sarea | Entries tagged with kitchen geek

Current Mood: okay

Ermahgerd, I went to the Seahawks home opener on Sunday! One of my coworkers got tix as a thank you for her work on this series of articles that we've worked on the last 3 years, and she invited me to come with. It was a very cool experience to go to a Seahawks game live, even though it's harder to figure out what is exactly happening on the field than on TV. Our seats were in the 100 level, but near the end zone (kind of kitty corner rather than really end zone), so when the team was on the other side of the field, I couldn't see what the hell was going on and had to look at the big screen. Of course the Seahawks had to stretch it out until the very last seconds, just to ratchet up the drama. I brought ear plugs and had them in the whole time, but honestly it didn't seem that bad other than for really critical moments.

And Russell sprained his ankle, so yay for that... not. Not only is that bad for the Hawks, it's bad for my fantasy team, so now I have to try and get Matt Ryan back, who I had dropped for Jason Witten. Argh. But other than that, I won both of my fantasy matchups this week, which is kind of exciting. In one of them I even pulled out a miraculous win, because I was down by like 40 points and somehow came back to win it. (It helped that I had Carson Palmer as my QB and my opponent had the NE defense, so every time I gained points, he lost points. It was another scenario where I got to have my cake and eat it too, because I wanted the Cards to lose, but Carson to do well.)

My friend and I ate in the stadium, at Kraken Congee. Congee in a football stadium! How awesome is that? It's definitely a hipster variation though, because it was NOT traditional Chinese congee. It had aioli, pork belly, and crunchy corn. It was pretty dang good though, I must say! ( Pictures. )

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I now have a butter bell, and I am very excited about it.

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The lye is supposed to arrive tonight, and I'm super excited about making my first batch of soap -- I'm going to do a really standard starter soap, even though I have created my own recipe and I'm eager to try it out.

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I finished Orphan Black S4, so with that, I'm all caught up!

( Spoilers )

Current Mood: cold

I'm really excited about this handbag. I don't even know if I consider it a handbag proper; it's really more like a messenger bag. I love that it's so versatile! Part of the reason I returned those two Marc by Marc Jacobs bags the other day is because I ended up getting this one; I plan to use it for the same purpose, as a weekend travel bag. I'm not really sure if it's roomy enough for that purpose, but at the very least it serves as a nice laptop bag for when I need a little more space. Maybe this and my little Samsonite for when

adelagia,

slitherhither and I go to Portland next month. :D

It's the Louis Vuitton "Saumur 35," which LV doesn't make anymore. "Saumur MM," which compares to the older, smaller "Saumur 30," is the most modern version. I purchased this one, previously owned, off eBay:

Quick note of caution... As you might expect, you have to be very, VERY careful about buying previously owned LV, because it's probably the most counterfeited luxury handbag brand in the world. There are some obvious giveaways identifying fakes that even I can spot, but some counterfeits have gotten scarily good. That's when you'll want to pay for professional authentication, or get help from the good ladies at The Purse Forum. Their services are free, but not guaranteed since it's just enthusiasts who do this in their spare time, and they generally like for you to participate in other threads at the forum that's not just authentication.

( A few more photos of the bag. )

The wood utility cart I talked about earlier arrived, and I put it together today! I'm really happy with it. Very sturdy and roomy. I'm 5'3" and it comes up to my waist, so if I wanted to use it as a surface to roll dough, I totally could. However, I decided instead to clear my countertop and use the cart as storage instead. It's fantastic!

Current Mood: okay

I was reading an article in a magazine about how to perfectly butterfly a trout, and I immediately thought, "Yes. That is something I need to do."

So I ran right out (okay, haha, I totally just ordered it on Amazon in my pajamas) and got this:

Global G-21 Flexible Boning Knife

I don't think I've made any secret of the fact that I love good knives, and Global is one of my favorite brands.

I haven't had a chance to try this knife out yet, but I'm excited to!

Current Mood: content

The shopping confessional continues!

Next is a very practical item and I haven't even gotten it yet, but I am realllllly excited about it. It's this wood utility cart:

When I bought my house nearly nine years ago, I wasn't much of a cook. Then I got really into food and food blogging, but unfortunately my kitchen didn't match my interests, because when I was looking for a house, I didn't care about the kitchen. Conclusion: I have a ton of kitchen equipment, and very little counter space.

