Sara

California roll layered salad

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 21:59:25 GMT

Yes, it's a random once-a-year post from me.

California Roll Layered Salad

1 medium cucumber, seeded and julienned
1-2 green onions, chopped (whites and greens)
1 lg avocado (or two small)
8 oz Krab
2-4 tbsp mayonnaise
3 cups brown rice, prepared
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
sesame seeds (optional)

soy sauce
wasabi

Prepare the brown rice according to directions to obtain two cups when finished (about 2/3 of a cup pre-cooking, I think). While the rice is boiling, prepare other ingredients (julienne, dice, etc). Use a food processor to shred the krab and add mayonnaise to taste. Heat the rice wine vinegar and the sugar in the microwave, just enough to dissolve the sugar (no more than 20 seconds or so). Stir the vinegar and sugar into the rice. Continue fluffing the rice while it cools, or spread it on a cookie sheet (if you spread it out, use plastic wrap to keep it from sticking to the cookie sheet).

Press half of the rice into the bottom of your container. You need a fairly shallow container for this :). On top of the rice, layer the other ingredients: a layer of the krab mixture, a layer of cucumber strips, a layer of avocado slices, and a sparse layer of green onions. Press the other half of the rice into a rectangle about the size of your container (I use a tupperware container for this, so I press it into the size of the container using the lid as a guide). It's easier if you do this by putting the rice on a piece of plastic wrap, folding the plastic wrap over the rice, and squashing it flat with your fingers. When it is the right size, peel back the top of the plastic wrap, turn the rice onto the top of your salad, and peel back the rest of the plastic wrap. It's kind of like a Cali roll sandwich. If desired, sprinkle the top with toasted sesame seeds. Eat with soy sauce and wasabi. This recipe should feed two, so you could split the recipe into two dishes if you want, so that each person can have their own dish. It doesn't keep well, so I don't recommend making it more than a couple hours in advance.

Yay, faire!

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 01:31:13 GMT

I had an amazingly good time last weekend. Splitting the drive up and back with Casey was all kinds of win, and great conversations with Casey and Andi made the time pass so much faster. Being listed with Strapwell and having minimal obligations ... *sigh*. Amazing. I don't even know when was the last time I had absolutely *nothing* scheduled beyond what I wanted to do. Oddly enough, the day goes by much more quickly when you don't have anywhere to be! I think on Saturday, I realized it was already 4pm and really couldn't remember anything I'd done that day. Being almost at the bottom of a bottle of mead had nothing to do with it, I swear! I saw and hugged all kinds of old friends, and made a few new friends. And hugged them as well. What can I say? :)

Now... I *really* can't wait for next time! It's my birthday AND we're going to northern again AND most of my favoritest people will be there, AND we're carpooling again (yay less driving!) AND I'll have the day off on Friday so we'll be able to get to Tim & Lisa's before midnight!

300

Wed, 28 May 2008 03:37:24 GMT

... is on HBO again.

Yum.

Oh look, a meme I like :)

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 01:06:42 GMT

1. Tankard, Goblet, or Plastic Cup?
Wooden cup, or my pewter/aluminum tankard with the bell in the bottom.

2. Did you dress your 1st time at Faire?
I wore white jeans, a green tank top, and a plaid flannel shirt. That's dressed, right?

3. Big Faire, Dam Faire, or Southern?
Is there a difference?

4. Do you regularly smuggle alcohol into Faire?
No comment

5. What was the last thing you bought - other than food and drink?
um... my wooden tankard, I think.

6. Do you regularly pirate pictures?
No

7. Ever followed the parade all the way thru Faire?
"Back in the day", I used to walk progress. I was in Danse Macabre for two years, although they followed me!

8. Have you seen every show?
Not even close

9. What does your favorite pin say?
I only wear one, my CGD pin.

10. MUST your costume be period?
Nope. It has to be approvable, and there's a BIG difference!

11. Where was your last out-of-state Faire?
Las Vegas :)

12. Do you know the words to a Poxy Boggards' song?
There may be one or two I *don't* know the words to, but I wouldn't bet on it!

