Anime con sewing projects

I try to make all of my costumes whenever possible since it's usually cheaper and much more satisfying that buying a premade one. I only had time to make one new costume for Nekocon this past weekend in Virginia. It was a very small con and if it hadn't been for the people I hung out with it would have been quite a let down. It was only about a third of the size of AZ and not many people brought more than one cosplay so we saw the same people over and over instead of a constant stream of new costumes. It also would have been a lot more fun if I had not been sick and up to my ears in homework but that couldn't be helped. I was very pleased with how my Rin from Blue Exorcist turned out. I was able to find a handful of other people cosplaying from the same show so that made it even more fun. I spent about 7 hours sewing my characters familiar in the show, a cat named Kuro (Blacky). I LOVE how well she turned out even if it did take a lot of work and I got a lot of compliments on my tail (made by me), cosplay, and how well my Kuro turned out. Over all a pretty good weekend I'm just exhausted from all the walking and lack of sleep. Hopefully I'll be able to get a group together for Katsucon in February so I'm going to have to start working on a new cosplay for that!

Wordless Wednesday: Sweet face

Kitty and Yarn Ball Cake

We celebrated my mom's birthday last weekend and I made a new cake! Took a while for her to figure out what she wanted me to make for her but she was happy with what I came up with. I got the idea from a cake book I found a while ago. I wish I actually had the book so I could've used the actual directions but I think it turned out pretty well with me just using the picture as a guide. I made a chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream and then my homemade fondant. I really need a bigger cake container. I had to wait till 10 min before singing happy birthday to put the kitty on top since the cake lid would've smashed him otherwise. I have more cake next week for my friend's birhtday then my boyfriends then mine! Can't wait,this is such a busy month for me but I'm loving it.

Asian Salad

Do you like Panera's Asian Sesame Chicken Salad? I LOVE it! I don't like the cilantro (why do we not call it coriander?!) but everything else, especially the dressing, is awesome. However, unless you want to shell out at least $6-$8 for this yummy salad you're out of luck. Until now! I played around with the ingredients for the dressing until I found one that tasted pretty darn close to the one at Panera. I looked at what some other people had tried but I think mine is the closest. I am very picky about salad dressings so now I can finally enjoy some without having to drive 35-45 min and pay for the overpriced restaurant salads. Hope you enjoy! ^_^

1/2 c Rice vinegar (rice wine vinegar is the same thing, just be sure it's not the seasoned kind)
1/8 c Light (not roasted) sesame oil
1T sugar
2 packets Sugar substitute (or 3 more T sugar if you prefer)
1T or TT lime juice
Boil sugar, substitute, and vinegar till sugar is dissolved. Let cool completely to allow it to thicken a bit. Pour into a tall bowl. Then, with a hand blender turned on medium, slowly add sesame oil till desired flavor. Add juice a little at a time until it's to your liking and then blend again to keep the emulsion. Pour over a bowl full of mixed greens, sesame seeds, sliced almonds, pepper chicken, wonton strips and ENJOY!
The wontons can be easily made by buying some wonton wrappers in the fridge section of your supermarket and slicing them into 1 inch strips. You should probably use peanut oil but I was out so I used safflower oil instead. When the oil is heated, drop 2 strips in at a time flipping once. It only takes about 4 seconds per side if your oil is nice and hot. Remove from the oil just when they start to brown because they continue to darken after you pull them out. Lay on a paper towel or two to soak up the extra oil.

The bread in the picture is whole wheat chickpea bread made by me ^_^

Yuki is finally relaxing a bit after her spaying. She's been running around like a crazy girl since I brought her home yesterday.