Friday, December 19, 2008

Pictures of making Hazelnut Chocolate Spread

I made another batch with Jessica last night, so I decided I should document the process of the nuts being ground.. just for fun!

These are the blanched roasted hazelnuts after just a short moment in the food processor:


After about a minute longer:


Another minute:


Yet another minute:


Finished Hazelnut butter:


The cream and sugar before I heated it and added it to the hazelnuts and chocolate:


The finished product! So shiny when it's warm, it loses the gloss as it cools.


BFN

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Home made pressies

This year finances have been particularly tight, so I decided instead of buying things for my friends that they didn't need/want I'd MAKE them things they didn't need/want!

I have trouble getting over to my sewing school to buy a bunch of lovely fabric to make tote bags, so I went through my stores at home, and found I have tons of smaller pieces of fabric, none large enough to make an entire tote, but large enough to make these: Marcel 7997 from BurdaStyle.com.

So far I've cut out enough to make 11 (10 for gifts, one for Loui), tonight I will start sewing them all together. I'm using a pretty thick interfacing in all of them, to help block the light. I haven't yet decided if I will sew on ribbons (probably too girly) or sew on elastic. Will have to play it by ear!

Yesterday I bought some cute little jars from the Container Store. Bought the fixings to make some hazelnut chocolate spread! It was very fast to make, and it tasted heavenly. Loui was very upset to find out I had made just enough to fill all the jars, and there was nothing left for him!
I copied the recipe from angry chicken, here it is:
1/3 cup Hazelnuts (blanched, peeled and toasted)
3 oz chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt (half what the original recipe called for)

After toasting the hazelnuts, I put them in my itty bitty food processor and held down the button for an incredibly long time (felt like it anyhow!). I think it was about 5 minutes, first the hazelnuts turned to pieces, then dust, then slowly a runny nutty butter. It wasn't completely smooth, still tiny chunks in it but my finger got tired so I moved onto the next part. I put all the chocolate in the food processor and pulsed til it had blended completely with the nuts leaving a smooth chocolatey nutty happiness.
In my saucepan I put the cream, sugar, vanilla and salt, and heated it until almost boiling (it was hot when I stuck my finger in it). I then poured the cream mixture into the processor, and blended until it was smooth.
That's it! I poured it into the little jars, waited for it to cool (went to dance class) put it in the fridge.

Since this recipe has cream in it, it won't last very long, hence also the use of the very small jars. I'd say you'd get about 3 uses out of one jar. I was thinking of making up a little ingredient list, possibly even the entire recipe on a card to include with the jars. Perhaps some serving suggestions? Not sure, have to think of something soon!

I'll post some pictures tonight of the jars of goodness, and my masks as they are being sewn.

BFN

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Pastries Pr0n



My resolve to post less about food isn't going so well! Tonight there is a party at my dance school called "Naughty and Nice". For this party I was assigned the task of bringing "Naughty Pastries".
After some googling yesterday, I settled on visiting a local store called "Pastries by Edie" today to see if they were going to have pastries naughty enough. They do. I bought a whole box of them. They are so gorgeous, that I took photo's of a couple of them. if you can imagine, I have an assortment box full of these, all different and all just too lovely to eat! They come in mini and regular, so I bought a box full of mini's, thinking they'd be easier to eat standing up as little bites.

I have no idea what flavors these are, but aren't they lovely to look at!




I'll let you know how they taste after I pluck up the courage to destroy one.

BFN


Thursday, December 11, 2008

The itty bitty potted Christmas Tree

I finally took a picture! It's much nicer in person.. as usual the dark apartment doesn't make it easy to take a nice picture, even with the lights on the tree turned on. No contrast.. oh well!



Yes.. it's sitting on the ironing board.. small apartment remember?

