Travel: Vancouver

Grub:

CREATIVE CURRIES, courtesy of The New York Times
Mark Bittman, a food columnist and blogger for The Times, once called Vij’s “among the finest Indian restaurants in the world.” It’s certainly among the more expensive. For a cheaper thrill, pop in next door to its colorful sister, Vij’s Rangoli (1488 West 11th Avenue; 604-736-5711; vijsrangoli.ca), which looks like a takeout diner. Memorable combinations include a goat meat and jackfruit curry with a coconut cabbage salad (15.50 Canadian dollars).

We might be taking Big Boy to Vancouver.

Highlights at Travel for Kids.
Find Family Fun has a huge, hot-linked list.
Granville Island - they have a Kids Market and an Adventure Zone.
Kid Space at Science World
Vancouver Aquarium - and you can "encounter" some of the residents for a fee

The suites at 910 Beach have in suite washers/dryers!

Toy Rentals
Wee Travel equipment rentals

Embroidery / Mending

I decided to finally stop just reading and thinking about embroidery and actually start practicing some embroidery.

Instead of generating a sampler that would need to be hung, I decided to practice on something at hand and in use. My older tea towels have developed some mysterious holes in them (moths, buckshot?) so I decided to start with buttonholing those. I really like the amoebae effect. And it was fun!

Here is what I have been reading for months in preparation:
The Stitches of Creative Embroidery, by Jacqueline Enthoven
Handbook of Stitches by Grete Petersen and Elsie Svennås.

Grub: Cake Pops

No Merckens or Wilton candy coating handy? No problem! Veronica's Cornucopia suggests using "...real chocolate, add a tablespoon of vegetable shortening or oil per pound or bag of chips (12 oz) and melt them together."

Veronica answers another conundrum of Cake Balls:

Q: I find cake balls too sweet. Is there something I can use besides frosting?

A: Certainly! All you needs is a binder to keep the cake crumbs stuck together when you roll them into balls. I have a co-worker that uses peanut butter in her chocolate cake balls and lemon pie filling in her lemon cake balls. Other ideas would be pudding, cream cheese, softened butter, bittersweet or semisweet ganache, sour cream, mayonnaise, jams & jellies. Just be careful and add a little at a time, as many of these would go further than frosting and you probably wouldn’t need very much.

If you don’t want to add anything, here’s what you do: make my favorite chocolate cake, process it to crumbs in the food processor and then wad up balls of the crumbs and roll! This particular recipe sticks together with nothing added! The pops end up tasting more like cake than candy, although the texture is still more dense since the crumbs are compacted.

How to make Cake Pops at Bakerella, of course!

And now, courtesy of Aubrey & Lindsay, how to make "cake pops" faster using (more) delicious Timbits!

Decorated paper straws at The Sugar Diva.
Lollipop sticks at Amazon.
Candy coating at Amazon.
Edible Ink pens at Amazon.
Cake Pop tags for the sticks by Bakerella.

Ou, si vous préférez macarons ...
Macaron Pops by Bakerella.

Duchesse brisée

I love chaises, daybeds, ktl.
Current favourite: a duchesse brisée

A history at Design Boom.

Lexicology

06.ii.12
Duchesse brisée - this word is used, when the chaise longue is divided in two parts : the chair and a long footstool. Or two chairs with a stool in between them.[2] The origin of the name is unknown.

30.i.12
Blixa... wonderful name of Lisa's cat

21.xii.11
Paquerette... as an alternate to Maguerite des prés

13.v.11
casse-couilles, courtesy of Tibiloo

25.iii.11
Bathymetry, courtesy of Crafterall

25.i.11
luxemburgerli ... est le même que macarons

23.i.11
Bunga Bunga, courtesy of Silvio Berlusconi

11.vii.10
Magdalena Squalor from Michelle Tea's Valencia ... now that's a name!
Vuvuzela courtesy of FIFA 2010

03.vii.10
la salopette
les taches d'herbes
bigoudis
Rubirosa