Hibiscus

big flower

The hibiscus was one of the first rainbow loom projects I saw when I started browsing online.  I remember though that as I had very limited C-clips then, I could not afford sacrificing five.  Soooo, I didn't really pursue.

Chatting with my niece however, I discovered that she likes this bracelet but somehow feels that it is too advanced to make herself.

As any 'thoughtful' godmother would do, I made one for her.

After making this, I realised that the only drawback for this bracelet is the excessive C-Clip requirement.  It maybe has the highest wow-to-effort ratio!  If you have tons of C-Clips I recommend making a bouquet!  It is easy, promise!

I played around with the colours on this, each petal is supposed to have three colours, I used four :)

I showed this photo to my niece and she's excited--as I am!

Three (once) Painful Stories

Things we buy are bore out of life's issues.  Or frustrations.

I think.

I find that it is true for me.

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When I got my hands on some gift cheques, I made a mental list of the things I wanted to buy.  

Things that will address some life issues and frustrations.

Things that somewhat make the pain go away.

new friends

Chicken.  I am always paranoid that I'd serve raw chicken.  

Salmonella.  

I remember getting the bird in and out of the oven checking and re-rechecking if the entire thing is cooked through.  

I hate hate hate, having to cut through it to see if it is still pink.

There was a time that I got very frustrated because as we were eating, I discovered that I had to put it back into the oven.

Horrible.  

I love mealtimes!  I especially love cooking and serving my husband various dishes.  I look forward to sitting with him, enjoying what food I put together.

Obviously, I was not happy having to 'fix' something while relaxing with my husband.

Not to mention having to change plates and forking through the rest-of-the-chicken--assessing the 'state' of the fowl.  

It was a nightmare.  

I decided then to postpone any whole chicken cooking until I get a thermometer.  

Ahem.

Guess what I'm cooking this weekend? :)

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Apples. And pears.  I love them.  I love them raw, chopped in a salad, dipped in caramel, baked with brown sugar, butter and rum, as pie filling.

I once bought a cheap apple corer because I was making stuffed apple wrapped in a pastry and there was truly no way to core the apple but buy the gadget (none that I was aware of).  It was the only one corer in the grocery store, so I went ahead and got it.

It was able to do the job, I even used it to take the 'eyes' out of peeled pineapple one time.

BUT, as with poorly constructed things, it broke.  The 'blade' twisted.  You get what you pay for, I guess.

Long story short, I was making diagonal cylinders through apples for a while.  It meant getting more flesh out that necessary to catch the seeds.  What a waste of good fruit!

Last night, I threw that flimsy abomination away.  Good times :)

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Meat. 

Okay.  No painful story here.  I lied.

The meat tenderiser however, will enhance the Filipino Tapa I often make :)