quesadillacraft

finished the brooklyntweed hat!

2007-11-11T12:34:00.000-08:00

i finished the red light special hat from brooklyntweed last night. i had dropped some stitches the first time i finished it up, so i had to go back. i took noe knit's great class, although i missed the last class, which explains the messiness on top.

just like the pattern promised, blocking made my messy stitches look much better. not as good as most on the flickr group, but better than it did originally.

Great Cooking Class in Chiang Mai, Thailand

2007-10-29T18:48:00.000-07:00

Great Cooking Class in Chiang Mai, Thailand

I was in Chiang Mai last week visiting my parents, and took a great cooking class. This one seems to be less well-known than some of the others, and the class was great. They're led by a woman named Yui (her husband manages the business, classes at their home) and we learned a ton just in the half day class....

Here's what we made on a Friday (Sabaidee)
Fried Brown Rice with Thai Herbs - a really simple and great fried rice with meat, pumpkin, simple herbs. Made it the second night I was home.
Stuffed Cucumber Soup - a soup rarely eaten in restaurants, more of a homemade thing. Sounds a bit unlikely but is fabulous.
Panaeng Curry - we made panaeng curry paste and chicken curry. Also tried a curry with pork. Yui gives fabulous tips about getting your curry flavor just right - and all my curries, not just panaeng, have improved.

The classes on Friday are the lightest, the Wednesday classes are the heaviest (guay-teaw-rad-na, satay, etc.), other days the classes are "popular dishes" - another student said that that class was great.

A lot of Thai | 165 Soi 9 Lampoon Rd. T.Nonghoi
Muang Chiangmai 50000 THAILAND
www.alotofthai.com
Tel.(66) 053-800724 Mobile.(66) 09-8539680, (66) 09-9544930
E-mail : lothome@hotmail.com

exfoliating

2007-10-22T04:19:00.001-07:00

exfoliating
Originally uploaded by quesadillacraft

before the "big show" at maesa elephant camp, the elephants had to get clean... each elephant has his or her own "mahout" - a trainer who stays with them for life. the two are very bonded, as you can imagine. mom and i wondered what happens if you get assigned a mean elephant, or a mean mahout?
the cleaning involves all the elephants heading down to a nearby river and they sit, lay down, roll over, etc. so that their mahout can clean there every part. they get a good scrubbing. and all that scrubbing makes for a perfect time for making elephant doots. so they sit and get cleaned and poop into the water. ladies, who i hope get paid very well, stand downstream with huge buckets and catch the poop as it floats downstream. i think i'd rather be a mahout.

a bit of surprise (and trunk snot)

2007-10-20T19:23:00.001-07:00

dadelephant
Originally uploaded by quesadillacraft

here is dad getting patted on the head by an elephant after failing to produce more bananas or sugar cane. the elephant sort of ruffled his hair post-pat, as if to say "i know you're not smart enough to buy two bunches for me, old pal, but i'll forgive you." suffice to say, i do believe this is an expression of true surprise.

taking a seat - maesa elephant camp

2007-10-20T09:29:00.001-07:00

caseyeleseat
Originally uploaded by quesadillacraft

here i am getting comfy at maesa elephant camp. i'm cracking up because - well, because i'm sitting on an elephant's knee - but also because he is chewing sugar cane and each bite makes me bounce up and down and covers my back with gooey elephant slobber. mmmm.

foot massage at kad suan kaew

2007-10-20T07:08:00.001-07:00

massage
Originally uploaded by quesadillacraft

a 60 baht (2 dollar) foot massage outside kad suan kaew mall. there were many jokes among the masseuses about our huge white feet.

deedle balls

2007-10-20T07:02:00.001-07:00

deedleballs
Originally uploaded by quesadillacraft

a hmong woman was selling multicolored deedle balls on the textile street by wararot market. lots of deedle balls available throughout chiang mai, if you're in need.

mom cooking, blue vw bus

2007-10-20T06:59:00.001-07:00

momcookingbus
Originally uploaded by quesadillacraft

here is mom working on her curry paste, with the a lot of thai vw bus behind her. pounding the curry paste took forever!

the cooking class we took was "a lot of thai" - led by a wonderful couple - yui and kwan. all the recipes were amazing, but i was especially surprised by how good the pork-stuffed cucumber soup was. in order to keep track of the cucumbers we so carefully cut and stuffed, we had to carve a symbol into each cucumber. it added to the overall cultural comedy that one of our fellow students, an israeli, cut a star of david into his pork-filled cucumber. kosher? not so much, dee-lish? yes.

yui and kwan were the kind of people that make the world feel big and small at the same time - that they can be so proud and generous with their culture and experience, but also feel so relatable - like they would be great neighbors and friends anywhere.

yui teaching class

2007-10-20T06:58:00.001-07:00

yuiclass
Originally uploaded by quesadillacraft

yui - the owner and teacher at a lot of thai - teaching us how to make our own curry paste.

