Hoisin Ribs Recipe

Ohmygoodness, it's been a whole week since I've blogged! I'm so sorry you had to wait for an new post [although if you did have to wait that makes me feel fuzzy, because it means you like reading my blog!] Anyway, not much going on around here in the way of crafting. It has been getting a little cooler weatherwise, though, which is divine because although I like the sun (you kinda have to if you live in Hawai`i!) my ultimate favorite weather is overcast, rainy and cool weather. One of my dreams is to someday visit Ireland and run around on those green hills they have... in the misty rain of course!


Since it's turning a bit cooler, I made some saimin/ ramen (if you're ever in Hawai`i and you order saimin, you'll get ramen; but the fresh kine, not the freeze dried package you can buy for like $0.10). On top I put fresh green onions, fishcake and some really delicious hoisin pork I made... it's really good, and I thought I'd share the recipe with you guys! If you like char siu pork, you'll like this! If you don't eat pork, it'd probably be just as good with chicken!

Hoisin Ribs:
boneless pork (I used "boneless country ribs"... whatever that cut of meat is; also this recipe makes a lot of sauce so you can make a lot or a little meat!)
1 jar of hoisin sauce (8 oz; I dunno a good substitute... go to your Asian grocery!)
1/2 cup of ketchup
2 teaspoons of minced garlic (or more!)
1/2 cup of honey
* I also put in 1/2 a jar of plum sauce (8/2= 4 oz), but I recently tried it with cranberry sauce and it came out lovely! *

Preheat oven to 375°F ( I actually use 400°F, but my oven runs cold). Put all ingredients into a gallon size ziploc bag, and marinate in the fridge for at least 1 hour. Place pork into a foil lined baking pan, reserve the ziploc of sauce. Bake pork. After 30 minutes turn pieces and drain any liquid. Bake for another 30 minutes or until fully cooked (they should still be moist though... not dried out). Place cooked pieces back into the ziploc (it may help to do this over a sink) and shake in order to coat pieces with sauce entirely. Place back into the pan, and broil for approximately 10 minutes, or until sauce caramelizes on pork.

takochu and forest friends spoonflower designs

BORED!!! I am bored. Of thesis. Tonight for dinner I made Garlic chicken, cucumber kim-chee and sweet potato salad... it was random but delicious (and a little bit stinky), which is the reason there are no pictures of said feast.


Continuing with the randomness, here are some fabric designs which I made a while back but have just now made available for viewing in my spoonflower gallery (sorry, not for sale yet!) I thought I should add some designs there since I have lots of new spoonflower connections (yay!). I was going to enter the one with the acorns into spoonflower's "forest animals" contest, but I think I am too lazy, heh heh. The takochu one is a bit different because it's a tiny bigger than the fabric I normally design; I usually like to keep it on a smaller scale so I can make pouches, etc with it (these takochu are around 1.5" or ~3.8 cm.) In the future there will be a rainbow takochu fabric. Also, once I have a bit more time I'll make some fabrics that aren't just repeat/tiles lined up... ones that blend together (does that make sense?) Anyway, I hope you guys are having a great week!

Amigurumi acorn pattern

Here's my present to you guys... a free amigurumi pattern for a kawaii acorn! Even though Fall is winding down, acorns are good all year round! I imagine you guys could make a whole mess of these, and they'd be super cute as decorations or favors, keychains, charms etc! I'd love to see finished amigurumi (from this pattern or others)... please consider posting your lovelies to the berrysprite amigurumi flickr group; you can also become a member; we'd love to have you!

Feel free to make these for your friends and family, but if you are going to sell them I'd really appreciate a shout out that credits me for the design (and maybe even link to my blog!) Also please don't distribute the pattern. Thanks in advance guys!

Abbreviation Guide:
R#= Row Number
sc= single crochet stitch
slip/st= slip stitch
dec= decrease
ch=chain
st= stitch
♥---♥= set of stitches to repeat while crocheting in the round
dc= double crochet stitch

Nut:
To begin: Use a magic ring with 6 stitches to start. (Alternately you could Ch 2, sc 6 in the second st from the hook; join ends with a slip/st in the first sc (6 st)
R1: ♥2 sc in each stitch around♥, Repeat 6 times (12 st)
R2: ♥1 sc , then 2 sc in next st♥, Repeat 6 times (18 st)
R3-R7: sc all the way around (18 st)
R8: ♥dec 1, 1 sc♥, repeat 6 times (12 st)
R9: ♥dec 1♥, repeat 6 times (6 st)

Cap:
To begin: Use a magic ring with 6 stitches to start. (Alternately you could Ch 2, sc 6 in the second st from the hook; join ends with a slip/st in the first sc (6 st)
R1: ♥2 sc in each stitch around♥, Repeat 6 times (12 st)
R2: ♥1 sc , then 2 sc in next st♥, Repeat 6 times (18 st)
R3-R6: sc all the way around (18 st)

Stem:
To make the stem, stick your crochet needle through the top of your cap and pull a piece of yarn from the inside out. Ch 4, then use a yarn needle to weave the tail back through the chain and back into the amigurumi cap.

Instructions:
Stuff the nut with polyfil. Use a tapestry/ yarn needle to close the stuffed nut. Sew the cap to the nut. Add a face to your new acorn!

Work as usual...

After a long radio silence, I'm back for a bit... just a short update for now! I've been busy as usual, working on my thesis, working on a job application (for a real, grown up job!), working through a custom order (even though my custom orders are closed) that is taking surprisingly long... the good thing is I'm making more of everything that people have ordered, so new items will eventually trickle into my shop. These chicken poms are a good example!

Modes4u Giveaway winner!

Sorry it's such a late post tonight guys, although it's still technically October 6 in Hawai`i, I'm sure it's October 7th in many other parts of the world... so you must have been waiting for this announcement! I apologize for making you wait :D Anyhoo, All good things must come to an end... luckily the Modes4u Giveaway ends with a winner, who will be getting all of this loot!
And the winner is...... Su Hyun! Su Hyun's favorite item sold in the Modes4u shop was the "cute hoodie with ears kawaii bear" in brown, a lovely and most popular choice (since it seems to be sold out right now). Don't worry about the hoodie, Su Hyun, because you have a bundle of Modes4u loot coming your way! PS, please email me your address and info to collect your prize (berrysprite@yahoo.com)!


Just a quick thank-you to everyone who participated in the giveaway... it was a lot of fun n'est pas? Don't worry if you didn't win, I have a little surprise in store for ALL of you guys, so stay tuned!

October Calendar

October's free calendar is now available for download... just go to my flickr or photobucket and click "all sizes" to get the original large size. From there, just save to your desktop and set it as your background :D

I'm really in love with this one guys, especially Oscar's Television costume and the little ghost... Scout is a little hula girl of course! It actually didn't take me too long to get it done; I was able to finish it in about 4 hours spread over 2 nights. I stayed pretty close to my original concept too, which was going to be a spooky house with Scout and Oscar trick-or-treating outside. Here's the story:

While trick or treating Scout and Oscar found a haunted house. Although Scout was a little scared, she told Oscar he could give the ghost some candy... which made the ghost so happy he forgot to shout "boo!" Halloween isn't really that spooky!