ginger

1. I've been trying to get a handle on my Flickr account (I have over 12,000 images, and I had forgotten that at least 11,000 of them exist.), and I found this photo, taken on a walk around my old neighborhood in Harlem. I think Kira & I were walking to this cafe across from the top of Central Park, if I'm not mistaken. It reminds me very much of what it looks like outside right now.
   
2. Remember when I made beans? It turns out that I most definitely did not cook them long enough, either in the slow cooker or in the pan when I made the first batch. But! I made the rest of the beans yesterday, and I cooked them in what seemed like way too much water (because the first batch was so dry, you see), and I added all of these spices and also salt (here is something I learned--if you use dried beans instead of canned beans, you're probably going to want to add a bit of salt, because you know that liquid that canned beans are in? that's basically salty brine.), and I cooked them forever, and they turned out totally fucking delicious. So, you know, victory for Marina! Finally; I was starting to forget that I am actually kind of good at cooking.
3. I am actually going to be able to update my Etsy shop on Monday. I have things to list and photos of said things and I have even started writing up little blurbs about what said things are. That is probably my least favorite part; I keep wanting to write "It's a purse! It's awesome! Buy it! Give me money now!" but that would probably not be a very effective selling technique.
4. It seems that it is going to be another gray rainy day, which is really fucking annoying, as I need to get some work done today. I think I might actually go to a coffee shop to do work, depending on how much it's raining, I guess. I haven't done that in forever, and I just remembered yesterday that sometimes getting out of the house can lead to me being a much more focused, efficient person. Surprising that I would be more focused when I'm away from all of the things that distract me.
5. Wow, I am blogging a lot lately. I go through phases, I guess. Sometimes I forget that I've been doing this off and on since 2002. Holy shit, that's seven years. I'm not sure how I feel about that...

grey

I made this journal cover last week. I'm relatively pleased with how it turned out, though I'm going to adjust my pattern a bit when I make my next one. I'd like to make a few to sell at craft fairs this summer. Which means I should really actually fill out & submit applications for some craft fairs. Anyway. This one turned out well for a first try, and I'm kind of psyched that I figured out the basic pattern entirely on my own.









I made the bag last night. The fabric is Anna Maria Horner & some brown Kona cotton. I'm pretty happy with it. I'm finalizing my pattern for this bag--I say pattern like I have an actual physical pattern that I'm updating, when really I just sort of remember all the measurements that I used and will probably use the same ones next time. I think I might actually list it on Etsy, though probably not today. It's very gray and gross out, and I don't know that I'll be able to take any good photos of it. This one was taken last night with a flash, which is why it looks like shit. The bag is nice though.


There's not a whole lot going on besides that. This day feels a bit off. I've been cleaning, just to feel like I'm doing something. The beans I started yesterday finally finished cooking, I think. I took them out of the slow cooker at least. The recipe I used was meant to prepare dried beans to be used in place of canned beans, so I guess they're probably at that point? I'll make something with them and see how it goes, I guess. I made some more lentils using a recipe from a cookbook my mom bought for me. 400 recipes using three & four ingredients. She bought it at Costco; probably it's available other places too. It's pretty okay so far. The recipe that I used is supposedly dhal, but since it uses almost no seasoning and no ghee, I think that's a bit of a stretch. Still, it's a good lentil recipe, and I'm figuring out how to season it.

Oh god, this is boring! "I made lentils today, they were okay." I'm sorry! Next time, I'll try to have a recipe or at least a good photo or something.

alien bread

This is what happens when I don't let the bread rest long enough before baking.

baked

I'm in the process of making both a loaf of bread and pizza dough. The bread is going to suck--too much water, not enough flour, it's totes not raising right--but I think the pizza dough is going to be amazing. Did I mention I got a Kenmore stand mixer for Christmas? It's amazing.

Still no Jamaica photos, much less baking photos. I could go through and clear hard drive space so I can upload more photos, or I could continue sitting around in my pajamas, with brief interruptions for sewing and/or baking. I love winter break.

catching up

Okay, trying to remember to post things here on a semi-regular basis. Also trying to take more photos, so hey guess what?



Made using this recipe, with a few modifications--yogurt instead of sour cream and quick-rise flour instead of cake flour. I accidentally bought quick-rise flour instead of all-purpose flour last time we went grocery shopping; do not buy quick-rise flour. It just makes everything more difficult.



Coaster I made last night, sitting on top of pieces I'm going to use to make three more. Coasters were one of the first things I made when I was relearning how to sew. This is probably the best one I've made yet; it was nice to realize that I have indeed gotten better at sewing.

More photos later.

homemade

I am now the secretary of the UWM student chapter of the Society of American Archivists. Exciting!

I also made some peanut butter with my food processor. Double exciting!!



Click the photo for more pictures of peanut butter (you know you want to see more pictures of peanut butter). I reused a peanut butter jar, so it feels so much more official than the first time I made it (I used Tupperware). Next time, I want to try adding things. Definitely honey, possibly chocolate? Or cinnamon? Or maybe cayenne? Probably I would use the cayenne mix to make peanut sauce.

Next on my list of things to make myself instead of buying premade--salsa!

i hate thinking of titles

1. I made Tofu Tikka Masala tonight, and it was actually sort of good. Seriously, I sort of enjoyed eating tofu. Weird.

2. What is with this fucking numbered list thing? Oh, that's right, I can't pay attention to anything long enough to come up with a coherent transition between thoughts.

3. Dogma was better than I expected and surprisingly deep for a Kevin Smith movie.

4. Packing sucks. Which is weird, because the Packers are so awesome.

5. Haha I made a funny!

6. Not that I did that much packing today; mostly it was throwing things away in preparation for packing later.

7. Things are happening behind the scenes, and I can't really talk about it, but said things seem to be looking up, sort of kind of maybe.

8. Is it just me or is it getting really annoying that 90% of what I talk about here is how I can't talk about anything here? Perhaps I need to rethink this whole blog.

9. Time to watch Kill Bill II!!!