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

Travel: Santa Rosa

Pacific Coast Air Museum
2230 Becker Blvd.
Santa Rosa, CA 95403
707-575-7900

Things I Would Like/Ought To Do

Get comfortable with the manual setting of my camera
Polish up my French
Spinning ... on spindle or wheel
Travel more but not for work ... to Africa/Asia/Europe.
Wing Chun! ... but sometimes Krav Maga.

Wing Chun might be more" woman-friendly" (i.e., not so dependent on assumed body strengths ... from what I have read, it was developed by a woman to address these very concerns).

RETIRED (and, in some cases, what was I thinking?):
More effective Baby Signing (For the Record: I do it all the time ... my audience seems receptive but not participatory).

Travel: Hamburg

Knuffingen Airport: Kleinster Flughafen der Welt - The world's smallest aeroport in action at the Hamburg aeroport. See it in action here.

Travel Copenhagen

Tivoli Gardens - especially for Biggity

René Redzepi's Noma - excellent article on Noma at The New Yorker.

Gavin - children's clothing

Travel: Charleston

I don't really want to visit Charleston, per se. But I do want to visit Sean Brock's two restaurants, which happen to be there:
Husk
McCrady's

The reason being this excellent article about Sean Brock's cooking at The New Yorker (you may need a subscription to view this).

Lexicilogy: Flora

English-French-Latin names for flowers at Earthly Pursuits

Books To Read

China Miéville's Embassytown - "read" it as an audiobook for reasons of the language

Why you should read it.

15.xii.11 UPDATE: Excellent read. The audio book does a great job of conveying Ariekei Language.

Party Planner

Just a list. Not necessarily in this combination.

Hallelujah! Party in a box:
Amanda Jane Jones's grown up versions of Party in a Box - courtesy of Oh Happy Day!
Acme Party Box Collection
Make it Mine Parties

Themes
All about (oversized) balloons at Design Mom
Dinosaurs at Wants & Wishes - active volcano cakes (recipe here!)

Miscellaneous
Zubbles - coloured bubbles
Origami lidded boxes by Dave Brill

Invitations
Mini Frisbees
A message in a whiffle ball, perhaps?
Inflatable Beach Balls by Silke Stoddard over at the Crafts Department - perfect if the ball idée fixe sticks around.

Decor
Paper Airplane Garland at Armelle - I'd like to see a room-spanning garland like this!
Huge Balloons with streamers from Geronimo! - expensive
Felt Balls from YUMMI Shop - there must be a use for these!
Whiffle garland?
Re-nest's Newspaper Pom Poms
Jordan Ferney's Frilly Streamers at Oh Happy Day!
Origami Waterballs for a Garland at The Hurried Housewife
Tissue Pom Poms by Prost to the Host
DIY Tissue Pom Poms at Martha Stewart
Paper Lollies by Make and Takes
Tissue Paper Garland at Prudent Baby
Fabric Pennants at Form and Reform
Ruffled Streamers at My Paper Crane
Pennant Cupcake Toppers at Fog and Thistle

Favours
DIY Molded crayons and glitter crayons at Mini Eco
Chalkboards by Making It Lovely - she suggests them for New Year's Resolutions.
Molded Crayons from Lil Doodlers
DIY Scratchers at ArtMind - just remember: detergent + metallic paint!
DIY Animal Crackers and Bags at Celebrate Creativity
Superhero lollipops at Zakka Life.
Kick Balls!
Traditional Medallions by Twig & Thistle
Mod Medallions by Alissia Melka-Teichroew
Match Boxes at The Storque
Toys on top of cupcakes = Party favours and toppers
Clown noses
Top Hats
Thaumatropes
Martha's Bouncy Ball Party Favours

Food
Black Dinah Chocolatiers Froglets
Molten Chocolate volcano cakes recipe at Wants and Wishes
Cupcake topper pennants like these at Oh Happy Day
Cupcakes in a Jar at Cakies - a bit mooshed looking ... hmmm. Might rethink the presentation (i.e., shorter jar, no layers?)
Cake Pops
Planetary Cake Pops by Paper, Plate, and Plane - Marbelizing Candy at Wilton.
Inarizushi at Ready-Made
Chirashi by Tea and Cookies
Red Velvet [Cup]Cakes
Popsicles

Activities
Poof Balls at Tops Malibu, courtesy of Oh Happy Day
Dinosaur Egg Hunt at Wants & Wishes - eat the "eggs" afterward!

