June 28, 2008
My poor little belotti has just bloomed for the first time this year. I’m actually surprised it’s blooming at all. My sister was only able to come water the plants one time in the whole two weeks we were gone. Everything was so dried out that the leaves started falling off. The belotti is down to only a handful of leaves now. Hopefully, it 
gets a bit better. I love the way it smells. It’s such a light scent you’re almost not sure that it’s there at all.
June 26, 2008
From Belfast we flew to London. Very unfortunately, I booked our flight for the wrong date and we had to buy tickets to London which cost me GBP90 each. We stayed in a microscopic room at Base2Stay. I had originally booked a bunk bed room for GBP 110 but my boyfriend decided to stay in a room with a king size bed for GBP 140, which turned out to be quite comfortable thought it was tiny. Then again, expecting a nice place, that’s huge and cheap in London is impossible.
We spent the two days wandering around the city. We went to Farringdon to eat at at Smith’s of Smithfield. Luckily, we arrived just in time to be able to order as the kitchen just closed. I had the Welsh Rarebit and my boyfriend had the Steak Salad. His steak salad was really flavorful as was my welsh rarebit. My welsh rarebit was topped with a piece of bacon. The bacon in the UK is different than our bacon. It’s in between our bacon and canadian bacon. More flavorful than canadian bacon but not as fatty as our bacon. Very good! I ate more bacon while I was there than I had in entire year.
On our way to finding Smith’s, we had passed comptoir gascon, which had a Michelin star. The menu looked good and reasonably priced and we thought we’d go there the next day as it wasn’t open when we passed by. When we got there the next day, we realized that it wasn’t open on Mondays. =( At this point, we were both extremely hungry and grumpy so my boyfriend ended up picking Hix Oyster and Chop House. The decor was modernly crude. All the furniture was very simple and modern but with discreet touches of lewdness. Discreet enough that a person wouldn’t be offended. I’m totally lewd so I personally found it hilarious. There was a white neon sign hanging on the wall that initially appeared to be just a design but when you looked more closely at it, you see that it could be words but you can’t make out what it says. That is until you look in the mirror and it says, “Fucking beautiful”. When I went downstairs to use the bathroom, I saw two blurry pictures on two doors but I can’t figure out what it is or which one I belong to. A server directed me into a door and when my boyfriend returned from his bathroom trip, he said, they’re blurry pictures of buttholes! AHHAHAHAHAH… That would never fly in the states
We boyfriend had the House Smoked Salmon for the starter that was good but nothing special. I had the Shaved Asparagus and Wild Sorrel Salad with Welsh Cheese- Up until this point, we had subsisting on a diet of Fried foods and Meat. I tried to count the times I had had any greens and couldn’t think of one! The salad was very nice and green and soothing. The vegetables were shaved on the bias which made everything clean and tender. The cheese gave the dish just a touch of creaminess and saltiness.
For my main course, I had the Hanger Steak with Baked Bone Marrow- This was probably the most flavorful and tender hanger steak I’ve ever had. It was as tender as a filet but with so much more beef flavor. The baked bone marrow was also good. It had been scooped out of the bone and mixed with bread crumbs, stuffed back into the bone and baked. I could only have a few bites because it was sooooo oily, I could feel myself getting sick.
My boyfriend picked the Lamb with Kidney for his main dish. I thought the kidney was a little overcooked and as a result tasted extremely gamey.
We also had a side of Chips (french fries) that were very good. I don’t normally eat very many fries but the fries throughout the UK were soooo good and fresh, I couldn’t stop eating them. I had them for almost every meal.
In London, we rented a Alfa Romeo, which my boyfriend cleverly named Alfie. Unfortunately, to add a second driver, it would’ve been an additional GBP9 a day so we decided that my boyfriend would drive and I would navigate, which worked out as he’s able to drive a manual car better than just in theory and I’m a much better navigator as he falls asleep when he’s the passenger.
From London, we drove to Salisbury, where we stayed at the Rokeby House, which was actually much nicer than it’s portrayed on the website. The couple who I assumed owned it, though the names they introduced me with were different than those on the website, were very friendly and the breakfast was very good. I don’t know why but the house just seemed a little creepy to me. Perhaps because it was old? Anyway, that night we walked into the city and had dinner at Strata a little Italian restaurant on the edge of Market Square. I had a green salad and my boyfriend had a mixed salad. For our main courses, we had Seafood Risotto and Seafood linguini. We also shared a tiramisu for dessert. Everything was tasty and a far better deal considering price and taste, comparative to what you would find in the states. The quality of the restaurant was far superior to what can be found in the states for those prices.
