Pot Roast and Honey Beer Bread

I got a slow cooker for my 21st birthday.  You heard that right, a slow cooker.  And I love it.  I broke it in with a vat of queso (it holds six quarts, so that can be considered a vat, right?), and I have expanded its experience now with a pot roast.  I made this great honey beer bread that I found on Reddit to go with it, which made the meal even better. 

For the pot roast, I used a 3 pound roast and boy was it the most meat I think I've ever purchased in one trip to Kroger - ever!  I realized I usually buy fish or sausage, but rarely beef.

After waking up at 8:00 to start, I began by chopping onions and quickly browning them with a few cloves of garlic in about 1 tbsp of olive oil.  I don't usually smell onions that early in the morning, but boy did that smell good.  The onions don't need to brown for long, just enough to get a bit crisp on the edge, maybe 2 minutes for each side of the ring on medium high heat.

I turned my slow cooker on high and added the slightly cooked onions and garlic along with a bit of butter.  Because it wasn't warm yet, I cut the butter and tried to distribute it evenly along the bottom of the slow cooker.

Next: the meat.  Using the same pan as the onions, I seared the salted and peppered roast on all sides.

I threw that on top of the onions and added 1/2 bag of baby carrots, two really big potatoes, 4 cups of beef stock and parsley and oregano.  The reason I started so early?  I had a 9:30 am class, and I wanted to get it started so it could sit for a while.

When I got home, it was cooking away.  And right before we ate?  Yum!

The meat was falling apart and it tasted (in my opinion) just like a roast should.  Here's the recipe (adapted from Pioneer Woman):

2 onions, cut into rings
3 cloves garlic
3 tbsp olive oil
3 lb roast
1 1/2 cups baby carrots
4 cups beef broth
 1 lb potatoes
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
parsley and oregano, to taste

Begin by browning the onions and garlic in a large pan in 2 tbsp olive oil.  Add onions and garlic to 2 tbsp butter in crock pot on high.  Salt and pepper roast, adding it and and addition tbsp of olive oil in pan used for onions.  After searing roast on all sides, add to crock pot along with potatoes, baby carrots, and broth.  Season to taste.  Wait at least 7 hours (8 or 9) is preferable and serve, pulling meat apart with a fork.

But what to have with this wonderful roast?  Something hearty, to be sure.  This great Honey Beer Bread, adapted from Kirbie's Kitchen, is so delicious as a side, and I'm ready to try it out as toast tomorrow!

My favorite thing about it?  No waiting for anything to rise.  It's like 5 minutes of work, 5 minutes of cleanup, 50 minutes in the oven, and done.  Perfect to go with the easy crock pot meal!

Combining dry ingredients (just flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder) is really the most complex step.  I promise.  You do want to do it in a large enough bowl, though.

Next is the best part: the beer!  I chose to use a Sam Adams Boston Lager.  You can really use anything you have around, I think it'd probably taste like light beer if you use light beer, so use those with caution.  Unless you like light beer or something... then more power to you!

You're going to add the whole bottle to your dry ingredients along with 2 tbsp of warm honey.  For the honey, if you have a plastic container, you really only need to nuke it for 5 seconds to get it runny enough.  Trust me, the first time I did it I put it in for 15 and the honey got HOT.

So after you've added your bottle of beer (minus a sip or two if you're me), then mix your ingredients until they're just combined.  Add two tbsp of melted butter to the bottom of a 9" by 5" loaf pan and another two tablespoons to the top.  Sprinkle coarse salt on top, and pop it in the oven for 50 minutes or so.

 Yeah, it's a lot of butter on top and bottom.  But it makes a difference.  I'd never made break in a loaf pan like this before and thought I could omit it, but everything I saw online said "keep the butter!" so I did!  And boy does this loaf of bread look beautiful.

Yes folks, that is what my loaf looked like (before we devoured most of it).  And this is a picture with my terrible point and shoot camera that is 5 years old with no editing.  All those other pictures had to be edited a bit.  But not this one.  Because that loaf of bread is that beautiful. 

So is your mouth watering yet?  Because here's that recipe:

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp warm honey

1 bottle beer
4 tbsp butter, melted 

1 tsp coarse salt

Preheat oven to 350.  Combine dry ingredients and mix in a medium bowl.  Add slightly warmed honey and beer, mixing with a wooden spoon until they have just incorporated.  Grease a 9" by 5" loaf pan, and add 2 tbsp melted butter to bottom.  After adding dough, spread the reaming butter on top.  Sprinkle salt on batter before baking 50 to 60 minutes or until brown.

