Quick Blurb

I made a couple of hair decorations and a cork board!

I got kinda bad at this!

Late Update, Incoming!

Well I don't know what happened to me this month... maybe laziness? I haven't exactly been sitting still the whole time though, I swear! I've made food and done a few crafts, but nothing major enough that I felt the drive to make a posting. Time to rectify that with a gathering of crafty or delicious things I've accomplished lately.

Egg rolls, Anyone?

The first image is of the egg rolls before I fried them, and the second is the egg rolls after I friend them. I'm sure you could have figured that out, but I like typing.


In these egg rolls I put chicken, red and green bell peppers, onions, and mushrooms. I think they could have used a few more mushrooms, but hindsight is 20/20. The chicken turned out great, I marinated it in the marinade I usually reserve for fish (approx- 1/3 c soy sauce, 1/3 c brn sugar, 1/3 c H2O, 1/4 c oil. I might have the oil and water backwards, not sure!). Then I sliced it very thinly and painstakingly laid each slice out on a frying pan to ensure that they all cooked evenly.

Everything else I just sauteed till they were at a done-ness that I liked. Then I rolled them up and dropped em in oil! They were freaking delicious. Too bad even though I said there was enough for everyone in the house to have 4, Ryan and Cuyler (boyfriend and his cousin) ate the rest of my share the following day (I had saved 2 that I wanted to take to work). Jerks.

Dinner at a Friend's

Some of you might know I went up to San Jose to visit a couple friends of mine! One thing we did was make a tasty salmon dinner. She had never made salmon before and seemed to be a little intimidated, so hopefully she will make it in the future, it turned out great! We used Alton Brown's citrus glazed recipe, it was super good. Sweet with a nice tang to it. We also made broccoli with cheese sauce and rice. It was all excellent.

Next, a Necklace!

Personally, I like to bring some sort of small gift when I'm going to be staying with someone, and since I'm broke it's usually something I've made. I made this necklace for my friend with some stuff that was waiting to be pulled together with a nice pendant. A few posts ago we went to the beach, this is one of the shells I picked up. It had some great ridges for the wire to pick up, I don't have the right drill bits to drill a hole in the shell quite yet. Anyways, it turned out very nice and I'm quite happy with it.

Something I made a While Ago...

I follow threadbanger.com for crafty ideas, and I saw this scarf in an episode a while ago. I really liked the idea of the scarf, so I decided to make one of my own. It looks pretty sweet, but I'm not 100% sold on the idea. Part of the problem might be the color. Maroon isn't something that you wear everyday, I suppose. It was an old work shirt that I saved for cloth scraps (you never know!). If you have any suggestions on how to wear this, let me know, otherwise I'm just going to throw it on randomly until I love it, I guess!

One last thing! I just want to say how frustrated I am with the way this website works. It's a pain in the ass to add pictures, and then they all end up at the top. If you upload more than one they don't load in the correct order, so you have to spend a lot of time putting them in the right order (they don't move from the spot they are in very easily). Then every time I'm making a new paragraph, it goes back to the default text. I like Verdana, and I wanted to use Verdana. If I have to change the font back every time I hit enter, something is wrong. I might have to check out the 'edit html' section and see if I can just type my thoughts in there and if it will be any easier! Good lord!

Night night,
Janiece

Dessert-o

Long time, no post!

I feel like I haven't been up to much, but I swear that's not true! I guess I haven't been doing anything super crafty. I did work on my embroidery project for a bit but stopped... I have been cooking, but I didn't feel anything was nice enough looking to post.

Today for dinner I made oven roasted sea bass, broccoli and cheese, white rice, and corn on the cob. Everything turned out pretty good. I have to admit, I forgot to take a picture, but my plating was not very picture worthy anyways. I did, however, take pictures of dessert.

Dessert was strawberry shortcake, from scratch. I almost over baked the biscuits, but luckily I caught the smell of caramelizing sugar and whisked them out of the oven with time to spare. Go me. Some of you might know this, but I don't like strawberries, so I put chocolate sauce on mine. We sadly did not have any vanilla ice cream or whip cream, but it was still pretty darn good.

