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i use (probably over-use) a lot of iphone photography apps. to date i have 13 of them. my 3 favorites are instagr.am, shake it, and hipstamatic. tonight i'm super busy packing so i'm going to keep it simple with a photo post. these are my favorite, previously unpublished iphone pictures of sylvie taken or edited using these apps. however, i have shared many of them on twitter and facebook. some of them are very old. some of them were taken in the last week. enjoy!
i officially hate the month of march. 9 days ago it was 78 degrees and sunny. shorts, flip-flop, and bare baby legs weather. today?
it was below freezing and it snowed all afternoon. oh bother. at least i have sweet sylvie to keep me company.
tomorrow is our last full day in ohio. we leave friday morning for indiana. i know travis misses sylvie something awful. i can tell that sylvie misses him every bit as much. these past few days have enabled me to focus on healing and spend some quality time with my in-laws. it has been great! i do, however, miss my sweet travis like crazy. i can't wait to see him! at least we are able to watch tonight's top chef finale "together" through the magic of cell phones, twitter, and video chat.
also, i ate a krispy kreme donut today. it was awesome. sara out.
i censored it to preserve a modicum of my dignity. in all fairness, i must also disclose that this is a low-quality phone picture and the colors are super wonky.
i don't know what obscure art dude title travis gave to this piece, so here are my suggestions:
"reclining oompa loompa, nude in the midwest"
"i got no permission from the subject before submitting this for a public show"
"dear penthouse..."
also, my bastard sweet husband started a blog. CHECK IT OUT.
SO MUCH has happened since i last posted. sylvie and i are back in ohio until friday. travis was with us for the first couple of days, but left today. the BIGGEST news is that travis is now a certified sommelier! he took the test this morning and got the results this afternoon. this test is rather difficult and has only a 60% average pass rate. not only did he pass, but he received the highest score in all 3 sections of the test! i know i'm gushing a little here, but i am so over the moon proud of him. he has worked tirelessly over the last several months to prepare for today. all of that on top of being a full-time graduate student, assistant professor, father, and husband. he is amazing. this was his stack of flash cards 2 months ago.
i don't even know how many more he has added since then. there is also an audio flash card on his ipod for every one of these. he listened to them constantly. while doing the dishes, rocking the baby, or painting. he blows me away and i am so proud of him. he's well on his way to his goal of becoming a master sommelier (of which there are less than 200 in the world) by the time he's 30. do i have an awesome guy, or what? ok. enough gushing. i'm starting to sicken even myself.
as i mentioned before, sylvie and i are back in ohio. the 4 hour car ride out was rather rough. i was in a lot of pain, and sylvie barely napped. i took a pain pill, thinking sylvie would nap around 2 hours. silly me. she woke up after 45 minutes. as a result, she got "silly mommy" for the rest of the ride. hence, the noises i'm making in this video. anything to keep her happy!
thanks to yo gabba gabba iphone videos, we all made it to ohio with our sanity intact. sylvie and i are hitching a ride back to indiana with travis' parents and brother on friday. friday night is the opening of travis' graduate thesis show. i haven't seen his paintings in quite some time (his studio isn't exactly baby friendly), so i'm really excited. my parents are flying out from pennsylvania on friday as well. it's shaping up to be a really fun weekend! everyone will leave on sunday, except for my mama. she is staying until next wednesday to help me with sylvie bear while i finish recovering. i've been missing my mama something fierce lately, so i'm really looking forward to spending some extra time with her.
the one down-side of this festive weekend? travis' show consists of 3 very large paintings. they are 6.5'x10' (yes, FEET), 6.5'x7' and 4.5'x7'. that last one? yeah, that's a nude painting of ME. that my in-laws and parents will see. AWKWARD MUCH? good thing travis is super sweet, talented, and passionate about his work or i just might smack him. i love you, babe, but next time tell me if everyone's gonna see my lady parts and whatnot. K THNX. just one of the pitfalls of being married to a painter.
well i feel like this post has been long and rambling enough. to summarize, my husband is awesome, sometimes i want to smack him, and i get all sorts of goofy on percocet. GOODNIGHT.
want proof? one of my best friends, kim, made this:
yes. it is a lego recreation of me in the hospital. AMAZING. i love you, kim!
i set this one to auto-post. i am probably deep asleep, having an organ yanked out through my bellybutton as you read this. freaky! i hope y'all have a great wednesday. keep an eye on my twitter feed for a progress report. travis has orders to tweet out an update from my account when the surgery is over. i'll post here again as soon as i'm feeling up to it. until then, enjoy these cute sylvie pictures.
a big THANK YOU to all of those who have offered well wishes and words of support. i've said it before, but i'll say it again--i have the best readers!
