Ladies, Gents, and esteemed guests,

It is my utmost pleasure (and relief) to announce that I have moved.

There. I’ve said it.

I’ve officialy moved my posts and then some to The Hobby Horse’s new home on Blogger.  There’s something about its simplicty with just the right amount of open-sourced bling that sets me at ease. Blogging about a craft or hobby should calm you, and help you devote more time to doing what you blog about. I mean, really, when you think about it…

In the meantime, I am putting this WordPress blog on hiatus, but nonetheless online –until I fuiugre out what to do with this space.

I do warmly invite you to come over to The Hobby Horse on Blogger, my new home. Until then, I bid you all bonne nuit, and adieu.

]]> http://theh0bbyh0rse.wordpress.com/2008/07/01/auf-wiedersehen/feed/ 0 putingtikbalang http://theh0bbyh0rse.wordpress.com/2008/06/19/the-first-tarte-tatin/ http://theh0bbyh0rse.wordpress.com/2008/06/19/the-first-tarte-tatin/#comments Thu, 19 Jun 2008 08:15:10 +0000 putingtikbalang http://theh0bbyh0rse.wordpress.com/?p=48 ]]>

Hello everyone. I’d want to apologize for the long wait. Work can be quite demanding at times — specially when you feel the undeniable urge to scamper off and play every now and then.

A couple of weeks ago, I set out to try my hand at my first pie. I had voices in my head duking it out for superiority: one side was saying, “Are you nuts? that’s a real pie, fer chrissakes! And you’ve got crusts and fillings to think of, and the presentation and all that stuff.” The other side was going, “Come on. That’s just Five. Frickin’. Ingredients. You just can’t go wrong.” A few hours later and a few grocery bags full, guess which side won.

So, by Friday that week, I’d ticked off my mental checklist:
Pie crust? Check.
Apples? Check.
Butter? Check.
Sugar? Check.
Pyrex pie dish? Err, check.
Enough hours of sleep?

…

Er, we’ll get back to that.

Saturday found me half tending to James, and half staying on my two feet for want of sleep. On Sunday morning, though, that’s when the real work began.

Here I am, slicing and peeling away at apples, enjoying the scent filling the kitchen, and learning first hand how I should have switched the peeling and the slicing over in the first place. the kitchen did smell really good, though. as soon as I’d finished the batch, I decided to make do without sprinkling lemon or kalamansi juice on them to keep them from browning. Rationale? They’ll bake and turn brown in the over later, so why bother? It certainly would save me some energy. hmm… Now that I think about it, I wonder if the pie would have turned out differently had I decided to give it the vitamin c treatment.

This one I liked calling “the lopsided beauty”. she does tend to look like an Indian mango, if you look at her from one side.

By the time I’d done caramelizing the sugar (that’s supposed to go on top of the pie), I laid out my apple slices as artfully as I could. When I made sure the top and sides were aesthetically pleasing enough, dumped everything else in the center. Yeh. XD. Much to my pleasant surprise, one tray of small Granny Smiths was more than enough to fill my pie. James and I munched on the leftovers while playing Raiden as we waited for the pie to bake. If that’s so, I guess I now have enough apples to bake two more pies. ^_^”

And at last, there she is. Isn’t she lovely? ^_^

Here’s James enjoying a slice of Tarte Tatin. There’s a little scoop of melty vanilla ice cream on his plate; he said the pie taste great, even without the ice cream. (And that is why, ladies and gents, I love this man so much. XD)

I’m happy to say it was a great learning experience, and that now I feel confident enough to make the pie for any occasion, provided that I have enough time to prep, I have all the ingredients and tools I need (that includes gas for the oven), and that I’ve had enough rest to get everything right.

I once mentioned to one of my French learners about this pie, and he told me that Tarte Tatin was not your everyday treat. He said this kind of pie is usually offered on the menus of restaurants where “couples go to have dinner on their anniversary.” I’m not entirely sure if he was flattering me or pulling my leg, but I’d like to take it as a sincere compliment.

I’d like to thank Drew Kime for his generosity with putting out this recipe to be enjoyed by the whole world. For more manly, drool-worthy recipes, check out his blog, try the recipes, enjoy the results, and tell him I sent you.

Yesterday, I found this recipeI wanted to try for the weekend. It does seem like a lot of work considering I’ll have to take care of the crust and and peeled apples first, but I’m sure the pay-off will be great.

It also helps to know that the Shopwise branch nearest my workplace had a special on Granny Smith Apples.

