Crafts

Party Decorating

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Yesterday was Stephen’s birthday and since he was out of town all week I had plenty of time to clean up and decorate.

After gleefully searching through beautiful craft blogs all week, I came across ruffledblog.com where there were free, printable letter flags.

In photoshop, I halved the size and altered the colors a bit since I had a few repeat letters. I strung them up on wool yarn and hung them up three days before his birthday (just because I loved to look at them).

To add to the festivities, I thought back to elementary school days when we’d make cut-out spirals and hang them around the classroom.

We have a disco ball we bought at the thrift store last year, so I set that up too. It looked pretty awesome. Now time to think of a menu. Stephen originally wanted to go to Club Paris, since that’s his favorite restaurant, but he must have been burnt out on fancy restaurants after going to the Vallata restaurant in Fairbanks the night before. In honor of Club Paris, I decided to make an appetizer of orange garlic shrimp. That’s something we usually get alongside our steak. It was so good, I almost forgot to take a photo before it was all eaten!

I didn’t do steak for the entree. Steve’s been asking me for lasagna for a while, so I made a big ol’ batch of it with spicy ground pork, mushrooms, and three kinds of cheeses.

And for dessert, the piece de resistance — a pink champagne cake. I’m no baker, but this is the most successful cake I’ve ever created.

Recipes to follow.

Knit & Crochet, Knitting, Patterns

Kasandra Gloves

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My friend Kasandra requested a pair of long, fingerless gloves because her classroom gets really chilly in the winter. I decided to alter my Cabled Gauntlets pattern for her.

I used the same yarn, Universal Yarn Classic Shades, but there were a couple of things I did differently. First, I cast on 37 stitches instead of 36. This way the moss stitch is created without having to change the pattern of the stitch every time you get back to the beginning of the round. When I was finished with the moss stitch and was ready to start the cable pattern, I just knit two stitches together and carried on my way. Second (and most obvious), I extended the cable pattern. I did seven cables before starting on the gusset. Third, I knit a couple of more rows after joining the thumb. I think I did rows 1-6 one more time and then started the moss stitch, at which point I created one stitch to make 37 as I did in the beginning. And last, I made the thumb three rows tall with three rows of moss stitch.
Kasandra got them in the mail today and said, “It was love at first sight.” I guess she likes them!

Cooking, snacks

Kale Krisps

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Kale is a beautiful plant. It’s ruffly and looks so healthy. But who cooks Kale? I know little about this vegetable. So today I decided to try something new: kale chips. It’s simple. Take a fresh bunch of kale and dry it as much as possible. Tear the thick stem away from the leaves. Break the leaves into bite-size pieces and toss lightly with olive oil. Transfer to a cookie sheet, making sure none of the leaves overlap. Lightly salt and place in a 350-degree oven for 15 minutes. What comes out are crispy and salty. You wouldn’t believe you’re eating something so rich in beta-ceratene and vitamins A and C!

Patterns, Sewing

Semi-Homemade Skirt and Tank Top

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Yesterday as I was rifling through the crafts section at a thrift shop, I came across a piece of pretty red fabric for 50 cents. When I got home I realized it was the beginning of a skirt that someone had never finished. Plus, it had pockets. The pockets were what made me want to finish the skirt. It was already hemmed, but hadn’t been gathered at the top. Also, there was no waistband. So I took to the internets to find a suitable online pattern. I came across the Alice Dress. It seemed simple enough and I have an old H&M tank top with a hole in it, so why not put them together?
Here was my basic idea:

The skirt was too long for my liking, so sadly enough I had to trim the beautiful hand-hem job, but luckily it left me with enough fabric to create a waistband. First I hemmed up the skirt just by doing a basic stitch. It’s visible on the outside, but I don’t mind it. Then I basted the top of the skirt and created gathers like so:

When it was gathered to my liking (and I was still able to slip it over my hips), I secured the gather with one more stitch all the way around. After cutting a 3-inch waistband from the hem I sewed it to the top of the skirt, flipped it around, and sewed the band to the inside, creating a 3/4-inch waistband. I left part of the waistband open so I could push elastic through it. When the elastic was tight enough for my waist, I sewed it up and voila! A nearly perfect skirt — with pockets!

