Corner Bookmarks, and MONSTERS!

Isn't he cute? I came across Tally's post about corner bookmarks through Pinterest a few days ago and decided to make some for myself. I've been a bit of a perfectionist about the whole process, and there are a few areas to finesse.

Bookmonster says Nabokov is his favorite. Mine too bookmonster.

Here it is in full page marking and nibbling glory.

And the back! I've altered Tally's technique slightly so that both the upper triangle and the back show the pattern, and the inside shows the card stock. I had fun with some less frighteningly cute varieties as well.

For these next photos, remember that all bookmarks are oriented the same way. The top two are the same, and the bottom shows the opposite. The patterned paper can be put on the top triangle, or on the inside. I personally like it better on the top triangle, but the other way has it's charms.

Here's another monster for prosperity!

Why rice cookers are the greatest invention ever.

My parents have each given me a gift that I could not (relatively speaking) live without. When I left home for college, my father gave me a jump start kit that I've never yet had to use. I totally drive around on a 3/4 dead batter because heck, why not?

My mother gave me a stainless steel rice cooker when I left for college, and it has seen much more use. It comes in super handy for this dish I make all of the time (I plan to make it tonight).

Eating with allergies is difficult, and eating fried things with allergies is even harder. I love this meal because the tofu is a bit crunchy, but it still feels healthy to eat it- there are vegetables, right?

You'll need:

• 1 package of cubed firm or extra firm tofu, with a drained weight of about 8 oz. (I like the Nasoya brand- it's organic and not GMO)
• 4 tablespoons of rice or gluten free flour mix
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• olive oil for pan
• approx. 2 cups rice
• a vegetable. I like using asparagus or broccoli or green beans
• soy salt (I use gluten free tamari, but all of San-J's sauces are great)
• optional but awesome: Sesame seeds

Keep in mind that I've never once measured out spices when I make this.

First I put the rice on. I usually make about 1 1/2 cups of white rice for two people, or about 2 cups of brown. They expand differently. However much you want to make, in my rice cooker you can just double the water, push the button, and you're good to go. If you don't have a rice cooker, I'm sorry. There are other ways to make rice, I just don't bother with them.

Prep your veggies, and set aside. When the rice starts steaming I put them in the steaming tray and add to the cooker then. If you are using one of those steam-able bags, you'll want to wait until later.

Cut into the plastic top of the tofu container, and drain into the sink. When the water is gone, dump into your shaker vessel. You can either use a gallon zip lock bag, or lately I've been doing this in a largish leftovers container. Add gluten free flour, ginger, paprika and sesame seeds if you have them. Feel free to ad-lib here, if you like it spicy go crazy. Do a little dance and shake it!

I usually put enough olive oil in my big pan to cover the bottom, but not much more (trust me on this, use olive oil. Vegetable oil doesn't taste the same). Turn it up to about medium. Add the prepped tofu to hot oil, and cook until tofu crust is light brown and a little crusty.

If you timed it right, the rice and vegetable will be done pretty quickly after the tofu- if not, just turn the tofu down super low. It can take it.

Layer rice, vegetables, tofu and sauce on a plate. Consume.

Crafting!

Well, I've done about as well updating this blog as I ever did journaling, which is to say terrible.

Sorry about that.

To compound my string of bad choices, I've created another specifically for crafts. I'm trying to be more productive in that area. If you want to check it out, it's here http://kniterarylibrarian.blogspot.com/.

Organized Crafting

I tell myself I want to do many things. I can't count the number of projects I have started and then stashed and forgotten about. The last few days however, I've been on a serious productivity roll. I think it has something to do with being so close to the end of this quarter- I just turned in two large final projects and all the sudden have mental and physical energy aplenty. 

Anyway, I used some upholstery fabric left over from a renaissance fair bodice to make cases for my knitting needles and crochet hooks. I've made attempts at this before (I don't recommend crochet- the small hooks slip right through), but neither worked out for various reasons. 

The new set is both functional and attractive- or I think so. Judge for yourself. 

This is all three pieces together. The small blob holds stitch markers, point protectors, a set of small scissors, etc. 

The construction is actually pretty simple. I measured the height of my tools and knew I wanted the width when closed to be about five inches- so the width when open is about four times that- 20 inches. Then I cut enough of the dark blue to make a small pocket, and enough of the red to make a slightly higher pocket. My iron was my best friend! It really helped when I closed off the edges- the bias tape I had wasn't wide enough, so I made my own out of more of the red fabric.

Here's the inside of the little guy. It was a lot of small area sewing. I'm really proud of both myself and my brother sewing machine. He worked like a champ. I pilfered the zipper from a bag of Basmati rice- and it didn't have guards on either end of the zipper. I lost the zipper pull a few times. The little guy is cute and is intended to fit in project bags. 

I'm hoping to be a more productive crafter and blogger- so here's to organized productivity!

Allergy Free (For me) Holiday Tradition

Well, it will be if I keep making it.

My mom told me  few years ago that her mother made cinnamon rolls every Christmas. That year, I made sure we had some, though I couldn't remember them at any Christmas before. Perhaps I just missed the significance. This year, with the recent diet restrictions, I wanted something similar. Something sinful and sweet to eat in the afterglow of ripped wrapping paper and new toys.

My father's love of apple pie is no secret, and gave me the idea for this year's Christmas day treat. He helped me make it, which was great. I finely chopped pecans and mixed with honey while he peeled, cored and thinly sliced five granny smith apples. I sprinkled the pecans on the bottom of an oven safe casserole dish. We piled the apple slices on top. In a skillet I melted a stick of butter substitute, three tablespoons of brown rice flour and a cup of raw sugar. I boiled it, then let it simmer as we finished the preparations, then poured this goop over the apples, sprinkled with remaining pecans, and threw it (not literally) in a 425 degree oven for fifteen minutes, then reduced the heat to 350 for another 50 minutes.

It was pretty good. I think next time I will try it with less flour- try for a more syrupy consistency, rather than the cake batter we had.

For those of you without allergies, here is the original recipe.