Unicorn Meat

I was that annoying girl who collected Unicorns.... and it wasn't until I moved when I was 26, that the last bit of my unicorn collection saw it's end. This picture appeals to my sick and twisty inside.. the one that worshiped unicorns...

Lego Modelling - San Fancisco

Jong keeps threatening to turn the house into a giant train set. Thankfully his ideas haven't caught up to his ambition and the house remains at the sole mercy of my own hobbies...

Saw this at This is awesome: and I feel this is something I could get behind. A merging of his love of Lego with his love of trains.. and slightly less intimidating.

p/s I'm still not relinquishing any of my space.

Foods that creep out even the asian diet

I'm pretty hard core. I crave durian. I guzzle tripe.... but inside-out goat, jellied moose nose and fermented fish heads are where I draw the line. This is sick.

http://www.culinaryschools.org/cuisine/10-disgusting-delicacies/

Jenny loves me.

Jenny loves me this I know, coz this cake, tells me so.

So it was my 31st Birthday, and Jenny knows I love two things.. Hello Kitty and Strawberries... and what does she do? She goes to my etsy page and buys me this ridiculously cool handmade cake stand and then has a friend make me this wicked fondant Hello Kitty Cake, complete with Starburst strawberries. ZOMG totally in love. The bottom cake was a delicious raspberry ginger. Now I'm not much into raspberries. I find them to be the red-headed stepchild of berries, with Strawberry being the adored overachieving first born (Its in everything.. from glee club to waffles), and blueberry being the beloved anti-oxidant baby of the family... but this cake made me speechless.

I ate it for breakfast a few times. The top layer was a delicious chocolate and mint cake, Yum, but overshadowed by the raspberry ginger bottom layer.

Yes it broke my heart to cut it but my tummy was thankful in the end.

Stinky and the Brain - Whippet sisters Reunion

Pictures of Stinka (Minka) with her sister Palace. You wouldn't believe it, since they are just lil puppies, but taking photos is pretty impossible. Whippets don't stay still when they are just one (thats why all my pictures of her are usually when she's sleeping)! but when two get together its vicious sibling mayhem.

Minka is on the right, and Palace is on the left with the horseshoe markings. I once worried that I'd not be able to tell her apart from other Whippets, but I'm pretty sure now after seeing her with her litter mate and parents that I wouldn't fail this mommy test. After months of sleeping with her.. mornings cuddling, nights watching her sleep, playing 'fetch and then fight-for-the-toy-because-you-haven't-learned-drop-yet'), that I do in fact know her face very well. Palace looks simliar but she lacks that goofy fine boned face that is quintessentially my STINKY girl.

(This face [above] is the one I'm talking about.. she usually makes this face with her little teeth showing much like Mr. Burns from the Simpsons)

Making a warm dog coat.

Since we got a whippet puppy in the winter, I've been making coats for a few months now to keep her warmand as an outlet for my creativity. In truth, because she's growing so fast, I'm getting quite proficient at it by sheer repetition. I can make one in under 30 minutes now which has come in handy for when we want a cute little outfit for our walks.If only it was so easy to make clothes for me!

One day when we were in Steveston, we met another whippet family (Al Thiessen with Kaden and Halley, and realised it was time for something warmer for our little girl after checking out their professional looking duds.

'Something with SHERPA!' I considered.

I had previously been using polar fleece lined with quilting, but I could definitely see the benefits of the soft warm sherpa, on top of looking rather chic.

First I started by free hand drawing a dog coat. Guessing what it should look like. I knew I wanted some sort of collar for the neck to keep the rain out, and it had to be skinnier near her belly to accomodate her whippet body shape.... My best friend Jenny and I are great friends, but I think my freestyled approach to cooking, dancing, baking (with disastrous results) and sewing are where we differ. She's a by the rules kinda girl (she counts her chocolate chips when she makes cookies), and I'm a fly by the seat of my pants kinda gal (yeah just throw a handful in! YA MOAR!!). We're like Ying and Yang, Cheech and Chong (I get to be Cheech).

