Pump It Up! Pump-Kin Up!

21 September 2013

Sorry for the single blog post this week.  It has been a jam-packed and busy week with little time to do my side projects.  As it stands now I am 6 days away from leaving and one week from today I will be in York, England settling in to my new living quarters and exploring the town, albeit extremely jet-lagged.  And even though I am leaving in only a short week I have yet to actually get my bags packed.  They lie there in my closet, taunting me with their emptiness.  For whatever reason I have yet to build the proper motivation for packing, that in addition to a sudden and large influx of freelance writing with quick turnaround times and attempting to see all my friends at least once more and the time just flies away.

Old Castle in York

And then there is the four legs of travel to commence my adventure in York.  Not at all a thrilling time, it should prove to be an interesting post for my next turn at posting. 

But enough about that, let’s talk about something crafty, or really bake-y.  A week or two ago Kellie and I got together to make our signature baked good: Mini Pumpkin Loaves.  They never disappoint and really are not that difficult to make at all.  This is especially true because Kellie and I often have to be resourceful with our ingredients as well as our kitchen equipment.  This time around we had the ingredients as we needed them, but not kitchen equipment we had intended.  Regardless they turned out great.

This doesn't include the softened butter
and also has white sugar, which you don't need

 First off gather the ingredients…

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree

4 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

2/3 cup water

3 cups brown sugar (we originally had it at a straight half and half with regular sugar and brown sugar, but later we decided that all brown sugar would be better)

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/2 cup of softened butter

After gathering the ingredients preheat your oven to 350 degrees F or 175 degrees C.  Start by combining, in a large bowl (or pot if you don’t have a large bowl…) the pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until it is well blended.  You can do this with a fancy blender, or if you don’t have one of those (like we didn’t) you can simple stir it with a sturdy spoon.  Don’t worry if there are lumps of sugar, all will be well in the end. 

Now if you have the bowls to spare you can mix the dry ingredients together, otherwise you can just add it to the wet mixture in one go (as we did).  So add together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger and allspice, either in a bowl or straight into the pumpkin mixture.  Mix as well as you can, again there might be lumps depending on if you use a blender or not.

The greasing and flouring of the loaf pans can either be done before, after or during the mixing of the batter.  You use the softened butter and a paper towel to rub the butter into the crevices and edges of the loaf pans.  It is important that you get it as lubed up as possible.  Then, using a little extra flour you move the pan around until the entire inside is covered in a light dusting of flour.  Dump out or reserve the excess flour and set aside.

In progress

All greased and floured up

Then you must fill the loaf pans, about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full.  Try not to spill any on the edges like I did.

In progress

All filled up

Then throw them in the oven and bake them for about 45-50 minutes.  Inserting a toothpick or butter knife in the center and if it comes out clean you are good to go.  Let them sit a little while in their pans before taking a knife to cut around the outside to dislodge the loaves then turning them out onto some paper towels for further cooling. 

Cool in pans for about 5-10 mins

Cool on paper towels until just warm to the touch

From here you can eat right away or wrap in plastic wrap while still slightly warm to preserve them best.  Optional delight might include spreading butter on them or enjoying with a cup of coffee.  Either way you can’t go wrong eating or sharing (if you can stand to give them away) these little loaves of wonder.

Until next time!

Brittani

WiP: Cargo Pants

So the past few weeks have been busy, to say the least.  Here's a picture of what I'm working on (besides home work and you know... work).

Yeah, doesn't look like much yet does it?  Still, I'm insanely proud with my progress.  This is the second pair of 'real' pants I've ever made, and the first pair were super simple wide leg pants on an elastic waist band.  They're not really my style.  However I realized that I am wearing my few pears of jeans out and to be honest I really want cargo pants.  At least in Arizona, good cargo pants for women as fairly hard to find.  The ones I could find have been cheaply made out of thin fabric.  I'm rough on my clothes so I wanted something a bit tougher.

This is a natural colored cotton twill with some stretch.  I can't say the exact content.  I got it from SAS, and awesome little store in Tempe, AZ.  They mostly have mill ends and such, so you sometimes have to dig to find what you want.  There are a lot of treasures though, and I could spend hours there!  I'm using a plain unbleached cotton as the pocket linings.  

So far, I have the front assembled except for button holes and buttons.  These are going to be button fly with 8 pockets- two front, two back, and two on each side.  There will be a grand total of eight buttons, four on the fly and two on each side pocket flap.  The list of things I've done -wrong- are surprisingly minimal.  I drafted the pleated cargo pocket too small, and didn't realize it until after I'd cut the fabric and pressed the pleat into it.  Luckily I had enough large pieces to redraft and get two more pockets.  And let's not talk about the flat fell seam.

Actually, let's do.  First off, it's backwards- that's the wrong side of the fabric you see there.  Second, it's a pretty awful seam.  Third, this is the inseam.  How the heck am I supposed to put side cargo pockets on if I've already sewn the inseam you ask?  Yeah, I couldn't figure that one out either.  So this whole seam is getting ripped out.  Since it was already trimmed I'm going to be careful when I match it back together and see if I can get it neater.  Then I think the key will be lots of pins or *shudder* basting. 

The goal for this weekend is to get the outside seams sewn up, check the fit, flat fell those seam, and pick out the inseam.  On Monday I'll have some time in my college's sewing lab to attach the pockets and maybe even fix the inseam.