...is pretty much the cutest thing ever.
time to settle into bed. i have to be at the hospital by 6:30 tomorrow morning. yikes! goodnight.
spring has sprung! it was a downright balmy 77 degrees today. sylvie and i spent as much time outside as possible, soaking up the sun and the warmth. i wore a t-shirt and flip-flops. she wore bare feet and a short sleeved onesie. we sat on our deck, watched the rabbits run around in the grass, and listened to the wild turkeys gobble it up in the woods. then we went for a long, leisurely walk.
my gallbladder surgery is this wednesday, so i'm trying to enjoy the outdoors while i can. obviously, posting will likely be a bit sparse in the days following the procedure. if you want to keep up with me post-op, i suggest venturing over to my twitter account. i'll try to tweet a couple of times a day once i feel up to it. any well wishes are always appreciated. thanks for reading and HAPPY SPRING!
Dear Angela Kinsey,
(source)
You're really pretty, do a great job hawking foam hair color, and making us laugh uncomfortably every week on The Office. What you really excel at, however, is making videos for children. Your guest spot as "teacher" on Yo Gabba Gabba is currently my daughter's favorite YouTube video.
(HERE is a link to the video, as embedding on it is disabled.)
She has been sick all day with a fever, and your video is the only surefire way to get her smiling again. I have proof.
Thank you, Angela Kinsey, for being YOU.
Sincerely,
Sara
PARATHAS.
parathas are an indian flat bread. the dough is a basic 2:1 ratio, meaning 2 parts flour to 1 part water. there is also a little oil and salt thrown in for good measure. the traditional preparation is called aloo parathas, in which the flatbread is rolled out and stuffed with a spiced potato mixture. they are quite delicious this way, but are also yummy stuffed with any number of things. tonight i used an herbed goat cheese mixture (goat cheese, olive oil, salt, pepper, and dried herbs). the traditional flour to use is duram atta or golden temple flour. i usually use whole what flour because it is easier to find and i often have it on hand. i have made parathas a few times. they are an easy addition to any meal, take little time to prepare, and use very few ingredients.
BASIC PARATHA (makes 8)
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
a hefty pinch of salt
enough cool water to form the dough into an elastic ball (usually about 1 cup)
1. add the flour, oil, and salt to a large bowl and mix thoroughly with your hands. make a well in the center of the dough, and add the water little by little while stirring together with your hand. keep at it until the dough comes together into a slightly sticky ball. knead the dough until it becomes rather elastic and a bit shiny, about 1-2 minutes. shape into a ball and let rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. closer to an hour is preferable.
2. cut the ball into 8 equal parts. i find it easiest to do this by cutting it into wedges, almost like you would cut a pizza. form each section into a small ball and coat with a very light dusting of flour.
3. flour your work surface and rolling pin. flatten each ball slightly and roll out into a circle. you'll want to keep them quite thin. each circle should be approximately 5-6 in diameter. now is the time when you'll stuff them if you like. they are also very good without any sort of filling.
4. roll your filling into a ball a little over an inch in diameter. place the ball in the middle of your dough circle and flatten it slightly. the process of folding and pinching the dough over the filling is a little tricky to explain. this site has a good step by step tutorial. flip the filled dough over so the pleats are on the bottom and gently roll it back out. take care not to press to hard or the stuffing with break through the dough. you'll want these to be close to the original diameter of 5-6 inches. you should be able to see any flecks in the filling through the dough.
5. meanwhile, heat up a cast iron skillet or electric griddle (what i use) over medium high heat (about 400 degrees) and grease with a little oil. once the oil is hot, place a circle on the pan/griddle, pleat-side down, and heat until the first side starts to brown. flip and heat until the second side browns. if you've made the parathas correctly, they will start to puff up after flipped. here is a video i took while mine cooked tonight:
if they don't puff, don't sweat it! mine didn't the first couple of times i made these and they were still delicious!
6. remove from the heat and serve immediately. note: they will deflate when removed from the heat. the aloo version is nice with grilled chicken marinated in yogurt and curry. i'm sure it would be fabulous with some sag paneer as well. we served the goat cheese version with a simple side of marinara sauce for dipping. it was a sort of inside-out, deconstructed pizza.
enjoy! if you make these or have any questions, please let me know!
