Pro-Portionally Designed

The Dalek Project: Extermination Creations (Comming Soon)

2011-12-11T00:18:00.004-05:00

Yet again I've taken on a massive endeavor and it's left my blog empty. If you follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Myspace you may have heard an occasional mention of The Dalek Project. The details of the project have been kept secret in an attempt to maintain the integrity of the project. It would really suck if I spent a lot of time and energy on it only to have it spoiled because I spilled the beans to the wrong person or just too soon.

If you're a fan of Doctor Who or a downright Wholligan you can follow the project on Twitter, Facebook, and through the site where the majority of posts will be made - Tumblr. The details of the project will be released within the next two weeks and posted on Tumblr.

And in non-Dalek Project related news there have been some semi-regular additions being made to my Etsy store. The most popular of which is these

LizzGlizz-inspired Piranha Plant stud earrings that are made to order.

Pro-Portional Designs Is Offering a Discount Code

2011-10-13T19:29:00.005-04:00

Pro-Portional Designs is going to be offering a discount code for a trial period beginning today and ending on December 31st, 2011 at 11:59 PM.

How can you get in on the savings from my store you ask?

With every new referral (meaning each sale must be a new person) that leads to a purchase you will receive 5% off of your next purchase from Pro-Portional Designs. Each coupon will be created specifically for you and is good for a one time use by you. Your coupon code is non-transferable and not to be shared.

To receive your coupon code just have your newly referred customer fill in your name, email address, and Etsy user ID in the notes section at time of purchase and I will e-mail you your discount code. But remember they have to buy in order for you to save.

But wait - there's more.

You can combine your unused discounts to get a one time use coupon code for up to 25% off of your next purchase.

Don't have any money?

Refer 10 friends to my Facebook Fanpage between today and November 12th, 2011 at 11:59 PM, with the instructions to "like" it and *e-mail me letting me know who referred them and you will receive a 5% off coupon. The discount received from referring people to the fan page is a one time offer and will not be one that can be combined like the promotion above.

I can be contacted for this promotion through Etsy contact or via OmNomNomStudios@Gmail.com

Coupons from these promos are good until February 15th, 2012 and do not apply to custom orders.

The Jarring Reality About Canning

2011-09-22T17:25:00.002-04:00

The end of summer has left us with the last few state and county fairs there will be until next year and with the cool, football season air settling in on us most mornings, it seems more and more people I know have been scrambling to can. Most of these people are new to canning. As much as I support embarking upon new foodie pursuits I think that canning is one that too many people may have the wrong idea about.

The process of canning involves a lot more than just placing the foods you wish to last you through the winter season in a jar. Proper canning involves important factors like the application of heat, vacuum sealing, sterilization, and pasteurization. Improper canning has historically led to fatal tragedies by those who meant well or assumed they had all of the facts that they did not.

The purpose of canning is to preserve food by packing it in a jar to be immersed into a waterbath or a pressure canner where it will then be heated for a certain amount of time to a certain temperature.

When canning it is important to remember that it is not only important for you to have quality ingredients if you want the end result to be a quality project but to insure the quality of your canning supplies particularly your jars. Inferior quality or second hand jars nearly assure that you will find yourself without a good vacuum seal.

Canning jars differ from random jars because they are not only designed to hold food but they are made of thicker glass to stand up to the heat from waterbath or pressure canning. Once you've procured jars appropriate for canning you would still do best to check them for flaws of any sort or all of your hard work will be for naught.

As I'm sure it has already occurred to you the application of heat to your canned goods cooks the contents. During the heating the air is pushed out of the jar, creating the necessary vacuum seal.

The ins and outs of canning are many but if you're truly interested in it there are many books and even blogs out there dedicated to the subject.

The most common mistake I've been seeing this season is the absence of added acid to canned tomato products. The basis of this mistake is the assumption that because tomatoes are a high acid fruit they're ready to can immediately following your doing whatever it is you wanted to them. A jar of tomatoes or salsa does not contain the needed amount of acidity to prevent the bacteria that causes botulism to grow in your jar.

If you're interested in canning please do a bit of reading first and be sure to use an already tested recipe rather than assuming you know best. You can always play with the recipe once you know what you're doing.

A rose by any other name is no longer a rose. Just because it's in a jar does not mean it has been properly canned.

What's New on Pro-Portional Designs

2011-09-03T18:16:00.005-04:00

I realize that the time between posts has become hang-my-head-in-shame far between but baby nom has been growing like a weed and with all the things I do at once. It can be hard. Forgive me readers.

In my last post I mentioned that I was once again suffering from wrist pain which left me unable to knit. Productivity keeps me from being too grouchy so I set out to begin a new "hobby" that I would be able to do to help keep my wrists from staging another revolt.

Enter a friend from high school bearing the good news that Jo-Ann Fabrics had a sale of Fimo clay. Two years ago I looked into making polymer clay items but did not have the funds (not that I really do now), the sale was almost all I needed to finally get started in the exciting world of polymer clay (remember having money is also a major factor in the legal procurement of supplies).

After pulling some purse strings I made it happen and began making more affordable items for the shop, some of which are currently up for sale right now.

On a separate note I will be beginning a new project on January 1, 2012, the details of which are currently a secret. However there is a Facebook and Tumblr page already set up for you to go, "like", and hypothesize about until its release.

Coming Soon . . . .

2011-07-27T08:59:00.005-04:00

For the last week I've had to force myself to no longer knit for fear of doing what could be permanent damage to my wrists. Because I currently have a cut tie to the Viking sewing machine I was sew diligently using last year this leaves me with a need for another gratifying craft that will fill the knitting void as well as still provide me with items for the store.

I have been hard at work for the last two days and have turned out a ton of new items. What they are I'm not ready to tell you yet but I feel you will most likely be pleased. When will they be out? I'm working on building a decent sized stock for you to peruse so they could be released anywhere within the next month to the next three months depending on the ultimate size of my stock and when my wrists heal enough for me to begin knitting again.

*Important note: The item shown will not be for sale. It's the item that lead to my wrist pain. This item is mean to be MINE ALL MINE!!!

Elbow Grease, Boil, Repeat

2011-07-24T00:11:00.008-04:00

You know that saying, "You can't live with them, you can't live without them"? As much as I love the boy, during the years we were dating and did not cohabitate, my apartments were much neater than my house tends to be these days.

I do what I can to keep the place respectable but DH is a whirlwind of mess. I swear his clothes seem to fly off of his body in every direction while spewing crumbs so that he may find his way back to them without tripping over whatever else is in the floor.

Husbands, in general are just a messy breed and little to nothing can be done about it.

2004, South Philadelphia. It's winter, I'm new here, and I could really use something comforting to make me feel at home, even if it's just for an hour or two. The house I'm currently living in seems to be devoid of frying pans. The purchase of an "emergency pan" was necessary.

Any excuse to visit Fante's on 9th street in the heart of the Italian market is a good one. It was there that I purchased the 10" frying pan that somewhere along the last six years has become "the boys pan."

Tired of his aggressive use of metal implements in my non-stick Tupperware pans (Yes, Tupperware makes pans. And they're awesome.) I informed him that this was now "his" pan and he was in charge of it's care.

This is what the pan looks like now (after vigorous scrubbing).

The problem is, he's been occasionally using some of my other pans. For example my copper core fry pan from Williams-Sonoma.

Today during a Felix Unger meets Shirley Feeney style fit of cleaning I broke out the pans and attacked them with baking soda and elbow grease. The results were minuscule.

I then boiled a mixture of water and baking soda in the pans for around 30 minutes. The results for my William-Sonoma pan were noticeable but not yet impeccable

and the results on "the boys pan" were a small dent.

In a fit of desperation at the suggestion of the internet I tried some Easy-Off. After the process of:
dishwasher
baking soda / elbow grease
boiling / baking soda
baking soda / elbow grease
Easy-Off
Dishwasher

The pan (in my opinion) is still in need of divine intervention.

I'm gonna need more elbow grease. It's a good thing I have an economy sized bag of baking soda . . .

Pro-Portional Designs Has A New Little Sister

2011-04-07T15:03:00.004-04:00

As I briefly mentioned on the Pro-Portional Designs Facebook fan page, I've begun a new sister site called Small Fries. If you follow the hypertext link you can read the first post and see what it's all about. I am also in the process of setting up the coordinating Facebook fan page. Because Small Fries is still an Om Nom Nom Studios project it's Facebook will be linked to the Om Nom Nom Studios Twitter feed.

Roasted Red Pepper & Red Cabbage Salad Recipe

2011-03-01T11:26:00.006-05:00

Last night for dinner I (yet again) made a roasted red pepper & red cabbage salad. It's fairly quick and easy and brings back some fond memories of a friend I had years ago who first made it for me.

When I sent a picture of the salad to a family member last night she told me she thought that would go over well in her household and asked me how to make it. This morning when posting a great friend of mine from high school seemed to feel the same way.

I began to post the recipe on Facebook and then realized it was long enough that I may as well blog it.

On to the recipe!

What you will need:
1 head of red cabbage
at least 1 red pepper (it's up to you how many you will want)
Olive Oil
1 container of honey (agave is also acceptable but beware it will be very runny on this)
1 bottle of red wine vinegar (if you don't have red wine vinegar I've made this using Caesar dressing & honey and not been unhappy)
1 cookie sheet (if you don't have one a meatloaf or bread pan should be fine)

Prepping the red cabbage:
It's up to you if you choose to prep your cabbage first, last, or while you work on the red peppers.

Take your red cabbage.
Pull off the outer leaves that look yucky from the store.
Take your chefs knife and begin slicing it however thin or thick you like.
Once you have as much as you want.
Cut the sliced pieces the other direction as well so the slices are more manageable for you to eat.
I probably do that around 4 or 5 times depending on the original size of the cabbage.
Rinse the cabbage in the sink.

To roast your red pepper:
If using only one red pepper like I did last night, I just rub it down with some olive oil, when using multiples I drizzle the olive oil over all of them insuring that enough of the skins are coated with oil.
Once you've coated your red pepper(s) place it/them on a cookie sheet (last night I used a small bread pan and all was still just fine) in the oven at 350 and wait for the skin to pucker.
Once the skin has puckered. (At this point your pepper should no longer be remotely "solid" - it should be squishy. You can usually be pretty sure when your pepper is squishy when you look in and see it's sunken in a bit.)
Remove the pepper from the oven.
Turn off the oven (bc I forgot to last night) and let the pepper cool a little bit.
It doesn't need to get cold just manageable enough for you to hold in your hand.
Take your pepper over to the sink and the first thing I do is pull out the stem. WATCH OUT FOR HOT OIL!!!! It tends to pour right out at this point and I've gotten a hand of hot oil a couple of times.
Gently peel away the skin of the pepper. If you're too rough you can take chunks of pepper with it. This can also happen if the skin is not puckered enough all over the body of the pepper.
Once you've skinned the pepper. Lay it out on a cutting board and slice as thin or thick as you like lengthwise.

Preparing the salad:
Place your red cabbage in a bowl or on a plate.
Arrange your red pepper on top (peppers can be hot or cold - that's your call).
Drizzle with however much red wine vinegar you like.
Drizzle with honey.

Et voila! Salad noms!

The Weekend Report

2011-02-06T14:58:00.005-05:00

I mentioned the other day there's been a change in schedule around my house that I am now adjusting to. Which really, is almost cruel, because in another two months, this new schedule (I'm sure) will be shot into the stars while I adjust to baby nom.

My weekends are now no longer on the actual weekend. They are Monday evening to Thursday evening. I plan to do my best to adjust and keep bringing you foods news, pics, and nonsense at as regular an interval as possible (the bulk of which is most easily viewed on the Facebook fan page) and not totally forsake you during "the weekend."

Sick Day

2011-01-26T13:43:00.007-05:00

We're having a sick day here at Chez Nom. Some of you may have read that last night the boy came home looking and feeling a lot like death. Today he is feeling very slightly better but is definitely still not up to his regularly scheduled state of function.

He's taken great care in making sure not to possibly get me sick just in case whatever he has in contagious.

Perfect has been a bit sick as well as of late, something seems to have given her a bit of tummy trouble.

As for myself, last night I took on a little more I could handle with the cold walk back to my car that was nowhere near last nights basketball game at the Schottenstein Center. My night was spent unable to roll over and a couple of charlie horses that lead to me screaming for a few minutes. So my messy kitchen is just going to have to wait.

Christmas Gifts

2011-01-12T12:10:00.010-05:00

Obviously with my recent trip home* I did not spend the Christmas holiday with my family here in Ohio. Upon our arrival back into the state there was a bit of Christmas waiting here for us (as well as our dog who was more than thrilled we were finally back).

A few years ago the boys grandma offered to make me a quilt and in making it wanted to know what sort of things I liked so that she could try to incorporate them into it. I believe my response was "food, books, and wine."

After a lot of effort finding the appropriate scraps of material to make this quilt a reality I finally have it and it was of course worth the wait.

Recently I made a brief post via the Facebook fan page with the promise of more/better photos.

Not to worry everyone. Grandma got Perfect a Christmas present too. And she LOVES it.

*In the hyperlink video I am seen wearing the shawl I gave to my mother as a Christmas gift. This is her in her gift. To let her keep a modicum of privacy I've blurred her face, don't worry, my mother's face doesn't look like that in person. It's a perfectly lovely face, no blurs about it.

Nacho Challenge Pt. 1*

2010-12-27T17:27:00.010-05:00

As promised via Facebook here are some more pictures of food.

Let me tell you I am beyond thankful that this time I was able to see one of my oldest and dearest friend from childhood.

What started out as a excuse for me to get some fresh air and her to get a cup of coffee turned into my feeling pretty compelled to eat once more (and soon!)

We headed out to what before it becomes a local watering hole to us locals, is where high-school kids can get relatively cheap noms. My favourite was always the nachos grande so that's what I ordered.

They were alright but of course some things can't live up to what you remember and in other cases you've just learned more about food to eat some things from some people and feel the same way about them.

Of course, this was one pregnant lady who wasn't complaining too much.

Obviously I was able to "choke them down."

Despite how long friends have known you and how big they feel your mouth is or has always been - it seems they can always be surprised at what you can shovel into your face.

H. and I definitely turned into the 12 year-old versions of ourselves. Which can lead people to a bad case of "monkey see, monkey do."

Whatever the boys excuse is - you'd have to get from him.

Being a picky eater, what has been dubbed "the nacho challenge" was not for him. But tortilla chips are. Of course they need to be properly stacked and counted (there were 13) first.

*I chose to call this "nacho challenge pt. 1" because I can't see how this won't happen again somehow.

A Post For Sock Knitters

2010-12-22T10:47:00.003-05:00

Usually I try to post you something slightly more Pro-Portional Designs related, but this morning I read a particularly enjoyable tip list from Knitting Daily in my e-mail and have chosen to share it.

10 Tips for Longer-Lasting Socks

1. Don't wind your yarn into a cake until you're ready to knit. Winding a skein into a cake pulls fibers taught and over months the yarn could lose its ability to spring back into shape.

2. Choose the right yarn for the project; 100% cotton yarn isn't necessarily appropriate for socks because they will quickly bag and lose their shape when worn. Wool and wool/nylon blends are popular for socks because of their innate elasticity.

3. Choose high-quality sock yarn—inexpensive sock yarn tends have short fibers, which pill and wear out more quickly than longer fibers. If your budget is tight, you can find great deals in sale sections.

4. Go down one needle size (or more) when knitting the feet. If a label calls for a US 2 needle, knit the foot of the sock on a US 1, or even a US 0 so you get a dense fabric that holds up to wear.

5. Knit the right size socks. Too-big socks slip around more on the foot and cause more wear as they move around in your shoes.

6. Rinse socks separately before washing with other items. While dye shouldn't run, super-saturated colors might and you don't want your other socks to be affected.

7. Turn socks inside-out when washing. That way the inside of the sock gets a fuzzy halo over time, and not the outside.

8. Consider washing your finished socks in a small mesh bag in the machine so they don't catch on zippers.

9. Don't wash socks in hot water. Even socks labeled "superwash" could felt or shrink a bit.

10. Lay socks flat to dry. Over time, machine drying will lessen stitch definition and make socks look worn. The intense heat of drying might also break down fibers.

For the entire/original article you can go here.

Winter Message from Om Nom Nom Studios

2010-12-06T19:49:00.003-05:00

For those of you who have this winter season starting to or already hitting you we hope you're staying warm!

It's The Most Wonderful Time of The Fortnight

2010-12-03T11:24:00.010-05:00

It's that time again! Grocery day. A day that these days, for me, is packed with exercise.

