braided loaf

i've been wanting to venture into the world of homemade bread for a while now because bread is just so much better when it's fresh from the oven. plus, it's so cheap! this braided loaf i made last night consists of the most basic ingredients (as most breads do)...

flour

salt

honey

yeast

egg

milk

it turned out pretty good! not too flakey, soft in the middle with a crisp crust...not too shabby!

mmm coffee

inspired by my friend, mat's long overdue love affair with coffee, this morning i decided to actually 'try' to brew a good cup. i love coffee and have loved it for a long time, but i am not really the 'measuring type.' i usually just throw some freshly ground (that's one thing i always do!) coffee into my cheap-o filters that are the wrong size and fill my super cute but probably not that clean pink coffee maker with a random amount of unfiltered water and let my machine do it's thaaang. 

it's drinkable, sure. after my first cup of black coffee i'll usually have another with a splash of milk to mask that bitter coffee-sitting-too-long-on-the-hotplate taste. but i deserve better, yes i do!

so today i pulled out my dusty french press (cleaned it out of course) and got to work...

1. filled my brita water filter with tap water, which is actually not bad here in oakland

2. using a teacup for measuring, i filled it with beans (trader joe's wake up blend...it's what i always drink) 

3. ground those beans

4. heated the filtered water in my tea kettle until it came to a boil, then let it sit for about 30 seconds

5. heated my french press with a bit of the hot water

6. ended up using only half of the grinds i measured out...filled water about 3 inches from the top of my press

7. stirred the sludge and wrapped my press in a towel to help keep in the heat

8. waited about 4 min....

9. pressed and voila! a pretty darn good cup of joe!

i am very much a beginner in the world of coffee snobbery and maybe this cup was tasty because i subconsciously willed it to be so, but it's amazing how the same beans can taste so different!

anyway, mat's blog is here

happy saturday!

some more randoms

i am wondering if i can sport this 'houndstooth long johns and moon boot slippers' combo for daytime...it's terribly comfortable

another bad phone photo of a successful screenprint done on silk organza

finally took my baryshipete weaving off the loom...then folded it up for 2 weeks, hence the creases. i can't decide what to do with it...it's a bit too big to hang on the wall. maybe it wants to be a pillow.

(pete is sniffing his woven crotch...i thought it was funny)

i'm hoping to get into the studio with my camera this weekend to take some 'good' photos of my work...i vow to take no more phone photos!!!

randomness...but mostly food...weekend highlights a week late (sorry)

zog's dogs' bacon wrapped 'mexico' hot dog at the 5th annual design dodgeball tournament 

pumpkin and goat cheese pizza at christina's house

chocolate and champagne at CHOCOLATE FEST (yes, it's a real thing)

and my lace screenprint that i finished instead of eating dinner...but it was worth it!

guatemala!

i went to guatemala over the summer and never posted my photos! so, here's a few...take a gander...

chichicastenango

drying skeins dyed with cochineal

natural dyeing with olga

indigo artes textiles

canoeing on lake atitlan

my weekend...

opening of 'open source embroidery' at the museum of craft and folk art, san francisco

duck noodle soup at racha cafe, berkeley

weaving 'baryshnicat'

steals of deals

i bought these marimekko fabrics at the crate and barrel outlet for only $4.95/yd!! they are originally $32/yd!!! i think they are so pretty! it was a very exciting day...now what should i make?

cuteness

so i'm a little new to this youtube thing, but as i was teaching myself how to play 'tonight you belong to me' on my ukulele, i came across this video....it might just be the cutest thing ever...

rainbows!

while walking back from dinner with my parents the other night, it began pouring rain! it was such a lovely summer shower...the perfect evening temperature. the lake was illuminated with gold flecks of rain and when i turned to walk up the hill i caught this double rainbow! i quickly grabbed my camera and snapped these photos from my balcony. we could actually see the whole rainbow, end to end, but i couldn't get it all in the frame. 'twas nice, though!

bad phone photo of beautiful oakland

i took this photo while walking around lake merritt a while back. it just showcases how amazingly beautiful oakland's weather is almost all the time! i love that i live so close to the lake...even if it does smell like geese.