13. How many different costumes do you own?
Wow... um, way too many. Several flavors of peasant, two Irish dresses & leine, a Scots border dress, two different middle easterns, and I have all the materials to make a nobles gown.

14. Do you carry a blade?
I used to, but it needs a new sheath.

15. Have you been flogged?
not voluntarily.

16. When was your virgin year?
1995

17. Who originally introduced you to Faire?
I read about it in Knight of Ghosts and Shadows.

18. Have you been drunk at ale stand zero before ever entering Faire?
No.

19. Ever gotten a henna tat?
No.

20. Had your hair braided?
Not at a braiding booth.

21. Do you use a tankard cover?
No. I'd just lose it. Besides, it wouldn't be faire with a little added fiber and/or protein!

22. Do you have pockets?
No.

23. After seeing what happened to TruBBle, will you tell anyone it's your birthday?
My birthday is during Northern, and I let EVERYONE know!

24. Do you carry a cell phone where it can be seen?
I don't carry it at all during the day.

25. Will you shed part of your costume if it's hot?
Nope.

26. What part of someone else's costume do you wish you had?
Every time I see someone with a great hat, I want it. I've never been able to find a hat I liked on me.

27. Ever had a run-in with security?
No.

28. Do you bother with Faire-speak?
During shows, and at lunch.

29. Have you been on either end of the blue ribbon?
I dance the blue ribbon at the Maypole, does that count? :D

30. What do you carry on you, that most other people probably do not?
Judging by the responses of my friends, basically everything in my pouch. Pseudoephedrine, Ibuprofen, Benedryl, antacids, floss-picks, hair bands... people always want what I have :)

31. Is sunscreen a normal part of your costume?
Hells yes. I am every flavor of pale European there is!

32. What color is your shirt?
Which one? I have 3 shirts, and about 6 chemises... green, dark green, grey, natural muslin, white, white with blackwork, and a weird bluish purplish dark gray. Oh, and a black chemise from when I was in Macabres. Oh, and the leine is white, too.

Advice needed...

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 05:41:57 GMT

Ok, so I bought this gorgeous new dress for my company's Holiday Event (this year it's a Masquerade Ball, costume not required), which is tomorrow (Thursday) night. I even have cute t-strap heels to go with it, which are awesome. The problem: I am so not a girly-girl that I don't know (a) what jewelry I should even look for, and (b) what hose to get. It's just below knee length, so hose need to happen. Black? Nude? Sheer? Opaque? help me! As for jewelry... I have some silver and black drop earrings (not dangly or foofy, kind of antique looking). It really needs a neck ornament of some kind, because the neckline is so low. I'm planning on putting my hair up, too. I was thinking maybe a black ribbon for the neck?

Opinions?
(I have a picture posted on my Tribe blog, but I don't know how to do the snip thing to hide it from making your friends page horrible, so you have to go there to look: http://people.tribe.net/asharalyn )

baaa...

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 01:05:17 GMT

http://kevan.org/johari?name=AsharaLyn

Luck of the draw

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 03:21:46 GMT

Many of you have met my adorable doggie, Chelsea. You've probably noticed the small growth on her left eyelid; it's kind of hard to miss. Years ago when it started, I took her to the vet and she said, "As long as it's not bothering her, don't worry about it." Well, when we got back from northern yesterday, she had blood gunking up her eye. She'd somehow scratched the growth (it's like a sty), and it was bleeding a good bit. Bruce stayed home today to take her to the vet, and he called me at work around 10am to tell me that she was in surgery. The vet decided that since it was bothering her, she needed the growth removed. The surgery seems to gone well, and Chelsea's home with stitches in her upper eyelid that will be there for two weeks. The poor girl is really bad at navigating with the plastic cone thingie. I'm sure the knockout meds hangover doesn't help, either! She's still kind of woozy and as pitiful as a 100lb lab mix can be. Bruce paid the extra for the biopsy on the bits that were removed, just to be sure they aren't cancerous. Now she gets to hate the eye gunk again... there's a topical kind of stuff to put in her eye as an anti-biotic/anti-inflammatory/analgesic thing. I get to do it. I feel so bad, she hates it so much!

