Vstrecha-blog

Colin Meloy — The Bachelor and the Bride You know how on...

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 09:37:18 -0500

Colin Meloy — The Bachelor and the Bride

You know how on American Idol when the judges really like one of the contestants, they’ll say that he/she could sing the phonebook & it would still be amazing? (They do, you can take my word for it.)

I have a sneaking suspicion that Colin Meloy really could sing the phonebook and I would enjoy it.

Happy ~~Thursday~~ Feels Like Friday!

Lady Antebellum — Just a Kiss Who’s got two thumbs...

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 09:38:43 -0500

Lady Antebellum — Just a Kiss

Who’s got two thumbs and is so ready for Concert Season to start? THIS GIRL. Lady A & Darius Rucker on June 8th! Is it too early to start a countdown?

John Michael Montgomery — Life’s a Dance Country...

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:10:28 -0500

John Michael Montgomery — Life’s a Dance

Country throwback! Happy Tuesday!

The Decemberists — January Hymn This fortuitously came up...

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 10:07:13 -0500

The Decemberists — January Hymn

This fortuitously came up on my drive into work today, & I thought it was fitting, given the snow I left behind in Blacksburg and the dusting we got here. Which is almost all melted, apart (of course) from the bit that dusted on my car, then slightly melted and refroze, leaving this sheet of snow-ice that I had to scrape off this AM.

Don’t mind me, i’m just going to go listen to The King is Dead now. And then probably Long Live the King. Please come back to Raleigh soon, y’all.

FO: Hats two ways - Stripey Winter Hat & "Fair Isle" Earflap Hat

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 18:00:05 -0500

I also made a couple of hats as Christmas presents. I really like making hats, since they work up pretty quickly (as compared to say, an afghan or a sweater :)

The first of these was for my sister’s boyfriend, who is (sadly) a Gamecock fan.

Pattern: the hat portion of Galen’s Manly Scarf & Hat
Project: on Ravelry

I worked it up in garnet and dark charcoal, for South Carolina colors. My favorite part about this stitch pattern is how it comes out looking very houndstooth-esque. In better colors, I think this would be cute not only for men. ;)

For another friend, I also worked up this earflap hat in a sort-of “Fair Isle” color pattern.

Pattern: Aspen Ski Hat (Crochet Today! Nov/Dec 2011)
Project: on Ravelry

Funny story, I’d made a hat for this same friend a couple Christmases ago — an earflap hat in a different pattern — and it turned out too small! I felt so bad, I promised him that I’d make him another hat that actually fit, and this Christmas I finally came through. That original earflap hat also gave me somewhat of a complex, so now I’m super careful about how a hat fits. (Which is why the striped hat came out a bit big. Oops.) The good news is, this hat came out perfect!

When I start a project, I usually just go to my LYS and get all new yarn for it, but this Christmas I made a conscious effort to use up the yarn I have already in my stash. I had all of these colors for the Fair Isle earflap hat from another project. Truthfully, I was a bit worried that all of these bright colors would compete with each other and clash. Perhaps they would for any other person, but the combination of all these bright colors fit my friend’s personality so well! I was just glad I could make up for my previous failed attempt. :)

(clip from) NEW SONG from John Mayer! jhnmyr: Here’s a clip of...

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:54:51 -0500

(clip from) NEW SONG from John Mayer!

jhnmyr:

Here’s a clip of the first single off Born and Raised, called “Shadow Days.” I’m excited to share the first bit of sound from the album… Been looking forward to a post like this since October 14, 2010, the first day I started writing this group of songs. Enjoy.

Arcade Fire — The Suburbs As I was listening to this on...

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 11:30:58 -0500

Arcade Fire — The Suburbs

As I was listening to this on the drive in, I came to the realization that I enjoy the Mr. Little Jeans cover more. Sorry, Arcade Fire :-/ I still like you!

The Beatles — When I’m Sixty-Four Wahh, my free XM...

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:19:04 -0500

The Beatles — When I’m Sixty-Four

Wahh, my free XM is done. Back to my own music.