One of the things I don't have room for, that I wish I did, is the ability to roll out dough. Originally I was thinking this cart would be good as some rolling counter space where I can use the top to do my dough stuff, but now I'm thinking, depending on its size in real life, that maybe I should use it to store some of the things that are currently taking up space on my actual counter, like my KitchenAid mixer, Keurig, espresso maker, etc. Hmmm.

Current Mood: cold

I have my Secret Santa assignment for

be_compromised. Eeeeee! Now I just need to figure out what the hell I'm going to write. It's not my prompter's fault; the prompts I got are totally fine. It's me. God help the person who got my prompts. My brain is always so all over the place. Before I can even think of starting this, though, I have to finish the story I'm so very nearly done with. I just have to write, like, half a scene. And do a ton of editing.

K and I went to an Italian cooking class the other night, held at one of my favorite local stores that sells high-end foodstuffs. They're the only local shop I've found that carries Desert Miracle, my favorite EVOO, so named because it's from a producer in Morocco (El-Borouj Olive Estate). Anyway, while I was there I hit upon the awesome idea that I could create a gift basket for a coworker's housewarming that I'm supposed to go to this weekend. He's not a foodie, but his wife is, so I think she'll appreciate it. I'm sooooooo excited about this basket, you don't even know. I WANT TO KEEP IT MYSELF. >.> But I won't. So far what I have in it is the aforementioned fave olive oil of mine, Scalia anchovies in oil, squid ink pasta, cranberry & hazelnut crisps, citrus blossom honey, and one of Tom Douglas's Rub with Love rubs. I did get plenty of things for myself while there. Also as a result of the class, I bought a reversible cast iron grill/griddle from Cost Plus that I am eager to put to use. :D

I have some fic recs, but they're not of the Avengers variety. I know, WHAT is the world coming to. It's particularly odd because one is for a show I've never actually watched (The Unusuals), while three are for a show I loved back in the day but never read fanfic for (Veronica Mars), plus a few others. Here's my plug for VM for anyone who hasn't seen it. It's sooooooooooo good. But don't just take my word for it. Stephen King was a fan. Joss Whedon and Kevin Smith were both such fans that they actually did cameos on the show. Quotes from Joss about VM: "I've never gotten more wrapped up in a show I wasn't making." "These guys know what they are doing on a level that intimidates me." "It's the Harry Potter of shows." "Best. show. ever." So if you don't trust me, trust Joss. But it was like Community and Firefly... a critical darling and cult favorite, but not popular with the masses, so it was canceled after 3 seasons. :-(

( Anyway, onto the fic recs! )

I might be considering getting an Aeropress, which is YET ANOTHER way to make coffee. I think it's pretty much the last coffee-making contraption that I don't have (other than the most common of all, the drip). So when I have visitors, I'll be able to offer them an espresso, pour-over, French press, Keurig, or Aeropress coffee! .......yay.

I finally finished S1 of Homeland. It reminded of Line of Duty in that I found the storyline gripping, but I wanted to punch every character in the face.

Current Mood: crazy

1) Why. Why is Sunday already almost over? Why do weekends pass so quickly?? /SOB The only good thing about Sundays is that I have Breaking Bad to look forward to... except there are only two episodes left in this season cryyyyyyyy.

2) OK, I have taken a moment to pull myself together. I did so by watching this Firefly-style Avengers intro for the billionth time. If you haven't seen this yet, what are you waiting for? ( Take my love, take my land... )

3) I made cheese yesterday! Three kinds to be exact. One gallon of whole milk (well, just shy of a full gallon, I also made waffle batter and needed to take some) yielded: 11oz mozzarella, 4oz ricotta, and 2oz gjetost. (Links go to the methodology for each.) Except I messed up on the gjetost, I didn't pay enough attention at the end and the bottom of my pot is totally burned. >< Boy is that going to be a bitch to get out.