I make a mad dash for it, pick up about three six-packs of apples (with two free grapefruits each pack), along with some bread, tomato sauce (for another dish) and lunch ramen. With four heavy and rather bulky bags in tow, I clocked into the office in time, and began settling down.

Five hours of sleep, and loving the scent of apples in my workstation.

To be honest, I never imagined I’d ever return to crocheting. My memories of it in Grade School Home Economics comprised of vision fatigue, exhaustion and frustration. The vision fatigue and exhaustion are still there, true, but it’s not as frustrating anymore. Now I’m a bit older, I find it rather calming and addicting. It also helps me pay listen better to my learners whenever we have a lesson.

It also helps when cute crochet critters are all the rage on the online crafting community these days. ^_^”

I chanced upon this simple cephalopod pattern, and decided to give it a go. The constant round-and-round movement of the single crochet gave me some confidence. (“Yes, Jonette, you still haven’t forgotten your hook skills, and no, it will not get all stretched out of shape. Keep crocheting.”) Instead of following the pattern’s instructions, I decided to mod the tentacles for a more colorful, curlier appeal. I was able to stitch, stuff, and finish the body in a day while in the office, and finished all eight tentacles in a collated time of three hours. (a few minutes watching my boyfriend play Diablo II, three 30-minute lessons with learners — with some typing on the side, and a few minutes from my lunch break. For the win. ^_~* )

Nobody puts Squidy in the corner.

After a few more days, I finally stitched the tentacles beneath the body, and Squidy was born.

It’s Aliiiiiiive!!!

Squidy watching me work.

I do realize that salmon eyes are delightfully disturbing. Delightful or disturbing, you decide.

And here’s a shot of Little Squidy beginning his onslaught of world domination, one human at a time, gnawing at the head of the delightfully talented Mr. Ray, co-worker and buddy.

BRAAAAINS!!! Om nom nom

As of now, I am constructing Squidy’s bride (or sister?) in the same hallucinogenic psychedelic stuff that makes his tentacles. And she’s going to be bigger. Ohboyohboyohboy. (Now, if I could just find a place that sells decent safety eyes…)

And now, a brief tutorial on hiding crochet tails. (Oh, alright, so it’s not entirely perfect, but it’s a first and I made it, so there. ;P )

Hello, everyone. I know it’s been ages since my last substantial post, but please do bear with me. My real-world teaching job has bee taking up a big portion of my time and energy these days. Nonetheless, it’s high time I shared with you another of my works. Time and creativity wait for no one, after all. (Yyyes, this is indeed an overdue post. ^_^”)

Teaching the French has its perks. The month of May gives you three reasons to love them even more: (1) Labor Day on May 1st, (2) V-day on May 8th, and (3) bridge leaves. (bridge leaves are applied for when a certain holiday skips a day before or after the weekend. In both cases, May 1 and May 8 fell on Thursdays. To make a bridge leave, you apply for an ordiany leave on the Fridays that follow after it, and voila! Instant 4-day weekend. Sweet. ^_^)

So, one one of those leaves, I decided to do something productive with the 2 yards of embroidered organza waiting in my stash. (Besides, when you keep your hands busy, it gives you less chances to tear out your hair in frustration over something like, say, a very very overdue broadband installation.) See? Crafting is therapeutic.

After the folding and the cutting came the hemming. Working with embroidered organza is no joke. (Come to think of it, working with any silky, slippery material is no joke!) Its silkiness makes it behave like water, and will constantly flow and obey the law of gravity. Keeping it still, folding its edges and pinning it makes for a very effective test of your patience. Then again, if you want to make something beautiful, you best be prepared for certain sacrifices. Frayed edges or frayed nerves? Take your pick.

After two hours later(yay!) came the ironing. I decided it would be best to press the hems flat to make them easier to sew, not to mention to seal a few renegade threads threatening to keep fraying. Later on, I decided might as well go the whole nine yards and iron the entire material smooth. forty minutes after, I didn’t regret my decision.

and that’s when I realized that my cloth was the stuff of bridal veils and trains.

Finally, the sewing. (an exhausted yay!) And the hanging. ( a teary-eyed and very relieved yay! ) And now… my house looks like it’s getting married.

Well, I’d like to think it’s a refreshing break from the Organdy curtains my mother first commissioned for the house. And it’s seasonal: The translucence and fluidity of the Organza would be perfect for bright, hot summers, while the imposing bulkiness and mass of the Organdy would suit the latter rainy to chilly half of the year. The lack of a valance does make it seem bare, but on the other hand, it also makes the room seem bigger and brighter.

