indelible studios

I’ve been looking for ways to corporate more veggies and fiber into our diets – especially my daughter’s.  Baked goods are always a good way to get them in; I don’t try to hide them (a la Jessica Seinfeld) because my daughter will try nearly anything and doesn’t think vegetables are yucky.  But I do think it’s good to boost the nutrition of whatever foods my daughter likes, and baked goods are at the top of her list, of course.

So I was excited to try out this Zucchini Muffin recipe from Coconut & Lime; Rachel is having a “blogiversary contest” and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to try one of her recipes, especially because one of the prizes is a Vita-Mix, which I completely covet.  (Imagine being able to make your own nut butters at home!  Grind grains into flour!  Puree anything!  Awesome!)  I have a zucchini bread recipe that was my aunt’s or someone’s, and although it could be used for muffins, it has SO much oil and makes a very cake-y kind of bread, and I wanted something with less fat and more texture.  

I did make a couple of changes to Rachel’s recipe; I used white whole wheat flour instead of plain all-purpose flour, and I added a few tablespoons each of flax meal and wheat germ for fiber, and a tiny bit of water so those extra dry ingredients wouldn’t make the batter too stiff.  

They turned out great – we’ve eaten them for breakfast and snacks.  The recipe makes a ton, too – probably 24 regular-sized muffins, although we used 12 regular-sized ones and 18 tiny ones and 2 kid-sized bread pans.

*I have some pictures, but cannot upload them for some crazy reason (perhaps because I have yet to install the latest version of WordPress?) – you can see them here and here.*

As you can tell if you look around this site, I haven’t blogged in forever (unless you count my tumblr, which I really don’t) – once again I was swallowed whole by the semester.  Now that it’s finished, I have a million ideas for craft projects, cooking projects, and other stuff, and can’t wait to share them with you.  I plan to redo this site to make it more beautiful and useful.  I also plan to launch another blog where I’ll write out my more academic ideas, because I’ve realized that the commitment to blog helps motivate me.

Finally I am done with my semester.  My first semester of PhD coursework, and it was accordingly stressful.  I don’t know, my utter inability to keep up with the mundanities of life really got to me this time.  Other semesters I’ve been able to at least re-evaluate my organizational systems mid-semester, but this time I had a conference mid-semester so I never caught back up.  I am making a conscious effort at improvement between now and the spring semester, but I also need to pledge to myself to just take time each day to make sure I’m organized, I know what’s on my calendar, etc.  I am also planning to purchase some fancy electronic tools to help me stay focused….. more about that when the time comes.

So now I have the next few weeks to rest, renew, clear things out, and be creative!  This week is, of course, Hanukkah and Christmas, so we have lots of celebrating to do.  I am hoping to make a few small gifts on the sewing machine and also finish up a larger gift that requires handwork in the next couple of days (as I always say, one of the great things about Hanukkah is that there’s no hard deadline for presents).  I have journaling and writing plans, photography plans, and I’m also going to do some (semi-academic) writing for a book project I have in mind.  I am also going to: eat lots of clementines, exercise a lot, go sledding, drink tea, watch Project Runway episodes, and visit with friends.

And to anyone out there still reading after my months of absence – happy holidays!  Enjoy yourselves.

I love my friends.  M and I went to Chicago to visit two of my best friends.  M was so excited that Emily had toys in her apartment, even though she doesn’t have any kids!  (Japanese toys like Monchichis, cute mugs, and of course bears – Emily’s mom is a collectible teddy bear artist.)  I was so excited that Emily’s apartment was so cool, and I was inspired to find some ways to redo our place.  M was also excited that Emily and Becky took us to Rainforest Cafe (which is crazy and overwhelming and the perfect place to go with a three year old and your wisecracking girlfriends who will also spoil your kid and get her the GIANT dessert with the sparkler on top).  M was excited to ride the train, and she fell asleep in her stroller right before we got to Barney’s.  I swear I could have been wearing a tattered garbage bag and none of the salesladies would have noticed, they were all gushing so much over my adorable kid with her adorable mouth hanging open.  It bought us lots of time to rifle through the $700 shoes and Comme des Garcons cape/sculptures.

…poor little thing, this little blog.  I haven’t had any time to write or make anything or share anything.  My old camera gave up the ghost (this was a $350 fancy shmancy digital back in… 2001 or so) and I had nothing to share.  With grad school, as I predicted, I’ve had no time to make anything.  My desk is a mountain of paper, most of it probably junk mail and artwork from M’s school, and my sewing machine is under there somewhere, but when will I even find the time to clean it off?  Maybe this weekend.  But oh yeah, I just signed M up for a free music class on Sundays.  Maybe someone else… a magical nanny… will take her.  Actually, scratch that, I want to take her, maybe a magical cleaning lady will come and clean my house.

But the big news that’s got me checking in with the blog is that I’ve got a new camera!  A good little fancy schmancy digital point and shoot that has all sorts of nifty features and best of all, a really good macro feature!  Seriously!  For real!  (That’s M’s new expression, “for real!” all the time.)  I am very excited about this.  In addition to keeping some record of my child’s life, I might also be able to take pictures of things I make (even if they’re tiny scraps of projects) and post them.  Or, I might actually be able to take nice enough pictures that they might be worth sharing in and of themselves.  Wow.  I’m getting all geeked out about it like I did when I got my first real camera, a Pentax 35mm, in 8th grade.  I love that camera, still do.  Maybe I ought to get that out one of these days too.

Here is one of the very very first pictures I took with this new little camera:

I mean, natural light, closeup capabilites, actually clicks when you want it to instead of 2 seconds after.  For real.

OH!  I actually did make something, though – something very simple – a tweed wrap skirt using the pattern from Sew What Skirts.  It turned out great.  I actually didn’t sew on the closures yet, I just pinned it shut in 2 places and wore it today and you know what, it looked great!  I actually might not sew on the snaps because then it’d be more flexible and forgiving.  It’s just got a fringed waist and hemline, it was super easy to make, and it’s a great color, a tweed inbetween gray and taupe.  I wore it with black tights and my new black merino turtleneck, and felt pretty dang pulled together.

Ok.  So.  See you soon, little blog.  With more pictures!  Really!