This morning when I spoke to my mother on the phone she made a comment about Ohio State fans. Nothing derogatory of course, but she remarked on how much tOSU stuff the tOSU fans wear even back home.

While out looking for manager deals in the meat section I noticed this.

Even the chicken here is pro-buckeyes. I have to admit, this is the first time I have noticed chicken with such a message.

I decided at that point to take pictures of other instances of this in the store but the plan was not to go too out of my way to hunt it down. Items I photographed for her needed to pretty much be a tOSU item I just happened to pass.

I came up with a shockingly small amount of items. For those of you who don't live here or who have not gone grocery shopping in tOSU heartland I'll need you to imagine everything from Buckeye M&M's to Buckeye Tabasco sauce readily available.

These are what I came up with without going far out of my way to hunt down more items to photograph.

In the end it was a relatively successful day of grocery shopping for both myself and the dog who made it very clear she wanted to go errand running with me.

Ham.

Liz Lemon Moment

2010-12-01T08:56:00.002-05:00

21 Weeks & Counting

2010-11-25T21:20:00.007-05:00

As promised I am posting about my most recent and (not so) mysterious last post.

My 2nd sonogram was scheduled well over a month ago for November the 18th at 10 AM. Or so I thought (I schedule every appointment I have these days for 10 AM if possible because it's when I know I can be awake, functioning, and wherever it is I need to be). I could be wrong. I lost the original paper I was given with the info about where I needed to go and when. Naturally, at my next appointment I requested another sheet so that I had something tangible to insure I arrive when and where I was supposed to be.

A cruel count-down began about a week before the fateful date. Cruel because I announced how many days until the 2nd sonogram via my personal Facebook but was not going to be telling everyone the info they wanted to know that day. The plan was to announce it to my family via text message as soon as we knew boy or girl and then to tell the boys family today.

Why wait the extra week? Because everyone here in Ohio wanted to be the first to know and no one can keep a secret. To make sure that no one got upset that they weren't the first to know and to keep our news our news we wanted a time when everyone should be together to be told at the same time (much like we tried to do when we announced my pregnancy.)

That Morning
November 18th (obviously) arrived and we. were. excited. The boy asked for part of his morning off from work to go with me to the hospital. I felt like we were cutting time just a bit shorter than we should. And once in the car, and not far from the hospital, with barely any time left (it was about 9:50 AM) - I decided to look once more at the paper. And oh. dear. gawd. The paper said the appointment was at 9:15 AM!!!

Now not only am I worried about our being late but very worried that they will refuse to see us. The only real consolation was the paper saying the appointment was for between November 18th and November 27th.

We arrive and manage to park on the wrong side of the hospital. I waddled (yes, I waddle now) as quickly as I could along with the boy to what we thought should be the correct side of the hospital. We rush into an elevator, hit "6", and wait for our floor. By this point I'm feeling less than "okay." I really hadn't eaten any breakfast, a quarter of a saltine (but I knew I was supposed to be getting Burger King after!), and was now feeling sweaty, dizzy, and a bit nauseated. Feeling victorious but still pretty lost we walk up to a nurses station and tell them what we are there for. The nurse informed us we were on the wrong 6th floor. Seriously!? That can happen!? The nurses take one look at me and ask if I'm going to be okay. Feeling like poop and definitely unable to focus on anything other than getting to see my baby again I tell them the only response I have to give them right now, "probably not but I'll make it."

Once on the correct 6th floor and speed waddling down the hallway to where we feel has to be the correct place the boy speaks with the woman at the desk. Who wastes no time in telling us we're late. In fact. She tells us the appointment was at 9:30! and the sonographer just left! I guess about then she finally got a look at me and realized I wasn't okay. Not okay enough she called for a nurse.

I was told I could sit down around the corner and she would see if anyone could do the sonogram. I was brought graham crackers (which can be seen on my chest in the photo in my most recent post) and apple juice and eventually a wheelchair (which I greatly appreciated because standing had stopped being my strong suit.)

They located a person to do the sonogram and checked me in.

The (Anatomy) Sonogram
The person who did the sonogram had admittedly not been doing this for very long but refused to say how short a time or where she went to school. She took what must have been at least 30 pictures. All pictures were blurry (Shown are the two best pictures we got. Also everything we got looks pretty creepy as you can see.) and she was rarely able to see whatever she was looking for.

However, for a few moments we were fortunate enough to see our baby's profile. And. I. Cried.

When she first began looking the boy and I thought we saw a flicker of "boy parts" but those possible parts were not in view again through the rest of our visit.

Tadpole was very obviously awake that morning. Every time the woman pressed down on my belly, Tadpole kicked right back where they pushed. Seeing and feeling a kick simultaneously is an interesting sensation, possibly more-so when I realized the sonographer could feel it as well.

The sonographer had such a difficult time that she went to get a doctor to look over her pictures and have a look at Tadpole herself. When the boy and I asked what would happen if the sex was not determined that day they told us we'd have to be surprised on delivery day.

Tadpole kept it's legs crossed through the entire sonogram. The legs moved but stayed crossed. When the doctor went around behind Tadpole to look to see if we have a boy or girl, we saw a clear view of butt cheeks and then those very butt cheeks decided to sit down on a foot and block anything.

In the end the doctor said from what she can see her "gut" says the baby is a girl, but for us not to go buying pink.

About Tadpole
From what we were told Tadpole (on that day) is 14 ounces, has 10 toes, 10 fingers, and looks healthy!

What Now?
I've been unhappy with the level of care at the clinic I've been going to and a month or three ago decided I was more than a little interested in switching the hospital at which I was to deliver.

Don't get me wrong, the ladies at my clinic are nice. But the care of a doctor instead of a mid-wife is something I prefer with our first baby and I would like someone whom when I tell them, "I've been sick for 2 days", will ask a better follow-up question than, "we gave you that paper of which medications you're allowed to take right?"

I see the new doctor on Monday and should be beginning the necessary steps to change delivery hospitals. We are also hoping for a more skilled sonographer to take another look to give us a better answer than a "gut" answer if at all possible.

Oh I Believe in Yesterday. . .

2010-11-19T12:55:00.007-05:00

Things have been crazy, busy, and crazy-busy over here lately.

I plan to say more about this photo in about a week. Til then, I guess you'll have to hold tight. But please cross your everything that the things I am looking into that will have to do with all of this work out quickly and a little more easily than they have begun.

But no fears everyone, the above statement does not at all mean that anything is wrong with baby nom!

Another Liz Lemon Moment

2010-11-15T16:18:00.002-05:00

It seemed like time for another official Liz Lemon moment

Just 5 Ingredients

2010-11-07T12:01:00.007-05:00

Last Friday, Om Nom Nom Studios "office" relocated. It was a very necessary move that came up somewhat suddenly. The flooding and it's implications (things like insect infestation and mold) that I mentioned months ago were still a very real issue for the boy and I. With the situation worsening daily, relocation was a must.

The move has been difficult, and I don't just mean because I was without internet for a week (our modem was stolen from our new front porch the day we were relocating), but because of some sort of error on the part of Columbia Gas leaving us without heat.

Soup weather just became that much more soup weather for me. In my unpacking I looked through my own personal cook book for a recipe my mother clipped out of a magazine years ago and gave to me. I remember making many, many pots of this cream-based soup when I lived in South Philadelphia. [Shown: Leftovers brought home from the boys grandmother's house]

Originally I intended to make a half batch of this soup but in the end decided to head over to the boy grandmother's house and make the entire batch to share with her and anyone else who was interested.

Impressions of the soup:
*One of the boys aunts was able to find it enjoyable to the point that she requested the recipe.
*Grandma's impression of the soup was that she had to apologize to me and that the soup was not as horrible as she'd anticipated (it's here that I think it would be best to mention not only is the boy a picky eater but it would seem his entire family is.)
*Lizzie K. said that the soup reminded her of her mothers crab dip.

So, for the aunt who requested it, and any others who may be interested in a very quick and easy cream-based soup, here is the recipe as it appears on the paper taped into my cookbook:

"This satisfying soup simmers for just 15 minutes, yet boasts the kind of rich flavour that typically requires a couple of hours on the stove.

Crab-Corn Bisque

In a large suacepan, stire together two 14.75-ounce cans creamed corn; 2 cups half-and-half; 2 cups frozen potatoes with onions and peppers, thawed; 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme; 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Simmer, uncovered, over medium-high for 12 minutes. Stir in 1/2 pound imitation crab meat (surimi), coarsely chopped; simmer for 2 minutes longer or until the coup is heated through. Makes 6 servings at $1.53 each.

Nutrient Value Per Serving:
295 calories, 9 g fat (6 g saturated), 11 g protein, 43 g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber, 1,064 mg sodium, 48 mg cholesterol."

Notes:
*I chose to use fresh potato but didn't stop to think about the cook time of the potato in relation to the rest of the soup which left me with a much longer cook time. If you prefer to use fresh potato, cook them first before adding them to the soup.
*I used green peppers the boys grandmother had frozen that were previously fresh. I just barely thawed them, chopped them, and threw them into the pot.
*No onions went into the creation of this soup because most members of the boys family are anti-onion. Knowing his aunt wanted to try it and learning that she did not like onions - they were left out.

The Story of Om Nom Nom Part 2

2010-10-25T12:48:00.017-04:00

Two days ago marked the beginning of my (estimated) fourth month of pregnancy and yesterday was the one-year anniversary for the opening of Pro-Portional Designs. Now seems like a good time to give you part two of the story of Om Nom Nom.

In mid-to-late March of 2009, still only a few months into my new married life and coping with the loss of my youngest brother-in-law, my husband was called back into active duty by the Army. We were told that after a brief period of in-processing in South Carolina he would be sent to Iraq. He was to be in South Carolina that April. [Picture shown was taken by my husband while in South Carolina]

Q's birthday is in April. With such a day coming and the grief still entirely too new and unbelievable, this impending date only adding to the stresses our families were now under.

It was decided that a family cruise would be a good idea for everyone.

Video shot and edited by my brother-in-law Cody.

There was so much to do with so little time. My husband and I officially dropped-out of school (there are forms you can fill out), he left his job, *we informed our landlord (making sure to give him a copy of my husbands orders) that we would have to leave, and we packed up everything. My husband didn't want me far from his brothers while he was away, so at his request/suggestion, I placed the majority of our items into a storage unit down the road from my in-laws house, and the rest (**items I felt would comfort me and furnish a bedroom) was moved to their house.

At that time, an addition was being built onto my in-laws house, there was no ground entrance (ladder only), no door to separate the inside of the room from the great outdoors and no door into the room from the main portion of the house.

The day I took my husband to the airport my husband's immediate family (mother, father, and brothers) went with us to a sort of, "going-away lunch." My husband requested that his family members each give him an item to remember them by while he would be away.

While my husband was away I shared the living room with one of the boys, whose bedroom was also the living room. A few boxes were in the house with me but none were able to be unpacked as I had no proper room. Each morning I would head outside, climb up the ladder to the unfinished room, and fill a tote bag with items I felt I would need to get ready for the day (clothes, underwear, shampoo). I got really tired of having to do this every day and soon started putting enough items in my bag to make it up to 3 days before needing another trip up the ladder.

I lived this way for a little over a month when the Army ultimately decided they did not want to keep my husband and send him to Iraq. Not having ones husband sent to Iraq is a definite win, but being left with no money, no jobs, and no home - is not.

Once back in Ohio, my previous sleeping/board arrangements were no longer appropriate. The living room simply would not accommodate 1 15 year-old boy and 1 married couple. My husband did his best to make the unfurnished room containing our things into something remotely habitable.

We separated the large piles of plywood meant for further construction of the room into two piles and pushed them together to form a make-shift box spring. What we used for a bed went through it's own evolution. I believe at first we shared my sleeping bag. Later we laid down a few blankets, a couple for padding and a couple to sleep under. The final outcome after many attempts to form a "proper" bed was to procure a queen sized air mattress which we pushed up against the actual box springs and mattress of a very old bed. It was un-even but it was better than what we began with.

Through all of this, I continued knitting. I knit on the couch when the living room was my room and once my husband moved us into the unfurnished "tree house" I was at least closer to where I had been keeping my yarn. It was during my time there that I created the "burger beanie", which only lead to a lot more foodie and sometimes geeky items.

It was during my time in that "tree house" that I announced on my own personal facebook page my hopes/intentions to move forward with an Etsy shop that would feature most of the items I had been posting to my wall for the previous months. People were very supportive and some even seemed excited. That show of support and excitement made me forget all about my initial worry of "why bother trying this when someone else seems to have had the same idea a year or two before me?" Besides, the (majority of) ideas I had, weren't anything I was seeing from anyone else.

Eventually my husband was able to find work and we had saved ***just enough to move out of our "tree house" before winter fully set in. We didn't move out of our "tree house" until mid-October, and when you primarily live outside - IT'S COLD!!!! [In the picture shown: Myself in the Foundling Nemo hat that has been for sale since the stores opening and two sweaters trying to keep warm up in the tree house.]

Things were incredibly difficult, even after finally finding a place to lay our heads down indoors. I began tearing apart items I had knitted for myself to provide yarn to make items for the store, in hopes that something would manage to help me support our small family. My TARDIS blanket eventually became parts of different items now sold in the store, most notably, my Milk "feed bag." The entire blanket has not been used yet but all of the yarn has now been designated for store purposes.

Later that same month of our move in I finally reached my goal of " having no less than 20 items" before opening my store, chose a launch date, started the Facebook fan page, and opened my store.

During these first three months we were shown amazing kindness by a woman I met on Ravelry that for all intents and purposes could be considered a stranger. We have never met in person and only spoken via Ravelry forum, Ravelry mail, and eventually Facebook.

After hearing that once again I had gone to the grocery store only to come up so short I was unable to buy food, I received an e-mail via Facebook. She made all of the necessary arrangements to send us money to insure we were able to eat! I would be able to pick it up the next morning at Wal Mart.

The next morning at Wal Mart I told the employee about what this woman was doing for us and she too could barely believe it.

My husband and I would like to once again thank Charlene of the Savannah Ravel Rousers.[Hypertext links to Ravelry will only work for those of you who have Ravelry accounts] We'd also like to thank Wendy from Dollfoolery who gave us canned and dry goods, sent me a care package for my birthday, and donated a garbage bag full of yarn to help build my store.

On October 24th, 2009 I opened my Etsy shop and on November 23rd, 2009 I opened "the doors" and was ready for business. It's been a really difficult road, at times littered with hate mail from fans of another designer, but for the most part, I have still managed to enjoy it.

So there you have the story of Om Nom Nom. I did my best to compress the details and events as well as keep you (hopefully) mildly entertained.

* While living at my in-laws house I received a bill closing in on $2000 from them. They claimed we broke our lease (ignoring the clause that in an instance like being called back to active duty we were able to leave) and said we should pay no less than another months rent as well as cover their expenses to make the repairs to the house they refused to make before we moved in ($50 of which was for "dirt in basement" - it was a 100 year-old house with a stone basement).

** These items were mostly books, yarn, and the elements that make up my tea corner.

*** U-haul provided by my loving parents who knew we'd never be able to afford one.

The Story of Om Nom Nom Part 1 (Again)

2010-10-17T10:26:00.020-04:00

I want to thank everyone for your well wishing and your understanding during the other day's, "day of silence."

I tried once before to explain the story/beginnings of Om Nom Nom Studios / Pro-Portional Designs. Because it's a bit complicated and long I'm going to do my best to make it as short as I can. But the story will most likely span 2 posts.

Technically I learned to knit when I was five years-old from my mother, the only other knitter in a family full of crocheters. Watching too much television can lead to the same results as reading too much WebMD before a doctors visit - you very well may think you know something you know nothing about. So at five years-old, after finding my mothers knitting needles and some yarn I attempted to knit all on my own. Knitting turned out to be nothing like cartoons make it seem and I suppose my mother found her little girl failing miserably at knitting as a result of watching too much cartoon knitting.

Example:

See how the mouse holds those needles and the results of his knitting just cascade down ever so nicely? I've never seen anyone hold needles this way.

Knitting didn't become something I "officially" did every, single day until October 2008 when I lost my youngest brother-in-law in a car accident. He was only 13, and losing him not only devastated the family I had only married into two months before but what seemed like at least an entire county.

My husband and I spent a lot of time at my in-laws house, sleeping on the couch just to be near the family, and to help in whatever ways we could. The boy missed a lot of work and I missed a lot of school at first. Our neighbors were nice enough to clean my house for me while we were so rarely there to help and (many of) the people of Perry County, Ohio were kind enough to bring non-stop food to my in-laws house to make sure everyone had something to eat.