Baseball Movies

This weekend my friends and I went and saw "Moneyball," starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill.  The movie follows the Oakland A's and their struggle to put together a winning team on a limited budget.  Full disclosure: I'm a Cleveland Indians fan.  I always have been, as both of my parents are from Cleveland and I have some hardcore Chief Wahoo fans in my family.

"Moneyball" does a great job of showing how much other teams hurt when there's a huge wealth disparity.  Or, at least, that's how it was, before Peter Brand started looking at the game like a Harvard educated economist.  Baseball statistics, as far as I know, have been recorded since the beginning of the game.  Because it is so cut and dry (strike or ball, single or double), teams with money have been able to look at a page of statistics and say "I want that guy, he's got a batting average over 300 and stole 20 bases last year."  What Brand did, however, was teach the A's to buy runs, not players.  If you can get ten players that can do as well as your three star players and cost 40% less, you've got yourself an efficient baseball team.

What made "Moneyball" great (and why it is currently sitting at over 93% on Rotten Tomatoes) is that it's more than a baseball movie.  It's the little guy challenging the establishment, and showing that new ideas can work, even in a sport with a history as long as baseball.  I have friends that went to see the movie that were not baseball fans.  After leaving the theater, one said, "Wow.  I thought that was going to be boring, long and drawn out, like a baseball game.  But even the baseball stuff was interesting!"  When you can get someone who hates baseball enough to refuse to watch the World Series to like a baseball movie, you've done well.

There are two other baseball movies that I love, "Fever Pitch" (don't make fun) and "Major League."  The rom-com style of "Fever Pitch" works for me because the whole time I was watching the movie, I wondered what it was going to be like at the end of the season.  As indifferent to the Red Sox as I am, the 2004 season was one for the record books.  And although "Fever Pitch" is not a movie for the hardcore Sox fan, it's a good baseball-centric story most people can get into.  And I don't think I need to say anything about "Major League" other than that as an Indians fan, I am required to love it.

Out of my (now) three favorite baseball movies, I'd say "Moneyball"  is easily the most accessible to baseball fans and non fans alike.  It does a wonderful job of being a movie with all the baseball quirks (dipping, anyone?) and phrases ("I like him, he's got a strong swing"), but it's easily connectable to those who aren't gearing up for October and the playoffs.  My recommendation: if you like baseball, this is a need to see movie.  If you're not a baseball fan, it's supremely acted and well written and worth your time anyway.

Catching Fire Book Review

After my previous review of The Hunger Games, I took a few days to gather my thoughts about the next book in the series, Catching Fire.  Catching Fire in the middle of an obvious trilogy, and, as I find common with trilogies, is probably the weakest of the three.  Don't get me wrong, it's still a good, enjoyable read.  But it falls decidedly short of the first book.  As with my last review, this will be spoiler free if you've read the first book.


Catching Fire comes to us in three distinct parts: the Victory Tour, the preparation for the 75th Hunger Games, and the Games themselves.  Katniss is still adjusting to her life back in District 12 when President Snow shows up.  His creepyness is palpable, and his rosy bloodstained scent makes him that much worse.  He knows things he shouldn't be able to know about Katniss, specific things that happened in the woods outside of District 12.  He makes it very clear that the only reason her and Peeta have been allowed to live is because the people love them.  With some unsettling comments about conditions in other districts, Katniss and Peeta are off to relive their whirlwind love and remind the citizens of Panem that the Hunger Games are still alive and well.

After leaving District 12, the first location the duo visit (team in tow, of course), is District 11, Rue's home.  Katniss doesn't know what to say to the families of the dead tributes, but winds up making a very moving speech.  Instead of placating the crowd, Katniss only manages to embolden the people.  Members of the gathering are shot by several peacekeepers, showing that the game here is not the same as it is in District 12.  After returning to District 12, Katniss goes out to hunt, meeting mysterious refugees from District 8.  They say that they are headed to District 13 and share the rumors they have heard.  In news reels from the Capitol, the footage of District 13 never changes.  Katniss dismisses some of their talk, but she still questions whether a secret district could actually exist.