BFN

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Dancing pressure to Foxtrot or not

I had a rather interesting discussion with my dance instructor last night during my lesson. Sam is really keen for me to add more dances to my program, and I am not interested. I LIKE dancing a lot, but there is a ton to think about while you're dancing, that isn't just the steps you need to take.
My argument against adding new dances is my memory. While I consider I have a fairly average memory, I am definitely better at learning patterns than most. This means the footwork isn't a problem, I see it once, and i can do it. The problem lies in that WHILE I am doing said footwork, I need to be doing something with my arms (mostly that's for swing), my posture, in waltz there is the rise and fall, pointing toes, and much more. Basically I'd rather "master" the dances already in my program (Waltz, Tango, Merengue, East Coast Swing, West Coast Swing and Viennese Waltz) before moving onto doing more.
The argument Sam gave me to pick up more is "it's more fun". While I enjoy dancing, and it's certainly fun for me, I really don't want the stress! Another point Sam made was that of all his students, he pushes the ones that he likes dancing with. I wasn't sure if this was just something he says to all his students (he's very sweet.. so that's possible) or if he really thinks I should go for it.
Every time I complain about having not enough space in my brain to retain so much.. he points out that I won the Merengue at Match Comp, against all levels, not just people in my grade. I still think they made some sort of mistake in awarding me that first... but that's a whole other thing.

In the end, I love Foxtrot and it's not in my program. I won a first place at Match Comp dancing Foxtrot, and that's with only a couple beginner classes under my belt. I was considering dropping east coast swing instead of adding a new one. I like East Coast, but I find it quite difficult, especially when it's super fast, and my partner is doing a lot of improvisation. At least with West Coast Swing I can improvise on my own!

For Christmas bonuses for the dance teachers, they are holding a "two for one" day, on the Sunday right before Christmas. I've booked myself at 9.30am (I know crazy huh?) and 10:15am with Sam and Terra respectively. The students pay in cash, directly to their instructors. I think it's a great way to show our appreciation to our teachers, and get some extra lessons to boot!

Trader Joes had some small potted Christmas Trees for sale. Usually I dig out our tiny plastic one, but I was craving the smell of pine this year. It's totally worth it. It's tiny enough so it can sit on the cabinet that's below where the TV hangs on the wall. I took a picture, but then saved it to my home computer. Will upload laters.

In the meantime, I really love this photo Loui took of my dancing at Match Comp, and am thinking of getting a print of it to hang on the wall. Tell me what you think?

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Stuffed with stuffing

My task for Thanksgiving at my friend Heather and Luke's house was to bring stuffing. I've made plenty of regular stuffings before, sausage, bread, pretty simple. This time I searched around to try and find something a little more interesting. I found it! Right before Thanksgiving I gave it a test run, and it was an instant favorite.

The recipe is from Epicurious.com called Country Bread Stuffing with Smoked Ham, Goat Cheese, and Dried Cherries

The only moderations I made were to reduce the amount of ham (just didn't have as much as it asked for), added a few more cherries, and used an organic whole wheat bread.

I cooked it a little longer than asked as well, so the top ended up nice and crunchy, with a lot of soft veggies underneath.

I promise my next post won't be about food! (Well.. probably).



BFN

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Hash browns - just the way I like them

It's been a whole week since I posted!  Strangely I had lots to talk about this week, but my camera and pictures never seemed to be with me at the same time as my blog/computer and posting time.
Enough with the excuses.. last week I made these fabulous has browns.  How fabulous? I've been trying to make decent ones for years now, mostly with fail.  I've tried them unrinsed, precooked, with egg, with all sorts of extra stuff, but finally last week I think I got them right.

I rinsed the grated potato really well, and heated some veggie oil in a non stick omelette pan.
I chucked in all the potato with a tiny bit of chopped onion.  I put a little butter on top after almost 10 mins (my stove is electric and cooks super hot, so it was on medium low), and slid the hash brown onto a big flat lid from another pot.  I turned the pan upside down over the hash brown so the uncooked side was facing the pan, and flipped as one.  
Although I am fairly good at the pan flip.. this hash brown recipe means it doesn't hold together very well until it's almost done.  I lost a lot of potato bits around the kitchen before I decided on this slower and safer method.
This is how they turned out:


I took the photo outside, since all my inside pictures just turn out yellow, and my apartment has absolutely no natural light. Don't you love the pool in the background?

