Trying to get back on the train

I’ve been in a bit of a blogging rut lately.

Okay, for a good loooong while. But I’m trying to get better.

I haven’t been knitting much lately, but what I have been doing lots of is sewing. Please excuse the word light post in exchange for some pretty pictures.

Hip bag. Not hip as in hipster or cool, but as in it sits on your hip. Two buttons and a clip make the closure. I’ve since changed the clip to a split ring.  It attaches around the waist. It could go through belt loops, but I’m too lazy for that. A simple zebra cell phone pouch that slides onto my belt. I’ve also got a pink one. I’m not afraid of zippers anymore! And my passport has a place to live. My herbs are doing well. My cactus… not so much. My tomato plants are looking strong.

I’ve also been cooking a bit. Nothing too exciting, but still some good stuff. In June I’m going to be taking part in Oh She Glow’s Salad A Day challenge. If you follow me on twitter or just want some awesome salad ideas, keep your eyes peeled for #saladaday.

-Cheers folks!

Birthday Cupcake Trial

Vegan muffins? Yup. Vegan burgers? Yes. Vegan chocolate cake? Mmhmm. Vegan pancakes? Indeed. Vegan cupcakes? ……

I had tried my hand Veganizing a few recipes before, but seeing as I didn’t really have much use of my old kitchen, and Mr’s kitchen being tiny (Even smaller than the Smitten Kitchen kitchen!), I didn’t do much baking. None really. We made pizza from a pizza crust we bought at the store, but I don’t count that. Now that I have a decent sized kitchen and all my baking stuff to go with it, I’m baking again!

I spent a chunk of time on the 15th trying out my first vegan cupcakes. I based them off of these from Life in Limbo. Mister wanted “a chocolate cake. No! A chocolate vanilla swirly cake thing. With cherry filling!” Changing from the original idea I mentioned a while ago about a roll cake, I omitted the cherries, and changed it into cupcake form, and this is what I came up with.

Awesome cupcakes. I added a chocolate mint frosting to them once they cooled. Sooooo good.

We devoured the entire batch (2 dozen minis) far quicker than I had imagined. I had hoped to be able to save at least a dozen for the party (which is tomorrow), but alas, we ate them all. So now I get to bake a batch of lime cupcakes today (they will have coconut milk frosting), and then tomorrow will be another batch of these (with chocolate mint frosting), and a batch of cherry cupcakes (with cherry frosting).

Now I must go bake.

-Cheers folks!

Vegan Oat Bean Burgers

I made these just after the banana muffins, but haven’t posted yet. Oops.

I based them off of Angela’s recipe from Oh She Glows, but changed them up as to what I had in our fridge. No carrots? Leave them out. No bread? Means no breadcrumbs. No parsley, no almonds, no sunflower seeds. So basically these are black beans, carmelized onions, green peppers, oats, soy sauce, cumin, chili powder, soy sauce, garlic and flax eggs.

They came together really nicely, but I think next time I’ll use a little less flax eggs as it seemed I had to add way too much flour and oats (even to make up for the lack of bread crumbs). It may also have been due to the fact that it was raining when I made them. (Me + humidity in the kitchen can be quite the crap shoot.) I got 12 patties out of the mix, and found out that the tiny storage containers I got from Ikea when I first moved to Ottawa fit a single patty really well. Makes it so easy to grab one out of the freezer, toss it in the microwave or onto a hot pan, and voila! burger. The Vegan Mister wholeheartedly approved, and wants more. We topped them with loads of pickles, huge slices of tomato, lettuce, relish, ketchup, mustard, and I added a bit of cheddar (I’m vegetarian, not vegan, but enjoy all these awesome vegan recipes). Also we couldn’t find any hamburger buns that were completely free of milk or eggs (Mister avoids anything that says “May contain…”) so we just had them on toast.

Tonight I’ll be trying Vegan Dad’s Sausages. My beans are simmering on the stove, and I’m soon to head to the local Blahblahs to see if I can find Vital Wheat Gluten and Nutritional Yeast. It might mean a trip up to the health food store if it’s not in the big chain. We shall see.

Also keep your eyes peeled for Mister’s Birthday cupcake trial run. I had hoped to keep a dozen or so for the actual party, but we ate them all. Darn.

-Cheers folks!

Hello Friends

It’s been far, far too long.

Since my last post, I have moved. Twice. Been given a sewing machine. Got lots new kitchen stuff. Knitted a plethora of things. Taken pretty much no pictures of anything. Been back to Halifax three times. Baked numerous yummy items. Gone vegetarian. Become attached to a vegan. Been given a Derby name (Gwen Stacy).

