AfricanKelli

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I’ve been rather blessed with awesome mail this week.
This came from Diane. I am pretty sure she designed this gorgeous little pouch. {Go take a look. I cannot get the photo to load and it is worthy of a peek!} Such great artistry! And the colors are some of my favorites.

Speaking of, how awesome is this pouch? A gift from Joanna. She included a few fab tags and earrings too!

Muchas gracias amigas!

I haven’t been sewing much this week. My tri training is eating up just about every ounce of my free time and energy. I did manage to finish this scrap bag however. It is a market bag to be used in lieu of those horrible plastic grocery sacks. It is similar to this one I made a year ago, although I’ve chosen not to felt this time around.

I thought the handles were clever. I simply slipped grosgrain ribbon between a couple stitches and sewed them. Voila — a project completed entirely with what I already owned.

I have a good feeling the recipient will appreciate it!

This weekend: long swim, long run, long bike ride, lots of eating, lots of sleeping. And did I mention the eating?

~K

I’m not vegan. But the yummy spring rolls I made last night are.

I got the recipe here and doctored it up a bit to include some other veggies I had in the fridge.

Getting the hang of using rice paper is a bit tricky, but gratifying. I enjoyed wrapping these and thinking of all the other foods that could be included: sprouts, salmon, shrimp, grilled pineapple, etc. I made a spicy dip too. Thank God for Lee Lee’s. I swear that store is the rare cultural gem in Phoenix.

And in the not-so-vegan arena — I baked. These gingersnaps are simply fantastic! (My favorite cookie by far) The recipe is from my friend Jess.

Big Soft Ginger Cookies
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp ground ginger (I used fresh grated ginger. It’s spicier.)
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup margarine, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 egg (not so vegan)
1 tbsp water
1/4 cup molasses
2 tbsp white sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350f
Sift together flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream margarine and 1 cup of sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, then stir in water and molasses. Gradually add in sifted ingredients. Shape into walnut-sized balls and roll into remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar.
Place these two inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet and flatten slightly.
Bake 8-10 minutes. Cool for five minutes. Inhale.

~K

Did you know I studied broadcast journalism because I wanted to be the Spanish announcer for the Phoenix Suns? Yeah. That didn’t really work out. Regardless, I’m still a Suns fan, although one with fair weather tendencies. Truly I don’t pay a lot of attention to professional sports these days. But you’d have to have your head in the sand in Phoenix to not be wildly in love with the Suns this year.
Plus Steve Nash looks much cuter with short hair, not that he asked me.

My brother Cody is a huge Suns fan. (Seriously? Look at the lame orange bracelet. This is a boy who is rather metro and yet he wears an orange Suns plastic bracelet.) We went to a game together a few years ago and I bought him one of those giant orange foam Phoenix Suns Gorilla fingers — which is now hanging in his bedroom in Denver. Oy, he loves the Suns.

So much so that this is his dog, Amare. Cody and one of his college roommates adopted Amare from the Tucson pound 4 years ago. When Cody came home for Thanksgiving, we drove to Tucson in part so he could see his pooch — who still lives with the former roommate.

This dog went ape-shit when he saw Cody. Or gorilla-shit, one might say in this case. Regardless, go Suns!

~K

Martha Stewart February 2007 issue? One out of five bananas, absoloodle. While she’s got a great shortbread recipe and a few cute valentine ideas, there is only one thing spectacular in this issue and it is this crafting table.

Yeow! Awesome. I’d love to have a space like this one day.

Real Simple February 2007 issue — three out of five bananas, absoloodle. I liked their jeans review and their feature of couples offering their marriage advice.

Otherwise, I didn’t fall over backward for this one either. (Maybe I’m too harsh a critic.) I did cut out a bunch of new vegetarian recipes that look pretty good.

I did enjoy both the November/December and January issues of Country Living. I even pulled out a few ideas for my domestic bliss folder. This magazine makes me dream of restoring an old home in Tempe — in a county island — where I can have a huge front and back yard and a teeny tiny chicken coop with a few birds, a couple huge dogs and a giant vegetable garden.

And these on my kitchen windowsill.

In the meantime, back to my bookshelf…

~K

I swam with my new team this morning and it is going to be worth every penny. While I loved my YMCA team, it hasn’t been the same since my parents moved to Texas more than a year ago. Swimming used to be something my dad and I would do together a couple mornings a week. Since they moved, the team has fallen apart, the coach quit and I’ve been swimming by myself most mornings, plodding along and cursing Texas. (I kid.)
In contrast, the new pool and facilities are superior. There were 40+ people in the water and two coaches. Motivation and energy were splashing into the gutters with each flip turn. Swimmers were overly friendly and complimented my workout after I pulled my exhausted heap out of the pool. I haven’t felt this excited about swimming in many years. The workout was brutal and I should be back to my high school swimming shape in no time. Sweet.

*~*

In other news, how cute is this hat? Mini has inspired me to learn how to cable. I watched a video yesterday on the technique and I think I get it. She’s going to help too. I’m adding this to a few other knitting projects I’ve got up my sleeve. (Never mind the hat is on clearance for $6 and the yarn I just ordered cost quite a bit more.)

*~*

Tonight I’m playing Ultimate. Woo hoo! Spring season registration is open for anyone interested. Even if you are clumsy, not so fast and don’t know the first thing about frisbee (ahem), it’s a great group of people who love to run around and drink a good bit of beer — sometimes during the game, which only adds to the entertainment. I’ve found they enjoy the occasional baked good as well.

Cheers,
Kelli