The next day we drove to see Stonehenge (yay, giant rocks) and then to Bray on the Thames. We stayed at a beautifully gaudy hotel, Red Roofs of Oldfield, which was right next to the river. They left all the doors of the unoccupied rooms opens so we wandered around and took pictures of the house. I was a bit embarrassed when we got caught in a room taking pictures.
That night we dined at the Fat Duck, which was our whole reason for going to Bray. That was an amazing experience which I’ll have to do a completely separate post for.
From Bray, we drove to the Yorkshire Dales and stayed at the Cross Keys. My friend Don had recommended the place as he stayed there on his honeymoon. The inn was soooo warm and friendly. It took forever to get there on a tiny road. It was situated on a beautiful green field that were surrounded by sheep grazing on the hillsides. The food was very delicious and rustic and my boyfriend said their chowder was the best chowder he’d ever had. I had the rabbit pie made from local rabbits. I think I freaked out the owner when I told him that we had seen the bunnies while driving in and they looked so delicious. =)
From the inn, we were able to walk up the hills to get to the Cautley Spout waterfall, which was a very windy but relaxing hike.
On to drinking and driving in Scotland…
June 20, 2008
Basically, our whole reasoning to vacation in the UK was because my boyfriend’s need to go to the Guinness brewery. I decided We decided that we couldn’t base a whole trip around one city so I planned a tour of the UK and dubbed it the Drinking and Driving Tour 2008.
We started our trip in Dublin where we stayed at Number 31 located on a very small street. It was a nice choice as it was very quiet and relaxing and the owner of the hotel was extremely caring. Our room was on the first floor and was slightly noisy as we could hear the front door whenever opened and closed. Luckily, none of the guests came home late so we were never awoken at night. We had a standard double room and so the room was a little small but still very comfortable. They gave vouchers for 50 minutes worth of Internet use, which was nice as it was free but I like not to be limited in my online use. I’m sure they would’ve given me more had I asked but I didn’t.
On our last night in Dublin, we had dinner at Gruel, which was the best meal we had while we were in Dublin.
Tomato-based Vegetable Soup- Tasty vegetable soup. It was pretty good for being vegetarian.
Meatballs with Tagliatelle and Tomato Sauce- Straightforward. Exactly what you would expect.
Bangers & Mash with Red Onion Gravy- The bangers (sausages) were AMAZING. It had so many different flavors all stuffed together in a super crispy skin. The skin looked like fresh-baked bread, crackly and crispy. I don’t know how they did it but it was really good. I almost wanted to order an additional one to take home. The red onion gravy wasn’t so much a gravy as much as sliced onions that had been cooked down in a red wine reduction. It paired really well with the bangers.
Lemon Tart with Vanilla Ice Cream- This was probably the best vanilla ice cream I’ve ever had. It was so light but rich and creamy at the same time. It tasted like whipped cream in ice cream form. The lemon tart was also good but it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.
From Dublin, we took a two hour train ride to Belfast and stayed at Ten Square, which was centrally located being directly across from Donelley Square. The rooms were Asian-themed and surprisingly big, especially for European standards. The price of the room start at GPB 165 but I got a great deal at only GBP 119! Soooo worth it! The Internet was also free so I was able to surf to my heart’s content. =
We went to Deane’s as soon as we got into Belfast. We got there during lunch and so it was a super good deal. We were able to get a 3-course meal for only GBP 21.50.
Cured Monkfish with Monkfish cheek, piedmontese peppers, tomato foam
Beef topped with marrow and bernaise sauce. Chips and buttered green beans. The chips or steak-cut french fries were sooooo good. They tasted like very super thick cut fries from McDonald’s. The buttered green beans were slightly overcooked but I think it’s only because I like mine almost raw. The beef was also slightly overcooked. I had asked for rare but it came out almost medium. The taste of the beef was very different from the kind we have at home. While it wasn’t as tender, it was much more flavorful. It had a slightly gamey taste to it but left the most wonderful aftertaste in your mouth.
For dessert, I had the Sticky Toffee Pudding with Banana Ice Cream- The banana ice cream was not as good as I hoped. It tasted just like a banana flavored banana laffy taffy and a little fake, not like real bananas. The sticky toffee pudding was ok. Maybe it’s because I’m not crazy about sticky toffee pudding but I figured since I was in the UK, I should try it. It was extremely moist though and covered in gooey toffee/caramel sauce.
My boyfriend had the rabbit terrine and smoked chicken as the starter.
As the main course, Pork belly with black pudding. The pork was tender and fell apart like pulled pork. It was served with the crackling on top. He said it was possibly the best pork he’s ever had.