So I’m just going to start from today.

Banana muffins.

Vegan. Recipe from The Clean Eating Mama. I used pumpkin pie spice instead of all the individual spices because I still haven’t gone through all the spices I have since the move. Also, I have a paper bag labelled “Katie Spices” which I got at a going away party for a Derby friend where she told us to pretty much take her entire kitchen contents. The spices in said bag, are in individual bags though. Not just a mash of rosemary, thyme, crushed red pepper flakes, etc.

Speaking of kitchens. This is mine. It’s the first time that I’ve really been able to get my kitchen the way I want it. And the table is awesome. You can’t see the stove, or sink, but they are there behind me. Trust me.

Please excuse the mess of boxes. If you can believe it, we have already been through a garbage week and gotten rid of most of our moving boxes. What I really want to showcase is the cereal shelf. We tend to go through a whole mess of cereal. And not just the sugary crazy rot your teeth kind. There is a box of Raisin Bran, and some Almond Crunch. And there are containers of Special K and Shreddies in the actual cupboard too. It all goes well with Fruit Loops, Reece’s Peanut Butter Puffs, and Chocolate Cheerios (which I am still not 100% on).

I also made a vegan chocolate cake from a recipe I found on Instructables. Haven’t tried it yet, but we shall see. I just made an 8’ square cake, but this is supposed to be a birthday cake for the fella. He asked for a chocolate cake with cherry pie filling. I was thinking a Roll cake, but I don’t know if I can pull it off. If not, I could also do a round layer cake with cherry filling. Chocolate frosting or a glaze? Or a veganized ganache?

I hadn’t heard the animals for a while, so I went investigating.

Found this in the bedroom, then I looked up to my right.

He apparently didn’t like my investigation. Either that, or he just wanted a little loving.

Let sleeping dogs lie.

 

-Cheers!

Finishing and Forties

I’m a bad blogger. I know I am, but I’ve been a little busy, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

I finished my green cabled sweater though, and I’m in love.

My only issue is the length, I would have liked it to have been just a touch longer, as it is now it’s okay, but just another inch would have been wonderful. I used a very simple hook and eye clasp for the closure. Knowing that buttons would have been too heavy I had first attempted a snap sewn onto the button band, but it pulled too much and looked funky. So I sewed the clasp right to the edge of the band. Now it doesn’t pucker. It’s also so simply elegant that I love it. More pictures on my Flickr.

In other news, I had the week off last week from OLT. Having just finished up Honeymoon at Graveside Manor (which was 5 weeks of insanity and fun), and knowing that Inspecting Carol was right around the corner, I specifically set out to not be involved with EODL. I needed some “me” time. But, now I’m back; two weeks of rehearsals on stage, then three weeks of the show. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, I really need to learn to say “I’ve had enough”.

I’ve been trying out some new hairstyles the last couple days, yesterday I went with a 1940s down-do, pretty much the same as this. She actually has a bunch of tutorials on youtube about 1940/50 style. In fact, I used this video as a guide. I did use my new 1.5” curling iron to put some more curl in the hair that I left down, but I wish I had a smaller diameter curling iron… New purchase? Yea, like I need an excuse. I then had on a dress I bought a couple years ago, which is fairly flowey and almost 1940s-ish. Obviously, for shoes I had on my spectators. I don’t have a picture, but I was looking pretty good.

That’s all for now, I say it all the time, but I am going to try to post more often. I promise.

-Cheers folks

Return of the Living Blogger

I’ve been absent for a while, I know. I’m sorry.

I finished a beret.

It’s Laurel from Jared Flood’s Made in Brooklyn. I love it so much.

I’ve been knitting on other things, just not finishing them. So no other knitting news really.

I did make potato and bacon soup today though. It was super easy, and fairly cheap to boot.

What you need: Potatoes, onions, garlic, bacon, milk, butter, chicken stock mix.

Boil about 5 large potatoes that have been diced to about a half inch in just enough water to cover, add about 2tbsp chicken stock mix (don’t add salt to the water, the stock mix is salty enough). Fry up about a half pound of bacon to extra crispy (try not to eat it all), set bacon aside. Mince about 4 cloves of garlic and two small onions. Drain off about half the bacon fat, sauté the onions and garlic in the bacon pan. Add about 2 cups milk to the potato/chicken stock mix.