Eventually the boy and I had to return back home, back to school, and back to work - doing our best to move forward. Being an unemployed student left me with more free time than I cared for and I was in need of a distraction. I had the incredible urge to make a blanket to keep my hands and mind occupied. I told the boy of my plans and made sure it was okay if I went and bought yarn to make a blanket. Up to this point everything I ever knitted were garter stitch scarves made from yarn procured at Wal-Mart.

After consulting google for yarn stores in the Columbus area I found four: The Yarn Shoppe, Heavenly Creations, Temptations, and Knitters Mercantile. The only one of these that was currently open on Sundays at that time, was Knitters Mercantile, frequently known to area knitters as, The Merc.

The Merc was full of so many yarns that I had no idea where to begin. Ultimately I chose (I believe) one skein of Rowan Big Wool for my blanket. Never having made a blanket I had less than no concept of just how much yarn goes into the creation of a quality blanket. Having now made this "mistake" I recommend against using Rowan anything, let alone Big Wool to make a blanket unless your last name is Trump, Rich, Gates, or something of the like.

Let's pause to do a little knitting and financial math here shall we? A no frills blanket can easily take 2000 yards of yarn or more. Rowan Big Wool costs about $15.00 per skein. One skein of Rowan Big Wool contains 87 yards of yarn. To create a blanket requiring roughly 2000 yards of yarn, using Rowan Big Wool that contains only 87 yards of yarn per skein, leaves you needing at least 23 skeins of Rowan Big Wool, at the rate of $15.00 per skein, this leaves you spending around $345.00 on your blanket before taxes.

The TARDIS blanket was never completed. It was to be my first intarsia project, but I chickened out, and the skills I used to create the "illusion" of intarsia I later learned were below sub-par and never would have made it in the long run. It wasn't long until I visited the yarn store I originally wanted to go to, Heavenly Creations. It was there that I initially met Wendy (who now runs Dollfoolery) and Amy (of "I Can Knit That".)

Wendy, introduced me to the oh-so-deliciously-soft-and-warm yarn, Malabrigo, my very first day in that store. Amy, sparked my interest in Tim Hortons. I decided to make a Dr. Who scarf and at Wendy's "here-touch-this-stuff" I chose to make it out of Malabrigo. This epic scarf that takes a lot of people a significant amount of time to knit until completion only took me 6 days in my grief. In the picture the 12.5 foot long scarf (unblocked) is folded over and wrapped with a giant slipknot.

I lost a lot of weight knitting and grieving. When I wasn't in school I sat on my couch listening to audio books and knitting - pausing only to eat oranges. Eventually, I was back to knitting in class (something I hadn't done since high school.)

My lust for all things Whovian lead Amy to remember me as "the Doctor Who girl".

First sewing machine project shown above - giant plush TARDIS.

Very soon my projects started branching to the non-Whovian in nature: Sweaters inspired by paintings like The Scream, Waterlilies, and Starry Night. I started making so many items that I didn't think I'd have room in my house or in my schedule to wear and enjoy them all. It was then that I opened my first Etsy shop. And it was a tremendous flop.

Around the time I made my own version of the "Roll-ups" (sushi scarf) pattern that can be found in Debbie Stoller's "Son of Stitch 'n Bitch", it was on. All I could think of was food in yarn. I was bursting with ideas of things I could make. I started out by looking online to see other sushi scarves people had made and then to see if any of my other ideas about food in yarn had already been done. Low and behold some of them had. This is when I discovered Twinkie Chan and honestly my bubble burst, I felt like I couldn't sell my foodie creations if someone else had already opened their own store a couple of years before me.

Accidental Pre-Mommy Learning Experience

2010-09-29T19:21:00.009-04:00

Tonight I had a mini crash course in what I may expect in the years that are soon to come.

Picture it, dinner time. I'm hungry, the boy is hungry, the dog is hungry and no one wants to cook. Fantastic.

Usually I have an idea of what I'd like to make for dinner ahead of time but in recent months there's no reason for it because by time for dinner Tadpole may want something entirely off menu.

A few days ago my cousin Brandy posted that her sister-in-law was making her pork chops. PORK CHOPS! ME WANT!

I like, at all times, to have some pork chops in the freezer. After a few days, or possibly a week (who can tell? - the days all run together when you don't have a "real" job) I finally got around to doing something about thawing those frozen chops. And by "I finally got around to doing something", I mean this morning before the boy left for work I asked him to move them from the freezer into the fridge.

Back to the dilemma of everyone being hungry and no one being willing to cook. The result was the same as always. I man up and get in the kitchen.

Too tired to properly braise pork chops, create a demi-glace, and separately make some mushrooms to go with mine (because the boy doesn't eat "fungi"), I decide to fry them.

Side dishes would have to take a bake seat tonight because there were four thumbs in this house belonging to "this person" who wasn't willing to put in the effort. This knowledge made me play in my mind that scene from the chickenpox South Park episode.

Cartman: So, what kind of side dishes are we going to enjoy this evening with our frozen waffles?
(pause)
Cartman: Am I to understand there will be no side dishes?

In an attempt to cut down on time in the kitchen I prepare a zip-lock bag with what can essentially be considered a shake 'n bake mix. The plan was to have the boy be my helper and shake while I coat and re-coat the floured and panko'd pork chops as well as fried them. As I prepared my personal shake 'n bake mix I envisioned a toddling Tadpole in the kitchen helping mommy fry food for dinner.

The process went much slower than anticipated, much as I have been told that things go when you have a little one who wants to help. The difference here is the boy didn't particularly want to help. Visions of a toddling Tadpole helping "shake" food for dinner have not faded but have been altered to mommy having better sense and starting dinner much earlier.

The boy had never eaten fried pork chops and I am always happy to be the direct cause of his experiencing and enjoying a new dish. In the end, all parties involved were in agreeNOMt. The boy even decided to make his own inside-out chopwhich.

Thankfully dessert was much easier. Take 1 mini watermelon, cut in half, and share with a loved one. Feed remainder to furry loved one.

Another Liz Lemon Moment

2010-09-25T21:43:00.003-04:00

It's been a hot minute since my last blog. There are a lot of things going on here right now. I am trying to get some more aprons together for you before I load any to Etsy and being pregnant has been (to say the least) a very interesting new development that is taking some getting used to.

I'll do my best in the near future to leave you with a more involved blog but it's been a while since I left you with a Liz Lemon moment.

And now, Liz Lemon:

I Am A Time Lord

2010-09-07T14:02:00.013-04:00

Pro-Portional Designs is going to turn one very soon (October 24th) and is about to expand. Over this last year you have seen me move from a few small bags, to adding a couple of scarves, to introducing baby things, and for those who do not already know – aprons.

The aprons are not the expansion I’m referring to, that would make my posts saying that I had some new announcements coming up for you anything but new.

My trip to Virginia was not only because I was home-sick after not being able to visit for over a year but choosing to surprise my mother with this news on her birthday. Harder still for the boy, was waiting just over another week to tell his family on his own birthday as planned.

This morning the boy and I attended my very first sonogram for our first baby. This news has been hard not to blurt out for months now and harder still with one of the two friends I told leaving “hinty” comments all over my pages (*shakes fist at the perpetrator*).

The boy and I tried our hardest to prepare to be unable to see any distinguishable baby and at first it looked like things were going just that way. Suddenly, there was a very clear baby on the screen and a very clear heart-beat. For years we had been under the impression that babies do not kick in the womb and what is mistaken for kicks is actually the baby turning over or practicing breathing. This was not at all the case this morning. Once the doctor went in for a close-up view we saw a flurry of activity

I have concluded that having this second heart within my body is enough to now classify me as a time lord (see physiology).

Due Date: March 31st, 2011
Estimated date of conception: June 23rd, 2010
Boy or girl? We have no idea yet and will not be able to find out for a while yet.
Will we want to find out? Yes.
Will we tell you when we know? If you want to know then yes.
What day did you find out? We were 100% sure Friday, August 13th
Names? We have a few in mind and if any of you want to throw a name into the ring for consideration we are willing to listen. Right now we are not sharing our top running baby names but will tell you some of the silly names friends and family have thrown out as well as what we are currently referring to our fetus was (Tadpole).

Suggested names (mostly from brother-in-law's and their friends):
Fickle
Seven
Cheeseburger
Rodrick
Roger (Suggested by a family friend named Roger)
Ironhide
Ken More
Penelope (there was a second part to this that I can't remember but it ended up sound like a hooker name)
Angus
Ichabod (but most likely they meant this one)
Optimus
Carlos
Juan
Jesus
Satan

It's at this point I should probably mention in the boys family we aren't all known for giving pets and toys "standard" names and the fact that my in-laws live on a farm with a thousand animals to name as we please, doesn't help.

Examples of (a few) pet names:
Cats: Commander Caviar, Admiral Tuna, Steak, Seven, Cheeto (shown), Snacks, Fox-bear, Mayday
Ducks: Huey, Dewey, Louie
Geese: Peep, Napoleon, Genghis Khan
Pig: Piggy
Rabbits: Bubbles, Fudball
Goat: Pollyanna
Dogs: Awesome Possum, Cthulhu, Panda, Fudd, Fattie, Noodles

What Would You Do With A Buttload of Figs?

2010-08-30T11:30:00.002-04:00

I have some ideas but there's no real point in thinking too hard about it unless a buttload of figs became a reality.

At the moment I can think of three ways to make that happen:

1)Start growing your own figs - lots of them

2)Buy figs - lots of them

3)Head over to Love & Olive Oil like I did and enter to win a buttload of figs.

Nomming At The Mad Greek

2010-08-21T15:38:00.008-04:00

For days now I have had a strong desire for gyro. I'm partial to The Pita Pit on campus, but because I no longer live on campus, some effort is involved with getting to Pita Pit. Effort the boy had no desire to exert.

I charged him with the task of finding gyro's in our own section of the city and he came up with a place we have passed frequently but never tried before called, The Mad Greek.

Online reviews passed his inspection and off we went.

Upon arrival I noticed a drive-thru window. The boy has in the recent past mentioned that he felt any Greek place with a drive-thru window runs the high likely-hood that it should be avoided. It seems he has not forgotten this statement but did not notice the window as we drive past it while looking for a parking spot.

When you walk in there is a small front area with a few deli counters full of what I assume was Mediterranean fare (I didn't really look because I was pretty focused on getting food into my tummeh'.) Off to the right of the counters we found a hostess ready to seat us right away.

The rest of the restaurant is still very small with tables that, for my taste, were disturbingly close together*, but there were a lot of windows making this tiny restaurant relatively light.

Appetizers will not be a problem at the Mad Greek, there is quite a list to choose from. I decided on the spanikopita and some skordalia.

Our waitress was very sweet and pleasant but not frequently where she was able to be found. However, it was only her second day working there and for all I know, her first time as a waitress. Any mistakes that were made throughout the night she smiled and was very apologetic.

The appetizers came at a reasonable speed. The spanakopita was alright. The kind of spanakopita I grew up with and love leaves you reeking of it by the time you have finished. This was not at all that sort of spanakopita. I would recommend this to first timers, those who may not be quite so picky about it, or those who crave it badly enough that it doesn't matter how dead on the taste is. Would I be willing to eat it again? Yes, but it doesn't even rank if I were to create a list of the top spanakopita's I have eaten in my life. Is it better than the spinach and feta in a pocket sandwich from Amy's Kitchen? That may be for you to decide.

On to that skordalia. Skordalia is a dip that I can always get excited about, yesterday was no exception and that's really too bad. This was definitely the worst skordalia of my life. What was supposed to be a thick puree of Greek goodness was what can at best be described as soupy (and not necessarily a particularly good potato soup.)

After a bit of effort to wave down our waitress we ordered. I had the large gyro sans banana peppers and the boy had the large gyro with only meat and sauce. Alright foodies and particularly you Greek food lovers like myself, I'm sure you noticed it. That's right. I had to say "without banana peppers." Never in my life have I heard of a banana pepper finding its way onto a gyro. I was a little horrified. The sauce to be found on these gyros was not tzatziki, it was what was described as "creamy garlic sauce." The boy also opted to order a side of fries.

The gyros came but the fries did not. It once again took a bit of effort to find our waitress and let her know but she worked to remedy the solution quickly.

The gyros were quite tasty and I wasn't horribly disappointed, I would and will eat these in the future.

The fries were covered in some sort of indistinguishable seasoning which immediately left me disheartened but I forged on anyway. Perhaps I shouldn't have. The fries were not very good. What started off as a tasteless fry as you tried more became an oddly sweet fry. We asked for ketchup seeing what this would do for these forlorn potatoes. There is no other way to put this: the ketchup was completely disgusting and sweet, almost like sugar or some sort of sweetener had been dumped in to make what it may have began life as go further.

I'm not sure what happened. Perhaps management noticed the issues of plates not being cleared away as they emptied and more food coming or our need to flag down the waitress and her returning with more food that may have been obviously overlooked, but we were suddenly being taken care of by multiple servers that we had not previously seen. Including what seemed to be the owner himself. Drinks were refilled and we were repeatedly asked if we were alright and if we needed anything.

When the time came to pay the check, I had a bit left on my plate. The waitress whisked it off and packed it up for me, which I didn't expect because I had seen another patron packing their own food up to go for them-self. I also ordered some hummus to go. I tried the hummus this morning for breakfast and it was similar to the skordalia experience. Worst. Hummus. Ever.

Believe it or not kids, I didn't consider the night or the restaurant completely awful. Maybe it was just because I enjoy date night with my husband so much but I don't think the Mad Greek experience was a bust.

My overall rating is three stars. I liked it but didn't love it. It's very convenient to where I live and the gyros were worth remembering for when I want some in the future. Would I travel from campus to get here and try it? No, definitely not. If you are looking for authentic Greek - this is not it. But really, you shouldn't look for authentic anything that isn't Ethiopian food in this area of Ohio because you probably won't find it.

* The people at the next table could not only hear what we were saying if they wanted to but the couple was pretty obviously attempting to do so. They also paid attention to what we ordered (even though they were there first) and made a comment on their way out (conversational and moderately polite but not at all necessary.)

A Word About Food Theivery

2010-08-11T19:19:00.003-04:00

All food thievery is wrong. Totally, unbelievable, undeniably, you're-going-to-burn-for-this wrong. I feel even strong about this when it comes to sandwiches. If you doubt how strongly I feel about this - you can ask my husbands grandma and his cousin.

ANYHOW. I am sitting here waiting for dinner and all I can think about is the Ross Geller sandwich with the moist maker. I have decided that in the near future, I will require one (or I might die.) I got sidetracked, by you tube, when looking for a "recipe" or a transcript from the show to remember exactly what goes on it.

In conclusion, food thievery is wrong. Don't do it. Ever. You'll burn for it. Now I'm off to eat my dinner.

Last Night at The Tuna

2010-08-07T18:21:00.009-04:00

In the Gateway in The Ohio State Campus area there is a local bar called Ugly Tuna Saloona. A place I personally like for their drinks that come in a fishbowl served up with what seems like six billion straws and a toy alligator filled with a shot.

About a week or two ago I got a Facebook event notification from Ugly Tuna about jello wrestling. I'd never seen jello wrestling in person and thought it may be an interesting way to spend a Friday night.

The day of the event I went back to the Facebook event page and looked it over to make sure I could properly formulate plans for the evening. And I got distracted. By prize money.

The flooding in our house has lead to a lot of extra expense that we cannot afford. As a matter of fact, we needed the prize money to make sure we made it until the boys next pay check.

I text messaged some friends and family to see if they thought I stood a snowballs chance is Hades in a wrestling match. Almost all results were positive. My fathers response was (no surprise here) like none other. He basically thought I was going to be in some sort of street brawling prize fight because I was being intentionally vague and avoiding telling my daddy that I'd be jello wrestling. It got to the point where I needed to clarify his little girl had no notions of high-stakes, back ally, wrestling for money.

My text: "In jello"
His: "Crickets"

The boy was kind enough to quickly round me up a small cheering section and we all met at Tuna around 9:30 so there would be enough time to sign up for the event and stake out spots to stand.

The inflatable pool the wrestling was to take place in was already out and up against the stage to keep it out of the way until the time was much nearer and they would lay it out.

[Hunting through your clothes for jello wrestling appropriate apparel is somewhat interesting. I picked a pair of shorts I don't mind if they were destroyed and a shirt that was already partially destroyed and slightly ill-fitting to go over my bikini.]

