O! Canada!

Posted on May 8, 2004 by mariko

Opening this package and seeing all this glorious candy made me so, so happy:
canada candy.JPG
Isn’t it beautiful? It’s all candy from Canada! Many thanks to Terri for sending these goodies. So far I’ve had the Aero bar (super fluffy!) and some Smarties. I can’t wait to try the rest, but I’m trying to pace myself.

Posted in candy/chocolate | 14 Comments

come sail away

Posted on May 8, 2004 by mariko

If you think I’m obsessed with chocolate and pastries and yarn and such, that is nothing compared to Peter’s obsession with sailboats. His boat fever is at a peak right now–the weather is getting nicer, and soon it will be time to launch his boat (it’s in the backyard right now). Today he raised his mast and fit his new sail (from Pope Sails in Rockland, Maine) to make sure it will all work once he’s on the water. He asked me to post some photos so his family and friends can check it out.
solo5.JPG
And here it is after he attached the bow sprit:
solo with bow sprit.JPG
The boat is a 1966 Bristol 24 Sailstar. If anyone wants to go sailing with him, let me know. I get terribly seasick on the ocean, so he often has to sail by himself.

Posted in General | Comments Off on come sail away

dishrag hag

Posted on May 6, 2004 by mariko

dishrags.JPG
Does anyone have a pattern for dishrags like these? My aunt in Japan made them. I asked my mother to learn how to make them when she was over there on a visit, but she learned how to make the flat, round ones rather than these double-layered jobs. It looks like it’s probably just a flat piece that is cinched together or something, but I’m not very good at figuring out such things. Anyway, they clean dishes like you wouldn’t believe!

Posted in knitting | 15 Comments

power of the pop tart

Posted on May 5, 2004 by mariko

poptart.JPG
Peter is a high school teacher, which means he sometimes spends more time disciplining kids than teaching them. One thing he has to do is make sure no food or drinks are consumed in the classroom. This morning I got an e-mail from him, and I think this sentence illustrates why I married him (the name of the guilty party has been removed to protect, well, the guilty): “Caught [TEEN GIRL X] daintily nibbling on a multi-colored sprinkles pink pop tart this morning. I couldn’t bring myself to bust her.”

Posted in General | 20 Comments

screaming to be seamed

Posted on May 4, 2004 by mariko

I finished the sleeves of the Split Personality sweater, and now I just have to seam the puppy up. Unfortunately, I am having a tough time getting motivated to seam it. The lighting has to be just so, you know, so maybe it will have to wait until the weekend.
split personality sleeves.JPG
(Yes, that’s our smoke alarm in the corner. It kept going off every time I cooked, so we stashed it away in the front room, a.k.a. MPR: multipurpose room)
Now that I’ve dispensed with the obligatory knitting talk, here are some gratuitous pastry photos! Bwaha haha!
panolivo tiramisu.JPG panolivo mouse.JPG
I went to the local French bakery for treats today. On the left is tiramisu. It must be a French version, though, because it wasn’t all whipped and fluffy like usual. On the right is a chocolate ganache mouse. I also tried a lemon tart and a pear tart (I was with other people, okay? It’s not like I ate four pastries all by myself, though you know I could). Really, though, there are few things more pleasant than being surrounded by beautiful pastries.

Posted in knitting | 11 Comments

green tea ice cream

Posted on May 3, 2004 by mariko

One of my favorite flavors of ice cream is green tea. Back when I was a poor college student, my roommate and I would make a weekly, Friday night pilgrimage to Dreyer‘s ice cream (no, we had nothing better to do on a Friday night). It was our big treat of the week. She would try different variations of chocolate, but much to her chagrin, I remained steadfastly faithful to green tea (it’s kind of like when I was a little kid–my mother took me and my brother to Baskin Robbins on what seemed like a daily basis, and I ALWAYS ordered orange sherbet. Always).
This weekend I tried my hand at homemade green tea ice cream, and it turned out fairly yummy.
green tea ice cream.JPG
In Japan, they have green tea soft serve (oh, excuse me, I just drooled on the keyboard). Actually, they are crazy for green tea-flavored items in Japan (as am I).
Read on for the recipe!

Continue reading →

Posted in cooking | 21 Comments

spiro gyro

Posted on May 2, 2004 by mariko

I haven’t been sewing much lately, but I have quite a bit of fabric and all the best intentions, so I decided to get off my duff and sew something this weekend:
spiro gyro skirt.JPG
The fabric is Michael Miller’s “spiro gyro,” which I ordered, I think, from the Cotton Shop. I made up the pattern, which probably isn’t the best idea, since I am terrible with sizing and fit. I had been planning to put some dingleballs on it, but Peter commented that the fabric design was busy enough already. He also mentioned that he would not be seen with me if the skirt were laden with pink dingleballs. I don’t find that very fair, since I would be proud to be seen with him if he were wearing some dingleballs.

Posted in sewing | 16 Comments

long time no bake

Posted on May 2, 2004 by mariko

I realized the other day that I haven’t baked anything for months. Must have had something to do with that mercury retrograde thing? Anyway, we had a family party this weekend, and I was asked to bring something “cakey and lemony,” so I attempted to make the Lemon Creme Brulee Tart from Bon Appetit.
lemon tart.JPG
My crust was pretty lame and cracked like crazy, so I had to wrap the pan in foil so the lemon innards wouldn’t ooze all over my oven. After the thing cooled, I attempted to remove the tart from the pan, and wouldn’t you know it, most of the outer crust stayed in the pan! I had to push it onto the tart to make it stick. Sigh. Then, after I caramelized the top, I loosely draped some plastic wrap over it, since I had to transport it. Unfortunately, the caramelized topping stuck to the wrap, and most of it came off. STILL, not all was lost, as everyone seemed to really enjoy it and gobbled it up! It pays to have a receptive audience.

Posted in baking | 4 Comments

candygram

Posted on April 30, 2004 by mariko

Though today was a sad, sad day because it was Bob Edwards’ last day as the host of NPR‘s Morning Edition, it was a happy day for candy!
candygram.JPG
In the upper left corner is Hershey’s Nuggets–extra creamy milk chocolate with toffee and almonds–courtesy of Threadbear Rob, the candy pusher! They are kind of like Heath bars but softer and with more chocolate. Mmmmmm. In the bottom right corner is the Chocolove dark chocolate with ginger that Mindy sent. The rest of the candy came from my friend Alice, who never fails to send me Peeps. I’ve known Alice since the 1st grade, and it’s weird, but whenever I think about sending her something or calling her, I will inevitably find a package from her or receive a call from her within a few days. Wavelength, baby.
Well, hope you all have fun at the Maryland Wooly Fiber Show (or whatever it’s called). I will sit here and drown my sorrows in chocolate!

Posted in candy/chocolate | 5 Comments

sausage on wheels

Posted on April 29, 2004 by mariko

I live in a small, laughably un-diverse community, but every six weeks, I get a dose of German culture when the German food truck guy comes rolling into town. Yes, this guy drives down from the Bay Area with his refrigerated truck full of German foodstuffs–sausages of every type, rye bread, pickles and sauerkraut, cheeses, jams, and Ritter chocolate. You think I’m kidding?
german food.JPG
See that woman in the skirt? That’s Cathy. She’s 85 years old, and we attend the same exercise class (she can do straight arm pushups). She is the one who introduced me to the glory of the German food truck. She buys 30 Ritter chocolate bars every time the truck comes. I now have a freezer stocked with sausages. They should last until June 10, don’t you think?

Posted in General | 12 Comments