i want to learn..
i just finished watching both series “the long way round” and “the long way down.” they’re documentaries about best friends ewan mcgregor and charley boorman on their motorbikes from london, uk to new york, usa (round) and then john o’groats, scotland to cape town, south africa (down). umm…you need to rent them. seriously, it was two thumbs up and five stars! i think because it was funny, smart, showed their real personalities, and just super entertaining. it makes me want to learn how to ride a motorcycle!! after both series, it’s hard not to develop crushes on these two. 
watch them!
2010. what?
what. the. heck. did christmas and new years really go by already? so sad.. it seemed like twinkling lights and big family meals lasted only a week. sooo….my blogging hasn’t improved much. i realize i’m not so much a daily blogger…or much of a regular blogger, but rather a sporadic one with big updates all clumped into one. that still works, yeah? high five?? ok ok…onto the said updates.
happy new year!! it’s 2010 and as usual in my happy-new-year-posts…journal out your top ten praises from the previous year and your top ten prayer requests for the upcoming one. pray over it, dream over it, praise God.
the surprising thing that has happened over the past couple of months is that i have turned into a sewing maniac. it’s true. it’s seriously taken over…not just my time, but my whole dining room area. the table and chairs are littered with thread spools, scraps and fibers of material, scissors, batting, fabric…it’s a mess. i think it’s a happy mess, but it is a mess. who would’ve thought…but i LOVE sewing!! it’s so satisfying and provides instant gratification!! knitting…ehh…it’s fun, but as i learned from knitting a beanie over thanksgiving, it bores me quickly and i get antsy when i don’t see big results in a short amount of time. sewing on the other hand…it taps into a nerdy side of me that loves measuring out things and constructing pieces collectively into a finished product. i think it’s this side of me that got me the “lamp of knowledge” award in high school for drafting class. love it! i morphed into a sewing machine making gifts for christmas and just for fun. i wish i took pics of the things i gave away as gifts…but alas, i did not think it through and sent them on their way before i took their mug. these are just a couple of the things that i still have on hand:
my yoga mat bag! i made a couple of these for christmas…i love the fun print!
a hooter hider for my preggo friend
and the other part of the gift, a DIY reversible Hotslings!! my stuffed animal “furry” had to play the baby. i was pretty nervous about this one as it will eventually have to support a baby. an actual human being. GAH!! i wanted to make it right and make it strong!! but i have to say, i’m proud of the final product! i was nervous starting the project as it was pretty much my “Everest” and the hardest thing i’ve ever made so far. but i think all the little projects prior to this helped gear everything for the sling. i just wish i found a cute print in the material needed rather than solids for both sides. next time next time…
for any sewers out there, i really really like Lotta Jansdotter’s Simple Sewing book. i originally checked this book out at the library, but after renewing it three times and loving all the projects inside, i bought a copy for myself. check it out!
and last bit of random…is anybody else loving lady gaga? she is sooo weird. but her tunes, her tunes are crazy catchy!! amazing.
Oops…
i’m not the biggest blogger, but i thought i could get at least one entry in per month. the summer has now passed w/ a whopping ZERO entries…oops. ok ok…i come prepared, even with pics , to update what’s been going on in chuphoria.
turkey/greece
yep, i took a wee vacation w/ my sister to turkey and greece! it was F-A-B!! soo much fun! overall some things… 1) we both liked turkey better than greece. how bout that. 2) the food is delicious! i’m a big fan of kabobs and i’m determined to make or find the apple tea we drank loads of in turkey. 3) turkish locals are nice…really really nice. 4) people couldn’t understand that we were from the united states…surely we HAD to be from korea or japan. 5) santorini has fantastic doorways. and 6) bonine, supposedly non-drowsy formula, makes me reaallly boring company…sorry jenny. also it has nothing on the hydrofoil ferry boats in greece. they’re fast but also very barf-inducing. 
my new project!
i’m learning how to sew!! yep…that’s right…sew. i’m done just dreaming of all the things i want to make and having the wheels in my head spin round and round after being inspired to lead to…nothing. this sista is learning a new craft!! so i borrowed my sister’s machine and made my first project.
a kleenex holder. fancy? no. practical? meh. fun? YES. i’m excited and am searching the www for more patterns and other crafts! (btw…sewing a straight line is really hard!! how do they do it??) i’m also very excited to soon learn how to hem my own jeans. even if i don’t stick to sewing, if i learn this one thing…how to hem my pants, it will be worth it…a very cost-effective gain from this little adventure. woot woot!
