All Purpose

So its a new year already and I didnt really get a chance to reflect on the the last one.

I guess there might be something to that though, Im actually thinking that this year Im not going to think about resolutions per se. I think Im just going to wing it.

The only things Im really focused on this year are getting the house built and getting a new job. I think, maybe, I can handle that.

Ill have a crafting and reading 2011 wrap up out soon!

No Comments | In: life, resolutions | tags: 2011, 2012. | #

I’ve got some experiments to catch on…

First, I made my own chicken stock a few weeks ago and it turned out pretty great I think!

I also made carnitas! I got the idea here, and boy they turned out great. It took a lot longer to get the the liquid cooked off, but I did accidentally stir it during the first couple of hours. I will definitely be making this again soon.

I also wanted to make homemade tortillas, but that was a bust. I made them too wet and couldn’t get them to come out of the tortilla press, even with saran wrap everywhere. So good thing we had our winter mainstay in stock.

1 Comment | In: baking, cooking, experiments | tags: carnitas, chicken, pork, stock, tortillas. | #

I’m happy to report that I have finally finished the last of commissioned weaving pieces. I got a bunch of these from Rav a while back and I have finished the last one today (still have to dry and do the fringe, but weaving done)! So happy to have these done. I was clipping along and then work got really busy so I couldn’t weave during my work from home days and that slowed everything down.

I also finished a sweater this week, but I’ve decided to rip it back a little and make it a little longer so that’ll have to wait for another day. Here’s a progress shot though from like a month ago.

No Comments | In: finished object, knitting, weaving, work in progress | tags: commissions, finished object, work in progress. | #

I thought it would be nice to start doing a couple of regular (weekly) posts about specific topics, and I noticed one of my friends does a weekly round up of what she’s reading and that seems like a great idea, so I’m totally copying her.

So this week I’m reading Keeper of Lost Causes and I’m hoping to finish it by the end of the week. It’s gotten great reviews from all my Good Reads friends so I’m excited to get into it.

I’ve also started but put on hold Darling Jim because it’s not due until later in December.

I just picked up I Am Half-Sick of Shadows from the library and I’m dying to start this so I’ll probably read this next after Darling Jim. I truly love the Flavia de Luce series and highly recommend it.

No Comments | In: good reads | | #

So it’s been a few weeks, sorry about that but I really will be making an effort to post here once a week. It should help keep me accountable for all my post 9 to 5 activities.

So what’s going on right now is we’re creeping ever closer to the demolition/construction of the house. We have a builder, but we need to finalize and sign the contract, but first we need him to look over our last changes to the plans and update his bid and then I’m sure we may need to revise some things after that to ensure the budget is in good shape. So we’ve got those three steps and we’re also trying to get the loan process started and going as quickly as possible.

Then there’s the whole where are we going to live during all this situation. We actually have a really good prospect that’s literally right around the corner from us, but we’ll have to see if the timing works out. If it does work out then we’ll definitely need some storage since the house is 200 sq ft smaller than our current house, but at least we’ll be close to the house during the build and can keep an eye on things.

I’m also really trying to get serious about this whole idea of a craft based business. I had pledged that I would begin working on my craft work if my regular work was slow and I started that and have taken it very seriously, but I got pretty busy at work from late October until this week really so I have only been able to make a few jewelry pieces so far.

On the weaving front I got 5 commissions from Ravelry and when I’m done with those I can do a few more pieces for the store opening.

I’m hoping to launch the store in mid December, maybe. I don’t really know how much stuff I need to start with so I’m kind of at a loss.

I’m feeling really low energy now that Thanksgiving is over. I know I need to finish this last commission and start making more jewelry. I have a ton of ideas for other accessories that would be quick for me to make, but I’m just. Blah. I will plow through though, I’m sure it may just take me a little longer to finish this last scarf. Then on to my own ideas, which will be much more exciting!

The one thing I am motivated about is cooking more and changing my diet. I have decided to try “clean” eating, and really it’s not a big stretch for me since we don’t eat a ton of processed stuff, but since I seem to still have lingering issues with some foods and I’ve been told I need to cleanse again and retest every season to get to the root of my ongoing allergy issues I figured this would be a good stepping stone and then if I find food issues hopefully I’ll be better equipped to deal with them if I’m already basically making most stuff myself. I think going off the refined sugar will be good for me too.

So one change is that I’m going to start eating a salad for lunch every day. I’ve decided to try the Salad in a Jar approach. I don’t have a FoodSaver (yet) though and I need to make my meals for work as grab and go as possible so I’ll be using some tips I picked up over at the Big Red Kitchen as well. I did pretty well this week and had salad 3 out of 4 days since I decided to start this on Tuesday.

I also decided to make my own chicken stock for the first time. This is a key point in clean eating, to make your own stuff so you control the ingredients and I’ve been thinking I should do this for a long time. I mean I eat a roasted chicken like every week so seriously I should be making my own stock. In fact I should have done a post just about this since it is an experiment in the kitchen. I’m rusty with this whole blogging thing I guess. I’ll get better though.

No Comments | In: cooking, experiments, life, ravelry, tangledart, weaving | | #

One of the things I have gone nuts for is weaving.  I took a class at HCW in May 2010 and I got my loom (Kromski Harp 24″) in June or July from ebay.  Then I added a stand at xmas and I’ve recently purchased a used Schacht Cricket (10″) as a secondary loom.

Weaving is so much fun, and I still have so much to learn still, but I think I have made some pretty stuff so far.

I am totally serious about trying to make some sort of business from weaving. It may not ever be something I do full time (though I can dream, right?), but I’m going to give it a try. I would really love to eventually invest in a serious table or floor loom, maybe once the house is done next year.