The event started late (around 11 instead of 10). While we waited for people to sign up and the games to begin we watched the inflatable pool be filled by security with trash bag after trash bag of jello (most of what appeared to be lime but I definitely saw some orange once).

During the sign-up and wait it was revealed that contestants would actually be fishing toy sharks out of the pool instead of a straight wrestling match). The first girl to get eight out of the possible fifteen toy sharks in her bucket would be the winner.

When the time I went up on stage and stepped behind a screen where I was given a shirt and some boxer shorts. When I found out I didn't have to wear them I chose not to and set them with my clothes.

I was not first to go and I was glad of it. I wanted to watch and see what to expect.

I won the first round and had actually thought I lost and was pretty bummed.

Between rounds we were handed a giant wad of paper towels to do our best to towel off while we waited.

I went three or four total rounds, each with a different girl. One in particular, with another brown beauty who if I caught it correctly was named Rachel, had gone a particularly rough two rounds. The shark finding turned into actual jello wrestling / cat fighting and not of her own devise from what I saw. I had no interest in cat fighting this girl so I made sure to shake her hand before the match.

Finally it was down to me and one last girl, Anya. Anya, not unlike myself, had no interest in sudden cat fighting in jello. I assured her I had no intention of picking a fight.

Fortune smiled upon me and I was able to take first prize, adding enough funds to our bank account to insure we make it to the next check. I also got to keep the shirt I was given to wear while wrestling and a Budweiser hat.

The boy was given the camera to get pictures for ya'll, but the bar was so packed (and of course he wanted to watch) so all photos we have are from afterward in the parking lot where I continued to wipe off with some clothes from the trunk of one of our cars. A lot of photos were taken so I feel some may surface on the internet and will keep an eye out to link you to the action shots from the night.

Here are some of my learned facts about jello wrestling:
1) It's only a bit cold when you first get in. You get used to it and it's no sad bad.
2) Jello is beyond hard to just wipe off

3) Your butt is apparently a jello magnet. It will require attention.
4) It turns back into powder when it dries.

Not to over-extend an already lengthy post too far here is a quick, boy's eye view commentary:

Around noon on Friday the wife tells me that she wants to enter a jello wrestling contest. I was stunned, amused, mildly confused, and a bit excited. I told her I'd support her if she chose to do it and went about rounding up a cheering section.

We arrived around 9 to make sure we had time to sign up and were apparently in no danger of not being accepted since they didn't start until after 11. The crowd sucked. I will admit I was disappointed and worried when I found it was shark wrangling rather than jello wrestling since I was confident my wife could whoop those skinny little rich girls but I wasn't sure how fast she could gather toy sharks. Watching the other girls I became confident again that my wife could still beat them, especially the ones who didn't get down and dirty in the jello. So of course she ran through the competition even that last girl who was cheating before the match only to be out-done by my oh so clever wife.

The couple fights in the jello were fun to watch, the fights that almost took place in the crowd were exciting and walking away with a proud yet sticky wife and two hundred dollars richer was fantastic.

Anniversary

2010-08-02T20:44:00.012-04:00

Today is the boy and I's 2nd anniversary. Which feels a little funny to say when he and I have been together the majority of time since I was a junior or senior in high school.

Two days ago when I was looking for pictures for the most recent blog I found this. A picture of a cake we got when we had been together for 2 years. Just thought it was amusing to find this marker 2 days before our 2 year anniversary of another 2 year anniversary.

We went back to the restaurant where he proposed, Mozart's (N. High St. Clintonville, OH). In fact, without asking, we were seated at the very table we sat at that day.

From the moment I saw Mozart's when I first visited Columbus I knew I just really wanted to eat there. It wasn't long until I did and the wonderful food, atmosphere and wait-staff have left such an impression in me we have been many times in the years we have been here.

There are two other places that have left a lasting impression on me, Raising Canes (fried chicken so moist I insisted on having it at our wedding) which I didn't have until a bit later, and Jimmy Johns ("subs so fast you'll freak") which I had in some of my first visits.

The appetizer tonight was all me. While the boy ate bread I had the hummus. The portion seems much smaller than it used to be which made me sad because Mozarts always seemed far from shy about piling on the delicious veggies with your hummus. And I do so love take home.

For an entree both had the wiener schnitzel (I had the veal he had the chicken). It only occurred to me to take a picture for you after I mowed through most of my meal. At that point his was long gone.

For dessert I had an amaretto truffle and the boy had a slice of chocolate mousse torte (which is the cake he proposed with. And I do mean the cake. He proposed with an entire cake).

I believe that's all for now kids and sorry for all of the dark cell phone pictures (I forgot the digital at home).

Your Moment of Zen

2010-08-01T12:07:00.013-04:00

It's been much longer than I intended since my last post.

Two weeks ago after we (the boy, a couple we know, and myself) visited the South Drive-In Theater here in Columbus where we first saw Despicable Me and then after an intermission Toy Story 3. Some pictures from the night can be found here in the Om Nom Nom Studios Flickr stream. All in all it wasn't a bad way to spend $16 and an evening. It was a wonderful and unexpected surprise that the boy concocted because he knew that not only did I really want to see Despicable Me but to go to a drive-in movie. Despicable Me proved to be worth my excitement.

Some of you may have caught my earlier apology via the Facebook fan page where I mentioned there has been a serious flooding issue going on in my basement. This is what has been taking me so far from you these days but I'm doing my best to insure I don't disappear all together.

I'm reasonably sure I have made mentions (or at least alluded to) in the past about my tea corner.

After about a year here in Columbus I decided to make my bedroom a haven or at least a part of it. When I came up with this I lived in a different house entirely and had gotten my dining room, bathroom,

and bedroom

all to have a cozy feel to them.

Here at my current house/apartment/townhouse/what's-this-thing-called-anyway I only have a corner. In it is a chair that has been with me all my life, now under a cover to help protect it and a small wood and glass stand that holds what I consider basic tea necessities for a bedroom tea corner. The corner contains 3 different types of tea pots (a tea posy, a bodum with strainer inside, a 1 cup strainer pot I bought at Zen Cha), 1 electric kettle, and a tumbler to get water from the bathroom. On the bottom of the table is an assortment of flowering, loose, and bagged teas as well as a Tupperware container full of hot chocolate bags. Under the table is a 3-D wooden puzzle. To increase that homey zen-like feel there are photos of friends and family nearby and a stack of library books. On the chair you see some of the new aprons I have been working on that will (probably) be out soon, a sweater I knit and haven't taken proper photos of yet, and a scarf I am currently working on.

What on earth was the point of all this? Just a suggestion that you take a minute to see if you have a spot like this to go to in your own home and a suggestion about what you can do with it. My own mother has a prayer corner with a rocking chair, cd player, and books.

Pod People, Mr. Bacon, and My Whole Foods Mugging

2010-07-16T15:53:00.008-04:00

My husband may have been taken over by a pod person, but it's cool - this pod person is awesome!

About a week ago I made a tea and lunch date with a good friend of mine that I haven't seen in possibly two years (said date had to and was cleared by the boy since all money of my own comes from Etsy - and there's pretty much never any of that).

Lunch at 12 is usually no big but I had stuff to do before I got that far.

Little known fact. I actually get up around 5 - 6:30 AM. Why? Because it's when my husband gets up for work and if I sleep in too late then I will want to stay up later. And I can't be left alone to stay up late. No no. I insist he stay up with me and keep me company. Because I "like-like" him you know?

Before meeting up with Misty A. (initial added because some of you may remember it was a "Darling Misty B." who supplied me with dreamsicle cupcake info) I had to get in a work-out, shower/wash my hair, go grocery shopping, and take the dog out for her second walk of the day. I'd also planned on a trip to Hobby Lobby but ended up choosing not to go today.

We have been running low on a few items and were totally out of even more so for the last three or so days I had been warning the boy that more money than usual would be spent on groceries. Groceries ran over my quoted price and he was kosher with it. SCORE! I realize they are just groceries but we have been so poor for long I usually feel guilty spending any money.

The chosen lunch spot was a favourite to so many women that I know here - Zen Cha Tea Salon (where you can easily get a pot of tea for around $5). I tried their beef sukiyaki and was far from disappointed. We didn't get any knitting done but we didn't really notice or care. Yet again, the final price ran over my initial quote. He said it was fine and he loves me anyway.

From lunch I headed over to Whole Foods in search of a grouper burger. Giant Eagle used to sell these and loved them but I haven't been able to find them anyplace in over a year - not even Giant Eagle.

Going to Whole Foods can be a dangerous endeavor for a foodie but thankfully I was at least full from lunch so part of the danger was removed.

I hadn't been there long (all I'd picked up at this point was a sale bottle of beaujolais-villages and two packages of Snøfrisk (a Norwegian goat cheese I am particularly fond of). While I was still standing at the mouth of cheesetopia I notice the woman next to me is staring, and not that try-to-hide-it-side-stare but an unapologetic, carefree stare. I move to the other side of her, because it will take more than a bit of staring to scare me away from cheese, but her head continues to swivel and follow me. Pretty sure it was at this point I just look right back at her. I now have a clear view of a middle-aged Asian woman (later she told me she was from Hong Kong).

She tells me she likes my hair and goes on and on about how very different and pretty it is. She also seemed convinced it was some sort of extensions and was not my own hair. Had it not been still wet and up in buns I probably would have let her touch it for herself. I got the very distinct impression she had never seen dreadlocks. She made a few remarks about being sure she would never be able to wear hers the same way.

Usually this is where a conversation would end.

She asked me if I were a student, about the tattoos on my leg, and a bevy of other things. The two things she seemed to focus in one were:

1) I live in Whitehall - which is nowhere near as safe an area as the online crime reports had made it look. For instance, just two days after moving here the boy and I were jumped by six people - and those people even managed to get away with it all.

She asked how much my rent was (cheaper than our house on campus had been). And insisted I move to an apartment complex that was pretty much right across the street. She told me they were cheaper or at least as cheap and much safer. I then received repeated offers for her to go over there with me now to go look at these places. Repeated, insistent offers. Later I got the impression she may live there as well.

2) I used to be a culinary student.

Here is where the "mugging" began. She wanted to know everything. Where I have been to school? What sort of food do I cook? Have I cooked anyplace? She even looked over each item in my cart and asked questions. Like how to make cheese - specifically the Snøfrisk.

[I'm going to add here that this morning at the first grocery store I visited I was asked about the tattoos and if I were a chef and where I currently work.]

Then she started pointing at what seemed like everything in front of us saying that everything there was too expensive and how does she make that (assorted raviolis stuffed with tasty bits) and that (egg noodles).

At this point I'm haphazardly throwing out answers (I went to school in Philly. I can cook pretty much whatever anyone wants. No I do not cook anyplace here. Egg noodles? Those are totally easy for you to make!), not considering the possible repercussions, and leaning in for her to repeat things that didn't seem to make sense to me. Thankfully I didn't speak of having studied to be a sommelier. I can only imagine explaining it and the questions that would ensue.

Somewhere around this time I am looking for a way out and see none. Not even when a Whole Foods employee comes by and asks how we are doing or when my phone started madly bleeping with text messages.

I have no idea how I managed it, but what I sensed was a reasonable time to make a short break away from her (remember people there is still cheese at arms length that I have yet to even look at! I can't leave now!)

This was still not the end of the conversation for her. I had nearly nabbed my first piece of sweet, sweet cheese to ogle, and apparently this was a too daring and vulnerable move. She moved around to the other side of me, not quite but nearly blocking any escape that doesn't involve my interest in the cheese.

I should teach her to cook. It is not a question, but a statement. The haphazard answers are now no longer a problem. I have them in check - or so I thought. She begins asking specific but still very vague questions mingled with statements like "how do I cook fish? I do not know what spice to use. What spice do I use on fish." I tell her there is no one way to make fish and that she will need to first decide how she wants it prepared before spices are an issue. Her response? "I know you use bay leaf in soup." What do you say to this? That had nothing to do with fish. I said the first thing that came to mind that didn't invoke any further fish conversation, "well ya' can".

Shortly after she cornered me I started treating her like someone handing out fliers I have no interest in. I did my best to make very little to no eye contact. The questions keep flying. Now they are about chicken and turkey (which I now notice is all she has in her cart).

I have no idea how it happened. But the storm was winding down. But it still came with some damage. She wants my phone number so I will teach her to cook. I tell her what is actually the truth, "I have no idea what my phone number is". And I honestly don't, I haven't known what number someone can reach me at for well over eight months now. She doesn't understand. I do my best to explain that I don't know what it is because I never bothered to learn it. Before I had a chance to do a thing about it, another haphazard statement flies out of my mouth. I have e-mail and she can e-mail me. Mind you, if she is willing to correspond this way I think there is a chance that I could survive it ([in]famous last words). I give her the e-mail for Om Nom Nom Studios, she mentioned the apartment complex once more and once I (again) declined - she went away.

I was now let alone with the cheese.

In the end my trip to Whole Foods, despite how few items I bought, was more than I expected or wanted to pay. Again, the boy was fine with it all (in addition to okaying my purchasing some knitting patterns online as well as a little bit of yarn from Knit Picks).

Believe it or not kids that was the abbreviated version of all that happened with the nameless woman from Hong Kong.

Wha Ha Happened!?

2010-07-14T11:07:00.004-04:00

You may have noticed that recently I have been online less and less. Part of this is because I am working on new designs and the other part is because I am trying to prepare for fall.

But yesterday in particular it was because of AT&T.

You see, My neighborhood is in the middle of a service provider price war. When we moved here our only option was Insight. Being people who love options we weren't thrilled but we dealt with it. After a while our television would cut in and out.Eventually during a program the screen would go black and there would be no more television for the rest of the evening. Which in some ways is great - it would keep us from vegetating in front of the idiot box for too long. But again there goes those options we like to have.

Finally AT&T seemed to have found a way to loosen the tight grasp of Insight on our neighborhood and sent people around to get us to switch. Less money and a DVR? Yessir I'm interested in switching!

To remotely protect the man who came to our door to convince us to switch I will not say exactly what practice was used, but I will say he went out of his way to make sure we got our serviced by circumventing requirements to do so. And he also made it clear that if they knew, he would be terminated.

For a lower bill + DVR we switched and it was a magical time filled with me doing my damnedest to catch up on shows I was behind on and new shows just beginning their lives.

Not unlike what happened to use a few years ago with the Ohio State campus area WOW/Time Warner Big10 network wars we began getting lots of mail from our old provider begging us to come back.

Insight sent one of their fella's around last week and I was already fully prepared to have none of whatever he was peddling and send him on his way. Thankfully, instead of giving him an earful (it's not his fault we had the issues we did last time and he was very, very polite), I chose to talk with him about the price war. He asked why we left in the first place. When I explained to him about the all too frequent loss of the use of our televising he was surprised (but I doubt he'd say, "Oh yes, you'll have that when you choose us"). I also made sure to let him know that we were quite fond of the DVR option, to which he quickly told me that if that was what we wanted it was absolutely no
problem.

Now instead of just running off and switching once more we did what we thought was the next best step to make. We called and spoke with AT&T about Insights visit and asked if they were changing any package deals. At no point in time did we say "we are thinking of switching providers" or anything of the sort. We just wanted to know what was going on on AT&T's end.

The very next day our television and Internet was suspended.

So I write this now in Notepad while I wait for the Insight man to set up our television and Internet once again. This time under a "win back" package which will cut our cable/Internet bill in half.

Mr. Bacon at My Cousins Graduation Party

2010-07-11T11:14:00.007-04:00

So yesterday Mr. Bacon met the family. But I think he was partial to Lizzie K.

She seemed to like him as well.

I made sure to introduce him around and everyone seemed to approve.

Even this cute doggy was able to find some non-chompy enjoyment from him.

Lizzie also agreed that Mr. Bacon should meet Katasaur. Who knows what adventures Mr. Bacon's future may hold

Om Nom Nom Meets Mr. Bacon

2010-07-09T17:45:00.009-04:00

My friend Wendy over at Dollfoolery has been good to me in many ways since pretty much the day I met her. I'd like to add that on the day I met her she introduced me to Malabrigo which to a lot of knitters is particularly nommy yarn. It was a very good start.

Over the past couple of years I have known her she has always managed to give me a birthday prezzie (which is particularly sweet of her bc I am usually too broke to do anything on the scale of awesomenicity that she brings.) This year was no exception.

Today I got my belated birthday prezzie from the Wendy-lady, what she called "a box full of bacon." (I know right? What's not to love about anyone who will send you something called "a box full of bacon")

Possibly without realizing it, she'd sent me a box (mostly) full of things I have an online cart full of but had yet to be able to purchase. SCORE!