Well, until next time!
Janiece

Of Beaches, Beads, and Edamame

Today, Ryan, Ryan's grandma and I headed out to the beach! It was very windy and pretty chilly for most of the day, but the sun did a lot to help dispel that. The ocean was FREEZING, no big surprise there. We walked out on a pier and had lunch at a Ruby's diner, then walked back down and then all over the beach, till we ended up on some sand, chillin just like you see in this picture. Actually I fell asleep for a good thirty minutes. I'm a little pink, but it's not too bad.


On our way off of the pier, Helen spied a seal. I don't know how she spotted it! It turns out the little guy was sick. Eventually a beach guard came and roped him off and stood by him so that people wouldn't get all up in his shit. I mean, it's not like I didn't want a picture of a seal, but there is no reason to get really close to it, I'm pretty sure wild animals don't care for humans. Anyways, I thought this was a good picture, a lifeguard running the evil humans away from the sick seal.


This beach actually had a lot of shells, so I picked up a pocket full. I think I am going to get a pretty glass jar with a lid and put them in the jar with some salt water. That's what my mom does with her beach glass, and it always looks so pretty. There are several Goodwills in the area, I'm sure I can find something nice for display. When I do, you'll see it. I wish that I had a way to drill holes through shells (so I could make jewelry with them!). My dremel bit is either too big or not sharp enough... It just ends up breaking the shells. Someday...

As For Crafts

As a quickie before bed, I decided to make one of my friends a cell phone charm. When I bought mine she said it was cute but she'd rather have one made by yours truly. It turned out pretty cute, even though my beads weren't the same size as the beads on the original charm. The one I made has the pearls and blue cats eye gems. The one I bought is the sparkly one (I added a jingle bell to it, I love having a bell on me for some reason.)

Dinner

As for dinner, I forgot to take pictures, but I made miso soup, salmon, rice, and edamame. Very Japanese-y meal, haha. Everything was a hit, except Helen didn't care for the tofu in the miso (I can't blame her, I don't always like it). Everyone really loved the edamame, of course. It's so damn good. I guess it might be a good thing I didn't take pictures, you might get hungry for edamame!

That's all for tonight!
Janiece

I've Always Hated Cardboard, and I Always Will

Just a quick update today... I was bored and waiting for Ryan to get home, and I started thinking about all his guitars (he has 4). He usually only plays the Ibanez, because it's his nicest one. Other than that he has one regular sized classical, one smaller classical, and another electric. He's always leaving the Ibanez in various rooms propped up against something, and I've been wanting to build him a guitar rack for all of his guitars for a while. Since I don't have the money to buy the materials for the stand I want to build (pvc pipe!), I looked for a cheaper alternative for a single guitar stand, so he could take a little better care of it.

Voila! It's certainly nothing to look at, but after looking at this instructable I was able to put together my own. Let me just say this: I hate cardboard. I hate cardboard with the passion of a thousand fiery suns. I remember in sculpture class we would build things out of cardboard, those were always my most hated projects. It's such a pain in the ass. This cardboard was really thick, too, which made it difficult to cut. In the long run that is better, because it will remain sturdy. Anyways, that's all for tonight, hehe.

Janiece

I put a bow on it and put the guitar and stand out in the hallway for him to see when he gets home from work, how cute! =D

A Little of Both

A Delayed Dinner

Yesterday I went to Cosco with Helen and Phil (Ryan's grandparents that we are living with). We shopped to our hearts content and ended up coming home with a lot of fruit (yum!). Sadly, they did not have the Martenelli's apple juice, I was pretty bummed about that. Anyways, when we got to the line, we realized that we had forgotten to grab a pack of spare ribs! So I ran from the front of the store to the back, and back again with the very cold ribs. When we got home, I looked up some simple recipes and decided instead of making my own rub, I would use the BBQ300 and the Chicken and Rib rub from Penzeys spices- may as well use what we have!

