101 in 1001: Wednesday Update

That's two Sundays in a row I've been remiss! I have updated in other places, though; I'm not entirely delinquent.

I recently finished another book off the TIME Top 100 list: The Poisonwood Bible, which I cannot recommend strongly enough. Kingsolver creates nuanced characters that cover a broad moral spectrum. A lot of times in stories (whether in movies or literature), the bad guys either are too evil to be believed, or are believable but don't seem that bad. Kingsolver accomplished the Herculean task of creating perfectly believable and utterly evil people; people loathsome and terrible but, sadly, also people you could imagine meeting in real life. She also draws a detailed and infuriating picture of the Democratic Republic of Congo, from the late 50s up until more or less contemporary times—she wrote The Poisonwood Bible, it seems, with an agenda. Gird yourself for some White Liberal Guilt on this one.

I also went to Suwon fortress, all the way at the southern end of the Seoul Metro. It's one of the biggest (as in most famous) places to visit in South Korea and a UNESCO World Heritage site, so I'm glad I finally paid it a visit. I took so many pictures that they deserve their own later post.

In between that I've watched a few more episodes of Star Trek and Doctor Who.

The rest of my list is behind the jump.

Music Monday: Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

This one is courtesy of the Boy. I never thought I'd say, "Here's a song that sums up how I feel about clothes shopping," but there you go.

Foodie Friday: Caffe Bene and Grilled Cheese Social

I attempted the Caffe Bene garlic cheese bread I posted a couple of weeks ago. The final results were rather underwhelming so I'm not even going to bother posting it.

I realized about midway through that my idea was basically an inside-out grilled cheese sandwich. (I'm a bit slow on the uptake, sometimes.) What makes the Caffe Bene bread really good is the actual bread involved. It's a typical fluffy Korean dessert bread, which my "morning toast" bread from the grocery store couldn't quite replicate. I'm not going to even bother posting the recipe here because, well, it's grilled freaking cheese. However, mission not totally failed!

First of all, it was still delicious, even if different (and uglier) than the original. Second of all, prepping for it led to me cleaning out my refrigerator, which I desperately needed to do. Third of all, it reminded me that  Grilled Cheese Social exists.

I don't think I can properly articulate my love of grilled cheese, but it's safe to say that Mackenzie and I are probably on the same page. In retrospect, I realize it was really my undying love of grilled cheese that drove me to attempt to recreate this cheese bread in the first place. While I can't really try any of her  excellent recipes for a few more weeks (I need better bread), I scouted her archives for something approaching a grilled cheese version of the Caffe Bene bread. Lo and behold: Green Haze.

I will definitely be making this as soon as I get home to the land of delicious artisan breads. I love garlic, and I love gouda, although I won't be using her green pesto gouda, mostly because I stay away from anything pesto due to a pretty inconvenient pine allergy.

Project Rae Detour

I promised more meta hints and then failed to deliver. As my newspaper comics counterpart would say, "ACK!" However, instead of eating a pint of ice cream and talking to my dog, I'm going to show you guys what I've been doing.

This is 110% inspired by Rae and her associated (though different!) project. Drumroll, please!

Full Adder Circuit Bracelet

Wait, what the hell is that? you ask. At first glance, it seems to be a mostly-random jumbling of beads and chains in the haphazard multi-strand "boho chic" style or whatever that's so popular these days. Oh wait, there's more!

This bracelet is inspired by perhaps one of the most unlikeliest pieces of jewelry inspiration, a full adder diagram.

This picture, rather, is a better help:

There are two AND gates, two XOR gates, and one OR gate. Each gate is represented by a different kind of bead. Seriously, go ahead and double-check! AND is mother-of-pearl, XOR is coral, and the lone OR gate is some kind of carved thing I assume to be plastic. The diagram Rae sent me for Project Rae had random values assigned (based on color distribution) so I just went with that, but as you can see there's a whole host of values to be used!

I really like how this came out. It's a nice change from pure beadery, and it also presents an interesting construction challenge. Overall I'm happy with how this "proof-of-concept" bracelet came out, but it's far from perfect. My method for this one (because I definitely want to make more!) needs some tweaking. Even though this is a pretty simple circuit, it took way longer than my numbers bracelets do! Someday I hope I can get this down to a science (pun intended) and bead up something like this:

What out-of-the-ordinary things inspire you?

Winning!

Mom's Basement member Michelle just wrapped up a giveaway to celebrate 100 sales (congratulations!) and who has two thumbs and won? This girl!

It was hard to pick a ring, though, because she has lots of excellent stuff. I LOVE the cross-stitched and embroidered rings, they look so unique. They are definitely conversation starters.

Kawaii Cross Stitched Gimbap Ring by FunWithNeedles

While I'm still not a fan of straight-up kim (the black seaweed you use to wrap gimbap), I have become a grudging fan of gimbap. But this guy is just too cute to eat!

Embroidered Metroid Ring by FunWithNeedles

I'm not a fan of the FPS genre. I just can't get spatially immersed enough to be able navigate the world and always end up running off a cliff or over/under-jumping. Nonetheless, Metroid has a special place in my heart because SEAMUS!

Cross Stitched Dalek Ring by FunWithNeedles

EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!

Ultimately, though, I had to go with her miniature Companion Cube. Now I can take it with me wherever I go!

Cross Stitched Companion Cube Ring by FunWithNeedles

But rings aren't the only things Michelle has. If your walls are blank, she has most excellent pop-culture inspired cross stitches. I hope she gets around to selling patterns, because I want to try a hand at making one myself. I'm a big fan of the "English, motherfucker, do you speak it?" one in particular. Crafty Lawyer Mom used to cross-stitch way back when I was single digits in age, and she even taught me how. Somewhere there is the Last Project she's not yet finished that I remember helping her on.

Music Monday: Kanye West

This has been bouncing around in my head lately for some reason.

Just sold!

Pi in aventurine and mother-of-pearl

This little bit of math jewelry is going to a new home in Minnesota! Hurray! Godspeed, you little piece of pi.