Late night Photoshop fun

T had to work the rare overnight last night so I had the house to myself. I took advantage of the peace and quiet to play around on the computer without any interruptions. I'd been wanting to try out some of the free actions I downloaded a while back. Nothing crazy fancy, just some simple color adjustments to get a little closer to a pro look. I tried out quite a few, but most were too wacky for my taste. But there were a bunch that I think I will definitely hang onto. Just for kicks, I thought I'd share. All of these are available free. I think most of them are from ActionCentral. You can probably google for the ones that aren't.

Here is the original pic. It was a bit dark and also had a reddish cast to it.

I did a little tweaking to the curves to brighten it up, and I also did a defog, but nothing else major.

Here's the first set of afters (click on the image to see it larger). From left, Midnight Sepia, Black & Color, and Barely Vintage.


Set 2: Urban Acid, Bloom, and Lomo.

Gotta love trades

This is another brimmed beanie hat, crocheted in alternating stripes of hot pink and a pink/white variegated cotton yarn. I'm slowly but surely perfecting my pattern for this style of hat. This is my favorite so far in terms of the shape of the brim, although I made it a single layer instead of the usual double, so it's softer. This was part of a trade for a mini-session with one of my favorite photographers, the uber-talented Chera.

Judging by how our pictures turned out, I think I definitely got the better end of the deal! ;) Here's a peek at one of my favorite shots.

Shoutout for my crafty friends

I'm very lucky to have many friends who are also extremely talented in the crafty arena. I don't give them nearly enough credit for helping me come up with new project ideas, giving me tips when I'm stuck, or just generally motivating me to get some stuff done. Recently (and not-so-recently) a few of them have made stuff for me and/or E, and I thought I'd share.

This past summer, my best friend offered to make a tote bag for E for school. I was expecting your basic tote bag, maybe in a cute fabric instead of plain old canvas, but instead, I got this gorgeous bag that was lined with inside pockets and even a D-ring to clip my keys to! I was almost tempted to keep it for myself and buy E a generic tote bag. Hee. I think she's also making me a matching bag now because I liked it so much.



Oh, and this is in addition to the hats she made for me, T & E last year, when E was still a bitty baby.


I should mention, that the thing around my neck is a moebius strip that she knitted from the center out. It's super convenient because it's smaller and easier to manage than a scarf, and it's also very pretty and warm. I've been wearing it a lot lately and I get tons of compliments on it.

Most recently, my friend Jacki made some wool longies for E out of some sweaters I gave her as part of a swap we worked out. Here's the before of the sweaters: And the after:

How cute are they?!! I'll have to take another pic of her wearing them to post later. :)

Well ok, just one pic

Here's some of the fabric I got last week. (Try to ignore the clutter of my sewing table in the background.) I think the pink owls and the fire trucks are my favorites.

And on a positive note, I got some new clear storage bins, so my room is starting to look a little more organized.

I know it's been a while since I've posted any new projects, but I promise, I am working on stuff. Just slowly. Very slowly. Currently, I'm working on a few different crochet hats that I'm trading for goods and services. I should be done no later than the end of the weekend, so check back. :)

Yeah, I'm crazy

I'm embarrassed to admit this, but today I officially became one of those crazy people that gets up at 6am to go shopping the day after Thanksgiving. The craziest part? I went shopping not for a flat screen TV or some new-fangled toy, but for fabric. Yeah.

Normally, I avoid Black Friday sales like the plague (in fact, I generally try not to leave the house that day if I can help it), but Joann had a bunch of really good deals and I just couldn't resist. I was expecting the worst, like people pushing and shoving, but I will say, it was really quite civilized. Mostly nice older ladies who were very polite and apologetic about getting in each other's way and willing to pass on what was left of the bolts they used. I'm sure it was a different scene at Walmart.

I don't have the camera handy, but even if I did, I'm not sure I can post a picture of what I bought. It's too embarassing. Let's just say I went overboard and leave it at that.

Sock creatures, hats and more babylegs, oh my!

I keep saying that I'm done making babylegs for good, but then I see some adorable socks and I just can't resist churning out one or two more pairs. I'm a sucker, what can I say? But here are two pairs from that last big batch that I saved for E. They're a cashmere blend so they're super soft and snuggly.


But I have also been busy making some other stuff, both for fun and for profit. Most recently, I finished this custom baby hat based on the colors of a popular local sporting team that shall remain nameless. Then based off of a post on my mom's board, I got on a crazy kick of making little sock creatures. Here's the first one I tried, and I have a couple more waiting in the wings. They're surprisingly easy and fun to make, even though they do require a bit of hand-stitching. I think I may have to make an army of them to guard the house...or maybe to give as little gifts.

