Hat, Sushi.

I finished this bad boy for Christy recently (also after Christmas and YES I AM AWARE I'M A BAD SISTER).  It's from this pattern, and a fantastically easy hat to make.  Apparently my niece and nephew didn't believe that I made it and thought it was store bought.  I'm flattered to say the least.  They may only be 6 and 9 years old but they're opinions are tantamount to any of yours.  TANTAMOUNT.  And yes I looked up tantamount to make sure I was using it correctly so you didn't have to.  You're welcome.  I've always wanted to write tantamount in caps as its own sentence.  So here's some pictures of my foxy sister:

"Why, Katie!  You did such a fine job choosing buttons that would bring out your sister's eyes.  You truly are a great person."  Oh, stop it.  Stop it some more.

Last night Jesse and I decided to cook ourselves a delicious dinner.  I chose to make myself sushi, and Jesse chose to make himself steak.  Considering I know every single one of my "followers" here, you probably already know (except Lynn, this is new to you, feign interest...wait for it...now.) that Jesse usually cooks.  And by "cooks", I mean heat up water, insert noodles.  Totinos pizzas and tater tots were a big hit for us when we were first married, but we have now graduated to hamburger helper and spaghetti, and occasionally (OCCASIONALLY) microwavable vegetables.  So steak and sushi?  Pretty big deal.

The rice?  That went surprisingly smooth.  Don't ask me how, because I don't know.  The rice cooker of course was AWESOME (thanks, Sue) and the mixture was good.  I had pulled out the imitation crab, cream cheese and fish eggs beforehand (aren't I well prepared) and then put down that nori (dried seaweed - don't I sound posh?) and realized I didn't have any cucumber.  Now, the sushi would have still been good without cucumber, but it wouldn't have that vegetable backbone (yes that's right mom, I went out of my way for a vegetable).  Jesse recommended using celery (SCOFF) before I ran to Lamb's to buy one.  Or I could just ask my parents if they have one.  (Btw, thanks mom.  You saved the sushi.)

I made that sushi.  And I made that sushi good.  And by good I mean the roll was really big.  Japan frowns upon me.  Now, sushi is supposed to be an art.  It's very much about presentation.  The few times we've made sushi at Brittney's house, they have fancy plates and soy sauce dishes and chopsticks, so we're bonafied over there.  At my house, I'm lucky I have chopsticks (thanks, Roger!).  I decided to snap a quick one on my phone so you could see my tea cup dish loaded with sushi (they were way prettier in real life and they're cut thin, I promise!):

 

Oh and WHAT TO USE TO HOLD SOY SAUCE?  What to do, what to do.  Oh, I can use a tea cup from a Chinese restaurant:

Hey, stop judging me.  After I finished that roll, I decided to make myself another one for lunch the next day.  That one I tried to do inside out (with the rice on the outside), but didn't put water on the cutting board beforehand, and the rice stuck everywhere but the sushi roll.  DILEMMA!  So what did I do?  Cut it up and ate it as fast as possible with my hands while standing in the kitchen so Jesse didn't see me gorging another entire roll of sushi.  Piggy much?  I went with the regular roll after that and cut it up for lunch today.  Did I put it in a bento box you ask?  No.  In tupperware.  I took a photo of that too, but I don't have that.  Try not to be disappointed in me the rest of the day because of it.

So the moral of the story is that yes, I am still white, but I am trying to change.  "What about the steak!" you ask?  Let's just say that our house may have a slight "DID SOMEONE BURN STEAK?" smell for the next few days.  I didn't even eat the stuff, but when I picked up Brittney last night to go to the gym the first thing she said was, "You smell like steak."  Awesome.  Please excuse me while I wash all of my clothing.

Sweater vest, Sneezing.

Oh lawd, help me not to lust over someone else's talent with this sweater.  When will I be that great - nay, brilliant - with my knitting?  I think one thing that would help would be to not go rollerblading and ruin my elbow, which directly affects knitting.  Like, check this out, hey Susan, it was your birthday on Wednesday, is your scarf done?  Answer:  NO.

So, let's say this guy:

is sleeping on your lap.  Suddenly you feel the need to sneeze.  You sneeze, and he will give you the dirtiest look (HOW DARE YOU SNEEZE IN HIS PRESENCE) and if he's laying on your chest, he'll jump off of you after giving you the dirty look.

Which leads to Suki:

Neither of us had sneezed with her sitting on us yet.  Last night I was laying on the couch playing mario on my DS and she got right on up and snuggled on my chest.  So! Cute!  I mean, Cinnamon does it all the time, but if Suki wants to cuddle, it's an honor.  In the middle of world 5, level 3, I sneezed.  Which caused Suki to apparently be the most afraid she's ever been and she clamped her paws (claws out and ready for damage) on either side of my face, hissed at me and jumped off.  I layed there stunned.  Who does that?  Who is so afraid of a sneeze to ATTACK AND RUN?  This coming from the cat who jumped up on the couch when Jesse pulled out the cushions, and didn't make a peep when he was pushing the cushion back in with most of his body weight, trying to figure out why it wasn't fitting correctly.