in the same vein of crafts…i finished painting my living room and bedroom! sooo…i couldn’t find a pic of my bedroom in it’s original glory…but just imagine it a squash-y orange/peach color. here are the before and afters:
i painted the fireplace this grayish color called “intellect.” i think i like the name just as much as i like the color. and my bedroom…”dusty olive.” the pic doesn’t really show the color well, but i tried to get the wall w/ the contrasting colors that are in the room. anyways, i am really pleased with the end results. (word to the wise…don’t paint on the hottest day of the summer. you will sweat…you will sweat a lot. and your friends that help you will sweat a lot too…along with being a tad miserable. oops.) next project: repainting the night table by my bed. i got this fun color and i’m super excited. i’ll post pics when i’m done…stay tuned.
the baking has gotten some love as well. but there are no pics because…to be honest, i wasn’t that wowed by the end products. i made a yeast whole wheat something from my bread book…but it wasn’t fantastic nor was it that tasty. hmmm. i’m thinking the flour was going bad…maybe that’s why the taste was just ok. i don’t know. and i can’t even remember the other loaf i made…it was that forgettable. i still have a humongous bag of yeast so there will be more bread baking to be done…oh yes.
ok, i think this is my longest post ever!! whoop! more to come! and hopefully…more consistently.
FAIL.
i just baked the blueberry lemon curd ring…the one i was anticipating for quite some time. this is what the finished product is supposed to look like:
this is what my finished product looked like:
HAHAHAHA… i know i know…wha??? instead of a sweet dainty dessert, i end up making this incredible hulk pastry ring. it’s like the jelly-center svenhards danish on steroids. i think my downfall was from the beginning…
1. i halved the recipe for the brioche dough that was in the book.. unfortunately, i forgot to halve the yeast and salt amounts. oops.
2. i think the extra yeast is the kicker. it messed up the rise…it was super super airy and kind of mushy…hard to work with.
3. i took too long to roll out and spread the lemon curd and blueberries. the high butter content in the dough started to get soft making the whole thing really gooey. when i formed it as a raw wreath shape, it was already falling apart. no bueno.
so it looks ginormous and just…overwhelming. BUT…messy and gooey…it tasted awesome. not too sweet…got a little tart kick from the blueberries and lemon curd.
the next time i do this i’m going to use the challah dough instead. the brioche dough is nice…but the butter content killlls me. i already tried skimping out on some with this batch. the up-side to all the butter and flour…when this is baking in the oven, my place smell like…heaven. ahhhhh….
june already?!
where is the time going?? i can’t believe it’s almost mid-june already!! yikes.
random…but i found the BIGGEST spider in my shower the other night!! it was red and thick and a little bit smaller than my palm…i repeat, a little bit smaller than my palm. i’m starting to sweat just thinking about it again. gives me the heebs. luckily i hadn’t gotten in yet…but let me tell you, i think there’s no other way i feel more vulnerable than naked and without contacts on. AAGGHH!! i got really flustered but finally decided on flushing it down the shower drain, followed by 2 cups of bleach, followed by a full kettle of boiling water 15 minutes after the bleach. think that did it? (smile)
i tried the boule bread recipe from my bread book. this is your basic master recipe…the artisan free-form loaf. this is finished result…
hmmm…what can i say…it was just ok. i don’t know if i made it wrong…but it turned out pretty salty and reallly dense. definitely not airy and light, but rather hefty, heavy, and packed. i want to get it right though, i’ll probably try this recipe another time with less salt and less handling.
with one of the loaves of bread, i made DELICIOUS dinners of caprese sandwiches!! i got the heirloom tomatoes from my fruit/veggie box (my fave thing to get from them i think) and some fresh mozzarella. the basil came from the little plant i’m growing!! can i just share how weirdly excited i am about my herbs?? i look at the little pots with almost a maternal affection. i think…”they’re growing!!!! they’re really growing!!!!” and then…i eat them. here are the chives and basil..
sidenote: jenny makes fun of my basil pot. i think i scattered too many seeds. she said it looks like a clover patch!! oops. she also says that it’s creepy when i talk excitedly about my growing herbs. later this year i’m planting tomatoes for next summer…got the pot and dirt all ready to go!
my next projects: 1. re-painting my bedroom and living room (i really hope the colors work!!) and 2. blueberry lemon curd ring (it is not even funny how much i’m looking forward to this…the pics makes me droooool..)
stay tuned!
happy spring!
spring is here….which means sunsets at 7:30pm! whoop!! love it. can’t wait until summer when it’s still light out at 8:30pm. weirdly though, daylight savings was a couple of weeks ago and i’m juuusstt getting used to it. it usually doesn’t bother me, but this year it totally kicked my butt. i’m getting weak sauce.
i love fresh flowers. they make me happy.
