I am going to go out on a limb and write about the recent book I made last week at my friend’s house. See, the risk here is that my friend will read this post before she opens her mailbox. But I’m feeling confident in the power of the Postal Service. (KELLY: If you have not received a package from me and want to be surprised, stop reading now!)

I made one of my most favorite books last weekend at Jenny‘s house. There was something about being outside of my own workspace that made me feel more creative and more inspired. I actually took my time, didn’t rush through a project and just decided to go with the flow.

I knew I was making a book for my friend Kelly, who’s written a guest post for my blog before. I’ve had the paper picked out for a while now. I knew I wanted to make Kelly a hardcover book, simply because I thought she might carry the book around and it would need stability.

This book is called a signature stitch. This means that there are several signatures (which are basically  sheets of paper folded together) that are weaved together. Most books are made this way – take a look at some of your old novels. You can see that I used six signatures for Kelly’s book.

Because I was at Jenny’s and had access to different book materials, I decided to use some book cloth on the spine. You can see it on the picture above and on the picture below. This is the first time I’ve done anything different with the spine, and I think it proved to be pretty successful. It also feels sturdier.

On the inside, I used some plum-colored paper to accent the hints of purple on the outside of the book.

You probably won’t notice my mistake, and neither will Kelly – but I will admit it here anyway. See the space between the purple paper, the spine and the first page? That shouldn’t be there. What you should do is let the purple paper also serve as the first page, but I didn’t do that correctly and so you can see some of my super-glue mess. Nevertheless, I believe there are no mistakes in bookmaking. Whatever happens, happens. It’s art!

Here’s the back of the book:

The shape of this book surprised me. I had something very different in mind, but as I started cutting the paper for the inside, I thought this might be fun. Jenny asked me, “Does your friend want to put this book on a shelf?” and when I thought of Kelly – I thought no way. Kelly would have this anywhere and not necessarily only on a bookcase. Jenny’s answer certainly motivated me to try something new, and so I did.

I hope Kelly likes it. I also hope she gets it before she reads this post

My mom sent me an email yesterday that I wanted to share. The subject line read, “Food for the Soul,” the email included only a picture of her tuna noodle casserole.

See, mom and I share this love for tuna noodle casserole. It goes back years. No one else likes tuna, and so we relish in the moment when we are together – an excuse to make tuna noodle casserole and talk about life over food for the soul.

Everyone has their definition of soul food. I have lots of soul food. But more than that, I have soul food moments. I have food that only feels right to share with specific people. Maybe we’ve created a bond over that food. Or maybe we’re the only people who like it. Either way, I’ve shared soul food moments that mean more to me sometimes than the food itself.

Some examples.

Well, you’ve already heard about mom and tuna.

And then there’s my college friend Jill, who I think of almost every time I eat a banana (she used to eat three per day).

Of course there were nights in college with Cat and Sam and others making grilled cheese sandwiches with pickle slices.

And eating frosting from the can will always, always remind me of my cousin Marissa and the times we used to sneak down to my grandmother’s basement pantry, licking our fingers until they were clean and then hiding the frosting behind the bin of oats.

You see the point I’m making.

We live through food. We learn about each other through food. And more than anything, we are satisfied by the food we eat.

Tell me about your soul food moments, if you have any.

Last night, Bill and I broke into a recent shipment of POM Tea. We opened it on the bench outside of our apartment because we couldn’t be bothered going inside to try it. I let Bill do the honors, and he just about killed the package.

Inside were four lovely bottles of tea. Aren’t they pretty with their different colored caps and Styrofoam bedding? Included was also a fabo pen from the POM company and an envelope with nutrition facts (clearly, the way to my heart).

Bill decided that he’d try the Lyche Green Tea, which was perfect because I wasn’t feeling any lyche, let alone green tea that night.

And, in my grubby sweats and night time hair, I pondered over the possibilities of Peach Passion White Tea Light. Which was also perfect because Bill indicated that he hated peach.

I got ready to give it a go.

And delicious it was! I knew the peach would be the perfect fit for me.

Here’s what I liked about the Peach Tea:

• It was sweet but not so sweet that I wanted to die.
• The sweetness tasted natural for a light beverage.
• And in fact, all ingredients were natural.
• The plastic container is much easier to use than the glass.
• The packaging is pretty and attractive.
• I got the bottle for free.

Here’s what I didn’t like so much:

• I couldn’t stomach a whole bottle. But that’s OK – more for later. (The other thing is that I am still sick, so that might have something to do with it.)
• I like the plastic packaging, but I also miss getting that free glass.
• Drinking the bottle at room temperature is not so hot. Or cold for that matter.

As you can see, most of my complaints are a result of my own self. Clearly the POM Tea is a winner, and I think you should give it a try.

This product has received two lobster claws in the air!

Thank you for your well wishes on my last sick post. As I’m sure you can imagine, being hit with the cold and flu was not on my to-do list this week. I woke up Monday feeling energized and ready to accomplish all my tasks. But sometimes the body isn’t in line with the brain, and it’s the one that tells you to slow it down.

I’ve spent the past several days coughing, sleeping and watching Freaks and Geeks. I must say that it has proven to be a nice replacement for My So-Called Life, though the endings are very much similar (and cliff-hanger-ish). I didn’t eat much, except for some Kashi crackers and a little soup. And today was the first day I had an appetite (somewhat) though I still feel a tad nauseous (even though I don’t have that kind of flu – weird).

Everyone was talking about tuna in my office, and it got me craving some again. I think I’ve had too much tuna in the past month, but that’s ok for now. This wrap was delicious.

