prayer request.

Last night the Tea Fire spread through Santa Barbara and more specifically the community of Montecito, home to Westmont.  Please pray for guidance and wisdom for the leaders of the school, and their president, Gayle Beebe, as they make crucial decisions on the next steps for Westmont.  Pray in thanks for keeping all the students, faculty, and staff safe during this time.  Pray for all the families who lost their homes.

the best rolls in the world.

When we were back in Seattle, one night a few of my co-workers went to dinner at another co-worker's, Jon and his wife Laura's, house.  The food was INCREDIBLE.  We were always quite envious of the left-overs Jon would bring for lunch.  We ate three soups, one of which was the Vietnamese Pho, which was super good.  The premier part of the meal was the rolls.  I have never had such delicious home-made rolls.  We all couldn't stop talking about them or eating them.  When Kalin had his staph infection last year, Laura and Jon sent some rolls home with me for Kalin.  I couldn't help myself from eating one of them before I got home.  So, the recipe has kindly been passed on to me and I tried it out a few weeks ago, just to see how they would turn out....I am hoping they'll be a hit for Thanksgiving. 

Here's the recipe, and hopefully you all will enjoy them as much as we do:

YEAST ROLLS

ingredients:

1 c. milk

1/2 cube of butter

1 tsp. salt

1/3 c. sugar

2 packets yeast ( and 1/2 c. warm water for dissolving later on...)

2 eggs

4 to 5 cups of flour (you'll see why later...)

1.  Scald the milk on high for 2.5 minutes in the microwave.

2.  Add the butter, salt and sugar to milk.  Let cool.

3.  Dissolve 2 packets of yeast in 1/2 cup warm water (at 100 - 110 degrees).

4.  Beat two eggs in another cup.

5.  To about 5 cups* of flour, add liquids and eggs.

         *The first time, 5 cups was TOO much, so this time I started with 4 cups and added gradually.

6.  Knead until elastic (5-10 minutes).

7.  Let rise about an hour or, until it doubles in size.

sidenote:  it looked soooo cold out today, like it was just waiting to snow.

8.  Shape the rolls and let rise on greased cookie sheets until doubled in size (about 30 minutes).

9.  Bake each sheet individually at 350 degrees for 14-15 minutes.  ENJOY.
This made about 15 rolls.  They are a bit big.  And now I have about 7 rolls, only a few hours later thanks to my dad and Kalin...and maybe a few from me too.

smile

from "5th of November" by Sarah Gardner

This is simply how I feel about the election last night.  I'm proud to be apart of the vote, to be an American with that freedom and I am delighted at the turn-out of people exercising this freedom. 

when i go stir-crazy...

i walk around until i pick up something, work on it, put it back down, come back to it when i have that same stir-crazy feeling.  I've obviously been feeling this way since after I peruse the daily job announcement sites I find myself with a whole day of what could be boredom or possibilities.  It drives me crazy sometimes.  Sometimes it's good because I clean.  I have the recent desire to clean out my parents fridge, but I have to wait until trash day so that the food won't stink up the garbage...hopefully the feeling will last till tonight when i grab the giant trash bag and start tossing.  

With my love for crafting, you'd think that I'd be on that sewing maching all day long, but I'm in great need of motivation.  In my mind it sounds ideal.  But it is good I've realized this because now I know I should not turn to crafting for a career for two reasons:  motivation comes and goes, and I've enjoyed so much thinking of the recipients of my crafts while I'm working on their project.  

So that brings me to this recent come-and-go project, the Apple-Picking Tote, a free pattern from the ultra-fabulous purlbee blog.  I finished it this morning, realizing if I just put another 10 minutes in the last time I worked on it, it would be finished a few days earlier.  But, here it is:

I was happy to put to good use the red linen that I purchased from IKEA and the Sashiko fabric for the handles that Kalin's mom gave to me back in August.  I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.  Shyloh even liked when it was plumped up with bagels and bread for a picture.

I finished a few projects a week ago to ship up to Darcy and Liz in Seattle.  I figured they'd enjoy this crazy Sublime Stitching pattern for some dish cloths.  I mean, who doesn't love a hybrid russian doll/robot?
Darcy, who has been knitting up a storm while she had been unemployed, was looking for a tool roll for all her needles.  This is another pattern from Lotta Jansdotter's "Simple Sewing" book.  I also made the tote from the book for Liz.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE the background gothic rose fabric from Amy Butler.  I'm happy that I was able to use it here.

Here's a look at my crafting space.  Being that this purple-felted pool table often serves as a multi-use table, I'll have to eventually move my stuff elsewhere when guest arrive and would actually want to play pool.
Ok.  I know I can't go total stir-crazy because I have a pretty hefty handmade project that I'll probably be working on until Christmas.  I'll post it's pictures after it's officially gifted....

BUT, although I am waiting on the edge of my seat to see if one (or both) of the two jobs I've interviewed for lately actually call me back, I know in retrospect I'm going to envy all this time I have had to work on projects whenever I wanted.  But a job would be nice too...

for the lack of a better title: a list.

I don't have enough fascinating things to compile a blog on just one subject, so here are are few things in numerical form:

1. Today I had an interview at the Denver Zoo and then they let me go into the zoo.  This is where I saw the two new baby Red Pandas.  Oh my gosh, the most adorable creatures.  I want to go back tomorrow to see them again.  If I get the job, I promise to visit them daily.  

2.  In Colorado, we don't have Trader Joe's.  We are running low on the supplies we brought with us from Washington.  I miss their cornbread.  I miss their General Tsao sauce.  I miss their frozen gnocci.  I miss their pizza dough.  Seriously, this place is perfect for the two of us.  And cheap.  I put in a location request for Colorado.  But there is a temporary glimmer of hope in the meantime while I wait for the upper-ups at T.Joes to get the idea to start a store here.  That little piece of hope is the Sunflower Markets.  I would call it a mix between Whole Foods and Trader Joes.  They advertise "silly prices" but those only come with their weekly sale.  I walked in and was in awe--beautiful produce, great selection of naan, flatbread, cheese and other goodies.  So this will do...until I make a trip to California and bring an extra suitcase just for all the T.Joe's goodies that I can bring back. 

3.  Law and Order: SVU.  I can watch this show every single day and there are so many episodes that I rarely come across one I haven't seen.  The one with Robin Williams is crazy.  Ice-T is a super-sweet detective doing the dirty work.  I'm addicted.  And when I can't find it on, Criminal Intent is also a nice alternative.  
Other than those 3 thoughts, that's about it for me.  Not too much is going on around these parts--and hopefully this week someone will give a yes or no on a job.  

But i got to see baby red pandas...nothing is better than that!

all we need is some snow.

Kalin and I officially have our 4-pass to Copper Mountain for this winter.  I think it will complement our recent ski/boot purchases quite well.  I can't wait!  Copper is probably my favorite mountain of all time.  I used to go up there with my friend Laura in high school and I used her mom's four pass because she had broken her leg.  It was always a bit awkward when the ticket scanners would say "Have a good ride, Joan".  Luckily my goggles, scarf and hat would mask me from the picture on the pass.

But for now, we're just missing the snow.

support sweet music

Upon our arrival to Seattle 2 years ago, Kalin and I discovered the most brilliant non-profit radio station, KEXP.  I've been missing it and tuned in online for their free streaming.  John in the Morning is so entertaining, their evening programming is fabulous and ultimately we've been introduced to some amazing new music.

We're also members and now is their tri-annual pledge drive.  So, if you like new music, I recommend streaming some of their programming and if you like it you should give to them.  Prepare to be impressed.