The second part of the book follows the preparations for the third Quarter Quell.  Although I loved the idea of a Quarter Quell, I felt like it was an afterthought added after the first Hunger Games book.  Collins has said that she always intended it to be a trilogy, but if the Quarter Quell were mentioned in the first book, I would have felt it would be more believable.  Special punishment is included in the Hunger Games every 25 years, to remind the citizens of Panem just how lucky they are to still be alive.  The 25th Hunger Games had citizens of the districts vote on children as tributes instead of the usual lottery, while the 50th had twice the tributes.  It seems as though the mandate for the 3rd Quarter Quell comes at too fortunate a time for the politics of the capitol to be coincidence.

I don't want to go more into the plot, as I feel that'd give too much away.  However, I will say this: this book sets up the final novel, the conclusion.  This Games, the last third of the novel, is not as shocking as the first, possibly because the reader knows what to expect.  There are clever terrors invented, but the real payoff does not come until the end.  Katniss has grown in some ways; she has decided to throw all of herself at one cause, but she still allows herself to be manipulated and a pawn.  Secondary characters are much more interesting in this book, with the exceptions of Katniss's mother and Prim, who remain blandly flat. 

I missed a few thing from this book.  I wanted the Victory Tour to go on longer, and I wanted to know more about the other districts.  Katniss goes numb on the trip, and while Peeta says all the right things, she seems to say all the wrong.  The idea that Katniss should be choosing between Peeta and Gale seems contrived as well.  Peeta, the boy who will always love her, who supports Katniss, is apparently not the yin to her yang, but Gale doesn't seem to fit either.

Although the book is good, the only reason I would consider it a rereadable book is because it is stuck between two stronger ones.  The first book is wonderful: suspenseful, well-written, and gory.  The second has slightly less of each.  Mockingjay is good too, and really does need the setup from Catching Fire, but some of the best parts seemed to get lost.

The Hunger Games review: May the odds be ever in your favor!

So, it’s been a while since I’ve posted here, and part of that has to do with the sheer volume of what I’ve been reading recently.  So, you can soon expect some interesting reviews within the next few weeks.   I’d like to start with what’s absolutely the freshest in my mind, The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins.  I read them all in a week.  This review is for The Hunger Games, the first book in the series, but there will be reviews for Catching Fire and Mockingjay later in the week, which will have spoilers for previous books.  This review is spoiler free.

The Hunger Games starts in one of my favorite settings: the dystopian future.  Panem stands where North America once did, centuries after some unknown global war.  Composed of a gleaming Capitol and 12 subservient districts, each with a unique industry meant to serve the nation as a whole, Panem went through the “Dark Days” about 75 years before the novel, when a 13th district tried to rebel.  Each remaining district is now required to provide two children, a girl and a boy, between the ages of 12 and 18 through a lottery to battle to the death annually, so the districts will never forget the power the Capitol holds over them.  This lottery is far from a fair system, however, as poor children can take extra entries in exchange for food for their families. The Hunger Games are mandatory television throughout the nation, with each child growing up knowing they could be fighting to the death as young as 12.

Mischief Managed

So, for those of you living under a rock, the last movie in the epic Harry Potter series comes out tonight.  This is it.  The end.  And at 20 years old, I'm not quite sure I'm ready to let it go.

I was introduced to Harry in about third grade.  I was a voracious reader, jumping between books and reading several at a time.  I remember getting those wonderful little book order catalogs (sidenote: do they do those anymore with the advent of Amazon?), reading the descriptions, and waiting rather impatiently for the books to come in.  My mom, if I remember correctly, was the mom who organized it for one or two of my classes, and I knew that I would get my books first.  I think if she had ever brought me to book stores my little 8 year old heart would have stopped and I would have spontaneously combusted.  Because books, although (I think) the best thing you can buy a child, are expensive, I also got a lifetime love of rereading from my absolute need to be reading at all times.

So after learning who Harry was, I was hooked.  I was perfectly happy to read Chamber of Secrets at my own pace.  I continued to read, asking for the next book for my birthday.  Well, lo and behold, Azkaban had just come out and they were out of stock!  So I waited, ready to know what the next adventure would hold, and once I got my hands on it, I still couldn't believe how good it was.  The Prisoner of Azkaban has always been my favorite of the series, and when Goblet of Fire came out, I was already starting an obsession. 