Thanksgiving was fantastic, and I'll be posting about that shortly (after sorting out camera etc).

BFN

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Polka Pink Wrap Skirt


I used Kwik Sew Pattern 2954.  Got some lovely pink polka dot fabric from Sew LA and used some thread I had from another project.

The hardest part of this pattern was cutting the darn thing out.  Because I needed to cut the largest piece twice, as it's too big to fit on folded fabric.  I have a very limited space in which to cut, and it's on the floor!  This means sore knees and lots of sitting down and getting up, or bending.  

The other slightly difficult part is making the Tie's.  I should have followed the pattern to a T, it would have been easier.  That or owned a tube turner.  I tried a little "turning" gadget I'd bought at Mood Fabrics, but it just wouldn't grab onto the fabric, and stay grabbed on.

I didn't end up liking the skirt in the end, it's just not my style, and it feels like I've wrapped a sheet around myself when I'm wearing it.

Might reuse the fabric for something else.. since it uses so much of it!

BFN

Friday, November 21, 2008

Sunset to end the week

Took a break with Nancy on the 11th floor balcony at 4.30pm Friday.

Here was our view:

BFN

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Working far too much really

All of this extra work is getting in the way of my blogging!

This afternoon I'll post the pictures from our Thanksgiving potluck! I roasted potatoes, carrots and radishes, plus made some gravy.
Here are the muffins (pumpkin spice, and cornbread) that Nancy made for today's festivities!


I finished the wrap skirt I started a couple weeks ago, it was pretty quick and easy to make. The hardest part was cutting out the fabric. It wasn't exactly hard, but the pieces were really large, and I only have a limited amount of floorspace to work with. Kneeling for a couple hours is also not very fun. In the end I don't really like the skirt. I'm considering recycling the fabric into some tote bags for Christmas presents.

Trip to San Diego was successful. Awaiting the forms returned in the mail, so I can go ahead and finalize everything plus get a new passport!

BFN

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Grandma's apple pie



That's what we decided to call it, since it has grandma's apples in it!

Jessica kindly donated the apples she got from her grandmothers orchard when she was home recently, and we baked ourselves an apple pie!

I baked one earlier in the week, but I think there was too much flour in it. This time around I think I put in too little! It was a tad sweet as well, but was very quickly devoured by Loui and Jessica.

See our creation:


BFN

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Shake it OUT!

Today was "The Great California Shake Out". For those who don't live in Cali, basically we all pretend that it's the "big one", duck, cover and hold.
For emergency services and such, they all practice what to do in the event of a massive earthquake. I've personally not experienced a large earthquake (thank goodness!) and hope I never do. It was a good way to learn how ill prepared we really are. How would I get home from work? What are my chances of getting out of a big old office building? What would I do once I got outside?
I work about 22 miles from where I live.. I'm sure roads would be out of the question, and phone's won't be working very well if at all. What would I do?
I realised that even though I have a fairly comprehensive first aid kit (thanks to Loui) it's all at home! I also have no bottled water at all. What I DO have is guns.. but again.. they are at home, locked up in a secure place to which I don't have a key!

For those who do live in SoCal, where did you spend the few minutes after 10am this morning?

Here is where I was:


While under there, with James also under his desk on the other side of the cube wall, we sorted out some cord issues. Altogether it was an interesting experience.. one I never hope to experience except for in mock format such as today's.

BFN

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Papadums - great Indian snack

There is a little Indian grocery store near my house in the valley which sells all things that remind me of home. Weird isn't it? Indian food reminding me of Australia? It just seems so rare here.. and I used to eat it a lot!

Thankfully I can get a decent Masala Dosa, channa samosa, biryani and groceries at this shop. One of my favorite quick dishes is the Papadums. They are cheap, come in a plastic wrap, and microwave to a crispy texture in just 35 seconds.

Packed of plain papad:

Cooked in the microwave at work for a snack:


I had a masala dosa last night, but it didn't last long enough for me to take a picture!
YUM, BFN

Monday, November 10, 2008

Chocolate cake inna mug inna microwave!