The finished project, as modeled by Ate Osang, house-mate and orchid-bloomer extraordinaire.

My living room makes a fine, rosy bride.

or AAAAARRRRGHHH!!!!! for short.

It seems the most recent of my Photobucket pictures in some of of my posts have been spirited away for some strange reason. What makes it so strange is that the same photos are still right there in my photobucket account.   *rhubharbrhubharbrhubharb*

I’ll be switching over the pictures to Imageshack, and tweaking my affected posts very soon.

Hello, everyone. I know that Holy Week came and went, but do indulge me. It was a week of intense cookery, and I feel it would be great to document the entrees I experimented on.

This particular baby I made on Easter Monday (Holidays! Horray for working for the French!), and I have an Italian-born Poppa of a co-worker to thank for. Paul Lazo is one hecuva comedian at work, and knows how to whip up a hearty, healthy meal for his family from scratch. (Believe you me, it takes a lot of talent to to raise and feed four growing daughters well.) Meet him once, and you won’t think twice why his family is a happy one.

I was once looking for simple recipes that were quick and easy on the budget. Bitter melon (ampalaya) and okra were out of the question, since James had sworn off eating the stuff. So, what do we resort to? What’s left in the veggie crisper, of course: eggplants.

Far as I knew, the simplest dish I knew to cook them with was Tortang/ Relyenong Talong. (Translation: Grilled, skinned eggplants — in that order –, coated in sugared beaten eggs and panfried.Ground pork optional.) Thankfully, Paul obliged me and shared with me this easy Italian dish. Fire up your ovens.

Baked Eggpalnts With Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

– 5-6 eggplants (the larger the better, and get your mind out of the gutter, for heaven’s sakes)

– 2 packets of tomato sauce

– 1 large onion, diced

– cooking oil

– parmesan cheese for topping

– salt and pepper to taste. hot sauce optional.

1) Wash your eggplants, and slice them diagonaly. we’re after nice, slim parallelogram shapes here. (Um, I confess: I sometimes caught myself wincing while slicing. ^_^”) Set aside.

2) Heat about 2-3 tablespoons of cooking oil in your frying pan, and sautee the diced onions until they turn transparent. add your tomato sauce, and mix well. Season with your salt and pepper to taste. to give it a kick (specially when the loved one is home for dinner), 2-3 drops of hot sauce will do you good. Let simmer, then turn off the heat.

3) Set your oven to 250 to 350 F/ 177C, or Gas Mark 4. Bring out a deep-dish oven pan, and arrange your ingredients in layers, like so:

• First, spread a thin sheen of oil on the bottom of the dish. Spread with clean fingers.
• Next, put on a layer of eggplant slices,
• .. then give it a generous layer of tomato sauce.
• Then another layer of eggplant,
• … and sauce. Usually, it ends by the second set.

4) Pop the deep dish into the oven, and let it bake for 30-45 minutes. To test for doneness, prick your eggplants with a fork. If they’re soft and succulent, you’re all good.

5) Take your dish out of the heat(turning off your oven too is advisable — saves you energy), and sprinkle on a generous layer of parmesan cheese. Serve warm on either pasta or rice.

I don’t have much time right now, so I’ll make this post as quick and clear as I can. Great ideas are fleeting, and work is always on your heels.

I’ve lately been on a video collecting spree of Cirque du Soleil acts, and I found inspiration in Alegria. specifically, the White Singer’s costume.

Crazy as it sounds, wouldn’t it be fantastic to make this in time for Halloween?

Somehow, the idea of “one time, big time” appealed to me.

Some elements I would have to change, of course. (I actually made a sketch of this in pencil on a square note, but will be making an update on that soon.) A silvery (or ecru?) Tudor shirt with billowy sleeves instead of the tight white satin-y body suit. Material will be mildly translucent when hit by strong light. flouncy/ruffly cuffs gathered by decorative rope, maybe silver too.

Bodice will have a hidden zipper at the back and bones, with straps broad at the shoulders and narrowing down to the bust. Square neckline, to expose feminine upper chest. If there’s cleavage, so be it.

Medium-sized Elizabethan neck ruff. In Ecru, ideally.

White stockings. Ballet shoes.

The tulle skirt and crinoline will stay. That’s why I fell in love with the costume in the first place.

It’s a plan. A very big plan. and I mean BIG.

My Resources, or Bibliography of sorts:

Tudor Shirt: A Gentlewoman’s Tudor Shift, by Kimiko Small.

