Colombia, the BEAUTIFUL!

I mentioned in my previous post that I was going to Colombia - I left August 29th, and came back September 7th. It was a quick 9 days and I'm broke now, but the experience was worth it! Below are some of my favorite shots - all pictures were taken with my newest obsession, the Nikon D40. I was a purist before, reserving film for special occasions, but this has made me into a digital camera believer!

I started my trip in Bogota, the capital city of Colombia. It is incredibly high up in altitude - I was a bit dizzy at first, but you get used to it. The above picture was taken from the top of Cerro de Monserrate, which is a church built on top of the peak (3160 m).

Another view of Cerro de Monserrate.
The city of Cartagena - I would have to say it was one of the most aesthetically pleasing cities I've been to. This is part of the wall that enclosed the city - it was built to keep away enemies from shore. It is now a haven for domestic and international tourists - it is packed with horse drawn carriages offering tours of its winding streets, as well as an abundance of restaurants, shops, and money changers. The city stole my money, as well as my heart!

Cartagena, again - love the colonial architecture! I think I took over 100 pictures of just the buildings!

This is one of a couple of forts that protected the city of Cartagena.

Volcan de Lodo El Totumo - located 50km northeast of Cartagena. It is a small 15m dirt mound, but actually it's a volcano that spews mud! The selling point is that they allow you to swim around in the "lava." It's a little bit like swimming around in gravy. It was really warm and gooey. It's also impossible to sink! It was the most indescribable feeling.

There were enterprising locals everywhere - there was a person to scrub you down, a person to take pictures of you, a person to take the dirt off of you in the nearby river - craziness!

Playa Blanca - accessible only by boat. This was my first experience swimming in the Caribbean Sea. It was like bathwater! Nothing at all like the Atlantic Ocean. I could have stayed there all day. I also went snorkeling, and once I got the hang of breathing out of my mouth, I was able to see wildlife that I was only able to see in an aquarium or a fish store.

A typical meal in Colombia, also called Comida Corriente. It is usually a protein, like fish or chicken, with rice, beans, and a salad. If you're lucky, you may even get some soup. All for the low price of $2.50! For an extra $1, you can get the typical drink of choice, a Coke. I never drink Coke in the States, but I drank it all of the time while I was there - it was the best way to beat the heat and get back some much needed energy!

City #3 on the agenda was Santa Marta, and the Parque Nacional Tayrona. The first introduction to the rain forests. It was quite a hike to get there, and the heat for the past couple of days admittedly took a toll.

Lizard(s)! They were everywhere - once you saw one, you saw a hundred!

Another flight took us back to Bogota, near the historic downtown. The sky was unreal.

A busy Sunday morning - 6 short hours later, I was at the airport (sob!), planning my next trip abroad in my head! I have to say that there were a lot of naysayers who told me not to go to Colombia because it was too dangerous, I would get mugged, etc. Even though I didn't speak Spanish as well as I should have, I still managed to get around. The people were incredibly warm, friendly, and polite - they were great ambassadors for the country. The only time I felt that not all was well was going out of the airport - I had never been questioned, prodded or gone through so many checkpoints in all of my life! Too bad for me, I now have the travel bug. Got to start saving up for the next big adventure!

Not So Lazy Days of Summer

Yikes, time has blown by so quickly... my knitting has hit the back burner - maybe some cool weather in the upcoming months will be a motivator to start up. Actually, the real problem is that I have about 4 projects with patterns that needed some major altering - I had written up vague outlines for what I was going to do, but the passage of time makes my notes look like gibberish - I can't make sense of anything I wrote - ack! I feel guilty starting up a new project so I am currently just sitting on my uncompleted ones. I've been keeping busy nonetheless - my summer life thus far has been full of (unsuccessful) job interviews, making up lame excuses at work so I can attend said interviews, GMAT studying, hosting out of town guests, as well as being hosted as an out of town guest in various places. Got to go peach picking in Ulster County, NY for the first time, and attended the Peaches and Wine festival.

I also just joined a postcard swap, which I have never done - the organizer's blog can be found here. It was forwarded to me via Facebook, of all places!