Today I read about someone who made a chocolate cake, using a mug, a microwave, and 3 minutes. Intrigued, I memorized what I needed, and stopped by the store on the way home to pick up some eggs.

The basic recipe as I read it was:
4 Tbs flour
9 Tbs Hot Chocolate Mix
3 Tbs Oil (Not sure about this one)
3 Tbs Water
Cooking Oil
1 egg
Mug


I altered the recipe a little bit, because I read some comments that the other recipe was "rubbery". Here is how I made it:

1 Packet Nestle Hot Chocolate
~4 Tbs Whole Wheat Flour (don't have any regular flour)
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 medium egg
1 1/2 Tbs Vegetable Oil
1 Tbs Milk
1 Tbs Water
Couple Chocolate Chips

Actually I thought it looked too wet. I couldn't find a large enough mug (mostly I have tea cups) so I just used a small bowl. I nuked it for 3 mins on high. It didn't "rise" a whole lot.
I turned it out onto a plate and tried it. It has the consistency more of pudding.. sort of cake like pudding. Actually I really quite liked it! I wouldn't say it's the best cake I've had.. but as far as chocolate "desert" goes, it wasn't too bad at all!

Loui even liked it.

This was the bowl.. it didn't stick at all, just plopped out onto the plate:

Weekend's creations

This weekend was a nice lazy "in" weekend. Didn't have really anything to do outside the house, except for sewing class on Sunday where I finished my first tote!

Here are the fun things I made yesterday:
Boxer shorts:


They are made using the "jane" pattern from Burda. The fabric is a silk/cotton blend, so they are shiny and a little slippery, but nowhere near as hard to handle as regular silk. I made them for myself, but they don't fit right, so lucky enough Loui likes them!

Tote bag from class:


Close up on stitching:


Close up on handle:


I bought some nice extra fabrics at my sewing school, and made this tote after I got home. Took me about 3 hours? I had a problem with my iron :( It absolutely refused to cooperate and kept giving the interfacing moist air while I was pressing it. Meant it is all bubbly! Darn.


Inside of that tote:


Anyhow.. BFN

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Tap shorts in silk charmeuse

They didn't get as far as I'd have liked, but I found I didn't even have some spare elastic here at home!

Here is the shorts so far:


Jessica is kindly holding them near the light in the bathroom!


Well Jessica and I need to get back to drinking.. btw wanna see her cute hair curly??


Cute eh?

BFN

Friday, November 7, 2008

Mood fabrics definitely changed my mood!

At lunchtime today, Nancy and I headed over to Mood here in Los Angeles. Up until now, the only place I've really had to get fabric has been Joanne's. Anyone that's been there knows it's not the most inspiring fabric store. The one near my house is full of people every weekend, with screaming children to boot. Most of the stuff there is "crafty", for quilting, home decorating, or just plain fugly.
The other place I've had to buy fabric is at my sewing school (sew-la.com) which has wonderful organic cotton prints, and some other fabrics, but they have very limited space, so not a ton of choice.

Mood was amazing!! The sheer volume of choices was astonishing. I picked out about 20 fabrics I wanted to make something from (random images of finished garments were popping into my head) when I realised I'd have to actually check prices on them. YIKES! Quality really costs a lot. I managed to reel it all back in, and chose a very nice silk charmeuse from which I plan to make some nice tap shorts using a free Burda pattern



I can't wait to get home and try making them! Oh NO!! I just remembered.. I didn't buy elastic. Always something right? *sigh*

BFN

Thursday, November 6, 2008

*cough*, *cough*

Sadly I still have this awful cough. It's really starting to piss me off!!

On a good note, it's been quiet here at work since the new Valkyrie site went up, and Impact VOD launched this week as well.
Barring any unforeseen emergencies.. that should pretty much be it until the end of the year! I churn out a couple emails for Nancy, fix bugs as everyone finds them and have the rest of the time to myself. We're adding "sound tracks" to mgm.com soon, but that's not going to be a massive amount of work.. perhaps a couple days? (Don't tell the boss!)

