Sea star Kusudama

I thought I had made a post about this one on my blog, but guess what?? I just forgot to do so (blame it on some level of laziness :-p). Well, now it's time to make up for it, so may I present: the sea star kusudama! :-D

I guess I don't have to explain why this kusudama is named after a sea star. I particularly like mine not only because I had a heck of a time to assemble this ball (will I ever learn not to use the tiniest seize paper?!) but because the yellow star makes such a nice contrast with the two colors blue. It reminds me of a star in a perfectly blue sea. So nature like! :-D

A family of Sonobes

I consider the sonobe to be the most easiest modular origami to make. The units are easy to fold and the assembling is not that hard comparing to, well.. uhm.. some other modular origami, like the five intersecting tetrahedra. ;-)

My very first sonobe is the big yellow/orange/purple one, consisting of 30 units made out of paper seize 5 by 5 cm. For the smaller y/o/p sonobe and the largest colorful one I needed only 16 units, therefor it has less spikes.

All the other sonobes in the pictures are made with paper seize 2,5 by 2,5 cm. I started the red series with a 30 unit-model, the next one has 16 units, followed by one with 4 units (as you can see that makes a square) and the tiniest one has only 3 units. Don't they make a cute family together? :-)

A whole plate of Piroshki's!

When I'm baking something, at least I'm smart enough to take some pictures of the result immediately after it comes out of the oven. Unfortunately the same can not be said about immediately including the pictures on my blog. So now I have these pictures of piroshki's I've made somewhere in april of this year. I came upon them when I was sorting out pictures on my computer.

All I can remember is that they looked far better than they tasted (though surely they were not that bad!!). That's partly due to the filling I've used (some minced pork mixed with the usual ingredients) and partly because the dough somehow didn't work out quite well like the first time.

And maybe I should have used less dough and some more filling, because the balance between dough and filling tipped in favor of the dough. Even I wondered what had happened to the filling after trying one of them! Well, at least I know what to do different next time! And there will definitely be a next time, because when prepared well... ... well... once you pop, you can't stop! :-D

Cookies and more cookies! :-D

My elder sister and I are two totally different persons, although some would say they can actually see some similarities in our appearances which make me think: yeah.. right ;-). But there is one thing we sure have in common: our love for cookbooks, mine preferably pastry cookbooks. Every once in a while I expand my cookbook collection with yet another purchase. And every once in a while my sister contributes to my collection too :-)

For my birthday she gave me two pastry books: one about making muffins, the other with recipes for cookies. Haven't tried the muffin recipes yet, but one day in the near future I think I will surprise my colleagues with a bunch of muffins to sample yet another one of my bakings. (As if they mind!) :-D

Anyway, I've been looking for ages for the perfect recipe to make edible cookies. The cookies based on the recipes I've used so far turned out stone hard when they've cooled down. I'm not kidding, but you could seriously break some teeth on them. Just ask my victi... oops, pardon me: my sisters :-p

Because of my experiences with other cookies recipes I didn't expect much of the recipes in the book my sister gave me. But I thought it couldn't hurt to try it anyway. Not only is the basic recipe very easy to follow, but you can also add a lot of your own additions to it. Last week I tried to make two colored cookies: vanilla with chocolate. They turned out pretty tasteful and, most important: they stayed crunchy instead of turning into painful jawbreakers :-D

Quite happy with this outcome I decided to sacrifice my Sunday afternoon to make another bunch of cookies. This time I made almond covered vanilla biscuits and lime-flavored cookies. I took the cookies to work and shared them with my colleagues. Well... think I've made some new friends now ;-)

Currants

I love the bright red color of currants! I only don't like the sour taste of them. Even when they have reached the ripe stage.

There are two currant bushes in the vegetable garden of my in-laws. They both carried a lot of currants. It took me and my brother-in-law at least an hour and some cramp in the arms to pick all the currants of only one bush! But all the hard works have resulted in quite a few jars of deliciously red currant jelly :-)

Lovely sweet cherries

Have you ever tasted cherries so good, so sweet, so juicy you don't want to stop eating?? Well, I have. And best part is: it's all from the vegetable garden my in-laws keep :-)

Unfortunately we had to share most of the cherries with the birds, but those we could 'rescue' we enjoyed thoroughly :-)

From seed till corn

I just let the pictures tell the story this time :-)

Mom's B-day present

For my mom's 50th birthday I gave her an orchid. Not a real one though, but a stitched one (duh!). It took me over a year to finish this work, but I'm very happy with the result. As is my mom. :-)