mom and dad cooking class

2007-10-20T06:57:00.001-07:00

momandadcookingclass
Originally uploaded by quesadillacraft

mom and dad, tools in hand, at "a lot of thai" cooking class in chiang mai. the class was awesome - yui, possibly the most appealing person on earth - taught us to make stuffed cucumber soup, a great fried brown rice with pumpkin, and curry.

fish

2007-10-18T07:51:00.001-07:00

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Originally uploaded by quesadillacraft

incredible fish and vegetables at lemon tree restaurant, chiang mai.

lily pad

2007-10-18T07:48:00.001-07:00

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Originally uploaded by quesadillacraft

papa-ji on a bridge overlooking lily pads, outside a lhana-style restaurant with terrible food and australian bus groups. at least the lily pads were cool.

mom at the night market

2007-10-17T09:29:00.001-07:00

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Originally uploaded by quesadillacraft

a spa sign behind her - "let's relax - next to mcdonalds."

offerings

2007-10-17T09:28:00.001-07:00

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Originally uploaded by quesadillacraft

even the soap holders and colanders given to the monks are saffron-colored. among the important supplies is a mirror with a blue-haired model on the front.

procession preparation

2007-10-17T09:26:00.001-07:00

DSC_0266
Originally uploaded by quesadillacraft

preparing offerings for a festival tomorrow. each "tree" is covered with paper flowers, flags, and supplies for the monks.

wat suan dok

2007-10-17T09:24:00.001-07:00

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Originally uploaded by quesadillacraft

three story buddha

the sacred...

2007-10-17T09:20:00.001-07:00

DSC_0270
Originally uploaded by quesadillacraft

the sacred and the profane, living side by side. wat suan dok temple toilets.

noodle soup

2007-10-17T09:19:00.001-07:00

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Originally uploaded by quesadillacraft

food stalls along kampaengdin road

wat suan dok

2007-10-17T09:18:00.001-07:00

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Originally uploaded by quesadillacraft

wat suan dok - even the statues accessorize.

wat suan dok

2007-10-17T09:16:00.001-07:00

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Originally uploaded by quesadillacraft

the view from the wat suan dok entrance.

chiang mai wanderings

2007-10-17T01:25:00.000-07:00

jetlag has hit me three days late, so i'll rely on pictures:

gold pig at loi kroh wat (temple)

warorot market

first day in thailand

2007-10-15T18:46:00.000-07:00

arrived in chiang mai around 2 yesterday, after 23 hours of travelling. met by my dad and ning, his favorite tuktuk driver. arrived at the amazing rental apartments at srinthana, and headed to the kad suan kaew mall. at the mall we ate in the incredible tops food court - i had fresh green papaya salad made by this beautiful woman...

then explored the aisles at the market. it's an upscale place with lots of expat food, but also thai essentials... like a monk bathing suit, claro que si.

light packing packing list

2007-10-12T11:22:00.000-07:00

I'm off to Thailand tomorrow and ridiculously excited. In the proud tradition of my parents, I'm attempting to only carry-on, traveling as light as possible. In the past I have used the packing list at http://www.onebag.com/checklist.html for packing, here I've customized it to avoid forgetting anything. I'm a bit sleep-deprived...

Purse
2 personal checks
Business cards
Camera
Camera case
Camera charger
Card reader
Cash
Charge & ATM cards
Driver's license
Earplugs
Eye mask
Glasses
Glue stick
Headphones
Health insurance information
Ipod
Ipod charger
Knitting
Lens cleaner
Maps / guidebooks / phrase books
Passport with extra passport photos
Pens
Post-it® notes,
Reading material
Security pouch
Small notebook
Snacks
Sunglasses
Travel tickets
Watercolor kit

Toiletry Kit
Antibacterial wipes
Bandages
Conditioner
Deodorant
Face wash
Floss
Frizzease
Hairbands
Hairbrush
Jewelry
Lip balm
Makeup
Metamucil
Moisturizer
Nail clippers
Pain reliever
Pepto tablets
Razor, shaving cream
Sewing kit, safety pins
Shampoo,
Soap
Sunscreen
Tampons
Toothbrush
Tweezers
Uristat
Vitamins, necessary medications

