dr. phoebe

phoebe visits sf
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

my energetic friend phoebe was in the bay area the last week and a half, so i caught up with her this weekend. some six or so years have passed since i last saw her. she went off to japan for her masters, then korea, then england, where her mom is from originally and where she picked up a phd.

she hasn't lost much steam in the time that has passed, and looks the same. it was nice to discover that aliens had not snatched her body, and she was a lot of fun to hang out. we went to an anarchist book fair, which made me a little nostalgic for the days long ago when my impressionable mind embraced the ideals of emma goldman. it's refreshing that phoebe is so zealous as to stimulate dialogue.

i picked up three books that looked intriguing: the omnivore's dilemma by michael pollan, all about love by bell hooks, and deep economy by bill mckibben. i know it may be some time before i get to one of these books, but i figure i could squeeze in a little after knitting.

kfo finished

kfo finished
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

after knitting several pairs of socks back to back, i was tired (if that's possible) of knitting socks, so this one went a little slowly after the first sock. the pattern is the embossed leaves from interweave knits' 25 favorite socks. there was a minor and confusing error in the instruction at the point where you pick up and knit stitches along the sides of the heel. in general, i found the pattern to deviate somewhat from most sock patterns i was used to, and i ended up not following all of the instructions.

after picking up stitches, i did not add an extra stitch nor did i later decrease the extra stitch at the toe. although i followed the unusual toe decreasing, i think next time i would do the decreasing on the bottom of the foot more like a traditional sock pattern. i can see that the decreasing was meant to carry on the pattern of the sock into the toe, but it looks weird on the the bottom of the foot. i also don't like the garter stitches on the heel edges. next time i will make slip stitches.

i don't think the pattern was particularly difficult, but it didn't lend itself to memorization, and found myself often wishing i had a simultaneous simpler project to work on whilst watching tv.

gnocchi pesto

dinner
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

ever since buying fresh pesto from olives gourmet grocer i have been spoiled into not wanting to use canned pesto. the other night, i made fresh pan-seared gnocchi with pesto, balsamic mushrooms, bell peppers & toasted pine nuts.

for pesto, puree in a food processor the following. i try not to do it for too long so the individual ingredients are somewhat distinct.
5-8 cloves of garlic
3 cups basil
1/3 cup olive oil

i sauteed some sliced red onions until tender, then added mushrooms and cooked for about 5-10 mins. i added balsamic vinegar and a dash of tamari and cooked for 15 min. in a separate pan, i pan-seared the gnocchi, which came from trader joe's for 10-15 min until lightly browned. i added chopped red bell peppers to the gnocchi and cooked for 5 min. then i added pesto and salt to taste and cooked while stirring for 10 min. lastly, i add cooked mushrooms, toasted pine nuts and parmesan cheese before serving.

the vibrancy of the green pesto is amazing and reminded me of astroturf, except much better for you.

to bake

so i'd like to do more baking. unlike preparing regular meals, which are to some extent utilitarian--humans have to eat after all--, baking is something a little more specialized, and the success can often depend on the right chemistry. when cooking, it's not a big deal for most things if you put a little too much of one ingredient. with baking, you could end up with creme brulee that's more like flan/tofu if something is off. i was thinking about some of the things i'd like to make/bake and eat.

* german chocolate cake
* chocolate mousse
* eclairs & cream puffs (i did make cream puffs once)
* challah bread
* brioche
* fruit tarts

it may be some time though, as we're still on the lookout for a nice mixer that's not too pricey, and haven't figured out where we'll be storing it. apparently, you can also make pasta and ice cream with a good mixer.

gold coast french toast

gold coast french toast
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

of course i had to follow up last night's eggplant parmesan with french toast (recipe from 101cookbooks). i made them using thick slices of challah (from trader joe's). my only modification was the addition of a tsp of vanilla.

interestingly, the last time i made this was with whole foods' challah bread, which i found to be rather bland compared to trader joe's. you would think with it being fresher it would be better. i guess they don't have a great recipe. i'll have to try making some myself. i'm not a big syrup fan, so i eat mine with a little bit of butter and dusted with powdered sugar. we also had fresh mango and veggie sausage. a very filling brunch.

cheeeese!

eggplant parmesan
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

i do feel i am partly responsible for fattening mike (and myself) up. i mean look at this thing. it's a big vat of mozarella & parmesan cheese! ok, there are two big eggplants, some tomatoes & bell peppers in there somewhere. at least the eggplant was baked and not fried prior to assembling, and there is little starch. there's an option in the recipe to substitute wheat germ for the bread crumbs. the ones we used were so minor, i don't think there are much carbs there. i suppose next time, i could find skim or "lite" cheese.

tomato sauce for eggplant parmesan

eggplant parmesan
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

whilst at the grocery store, i debated whether or not to pick up a can of premade sauce or make the one from scratch in the recipe (i wish i had thought to check the recipe beforehand, as i once again had to run to the store mid-cooking for tomato paste). i opted for making it from recipe, which was much more flavorful and fresh. the only issue was that it was super thick, which is usually nice for pasta, but did not go very far in the eggplant parmesan recipe. i ended up having to use a box of some starter sauce i had in addition to the homemade sauce. i think next time i will add more diced tomatoes to thin out the sauce a little.

