back in L.A.

So we are back. The wedding is over. And here I am at work, more than just a little grumpy that … oh, that I need to work at this job which I am finding duller than dull today, that m and I are here while many of my fun friends are elsewhere, that I want to take the day off and lay in the sunshine with no plans or demands for a few days. Sounds like this girl needs another vacation, right?

The wedding was lovely. I had a problem with my digital camera so I took the SLR with me instead. 7 rolls of film later, we arrived back in L.A. home to our beloved kitties. This morning I took the film to my local drugstore to get them developed. In the meantime, here are a few photos that jenn and nathan took with their digital camera and forwarded to us. Just a little something to tide us over.

(pretty jenn)

(the newly married couple)

(left to right: heather, nathan, jenn, jean, sven & natalie)

I can’t believe we’ve known each other for 14 years! When did that happen??

More photos to come by the end of the week.

other people's blogs

(from an email I sent to jenn earlier today)

So I am bored at work. Bored, bored, bored, bored.

Though today, my supervisor left early and the office assistant is taking a vacation day. So I can sit here and babysit an empty office reading blogs to my heart’s content. I enjoy reading blogs. Is that wrong? I got through most of veganlunchbox before the comments people got on my nerves and I stopped checking in so religiously. Then I found the knitting lady and slogged through her knitting projects ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the completed works, wondering about her mom’s kitty’s failing health and thinking that I should really pick knitting back up again. Now this blog too has let me down (for now), she hasn’t posted since like May 11th! I nosed around for a bit in her links section and found knitting girl #2. She is way more prolific and I have been enjoying her writing as well as her finished projects. I have decided that she is one of us. If you can get past the knitting references, please read this entry about cluelessness.

I just love her self-deprecating silliness. Thank goodness I am alone and can laugh aloud instead of having to stifle my giggles so that my co-workers don’t hear me. Not only is this chick funny, talented and cool. She’s like 23 or something like that.

Damn.

For many reasons.

Funny she doesn’t read like a 23 year old.

And I am like, SO jealous of all those amazing knitted objects that she cranks out at a moment’s notice. Why do other people’s lives sound so much better than mine in writing? Maybe I should do more work on my blog to make mine sound better. Big lie, I have a fabulous life. I like being 32.

I think I’ll post this on my blog, speaking of blogs. It rates being shared with others. Hope you don’t mind.

meet agnes

I have been getting a lot of use out of my sewing machine. Ever since that dress I made for Jenn’s wedding, I have been inspired to sew and complete more projects. The list grows. Right now I have a top secret project that I am trying to complete (more details to come), my mother in law put in a request for some pretty dresses by auntie jean for my two nieces, there’s a fun and swanky top that I saw somewhere that I’d like to make for myself. And a suit. I want to make a suit for my husband. Ideally it would be completed in time for his cousin Carolyn’s wedding this July, but I am not going to set myself up for failure by trying to meet deadlines. If it happens by then, grand. If not, he’ll always need a nice suit. I’m sure we’ll have plenty more weddings to attend in our near future.

So this weekend, I convinced my friend Janet to come and help me make a dressform. A dressform (for those of you not in the know) is a dressmaker’s dummy. A mannequin of sorts that tailors use to, … um, well, tailor clothing with. A dressform (I didn’t know we needed to be PC with tailoring terminology) is helpful particularly for making my own clothes since I can’t swivel around and pin and mark myself for those oh-so-difficult places to fit (i.e., the boobs. I can’t begin to tell you what a trial it was to get the boobs right. And I’m still not 100% thrilled with the boobs. Then again… okay, I won’t get into it.) I’ve wanted to buy a dressform but that’s like hundreds of dollars and I’ve heard mixed reviews about the ones that are out there in the market and it’s not personalized to the shape of my body, etc. etc. After doing some research, I found that I could make my own!

Janet helped tape and shape me. Then I hauled her off to JoAnn’s to buy the stuffing and stuffed my twin. I am calling her agnes.

