Monday 24 October 2011

A weekend of stitching

Not a particularly eventful weekend. Saturday was spent cutting out the decorations for my skirt, and Sunday was spent starting the massive task of hand-sewing the decorations onto the skirt. I could not have undertaken a more ridiculous project. Including a couple of extra hours tonight, I've now spent about 11 hours sewing and I'm barely half way through the front side of the skirt. The original plan was to decorate the entire skirt, this has now been scaled back to just the front, with the remainder to be finished after Halloween.

I also attempted Couch to 5k day one again, hopefully I'll be able to continue this time... 4th attempt lucky :p. Loving my new Garmin GPS watch thingy, it is strangely motivating.

Very much looking forward to Halloweeen next weekend! end non-exciting weekend update.

Sunday 16 October 2011

Oktoberfest weekend

Saturday morning we were up bright and early to go meat shopping at Yatala. First stop was the Super Butcher, $150 later we left and went to Gรถtzinger where we spent $110, but got a discount and only paid $100 :D. Then we had Yatala Pie (nom) before coming home. With our freezers packed full of delicious meat I headed off to high tea with my uni friend. It was reasonably delicious. There were a few stand out items: the lemon curd tarts and this weird fruit (which tasted like an apple/pear and looked like a cherry) sitting in white chocolate custard.

I pre-ordered Eragon book 4, and got what I thought was a super dodgy childrens book about the world in which Eragon is set for free. It's surprisingly good. Children's pop up books are fantastic! Kids these days are so lucky, I was flipping through the book pulling out all the pop up stuff and things in envelopes before Robert yelled at me to save the suprises for while I read it. What a party pooper! (He was right, but that's irrelevant).

Oktoberfest was awesome fun, I can't believe I was totally cool with being the only person (out of 18) who dressed up. The sausages, potato salad and sauerkraut were delicious! Everything was eaten except for three Nurnberger sausages, two of which I ate for lunch today!

Today has been spent starting my halloween costume! The hat is done, except I'll probably have to glue down a few sections if they come loose during the week (it looks awesome! maybe slightly out of proportion to my head (too large, but that's better than it being too small)).

I have changed my mind at least a half dozen times about what my skirt will look like/ be decorated with, finally I decided on the type & colour of skirt, and as a result it's currently sewn up to the point just before the elastic casing is done. I hate elastic, personally I think is dodgy and a bit bogan, but sometimes it can't be avoided :/.

Every night this week and next is probably going to be spent adding elements to the skirt - and the end product is going to be a surprise, even though I'm dying to tell you what it is :p

Sunday 9 October 2011

Another semi-productive weekend

I started out with grand plans to make feta this weekend. It didn't happen, which is disappointing, however after picking up a few essential stainless steel utensils I'm now only 1 large stainless steel pot away from being able to make most cheeses. I doubt I'll feel like it after Oktoberfest next weekend, so in two weeks plus four days aging I will be snacking on homemade feta.

The weekend wasn't a waste though, I made lasagne meat sauce yesterday and the whole thing is currently in the oven, doesn't look too bad considering I lost my recipe and had to wing it. I even went to the market specifically to buy eggplant and mushrooms to go in it, yet came home with everything other than those two items. frowny face.

This weekend also saw our first attempt at infusing alcohol with fat molecules (thanks The Geek Cookbook). I added melted butter into a cup of rum and let it sit on the bench over night. It then went into the freezer so the fat would solidify and then was filtered through a coffee filter. It smells amazing, but we haven't tasted it yet.

This afternoon I started on my Oktoberfest costume. I SEWED! For the first time since home economics in 1998. I'm disturbed by how easily I remembered everything, it's like because I'm female I'm genetically wired to know this stuff :p. I managed one perfect seam (the first one) then everything went to shit, everything that could go wrong went wrong, 20 minutes later I finished the second seam (a straight line about 1 meter long *rolls eyes*). I had to stop because somehow the threads around the bobbin got caught and had to be cut, but I couldn't remember how to re-thread it. A you tube video later and I'm good to go again. However, I did successfully re-thread the top thread without you tube. A couple more seams, a gathered top edge followed by attaching a ribbon and it'll be done! So excited.

I have also decided upon my halloween costume. It's random but cool. It will also require the acquisition of new craft skills.

Sunday 2 October 2011

A surprisingly productive weekend

I set out with a long list of things to do this weekend.

When a cycle meet interrupted my plan to go rollerskating at the rec reserve at 6:30am Saturday morning I was disheartened, so I spent all day watching How I Met Your Mother. Late afternoon I felt less mopey so I decorated the living room for Halloween. I love the decorations, they make me so happy.

This morning was take two at rollerskating, it was a success. I decided to test the theory that I would be better at downhill rollerskating since I'd just been skiing. It seems to be a valid theory. Still can't go up hill, but with more regular practice I believe I'll be whizzing around the rec reserve, up and down hill in no time! It's so much more terrifying skating on bitument compared to skiing on soft snow!

I then spent a few hours researching registering a company, and trying to find out whether it should be set up with debt or capital. It was frustrating and boring, and half the research I did just made me miss working in general tax.

Then onto the most exciting part of today, cheese making! After sifting through the recipes included with the kit and my new cheesemaking book, I decided upon making Lemon Cheese since it took the least amount of time, ingredients, utensils and experience. Turns out I didn't have enough stainless steel equipment, nor enough time that many of the cheeses I wish to try. For many cheeses I will need to start on a Saturday and finished on a Sunday.

Lemon Cheese involved heating 1.9 litres of full cream milk to 180-200 degrees F then stirring in the juice of 2 lemons. I then let it form into curds & whey before pouring it into the cheese cloth and hanging it to drain for an hour. I thought perhaps an hour was too long for draining, despite the recipe suggesting 1-2hrs draining. I then salted it. It made 300g of something similar to cottage cheese.

Todays flavour experimentation of Truffle Oil & Chives was a winning combination. I can't wait to try adding garlic to another batch.

I think I will try Feta next weekend.