Monday, April 23, 2012

Hello Kitty Dress Refashion


I really have a terrible habit of seeing something a friend has and then wanting it.  Maybe it's just good marketing by association?  A few weeks ago I saw AJ wearing an adorable Hello Kitty top and I instantly had to have one for myself!  And what better way to break in a new (to me) used sewing machine that I had just bought from AJ? 

It's been a long time since I have tried refashioning anything (a whole year according to this blog!).  I had the perfect dress I wanted to cut up.  It was another old Forever21 purchase and as you see here it was sort of cute but at the same time not very inspired.  Also, the one and only time I wore it was on a day years and years ago where I had a very, very off, breaking up kind of day with an on-off again relationship.  My biggest regret was being slightly unfashionable during said encounter and I could never bring myself to wear the dress again.  A very good reason to cut it up, don't you think?  I had some scraps of white knit jersey from a friend, enough to make a tube top.




Basically I sliced off the skirt segment, and sewed on the tube top portion.   The white tube is double layered.  I ended up having to cut the fabric so that the outward facing panel has the grain running horizontally but the inside layer the grain is vertical.  Overall there's less stretch since I have layered the fabric this way but it actually feels more secure and supportive.  The Hello Kitty face I cut from pieces of crafting felt and tacked onto the top layer of the tube top.  Her bow I made from scraps of lycra and stuffed with cotton balls since I didn't have any batting around. 

I'm quite pleased with it!  I already have a bit of a Hello Kitty reputation at work so I'd probably only wear it on the weekends or very, very casual days at work.

And bringing it all together in addition to pointing out the dangers of giving me a camera with a self-timer function and to show off the reason why my house has large amounts of blank walls - and that a new dress makes me so happy I just have to dance -->

I may have to take more dancing photos of all my clothes I make!  Just because.







Sunday, April 22, 2012

Space Cat Mural

A few weeks ago a girl I knew from high school contacted me about doing a mural for a children's clinic, Valley Medical Center.  Her service organization was arranging to have volunteers come paint murals in the exam rooms, to make them more cheerful for the kids coming through.  I've never actually painted a mural before - I mean, I've painted my house walls a single, flat color, and a long time ago I did some paintings on bigger canvases for school.  Since them though it's mostly been just a few watercolors here and there.  I was a little bit intimidated at the thought of designing a whole mural, but I guess this was the perfect opportunity to go big or go home.  And, when faced with an army of volunteers to lead, random paint, and brushes there really is nothing to but just to go at it.

Of course, this was another opportunity to have Space Cat appear.  (And other animals that kids would normally have as pets.  Gotta say the kitties are the easiest to draw.)  I am always a sucker for retro-futurism and cute animals. After doing this, I really think I need to write a story or two about my little Space Cat and his adventures!

Here's what the mural looked like in the end; one shorter wall panel and one long one. It's a bit cropped down but amazingly, taking 3 shots with my iphone (too lazy right now to take it off the memory card of my other camera) and photomerged in Photoshop worked quite well for a panorama!




Wednesday, April 18, 2012

I am STILL on my Southeast Asian ish kick because when you buy those packs of herbs for pho or springrolls, you get so many!  I've sort of accepted that I'm going to use what I can and then the rest will go bad, but I'm attempting to make it through more of what I bought.  I'm down to the mint, and my pot of homegrown lettuce desperately needed a thinning, so a salad inspired bento it was.

1. Base of rice noodles.  I love rice noodles because they cook so fast!  Bring a pot of water to boil, add in your rice noodles (also called rice sticks.)  They only need a few minutes (4ish for these pho style ones), drain and rinse under cold water.

2. I've been using hot pot sliced pork for a quick and easy protein.   For this, I drizzled the slices with sesame oil, soy sauce, mirin, and a tsp of sugar (raw cane, in this case) in a small bowl. Add enough liquid to partially cover the meat, let it marinate for a few minutes.  Cook it in a pan until the meat is done and has absorbed the cooking liquid.  Set aside to cool.

3.  Here I've used sliced lettuce mixed with mint, and slice radishes (also needed eating from the garden) in lieu of bean sprouts. 

4. If you would like a poached egg on top, bring a pot of water to a simmer.  Oil a silicon baking cup and crack an egg into it.  Gently drop it into the water (it will float) and simmer for 7 minutes.  Remove from water and let cool, then pop that egg out.

5. Garnish as you like.  Can't go wrong with lime!  I also had a light vinigrette, the original recipe was 1/2 fish sauce 1/2 cider vinegar, but I find the fishy taste too strong.  So it's probably more like 1/3 fish sauce, 2/3 vinegar. 

Light, fresh, and healthy!    This salad is a good one to bring to work because it's tasty cold. 

Friday, April 13, 2012

Bento: Sliders and oven baked fries

Nothing says cute like the itsy bitsy version of something.  My local Fresh and Easy had a sale on slider patties which don't turn out to be all that cheap when you think about how little meat you're actually getting.  But they're pre-shaped, and cute, and hey.  Why not try them?  (Perhaps I will make my own in the future.)
The first time I made this bento I used mini ciabatta  buns.  This time I cut rounds from a loaf of wheat bread I made earlier this week and am still working through.  I included the cute cheese cutouts just because it makes me happier to know my sliders have a heart of cuteness.  Leftover cheese was consumed at a separate meal, and I think I'll make a bread pudding with the crusts.

1. Pan cook slider patties on both sides until they're cooked through.  Set aside to cool.

2. Slice up a potato into fries, toss with salt, olive oil and pepper.  Pop into the toaster over for 20 minutes at 350 and check for doneness.  Add another 5 minutes if they're not cooked through.  I like soggy fries so it doesn't bother me that they're pretty soft. :)  You could bake them for longer to get them more golden, though.

