Victorian Geo-cacher - Pt 2

No pictures today, but a short update.

I have cut out and measured some key points in the pattern. With this being a fairly simple bustier, rather than a corset, I have decided to wear one of my purchased corsets underneath, so I will have that lovely hourglass shape. This will require some re-fitting of the pattern, to follow the shape of the undergarment. I put the corset on my dress form, and adjusted the outer measurements to match my own while I am wearing that corset.

I will take a snapshot of the dress form with the corset. I had purchased it from Felix and Kitty, a Canadian boutique. http://www.felixandkitty.com/ They travel across the country, selling their products at conventions and shows. They are wonderfully built, with quality products, and you can have one custom made to your measurements. I love wearing mine, and it is quite comfortable to wear all day!

That was my plug for the day! LOL! But seriously, I love it, and their prices are quite fair. These are difficult garments to make, and I have tried!!

So, stage 1, tidy the sewing room to a usable state, has been accomplished. Stage 2, cut the pattern, took almost an hour (imagine pinning and cutting all the fabric!!!) has been completed as well. Even though it is Friday, and we have many social activities planned with our Mothers, I hope to get all my pieces cut, and the  bustier sewn this weekend. That will require the most modification, so I will do that first.

Punk Cupcakes

My sister just turned 26, and I decided to make a sweet treat for her. I found some adorable cupcake papers, and they were just perfect for her! When she was in high school, she was very much into the punk thing, and wore pink plaid, had a huge (I mean huge, it was over 18" tall) mohawk in various colours. These papers were the inspiration for the cupcakes I would make for her birthday!

The colourful animal prints in hot pink and black were perfect!

Last year I made some fantastic cupcakes using a white cake recipe, and they were the best cupcakes I have ever tasted. They took me the whole day to make, between mixing my own batter and buttercream icing. This year, I didn't have the luxury of time, so I had a little help from Betty Crocker.

I used all the different papers, and filled them with the batter. This was the first time I had tried baking in my new oven, so I set the timer for the shortest time listed on the package, and kept a careful eye on them.

While the cupcakes were baking, I took that opportunity to mix my icing. I started with a premade icing (thanks again, Mrs. Crocker!). This was too soft to hold peaks, so I added confectioners sugar until the icing was the consistency I needed. Once this was done, I began to add the colour. Food colouring can be quite potent, so I started with just a few drops.

I would mix the colour in, and add one or two more drops at a time, until I reached the colour I wanted, a nice hot pink!

Meanwhile, I cupcakes were cooling on the rack near the window. Once they were cooled through, I prepared my piping bag.

I chose the spirally tip (I don't know what it is called) that makes nice rosettes. After a couple of failed attempts at making nice tall spikes, I had to settle on cute little spikes!

I had a small tube of black gel and added the little dots for interest.

I had a lovely collection of spiky punk cupcakes for us to enjoy! The handful that didn't fit into the case were placed on a plate with plastic wrap, and ultimately ended up all over the seat and floor of my car! But of the surviving cupcakes... She loved them! Her kids thought they were the best thing ever, and all her friends had a good chuckle.

Happy Baking!

Victorian Geo-cacher

This project is really going back to the beginnings of my sewing adventures! Back in the days before vampires sparkled, I was very much into the dark and mystical. I would go to the shops on Whyte Ave, and browse longingly at the beautiful dresses and coats, wishing that I could afford to buy even one piece. I began to sew my own instead. In those days, my funds restricted me to the discount bins and flimsy cottons, giving my clothing a far less luxurious look than the ones at the store. My sewing skills at the time also left much to be desired, and everything was hand sewn in the days before I mustered the money to buy a machine. I looked like a sad little vampire wanna-be, but I was proud of what I had done. I still own many of those pieces, though I wouldn't dream to wearing them, even if they still fit! I do pull them out once in a while, and remember how long it took to put that together, or where I wore that outfit for the first time.

By the time I was able to afford those pieces I so longed for, I could sew them myself. Bringing us back to...

This project is something I would love to have had back then, when I would have worn it as an everyday outfit. My style has become subdued in my "old age"! But I would wear this for special occasions or outings. In this case, a group of us are going geo-caching in June at a Victorian village, and period costumes are encouraged. You don't have to tell me twice! I stopped in at my local fabric store and began browsing through the patterns the first chance I got! After sifting through the various catalogues, I chose Simplicity 2172. It has the clean lines I was looking for, and should be fairly customizable. Similar patterns in the other books were too frilly and poofy. I love that this one has structured pleats and a great shape. Reviews have said that, while straightforward to make, it is very time consuming. Reviewers were stating 2 months or more of fairly regular work. If that is the case, I should get on it! I have found myself in the last minute panic at the end of what should have been more than enough time... Our Victorian weekend is in mid-June, giving me just over a month. Lets see how this goes!