Looking at cooking length guides, I decided we would have our rib dinner tomorrow (today), because they wouldn't have enough time to marinate and cook nice and slow like they should. So today I got them outta the fridge, and whipped up a braising liquid and tossed 'em in the oven for a little under 3 hours. It was a pretty simple dinner. Meat, some leaves and some garlic toast! The ribs turned out very well, they were nice and moist and tender. The little cup of liquid you see there is a reduction of the liquid I braised them in. I made up my own thing and used some honey, white vinegar, red wine, and water. It was pretty tasty! We have plenty of leftovers, so if you are around feel free to stop by and gnaw on one, haha!

I've Black Paint All Over My Hands

Onto crafts. As some of you may know heart Alton Brown, and I have all of his episodes (or most of them) on my computer. I would watch him all day any day! Anyways, a few months ago, I made a 'stamp' of an image of him. I finally had the guts to actually put this on a shirt. The problem was I couldn't cut out the negative space and just use it as a stencil because there were too many small pieces that would have been lost. They were too small to even make connectors! Anyways, I taped the stencil inside the shirt and taped the shirt to the window! When I was done with the outline I sprawled across my bed and proceeded to fill the whole thing
in. After that I added the quote "We've got rules about that kind of thing here." to the front, and "...but that's another show." to the front.

I still have to iron it and then wash it, but it should hold together well. I'm excited to be able to pay homage to my kitchen hero (and unite my loves of crafting and cooking this way as well, hooray!)

That's all for today!
Janiece

Halter Top From Old T-Shirt

Greetings, citizens!

This is just a quick post to show you the shirt I made today. I followed this tutorial: "How-to Make a Halter Top with Megan Nicolay, Threadbanger"

I'm pretty proud of it, this was an old T-shirt I've had for years that just barely fit, but I didn't want to get rid of. Also, one of the armpits had a hole ripped into it. With the weight I've it actually fit again, but the arms were a tiny bit tight, and there was that hole in the armpit. I figured I would just give the tutorial a go and see how it turned out.

The biggest set back I had was that I have no sewing machine, therefore I had to sew the entire top line. It took about 30 minutes to sew that top part. Otherwise, the shirt probably would have taken me ten to 15 minutes, depending on how careful I was being. Here is me modeling it below, haha. A good experiment, and I hope next time I have a sewing machine!

See you next time, same craft time, same craft channel!
Janiece

Murder of a Salmon

みなさん、こんにちは!

A Tasty Dinner that I am Proud of

Today, Ryan and I were discussing an article he had come across that told of the extra benefits of eating certain healthy foods along with another healthy food. For instance, salmon and garlic, red wine and apples, etc. Here is the link to that article. Anyways, I decided I wanted some salmon oven roasted with garlic for tonight's repast. As I was getting started, I had to deal with the dog, Lucy. She's very cute and likes to run around all over the house, which is hard for her because we have wooden flooring, and she just skitters about everywhere. I will have to take a video and throw that up here one day for a laugh.

Once Lucy was worn out enough for her to not be tripping me, I started on the sides. I had originally thought pasta would be good, but changed my mind and reached for some potatoes. I cut them into bite-sized chunks and put them in a baking dish with several sprigs of rosemary, an onion, some kosher salt, and a generous helping of extra virgin olive oil. Some of the onions came out rather crispy, which made me think I should have perhaps reached in there with a spoon and mixed things up a bit, but that is all in the past now. The onions that survived, along with the potatoes and rosemary were mighty tasty.


I like to add a few green options when I can, we are trying to be healthy here! I wrapped broccoli and mushrooms in foil along with more olive oil, salt, and some spice mix from Penzeys (I can't remember which one I used for this!). Here is the Penzeys website. The broccoli came out a little mushy, I didn't thaw it properly and maybe I over cooked it, but it still tasted fine with everything else I was throwing onto the plates. In this picture you can see the steam coming off it it, it was fresh out of the oven, yum...


Lastly, the salmon. I found out that I did not have any fresh garlic, so I was forced to re-think what I was doing with the fish. I decided to give it a good rub on both sides with kosher salt and a healthy dose of the Caribbean Jerk spice from Penzeys. It was mighty tasty, flaky and moist inside, and just crispy enough on the outside. I was very happy with it. Everything heaped up on a plate with a fresh crispy Caesar salad really hit the spot.