4) I did all my other dishes, though, which was a lot (and I haven't even made pesto yet, which I need to do by EoD). I told myself I could have a nice cup of coffee as a reward. Except I do not like this roast at ALL. It's some kind of Sumatra roast that I got at Whole Foods. I was picturing this idyllic time where I could browse Tumblr and drink coffee and now that dream has been shattered. </adult tantrum>

5) <consoles self with two new "Woman, this is Jeremy fucking Renner Talking" meme images> ( They just get better and better. )

6) You guys, you know I love all things Hawkeye... well, I thought I did, anyway. ( But this is just no. )

7) Remember how I was all excited about my new Blu-ray player and the fact that it could stream stuff wirelessly? I started watching Mad Men S5, and every 10 minutes, the player would say "cannot play." It doesn't have the best ffwding functionality (and besides, how annoying is it to have to ffwd to your last spot every 10 minutes?), so it was driving. me. crazy. I called Panasonic, which said that the player requires a minimum speed of 6Mbps, so I needed to call Comcast. I have pretty slow internet at home -- it's 3Mbps -- but it suffices for 99% of what I want to do. However, I have upped it to the next level (12Mbps -- that's right, there's nothing between 3 and 12 -.-) to see if it works. If not, I'll have to return the player as it's defective (and it doesn't even have resume playback functionality, which I assumed it would, like my Panasonic DVD player!). And if it does, I'll have to pay double what I currently pay for internet if I want to keep that speed. THERE'S NO WINNING.

8) Clearly, it's time to calm myself again. I think this time I will use... Jeremy in glasses. I know

adrith will appreciate this. ( Glasses + arms = ded. )

9) OH OH OH I have another video rec to share. It's called "Reaching as I Fall" and it's about Hawkeye and Trickshot (as in Clint's brother Barney, not his circus mentor). It's flipping awesome because not only is it well put together, the artist used NORMAN REEDUS to play the part of Barney. OMFG at how much I'd watch a Hawkeye origins movie with that kind of casting. I know

laria_gwyn would agree with me. Right? RIGHT??? ( 'Reaching as I Fall' )

10) I have nothing else to say so I will leave you with some Avengers porn. ( You heard me. )

Current Mood: gloomy

Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

Just went to the dentist for a routine cleaning/check up, and one of the spots on a molar she's been watching apparently doesn't look too good, so she's going to remove the filling and possibly replace with a full porcelain crown. The cost of this is roughly $1,500. My insurance is going to take care of $650 of it, which still leaves $850 for me. CRY. Currently my appointment is scheduled for late April because of her availability, but to be honest, if it has to be done, I'd rather it be sooner than later. Sigh.

Also, I swear the dentist my mom took me and my brother to when we were little was a total quack who only wanted our money. We didn't have insurance and paid cash every time, and it just so happened that we BOTH needed like every single molar filled before we even hit our teens. We had/have extremely good dental hygiene/habits. When my wisdom teeth came in, we were no longer seeing him, and nothing wrong has ever been found with them. So looking back, I find this all very suspicious. Plus there's the fact that one day he just disappeared, his office closed, without a word to anyone. And now I have all these stupid fillings, which are really only a stop gap, to show for it. GRRRRR.

BTW, this morning I was woken up in the wee hours by the bread machine. When I get something I like to try it out right away, so I decided to make bread with it, and try out the timer function at the same time, so that I could wake up to the smell of fresh-baked bread. Good in theory right? In practice, not so much. Whenever I cook food overnight, in the slow cooker, or in this case, the bread machine, I'll wake up in the middle of the night with hunger pangs. Does this happen to anyone else??? It's like I'm smelling it while sleeping and my body responds to it because I haven't eaten in hours, even though my brain wants to sleep, my stomach wants me to eat, and hurts like hell with ferocious hunger pangs. *facepalm* The good news though is that the bread machine works, and I was able to use the other model's instruction manual to good effect. :P

And now, the meme

mynuet tagged me for!

