elephantine

fiction friday: for the taking

2012-05-25T04:00:00-07:00

On Fridays, the only day she left the house, Sweetie rode the city buses. There was only one whose route came close to her – the 14 – but that dropped her off downtown and from there she could go nearly anywhere. Once downtown, she waited at the stop in front of Macy's for the next bus. Sweetie didn't even bother looking at the route number. She just got on, waved her paper transfer at the driver, and found a seat.
Before – when she had still been able to drive – she had always hated the buses. You couldn't see around them, and they went so slowly, and always made more stops than seemed necessary. But now she didn't really care at all. She didn't have anywhere to be. This was simply her brief getaway for the week, and all she was really looking for was a feeling of having traveled, even if it wasn't so far away from home.

Sometimes another person sat next to her. When the bus became crowded enough it was unavoidable; other times it just happened anyway. Once, the woman sitting beside Sweetie asked where she had purchased her watch. This took her by surprise, and she said, "It was an heirloom," despite that not being true at all. But that was always what happened when strangers talked to her. It made her anxious, and she would inexplicably say things that weren't true.
And then there was Jonathan. He was young, maybe seventeen at most. She didn't know why he had bothered talking to someone like her, but he had, and then somehow it happened again the following week. He reminded her of her brother, when they were around that age. Maybe it was the smile – she wasn't sure. But he didn't bring out the nervousness in her, and that was enough to make her enjoy the company.

Sweetie was finding, to her surprise, that she needed less sleep the older she got. Or, rather, she couldn't sleep longer than five or six hours at a time. So in the pre-dawn hours of those days, she sat at the small kitchen table watching the steam rise from a dark mug of tea. She spent those hours thinking about the bus rides. With her mind very still, she could recall exactly how the feel of the cracked seats felt against her skin. It was not hard for her to recall the electronic bell that rang when a passenger pulled the cord for the next stop, or the sound of coins spilling into the farebox. The crescendo of the engine, the water spots on the windows: it had all been stored, two hours at a time. She had soaked in every speck of it, and now it was hers, inside her, available any time she liked.

new in the shop...

2012-05-23T17:12:11-07:00

One of my business goals is to really refine my jewelry collection. That means editing the existing pieces and also adding new ones – but not just for the sake of adding more jewelry. My goal used to be "I want to have 100 designs in my shop", but now it's, "I just want to be really happy with each design."

So, here's what's new in the shop: the first necklace is called le tigre and features a single, pretty painterly bead. The second necklace, clavier, is a silk string with faceted deep gray beads.

the ballet boutique

2012-05-23T09:25:03-07:00

Have you guys seen The Ballet Boutique over at J.Crew? It's like a dream come true.

happy birthday, bodhi

2012-05-22T12:56:49-07:00

Yesterday was Bodhi's birthday! Okay, not his real birthday, but since we adopted him from a shelter we don't know the real day (or how old he really is). It's been 3 years since we adopted him so that makes him 8 or 9 or so.

Last year he got a birthday monkey; this year he got an anteater. He hated the birthday hat but tolerated it long enough for me to snap a couple photos of him.

monday

2012-05-21T19:09:29-07:00

This is what today looked like.

Do you like walking around in the rain? I do... as long as I'm dressed for it. Or with an umbrella in tow. There's something very fun about walking through a downpour without getting a drop on you.

the elusive ramps

2012-05-20T17:28:55-07:00

If you're at all familiar with ramps, you know how exciting it is when they're oh-so-briefly in season. If you're not familiar with ramps (and I wasn't until a few years ago), they taste like a mix of onion and garlic and are also known as wild leeks. Wish I had more photos to share but I only have this one Instagram shot – it'll have to do!

Spaghetti (or Linguine) with Ramps (serves 2)
recipe from Mario Batali

coarse salt
1/2 pound dry spaghetti or linguine
extra-virgin olive oil
1 bunch fresh ramps, white root ends and green leafy tops separated
crushed red pepper flakes to taste
dry breadcrumbs (I used Panko)

Bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat. Add pasta and cook until al dente. (Took me 10 minutes.) Heat a small amount of olive oil in a skillet over med-high heat. Cook the root ends of the ramps until tender. Season with red pepper flakes and salt. Add the leafy greens of the ramps and cook until wilted. Drain pasta and toss into the skillet. Toss, then divide onto two plates. Drizzle with olive oil and top with breadcrumbs. Serve + enjoy!

the fuji x100

2012-05-19T16:49:35-07:00

After spending an entire evening drooling over photos and videos of the Fuji x100, I decided to rent it for the weekend. It's digital, but it looks like a film camera. Cool, right? I've had fun playing around with it so far, but I'm a little sad to report that I'm not completely in love with it. (Maybe my feelings would change if it didn't cost $1,200...?) That said, I'd seriously consider this camera if I didn't already have a DSLR.

Some sample photos and pros & cons below...

What I like:

- really good image quality. seems comparable to my DSLR.
- compact. (here's a side-by-side comparison.)
- super quiet. a perfect camera for stealthy street/restaurant photography.
- the design. really love the analog aperture & shutter speed controls.

What I don't like:

- you're stuck with only one lens (23mm).
- it's not as satisfying to use because I like hearing the sound of a DSLR's shutter (except when I'm trying to not draw attention to myself).
- the focus ring. it takes a LOT of turning to adjust the focus. it drove me crazy. (this obviously doesn't matter if you use auto focus.)