Another random Chinese food post

I've been craving home cooking lately, so the other night I decided to make one of my all-time favorites, green onion pancakes. I guess technically, they're not really pancakes, more like flatbread, but that was what my parents always translated them as, so whatevs.

It's a pretty easy recipe. My grandma used to eyeball everything, but my mom managed to get written amounts for me. I'll list the entire ingredient list at the end. In my opinion, you really need a stand mixer to make this. You could do it by hand, but it's much much more tedious. With my KitchenAid mixer, I threw the dough together in about 10 minutes. It needs to rest for about 30, and then there's another 10-15 minutes of prep after that, so you'll want to start a good hour ahead of serving time. Or you could make it earlier in the day and just throw the dough in the fridge till you're ready to cook.

In your bowl, start with 2 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir in 1/2 tsp salt, and a pinch of sugar (optional). Add 1 cup of boiling water (I cheated and used very very hot tap water). Mix on low until it starts to come together. Then add another cup of flour. Continue to mix and slowly add 1/2 c. of cold water, stopping when it reaches the right consistency. You want it to be soft, but not sticky. If it's too sticky, you can add a handful or two more flour.
Mix the whole thing on medium speed for about 5 minutes, until the dough has a smooth texture. Roll the dough into a ball, cover, and let rest for at least 30 minutes. While the dough rests, thinly slice 1-2 bunches of green onions. The amount you'll need can vary to taste, but I usually use at least 1 cup, chopped. I use the white and a lot of the green part too.

Back to the dough - divide it into 3 pieces and roll each piece into a ball. You'll want to cover the ones you're not using back up with a towel so they don't dry out. Now roll out one ball as thinly as possible.
Pour a couple of tablespoons of sesame oil on the dough and spread it around the entire surface. You could use a brush, but I just use my hands. You really want to be generous with the oil.


Lightly sprinkle the surface with salt and then sprinkle on the chopped onions. Again, you can put on more or less to suit your own taste, but I think more is better. You don't want to go overboard though or the dough will be hard to roll out later.

Now start at one side of the dough and roll the entire thing up, kind of like a jellyroll, so that you have a long tube.



Fold the sides in toward the center so that you have more or less a ball-shape. This rolling and folding is what is going to give you nice flaky layers when it's cooked.

Now roll the ball back out again, this time to about 1/4-1/2 inch thick.

Heat an electric skillet to 375 degrees. You can do this in a pan on the stove too, you'll just have to keep an eye on the heat. Add 2-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil. You want to have a nice thin layer covering the entire bottom of the pan.

Now add your pancake and cook uncovered for 8-10 minutes, until the bottom starts to turn golden brown.


Flip and cook for another 5-8 minutes, until the other side is brown and cooked through.
Here is the finished product, cut into wedges. Some restaurants deep-fry the dough, but I much prefer it cooked this way.


Here's a better look at the layers. Yum.

Most restaurants serve this dish as an appetizer with a soy dipping sauce. Growing up, my family often ate it as an entree with Chinese "red-braised" beef and tendon that's been cut into slices (which I made a few days before so I'll have to go into that dish more another time). I always loved peeling back the top layers of a slice and sandwiching some meat in there. T and I dubbed it the Chinese Gyro, haha!


Here is the entire recipe.

Green Onion Pancakes

Ingredients

3 c. all-purpose flour, divided

1/2 tsp. salt

pinch sugar (optional)

1 c. boiling water

1/2. c. cold water

1 bunch green onions, chopped (about a cup)

salt

sesame oil (1/2-1 cup)

vegetable oil

Add 2 c. flour, 1 c. boiling water, salt, pinch of sugar (optional) to mixer with dough hook. Mix.

Add additional 1 c. flour and mix.

Add approximately ½ c. cold water, until desired consistency. Beat on medium high 5 min.

Let dough rest at least 30 minutes, up to 3 hours.

Knead dough. Divide into 3 and roll each piece into a ball.

Using a rolling pin, roll out ball very thin. Pour a generous amount of sesame oil and spread over entire surface of dough.

Sprinkle chopped green onions and lightly salt.

Roll up dough into long tube and then roll tube back into ball shape.

Roll dough out again into a circle about 1/2 inch thick.

Heat electric skillet to 375 degrees

Add 2 tbsp veg. oil

Place pancake in skillet and cook uncovered for 8-10 minutes, until bottom turns mostly golden brown.

Flip and cook 5-8 minutes more.

Remove and cut into slices.

Serve immediately with soy dipping sauce.