I texted her almost as soon as I got it (I took a break to take a picture and post it to the Pro-Portional Designs Facebook fan page first.) When she responded she once again was on the ball with something that had already occurred to me. Mr. Bacon needs to go places and be photographed like the celebrity he is.

To insure I don't forget to do just that I put him in my purse to begin his adventures.

Only adding to how amusing all of these coincidences are is this: April before last I went on a vacation with my family. My oldest brother-in-law brought along the Om Nom Nom Studios model, Lizzie K's wooden toy which we call "Katasaur" and took pictures of it just about everyplace we went. He even put together a vacay video and posted it to YouTube.

I give you . . . . Katasaur:

I think Mr.Bacon and Katasaur need a play date in the near future.

Survival of the Fittest

2010-07-06T21:38:00.009-04:00

The winner of tonight's war would have their cupcakes at a gala in L.A.'s Museum of Natural History.

The taste challenge revolved around two of the largest mammals the museum has to offer - the elephant and the giraffe. As always there were tables of ingredients to choose from that fit this challenge. Among the ingredients for the elephant diet were pumpkin, bamboo, and peanuts. And for the giraffe's diet there was wheat grass, alfalfa, and orange blossoms.

Jeff Martin (Smallcakes) chose the elephant diet and chose to make a pumpkin cupcake with white chocolate cardamom butter cream. This sounded like a cupcake I would love to see at (my personal favourite holiday) Thanksgiving. Sadly, some of last weeks bad mojo must have carried over because poor Jeff was so focused on his cardamom butter cream (which was met with rave reviews) that he forgot the pumpkin in the cupcake!

Lisa Cowden (Lulu’s Cupcakes) also chose the elephant diet and came up with the mouth watering idea of a kumquat cupcake with hibiscus puree center topped with kumquat peel infused pastry cream that was lightly caramelized. Did I mention it was also beautifully decorated with a hibiscus flower and just a bit more pastry cream? I didn't? Well I should have. At first I was worried that it sounded like she was planning to top it with a bit too much. My worries and apparently my trust was misplaced. It was as eye catching as it was (or sounded) mouth watering.

MaryAnne Tongko (Cupcakes & Co) chose the road less traveled and picked the giraffe diet. At her mothers insistence she chose to make a lemongrass cupcake topped with an orange blossom whipped cream and gold sanding sugar. Mama was against the sanding sugar and it seems this time she may have been right because the judges didn't seem to feel bling conveyed that earthy natural feel they were looking for this rapidly approaching event.

Wendy Jones (Whodidily Cupcakes) stayed the elephant diet course and made a chocolate cupcake filled with a peanut butter cream cheese center, topped with a peanut butter butter-cream sprinkled with sunflower seeds dipped in ganache.

Next the remaining bakers were supposed to "capture the wonder of the museum" in the taste & presentation challenge.

In case anyone was worried an episode of Cupcake Wars would go by without a red velvet cupcake Wendy Jones insured hers got their day. Her choices to bake red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting as well as yellow cake cupcakes with chocolate butter-cream were uninspired and a bit boring. However, she brought a little interest back when she chose to give her vanilla cupcakes with vanilla butter-cream a pumpkin cream cheese center.

Lisa won me over in the first round which is a rarity. That's right, I am still completely obsessing over Hollis Wilders salmon based cupcakes.

The two cupcake choices from "team Lisa" that won me over were the blackberry margarita cupcake and the apricot cake (complete with apricot seeds for crunch) with Swiss butter-cream topped with a white chocolate poppy. Sorry Lisa, when you're offering those two it's hard for me to notice their mousy friend with the sweet caramel center they've brought along.

MaryAnne chose to make a cream cheese filled black bottom cupcake with chocolate ganache, a blue velvet chocolate cupcake filled with marzipan that was topped with almond whipped cream, and strawberry cupcakes.

That bad mojo was back again and this time for MaryAnne, with only 40 minutes left her blue velvet cupcakes had yet to see the inside of an oven. They didn't come out until there was only 2 minutes left in the challenge to be decorated and plated alongside the others. Her choice to use a layer of marzipan as a buffer for the still rising heat was creative but sadly not enough - all toppers melted down by the wayside. It was no surprise that MaryAnne was next to bite the dusting sugar.

Presentation, the final and deciding challenge is next and I am feeling completely confident with "team Lisa."

When fellow baker and competitor, Wendy, planned to recreate the actual museum it felt very reminiscent of Hollis Wilders choice in the first episode to replicate a golf course. But when I saw her huge, glittery, eye-catchingly whimsical "Museum of Cupcakes" I was once nervous for my top pick.

Lisa chose to have a giant, "gnarly", "prehistoric" tree which once it arrived on scene Wendy likened to "the tree of life." My mind instead connected the choice a bit to the movie Avatar and its "home tree."

Congratulations to tonight's extremely deserving winner, Lisa Cowden.

Last Time On Cupcake Wars . . .

2010-06-30T15:54:00.002-04:00

This weeks episode revolved around the 100th episode of Ace of Cakes.

The taste challenge was to make a cupcake that not only would Ace of Cakes, cupcake-hating Duff Goldman like but one that would contain some of his favourite food stuffs: pulled pork, gummy bears, goat cheese, jalapeno jelly, bacon crunchy, and crunchy peanut butter.

It seemed as if for this particular challenge a lot of the contestants had the same idea in mind which reminded me of a previous episode that left me sick of seeing lemon cupcakes and fondant decorations.

Alyssa Magliato's (The Perfect Circle Cupcakery) assistant, Jeff , suggested a pulled pork and jalapeno jelly cupcake that I wouldn't have minded see become a reality but somewhat understandably Alyssa worried this was too far out of the box and wanted to play it safer. Her ultimate choice to make a dark chocolate cake peanut butter chocolate inside was "a little caramel surprise" yielded a very nice looking confection.

Poor Erica Tucker (Sweet E’s Bake Shop) was up next and this woman underwent a real struggle in the kitchen. After overcoming a heating issue while cooking her cupcakes she came to the challenges end and realize she'd forgotten to fill her cupcakes!

Michael Centimore (Cupcake Charlies) made a cinnamon velvet cupcake that contained a goat cheese and jalapeno jelly mousse center which he then iced with a maple butter-cream frosting that he topped with bacon. I must admit when I heard him working up his cupcake idea in the kitchen I wasn't sure how behind it I was but I think his ultimate choice was daring, creative, and inspired.

Taste and presentation brought back more of those familiar red velvet cupcakes and fondant toppers a Cupcake Wars viewer may be getting very used to seeing. However, because Ace of Cakes desserts are always draped in fondant this may be the week to go ahead and make that move.

Everything that Alyssa quite literally brought to the table was beautiful and sounded fantastic but she had me with her banana bomb; which was "a banana, cream cheese, pecan, caramel topped cupcake." Even hard to please Florian Bellanger (formerly) of Fauchon (a favourite of mine) was able to enjoy it. All of this made it a shock to me to see her go.

Mike's choice to utilize his cell phone camera in conjunction with an available edible printer to make Duff toppers was once again, a unique move. I. Loved it. The finished product was a chocolate cupcake filled with chocolate peanut butter ganache, iced with a peanut butter butter-cream with full peanut butter cup adorned with "Duff's mug."

When it came down to the final presentation challenge I was feeling totally on board with team Mike. He'd proven himself to be a creative baker who consistently brought something tasty to the table. But what really seemed unique was how incredibly thoughtful he was in all of his preparations. With every challenge he kept who he was baking for in mind and it always showed through. Apparently his final presentation just did not quite bridge the gap between thoughtful and event appropriate.

In all honesty this is where the show ended for me. Tuesday's winner, Jessica Cuff (The Coffee Shop), was the contestant I had pegged to win from the moment I saw her in the introductions. What bothers me most is that of the four episodes that have aired I have been able to pick the winner this way for the last three. In some cases, the winner was someone who totally deserved it. I just did not feel this was the reason this week. I felt a face that popular opinion considers pretty won with the added help of shameless, open flirting.

The Full Monty on Mo's Bacon Bar

2010-06-27T22:40:00.004-04:00

Alright, I have been unintentionally taunting my Facebook fans for over a week now in reference to my recent purchase of Mo's bacon bar. Sorry darlings, I will do my best never to play with your bacon-flavoured emotions for so long without smoky gratification again.

Bacon chocolate is nothing new, but it is a new sort of purchase for me. Not yet to the point of ordering it online I have been going without and lying in wait.

On my penultimate trip to World Market I checked to see if they sold the bar of legend. It appeared they did not. Bummer. Curse these four eyes and praise be to my husbands better two because on our way out of the store he told me he saw them!!!! ELEVENTY!!!! Ready to turn around, have him point out this white whale, purchase and consume - I was stopped. By the boy himself! He could not get over the price tag and wasn't having any of it. I said fine but told him I planned to be back without him and do it any way.

Birthday around the corner and my GPS (I'm quite literally lost without it) in the boys car I carefully chose my moment. Wanting a bottle of champagne for my special day I chose World Market for my shopping destination and preached the birthday gospel that is "it's my birthday and if I want a bacon bar I deserve one." The boy was stuck.

When we arrived I rushed right to the chocolate isle where for once I saw the box for the bars . . . and it was empty! EMPTY!!!!! There had even been a sign that said 2 for $10. I quickly found a sales person to ask if there were any in the back. The World Market employee told me that she had just checked the back for another person (that turned out to be the boy) and there was nothing left. I stood there in the isle, looking as if someone kicked my puppy and then I saw my husband walking up to me - with two bars in hand. The staff had overlooked a box on the top shelf that was completely full.

You'd think I'd scarf down the bar in the car right away or maybe even wait until I got home to lite it up, but with all the trouble that surrounded my new precious it needed to meet a fitting end.

I finally ate a quarter of the bar as a shared dessert with my husband after a belated champagne dinner.

Still feeling grateful to the boy the first piece broken off was given to him. Immediately after breaking off my own I sniffed the bar and don't act like you wouldn't do the same! I was truly overcome with the smell of smoky, smoky applewood bacon and alderwood smoked salt.

Looking at the bar it looks like a pretty regular chocolate bar.

With my first bite, I tasted something incredibly sweet with crazy smoky bits. Those smoky bits had just a tiny bit of crunch but don't take tiny bit to be minuscule, no it was perfectly paired. It felt so right and I was able to start to see little flecks of bacon inside the bar when I looked at it.

My second bite caused me to make the note "ZOMG," that's right, I take notes as I eat new things for you guys to make sure I don't miss or forget a thing.

The third bite was when I noticed how very smooth the chocolate and it medium to long finish.

Fourth bite, I am obsessing over the smooth texture and perfect crunch.

Fifth bite, my last bite, I am now closing my eyes to insure I get the full on feeling.

A large part of the reason I did not immediately blog about this adventure was to make sure my opinion on the bar was not swayed by the amount of champagne I'd imbibed at that point.

The boy and I just finished off the bar this evening and I have officially decided that yes, I do like this bar.

Om Nom Nom Studios rates this bar five stars. I will admit it is not full on perfection - but this may be as close as is lawfully allowed for a person, chocolate, and bacon to get to the point they aim for.

Because bacon chocolate is going to be an experience that varies from person to person I've enlisted the boy to give you a second opinion:

Hmmm. Well it was good. You could tell the chocolate was high quality, very rich and creamy. The bacon was smokey and like most bacon, delicious.

Hype was the undoing of the bacon bar I'm afraid. It did not live up to my expectations and I felt let down and disappointed by what otherwise was a delicious candy bar.

The Wilds

2010-06-26T19:49:00.011-04:00

I mentioned that last weekend we intended to go to The Wilds during my birthday weekend but we didn't make it. But hubbo promised to take me this weekend.

The Wilds is a wildlife conservation here in Ohio that features (almost exclusively) endangered animals. The intent of their guided safari's is to "advance conservation through science, education, and personal experience." There are multiple touring options but we chose to do the two and a half hour open-air tour.

My two favourite animals we saw were the camels.

(Check out how awesome these look! I kept imagining nommy nom camel yarn.)

And a new animal that, to me, looks like a giant, horned capybara. It's called a sichuan takin.

Tonight I planned to blog about my experience with Mo's bacon bar but it seems that I am suffering from some heat exhaustion and feel incredibly sick. I promise I will get that review to you very soon though. So sorry guys!

For the rest of the pictures from our wild adventure you can see there here in the Om Nom Nom Studios Flickr stream. I will also try to see about getting your correct animal names in the near future.

So I leave you with a nifty picture I took of the sky this evening.

Cupcake Wars Episode Three - Matchmaking Party

2010-06-24T16:04:00.006-04:00

Tuesdays show opened up with it's usual introductions but at the same time that I was learning a little about Cupcakes Nouveau from Shayrin Badillo, I was being introduced to the concept of guava cupcakes which seemed all too inviting. Jeff Bonilla, of Cups looked as if he were torching some creme brulee cupcakes but sadly no mention was made of them so this girl will have to only dare to continue her dream.

This weeks taste challenge was to incorporate ingredients known to have, or associated with, aphrodisiac properties (oysters, strawberries, aniseed, ginger, honey, vanilla beans, dates, nutmeg, champagne.) So many choices and only 45 minutes. This time the contestants seemed to feel the time crunch even more than in previous episodes.

I must admit the idea of a vegan cupcake no longer excites me (it did in my vegan days and those are behind me) but Chloe Coscarelli peaked my interest once I heard the words "date caramel drizzle" and her presentation was just beautiful. I must say if I were fellow competitor, Shannon, I could understand her total shock when she heard the judges gush about this "indulgent" confection.

Jeff (Cups) started to make me feel he was playing it a little safe with the chocolate champagne cupcake (which I wouldn't turn down any day but this is war we're talkin' here) but quickly won me back his choice to top it with a raspberry, basil, cream cheese icing topped with organic raspberry. Sadly no matter how safe it seemed he was with his attempt to insure a delicious cupcake that didn't step too far out there and fall flat the time seemed to be his ultimate demise. Watching him struggle with cooking the cupcakes through with the rest of the time was hard enough but then to watch as his BEAUTIFUL topping melted and slid off was a bit heart-breaking.

I've got to say I was barely able to pay total attention Shannon Noormand (Crushcakes) after I heard her mention Grand Marnier, but I did my best and all other ingredients fell short in my mind.

For round two's taste & presentation challenge I found myself surprisingly on team before the time was even set! This round brought those almond guava cupcakes from that I was so hoping to hear more about, but Chloe managed to dominate my almost Pavlovian cupcakey response even more than before with her Tiramisu cupcakes with espresso and amaretto frosting.

Round three's presentation challenge Chloe ran away with it when she came up with a fresh, exciting, and dare I say hip idea to create a "hot" cupcake bar with silk flames blowing in the center. When it came to Shannons bedroom display what I really enjoyed was the stands at the foot of the bed - really, really beautiful cupcake-covered, tiered dessert stands.

Congratulations to Chloe Coscarelli

Fancypack Review and Genji Overview

2010-06-23T11:52:00.021-04:00

Warning (before you read): Since there is so much to cover more of the hypertext links take you to items that are related but not directly covered in todays blog to make sure you still get just about everything in.

Now on to today's blog . . .

Blogging while fancypacking all weekend turned out to be more of a time strain than anticipated. Bad for the blog but good for me. I was pretty busy from Wednesday until Sunday.

Thursday the belt was just used for taking my sweet pup out for a walk and for this purpose I have to say I really love this. During the winter I am usually bundled up and have pockets, during spring I wear a light jacket, but now that summer is upon us I got really sick of wearing the track jacket around my waist so that I could have pockets. When I take Perfect out, in my pockets I usually carry 1 plastic grocery bag, 1 pair of latex gloves, my cell phone, and my keys. I am able to carry all of this and more in the fancy pack. Since I prefer to always be prepared ahead of time I just keep more bags and gloves in than usual instead of grabbing some each day.

That night I also tried out Genji, a Japanese steakhouse here in Columbus for my birthday dinner. There are two, I chose the one out of the two that had the higher approval rating on Urban Spoon.

My entree was okay, I had the fillet and sesame chicken. Since this looks like it will be a long blog I will just give you the pros and cons of the experience.