( Memeing... )

Current Mood: thoughtful

I've bought myself a bread machine. I don't need a bread machine. I don't have space for a bread machine. I don't how often I will actually use this bread machine. I don't even particularly love bread machine bread (because they make the soft loaves, and I love hard, crusty artisan bread). BUT I have this bread machine. Why? Two reasons. 1) It was $25. (Bought it from someone who works at my company.) And 2) It's a kitchen doodad, and I love and want all kitchen doodads. It's a sickness. I've never used a bread machine before, but it seems amazing to me that it makes bread as if by magic! This machine -- a Welbilt ABM7500 -- did not come with a manual, so I've found something online for a model that seems similar and am just going to use that. It's just the appliance and like, a bucket. Can you really make bread from start to finish with that? /doubtful

As I've gotten older I feel like I'm (finally) getting wiser about how I spend my money. WisER, not wise. I won't deny that there are many ways in which I spend 'irresponsibly.' What I've really started to realize is that it's not about how much I spend, it's about whether the things I spend money on are worth it. There ARE some things worth paying extra for, and some things that are all hype. Here are some of mine. Your mileage, of course, may vary. I've limited myself to 5 items in each category because I could go on and on.

I should also note that this is all about "stuff." It's not about organic food or traveling or anything like that. It's just about the "stuff" that we all buy -- or think about buying -- from time to time.

( 5 things worth paying extra for. )

( 5 things NOT worth paying extra for. )

mynuet has tagged me to do a meme! I think I shall save that for tomorrow, since I've rambled on enough in this post.

Current Mood: aggravated

OMG I am so aggravated. I had a whole entry all typed up, except it didn't cross post to LJ like it was supposed to. So then I thought maybe it had to do with it being a saved draft or something, so I re-created the whole entry and posted it AGAIN to DW (hoping the second post would post to LJ), then deleted the first entry. Except, guess what? IT DELETED THEM BOTH. So now I have to write it up all. over. again. HOW does that happen? By all logic the second post was a whole new post! How/why did they both get deleted when I deleted one of them?! Argh.

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On today's episode of things to do before I die: Gut a squid.

Check.

I didn't even know squid had guts, though logically I suppose that makes sense. They always just seem so clean and harmless sitting on my plate in strips or rings. Never gave much thought to how they got that way. I guess I just assumed that they just sort of came that way. Why I assumed this, I now have no idea.

I was sort of tricked into getting them in the first place. I was at the market waiting for my fish to be cleaned (see how someone ELSE does that?), when a guy came up next to me and ordered a pound of squid. I looked at them with interest, since one of my favorite things to eat is fried calamari, and I'd thought here and there about trying to cook squid on my own. The fishmonger lady saw me looking and was like, "Want to try?" Well obviously it was a bald-faced challenge and I couldn't just let it lie, so I ordered half a pound. I never imagined I'd have to clean them, or that they even needed to be cleaned.

The realization only came to me when I was looking through my various cookbooks for a good squid recipe, and came upon one that sounded good -- a Tuscan squid and tomato dish that I'd turn into a sauce and serve over spaghetti. The recipe is from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking (btw, MH is like, the last word in Italian cooking). Right before the recipe, there are several pages describing -- with illustrations -- how to clean a squid. That's when it dawned on me that I would need to do this.

I'll spare you the gory details, but let's just say, the tentacles? So not the grossest part of the squid. Yeah. I'll just let you contemplate that.

===

Got a Magic Bullet from Kohl's, wheee! The 17-piece set was on sale and I had coupons for $15 off, so I ended up paying less than $40. I was pretty pleased with myself. But then I passed the sale racks and ended up buying more clothes, which is exactly what they intend when they send you those coupons. Damn me for not resisting!

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Wanted to share some random pictures with you guys. I've been pretty busy socially and also making ice cream (one probably informs the other), but there are naturey pics too!

( Random photos. )

Current Mood: drained

Things to do before I die: Crawl into a trash can.

Check.

( You know you want to ask. )

===

Saw my friend J. today. Funny story (okay, not really), she moved away 3 years ago then moved back 2 years ago except she emailed an old account of mine and so I never knew, and she never pursued it because she thought I didn't want to be in touch or moved or some such. I never bothered to try and contact her again after she moved away. Flimsy excuses on both our parts, but at least we're on the same wavelength: we care just enough to try and be friends while we're both living in the same city, as long as we don't have to put too much effort into it.