For the dessert, he chose the cheese plate.
We also ordered tea and received a small plate of petit-fours at the end of the meal.
This was a very good deal and an extremely good lunch. It’s supposed to be the only restaurant in Northern Ireland that has a Michelin star and I can totally see why. The rest of the meals we had in Belfast were unfortunately not worth writing about. We also ate at the restaurant bar inside our hotel, which is apparently a very popular place for locals. The food was pretty good but nothing special so I’m not going to write about it. We went there as we couldn’t get used to the daylight until 10PM and didn’t go out looking for food until almost 9. By that time, all the restaurants were already closed and we had to resort to the hotel restaurant.
June 7, 2008
I saw this tutu tutorial a few months ago and really wanted to make one. I don’t have a kid and sadly enough, I think I would be a bit of a freak if I made one for myself to wear around the house. Anyway, so I decided I would make one for our friend’s kid because we bought her some princess shoes for Christmas and Princess outfits for her birthday. I figured I would make her the tutu & then buy a leotard and some ballet shoes for a play set. I was going to wait for an occasion but I don’t really like giving gifts on actual occasions. I like giving IOUs or getting credits for future occasions.
I told some sewing friends that I was making a tutu and they warned me the tulle was going to be a bitch to sew. And indeed it was!
I used six different colors of tulle- gray, pink, peach, blue, purple, and pale yellow with little sprinkles of sparkles. I thought it looked nice and a little girl would really appreciate it. You can kinda see it in the picture below
Unfortunately, my tutu did not come out as well as the one on the Distressed blog. My first one was waaay too big as I used my own waist as a guide, minus a few inches. I don’t know how small a kid’s waist is supposed to be but apparently, it’s much smaller, like half the size. So now I have a tutu that’s almost my size. I did try it on and twirled around in it. Since it was smaller than my waist it was more like a tutu apron. Hmmm… I may have to keep it for myself after all.
I used the same pink grosgrain ribbon for the bow. The box is part of a set I bought from Costco and I think it matches perfectly with the play set.
June 5, 2008
I bought gelatin a really long time ago so that I could make marshmallows but I never got around to it. I also bought Fluff so that I could make a fluffernutter sandwich but wasn’t ever in the mood for it. I finally made a fluffernutter panini and it was quite good though I think I still prefer a PB&J panini. Funny enough, I don’t even like marshmallows that much but I still wanted to try.
So I finally decided that I was going to make the marshmallows. When I told people I made marshmallows the first question I get is, “what is a marshmallow made of?”. So here is my recipe for marshmallows:
3 envelopes of unflavored Knox gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cups corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut, toasted
Confectioners’ sugar
Sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water and soak for 10 minutes. Mine turned into a wet sand looking texture.
Meanwhile, in a saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup, and 1/4 cup and bring to a boil until it reaches 240F on a candy thermometer. Take it off the head and pour the syrup into gelatin and start mixing at low speed. Add speed slowly so the syrup doesn’t splatter out and increase to high speed. Add the salt and beat for 10 minutes. Add vanilla and mix some more. The mixture should be really thick and fluffy. It should have hard peaks like beaten egg whites.
I wanted to try some coconut flavor and also some vanilla so I sprinkled part of the pan with the coconut. One cup of the coconut will be enough for an entire pan. I used unsweetened coconut because that’s what I had in the pantry but you can substitute the sweetened one. I also thought the sweetened would make it really sweet as the marshmallows are sweet enough as is.
Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan with nonstick spray and then layer a sheet of parchment paper into it for easy removal of the marshmallow brick. Spread half of the toasted coconut into the pan & pour the marshmallow mixture into the pan and spread the remaining coconut on top.
Let the mixture dry overnight. Lift the parchment paper to lift out the marshmallow brick. I used a bench scraper that I wet to cut the marshmallow brick into pieces. You can also use scissors which also works well.
Toss the marshmallows into confectioners’ sugar to keep it from sticking.
June 3, 2008
I’ve been meaning to use the tutorial for the little shopping bag on Oh Fransson! some time now. I used the Etsuko Furuya fabric that I had bought on a whim. The eyelets I used came in a huge package that came with the Crop-A-Dile that I bought from Costco. Yes, with the matching carrying case and everything. =) My boyfriend picked out the purple eyelet and I think it goes really well with the bag.
The inside I did in hot pink and was the leftover fabric from my Argyle Quilt. You can kinda see it in this first picture. It matches the pink bird perfectly.
I couldn’t follow the directions exactly as the fabric was directional so I had to cut two separate panels so both sides would be right side up.