ONE LAST THING - tomorrow, I leave for Colombia (the country, not the school) for a little over a week - just for kicks. We plan on flying into Bogota, then going out near the coast - visiting Cartagena and Santa Marta before we have to fly back to the capital to go home. I got my vaccinations a little too late for them to be completely effective, but I suppose it's better than nothing! As an extra precaution, I've gone a little crazy with the purchasing of mosquito repellent... On the upside, Colombia is also very well known for their crafts, textiles, and leather goods, in addition to the beautiful landscapes, the culture, and its rich history - it should be lots of fun.

Nerd Alert! Will be seeing Harry Potter TONIGHT!

I never gave much thought to the Harry Potter series when the books came out - I love children's books (Wrinkle in Time and The Giver are what immediately come to mind) but books about wizards didn't really appeal to me. I remember reading the first book and thinking it was okay, and somehow I managed to keep reading the other books as they came out. The next thing I knew, I became completely obsessed! Although movies in general are almost never as good as the books, I have been going to see the Harry Potter movies. And, if you are a nerd like me, you will know that the movie release date in the United States is July 15th. I however, will get to see the movie today, at 6:30 pm! A fellow social worker was able to get in on some charity tickets that no one wanted... a small perk for being a social worker, I suppose. Oh! And another bonus - there are prizes for the best dressed Harry Potter character! I admit I was almost tempted, but that would be carrying the nerd-thing too far...

Update

Happy belated fourth~! Such crazy, unorganized-ness. Most everything I love has been abandoned for immediate needs:

1) Finding another job. Ick - what an energy suck. I've been on 7 interviews during the past year, 4 of which had gotten me past the first round. These 4 were especially hard to take, as it was between me and another candidate, and always the other candidate won out. The jobs range from my specialties (grant and contract management in a non-profit) to far stretches (bi-lingual IT customer service specialist in the Japanese auto industry) but nothing pans out. My most recent rejection was especially annoying, since they wanted to talk with my current supervisor - if my boss was amenable to such things, I wouldn't be looking for another job! I told them I was open to letting them speak to my current supervisor once an offer was made. Wrong answer, apparently. An interesting discussion of this topic could be found here. So the job search continues...

2) The second thing that is somewhat related: test prep! Social work burnout has lead me to reassess and develop new career goals. In order to reach my new goals however, I need to re-enter grad school, hence the GMAT. GMAT studying is no fun.

How to cope? A number of things, but the most effective one (but probably not the most constructive) is just running away from my problems, albeit temporarily. A trip to Colombia in August is in the works. For July 4th, we took the LIRR to Glen Cove, where a group of us claimed a blanketed patch of grass for the day, at a small park (see pic on top left). Apparently, the property was originally owned by J.P. Morgan, who then donated the land to the public when he died. It has been an especially rainy summer this year, and the 4th was one of the first days it was nice out. Actually, it was painfully, gorgeously sunny - the skies were an unbelievable color. It made me so happy!

Some unrelated items: just read a great book, Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates. It's 700+ pages, but I read it in three days - so good! Although it was a fictional account of Marilyn Monroe's life, it was still very gripping. Feeling inspired by the book, I also watched the Seven Year Itch, which was surprisingly hilarious... and speaking of movies, there's a movie out in select art theaters now that was very good - Departures. This movie is funny too, but is mostly really, really sad. I know someone whose only experience in Japanese cinema was watching The Taste of Tea - if you are expecting the same experience, I advise you to beware that diversity in cinema does exist, so please go in with an open mind : )

Food, and Fabric!

Summer is all about walking around and eating everything in sight. That, and window shopping! Some new food obsessions, as of late...

Picket Fence. Want some good old fashioned, American comfort food? Look no further! Off of the Cortelyou station on the Q train, only a 20 minute walk from my apartment. They have a lovely outdoor garden in the back, which is great for summer. Service is slow, but they are not in a rush to kick you out, unlike most Manhattan locales. Strongly recommend the mac and cheese and the apple turnover.

L&B Spumoni Gardens. For Sicilian style pizza lovers, this is your heaven. I prefer the regular pizza, with lots of sausage - it's always crowded with people coming in after their little league and not so little league games, but it adds to the character of the place - everybody there has a very thick Brooklyn accent. Different from your typical New York transplant crowd. Off of the Avenue U stop on the N Line. Very close to the Brooklyn Chinatown on 8th Avenue - strong recommendation to check out the Hong Kong Supermarket, and the fruit stands if you have a chance!