This is where preference comes in, I mashed about a quarter of the potatoes just to thicken up the soup a bit. You could add flour or corn starch, but I opted for mashing.

Chop up the bacon as fine or coarse as you like, add to the soup. Once the onions have become translucent add them to the soup. Bring up to a simmer, adding more milk if it’s too thick. Add about 2tbsp of butter. Continue to simmer until you get the consistency you’d like.

I didn’t really have a recipe when I made this, I just winged it, and I must say it came out really well. It’s such a great base for adding to. Like it spicy? Try adding some chilli powder. Want it cheesey? Add cheese.

As to the cost, well… I bought 10lbs of potatoes (2.99), 2L of milk (3.89), bacon (4.49), 2lbs of onions (1.50), and garlic (0.26), and some things I had in my cupboard, like the chicken stock mix. What I actually used though I’d estimate at:

Potatoes	0.50
Milk	1.00
Bacon	2.25
Onions	0.20
Garlic	0.05
Chicken Stock	0.20
Total	4.20

Break that down into the 7 portions I got out of it, and it means that each bowl of soup costs about $0.60. Insane right? I think I need to make more soup like this.

-Cheers folks.

Doors

Apparently I have a thing for doors. Last week I repainted the door to our balcony.

It had been a gray-blue that I wasn’t a fan of, and to top it off I’m pretty sure an indoor paint had been used on it, because it was chipped and peeling like nobody’s business. It took me two days to strip the paint, fill in the cracks, sand, fill in again, sand once again, and then put on three coats. It still didn’t turn out as good as I’d have liked, but I used an entire quart of paint. I wasn’t buying another.

I’ve also decided to do something to the door to my bedroom. I’m sorry about the horrible picture quality, but it was late, and there was very little light. It’s a Swedish Proverb. “Fear less, hope more. Eat less, chew more. Whine less, breathe more. Talk less, say more. Love more, and all good things will be yours.” Now I just need to find some paint, which is proving harder than I’d like. Just means a trip to WalMart is in order. Alas, today is far to hot for that bike ride.

-Cheers folks!

Halloween in August

I apparently had a fit of planning ahead this week. I decided on Sunday that I wanted to be a Star Fleet officer from Star Trek. The original series none the less. That meant finding a short red dress, buying a Star Trek costume, or making one. Buying a red dress seemed to be way too much hassle, and would end up being more expensive than I would like. Buying a Star Trek costume was practically impossible last year (even though I did leave it fairly late… October 30th anyone?), not to mention expensive. No way I would spent nearly $70 on a costume. So that left me with making one. I’ve made clothing and costumes before, there was no sweat there. The only problem is that I don’t have a sewing machine. Still, no huge problem, I’m a decent hand sewer, it just takes so long to do it. I set about searching to find a pattern. In doing so, I stumbled upon this awesome idea. I was sold.

Monday I went to WalMart to find a 2XL men’s shirt. I didn’t really care whether I was Command gold, Sciences/Medical blue, or Engineering red. I just wanted a colour that looked like the Star Trek colour. I ended up with a red shirt. I know, I know, say it with me, “Expendable”. But there were no good blues, and no yellows to be seen.

Step 1, get the outline right.

Unlike the girl in the video, I have hips. So I had to make sure to leave room for them. I also didn’t want it to hug my behind like hers did. But that’s the great thing about making your own clothes, you can make them how YOU want them. This step would have been much easier if I had had a friend to help me, but alas, I was all alone and impatient.

Step 2, Cut, sew.

Magically a 2XL tshirt has turned into a cute little dress. I found using safety pins rather than straight pins made it easier to try on the dress as I went.

Step 3, try it on. Prance around like a fool. Smile for days.

I was insanely giggly when I got it this far.

Step 4, Sew on rank bands.

(No picture, I was too excited)

I researched a fair bit to make sure I got the rank bands right. Not sure if I could do two bands, or just still with one. In the end I went with just one band, signifying that I am a Lieutenant. This site was really helpful.

Step 5, cut off centre V neck, sew in black band.

(No picture, really way too excited at this point)

Instead of going out to buy black fabric, I decided to sacrifice one of my man black shirts. An old work shirt did the trick. I sewed it in fairly easily, basically just making a large funnel neck, but it stood up too much, so I sewed down the V so it laid a fair bit flatter in the front.

Step 6, try it on for the umpteenth time, do a little dance, take quick picture in the mirror.

