Sunday, September 4, 2011

Finished: Knit top for munch

So I ended up finishing Ella's top.  I may add a few more embellishments by the time I wanted to have us sport these cutie-matching tops. 

I was thinking off adding a faux button and strip to help stabilize the folds in the sleeves, or I could just add a button where I want to tack it down.  We'll see.  I might have to make some buttons!




If you noticed, there's a bit more added to the top than what was described in my cutting session.  As I was piecing her top together, I realized it would be a little dinky and considering it has a super nice hem (thanks to the finished edge of the sheet) a frayed and weak neckline wouldn't look very nice.  So I added a facing at the top.  I can't remember where I read it, but it was of someone saying don't leave out the facing.  It helps maintain structure over the life of the garment and gives clothing a polished look, even after numerous washings.



Don't make fun of my low quality pictures from my phone! You haven't complained yet. But then again, I always try to use natural light. Something about these CFL's make it so difficult to get decent shots at night. Blogging and crafting is hard enough! No way am I going to add photography to my list of goals.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Knits? Not?

I can't say this will be my first time working with knits.  I refashioned a fan shirt for our football team by hand.  I also had to fix the hem on a (fairly) new tank top that started to unravel.  I also made a quick shoulder tote from a t-shirt.  I found each experience to be tedious and frustrating.

So why am I posting?  I want to make matching t-shirts for me and the munch!


Friday, September 2, 2011

Cooking: Kale salad with soy citrus dressing

After all those artery clogging recipes, I had to post a palette cleanser. Although, after eating this, you may feel just as guilty. It's kinda good.

It's one of the first times* Ryan and his parents ever tried kale. It was so new to them, they didn't know what to make of the texture and flavor, but they did admit it wasn't bad!

Ingredients:
kale
carrots
red cabbage

For Dressing:
4 oz shoyu
4 oz olive oil
2 cloves garlic
2 oz lemon juice (juice from one lemon)
1 oz water

Directions:

Soak kale well to clean all dirt off.
Chop kale finely, only down to tender ribs.
Julienne-cut carrots and shred red cabbage.
Mix all veggies in a bowl.

Use blender to combine dressing ingredients.
Pour dressing over salad and toss lightly until dressing covers the salad.


Other elements:
*Ryan tried deep-fried tempura battered kale at one of our local farmer's markets, but he said he forgets what it was like. And I admit, it tastes nothing like fresh kale, especially with a bite-size scoop of spicy ahi. We need to go back... I'm in the mood for sausage sticks and fried green tomatoes, too!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Cooking: Carmelized onions for Panini

I'm sure you can find a load of how-to's on the internet for carmelizing onions, but I'll just give you my easy way.

Ingredients:
3 Tbsp butter
1 maui onion, sliced

Directions:
In a heavy bottomed skillet, saute onions and butter on Med-Lo heat. Stirring occasionally.

The trick is that you don't want to stir too little -- or it'll burn. But you don't want to stir too much -- or it'll never brown. If you don't have maui onions, you can add a little bit of sugar to help get the browning on. Salt and a little bit of water will help preventing the burning. However, if you want savory, well-developed, carmelized onions, you need to have patience. I'm sure you can get a batch out in less than 10 minutes, but they probably won't look like those brown rice noodle type onions that melt in your mouth.

Making Panini

Now that you have the recipes for everything. Grab some thick slices of your favorite bread. Let's put it all together!

The trick to getting delicious panini is MAYONNAISE. Yup, mayo. But not on the inside (necessarily), in order to get those lovely brown sears on the outside, you need it. I know a lot of people are against mayo. I actually know two people that will scrape Boursin out of a sandwich because it resembles mayo, and one can't be too sure it's not. (Here's where I shake my head. Mayo is delicious.) But if you're one of those people, you could use butter or some other grease.

I know you want to jump right in and start building up your panini. Don't. I know you want to see it come together and fantasize about the orgy on your tastebuds. But please, be patient. Make sure your panini press, grill, pan (what have you), is nice and hot. If it's not, you'll just end up with a greasy mess.

Slather about a tablespoon of mayo on one side of your bread, place it, mayo side down on heat source.
Arrange your pulled pork onto that slice, you can make it as loaded as you want, but remember if it's too full, it'll take longer to be ready. You can add a dollop of bbq sauce over the meat at this time, or serve it as a dipping sauce along with the panini. Mmmmmm bbq sauce.
Add some carmelized onions.
From the cold mac and cheese, place a square directly onto your panini. We found that we had to slice it in half, height-wise. It was just too much for the ratio.
Add more cheese if you dare!
Slather another tablespoon of mayo on another slice of bread. Place mayo side out, on your panini.

There you have it. If you have a panini press, close the lid and wait for the green light. If you're using less techno-gizmo savvy methods, flip and smash down to get a hot, cheesy, melty sammy. Honestly, this thing was so filling, I only finished half.

Mmmm.. but it made some mean leftovers to bring to work. wink


Other elements: