easter weekend in yorkshire

we had a lovely extended weekend in yorkshire with s's family.


the second batch of mer-in-gyoos came out nearly perfect in terms of color and texture (still a bit chewy) and i continued the pastel theme by wrapping them in blue and white tissue paper tied with pink ribbon bows.






country lane



toy story 3: woody and buzz lightyear go to ossett?



the very picturesque town of knaresborough












and the best part? all those chocolate eggs that are still waiting to be eaten!

meringues

perhaps this blog entry is a bit premature - the meringues are still in the oven - but i'm excited by a bit of sweet pastel goodness for our easter trip to yorkshire.

i'm making meringues. s informs me that "mer-in-gyoos" is the proper pronunciation for these tiny treats. so be it.



i asked s to choose his own special shape and colo(u)r. i present the green mer-in-gyoo gingerbreadman.



hmmm. not entirely convincing, is it? hopefully the fully baked version will be less...pointy. stay tuned.

***later***

oh dear, slightly disappointing result. where did the color go?



and the gingerbreadman. oh no... at least he came off all in one piece!

something fishy

poor cornelius is still suffering from his goldfish buoyancy problem. about once a week when the water needs to be changed, he starts to float. this week he managed to flip completely upside down.



as usual, bob is totally unfazed.




some people who don't know me better might question my decision to change the water before eating sushi for lunch. you might say i was heartless, cruel, inhumane. but i assure you, that is simply not the case. cornelius will resume his upright position soon, and in the meantime i get to tuck into some nice spicy tuna and salmon. at worst, it's just bad timing, if not brilliant judgement, on my part.

see? not even remotely connected to the goldfish.


* i am sooo going to hear about this from my vegetarian father-in-law and sister-in-law at easter!

ready for the weekend

i try not to bring work home with me, but apparently i was in such a rush to leave the office on friday afternoon that i forgot to take off my neon yellow safety vest before clocking out.

d'oh.

it happens to everyone at some point or another. at least i came straight home with my vest underneath my raincoat, revealing my forgetful indiscretion to exactly no one (until now). the boss' wife once famously wore her vest over to a friend's house, and spent several hours sipping tea and chatting before she noticed that she still had hers on. when she asked her friend why she hadn't said anything, the friend replied that she thought it was part of her outfit. ouch!

anyhow, i suppose i really needed the break this weekend. i have been quite busy at work the past few weeks. i attempted to fix the wasabi jumper last weekend but ultimately knitted a few rows, realized i had made another mistake, ripped back, tried again, made the same mistake again, and ripped it back again. i will try again later when my head is a bit clearer.

for now, i'm enjoying the sun streaming through the windows and music playing on s's ipod. ah, domestic life...!

have a good weekend. i'll post again soon.

xo, b

brandarling.com

i'm a dotcom!

did you notice that my URL changed? don't worry - brandarling is still hosted on blogger, so your bcuk.blogspot.com bookmark will continue to work. but you can now google me! (kinda. my full name is still virtually unknown on the www and i'm perfectly happy with that.)

and when i get around to it, i'll change the brandarling header, too.

stay tuned!

wasabi jumper conundrum

oh dear. i was afraid of this. do you see that ridge where i moved from knitting the body in the round, to separating the front and back and knitting each part straight?

here's my dilemma: i doubt if it can be fixed or avoided in the first place. so do i continue and resign myself to the fact that there will be a distinct line across my bodice and back, or do i rip it back and start over (how?)

and i believe that the sleeves are done the same way: start in the round and then finish straight. how weird will that look???

or am i the only person who will ever notice it - besides all those other eagle-eyed handknitters out there?

i really love this jumper so far and want to see it through to the end, so i can wear it with pride and tell people, "yes, i made it myself. isn't it lovely?" but will i always have that twinge of disappointment that it was going so well until i hit that critical point?

any and all advice welcome! please!

monterey bay aquarium

i know it's petty, but i'm jealous. s got a comment on his blog from the PR manager at the monterey bay aquarium, and i want one, too. or at least a kind comment from you, dear reader. (see, this is why i don't have stats enabled on my blog. i don't want to know who reads - or doesn't read - my blog. it's healthier that way. hmph.)


the monterey bay aquarium really is one of my favorite places in california, and i'm not just saying that. i always thought that if i were more scientifically inclined, i would love to be a marine biologist. as it is, i have my advanced open water SCUBA diving certificate, which is the next best thing. i once went on an ill-fated diving trip in monterey with my best friend's brother - our goal being to swim among the otters. unfortunately, forces conspired against me and i couldn't sink, so i ended up bobbing along the top of a kelp bed until we gave up and went home. if you can't swim with the otters, the aquarium is a great alternative for viewing them without getting wet.


