Mission Trails in January

Don't let the pretty autumn colors fool you, but we hiked the Mission Trails in early January after several days of rain so that we could see if the cacti were blooming.  We just hiked around for 4 hours enjoying the scenery, but not really picking any particular trail.  We ended up way out by the northern perimeter and Shepherd's Pond.

This is a really excellent regional park with great hiking trails of all skill/effort levels.



This is a seasonal crossing, so we actually had to wade through the water a bit to get over to the trails. Normally, it isn't quite so wet here.








"It's like the English countryside, except for the cacti."

Thrifted Sewing Patterns

By the way, it's Valentine's Day tomorrow, and if you need to make a little gift (that's not chocolate or flowers), check out my Cutie pattern!

It's possible I am as excited about new patterns as I am about the fact that they were 10 cents a piece!  I picked them up at an estate sale just down the street from my parents' house, and for that price, I probably should have picked out a few more.  I'm really excited about that one on the front though.  It's a vintage pattern that I guess you had to mail away for.  I waiting until I feel confident enough in my pattern cutting skills before I tackle that pretty vintage one.  I did sew my first dress lately (it's actually that middle McCall's pattern), but I'm still cringing at how horribly ugly it is.  But I will eventually post photos.

Trying out Brussels Sprouts

Shocker.. but I don't like them too much. They have kind of a weird taste.  The tartness in this Mustard Brussels Sprouts recipe from A Beautiful Mess kind of masks the taste, but I guess that I just don't like Brussels Sprouts all that much. 

We made these as a side dish to a yummy turmeric ground lamb recipe that we found in a one-pot cookbook.  We got them on a whim because we were so enamored when we saw a whole stalk of them at the grocery store.

Speckled Squid

I made another Voodoo Maggie pattern lately (I made the Yeti earlier), and it turned out pretty cute even though I may have cheated the pattern a little bit.  I tried to make this guy out of the small remainder of a weird skein of speckled off-white yarn that I used to make a hippo out of.  Unfortunately, I realized almost at the end of the head that I wasn't going to be able to finish the pattern with the yarn that I had left.  I ended up leaving out the last round of increases and SC across to try and leave at least a little yarn for the longer tentacles.  And I almost made it.  The second tentacle is half speckled-half white.  And since I'm a rebel and didn't do the cap in a contrast color (as the book advises you do), I had to add a little trim of white single crochets in order to tie it together with the little white tentacles.

All right, one for the not-a-total-disaster column!

Whoops! Please ignore the wrinkled fabric I used for my backdrop :) And the graininess - still learning!  I'm trying to figure out good ways to light things while shooting at night, since I can't ever seem to find a time to shoot pictures when the sun is actually out.

Squirtle Squad Graffiti

Normally, I am not a huge fan of graffiti, but sometimes, I have to make an exception for street art.  I snapped this picture with my camera phone (thank goodness for camera phones, right? Even if it is a terrible 2 MP camera)

No secret, I was totally a Pokemon fan.  I watched the animated show for many years, even after I stopped playing the newer games.  This graffiti makes me laugh (I object a little to the "skeet, skeet, skeet") Here's the relevant video if you don't know what this is all about, haha.

Tofu, Chickpea, & Green Pea Curry

Still on the hunt for some good tofu dishes, I came across this one from The Partial Ingredients on Foodgawker.  It was pretty perfect because I had a leftover nub of ginger I didn't know what to do with and a partial bag of frozen peas in the freezer.  I basically omitted most of the spices and just went with some curry powder for the seasoning since it mostly contains all those spices anyways. 

Something new I learned when trying to make this recipe: Chickpeas = Garbanzo beans!  (Anyone besides me reminded of Zoboomafoo from PBS?)

Anyways, another warning about the recipe, make it in a Dutch oven or other similarly large sauce pot.  The first time we made the recipe, we made it in the skillet as called for, but there ended up being so much liquid that it was impossible to stir.

We also nixed the jalapeno because it made the first batch unbelievably spicy.



P.S. I took this picture at work because I have a new miniature rice cooker!  Thanks to my old coworker Tricia, I can now eat fresh rice with my lunches :)

Refashioned Hair Ties

So, I have very thick, long hair. I know, what a tragedy.  Well, it's a tragedy for my hair rubber bands because they tend to get severely stretched out after a short while, but I can't bear to throw them out.  Because I'm cheap.  But we all knew that. I usually buy my elastics in bulk in LA, so they come in weird colors if you don't get the all-black set.

So I devised a way to extend the life of my hair ties while also creating fun little things for my hair which I usually wear in a ponytail to work.

I like this little method because I usually will wrap a single rubber band 3 times around my ponytail to secure it, but with the doubled up elastic, I only need 2 wraps to secure it.

I have little names for them, is that weird?
Rainbow Sherbet (left),  Hot Topic (middle), Winter Wonderland (right)

 


Here's the how-to: (which is more like just explaining my process.  Go ahead and get crazy with it)

-Cut apart your old, stretched out rubber bands so that you have one long piece.
-Use a binder clip to secure multiple bands together at the same length and hand sew them together as if you were starting a friendship bracelet.
-Braid your 3 strands together or twist 2 together (like the pink and black in the middle of my photo).
-Use another binder clip to keep the braid intact and sew together the ends of the bands.
-Bring your two ends together to reform your elastic and sew the elastic shut so that it looks like one continuous loop (so sew the elastics end-to-end not side-to-side).
-And you're done! Rock that pony!