06.30.05
Posted in Uncategorized at 9:20 am by
I just finished putting my dresser together (IKEA) this past weekend, and now I can actually put all of my clothes away, instead of folding them and leaving them in the basket for Cleo to sleep in.
I have to plant the last of the Iris this weekend, plant the stuff from my garden club meeting, and find homes for all of my new Coleus babies (all of whom are doing quite well!). I have a new Passiflora ‘Lavender Lady’ to plant and some Mex. Flame Vine (Senecio confusus). I also found an interesting Coleus at Baker Nursery that I will have to take a pic of to show off.
Big Lots has some great metal hanging baskets, of which I purchased several. I am now the proud owner of 6… or is it 8? I can’t remember. In any case, my new Stapelia from the Tucson Botanical Garden’s Weird Plant Sale and Bach’s have found homes in 2 of these baskets, and the older one from Arizona Cactus Sales will be repotted this weekend. Thank goodness for 4 days off!
(Pictures to follow soon)
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Posted in Uncategorized at 9:20 am by
The straps are too long! I’m going to have to reblock Soleil… or shorten the straps. It fit well before blocking, so we’ll have to see what happens with a re-block first.
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06.29.05
Posted in Uncategorized at 4:49 pm by
It’s 107° outside now. It’s supposed to be 113° tomorrow. Ahhh… a balmy summer in Arizona.
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06.27.05
Posted in Uncategorized at 3:11 pm by
Another recipe to try while on the “You Can’t Eat Anything” Diet:
Chicken with Curry Peanut Sauce (from RecipeLand.com)
2 Tbs Vegetable oil
4 Chicken thighs, boned - cut into 1/2-in pieces (this is when you ask the butcher for tenders. Forget de-boning ANYTHING!)
2 Garlic cloves; chopped
1 Tb Dry red curry paste (or to taste)
1 c Thick coconut cream
1/4 c Roasted peanuts, chopped OR 2 Tbs chunky peanut butter
2 Tbs fish sauce (nam pla)I’m so dumb, of course this has SUGAR in it.
2 tsp Palm sugar or brown sugarAgave nectar
2 Makrut (kaffir lime) leaves (fresh, frozen or dried)
1 lg Handful fresh Thai basil leaves
Garnishes:
1 ts Chopped fresh mint leaves
1 Fresh red chile, cut into slivers
Preparation:
Preheat wok over medium-high heat. Add oil. When hot, add chicken; stir-fry until lightly browned. Remove to a bowl; set aside.
Add garlic to wok and lightly brown. Reduce heat and add curry paste; fry gently, stirring for 1 minute. Add coconut cream and peanuts; stir constantly until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add fish sauce, palm sugar, lime leaves and the reserved chicken. Simmer together for 3 minutes or until chicken is done.
Add the basil leaves; stir together for 30 seconds. Serve hot, garnished with mint leaves and red chile slivers.
———
Hopefully Trader Joe’s still carries those lovely blistered peanuts. Though, my friend Todd would turn up his nose, as he thinks that any peanuts that aren’t from Georgia are nasty.
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Posted in Uncategorized at 1:52 pm by
As I am a gardening freak, I read/participate in a number of mailing lists and forums that deal with various kinds of gardening. One list that I am on received the following question:
“Is there a landscape or garden company that will come to my home and give me free advice on how to improve my yard if I buy the product from them?”
Why yes, there is! True Epicure’s Gardens ‘r’ Us - at your service. If you give me $100, I will happily tell you everything that you want to know, even if it has no bearing on reality. Duh! I mean, really, this is such a scary question. Of course they will come to give you advice if you buy something from them. And they will probably sell you lots of product, and you will have bottles of colored water to sprinkle in the “appropriate” amounts so that you will think that you are doing something to improve your: soil/air/water/insert noun here.