Red Velvet Cake, the Answers We Were Waiting For

I believe in my last post I said something along the lines of I wanted to find out if it has only been red as long as there was food coloring around. Even if I didn't, I did the research and I'm going to share it! According to wikipedia and other websites that I looked at, the cake would originally have a slight red tint due to the buttermilk and vinegar reacting with the anthocyanin in the cocoa.

Anthocaynin is a water soluble pigment that can appear red, purple, or blue according to their pH. Hooray for Science! Before dutch processed cocoa was easily had, the red color from the reactions was a lot more pronounced. However, all recipes had red food coloring listed as an ingredient. When the cake was first created, the natural tinting (without food coloring) probably led to the name of the cake.

A few articles also stated that during WWII when sugar was strictly rationed, recipes called for grated or boiled beets or perhaps baby food, which would also help the cake retain it's moisture.

One last little tidbit, it seems that the recipes for Red Velvet Cake and Devil's Food Cake are vastly similar, the obvious difference being the amount of chocolate added to the Devil's Food. I don't think I've created a Devil's Food Cake from scratch, as my significant other does not much like chocolate when it comes to confections. I've been stuck baking wraith-like white cakes, which really pains my soul :(.

Wrap it up!

I hope you enjoyed my step by step showing off of my dinner, and the things I learned about Red Velvet Cake. I thought it was pretty interesting, colored cakes are fun and fantastical. One last thing, I will share a link that gave me 3 hours of entertainment this morning. I started with this compilation, which then gave me links to other interesting furniture and houses and etc, and I just couldn't stop looking. I love sleek, modern furniture that you won't see in most homes, and I am dying to eventually have a place of my own so that I can hopefully have some beautiful pieces like ones I saw here. Wish me luck on that one!

ありがとう,
Janiece

Getting Started

Greetings, stranger!

I have never been good at keeping anything like a journal, so I'm hoping that if this blog has a purpose, which it does, I will be able to keep at it. This isn't a place for me to whine about what happened at work, or who cut me off when driving, this is solely a place for me to organize and record what I have made lately in the realms of cookery and craft-er-y.

As a quick introduction, I have been crafting and cooking for as long as I remember. Mom was always willing to let me help her mix up whatever treat we were going to be having, and my Aunt Maggie was instrumental in starting me out in the crafting world. Over the years I've learned about a number of techniques and materials to work my little crafty hands in, and I haven't stopped yet.

Cooking is something that didn't really get big for me until I was out on my own at 20. I knew I couldn't live off of fast food every night, it was time to learn how to create meals for myself. I still feel like when I'm cooking 'freestyle' (without a recipe or menu guide), I tend to cook the same things, but that's because I really like those meals, and so do the people that eat them, haha. That aside give me a recipe and I will give you a meal. Or a dessert, but only if you're good.


Now for the goods! For Easter Dinner, I wanted to create something I hadn't tried before. I was the main chef this go around, and it was a bit nerve-wracking to cook a turkey and fixins for my boyfriend's family. I made the dessert the night before, and I picked Red Velvet Cake. My mom got me a Sweet Treats calendar for Christmas, and I thought that this cake was just lovely. It turned out great, the only thing I changed was I used cream cheese frosting instead of plain vanilla. Also, can you see how red it is in this picture? It wanted me to use 6 TB of red food coloring, but the bottle only held about 3.5. I wonder how much more red it would have been. I need to do more research on this cake to see if the color has always come from red food coloring, or from something else. Will post results if I find anything interesting :).



Now, this! I was feeling bored, and finally decided I should work on my watercolor skills. I don't think these fishes are anything really spectacular, but they did turn out rather well. The background looks a lot better in person, you can see the spots where I sprinkled salt on the wet paint to make it speckle. I posted the finished work on my facebook, and one of my friends liked it and requested something similar for her little girl, Bella.



Before I thought it wasn't going to let me post another picture, but as it turns out I'm stupid, and the thing to upload pictures came up as a different page under this one, instead of on top. So here is Bella's Elephant and Friend painting, for your viewing pleasure, haha. Here is my deviantart account, as a bonus.

It was nice to meet you,
Janiece

P/S I have lately been inspired by the work of Sonya Melescu, please check out her blog as well.