Belles-Lettres

Oh, man.

So, in my absence, I have moved 2,000+ miles from home. It was not fun. Originally, I was supposed to have flown on 1 July from Dallas, TX to Seattle, WA. I had everything packed up and gone: my clothes, furniture, bed–everything. But things didn’t go as planned. Naturally.

I was notified by my school that I wasn’t cleared to graduate because my academic advisor told me to take a course I didn’t need and didn’t count toward my degree. So… I had to take another month of class at my own expense because of their mistake. I’m not as mad about it anymore because that’s a huge waste of energy, but still, I’m out $2K because of my school’s mistake. That’s money I could really use now that I’m moved in a new state and unemployed.

Anyway, the grad ceremony was uneventful. I graduated .04 points short of graduating with honours, and that upsets me more than anything. Can’t they round up?? Ahh!!! Oh, well. Now, I’m in Seattle in unpacking limbo (I’ve been here for 2 weeks, but don’t have enough furniture for everything) and studying computer languages so I can get a job!

Haven’t been knitting or doing anything much, but I have lots of stash so I will probably start on my Christmas knitting in October. I really want a DSLR these days because Seattle is so green and gorgeous with wild berries and flora I’ve never seen before! And hopefully I will get gift certs to fabric stores so I can start on my sewing! I have a few things that I’m really wanting to make.

I leave off with my current project:

My sister made a table in one of her classes and since it’s pretty plain, I’m decorating it. I’m still not sure if I like this drawing on top, but I’m only good at drawing people and fail pretty spectacularly at anything unique and graphic. I’d have liked to do scrolls and flowers and all, but I can’t draw things like that. :(

Tofu curry! Well, actually, this is a picture of chicken curry. I don’t really eat meat anymore much these days, but we still had some left in the freezer and I cooked it so I could get rid of it. But the original incarnation of this recipe was tofu coconut curry and I think it was much, much better. So, I’ll give the recipe and if you hate tofu, you can substitute with meat instead! But tofu doesn’t get stuck in your teeth. :B The one below is actual tofu coconut curry.

Tofu Coconut Curry

INGREDIENTS
* 1 pkg firm tofu (pressed)
* 1 can coconut milk
* 1/4 cup soy sauce
* 1/2 tsp brown sugar (or to taste)
* 1 Tbsp curry powder
* 1 Tbsp minced fresh ginger, divided
* 2 large ripe tomatoes, chopped
* 2 bunches green onions, chopped
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
* 1 pkg baby fresh mushrooms, whole
* 1 clove garlic, minced
* salt to taste

1. Press the tofu so that it’s nice and firm. I learnt to do this somewhere, but I forgot where. Basically, I put a heavy iron pot on top of tofu wrapped in paper towel wrapped in clean dish rags for an hour. This makes the tofu firm and it absorbs the flavour better, I think. :)

2. I like to strain the coconut milk before Bring the coconut milk, sugar, soy sauce and spices to a boil. Only add half of the ginger and half the garlic and save the rest for later.

3. Add in tofu and cook until hot. Add vegetables but don’t cook them too long. You probably should add the mushrooms first and the tomatoes last. Cook until vegetables are tender but firm.

4. Lastly, stir in basil, ginger and garlic and turn off heat. Make sure to taste the food as you’re cooking to make sure it tastes the way you like it. I like to add lots of pepper because I love the mix of spicy, salty and sweet.

I think that’s it, but I really suck at giving directions because I tend to cook intuitively. But it should turn out okay. :) Serve over purple or jasmine rice! Purple rice is really good and it has more nutrients (namely fibre) than white rice. Try some!  I mixed them together for this recipe since I had so little purple rice left, but it really makes things taste richer than they would otherwise

So after some painful frogging and heavy reluctance, I’ve finally restarted my Seeded Cables Cardigan from Sensual Knits. I’m half-tempted to say, ‘forget it,’ and just put it away and wait for a new yarn because alpaca sheds much too much. I love alpaca, but I probably won’t ever use it again even if it is silky and soft. It’s just not worth having fibres all in my hair and on my clothes. I still have so much alpaca stuff yet. It’s merino and cashmere for me from here on.

Looking at this pattern, there is a bit of a problem on the left-hand side. The outermost cable in the centre pattern lays on top twice instead of weaving over and under like a cable usually does. This isn’t touched upon in the errata (and there was months worth of waiting for multiple error corrections), but I think I’ll go ahead and change it because I hate the way it looks. Unfortunately, I only analysed this after doing two runs through the pattern, so I’m not going to go back and change the few I’ve missed. But, at least it’s on the back and I saw it in time to make the correction of the front. I can’t wait to finish this… I wanted it to be all finished so I can wear it during the cool Seattle nights, but if I can finish it before the end of September, I’ll be happy. Then I can think about whether or not I want to burn myself out on holiday gifts. :D If I end up doing anything for the holidays, I’ll probably keep the list very short.

In other news, I’m finishing my last class before graduation and moving was a complete pain. Hopefully the next time I move, I’ll have much less accumulated junk!

I have a recipe to share later. In the meantime, cheers!

I stated my summer session last week. So far, so good, but I can’t waitwaitwait to be out for good. It’s hard to imagine being finished with school… I’ve been a student for almost 20 years now. Now that the end is sort of looming in the distance, it feels a bit surreal!

Anyway, I’ve not been doing much else besides packing. My knitting has been put on hold and in fact, I need new needles to finish up the trim for the camisole I talked about last entry. Packing is an ordeal, let me tell you. I have (or had, I’ve been diligent about throwing things out) 10 years worth of accumulation in my bedroom. Luckily, my bedroom is all I really have to pack (as opposed to say, the entire house) and since I’ve had my furniture since I was 5, I am justified in saying I don’t want it anymore! So, I’m just moving my bed and my TV stuff and possibly my desk. Ah. Now if it were up to me, I’d leave my desk too because it is enormous, but my dad got it for me and I’d feel bad leaving it since it’s not very old.

