postcard from roma.

Helen and I were dead tired. Lack of sleep on a red eye flight caused our hands to shake. Managed to get a little shut eye at our layover in Frankfurt. The harsh German barking over airport intercoms were no match for my exhaustion. Conked out until our shuttle plane arrived to take us to Rome.

Upon arriving, we were greeted not by "Welcome to Italy" signs but by sexy half naked David and Victoria Beckham modeling in Armani ads. First immediate lesson I learned was how extremely laid back Italians are. You will hardly ever get a solid answer from anyone. We were picked up by a tour group shuttle which promptly drove us to the wrong hotel.

"You want that light building," the man at the front desk pointed from the wrong hotel, "I show you. Ehhhhh, you walk, three, four, five blocks over there."
"Great," I sighed.

Helen and I gawked at our hotel room. Two beds neatly cut out like blocks of tofu were waiting for us in what looked like my closet. Right. Space is limited in this city. Got it. Dropped our bags, got into some fresh clothes, and headed out for our first taste of Italy.

호박죽.

Have decided to adopt Maangchi as my virtual Korean mother. I tried out her 호박죽 recipe for tonight's cooking night at Michelle's. It turned out pretty well. In the future, I'd puree the squash after boiling it for a smoother consistency. Also, adding honey instead of sugar makes it pretty good too.

muligatawny.

Tonight, I tried out a recipe I found while flipping through last month's issue of Family Fun magazine. Mulligatawny soup! When I first read the title, I thought it read, "Multi-getaway". Aigu.
It's not good to cook when you're hungry and you wanna eat.... like, NOW. This particular stew takes an hour to simmer alone.

My apartment now smells like curry.

cat for etsy.

For me, a relaxing night consists of crafting in my underwear while watching "Weeds". I finished another cat. I kinda wanna keep him. He is gray. He wears a cotton scarf. He is a cotton/acrylic blend. I really like natural fibers and have been wanting to try cotton. If parents are buying these woolen dolls, I'm afraid their children will be horrified at the site of shrunken and felted animals in the washer/dryer.

Cotton would be easier to wash and keep clean. I found straight cotton doesn't really have a give and is tough to use. The acrylic blend makes it slightly more flexible and softer.

sock bunny christmas ornaments.

I stayed up late last night to sew bunny ornaments for the swap.

For some reason, I keep saying "bunnies" in my head with Bobcat Goldthwait's voice.
I sent the bunnies away today.
Now I'm waiting around for ornaments to come in the mail.

Hoppy Holidays!