I probably should have bought more than 4 bags of polyfill, agnes’s butt is a little squishy. And upon further reflection, I have decided to make a stand and cover agnes with some muslin so she doesn’t look quite so naked. But here she is folks, my twin agnes:

And a few shots from the making of:

I kind of look like I am wearing some sort of an Amazon armor or something don’t I? And there’s my shy friend Janet.

the black book

This is my husband’s latest obsession:

The compiling of real estate research. Note the fastidious highlighted components, the plastic sheet protectors, the various categories of each listing. All carefully sorted and organized before they are filed into the ubiquitous black book.

If I could, I’d photograph him “running the numbers.” But he is rather camera shy and this activity typically takes place in the evenings when my low-performance digital camera takes too dark photos.

Is it a testament of my love that I find his compulsive organizing adorable?

auntie jean's pretty dress

I’s finished!

The first dress I’ve ever sewn for myself. The last dress I made was when I was 12 and it was for my Barbie. Way more elegant than this frock but Barb had more occasions to sport a black satin cocktail gown than I ever did.

Here are the promotional photos:

audrey hepburn dress

shimmery wrap

detail of lace

Special thanks to m, the studio photographer. He did a fantastic job!

* * *

PS. These are the photos that will NOT make it into the catalogue:

photographer taking too long

model does not have much faith in photographer’s skills

sulky kitties (post-bath)

These two will sit around looking miserable like this for the rest of the day. When they are not licking themselves silly, that is.

tofu crusades

I was reading the veganlunchbox blog pretty religiously earlier this year and I got inspired by a discussion on tofu. The commenters were rating the importance of cooking (or blanching) tofu before consumption. They were worried about salmonella or other microbial ways to get sick. I don’t have any opinions on raw v. cooked tofu, but boy did I suddenly have a craving for tofu.

I walked over to the nearest Whole Foods and picked up a tub of tofu to have for dinner that night. Since then I have been eating the following tofu salad I created on and off for lunch. It’s caused a bit of dissention in the c+potion household. Some believe that there should be a crusade against bringing tofu into the home. Others, more enlightened, think that the anti-tofu crusade is full of shit. (But how cute is that lead crusader?) I just know that if he tried it, he’d love it. I’ve proved it with the couscous and can do so with polenta and now the tofu. Just one bite, that’s all it takes. If you, my dear readers, are willing to give it a shot, here’s my recipe:

Tofu Salad that M will love

1 tub of medium firm tofu (can’t remember the brand I got at Whole Foods, but it cost about a buck) cut into cubes
drizzle of sesame seed oil
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp Maruchan rice wine vinegar
2 cloves of garlic minced
dash of fish sauce (I use whatever I can find at the local grocery store-Ralph’s-Vietnamese or Thai fish sauce will do)
crushed red pepper to taste (optional)
1 tbsp thinly chopped scallions (optional)

Drizzle sesame seed oil, soy sauce and vinegar over cubed tofu in a medium sized bowl. Add remaining ingredients. Toss gently so as not to crumble the tofu (unless you like it that way). Let sit for approx 10 minutes before serving. I make mine the night before and keep it in the fridge until lunch the next day. Served chilled, it makes a cool summer savory treat. Today I had some leftover steamed brocolli which I also tossed with the tofu. Thinly sliced cucumbers are also great.

I didn’t measure out the ingredients so you may want to make adjustments based on how salty, tart, garlicy, etc you like your tofu. Bon appetit!

Ps. I've actually given this dish the family name, a decision I am thoroughly enjoying. I could have gone with something more Korean sounding, but then that wouldn’t be as fun. And if it ever becomes a household item, I want him to know that his name has been linked with tofu…forever.