Cons:
*No choice of a mushroom or chicken liver appetizer.
(Which I have gotten used to being a standard offer)
*The sushi menu was minuscule at best.
*Instead of miso soup we were served beef broth.
*The "show" was the worst I've seen
(Do not take this to mean total disappointment - I've just seen much better)
*Needlessly surly hostess

Pros:
*Endless dipping sauce
(So long as the "chef" is still at your table. Every other place I have been, once you're out - you're out!)
*Clean
(Nothing felt grubby, sticky, grimy, or just yucky in general)
*Nommy food
*Birthday photo

(On the far right you can see my friend DreemGypsy from I Can Knit That)
*Birthday chopsticks

*Birthday pineapple
(Nicely sliced and came at the same time as the drumming, singing, chopsticks, and right before the photo)

Friday was actually one of my cousins birthdays (and a few other people I'm not related to as well. Happy public belated birthday once more to those people.) Grandma was kind enough to take five of her grand-children to the Columbus zoo to see the new polar bears, for birthday fun, and a great place for continued Fancypack testing. When one of our cousins saw the bow he immediately remarked that it was "fancy" - good call on the name Carla! Grandma's reaction to it was that it was a great idea instead of carrying her purse and headed off for her "lime green" fannypack.

I had cause to use it before we even left grandmas house when she gave me her second parking pass and then immediately once we were all through the gates when we needed to grab a map. The fancypack got constant use that day with all of my picture taking. One recommendation about carrying your camera is to make sure if you keep your camera in any sort of camera sock, try to choose one that wont constantly try to stick to the Velcro like mine did. Eventually I just had my husband carry the camera sock to make everything easier.

Despite the fact I have an actual camera sock I made for myself,

I have been using this coffee cup cozy for months now instead.

Saturdays plans to go to The Wilds were thrown over for mischief with some of my family which included a trip to the dollar store where the Om Nom Nom Studios model you may remember from the grand opening, Lizzie K., found cute sidewalk chalk.

But I did still get to experience just a tiny bit of the "wilds" in the form of Columbus zoo stuff in Raising Canes (chicken so good I had it at my wedding!) where we had lunch.

Sunday, Lizzie, one of my brother-in-laws, the hubbo, and myself trekked down very close to Cincinnati to go to Kings Island. When we stopped for gas Lizzie and I had a mini DeLorian adventure.

The temperature Sunday was in the high 80's to the mid 90's so we chose to head to the water park portion first. There my Fancypack was relinquished to a rented locker, where it spent the majority of the day.

My rating for the Fancypack after this weekend is four stars. I would have given it five but I want to see how long this Velcro lasts and see how it does in a few other environments.

Since this post was so long I plan to blog about the most recent episode of Cupcake Wars tomorrow.

Cupcake Wars Goes to Sea World

2010-06-16T07:59:00.004-04:00

Last nights Cupcake Wars centered around the twelfth birthday of Killer Whale Sumar at Sea World San Diego. All of the nights challenges centered around not only looking the Sea World part but very much tasting the Sea World part.

After Hollis Wilder's lemon-scented lox cupcakes I was beyond excited for "the taste challenge", where the first chosen flavours were borrowed from the sea and the bakers were given sea weed and sea salt. Instantly, plans for sushi cupcake creations swirled around my mind (which would be in terrible taste for the Sea World theme).

Allyson Fiander's idea of rimming the cupcakes with brown sugar and sea salt didn't sound as appealing as it did plain. I thought the idea of rimming a cupcake with salt would be fantastic for a Margarita cupcake of some sort - "to-cook" list you just got bigger.

Bret Thompson chose to break out some spirulina, an idea that was only a taste the originality he had to dish up. He then powdered the spirulina and mixed it with vanilla as the base for his cupcake. This is a cupcake I may just leap at the chance to taste.

When it came to baker, Lindsay Morton, I got distracted by her choice to use honey frosting which is a refreshing change from so many butter cream frosting's that seem to await you atop a cupcake. The cake underneath however, didn't sound as special to me.

The star of the "taste & presentation" challenge for me was once again, Bret Thompson with his cherry coke ice cream cone cupcake with cream cheese frosting and hot fudge ganache topped with a maraschino cherry, pink lemon aid and cotton candy cupcakes with marshmallow frosting, and dark chocolate squid ink infused cupcakes topped with a Sumar marzipan garnish. Squid ink is an ingredient I have been dying to get my hands on for my own at-home use. I agree with the judges that these all came out looking a bit more fun-at-the-fair than they did see-Sumar-at-sea-world.

This round left me sick of seeing lemon and fondant. It felt like nearly everyone was using it and none of it really "popped".

Here's hoping the next episode is much better than last nights which despite the culinary inventiveness of Bret Thompson, left me unaffected.

Fancypackness Is Next to Rachel Rayliness . . .

2010-06-15T15:54:00.013-04:00

. . .well, sort of. "Next to" meaning, also used by Kim White, Rachel Ray's makeup artist.

Carla Morales, graduate of one of the art schools I begged my parents to let me go to (RISD), has the solution for anyone else out there, like me, who frequently has no pockets and just enough times that you don't feel like carrying a purse. The solution comes in the form of an adjustable belt with a bow containing two pockets, cleverly named - the Fancypack.

Examples of great times to Fancypack-it-up:
*Walking your dog
*Amusement parks / zoos / fairs
*Airports
(so you can carry a little more than you already have in your purse and carry-on)
*Firework fights
(Hey I'm a girl from a family of boys that married into a family of boys. This comes up more often than you might think!)
*Country kiddies who need to carry a small amount of ammo out into the woods

Carla was kind enough not only to work with me to create a custom made Fancypack that fit the Om Nom Nom spirit, but to also make sure to get it to me in time for my birthday. Ultimately we decided the extra-large sized Fancypack would best suit my possible needs. Here is the mock-up she came back to me with.

I was able to pick the belt colour as well as the kind and colour of the clasp. I chose a slimming chocolately belt with strawberry heart accent clasps.

My Fancypack arrived today - two days before my birthday. I intend to test it out and report back on my Fancypacking all weekend long and let you know how it stands up.

For all of today's Fancypack pictures you can see them here in the Om Nom Nom Studios Flickr stream.

How 'Bout Them Cupcake Wars?

2010-06-14T17:56:00.004-04:00

Last night marked the beginning of The Food Network's Cupcake Wars. I thought about warning your earlier but somehow felt that most of you already knew. If you didn't, I apologize. But no matter what - if you don't have your DVR's set to record the series, what are you waiting for!?

Each episode will feature four amazing bakers going head-to-head-to-head-to-head in three elimination challenges until, but much like Highlander, there can be only one. The winner not only absorbs all the other competitors baking prowess (that is if judge Florian Bellanger doesn't beat them to something similar after his Simon Cowell-esq remarks) but an opportunity to display their delicious cupcakes at an A-list event, ten-thousand dollars, and sugary glory!

Congratulations to last nights winner, owner of Sweet bakery in Orlando, Florida, Hollis Wilder. From the moment that woman dared to try a lox cupcake I was in her corner and now can only think of finding a way to score such a sweet sweet treat!

New Yarn Storage

2010-06-13T13:39:00.006-04:00

Yesterday hubbo and I helped some good friends of ours move. A turn of fate that was possibly long overdo for us. Our pasts are littered with moves military and otherwise but I can't actually remember staying anyplace long enough to need to help anyone.

Perfect also got some quality time with her friend Sissy Von Rauch, named after Princess Sisi of Bavaria.

As is the case with so many moves, in the end our friends had things they either had no space for or for which they no longer had any further use. We were given this (the tan closet-y thing):

I have no idea what to call it. Whatever it is, it's now yarn storage. So here is my new "work area" as it is right now [and unfinished.]

Liz Lemon Break

2010-06-10T20:19:00.003-04:00

This Liz Lemon break is brought to you by Fuck Yeah Liz Lemon, the letter G, and the number 7.

Liz: [to Jenna] What’s going on? Why are you being so happy and nice?… Are you soaking your tampons in vodka again?
30 Rock 4.19 - “Argus”

So. Much. Fur.

2010-06-08T19:55:00.006-04:00

It's that time of year again - flowers are in bloom and dogs are shedding. Perfect, regrettably, is one of those blooming shedding dogs and somehow this year it seems worse than ever.

Vacuuming doesn't do the trick. I have to use our [borrowed] hand-held wet/dry vac to pull up the hair and then vacuum.

To all you other dog owners out there with fur working its way as deep and it can into your carpets the Om Nom Nom household feels your pain.

Junior's Most Fabulous Cheesecake & Desserts

2010-06-07T17:46:00.015-04:00

A few weeks ago I was flipping through my foodie friend SiamKittie's Facebook photos and saw this photo of what turned out to be a slice of strawberry shortcake cheesecake, and instantly needed info about how I could make this happen for myself. SK was kind enough to direct me straight to where I could buy my own online (and currently on sale too!)

Before ordering I did my usual online search to learn a little about what I was getting myself into. In an online forum I saw someone said that Junior's Cheesecakes make Cheesecake Factory's cheesecakes taste like Sara Lee. It was ordered within the next 48 hours. Then I played the waiting game, in fact while I played I avoided all other desserts until my cake arrived.

Finally the day came, and much to my chagrin UPS didn't show until very late in the day; however it did show right as we were about to have dinner. UPS pulled a bit of a ding-dong-ditch and was gone before my husband answered the door. They also set the box on its side which had me a little worried about the state of my cake. There was minor squashing on one side but nothing like the pizzas that have obviously carried the under a delivery guys arm.

The cake was incredibly well packaged and was shipped with dry ice to keep it cool.

My initial response to the cake was that it fell short of my now somewhat hyped expectations. It was alright, and I liked the shortcakey bits, but the cheesecake was still slightly frozen. Still more cake to go I decided that I would just wait until the cake was entirely thawed and see how I felt about it then.

The thaw was just what the cake needed. The icing is light, nearly fluffy, leaving me wishing there was just a wee bit more to enjoy; it complimented the cake perfectly. Sandwiching cheesecake in between the shortcake was an interesting call on the part of Junior's and I must say as a girl who adores a sandwich - I approve! Inside the cheesecake was mixed just the right amount of fresh strawberries. There wasn't a strawberry in every bite but one sure seemed to show up when you wanted one. When it comes to the shortcake two words come to mind and those are springy and spongy.

Overall I'd have to say each individual piece that went into making this creatively layered cake was well crafted.

Was it the best cheesecake of my life? Since there's more life to live it's really too soon to say; but whenever I am back in New York I have every intention of seeing what other freshly concocted desserts Junior's has to offer.

Final rating? Three and a half stars - I really enjoyed it but didn't fall head over heels, I wouldn't turn down a piece if offered, and would actively pursue trying it again fresher than I was able to get it here in Ohio.

If all of this has you interested in placing an order of your own two good facts to have are that the cheapest available shipping is $11 for 2-day shipping. The alternative is $20 for overnight. And that you can choose your delivery date.

All of the pictures from this can be found in the Om Nom Nom Studios Flickr stream.

Liz Lemon Break

2010-05-27T17:39:00.006-04:00

Liz Lemon: I believe that all anyone really wants in this life is to sit in peace and eat a sandwich.

Jack Donaghy: How surprising that your world view is food-based.

That is all.

Pro-Portional Designs Meets the Thurman Burger

2010-05-23T10:26:00.015-04:00

Fridays dinner attempt left me still craving something more. Something better. Something good to eat.

Our mission was to find something reasonably affordable, new, and nommy. Since we had already visited one of the local eatery's featured on the recently re-aired Columbus edition of Man VS. Food. Why not another?

The chosen spot? The Thurman Cafe, where some of you who have seen the show, may remember Adam Richman taking on the Thurman burger. The Thurman burger is 3/4 pound burger "overloaded" with ham, mozzarella and American cheese, lettuce, tomato, mushrooms, sautéed onions, pickle, peppers and mayo with kettle chips and a pickle spear. Some of you may have noticed I'm completely cray-cray for burgers so this wasn't a hard choice to make. Hubby and I got ourselves ready at home, grabbed a buddy of ours and headed to German Village.

Street parking is rarely anyone's favourite option but it really wasn't too hard to find a spot. We parked on the same block and could see our car from the benches in front of the resto. However, on these benches we saw quite a few people waiting. I sent hubby in ahead to give them our names for the wait that was obviously ahead and grabbed a bench with our pal.

We waited about an hour to an hour and half before being seated. Our wait didn't end up being as agonizing as it could have been because before out name was called they called about four others that were parties that bailed.

The inside of Thurmans is pretty tiny, more like a bar than a resto. and it seems to be have a light coating of dollar bills that have been decorated everywhere. Behind the bar, dollars hang like drying meat.

Service was relatively speedy about taking our order. Chicken cor don bleu balls and chicken strips were our chosen appetizers. Two Thurman burgers and a bacon burger were the entrees.

In the beginning the drinks came on pace with when we needed more, but by the third drink our first bartender took an order and then went AWOL. Thankfully, another lovely bartender questioned where the drinks we told her we had ordered were, and made sure we got them right away.

My first bite of chicken cor don bleu balls wasn't a total disappointment but I did manage to burn my finger when some totally unexpected hotness dripped out onto my finger. The chicken strips tasted like chicken strips, not particularly moist, not too dry, and not of any degree of crunchiness that set them apart. On the plate with the "bleu balls" (as the staff seems to enjoy saying to you) Thurmans chosen sauce is honey mustard, it wasn't a terrible combo. The sauce on the plate for the chicken strips was another story. I'm not certain what it was supposed to be but after tasting it I realized it was cocktail sauce.

Finally our burgers arrive and the Thurman is not quite as daunting as it may have come across on television. However, our friend was turned off by what he felt was a sickening and unnecessary, thick layer of ham. Before sinking my teeth in I did remember the waitress from Man VS Food who mentioned she liked to see how people chose to eat it. I chose to eat it like I would any other burger and our friend chose to eat it with knife and fork. Choosing to pick up this burger and eat it like any other did prove to be just as messy as our friend feared but it didn't bother me in the least.

The flavours of the burger did not always meld together. There were times where a bite would taste more like ham, mushroom, or onion (instead of burger.) Autonomously these tastes were fine. The mushrooms were very pleasantly buttery. But together you barely noticed they were there and the burger patty was not one to write home about.

Keep in mind, I had a few of the appetizers before taking on the Thurman. I managed to eat all but three bites of my burger and really wanted to finish it, but something told me that to do so would be . . . unwise. We were unable to have the waitstaff take our payment as quickly as we were able to get our bill; and then needed to hail them one last time to get a box for the remainder of the Thurman and the bleu balls. The final total of our meal was not a price I would recommend to any poor college students. Each burger at the Thurman cafe averages a nine dollar price tag.

I finished the last three bites of the Thurman only about an hour and a half later and decided I liked the cold leftovers (much) better than I had the hot burger while still at Thurmans.

My own star rating for this resto. would come in at three stars. I really enjoyed the "blue balls", all of the waitstaff was pleasant and friendly, and the menu was one I could consider coming back to try once more.

All photos of our adventure can be found here in the Om Nom Nom Studios Flickr stream.

The Ohio Deli Home of The Dagwood & Its Challenge

2010-05-21T19:58:00.017-04:00

For any fans of the Travel Channel show Man VS Food, you may have seen the Columbus (Ohio) episode, and hearing about the Ohio Deli and it's famous Dagwood sandwich.

Named for Dagwood Bumstead, from the comic strip Blondie, this 2 1/2 pound sandwich contains ham, turkey, roast beef, lettuce, tomato, onion, both American and Swiss cheese served on a giant bun with a coating of garlic mayo. The Ohio Deli has what is known as "the Dagwood Challenge" where you need to eat this behemoth of a sandwich, the fries, and your pickle spear in thirty minutes or less. The current record is 3 minutes and 12 seconds. What do you get if you win? Your picture on the wall and a shirt stating that you defeated the Dagwood. If you lose you always have the option of to get the "The Dagwood Kicked My *%#@" shirt. The urge to try this sandwich (not the challenge) was incredible.

Before heading out for the evening I did some light internet snooping about the restaurant and the sandwich itself. Reviews I saw here made me wonder exactly what I would end up with. What stood out the most were the remarks about the slow service and someone referring to it as "the dirty deli."

The restaurant itself definitely falls under the category of "hole in the wall" (and I don't mean this as any sort of slur), had I not been looking for it I may not have paid much attention and even then, had I seen it I may not have given it a second look.

The inside is fairly small but I was happy with that, I'd been worried that it being a Friday night I may have a problem with seating or a wait. The wait was very short to be seated and once seated I made sure to see if my table was sticky as one reviewer said theirs was (it wasn't.)

We were given three menus a lunch, a dinner, and a special menu. I was really there for a good sandwich so the dinner menu wasn't really what I wanted and nothing of the special menu jumped out at me except the all-you-can-eat fried fish.