Rolling Bag
Dressy sandals
Walking shoes
2 skirts
2-4 shirts
Socks
Dark (cardigan) sweater
Flip-flops or sandals
Folding duffle
Hat
Jeans
Rainwear (umbrella?)
Sarong [cover-up]
Swimsuit
Undies and bras

think before pink

2007-09-30T00:06:00.000-07:00

I'm used to loving almost everything in the Oprah magazine, but they just had a special on pink ribbon items you could buy. I have so little patience for many of these products, as they give so little money and send the message that the most active thing a woman can do is shop! Weirdly, on the same month, Martha Stewart's Blueprint had a tiny article recommending writing a check to Breast Cancer Research instead of buying "fuzzy fuchsia slippers." Right on, Marthaville!
I am a supporter of Breast Cancer Action, and, in particular, their "Think Before Pink " campaign. The campaign aims to highlight hypocracy in the pink ribbon campaigns, and particularly "pinkwashers"—companies that purport to care about breast cancer by promoting a pink ribbon campaign, but manufacture products that are linked to the disease. While I don't want to hate on all of these companies, many are trying to do the right thing, it's the places that don't give any money, just use the symbol, that drive me craziest! Like this beer cozy - what a grand political statement!
Breast Cancer Action recently highlighted the links between environmental factors, cleaning products, and hair and skin products and cancer risk. They highlighted this great resource where you can look up the products you use and make healthier choices:
http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/index.php
Take a look at your most used products and see if there are any changes you need to make. I have already thrown away a few moisturizers and hair products. Mom, you were right to raise me on that weird Tom's of Maine toothpaste!

top chef obsession

2007-09-26T20:34:00.000-07:00

glad to see i'm not the only one completely obsessed with top chef.

neighborhoodies has a whole line of top chef t-shirts. but this doesn't really show tom colicchio's dumpy charm.

i generally wouldn't trust any woman as skinny as padma lakshmi about food, but i've made one of her recipes, and it was fabulous:

tandoori chicken salad

Serves 6

FOR THE MARINADE
1 cup plain nonfat yogurt
2 teaspoons garam masala powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 jalapeno chile, stemmed seeded, and finely minced (optional)
4 1 1/2 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, gently flattened and cut into strips
FOR THE SALAD
1 (3 cups) small head shredded iceberg lettuce
1 (3 cups) small head shredded red cabbage
6 (3 cups) large diced plum tomatoes
1 bunch (1 cup) sliced radishes
1 (2 cups) large sliced cucumber
1 small bunch (2 cups) large sliced scallions, minced
1 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups diced jicama
FOR COOKING AND SERVING
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
Juice of 2 to 3 small lemons

Directions

Prepare the marinade: In a medium bowl combine yogurt, garam masala, ginger, garlic, turmeric, salt, and jalapeno, if using. Add chicken and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate while preparing salad.
In a large bowl, toss together lettuce, cabbage, tomatoes, radishes, cucumber, scallions, cilantro, and jicama; set aside.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken along with the marinade and cook, stirring, until the chicken is just cooked through, 6 to 8 minutes.
Transfer chicken and pan juices to salad mixture and toss to combine. Drizzle with lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Stir to combine.

Mission: Halloween Costume 2007

2007-09-23T18:31:00.001-07:00

update: it's been done before, but i will try it again:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Halloween-LED-Jellyfish-Costume

with all the crafting i've been up to this year i feel like i have to come up with some kind of fabulous costume. with inspiration from blue planet (my husband's favorite show) and from martha, i'm planning a jellyfish costume. here is martha's design:

i need to find a clear umbrella and start collecting bubble-wrap. i would love to add some led lights a la make / instructables.

i am definitely entering the contest at make - though i need to be a smarter with the electronics, no doubt.

sitting in the middle seat for 13 hours?

2007-09-20T15:33:00.000-07:00

i'm going to thailand next month to visit my parents who are there for four months - so excited, but booking a flight was a nightmare. once i found something orbitz couldn't guarantee aisle seats, so i had to call air china, eva air, and thai air to find out if the seats were available. then, once booked, i had to call again to try and get the right seats.

all worked out in the end, but thankfully i checked out this site - http://www.seatexpert.com/ - before finalizing and found out my seats were dangerously close to the bathroom. no way, no how. got it all changed and am rearing to go. bless the internet!

what you must do in buenos aires

2007-09-17T22:04:00.000-07:00

i was in buenos aires two years ago for christmas with a friend, and thought perhaps i should put down (a la blog) the must-dos from the trip. this started out as an email to friends going down south...

(apologies for all the missing accents and en-yays, my mac doesn't have the symbols)

lots of things in buenos aires are touristy but still wonderful: the big graveyard at recoleta, el caminito in la boca, and the tango show at bar del sur (not the other big shows, this one is
tiny and great). but here are places a bit farther afield. especially good if you travel in order to sip coffee and people-watch, like me.

spend lots of time (and find a hotel, if you can) in palermo viejo - it is adorable - a bit yuppy but the crazy thing is that even a yuppy neighborhood is pretty affordable here. check out the craft fairs in palermo viejo - we ran into a fair everyday, though it was christmas time. a brilliant idea i haven't seen in the states was turning nightclubs into huge craft fairs. expect great screenprinted t-shirts, hand-sewn bags and undies, plastic earrings, great prints.