We moved before I entered middle school, and Harry helped me make new friends.  Harry was something we had in common, and the books helped cure me of at least a bit of my social awkwardness.  Or, at least, put me with people who would accept and love me no matter how nerdy I was.  The first book I ever got on opening day was Order of the Phoenix, at a BJ's wholesale club (why I remember this I don't know).  I started reading it on the drive home and didn't stop until I finished at about 2 in the morning.  Of course, the next day, I immediately started rereading it.  I don't know what sticks out at me, but I can vividly remember reading this book, even from the beginning in the dust jacket (Ron plays Quiddich?).  Waiting for others to finish the book was torture, I had theories!

Half-Blood Prince is more of a blur.  I had moved again by this point and was in high school.  I had another group of Potter-obsessed friends, and we would talk about our theories often, wondering what would come next.  The movies, of course, had an impact on our fandom (I think I had a Harry Potter calendar annually from 2002 to 2007), and it was always part of our lives.  There was another book to look forward to; another movie to pick apart argue if it was good or not.

Then came Deathly Hallows.  It was the only book that I went to a midnight release of, with my hand knit Gryffindor scarf from years past (should've made a Ravenclaw in hindsight), and my best friend and I left Borders, going 65 down a 45, racing home to start the book.  I remember saying to my friend as we ran a yellow, "I just got the book, if you kill me before I read the book I'll kill you!"  Once I got home, I read from 12:30 AM to the finish at about 9.  I read so fast I missed several pieces of dialog, but it probably didn't help that I had tears down my face from page 56 to the very end.  I had to physically put the book down during the Battle of Hogwarts to let the deaths of my two favorite secondary characters to wash over me.  The next day, I started rereading.

In the four years (minus one week) since that book has come out, I have seen movies at midnight, reread the series several times, and grown into a different kind of Potter fandom.  I've watched A Very Potter Musical and its sequel several times, and I became a nerdfighter in 2008.  Most of my friends are still Potter fans, and many people I know from Twitter or Dailybooth love Harry as much, if not more than me.  Our plans for spring break of next year?  Visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  Since Christmas Eve, I have been participating in the Harry Potter Reread, reading a chapter a day, ending today.  Although the movies end tonight, I will never stop loving Harry.

This is something I want to keep in mind as I watch the movie tonight: it will never really be over, not for me.  I've probably read Sorcerer's Stone 25 times, and Dealthly Hallows at least five.  Pottermore will be starting up in a few weeks, and I can't wait to see more stuff from the Potter Universe.  These are books that I want to read to my kids, to introduce them to the magic and wonder of Hogwarts, the battle between good and evil, and the struggles we all face as adolescence with teen angst.  I grew up with Harry, he's like a childhood friend to me.  So thanks, Jo, thank you for these books that I will never stop rereading.

Sewing a Dress for the First time!

I sewed my first ever dress last weekend.  And let me say, although I haven't sewn anything in quite a while, I really enjoyed it and thought it was a success.

I used New Look pattern 6020 and made view C.  I cut a size 16 to be conservative (it's easier to take in than it is to let out!) but it wound up being not just big, but way too big.  Like, two sizes too big.  But I was able to take it in a good bit and make it wearable.

I chose to use a cotton fabric from Joann's that turned out really well.  I think that the print is flattering and I love the belt that I paired with it, from Forever 21 for just $3.50!

I made a bunch of mistakes when making it, of course, as it was my first garment.  I sized myself very wrong, and I think that next time I cut a pattern it will be a 14 at the bust tapering to a 12 or 10 at the waist.  I don't have a zipper foot, so my zipper, although it came out pretty well, it's far from perfect.  I also didn't finish my interior seams at all, so the first time I washed it, there were threads all over the place.  I also had a "oh I can do this fast" issue around the neckline, below.

 

All in all, I think it was a success.  I learned a lot, and I used zippers, interfacing, and sizing for the first time.  With the Vogue Pattern sale this weekend, I picked up several.  I am really excited to start working with different fabrics (charmouse and chiffon are called for on two of the dresses).  If anyone has any tips, leave them in the comments!

My newest hobby: Cooking!

So I've always somewhat enjoyed cooking, especially over the past year or so (since I've gotten my own kitchen).  I like cooking a huge variety of food, but I'm not quite as skilled as I would like to be, but I'm learning quickly, I think.  So where's a college senior (wow! Senior year already?) to start cooking?  I was never allowed in the kitchen at home in high school, as my mom is (rightfully) particular and protective of her kitchen's cleanliness and plain and simply doesn't enjoy cooking herself.  I really started cooking when my boyfriend showed me how much fun it can actually be.

