You guys, I’m in love. With kabocha squash.

We were at Trader Joe’s the other day. I’d just watched Elysse break down a butternut squash at her house, so I had squash on the mind. I was going to also grab a butternut, but then I saw that TJ had kabocha and I went totally mental. KABOCHA IS DELICIOUS. If you aren’t sure what it is, it’s a Japanese pumpkin. You might find it in your veggie tempura. It’s quite sweet and tastes more like a sweet potato to me and also has kind of a starchy mouthfeel like a potato. I had NEVER cooked one of these before, so it was one big adventure, and I followed this recipe from Nom Nom Paleo.

First, preheat your oven to 400 and then wash and dry your squash. I wanted to keep the skin on and eat it, but you can also peel it off if you want. To start cutting up your squash, try to carve off the top and the bottom, kinda like when you take the top off a pumpkin when you carve jack-o-lanterns. This makes slicing through the whole thing a lot easier. The sharpest knife we have is from Daiso… so… you can see what kind of tools I’m working with here. (Daiso is the Japanese dollar store.) I found that using a short stubby knife worked better for removing the top and bottom. Then use a larger knife to slice the squash in half and dig out all the seeds with a spoon. Feels like Halloween!

Then keep slicing it up. Like half-inch wide slices. This is the part where I really wanted a grown-up in the house, because, this did not feel like a safe activity for me.

When it’s all sliced up, throw the slices in a bowl and toss in 2 TBS of melted coconut oil (or butter) with some salt and pepper. This part feels very moisturizing to the hands.

Then lay them all out in a single layer on a cookie sheet covered in foil.

Then ya pop em in the oven! My squash fit on two cookie sheets, so I put them both in the oven at the same time, one in the middle rack, and one slightly below that. I had no idea what would happen to the ones on the lower rack.

Then you bake them for 15 minutes. Then go in there and flip them all over and leave them in there for 15 more minutes. Then you can take them out!

As it turns out, I enjoyed the ones on the bottom rack, because they got even more carmelized, crispy on the outside and mushy on the inside! I am not really sure what I would pair these with to make a proper meal, but they were so terrifically yummy, and surprisingly, even Manda liked them!! She is not known for liking squash or vegetables, so this was a super IDGAF kitchen victory! And I still have all my fingers!

Here’s a preview of a project I’ve been working on for one of my favorite indie designers. Lil crocheted shrimp!

I’m packing them up and sending them on a long journey to Australia. I really can’t wait to see the final product and photos, and to share all of that with you guys!

This weekend, Manda and I visited our city dump for the first time. I know a lot of people have done this before, but this was very novel and kind of amazing for us.

First up: THE SEAGULLS. Manda kinda freaked out over these seagulls because there were so freaking many of them. I am internationally infamous for getting shat on (Italy, Russia, and here in the U.S.), so my nerves were more about not wanting to exit the car under a cloud of well-fed flying animals.

Next up: I didn’t expect to see any art at the dump. There is an artist-in-residence program at the dump here, and I think some of the works were on display. Either that, or, the guys who work at the dump just like pulling out the weird stuff and lining them up on the hill. I didn’t get a good photo of this, cuz there was a guy in a truck giving us the side-eye for ogling and we proceeded to drive forward.

Here’s a small shot of the inside area where we dumped our car-full of stuff. We actually had a lot of over-sized cardboard pieces and some large, broken wooden things, and not so much plastic weirdness, but apparently you just chuck it all (except hazardous waste) into this huge pile and then they sort through it later. Manda was a champ and had filled up my car all by herself. What the heck was I doing!? I can’t even remember. We kinda felt weird about taking a selfie at the dump, so, that’s why there is none of that.

San Francisco has a zero-waste goal for 2020. I haven’t read many details about it, but visiting the dump was kind of a good kick in the pants for becoming more aware of what we toss or recycle. We’re definitely trying to make better use of our green/compost bin and are looking into buying a charcoal-filtered compost pail for the kitchen, especially since we’re trying to cook more at home.  I don’t have strong hippie-dippie tendencies, but I’m also not into turning the planet into a huge trash heap, which is also why I try to keep the packaging for my Etsy shop pretty basic without many bells and whistles. I still buy new boxes and tissue paper for shipping, though, but I guess we are all sort of working through how to approach this stuff. Baby steps!

Hullooooo!!!!!!!!! It’s giveaway time again!!!! Thank you so much to all my wonderful sponsors!!! One lucky winner will receive:

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I’ll only be vending at one holiday show this season, and it will be in SEATTLE!!! Urban Craft Uprising! December 5&6 at the Seattle Exhibition Hall. I also crocheted some promo art for the show of Seattle’s skyline wearing their winter gear! This will be on a billboard in Seattle, so if you see it, send me pics!

I’m kinda in love with these little trees. They are super easy, and I’ll post the pattern here on my blog in a bit.

Here is the sketch that I used as a reference. His hat got all weird because I kept changing my mind about the colors!

This project really took a lot out of me, but it was super fun to watch it come to life. I really liked making tiny accessories, which is shocking, because generally I hate working small!  The total piece is 36 inches wide and 18 inches tall, bigger than I’d planned, but…. you know… IT HAPPENS. I almost ran out of that light blue yarn and had a heart attack because I was on such a tight deadline.

Normally I adhere my crochet paintings to actual canvases, but there wasn’t a canvas that was 36 x 18, so I ended up cutting down some thick foam core. I would NOT recommend this. While the crochet does stick to the paper facing, the paper facing also PEELS RIGHT OFF THE FOAM. Use canvases or wood, when you can!

So if you’re in Seattle and are planning to swing by the show, let me know if you want me to bring certain items in particular. My book won’t be out by then, but if I have time, I plan to make this mini-pattern-book with a funny theme that I’ve been wanting to write forever. More on that later!