The side matched up unintentionally and I think it came out really well. I don’t know what I’m going to use it for exactly. So far I’ve used it to put stuff that I’m meaning to return to stores.
May 29, 2008
I stayed up until 2am last night to call England so I could get reservations to The Fat Duck. It’s said to have been voted “best restaurant in the world” and has 3 Michelin stars!
Anyway…. It’s just like French Laundry where you have to call 2 months
ahead of time so I already knew I most likely would not get in but I figured
I would give it a shot anyhow… I tried for 15 mins & it was busy the
entire time… So I went to sleep but not before I set my alarm for 8am this morning so I
could try again. Luckily, I got through on the first try but the recording
said they were completely booked for lunch & dinner for the next two months! =(
I decided to stay on hold and get on the waiting list just in case. When the
receptionist finally answered, I told them the date I wanted & she said
someone had just canceled for that date so I GOT IN!!!! =)
I’m going to have to readjust my itinerary now but I GOT IN!!!! I feel just like Charlie when he found that golden ticket.
May 27, 2008
My boyfriend and I went on a hike today in the mountains above Alta Dena. I’d never been hiking there before and it was a decent consolation for not being able to go camping this weekend. (well, not exactly.) Anyway, the trail was LOADED with moss. All different kinds and many of the very beautiful fuzzy suede-looking ones. As I have mentioned before, I’m very fascinated with moss.
This is my collection today and I would’ve taken more but I didn’t have a bag or anything so I had to carry everything in one hand. Not a bad harvest considering my limitations.
On the side of the mountain there were all these succulents growing between the crevices. They were also surrounded by little mounds of moss, so I harvested one of those too. How very cute isn’t it?
I’m actually not exactly sure whether I am allowed to be harvesting this stuff.
The orange ball is this seaweed-feeling plant. It feels plastic-y but it’s this beautiful bright orange and when you see it from the freeway, you can’t even tell it’s there because it looks like part of its host plant that’s just dried out. It’s this spidery web stuff and my boyfriend said it spreads very quickly and takes over bushes and plants. It twirls itself around the host plant and finally asphyxiates it and covers it completely from sunlight. There were a lot of dead bushes that looked as though they had been killed by the orange stuff. It actually looks like orange cobwebs all over the plants. Some of the plants were covered very thickly. So anyway, I don’t know what it is and I really hope it’s not poisonous because I took soooo much of it because I thought it was pretty. It’s a brilliant orange and it just looks so lovely with the moss. Does anyone know what it is? I tried google-ing it but I don’t even know how to search for it.
On a completely separate subject… I bought some Mokeskin Cahier Notebooks today for my trip to the UK next month. I decided to cover them of course. When I told my friend what I was doing, he said, “anything to make it a little prettier, right?”.
All three are done in Japanese washi paper. The one on the right I hand-carried back from Japan and the other two I bought here in LA.
I used Yes! glue to put them on and was my first time using Yes glue and I must say it is everything people have raved about. It’s easy to apply. It’s thick enough that it doesn’t run but not too thick where it rips the paper. It’s super simple to put on with a paintbrush. It is also water soluble so if you make a mess it’s an easy cleanup and if you misplace something, you can replace it before it dries. Lastly, it doesn’t wrinkle, is acid-free, and has good bonding once it’s dried.
May 25, 2008
My boyfriend and I went to New Mexico last weekend. I’ve always wanted to go to New Mexico though I’m not sure why exactly, I’ve just always wanted to go. What is in New Mexico you ask? New Mexicans of course.
I’ve always wanted to try hot air ballooning and when I found out that Albuquerque was the hot air balloon capital of the world, I was all over it. It was so much fun, especially the landing. =)
We stayed at the Mauger Estate Bed & Breakfast, which is in the historical registry. I wish we would have spent more time there but we didn’t have very many days and there were just way too many places to eat.
So on to the food…
The first night we arrived around 8PM so we headed to Zinc Wine Bar and Bistro for dinner. I had read a lot of good reviews on the restaurant and it was between that and the Artichoke Cafe.
My boyfriend’s menu
Steamed Black Mussel in a Basil-chardonnay broth, julienne vegetables, grilled bread- The mussels were well cooked but the basil-chardonnay broth wasn’t cooked long enough so it was still very alcohol-y. The vegetables were very bland and since they were sitting in the broth, they too were alcohol-y.
The server was very insistent on the Red Chile Flan served with biscochito cookies and I’m all about weird flavor combinations so I told my boyfriend he should get it. The flan was actually really spicy. It was interesting but we weren’t sure if we actually liked it. We kept eating it so that we could come to a conclusion but in the end, we were so full, we never even decided. The flavor was interesting but the texture of the flan was a bit overcooked and was not very creamy and light like a flan should be. Instead, it was a bit thick, curdled and almost doughy.
