Stamp out Christmas ...

... with kid-face rubber stamps!

These three youngsters are going to be thrilled by their uncle's creative gift of custom stamps from RubberStamps.net. You can have a stamp made out of any black-and-white image. You just get it the right size and upload it as a jpeg or gif. Reportedly these portraits took a bit of Photoshop manipulation before they looked good in black and white.

Ace? Boffo?

Heard on the BBC just now: "The U.S. dollar, also known as a buck, a clam, a bean – as in 'bean counter' – an ace, a boffo."

A boffo?

Can't leech wireless tonight.

Sophie's in the seat.

City sparkle

Sophie has a new toy

Finally got the phone videos to work with YouTube. For some reason I couldn't get sound before. I probably won't put a lot of videos up, but it's nice to know I have the capability.

When I play this video, Sophie cries because she can hear the toy squeaking, yet there is no toy hidden behind the laptop that she can see.

Banh Mi from Ba Le

Continuing the Vietnam theme, again via cellphone, I present the lovely Vietnamese sandwich and iced coffee I am enjoying for dinner at my desk. Yum.

Jest 'be' with you

Strawberry banana smoothie cup from Cowboba. I forgot to take a photo of the sign, darn it. They specialize in American steak and Vietnamese bubble tea ("boba tea") and smoothies.

I've never seen this method of sealing drinks before. I think it may be a little "greener" than the usual snap-on lid, since it uses less plastic. They make the drink, then seal this plastic cover on (using heat?). The straws are cut so they have a sharp point you poke through the plastic.

Blue cheese loaf

This loaf turned out the tastiest so far! Denser crumb, which may be due in part to the smaller pan. I put all the dough in, and it rose to fill the whole thing. The only fault: too much salt on top of it. Best to use a sparing hand with coarse sea salt.

Testing, Proofing

While I've been goofing around all day, another batch of dough has been patiently rising. I'm extending the rise to more than 30 hours, just because. Plus I added blue cheese powder. Bad scientific method, I know, altering two variables at once. But what the hell.

Note the creative use of headlamp . . . My cling wrap never wants to cling, so. The REI thermometer is also good for checking the temp inside the oven, where the dough does its rising. My house is usually around 60, but the oven is more like 70, thanks to the pilot light.

This post is also an experiment, again sent from phone. I am such a geek.

Mmmmm, mojito

The show was fun. Very cute. The mojitos, well, not so great. I used to have a better opinion of Tomayo, but the hostess was rude and my mojito had one mint leaf. One. What's up with that?

I'll be sticking with Cuba Cuba for my mojito needs from now on. I've been there twice in the last month. Kick-ass mojitos and the food is yum, yum, yum.

We couldn't find a decent restaurant downtown that wasn't completely booked or wanting us to wait an hour for a table, so we went to my favorite pho place on Federal instead. No wait, good food, and the tab was a fifth of the bar/appetizer tab.

Mmmmm, pho.

Thanks, Mom!

Some years ago (I'm not saying how many), yours truly was brought into this world. Can't say I remember that first day, but Mom certainly does. Thanks, Mom! I love you!

To celebrate, I'm going to a matinee of "Sweet Charity," starring Molly Ringwald. Should be fun. Then dinner, with mojitos or other tasty concoctions.

Once again it's a lovely day, so I'm going to start with a nice stroll over to the coffee shop for a latte. Cheers!

Blogging on the go!

Well, well. Looks like I can now post photos and text to the blog from my phone. That will certainly make keeping that resolution easy.

(That's a photo of Sophie I sent as a test. She loves her giggling octopus toy. And she hates the camera flash.)

Contemplating a resolution

I've been thinking that it would be good for me to try to post to my blog with greater regularity. My first thought was "Every day!" My second thought was "Are you nuts?" So maybe two or three times a week would be good. At the very minimum, once a week.

A few years back, my Christmas gift to the grandparents was the promise that I'd write to them once a week, and I managed to keep that up pretty well. I'd do it in large type on the computer, and throw in some photos, just like a blog, then print it out and mail it. It didn't take long, but they sure appreciated it.

Regular posting may well be inspired by all the good blogs I've been reading lately. Crazy Aunt Purl, in particular.

Likely Blog Topics:

All About The Knitting I'm Not Doing.

Household Chores I Have Ignored.

Optimal Seating for Wireless Leeching.

Bless me, bloggers, for I have sinned

It's been three months since my last post. Not counting the bread earlier today. Where's the knitting? you ask. Um.

I picked up the evil Sock From Hell a couple of days ago. You know, the brown and orange one that led to my first knitting drought. And I've decided I hate it. I found holes in it that would require substantial ripping out to fix. Every time I look at it, I feel guilty. And mad.

So I'm telling my friend to just forget it. These socks just ain't gonna get knit.

I'm sure she'll understand.

No-knead bread

Like everyone else who saw the no-knead bread recipe that ran last month in the New York Times, I've been a little obsessed, trying variations in flour and toppings. This batch is raisin-cinnamon, baked in a Le Creuset paté terrine (with foil to cover the vent hole and ensure a snug fit of the lid). I cut the dough in half to fit.

Yum!