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 02:36:41 GMT

Sara - 1/4 cup of sexiness - a scoop of friendliness - 2 teaspoons of loyalty Mix together and serve hot.
'What is your personality recipe?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Happy birthday!

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:14:54 GMT

Happy Birthday, you great gorgeous beanpole, you :). <3 and special birthday *hugs*

Sewing

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 19:55:40 GMT

Argh! Tribe is down just when I actually want to post. So LJ gets it instead.

I've been working on a new shirt. Here are the details up through last night.

http://asharalyn.twisted-reality.com/nobleshirtdiary.html

The oddness, though, is that it seems that I hold my breath while I'm sewing. I keep feeling lightheaded, and I know it's not food based. I had breakfast and I had a mid-morning snack. Weird! Back to sewing. All that's left for today is to zigzag the hem and to sew up the front seam, then put the decorative stitching on. The hand sewing gets left for Friday when I'm sitting around at Ft. Mac not doing much.

What's in a title, really?

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 01:44:29 GMT

Couldn't think of a decent title, so that's what you get. According to LJ I haven't posted in over a year anyways! This is really just for my few friends that LJ but don't Tribe.

Whew... been a long year. I'm at the end of my first year of full time teaching, with 154 8th graders in chunks 30ish at a time. Algebra I. Looking back, I'm mildly surprised that things have gone as well as they have. I didn't kill any of them, either literally or figuratively. Many (most, in fact) are actually passing. All of them know more now than they did in August.

My search for an elementary position for the next school year has been unsuccessful, but today I accepted an offer for a teaching position with Options For Youth, a charter school system where the students work independently and the teacher guides them in 1 hour sessions every few days. You never have more than 5 students in a class. I'll be working with kids in 7th to 12th grade. I'm really excited about it. It seems so much more effective than traditional schooling.

Unfortunately, the new job wants me to start at the beginning of July, which means my lovely 2 month vacation has been cut down to 2 weeks. I have soooo much sewing I want to get done between now and then, but my sewing machine needs to go to the sewing machine doctor first. It needs a lube & tune, plus a heavy duty cleaning. I've had the machine for probably 7 or 8 years and never had it cleaned and oiled.

And after school is over, I'm getting back on track with the pilates workouts every morning and gym at least 3 times a week. I had some decent improvement in the 3 week 'do or die' diet/workout program before the wedding, but I just couldn't keep it up this week. I figured out last Friday, though, why I was soooo tired last week. I'm anemic, and my usual multivitamin has iron in it (it's a prenatal vitamin). Last time I went to buy more, they were out of the prenatal one, so I bought a regular multi from the same company. The regular one, it turns out, does NOT have iron in it. I started taking some iron supplements on Friday, and I can totally tell. I feel so much better this week!

Happy and Sad

Mon, 22 May 2006 17:56:37 GMT

I think I heard this from just about everyone I talked to yesterday... I'm both sad and happy at the same time. I'm sad that faire's over for another year (except for miscellaneous small faires), and happy to have my weekends back! I just wasn't ready for faire to be over yet. I had so much fun this year dancing with the Country Garden Dancers in their rookie year at faire. In fact, I think this year was the best I've had so far! I'm really looking forward to our practices and to any small faires that we might do... (Barb... VEGAS!)