anyhow, as ken peterson noted on s's blog, it is not easy to photograph the sealife at the aquarium, but i think i managed to get a few decent shots. (so did s, for that matter. much better jellyfish in general.)



upside-down jellyfish, with one right-side-up in the foreground















a penguin pic for m. i know she'll leave a nice comment, even if you can see reflections in the window!



an unusual photo op of the octopus on the move


stepping outside the aquarium for a moment, we came upon another rare sight. before we went to the aquarium, i had read about the new baby otters and was a bit disappointed that our visit was just a few weeks too early to see them. imagine, then, our excitement at seeing a real live baby otter feeding with its mom!


what you can't hear in these photos was the "meep meep!" noises they made to stay in contact with each other. too cute!












a seagull got in on the feeding action















extreme close-up! thanks to s for helping me photoshop them

















if you can't get to the aquarium, check out youtube. not quite as good as the real thing, but some of the videos are surprisingly well done!

birthday bonanza

s and i took a quick trip to california and managed to pack a lot into a few days. go check out s's blog for the pretty landscape and animal pix, and then come back here. he also has better commentary. i'm using jet lag as an excuse to post some people pix instead. enjoy!



valentine's holdover






there is a story behind s's "mmmm, pi" t-shirt, but i'll save that for a different blog






family photo in point lobos, another in a long series of family photos taken there, but the first with d & s

one hot american

it's a far cry from last year when s made italian steak and tiramisu for valentine's day. this is the ready-made quick-o, cheap-o version that i picked up on my way home from work. i'm a domestic diva and romance queen all wrapped up in one, n'est pas?

vertigo

last night we watched alfred hitchcock's classic film, vertigo, in preparation for our california trip next week. i hadn't seen it in a while and had forgotten how much of the film is driven by the soundtrack, scenery, colors, (over)acting, and film angles. the dialogue is almost secondary. the film still packs a psychological punch, and i found it hard to summarize it for a colleague at work today without giving away the twist ending.

as for the scenery, i enjoyed seeing how much san francisco has changed...and how much is still the same.



we're looking forward to spending a weekend in monterey/carmel, where we'll add another california mission to our list of places visited. also planning a trip to the monterey bay aquarium to say hello to the otters.

february

for many people, february is the longest month. it's dreary and cold and seemingly endless.

february has always been my favorite month. it's lively and lovely and, yes, seemingly endless.

in the san francisco bay area where i grew up, february is when the flowers start blooming - it's hard to call it "spring" because there's usually not much of a "winter." seasons have very little meaning in the bay area, if you ask me.

it's also the month of birthdays. my mom. my best friend's mom. me. my sister.

extend back to the end of january and there's my best friend's dad.

fast forward into march and there's my sister's husband and my best friend. there's also my husband's sister. that's a lot of aquarians and pisceans.

of course, there's also valentine's day, or as i like to call it, schmalentine's. schmalentine's is definitely better when there's someone special to share it with, but i have always preferred to think of it more as a prelude to my birthday - surely a more worthwhile occasion.

so, to celebrate february, s and i are going to california for a quick trip to see my family next week. i can't wait! more pix soon...

snow!

the wasabi jumper

this is my new project which i have renamed the wasabi jumper. * **



i realize these are crummy photos, but i assure you that the finished garment will be gorgeous. how could it not be when it's made of kidsilk haze and scottish tweed?!



i am knitting in the round, which means that i committed myself to an entire sweater in stockinette - but worse yet, i don't even get to purl every other row! on the plus side, however, it is super easy to pick up and put down again since i am still at the stage where i don't have to think beyond, "K [K] K until body measures 14 inches from turning ridge." i still have a good 10 inches or so before my brain needs to start working in conjunction with my fingers.


* wasabi: japanese horseradish, often colored bright green. it forms a significant part of my work, believe it or not. since i am knitting the bulk of this jumper during my lunch breaks, wasabi seemed appropriate in more ways than one.

** jumper: britishism for sweater. i'm planning an entire blog soon about the differences in names for clothing items in the US/UK. stay tuned!

auld lang syne

somehow it seems an appropriate beginning to the new year to have spent the last two days with long-lost friends.

ok, i exaggerate slightly for effect, but it has been a while since we were all together.


c, on the left, moved to beijing in october 2005 after we finished our master's degrees. k, on the right, put off her new year's painting plans to come join us for a drink and mini-SOAS reunion.



m is in london visiting from san francisco, where we used to work together. those in the know will be eating at blue mirror this summer.


it was great to catch up with my amigas. we keep in touch with email and skype, but it's still best to see each other in person.


in case you're wondering, i haven't really made any new year's resolutions, but i have a few personal and professional goals, including getting a UK driver's licence. stay tuned for more in 2007!