basil—>pesto

this:

turned into this:

 

I’ve been growing basil at home, for the sole purpose of making pesto.
I love pesto (who doesn’t).  I love it in a sandwhich, I love it with just crusty bread, I love it in pasta.
I love pesto.
Of course, I too, love basil.  I even nibble on them as snacks.
So I thought, why not make pesto at home.  and better yet, why don’t I just grow the basil?

I’m not sure what variety of basil it is that I’m growing but it’s different than the kind I’m used to seeing at my supermarket so I decided to go with something new.
Their leaves are small, cute and dainty.
They’re not doing so well these days because the weather in NYC is crazy right now.  Where’s the sun?  It’s been all windy, cold and rainy.  Not the ideal weather for herb growth.
But nonetheless, it was gratifying to see my basil grow and then being able to use them in my cooking.

The pesto dish was courtesy of Marth Stewart, the recipe can be found here.
(Except, I’m Korean and I love my garlic, so those 2 cloves just wasn’t going to cut it.)  I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t have a really nice bottle of olive oil though.
The pesto was delicious; my sister and I snacked on it all through our Friday night TV ritual.
And the vivid green color of the pesto!  I’ve never had freshly made pesto so I didn’t know it could be that vibrant.  The photo above doesn’t do it justice.

Just wanted to point out that the basil I grew had a more delicate, lighter flavor than the bigger, leafier basil that’s more commonly found in supermarkets.  It wasn’t as peppery or minty.  Although I don’t mind either.

I’m waiting for more leaves to bloom but one pot of basil seems to be doing better than the other pot.  I don’t know what it could be but when they’re ready.  I’m ready to make more pesto!

welcome to spring!

what a way to welcome the new season. 
i have been beside myself nursing my kipper back to his old, chipper self after the visit to the ER.  
one reason why i’ve been missing on the internet; it’s hard to concentrate on anything else when someone you love is sick. 

look how sad he looks!  i remarked to my friends that his eyes looked extra big and extra sad. 

the vet at the ER did a horrible job treating kipper’s anal gland abscess, that days later, it ruptured anyhow. the only thing i could do was over-dose him with pain meds and keep the area clean. when that wound seemed to be healing he started to limp!  (the vet assured me it wasn’t a sprain)
when it rains it pours, people. 
but now he’s back to his old self.  thank god.  barking and growling and acting grumpy. 

a couple of fridays ago, my friend invitied me out to listen to live jazz. 
she knew i was worried about kipper and thought i could use a distraction.  
i’ve never heard live jazz so i thought why not.  

so, we met some other people at the infamous Birdland and ordered drinks and waited for the music to start.  it was honestly, the best perfomance i’ve seen and i’ve been to many, many concerts. 
i always found jazz to be a little too loud and inharmonious but seeing this live performance really changed my mind.  the stress just seemed to melt away.  i felt so light and free afterwards. 
we all had a ton of fun and couldn’t stop talking about it.  the whole time i kept wondering why he wasn’t performing at a bigger venue. 

the next day over lunch, we were gushing about the performers and found out that arturo sandoval is extremely famous! my sister couldn’t believe we saw him performing live and worse yet, that we didn’t know who he was.  i’ve never heard of him but i can see why he’s so popular.  i’ve been checking jazz venues frequently to see if anything interesting comes up around the city so i can hear some live jazz again.

you can read about arturo sandoval, here on wikipedia.

oh, i should write about the food at Birdland.  Maybe i was too distracted by the music to really concentrate on what i was eating but it wasn’t as good as the music.  The sweet potatoes fries were delicious and the drinks were well made.  But my goat cheese salad was disappointing.

book tag!

i’ve been tagged by jenny from jennycrafts for a book tag. everyone should go check out her blog.  reading her entries is akin to drinking a nice cup of chamomile tea at the end of a stressful day. 

Pick a book at least 123 pages long. Open that book to page 123. Find the fifth sentence and post the next three. Then tag five other people to do the same.

i haven’t been reading much for leisure.  so i’m afraid i won’t be able to answer this question.  between my studies, two weekly magazines and the newspaper i read, i just don’t have it in me to do extra reading.  mostly because when i do start reading a book, i can’t put it down until i finish.  i do flip through martha stewarts homekeeping handbook once in awhile before i fall asleep because i like using it as a pillow but that’s about it (her steps on removing gum from clothes, works like a charm).  but it is my goal to read the book that won the pulitzer prize for fiction every year.  although, as i’ve grown older i find reading fiction somewhat a waste of my time.

my friend mish finally got the package of baby knits i sent her.  
by the way, if you click on mish’s blog you can see a 3D sonogram picture.  it’s amazing.  now you don’t have to pretend to see the baby in those images because, um, you can really see the baby!!

i’m glad it wasn’t lost in transit.  one of the joys of knitting for babys is that there’s instant gratification.  one of the knits i sent her was this baby bib. 