Every time we see each other we inevitably go shopping. We don't know why; neither of us are actually avid shoppers. Just turns out that way. I ended up buying some cute and inexpensive things from J. Crew and Old Navy (a friend of a friend has this rule for buying clothing: You can buy it if you think you will wear it as many times as it costs, in dollars. So, you can buy a $15 top if you think you will wear it at least 15 times. It's a pretty good rule of thumb to go by). At J. Crew I got a pair of salmon-colored pants that I will only be able to wear for another few weeks, during the last waning moments of summer. The length actually FIT me. You know why? Because they're capris. So they're supposed to be short on "normal" women. On me they fall past my ankles. At Old Navy I got a number of tops and a couple of skirts. I need to lose weight (that old mantra) so the waist won't fit so snugly. I tried on the next size up, but the skirt length increases also, making it look frumpy instead of cute, so obviously I couldn't get it.

We also saw Julie & Julia, which was a cute book and a cute movie as well. Y'all know I just adore Meryl Streep, but really, she's awesome in it. She perfected the Voice. I mean, yes, everyone can do an exaggerated Julia Child impression, by just using a falsetto, but JC's real voice is more subtle than that, and Meryl totally got it. Color me impressed (as usual).

===

Before seeing J. I tried to get my driver's license renewed at the DMV. They were on #93 when I arrived; my number was #112 and I had an hour to go before an appointment at my car dealership where I was going to take my car in for service. I hoped, futilely, that they would get to me quickly, that maybe a bunch of people before me had gotten fed up and left already. When they got to #96, the number sign went away entirely. Possibly they went to lunch? I waited around for 10 minutes after that, then gave up and left; no way were they going to get to me in the time I had left. I went to get lunch instead.

As for the car ... well, I know I brought it on myself for getting a high-end vehicle in the first place, but -- come on. When I had my Corolla it cost $30 for an oil change. Now? $171. WTF. Seriously, what are they doing, coating my brake pedals with gold? Actually, if they were doing that it might be worth the cost. BUT THEY'RE NOT. Anyway, that's why I brought it in on a Saturday; I requested a loaner vehicle (it's one of their 2010 model SUVs and it is nice -- the GPS has a built-in MOUSE, for pete's sake. In my car it's a touch screen, which is always covered in fingerprints), and because they're not really open on Sundays, I get to keep it for 2 days. Sure, I'm still paying way too much for a simple service (plus a latte and bottle of water), but at least I get something back.

===

Public Service Announcement re: PayPal personal accounts. If you have a business account at PayPal, they take a cut of whatever money you're sent. It's been that way for awhile, so it should come as no surprise to anyone. However, it used to be that if you had a personal account, you could receive money up to a certain amount (like $500?) without them taking a percentage. Apparently that is no longer the case, the greedy bastards. Now they take a cut even from personal accounts, unless the transaction is marked as a "personal transaction." So if you're ever collecting money for a good cause, or paying a friend back for something, make sure those transactions are marked as personal, otherwise PayPal will take some of that money. There. Now you know. You're now one step ahead of where I was 30 minutes ago.

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Tomorrow I am going to Kohl's and buying myself a Magic Bullet. I went to a dinner party Friday night where the hostess made a yummy Caesar salad dressing with it, and now I must have one. I've wanted one since I saw

jade_okelani make whipped cream in a MB in like, 1 minute, but now that there are TWO things I have a lot of use for, I've decided it's a reasonable purchase. Why Kohl's? Because I have coupons that will take $15 off. I just hope the price for the MB in the store is the same as what they list online...

===

OMG,

ropo is going to be here in just over a week! I can't believe it's that soon! Eeee! I am so excited. We are going to go around and take pictures. I really, really, REALLY hope the sun comes back while she's here; pictures with cloud cover just don't look as good. If the trend at weather.com is to be believed, we're looking at sunny, mid-high 70s. Yay! We are going to go see Wicked, as the touring cast will be here during that time, and also HP:HBP on IMAX. We MAY do a day trip or something to a neighboring island, but preferably not Vashon, which is cute but kind of boring, or Bainbridge, which we've already been to. If any Seattlites have suggestions for islands or really, anything else, give a shout.