Anyways, back to sewing. I pinned my makeshift pattern to some cloth I bought from Jysk for only $1/yard. It's good solid cotton, but completely guilt free for my mistake ridden style of sewing since it wasn't very expensive. I cut it out with scissors, then sewed the pieces together (by the chest, and the back)

Next.... getting it on the test subject :) Here's Minka wearing the frock, but none too impressed. She has no idea how cool she'll look after. I can't wait to make my kids have this same expression. :P

I felt the fit was ok but I made a few more alterations. I just basted any darts I planned in putting in later so I could see how it'd look. Once I was happy with my fit, I pinned my new pattern to the waterproof material using small pins (I can't imagine using a large pin and leaving food holes is a good idea) and cut it out.leaving a seam allowance.I folded the red material in half, so I wouldn't have to cut it out twice. If you don't do this, you need to flip the pattern to get the other side, or you'll end up with two of the same side.

I then laid this ontop of the sherpa. bad side to bad side and cut them out the same.

By this time I have two pieces of red, and two pieces of sherpa. One of each for each side of the dog.

Next it was time to pick the trim. I found some nice hot pink grosgrain at Dressew for a steal of a price, but I also had this lovely red and brown sparrow ribbon from Paper-Ya on Granville Island, that I was saving to make a leash and I thought a matching coat with leash would look pretty slick. Being a big fan of strawberries I had to try out some Shinzi Katoh ribbon too, but it was too small. I felt it needed something chunkier... I called in my design expert, Jong, and he deemed the pink as the best choice. Surprising since he's very manly, and into natural things like bonsai, I thought the birds would have been his obvious choice but my man still surprises me sometimes.

I laid the ribbon on the coat making sure they matched up. Now its minor, but I've felt this part was a bit of a mistake on my end. I did a Chevron, but I think a reverse chevron would have looked better. The outward lines made her butt look pretty chunky. Next time I plan on inverting it.

By this point I was getting impatient with documenting each step (sorry!) so I'll just have to give a quick rundown.

I sewed the ribbon onto the red fabric using a straight stitch on my Singer Featherweight. Sew the red pieces together along the back, making a special slit for a leash (this I might need to document sometime if anyone asks), Do the same on the sheepskin. Put the good sides together, and sewed from the chest to the bum, leaving a space big enough to invert the cloth. Do not sew the neck. (learned the hard way not to do this as it makes it like a donut and impossible to flip). Handsew that hole closed and the neck. Reinforce the leash hole with a bit of sewing with matching thread.

Voila.warm whippet.

Whippets and Crafting. My two loves.

Here is a picture of my puppy Minka, sleeping in the quilt I made. So cute! She just crawls into the bed and settles in, just like a person. She’s always loved sleeping in what mommy makes. Dunno why. She’s just a dog but she loves the quilts way more than the comforters. Maybe because they smell more like me from all my touching!

The inside is made of an ultra soft white fur-like material called MINKY (no its not made out of minka!) Its very soft and wonderful to the touch.

Nite Nite Minky!

Box pleating

Kathy Ruddy @ the Tradex Sewing and Crafts Show. I neglected to bring my pencil so I took photos. Here's a lesson in how to box pleat a smoking hot swing jacket.

wholesome pecan banana bread waffles

I want to be eating these... right now. Looking forward to making these with my hello kitty waffle iron.

1 1/2 c whole wheat pastry flour
1 c oat bran
1/4 c packed brown sugar
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/4 c toasted chopped pecans
1 t cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg & cardamom
1 c plain yogurt
1/2 c skim milk
2 eggs, beaten
2 ripe bananas, mashed
3 T butter, melted
2 t vanilla

In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients from the flour to the spices. In another bowl, blend together the wet ingredients from the yogurt to vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and lightly mix until combined. Batter should be thick. Use a ladle to pour batter onto waffle maker and proceed as per your usual waffle-making style. Serve with butter, syrup and fresh fruit.

Here’s a great little waffle tip: Use up all the batter and refrigerate the leftover waffles. Just pop them into the toaster the next day and they’ll heat and crisp up wonderfully. Might as well make a double batch on the weekend and eat these throughout the week. Trust me, your week in waffles will be that much more awesome.

Best places to eat Chinese in Vancouver

http://www.cbc.ca/bc/features/chinese-restaurant-awards-2010/