Cooking, babies, and a wedding... (not all related)
I made Chicken Kiev for the first time last night. It is really easy to make and tastes delicious! I'm not much of a chicken person, but between the breading and butter compote I was quite happy. Turns out Matt really likes chicken kiev, so it was a great suggestion on his part (why he's never mentioned this for the past two years, I have no idea). We also tried scalloped potatoes for the first time. They were pretty good, especially for being from a Betty Crocker complete side box. I think we will be having this again, but from scratch as scratch always tastes better n_n We also tried the BC potatoes au gratin, which were not quite as good, although we did cut the liquid content the second time around, so that may have played a part. If we try these ones again, it will be from scratch as well. All in all though, it was a quite successful meal.
Turns out my other neighbor also had her first baby. Her parents live next door to us, and I was friends with her older sister Elena back in the day. While we've lost touch, we still talk to each other when the opportunity arises. Megan had her little boy a few months ago, but being the doofuses we are, my mom and I didn't think of getting her a gift. So now that I am making John Davis (how cute!) a toy. My mom asked for yet another elefante, big surprise there. The advantage to doing this though is that I know I can do it in 2 or 3 days, so I won't have to worry about time. Also she wants a blue one, which I've been wanting to do forever. It will probably be different from the blue one I had planned, and I may incorporate some green, but it's still exciting to finally make a blue one.
Tanya's gift set is coming along. I only have about 4 inches so far, but it is 30-36 inches across, so I consider that a good start. I've also only been working on it in short, random bursts. Tunisian also takes about twice as long as regular crochet or knitting (although I think I might be faster at knitting). Finals are done Tuesday though, so I should have plenty of time to get it done in the next two weeks. All I have to worry about is cleaning and packing, which doesn't all have to be done before I head home, as my lease goes until August 8th and M and I plan on stopping back a few times before then. The only problem I face with this blanket is the border. My mom doesn't like the solid color crochet border. She doesn't seem to understand I'd border it whether it was knit or crochet, because I'm not so good with pretty edges, especially with such fine yarn as baby yarn. M also agrees with her thinking though, so now I'm trying to figure out what to do about it. granted, the border is last so I guess I have time to figure it out. I think I am sticking with the elefante for Tanya's baby too (my mom hasn't told me her name yet...;_;). I think it will be darling in pink and yellow stripes, with white accents. I just don't know how big I want to make the stripes
Speaking of making things for other people...my cousin Tommy is getting married next summer. I guess my mom had offered Heidi (his fiance) to make hors d'ourves for the reception, as they were planning on doing it at my aunt's house (they are getting married on a cruise so we can't go ;_; so they are having a big reception party to make up for it). My mom asked me to help, since we love doing this. All our parties are full of appetizers, this will just be on a larger scale. It should be fun. Plus, we have a whole year to plan it. I also think I'm making Heidi's wedding jewelry, as well as my aunts and cousin Andrea's. It should be fun, and give me some cred for my shop, since I want to do special occassions like that.
Now if only I could focus on my projects, instead of playing video games. Matt and I finally sent in his Xbox to get it repaired. He got it back Friday and has pretty much been playing it non-stop. As soon as it came in, we had to go to teh store and buy a used copy of Bio Shock which he found for $20, an amazing deal. I also picked up a used copy of Kameo, for ten bucks. Needless to say he has already started both games, as well as Ninja Gaiden 2 (which eh got right before the Xbox broke), and Eternal Sonata (which I got for Christmas, and have not yet been able to play). Can you say making up for lost time? Luckily I just got myself a copy of Zelda's Minish Cap, which has been emensely entertaining. If only I coudl get a chance to play with the Xbox too...the extent of my play time on it has consisted of creating a profile, getting a few minutes on Kameo, and figuring out how to link my laptop to the Xbox for watching video clips on the TV (which rocks by the way!!!).
That's all...makes my weekend sound way more exciting than I thought it was. If we had made it to the park to go hiking, it would have been even more! Well, that's all for now. Bye-bye!