Foods:
my version of Korean BBQ
Kimchi

Beverages:
Wine
homemade Cappuccino

About the foods, I’ve made some sort of delicious miso based marinade. Using this recipe Chocolate and Zucchini wrote about not too long ago. Instead of flank steak I used shaved beef. My roommate and his friend can attest to its deliciousness. As can Allan, who joined me for a yummy night of “Korean” BBQ and his first experience with kimchi.

Kimchi is one of my favorite fermented foods. And there is an easy and delicious recipe/instructions right here. I like this recipe because it give you options for which types of cabbage. And I learned a lot of about kimchi in my research to determine what causes the fermentation. And Koreans definitely love kimchi more than you can imagine. Their aerospace chemists/scientists found a way to make SPACE KIMCHI, amazing!

For the “Korean” BBQ. Prepare the Kimchi about a week to 2 weeks before you plan to eat said BBQ, all good things take time. Prepare the shaved beef according to the recipe by Chocolate and Zucchini. You can make it on the stove top or put it all in foil, wrap it up in a pouch and cook it on the BBQ. Steam some rice and rinse some large lettuce leaves. Take lettuce leaf put some rice on it, then bbq beef, some kimchi, some other hot sauces if you choose (i.e. Sriracha) and then wrap and eat with hands. Yes, it may get messy but it is yummy.

About the beverages. I love wine, that’s all.

But about the espresso, this morning I decided to use this little stovetop cappuccino maker, which, has been sitting on a high shelf in my new place, feeling neglected. I was a Barista for nearly 2 years and haven’t steamed milk in that long of a time either. I miss it. This morning I made the perfect frothyness for a latte and the espresso was okay. It is difficult to create good shots without the right machine, I can’t afford one so I can settle. Although, I believe it tasted better than the shitty espresso I’ve been served in NY for so long. Some people just don’t understand. And they usually scorch the milk. They don’t let it form a whirlpool and they don’t avoid that dangerous scorching zone where you start to hear serious screeching and the death of all things milk. How much can you hate coffee to butcher it so NY?

I wish I had a picture of my latte glory, fuck you camera.

And summer reminds me of some really sweet people I had the opportunity to meet and have now left the city. Namely, Radhika. And in memory of a sweet girl, who’s gone back home to India, I made her delicious Curry Leaf Augerbines.

From Shamdoogle

I adapted the recipe to include tofu thinly sliced and they should be treated the same as the aubergines.

Ingredients:
1 tub Plain Yogurt
Aubergine(s)
Mustard seeds (preferably black)
Dried Chilies
Salt
Curry Leaves
Olive or Mustard Oil
Turmeric

Steps:
1. Slice the aubergines Italian style – thin enough so they cook easier. Rub with salt and turmeric on each side of each slice.

2. Whip yogurt with salt by blender or with “mad” arm strength and a spatula. Place in refrigerator.

3. Heat a pan of olive/mustard oil brown the aubergines on each side until soft. Set aside.

From Shamdoogle

4. Heat a small pan and pour in a few tablespoons olive oil when boiling throw in curry leaves, dried chilies, and mustard seeds. Heat for 15-20 seconds. This should be just long enough to release the spices flavors without burning them.

5. In a large flat dish layout aubergine slices and pour the yogurt over them. Then pour the spicey oil mixture on top.

6. Serve with basmati rice and naan.

From Shamdoogle

This is delicious and so are the memories I have of Radhika. Also, we are both still searching for the perfect gazpacho recipe. Let me know if you have one.

Hello summer, you came right on winter’s heels. Hello grill, you need some Korean BBQ on you. Upcoming: Korean BBQ and kimchi recipes….wait for it.

I am going to relish in my solo sunday.

I’ve been selected as a Featured Yarny by the Art Fire Yarnies Guild, check out my interview: Art Fire Yarnies Blog . And I also made my first sale on Etsy, which just made my Monday even sweeter!

I’ve no great insights, sci-fiction or otherwise this week. Except maybe it’s time for spring to reply to my request for it’s imminent presence. I’ve done everything in my power to coerce spring into my life; sewing spring skirts, spring inspired quilts, spring in my step. Maybe I need to do some spring cleaning and it’ll finally feel welcomed enough to show up.

I’ve uncovered an obsessed affair with BurdaStyle.com . Many of my recent projects are up there for comment, critique, and advice.

About that quilt I started and blogged about months ago? Here it is. Nearly finished, just blind stitching the binding on by hand.

From Shamdoogle

It will go on my new bed at my new home, which I’ll be moving to by the end of the week. And carting all my unfinished busywork over there too.