Flower Bib from One Skein
i used sugar and creme cotton yarn, in a color combination of two colors. i don’t remember which, sorry.
i learned how to wrap stitches, do short rows and then hide them in the next row.  a great learning experience all wrapped in a small baby bib.  i also think the i-cord worked into the baby bib is a genius idea.

knitting toys

so, a lot of knitting happened here the past couple of weeks but i was unable to post due to a really nasty cat bite in my right hand. it was promptly followed by a visit to the ER where i was given a tetanus shot and antibiotics. it could have been worse, if i wasn’t frozen in shock while the cat proceeded to bite down harder and harder until he tasted blood, i could have caused more damage to my muscles if i tried to pry my hands out of his jaws. but the swelling has subsided and mobility is back. i will never attempt to give a cat a belly rub again. now i know what my professor meant when she said “cats are not small dogs”. this incident was entirely my fault.

before the cat bite, my friend W. and i wanted to make a last-minute, impromptu visit to a local yarn shop but alas, all the shops were closed. so we headed to michael’s where i purchsed some vanna choice acrylic yarn for knitting some stuffed animals, along with some polyester filling. all the animals were knit using the above yarn with the exception of the mouse.
and this was the result:

 

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Kate (pattern free from knitty.com)
i really couldn’t imagine working with DPNs for all the doll parts so i initally thought i should knit it flat but i took the time out to study magic loop and looked for how-to videos on youtube. i gave up once but this time, i put on my patience hat and followed through until i learned it. and it’s deceptively simple. i’m sure everyone who knows magic loop will agree.

i really enjoy coming across patterns that forces me to learn new techniques. it keeps me on my toes and learning new things is never bad.

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this is mini-kate. my friend J asked for a smaller version to hang on her keychain. this project was a bust. it actually looks creepy and i’ve named it voodoo kate. i’m sorry voodoo kate!

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Stuffies (free pattern from ysolda.com)
the head is too big for the body to support so i stuck a wooden chopstick in the back and gave it a make-shift spinal cord. har har har. but cute nonetheless.
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Monsieur Cat from Lucinda Guy’s Handknits for Kids. i noticed that her patterns are not very wordy. it needs some getting used to but once you do, it’s relatively easy to follow.
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also from Lucinda Guy. it was knit using leftover tahki cotton classic, size 4 needles. the ears took some time to finish. it’s knit in two parts and then seamed together, then attached to the head. the seaming took some time but i think it was worthwhile.

fiber arts.

Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef

i think i’m going to trek downtown to see what this is about. 
what really interests me is, of course, that this project is illuminating a serious problem; the death of coral reefs as a direct result of global warming but also the involvement of mathematics and science.  As crafters we all know how much math is involved in creating with fiber.  i’ve heard many people call my hobby a waste of time, but i think most people don’t realize how much math and science is involved in knitting or cross stitching.  art and science, to me, has always been intertwined and i think this project proves it.

i also like the fact that many different people contributed to this project.  it had many volunteers, all crafters, like us, who worked together to bring the project to fruition.  it imparts a strong sense of community and i wish i knew about this sooner, i would  have loved to participate.
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young @ heart
http://www.foxsearchlight.com/youngatheart/

i’ve been reading a lot of buzz on this movie, ever since it was shown at sundance.  i chalked it up to another one of those feel-good documentaries.  Today i happened upon the official movie poster.  that is a knitted electric guitar.  in red. ROCK ON!

food and shoes.

so march was a month of celebrations.
to celebrate my 20th (haha) birthday, my friends took me out for a nice meal.
we drank wine, stuffed our face with sushi and fried ice cream.