papelera palermo is the one of the most amazing stores i have ever been in. it is full of handmade and recycled cards, journals, and paper. and the prices are totally reasonable. i came home with a duffel bag of stuff from here and still think i should have gotten more. and the aesthetic is totally different from anything i've seen before - bright and child-like with vintage imaging - crazy-cool.
Papelera Palermo
www.papelerapalermo.com
there are three locations now (one with classes!), i only visited:
Honduras 4945
Palermo
4833-3081

i got a great haircut at glam. i was super jetlagged and my spanish isn't that great to begin with, so it's amazing that i got what i was hoping for. know that the look in buenos aires is sort of mod, with lots of quasi-hipster-mullets, so a picture helps.
Glam
Quintana 218 y Montevideo
4812-4578

we had an amazing dinner and drinks at milion. it is a converted 19th century mansion with garden and terrace bars and dance floors and great food. the artwork all over the building is beautiful. plan to spend a while soaking it all in - incredible frozen mojitos and people watching.
Milion
www.milion.com.ar
Parana 1048
Phone: 4815-9925

the modern art museum, malba, is full of beautiful, mesmerizing things - from huge light installations to tiny wooden sculptures. the cafe and gift shop (yes, i am a museum cafe and gift shop afficionado) are great.
Malba
www.malba.org.ar
Avenida Figueroa Alcorta 3415
4808-6598

if you want to spring for a fancy, incredible meal (about $40 a person with
wine and all, expensive for buenos aires) go to cabaña los lilas on the waterfront. this is a place for carnivores, don't stuff yourself on the appetizers before getting to the steak. there are lots of other tourists here, but with steak this good i wasn't worried about authenticity.
Cabana Las Lilas
www.laslilas.com/restaurant.php
Avenida Davila 516
4313-1336

one of the best things of all is the cafe con leche and medialunas (croissants) every morning - you can find them anywhere - from fancy cafes in recoleta to quickie-marts.

bento boxes

2007-09-17T20:08:00.000-07:00

this flickr group is amazing.

and i love how there are boxes from all over the world.

here is my favorite so far, it's by kitsa sakurako.

this site was featured on craft: - beautiful stuff, too. this sexy cowgirl one blows my mind - especially because it seems to be for a child's lunch.

plastic bag craftiness

2007-09-16T23:13:00.000-07:00

with the hubby away i'm having fun going from blog to blog and seeing fabulous projects. one of the best of all is the fused plastic bag bags that seem to be everywhere. i am awaiting my friend marina's next visit to attempt some new creations with plastic bags. thing is, being a good san franciscan, i don't have that many plastic bags in the house. i did some experimentation last night but i kept getting things too wrinkly. practice will make better.

here is the craft blog article.

and the etsy instructions.

the picture is from betz white's site. but i'm not smart enough to do a comment link-back thingy.

here's a great example:
I'm crafty! (but not in a gross way): plastic bags, really?

Tidepools and Outlet Malls - Part 2

2007-09-14T20:55:00.000-07:00

After dinner at Passionfish we found our way back to the worst hotel $150 could get us on Memorial Day weekend. Yes, we should have booked earlier. We stayed at the Thunderbird Gateway Motel. But a great photo op.

Breakfast redemption! We went to the Old Monterey Cafe in downtown Monterey and had a quick, great breakfast with no wait. The coffee was a little weak and bitter, but the food was great and the service super-friendly. I had a huge belgian waffle with fresh strawberries. My honey had a benedict with avocado and turkey - his two favorite substances on earth - and loved it. And got to love the Reagan cigarette ad on the wall!
Perfect place to fuel up before a day on the coast.

Old Monterey Cafe
489 Alvarado St
Monterey, CA 93940
(831) 646-1021

After breakfast and a little walk along the beach we left the coast to head to Gilroy for garlic and outlet shopping. Booya! No one wants a full description of outlet shopping, but there is one great secret. If you are nerdy enough to plan your outlet shopping, like me, you get discounts at most of the stores by signing up for the "VIP" club online here: https://www.premiumoutlets.com/vip/

Oh, and there is an In N' Out for midway through your shopping.

Proof I'm getting old, or: all my new music is from commercials

2007-09-11T19:53:00.000-07:00

it started slowly, with a hem song from an insurance commercial, then it was an ipod commercial, but now it seems that all my new music comes from commercials. this is proof of so many sad things - that i watch too much tv, have far too few outside musical influences, and that my music taste is damn close to the lowest common denominator's.

there seemed to be a lot of fuss about wilco selling volkswagons, but it reminded me how much i like them. the new nano commercial has a great feist song, too. now, if i could only find a longer version of the cat power cover of "hanging on the telephone" from the cingular ad. atleast i l
at least i loved cat power before she started selling phones and diamond necklaces. hey, good for her.

be afraid, very afraid

2007-09-06T22:09:00.001-07:00

i am giving a presentation to a mom's group tomorrow on media literacy and preschoolers. i tivo-ed some non-pbs kid's shows, and i feel like my brain has just shrunk. even shows people had mentioned as being ok are full of stereotypes - sure, kim possible saves the world, but her best friend is catty and she obsesses over her makeup... and then there are the power rangers and the violent animation - no wonder vocabularies are shrinking, it's all just pow! boom! ouch!

