on friday, went with my only male best friend, albert for a brief visit to santana row. he wanted to purchase something from the container store. we walked to the store and i noticed the cocola patisserie. if it's a patisserie, i always have to try the resident macaron. noted that the said macaron are $2.00 each. albert offered to pay for 3. they were either chocolate or mocha flavoring.

tried it after shopping at container store...they were fresh; the outside was pleasantly crunchy...the inside too sweet for my taste. the cream was smooth in the middle of the macaron, but not really remarkable.

just when you find something cool....they get rid of it. :P just like this product.

what is print gocco?

in the 1970's noboru hayama, a printer and the japanese inventor of the "print gocco" system, wished to develop a quick and easy household color printing system. cleverly combining the basic priciples of screenprinting and rubber-stamping, "print gocco" is a clean, easy, and fully self-contained compact system that exposes and prints all in one unit. using flash bulbs similar to those found in old cameras, an original image is thermally imprinted on a master screen. next, colorful prints are made by pressing the ink-applied master screen against a sheet of paper placed on a sponge pad.

- from save gocco site.

basically, your own screen printing machine. boooooo to discontinue it. save it please.

noted from mariko @ supereggplant

the cutest little set of star pans:

silicone star pans from the baker's catalogue.

japanese craft link:

hamanaka

going to make a turkey pot pie tonight. my husband's turkey is having its last hurrah lol.

will post the recipe here.

spun mag - toronto, ontario, canada based online stitch–and–bitch lifestyle magazine.

canadian butter tart, anyone? looks yummy. refered to in yarn harlot.

joy of baking - butter tarts

boutell - butter tarts

michele's blog - butter tarts

my google search:

googlize butter tart

another canadian yummy!

googlize poutine

notmartha (megan) has some interesting things on her blog. check it out. these are some links via her blog.

mini pies
savory tarlets @ plate tectonics
davidlebovitz.com -pastry chef!! reading this blog made me want to have some...parisian hot chocolate! here is david's recipe for parisian hot chocolate!

of course, i'm a chocophile...are you??

chocophile.com- living the chocolate life
pierre herme - all i can say is "yum".

cute things:

the carrotbox - a blog about rings!

littlemissbee - cute things store

shinyshiny - a blog about girl's gadgets

popgadget - another tech blog for women

coquette - digital style blog

techiediva

strap-ya - japanese cell phone straps!

DIY:

makezine - how to make your own cellphone strap

pinn-stitch -cross-stitch a key chain!! *idea!!*


japanese beads:

suzuranart

japanese blog

http://mutant-myu.blogzine.jp/

martha stewart's tarte tatin with a pate brisee crust. yum.

ice cream sodas and egg creams?

egg cream

ice cream sodas

i wish we had a really great soda fountain around here in san jose, ca.

from chocolate & zucchini-

chocolate caramel shortbread @:

the daily bread

a recipe to try?
chocolate-topped caramel shortbread

japanese food recipes:

tokyo food page

today i had a followup ultrasound for my placenta previa. good news!!

i don't have placenta previa and i'm having a little girl! :P

ROUNDED corners in css

http://www.neuroticweb.com/recursos/css-rounded-box/index.php?color=FFF8C4&fondo=FFFFFF

my below belly pregnancy pants keep falling down...i need a bellaband!!

nice lion cashmere. i want it.

knitpicks.com is a place i want to buy from.

webfriendly

tigercolor's color lab, using the color wheel theory.

umm...crochet me magazine. heeehee.

ramen, the real stuff - not top ramen, cup o' noodles...

worldramen.net is a database for authentic japanese ramen.

got a susan bates pom-pon maker from walgreens :P last night.

i would like to get a clover yarn guide. they have such pretty knitting needles too!


a listmania! for novice knitters:
Novice Knitter's Necessities


spinblessing.comis a nice looking site.


blog-eriffic :P

buzzville
afraid of small animals

way too cute to be scary!
check out the mummy at cuddly rigor mortis!

projects and progress bars

yarn tomato progress bars

it's getting cold for little hands and fingers!!

toddler mitten patterns:

toddler mitten pattern in sport weight yarn

lionbrand yarn's family of mittens

Heart in a Heart Mittens

LOVIKKA HAT & MITTENS PATTERN

My Granddaughter's Mittens from woolworks.org

mittens 101 @ knitty

i think i will print out this pattern and use it:

