Bakudanyaki

In lieu of actual posting on crochet... I'll talk about food, since I'm eating out a lot at some familiar places and some new places in Vancouver.   Today, after I got a haircut, I popped over to Tenku since it was close-ish.  It's Japanese street food that consists of a ramen truck, a temaki truck and a bakudanyaki truck.  Really, at $5 a pop I thought it was a bit pricey and was worried it would be like Japadog - too much hype but ultimately a disappointment.

Nevertheless I headed over, and they have pretty good customer service.  The cooks were actually standing around talking outside since it was afternoon on a weekday and I'm guessing not much business.  When I walked over and looked at the bakudanyaki they stopped their conversation and asked me for my order.  And within 5 minutes of me ordering, it was cooked.

The packaging was quite durable and cute and functional; it was a "stereotypical Chinese takeout box" (which I haven't actually ever seen a Chinese restaurant use), they slid napkins and chopsticks into slots on the outside of the box, and the box survived a 1 hour transit trip.    

Anyway!  Food!  I got an original seafood bakudanyaki.  It was an oval shape about 9cm by 7 cm by 7 cm (the box is not square so I figure it got deformed), nicely brown on the outside and smothered in mayo, soy sauce and seaweed.  I was surprised to find no bonito...maybe they forgot.  I'm impressed by the filling.  I pulled out a large piece of cuttlefish, a prawn (marks off for not deveining properly), half of a perfectly cooked egg (the yolk was not overcooked), and various pieces of potato.  The batter also had julienned carrots and corn. 

Overall it was quite good, and I'm full (granted I don't eat a lot).  I'd probably buy it as an occasional treat but I'm only about 80% convinced it's worth $5.  

Macarons

I know, I know it`s not a crochet post. I`ve been crocheting, but mostly functional items (scarves, hats, gloves, etc) which aren`t super pretty to photograph.

Today I just spent the afternoon making macarons...about 4 dozen shells in total. Amazing considering I only used two egg whites. Recipe below:

Awesome macaron step-by-step/

There are a lot of strange shapes due to this being my first time using a piping bag. I got so excited when I saw the little feet though! Sadly the macarons are hollow. I`m afraid it might be a temp thing... my oven is probably as old as the house (50 years) and really bad at maintaining a steady temperature. I love the almond flavor and I find it gets stronger if I let them bake a little bit longer (8-10 minutes instead of 6-7 minutes).

I do need to cut out the sugar...maybe by half. So skip the sugar in the almond mixture. I have a sweet tooth but it is still way too sweet for me. Whipped up a green tea custard for filling but it`s still too sweet. Dad suggested coffee. I`ll have to try it when I`m less tired and not talking in fragmented sentences.

Angelic Sheep + Punk Sheep + Totoro (again)

Well, the pain of studying is really kicking in now.  I did get a chance the other day to snap some photos of the sheep though, as well as a new tiny white Totoro I made last weekend.

Still no etsy.  If the conversion rate for the day is 0.96 USD = 1 CDN... Visa gives me 0.92 or 0.93 USD.  It's not that bad I guess.  But I say that only because the exchange rate is pretty high right now.

Angelic mama and angelic baby

These two were one of the first sheep I ever made.  It doesn't take long to crochet, but there's so many parts that it takes a while to sew together.  They're rather understuffed, so I'll need to take them apart some day and put in some more stuffing.


I'm not really sure why I'm calling them angelic sheep, apart from that they're white.  It's a rather fanciful (but adorable) image - fuzzy sheep with a glowing halo and little wings.  The feedback I've gotten about these ones was that they're cute and good for traveling but not super cuddly.  I'll have to think about rewriting the pattern and making a bigger one. 

Punk sheep, in your face

Then there's punk sheep.  I only call him that because his fur is sticking up everywhere and his bangs are rather askew.  Despite his messy, stand-offish appearance (and his general dislike of other sheep), he's really quite cute and kind. 

Then there's the totoro.  He looks quite at home under the trees and keeping an eye on the people in the little house.  All he's missing is an acorn (it IS acorn season but I don't want a squirrel running off with acorn + totoro).


I've actually finished off the blue totoro.  I'm not completely satisfied with the way he turned out so I haven't gotten a photo of him yet.


Both totoros were made using heaven-hellcat's pattern.  Take a look at my first totor post for the link.

Back to School

The last month of summer has been crazy busy, so I must admit I haven't updated my blog in a timely manner. That and I can't find my toy fences for a photoshoot - I have a suspicion they were donated to charity.

A few days after I last posted, I went for three crazy days at Anime Evolution.  It was hot, a lot of walking, and a lot of photographing awesome cosplayers.  While we were there, we attended an amigurumi panel hosted by the author of Nerdigurumi.  The panel was pretty crowded but still lots of fun.  Thanks to that, I figured out where to get acrylic safety eyes and how to do invisible decrease.  From the materials at her workshop, I made a little purple bunny. 