Manhattan

I just got back from a family vacation to New York City! My aunt was getting married, so we all flew out to attend the wedding and to do lots of touristy things, of course. We stayed at my new uncle's apartment in the Upper East Side that had a roof top garden and a balcony...a rarity in Manhattan, I guess. 

My main goals were to eat, shop, and see I love lucy's apartment (which doesn't actually exist I found out!) I had super great fish and chips at A Salt and Fish Battery in Greenwich Village, which my sister suggested. There were real British guys working there, too!! We went to Serendipity for frozen hot chocolate on our last day and I think I want to paint my apartment pink and grey because of it! We ate real New York bagels (sorry NYC, but I didn't taste that much of a difference.) I had a slice of pizza at the Museum of Natural History and accidentally covered it in garlic thinking it was parmesan, so I don't think I really got a good pizza experience. I didn't ever get a chance to eat at the street vendors, either. So I am definitely planning on going back! 

As far as shopping goes, I went to Canal St. and looked at fake stuff, I went to 5th Ave. and looked at real stuff, and that's about it...except for the occasional H&M visit, which was a lot

 because they are on every corner it seems. I bought an awesome Pale Force poster on clearance at the NBC store! I was really excited about it because I love Conan. 

The humidity made me miss my perfect Oakland weather! It rained almost every evening at 6pm sharp! I would love to go back in the fall or spring....or maybe even winter!! real snow!!

Anyway, now I feel like I am rambling a little...so here are some pictures!!......

me at the wedding in my super cute vintage dress i got at the alameda flea market back home

view of the hudson river from the empire state building

those super great fish n' chips i was telling you about

walking around madison square park

how american!

you can see more pictures on my flickr

Random CCA Exhibit

A few weeks ago I was asked to take part in a hurriedly thrown together exhibit at CCA featuring Obama's mother's Indonesian textile collection. I guess that she collected traditional Indonesian batiks while she lived there and now that Obama is president, the Indonesian consulate decided to send them off on a tour across the country! Since all the San Francisco museums were booked for the summer, CCA was asked to show them along with some student work. 

huipil : i wove with cotton and brocaded with cotton and raw silk

my prints : block printed, stenciled, resisted, dyed, and discharged in 2 colorways

tutu : made with 36 yds of tulle, 4yds of silk organza that i used various shibori techniques on...i was a little disappointed with the camisole that was put on the dress form, and i think the tutu looks much better in person.

weaving : warp is linen ikat dyed with procion on top and tumeric and cochineal on bottom...weft is acrylic on top and wool that i spun on bottom

sewing

i finally finished my dress today yay! 

i started out with this pattern...

...and then changed the top a bit. i bought this beautiful ikat fabric from piedmont fabrics a few months ago...

the academy of sciences

i recently took a trip across the bay to visit the super-cool academy of sciences in golden gate park! 

my best friend christina, otherwise known as the christ. she works as a platinum tour guide! fancy!

twins

upside down jellies

these guys

for more pictures, visit my flickr page

tutus

there is nothing more girly or graceful than the tutu. which is precisely why i've decided to make one for one of my school projects. many many yards of hand dyed, degummed silk organza teamed with massive amounts of tulle are beginning to take the shape of my very own childhood fantasy. to me the tutu was the symbol of a great dancer. pointe shoes smoint shoes....tutus were what i wanted. and though i reached the 'en pointe' status, i never got to wear a real tutu...until now! pictures to come....

quarter life crisis? who me?

long time no write

no internet and a brief stay at the hospital for appendicitis has caused me to neglect the ol' blog here. sorry to anyone that actually reads it!! anyway, i hope everyone is having a splendid 2009 and i promise to post more in the future!