Sweaters and cameras

I'm currently knitting a sweater.

Yeah, I realize that it's nearly summer and all, but despite the fact that it's 80-something degrees outside here, my room is absolutely freezing. And hey, the sweater has short sleeves.

A long while back, I saw this sweater at Ann Taylor Loft, and I loved it. It's cute and comfortable... and seventy dollars. And while looking at it, I realized that I could make it. And while this was months ago that I saw the sweater and bought the yarn for it, it's taken me a while. First, I was knitting ten million other things. And I have stuff to do, like go to class and study. And then I began knitting it, and got most of the back done and realized that I was knitting stockinette when I should have been doing garter. So I restarted it.

Currently, I am almost done with the back (again), and will then move on to the front. But because I don't have a camera, I can't post pictures.

Which brings me to the camera thing. I had a Canon PowerShot SD800 IS, which I have had for forever and then some. It's been around the world with me, on top of the Empire State Building and the Colosseum, in German airplanes and my high school. Seriously, I loved it. It's scratched and dirty and a boring grey, but it was mine. I had won photography contests with it, and taken hundreds of silly photos of friends with it, too.

Yes, I realize how ridiculous it is for me to be so attached to a camera, for goodness sake, but it's very high on the list of things I would grab if my house was burning down. Phone, wallet, laptop, camera.

And because I will be (finally) getting a paycheck in a few weeks, and I usually put my first summer paycheck to something big for myself, I'm going to get a new camera. Because I seriously can't live without one. (And I do need a new phone, but those are hundreds of dollars cheaper).

I'm currently looking at:

Nikon Coolpix S8000 and S6000

Canon PowerShot S90

And my favorite, the Nikon Coolpix L110.

I've always been a huge fan of DSLRs, as I used them frequently in high school, but they're extremely expensive, and not all that easy to carry around. Which is why I like the L110. It's compact (for a SLR), and really cheap. Or, well, not that expensive.

I miss my camera.

15/365

I'm clumsy. Really really clumsy. So while hiking in the mountains this morning, I fell. In a river/stream/waterfall thing. And my beloved camera, a Canon PowerShot, decided that being submerged in freezing mountain water would be better than... not. So no camera.

I did manage to save the memory card. But not my dignity.

14/365

13/365

Maybe one day I'll post something that isn't macro.

12/365

{If there ever comes a day when we can't be together, keep me in your heart. I'll stay there forever.}

{Winnie the Pooh}

11/365

{May you always do for others,

And let others do for you.}

{Bob Dylan}

10/365

{The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of dreams.}

{Eleanor Roosevelt}

9/365

{I'm the bloody Queen, mate. Basically, I rule.}

{Doctor Who, S5E2}

8/365

{This ain't a scene. It's just a generation caught in-between.}

{The Henry Clay People}

7/365

{Sanity is a cozy lie.}

{Susan Sontag}

6/365

I have a thing for macro. A big thing. Like, I might just be in love. And I would greatly recommend anyone else who is in love with macro to do The Pioneer Woman's photography contest, on MACRO. Because a macro lens is a camera's gift to humankind.

5/365

{Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain.}

4/365

{I used to walk to school with my nose buried in a book.}

{Coolio}

3/365

{Perhaps nature is our best assurance of immortality.}

{Eleanor Roosevelt}

2/365

{You can't deny you want the happy ending.}

{Mumm-Ra}

1/365

{The only person you are destined to be is the person you decide to be.}

{Ralph Waldo Emerson}

Baci di Dama

This is not my kitchen. This bothers me more than you can possibly imagine. Despite how much I might dislike the one I have (share?) at home, especially when there are literally four cooks in the kitchen.

But at least at home, I have reliable cooking things, like food processors, and I know where all the measuring cups and spoons and such are. Let's just say that without a food processor, I had to make an archaic-like mortar and pestle with a mixing bowl and metal ice cream scoop. Like MacGyver. Or Jack Bauer. Except with cooking.

So, the actual recipe. Bci di Dama. It's an Italian cookie, made in the 1800s. It translates to "lady's kisses," because, supposedly, it's like kissing a lady, or, when bitten into, has the appearance of a lady's lips.

These were really good. And pretty easy to make, if you're not attempting (well, being forced to attempt) to be the Jack Bauer of cooking. But I love almonds, and chocolate, and cookies. All good.

(Please ignore my chocolatey hands.)

Baci di Dama

(Taken from Pandas and Cupcakes)

Makes about 20 assembled cookies

For the cookies:

3/4 cup hazelnuts, roasted and peeled (I used almonds, which were probably just as good, and cheaper) 1 cup powdered sugar 9 tablespoons butter, softened 2 tsp vanilla extract 1 cup flour For the ganache: 6 oz dark chocolate, chopped 6 oz heavy cream

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grind hazelnuts (or almonds) and powdered sugar together in a food processor.
2. Beat butter, vanilla, and hazelnut/sugar mixture in a bowl until fluffy. Add flour and stir until just combined. Do not overmix.
3. Shape dough into half teaspoon balls and place on parchment paper lined baking sheets. Bake one at a time for 12-15 minutes until golden.
4. While the cookies are baking, make the ganache. Heat the cream to just boiling, pour over chocolate.
5. Let sit until thickens. When both cookies and ganache are at room temperature, put about half a teaspoon in between two cookies, sandwiching them together.

After step five, I dipped an entire cookie back into the ganache, just because I had a lot of extra.

But they were all really good, with or without the extra chocolate. Also, be aware that these cookies are fairly small. I doubled this recipe and made about fifty total, and most people ate two to three each.