Bev's Hat and Mittens for Conrad
Knitting at KNoon Designs - Kathy's Mittens

something to look at:


knitting pattern central
p2designs.com's patterns on .pdf format - make sure you have adobe reader handy.
spiderman's mary jane watson's pithy hat
Urban Necessity-magknits
the diet diary's glove pattern generator

my google search, so you don't have to:

free knit toddler mitten patterns

knit glove patterns

love japanese craftbooks??

here is a blog that might interest you!

crafting japanese

foody websites!!

woohoo!

miggy's island kettle korn - onolicious popcorn company run by family!! :P

cupcake bakeshop by chockylit - a great baking website, check out her extensive experiment with red velvet cupcakes!!

sooo, things are doing okay i guess...been too tired of late to do stuff on the computer.

in my family life, i have a brand new nephew who is a cute little button born on 09.14.2005. welcome to the world, little one.

as far as my health goes, the new baby is okay...but there is a very good chance that i will be having a c-section. in eight weeks, i am going to have another ultrasound scheduled to see if the placenta moved up from the cervix.

good news though, ian is a healthy 21.4 lbs big boy now who can kinda walk. heh.

what have i been cooking? champorado. it's a breakfast treat made from sweet, sticky rice and chocolate that i remember from my childhood. i have still yet to recreate how my mom makes champorado but i have had about 3 attempts at making it. the first two tries were still a little starchy, but one turned out pretty close to how i remember champorado tasting. it requires a ton of constant stirring and patience. :P

here are some places i got the recipes from:

kusina ni manang: champorado
the westernized kusina-champorado recipes

knitting? been really slow about it.

but here is a pattern i saw on pinku:

pocketbook slippers

i think i would like to make that. :)

i have a guitar i got for a gift from my parents, which i don't know how to play. but thankfully maybe i can learn online? LOL i hope i can. hahaha.

online guitar lessons

so far i have been just floating around the web and going to the OB. everything is okay so far, but there is a certainty that i will be having a c-section when the newest little one is born. blah.

sorry about not posting as much...it's been really hot during the day, my husband has been been burning dvds at night...i haven't done much knitting lately. but i did go to borders to use a gift card a good friend gave me for my birthday. i bought a knitting book, debbie bliss' baby knits for beginners and two baby books for my son.

on a more personal note, i have been pregnant for about 4 months now with our second little one. and i have been resting somewhat, because my ob looked over my ultrasound and told me my placenta is complete placenta previa. placenta previa is where the placenta implants itself at the bottom of the uterus either partially or completely over the mouth of the opening of the cervix. here is a link to webmd about it:

placenta previa

hello all.

it's been a while since i posted. it's been very hot here in san jose, california...that the computer has been my enemy for most of the entire summer. i have been lurking on lj just reading and looking at stuff. haven't been knitting much since my little boy has been getting into things, such as my needles. so all in all, i haven't made much progress doing anything at all.

once sorry for the dead blog. i will try to upkeep more often.

haven't updated the blog in a while, been free floating in lj land.

let's face it...

AOL sucks...AIM sucks even more. when i left the AOL camp oh say about a year almost by next month, i wanted to keep my screen name...of course being the smart bunny that i am, i changed my old aolmail to my current email through the aim system. i promptly responded to the confirmation letter that the system sent me.

or so i thought. :(

so just the past few days, i have felt the urge to try some aim-ness...only to find out i had forgotten my aim password. so i do the password retrieval thing and waited for the email to show up. nothing. nada. zip. i try it quite a few times. no email. i have a feeling that the email change didn't happen. now, i can't access my acct. boooooo. i've had that screen name for years.

i'm so tempted just to sign on to aol and get my damned screen name again. >:( that is if i can). nah, i would have to pay for it again.

when they let my screen name go soon in a screen name dump, bleah...then i'll get it. until then, blah. :P

grrr...

my medical insurance, actually my husband's company one sucks....empire blue cross/blue shield of new york.
since we got the insurance, i've had to call 90% of the time to make sure all my claims are taken care of properly. sometimes (never mind, it's a lot of the time, ARGHHH!), there are huge discrepancies in the claims, which i have to correct and clarify.

the reason this time is that my son was taking about 6 months of synagis injections for RSV and it was approved by the medical management team about october 26, 2004. i have even the form letter stating the fact. then, three months later i receive one of those claim report things that they send every instance a service is charged to the insurance...this time it's for a synagis shot my son received in march....now the insurance company penalized us about 1000.00 more or less for not informing medical management about his synagis shot. i had to call and repeal this claim (among others that i had to fix on the phone EST), telling them that his synagis was approved months ago and that i had a letter stating that it was medically necessary. the member rep had to repeal the claim with the confirmation number of the approval letter to get rid of the penalty.

although i am happy i don't have to pay for the damn thing, i dread the next appointment. calling practically every time to get stuff done right is truly annoying. ...it sucks major ass!!