Blue Kusudama with a touch of fuchsia

When my sister saw the yellow kusudama, she wanted one herself.
As requested, I made a blue one for her. But I didn't like an all blue one, so I 'sneaked' in two fuchsia-colored flowers :-) Luckily she liked this variation (as if she had any choice! :- D)

Butterfly Kusudama

Own design! The beads, that is! :-p

This is a butterfly Kusudama. The paper I used has red edges with a white heart and a touch of black between. I cut the paper in four so I got both red and white edges. Half of the kusudama is made with the red edge as the outer corner and the other half with the white as the dominant color. Instead of a standard tassel made of threads, I made mine of beads. This way I can design my own tassels so none of my Kusudamas are alike. I love Kusudamas! I plan to make a lot more of them! :-D
This one I donated to one of my sisters by the way ;-)

Lily kusudama made of tea envelops :-D

If you happen to have colleagues who drink a lot of tea, then naturally you get a lot of empty tea envelops. And true to my creative nature: I turned some of those tea envelops into a few pieces of origami art work :-D

My best work at the moment is this kusudama made of lily's, glued together to get the ball shape.

And because the envelops contained cinnamon-flavored tea, my kusudama comes with a nice smell too :-)

Lucky Stars

A couple years ago, I went shopping for some Christmas presents. I went into this boutique that sells bijou and stuff. I don't exactly remember what I bought that day, but I do remember I got a package of paper strips to fold lucky stars as a bonus with the purchase. Of course I started to fold once I got home and the result can be seen on the picture on the right. :-)

Unfortunately the package contained just enough paper to put a bottom in the glass bottle these lucky stars are now stored in. I hope to find the same paper one day so I can fill it up to the edge :-)

Chrysanthemum Icosahedron Kusudama

If I ever happen to play the game hangman and I would use the name of this piece of art, I am most certain no one would guess it correctly. Except for the ones who read my blog or are into origami as well. :-)

A beautiful, but difficult name for a ball that looks like it consist of a lot of two-sided arrows. But together, the 30 arrow-like units make this lovely ball. And best part: no glue needed to keep the units together :-D

Oh, and it's really easy to fold and assemble. So no excuses here about 'too difficult' whatsoever to avoid getting started with it :-p

Oxi Model

When I finished this Oxi model, I thought I did a great job. Just similar to the one in the folding instructions. As it turned out, my eyes have deceived me while folding the Oxi model. Somehow I miscounted the number of cubes so instead of a combination of 6 cubes and 4 cubes, my model has 5 cubes all around. But that doesn't make my creation less spectacular. :-)

Five Intersecting Tetrahedra

Sometimes you come across an object on the internet that makes you want to have it yourself. My reaction when I first saw the Five Intersecting Tetrahedra: Wanna wanna wanna!! Second reaction: how on earth am I gonna make one???

Thanks to this helpful tutorial and this video on YouTube I managed to assemble a F.I.T. :-D

It took me two hours to cut and fold the paper in the 30 units needed to make one and about two frustrating weeks to figure out how the triangles should be weaved in each other. The first two triangles are easy to weave, the third and forth triangles proved to be the challenges. The fifth and last triangle is a piece of cake once you've got the other four in correct place.

But I've done it! Without cheating by using glue! After the first F.I.T., I've made two more of the same seize (I used paper seize 15x15 cm). And because of my love for all things that are small, I made a F.I.T. using paper seize 5x5 cm. This one I did have to glue or else the triangles would fall apart. Looking at the mini F.I.T. I'm still amazed I pulled that off... :-)

First try Banh Cuon!

Does the dish not look delicious?? It's almost good enough to be serve in a restaurant! And best part is: I made it myself!! :-D

The first time I've made it and it didn't turn out that bad if I may say.
Actually, this is the result of the second try on the same day. As it happened, I've been spending all morning trying to make the steamed version with pre-mixed batter. But every scoop of batter kept sticking to the cloth (which was not of the right material by the way) and I couldn't get the cloth taut over the pan to start with. Also, the solid substantial I scraped off the cloth (it should come off like a paper thin crepe, instead I got some sticky, flexible ball of dough) didn't smell like the ones my mom makes (most probably because of the tapioca starch that's in the mix) so no more pre-mixed bater for me.