I got the 3-course prix fixe menu for $29. Great deal!
Eggs Barbacoa with Chile d’Arbol- Marinated and Slow Cooked Beef Cheeks on White Corn Tortillas with Two Sunny-side Eggs and Refried Pintos- This was wonderful, probably one of my favorite dishes of the entire trip. The beef cheeks were so tender and flavorful and once popped, the egg yolks binded everything together in a gooey gelatinous mess. I had egg yolk all over my face and could not have been happier.
Chorizo Burrito: housemade pork chorizo, scrambled eggs, hash browns, jack cheese and scallions wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla with red chile, green chile, and tomatillo d’arbol salsa- This too was very good. The burrito was gigantic and the chorizo was delicious without being too greasy.
After lunch we tried to go to Taos but did not make it very far. We made it to Tesuque and went to the flea market. We drove through the Santa Fe Opera but it wasn’t open. The flea market was awesome. Precious stones EVERYWHERE and they were sooo cheap. I ended up buying a bunch of loose stones for my sister and my boyfriend bought me a necklace made of wooden beads in all different shapes and colors. I also bought some HUGE turquoise stones that were the size and shape of eggs.
That night we went to Geronimo. They had recently switched chefs and so there wasn’t a tasting menu. They also only kept one dish from the original menu, which luckily for me was the one thing I had already decided I wanted upon seeing it on the online menu, which was the Peppery Elk Tenderloin and Apple wood Smoked bacon. It came with Roasted garlic fork-mashed Yukon gold potatoes, snap peas and creamy brandied mushroom sauce. We both ended up getting that as our main course. The mushrooms were morels which are my favorite. I was saving them for the end and my boyfriend kept stealing mine when I wasn’t looking. =( He’s so abusive!
For appetizers, my boyfriend got the deconstructed corn soup. It came in a giant bowl with a spoon full of chopped lobster. The server then came with the actual soup in a silver teapot and poured in all over everything. It was not anything special and the soup itself was a gray color, which isn’t the most appetizing color.
I got the veal sweet breads, that were tasty. The batter was a lot thicker than I would preferred but otherwise was good.
Perhaps I should have heeded the advice of the Napa couple at Cafe Pasqual and waited until the chef had time to get used to his kitchen. It wasn’t exactly the fine dining experience that I was expecting and I think there was a bit of prejudice as my boyfriend went in a t-shirt.
The next day, we went to Mary & Tito’s. I had the Carne Adovada Stuffed Sopapilla, which was amazingly good. The thing was gigantic- a foot across, deep fried and smothered in red and green sauces.
My boyfriend got the Blue Corn Enchilada and compared to my sopapilla was quite bland.
After lunch we went to J&R Vintage Auto Museum and I must say if you like vintage cars, you definitely want to take a visit. It was $6 admission and had a big basketball court-sized warehouse full of vintage cars, trucks and motorcycles. There was the most beautiful burgundy Cadillac that we both fell in love with
After the museum, we went down to Old Town and wandered around. We got some ice cream and ice tea at Crave. I’m not sure if it was because it was hot and I was dying of thirst but that was some damn good ice tea. We also went to Church St. Cafe to buy some food for our plane ride. I ordered the Chile con Queso and the Pollo de Ruiz- a chicken sandwich with green chiles wrapped in a flour tortilla. I don’t know what I was thinking but when I ordered I had thought Chile con Queso was beef chili with cheese on top. I was very disappointed when I realized it was actually nacho cheese. =(
I had seen frito pie everywhere and wanted to try one so when we got to the airport and found that nobody had beef chili or chili con carne, I bought the frito pie. It wasn’t like the ones that I had growing up in Oklahoma but it was still really good. I’m sure it was horribly bad for me though as the orange oil started seeping out of the food and formed a puddle on the edges of pie. The kind I had when I was a kid had beef chili on top of a bed of frito chips and topped with sour cream and cheese. This one had frito chips, topped with beef and beans, red chile sauce and cheese. Very tasty nonetheless and a perfect way to end our New Mexico trip.
May 22, 2008
I’m so happy! My vine has not flowered for me for over a year. It was flowering when I bought it and after the initial batch of flowers, went into hibernation and did not flower again. A few weeks ago, it started budding all over the place and I’ve been watching this one bud for almost three weeks and it just popped open! Oh, happy day!
Here’s a much better picture of the vine taken by my boyfriend last year.
Pinwheel Farm 