eggplant parmesan

eggplant parmesan
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

i should have looked at the time before we began our process of making eggplant parmesan. the results were good and worth the wait, but we did not end up eating until 11pm, at which point we were starving.

home sweet home

home sweet home
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

the realtor's assistant came out last week to photograph our flat so they could avoid having to show our place (and disturb us). she brought a point and shoot digital camera, which she had a little difficulty using since it was new, so i helped her out. for various reasons, i've taken my own photos of our place, and thought about offering them up, but decided in the end to let her do her thing.

they are here.

as you can see, we managed to squeeze a lot into a small space.

an addition

home sweet home
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

mike brought this for me from the museum of the african diaspora in san francisco

sea harbour seafood : dim sum

sea harbour seafood : dim sum
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

it wasn't long ago that i made my first trek to the san gabriel valley for dim sum, yet yesterday, i had another craving for dim sum and was willing again to wake up early and drive a ways for my fix. this time, i managed to persuade my brother and mike to join me. mike, of course, thought i was crazy to go so early. although google maps thought it would take us 40min to get there, and i guessed it could be a little longer, it only took us 3o min, so we ended up getting to the place an hour before it actually opened. i had heard from a number of sources that with the place being so popular, waits are often long. it wasn't as bad as i had thought it would be, but people did start showing up around 9:40am, and by the time they opened, there was a decent line forming down the length of the building.

i'd heard good things about sea harbour seafood restaurant in rosemeade and was not disappointed. the ingredients were fresh, and in addition to the usual dishes, there were a number of interesting ones i had never had before.

everything we ate was good. go here to see for yourself. i am still feeling the glow of a satisfying meal.

hump day at la parolaccia

hump day at la parolaccia
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

mike went to san francisco for the day for work, and i dined with other foodies at our neighborhood favorite, la parolaccia. although my dish, tagliatell d'amatriciana was a little on the salty side that night, the flavors were good. intrigued by the nutella pizza, we ordered one for dessert, which turned out to be an interesting mix. not sure if it's something i would crave, but you can't go wrong with nutella.

hungarian mushroom soup

hungarian mushroom soup
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

my friend nif gave me an extra copy of the moosewood cookbook which she received for xmas. since then, i have tried out several of the simple but delicious recipes. the other night, i made this hungarian mushroom soup, which came out quite tasty. i wanted to make eggplant parmesan, but after i read through the recipe and realized it would take an hour alone to make the tomato sauce, i decided to save that for the weekend and made this and a salad instead. i bought the hugest bunch of fresh dill which i have used for two different soups, but have not even used half of.

possessed

i awoke to see this on my computer. it's a documentary by martin hampton about people who hoard--"people who's lives are dominated by their relationship to possessions." ow. was mike sending a message? this strikes close to home. speaking of which, our landlord is selling the property we are living on, and for the past week or so since i found out, i have been obsessively searching for new options, new places to live, either to rent or possibly to buy.

the need to do something has resulted in me not doing much else--no knitting, little art. what does this have to do with this video i found this morning? well, a co-worker of mike's is moving out of the country, and leaving her lovely flat with hardwood floors and a garage, very similar to ours, but is within bike distance of mike's work. after some obsessive searching, i have prepared myself for the big changes that would come with moving. the only problem is that the flat is about 20% smaller than our current place which is already overflowing with "stuff." i have a hard time imagining how we would squeeze ourselves and two cats and all of our "stuff", mostly my "stuff" that would need to be pared down into this place or many of the one bedrooms out there which will already be adding an additional $300 or so to our rent. (i've been living in the current place for 3-4 years, and rent was a bargain when i moved in. our awesome landlord has never raised it.)

i managed to get rid of a good bit of stuff when i moved from san francisco, then again when i moved from orange county, yet in the time i've lived in this one bedroom which was spacious when i moved in, to now, i have amassed so much stuff (including a boyfriend and cat) that we have spilled over into a storage facility. granted some of the stuff includes sizable art pieces. i don't blame the boyfriend or the cat. it's all my own sad undoing. minor purgings make minor dents, and i realize that there are definitely off things about my personality that do not lend itself to minimalist living not to mention normal living. i'm not quite to the degree that the people in the documentary are. sure, i have hair, fingernails and other body "bits" in jars in the bathroom, but really those are for possible future art projects. i sure hope this art thing is not just a manifestation of mental illness. i really don't like the portrayals of artists in the movies as "crazy." and it's not that i aspire to be normal, whatever that means. i'm just trying to get by, but it's not easy being me.

the scary thing is that to some extent i possess and am possessed by many of the characteristics exemplified by the hoarders. i find emotional attachments to things which make it difficult to get rid of them. further exacerbating this are my tendencies towards obsession. watching the first man organizing his videos, i thought about my spreadsheet of yarn stash. oi. when i start something new, i throw myself with zeal into it. my place is littered with the relics of unfinished pursuals of new outlets for so-called creative expression. jewelry, ceramics, woodworking. i try to stop one thing, and rather than stopped, my attention is merely diverted. i can't get rid of all these art supplies that i have sunk so much money into. it's not just the money, but the feeling that i failed because i gave up.

what i really need to do is find some way to fuel this into or provide fodder for an art piece. kill two birds with one stone. for now, i will plan on having a garage sale.