I ended up choosing not to order the Dagwood with the intention of coming back with my father when next he visits and splitting it with him.

Three sections of the menu (the perfect match, 11 reasons you cannot forget us, and deli originals) all seemed so tasty that I couldn't decide what to order if the Dagwood was not to be. Finally I chose the Manhattan (hot pastrami, corned beef, Swiss cheese, served on deli rye with lettuce & tomato) and my husband chose a hot open faced sandwich (the countryside: hot veal cutlet served open face on white bread & covered with beef gravy.)
To drink we ordered from the section called "Ohio Deli Bottled Soda", I ordered the "Sour Apple Soda" and my husband ordered the "Blue Raspberry Soda." As you can see when they came it turns out it should probably say "Wild Apple Soda." The drinks were fine, his tasted like a blue freeze-e pop and mine was more sweet than sour.

The service was indeed slow (but still polite) so it took a moment until we learned they were out of veal - so my husband had the roast beef open faced sandwich instead.

Here is a photo of me right after receiving my sammich - little did I know this face would be how I felt in a short while. The sandwich was on the lower scale of okay, it was definitely nothing I would feel a craving for that warranted an immediate trip to the Ohio Deli. I was only able to eat one of the flakey fries, after that I had no desire to try another.

Mediocre food or not I was enjoying spending time with my husband. Then from behind me the little girl (I believe is visible in the picture) saw a black man walking up to come in and said "look daddy, n*****s!" I stopped. I half-turned. I answered my husbands question when he saw the look on my face. And lost my appetite. I put down what remained of my Manhattan. We paid. And left.

Now I realize this was not the restaurants fault but that of the parent and grandparents who were there with her said nothing and kept on eating.

If I had to give this restaurant a star rating I'd give it 2 to 2 1/2 stars, meaning I've had much better but I've had much worse.

For the rest of the pictures from dinner you can see them here in the Om Nom Nom Studios Flickr stream.

If you're interested in a home-made Dagwood of your own there is a recipe here. And if you just want to look as some food porn of someone's home-made Dagwood you can see one here on Scanwiches.

Om Nom Nom Studios Eight-Layer Heart-Attack Pizzagna

2010-05-19T15:20:00.008-04:00

My dear sweet hubbycakes has had a few bad days in a row. What almost always cheers me up is a good meal. On tonight's menu we have stuffed pizza.

Now let's take a look what went into this particular stuffed pizza.

For one thing I started it around 10:30AM and he would not be home until after 4PM. Why on earth would I start this early? Dough. This was an impromptu idea, usually I let most dough's sit for no less than twenty-four hours. Doughs can be like wines. They have personalities and are capable of having complex flavours but need time to develop those flavours. But in all honesty your pizza won't be a total wash if you don't let the dough sit for a day or two. I let mine sit until about 2PM.

This particular dough was made with two types of flour and also has butter, Parmesan cheese, and garlic inside of it.

2PM was my chosen assembly time and it took me about an hour to do so.

Thin "coating" of pizza dough. Gotta be sure to bring it up the sides to insure that all the filling has something to hold it in.

An uninterrupted layer of sausage. This was put down in one solid sheet and THEN added to where I felt it was needed.

A layer of mozzarella cheese.

A layer of pepperoni.

Another layer of mozzarella cheese.

A layer of sauce.

A layer of black olives.

Yet another layer of mozzarella cheese.

A layer of bacon.

Another layer of dough that was topped off with more sauce. This was all put into the oven at 350 degrees for no less than forty-five minutes (honestly I wasn't really timing but I knew I wasn't taking it out sooner than that.)

Nothing about my end result was neat.

While I assembled this I really couldn't help but think about that episode of Sit Down, Shut Up called "Tackin';" where after a teacher has a heart attack and describes it as a blissful experience the students of the school begin fattening up and attempting to induce heart attacks to get high.

The Birthday Cake I Have Been Dreaming Of

2010-05-19T07:16:00.007-04:00

My birthday is just a little under a month away and I must admit - I am a birthday person, and not just my own. I tend to get pretty excited when birthdays are near.

During the year I drop random hints to my hubby about things I would find birthdayliscious (for my own personal day.) On my computer I keep a fun little archive of cute foods I would like to one day see become a reality. And by this I mean a reality that I can take a bite out of.

Things to Do With Your Life When You're Unable to Knit

2010-05-14T17:58:00.018-04:00

Still out of commission but I have high hopes that I am on the mend.

Today was one of those days where I woke up smiling so I treated myself to a little Duran Duran via YouTube first thing.

Then I headed out to play some early morning basketball with my hubby. The weather was looking better than it has recently so I suggested if we left right then we could go canoeing.

The scenic twelve-mile river ride was worth the two hour drive to get there. Last time we went Perfect flipped the canoe at least twice so we didn't bring a camera out with us.

Since we started out so super early in the day we hadn't eaten yet. We chose to go through a Long John Silvers/KFC drive-thru. I ended up not getting the double down (say whaaaaaaaaaaaat?) and instead went for the KFC boneless fillet or what I have been personally calling, "hand chicken."

On the way home hubby felt incredibly compelled to buy a wiffle ball and bat for family fun when we head out to his grandma's house. I came thisclose to buying a Shake Weight but my mother managed to talk me out of it via phone, saying that she heard those don't work. BUMMER!

To lift my spirits I hoofed it over to World Market while hubby bought the wiffle balls and bat to look for something fruity nom to drink.

While I looked around I saw some other nommies and snapped a few pics and sent them to my waiting hubby outside in the car. There was an interesting looking Dandelion & Burdock drink, chipotle chilli dark chocolate bars (I was actually looking for the bacon and dark chocolate bars but they didn't have them today), and chilli and lime dark chocolate bars.

I nearly got this yard of twizzler container.

Here is what I came away with. So far I have only cracked into the sparkling pear and it's just wonderful. It doesn't really taste like any pear drink I have had before. My first impression was a bit like cream soda meets pear. All I can say is that it's sweet, smooth, light, and just the right bit of tart.

In the center is a key lime pie cream soda. There was only one left and my parents are huge key lime pie fans. I may drink it, I may bring it home, I may search for more so everyone can try it all at once - I just don't know yet. All I knew was, with one left I had to buy it.

And here is my impulse purchase, a Big Bite Gummy Bear (blue raspberry flavoured) - but I don't know if I will be able to bring myself to eat it.

I'd Prefer A Cold Turkey Sammich . . .

2010-05-13T13:35:00.010-04:00

For the last week I haven't been knitting. Not because I've chosen to abstain for some unfathomable reason but because I woke up one morning with minor wrist pain (which happens to me from time to time) and instead of just not knitting for a day like I usually would; I didn't knit for something silly like two hours. Then once I picked my sticks back up I didn't just continue working on my sweater (which would have required very little brain power it's so simple right now), I chose to begin a fair isle beret (and not a particularly simple one).

Here is an example of what could be considered a simple fair isle pattern.

This is the "first fair isle anything(cowl/headband)" by Irene Ramalho. Shown here is Irene's (I have made one of these but do not have a decent picture of it).

Here is the pattern I chose to work on right now.

The beret shown here is not my own. I Googled you up a decent picture so you could see what we're dealing with here and all credit for the work that went into this should go to blogger, Lauren Wood of Lauren's Crafts.

Here is how far I got into my own hat before it happened.

One of the tips of my fingers has gone numb and I have been unable to feel it since. The wrist pain did not increase to an unbearable level until later that night.

Since I have been forced into cold-turkeydom I have been camped out on my lappie.

Right after posting about my attempt at dreamsicle cupcakes, Darling Misty B. pointed out she was unable to post a comment. I went back into bloggers comment settings and made sure everything looked good to go and it did.

However, today when I was snooping around the intarwebs I ran across Chinamommy, who was kind enough to stop by here as well. ChinaMommy ended up sending me a mail through my Etsy shop letting me know she had the same issue.

Comments should now be properly enabled. When you go to comment you should be lead to a page to do just that. I chose not to use the pop-up option because so many of us have pop-ups blocked these days.

And thanks again to ChinaMommy and Darling Misty B. for the heads-up.

Happy Belated Mother's Day

2010-05-11T15:49:00.001-04:00

Happy belated mothers day to any of you who are fortunate enough to have little (or even possible now grown) people.

This mothers day was a two-in-one sort of holiday for my family here in OH. It was also my husbands grandmother's birthday. Which, admittedly we may not have known if not for months of hints dropped by the birthday-ma.

Columbus is fortunate enough to have a local ice-creamery that is so good I've considered never leaving the city. I have lived here for about three or four years now and it was only a few months ago that I tried out Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams. The day of our first visit the boy and I noticed a flavour that seemed just up his grandmother's alley.

You see, among the things we know her to love are nuts. Yeah I'll say it, she's nuts about nuts. When we saw "Black Walnut Divinity" we decided right then and there that this was what we wanted for her for her birthday.

Neither the boy, or myself are from particularly small families. Most holidays here warrant a trip to grandma's house where a decent amount of us will congregate all day long. To insure that grandma would not have to share her birthday treat we decided to bring her to the ice cream rather than the other way around. We made a date with her for today around 1:30 to go out and get ice cream.

The Black Walnut Divinity is out of season right now so the only way for us to get it would have been to buy a pint. So grandma tried the many flavours and picked two out for herself. The boy and I tried a few of the new seasonal flavours and chose to go with a bowl with three half-scoops.

From left to right is grandma's bowl which has: Bourbon Pecan and Gravel Road.

My bowl which has: Wilberry Lavender (purple), Goat cheese with roasted red cherries (white/red), and Rhubarb Rosé (pink).

The Wildberry Lavender is my favourite, so much so that the purple ice cream in my tattoo is supposed to be this Jeni's flavour.

And then the boys bowl, which has: Buckeye State (tan), Strawberry Buttermilk (pink), and Honey Vanilla Bean (cream).

[The hat seen here is the trilobite pattern by Hannah Ingalls available for free here on Knitty.]

As always Jeni's was far from a disappointment. I didn't get a chance to taste grandma's (but I wasn't after hers anyway) but I did try the boys. The Buckeye State wasn't for me but that's because despite my love of dark chocolate, I am not usually a big peanut butter ice cream fan. The strawberry buttermilk lived up to it's description of fragrant Ohio strawberries with rich buttermilk impart a light, clean finish. Like a bowl of strawberries and cream. It was indeed like a bowl of strawberries and cream.

The Rhubarb Rosé which boasts that is is, creamy with a burst of sweet wine flavor and a hint of not-too-sweet rhubarb. Was dead on, I found a lot of pleasure in the wine finish.

In fact, wine flavouring is one of my favourite things you can be sure to find in their other flavours like Riesling Poached Pear and Cocoa Zin. I forgot to taste the new flavour, Cherry Lambic (lambic isn't a wine anyway), but hope to very soon (my own birthday is only about a month away now.)

What I didn't forget to taste was the [new] Mango Lassi. This was a fantastic idea. For those of you who are not familiar with it, Lassi is a traditional yogurt-based Indian drink. Ice cream was a great move. Mango flavouring had me at mango. I loved it!

Even my non-cheese-eating hubby was able to enjoy the goat cheese with roasted red cherries.

If any of this appeals to you on a scale where you find yourself cursing the fact that you don't live in the capitol city of the Buckeye nation. Have no fear. Not only can you order Jeni's over the internet and have it shipped to you but it has recently become available in Whole Foods (however, I cannot remember if that is only a local deal right now.)

Cupcake Pebbles

2010-05-09T10:34:00.001-04:00

Ever since I heard about Cupcake Pebbles I've wanted to get my hands on some. Who could blame me? Yesterday when I went grocery shopping I was finally successful.

Naturally, this morning I decided to try some for brekkie.

When I opened the box and took a whiff I swear it smelled exactly like cupcakes. Exciting.

I made sure to get a quick pic of the cereal before I laid into it.

This cereal tastes a lot like some sort of rice krispy treat cuppy.

The Om Nom Nom stance on this cereal is - for the win!

Another Entry for the Om Nom Nomtionary

2010-05-05T11:16:00.000-04:00

I mentioned a while ago I coined another term for the "Om Nom Nomtionary"

Knitwhipped [nit hwipt, nit wipt]
- adjective

1. Having received a whipping from your knitting
2. Having been subdued or defeated by a knitted project as though by whipping
3. Exhaustion caused by having been beaten by knitting

Origin:
Knitting fuckery

Celebrate Good Times!

2010-04-28T15:10:00.001-04:00

Today is a day for celebration in my house. My husbands contract with the military officially ran out today! ! !

Tonight I am making one of his favourite meals, my Fettuccine Alfredo. I don't know about everyone else out there but after I eat I almost always want dessert, so I am making dreamsicle cupcakes using the basic info provided to me by a good friend and Facebook fan, Darling Misty B.

I was told I would need:
1 box cake mix
12 oz POP of choice (which translates to 1 1/2 cups)
Cool Whip

The idea here is to recreate the magical pairing of vanilla and orange to get that oh so familiar, childhood taste of dreamsicle in cupcake form. The store did have French vanilla cake mix but I am terribly allergic to French vanilla so we got white cake instead.

The back of the box has two recipe options, with or without egg-whites. The egg-white option called for more water 1 1/4 cups) and less oil. In lieu of a twelve pack of "pop" (as my Michigander friend put it) we bought a two-liter bottle. I measured out the "pop" ahead of time and put it in a glass to the side while I checked the directions of the back of the box.

At this point all you really need to do is follow the directions on the back of the box (combine cake, oil, water ["pop"], and egg-whites. Put into cupcake pan. Cook.)

The box says to cook for ten to fifteen minutes, I put them in for thirteen minutes but my test stick came out with stuff on it so I put them back in for another four. Those four extra minutes finished cooking them beautifully.

The cupcakes were so incredibly light when I took them out of the pan that it was a shame I did not have cool whip to use instead of icing (Which I have quite a bit of. We keep cake mix around because my husband enjoys making himself impromptu cake.)

The end result was a happy hubby.

I didn't think it tasted too dreamsicle-ish (maybe it was because I couldn't have the french vanilla cake mix). Hubby said he could taste the orange in it - I did not.

I won't give up tho, just gives me tons of ideas for later.

Regretsy'd!

2010-04-21T11:37:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure just how many people outside of the crafting community are aware of Regretsy, but I can assure more than enough within it are incredibly aware.

Regretsy, whose tagline is "Where DIY Meets WTF" is a parody of Etsy. Items on Regretsy tend to be reported to them, and due to the popularity of the site even they themselves have pointed out there is a whole lot of WTF to sort through.

What makes it a WTF? The short answer is: whatever makes you wonder why someone a)made the item b)thinks someone would buy the item c) chose to go against their best judgment and share said item with the internet when they should know it's a WTF.

And all on my own steam, I've made it. That's right, this morning I woke up to a Facebook message from my friend over at Dollfoolery proclaiming I'd made it!

Here is the item that people feel was worthy.

Am I upset? No, not one bit. Even bad publicity is good publicity.

Am I surprised? Only mildly. I figured eventually someone would find me and post me. What I really think of the whole situation is - "wow I never saw the item in that light."

The cowl has been likened to scabs, bot flies, and goiters. I thought the whole bot fly thing was so original I nearly went in and changed the name!

Also in the Facebook comments was a remark about what on EARTH was I doing to the peperoni pizza scarf!? The owner and operator of The Neighborhood Fiber Company has remarked on that same thing. When I opened my store she said it was a bunch of pictures of me in a slutty dress making naughty faces.

You can see how seriously I took that.

The Egg Salad Debaucle

2010-04-15T22:25:00.000-04:00

For those of you who follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Myspace (again, the accounts are linked) by now you may have seen a lone photo of the egg salad experiment gone horribly wrong.

I decided to go ahead and post a bit about what was done and how wrong it all went.

Following the recipe I found here. I first boiled some eggs and then put them in a bowl for 24 - 36 hours.

I hard boiled 6 eggs so that way 3 could make the egg salad and then I had 3 left for if I messed up - which in the end I felt I did.

The dying was pretty even but it would have gone better had I had the eggs surrounded in beet juice rather than (what I did) and pour it in and then cover exposed bits with actual beets (later leaving darker spots where I'd done just that).

After about 12 hours I went back in and rolled the eggs over so they entire egg would be dyed.

I started this with two things I wanted to do.
1) I wanted to substitute mayo with hummus

2) I felt egg salad could really use some bacon

Now for the half-assed instructions.