if you’re ever in my area, check out yamato sushi restaurant.  they serve melt-in-your-mouth sushi at decent prices and provide great service.  you won’t be disappointed.  did you know that fried ice cream REALLY is fried?
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a couple of days later, we went out to celebrate my other friend’s birthday and had a feast at Shigek.  where they have unlimited steamed mussels.  we ordered the seafood casserole, which they later take back to the kitchen to cook noodles in. the spicy grilled chicken with cheese and corn sounds a bit gross but it was delicious.  and nothing accompanies soju better than seafood broth.  they really go well together.  we capped the night off with several hours of karaoke.  i still think it’s one of the best ways to relieve stress.
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on friday, my sister and i met up with the girls to catch the christian louboutin exhibit at the museum at FIT.  the famous red-soled shoes. i guess since it was an exhibit they chose to display the most interesting designs.  there wasn’t a lot of shoes on display but i did manage to take a picture of the most interesting shoes i’ve ever seen. 

it’s named “fetish” and are modeled after ballerina shoes.
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and lastly, the ORIGINAL camel toe (as termed by my sister).  not by christian louboutin, but were worn by women in the late 1800’s.  they’re really… unattractive.

Le Slouch

this is my first post on my new and (hopefully) permanent blog.  i gave up on xanga because it gave up on me.  it supposedly made new “improvements,” but i was slowly becoming aware of the fact that it meant i had to learn new things.  i took it as a sign to just learn new things on a different blog server. 

after doing some internet research, i’ve come to the conclusion that wordpress.com has the most user friendly blog servers.  although, i still find it a bit tricky, it might be due to the fact that i’m a complete computer illiterate.

 

Le Slouch by Kint and Tonic
(you too can knit this cute baggy beret perusing the free pattern.)
Needles: Size 8 and Size 9
Yarn: (a little over) 1 skein of Plymouth Encore Worsted in white.

 

i’ve been looking for a white hat to wear with this fantastic white scarf that i purchased a year ago.  i’ve been meaning to knit myself one and i’ve been wanting to knit this pattern for awhile now.  at first, i opted for the more smaller, less slouchier version but it looked ridiculous on me.   it looked like a large dumpling just sitting on top of my head and it made my face look bigger.  so to the frog pond it went.

instead of M1’s like the pattern indicated, i just did increases throughout the end of the ribbing because i wanted it to be extra slouchy.   the exact number escapes me but i was pleasantly surprised to find out that toward the decreases, everything worked out fine and dandy.  see how neat the decreases are there? 

i know working in the round results in a neater FO but i don’t particularly enjoy it.  i started the hat as flat but then i remembered i hate purling more than i hate working in the round.   so an inch after the ribbing i worked the  hat in the round.  i’m glad i did because i’m sure the decreases wouldn’t have been so neat if i continued flat. 

 

seed stitch scarf, midwest moonlight scarf

	simple seed stitch scarf. needle size 11 US.  cast on 25. it’s a really nice yarn, i thought the small eyelash aspect of it might make the stitch pattern indistinguishable but as you can see from the picture it doesn’t.

midwest moonlight scarf from scarf styles 3 skeins of lana grosso cool wool 2000 i know.  the color is a bit out there but my friend agnes chose the color. at first i thought it was an ugly ugly color but it adds a great kick of color to a normally drabby winter outfit. upon knitting the 3 balls of yarn, i feared that it was insufficient but of course, after the blocking… blocking of lace, it’s always magic.  the stitch came alive and the scarf turned out to be the perfect length. this is absolutely the best merino wool i have knit with so far. i love it.  incredibly soft and well plied. anyway, the recipient loved it and that’s all that matters.

welcome to autumn!

fall is here! as soon as i complained about how warm it was in nyc, voila, the temperature drops. =( i wish it was warmer.  it’s so cold. HEHEHEHE oh i knit cashmere socks.  for my sister.  because i thought she wanted cashmere socks.  she said she never told me that. so i’m sending them to my grandma in seoul. oh hellz no. i’m not going to model socks. i knit a cashmere neckwarmer for R.  cashmere is so yum. i love cashmere.  i wish i can afford more cashmere.

do i need to kick summer’s ass?

do i need to kick summer’s ass? well, i bet al gore feels vindicated. i went out for a long walk with my boys yesterday and i kept getting disoriented. the neighborhood looked like fall but felt like summer. i felt like i was dreaming. and i was getting extra confused because there were halloween decorations outside and i kept wondering to myself “why do they have halloween decorations in the middle of summer?” then i would realize it’s october. and a few blocks down, the same thoughts. everything feels so weird.  i don’t feel grounded.