Fluffbuff

Early this morning, trying to install Leopard sent my MacBook Pro into a deep coma. It took about twelve hours to revive it.

Triage was a painful affair that involved four hours on the phone with Apple, with extended stretches on hold and the added frustration of having to deal with various degrees of Indian unintelligibility. Fortunately for me, Ben bore the brunt of it.

Around 1:30PM, he was able to identify the cause of the failed installation: faulty RAM. Removing the RAM was followed by an erase & install. Those of you familiar with the procedure, know how painful and time consuming that is. And I am thankful that Ben had thought of making a complete backup of my laptop last night. Ben, you're my hero. :*

After the erase & install, we were able to transfer back all the data from the backup and update the basic Leopard installation. My computer was back just minutes ago. Tomorrow will be spent getting used to the new OS and figuring things out. Having had to remove 1GB of RAM means that now everything is slower and I'll have to get new RAM.

BTW, in the last several days I lost some emails and have no way of knowing who they were from. If you emailed me and haven't heard back from me, please email me again.

On a different subject, the panna saga continues. I'll try to recap what I learned and share that with you in the next couple of days.

Posted by Francesca at 8:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

  With the holidays behind the corner, I am getting itchy to prepare foods I don't normally even think of. This year, for our Christmas open house I've been toying with the idea of making panna cotta. It's a bomb of calories, but what the heck… life is short.

Only, there seems to be no panna to be found in Los Angeles and it ain't no panna cotta without the panna.

Well meaning people have suggested that I substitute panna with other kinds of creams such as heavy whipping cream or even the super liquid half & half. No! Would you dress up a chicken and try to pass it for turkey? I happen to prefer chicken, but that's not the point. You can't call it apple pie, if it there are no apples in it.

A dear friend has already checked her local Italian deli and sent me links to other LA delis worth checking. So far, no luck.

I remember a conversation with Ms. Cornflower a while back about panna. The British call it double cream. Here in the US it doesn't seem to exist. The fat content of panna and double cream is much higher than that of heavy cream and that makes panna cotta what it is.

It's starting to look as if I'll have to revise my dessert plans, unless one of you can come up with a plan to save the day. Anyone?

Posted by Francesca at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Yes, I have been knitting, and yes, there has been progress, but did you really want to look at pictures of shapeless gray stockinette? I didn't think so. Today, though, I thought I'd break the knitting radio silence to show all the pieces finally together at the yoke. I have about an inch done since I put them all together and am about to start the raglan decreases.

Nothing like cashmere under your feet.

It's all part of our in-house quality control testing,

and Pipie gets rewarded for doing a good job…

while Kelvin (aka String Boy, for his addiction to strings) tests PH reactivity by applying carefully metered quantities of saliva to one of the dangling ends.

Strings… yum!

I couldn't wish for better assistants.

A good job completed, Kelvin returns to supervising the world outside the window. A mean cat has been going around all day, messing with his mind.

If I had had my camera handy earlier this morning, I could have shown you Kelvin looking like a cross between a B+W watermelon and a giant porcupine.

Posted by Francesca at 6:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)

  Another Japanese craft book for your viewing pleasure.

Easy Embroidery is the follow-up to Small Embroidery and shares the same format and layout. All in Japanese, with Danish titles.

やさしい刺しゅう
(Easy embroidery)
by ちひろ, 佐藤
127 pages
ISBN-10 4140311487
ISBN-13 9784140311486

It wasn't the bakery sign.

It wasn't the citrus fruits,

or even the acorns

or the green pepper.

It wasn't the hens,

the hotdog,

or the lion.

The piggy got close.

Real close.

This button scored pretty high, too.

The fish almost did it all by itself.

But even if there had been nothing else to like

in all of the other

126 pages…

this feather alone

would have been reason enough to buy this delightful embroidery book.

Posted by Francesca at 6:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

  England to Timbuktu in a truck powered by bio-diesel that started its life as chocolate. I am not sure how to feel about this. On one hand, I am all for bio fuel and saving the earth; on the other, I hope that that was low grade or expired chocolate. The BBC article only says that they used chocolate misshapes. Was shape the only problem with it? I know, I am being silly, but the thought of depriving chocolate lovers of 4,400 kg (8,800lbs) of chocolate so those two guys can go on a trip to Mali, well… why did it have to be chocolate in the first place? Couldn't they have used something gross like peanut butter for instance?

Posted by Francesca at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

  Remember Tiny Garden? The author, Kazuko Aoki, has just published another embroidery book.

I think it translates as Travel embroidery or Embroidery of a journey, but I have a feeling that there is a more befitting translation. From the photos, it seems that the author created these embroideries while on a journey to the UK, but I am really guessing. Anyone who can help me out here?

青木和子旅の刺しゅう―野原に会いにイギリスへ
Embroidery of a journey
by 青木 和子 (Kazuko Aoki)
ISBN-10: 4579111540
ISBN-13: 9784579111541

Entirely in Japanese.
Kazuko Aoki's website: www.tiny-garden.jp

Delicate little daisies and clovers.

A gallery of simple flowers you are likely to encounter while walking in the countryside.

Tiny photos, thumbnails really, of typical English gardens and country roads.

The red poppies remind me more of Italy than Englad, but I guess thy manage to thrive at higher latitudes as well.

I fell in love with the embroidered tea bags…

… and the lavender.

I am usually suspicious of follow ups, but both the second Nordic Knitting book and this one are worthy of their predecessors.

ADDED on March 20, 2008:

A friendly reader (thank you, Helen) emailed me with a better translation for the book title:

Embroidery of a Journey: Encounters with England's Wildflowers

Posted by Francesca at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

  Yesterday's book hunting expedition rewarded me with knitting and embroidery books. Here is one I had been on the lookout for since a friend in Japan had alerted me that it was being released.

I like this book just as much as I liked Nordic Knitting: Ten Fabulous Techniques.

北欧ミラクルニット—驚きいっぱい7のテクニック
Nordic Knitting: Seven Miraculous Techniques
by Kirja Kongsbak
ISBN-10: 4579111621
ISBN-13: 978-4579111626

Table of Contents

Vendepinde:
• Zigzag
• Frill
• Spiral & Circle
• Rose

Four Knitted Rectangles

Dropped Stitch

Garter Socks

Chain

Buttonhole Technique

Moebius Band

How To Make

I don't know the correct translation for Vendepinde, but all the projects in this section are worked with short rows, so maybe that's what vendepinde means. If you know different, please let me know.

The projects are diverse and illustrate the various techniques well. You'll find scarves, hats, table mats, bags, a necklace, sideways socks, a Moebius headscarf.

If they come out with Nordic Knitting #3, I'll buy it with my eyes closed.

Posted by Francesca at 3:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (26)

  Our lovely neighbor across the street decided to cover his front lawn with dung on a Saturday afternoon. For those of you unfamiliar with the Californian way of life, let me tell you.

Every year around the first rain, usually in early November, many people (sigh) fertilize their front lawns in what they believe to be the best way. As far as I know, there is no scientific proof that poop is better than other fertilizers — I think it's one of those urban myths — but that's the way it goes here. Good for us that this weekend we didn't have people over.

Anyway, the local color note is just to explain how I got to drive down to Costa Mesa after a long hiatus from Japanese craft books. We needed to be away from the house for a whole day; who wants to spend a whole Sunday breathing shit miasma? Have you ever heard of a better excuse to go hunting for cool new knitting and embroidery books?

So, away from the poop we went and I came home with some wonderful finds.
One review coming up shortly.

Posted by Francesca at 8:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)