i'm bringing some photos of the bratz (left) to get the conversation going.

on npr (what a public broadcasting elitist i have become, so sad) today they mentioned this new show, wordgirl - which sounds pretty awesome.

why we live in san francisco

2007-09-05T20:03:00.000-07:00

there are days where i remember that living in san francisco is worth never being able to buy a house, spending 45 minutes looking for parking, and paying $4 for juice.

took a walk down the panhandle into golden gate park and around the de young. the late evening light on the conservatory of flowers was beautiful.

thanks to www.walkjogrun.com i could figure out the distance - 4 miles, not bad for a wednesday afternoon.

tidepools and outlet malls - part 1

2007-09-04T20:37:00.000-07:00

we took a great trip down to monterey this weekend. started out lazily saturday morning, not leaving the city until oneish. love the google maps feature where you can pull the route line where you want it - so that we could get directions just along the 1.
the daly city / pacifica fog lifted as we got past devil's slide, and we stopped at a bunch of beautiful beaches. first we stopped at the rocks at pescadero (tide was in, so we skipped tidepooling in moss beach), then at bean hollow state beach. being a gorgeous saturday on a holidy weekend, bean hollow was crowded, but a definite place to come back for a picnic.
getting a bit peckish, we followed hand-painted strawberry
signs to swanton berry farms - amazing:

Swanton Berry Farm

5221 Coast Rd
Davenport, CA 95017

(831) 425-8919

www.swantonberryfarm.com

they have organic strawberries and ollalieberries. we bought jam, really good coffee, and the most amazing berry shortcake ev-ah.

a few miles down the road we stopped for a late lunch at the davenport road house. the food was fine, but the service was slow and the prices a bit high. in the end i wished i had bought eight shortcakes instead. might be a nice place to stay, though - or for a mid-trip massage:

Davenport Roadhouse

1 Davenport Ave
Davenport, CA 95017

(831) 426-8801

davenportroadhouse.com

it was a straight shot from davenport to monterey (with a quick bonsai stop outside salinas's gorgeous power plant) and the aquarium. i have been wanting to show my husband the aquarium since we met 7 years ago. it lived up to expectations - of course there was a huge crowd, but we still had fun. the jellyfish are dreamy:

Monterey Bay Aquarium
886 Cannery Row

Monterey, CA 93940

(831) 648-4800

www.mbayaq.org

after leaving the aquarium (open late on summer weekends), we went to the highly yelp-recommended passionfish for an amazing dinner. the place was a tiny bit stuffy, but food and drink was amazing!

Passionfish

701 Lighthouse Avenue
Pacific Grove, CA 93950

(831) 655-3311

www.passionfish.net

inanimate objects and avenue q

2007-09-03T18:22:00.000-07:00

until rewatching it on youtube, i believed that the funniest thing ever screened was the singing bush in the three amigos, followed by dave chappelle's take-off on sesame street. the singing bush didn't age well, but i have a deep love for inanimate objects (and puppets) that talk and sing.

on friday we went to see avenue q at the orpheum. parts of the show were funny, but i think my expectations (and ticket prices) were way too high. my husband asked me afterwards if there was a secret backstory that made everyone else laugh so hard - and i wondered the same thing. but i think we weren't as in to the coming out jokes as others.

renting taco trucks in san francisco

2007-08-31T09:00:00.000-07:00

i have been working to find a taco truck to rent for my brother and sister-in-law-to-be's rehearsal dinner at fort mason (san francisco, claro que si). after many non-returned calls, we went with the sf classic, el tonayense. they were great to work with, sent us a contract immediately, and the rates are pretty reasonable.

here is the contact information for "santana esq. inc." who run the tonayense trucks (it took me so long to find this, so thought it was worth sharing):

santana esq. inc. (tonayense taco trucks)
2598 harrison st.
san francisco, ca 94110
(415)559-6127
fax: (415)641-4984

another dailycandy moment that didn't include expensive shoes, today, the yummy hot dog cart near the de young in golden gate does catering, too. and the name is great - happy belly foods.

bib bonanza

2007-08-30T23:28:00.001-07:00

i made a whole bunch of the nester baby bibs - very satisfying project, but they end up looking really messy when i sew on the velcro - so i've started sewing the velcro onto the pieces before putting it all together.

i made some with and some without the pocket, and i made one with a button, which looks way cuter than the velcro. i put in a detail of the velcro messiness on the yellow bib.

ode to this american life

2007-08-30T17:46:00.000-07:00

after listening to this week's this american life podcast - breakups - i could not get starlee kine's "three of us" song out of my head. going to the website i realized they have totally revamped the website. i got to the point last year where i realized i had listened to every single tal since inception. at one point i had a google spreadsheet with all the episodes, ratings, and whether i had heard them or actually owned them.

here are a few of my favorite recent episodes - some are also the "favorites" listed on their site, most aren't...

special ed - http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1198

Stories about people who were told that they're different. Some of them were comfortable with it. Some didn't understand it. And some understood, but didn't like it.

houses of ill repute - http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1170

An old man in Brooklyn invites some homeless prostitutes into his house on a cold winter night. They never leave. Plus other stories about houses, such as the United States Congress, where the inhabitants don't always act as they should.

babysitting - http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1160

Stories of babysitters, and what goes on while mom and dad are away that mom and dad never find out about.

this one isn't so recent, but is sooo good:
nobody's family is ever going to change - http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=166

Three stories which consider the question: does anyone's family ever change?

new manos colours!

