friday fixations

Happy raisin bread

is happy

current fixations

{fonts} I know that's kinda vague, but there's nothing better than a good font. So it's no surprise, then, that I was very excited about Design*Sponge's Design Your Own Alphabet contest. There were so many amazing fonts, it was really hard to vote. And since I could only pick one there (total bummer), here are my favourites (from each round of voting) that I would have downloaded, like, yesterday: Moss, Dog-Eared, Chesthair Grooming, Loose Knot, Mangy Sasquatch, Clover, Soft Wonder, Bandit, Ribbons,  Peacock, Bachata, Copperprint, Skunkling, and Yarn And Glue.

{pink and orange and gold} When I saw this amazingly styled birthday party, I immediately fell in love with the decorations. I would duplicate the wreaths, pompoms, and fireplace flames. They're all so gorgeously clever. This Christmas would definitely be a pink one if we weren't moving.

{conan} I can't tell you how happy we are that Conan's finally back! I haven't laughed so much during dinner, well, since he left (sorry previous dinner background noise, John Stewart). Conan's also in the best commercial right now. Anytime I see it while fast forwarding, I have to stop and watch it again (and again). Here's the (most awesome) extended version:

 

{fried cheese} We had an official Greek dinner on Sunday (I get the cravings) which involved me desperately trying to fry some calamari (I suck at this) and then trying to fry up some saganaki cheese (which you can pick up at Hellas Foods for pennies) as little appetizers. Usually, saganaki doesn't need anything but some flour and a heat source (I've made it rather successfully on my pancake griddle), but for whatever strange reason, I thought I could plunk it into my hot calamari oil and still get the same lightly brown, crispy result. Nope. It was too hot and thoroughly melted a cheese that's actually pretty hard to melt through conventional methods. So I kinda let it flounder around in there, panicked (like, what else is new?), and threw it in the oven with the fireplace meat to 'keep warm.' Whilst staying warm, it melted down onto the pan and produced the most delicious, crispy cheese pieces evah. And don't even get me started on the crispy melted cheese pieces that came out of the oil. Like, I'm still dreaming about it. (And no; that's not how saganaki's supposed to be done [and it will never be done that way again], but it was a very beneficial [and highly caloric] flub.)

{my old winter farm boots} Yesterday, I made the executive decision that style just didn't matter anymore. Maybe I'm getting old but keeping my feet warm and dry is much higher on my priority list than having cutesy boots. Therefore, faced with the prospect of either a) wearing my super ugly furry camel coloured winter boots (which were bought out of a bad lot of boots in desperation three years ago); b) suffering through the snow with my converse sneakers until I could find more fashionable footwear; or c) wearing my green rubber winter boots (which I only wear to shovel snow off the driveway); I decided to go with the rubber boots. It was only going to be a temporary measure aimed at keeping my feet warm and dry for this one walk. I would continue with my boot-finding quest later. And then, surprise of all surprises, I put the rubber boots on with my skinny jeans tucked in, Idle Husband's warm woolen socks sticking out the top, and the laces tied up (which I've never done before), and suddenly, I felt quite stylish (or rather trendy without trying, like her). Fashion accident! I love them so much dressed up that I'm going to wear these all winter instead of bothering with 'fashionable' boots that neither keep your feet warm nor dry (FYI: I think I got them at Peavey Mart -- over 10 years ago).

{gift guides} I love a well put together holiday gift guide. I kinda go nuts on magazines at this time of year just because I adore looking through simple spreads of cool stuff. I don't think it's the actual stuff I covet, just the overall layout of everything. There's something to be said for good compositions (I definitely need to learn a thing or two on that subject).

{snow shovelling} When it comes time to mow the lawn during the summer, I bitch and complain and put it off until it's obviously weeks overdue, and then I have to mow it twice at different settings just to get it down to looking like a proper lawn again. When it comes time to shovel the snow, I'm anxiously pacing by the window waiting for the flakes to stop so I can get out there and clear it off. I went outside on Wednesday (the first day it started officially sno-wing) just to take out the garbage when I decided to quickly shovel off the porch for Idle Husband; and then I decided to shovel a path to where his car door would end up; and then I decided I might as well shovel the whole driveway; and then I thought I'd do the sidewalk cuz what the hell. Which is all very weird considering snow shovelling is much more work than lawn mowing.

special addition! Idle Husband fixation!

{super meat boy soundtrack} He loves the repetitive gamer music, what can I say? Honestly, though, the soundtrack isn't half bad. Some of the tunes are pretty catchy and addictive (I think the 8-bit ones are super cute). I'm sure this would be appreciated as a man-gift for any gamer in your life (I think it's the perfect stocking stuffer since the whole album is only [a minimum of] $3.99). Stream it here.

from a very snowy day

and just like that, winter realized it had been lacking in the snow department

moving music

Look at me! Packing well ahead of schedule!

Listen to what I'm listening to after the jump!

pumpkin risotto

You would be so surprised to know how damn easy this was. Seriously. I can't even make regular rice. I really can't. I burn it or undercook it or overcook it every single time which is why I invested in a rice cooker last year. Good ol' rice cooker. How did I ever live without you?

I had this crazy idea mostly because I seem to have bought quite a lot of canned pumpkin recently and I don't remember why. I bought some for the pie that much I know, but that recipe didn't even use the whole can. So I used some for an attempt at pumpkin pie granola (epic fail), and I was even able to make some half-assed pumpkin butter with the rest. So I had it finally whittled down to one acceptable jumbo can of pumpkin for just-in-case pumpkin cravings, and then I went and bought another can last week. Why? To keep the first jumbo can of pumpkin company in my pantry, obviously.

