I don't buy tonkatsu sauce for my croquettes. I don't use it frequent enough to justify buying a bottle.
My pseudo-tonkatsu sauce is made of tomato ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and a lot of hot sauce.
Making some Baprons for my new born nephew.
I was one of the lucky readers of Crafitiness Is Not Optional blog who downloaded the free pattern. I did not know until recently that now you have to pay to get the pattern.
It is super easy to make... if you have plenty of bias binding.
Making croquettes. These will be breaded and deep fried tomorrow for dinner.
Since it takes time to make, I can only make them when I have plenty of time and plenty of energy.
My army of origami dragons are all ready to be shipped to my sister-in-law.
They are supposed to be sent to her so that she can make a mobile before her baby was born but oh well, my procrastination delayed and baby hurried to come out to the world and the baby has already been born. Bad aunt.
I did use my hot glue gun to glue some parts permanently together so that they are not too flappy.
I hope my sister-in-law will have time and energy to actually finish the mobile... (she will have to attach string to each of the dragons and then attach them to a wooden rim.)
Started the origami dragon project that I was kind of practicing before.
I am using scrap book papers which are thicker than regular origami paper so after making a few of these, my fingers hurt.
My stash busting project / stocking stuffer: coasters.
I know, coasters are kind of... lame but I just could not come up with a good stocking stuffer idea that is reasonably easy to make for 8 people for a limited budget and time and I kind of ran out of time to get supplies. So coasters it is.
The two sides have different fabrics and it sandwitches 2 pieces of flannel as a batting. I wanted to quilt the middle part but like I said, I ran out of time, so it is just top stitched around the edges (twice, one from 1/8" and one around 1/4" from the edge).
The snow peas we planted in the fall had all been eaten by some creatures that lives in our garden and we have sort of written them off the book.
When I went out to the garden to get some green onions for fried rice, I saw one snow pea growing on the one pathetic looking vine that is left in the snow pea corner. It was only one pod but it was a regular size, good looking one and I'm just happy for the plant.
By the way, it's amazing how store-bought green onion left-over roots can produce green onions almost eternally.
We planted some kind of wild cherry tomato seeds in the fall and some of the fruits have finally turned red. They are tiny but supposedly taste good according to the Man of the House. I don't eat fresh tomatoes.
The plants are still growing but the temperature finally has fallen in the 30s at night, I don't know if the fruits will survive.
I have finally finished my Pendrell.
It is amazing how slow I am to make just one sleeveless shirt. Yup, I spent 9 days. And I'm not talking about "lets sew 30 minutes a day." I spent 2 hours for binding and heming today. Sewing is tedious.
I was so excited about the french seam for princess seams and totally forgot about shoulder seam (T_T). Not going to undo my french seam just for this small section.
Today, I sew the side seams, then made up bias tapes for neck and arm opening. I did not have enough fabric left for long bias strips so just connected a bunch of short ones.
Understitched and pressed.
By the way, I am totally hooked on the podcast, Serial.
I am back to my Pendrell.
I made a muslin #5 and finally, FINALLY, cutting into the fashion fabric.
Now need to sew the sides and bind the neck/arm holes. Hopefully it fits. I don't think I want to redo the french seams.
I heard that the clay pot for hot pot makes good rice. Since I don't have a fancy "fuzzy" computerized rice cooker, I had wanted a clay pot for cooking rice. When I went to Mitsuwa in Los Angeles, I finally bought it. Only $20. Yes, I could get it for half the price in Japan but then I would have to carry it or ship it so I would pay $20 for convenience.
I can use it for regular hot pot as well, not that I ever make hot pot at home, but maybe now that I got a pot, I should... I'm just to lazy to go all the way to an Asian grocery store to buy ingredients.
Picked our lemons.
Actually, the tree used to be a Mexican lime tree. We planted it several years ago, but before the tree bore any fruit, it was killed by a frost. Anything above ground was all dead, but a twig was growing from the ground so we let it grow.
We did not know what kind of citrus tree it was since citrus trees use different kind of citrus tree as a root stock. So the root part and fruit bearing part are usually different. We suspect what we have is a rough lemon? According to the Man of the House, it is a common root stock for a lime tree.
The fruit looks a lot like an orange, size and the shape. But the skin is rougher, like a teenager's bad skin. And it tastes like lemon; definitely not edible as is, but it tests just like lemon.
We gave about a 1/3 away to a neighbor and juiced the rest. I think we got about 1.5 quarts. I made a pitcher of lemonade (used about 2 cups of lemon juice) and froze the rest in ice cube trays so we can pop them when we need "a table spoon of lemon juice" or whatever.
Watched Into The Wild.
Oh, how many times have I seen this movie now. 5 times? I have a book, too, but the movie is much better. No matter how many times I have watched it, it still gives me a body blow.
Sean Penn knows how to make a very manly cool movie.
A movie based on a life of a real-life aircraft engineer, Jiro Horikoshi, who designed the Zero fighter, most famously known as an airplane used by the Kamikaze suicide fighters during the WWII.
It was a very beautiful movie. I usually do not describe a movie as beautiful, but this movie was. Also like one of the actors said in the special feature, it was shamelessly romantic, both the love of flying and the love story of Jiro and Nahoko.
First of all, characters' movements were very carefully drawn, like the way a guy gets a pack of cigarette out of his pocket and the way he lights the cigarette, especially. The background is drawn in detail, and overall, the hand-drawn animation feels very warm and it has depth to it.
Also, of course this being the Miyazaki movie, the flight sequences are so quintessential Miyazaki movie and romantic. And, ah, the dream sequences, too.
To summarize, this move was VERY Miyazaki, every bit Miyazaki. Done very carefully and done in a way that every frame counts and planned for.
If somebody ask me my top 3 of Miyazaki movies, I would say: #1-Valley of the Wind, #2-Castle in the Sky, and #3-My Neighbor Totoro. This list stays. But I don't think The Wind Rises was less than these 3. It's like, well, it is not dramatic like Valley of the Wind or Castle in the Sky and it's just not like Totoro, but it's kind of Porco Rosso. It is a very mature movie. Not for a little kid to fantasize.
Obviously, we watched this movie in Japanese with English subtitles, so I did not hear any of the English voice over and I did not even know who did the voice. But the special feature had some interviews of the voice over actors and well, I guess this movie was pretty much a family movie: Stanley Tucci, Emily Blunt, and her husband, whose name I don't even really know. I might watch it again in English.
After we went to Din Tai Fung, we went to a Japanese grocery store, Mitsuwa.
Oh-my. It was truly a Japanese grocery store, from the way items were displayed to the merchandise sold. The only difference was that the price was in dollars.
If you live in Los Angeles, you really can live the same way as it is in Japan. Scary.
Our friend took us to Din Tai Fung in Los Angeles.
We have been to the one in Shinjuku and we loved there. The one in LA was huge and you can see the dumpling making station through the glass. Fun.
Oh my, it was gooooooood. We had xiaolongbaos, shao mais, steamed dumplings and more. Our friend had ordered frozen xiaolongbaos to-go beforehand as well. It was heavenly good.