No Comments | In: finished object, weaving | | #

Hi. I know it’s been a while. I’ve had a crazy year. It went something like this:

• Quit my job
• Relaxed
• Traveled
• Went to Yoga
• Cooked
• Read
• Knitted
• Learned to weave (or did I do that before??)
• Started a new novel for NaNoWriMo 2010, but then…
• Started a chocolate truffle business so didn’t finish
• Worked on my feet for a few months making and selling chocolates
• Decided 2011 is the year we build a new house
• Put the truffle business on hiatus
• Got a “real” job
• Started a jewelry/weaving business on the side

So lots of changes are coming to the House of Q as 2011 moves towards 2012.  We are on track to hopefully start our tear down in November.  It so exciting to think about having a brand new, twice as big house. I don’t want to jinx it so I won’t talk too much about it until we get our freakin’ loan.

I started working as a contractor at a large semi-conductor company which I won’t name here.  I’m doing content management, which really means keeping stuff on the website up to date using Sharepoint.  Good times.  It’s very different from UT and it’s been a serious adjustment.  It has some good and bad points.  I really love that I get 2 days a week to work from home!  But there are some cons as well.  Time will tell if this is the place for me.

I’m getting ready to launch a new business making jewelry and selling my weaving, I’m not quite ready yet though, so more on that later.

I’ve read 76 books so far this year and I’ve even started a book review blog, though I’m already woefully behind on it.  I’m not sure my reviews are very good since I’m a little rusty on writing them, but hopefully I’ll improve.

As always, I’m knitting and I have finished 23 projects since I last blogged.  I’ll do a post with some highlights soon.

My experiments in the kitchen were pretty much confined to truffles, but M and I made Easter pies on our own this year and they turned out great.

So that’s the update. I should be posting on a regular basis now, hopefully at least once a week and hopefully it’ll be cooling down soon so more cooking/baking related posts will be possible.

No Comments | In: life | | #

I can’t believe I’m on my last week at work. It did go by pretty fast. I’m winding things down now, finishing up the last few things, packing my office, doing errands on campus and then I’ll be done. YAY!

In other news, I’ve been able to add a bunch of new things since gluten, namely eggs and citrus. So of course I needed to make something to celebrate having citrus in my life.

I went for another Smitten Kitchen recipe, one I’ve done many times, the wonderful Margarita Cookies. I always get raves when I make these, they are simple, sound fancy and taste delicious.

I think this is basically a shortbread type cookie and you add lime and orange zest along with tequila and then you roll the dough in a sugar and sea salt mixture before baking and it’s the perfect combo of salty, sweet and tart.

Probably the hardest part of this recipe is rolling the dough into a log, but my laziness has helped me find an easy way to do even that.

Of course mine is not uniformly shaped, but it’s still yummy. Now it’s ready to be rolled in the sugar and salt mixture.

Then you slice and bake. You could totally make these and wrap them up pretty (in log form) with baking instruction and give them as gifts.

So citrus? Passed the test.

No Comments | In: baking, life | | #

So I’ve been doing this cleanse thing since the beginning of May. It’s been very interesting and challenging. Basically, I spent a week eating veggies, fruit, and select grains while drinking green juice every day. Then the real work began and one by one I began adding foods back into my diet to test. It’s two months later and I’m still not finished with my reintegration stage. I’ve got several key things back into my diet (dairy, fish, chicken, turkey, tomatoes, nuts, garlic), but I’ve still got a lot of stuff left to test and I’ve got some things that didn’t work out so well.

Anyway, I realized (too late) that this would be have been good blog fodder but I had a lot going on and missed that opportunity. I will try to document the things I have left to test though since I still do have a ways to go and it feels as though the process has gotten murky lately

So I added gluten (second try) on Tuesday and my first meal was cooked greens (stir fried in olive oil with garlic and olives) with whole wheat orzo and finished with a dusting of parmesan. It was delicious, but I was looking for something else.

The day before I added gluten I happened to surf on over to Smitten Kitchen and see her recipe for Cherry Pie Crumble and I knew I wanted to make that during my gluten test. So I made the crust on Tuesday night and then after procuring a cherry/olive pitter from Target I made the pie last night.

Normally, since I’m still on the cleanse, I would have substituted the sugar with agave but since I haven’t done any baking in forever and I’ve never baked with agave I decided to just go with the recipe. In hindsight, I should have gotten some raw, organic sugar at least to use since it’s less processed and I know that refined sugar can sometimes be processed with corn syrup and corn is a big no-no for me (it failed its test big time).

I also could not find sour cherries, perhaps this is an East coast thing? I got regular cherries and cut the sugar I used in the filling to a little over 1/4 of a cup. I also used arrowroot instead of corn starch.

I also cut the sugar used in the crumble in half, since I was trying to mitigate the use of sugar and any side effects it might have.

Overall, it turned out really good, it had a nice cherry flavor without being too sweet and the crust was awesome (I did use the vodka trick). When I cut into it it was a bit messier than I wanted, but I may not have let it cool enough or maybe the arrowroot didn’t thicken as much as cornstarch would (more experiments needed).

I did miss at least one pit though, I think I’d probably be eliminated from Top Chef for this, but hey I wouldn’t complain about making a dessert.

No Comments | In: baking, experiments | tags: cherry, cleanse, gluten, pie. | #

So I’ve done it. I took the first step and gave notice at my job yesterday. While I am a little nervous about what the future holds, I am also relieved beyond belief that my time here is coming to an end in 3.5 weeks.

I will be taking a break from work for 6 months and then I will figure out what I want to do. What will I do in the meantime though? I will read, cook, bake, write, garden, knit, do yoga, run, walk, swim, rest and hopefully heal.

Wish me luck!

2 Comments | In: 9to5 | tags: job, moving on, quit. | #