's Day. The last time I went home I couldn't find the cookbook so I think it got tossed. That was too bad because there were some good recipes in there. This one one of two that I had digitally so they were saved (the other one is a fruit pizza from Buff Bills). It came from Fauna Woehlke, a friend up through highschool who I have seen not nearly enough since. There were no spices other than salt and vanilla in the original recipe so I added them. I omit the nuts because I like my desserts neutered . I made this one with big fat grains of sugar on top, but you can't really see it in the photo.


Banana Bread

3/4 c sugar
1/2 c oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup mashed bananas
1 3/4 c sifted flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1.2 c chopped walnuts

1/4 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. cloves
1/2 t. cinnimon

In a bowl combine salt , flour, baking powder, soda and spices. in another bowl
combine sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla, beat vigorously until frothy. Add
bananas and blend. fold into flour mixture until blended, pour into
greased bread pan. Bake at 325 degress for one hour until crust is brown.
Use toothpick to test for doneness. Remove from pan to a rack. Let stand
10 minutes and invert pan. Cut into inch slices.



Finally, I decided to play with my grandmother's recipe for rhubarb sauce.

In addition to the 6 cups of chopped rhubarb and 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water which I boil I added some zest and some nutmeg.
When it was a little further along than this (chunks beginning to disentigrate), I added an 1/8 of a cup tapioca. I boiled it for about five minutes and removed the pan from the heat. I let it cool 1 minute and added a half a teaspoon of vanilla.
This turned out a lovely shade of pink. I froze half of it and put the rest in the fridge. It tasted a little sweeter than normal. Now if only I had some ice cream I could eat it.

Vintage cookbook habit

It seems I have a bit of problem with buying vintage cookbooks (let's define vintage as more than 25 years old). I joined a vintage cookbook swap by pumpkinvine on swapbot a couple of weeks ago. I went through all my cookbooks and found I didn't want to part with with which qualified for required age of "older than 1975". The swap required sending books to two separate partners so I decided to buy a couple books to send. I went on ebay to find something suitable. I went into a bidding frenzy. By bidding on the wrong item, and bidding on too many items and wrongly assuming other people would outbid me on at least a couple, I ended up purchasing 30 books and phamplets. One busy afternoon. One of those turned out to be not what it was advertised as so the guy is supposed to be refunding me. That brings me back down to 29.

While all my bids were busy stewing, I was walking to and from Berkeley Bowl and spotted a pile of free stuff. I was able to pick up a cat carrier. I then noticed the cookbooks. I picked up all the guy laid out (5) along with a book on wine and one on gardening. This brought me up to 34 for that day. Two that I picked up were this cute phamplet on Hungarian cooking from 1965 and book on fondues which is more contemporary (1980).






I checked the mail the next day and what had arrived but my first vintage book from the swap. Turns out my secret swapper was none other than originator of the swap, pumpkinvine herself, who had gone above and beyond her own guideline and sent me one large color cookbook and two vintage phamplets. For those of you counting that is 37 books and phamplets in just 2 days. The quick dishes for the woman in a hurry is probably my favorite. Like the Hungarian one I found in the street, this one was published by the Culinary Arts Institute in Chicago. This one is from 1955, and nearly every savory recipe calls for MSG. Karrie seemed to like the Bisquick one from Betty Crocker (1959). The last book is from Better Homes and Gardens and is from 1963. I have a whole set of 20 of these large picture books from Better Homes and Gardens from 1958 coming in the mail so this one will have some company.

So I am waiting for one other partner to send me vintage cookbooks from this swap, a blank cookbook from another swap and the 40 books and phamplets which should be in the mail from ebay(I am adding in the ones I bought today). Most notable are one seafood from 1927, one from 1918 called Institute Cook by Helen Cramp, a 1931 Pet Milk recipes book and a first edition Ladies Home Journal Cookbook from 1960. Still trying to get that Meta Givens Encyclopedia of Cooking though. So perhaps soon it should be 41. Then I am going to stop buying them on ebay.

Note I didn't say that I would stop buying them all together. I think I am going to focus more on books from earlier than 1960 now though. And look more for them at thrift store and antique fairs. While I was able to get stuff pretty cheap off of e-bay, I would like to not have to pay shipping. While the joy of winning an auction is great it is no where near the joy of finding something great in a pile of crap at a yardsale.

First interview!

I got my first job interview next Friday. At a firm I thought had probably thrown out my resume like a month ago. Turns out that they didn't and they liked me and I am interviewing for a job that hasn't even been posted yet. *fingers crossed*

Hurrah, Thanks Secret Pal

I got my very first package from Secret Pal 10 today. There were a bunch of tasty little coffee candies and a couple bags of ginger tea. There were also two skeins of yarn, one ball of Lamb's Pride Bulky wool mohair blend in the color Kiwi and one skien of Rio de la Plata Hand Spun Kettle Dyed, 100% Wool in forest green. Not sure what to do with them quite yet but I think you will probably see they again as a hat or something of that nature.

Decadence Cake

I made a chocolate decadence cake for the Seder at Abby's parents house this weekend. It went over well so I thought I would post the recipe again. This picture though is from another party. This weekend we just had it with strawberries and nothing else. Very tasty. The texture was great this time.


