Crafty Treats and Eats

I know you’re not supposed to say, ‘Oh dear, it’s been sooo long since I updated!’ It’s like a blog no-no. But then, people also used to say that nobody cares what you ate for lunch, and that’s clearly not the case anymore. So, gosh! It’s been a while. I was doing so well about updating frequently this summer, but I guess I’ve slipped recently. Oh well.

– I’ve been doing a bit of crafty stuff, including the above: a case for my glasses, a zip pouch for the loose bits that float around in my bag/purse, and some silly stamps. I also made a dress that I’m very pleased with — I’ve altered it a bit since I took that photo, but it’s the only one I’ve got. I used a vintage girls’ jumper/dress pattern and about 25 cents worth of yard-sale material. I then went back and added my own darts to both the front and back, making it as fitted as possible while still being able to get it on and off without a zipper. I’m getting more comfortable with this clothes-making thing.
– I’m taking off for Frankfurt in a few days. Going over for the bookfair and some exploring. I’m really bad about answering every question that pops up in the comments, but to the person who asked: I’m a freelance publisher, although I do most of my work for one small (but successful!) press. I’ve probably linked to its website before, but I’d prefer not to do so now. Basically, I do most of the work behind the production of books — acquisitions, editing, cover design, type-setting, etc. And sometimes I get to jet over to foreign countries and eat their bread. That’s my favourite part.

– I think it’s funny how we all know that things get easier with practice, yet we often refuse to believe it. We figure if something’s difficult at the beginning, we’re just no good at it. I think this is particularly true with cooking, because it can take a while to get comfortable with ingredients, figure out how things ‘work’, and be able to just wing it. So I often feel like I keeping telling people to ‘just do it!’ when they want to learn how to cook.
But I also realized how much patience cooking can require, when I noticed that the meal in the photo above took almost a full hour of prep. I often like to find shortcuts when it comes to other tasks, but I never seem to mind that it takes so long to wash and chop and saute. At any rate, that tofu scramble was among my best, I’d say. My favourite marinade for tofu these days (for about half a block of tofu) includes a couple tablespoons of tamari, about half a tbsp nutritional yeast, and dashes of garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, and sometimes chili powder. It’s the nutritional yeast that really makes it, though.
I’m going to season some slices of tofu this way for my travel-sandwich on Sunday. That’s the best part of having to fly around the world, after all. Distance traveled from sandwich’s origin has a positive, direct effect on the deliciousness of sandwich. I’ve done the research.