PinkBerry. Yes, they are taking over New York. Yes, it's overpriced. But, I love, love, love it! Similar frozen yogurt chains needs not apply. Pomegranate with double batch of fresh strawberries, all the way!

Rickshaw Dumpling Bar. I usually don't like fast food, but I have to admit that their steamed pork dumplings are pretty good. Never will be as good as Nice Green Bo's "tiny juicy buns with pork," but still acceptable, in a pinch...


Did you know that IKEA sells fabric?! I didn't, until last night when I was looking for a duvet cover for my bed. The fabrics are cute looking, and cheap! I don't know how sturdy they are, or if they are of good quality, but it looks promising.

Hurrah for Spring? Where is Summer?

Usually New York springs are non-existent - one day you come out of the house with wet hair and find your hair frozen by the time you get to the train station, the next day you are wearing shorts and a tank top. Not so, this year - we've had an extended rainy season, accompanied by sporadic changes in temperature in a single day. I don't know what's going on, and I don't know how to dress anymore! The moody weather has mirrored my somewhat disorganized life - some random points of interest as of late:

A new toy - the Nikon D40 that I got at a super reduced price through an online promotion at Ritz. I have a manual SLR, but a DSLR with auto focus is so much easier! I am so lazy. It's super light, takes great pictures, and with so many controls, you can make it as vivid or as subdued in color as you want. I tested my camera out at the famed Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn as a less crowded alternative to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, which turned out to be great - the azalea bushes were in full bloom (see above).

Went to the first On the Rooftop event of the year. Pay $25 dollars for an all you can drink soiree on a rooftop bar overlooking Manhattan. I got my money's worth despite not imbibing any alcohol, because it's all about the gift bags you get at the end!

The job hunt is (hopefully) nearing an end. Got a call back after sending sooo many resumes out. Survived 3 rounds of interviews. Now they want recommendations from my current employer. Is this normal? If I don't get the job, I'm in huge trouble... grrr....

After my boyfriend broke my ceramic teapot for the second time, he got me a Cast Iron Teapot to ensure that he won't ever have to get me another teapot again... It's very heavy, but I love it more as time goes on.

Been in somewhat of knitting funk. Started too many projects and I've lost some momentum. Snatched up some more needles and yarn when The Point in the West Village closed down. I felt bad for the workers there - we were like a pack of hungry hyenas. At one point, I thought there was going to be fist fight, complete with animal fibers flying around everywhere - watch out for the knitting crazies! We are an interesting bunch.

Been drinking my coffee Vietnamese style, as I needed a change from my trusty Bustelo - I got myself some Cafe Du Monde and loaded up on the sweetened condensed milk. Is it good for me? Do I care?

Elizabeth Hat, With Some Extra Love

I am very much a sweater knitting kind of girl, but I needed a hat for very practical reasons. Prior to this hat, I was wearing a raggedy crocheted hat made by Burton. How could a knitter wear something that looks handmade but isn't handmade? I guess the biggest reason was that none of the hats I made in the past were warm enough - yes, they were very cute looking, but it couldn't withstand my wet hair and the cold wind tunnels. Also, my head is shaped like a bowling ball, so most hats are too long but not wide enough! The solution? I made the Elizabeth Hat, a cabled hat that requires the use of bulky weight yarn. Thicker yarn + cabling = more elasticity = more room for my giant head! The pattern itself was very generously posted on Ravelry for free. I used a skein of leftover yarn from my Corona, plus an alpaca tweed that I picked up at Rhinebeck. For some reason, this tweed just wants to be double stranded with something else, instead of a standalone - I used the majority of the tweed making this - it's the warmest sweater I own, so I thought it would be perfect for this hat. The hat was completed within one roundtrip work commute on the subway, and I was happy wearing it as it was originally designed, except that it got too stretchy over time and the alpaca was really itchy - I needed a barrier! So, I knit myself a little woolen band using my smallest DPNs (#1s). I used a provisional cast on, making the width of the band slightly smaller than the 2 x 2 ribbing of the hat. The length was determined by me wrapping the band around my head, stopping when it was snug. I then did a three needle bind off with the two live ends, creating a loop. Lastly, I turned the hat inside out, put the lining around the outside, and sewed it in place. Done! It was some extra work, but it was well worth the effort. Now I'll have a hat that I will actually wear for its practical AND aesthetic value - imagine that!