I had first thought I’d wear it bare legs. I do have a pair of bike shorts (as seen in Step 3), but they were too long. Getting a shorter pair would be no problem. There was just no way I’d go sans shorts. Then I watched a bit of TOS (The Original Series), and noticed that a number of the girls wore tights. I have tights! Not only do I have tights, I have two weights of tights so I can either be really warm, or just covered. I brought the boots back from Halifax after my last trip there. I’ve had them since… probably grade 9 or so.

I still need the insignia. I’m going to try to see if any of the comic book shops have any patches (I want a patch, but I’d take a pin too). If not I know I can get them online.

All in all, this cost me under $10 for the things I needed to buy. Plus, I now have a spool of gold ribbon, who knows how that will come in handy.

-Cheers folks!

Chicken Fajitas

I decided yesterday that I wanted something spicy. Now considering that when I was growing up the most commonly used spices in my house were pepper and salt, I don’t do your typical Mexican or Indian spicy. Fajitas sounded good to me. Not only are they easy, but you can make them as spicy or as not spicy as you want.

First off, the chicken. I bought two small chicken breasts, and sliced them up. I then let them marinade in the juice of one lime and about a tablespoon of chili powder. Only for about 30 minutes, but if I had had more time (and patience) I would have let them go for longer.

 

Next I had to slice/chop up all the veggies. My quick knife skills aren’t really the greatest (I haven’t sliced a finger yet, so that’s a good sign right?), but what I lack in speed, I think I make up for with precision. But then again, even that’s not the greatest. I had a red pepper, a green pepper, two garlic cloves, a jalapeno pepper, and a red onion. Funny thing is, One year ago the only thing on this cutting board I would have eaten was the garlic.

 

Once everything was all chopped up (remember the speed thing, I knew I had to chop everything up before I even started cooking), I tossed the chicken in a hot pan with a bit of oil. Cook until… cooked. 

Once done, transfer the chicken to a plate, and add the red onions, red and green peppers into the pan. I added a touch of butter just to help things caramelize a bit. I don’t like my veggies to be crispy, I like them cooked to a beautiful tenderness.

Add the garlic, the jalapeno pepper, and the chicken. Heat through.

Enjoy on pitas with cheese. If I had sour cream I probably would have added that in the mix too, but I didn’t have any.

The best part of this meal was the price. Here’s the breakdown: 

Chicken	3.56
Tortillas	2.50
Green Pepper	0.86
Red Pepper	1.35
Jalapeno	0.18
Red Onion	1.27
Total	$9.27

So not bad. I omitted the price of the garlic (really, what’s 1/10th of a $0.45 clove of garlic?), as well as the price of the cheese (I have no idea how much of the block I used, but it was $3.99 and I used very little). It made me the one meal right away, as well as three containers of fixings for future meals. Just over $2 a serving? I think I did quite well.

-Cheers folks!

Fall at OLT

I'm gonna be busy.

Chili and Rice

Around 7:30 tonight I began to wonder how long ago it was that I had bought a can of red kidney beans and put them in the back of my cupboard. I figured it was time to do something with it. A quick trip to the grocers and I was about the embark on an effort of making chili, but not just any chili, chili and rice.

Not pictured is garlic, oil, and rice. Chop up some garlic, the onion, and the peppers. Add to a hot thick bottomed pot with a bit of oil (and scare the bejeppers out of your housemate who thinks something is on fire when the steam is kind of crazy… my fault).

 

Saute until tender. Add the beef and the can of tomatoes. Cook through. Add 2 cups of rice. Stir really well to coat all the rice. Chop up as many (or a few) mushrooms as you want, add to the pot. Also add a the can of beans.

Add 2 or so cups of water, if it still seems sort of thick, add more (add more than you think you’ll need, the rice soaks it all up, you’ll probably end up having to add more during the next little while).

Cover and lower the heat. Stirring, until the rice is cooked and most of the water has been soaked up.

Dish into bowls, top with cheese, enjoy with beer. So good. My foray today gave me 9 portions, and those are fairly good sized portions too.

What have you been cooking lately?

-Cheers! gkd

Shoes and Juice

It’s been fairly nice here in Ottawa. Not too hot, and not even cool at all. *shrug* That means that I’ve actually been knitting, but me being me, I have no photos of anything because I haven’t finished anything, nor do I really like progress pictures right now for some reason. I have been doing other things that did get photographed though.

I bought new shoes.

On sale at Sears. Now I need somewhere to wear them. Perhaps the theatre on Friday.

I have also been making Limeade Slushies.

Really easy to make, extremely tasty, and very easy to add something like vodka to.

-Cheers folks!