House Hunting

A little off topic, but exciting news none the less. We are moving back to our hometown, which means not only looking for new employment, but also new accomodations. We have decided it is time we quit throwing our hard earned money away on rent, and bought something with that cash!

House hunting from a different city is hard work, and without an agent, I don't know how we would manage! This weekend we hope to have a few houses lined up for viewing!

A brief but happy message, our hearts are singing, and we can't seem to wipe these silly grins off our faces!

Kobo Keeper

Starting with a heavy iron on interfacing and the cut shapes of black and red. I layered the pieces together and pinned the interfacing to the wrong side of the fabric. The interfacing is cut to the size of the finished piece, while the fabric has the seam allowance added. This gives the piece the rigidity of the interfacing without adding too much bulk to the seams. Once everything was pinned together, it was ready to iron.

Kobo Keeper

I have planned out my cover. The exterior will have a patterned gray and black fabric with a deep red shape flowing across from front to back. A red button will provide and anchor for a ribbon to hold it closed as I toss it in my bag!

Spicy Ginger Stirfry

Welcome to my first cooking post! I love to cook, and try new things. Over the years, I have attempted many different dishes from all over the world, with mixed success. Even the failures have taught me valuable lessons about combining flavours, and balance. The dish featured today was a moderate success, even though it was completely made up on the spot. There are things I would fix for next time, but overall the stirfry was tasty and the leftovers made for a great lunch the next day!

Starting with cubed chicken, and lots of finely chopped ginger, two small hot peppers, and some star anise, I kept them moving in the wok with just a touch of olive oil until the chicken was cooked through. The change I would make next time would be to marinate the chicken overnight in the ginger/pepper/anise mixture. The flavours were good, but too mild in spite of the tremendous amount of ginger!

I used my typical blend of fresh veggies: carrots, celery, onion, bell peppers, and my husband's personal favourite (note the sarcasm!) broccoli. I also added some snow pea pods, something I don't usually keep on hand, but had purchased that week for another dinner and had half the packet left. Fresh vegetables always seem to work better than frozen (and most certainly better than canned!) in a stirfry, because they stay bright and colourful, and still have a slight crispness to them. In my personal experience, frozen veggies go limp and soggy too quickly. Not to be all "high and mighty"! I do have bags of various veg in my freezer, I just believe there are certain times when they just won't do! So, once the chicken was cooked through, I added those chopped up veggies.

After a taste test, I found that the anise and peppers had completely disappeared! Not visually, I could still see them, but the flavour was missing. To remedy this, I would let the chicken sit overnight in the anise/pepper/ginger.

In an attempt to recover their flavour, I boiled a hot pepper and some anise in a separate pot to make a kind of stock... I now believe that something like this takes time and cannot be rushed... my hope is to not have to do this next time if I have had the chicken absorb all the flavours ahead of time!

When we have had store bought sauces, they are always nice and thick and coat the food nicely. I used some cornstarch, added to my "spicy anise stock", that was to be added to the meat/veg. I remember helping my Grandma with gravy and adding flour slowly to the turkey fat, stirring and stirring and stirring. According to the box, the cornstarch would be used very much the same way. Boy, was I surprised when suddenly, my water went from, well... watery to a thick paste in the blink of an eye!

It was all I could do to snap this picture before I had to do SOMETHING with it! After removing the star anise and pepper, I poured it over my meat/veg mix, and stirred it in. A quick taste of this latest stage said something was still missing. My veggies were cooking quickly, and I didn't want limp dull broccoli! I tossed in just a dash of low sodium soy sauce and a splash of sesame oil, and had another taste. This was better! You couldn't taste the latest additions, but they did add something, and that was the goal. I have made the mistake before of adding way too much soy sauce and that is all you can taste! A little goes a long way where that condiment is concerned!

After a final toss over the heat, I served the stirfry over rice.

Overall, it was a success! It tasted good, even if it wasn't what I had originally intended. Rich in colour and flavour, this is something I would make again. Another bonus: because I made my sauce from scratch, used low sodium soy sauce in small quantities, and skinless lean chicken breast, this is a very healthy dish, low in fat and salt, with lots of the good things a variety of vegetables provides.

A quick rundown on ingredients (quantities are rough and to taste)

2" chunk of ginger, finely chopped
2 small hot peppers, finely chopped
celery
carrots
onion
broccoli
snow peas
bell peppers
star anise (whole so you can remove it)
about 1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
about 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
2 chicken breast, cubed

I will likely make this again, with the changes, and will share an update!