Your Thoughts on Kombucha?

I was first introduced to this weirdness a couple of weeks ago by my boyfriend's sister. It is a fermented beverage that touts a laundry list of health properties including a boosted immune system and better circulation, among other virtues. And like most things, I will give anything a go at least once, so I tried it. For having zero expectations on what it was going to taste like, I was taken somewhat aback. It smelled and tasted what I imagine an unwashed foot would taste like. It was very acidic, tart, slightly carbonated, very much like vinegar. At the time I was not so cool with it and didn't have a second sip; less than a week later however, I found myself at the drink aisle of the grocery store picking up another bottle. I don't know really know why; I felt like it couldn't get the best of me, maybe. It also reminded me a bit of Natto, which I happen to love. (For people who don't know, Natto is a Japanese dish of fermented soybeans that is also supposed to be very good for you. Definitely an acquired taste - you have to be brain-washed into loving it from infancy, although there are some lovers of Natto who tried it in adulthood, but they tend to be kind of quirky to begin with.) I'm at my third bottle, and I still don't know if I hate it or slightly like it. The health benefits are also a bit hazy - it's either raved about as the next panacea, or it's a hazard that caused liver failure and deadly allergic reactions. Any thoughts?

Spring Has Arrived!

The good weather is always a motivator - some stuff that I have been doing as of late:

Make vanilla extract... I will tell you the results in 6 months. I found out how to do it here.

Been eating way too much - my days of running 6 miles a day and doing sports year-round are long gone! I have been trying to do much more manageable, low impact exercises using The Ball. It's harder than it looks. Then again, I may be horribly out of shape.

Those crazy non-gluten eaters. I tried giving this a try. I don't know how I feel about it yet. Maybe over time, I'll love it, but right now I like the idea of it more than the taste.

I have not been out of the United States since 2006. This is a problem for me. I daydream of places to go when I should be working. But, I managed to book a flight to Bogota for late July - it's only 6 hrs from NYC. Soooo excited!

I am not a big jewelry person, so when I got a gift certificate to Tiffanys, I wasn't too thrilled. I kept the gift certificate for a year before I decided on getting the Frank Gehry Fish. Simple and not too frou-frou, so I think I can leave it on and forget about it!

My current fast food obsession - $3 falafels at Oasis, off the Bedford stop on the L - 161 North 7th Street - yum, yum. I've been dragging everyone I know there. Yes, I am a food evangelist.

Modified Elaine's Blouse

Excuse the mess in the background! I finished this sweater last Saturday, but with all of the guests we've had, there has been no time to take pictures of my most recent completed project (or clean the apartment, for that matter)... The basic pattern for this came out of the Winter 2008 Interweave Knits, called the Elaine Blouse. I didn't alter the basic pattern very much - the biggest modification is the cable pattern in the front. I lifted that pattern directly from here, which was originally designed to be an afghan square. I used Joseph Galler Superfine Prime Alpaca Yarn that I got at the Yarn Tree in Brooklyn. I was hoping to make this sweater without having to buy another cone (one cone has 665 yards in it) and I am happy to report that I was successful! I was unsuccessful in NOT buying another cone, however - I went back and bought two more cones for another project that is in the works. Something about the feel of alpaca - I can't get enough of it! I'm slightly obsessed. My previous alpaca projects have been hats and scarves for the most part, as I have heard that Alpaca has the tendency to grow horizontally after washing/blocking. Luckily, that has not happened to me as of yet. Giddiness aside, I am not sure if the ribbing is placed appropriately or is very flattering on my non-womanly figure, but overall the sweater is comfortable, not itchy, hasn't pilled, and was all done under $30. Can't beat that. Oh, and I also love the non-functional buttons up the back! Courtesy of M&J.