2007-08-29T18:00:00.000-07:00

i just got an email from purl that they have lots of new manos colours - it must be fall! get out the cider and your big needles...

wearable pincushion

2007-08-29T10:32:00.001-07:00

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Originally uploaded by quesadillacraft

i bought this awesome pin-cushion from elizabeth brennick at etsy - i love it! i am much less likely to leave pins lying around. it's a little hot for august, but it's great. and the penguin comes off the cuff with elastic if i need it somewhere else.

she still has owls and whales available. are owls the new octopi? when i looked up "owl pin" on etsy i got 12 pages of items! octopi (octopuses?) are suddenly the hipster design, featured in knitted, crocheted, sewn, and felted form. see the article on craftzine for more.

goodbye alberto...

2007-08-28T21:54:00.000-07:00

i so lost the ice cream competition at truemajority.org. i guessed that alberto gonzales would resign sometime in may. but someone won ice cream, and we are all tiny bit safer as of september 17th.

recycled can products, telephone wire bowls, and more...

2007-08-28T21:32:00.000-07:00

lucky magazine published a guide to shopping in paris a few years ago, and it made my trip to paris even cooler. i love telephone wire bowls and anything made out of old cans - and this store - CSAO - features them and was in the lucky guide. the day i got there it was closed, but my friend anthea took my leftover euros and bought me some very cool boxes (like the one shown here) and trinkets and sent them home to me.

here is the description from lucky:
CSAO
Handmade West African imports-bright woven-plastic floor mats, kente-cloth clothing, and bedding dyed earthy hues of ochre and oxblood-are the specialty at this sprawling boutique/gallery. It's hard to miss: The mini-empire (which now includes a restaurant) has taken over an entire block in the Marais. 9 rue Elzévir (3rd arr.), 33-1-44-54-55-88, csao.fr

the two other great recommendations from that issue were:
Mariage Frères
Best location: 30 rue du Bourg-Tibourg (4th arr.), 33-1-42-72-28-11, mariagefreres.com
"This teashop and salon feels straight out of another country, but not in a hoity-toity way. It has a cute, low-key café, and its Birthday Tea blend-which comes in a pretty canister-makes a great gift."—Jean Godfrey-June, Beauty Director

and MUJI - which isn't listed on the website anymore, stateside they have MUJI at MOMA. But now that I know about Daiso I'm not sure I'd be willing to spend $8 on the card case at MUJI that is $1.50 at Daiso.

Now, if only Design Star had a design challenge at Daiso instead of at a normal 99cent store. And if only the dollar could go back up so we could afford to go to Europe.

blanket recycling

2007-08-28T21:24:00.001-07:00

i made a blanket out of old felted wool sweaters for my brother and sister-in-law for christmas last year. my sister-in-law, julie, sent me an email about these amazing purses.

as she says, got to love those crazy kids in the netherlands.

bollywood action, at home alone

2007-08-28T20:07:00.000-07:00

an oprah special on aging got me all freaked out - the doctor said anyone with a waist size over 34 inches is at much higher risk of all kinds of nasty diseases. a tape measure freaked me out more. so i channeled the freak-out into a workout. i ordered this bollywood workout dvd on netflix, and loved it! i'm not sure i would dare do it with anyone else at home, but it felt amazing.

- this link takes you to amazon and a small proceed from the sale goes to the nonprofit i work for, fyi :)

baby goodies

2007-08-27T23:22:00.000-07:00

and i thought a wedding was a good excuse to craft. with a few friends getting pregnant this year i've had the chance to knit up some baby blankets. but now with my new, friendlier sewing machine, i'm trying out "minky" blankets and bibs.
i was inspired by gorgeousbaby's listings on etsy, especially this one.

armed with my new supplies of fabric i have made a couple of bibs and one blanky. i got the "minky" fabric on ebay. i don't think it is as high quality as what i've seen in stroller valley stores, but it's nice and was a steal.

i want to make a big blanket like the one shown with some of the fabric, but i had an old flannel quilt top i made ages ago, so i used the blue minky fabric on that. i just need some blanket edging to make the edges look nicer. now the race is on for what friend has a boy first. i'm all for the gender-less baby stuff, but i think this screams boy.