Costumes
Rabbit Mask

Suprises
Balloons in boxes and out the window at On-Hand + Modern

Christmas Crackers

Ready-Made
Robin Reed - especially their Concerto Crackers!
Tom Smith
Roundup at The Independent - Smythson's sound nice
Wee Birdie's covetable roundup - with links to more!

DIY
Templates by Kate at Minni Eco (more great, and often kid-centric, Mini Eco tutorials here)

Dollhouses: Prêt-a-Porter

Casas de Beltrán - Spanich architecture, refreshingly different from the usual crop

Image by Upon a Fold
A less practical dollhouse but very pretty in all its pristine paper whiteness.

Maileg Mouse Milk Carton House

More Paper:
Kroom's cardboard dollhouse.

Joe Freedman's beautiful but 1/2" scale paper dollhouse.


Wood:
Image by Playsam
Check out the curves on this beauty by Eva Schildt, available from Playsam.
Image by David Lee Design
This is an intriguing design from David Lee Design. Be sure to visit his site for more pictures of it unfolded. It should be available in October. I am waiting to hear back how much it will cost. I am a bit worried about its scale. It seems a bit small for 1:12.
17.xi.10 UPDATE: I read somewhere that this is not 1:12. What a dreadful shame! I believe it is 1:18 or something along those lines.

Image by Our Children's Gorilla
Nice geometry here with punchy colours.
Available from Our Children's Gorilla and other retailers.

Decor:
Image by Chen Karlsson
And if you do not have room for a dollhouse, not even a roombox, you can shell out for this clever display.

Plans:
Betsy McCall Dollhouse No. 150W

Digital:
Online subscription based Digital Dollhouse.

Art:
Heather Benning's giant dollhouse installation.

And I must not forget I still have this hiding on top of the refrigerator. Tsk, tsk.

Sewing Techniques

Tutorials galore at Colette Patterns

Bias Tape

Printable (!!) Bias Tape Makers by The Scientific Seamstress - 1/2" wide single fold bias tape version and 1" wide single-fold bias tape version.

Fastest method I have seen yet at Prudent Baby.

Tutorial at Don't Look Now!

Tutorial at Posie Gets Cosy

And if you cannot find your bias tape maker, here is Creative Little Daisy's tutorial.

Gifts: DIY Food

The Easiest Cookies Ever at Blog Con Queso, courtesy of Design Mom - not very haute cuisine but apparently easy and tasty!

2011 Xmas Toys

Melissa & Doug's Folding Castles - Fold & Go Castle
and the even better Folding Medieval Castle (hmmm, I can see some decorating possiblities there!)
Actual Size by Steve Jenkins

Blog Tips For David, Part Four: Pages

STEP 1: Activate Pages Gadget

Select Design Tab.


Select Add a Gadget.


Select Pages in the new window that appears.


Edit (if you want to) and save.


Save new blog layout. You have enabled Pages for your blog.


STEP 2: Use Pages

1. Select Posting tab and then Edit Pages. Select New Page button.


2. Add anything you want here ... just like a post.
It will live on the new page and not mingle with your regular posts on the home page.

Add text.
Add links.
Add images.

Publish and view page or blog.


3. Here is how it looks:



You can create up to ten pages.

Now when you select Edit Pages, you will see all pages all as icons. You can view, edit, and/or delete them as you wish.


STEP 3: Rename, reorder, delete pages.

1. View Blog; click on crossed screwdriver and wrench icon.


2. You can drag and rearrange the order of the pages, rename them, or hide them here.


3. Remember: to delete a page, visit the Posting tab and then the Edit pages link.