Now, there's no way I'm going to pretend to be an expert (just like everything else on this blog).  I have a small kitchen in my apartment with all the essentials, but I really don't know how to use most of it to the fullest.  What I've been doing, however, is taking recipes from many different types of food and giving them a shot.  I inherited several Williams Sonoma cookbooks, which are great but use more expensive ingredients and can have pretty complicated techniques.  What I've really done is taken recipes from two main sources: Real Simple magazine and food blogs. 

My favorite food blog is hands down Smitten Kitchen.  There's four years of archives to go through, her recipe index is absolutely wonderful, there's a random button, and she has a huge following.  What makes this following great?  There's hundreds of comments for most recipes.  Even the oldest ones have dozens.  For her spaetzle recipe, there are over 460 comments about how the recipe turned out for the commenter, what different techniques are available if you don't have a spaetzle maker, and a bunch of recipe variations.  When I made my attempt at chicken paprikas (which is a whole other story - good spaetze, flavorless chicken, runny sauce), I used lots of comments to understand the different ways of going about making the noodles.

Hopefully I'll be able to post in the future, and with it being summer, I have much more time to stand in the kitchen and cook something more than a quesadilla.  Maybe some of it will even show up here...

Color Rolls of 120 - Football and Zoo

So I took out my Dianas (yes, I have two; an old Diana F and a new Diana F+) and finally got the rolls finished.  I had been slightly hoarding the film because I was too afraid to screw it up!  But here we go, results at last.  Both rolls were Kodak Portra 400VC and were processed at Walmart.  First, from the Diana F:

Fightin' Texas Aggie Football

Love the light leaks on this one

I'M AN ANTEATER

The problem that I had with this roll was the really high number of light leaks.  Because I loaded the 120 film thinking I was going to break it (yeah, silly in hindsight), I didn't get it to wind tight enough, so the plastic of the 120 spool did not completely cover the edges of the film. 

I did not have these problems with the Diana F+, which produced a couple of great shots.  My favorite is definitely the bear.

This bear was awesome.  He totally loved all the attention.

All in all, I was extremely pleased with my results.  The zoo was a great place to go to get inspiration, and it's an easy way to make sure you've got good light as well.  Can't wait to get more results in the future!

Diana F+ Accessories that I'm Lusting After

So, while browsing eBay like any good lomographer, found a few products that I've decided I cannot live without.

1. The Diana F+ Fisheye Lens.  It's beautiful, takes great fisheye pictures, and is significantly cheaper than buying a whole new camera for fisheye pictures.  Also, it is pennies compared to buying a fisheye lens for the Canon FD mount, which is the mount that my Canon AE-1 has.  Because you can take off the Diana's lens (which is very scary the first time you do it, but gets better), you don't have to shoot a whole roll of fisheye.  Not every situation calls for fisheye, which makes this a very appealing lens for me.
2. The Diana F+ Instant Back. The instant back takes pictures with the Fuji Instant film, which comes in 10 packs for about $10 or $12.  Compared to buying a Polaroid SX-70 (my dream camera) and paying $20 minimum for the Impossible Project's films, this is a deal.  Instant pictures will definitely upgrade your "hipster cred," but I'm also excited to be able to get pictures back almost as quickly as a digital camera.  I'm usually not bad about waiting for my film to come back, but since I've had two rolls of 120 at Walmart for 10 days now, I'm getting anxious to get them back.
3. The Diana F+ 35mm Back.  Although I have a Holga 135BC, I feel like the Diana definitely has a "dreamier" feel to it from the start.  Processing 35mm film is also way easier than bringing in 120 film (not to mention cheaper).  I also like the idea of being able to shoot 35mm without modding the camera.  You can also tell what frame you're on, and you can shoot with a variety of formats including sprockets exposed and square.

These are all things that I've been looking at buying for quite a while. The problem is, I usually wind up buying a whole new camera instead, which decreases the funds that I have to buy accessories.  Although Lomography is quite overpriced and there are some products that I have no desire for at all (the telephoto lens for the Diana comes to mind), these three, with the possible exception of the instant back, are pretty reasonably priced.  The lens gives you the ability to have practically a whole new camera, and the backs give you more shooting options.  Hopefully these accessories will be in my near future.

 

Book vs Movie: Carl Sagan's Contact

After hearing several friends tell me how awesome Carl Sagan's fiction is, I decided to give it a test drive.  I had heard of Contact before, but I'd never gotten around to neither seeing the movie nor reading the book.  Over spring break I've done both.