Now I'm off to enjoy the rest of the weekend + test it some more before having to give it back :)

basic popovers {with fresh syrupy cherries}

2012-05-17T15:26:34-07:00

You would've laughed if you had been in my kitchen yesterday when I pulled a pan of monstrous cherry popovers out of the oven. They looked all sorts of wrong, and one was so tall it bent over as if it had given up altogether. And they weren't any better on the inside, either: a popover should be hallow, but mine had thick, squishy insides. It didn't take me long to figure out what had gone wrong. I'd filled the baking mold much too high, and the fresh cherries I'd experimentally added into the batter had ruined the fluffy texture.

Sometimes experiments work, and sometimes they don't.

Today I baked them again. I didn't pour the batter to the top of the cups this time, and I kept the cherries as a side instead. This time the popovers came out of the oven with perfect golden brown crowns, and hallow insides ready for a scoop of syrupy cherries.

Basic Popovers with Fresh Syrupy Cherries (makes 6 popovers)
recipe adapted from Bakingdom

2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter, melted
1 tbsp canola oil
fresh cherries
sugar to coat the halved cherries

1. Crack eggs into a mixing bowl. Add milk and whisk. Slowly add flour and salt and continue whisking until mixed in. Add melted butter and mix again until smooth. Cover with a clean towel and let rest for 30 minutes.

2. While the oven preheats to 450°F, pour a half teaspoon of oil into the 6 popover cups and use a pastry brush to spread the oil up the sides of each cup. Place the oiled pan into the warming oven. (You can also make these in a muffin pan if you don't have a popover pan.)

3. Pit and halve the cherries. Place into a bowl and sprinkle with sugar, coating all sides. Stir occasionally. By the time the popovers are ready, the sugar will be dissolved and the cherries will be coated in syrup. (You can also slightly mash the cherries if you'd like.)

4. When the batter is done resting, remove the hot popover pan from the oven and quickly pour in the batter. Fill the cups about 3/4 way full. Place the pan back in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 350°F and bake for another 15 minutes, or until golden brown. (Don't open the door until you're getting close to the end – it could result in fallen popovers!)

5. Tear open a popover, spoon the cherries inside, sprinkle with powdered sugar, and enjoy!

a few things on sale...

2012-05-17T09:25:40-07:00

There's a new sale section over in my kitchen shop with a few things like la-dee-dahs, chocolate vermicelli, tea towels, and luminology soy candles. They'll be there for a limited time so get them while you can!

shadows, plants, and dinosaurs

2012-05-15T21:19:34-07:00

Just a few shots from yesterday's walk through Seattle Center.

the monorail

2012-05-14T20:37:49-07:00

Finally took a ride on the Monorail just for kicks. Thoughts? Kind of fun, kind of silly. Very short. Like, two-minutes-start-to-finish short. (If you're wondering, "Alweg" is the name of the German company that built the Monorail for the 1962 World's Fair... which is what the Space Needle was also constructed for.)

on taking notes

2012-05-14T10:09:37-07:00

I used to constantly take notes for short story fodder. Snippets of conversations, the way smells smelled and sounds sounded, what other people were wearing. In the back of my notebooks, I kept lists of words that I liked the texture of: nouns (periscope, squash blossoms, lagoon), verbs (sashay, mushroom, nuzzle), colors (cerulean, bone, lilac)... you know, those sorts of things. And out of those notes often came inspiration for writing fiction.

So I'm trying to get back into the habit. Writing fiction will never be effortless for me – in reality, it's a constant battle. But having these notebooks is like wielding a slightly sharper sword.

(Pocket notebooks from Rifle Paper Co.)

the Fat Hen + happy friday

2012-05-11T07:46:28-07:00

Took myself out to lunch yesterday at tiny cafe in Ballard called the Fat Hen. I had their pomodorini sandwich: house-made ricotta, cherry tomatoes, sea salt, and olive oil on a baguette. Oh, my. Will be going back for sure.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

(Photos from my instagram stream.)

the new kid on the block

2012-05-10T16:10:45-07:00

I hardly ever buy things off eBay, but I poked around a bit last week for a rangefinder and ended up winning this Minolta Hi-Matic 7. I haven't even put film in it yet; the listing said it was in "good working condition", but you know how things go. At the very least, I'll have something new to put on the bookshelf. Isn't she pretty?

Hopefully I'll have some photos to show soon.

strawberry lime yogurt popsicles

2012-05-10T00:41:34-07:00

Maybe it's because the weather's warming up, but I am suddenly fixated on ideas for popsicles. (Okay, it's also because I just bought a new popsicle mold to replace our old dinky one that made four baby-sized popsicles. Talk about scaling down a recipe.) I can't wait to try out a mojito version, a coconut one, maybe even a creamy coffee one... but first, I had to make something simple and tangy-sweet: strawberry lime yogurt popsicles.

Strawberry Lime Yogurt Popsicles (makes 10 popsicles, 3 oz. each*)

3 cups quartered strawberries
1/4 cup sugar (adjust based on how sweet your strawberries are)
juice of 1 large lime (2-3 tbsp)
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt

1. Place sliced strawberries and sugar in a ziploc bag. Using your hands, mash until the strawberries are mostly liquid. If you prefer a completely smooth texture, blend instead.
2. Transfer to a bowl and mix in lime juice.
3. Add yogurt and mix. (I stir it very gently, keeping a marbled look so that each bite has variety.)
4. Taste. Add a little sugar if too tart, or a little more yogurt if too sweet.
5. Fill the popsicle mold. Freeze until set (for me, it took about 4 hours). Briefly run the mold under hot water to loosen the popsicles.

*I use this mold.