creative

Noah’s Knits by Fiona Goble

 in Book Reviews / Books / Hot Off The Press by

Hot off the press is this new book Noah’s Knits by Fiona Goble.  Long time readers of this blog will know that we love Fiona Goble (Here, Here, and Here). She is a really creative lady (just check out ALL the crafty books she has written), and handy with the knitting needles and appears to want to create little worlds in wool. However, even though she has been featured before we haven’t actually reviewed one of her books until today.

This is a charming little book (80 pages) with the story of Noah and the animals and 16 knitted projects, very helpful instructions showing you how to knit, change wool color, turn around, finish your little piece and add embellishments and finishing touches. The back of the book has an Ark with opening doors and ramp so you can set your animals out for display. How cool is that!!! Interspersed with the patterns is the story of Noah and his Ark and his poor long suffering wife, Mrs. Noah. Animals you can knit include African elephants and lions, Arctic polar bears and penguins and regular barnyard creatures like goats and pigs. As each of the projects is small they should be able to be completed relatively quickly…….of course this depends on knitting ability. Full disclosure – this review is of the book, not the accuracy of the patterns. As it will take a little time to organize time to attempt some of these projects you will have to wait a bit for this!!

With summer just around the corner (for readers in the Norther Hemisphere) this might just be the perfect project for those lazy days. What do you think???

Just in case you aren’t sure if knitting is cool enough for you, just check this out and see what an “in” thing it is!!!!

A Chinese New Year at My House!!!

 in Fun / Interesting by

Well we don’t go full-out but we do eat some yummy food and spend time together and bring good luck for the year. So this year we decided to make some really good dumplings and a great beef main course.

What went into the dumplings - chicken, cabbage, cilantro, lemongrass, chives, finer, garlic, and egg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we put the mixture into some wonton wrappers.

Wonton Wrappers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
The we had some dumplings. 🙂

Our completed dumplings - ready to be cooked

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our main meal was Sichuan Beef with Citrus Peel which the family unanimously give a 5 out of 5.

Beef strips were marinading

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was also tangerines, and tangerine peels in it.

Peeled and prepared tangerines

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And you may be asking yourself, what was my cat doing during all of this (no your probably weren’t, but I just had to share a photo of my cat since I haven’t in a while). Well here he is.

My little Merlin sleeping through all the action 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course he slept through the entire thing…being a cat and all.

So now I am going to share the recipes with you.

Lemongrass Chicken Dumplings

Knead 1 pound ground chicken with 1 cup finely shredded napa cabbage, 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, 2 tablespoons finely grated lemongrass, 2 tablespoons snipped chives, 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger, 1 minced garlic clove, 1 beaten egg and 1 teaspoon kosher salt.

Put 1 teaspoon of the mixture in the center of 1 wonton wrapper (directions on closing wrapper on package usually). If it does not say how to close it, you put water around all the edges, more is better, Then you pinch it closed in any way you can to seal the edges.

In a nonstick skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil. Arrange half of the dumplings in the skillet, pleated edge up. Cook over high heat until the bottoms are lightly browned, 2 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of water, cover and cook until the filling is cooked through, 5 minutes (watch this step because the bottoms blacken easily)(watch dumplings all the time). Uncover and cook until the bottoms are well browned, 1 minute; transfer to a place. Cook the remaining dumplings and serve.

You can make these dumplings ahead and freeze then.

Freeze the uncooked dumplings on a floured baking sheet. Store in a place bag for up to one month. Cook from frozen.

– From Food & Wine – May 2010 edition  – pg 48

Sichuan Beef with Citrus Peel

Marinade

1 1/2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon cornstarch

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12 ounces flank steak, thinly sliced diagonally

Sauce

3 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon chile garlic sauce

********************

2 tablespoons cooking oil
4 small dried red chiles
4 green onions, cut diagonally into 2-inc lengths
orange segments

Soak the tangerine peel in warm water to cover until softened, about 15 minutes. Reserve the tangerine peel soaking liquid. Scrape and discard the white pith from the back of the peel. Cut the peel into thin strips.