Carl Sagan's story focuses on Ellie Arroway, an exceptional woman with a passion for radio astronomy.  While working on the SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence) program, her and her team discover a signal coming from the star Vega, 26 light years away.  Although cautious at first, this is no false alarm - we've made our first contact with life outside our planet.

In the book, first published in 1985, we meet Ellie at a young age and follow her as she is first showing interest in science.  She is driven to ask "why" and has a remarkable relationship with her father, who dies while she is still young.  Although she tries religion, she is pushed away from the church after being told that she asks too many questions.  However, Ellie triumphs forward; past her stepfather who thinks that, as a girl, Ellie should not pursue the science she loves; past a graduate adviser who sees little promise in her; and past a program will little radio time.

Her discovery of a signal that will irrevocably change the world comes near the end of the millennium.  Although the signal is quickly found to have multiple layers, the lowest layer, which seems to be plans to build something with over 30,000 pages of instructions, seems to be without a primer.  After months of work, the secret to building the machine is finally unveiled, and construction begins.  Although humanity has no idea what some of the parts do, much less the machine as a whole, a crew of five is selected to man the machine.

Because this message seems is such an unexpected shock for everyday people, there is much debate over the nature of the message and whether or not the "Vegans" should be trusted at all.  Some turn to God; to televangelists who fear the end of days.  Palmer Joss, an older minister with an interest in science, is one of the few to push for support for the project.  Ellie and Joss disagree on many things, but both believe that the search for truth is the most important mission there is.

In addition to the religious fighting that comes with the message, there is a question as to who will fund this vast undertaking.  S.R. Hadden, the richest man in the world, agrees that he will help to fund the machine.  Although he appears to be a good (if greedy) person overall, his company has been involved in many ventures that are considered by many to be amoral, including the massive pleasure city of Babylon.

Ellie's relationship with Hadden is as complex as her relationship with Joss.  All three of these characters brings a different core belief to the table, beliefs in science, money, and God that blend together surprisingly well.  That is what makes Sagan's book so powerful: it's not just a book about our first contact with aliens.  It's a book about Ellie.  On the whole, it is more about her realization that faith in something (not necessarily anything religious) is a powerful thing.  Just the phrase "I have faith" can be hard to say but extremely meaningful.

The 1997 movie, starring Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey, the basis of the plot and theme remains the same.  Of course there have been changes, first to update to the technology to what it actually was in 1997 (and politics, as the USSR is heavily involved in the novel and no longer exists), and second to make the movie "sexier" and more appealing to the masses.  Sure, there will be fiction readers not interested in radio telescopes that will pick up a book by the great Carl Sagan.  But there will be far many more that will go to a movie about alien contact than will ever read a book about it.

One of these appealing tactics was the addition of a Joss/Ellie romantic storyline.  In the movie, Palmer Joss is a smooth talker and immediately takes a liking to Ellie.  Although it adds plot for movie audiences, I disagree that the complete change in Palmer Joss' character were needed.  His character in the book still manages to make an impact on Ellie and affects her profoundly, even though their conversations are short.  Other changes, such as the machine holding one person in comparison to five, only take away if you've read the book.

All in all, I think the book was one of the best that I've read in a while.  The movie was also good, but it really pales in comparison to the book if you're interested in space and astronomy.  I would recommend either in a heartbeat, and will definitely be thanking the friend that first recommended it to me.

Papyrus Cards

The lack of posts has been due to a major event in the life of a college student - spring break.  On our various adventures, we wound up at the Galeria in Dallas.  While walking around, I saw the Papyrus store and nearly gasped.  I didn't know they had stores, I just assumed Target or online was the only place you could buy them.

Cards are something that I really enjoy shopping for.  Yeah, it's weird, I know.  I've never made cards before (at least not seriously), but I think that this something that I'd like to maybe start doing.  I have some blank cards, and lots and lots of scrapbooking supplies.  I know that things are more complicated when you try to do them yourself, but I do feel like I am skilled enough to at least try.

I think the beauty of Papyrus cards is hard to match, though, no matter what supplies you have.  It's that "I love us" quality from 500 Days of Summer.  Someone has to write greeting cards.  And although I'd like to think that I can write quality notes, there's nothing quite like an aisle of cards and ten minutes to browse them.