On that note, the Bernina I've been working on scares me.  I have an old Riccar machine that's worked just fine but that thing shakes whatever table it's put on to pieces. The Bernina, despite not being a top line machine, is whisper quiet and so smooth in comparison.  The fact that the needle always stops up also freaks me out a bit because I frequently stop my machine with the needle down to help hold the fabric in place while I'm making sure it's lined up and such.  It does take some getting used to.

That's it for now.  Again only one post this week, but hopefully when it's my turn again I'll be able to post up a picture of the finished pants, plus a bonus post!  Brittani leaves for York in two weeks.  I'm going to miss her, but I don't envy her.  York is cold!

-Kellie

Freelance Writing and Personal Projects

7 September 2013

I’m a rather poor soon-to-be graduate student.  I need ways to make some money while I am studying besides the hope that I will have a job in England.  Without knowing the job market and availability of jobs in York I have had to look into other ways to earn some cash.  One of the first things I looked into, while poor and trying to put food on the table in Spain was freelancing.

I know Kellie and I have mentioned it in passing that we looked into and eventually starting working on freelance writing to help cover expenses while living abroad.  Since coming back to the States I have continued to look for work and have had mild success at it.

The website that I primarily use is oDesk.  It has a much easier to use interface and setting up a profile is simple and straightforward.  Kellie and I did look into Freelancer and Elance but found their set ups to be difficult to use and understand.  Additionally I feel that the community on oDesk is smaller and thus much it easier to land a job.

The way freelancing works is you scour through the posted jobs (once you have set up your profile, that is) and open a few postings that look like something you are interested and capable of doing.  Usually I check out the price first and whether or not someone has already been hired for the position.  If things check out there I read through the description in order to confirm whether or not I actually want to do such as job.  If I do I apply. 

When applying you set your price, your expected time frame and write a cover letter explaining why you should be hired.  Including any information that is specifically requested in the job posting, then you send it off and hope to be invited to interview.  In reality you have to apply to several jobs before you are hired for a few.

In the past I have written on so many different topics that range from food articles, history ebooks, romance stories, science fiction short stories, product descriptions and book reviews, to name a few.  But behind all of the freelancing work is a desire to create and publish my own material.  I love to write and of course I would love to be paid to write my own stories.  But that it’s in the works at the moment.

Though on the line-up of personal projects to start I have an epic space novel that I am very excited about as well as a few shorter stories for competitions, all in the science-fiction/fantasy genre.  I am always looking for feedback and criticism.   Up next in personal work is a short short story for a Writer’s Digest competition.  The story must be less than 1,500 words.  That is not easy to do.  But alas I shall try!  And always I am searching for additional freelance writing.  The search will never be over.

Next time I hope to have a progress report for the scarf.  Needless to say it hasn't progressed as quickly as I would have liked, but it progresses nonetheless.

Until next time!

Oh and I can't leave you without a picture, so here is one of my dogs, Ebony, being cute and judging you at the same time.

She can be adorable and crabby at the same time.

-Brittani

Can I Really Be a Photographer?

4 September 2013

It is a question I often asked myself throughout the years and often times I would say no.  I didn't own a big fancy camera with an adjustable lens and a special carrying case and all the other equipment I thought was a requirement to have in order to be a ‘photographer’.  But I love to take pictures, especially of landscapes and historic buildings.  So while I was abroad this year I just took the pictures I wanted, both memory making pictures as well as artistic type photos.

In the Archaeology Museum of Sevilla

And boy, were there a lot of funny pictures.  These kinds of pictures bring me back in time to when the events initially occurred and it allows me to relive those happy and exciting times.  In the past few months that I have been home I have found that I miss being surrounded by the history and the ease of living in a walkable city.  Yet in only a few short weeks I will be returning to Europe and living out another year abroad and away from home.

BY THE WAY I OFFICIALLY HAVE MY VISA IN HAND!

But back to the topic of the blog post, photography.  It wasn’t until I returned back to the States and started to dive into my pictures that I realized I had a few gems in the bunch.  While in my hunt through the mires of the Internet searching for ways to stay afloat financially I came across a website that would take my photographs and sell them as prints.  The site is called Fine Art America and it can take your digital photos and print them in a variety of ways including on canvas.

Palm trees in Sevilla

Here is the start of my profile and portfolio with more work being added as I go.  Part of the process for me is fine tuning the photos I have before posting them to be—hopefully—purchased.  On the recommendation from Kellie I downloaded a free photo altering program called GIMP.  I don’t do that much to the photos besides cleaning up the crop, sharpening the picture, changing to black/white schemes, etc.

I would like to think that so far everything is running smoothly.  Though, I am still searching for that elusive first purchase.  Granted I haven’t put as much effort into marketing as I should, but that is something to continue to build and work on as I go.

Currently I am working on a few photos from my recent trip to L.A. with my sister for her belated birthday/missed graduation gift.  That is in addition to the photos I have from London and Spain that I am also working on as well. 

Big Ben

As I get this photography business under my belt perhaps one day I will buy one of those ‘real’ cameras for photography.  Until then I am pretty happy with my Panasonic Lumix. 

Also, the scarf progresses, if not at an incredibly slow pace.  More updates to come in the following weeks.  Until next time!

Brittani