I don’t usually post to this particular group, but I think I might have to. And of course, I will be polite. Something to the effect of: “You are your own best landscaper, and with a bit of understanding about the climate and the location that you live in, you will be able to do a better job of helping yourself, than any landscaper can. Be wary of any company offering “free advice with purchase”, because chances are, they will not have your best interests at heart. Contact your local county extension office (check in the Government Pages or your local phone book) and ask for their assistance with useful literature geared toward your specific needs. Education is the best tool you can have!”
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Posted in Uncategorized at 8:09 am by
Soleil is blocking!! I know, you thought it would never be done.
I was feeling very ambivalent about sewing in the ends, but I finally took care of that last night, and it is now in the “Craft Room” blocking its sunshine-y little heart out.
Miss Cleo is protecting Soleil. Or more accurately, she is wondering why this wet piece of crap is taking up space on her comfy towel with the fantastic crinkly plastic underneath. Her two favorite things - clean laundry and crinkly things. I swear, she has some weird cat sense about these things. As soon as I had laid out the plastic and the towel she settled herself down for a snooze. I came back into the room after soaking Soleil, and there she was!
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06.26.05
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:56 pm by
Well, at least I warned you.
This arrived on Saturday:
100% silk, Bay-bee! It will become the Lace Trim Bolero from Vogue Knitting (Spring/Summer 2005). Sorry, no pics until I get a new scanner.
This has been sitting around the house, just waiting for it’s moment of glory:
It’s banana fiber “silk” from Shangri-La Crafts. 2 out of 5 skeins are pictured. I think it has a future as a cropped jacket.
I have some more porn in the closet, but I will wait until it isn’t past my bedtime, to take pictures.
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Posted in Uncategorized at 6:05 pm by
When it’s 107 (or thereabouts), I just remember that everything has it’s season.
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06.23.05
Posted in Uncategorized at 5:16 pm by
As I walked out in the streets of Laredo
As I walked out in Laredo one day
I spied a poor DVD Player wrapped up in white linen
All wrapped in white linen as cold as the clay…
In the original song, the DVD player, er, cowboy dies and they march him off to his burial. Okay, so I just butchered a famous American folk song to begin the story of my very broken DVD player, that is now back in my arms and no longer wrapped in white linen (read: bubble wrap). I am a very happy camper.
I had to send it off to Laredo, Texas (see there was a connection!) to the Sony Warranty Center for repair. I suffered through a long week and a half (which was really a lot quicker than I thought it would be) wait, with Netflix discs lying, forlornly, on the table next to the television. And now I have had the DVD player back for 3 days, and I haven’t touched it, save for the test with Il Postino, to make sure it was working. The irony of it all! Okay, not very ironic, really.
So, that was my attempt at being funny, and it wasn’t, so you can go back to reading more interesting blogs now. Thank you for tuning in.
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Posted in Uncategorized at 9:20 am by
Well, the cookies turned out okay. Not great, but they satisfy the need for bread-like product and sugar - without either!
The recipe?
Adapted from Apricot Thumbprint Cookies by Cynthia Lair, “Feeding the Whole Familyâ€
* 2 cups white rice flour (I couldn’t find brown)
* 1 cup almonds (ground into 1 1/2 cup meal)
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
* 1/3 cup vegetable oil (soy)
* 1/3 cup apricot nectar
* 1/4 cup agave nectar (as sweetener; who knew??)
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
* Apricot preserves (fruit-sweetened)
Preheat oven to 350° F. Combine flour, almonds, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl; set aside. In a separate bowl, mix oil, juice, syrup and extracts together. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix well, kneading a little. Form dough into balls and flatten to make circles. Place on lightly oiled cookie sheet. Indent each cookie with your thumb and put 1/2 teaspoon preserves in the imprint. (I personally didn’t measure, I just used a teaspoon (table teaspoon) and put what would fit without completely overflowing.) Bake 15 minutes, until edges turn golden.
As you bake, make sure that you cover the leftover “batter” because it doesn’t have a lot of moisture to begin with, and it will lose some as it sits. This is probably partly because the humidity is so low here, but better to be careful.
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Makes 24 cookies
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