But these are things I’ve finished:
Skirts!!!
Ginseng Print from Joel Dewberry, Wrap Skirt Design from Heather Ross’s Weekend Sewing (get a copy of the book Weekend Sewing ASAP if you can!)

From Shamdoogle

Blue Floral Skirt, altered from an uncomfortable dress

From Shamdoogle

Also this past Sunday I took a screen printing workshop with Philip Sachs from Sheepshead Design. It was awesome! He was great and I made this print on tons of materials; cloth, wood, paper.

From Shamdoogle

And then wrote a poem above the print and made some sweet wall art for my new walls.

From Shamdoogle

Obviously, I’ve been keeping very busy. But stay tuned for some more spring/summer clothing as I re:make my summer wardrobe on a budget. And soon pinhole cameras will finally be completed, with tried, true and tested photo making possibilities. And I’ve devised an idea for transforming beer stained kitchen towels; recovering them from their weary partied existence into glorious apron/towels.

My downward spiral to the dark side began this time last year…I saw Jones (one Sith Lord of knitting) in lab stores, making a pair of fingerless gloves via DPNs. I was afraid to approach. Simply because when you’ve begun with straight needles and are comfortable wielding your single bladed light sabers you are daunted by the fact that maybe the yarn will just fall off the end of the DPNs. And you’ll lose every stitch you’ve ever dreamed up. As with all knitting, the first row is the hardest…I decided to begin the DPN excursion by aiming high. Master DPN and cable knit, in comes Lord Vader, Cheryl Niamath’s Fetching pattern in Summer’06 of Knitty. Though not gauged well, my attempt with Dashing for Allan (See “A Complete Pair of Gloves”, listed under sketchbook) was much more successful.

And now I will one day fill Emperor Palpatine’s shoes…I’ve started knitting lace…

From Shamdoogle

When Doriz comes home she won’t be expecting this.

I’ve got to stop being sick and get out of the house. Soon I’ll have a complexion like the Emperor’s. That being said, if you are in NY please stop by Don Pedro’s in Brooklyn this Thursday. Come check out a solo show of the boys, Jason Harris, Miguel Morte Valentine, Ruben Sindo Acosta, and Drey Perez. Yours truly may assist Miguel in his musical excursions. See calendar to the right for more details.

And I found the blogging love of my life Bagatell…

Sick days need tea and knitting and naps…

From Shamdoogle

And for some shameless self promotion another dyeing day is done and I’ve brought you a few new flavors of yarn; NY Regular (similar to Toffee), Citrus, Grapefruit (similar to the Coney Island Sunset colorway), and Goldenrod. SHAMDOOGLE’S ARTFIRE

And Amanda would have you know she was the first to introduce DPN, which is true. However, at that time in my knitting repertoire I couldn’t even increase or decrease so DPN was a far cry. She would also have you know that this is amazing Primitive Microscopy It truly is amazing.

This is a process that I feel was severely therapeutic for dealing with my personal travels to crazy and back to sane again. Also, it was a pleasantly chaotic break from the measuring, “straight” lines and machine sounds of quilting.

When you dye yarn in a pot by throwing all you need in there; the dye fixative, the yarn, some water, the dye (food coloring or food based) and hit the heat, you have to live with the results. What appears to be an ugly, horrendous mistake actually turns out to be a beautiful blessing. Ironically, what you thought would be most successful looks like crap. So enough of this sappy metaphorical bullshit. For you to embrace your own mistakes you’d need to know how to start this process. All I have to offer you is this:

Looks like a mess!

To begin, purchase some white yarn, wool appears to take the dye better and quicker than cotton but try both. Elann.com has some reasonably price Superwash Merino that worked well for me.

This process is food coloring or plant dye based, these products are safe to use in your kitchen. You probably do so all the time.

Next read this great tutorial by EarthWhisperFiberArts . She uses food coloring which works great for bright colors but I like to combine it with some food based dyes I made. The best reference I’ve found on plant dyeing yarn is through Pioneer Thinking. I made an interesting combination of these tutorials to generate my own yarns. Check out Shamdoogle’s Artfire for the Coney Island Sunset and Toffee dyed merino wool I made and the Sherbert 100% Organic Cotton. Those skeins are perfect blends of these techniques.

Shamdoogle’s Kettle Dyed Yarn Recipe:

1. Using a mild soap and warm water soak the yarn for ~30 minutes.

2. Bring 4 parts water to 1 part vinegar to a simmer, low low heat. This step may not be necessary when using only food coloring.