I got pretty much everything I planned to use out and ready. Amongst these items was a red-orange piece of Tupperware to mix everything in so that I wouldn't have to worry about beet juice dying something else.

I cut up three slices of bacon into relatively small pieces, making sure to feed a little bit of bacon fat to my sweet doggy.

While the bacon cooked,

I cut up the eggs.

Added the hummus. A few spices.

A little bit of champagne dill mustard.

And once it was finished, bacon. In the end it was SO visually unappealing that I didn't bother taking a photo.

The end result was a sour stomach and the rest being fed to the dog.

Well, that's all I've got for your at the moment. But I can tell you that I have another entry for the Om Nom Nomtionary coming soon.

Akanksha Fund Auction Cookie Scarf

2010-04-06T15:09:00.000-04:00

For those of you who remember, this February, Pro-Portional Designs of Om Nom Nom Studios was featured on The Uniform Project. As I mentioned earlier in my blog about the scarf and its debut it is not only available in my shop but would also be up for auction before the end of the project.

Here is your chance!

There are 8 days and 22 hours left!

Happy Day After Easter

2010-04-05T08:47:00.001-04:00

It's been a little bit since my last blog. I know for one of the last ones I was hoping to post new foodtoo goodness but that wasn't able to happen. My tattoo artist had to cancel. Sad face.

The other day I started working on a new egg salad recipe but it went horribly wrong pretty quickly and so now I have a lot of pictures with instructions on how to make a culinary abortion.

I actually ventured out of the house this past weekend. Here is the only picture from that night.

I sang karaoke for the first time because it was my friends birthday party. I went with "Gypsies, Tramps, and Theives" for two reasons:
1) it was one of very few songs that I knew (the rest was pretty much all country)
2) I. LOVE. CHER!

It was an experience - and one I hope not to have ever again. It made the hubby and my friend happy so I'm glad for that but the Om Nom Nom karaoke train will never again run.

Etsy Updates and Roadside America

2010-03-29T10:00:00.000-04:00

This past Friday there was an Etsy update (as promised). And as I said, I have come up with something that I have yet to find anyplace else online. So I am happy to announce that Pro-Portional Designs of Om Nom Nom Studios is the home and creator of the foodie baby bib (maybe I'll have a cuter way to put it in the future.) There are now two new sections in the store, children and http://www.etsy.com/shop/ProPortional?section_id=6905791.

The other day I was out visiting some family and saw the pumpkin water tower in Circleville, Ohio (that I am sure i have seen before but never really thought about.)

While I was working on these pictures I wondered about other water towers similar to this and came across:

The watermelon water tower in Texas

The Peach water tower in Alabama

Not quite food but still delightful is the coffee pot water tower in California

There are others but I thought it was amusing.

Gerg

2010-03-16T07:10:00.001-04:00

It's come to my attention that one of the items I will be offering is being made by someone else despite my secrecy. I'm a bit bummed but know that original ideas can be few and far between. As my father told me when I was a little kid - "anything you can think of - someone else has already thought." This sort of thing has kind of happened before and sadly it will happen again.

The main item I plan to offer is still safe but I may be moving up the release date from April 1st to some time in the next week. Stay tuned on that if you're as excited as I am.

What's Goin On.

2010-03-12T21:27:00.000-05:00

It's been a minute since I last blogged. Apologies for that. Since the last post I have been one of the featured artists in the newest issue of the webzine, Cupcake Magazine. References to me directly are on the main page (my name is Tara) and inside the magazine on pages 12, 19, 21, 122, 123, and 203. This would be the second "big thing poppin'" I mentioned earlier.

Crazy things have apparently been going on here in Columbus. Here is something I found particularly upsetting. There has been a sixty-eight year old man putting his keys in his hand, making a fist, and punching seven and eight year old children in the face. Worse yet, he's been (proudly) at it for around nine months now.

Less crazy but still hectic has been my working nearly non-stop on some new things for spring. I'm excited and I hope you are too. What I have in store as my main items I have yet to see someplace else.

I did take a break today for fresh ink. My cupcake tattoo was a little lonely. Tonight I made a few additions. There is actually more to come on this. But here is where the tattoo stands for now.

To try to load you down less I'm only putting up one picture of it here (from the front). All of the pictures can be found on Om Nom Nom Studios Flickr page.

Thanks again so much to Quin of Skull & Rose Gallery on Pacemont in Columbus, Ohio. See you soon for the next session.

Baked Spaghetti A La Nom

2010-02-27T10:50:00.001-05:00

Alright, it's a been a while since my last blog. A lot of that is because I am still somewhat buried in snow. If any of you follow me on Twitter, on my face book fan page, or Myspace (those accounts are somewhat linked) you may know that I try to somewhat regularly post pictures . . . usually of food.

I mentioned before that I had plans to start posting Om Nom Nom Recipes - not sure what happened to that. But it would seem all my food porn has sparked interest in what goes into some of those foods. I have yet to remake and tinker with the recipe for the stuffed bread I made a month or two ago.

Last night my dear sweet [nommy] hubby came home in a bit of a bad mood. Sad wife! A good cure for making my bad days a bitter better is good food. One of his favourite dishes I make is baked spaghetti. After seeing the picture of my baked spaghetti I was asked about a recipe. So here is a recipe worthy of half-assed patterns. And next time I think to do all this I will try to take pictures as I go along.

"Recipe" begins after you already have cooked the spaghetti.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

You will need a nice large, oven-safe piece of cookware.

First, I put a small layer of spaghetti sauce at the bottom (I used meat sauce), take a large spoon and spread it out and up the edges a bit and followed this with cheese.

Second, put a layer of spaghetti on top of the previous layer. The thickness of this layer is really up to you. My container was only so large so my layer wasn't terribly thick.

Repeat these two steps until you reach the top where your top will be sauce and cheese.

Lightly toss the spaghetti. Not enough so you disturb your cheese layers, just enough so that you make sure the sauce is all the way through.

Place spaghetti in the oven until cheese is melted to your liking. My husband likes burnt cheese so I burned the edges a bit for him.

Now you are ready to nom! Nom appetit!

A Word On Where On Earth I Have Been

2010-02-15T21:23:00.001-05:00

Alright, it's been a while since I made a blog post. But according to the who-visits-your-blog-tracker-thingie I have it says no one actually reads this anyway. Disheartening.

There kind of haven't been a lot of fun stuff photo opportunities because for the last weeks Ohio has been pretty much buried in snow. Then as soon as we all poke our heads back out again and think it's safe - WHAM! Snow. Which is what happened once again today.

Lately I have been thinking hard about summer appropriate knits for the store. I have some ideas and can't wait to get a move on them. Someone recently pointed out to me that they felt my online store got huge fast. I didn't think it was really all that big - I was hoping to insure whoever came to shop had a lot of options to choose from. Anyhow I said all that to say this, yarn costs money, and in general I never have a dime to my name. So I've been saving up all my dimes to try and get myself another tattoo - or rather to add to my most recent. So until I have it I won't be spending too much more money on yarn.

I do have a few more winter ideas I would like to move on and probably have the yarn here to make - so we will see what happens from there.

The Uniform Project chocolate chip cookie scarf has been getting a lot of views but no purchases just yet. This is a good time to remind all that a portion of the profits will be given to The Uniform Project for each scarf sold or order placed in advance until the projects end. The more scarves I sell the higher the percentage of profits I can donate. I'd like to manage to at least $360 so we can help one Indian child.

I suppose that's all for now. Toodle - OOOO

Wonderland Columbus and My Current Knit

2010-02-01T17:52:00.000-05:00

It's been quite a while since my last post. I will admit, I am fairly guilty of something. How to express it in one word I am not sure so I will explain.

A month or so ago I mention what I have dubbed my "big things poppin' fresh." What am I so guilty of? Expecting to be able to announce them sooner. The blog for one has already been written and is waiting to be posted. And the other "big thing" I have a vague conception of when it will come to fruition. These things are not huge for many but for me they are quite exciting. A few people who know me in person now know what it is I am waiting for and one has even scoffed at how unimpressive one (the one I have a vague conception of when it will happen) is. All I can really say about that is - no one likes someone who enjoys raining on other people's parades.

A few days ago I went to the pre-launch of Wonderland Columbus. I was relatively excited about it. The excitement it seems, was a bit unnecessary.

Wonderland Columbus is basically an artist colony. The Wonderbread factory here in Columbus is being prepped for a bunch of us wide-eyed hopefuls to use for a range of things. How big that range will be it seems they were unable to say. How much these spaces would cost (which is what so many of us were there to know) - they were unable to say. When will it open? Sometime in the future. How many spaces will be available? Not enough for the amount of us who showed up. Fantastic.

Here are a couple of pictures from the event (I have more but am only posting these two.)

I'm not sure if the painter was channeling Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Force or not. I really didn't mean for Carl to come out so huge but I don't feel motivated to fix him.

I have some ideas about what flotation walls are but think I like thinking about this autonomous from all meaning best.

During the speech I noticed a fire extinguisher next to me that I don't think was actually a fire extinguisher. My first two clues were:
1) On the bottom it said "Art Vs Art"
2) Facing me in marker on top I saw the word "NOT" and it was underlined
I didn't really feel like making a public fruit loop out of myself by snapping pictures in a crowd of people.

Back to where on earth I have been. I have still been attempting to enjoy some personal knitting while managing to feel no guilt for not working on my store. My latest project comes from A Stitch In Time, Knitting and Crochet Patterns, 1920-1949 Vol. 1. I am making "With the New Cowl Neck Line."

Earlier today there were four new uploads activated on my Etsy shop. When I went to take that last photo I noticed I am missing a bottle of Chanel Mademoiselle Lotion - I am not amused.

There has also been a new link added to my list of places to Om Nom Nom online. I now have Form Spring which is a bit like an ongoing online survey.

Alright. It's now past 8pm and I have yet to eat lunch!

Om Nom Nomtionary

2010-01-24T20:45:00.000-05:00

From the personal dictionary of Om Nom Nom:

Knitstipated (see also CoKnstipated) is the condition of a knitter in which said knitter feels unable to expel finished projects, cast on for new projects, or find anything they feel compelled to knit. In its most severe cases knitstipation can lead to yarn impaction.

Yarn Impaction (see also Yarn Obstruction) is when a fiber artist is unable to desire or purchase yarn, sometimes suffering from yarn disinterest. This is often the result of knitstipation.

Knitstipated, is a term I coined myself and thankfully do not have frequent need to use it. The last two weeks I have no bee so fortunate. However, with a lot of quality time spent at my LYS and my hubby allowing myself to the treat of two skeins of The Neighborhood Fiber Company's worsted yarns, I am on the mend.

Tonight another of the many items that I have pre-loaded but not activated on the Pro-Portional Designs Etsy store will be activated.

With not much left to say I leave you with a picture of some awesome stuffed bread I made with my family just yesterday.

I am so happy with this and plan to play with this recipe and design. Once I have one I think it suitable to share it will be posted here on the Om Nom Nom Studios blog for your tummeh's pleasure.

Driven to Distraction

2010-01-17T17:10:00.001-05:00

Lately I have been incredibly distracted by just about everything at the same time as nothing. I have bouts where I am busy with work and then there are some bouts where I could not possibly be more bored (like to the extent of Oog who appeared on Aqua Teen Hunger Force.)

Oog!!! Bored!!

Mister Game Developer! :3 | MySpace Video

I've still been running around with my camera to try and make sure I have pictures to help keep you visually stimulated.

I spent about a day trying to turn Jared Flood and the Rainy sisters adaptation of the Hemlock Ring Doily turned blanket - into a cardigan. And it actually did work out - just not in my size. So I'll have to try again later. During that time I also fell seriously out of love with the shade of purple I was using which I bought last year to make Kate Davies' owls sweater.

After all the snow we have had and then my car battery dying I had barely left the house since New Years. So I spent two straight days at my LYS - it was very cathartic. Even more-so because I stumbled upon this colourway by Neighborhood Fiber Company and had to have it.

So for the last day and a half I have been making another Queen Anne's Cardigan.

But boredom and a bit of worry about my knowledge that I will run out of yarn before I complete it led me back to work a bit more on my Winter Wonderland sweatercoat. The back of it is completely finished and now I am working on the left front side.

Pro-Portional Designs also made it's first sale last week and just a day or two ago I placed another new item into the store. Also, I think I may have mentioned that I had bags that just needed zippers. All but two of them now have zippers so those will be up in the store soon as well.

Well, I have a hungry husband to feed.

ReKnit It Before You Quit It

2010-01-11T20:42:00.000-05:00

I've mentioned in the past that I have had to pull apart my own personal knitted items in order to get yarn to make items for the store, although this is not how I prefer to go about getting my yarn to make things - it is an option. A slightly lesser known option to those outside of the knit and crochet communities is recycling yarn. There are numerous ways that you can end up with recycled yarn but the one I intend to focus on it unraveling sweaters and I don't just mean a hand-knit sweater you happen to have laying around, I mean the store bought sort.

There are a lot of crafters out there who will buy knitted items from places like Goodwill just to use the yarn. What to do if you don't craft? Enter ReKn.it.com where "this month my mom will turn your old sweater into a new scarf."

The ReKn.it site is run by Haik Avanian offspring to the (quickly becoming) infamous mom.

How it works:
1.) you send an old sweater to my mom
2.) she unravels & reknits it into
something new.
3.) a brand new, hand-made, one of a kind item is sent back to you.

Still want an item but don't want a scarf? People can vote each month to help decide what "mom" will knit next.

The ReKn.it site has very little information about the project. A little (but not much) more info can be found on it's Face Book fan page. I opted to look at both and then contact Haik directly:

I'd love to see this mystery mom. How bout' a face to some knits?
She kinda' enjoys the anonymity – I personally find it funny as well :)

Whose idea was this? Yours or your mothers?
The base idea was my moms, and I sort of built on top of that (the way it's presented, the monthly timing, the voting, etc).

What does she do if she either comes up short the amount of yarn she needs to finish or has left over yarn?
If there's not going to be enough, she can usually tell before she begins, so she'll either find similar yarn to use it with, or use some of our own for the entire thing. With cases where yarn is left over, we contact the customer and give them the option to either receive the left-overs, or leave them with us for future use.

Will this only be going on for a year?
We'll see how it goes for the year, if people consistently use the service, we really have no reason to stop it after one year. I'm sure it'll evolve and grow as we learn more from our customers over time.

Is there anything else in particular you want anyone to know about this project?
I would like to note that one of our bigger hopes for this is that the act of reknitting becomes a more common practice. I hope that people can realize the how fun and valuable this can be :)

Intro to "The Fat Man's Club" (picture heavy)

2010-01-07T23:27:00.002-05:00

Today I randomly planned to have another meeting of "The Fat Man's Club" with my friend Jake but because of my very recent (complete) obsession with Cafe World on Facebook I refused to leave until my dishes were served. In the two hours and four minutes it took for my dishes to be ready to serve (so they wouldn't go bad while I was out) I probably should have looked outside.

Now before I go on, I'm sure you're wondering what on earth "The Fat Man's Club" even is. I am a plus-sized gal and I'm sure that is still recognizable through my photos online. Like a lot of women though I used to be a teeny tiny thing (which some people like my husband still say I am because of my height of five foot three.) When I was that teeny tiny thing I used to make jokes that a very large fat man lived inside of me and that he was hungry. About two years ago I met Jake when I moved to Ohio. He too is a fellow of jolly pro-portions. We got along immediately.

One day I randomly proclaimed that I was starting "The Fat Man's Club." Basically it was just me and anyone else who loved to grub (most of us all jovially pro-portioned.)

As of late I have had a craving for Jimmy Johns - and if you are ever in Columbus, Ohio I really recommend them. They are really fantastic subs that are made FAST (they like to advertise how quick they are.)

Back to the great outdoors.

I ended up deciding not to go all the way to Jimmy Johns (because alas I no longer live as close to it as I used to) and told Jake The Fat Man's Club will have to reconvene at another date. Once he looked outside - he didn't blame me.

Problem was, I still actually needed to go out or suffer a house with no toilet paper. Here is a view of what I was out driving in from inside my car.

I wasn't at Wal Mart terribly long and my car looked like this by the time I came back outside.

Snow is much more fun when you get ready to go out and play in it with your family - even if your family is just one more person and two dogs. When my husband got home from work the girls and I were ready to play! Actually Perfect seemed more ready than all of us because she raced to the door and camped out there to insure she'd be the first one out into the snow.

In real life her eyes don't look all glowy.

More pictures (as well as better views) of tonight's playtime in the snow can be found on Om Nom Nom Studios Flickr stream.