BLUE You give your love and friendship unconditionally. You enjoy long, thoughtful conversations rich in philosophy and spirituality. You are very loyal and intuitive. Find out your color at Quiz Me!

bleah...do you ever just want to lie on the floor and mutter loudly, "BLAH..."? Yeah, that's how i'm feeling right now. i'm awake at 3:30 am pst and did absolutely nothing constructive, other than online domain host shopping. i've decided to stick with my current web host, but have to pay to renew my domain soon. 14.95 to renew at dreamhost.com and stick with addr.com, who btw has the best storage space of 3000 mb and the pretty decent amount of 60 gb for traffic aka bandwidth for just 9.95 a month. of course, this means that i need to get my ass to making a new layout for spatula-girl.net. :P soo lazy though, so very blahhh.

as far as my creativity goes these past two months, i've only drawn a pencil portrait of my sweet little boy, knitted a scarf, baked a chocolate cheesecake and some banana bread. other than that, where's the motivation? LOL seriously, am i lazy. and i look at this entry and wonder "where the hell has my grammar gone?"

What's Your One Piece Doujinshi Personality?
brought to you by Quizilla

made beef stew and a chocolate cheesecake today!

used this cheesecake recipe from eaglebrand.com

http://www.eaglebrand.com/detail.asp?rid=1296

have you tried the knitpro web app at microrevolt.org? it's great. it makes .pdf files for knit, crochet, needlepoint and cross-stitch patterns. however, microrevolt's main agenda is to protest against companies who use sweatshops. check it out.

happy mother's day!!

today

buca di beppo, mom's b-day/mother's day celebration!


at his grandpa's house in daly city,ian learned how to semi-crawl, sit up a long time, and eats his first cookie!

hahaha, if i ever write a mary sue story again. my character would be this one.


You are Mulier badasstica pseudofeminista,
the Grrl Sue. Your aggressively bitchy
"feminist" stance only causes men /
boys / male elves to posture the more, and you
fall for it. And them. Surprise, surprise.


What Species of Mary Sue Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

You scored as Iruka. You’re Iruka, the Ninja Academy teacher. You, my friend, are one of the kindest people there is. Sure, you can lose you temper from time to time – who wouldn’t, teaching those kids – but you have a heart of gold. You work hard and are always there when someone needs you, but you tend to worry a bit too much about those you love. Iruka 56% Rock Lee 50% TenTen 50% Genma 44% Shikamaru 44% Kakashi 44% Naruto 38% Hinata 25% Neji 25% Sasuke 13% Which Naruto ninja are you most like? created with QuizFarm.com

been sick in the last couple of weeks...i've been posting mostly on my lj. i've been writing fanfics of the b/a kind.

lil_fatty@ljhas some kick ass BtVS art. you might have seen it somewhere on the web, i.e.nautibitz.com. check out his gallery on his lj. :)

I'm A Popular Cadbury's Flake!

Take the 'What Cadbury's Chocolate Are You?' Test
By Little Miss Alien.

love this candy from cadbury.co.uk, but their cream egg...it's too much. thank goodness it only comes out at easter.

i joined my first B/A lj ficathon lead by gia of everysixseconds.com! the writer of a convenient marriage. one of my fave b/a stories!  !! here is the link: http://www.livejournal.com/community/chosenfics/49138.html. it's called the May FanFic Rec Ficathon! :D

 

yoinked from ba4ever aka karla from i believe

Ki-lin You scored 50% Esotericism, 30% Power, and 24% Malevolence!

A mythical being of Chinese mythology, comparable with the Western unicorn. Ki-lin personifies all that is good, pure, and peaceful. It lives in paradise and only visits the world at the birth of a wise philosopher. The unicorn, which can become one thousand years old, is portrayed as a deer with one horn, the tail of an ox, the hooves of a horse, and a body covered with the scales of a fish. It is one of the four Ling.