tried out a couple more recipes! first one was a lemon-blueberry yogurt bread. my mom had given me a huge bag of lemons from her lemon tree…so what better way to put them to good use! i upped the amount of lemon zest and lemon juice in the recipe because i like a strong zing that really sticks it to your spit glands. dense and low-fat…my kind of bread.
second recipe was a yeasted chocolate-chip pumpkin bread. i’ve been sooo excited to try this one out! it was a bit more labor-intensive than i anticipated though. with all the hours it needs to rise, shape out, and bake…it requires a good chunk of your day. it came out fluffy, not too sweet, with a slight pumpkin-y undertone. delicious! i’m bringing this one in to work.
and scattered throughout…concerts. oh how i love the live music. saw a handful, but i think the best would have to be the wood brothers. they are just a great combo of bluesy soul, ridiculous awesome talent, uniqueness, and that hearty vibe that makes you want to tap your feet. seriously, sooo good. i was still thinking about the concert as i went to sleep that night. please check them out and show em the love.
high as a kite…
this is seriously one of the funniest youtube videos that i’ve seen in a while. hilarious!!
“is this real life?”
“okay now… okay now i… i have two fingers…”
challah?…HOLLA!!
i love bread. i really do. low-carb shmo-carb…it’s all about moderation. so i recently started getting into the book Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. it’s amazing!! i love it!! i want to eventually try every recipe in it. if you heart bread, you have to give this book a go. some of the stuff is so easy! one of my favorite types of bread is challah. the egg-y soft chewy goodness is irresistible to me. the kind you buy at trader joes is good…but it just doesn’t quite cut it than if you bought it from a bakery. i decided to give it a try and use the book’s master challah recipe. it was mmmmmmmmmmm…. right out of the oven, i think i could’ve eaten about half a loaf…no joke.
i wanted to make a nutella filled braid for when i went to my uncle/aunt’s place over the weekend. so i did some test runs…this was my first loaf…one plain braid with poppy seeds and two knots filled with nutella.
delicious!! but i did learn from the two knots that i could up the amount of nutella. i was stingy and too worried about the spread oozing out of the seams.
so armed with heaping tablespoons of nutella, i made the next loaf. i also made it extra big since it was going to be shared with all my cousins. it turned out yummy with thumbs up from everyone…even my mama chu!!
i had some extra dough left and decided to make three knots to bring to work. i made one plain, one filled with nutella, and one filled with raspberry jam. i didn’t take any pictures, but they looked and tasted yummy.
i’m still eating the plain loaf…and i found that it makes quite awesome french toast. mmmmmmmmmmm!! i gained a couple of pounds from all the challah…but it was worth it. the smell and taste of fresh hot bread from the oven kicks the low-carb revolution’s butt anyday. HOLLA!
happy new year!!
it’s a new year! crazy how fast the time goes by…2008 came and went in a blink of an eye. yikes..
ok…i started this last year and hopefully will make it an annual thing. journal out your top 10 praises from 2008 and your top 10 prayer requests for 2009. write them out…pray over them…God is great.
as a side note, please watch Slumdog Millionaire. it’s a great movie! harsh, funny, clever, and just really good. i heart India.
hello december!
i found white hair. i found a lot of white hair. it’s gross. i got home from work the other day and while washing my hands, spotted a lone ranger white hair sticking out of my head. i went to pull it out, and while moving some other hair around, found two more. i whipped out the tweezers and while flip-flopping my hair around, found another…then another…then another!! i found 39 white hairs altogether!!! (it’s true…i counted. don’t judge me) what the?!?! 39!!! that’s gross! that’s sad!! what’s going on?!?! i feel all self-conscious now. i never had that many before…they just sort of…sprouted. any suggestions on why i’m growing white hair like a chia pet??
onto better happier things…it was thanksgiving! i LOVE this time of year…nov/dec is definitely my favorite! it was a full house at my parent’s that weekend. lots of relatives and lots of animals! well…just 2 dogs, but they were a handful. whoop!! my bro brought omelette up and my sis brought marbles back. we had visions of the two pups snuggling at night, playing together, and becoming bff’s. sadly, a jack russel terrier and a french bulldog do not mix. boo.. they both were sassy the first night and weren’t ok with each other until a bit later. i think they separated on sunday as…acquaintances, not the best of friends, maybe not even friends, but tolerable of one another. why can’t we all just get along?? i hope to try and make the friendship work again. two dogs was so much fun!! here are some pics.. (we realized after uploading about 140 pics onto the computer, that maybe <5 of them were of people. the rest were…dogs. oops)
and one last throw-in…i am very much enjoying npr’s sunday puzzle podcasts!! love it! bring it on will shortz…BRING IT ON!!
the air is crisp…houses are lit up…xmas music is playing…God is good.