I’m not one of those girls who has been planning her wedding since she was 10 years old (just insert the groom). But I have (somewhat accidentally) started compiling a “short list” of my top picks for the first dance. And I’d like to add this song to the list.

(Also on the list: Randy Travis - Forever & Ever, Amen; BNL - Call & Answer)
(Also also Honorable Mentions from previous additions by friends: Ray LaMontagne - You Are the Best Thing; Ben Folds - The Luckiest)

Adventures in Cooking: Cabbage Soup

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:00:06 -0500

I seem to have almost completely neglected to take pictures of this endeavor. In my love to cook all things Russian, I once again turned to Smitten Kitchen, where Deb had posted a recipe for Veselka’s cabbage soup. In Russian, it’s called щи (shchi, though the first letter is pronounced so quickly that the ‘ch’ sound is almost nonexistant).

This went together almost strangely easily (for me at least, who is always waiting for something to go wrong whilst cooking). That is, if you don’t count the fact that sauerkraut apparently does not come in small containers, only large ones. So now I have a large container minus one cup of sauerkraut in my fridge that I am never ever going to use.

Perfect for a hearty winter meal. I had mine with a side of black bread and a dollop of sour cream on top. And I had plenty of leftovers…

I have since eaten one of those frozen containers. I did think it a bit salty the first time around (the sour cream helps with this), so when I reheated, I added a cup of water, then tasted, & ended up adding another cup of water to even out the taste some.

AWOLNATION — Not Your Fault Busybusy morning. Will...

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:04:38 -0500

AWOLNATION — Not Your Fault

Busybusy morning. Will probably be a busybusy afternoon too, just taking a short music break :)

Happy Valentines Day! (or Tuesday, whichever you prefer :)

Miike Snow — Paddling Out Nothing like starting the week...

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:41:11 -0500

Miike Snow — Paddling Out

Nothing like starting the week out with a little Swedish indie electro-pop. These guys might be my favorite discovery during this round of free XM.

Ravelry Christmas Ornament Swap

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:00:05 -0500

Pattern: adapted from Matrioska bookmark
Project: on Ravelry

Before Christmas, I participated in an ornament swap (see the Seasonal Swappers group on Ravelry if you’re interested in joining future swaps!).

I think these matroshka (Russian stacking dolls) turned out pretty cute, despite the fact that

each one is slightly different since I had a hard time following the pattern (it’s translated from Spanish) & I did a lot of supposing what I should do next from the pictures.
embroidering is kind of a pain, so I just did it for the face & hair, and took the easy way out for the body by sewing on buttons instead.
after looking at the pictures on facebook, my mom declared that “Those snowmen are so cute!” Oops. Though, I think if you worked these guys up in all white, they would make really cute snowmen.

Super secret step: after crocheting, but before decorating, I sprayed these over with stiffener & let them dry a whole day. That way they wouldn’t be flopping around on the Christmas tree.

And these are the new handmade ornaments I have for my tree! I love them, and I definitely got lots of comments on how cute they were :) Thanks, ladies!

sashayed: spanishleather: sashayed and I did a P&P...

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:39:33 -0500

sashayed:

spanishleather:

sashayed and I did a P&P marathon for the Superbowl (Superfirth Sunday), and we decided that Bingley and Darcy are totally cat and dog friends. This one is Bingley seeing that the Bennets have attended his ball.

I NEVER SAW SUCH GOOD COMPANY OR PRETTIER GIRLS IN ALL MY LIFE

COUNTRY MANNERS? I THINK THEY’RE CHARMING

PAINT TABLES PLAY THE PIANO EMBROIDER CUSHIONS YOUNG LADIES

the cat’s like “the eldest miss bennet is i grant you very pretty” and the dog’s like ADMIT IT DARCY SHE IS AN ANGEL

ADMIT IT

ADMIT ITTTT

You had me at Superfirth Sunday. WHO IS DOING THIS WITH ME NEXT YEAR??

Neon Trees — Everybody Talks Y’all, I can feel...

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:25:39 -0500

Neon Trees — Everybody Talks

Y’all, I can feel myself getting sick. I refuse to accept this head cold. Dosing, as per usual, with copious amounts of vitamin c and soup.

