2008 May « life with monkey

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May 25, 2008 at 11:15 am | In crafts, sewing | 1 Comment

dear butterick pattern company,

i think i figured out why your “see & sew” pattern line is so cheap. turns out the directions are kind of, well, lacking in completeness. the drawings don’t totally represent the look of the items being sewn together, and some of the instructions are actually missing. oh, and the patterns? maybe they’re not quite correct and that’s the big problem. good thing i have some advanced sewing skills and can figure out what needs to be added and/or changed. so even though your B4902 pattern wasn’t quite “right”, i was still able to salvage it and complete the jacket without too much hassle.

see?

it’s red pinwale corduroy, which i picked up on sale at joann.

it’s so very red that my camera had trouble focusing on it. and when my camera could focus on it, the color wasn’t quite right.

just so you know, the buttons are vintage black glass (thanks, aunt betty!).

all in all, i’m pleased with the jacket, but you sure didn’t make it easy to get from start to finish. i will grudgingly forgive you, but if you could add some sort of disclaimer to your patterns in the future (like replace the “yes! it’s easy!” slogan with “hey, good luck to you!”), you might not get such negative feedback from people who know better.

your pal,
lifewithmonkey

the latest in booze and gadgetry

May 21, 2008 at 6:19 pm | In food | Leave a Comment

we finished up the small batch of pineapple rum, so i had to start another.

it’s in a much bigger jar this time around.

and then i got to thinking about mojitos, and figured that mint-infused rum would be perfect!

we have no more plain old light rum. i used the whole bottle with these two infusions. BUT! they will be ready for use this weekend. hurrah!

in celebration (or maybe just because i was at target monday night), i picked up a very useful kitchen gadget:

a real live nut chopper! i haven’t tried it out yet, but will be doing so before the week is over.

and while i’m thinking about food, i’d like to recommend this recipe for potato-leek soup and this recipe (about halfway down the page) for giant stuffed mushrooms. YUM! to both of them. i made the stuffed mushrooms without the cheese on top, and they were delicious.

pineapple rum, part two

May 11, 2008 at 7:24 pm | In food, howto | Leave a Comment

how to make a kick-ass daiquiri:

2 oz pineapple-infused rum
2/3 oz lime juice
a few dashes of agave nectar

add to a cocktail shaker full of ice and shake the heck out of it.
strain into a glass.
drink.
enjoy.

hell yeah.

take note, bacardi & company

May 10, 2008 at 3:23 pm | In food | 1 Comment

Q: what do you get when you cross fresh pineapple with light rum?

A: after about a week in a jar together, you get this really tasty booze that will be kick-ass in mixed drinks.

it even tastes good straight, and i’m someone who normally doesn’t drink straight rum. not since that new years eve when bernadette handed me a bottle of 151 without warning me what it was… *shudder*

i think this might be nice in a twisted version of a mojito.

note the fancy label i installed after bottling the results! it’s not like i don’t have a computer and printer and real-live self-adhesive die-cut labels at my disposal, either. i just, uh, was in a hurry. oh, and lazy.