faux hot water bottles - next short-attention-span project

2007-08-27T14:29:00.000-07:00

i saw this amazing flannel "owie" fabric at stonemountain yesterday, but just as i was leaving, so i didn't grab any - it was living among the many types of sock monkey designs.

i want to make my mom's hot/cold rice pack in the shape of a hot water bottle and make a cover in this fabric. but i am not the first!

there was also a coordinating banana fabric that would be awesome for a babybib.

dailycandy goodies today - creativity explored

2007-08-27T13:39:00.000-07:00

rather than suggesting somewhere where i could buy $500 shoes or pay $200 for lunch, dailycandy gave out something useful today.

a link to the new creativity explored website. creativity explored is an amazing art studio here in san francisco - when i live in a house with wallspace, i so want to purchase donut art there.

baby bibs with new fabrics from stonemountain

2007-08-26T20:24:00.000-07:00

i made a great trip to stonemountain fabrics in berkeley before dropping my hubby off at the airport (business trip - bummed to have him gone, stoked to make a mess of the house with craft supplies). stonemountain is absolutely overwhelming - so many beautiful things! and after months of shopping only at beverly's fabrics it was even more thrilling.

here is what i got - a great pile of goodies:

a few special pieces:

a blue flannel with confused bunnies - for making purl rabbit p.j.s for my godson's bunny.
a yellow print with tadpoles in jars - for making another purl frog - this time larger.
a day of the dead fabric i will make into something great for my mommy.
a popsicle print for a baby bibs
an apple and pear print for a baby bib...

i used the baby bib pattern from nested, although it seems very small. the bizarre thing is the first one i made is the exact same fabric shown at the end of the article, which i hadn't even read to yet!
a couple of lessons learned - use a slightly larger seam allowance so that the reinforcing stitching really reinforces the seam. and backstitch in an area of the fabric that matches the thread so that it shows as little as possible. otherwise, i really like it!

daly city, how i love thee

2007-08-25T16:28:00.001-07:00

when i first started working in daly city, san francisco snobs felt sorry for me, and wondered where i would get lunch.

if only they knew.

only in daly city are there 200 different lunch options, all coming in under $6 for a filling meal. check the list:

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more great technology, flickr number groups

2007-08-25T15:24:00.000-07:00

i love gmail, and i love flickr - which would make me a complicated friend to both google and yahoo, but...
this project is one of the coolest things i have seen online in a long time - a flickr group of consecutive numbers:

www.flickr.com

this is what we thought the internet was going to do - give millions of people the chance to collaborate on extremely cool projects.

gmail love

2007-08-25T15:13:00.000-07:00

i love gmail for so many reasons - and here is a new one. the customizable web clips at the top of the page. up until now i didn't get what the appeal of rss feeds was (except for this bunny), but now i know right when craft or purlbee (or, help me, martha stewart's blueprint) has something new up.

here is what i have on there now:

BBC News | World | UK Edition - http://newsrss.bbc.co.uk/rss/newsonline_uk_edition/world/rss.xml

BBC On This Day | Front Page - http://news.bbc.co.uk/rss/on_this_day/front_page/rss091.xml

Bluelines - http://blogs1.marthastewart.com/blueprint/atom.xml

Budget Travel Online - Latin America - http://www.budgettravel.com/bt-dyn/rss/destinations/latinamerica/index.xml

Budget Travel Online - Real Deals - http://www.budgettravel.com/bt-dyn/rss/realdeals/index.xml

Catholics for a Free Choice - http://www.catholicsforchoice.org/feed.xml

removeCRAFT Magazine - http://www.craftzine.com/blog/index.xml

Fodor's Travel Wire - http://www.fodors.com/blog/index.rdf

Google News - Health - http://news.google.com/news?ned=us&topic=m&output=rss

How to of the Day - http://www.wikiHow.com/feed.rss

Instructables: explore - http://www.instructables.com/tag/type:instructable/rss.xml

International Herald Tribune - http://www.iht.com/rss/frontpage.xml

News items on ZDNet - http://news.zdnet.com/2509-1_22-0-5.xml

NPR Topics: News - http://www.npr.org/rss/rss.php?topicId=2

NYT Most E-mailed Articles - http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/pop_top.xml

NYT Travel - http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Travel.xml

Reuters: Oddly Enough - http://www.microsite.reuters.com/rss/oddlyEnoughNews

Slate Magazine - http://slate.msn.com/rss/

the purl bee - http://www.purlbee.com/the-purl-bee/rss.xml

manos fanaticism

2007-08-24T09:21:00.001-07:00

manos del uruguay is a yarn brand made in a woman's cooperative in uruguay. logistical details for both the wool and cotton is available at the yarndex.

for nice, big pictures of the colors available, try purlsoho's site. here are a few samples.
History of the Cooperative - from ashleyyarns.com

"The Manos del Uruguay Cooperative was founded in 1968 by five friends. Their goal was to develop economic opportunities for the women in rural Uruguay. Although Uruguay has one of highest literacy rates in the world, there were and continue to be few employment opportunities for women.

