Studied

All done with the color studies now.

Sixteen's Done

Part sixteen is all done and ready to roll onto seventeen!  I'm going to have this done soon.

Even In A Spanish Restaurant....

 Andreas ordered a Greek salad.  He got it, too.  This was our first stop in Odessa, even before we got to our apartment.  We were wet and hungry after our trip, the last part of which was in the rain.  He had Greek salad and a baked egg and chicken dish with rice.  I had lobster bisque, friptura, and fried brie.  It was all good and warm and the rain stopped while we were inside!

 Andreas ordered a Greek salad.  He got it, too.  This was our first stop in Odessa, even before we got to our apartment.  We were wet and hungry after our trip, the last part of which was in the rain.  He had Greek salad and 

Another Octogon

This is my new take along extra time project.  It's another one of those small octagons.  I like them, and Fireside Stitchery in Pennsylvania mails one to me every month as one of their clubs.  It's a full kit and directions, so you can just pick up the project and go.  Anyway, these are the bones of the new octagon!

Off To Odessa

 We drove to Odessa during the last week of August, since there were two! holidays during that week here (National Language Day and Independence Day).  We stayed three days and had a wonderful time.  Odessa doesn't look like an eastern European town; it was founded as a free port just before 1800 and was planned by French and Austrian architects.  This is the opera house.  Our apartment was about a block and a half away from it, so it was one of the first things we saw.  The opera house was built in the 1830's and is still in use today.  The architecture is gorgeous. 

So Slow

I think I am getting kind of slumpy about this project.  I've been working on it nearly every day for over eight months now, and it's just getting boring!  It looks good, yes, but still.... I need a break.  But there's a time limit to get each part done, and I'm already behind.  I'll end the whining now.

Half A Character

I've got half my "courage" character done now.  If that's really what it says.  Progress is slow but steady.

Tempura Craving Unfulfilled

 I had a craving for tempura, so we went to Planeta Sushi in MallDova.  Unfortunately, they didn't have any tempura, so I still have the craving.  I guess I will have to make it myself.  Anyway, we -did- have spring rolls and chicken bites and a ramen noodle bowl.  They all tasted good, but really?  No tempura?  I can dream!

Leaning Castle

I'm going to have to block this carefully once I'm done stitching.  It's crooked!  On the other hand, I'm getting so close  to finishing I even have stitches done on the last row.

Just Fencing

I'm not showing any real garden yet, but the fence is coming along.  The top is approximately half the width of the finished design.

Random Audi

 This car was sitting in MallDova last month on display.  It's an Audi A1, and yes, there are some on the road.  For as poor a country as this place is, it's got more than its share of BMW's, Porsches, Mercedes, and  Ferraris.

On The Stem

I'm on the stem now of the last flower.  This is going to come down, soon, to just doing all the white background.  I can't wait.

Breakfast At Pegas

When we ate dinner at Pegas as a group, I remarked that their breakfast menu looked good.  The guys said that they were -not- ever going to get up early enough to go out to breakfast on a weekend.  Thus, a ladies only breakfast on a Sunday morning.  We enjoyed ourselves!  A lot of this stuff was shared.  I tried the "cottage cheese pancakes".  They did have cheese in them and were served with a side of sour cream.  Good, but odd to American tastes.  We don't expect our pancakes to have any sour.  Next picture is some kind of Ukranian dish.  It was basically a very thin layer of scrambled egg rolled up and cut.  Tasted just like it was, too, but very pretty presentation.  The other ladies had eggs, tomatoes and cheese, but I'm not much of an egg person.  The baked camembert at the bottom was sooo delicious, though, and so artful!  The red is a raspberry coulis and the fruit is pears.  Definitely something to have again!

Dickens On Hold

Yup, I'm close to being done, but.... I've run out of thread.  Now to wait for it to get here!

More Color Homework

Another whole set of squares to do with different color schemes.  Done with all but one.  I think I'll make these into biscornu.  The pattern is a freebie from a French blog.

Back To Green Hills

 On a Saturday in late August, we had dinner at Green Hills Cafe on Stefan cel Mare again.  Andreas, being adventurous, had exactly what he had the previous time - Greek salad and schnitzel.  I had zeama and "tower salad".  It was - different.  I have no idea why a glob of mayonnaise is considered dressing here, but it is - and it's really not great.  The rest of the salad was pretty good, though.  Well, perhaps the large spray of dill could have been taken away.

Four Squares

I'm done with these four squares.  I'll probably make them into ornaments.  The colors were chosen for a color theory class I've been taking.  At least they worked up somewhat quickly, but doing four of the same thing of anything at the same time is hard for me to do!

More Green Bits

I am almost done with the shutters and the trees are growing.  I even got some of the peach plaster filled in.

Back To Buffalo

 We went back to Buffalo Steakhouse last month.  It will be our last visit for a while - they had a fire and flood, so are remodeling.  While there, I had zeama (beautifully presented and no bones!) and Andreas had Greek salad.  His iced tea looked more like iced tea than normal, and he says it tasted pretty close to sweet tea. I had a beef salad as my main course, and it was good - had more beef than most other beef salads in the area.  I still wish they served other than mayonnaise or oil and vinegar for salad dressing around here, though!  Andreas had a burger.  This is his favorite place in Chisinau to get one.

Truly Complete!

Berkshire cottage is even ensconced in its magnet now.  Go me, for actually getting it truly finished!

Ladies' Night At Pivnushka

 August's Ladies' Night Our was at A-95 Pivnushka, a pretty big and nice restaurant I'd never been to.  Actually, we'd passed the building numerous times and didn't know it was a restaurant because the entrance and signs and such are in the back, not on the main street.  Anyway, I had a salad with real bacon on it!  It's very hard to find real bacon here, and we normally import it.  My main course was chicken and grilled apples.  They were okay.  The apples were better than the chicken.  It was a bit dry.  We were supposed to do karaoke, but we decided to talk for hours instead.

Asian Nights Home

 Yay, my Asian nights blocks are home!  Thank you to Pegsue, Rita, Sarma, Theresa, and Carol for making them look so fantastic!  My husband especially likes the hand.  I think it reminds him of Kung Fu Hustle.