Climbing Vines Pullover

Why is it that you want things you can't have, but if you think about them long enough, it somehow happens? The stars were in alignment when I came across this pattern in the Winter 2008 Interweave Knits - for the longest time, I had wanted a similar version of this sweater I saw by Phildar. Their version is in French, and I tried to buy it through the link they posted without much luck. Plus, my French is pretty lousy, so even if I somehow managed to obtain the pattern, I probably wouldn't be able to figure it out! So lucky for me that they came out with something comparable. The finished product you see is actually my second attempt at this sweater using Beaverslide worsted weight yarn that is a blend of merino and mohair. My first sweater I had to frog; it was also through Beaverslide, and it was also worsted weight, but made entirely of wool. Because the fiber wasn't as soft, I couldn't get a small gauge, and my sweater came out big, too big to block into submission, unfortunately. It did give me an opportunity to practice the vine pattern however, so I'm not too upset about it. (The frogged yarn is now in the process of being made into the Shalom Cardigan, as the project requires a big gauge.) The biggest challenge for this project was that the length of the sweater is pretty much decided for you, because you had to stop the pattern repeat in a certain place in order to make the neckline. My sweater came out a little shorter than I had wanted; if I were to make the pattern again, I would do a provisional cast-on for the bottom, so that I could have the option of adding on more length later. I also did garter stitch across the entire front, and I also made the neckline higher and not so wide. I avoided seaming like I usually do by doing a three needle bind off for the shoulders, then picked up stitches and did short-rows for the sleeves. I left the sleeve bottoms unfinished by not doing the ribbing - I am still not sure how I feel about that yet, so it may be altered later. I kind of like the rolled-edge look, but since it's not rolled in any other place, I don't know if it works...

SALE!

Oh, neglected blog. More posts to come, soon - completed but unposted projects include the climbing vines pullover and a fully-lined Elizabeth (which sadly, I can't find now). Some works in progress include: a modified Elaine's Blouse, Shalom Cardigan, and the impossibly intricate, gorgeous, but pain in the butt Eva Raglan Pull. Side note and a quick FYI to all people who love discount yarns: there's a sale going on at Knots and Bolts until midnight tonight - you can get your project staples like Cascade 220 for a little over $5 - woohoo! Not as cheap as Knitpicks, but I find Cascade pills less, at least for me. It's time to stock up - in times of recession, every little bit helps. Cheers!

Busy As a Bee

For some reason, it's been feeling like Holiday Season - a lot of running around, many project started and stopped, minus the good food! Part of the ADHD has to do with my recent foray into social networking - while I do dabble in the smaller, more specialized networking sites like linkedin or ravelry, I avoided myspace and facebook like the plague... that is, until about a month ago, when someone twice my age invited to me to join. Ick. It was a slide into the inevitable. The lure of Facebook is understandable - within a matter of a week, I had reconnected with people that I haven't spoken to since grade school. It was a very strange thing. I am still ambivalent about it, but the lure is understandable - perhaps it's because people are naturally curious beings? Lately the posts that people have been writing about relate to their current jobless state. With so few friends in finance, I hadn't seen much of the effects of the current economy, but now it is starting to become apparent in the non-profit sector as well. To add to the depression, I recently went to Coney Island, which was closed because developers wanted to build condos on what they viewed as prime real estate at the time. The beaches are devoid of people in the winter, which is to be expected, but the colorful tackiness of Coney Island was all fenced off, and/or torn down and destroyed to make room for McCondos. On a brighter note, I have a number of projects that are in various states of completion - more follow up pics to come soon!