I've been reading a lot of blogs lately, some really very interesting! My favourite is called "angry chicken". It's not even about chickens! Her latest blog is about arm warmers. I never thought of it before, but it's a great idea! I have a lot of short sleeve things (I live in the most painfully hot place I could) but occasionally for about 30 seconds in the middle of winter I am forced to wear a jacket, or a long sleeve shirt. These would be a great substitute! Best dust off my knitting needles and get cracking! Here is the blog post from Angry Chicken.

A friend from a very long time ago added me on facebook. This happens fairly often, but usually with people that I really don't feel I was friends with, just people I knew. Over the past day or so, tons of memories have been resurfacing concerning this one individual, and all of them pleasant. I was closest to them before I went to Germany, and don't have much recollection of them afterwards. Either way it's been interesting to learn about what they've been up to, and see how well they are doing!

Mum & Dad are still off on their cruise around Thailand. Seems like they're having tons of fun.. Dad emails me from internet cafe's every so often! I'm surprised they've lasted so long without a laptop or internet connection!

I've been told I use the ! too often. I'll try and use it less. I find it conveys my feelings quite well though. It's hard.. use my words I know.

BFN

Thoughtful?

Monday, November 3, 2008

Started Tote-bags

Sunday I started my tote-bag class. So far so fun! I really don't understand why everyone else is so slow at sewing class. I know I perhaps could go a "little" slower and take more care, but seriously people.. slooooooooooooooooow. I was done with all my cutting, and had the teacher keep stopping the other students mid-something else to come over and see what I was up to.
I think perhaps I just "dive in" whereas a lot of other people prefer to do it perfectly the first time. I know I'm making "house" dresses and shopping totes at the moment.. nothing I could ever wear in public, nor give away as gifts etc.

Will post a pic of my "work in progress" aka skull tote asap.

I've also started making a wrap skirt from some cute polka dot fabric. It was a serious pain to cut out, because I had to cut one piece on a single layer of fabric.. twice, as it was too wide for just one. I don't have a great deal of room on my floor, combined with cats who are absolutely determined to sit on _anything_ I put on the floor.

Fun stuff, BFN

Friday, October 31, 2008

It's a Zombie Halloween!

With the help of a wonderful talented friend.. I look AWFUL! I mean.. really really ugly. That was the point of course!



What a great makeup job eh?

Final look (I forgot to take off my glasses!)



Lazy eye:


What a fun Halloween!

BFN

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Tonsillitis is not my friend

It's been a whole week since I posted, and I have a good excuse really!! I was sick!

Anyhow.. Sunday was my last Pajamarama class, and I've finished now two pairs of PJ Pants. I also bought some fabric and some patterns and have since made a super simple tote bag (no interfacing or lining).
I had planned to do a ton more stuff, like sew a wrap skirt! No luck though.. all sick and sad.

Promise to post pics of my simple tote laters!

BFN

Friday, October 24, 2008

Impact almost done!

Looks like we'll be done a week early for our November launch of the impact site. I really didn't think it was going to happen, but looks like now it might!

Even though it's a quick and simple site, it wasn't quick or simple for us. Missing a key person in our production team pretty much ground everything to a halt. That and all the other "bits and pieces" we spend all our time doing.

I was embarrassed yesterday when the contractor for the front end showed me how to shorten my ajax code down to a couple lines.. for something I had almost an entire page doing before. I thought it was working fine, but then later in the day I tested it again, and was vindicated.. by his code not working! I shouldn't be so pleased about that.. but I can't help it.

I managed to sew on all the bias tape to one of my dress projects, but can't seem to gather the energy to hem it and sew on the buttons. Once that's done I'll get back to trying to put the zipper in the other dress.
Here is the dress with the bias tape (also shown in the drawing top right in the header, looks much nicer on!)


Here is my drive to work yesterday (They reopened the freeway about 30mins before I got there.. so took me many hours to get to and from work!)


BFN

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Updated look for the blog

While the standard templates at blogger are fine, I've found one even better! I did a google search for templates for blogger blogs, and found this one. I changed the image in the header, and the alignment of the title (and margins.. woohoo I did CSS!) and got it all pretty much lined up.
Here is where I got the template: http://www.simplyfabulousbloggertemplates.com/ Thanks Lena!

