The only reason I normally make my tortillas from scratch is because I can, and also because what in the hell would I do with a pack of 4 million tortillas?? Is it SO hard to sell tortillas in smaller quantities? I HATE waste. So I make my tortillas in smaller quantities. But lately, I've had neither the time nor the energy to invest in making them from scratch, and I figured I would rather throw away a dollar's worth of unused tortillas than spend an hour in the hot kitchen making them.
So, once again, I feel like I didn't get much done in June, mostly because I have more projects in my queue than I have actually finished projects! This spring and summer has been challenging for me both time-wise and focusability-wise; between a major website development project at work and the capstone to finish my master's, and I just haven't had a lot of whatever it takes to get more complicated projects done.
I'm from Seattle. I'm a transplant here in in Los Angeles. Even after having lived here for ten years now (TEN YEARS, how DID that happen???), I have never identified as a Los Angelian. I am frequently homesick for Seattle, even though I know you can never really go home. And I don't want to go home, I don't want to know how much the city I loved is no longer as I remember it, but I DO want to visit just to eat at the Burien Azteca Restaurant, and their sister restaurant, La Costa.
On the fourth of July, I was all motivated and made butter nut toffee, which is sort of like home-made almond roca. First, you toast almonds, coarsely chop them, and spread them on a lined backing sheet. Then, you candy sugar and butter, then add vanilla and more butter, and pour it out on the lined sheet to cover the almonds. After a few minutes, when it starts to set up, you pour on chocolate chips. When they get all melty happy from the heat, you spread them into a neat layer, and top it with more chopped almonds. After it cools, break it up into pieces, and voila! Instant happy.
I overslept yesterday. I know it was a holiday and all, but I HATE oversleeping. I didn't wake up until 11:41 am, and I was HORRIFIED. And also vaguely irritated at the dogs, who normally wake me up by 8:15am by making hyena noises (Shae) followed by rooing if I make any kind of movement (Stewart). Jesse and Clementine, on the other hand, think any movement is an invitation to snuggle; both make cute little moany grunty noises of contentment, making it REALLY hard to get up and out of bed.
I've had a busy weekend! An engagement party (congratulations, Charity and Thomas!!!) on Friday in Orange County; a band concert on Saturday night in Newhall, and another band concert Sunday night in Acton as part of their concerts in the park series. All of it was super fun, but left me not so much time for cooking! I'd gone grocery shopping at the end of the week, and picked up a whole chicken breast from the butcher.
When I went to the Asian market up the street for salmon for sushi, I found small rice paper wrappers. I normally use the larger ones for summer rolls, but I love mini food, and so I picked up the cute little wrappers just to have on hand. I couldn't stop thinking about them, (having them sitting on the counter did not help!) and so I made shrimp rolls with them.
I picked up this pattern forever ago, but was so uninspired by the fabrics used in the dresses on the envelope. Then, while shopping in some vintage stores with friends in Fullerton a month ago, we came across a store full of rockabilly and 50's styled clothes. I LOVE that style. But not enough to pay retail prices! And so, when sorting through my patterns a week later, I came across this one, I realized that if I did it in a polka dot print, it would be almost identical to the rockabilly dresses I'd seen at the vintage store!
Sushi is one of the few cuisines I would prefer to eat at a restaurant. With an expert preparing my food. But I rarely get to go out for dinner, and that means breaking out the sushi mat and rice wine vinegar at home. While the techniques tend to range toward more advanced, the ingredients are simple. And anytime the ingredients are simple, the plating has to be stepped up to compensate. Which is both scary and freeing at the same time.