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 44% on Esotericism You scored higher than 19% on Power You scored higher than 30% on Malevolence

Link: The Mythological Profile Test written by LacedWithASmile on OkCupid Free Online Dating

ugh

my baby's been going through separation anxiety and won't let me put him down. so being on the computer is getting harder to do during the day. not to mention, he came down with a cold and cough. i've been bogged down with boogie tissues and lots of sick baby cuddling.

and, not to mention i think i've gotten his cold.

no more synagis for the booboo! yay!

You are Season One Buffy-you're perky, quippy, and
you just want to be normal. You still have to
figure out that there's no such thing as
normal, and find out who you really are. That's
not so bad, right?


Which Buffy Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

i'm going crazy. LOL


http://chocolateandzucchini.com/
http://www.ljcfyi.com/
http://www.sunshineal.com/sweet_and_savory/
http://www.kerner.net/archives/000105.html
http://www.sushiesque.com/adorablog/
http://ilforno.typepad.com/
http://www.justhungry.com/

of the asian persuasion:

http://www.9flights.com/
http://croque-choux.typepad.com/croquechoux/things_japanese/
http://stores.ebay.com/BuyJpop_W0QQssPageNameZl2QQtZkm
http://www.takeshi-kaneshiro.com/
http://home.iprimus.com.au/pcdyer/pammymela/home.htm
http://joi.ito.com/
http://moki.blog-city.com/
http://www.shift.jp.org/
http://wabisabi.blogs.com/wabi_sabi_threads/japanese/
http://www.hengraphix.com/yokodoll.html
http://www.kateigaho.com/int/main.cfm
http://www.hellokitty.ne.jp/
http://kittyex.com/index.html
http://www.pinksparkles.it/hellokitty/
http://www.sanrio.co.jp/welcome.html
http://diary.hellokitty.ne.jp/
http://kittyex.com/index.html

cooking/food:

http://cookingwithamy.blogspot.com/
http://www.kqed.org/weblog/food/2005/02/in-search-of-hot-chocolate.jsp

knitting/craft links:

http://www.loopyarn.com/StoreFront.bok
http://creativesoul.typepad.com/
http://www.pluckyfluff.com/
http://scifiville.typepad.com/space_craft/
http://www.azcentral.com/home/crafty/articles/0626craftyideas26.html
http://tania.blogs.com/tania/
http://www.thewoolpalace.typepad.com/
http://www.yarnhead.com/yarnheadblog/
http://www.soapcrafters.com/index.html
http://www.upliftingarts.com/create.htm
http://onmymind.blogdrive.com/
http://www.livejournal.com/users/mypapercrane/
http://www.yarncat.com/newsboy_cappatt.html
http://www.midnightskyfibers.com/index.html
http://www.moonarts.com/blog/midnightknitter.html
http://home.iprimus.com.au/pcdyer/pammymela/home.htm
http://www.strayalleycat.com/blog/index.php/weblog/2003/06/
http://www.meltandpour.com/forum/index.php
http://kraf-o-la.squarespace.com/welcome/
http://sharonstuff.typepad.com/knitknacks/2004/12/unresolutions.html
http://knitwit.blogdrive.com/
http://members.aol.com/lffunt/guycap.html
http://www.thedietdiary.com/knittingfiend/index.html
http://droppedstitches.blogspot.com/2004/11/two-movie-easy-knit-hat-pattern.html
http://www.diynet.com/diy/na_knitting/0,2024,DIY_14141,00.html
http://www.dmc-usa.com/
http://www.fmfcorp.com/familyspot/haircover.html
http://www.crochetpatterncentral.com/directory/hats.php
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art9249.asp
http://www.berroco.com/exclusives/zippy/zippy.html
http://www.kaleidesigns.com/crochet/knitting/hats_scarves.html
http://www.colinette.com/

went to babies 'r us to get toys for boo-boo, michael's for yarn! got paton's divine, a combo of mostly acrylic and mohair in halo blue - really nice and soft and lion brand wool ease in evergreen.

happy valentine's day! go out and spread the luuuuve. :P

yarg.. ^_~



japanese craft links!



http://otsukaya.co.jp/TedukuriTop.htm

http://okadaya.co.jp/hobby/

http://allabout.co.jp/entertainment/beads/subject/msub_recipe-rb.htm



i'm all loopy about using dpns and making socks.