ropo loves photography so we're open to anything fun or that would at least yield good pictures. <g>

Current Mood: tired

I finished reading Jhumpa Lahiri's latest book, Unaccustomed Earth, and I think it was her best yet. I'm normally not a big fan of short stories, but she uses the medium well. I had my doubts, starting it, that I would enjoy it as much as I did Interpreter of Maladies, but I ended up liking it more. Much more. She's not overly sentimental about romance -- in fact, quite the opposite -- but even that being the case, the very last story was seriously depressing. The last 1/4 of the book was a trio of interconnected stories, and imho it should have just ended with the first two. Of course, their existence would be meaningless without the third story, but ... still. Every story in the book other than that very last, no matter how sad or melancholy, was still wonderful. Something about the last one just made me go, "But why did it have to go there?"

(Also, it's not fair that JL is ridiculously beautiful on top of being smart, talented, and successful. It's just not.)

===

In kitchen geek news, I finally got myself a stainless steel magnetic knife holder. I've been wanting one ever since I started buying nice knives (turns out that yes, a sharp knife IS the best tool you can have in the kitchen), because it's supposed to be the best way to store them. And if you're going to spend hundreds of dollars on knives, you definitely don't want them to get dinged up or dulled too early. Problem is that magnetic knife holders usually need to be mounted -- firmly set into the wall, which makes sense, since they're holding expensive knives so you don't want them to randomly fall, and so that when you pull them away, the mounting can take the pressure. But it's hard to mount things like that without a drill. Which of course I didn't have.

I mentioned this to my coworker C., who is actually becoming more and more of a friend, and he offered to lend me his drill (and assorted drill knick knacks). So this afternoon I installed the holder, and it is a thing of beauty. And I'm pretty proud of myself for operating a drill for the very first time. Not that it was difficult or anything.

I took pictures, but am too lazy to ready them for viewing just now. Also in case you're wondering, my best knives are Sha Ra Ku Mono, which is imported from Japan solely by one knife shop in Pike Place Market. That is the only place in all of the U.S. that you can buy these knives, which are like, the best knives in the world, as far as I'm concerned. I also have a Global knife and a Henckels knife, both of which I plan to sell on eBay at some point (along with a bunch of other things I keep telling myself I'm going to sell).

===

After almost a decade of not having one, I'm finally going to get myself another passport. When I first moved here I had one, and I hid it somewhere. I've moved twice since that time, and I've never been able to find it. Sigh. But I'm so close to Canada that it seems ridiculous that if anyone were visiting and wanted to go, I wouldn't be able to. Plus at work there have been rumblings in the past about my traveling abroad. So it's just better to have one on hand (my cousin's like, "It's one of the most powerful documents you can possess! What if something happened to the government and you needed to get out of the country quick?" And it's like, "Okay, yeah, good point also..."). And this time, I'm not going to hide it so well that the location is a secret even to me.

===

A WoW friend of mine is going to be in town on Sunday. He's actually driving up later in the week for a wedding on Orcis Island, and is heading back on Sunday. We figure we'll have a late lunch. I'm thinking of making my first sherbet in the ice cream machine, so I've asked him his favorite flavor. That way I can send him on his way with a pint (teehee) and not have to eat it all myself.

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Oh, fudge! Fudge it. Fudge me.
another LV
everyone needs a good boning knife, right?
all I wanna do... is roll some dough
"I thought our story was epic, you know. You and me."
my usual hodgepodge of things
la dentist y el meme
the value of things
It's a me eat squid world...
"Screw you, dawn! Hope that doesn't get taken out of context." - Spike
Check me out, I'm all home improvementy

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Page generated Jun. 15th, 2025 01:02 pm

It Started with a Journal

Going Up and Down the Steps of Adulthood

Entries tagged with kitchen geek

Oh, fudge! Fudge it. Fudge me.

another LV

everyone needs a good boning knife, right?

all I wanna do... is roll some dough

"I thought our story was epic, you know. You and me."

my usual hodgepodge of things

la dentist y el meme

the value of things

It's a me eat squid world...

"Screw you, dawn! Hope that doesn't get taken out of context." - Spike

Check me out, I'm all home improvementy