What has to be the wierdest thing about faire being over is that I still have sewing to do! I've had several people ask me for information about making bodices or doublets or shirts for next year or small faires. I think the last count was a jerkin in the next two weeks, a shirt and doublet in the next four, and possibly a bodice (no idea when that'll happen). And I want to make a new Irish dress for myself before Fort Mac in July. The one I have is beautiful but it's A) made out of upholstery weight cotton and weighs a ton and B) is too small for me. I could add C) it needs to be mended (boning is coming out) but that's fixable :P. I love the silk I used for Bruce's pants so much that I'm going to see how it dyes and use that for the Irish dress. The problem, though, is that I can't decide if I want it to be green or blue! At Gaffer's suggestion (seeing as how he's the costume director for the BorderHorse, the group I do small faires with), I'm going to be lining it in linen (or a linen look linen/rayon blend). Then I have to decide matching, coordinating, or contrasting for the lining! Oy!

So... blue with different blue lining? Blue with green, rust, or brown lining? or green with any of those? It will probably be a medium green since I don't want it to look too much like Lynn's. For those unfamiliar with why the lining color is important, one of the only illustrations of Irish dress at the time shows a woman wearing a one piece dress with the skirt looped back (by picking up the front corners of the skirt and tucking them in the belt) to show a contrasting underneath to the skirt.

Opening of faire, and other stuff

Wed, 12 Apr 2006 15:15:32 GMT

Opening Weekend of Faire! I not only survived, I had a GREAT time. I can't thank Barbara enough for getting us together to dance. I've been wanting to dance at Faire pretty much since I started back in '95, but I wasn't brave enough then to ask about getting into the group. When I was brave enough, the old country dance group had been cancelled. (It was literally the same day that I was going to ask Barb about joining that she started talking about how Newcastle wasn't coming back). I had so much fun doing the shows and sitting in the Ghetto relaxing and seeing parts of Faire that I forgot that I had friends visiting Faire from Illinois/Iowa/Nebraska. Oops! Luckily I ran into them a couple of times, and they came to one of our Maypole sets. Steve even selected my friend Ericka to help wrap the Maypole, which she really enjoyed.

I also discovered my new character during the first set on Saturday. I'd only had 3 hours of sleep that night (between 3 and 6am on Saturday morning) due to needing to finish up some sewing projects. It's been years since I pulled the all night/must get costumes done thing on Opening weekend. I was happy and excited enough to keep myself awake, but my brain wasn't quite all there. Because of this, I ended up making silly mistakes in a couple of dances, and (as we're told) just hamming it up when I did. This is how I discovered that I am apparently the 'silly' character :D. When I told all this to my friend Dee Anna (stopped by Queen's Court to see her and tell her all about our first set), she gave my new character a name: Penelope. She said it was suitably silly for my silly, loopy character. For the remaining 5 shows, I played up the silliness, although I did make a couple of slips back into my old character (Abigail, who was a total bitch). Now I just have to learn to respond to Penny and Penelope instead of Sara and Abigail! It's tough when you've had the same faire name for 10+ years!

I find it really interesting how our show is coming together from a bunch of dances into a real show. Schtick bits to introduce dances are becoming actual roles/parts of a cohesive performance. It's really kind of cool :).

And for those that are disappointed about the lack of sewing news.... Tori's outfit is done, and delivered, except for bloomers for which I forgot to measure her. It's terribly adorable :D. Bruce's pants almost got finished, but at 3am Saturday morning I realized that I'd pinned the leg to the leg band completely wrong and was going to have to repin it (luckily I didn't sew it and have to rip out the seam). I went to bed instead. His pants are first on my list for this week (which may actually be tonight).

Bodices, bodices everywhere

Sun, 26 Feb 2006 04:06:40 GMT

And two of them almost finished :). Today I drafted, cut out, and put together Leeann's bodice. It's ready for her to try on tomorrow at dance practice. I got all of the boning put in Grace's bodice, and all I have to do is decide how I want to do the waistline (turn it inside out and sew it, or just baste the layers together and turn them under) and put the grommets in. It *might* be done tomorrow for practice, but that depends on what I get for the pot luck (specifically, whether I buy something or make something).

