Some Favorite Savory Recipes

Well, while I started on my dress mock-up in earnest today, I only got about 1/4 or so through.  I'm doing several things for the first time with this pattern, so it's taking a little longer to work out.  But I'm going to save my posting on the mock-up until it's done.  The reason why?  Lots of people seem to have trouble with the pattern, and while lots of folks have blogged about making the dress, no one's done an actual guide to the pattern.  The blog Vicki Kate Makes has the beginning of such a guide, along with a preliminary post showing her pattern adjustments and one for the finished product, but she never got around to posting about the part that gives people the most trouble (the yoke).  Alas.

So, ven though I'm an amateur, I figure I can share my own lessons with step-by-step photos, and I think it'll do better as a single post.  I could be wrong, but we'll see.  This way, at least, I won't be jumping the gun.

Therefore, in lieu of more on the dress, I decided to share a couple of my favorite Pinterest recipes! ^__^

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First, we have the Pulled Pork Stuffed Sweet Potato from The Novice Chef.

Firstly, let me say that this is the combination of two of my favorite foods.  Still, I wasn't sure exactly how the two would work together.  Well, let me say that it is FANTASTIC.  And very easy.  The slow-cooked pulled pork was easy and delicious, and I used the leftovers for lunch sandwiches for the next 2-3 days (note, I originally only made two potatoes, because our oven is broken, and I had to bake them with the toaster oven).  But those two potatoes totally sufficed as a whole meal for both myself and the mister, and we aren't light eaters.


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Second is the Parmesan Baked Chicken from My Kitchen Escapades.

This is super simple, and WOW, do the chicken breasts turn out tender.  I've made it a few times, usually doing a mix of greek yogurt and mayo for the sauce (she says you can do it either one or mixed).  I've also added bread crumbs, and (because I'm too miserly to buy even more spices) I made my own version of seasoning salt by combining salt, celery salt, garlic salt and thyme.  You have to make sure you don't over-salt for your tastes, but it turned out amazingly for me.


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Third, we have Eat Yourself Skinny's Herb Crusted Pork Chops.

Tasty and easy to make (so long as you have an oven-proof skillet).  Also, if you like things spicy, I used kochujang (Korean hot pepper paste, found in Asian specialty stores) instead of dijon mustard for the rub.  Yum.


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Fourth, Avocado Fries from BS' in the Kitchen!

This one is time consuming, but avocado fries are a major treat for me.  This is one I do when I want to spoil myself.  Now, I can't speak for the garlic dip that goes with this recipe.  After the amount of time the fries take, I cheat and make a dipping sauce out of low-fat sour cream and sweet chili sauce (you can find it in the Asian food section of any grocery store).  Very easy, and very tasty.


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Lastly, we have Kimchi Fried Rice by Naomi Imatome-Yun.

This is one of my favorite dishes EVER.  I use Canadian bacon because it's super easy (easy to chop, no pre-cooking, and tastes good in the dish), and I use a regular white onion.  I also don't add the salt at the end.  You don't need it.  But man, the spicy kimchi with the fried egg....it's excellent.  And the dish actually cooks pretty quickly.  This is a good one to make if you have leftover rice, or you can cheat and use the little microwavable bags to save yourself cleaning a rice pot (I don't have a steamer).  I have to use vegan kimchi because most kimchi has seafood in it, but thankfully, Albertson's grocery stores often carry a brand of vegan kimchi in both mild and spicy.  One of those jars is good for two healthily loaded batches (in other words, it's just over two packed cups' worth).

Many folks prefer the more authentic version that includes kochujang, but I haven't tried that specific recipe yet.  I would suggest Maangchi's version.  She also uses sesame oil and doesn't include onion.  (So it's much simpler to throw together, which is nice.)  I throw kochujang into a lot of stir fries, but I honestly can't remember if I've ever added any to this one.  But if you like major spice, you might want to try Maangchi's first, because kochujang is awesomely intense.


Anyway, I think that's probably enough for one night.  Do you have any favorite recipes you'd like to share?

Minor dress update and some art

So, between a crazy work schedule and a lot of developments with dissertation and job application things, I haven't gotten to do as much as I wished.  However!  I did finally start cutting out the fabric.  Hopefully I have enough.  It irks me that muslin is made so much thinner than other types of fabric (I speak in terms of width, such as 45" or 54" for most fabric bolts).  Ah well.

But anyway, here's the beginning of the cutting!  I'd do it in the more spacious living room, but I don't want our ferret getting into the fabric and pins.  That would be very bad for the project and especially her if she got hurt.

And here's the horrible mess that the left side of the craft room became.  (From right to left, sewing tackle box, sewing machine, box of fabric [topped with pieces of deconstructed bras]; in front is all the pattern stuff.)

Sadly, I've only gotten two pieces cut and started pinning the third.  It's tricky and slow because I can't use the fabric's actual fold for some of the pieces, and it takes finagling to get the fabric laid out this way for bigger pieces.  But tomorrow's the fourth, and while we'll be celebrating America's birthday throughout the day, I'm hoping to get a little more done.  

In the meantime, my friends and I were talking about art, and it reminded me that I still have a digital painting to finish.  Now, I haven't been in much of a drawing phase for the last two years or so, but in the last spurt of inspiration, I drew this picture of a D&D character I made (yet never got the chance to play, haha).  Here she is, threatening a poor, miserable half-orc.  

I started painting it in Adobe Photoshop 7.0 with my trusty old Wacom II.  Well over a year ago.  But unless I'm in a phase, I only work on a piece for an hour or two at a time, every couple of months.  I think Guild Wars 2 has exacerbated this tendency.  ^_^;;

It's almost done, but I'm down to the background, which has proven itself extremely difficult.  The layout of the drawing itself doesn't leave much room for a clear background, and the lighting I painted is proving troublesome.  And this, friends, is why you do your background first, or at least always have a clear idea of what it should be and where EXACTLY your primary light source is.  I know this, but I rarely plan ahead thoroughly, and I hate doing backgrounds first.

Anyway, here's the colored image with a test background pasted in.  It's a background from a video game, but I don't know which one--I just found it on Google image search along with a host of others.  But this one will be my template, as it's one of the only ones that works both in color and establishing setting.  Eventually, I'll go in and paint my version of it.  I just don't want to.  ^__^;;;;;

If you'd like to see more of my art, feel free to check out my (long-neglected) DeviantArt page.  It's got everything from late high school up through about 2012.  A lot of the more recent stuff is just sketches, but I've got a wide range in there, everything from

X-Men as Disney princesses (even though Scarlet Witch is more often an Avenger)

To

Watercolors painted for a study abroad course

And that's it for today!