Elizabethan Ruff: Ruffs, from The Renaissance Tailor

And something that might come in handy: Cavalier Collars and Cuffs, from The Renaissance Tailor again.

Out of my mind, be back in a few.

Hello again everyone. Do you remember when I had to replace some burnt ribbon? As promised, here’s the happy news about it.

First off, why did the first hem burn in the first place? Well, let’s just say overzealousness can be hazardous sometimes, specially when you’re wielding a hot iron near synthetic ribbons. ^_^”"” It was a very good learning experience, yes it was.

On the upside of things, it was a good as any chance to try out a set of polka-dotted ribbons I bought from a sale at one of my favorite cloth-and-notions shops. (three semi-full rolls at P50.00 each… not a bad deal, in my opinion. ^_~*) and besides — flowery pastel-pink skirt and baby-blue with white polka-dots: how could it possibly go wrong?

After an hour of painstaking looping into s-scrolls and pinning over and over, I’m glad to say it went splendidly.

On the side, I’m also very happy to say I’ve finally made peace with my sewing machine. Know the adage “tighty righty, lefty loosey”? (I know they mostly apply to bolts and screws, but I also read it applied to tension dials in one sewing manual.) With the manual as good as gone and having to wrestle with the machine, I’ve mostly stuck to the above saying and often found myself frustrated to tears over the Brother’s uncooperativeness. It was only after I tried experimenting with the dial ( mostly by pulling at the same force and turning the dial very slowly) was I able to discover that it worked backwards! The numbers 1 to 9 were written from left to right, and as the number increased, so did the tension or tightness increase. Ergo, the more I turned it to the right, the tighter the tension.

I see; so even my sewing machine is turning Japanese (from right to left for the best looseness). But of course, it’s a Japanese brand! *laughs at her own idiocy*

I love my Brother Sewing Machine. Yes, I do.

Back to work, sewing the ribbons in place.

The finished re-hemmed skirt. (Yay!)

A close-up of the ruffle/ s-scroll work.

]]> http://theh0bbyh0rse.wordpress.com/2008/04/07/re-ribboning-the-not-so-loli-skirt/feed/ 2 putingtikbalang http://theh0bbyh0rse.wordpress.com/2008/04/07/three-panels-the-indo-tile-skirt/ http://theh0bbyh0rse.wordpress.com/2008/04/07/three-panels-the-indo-tile-skirt/#comments Mon, 07 Apr 2008 20:39:47 +0000 putingtikbalang http://theh0bbyh0rse.wordpress.com/?p=19 ]]>

Hello again, everyone. It’s mostly catch-up season for me updating this blog. It seems the projects have been happening quicker than I can blog about them. There’s work to be busy about and the boyfriend to take care of on weekends, so please do bear with me. (and thank you!)

A couple of weeks ago, I had Saturday all to myself: James had to watch over his dad while his family went off to visit their province. It was an opportune time for me to (1) catch up on my sleep, (2) my chores, and (3) my sewing. I wanted to make sure I could get out as I could of this day, so after a meal and some tidying up, I went right to it.

There were two things on my list I wanted done by the end of the day:

1. Replace the burnt ribbon hem of the Not-So-Loli skirt ( which will be discussed in a future post); and
2. Finally hem and sew a wrap-around skirt I’d cut up and placed on the back burner for two weeks in a row.

After finishing with #1 at around 6:00 in the evening, I began hemming the remaining raw edges of the three panels. the cloth I used was amazingly airy, soft, and silky to the touch, despite that it was made of pure cotton. It was a joy to iron, and almost entirely wrinkle-proof. Not bad for a summer skirt, eh? ^_^

By the time I’d sewn up all three panels into a large one, I was already getting very sleepy. I remember seeing the clock read 8:55pm, and I still had to mark, cut, and sew a tie-up waistband. So, pretty much, I ended up responding the way most lethargic, novice needle-workers would respond: “goddamn it, I’m finishing this skirt tonight one way or another.”

In times like these, garter is a sewing girl’s best friend.

In the end, I now have a fluid, three-paneled skirt I’d love to wear on a daily basis. I love the way it swishes when I walk. I wear them like a triangle from above: two panels in front on each side, and one flat at the back. This set-up somehow reminds me of my college-theater days (the wide, flowy pants impression, I guess. )

I owe my inspiration, thanks and apologies to this tutorial. I’d like to give this one more try and give the new skirt a proper wrap-around-tie waistband in the future. (Consider it another good excuse to go cloth-hunting and -shopping. ^_^)

Thanks!