I was going to sew the tank top to the skirt, but then I decided not to because I may want to wear the skirt with other tops. I did take inspiration from the Alice Dress and I made ruffles out of the bottom of the tank. It was a long tank so I trimmed off the bottom 3 inches and hemmed the raw edge of the tank. With the 3-inch strip I basted the raw edge, made two ruffles and secured them to the collar of the tank. The other edge of the ruffles were already hemmed since that edge was originally the bottom of the tank. It was really easy. I need to do this more often. I felt like the craftiest person.

Here’s me out on the town with my new outfit:

Cooking, dessert

Mint Basil Granita

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A refreshing, icy dessert. Perfect for a hot day in Mexico.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
1/2 cup fresh basil
juice of 1/2 lime or lemon
3 cups of water, divided
1 cup sugar

Directions:
In a small saucepan, bring the sugar and one cup of water to a boil. Simmer, stirring constantly, for five minutes. Let this simple syrup cool in the fridge. Meanwhile, in a blender combine the mint, basil, lime/lemon and one cup water till well blended. Add another cup of water, blend well, then chill in the fridge. When both the simple syrup and basil/mint combo are cold, combine in a 6-quart Tupperware with a lid. Place in the freezer. Every couple of hours, stir the mixture and scrape the sides until it’s a yummy, crystallized dessert. Expect this process to take all day, but it’s totally worth it!

Cooking, mexican

Salsa Roja a la Moña

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**AMENDMENT**
This recipe totally doesn’t work with American ingredients (at least Alaskan). So be wary of this recipe. I think I can only replicate it in Mexico

Another simple recipe from a Mexican kitchen. This is a thin salsa — not too chunky. Kind of like house salsa at a Mexican restaurant.

Ingredients:
3 Roma tomatoes
3 small hot green chilies (or two small jalapeños)
1/2 cup minced sweet onion
1/2 cup minced English cucumber
A couple of tablespoons of chopped cilantro
1 garlic clove
A couple of tablespoons of water

Place tomatoes and chilies in a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 15 minutes. Take off the heat and let cool in the water till you’re able to handle them. Slip the tomato skins off and discard. Discard the stem of the peppers as well. Place tomatoes, peppers, garlic and a couple of tablespoons of water in a blender and combine. If it’s too thick add a little more water. Combine this mixture with the onion, cucumber and cilantro. Serve with corn chips.

Cooking, mexican

Guacamole a la Moña

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This is one of the recipes that our housekeeper, Moña, makes. I’m not sure of all the proportions since the ingredients back home are slightly different. I will try and provide the U.S. equivalents.

2 roma tomatoes
1/3 English cucumber, peeled
1/4 sweet onion
2 green chili peppers (smaller than jalapeños, but 1 jalapeño could work)
3 ripe avocados
a couple of tablespoons of cilantro, chopped
juice of 1/4 lime
dash of apple cider vinegar

Directions:
Chop the sides of the tomatoes off, leaving the juicy core. Discard the core and mince the sides. Mince the cucumber, onion and pepper (choose to remove the seeds for less spiciness). The tomato, cucumber and onions should all be about the same quantity when minced. Add the cilantro and mix up with your hands. Add the avocados to a bowl and mash up with a potato masher. Add all of the other ingredients to the bowl. Serve with chips!

Knit & Crochet, Knitting

Charcoal + Teal = Lovely New Hat

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My boss needed a new hat since he must have shrunk his other one. He usually goes for what a small group of us calls “hot-boy green,” but this time he wanted a turquoise and grey hat.

Yarn used: Bernat Roving, flint color
Loops & Threads Charisma, electric blue color

Made on size 10 needles, 72 stitches in the round, six rows of K2P2 ribbing, 32 rows tall before decreasing.

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