As I was trying to think of something clever for vegetarian night (damn, I hate coming up with meatless meals sometimes), it hit me. Pumpkin risotto! I've always wanted to try making risotto. I've enjoyed it at many restaurants. I like rice quite a lot. I just made two batches of chicken stock, so I finally had stock just waiting around to be used for something other than soup. It seemed perfect! (I just realized that the inclusion of chicken stock doesn't make this a vegetarian meal in the true sense of the word. But we are not vegetarians. Our meatless nights more or less translate into no obvious inclusions of meat.)

So I thought I could easily find some sort of recipe for pumpkin risotto, but that search netted me absolutely nothing. Well. Not nothing, but nothing that had canned pumpkin. Oh, take your little sugar pumpkin and cube it and cook it and blah blah. I have two jumbo cans of pumpkin in my cupboard already, and I've never seen a sugar pumpkin in a store ever.

So instead, I consulted Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. He really does tell you how to cook everything. I'm not saying all of the recipes are great (cuz they aren't), but at least you can learn the method for cooking certain dishes which is honestly half the battle for any type of cooking you do.

Now I don't want to toot my own horn or anything, but this was the best risotto I've ever had. And I've only ever had it in restaurants, so I feel like that's really saying something. As with all dinner recipes, this is just a guideline. You may have to add more or less stock depending on the rice you use. Maybe you'd like it cheesier. You may have some vegetables in the fridge you want to use up. Have fun with it. It's only dinner.

Pumpkin Risotto (serves 2 for dinner or more if used as an appetizer)

based on Mark Bittman's vegetable risotto from How to Cook Everything

2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 onion, chopped

1 clove of garlic, chopped

1/2 cup canned pumpkin (I feel like I could have used more)

5 dried shitakii mushrooms, soaked in boiling water until softened, sliced (optional)

1 cup rice (I used jasmine. I think arborio's ideal, but it obviously doesn't matter)

3 cups stock (chicken, beef, vegetable whatever you want), kept at low heat in a pot on the stove

salt and pepper (to taste)

paprika and red pepper flakes (to taste)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup (or more) parmasan cheese (I just used the boring shaker style. I should really buy the real deal next time.)

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium high heat. Add the onion and garlic and saute until soft. Mix in pumpkin and mushrooms (if using). You may need to add an extra tablespoon of oil here (as I did), but if the mixture isn't too dry, you probably don't have to bother. Add rice and stir until completely coated with the oil and pumpkin. A couple minutes of stirring should be fine.

To start, add about 1/2 - 1 cup of stock to the rice and pumpkin mixture (I used a soup ladle to add my hot stock which made the whole process a lot easier). You don't have to stir it continuously, but stir it frequently enough so it doesn't cook to the bottom of the pan. Keep adding stock, a little at a time, just as the last addition is almost completely absorbed into the rice. You don't want the rice to be either thick and sticky or wet and soupy, you want to keep it at a nice creamy consistency. After about 20 minutes, you can start tasting the rice to determine whether it's done, and you can also add your salt and pepper and other spices to taste. I learned from MB that the rice is supposed to be cooked like pasta, a little al dente, as it will continue to soak up liquids even after you stop cooking it. Once you reach the point where you've determined your rice is finished to your liking (soft with a slight bite to it), add the butter and cheese and mix until fully incorporated and melted into creamy goodness. Serve immediately.

there are a lot of maybes in this post

I've been feeling pretty uninspired lately. Maybe it's because I have the move and packing on my mind or maybe it's cuz I haven't been feeling well this week or maybe it's cuz I bit my lip at some point this week and it hurts like crazy and it won't get better and it's totally bumming me out (it really is. I can't even tell you how irritating it's been).

Anyway, I had a moment of inspiration on Wednesday and took out my film SLR and started taking pictures with it again. Since I've been lacking in post ideas this week, I was really really counting on this one idea to completely inspire me, but unfortunately, it's only reminded me that I've forgotten everything (or what little I did know) about taking pictures with that camera.

When I saw the results, I felt completely deflated. I guess feeling professional while using a great camera doesn't necessarily equal professional looking photos.

I scanned all of the pictures into my computer, because I hoped I could fix at least a few of them in Picnik. Let me show you some before and afters.

Aren't those befores terrible? The afters aren't that much better, either, though I think I'm a bit better at manipulating photos than actually taking them.

Now, I'm extra considering taking a photography class (that means I've been considering it a lot this week). I think a lot of my better pictures have only been lucky breaks. So I could really use a course that teaches me how to use a camera rather than just relying on my ol' push some random buttons and hope something turns out well routine. I'd really love to find one that also covers composition. I could totally use some help in that area, too. There are a lot of great courses offered in Edmonton, I just have to find the right one. Right now, there seem to be more digital SLR courses than photography in general. Maybe I should get a digital SLR. Christmas is coming, right?

And I should mention (because there's nothing better going on in this ramble) that those were the first persimmons I've ever bought. I thought I'd be adventurous and try them out. I actually had to look up how to eat one. I really didn't have any idea! I peeled them, and I guess you don't have to, but the skin was a little chewy (and not in a good way). The only thing I'm still unsure about is how soft they're supposed to be. Mine were quite firm, but they were still nice and sweet. I think they'd make a really great jam or chutney. Maybe I'll buy them again. Maybe.