After a quick emergency call to my mom to get her recipe for the batter and some extra tips, I put aside the pan-turned-steamer and used a non-stick frying pan instead. And look at the result!
Buried under all the supplements one can hardly tell the rolls are made by an inexperienced cook! :-D
I only forgot to sprinkle the dish with some fried onion.. :-s

For those who wants to know what's in and should be in the dish:
- ricepaper rolls filled with minced meat, chopped onion and wood ear mushroom, seasoned with salt and freshly grind pepper;
- sliced Vietnamese ham (cha lua)
- sliced deep fried tofu;
- a mixture of steamed bean sprouts, Thai basil leaves and sliced cucumber;
- fried onion, which I forgot;
- fish sauce to bind all the different tastes.

A plain plate with only the rolls

Micr-o-rigami

Some like it big, some like it small. Me? I prefer micro :-D

The tinier, the cuter! And the more difficult to fold. It takes quite some skill to pull off something like this. Which, more or less, I have (yep, no sign of modesty here :-p)

These are the smallest cranes I have ever made. It's not folded very neatly, but you can still recognize the shape of the crane :-). I've put them on a 10 euro cent coin so you can amaze yourself with the seize of them. :-)

Thinking about the frustrations while trying not to fumble the tiny miny piece of paper I don't think I will expand this family of micro cranes anytime soon... :-s

Electra Icosidodecahedron

Electra Icosi- what?? That's exactly my reaction when I saw the name of this piece of art. Luckily this modular origami ball is much easier to fold than to pronounce. It only takes some time to assemble it. Especially when you make two of them, one smaller than the other.

There are 30 units needed to complete one ball. I used paper seize 4 x 4 cm for the outer pink ball and a seize 2 x 2 cm for the inner yellow ball. Inside the yellow Electra there are some red beads on a thread. I thought that would make a nice contrast with the yellow. And it would, had I made the Electra's a bit larger so you could actually see the beads :-)

Piroshki with mini frankfurters

I always forget to take pictures of the results of my attempts. And when I do remember, most of the food has vanished in our bellies. I made at least 2 dozen of these mini Piroshki and this is all that's left for the snapshot. :-s Which is, come to think about it, absolutely not a bad sign :-)

After I made a lemon-cheesecake I had some yoghurt left. Instead of consuming it plain as it is, I searched on the internet for recipes with yoghurt as an ingredient. I came upon this snack. I think the yoghurt works really well in this recipe: never had I worked with such supple dough. And the piroshki didn't turn into little bricks when cooled down, as has been my experience with other dough-recipes. :-)

You can make the filling as you like, but because it was my first attempt, I didn't want to spoil some minced meat should the dough go bad. Instead I used mini-frankfurters to keep the savoury taste. By the way: they tasted real good, especially fresh out of the oven! :-D

Here's the recipe I used:

Dough

- 300 gr. flour

- 5 ts milk

- 125 ml yoghurt

- 1 egg

- 4 tb vegetable oil

- 1 packet baking powder

- pinch of salt

- beaten egg to glaze

Mix everything in a bowl until you got a smooth dough-mixture. If it's too sticky, gradually add some more flour.

Peridot crystal balls

No, these are not frogspawn, as my sister calls it. It may look the same, but surely that's all they have in common :-)

These are peridot crystal balls. At least, that's what they're called on the site I've found the recipe.

It looked too cool not to try it myself and luckily I had all the ingredients needed for this dessert.

In case you're wondering why I went through all this trouble just to make two balls: there were more of them, but when I remembered to take a picture, only these two were left :-)

Unfortunately the taste was not quite as spectacular as the appearance (look at the bright green color!!) It actually tasted kinda weird. But that can also be because I left out the coconut milk and because I'm not a big fan of the heart of yellow split bean paste.

But I will definitely make it again one day! Think about the surprised faces when serving this dessert to others! :-D

And another tasty looking picture :-D

Kitchen princess... or pastry chef??

My mum is a great cook, my sisters are great cooks..... except for my youngest sister. Although I know she won't starve should she be in the situation of having to cook for herself. She's just a bit lazy since she's still living with my parents and therefore having a mum around taking care of everything, including the cooking part. At least she can brag about her homemade sushi. That is one of the few dishes I have no intention of ever making it. And why should I, knowing one who can :-p

Now how to describe my own cooking talent without bringing injustice to the truth?? Well, let me put it this way: my meals are edible and we only eat deep fried/take out/pizza once in a very long time :-) I think I'm an average cook and I know I will never ever hit top chef level.

