Dog turns two

KoaOur Koa Bear is two years old today! Happy Birthday, Dog. As a tribute to the stinky furball that we call Koa, I put together a bunch of photos that I took of him this past year. As I am typing, the birthday dog is tugging at my sock trying to convince me to walk him. I’d better go. Enjoy!

Tendonitis anyone?

Going against Jes’ suggestion of sticking to one hobby at a time, I thought I’d put photography aside every once in a while and learn how to knit. On Saturday, I went to Costco and bought a knitting starter’s kit complete with size-8 circular needles, yarn needle, stitch markers, a handy dandy instruction booklet, and 25 pattern cards. All of it came in a neat little box that suits my style. Anyway, I was so excited about going to Tall Mouse this afternoon. Oh the possibilities! Unfortunately, since I am just a newbie, I had to purchase the standard Sport Weight yarn. I did get it in baby blue though, which seemed the most subdued amongst bright yellows and icky browns.
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When I got home, I left the bag of yarn and the kit on my bed so that I would at least try to get started tonight. I knew I had to get other things done before I sat down to cramp up my fingers and make myself cross-eyed. So, after my afternoon jog and dinner with the husband, I took a shower and jumped into bed with needles and yarn in hand. I turned on my laptop and went to the link that I had already bookmarked a couple days ago. It’s a website called knittinghelp.com that contains step-by-step instructions and videos on how to knit. Awesome…I’ll be making sweaters for everyone in no time!Anway, I got started with casting on. Easy enough…I chose Continental style instead of American style since it was the first one on the page. Not bad…I made 15 stitches and moved on. Next was the basic knit stitch. That was a little more confusing at first but once I got the hang of it, I made about 4 rows. It looked like a mess but I did it! Unfortunately, my forearm began to ache and I was getting a little bit of an eye strain from all the scowling I was doing. Now it’s about 12:59 am and I have to go to bed.
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On the next episode of “Tendonitis anyone?”, beakatude learns the purl stitch…will she do it or keep practicing her knit stitch? Stay tuned.

I think I fixed it.

I just opened beakatude on my work computer to discover that the sidebar was missing when opened in Internet Explorer. Oops! Have you guys been experiencing the same thing? Well, I tweaked the code a bit and I think works now. If you still don’t see the sidebar, refresh the page and it should show up. Let me know if you see it. You can make a comment below (click on “Comment”) or email me at beakatude@gmail.com. Thanks!

Teriyaki Salmon

salmonI tried a new recipe for teriyaki marinade today and with Jes’ baking/broiling technique, it totally rocked. Share time!
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In a small saucepan simmer the following ingredients:
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine) or medium-dry Sherry
2 1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped peeled fresh gingerroot
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Simmer and stir until sugar is dissolved and reduced to about 1/2 cup. Cool to room temperature in a metal bowl set in a larger bowl of ice and cold water.
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Wrap a salmon steak (I buy them individually wrapped and frozen from Costco) in foil with the sauce. Bake in the oven (or toaster oven) for 20 mins at 250 degrees. Then finish it on a broil (with the foil opened) for about 5 minutes to get a nice crust on the top. Plate with sliced green onion on top and drizzle remainder of teriyaki sauce on top.

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Serve with cold/warm soba (topped with furikake and sliced green onion) and dipping sauce. I add wasabi to the dipping sauce for a little extra kick.

Mellow Day

It’s officially my last few hours of Spring Break. *sigh* What to do?! I guess I can say that it was nice to have the week off. I was kinda productive, yet I’m not sure where all the time went. Fortunately I had a pretty mellow Sunday.
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In the morning I dragged the husband, brother, and dog to the river bed for a 3-mile jog. Since it rained the night before, there was plenty of flowing water in the river and a few ducks and birds to see. Once we got home, we had breakfast and watched a little TV. Then we went to the mall to buy some new livingroom furniture to replace the set that we gave to Johnny. The rest of the afternoon was spent lazying around and going to the dog park. I thought it was a pleasant way to end my Spring Break. I’m just dreading all the work I have to do tomorrow. I didn’t do a lick of work this week. I’m gonna get my butt kicked this coming week.

An Afternoon with The Brother

Last night we went to Agora Churrascaria for dinner with Dayantha, Thilan, and Ti. The sirloin and skirt steak were good. I didn’t care for any of the chicken. The meal was about $35 per person and I’m not sure I really ate my share. Afterwards we met up with Derek and Elise who were in town for the weekend. We ended up at Dave and Buster’s at the Spectrum. We had some drinks, played some games, and I came home with a million little erasers and a little stuffed penguin for Koa. Mmm…penguin.
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This morning Patti came over to help assemble Holly’s invitations. We had to get them printed at Staples and I was happy with how they turned out. I’m so relieved that it’s all done. I suppose I could have done it all myself but it was a good excuse for the two of us to chat and catch up on things. It was great hanging out with you again, Patti!! And thanks for all your help!
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Later the brother came over to do some shopping for his apartment. We first went to Costco and I got myself a knitting book/kit. I’ve had my eye on it for some time and decided to snag it this time. Jes and I almost got ourselves a Dyson but smartened up and left it for another day. When we got home, Jes went straight to bed for a nap while the brother and I continued shopping. The next stop was Target and then the grocery store. We also sat down for a couple episodes of Tom & Jerry, which were hilarious. We were laughing so loudly that Jes could hear us from upstairs while he was trying to finish his nap. We also prepared a yummy pork carnitas dinner with all the fixings. Jes was so confused when I told him to go downstairs for some carnitas because it usually takes 4 hours to prepare. Well, this was Chiembanchong-style cooking where it involves taking the pork out of the package, warming it in the oven for 15 mins, and then shredding the meat. Jes was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. Haha…the brother and sister team strike again!!The evening was topped off by a couple games of poker. The cousins came over for a second time this week and brought friends. Ken had some crazy cards in the first game and took everyone out one by one. I lost with a King-high straight! What kind of luck is that?!