More projects

I have got a crap-tonne of projects on my plate. In the past 3 weeks I’ve:

With help, made a linen workman’s cap for Al.

Made a wool bedgown for KenuckyJam, my Appleseed friend.

Re-pleated two aprons. I don’t care if I’m the only one who will notice  -- I needed to fix them.

Mended my patched brown gown where the stitching was coming out down the back.


On my plate:

Restyle and refit a 1750’s waistcoat into something more recognizable as something you’d see in the 1780’s.

Make some baggy linen breeches less baggy. I can usually do a pretty good job on fixing breeches, but I have to know you really well to do good work (meaning I’m going to have to be fiddling around up near the boys,) and that is just too fraught with potential complications …

Restyle and refit a jacket into something a little less feed sack-like.

Turn a pair of trousers into a pair of breeches.

Knit a cap for DLG (or something else if a new job means something else would be more appropriate).


Now the following don’t have to be completed until March, but still:

Make 3 linen shirts for Michael W.

Make 2 shifts and 2 gowns for Miss F.

Ditto for Sweet Daughter, who has outgrown everything she owns.

And then insanity struck. I finally got the Norah Waugh book “The Cut of Men’s Clothes 1600 – 1900”. And I saw a pattern in it for a banyan, and the book mentioned where the original was. I worked my google-fu and found it here.

And then I went traipsing around the interwebz and found this:

And it has this cute little motif:

So I informed one of the guys in our group that he really needed a banyan. I think I may have pressured him into buying the fabric so I could make it. Maybe. Just a little.

And banyan fever hit after I had decided I needed a riding habit. But not just any habit. A habit based on the regimental uniform for the Detached Hospital.

Something like this.

Mrs. Lovibond

Or this:

Lady Worsley

Or this:

Mrs. John Montresor

This means a shirt, neck stock, waistcoat, petticoat and jacket. Of all things, I actually have the epaulettes kicking around already. I’ve commissioned the hat, and have bought a wig. Which of course, means a block head of some sort for styling, and the right kind of brush, and shampoo, and …

Good heavens ... what have I gotten myself into?

Election Tie

I really need to watch what I say in front of people who don’t know me and my hobbies too well.

One of my many jobs is to cover the receptionist's desk while the receptionist goes to lunch each day. It's been a long time since that was my primary job duty, and I'm afraid I've lost some of the tact needed to do a good job.

An upper level manager from Not Our Division was signing a visitor out while I was covering the desk today and I noticed his tie. It had 18th century-like figures on it, and the landmarks in the background were clearly 18th century Boston.

“Nice tie!” I said.

“Good for Election Day!” he said.

“Or Boston Massacre Day!” I said, thinking of the background. Then noticing that the gentleman signing himself out may have possibly been a descendant of Crispus Attucks, I chimed in with “Or Bunker Hill Day, or Yorktown Day!” as I did not want to offend anyone.

I don’t think it worked.

Update

I didn't win the chili cook-off, although they sold more bowls of mine that any other.

On another note, this came to me via North Carolina. Just in time for Halloween. Or Election Day. You pick.

H/T to John M.

Chili update

Thanks everyone for the good advice. Since this is for a cook-off :

1. in which I have no vested interest (I’m just trying to be a team player once so I can go crawl back under my rock for the rest of the winter),

2. I was given a package of “really spicy” venison by BYG who won’t be in town to participate, and

3. I am a spice wimp and can’t really adjust the seasoning on anything “really spicy”,

4. and I have a version of the Marian Plague (I keep coughing up little green men, or blowing them out of my nose. You’re welcome.) and can’t taste anything anyway,

I decided to take a little from column A, and a little from column B, and a little from column C.

I started with an idiot-proof recipe that Michael W. e-mailed me, to wit:

1 pound of ground beef
1 can of Rotel
4 cans of beans
16 oz. jar of salsa

I took T-Bolt’s advice and added other species as well; pork, beef and veal (yes, I know veal is beef).

I added a chopped onion and some garlic while I browned the meat.

Then I browned the venison in the leftover fat from the first batch of meat. It looked and smelled a little bit like bulk sausage. I could see some seasonings had been added.

I stirred everything together in the giant crock-pot, added a can of tomato sauce and some chili powder and stirred. I then tasted the spoon. Eh. Bland. I chalked it up to my cold.

And then I tasted it.

Chromium Yellow.

I bet you didn’t know you could taste yellow, did you?

You can, and it stings.

Venison Chili Recipe Bleg

To sum up ...

The company that resides on the top floor of my office building has challenged us to a chili cook-off this Friday. Bitter Young Guy said "Too bad I won't be here on Friday. I've got some venison in the freezer that has been infused with some sort of uber-hot spicy stuff. It's so hot, the resident 'I'll eat anything spicy' guys won't go near it."

I said "Too bad! You could call it 'Bambi's Revenge!"

Yeah. BYG is donating the venison to the Cause, and I think I've been volunteered to come up with said entry. The thing is, I've never cooked with venison, and, more importantly, I don't do spicy. Seriously. the Carroll Shelby chili mix without the cayenne pepper is at the very limit of what I can tolerate, and that's only with lots of dairy to go with it. Shorter Half has volunteered to taste test, but I need a starting point. Can anyone get me started? I think I've got about a pound and a half of radioactive venison to work with.

Thanks ...

Too bad it doesn't come in bacon

This was sent to me by Bitter Young Guy at work. Soap shaped like an iPhone that smells like grilled sausages.

More soap shaped like beakers and test tubes...

Sushi soap (wasabai scented!)

Taco soap (chipotle salsa-scented)

And lots more. iPods, green eggs and ham, a Palm Pre (bourbon and coke scented), snack foods of all kinds ...

And no, FCC, this vendor wouldn't be able to pick me out of police line-up, so there.

Complete Time Suck

How good is your eye? Should you have been an engineer, or would you have been better majoring in Russian Lit? Read the directions first to see how it's scored. You time does not contribute you your score, but it is recorded so you can see if you can beat your previous score *and* time.



The Eyeball Game

It's really, really addictive.