The Yarn Tree

I never liked going to yarn stores in NYC much - they tend to be overcrowded, and the regulars who dominate the knitting tables are a little intimidating. Perhaps that's why I've been drawn to stores not centrally located, and therefore harder to access; my yarn store of choice this past year has been Brooklyn General, but I didn't get to go as often as I would have liked, given my job in the Bronx - by the time I get there, it's usually closed, and then I have to transfer three trains to go home empty handed (sniff)! This weekend I went to the Yarn Tree for the first time with a couple of friends and I think I've found my match! Although the yarn selection isn't as big, the hours are geared towards the working folk - 4 to 9 pm on most days - how lovely! The woman at the store was very friendly, and the one person knitting in the back of the room did not have a crazed look in her eyes. Plus, there was a dog in the store, sleeping on a little ledge in front of the store. All good signs. The store is located in a remote part of Williamsburg, and tricky to get to - the J, M, or Z will get you there the quickest, although I think it's possible to take the L as well if you want to walk. The upside of walking is looking at all of the random graffiti on the walls of buildings. It's more like art than graffiti though, I think...... so after being taken in by the neighborhood and the shelves full of woolly goodness, I ended up buying 665 yards of fingering weight alpaca. I was very excited to make a sweater out of this, but now I am starting to think that this is still not enough. Now I have to go back before they run out of that dye lot, and I know I'll end up falling in love with something else and end up buying more yarn. Ugh! The vicious cycle of buying and stashing begins...

Skiing in Maine

While I love winter for its sweaters, I love winter for another reason: skiing! Unfortunately, I don't get to go as often as I want to - skiing is a very expensive hobby to have (I guess my other hobbies of knitting and eating is too, depending on how often and how much you indulge)! This year, my first ski trip was a belated x-mas gift from a friend to Butternut, which is a little-known mountain in Massachusetts. The trails aren't steep at all, but they are very long and leisurely. A good mountain to start the season with! My next mountain had to be more challenging - turns out that my boyfriend's relatives in Maine all work on a ski resort and had mounds of ski passes to give away - all we had to do was find a way to get there and we could ski as many times as we wanted. Yes! The trip to the ski resort was a bit long -the infamous Fung Wah Bus to Boston took 4 hours (no crack smokers in the bathroom, nor an accidental viewing of the driver's porn collection on the bus' movie screen occurred this time), then a bus to Portland was another 2, then about another 3-4 hours to Rangeley, where Saddleback Mountain is. While it sounds horrible, it was totally worth it. While New York doesn't have a lick of snow left, Rangeley looked like a winter wonderland - when you get to the top of the mountain, you can see even see Canada. The winds from the north were pretty brutal - I thought my face was going to fall off, even with a ridiculous face mask on. Luckily, we were invited back to visit in March, when the weather is more temperate. Hurray!

Asymmetrical Cabled Cardigan

A very short knitting project - this was was done quickly, using frogged yarn from a failed project using KnitPicks worsted weight yarn. The frogged yarn resembled ramen noodles, and it was twisted around while I was knitting; I didn't bother straightening it out very much after I unraveled, and so the texture of my finished product was not as smooth as I would have liked, even after a harsh blocking! I got the pattern for this cardi here. Minor modifications: I casted on 16 stitches less on the body than what the pattern called for so that I would have a tighter fit. I didn't change anything for the sleeves. My yarn wasn't stable enough to support button holes or a stand-up collar very well, so I cheated: I sewed the sweater closed so that I would have to pull the sweater up over my head in order to wear it. Doing so limits my ability to wear the sweater open in front, but since it's asymmetrical, it looks a little funny if you wear the cardigan open anyway. If I were to make this again, I would use a sturdier yarn so I can actually get usage out of my buttonholes, or find a better way to make buttonholes. I'm very happy that I now have a sweater that I can wear after normal sweater season is over, and I love having a project that didn't require me to make long sleeves! Sleeves, while functional things to have, are so so boring to knit! I needed a break.

Having Fun with my Diana F+ and Epson Scanner...

... the only thing I haven't gotten a hang of is keeping the pesky dust particles off of my negatives as they are being scanned. Also, while my Epson Perfection 4490 has adapters for both 35 mm negatives and medium format film, I haven't figured out a good way to scan the entire 35 mm negative, sprockets included. Any advice on that would be much appreciated, as the inclusion of the sprockets are what makes the pictures interesting in a lot of the shots... Below are some test shots with the Diana while I was visiting my parents in Ohio during New Years. It took me awhile to figure out that people shots with my Diana didn't turn out well at all (it's hard to tell how well you're doing, because you obviously don't see the results until you develop the film!), but I think that my future usage will be restricted to landscape shots for the most part.

The double exposure feature on the camera was fun to play with.

See the dust particles above? Annoying! I don't know how to get rid of it...

