I've made a neat pile. Does that count? It's a start anyway. It's important to recognise the small steps, right?
So I'll do some news instead.
Steeked Jacket
I'm happy to announce I've finally cast on the first steeked jacket sleeve. It is now an official WIP. I've only done the hem, admittedly, but already I'm feeling the passion is back. And how could it not be when you consider the hem for the body took me at least 10 days and the hem for the sleeve was completed in an evening. I'm gonna like this part. That effectively means I have two different sleeves on the go, Mariah and now the steeked jacket. They're so very different, it'll provide a nice change of pace.
Contest for the blogiversary
I haven't forgotten my blogiversary contest. It closed officially on April 14 but because I'm so slack, I'm going to just include anyone who left a comment in April. I'll get to it this weekend, I believe. Then there shall be goodies purchased for some lucky person.
Sean's Pork Marinade
For those of you who were keen to try Sean's pork rib marinade, he finally coughed up the recipe. It's adapted from Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion - the recipe for Char-siu style pork and he said to say that all measurements are approximate only, depending on how many ribs you're working with. If, like us, you cook a lot of Asian food, then you'll have lots of this stuff to hand. If not, it might be expensive to get all the sauces but so worth it! Otherwise, it's just indicative of the kinds of flavours he went for. The point is it's meant to be sweet, but not too sweet.
1 cup Kecap Manis (sweet soy sauce)
1/2 cup black vinegar
1 tbs Mirin
1/4 cup honey
1tbs hoisin sauce
2tbs mushroom soy sauce (regular would be fine)
2-3 cloves garlic finely chopped
1tbs ginger, finely choppped
2 tsp cinnamon, ground
Pinch of 5 spice powder
Let the ribs marinate over night and then, while they're baking in a moderate oven, reduce the marinade down to about 1/3 of the original amount. Pour a little over the ribs before serving. Yum!
Lulu the Latvian Sock Puppet
If you enjoyed reading about the adventures of Lulu in my blog post of last week, you can see more of her over at Jejune's blog. She drinks. She steals wool (koigu, no less!). And now it appears she's gone and got piercings! She's quite the character.
Have a good weekend everyone. I'll be busy baking something for our Nigella blog. RoseRed has recently added some delicious looking American pancakes. Can the American readers confirm if these are, in fact, what you think of as pancakes? It's like I've always wondered if our idea of French toast is actually French....hmmm, something to ponder.
Bells
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