Vignetting on the Holga 135BC

When I first purchased my Holga, I decided I needed to go for a 35mm one first.  I'll admit it, I was scared of 120, scared of wasting money, and scared to get 120 developed.  So, I went for the Hogla 135BC.  The BC stands for black corners, and it has a mask within the camera that darkens the edges.  Diehard Holga fans may scoff at this "unnatural" vignetting, especially on the first few releases, as it looked hard and dark, not muted and soft.

To be honest, I choose the BC version because it was significantly cheaper than the Holga 135 when I purchased it.  I'm glad that I did now, though, as I fell like it really gives photos more of a lomo feel.

Sometimes the dark corners look great, and sometimes they either seem to not show up or take over the whole picture.  Below are samples of each type.

This picture, to me, is pure Holga.  Kind of blurry, kind of out of focus, but really fun.

When it's good, it's great

Sometimes you can't even tell that it's there, especially in pictures that are dark to begin with, like the one below.

I think the only time it ever bothers me is when you can actually see the mask or if it's off center.

I  do have a few tips on how to ensure that you get at least some vignetting with your 135BC.

1. First and foremost, take care of your camera.  Playing too rough with it could knock the mask out of place.  Now, I'm surprised at how much abuse my camera can take (mostly unintentional, of course), but if you drop it you may need to check the mask when you're done with your roll of film.
2. Pictures in dark light or with the flash aren't as likely to show the vignetting, though it will still be there. It will just get washed out by other elements in the picture.
3. Natural light is the best.  The aperture setting doesn't change that much in your pictures, but I have found that having it on the proper aperture can make the mask look more like "it's supposed to."
4. Taking pictures where you expect a lens flare will probably have very distinct dark corners.
5. Go with it!  It's a Holga, not a DSLR. That's the point, right?

Business Card PSD

Because I enjoy this kind of thing (and I really didn't have too much to do this afternoon), I made a mock up business card.  It's fully editable and the PSDs are in CMYK format at 300 dpi, perfect for printing.  Bleed and safe zones are included.

Below is the preview of the card.  You can download it here!  You'll also need to have the font Franchise if you want it to look just like this, which is downloadable here.

For just being an afternoon project, I'm pretty happy with them.  They should be pretty simple to use, and it includes the three colors shown above.

First roll of 120 film

Over the summer, after getting familiar with film photography through my Hogla 135BC and a Canon AE-1, I decided to take the leap into medium format.  I found a new Diana F+ on eBay for $35.  It seemed to good to be true, as the Lomography website sells them for $95 and the seller said they had included film with it.  I waited for the package to come, and it was perfect.  Unopened, the box contained everything that matched up with the description on the Lomography website and I also got 3 rolls of black and while 120 film (Lomography brand, 100 ASA).

If you're interested in getting a Diana F+, I really recommend either eBay or Amazon.  I got lucky with eBay, but you can get the camera without the flash on Amazon for less than $40 and the camera with the flash for about $80.  Although I love to drool over the lomography website, they're way overpriced.

It took me a while to get through the roll.  A whole semester, in fact.  Part of this was because I had no idea how to use 120 properly.  As I have now seen online, the Lomographic 120 black and white film is just cheap Shanghai brand film repackaged and marked up significantly.  Now there's nothing exactly wrong with the film- but it's not the easiest to use.  The backing paper is black, and the numbers that tell you what frame you're at are silver.  If that's not hard to see behind the little red door, I don't know what is, especially if you're nervous because it's your first roll!

Another problem I had was I loaded my film wrong the first time.  I don't really know how I did it, but I managed to shut the door on the roll of film the first time.  I realized the film wasn't advancing at all, had to open up the camera, and expose the film.  This is why I think I got the very high number of light leaks I did on my roll (there was one on almost every frame).  I finally finished the roll and didn't realize I had done so and tried to take a few more pictures before I realized I had no resistance when winding!  Obviously, 35mm film has spoiled me.

I had thought about processing my film at my local Ritz camera, where I usually drop off my 35mm rolls (only partly to talk to the cute guy that works behind the counter), but I had hear Walmart was significantly cheaper and had fine results.  So, two weeks and $8.23 later, I got 9 usable pictures from my roll of 16.  Not bad for a first try!  I only got 10 or so off of my first 35mm roll because I wasn't used to having to have a separate flash for indoor pictures.

So, on to some results!

My favorite from the roll.

Example of the light leaks I got on most of the roll

I think this picture really shows the feel of a Diana, even with the flash.

Overall, I was pretty happy with my first attempt's results, and I know that my next roll should get more pictures, as I loaded it properly!