Shoddy costumery: Tonks!

I wasn't going to post this because it wasn't very good, but I have been looking through lots of cosplay pictures, and am trying to put together something respectable for this, and have a renewed hankering to dress up as things.  It's a pity Ireland doesn't do cosplay conventions.

So!  My college do-gooder group had a Harry Potter party two weeks ago, and I went as Tonks.  I wasn't going to post the pictures as both the costume and the photos weren't up to much - I forgot about it until the day before, and had to do everything in a rush - but it's also the first time I've dressed as as a specific character in quite a while, so I may as well document so I have something to mark progress against.

Pro:  I have short hair!  Tonks has short hair!  I like an excuse to do silly things with my hair!

Con: I brought glitter spray, not colour spray.  The fault lies entirely with me for shopping in Claire's and also for being unable to read labels at twenty-one, especially having just finished up the guts of a year working in a lab.  (Incidentally, gloves are for whiners who don't respect the environment, and should my hands be this colour?) I tried to make up for it by loading on the glitter, in the hope that a layer of pink glitter would look pink.  It did not.

Pro:  I borrowed a wand from a girl in my class (she says it was a gift).  As I was leaving my room, I heard someone coming up the stairs.  Not wanting to look ridiculous, I hid the wand up my sleeve.  Nothing like it for feeling like a wizard.

Con: That is a terrible photo and asking people to take photos of me  makes me feel too narcissistic to do more than once.

Con: Those shorts should ideally be black.  (They were jeans in a previous incarnation, but I was wearing them while walking the Camino de Santiago in first year, and it was unseasonably war.)  I might have dyed them if I'd had the time.

Pro: People understood who I was meant to be!  I think this is a victory as I based the costume on my perception of her in the books, which was quite tomboyish, whereas the films were not so.

Pro: I went to the club as it was free in, and spent the entire time sitting in the corridor around the side having a Harry Potter trivia contest with fellow do-gooders and some strangers who came just for the Harry Potter.

Costume:  

Black string top

Black pinstriped underbust corset

Black shirt

Black waistcoat borrowed from my boyfriend

Cut-off denim shorts

Ripped black tights

Unlaced black Doc Martens

I think it was alright for a rush job, though the hairspray was disappointing.  I already have PLANS for October and Hallowe'en, so hopefully I can make people have costume parties!

Dolling myself up.

I went to a party last night and tried to turn myself into a creepy doll for it.  I hadn't done a run-through of the costume or make-up, and ended up as more of a goth kid instead.  Oops.

Anyway, here are photos!

If I straightened and dyed my hair I could have gone as a Beatle!  Too late, too late.

Normal hair...

Hair full of gel.

This is just cheesy, and defeats its own point since the finger hides the stitches, please do not judge me.

And off I go to hang out outside Central Bank!

What are you dressing up as?

Probably omelettes

My boyfriend and I had a Cooking Adventure this week!  We had intended on making frittatas, but neither of us read the recipe until we went to make it.  "There's a sauce?  You have to bake it?  What is this?  Do you want to try and make omelettes?"  Neither of us knew exactly how omelettes work either, but they're probably something like this.

We mixed paprika and some sort of generic spice mixture in with the eggs. 

Now it is full of potatoes and cream cheese and peppers!

Om nom nommelette.

It tasted pretty good, so calling it a success even if it's not an omelette!

Grumble.

I finished my left Amy glove for the second time today, but it still has too much wiggle room.  After dropping down two needle sizes, I don't think there's a great deal I can do about it, and I don't think I mind enough to remake it a third time.  In the interest of science, I'll make the right one with a tighter tension, but the way I usually knit feels 'just right' in terms of tension for me, so I don't know that it will make much odds.

I made muffins the other day, from the Moosewood recipe book my brother's girlfriend gave me.  I also added almonds and raspberries, because I am a muffin maverick, which made them pink on the inside.  Fun with food!

Mars Bar Cake

One of my not-written-down-because-that-way-it-doesn't-count-if-I-break-it new year's resolutions was to update this at least once a fortnight.  It's a good exercise in writing.  I keep a diary, but that's more for the sake of memories and chronology, so if I'm busy an entry can be something like "Woke up late, lectures fine, lab report took forever, didn't get around to doing X" where X = the most pressing item on my to-do list.  For this, though, I know other people are reading it (stats are addictive), so articulation seems worthwhile, even if it's just talking about yarn.  I have been fierce busy and not had time to make things, but for the sake of an update, here is the recipe for Mars Bar Cake.

You will need:

• 3 King-size/ 5 snack-size Mars Bars
• 3 oz. margarine (not essential but it makes the chocolate melt a little smoother, and means things won't burn the second you turn your back)
• 1 tbsp Golden syrup (again, not essential)
• 3 big Mint Crisp Bars
• 1 big Dairy Milk Bar
• Rice Krispies

I don't know what the size of the Cadbury's bars I mean is termed.  Not the huge ones, but the ones usually only sold in Supermarkets, bigger than you'd get a new's agents of at the checkout.  You know the ones.

• Melt the Mars Bars, margarine, golden syrup and half of one Mint Crisp Bar in a saucepan.  It might seems like it's done for a while, with lumps taking a while to melt, but it'll be clear when it's done. It's very smooth.
• Stir in Rice Krispies until the consistency feels right.  (This is a very "sure, you know yourself" recipe, but it's hard to go wrong with it.)
• Pour into a square pan.
• Melt the Cadbury's chocolate in the microwave, pour over Krsipies.
• Leave in the fridge to set.
• Om nom nom.

And here is one I made yesterday for my dad's birthday!  It went down well.

Unfinished

I still have to give him tentacles and build tiny fleeing snowmen.

Also the angle is funny because it's at the front of my garden so people walking by can see it, but I didn't want the fence to be in the photo so had to lift the camera up higher than most people will be viewing it.

Snow!