Tuna + lettuce + cucumbers on a whole wheat pita = good for me.

Do you ever find yourself wanting food that you hear others (literally) talking about?

Oh, and if you haven’t cast your vote for the 2009 Foodbuzz Blog Awards, you should.

Vote for whoever makes the most sense. That’s always been my voting philosophy

I’ve been struck with the flu for two days, but I hope to be back soon. Miss you all.

This probably isn’t timely considering it’s September, but I feel as though things are finally in bloom again.

It could be the back-to-school thing. Even though it happens in fall, it always feels like a fresh start to things. Don’t you think?

Even if the flowers are actually a little droopy outside, and the leaves are starting to sway just a bit more, I’m confident that things are about to get even more beautiful.

The good thing about food art? You can always create something that may be out of season. That way, there are always flowers on your table or boats in your oats.

What is in bloom for you?

Sneak Preview

Someone had their hands in bookmaking yesterday. We had book day at my friend Jenny‘s house, and I ended up almost finishing a pretty cool book. I want to save it until it’s done and shipped off to my friend’s house, but here’s a sneak preview.

The rest is a surprise!

Happy Monday!

So guess who got another favorite visitor to DC?

I did! Cat came down on a whim last night for the weekend. I’m pretty sure that I can’t contain my excitement over this, and I have a feeling these types of trips may happen more frequently. You can’t fight the love of friendship, you know?

Before Cat’s arrival, I ordered some Indian food from the place up the street. This might be slowly becoming a routine for me.

This was a little spicier than usual, but it didn’t bother me. I live for Channa Masala.

The rest of the night went a little something like this. Andy came over for movie night, and then Cat showed up, and we never watched a movie but instead talked, listened to music and had a great time.

So much fun we were lost in a blur.

And then the next morning, we are pancakes, and they were the best I’ve had in a long time.

My plate, with a few blueberries on top.

Everyone had things going on throughout the day, so I stayed at home and wrote a story for my class. I got 7 pages done, which makes me feel good, and I think the story is going somewhere – which makes me feel even better. I’m hoping anyway.

Later on, I snacked on a little turkey sando + an unphotgraphed apple.

And I loved on this guy a little bit.

We’re all heading up to Amy and Brian’s to watch the soccer game. Until then, cheerio darlings.

My office is an absolute technology disaster today.

Le sigh. I am working on a lot of technical projects right now. Or rather, techy. Maybe geeky. Ultra nerdy. Either way, they are fun, and I am having a good time trying to get this all going.

Needless to say, lunch was short and sweet today. I have to give props to Bill, who nicely packed my lunch this morning when I asked him. Isn’t that nice of him?

It’s been ages since I’ve eaten a salad. I loved this, even if the mushrooms were on the verge of not-so-great.

And of course you know how I roll when it comes to sandwiches. String cheese for life!

Nothing too exciting, but hey. That’s lunch sometimes, you know?

I’m already looking forward to dinner tonight. I’m hoping to get me some Indian food. It’s movie night at the lobster house, and we’re all excited about it.

What are you doing on this wet Friday night? (maybe it’s not raining where you’re at…) 

Oh, and I haven’t posted a music video in quite some time. Here’s the song that’s been influencing my life lately.

Live it. Love it. Do what you want!

Have you ever been to this place called Parfait Mountain? It’s one of those mountain tops that’s so high up, you have no idea how far it is down.

There are lots of special surprises in this mountain if you dig deep enough. But only the brave ever find out what lies within.

It has taken people (and animals) days and days to climb up its slippery slope. Especially since it’s been raining so much. 

But when they reach the top, they relax in the comfort of the rocks (ironic, no?) and the view.

One thing about these critters – they don’t like being disturbed. They consider the mountain top to be their natural habitat, even if they are a mix of farm animals.

Uh oh! Looks like someone caught me with the camera. Make that three someones. I better get outta here fast

Are you currently climbing a (metaphorical) mountain?

You all know I’m not a huge fan of the product review. I tend to only write product reviews if I really love something or really hate it. There’s just no middle ground, so I tend to shy away from writing about a lot of products. But this is one that I couldn’t resist.

On my birthday, Cat and Kelly and I had a three-way Skype conversation. In the midst of it, Kelly got up to get a burrito out of the oven, and I thought, “Why don’t I ever eat burritos"?” The whole video chat made me and Cat hungry and not one day later we solved those burrito cravings by picking up some Amy’s.

With Cat, I had the Samosa burrito. I’m not sure if it was my extreme hunger or what – but it tasted like heaven on earth. Today, I present you with the Especial Burrito made with black beans, rice and tomatoes, which didn’t taste quite like heaven – but close.

The nutritionals aren’t bad for a lunch. The amount of calories and fat is what would constitute my normal lunch meal. Though I wish this burrito had more substantial vegetables.

The ingredient list is a little on the long-ish side, but at least I can pronounce all words. That’s always a good sign.

I’ll be honest and say that fresh out of the oven microwave, this doesn’t look like much. They ask that you wrap the burrito “loosely” in a paper towel while heating. I don’t get what purpose that serves exactly, but I did it anyway.

But don’t let looks deceive you!

This burrito was jam-packed with good stuff and kept my belly full. The worst part about the burrito was waiting to eat it because it was so so hot.

At $2.50, these burritos aren’t on the cheap side. You could definitely make your own burrito for a lot less money. But if you’re in a pinch and need a quick lunch, this will do the trick. Not only that, I’m sure you’d be more likely to spend more money on a lunch out than $2.50.

I give the burritos two giant thumbs up.