Chocolate Decadence Cake
6 oz semi sweet chocolate (I use only Scharffen Berger or another high quality chocolate)
7 oz bittersweet chocolate (I sometimes use 8)
5 oz water
6 oz sugar
9 oz butter (softened)
6 eggs
3 oz sugar
12 oz heavy whipping cream (for decoration)
shaved chocolate (for decoration)

Preheat over to 350 degrees.
Butter and paper one 9 inch cheese cake pan
Chop chocolate finely.
Bring water and sugar (6 oz) to a boil. Remove from heat.
Stir in chocolate and melt completely.
Stir butter into chocolate mixture until melted.

Whip eggs with 3 oz sugar to ribbon stage (not sure what that means for whole eggs but I usually let them go for 3 minutes or so).
Fold egg mixture into chocolate mixture until completely incorporated. (this was more of vigorous beating more than a folding this time)
Pour batter in prepared cake pan.
Bake in water bath (about half way up) at 350 degrees for about 40 mins until top solidified.
Chill at least 2 hours.
Warm bottom of pan slightly before unmolding
Decorate with whipped cream and shaved chocolate or fruit. (I like raspberries, whipped cream, and dark chocolate a lot).

This also goes well with Bonny Doon Frambiose or with a nice port. It can serve up to 16 easily I think since we served 14 and had some left over on Saturday. You have to make sure you are dipping the knife in hot water and wiping it off after ever slice though. It is a bit sticky.

Two balls should be enough.

So the noro silk garden scarf I started is officially half way done. I think is is going rather well don't you? Just about three feet long and I am through with one ball of yarn. The transition between the two balls is going to be a little abrupt I think, but there is enough color in the entire scarf to handle it. Here is a blurry close up as well. It is pattern I made up on the fly.

Bloody Oranges

Trader joes has done it again! They just keep coming up with these great products that make me very happy. One that they had before Christmas that I absolutely loved but was gone in the stores I go to until recently was the Italian Volcano Blood Orange Juice.
This juice is tangy and refreshing. Great for breakfast or mixing up a cocktail. I have yet to try it with champagne but that would be a way to incorporate both breakfast and cocktails. If you haven't tried it, you should. In fact go out right now and get some and make some martinis.

Bloody Orange Martini

2 jiggers Gin
1 jigges Triple sec
3-4 jiggers Blood orange juice
2 cocktail cherries per glass
2 slice lime
2 slice orange
ice

Combine gin, triple sec, and blood orange juice in shaker with ice. Shake well. Place cherries in chilled martini glass and pour mixture over cherries. Garnish with slice of lime and slice of orange. This should make two cocktails or one large cocktail for one lucky person. You can also use vodka.

Antique Fair for April

It has become my monthly ritual. Get up early on the first Sunday of the month, hit Cole Coffee in Rockridge for a morning bun and some celebes roast, and head over to the god forsaken island to check out the Alameda Point Antiques and Collectibles Faire. Way too many things I like there all way above my price and space limits. I do however pick up quite a few small things every month, and this month was no exception.
I got this nifty little travel vodka kit. Apparently they used to make all sorts of portable bar sets designed to fit under the seat of a plane. This one has a carrying case designed to fit up to two standard fifth or wine bottles, four cups, a bottle opener, a wine opener, and a spoon for stirring. Makes me want to go somewhere and make martinis right now. Also found this lovely little ice bucket to continue in the bar theme.




As always I checked out the booth that sells old knitting needles and this time the woman had brought her "whole get up". I bought several pairs of needles (perhaps for swapping perhaps not) and some crochet hooks and a couple of old 1950's pamphlets. The book seller I usually buy from didn't have anything I wanted, but I did find a 1966 copy of Mastering the Art of French cooking by Julia Child et al. I had be meaning to buy it anyway so I went ahead and got this one. Forgot to haggle though. You should always haggle.


I didn't find any aprons that were in the price range I like but I did find some cute linens. One was an old hanky with spinning wheels embroidered on it and three napkins with a geometric design. I managed to make it all the way through the market this month. Went down every aisle, walked by every booth (some twice). Stopped at quite a few. Still have my eye out for a couple of things that have eluded me. Well, perhaps I shall find them next month. I think my aunt will be here and can go shopping with me.

Happy Gato

Pablo proves the point that even if the house in entirely clean and the only thing out is one jacket on the bed, he will find it, rub his face all over it, and sleep on it.

Pablo el gato muy loco is content in the sun.

Another scarf, thanks Secret Pal 9 :)

So I started another scarf using some of the yarn I got from Amy of knit exploits during secret pal 9. This is the teal/blue mix Noro Silk Garden. It is a bit brighter than I would have picked out for myself, but I think I really like it. That is one of the things I like about the secret pal swap. You get things that you wouldn't pick out yourself necessarily but somehow people can pick something awesome.
There are a couple colors that I can see on the ball that have not yet shown up on the scarf so it will get more interesting I think as time goes on. I am using size 8 needles that I got at the Alameda Antique Fair, one from each of two sets because I lost one on the train.

Well, I got pretty far into the first ball, and it wasn't even a foot long so I ripped it out and restarted. I think I might still try and buy another ball.