Pps. The next time I make it, I’ll post a photo. As of now, my lunch is no longer photographable being that it happily resides in my belly. Yum.

mother's day

American Greetings (and all other greeting card companies, I’m sure) have gotten crazy with their greeting card selections. M and I went to the drug store the other night to pick out a card for his mother. I was amazed at how many different categories exist for card giving. You can still select religious and humorous cards for mother’s day. But now, you can also select to give a card from a son and daughter-in-law, from a daughter and son-in-law, to a stepmother, from a group of people, from a young son, from a young daughter, from an adopted child, the list goes on and on. I picked out a pretty card that stated a simple but heartfelt sentiment. Not too mushy or flowery, but just honest and thoughtful. M gave his approval and we walked toward the cashiers. I flipped the card over and noticed that it was six bucks. SIX BUCKS? For a generic greeting card from American Greetings? I am going to have to call Amy M (my friend who works at A.G.) and ask her about this. We went back to the card section and started our search anew.

“Can’t you make this stuff?” my spouse asked. He was in a hurry to get over to the candy aisle to see what drug store goodies he could pick up for a post-dinner treat.

We agonized over the rest of the cheesy selection and finally found a card that was appropriate (in all the categories we needed to fulfill) and went home. After a quick stop over to the candy aisle, of course.

We considered getting his mum theatre tickets, but then craftiness won in the end. I decided to sew her a beach tote. Here is the finished product which we shipped out yesterday:

It’s simpler than the design I had intended, but I think she’ll appreciate a homemade gift. I have plans to make one for myself with other fun fabrics I found at the store when I was buying the materials for this project. I think my mum-in-law will enjoy the seashell motif and the large capacity with a zip top.

My dress is still in the works. Another few hours of work and it should be good to go. The finished version will be posted here for posterity. Even though, many of my dear readers have already seen a sneak preview of the rough draft.

I HEART my sewing machine!

my morning ritual

Lately I have been on this oatmeal kick. Oatmeal for breakfast that is. I bought a big tin of the McCann’s oatmeal from Trader Joe’s admittedly for the tin. I’ve gone through one tin already and a second one is sitting in my cupboards ready to join it’s empty sister, any day now. But the oatmeal I have for breakfast every day is just plain ole Quaker Instant Oatmeal in Maple & Brown Sugar. We get it in the office with an assortment of other snacks. And though I found it to be a little too sweet at first, I’ve kind of gotten used to it. I’ve been mixing in Trader Joe’s dried blueberries in it while munching on roasted unsalted almonds. With a cuppa Celestial Seasonings Devonshire English Breakfast tea, I really enjoy my breakfasts at the office while getting started and reading emails. The Celestial Seasonings tea is cool in that the tea bag tab always has an enlightening quote printed on it from some cool dead person. Earlier it was Ghandi (I neglected to read the full quote before I tossed out the remains of my morning cuppa) and this afternoon I am enjoying another cup with a quote from Sojourner Truth who says:

It is the mind that makes the body.

I wish my mind would make my body a few pounds lighter. It would be nice to fit into the clothes that my thinner body purchased way back when.

Oh hey, the tea packet itself also has a quote. This one from William Wordsworth:

The best portion of a good man’s life: His little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love.

Well that’s nice. A little cheesy, but still… nice. Makes me think of fortune cookies. And I like fortune cookies.

Speaking of fortune cookies and tea, I’ve recently stumbled on this Amazing (aren’t they all?) weight loss claim from a tea called Wu Long. It’s suppose to simply melt the pounds away!!! And of course, it is a highly prized tea that is in limited supply and cannot be ordered anywhere else except at their website. Clearly these folks underestimate the powers of Google and eBay. Upon further researching, I have discovered that this amazing limited supply tea is just the same ordinary Oolong tea that I have enjoyed many times in the past. It’s also known as Chinese Restaurant tea. Sometimes sold in boxes at asian grocery stores with that name because that’s the tea they serve at most Chinese restaurants. So much for their limited supply.

As for their magical weight loss claims, I must point out to their credit that those servers at Chinese restaurants are all pretty skinny. But I am not inclined to believe it has anything to do with the tea.