Ironed Grilled Cheese Sandwich

(you can see the iron marks)

I took a cooking class with my sister, and we learned how to make... grilled cheese sandwiches! They were really good, but next time I'd make it with better cheese--I don't like the texture and taste of American cheese slices/singles. When I eat American cheese, I'll eat it if it's sliced off a block. Not in prepackaged kraft slices.

Ingredients

~2 slices of bread of choice

~cheese

~butter

~an iron

So take a piece of bread, put a slice or two of cheese on top (make sure it doesn't come off the sides; just overlap it. You don't want the cheese to melt onto the iron), and put another piece of bread over that. Butter the outsides of your sandwich. The picture shows the buttered sandwich. As you can see, I like a lot of butter.

Now place it on some paper towels, and press the iron on top. Don't move it around; just push down with some pressure. This will flatten it out, or at least it did for me... Check your sandwich and see if it's golden brown--for me this was about 30 seconds to a minute. You can flip it over if you'd like.

When you're done, just eat! I'm sure you could put a paper towel or foil something over your sandwich if you're worried about getting the iron/sandwich dirty, but I didn't use one (yikes. germs...). Enjoy!

P.S. I like to add bacon. I didn't to this one, but for most cheese sandwiches I (okay, my mom) do. Just saying...

o(^___^o)

Three Things

Ghirardelli triple chocolate, double thick brownies.

Peach pie with cold milk.

Glass building (my sister took this picture w/ her ipod).

o(^__^o)

How I Crochet my Doilies

I've been so inspired by lace bib dresses that I've been trying to crochet freestyle doilies. Even though I'm not a very good crocheter. I always skip stitches and overlook them so my finished piece has a ton of increases and decreases and resembles an hourglass. But that's besides the point.

Source: us.asos.com via Naomi on Pinterest

This is how I made my practice doily. It's a half doily, but at the end I'll tell you how to make a circle one. I used US 10 knitting needles and crochet hook w/ DK weight yarn.

CO 10 sts. Knit till it's 2." Now cut the yarn and thread through the stitches. Pull it so that the piece makes a half-circle shape. Tie off. Now I just crocheted around the border with different stitches and patterns (freestyle).

First I single and double crocheted around. Then, to make an eyelet row, I chained 2, skipped 2 sts, and hdc into the 2nd stitch. I did that all around. When I was done, I single crocheted a row.

To make the scalloped border, I chained 3, skipped 3 sts, and dc into the 3rd stitch. I did that all around. Turn work. Now, in each scallop, sc, hdc, dc, hdc, and sc. If you've ever crocheted a flower, then you'll know how to do this.

If you want a circle doily, CO more stitches at the beginning, pull the yarn through the stitches tightly, and sew the two ends together.

If you don't understand what I'm talking about, find a crochet flower tutorial and maybe you'll get it. Or find someone who knows what they're talking about. Good luck!

o(^___^o)

Tutorial: How to Put Your Hair up with a Chopstick

Last week it was extremely hot. I felt like my face was melting off. Plus, one of my teacher's classrooms is extremely stuffy. He doesn't seem to like to open his windows, and his fan at the back--well, that's it. It's at the back. It's about 5 degrees hotter in his classroom than out in the hallway. Which is why I like to put my hair up in a bun to get it off my neck.

But a lot of the times I forget my hair tie. So I use my pen. This is usually how I do it--my first hair tutorial! Bear with me, please...

Oh, and this is for righties, so lefties can either switch the directions around or just try and use your right hand... I mean, being ambidextrous is pretty cool, right? Yes? No? well I think it is...

The end result will look like a little lump of hair on your head--sounds attractive, right?

'Kay, so you'll need

~hair that at least comes to your shoulders. mine's a couple inches past my shoulders, plus it's in layers so it sort of falls apart at the front, but it works to get it off my neck

~one chopstick, hair stick, pen, pencil, crochet hook, knitting needle, um, toothbrush? etc.

 Here it is as a more messy, casual style (w/ a ton of hair falling out...).

 Neater version:

{Please excuse the fact that I'm obviously in my pajamas and I've just gotten out of the shower}

1) Put your hair up in a ponytail and hold it with your left hand.

2) Take your stick with your right hand and insert it underneath the top layer of hair with the point. So you're sliding it into the top layer of hair into your ponytail from right to left, point-first.

3) Pull the ponytail up and behind your stick--wrap it around.

4) Now twist the stick clockwise so the point is now facing the other direction, with your right hand. When you twist it like this, you will feel that you've created a loop.

5) Flip the stick around by lifting the non-sharp side, which should be on the left, and pushing the sharp side into your hair till it pokes out of the center of your loop.

You're done. Usually it stays put like this for a while. Thanks for reading!

o(^___^o)

Homemade Twix Bars

Halloween's coming! Don't these Twix bars look delicious?

Come back on Monday for a new tutorial!

Inspiration of the Week & other things...

Flat iron wavy hair tutorial.

Gorgeous ombre dress. I want to attempt to make this (wish me luck).

I also made some pumpkin shaped rice crispies with my dear duddy [daddy]. So basically you make rice crispies, grease a cookie cutter with butter, and cut them out! Mmm... they make me so happy. Along with chocolatey Halloween candy. :)

Pluuuuusss... I got the new Percy Jackson book! Woohoo!

And have you ever had focaccia bread with olive oil and garlic? It's delicious. You should try it.

o(^___^o)

What I've been up to...

Knitting a pair of hand warmers due to a sudden decrease in temperature. It's also started raining. I love it. :)

My sister got a pair of ugly green plaid sunglasses (no offense to anyone who has these; if you do, just ignore me. My opinion doesn't count) and we got out some gray nail polish. We're painting the sunglasses gray, we're painting the sunglasses gray (like in Alice in Wonderland. Except they were painting the roses red)...

I still try to do all this even with school and soccer. Just wanted to let you know I am making an effort. o(^___^o)