Taken with a fish eye lens.

Pad Thai

My love of Thai food started during my sophomore year in college, when I would eschew cafeteria food in favor of take-out pad thai. Little did I realize then that the dish I dearly loved was not an entirely authentic experience. When I went to Thailand a couple of years later, the first thing I did after checking into my hostel was stop at a street food vendor. Since then, I've been to a lot of restaurants in order to relive this street food experience - while New York is one of the best places to find a good plate of plate of pad thai, they haven't come close to what I got while I was there. It's hard to put a finger on what's different - the best way I can explain it is that the food is less intense here - the essence of what makes something pad thai as opposed to something else has been diluted somehow. Being DIY type of person, I started to look for my own recipes. I found a very good one here. Buying everything (ingredients, supplies) to make it was pretty cheap, given my proximity to Chinatown - Kam Man, Bangkok Center Grocery, and Hong Kong Supermarket come to mind. I even ended up investing in an iron wok, as well as a pair of tongs (makes serving much easier). While I've used oyster sauce before, I have never worked with fish or tamarind sauce. Let me just say that fish sauce lives up to its name. Actually, it's pretty unbearable, really. I almost lost my appetite while making the base sauce, but when you take the finished sauce and mix it in with the noodles and meat, it miraculously transforms into something magical and delicious. Hard to explain. I imagine it's like making cheese (not that I ever would in a million years, not in my Brooklyn apartment anyway) - very smelly in the making, but with addictive results. The picture above was my clumsy first attempt. I've done it at least 10 times since then - once you get the hang of it, it's really simple to do. Much recommended.

Rotating Images of Happiness

We have had the same coffee table for a number of years, a vestige of the college days where decor didn't really matter - while it was lovingly handmade by my boyfriend, it was decorated with strategically placed beer caps so that it looked like an Irish flag. While I don't doubt his artistic abilities or his hard work, the table was simply not very charming. I didn't have the heart to tell him to get rid of it though, and so it sat there as a proud centerpiece of the living room until recently, when the last of its wobbly legs gave out. I then sadly/happily informed him that it was time to get a replacement, and he reluctantly agreed. While we did some shopping around, budgetary constraints had us settling for an IKEA coffee table that had a glass covering on top. While the new table was very modern looking and meshed well with the rest of the apartment, I actually started to miss the handmade, personalized aspect of the other table, despite its garish beer theme. I found a good compromise one day, when I was cleaning out my box of photos - I found that I could make a collage out of these photos, place it on top of the table, then secure the pics in place with the glass. Not only do the photos get some usage, but the coffee table looks a little more interesting without looking too juvenile. The boyfriend is happy and so am I~!

Cable Sweater Inspired by Rebecca

Hurray, my first completed sweater for 2009! This sweater was a labor of love, a project inspired from the cables in this Rebecca pattern. The yarn is double stranded so that it would knit to gauge - I used Cascade 220 in cream with an alpaca tweed that I bought at the Sheep and Wool festival in Rhinebeck back in October. I knitted the body in the round, making 3 decreases for the waist, and three increases for the bust. I used the cable pattern in the front AND the back, so I casted on the same number of stitches (78?) for each side. I knitted the sleeves in the round, after picking up 50 stitches for the armhole, knitting 3 rounds in garter stitch before doing the rest in stockinette. After doing six inches for the sleeves, I decreased two stitches every four rows 10 times until I had 30 stitches left. I ended the sleeves by doing 2x2 ribbing for 2.5 inches. For the shoulders, I bound off 11 stitches for each shoulder with a three-needle bind-off. For the cowl neck, I picked up the rest of the stitches from the front and back that were not bound off for the shoulders, picked up a couple of stitches from the sides, and knit in the round for 8 inches. I did the last 4-5 rounds in seed stitch (purl, knit, purl, knit to the end on the first row, then knit, purl, knit, purl to the end on the following row). I bound off loosely, weaved in the ends, and voila! Since this sweater is tighter fitting and thicker than most of my sweaters, I didn't dare block it - I wore it to work yesterday and it has kept me comfortably warm in my freezer box of an office. I am also happy to say that despite the sweater having a cowl neck, it is not itchy or irritating in the least. So far, so good!