Moody bunny!

I have been crocheting, but mostly thinking up new designs and making gifts for friends. It's that time of year when everyone starts packing and getting ready to move back onto their university campus. Last days of talking, laughing, hanging out and being crazy. So I made this cupcake for my friend RW before she leaves. I'm not 100% satisfied with the design, but it's pretty cute.

I need a smaller plate...

Apart from a busy month, I've been considering opening an Etsy shop.  It could take a while to get everything made and set up, but hopefully it'll get done soon.

I only like hippopotamuses, and hippopotamuses like me too~

....Is that a caterpillar?

Telus's advertisements can be spotted a mile away.  Usually it features an adorable baby animal on a plain white background.  A while back, they ran a hippopotamus ad with a super catchy song -- "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas".  I think there was also a lot of controversy afterwards for how the animal was treated.  At any rate, I'm reminded of that commercial every time I see a hippopotamus.

I want to play in a mud hole... 

This is another of Tamie Snow's patterns.  (See this for more information.)  I modified her feet pattern to make smaller arms.

Materials:
Bernat Softee Chunky yarn in Grey Heather
3.5 mm hook
6 mm safety eyes
Black thread + needle
Polyfill

Corn on the cob

Ever since I can remember, we have had a garden in the backyard in the summer.  Usually we grew squash, tomatoes and beans.  This year, we tried growing corn for the first time.  It was exciting!  The corn grew about knee high before starting to flower.  In the end, each plant only grew less than 5 feet high and put out 2-3 cobs.  The cobs aren't very big but they are delicious.  

Probably the hardest part of growing corn is figuring out when to pick it.  Despite websites suggesting to wait until all the silk is dry and withdrawn into the cob, I ended up relying on slugs!  Usually when the silk has been gnawed off, it's ready to pick.  I haven't tried opening up the husk to see if it's ready before picking yet, mostly because I'm not convinced rubber bands will keep pests out if the corn isn't ripe.  These days, I'm more worried about the corn being overripe.  

The perfect ear

To celebrate the ripening of corn, I wrote my second pattern with much trouble and editing.  It took me 2-3 days to get the pattern written and the corn made.  

And then I thought, the best thing for overripe corn was...

...popcorn!

As delicious as kettle corn is, I think I'd prefer to eat the corn fresh.  And I wonder if amigurumi without eyes is still called amigurumi?  Popcorn with eyes is really creepy so I left it out this time.

Materials: 

2.5 mm hook 

Loops and Threads Impeccables in Butterscotch

Red Heart Super Saver (worsted/medium) in Tea Leaf

Unknown cream colored yarn for popcorn (worsted/medium)

Polyfill for stuffing

Just like ships, we float through each others' lives...

Thinking back on today, I'm reminded of this song by the Umbrellas.  It was a peaceful walk on the seawall today with my friend SS.  We didn't talk much, which was a little bit of a surprise, but I don't think either of us minded.  It was fun picking up tiny little crabs and searching for sea glass amidst the debris.  We found a piece of glass with the word "FOOD" on it... I wonder what it's from?

Afterwards we went to Santouka Ramen - no photos because I was too hungry and it was too dark inside.  There was a line at 1:30 despite it being a Tuesday. The miso ramen was satisfying and enough to make me full; people have complained the portions are too small but I suppose I don't eat much.  The broth was rich, albeit a little salty - there was soft perfect pork, wood ear fungus, bamboo shoots, a chunk of kamaboko and chopped green onion garnish.

But anyway!  There were lots of wildlife out today at the park.  A set of three cormorants preened on a log (they seemed to have not moved in the three hours it took us to wander along the wall and back).  There were small ducks in a pond but seemed to have been chased away by a flock of Canada geese.  There was also a heron, and surprisingly, an intelligent and curious harbor seal that swam in close to the wall and looked around before disappearing.  They don't usually come so close in so I was surprised - it was only about five feet away.  But the oddest thing was perhaps this little guy: 

Why isn't there any ice...? 

Truth be told, he was getting rather unhappy at the bottom of my bag!  So he gladly sat in the sun for a few minutes while SS and I snapped shots of him.

I feel tiny!
(Photo credit: SS)

Edit [8/4/2010]
I remembered as a little kid, I used to watch this claymation short on television.  It was called Pingu.  I haven't seen it on TV in a while and I wiki-ed it to find out that the series ended.  The little guy I made looks more like Pinga (Pingu's little sister) than the troublemaking Pingu though.

Pattern Credit: 

This is made from a pattern in Tamie Snow's book, Tiny Yarn Animals.  You can check out her website here.

Materials: 

3.5 mm hook 

cream yarn (worsted medium - unknown brand)

black yarn (worsted medium - unknown brand but 100% acrylic)

Bernat Softee Chunky yarn in Grey Heather

~4 oz beanbag filling (aka polyester beads)

A small amount of polyfill for the head and wings

9 mm safety eyes