I am a noodle fiend..

I love noodles, all noodles, in soup, fried, baked, as spaghetti, whatever. I ordered a noodle stirfry in a food court, watched the old Japanese guy making it, and came home and tried it myself. It actually came out BETTER than the takeout, if you can believe!

I typed up one of my vague, random recipes here. (If Ellenade is reading this, she might recognize the chopsticks!)



A handful each of any suitable veggies (broccoli, carrots, onions, any Asian greens, bean sprouts, bell pepper, etc etc), cut into bite size pieces

Hokkien noodles from the cold section in the supermarket. These are precooked, and just need warming.

Fried tofu pieces (I made my own here, but the premade fried tofu pieces in the store are great, too)

Vegetarian oyster sauce

Soy sauce


Boil a deep pot of water. I put everything into a metal colander, except the sauces, drop the colander into the pot of water, give it a stir to mix it all into the water, and then leave for one minute, til the veggies are barely wilted. You COULD just put it all in the water, and then drain, too, but I usually do a single person at a time (prepare one while the other is cooking), and keeping the water going works for me.

Pull out, drain for a minute, and drop into a hot frying pan with a couple tablespoons of oil. Throw in enough oyster sauce to thoroughly coat the noodles and veggies (I think mine came to about 1/4 cup), and a good splash of soy sauce; toss well, and serve!!!

For one person, this could take five minutes, with a little organization!

Tuesday has thrown down the gauntlet, and I have accepted. The challenge is ON!!! Okay, so, maybe not quite that aggressively. At least, not on my side. Cause I know she is going to kick my bootay! :p So, I am just viewing this as a friendly little game, where we are going to interpret that gorgeous red and white Dior dress into something actually wearable!! Woohoo!

I went into the city today to Kinokuniya, which has a HUGE Japanese section, and had a browse, and saw a pattern in one book that looked awesome as a starting point, so I put it on hold....and we're off!!! :D

I was talking with a friend about translating those Dior dresses into something wearable, and remembered these pics I have saved from way back. It's some random dress my SIL found on eBay....BEAUTIFUL!

Tough choices....

Okay...so...serious consideration here.....which do you think I could get away with wearing on an everyday basis? Seriously. Cause these are SO FREAKING GORGEOUS, I would NEED to wear them on an everyday basis.


Dior Spring 2007 Couture Collection. Of course.

Lotus

I was in a Lotus swap. I REALLY love lotuses (is that a word?). Here are my contributions...

A wooden trinket box, made the same way as the geisha and dragon boxes, but little larger, prob about 8"x5". I really loved the look of this one!


A purse...I've never used these kinds of handles before, and they are a BITCH to sew, imnsho, but I don't think I did TOO bad. I got the fabric a few years ago, at a shop that has since closed after 20 years, and I have been hanging onto it, too scared to cut into it, cause I love it so much, but decided to bite the bullet and just go for it, since it was so perfect for this swap, and it wasn't doing any good just sitting in the pile (yes, pile...my fabric organization is pretty much nil..*ahem*.) The lining is a pink cotton, with a slightly slubby texture. It's actually bigger than it looks in the pic. For some reason, it came out looking a lot smaller than it actually is?? I have no idea why.


Okay, this was an experiment, and NOT one of my better efforts, but my swap partner loved it...which either means she REALLY loved it, or she wasn't all that enthusiastic about my other stuff. Obviously, I hope it's the former.

It's an origami lotus I had seen somewhere else, and decided to attempt myself. Um, yeah. I had to stop trying to fix it, cause I was wearing out the paper, and just send it. NOT one of my more successful experiments.







This was also an experiment, though a bit more successful. It still came out a little plain, though, but I couldn't think of a workable idea to jazz it up...I was thinking of bordering in gold stitching, but that looked wierd, and beading didn't seem to fit in, either...so I just left it. Oh, well. It's a notebook sleeve, with a notepad slipped inside. Freehanded the pattern, painted with acrylics and textile medium, and outlined with an archival permanent pen. I should have have done a bit more variations in the lotus colors.

I am no longer a virgin. A serger virgin, that is. That one-night stand back in '02 didn't count. This is True Love, and this is forever!!!

I have been wanting a serger for-EVER, and I finally just went out and got me one. This baby:
A Janome 744D. AKA, the COOLEST little doohicky in the UNIVERSE!!

I had it for a month or so, too chicken to bust it out, but finally did it, and whipped out two tops (Burda 8361 , for the curious). OMG. WHY WHY WHY did I not get one of these YEARS ago!! I knew they were the shit, but I DIDN'T REALLY KNOW!! All that wasted time! Wah! I am now spending all my plotting and planning time running through my stash, trying to match ideas and fabrics, to come up with outfits that will not need the touch of the sewing machine at ALL, so I can just whip things out on my NEW SERGER! :D

Oh, yeah, the tops:

We will ignore the fact that apparently I have forgotten the art of a pleasant smile, and am glaring at us like a she-witch.

It's an Icky Thump...

Duelling guitars and trumpets! Bagpipes! Skeleton suits!! All wrapped up in an obscure reference to a British tv show!!



Yes, folks, Jack and Meg have finished recording, and their new album is due in JUNE!! Or sometime thereabouts. :D I AM IN HEAVEN!!!!