Being Geek Chic is a blog for stylish geeks, sophisticated nerds and people who enjoy the musings of a complete dork. Join us as we dream of driving the TARDIS, cuddle with our eBooks and test out an iPad sleeve. It's written by Elizabeth Giorgi and a team of brilliant lady nerds. Meet the team.
Last week, I shared some free printable space themed ornaments. (GO DOWNLOAD THEM!) After printing them myself, I decided to take my lovely TARDIS, Bow Tie, NASA and Firefly ornaments and give them some sparkle.
Snazzing them up was super easy.
1. Buy some great cardstock online or at your local craft store (I bought this glittery cardstock
2. Cut out circles with a puncher (I used this one
3. Apply two-sided adhesive (these rollers are easiest to use
4. Use a hole punch through both and cut a piece of twine and string it.
See! Easy!
When I started to think about how I might like to decorate my tree this year, I could focus on only one thing:
Why isn’t it Christmas already - I want to watch the Doctor Who Christmas Special!
And so that became my inspiration. Space! And the TARDIS and Firefly.
I really could have gone on and on with this theme, but a girl has got to try and keep things manageable. So I hope you love them!
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE SET!
This set of four printable ornaments is easy enough to understand:
First, download the PDF (CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE SET!)
Did you download them? Good. Now:
You’ll get four ornament printables:
Two Doctor Who themed varieties: one with the TARDIS, pictured above, and a “Bow Ties are cool” themed ornament.
One Firefly ornament: Mal says the darnedest things in the show. And “Mighty Fine Shindig” is one of those things. And honestly, that’s what the holidays are too, right? Mighty Fine!
One NASA ornament: I am in love with this galaxy image from NASA. I’m also a big fan of this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.” It’s something to keep in mind year round.
Happy holidays lovelies!
*Note: when you click on the link, your virus software will try to scan it. Hit “Download Anyway” - it will make your life easier.
Firefly’s Our Mrs. Reynolds tells an age-old love story: boy meets girl, they’re drunk, they inadvertently perform the local marriage rituals, the town elder gives the girl to the boy as payment for his debts, and the girl, in an attempt to prove her worth on the spaceship, whips up a hot meal thus impressing the boy’s shipmates.
Apparently, life on a spaceship, rattling around the fringe of the universe 500 years in the future does leave much in the way of high-end culinary opportunities. When Captain Mal Reynolds tucks into his hot plate of dinner prepared by his newly accidental wife, Saffron, shipmate Wash swoons over the prospect of “fresh bao.”
You’ve probably seen fluffy, steamed char siu bao on dim sum carts. This recipe makes about 40 dumplings, which may seem like a ton, but invite your best spaceship-mates over for a dumpling-making party and freeze the leftovers.
First: make your bao dough. You want a fluffy white bread bun that is going to stay soft when you steam it. This recipe is loosely adapted from Momofuku’s famous pork bun recipe.
You need:
Mix yeast, sugar and water in stand mixer bowl and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes. If the mixture doesn’t froth and expand, your yeast has gone bad and needs to be replaced.
Add the rest of the ingredients and attach the dough hook. Turn the mixer on low and mix until all of the ingredients have come together in a soft dough. Allow the stand mixer to knead for 8-10 minutes.
Place your dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover. Set in a warm place for an hour and allow to rise. When dough has doubled in size, punch down and allow to rise a second time for 20 to 30 minutes.
BBQ Pork Recipe
NOTE: Pork butt (also called picnic pork or pork shoulder) works best for this, but pork belly is also a good substitute.
Ingredients:
Mix garlic, five-spice powder and brown sugar together with a fork until fully combined. Pour in the liquid ingredients and whisk together. Stir in the pork and mix gently until coated. Allow to marinate at least 30 minutes but up to 12 hours.
Drain from marinade, then cook for 5-8 minutes over high heat in a cast iron skillet or a wok.
Set filling aside to cool.
Fill a stock pot with water and set to boil. Add a steamer insert or set a bamboo steamer on top when the water starts to boil.
When dough has risen the second time, pinch off a golf ball-size lump of dough, then pinch and flatten until it’s roughly the size of your palm. Be careful not to stretch the center of your wrapper too thinly, or the pork will poke through it.
Spoon 1 teaspoon of the pork filling into the center of your dumpling, then pull the edges of the dumpling wrapper up. Pinch the edges of the dumpling together like a small purse. If you like, you can make five pleats like a star.
Steam the dumplings in batches, set about 1 inch apart in the steamer basket. Allow them to cook 12 to 15 minutes.
Serve immediately with hoisin sauce or soy sauce.
Emma Carew Grovum is a data journalist working at the Chronicle of Philanthropy in Washington, D.C. She previously worked as the Digital Editor for The Cooking Club of America and blogs at kitchendreamer.blogspot.com Emma loves Star Wars, pandas and all things Joss Whedon. Find her on twitter at @emmacarew.
It was brought to my attention this week that commenting on this website is a bit of a trick. And I get it. Most people don’t want to log in with a Twitter or Facebook account and who uses Google + anyway.
I wanted to try and show you how you can use Disqus to comment with JUST a name and email address.
First, start by writing your comment. Whatever you like. Then, write your name in the Name box. When you hit “Post,” a new box will appear and ask you for your email. Type that in. At this point you can click the box to Register with Disqus, which is the program that runs the comments here. If you don’t want to - no biggie. Just hit Post. If you do, fun.
There is another option of course. You can follow this blog on Tumblr. Just click that little “Follow” button when logged into Tumblr and you can reply to posts that way.
Alright, we good? Thanks for all the commenting this week. You have no idea how stupidly happy it makes me.
The iPhone 5 will be 16x9
I was once internet shit-stormed when I complained about the fact that Apple products weren’t designed in 16x9. My logic was simple: any practical media sharing/viewing device should be in that aspect ration. Oh did the haters come to the yard. I’m so jazzed to get a new iPhone (P.S. I hope Society 6 will upgrade sizes ASAP for other iPhoners) and I have to say I TOLD YOU SO about the 16x9 issue. There. I’m good now.
Nathan Fillion is adorable
I think I miss Firefly more than I would otherwise because I don’t like that show Nathan Fillion is on now. He’s so great - but he’s better when combined with Whedon. Further proof, Much Ado About Nothing. Bromance in action. Their friendship sounds sweet and supportive. Further proof that Whedon is the best person in Hollywood.
And hey, I write things for Apartment Therapy: that’s awesome!
