Amigurumi Menagerie

One year of residency in Orange County is over and done, and I'm all moved back to the bay area.  

It was an amazing year, and I can't thank my mentors enough for all I have learned.

During my rare moments of leisure this past year, I took up crocheting amigurumi.  Here is my growing menagerie.  I found great patterns at ravelry.com

Momo's Christmas Gift

I have noticed over the past 6 months being down in southern california, that Momo seemed to be doing better health-wise (less coughing, regurgitation). I thought..hmm...maybe it's the weather :). But truthfully, I had a suspicion that his megaesophagus possibly self-resolved, so over the Christmas holiday I took him to the vet to get updated x-rays. As suspected, his esophagus is better!

This of course means I feel much less concerned about giving him treats because I don't have to worry about elevating him when he eats (he's not complainin' either). Such a nice Christmas present for my little monster!

Experimenting with Molecular Gastronomy

Chris and I recently watched some videos about El Bulli, Ferran Adria, and the avant garde food movement. Chris got pretty excited and wanted to try making some dishes, despite never having any interest in cooking before. I think it's the chemistry-like appeal that got to him.

So, for Christmas I bought him a molecular gastronomy kit. We decided to give it a whirl today!

Molecular egg (Mango puree yolk, milk and vanilla yogurt egg-white):

Arugula Pasta and Balsamic Vinegar Spheres with a Caprese Salad:

In the end, it all looked better than it tasted, but it was a valiant first effort. We came to the conclusion that the recipes that came with the kit were simply for technique, and we'll have to work on flavor on our own. We'll definitely be trying some new dishes soon!

Adventures in Amigurumi

My first attempt at amigurumi crochet! The pattern is free online and really simple, and I think it came out really cute. I've missed knitting and crochet :)

Free Pattern Here

Unprocessed 1 month mark

Well, the month has gone by, and though it was not a walk in the park, I feel I'm better off for sticking to it. I guess the challenge from here on out is to limit all those nasty foods as frequently as reasonably possible.

Time to go make my celebratory dinner! :)

Unprocessed Day 25

This past week I traveled to Boston for an annual optometry meeting, and thought to myself that being in a situation where I am unable to cook my own food would make sticking to my unprocessed challenge nearly impossible.

So, I put my challenge on hiatius and decided to resume once I was back home. In lieu of totally avoiding unprocessed foods, I simply attempted to make mindful choices about what I ate as much as possible. Tried to pick healthy items off the menu, though admittedly I did splurge on a cup of homemade butterscotch swirl ice cream (holy crap was it delicious!)

Anyhow, back home now, and back on track. Only about 1.5 weeks to go!

Unprocessed Day 15

For the love of steaming...

Tier 1: Homemade chawanmushi (Japanese steamed egg) - one of my favorite things to eat!

Tier 2: Green onion buns

Tier 3: Lid!

My mom used to make this for me at home, so I'm really glad I got the recipe from her. The trick is to strain the eggs, which makes them silky smooth!