3. Use your favorite cookie cutter to get a cute cheese shape. 

4. I used a cookie cutter to cut out rounds of bread the same size as the patties.

5. Wait for everything to cool before packing together.

6. Enjoy!

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Bento: banh mi(ish) sandwich

Last Christmas my sister got me a bento cookbook written by a very popular blogger (writer of justbento.com and its companion blog justhungry.com).  We've been trading emails and ideas for bentos for awhile, although her oldest son is only just getting to be old enough to bring lunches to school and my sister is really busy as a professor so I don't know how much time she has to prepare cute lunches.  I started making some of these to fancy up the lunchtime because lately, I've been so busy at work I eat at my desk too often.  A cute or fancily-packed lunch makes me feel a bit better.

And then Wei-Ling said, "Why are you not blogging about your lunches?"

So here goes!  All recipes approximate and taken from other sources. 
Today is inspired by justbento's deconstructed banh mi:

Meat: pan fry a skinless, boneless chicken thigh until done.  set aside.  mix about 1/2 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon soy, 1 tablespoon mirin and pour into the still hot pan.  when it starts to bubble, swirl the chicken thigh in the sauce until it is nicely glazed.

pickles: shred (I used a mandolin grater, cutting to small pieces would work too but don't use a cheese grater, too small) carrots daikon, apple into a bowl.  sprinkle salt (1 tsp), sugar (1 tsp) and massage for 2-3 minutes until the veggies wilt and give up some water.  rinse thoroughly.  Put into a jar with brine (1 c warm water, 1/4 C sugar, 1 C vinegar, you can adjust sugar levels to taste) and let sit for at least an hour. 

bread: traditional banh mi are served on mini baguettes, but I just put it between two slices of wheat bread.  It kind of turned into a monster sandwich.  Yum!

Friday, April 6, 2012

Basket Fence

Two years ago I had tried to make a hanging strawberry basket after I'd seen a few articles about how you can get this really cute arrangement by putting the strawberry plants out the sides as well as the top.  My first attempted two years ago didn't do very well.  I suspect it was because the baskets either didn't get enough sun or because they simply didn't retain water very well.  Plants would get alternatively drowned and then die of thirst.  Never did get many berries off of them; and supposedly you ought to be able to get your basket to last a few years if you do it right.


I'm ready to try it again  since my local Daiso had very inexpensive wire half-rounds for sale and now I have a whole sunny fence to decorate.  Here I've used wool (scooped up from a seamstress friend who was giving away fabric) as the liner.  It actually works way better than those coconut fiber baskets.  There's gaps in the wool towards the bottom where the odd-shaped pieces I cut left gaps that lets the excess water drain out, but the outside of the fabric is almost never soggy; the wool is a pretty good insulation from excess evaporation from the sides of the basket.  This year, I went ahead and used the moisture control soil AND I put in little watering globe things (the mushroom in the pic) that will slowly release water as the soil dries out.


Basically I cut slits into the wool and gently put in the plants (trying not to damage the roots) BEFORE filling up the basket with dirt and the plants on the top.  I let it sit for a week or two to let the plants settle, then hung them up on the fence.  Here I've got 3 strawberry baskets and 2 pea baskets (in the coco fiber lined ones.  not sure They're doing ok..not that that great. Hohonestly I don't think you're supposed to grow peas this way.)  But I've got a few green berries to keep an eye on!  I'm crossing my fingers for some cheery red berries come June! Enough for a couple of shortcakes? :D



Monday, April 2, 2012

Backyard Progress #2

Garden boxes galore!  Last time I checked in it was about the planter boxes for where the trees will go.  After I got the tree boxes done we had a spate of rain/I got lazy about the yard.  Then one day last week I stopped off at Orchard Supply Hardware and saw they had a whole new selection of spring veggies out and no wonder - it's April!  So I really had to get my butt gear if I was going to be able to plant things on time!

I had planned for low boxes to fit in between the trees.  Ideally I would love for some vines to go up a trellis against the back wall, although the spot is not ideal - it's in open shade instead of full sun for most of the day, but I have an idea to fix that.  And, it would be OK I think for the cooler weather vegetables.  The fully full sun spots are too hot for the leafy greens to really flourish.

I built the boxes the same was as the previous ones, open on the bottom.  For one of the two boxes I made this weekend I had to build a little guard around an existing, painted column to minimize the contact it will have with dirt and water (as I intend to grow some food plants...ha...I'll be lucky if they produce significant fruit but hey, positive).  Then I put down some weed blocker material, then shoveled in a few inches of bark nuggets for drainage.  I really ought to be using river rocks, but bringing bags of that home turned out to be impractical (read: impossible as I can't lift them by myself) ,then topped up with a mix of dirt, compost, and perlite to help keep the soil aerated.

And BAM!  Instant-o garden box.  In the back there's butternut squash and cantaloupe, since they're bitty I have a bit of time before the trellis needs to go in.  I transplanted some chard from elsewhere into this box because I think they were getting a bit fried from the sun.  (The problem could also be the way I was watering them.  Oh plants!  Why do under and over watering lead to the same result?)

Whew, so the yard is getting there. These boxes are 12" high, verses the 24" of the tree boxes, and 2'x4" large.  It's a significant amount of dirt to haul.  I think perhaps just one more small box of about 2'x2' for an herb corner and that side of the yard will in business.

 I hope the vines will come in!  I think they'll look nice against that cream wall.  All the more funny if they produce any melons/squash.  I hope the trees will do well where they are too...they do look a bit spindly at the moment, don't they?  Sadly this last picture looks just about the same as my last one, but this time the boxes are out together and one has dirt in it.  And itty bitty plants.   Grow, grow!