The real dilemma I'm facing is what to do about my own costume. It's getting close to the deadline time, and I still don't know what color I want for my bodice and skirt. My other skirt is a reddish pinkish brownish kind of color (think the color that old bricks are, rather than what they call brick red), and the chemises are a medium dark bluish green kind of color (mostly green, but on the blue side). I have some pea soup color material that I'd love to use for the other skirt, but it would have to be dyed and would most likely end up green. I have a pale yellow color material that would also make a good skirt, and a royal blue crinkle cotton material. I'd really like to stick with blues and greens, but with the chemise already the green color, I don't know if that will be too much stuff in one color palette and make the pink/red skirt stand out too much. Hlep!

Yay, no more sick Sara!

Sun, 19 Feb 2006 00:39:24 GMT

So two weeks later, I'm finally mostly over that nasty sore throat that's going around. I seem to have avoided any secondary infections; just had to deal with no voice for a week :). Today I got off my lazy rear and got some stuff done: Grace's bodice pattern made, and her bodice cut out. Cut out the lining for my new bodice (since I had the material out anyways). Now I'm off to Wal Mart to get some thread to match Grace's bodice material. I hope she likes it! She picked out a kind of beige-y tan/brown color but said that if I could find something more mustardy that that would be better. What I found is a great kind of light caramel color canvas. I think it'll be light enough to set off her dark chemise and skirts, but not so light that it looks odd when worn with a white chemise.

If there's the right color thread easy to find, I might even get the majority of the construction done tonight. I won't be able to finish it until I get the extra boning I ordered earlier today, though. That should come Wednesdayish.

Sooo excited!

Mon, 06 Feb 2006 17:00:25 GMT

I'm soooo excited about the dance group. We're looking pretty good! Not great yet, of course, but way better than I would have expected when we started 7 months ago. Yesterday some of us practiced in costume, and seeing the skirts swirling was fun :).

As for the sewing... another thing to cross off the list! I got my old skirt re-waistbanded in time to wear it to practice yesterday. I'm definitely going to have to make myself another skirt before faire, though, since all of my other skirts are either rectangle/pleated skirts or are made of bubble gauze. Today, the material for lining Lynn's sleeves is in the dryer as I type, so as soon as that's done I can cut out her sleeves and (hopefully) get those done today.

Weee new material :)

Mon, 30 Jan 2006 22:19:51 GMT

This morning I went to JoAnn's (those words make my husband cringe, btw) and picked up the lining material for Bruce's new faire pants. Since they're having a massive clearance sale, I checked out the really-really-clearance materials and picked up two new bodice sized pieces. One is a bright royal blue, the other is navy. Yummy textures, very fun :).

Working hard (or hardly working?)

Mon, 30 Jan 2006 22:15:21 GMT

I've been scolded for not updating my LJ (mostly I blog on tribes)... so here's yesterday's post from tribes:

I'm tired of working on those shirts, so I took a break to sit down and make a new "must do" and "need to do" list. Here's the revised version:

Before 2/11:
Bruce's doublet
Bruce's pants
fix the sleeves from last year's doublet
finish Lynn's Irish (hem, armholes, and make 2x sleeves; put the rest of the hooks and eyes and lacers on)

Before faire:
Finish one chemise, make another
Make at least one skirt, maybe two
Put an old skirt on a new waistband
Bodice for Grace
Bodice for Leeann
Bloomers for me
Maybe bodice for me

And then there's still the 'would like to do' stuff. Somehow, even though the list is longer, it seems more manageable than it did 3 weeks ago. How odd.

New stuff for today: one of the shirts (they're for Bruce for faire this year, as one of his old ones is beyond repair) is completely finished, and I just finished pinning the cuffs (last thing) on the other one. Wuwu! Next up: Lynn's sleeves.

Friendses

Sat, 21 Jan 2006 19:58:34 GMT

So Karla was kind enough to make me a friend, and through her I have found several others :). Yay!

Ok, so I finally went the full lemming.

Fri, 20 Jan 2006 22:22:38 GMT

They said myspace, tribe.net, and LJ. LJ is the last of the three simply because there are groups on myspace and tribes that I was interested in. I put off doing the LJ thing until I got really bored :).