Gingher Scissors at Ross

I got this scissors from Ross yesterday for $3.99. Amazon has it for $13.41. Gingher scissors originally came from Italy. This one is labeled "Gingher Taiwan". 

I tested it out.  It has a good heft and cuts cleanly through several layers.


Here's my beloved Gingher dressmaker shears. I paid $20 for it, and I hide it in my craft room.

Too Many Supplies

Sorry for the lack of posts, but the only thing that's happening lately is my attempt at trying to down-size my art/craft supplies. 

It made me happy to find new homes for these rubber stamps.


Remember when I was into watches? I seemed to have accumulated way more than I realized. I gave away a whole bagful to a really nice older man at the swap meet who always gives me good deals.

I'm still sorting out my beading supplies. I'm not quite pau yet, but so far these are my keepers. I have plans to give away the rest to a gal at the swap meet.


After that is . . . FABRIC. 

Simple Guacamole

I mentioned to Didi that I had some avocado and wanted to make guacamole even though my guacamole always comes out lacking.  She emailed me a simple (yay!) recipe, and I tried it.

Unfortunately, green onion is key to this recipe, and I didn't have any. Still, it came out good. Thank you, Didi!

Mari's Should-Be-World-Famous Guacamole

Ingredients
Avocados
Salsa (any kind, but make sure it’s tomato-based and has some liquid)
Limes
Green onions
Cilantro
Salt
Sriracha (this has chilies, garlic, sugar, vinegar and altogether a much more rounded flavor than Tabasco or chili water)

Directions
Notice my recipe has no measurements. I use none — but do a lot of tasting and adjusting seasonings. This means you’ll be stirring guacamole frequently, so if you mash too much up front, you will end up with no avocado chunks in your guacamole.

Peel and seed avocados and throw in a bowl. If you’re using my avocados or similarly large ones, add about 1 heaping tablespoon of salsa per avocado (I mean the kind you eat soup with, NOT a measuring tablespoon). Add a few pinches of salt. Go around the bowl a couple of times with the Sriracha. Depending on the size of your limes, start by squeezing in the juice of half a juicy lime per 2 medium to large avocados.

Minimally mash, then roughly stir everything together with the biggest fork you have. Taste. Adjust levels of salsa, lime juice, salt or Sriracha. Mix and taste again. Stop as soon as you think, wow!

Note: It’s OK if you accidentally overseason a little bit here. You can make up for it by adding a lot of greens, or a little more avocado. I sometimes reserve half an avocado in case I need to mild out the flavor after seasoning.

Now, grab a bunch of cilantro, chop, and throw in. Grab some green onion — more than you think you’ll need — and chop finely, from root to tip. GREEN ONION IS THE KEY. This fresh, edgy flavor will permeate the guacamole, but people won’t recognize that. They’ll all think it’s the cilantro. Mix all in and taste again. Your tastebuds should say yummy.

Colin's Shoyu Hot Dog

Colin shared another recipe and it looks good!!  THANK YOU COLIN!!!!   💗





Ingredients:

8 beef hot dogs
1 tbs. vegetable oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tbs firmly packed brown sugar

Steps:

Slice the hot dogs into 1/4 inch slices.

In medium-sized pan add oil and heat until warm.

Add hot dogs. Cook until edges are brown.

Add soy sauce and brown sugar. Stir until dissolved.

Wait until the hot dogs look glazed in the sauce and the sauce is thickened.

Enjoy!

Wagyu Beef Thief

I went to J Shop yesterday to pick up some wagyu for Wendell for his birthday, and this photo was on  display there. Looks like the thief walked off with a whole slab of wagyu!

Liliha Bakery at Macy's

We had Summer Roll Making Day at my old working place yesterday. I went to pick up some coco puffs as my contribution.  So convenient that they're at Ala Moana Macy's 3rd floor now!



















Here's me and buddy Les with our summer rolls. They were so yummy!!

Cleta's Quinoa and Mango Salad

Pal Cleta gave me this refreshing quinoa salad yesterday. I love the different textures and the surprising hint of curry. 

The recipe can be found here at the Hawaiian Electric site. 

Thank Cleta!!!

Ingredients:

• 1 clove fresh garlic, pressed
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons low-fat yogurt
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 5 tablespoons light olive oil
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh Chinese parsley
• 3 cups cooked quinoa, drained and cooled
• 2 large half-ripe mangoes, peeled, diced into 1/2-inch squares
• 1 jalapeno chile, seeded and diced
• 1/3 cup thinly sliced chives
• 1/3 cup roasted salted almonds, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Curry vinaigrette:
In a small bowl, mix garlic and salt until smooth. Add yogurt and curry, then stir in lemon juice and oil; whisk until the mixture is thick and creamy. Let stand 15 minutes; add Chinese parsley. Adjust salt to taste. Refrigerate until ready to use.

In a large bowl, toss the quinoa, mangoes, chile, chives, and curry vinaigrette. Top with almonds. Makes 4 servings.

Time Flies

I can totally relate to these.  Thanks again for sending, Ross!

Some Old Pikchas

Just when I thought I didn't have anything to post today, Wendell's friend emails me nostalgic Hawaii photos.

Thanks Ross!

Mitsubishi Uni KH-20 Pencil Sharpener

I think I've finally found a pencil sharpener that I like. It's a hand-crank sharpener made by Mitsubishi. I bought it on Amazon for $20.47. 



It has a pull-out thing that holds your pencil in place.


Look how nice! But be careful because it doesn't have an auto-stop feature, and you could end up with a short stump if you're over-exuberant in your sharpening. Trust me. I know.


One drawback (which I actually don't think is a drawback) is that although it comes with a puka to use a clamp with, it doesn't come with a clamp. I think that it did at one time, but the reviews I read said that it was pretty useless because the sharpener would eventually work its way loose. But I really don't mind it being portable.


Another thing I should tell you . . . don't buy this Swingline sharpener. Fisher has it on sale this month, and I liked the slim design so I got it. It's an electric sharpener, but it turned out that you have to really push the pencil down hard to get a good point. Also, after sharpening a few pencils the motor would get hot. I finally decided to return it when I found that it was still warm to the touch even though I hadn't used it for a few days.

Luckily, I still had the receipt, and it had been only a week, so it was no problem to return.