A squared plus B squared equals C squared. Name that theorem!
Kimono & Cupcakes
I guess the last couple of entries I haven’t written about either Kimono or cupcakes, so I thought I’d do a kind of half-assed double whammy today. First in line, Kimono:
The photo at the top is a bunch of Haori-himo I bought on Yahoo Auctions (the JP one), to which I am addicted. A haori is like a jacket that goes over a Kimono. It sounds just like that word that Hawaiian folks call out-of-towners. When you wear a haori, you usually need something to tie it shut in front. You can wear a pimped-out chain bejeweled with pearls, what have you, that just clips on, or you can get Himo (strings--see, you’re learning a lot of Japanese today) like the ones above. You can’t really tell how cool the colors are, because I’m a lazy DIY jerk and haven’t made a lightbox yet for photog action. But trust me, they’re cool. They’re antique. If Anderson Cooper wore Kimonos while he did the news, he might use some Himo like these. Anyway, seeing as I don’t even own a Haori, I guess I’ll have to think about getting one. Or better yet, knitting one. Picture it: Sicily; a Haori made by a Howly (is that one spelled right?), featuring antique Himo. Swank!
On to the cupcakes. A few days before I went to visit my cousin Rachel, I broke down and made those PB&J cupcakes. I thought ahead and bought new baking powder, and this time I substituted cake margarine (no crisco sticks in civilian Japan) for butter. As you can see from the photo, they rose a bit wacky. I’m suspicion they stuck to the pan since I don’t grease or line them. Aside from that however, the cake part was the best I’ve made yet!! A raging success. The peanut butter filling was splendid as well. The frosting was another story though; bad consistency and waaaaay too sweet (is there such a thing?). But really, when you put jam into frosting, you basically have a mix of sugar and more sugar. I gave a few to Ben, and Wataru also bravely tried one, without immediately contracting adult onset diabetes. Ben said he ate the other two by himself though, and consequently stayed up for for two day straight. He might be lying. I ended up eating the rest of them with just the filling sans frosting, and they were dope.
In other news, I’m about to unleash some mind-boggling knitting unto the world. Stay tuned.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Back to the name