It's amazing how much time you can spend making a blog look a certain way right? Hopefully this one I can grow with going forward, and I won't ditch it like I have some others in the past.

My mate Terri rang me this morning. Was so lovely to hear from her! She was trying to get my rather large self out of bed to go work out. Sadly my ringer was set to "Down Under" by men at work, so I didn't wake. Next time I'll set it to something much louder and much more irritating. Terri on the other hand was already back from her workout when she got ahold of me. Oops!

I've been toiling to get some XML stuff working for the new Impact site. I don't know why, but it's not been easy getting it to work. I think because they way they use the XML isn't quite right. Unfortunately it's the XML that's given to ComCast for the TV Station, so I don't get to complain about the format.
This will be the third time I've written these scripts to do the import. Each time we've received a new set.. the formatting was different. In the most recent set there were a lot of blank lines too. I'm honestly not sure that it's faster for me to write a system with a constantly changing input, or for someone to just enter 25 movies in a tool. Either way it's given me something moderately interesting to do for the past few days.

I took a picture of my carved pumpkin, but of course I haven't downloaded it. Soon I promise!

BFN

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Carved a pumpkin

Loui bought us a couple pumpkins yesterday and last night I carved one of them.

Not as fun as the one I did last year, but still cute. Will take a picture once I get a candle to light it up with!

Tonight is dancing, private lesson with my #2 instructor Alexis. He's much tougher on me that my other instructor, but it should be interesting. Of course I didn't practice my "rise and fall" for waltz, and I'm sort of hoping he doesn't remember that I was supposed to! I'll be "rising and falling" (hopefully not on my butt) as I walk around for the rest of the day, and hopefully that will be enough.

I didn't sew at all last night (was busy with the pumpkin) but the dress is staring at me whenever I sit on the couch.. hopefully the "binding foot" I bought for my machine arrives soon, so I can finish it properly. My sewing school is doing a charity "pajamaramathon" on Saturday. We all take our basic sewing kits, and help make pajama pants from donated patterns and fabric to give to womens shelters in the area. Should give me tons of practice, and hopefully I'll not snip anything not meant for my scissors!

Work is.. work. Temp started today working on the front end for one of the sites. He's quiet, and seems to be busy working on it, although I wasn't going to stand over him on his first day. It's hard to get started at a new place, although I think he's going alright. Our boss disappeared before lunch, and shortly after that we got an email from his assistant saying "Reminder: Boss will be out rest of the day, plus tomorrow." Awesome considering we were never told in the first place! I guess that means I'll be the point person for the temp.

Fun stuff! Hopefully some pictures tomorrow to jazz up the blog!

BFN

Monday, October 20, 2008

Back to blogging

After I stopped writing my last blog, I haven't been able to get in the swing of writing a new one.

I thought it might be easier if I tried to be a lot more general... and write about the most interesting thing in my life... me!

Well sort of. I've been on a mission this year to learn new things. Not necessarily work related, or related to anything except something I "feel like" doing.
As a result, over the past 6 months, I've started learning ballroom dancing, sewing, and have taken some cooking classes.

Yesterday I took the second in a series of three classes learning how to sew PJ pants. It was all going swimmingly up until my fabric folded itself under as I was snipping with the scissors. I cut a lil slit in the leg of the pants.. :( Oh well, apparently they have this stuff you can make patches from the fabric you're using. Will do that next week.

Jessica helped me fit the dress I'm working on at home (from this pattern: Butterick B4790. My figure is closer to the ladies in the drawing.. sadly the pattern allows for a smaller chest, larger waist, and smaller hips. We moved all of the darts on the front, to try and stop my chest hanging out the sides. I'm hanging it right now (since the skirt is partially cut on the bias) and we'll hem it today or tomorrow. Then I have to attach an incredibly large amount of bias tape to the edges. I am thinking of making a small V at the neck too, so my chest doesn't just extend out forward so much (the line of it).



More tomorrow!
 

Made by Lena