You can skip the vinegar bath if you are working with food coloring, however, I find the longer the yarn is in the vinegar (fixative) the better the plant dyes hold.

Always keep your heat low with wool so as not to felt it but you may need a higher heat or longer time in the pot for cotton.

3. Rinse soapy yarn with cold water. Place in vinegar bath for ~ 45-60 min.

4. While yarn is in the vinegar bath bring plant material with water to a boil (1/2 plant stuffs, 1/2 water), drop to low and let simmer. Coffee and Turmeric were my only successful plant dyes to date. Purple potatoes may not work due to the starches and I didn’t have enough cilantro for a rich green.

5. Rinse the yarn with cool water and place in a pot you don’t mind discoloring a little. Pour enough water in the pot to cover the yarn and then pour about a 1/4 cup of vinegar.
Again turn the heat to a low low. I have a gas range so it is nearly impossible for me to get a good low, the water shouldn’t burn you when you put your fingers in.

6. I’m still working on recongizing when the dye is exhausted as described by EarthWhisper… But I generally pour dyes in according to the rainbow, warm hues (yellows, reds, oranges) to cool hues (blues, greens, purples). Always light to dark. Things will mix and muddle and this is part of kettle dyeing, accept it or don’t. You can dye your yarn solid colors if you are a color seperatist but it’s pretty boring if you ask me.

7. Place yarn in warm soapy water, don’t agitate or wring. Ball the yarn and press against the side of the sink to get rid of the excess dye. You may repeat this step if the water runs dark or rinse in cool water. Then place the yarn in a bath of lukewarm water and conditioner. I don’t know if this makes the yarn all that much softer but it helps to make it smell a little nicer than old coffee grounds.

8. Hang to dry.

Always air your dirty dyeing in public as it is generally more appreciated than your panties. Possibly not…

Want to see pretty yarns for knitting up gloves, hats and socks? Get some!

This Saturday morning I enjoyed a delicious brunch.

Isn’t it beautiful. Baked eggs are my new favorite dish for brunch. They are simple to make and a blend of the ingredients in scrambles while still offering the runny centers of over easy eggs. Without the difficult flipping of eggs in a pan! Maybe I’m the only one with such a difficulty.

To make these baked eggs the ingredients are:

• Eggs (2 per person)
• One Tomato chopped
• Olive Oil
• Butter
• Onion, chopped
• Garlic, minced
• Salt and Pepper
• Italian Spices, basil/oregano
• Parmesan Cheese

Preheat oven to 375 F. Heat olive oil in pan, saute tomatoes, onions and garlic and Italian spices until soft. Butter baking dish and crack eggs into dish. Pour sauteed vegetables onto the egg whites. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and then dot with bits of butter. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top of it all. Cover and bake 7-10 minutes until whites are cooked but yolks are still soft. Eat immediately and relish the taste.

I am knitting tons to begin sales on Artfire and Etsy. Soon there will be handmade gloves and hand dyed organic yarns. I’ll put a tutorial up with my experiments in both knitting my own patterns and hand dying yarn.

To begin a quilt means to dedicate yourself to a task that few are bold enough to attempt. So here is the “Big Zig” quilt design by Denyse Schmidt that I have begun. Cutting the fabric takes fooorrrreeeevvverrr……
But the fabric colors are nice aren’t they?

From Shamdoogle

I don’t know if I’ll make through this quilt. It will take time and patience and those are things I lack but it is worth a shot now that I have 14 yds of fabric!

As an update I would like to state that I think my quilt might become a monsterpiece. I don’t know how I feel about this task and know I’m in it for the long haul. I can’t decide between two different layouts for the design.
Floral print as top zig?

From Shamdoogle

or bottom zig?

From Shamdoogle

I am leaning more towards the bottom zig route for the floral print and may play with the arrangement of the floral pattern triangles more. By the way this took hours of cutting and then when I was all done, I found out I needed two more blue triangles! How can it be that at 21 years of age I cannot count properly?
I did like piecing it all together it. Seeing the whole design from up on my loft bed laid out across the floor made me feel at ease.

From Shamdoogle

I still don’t reget my color choices though the boys tend to poke fun at which sports teams they are similar to. In fact the colors are kind of the same as the blogger web design, this is getting too creepy. Could it be that I weblog so much as to draw my color palette inspiration from the internet?

Firstly, I would like to show you something my friend Diana shared with me recently.

Recently I’ve completed three stockinette stitch beanies, one for Allan, one for Drey and one for myself.

From Shamdoogle

The pattern is taken from a book my mother gave me at age 14, titled the Cool Girls Guide to Knitting, cheesy but the simple quick projects are great.