In a bowl, combine the marinade ingredients and 2 tablespoons of the reserved tangerine peel soaking liquid. Add the beep and stir to coat. Let stand for 30 minutes. Combine the sauce ingredients in a bowl.

Place a wok or wide frying pan over high heat until hot. Add 1 tablespoon of the oil, swirling to coat the sides. Add the chiles and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 10 seconds. Add the beef and stir-fry until barely pink, about 2 minutes. Remove the beef and chiles from the wok.

Add the remaining oil to the wok, swirling to coat the sides. Add the tangerine peel and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the green onions and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the sauce and cook, stirring, until the sauce boils and thickens. Return the beef and chiles to the wok; mix well. Place on serving patter and garnish with the orange segments.

– From Martin Yan’s Invitation to Chinese Cooking Cookbook

We finished off the evening with some Coconut Ice Cream and boohoo, no Fortune Cookies (thanks Whole Foods for not selling them) 🙁

But the food was great and we kicked off the Year of the Dragon with great style.

How did you bring in the Chinese New Year????????

Toads and Diamonds by Heather Tomlinson

 in Blog Events / Fantasy / Fiction / Young Adult by

 

I took park in a book blog event called Nerds Heart YA . What it is is that books that were written in 2011 and were overlooked are chosen for this competition. The books have to fall under the following categories.

  • Person(s) of Color (POC)
  • GLBT
  • Disability
  • Mental Illness
  • Religious Lifestyle
  • Lower Socioeconomic Status
  • Plus-size

The two books that were passed on to my division of the contest was Tall Story but Candy Gourlay and Toads and Diamonds by Heather Tomlinson. The Blogger, which I was paired with, was Sam from Parenthetical. After some debating we chose the book to go on to the next round. Our decision was Toads and Diamonds.

Summary

“Set in the fictional Indian land of Hundred Kingdom, Tomlinson’s memorable novel employs magic realism to explore a universal truth: an individual’s gifts and talents are not always as they might seem. Stepsisters Diribani and Tana are blessed by the goddess Naghali-ji in very different ways. When Diribani speaks, flowers and gemstones fall from her mouth. Tana’s talent seems to be more of a curse: she produces frogs and snakes when she talks. While Diribani is held at the opulent court of the Believers, where her every jewel is collected and tallied for the kingdom’s profit, Tana is chased from her village by its snake-fearing residents. Taking on the disguise of a mute stable hand, she returns, and with her unusual abilities, she saves the land…”

*Amazon.com

Review

I have to say that this was quite a good book. The story line was interesting as it was taken from a French fairy tale, which Sam told me. I voted to choose this book as a winner because of the story line. I have never really read a book that is taken off a fairy tale. I have read fairy-tale-like stories but not one taken from an actual fairy tale. It was about these two girls who met a goddess in human form (she was testing them.) One of the girls was gifted with speaking jewels and flowers. The other girl was gifted with speaking toads and snakes. Each thing that the girl got was a gift and a curse. People tied to kill the girl who spoke jewels but jewels can buy riches. The girl who spoke toads and snakes was feared and kicked out of cities but snakes were needed to get rid of insects. Each girl had to learn how what she was given was a gift and a curse. It was a very touching story.

One thing that I did not like though, was that I did not really think that the author described the characters very well. I personally could not picture them in my mind at all. What they were wearing may have been described but what they looked like was not. I could not imagine them. That puts me off a book very much if I cannot imagine what I am reading.

I chose this book over the other one also because Tall Story, I felt, did not go anywhere. It just was kind of boring and did not appeal to me that much.

So, Parenthetical and I have chosen this book to be passed on to the next round in the Nerds Heart YA book blog event. Hopefully the next set of bloggers will like it.

Please check out Parenthetical’s review of Toads and Diamonds.