 

PS. Do you guys have a favourite juicing method? I just squeeze the limes with my hands, but a lot of juice gets on my hands and not in the glass.

Never-ending

So here’s my list of knitted objects I’m currently working on:

1. Bridgewater. I just turned the first corner with the edging… only took two weeks to get there. Lots to do on it yet, but very excited to finally finish the big black monstrosity.

2. Green Cabled Sweater. Just picked it up after a long hiatus. Forgot how lovely the yarn is and how much I love cables. Just started the increases on the second sleeve.

3. Heelix socks. Basic stockinette with a heelix stripe. Plain knitting for when my brain can’t take anything else.

4. Boobholder for Jess. Malabrigo, instant win. Too hot to work on in this weather.

5. Log cabin blanket. Using up scraps of worsted weight yarn that I have kicking around in my stash. Too hot to work on.

6. Thrummed mittens. Because I’m a glutton for punishment apparently.

Someone save me from the heat. I’ll also take donations of beer.

-Cheers folks.

Randomly on a Friday

I think I just stole that title from the Yarn Harlot, but I’m okay with that, because not only is she brilliant, but she’s a Torontonian. Not that I’m condoning being from Toronto, instead I’m insinuating that she knows the heat we’re going through. Today it rained here in Ottawa. Thunder, lightening, the whole shbang! It’s nice. I’m actually wearing, get this, long pants. I know! Amazing. And, I cooked. On the stove. With the burner on.

Okay, I’m done with italics.

In any case, not only did I go to Ikea today (beer mugs, tea cup and saucer where the cup holds 17oz, plates, a shelf, and two hot dogs), but I also made my way down to the Ottawa Folklore Centre. In the rain. On my bike. It was pretty spiffy. I finally got around to getting a shoulder rest (my posture and wrist are thanking me already), and some music. Me being brilliant, when I asked my parents to bring me up my trumpet and my violin, I forgot to ask for music as well. Durrrrr.

Then not to be out-done, my culinary side went “Hey Gwen, it’s not sweltering, I mean look at you, you’re wearing pants. Maybe that means we can cook. I mean, come on, a girl can only live on salad fruit and bread alone for a little while… you’re overdue for some food. Real food. Cooked food.”

Of course this didn’t mean beans or soup, or even meat and potatoes. No. This meant I needed something I hadn’t had in a while, something sweet and tasty, and not hard to make really. Crepes. One of my housemates used to look at me like I had three heads and an extra arm when I asked her if she’d help me eat crepes if I made a batch. “Seriously, do you need to ask?”

Who can say no to their awesome-ness? Not me. I made a batch of eight. One didn’t make it past the fourth time batter went into the pan. “I have to make sure that they’re alright.” Four are currently in the fridge waiting for tomorrow’s breakfast, and three are in my belly, with a messy plate sitting on my table. Wildberry jam, chocolate sauce, and syrup. There would have been bananas too had I actually been thinking before hand. And I just remembered that I have strawberries and blueberries in my freezer. Drat! That would have been tasty too.

In other news, I’ve got two tomatoes growing on my patio.

Just the two right now, but I’m happy. Can’t wait for fresh tomatoes for sandwiches, bruschetta, and eating like apples because I do love tomatoes.

-Cheers folks!

Ottawa

My Mom and Nanny were here visiting me a little while ago… err… the beginning of the month. I’m just now getting around to going through the pictures. Oops. Not many of them turned out well, plus I didn’t do much in the way of picture snapping (only a few over 100). In any case, here’s a quick recap!

Mom on the bus!

At the locks, with Chateau Laurier in the background.

Mom and Nanny at the base of the locks.

I also haven't been blogging too much (okay, at all) because I've been so busy at the Theatre. I did two designs back to back, and then helped out on a third, so I've spent nearly every day there. But, I did get inducted in Hogan's Heroes, which is a group of people with shirts that have "crew" embroidered on the sleeve. They are a group of volunteers who are amazing and have gone above and beyond the call of duty. I feel very honoured to be part of their ranks.

All of Hogan's Heroes that were at closing night of thee last show of the 2009/2010 season. Our SM is a Hogan, hence Hogan's Heroes. He's the one in the Hawaiian shirt, which also has the OLT emblem on it. Oh, and I am wearing shorts, they’re just black and short, so they kind of disappeared.

I also spent a fair bit of time volunteering with the Ottawa Fringe Festival. Lot's of fun, no pictures from me. If you want to see what shennanigans went on, check out here.

-Cheers folks!