Olgita Artagaveytia, one of the founders of the cooperative, had been volunteering at a village school in 1968. She and her friends were very impressed with the level of expertise in the craftwork produced by the village women. They decided to take the products to Montevideo and sell them for the village. This was a very successful venture and everything they presented was sold in one day! The name of Manos del Uruguay (Hands of Uruguay) was born.

The founders also helped the women organize socially and financially. They were committed to creating a professional organization that had legal standing and a strong marketing plan. The Cooperative was formed as a non-profit organization, committed to developing work for the women in the countryside. In 1976, working with the InterAmerican Development Bank and a marketing consultant, they opened a showroom in New York City, where they sold knitted and woven garments as well as Manos yarn. Over the ten years that the showroom existed, it employed Lola Ehrlich, who went on to become the editor of Vogue Knitting. Anne Simpson, also an employee of the showroom, created the space-dyed colour range and was the U.S. distributor for many years.

The original method of dyeing was done in iron kettles over wood fires. The dyes interacted with the iron in the kettles, producing a striated, faded quality, which was at first, seen to be a problem. It was a marketing consultant who saw the beauty in the colour shadings and named it Stria. Over the years, the process has been refined. Using stainless steel pots and steam heat, the dyers can now control the water temperature and provide a consistent range of over ninety colours. Manos Stria is a trademark of the product.

The Cooperative continues to be a strong, viable business, providing employment and income for the women of Uruguay."

Pricing
Prices for manos yarn are generally in the $13 - $17 per skein range for the multi-colored wool. I have found manos on ebay for $6 a skein, but it's not always there.

Here, in order of price (as of 8/07) for one skein of variegated wool yarn:

$13.50 - jimmy beans wool
$15.00 - village sheep
$15.00 - kaleidoscope yarns
$15.10 - yarns by design
$15.50 - purl soho
$16.95 - the yarn co.

Flickr Group
to make my obsession with this yarn official, i started a flickr group for manos projects:

www.flickr.com

manos, how i love thee.

2007-08-23T22:08:00.000-07:00

almost a decade ago i was driving home to seattle from the bay area and found the most amazing yarn store in ashland, oregon. that is where i was first introduced to a very expensive habit - manos del uruguay yarn.

i bought a few skeins of the beautiful, hand-dyed wool. the yarn is made in a women's cooperative in uruguay, and is amazing. my mom shares the obsession and we have made many a yummy hat and scarf with the wool.

now i have started using the new manos cotton for a baby blanket for an expecting friend. i am using a simple checkerboard pattern with wide rainbow strips and love the feel of the project. my only mistake (well, unless you count spending $60 on materials) is that i used a large set of needles, so the weave isn't as tight as i'd like. results to be posted soon.

purl frog numero uno

2007-08-23T22:03:00.001-07:00

purl frog numero uno
Originally uploaded by quesadillacraft

here is my first attempt at the purl frog from purlbee. i filled her up with rice so that she could be a "bed buddy" - my mom's version of a hot water bottle. it's a rice filled sock you can microwave and stays toasty. my mother is brilliant, claro que si.

i think the button eyes aren't so cute, so i may try something else.

quesadillacraft

finished the brooklyntweed hat!

Great Cooking Class in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Great Cooking Class in Chiang Mai, Thailand //<![CDATA[ new Ajax.InPlaceEditor('topic_title_455391_in_place_editor', '/topics/set_topic_title/455391', {cols:50, okText: 'Save'}) //]]>

exfoliating

a bit of surprise (and trunk snot)

taking a seat - maesa elephant camp

foot massage at kad suan kaew

deedle balls

mom cooking, blue vw bus

yui teaching class

mom and dad cooking class

fish

lily pad

mom at the night market

offerings

procession preparation

wat suan dok

the sacred...

noodle soup

wat suan dok

wat suan dok

chiang mai wanderings

first day in thailand

light packing packing list

think before pink

top chef obsession

tandoori chicken salad

Directions

Mission: Halloween Costume 2007

sitting in the middle seat for 13 hours?

what you must do in buenos aires

bento boxes

plastic bag craftiness

Tidepools and Outlet Malls - Part 2

Proof I'm getting old, or: all my new music is from commercials

be afraid, very afraid

why we live in san francisco

tidepools and outlet malls - part 1

inanimate objects and avenue q

renting taco trucks in san francisco

bib bonanza

ode to this american life

new manos colours!

wearable pincushion

goodbye alberto...

recycled can products, telephone wire bowls, and more...

blanket recycling

bollywood action, at home alone

baby goodies

faux hot water bottles - next short-attention-span project

dailycandy goodies today - creativity explored

baby bibs with new fabrics from stonemountain

daly city, how i love thee

more great technology, flickr number groups

gmail love

manos fanaticism

manos, how i love thee.

purl frog numero uno

Great Cooking Class in Chiang Mai, Thailand