I got to go see Sex and the City last weekend with a friend. It was amazing, and I realised that all my clothes and shoes and crap and I’m probably going to throw everything out and get new, ridiculous and impractical clothes and shoes. Not really. Well, maybe a little, but I won’t throw out everything. But that’s how I felt immediately after leaving the theatre: I need to go shopping. It was a fun time all around! The audience was really enthused as if I was in a Harry Potter screening or something– even down to the dressing up!  I really want the blue Manolo’s… they were perfection.

Other than that, all is well. I got new spectacles! Check ‘em out.

I am a big dork, obviously.

I haven’t been up to much lately. School is over for the next week, and then I start my summer course. My final course ever. I’m kind of aprehensive about going out into the REAL WORLD, but I’m sure things will work out fine.

Anyway, here’s a picture of a dress I bought for my birthday last year! Yellow is quickly becoming an obsession for me… I have 2 yellow dresses now, and I just bought a bunch of sungold yellow yarn for a tank top. I didn’t look at the fibre content and so I was surprised to find that it is 100% acrylic. But I can’t return it.  Hopefully, it will be okay. Acrylic tends to make me sweat like crazy, but since I’m creating light summer clothes, it should be alright.

Here’s the camisole I’m working on right now. I messed up on the lace, but I really couldn’t bring myself to rip back and fix it when I realised. Now my main concern is my decreases. My ssk decreases are always super visible next to my k2tog ones. :( But otherwise, I’m not bothered. Now I need buttons for this tank… some pretty faux pearl ones!

I used Addi Turbos for this and… I don’t get the hype, really. They’re nice, but I feel like I knit the same on them as I do on my Denises (which I loathe, btw). The only difference is that my knitting doesn’t ‘hang’ onto the needle with the Addis like they do with Denises. I think I’m about to invest in Knit Picks Options, but I hear some frequent and scary complaints about the quality of the cords they use. And buying a collection of $20+ needles in every length and size does not appeal to me. What to do!

Anyway, I leave you with a picture of mouth-watering cookies! I got the recipe from VeganYumYum (I don’t know how she got hers so beautiful-looking, but I’ll keep trying!), but modified it a bit since I don’t have all of the ingredients she listed (nor do I know where to even find them!). I also added sweet orange oil because orange + vanilla is so yummy to me.

Have a good weekend!

Ah, I’ve found a new love. I saw this dress on Basic Boutique, but unfortunately, it’s not in in my size! So, when I get home (in two months, I’m so excited!) I’m going to try and recreate it. Pretty gathering like this is insanely hard, so that will be a big challenge. And… bishop sleeves. But my mum is pretty handy with the machine, so maybe she’ll be of some help. :) But the gathering on this dress is beyond perfect. I wish I knew some place that I could try it on!

I have one Jovovich-Hawk dress, but it’s a party dress. This one looks nice enough to wear to work, right? And it’s deep purple and that is my colour. I wish I could skip the hassle, but I hate buying clothes online. I just found it at Net-A-Porter but I don’t understand the sizing; according to this site, I’m a size 10 for this dress? But I am really a 4.

But whatever, I’d totally prefer this in a silk jersey rather than the viscose/wool blend it comes in.

I’m not vegan… and I only follow a vegetarian diet 95% of the time. No reason behind it–I just don’t like meat very much. And high cholesterol runs on my father’s side of the family. While I have lower-than-normal cholesterol, who knows what the future holds, right?

But anyway. I made a recipe for chili!

Vegan Texas Chili

INGREDIENTS

- 1 1/2 bags Morning Star Crumbles
- 16oz can diced tomatoes
- 6oz tomato paste
- 1 Tbsp. crushed garlic OR garlic powder
- hot peppers
- oregano
- black pepper
- 4 Tbsp. chili powder
- saffron (optional)
- nutmeg (optional)

To be honest, I can’t really say use “this much” when it comes to spices. Just add until it tastes right! All you do is combine them all in a pot and cook on medium-low heat until it’s hot and of a chili-like consistency. Nothing to it. You can add water and salt if needed. I didn’t add any water since I didn’t drain the diced tomatoes very much, but I did use half a bullion cube in place of salt. Also, as a side note, I added ground/powdered walnuts to mine. I don’t know why, actually… I just felt like it. I don’t think it matters much, but I took 1/4 cup and ground it up in the blender.

When I had no more hot dogs left, I added BBQ sauce and made sloppy joes. Two recipes in one. :) Texas chili pretty much always looks unappetising no matter how you slice it (and I will refrain from drawing comparisons), but I thought this tasted close enough to the ‘real thing.’ :)

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So. I’ve been through a dead blog, a blog that didn’t work, moving my blog, and everything else. Finally, I moved from the most inept host on the planet to a really good one (so far). I think I’m all settled! Now I feel like I can actually start working on things instead of worrying about what if my site won’t work when I try to update?

I don’t know what this blog should be called yet. ‘Belles-Letters’ means pretty letters or writing with style but not with much substance. That’s probably very fitting, actually, but if someone has another suggestion, please tell me.

I have a lot to post these days, finally, so at least for a little while, the blog will be active. Since I’m graduating soon, I might have more time for knitting and drawing and working on my site… but who knows? I might get lazy and spend all the time I could be working staring at the TV instead. I am wont to do that, unfortunately.

That’s all!