Snowtrooper Update

Progress on my snowtrooper costume has been very slow these past few months. However, the largest hurdle has been overcome, and things should hopefully be picking up speed.

I painted the details on the backpack with enamel paint. It still needs a little touching up here and there, but it’s mostly good to go.

Pants have also been purchased.  I had to go to a specialty uniform store to get the right kind of pants without a zipper or side pockets.

 

The thing that stalled progress for the longest time was the duster.

A few months ago I went to my parent’s place to get my mom to help me with the sewing.  I had purchased a pattern for a simple coat that was pretty close to what I needed.  I figured we could start with that and make any minor adjustments as required.

Unfortunately the pattern was just a bit too complicated.  We realized the duster would actually be pretty simple to make if we just made a sort of plain shirt and sewed a skirt onto it.  So, I cut up a t-shirt to act as a template for cutting the real cloth in order to get the right dimensions, and we (well, mostly my mom) sewed it all together.

Several hours, many broken threads, and one busted sewing machine needle later we had a finished duster. Sadly, the first duster didn’t turn out quite right.  The skirt was too short, the sleeves too loose, and we discovered the front flaps could have been done a but better.

A second attempt was made about two months later.  This time all the shortcomings were corrected.  I also bought tougher thread, and we used velcro strips that didn’t have a sticky backing, which is what caused so many headaches the first time.

The end result of this second attempt was perfect!

The most difficult part of the costume — the long, flowing coat — is now done.

Earth vs Soup

So, I tried to make some soup last night, and things got a little out of control.  It turns out, however, that it’s pretty much impossible to screw up soup.

I stopped by the grocery store on the way home yesterday to buy some veggies, and used some chicken stock I had in the cupboard at home.  I bought the stock a long, long time ago with the intention of making soup, but I never got around to it until now.  The stock was a month past its best before date, but it didn’t taste off.  It was a little less than two cups worth.

I thought I had a raw chicken breast frozen at home so I didn’t buy any at the store.  When I got home, however, I discovered that I did not.  Instead, I ended up using a pre-seasoned frozen chicken breast.While the chicken breast was boiling in the broth, I cut up a handful of baby carrots and let that all sit covered for a bit.  Then I measured out a little rice and dropped that in, too.  The soup smelled very “carroty” by then, and it looked like I put way too much in, so I fished some carrots out with a strainer.

I took the chicken breast out as it has mostly cooked through, and then I added some mini seashell pasta.  I went to cut up the chicken breast and it basically fell apart.  I guess the marinade and seasoning they used for the chicken really softened it up.  I ended up cutting it into chunks and shreds, then tossed that back in a bit later.

After a few more minutes, I added onion and celery.  At this point I realized I had put in way too much rice and pasta, so I added another cup of water.

After some more cooking, I added some slices of a red bell pepper and a can of sliced mushrooms.  I was putting too much of every ingredient in, so I added another cup of water.

At this point, I had to transfer the soup (stew?) into a larger pot.  I was just going crazy, throwing everything I had on hand into the soup.

I eventually added two more cups of water, half a small can of tomato paste, a teaspoon of salt, and a variety of seasonings.  I figured I was somehow making a chicken gumbo, so I put some Cajun seasoning into it.

By this time, the carrots were nice and soft, but the celery was still a little too hard.  I covered the whole thing and let it simmer for a good long while to get the celery to soften up.  Two more cups of water were needed again at the end to thin the soup out.

In the end, my endeavor resulted in four times the amount of soup I originally expected, and it actually tasted really, really good.  It honestly tastes like it could be one of those delicious newer Campbell’s Chunky Soup flavors.

 

I believe this are all the ingredients that went into my soup:

• 2 cups of chicken soup stock
• 6 cups of water (may vary)
• 1 Mediterranean seasoned chicken breast (from a 900g box of frozen breasts, can’t remember the brand)
• 1/2 to 1 cup of sliced baby carrots (not sure how much)
• 1/2 a celery stick, sliced
• 1/4 of a medium-sized red bell pepper
• 1 slice of medium-sized red onion, diced (maybe too little?)
• 1/3 cup of long grain rice
• 1/3 cup of mini pasta shells
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• two pinches of dried oregano
• two pinches of dried basil
• a small amount of Club House La Grille Spicy Pepper Medley seasoning (two or three light shakes)
• a little-more-than-a-small amount of Club House Cajun seasoning (a teaspoon?  tablespoon?)
• approx 75g, or half a small tin (smallest tin I could find, slightly smaller than other small tins) of tomato paste
• a can of sliced mushrooms, drained

(Earth vs Soup??)