But I love to bake! I love to make pastries, cookies, little snacks whether it's sweet or savoury. And I love trying to make desserts from Asian cultures! Each weekend I have to make an attempt in the kitchen, just to see if the recipe and the result are worth another try. Luckily most times they are. :-)
Sometimes I feel sorry for my hubby for making him sample everything I bake. Especially when it tastes entirely different than it should. But it's a good sign if he likes what I have made, because when it comes to food he's quite picky :-)

Velvet rose

It seems like I'm in a sort of origami-competition here. My youngest sister once surprised me by telling me her boss is also into origami. His favorites to fold are flowers and bugs/animals. She showed me a picture of an origami bouquet he made that now adorns his office and from to look of that I was quite impressed.

I made her a mini K-rose (like the one in the Birthday-bouquet) to give to her boss to show him what I am capable of. In return he gave me the rose pictured below. It's made of velvet paper in a pretty shade of red and when I first saw it, I thought it to be a real rose :-).

Unfortunately this picture does not show the best side of the rose. In real it's much nicer.

I sacrificed a kusudama as a sort of a thank you for the rose. After my sister gave it to him she told him she now expects him to come up with something spectacular to 'beat' my kusudama.


Well, I don't have an origami bug... yet... ;-)

Old and New Kawasaki

It may not be a surprise now how big a fan I am of the Kawasaki Rose after reading my last posts. So when a colleague of me asked me if I could fold a Kawasaki Rose new style I was surprised at first, because I thought there's only one way to fold it. After founding a diagram on the internet that shows you how to fold the K-rose new style, I at first didn't dare to get started with it. Because the instructions seems to be above my skills and I couldn't quite figure out how to fold the last steps.

Well, I tried it eventually and indeed I couldn't finish my rose properly because I got all messed up while following the last steps. It took me at least three more tries before I figured out the trick.

This style definitely has it's own charm, but I prefer the old style: to me that one is much easier to fold :-)

Birthday Roses

A short while ago it was my fathers birthday. Because I find it difficult to come up with a 'perfect' birthday gift (regardless whoever birthday it is), I made him a bouquet of mini Kawasaki roses. I made 12 of them including a paper stem and leaves and I arranged them in a small pot of glass, filled with tiny lucky stars. Fortunately I had made the lucky stars in a far earlier stadium or else I wouldn't be able to finish the gift in time. :-)

The bouquet is now an unique decoration on the family altar at my parents home.

My very first Kawasaki Rose

I don't remember precisely when I got interested in origami. It could be when I happen to come upon the Kawasaki Rose on the internet when I was surfing without a purpose. I was immediately intrigued by the ingenious way of folding a piece of paper so that it looks like a rose. Of course I knew of the art of origami long before that, I just wasn't aware of the extent of it. Until then origami was only folded lilies and cranes to me. Only lilies and cranes... now see how limited I was in my knowledge? :-)

After seeing how lovely a folded Kawasaki Rose is, I had to try one myself. And tried I did! I found this very clear instruction on Youtube that helped me made my very first one. Back then I didn't have 'real' origamipaper so I used ordinary college paper.

This has been a few months ago now (that short period?? It actually feels like I've been folding for ages! :-D). Since then I have 'mastered' the skill of folding the K-rose. And I plan to make many more of them! :-D :-D

Where do I begin...

I love to make things with my hands. Whether that's with paper, paint, needle, wool or just baking something tasteful in our kitchen :-) I may be just an amateur, but every time I finish one of my 'projects' (as I like to call the subject on which I'm working at the moment) I feel happy seeing the result being not so bad at all. Most of the time it even looks like it should. :-)

Only recently I came upon the idea to put pictures of my makings on the internet to share it with others. I can assure this has absolutely nothing to do with wanting to show off my skills!! :-p :-p (Though it is nice to hear people admiring your work. Hey, just being human here :-D).
Wish I thought about it earlier, it would have been a great advantage to my own administration recalling going through all the different folders containing pictures on my harddrive in search for that one picture :-)

I found out it's really not hard to make something, if only you put your mind to it. Yes, it can be annoying if the process of making is not going as fast as you thought it would go or if the material does exactly the opposite of what you have had in mind. But in the end, if you see what you are capable of doing, all the efforts are worth it. And if is doesn't work out this time, there will always be a next try. I sure have my fair share of tries! :-D
Also an interest in handiwork and having skillful hands does help one get started. :-)

Well, I hope this may be the beginning of a new, endless 'project' with lots of inspirational pictures!! :-D