http://www.royea.net/sockdemo1.html

oo online yarn stores with inexpensive prices!



http://www.knitpicks.com/homepage.aspx

http://www.smileysyarns.com/

i love websurfing at night since the baby sleep through most of it. :) heehee!!



http://weewonderfuls.typepad.com/



http://www.alacuisine.org/alacuisine/



http://www.wchstv.com/gmarecipes/desindex.html



reading about double knitting. doesn't look too hard *gulp*. o_o i have this cushion pattern from the rowan international members club that requires i use double knitting.

http://www.dears.net/knitlove/



oooo...i heart knit blogs!



note: it's nice to know someone's reading my blog. :) heh.



found on craftster.org, a mention of my blog! whoa. heh.

linkers: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=18745.0



i need a digicam to take pictures of my knitted stuff. :) want to start my photo gallery soon!

starbucks' chantico drinking chocolate rocks my socks. i'm addicted. can i get some more??



earlier today, dave and i went to starbucks and jamba juice. dave got a strawberries wild and me the chantico (bought one for my bro). gawd, drool. i'm in heaven. thanks to my buddy, al for telling me that it was worth getting. chocoholics anonymous, yes, i am a member. our son was in his stroller having a fun time being rolled about. he was playing with his pooh toy and talking to it. our kiddo is having convos with pooh...what a cutie! then we went to PW Market and bought groceries...wanted a banana cream pie, but they were out! BOoOOoo! bought a choco cream pie instead. they have good bakery things there. the girls working the counters compliment kiddo's cuteness. soo proud, can't take all the credit though, he is the STAR. he fell asleep during the grocery trip. then we went home. lol, we had planned an entire excursion for the entire day, but i fell asleep. lol sad...i'm sooo lazy. hah.

i've started working on a scarf knitted with berroco chinchilla...ooh fuzzy. :)

a pregnancy blog with humor:



http://www.alittlepregnant.com/alittlepregnant/



a knitting pattern that's very cute:



http://www.thekingspottery.com/pattern_bowhat.htm



support B/A forever:



http://www.xeternity.com/hope/supportsites.html

valleycafe moved their knitting tutorials:



http://www.knittinghelp.com/



more knitting stuff:



http://www.az.com/~andrade/knit/index.html



http://www.knitaddicted.com/html/



these sites also show how to do the "magic loop" method using circs!



notable knitting blogs:



http://faerycrafty.blogdrive.com/

http://sweetgeorgia.planetfishdesign.com/

http://mason204.journalspace.com/



gah...not trying to feed my rowan yarn addiction:



http://stores.ebay.com/Jannettes-Rare-Yarns

i'm immature for my age :P

You Are 22 Years Old

22 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

i still have yet to make my french macarons. in the last couple of months, my parents have been working on remodeling the kitchen in the house that i am renting from them. so, there is no oven to speak of. oh, well. -_-;;



http://forums.egullet.com/index.php?showtopic=24767

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_13329,00.html

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/105084

http://frenchfood.about.com/od/frenchcookies/?rd=1

http://www.biglove.lvhr.com/recipes/cookies/cookie04.html#27

http://www.cheftalkcafe.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12202

http://www.tantemarie.com/cocomac.html

http://frenchfood.about.com/od/frenchcookies/r/chocmacaroon.htm

oooo knitted stuff!



http://www.mlminspirations.com/patterns/index.html

boo-boo had his first taste of solid food! wow he likes it!

boo-boo had his second wellbaby exam and immunizations. he is about 14 lbs now! o_O i hate having to give him shots...makes he and i cry. :(

i have no oven but i want to make this:

http://www.bigelowtea.com/entertaining/recipes/index.cfm?recipe=16

You Are From the Sun

Of all your friends, you're the shining star. You're dramatic - loving attention and the spotlight. You're a totally entertainer and the life of the party. Watch out! The Sun can be stubborn, demanding, and flirty. Overall, you're a great leader and great friend. The very best!

What Planet Are You From?

happy new year's!!



white castle burgers rock (yes,even the frozen kind)!! ^_^ got them from walgreens!

but, they're tiny as heck. i want some more!1 :d

damn the man...harold and kumar go to white castle movie made me crave those burgers...and crap, i'm in friggin' california!