Happy Friday!

Adventures in Cooking: Gluten free cupcakes!

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:00:06 -0500

First foray into gluten-free cooking! This will date how far behind I am with these posts, but these were for a friend whose house I was staying at for a weekend visit just before Christmas. Whenever I stay with people I always try to bring them a little something to say, “Hey, thanks for letting me crash on your couch.” I feel a teensy bit bad bringing baked goods for these particular friends, since the one guy wouldn’t be able to eat them, so this time around one friend got Muddy Buddy mix & the other got these cupcakes!

I found this recipe for GF vegan chocolate cupackes, which I then proceeded to tweak, since I didn’t really care about it being vegan, AND since I only wanted to make a half dozen (plus one more for tasting/quality control ;).

I surprisingly had most of the ingredients already. I could not find specifically sorghum flour, but I did find that GF all-purpose flour at Harris Teeter, which contains sorghum, plus some other flours AND starch. Also with some googling, I discovered that 1/2 T of egg replacement + 2 T of water equals one egg. (As a side note, this was — to my recollection — my first time ever making coffee. Good thing I have a coffee maker for when I have guests, ha!) So my list of ingredients for the cupcakes came out to be:

3/4 c GF AP flour
1/4 c unsweet cocoa powder
1/2 c cane sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 egg
1/2 c warm coffee
2-ish Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp rice vinegar

The cupcakes came out perfect! They smelled absolutely amazing, and looked good too, with such pretty domes. The frosting on the other hand…

I didn’t make too many changes here, just used regular butter instead of vegan margarine, & regular vanilla instead of bourbon vanilla. And halved it:

4 Tbsp butter
1-2 oz cold coffee (1 oz = 1/8 cup)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp instant espresso
2 cups powdered sugar

And I mixed. And I mixed. And I mixed. My frosting was still way to liquidy. So I kept adding more powdered sugar a bit at a time & mixing some more until I felt like I’d added so much extra I’d get diabetes from just looking at the frosting. And then I refrigerated it overnight.

I’d even gotten a pastry bag & tips for fancy decorating. But when I attempted, the frosting just went pthhhhhht.

A mess to eat & ugly to look at. But they passed my taste test at least! Anyone know what I did wrong with the frosting?

fun. — We Are Young (ft. Janelle Monae) I vaguely...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:27:40 -0500

fun. — We Are Young (ft. Janelle Monae)

I vaguely remembered that fun. was going to be at Cat’s Cradle sometime soonish, so I just looked it up again. They are. On March 3, a day when I already have a ton of other stuff going on. WOMP.

Happy Thursday!

Jack White — Love Interruption Happy Wednesday!

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:43:28 -0500

Jack White — Love Interruption

Happy Wednesday!

M.I.A. — Bad Girls It’s a good thing I Got Things...

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:36:00 -0500

M.I.A. — Bad Girls

It’s a good thing I Got Things Done this AM, because this is my schedule for this afternoon:

1:30-2p Dept Meeting
2-3p Feature 1 meeting
3-3:30 Scrum
3:30-4:30 Feature 2 meeting

Happy Tuesday?

ETA: HOLY COW, y’all. 266 reblogs/likes for Gotye yesterday?? Compared to the ZERO combined from the last 2 times I’ve posted this song? Shut the front door.

On the ball for once! …And it seems like all I did this...

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:00:05 -0500

flickr

On the ball for once! …And it seems like all I did this month was go to hockey games. February’s resolution: take more pictures not at hockey games ;) Let’s celebrate January in pictures! January is…

- Mat Kearney @ Lincoln Theater - Canes vs. Capitals - Canes vs. Jets - Canes vs. Islanders -

Gotye — Somebody That I Used to Know (feat. Kimbra) It...

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:32:08 -0500

Gotye — Somebody That I Used to Know (feat. Kimbra)

It seems I can’t post this song enough. I turned on my XM radio last week, only to realize that the rest of the world has finally realized how amazing this song is. Between hearing the song on the radio (& simultaneously seeing posts on FB), you can imagine my excitement!

(Hint: the rest of the album is just as amazing.)

Happy Monday!