Dilettante Homemade

In the nursery

2012-02-01T14:39:00.000-06:00

I've been meaning to show you Adelaide's room, but I was waiting until it was finished. Then it finally occurred to me that it will literally never be finished, and that's a good thing. She's a baby. She's going to grow and change and find her own interests, and her room and what's in it will reflect that. What's on the wall now might not be on the wall in a year, and additional stuff will most certainly be added as part of an ongoing process. I'll make stuff. Adam will make stuff. And eventually Adelaide might make stuff. Out of the blue, we'll happen upon something that is just perfect for the space. It will evolve, just as it's been evolving for the past eight months. There is no "finished" here.

But Adelaide's room is "finished" enough these days for me to give you the tour, so here we go!

A few of my favorite on-the-wall things: The sailing swan was a lovely gift from Annette over at Waxy Pin (blog and her adorable shop). The paisley seas just kill me! The books print is from the Black Apple Etsy shop. And the alphabet letterpress print is from the One Canoe Two Etsy shop.

And, of course, there's my very favorite thing of all in the nursery, looking like such a big kid these days!

Other notes: The paint is Benjamin Moore Natura in Denim Wash. The braided rug, the hamper, and the big toy bin are from the Land of Nod. The crib and changing table are from Babies R Us. The rocking chair is an old one from Adam's family. And the barn bookshelf was built by Adam and his dad based on my design/request and is painted with Benjamin Moore Natura in Smoldering Red.

A green jumper

2012-01-29T16:00:00.002-06:00

I really want to make Adelaide lots and lots of cute clothes. There are a couple of reasons, one being that I have intense dislike for a lot of the baby clothes in stores. The other reason being that I have just always wanted to be "that kind of mom."

So far, Adelaide's been around for about eight months and I've sewn her about four articles of clothing. Not quite what I was going for. But just before Christmas (like, the day before), I got a bee in my bonnet about sewing Adelaide a corduroy jumper to wear for celebrating with the extended family. Of course, I don't have a pattern for a jumper, but I decided to go for it anyway. How hard could it be?

Well, I used a onesie for the general size/shape and drew up a simple little pattern. Luckily, I had (and have) some corduroy on hand, bought months ago with baby outfitting in mind. I cut and sewed like a crazy person. I stitched the buttons on just before bed on Christmas Eve. It really wasn't that hard.

It also didn't really fit. It's too long, but that's not so bad. The real issue is that the bodice is too fitted. I didn't make any allowance for pulling it on over her giant cloth-diapered butt, and getting it over her head is not even an option, so she can only wear it when she's in a disposable, which is pretty much only when we're going to be out of town for two days or more. Whoops.

So Adelaide wore it once, and she'll probably never wear it again. But, on the other hand, I sewed her a Christmas jumper! Victory?

Hoosier Pie

2012-01-14T16:47:00.001-06:00

I really didn't post about this back around Thanksgiving? Really? I didn't mention the recipe that turned Adam around on the concept of pecan pie?

Because it is pretty darn good.

Now, I like pecan pie. I prefer a Thanksgiving offering that includes both a pecan pie and a pumpkin pie so I can enjoy some of each. This year, we hosted Thanksgiving (for the first time! and we all survived!). I delegated pumpkin pie to my mom, but I knew I wanted to try the Hoosier Pie recipe from A Homemade Life. I read it a few months ago and made a note of the Hoosier Pie recipe.

See, Adam has said for years now that he doesn't like pecan pie. Fair enough, I guess. Well, no. Not fair. I couldn't just let that be. I needed to make him like pecan pie. (Healthy, I know.) And Hoosier Pie was going to be my secret weapon. Sure, it is a pecan pie. But it has chocolate! And liquor! And it is Hoosier Pie. This may not be a selling point for everyone, but Adam is from an Indiana family and is a lover of Hoosier basketball, so for me, this was like a little gift from the baking gods. Because with a name like that, he had to at least try it.

And he did try it. And he liked it. Ha! Winning!

The big pie went pretty quickly, too quickly to get photos, but I used some extra pie crust to make some mini pies a few days later. Rest assured, it was just as tasty in mini form.

(This recipe looks like the one.)

French macaroons

2011-12-22T16:00:00.000-06:00

Oh, did you think I was going to start that whole "posting more regularly" thing ~~ever~~ right away? No, no...I totally meant to go a few weeks without posting and then start up with renewed vigor in mid January. I know you believe me because I would never ever lead you astray.

So, French macaroons.

The subtitle here should be "Now with 75% less failure."

I tried French macaroons a few years ago, and the failure at that time was complete. Those babies hit the trash before anyone, even Adam, caught sight of them. And you know that's bad, because I will eat anything with sugar in it. I even ate the fail fudge.

The degree of failure involved in that experience explains why I have been too afraid to try them again until the promise of backup in the form of my sister-in-law. So together we made a fresh attack. And it was not a total failure! Marginal success is mine!

These were some ugly cookies (the one in the photo was, by far, the best of the bunch), which is sad because I feel like half the point of macaroons is all the dainty, pretty fanciness. These were huge, due in part to the fact that they spread after piping and in part to some complete malfunction of spacial estimation on my part. (The book said to pipe two-inch rounds, but we ended up with at least one cookie sandwich that was bigger than my fist.) But, hey! They tasted fine. And I was quite proud of my first foray into real buttercream for the filling. All the cookies were eaten! None of them were thrown away! (Feeling good about the end result is easier when the bar is low. Very, very low.)

Buoyed by this lack of complete failure, I have already committed to a "next time" even! Let's just hope I do a little better with that commitment than I have with the "post more regularly" commitment thus far.

The Mermaiden

2011-12-19T12:29:00.000-06:00

I always think I'm going to make things for Christmas (gifts, decorations, cards, etc.). It will be fantastic, the things will be beautiful, I will feel all accomplished, and so on. Of course, this rarely works out as envisioned (see this post over at Made By Rae, which pretty much describes my issues exactly).

I did manage to make one thing this year: the Mermaiden! I've had the Wee Wonderfuls book since, I think, September. I've been planning which delightful dolls to make for Adelaide, but this is the first project I've actually managed to do.

She's a wee little mermaid for a wee little girl. And I think she's pretty cute, if I do say so myself.

I had to do the fin differently than instructed, though it was entirely due to my own areas of weakness and inability, not the instructions or pattern. I just don't hand sew well at all. And I also usually hate trying it, which doesn't help. Also, the decorative machine stitching just wasn't working out for me. So I gave up and formulated my own plan, which worked fine for me and made me happy.

I wish I had been able to make more of these projects by now, because there are so many cuties. I hope to get moving on some more of them this winter, once we settle in to the slower pace of January and February.

Corralling the stuff.

2011-12-13T15:13:00.002-06:00

I'm pretty sure our house shrank when the baby was born. And again when she started day care. And again when she started eating "real" food.

That is the only explanation for how, over the course of a few months, we went from "Wow! This kitchen has so much cabinet space!" to "Is there anywhere to stash this? No? Just leaving it all in a plastic tub on a dining room chair then, are we?"

Apparently, babies are like magnets. The stuff they attract generally falls into one of two categories: well intentioned but completely unnecessary and useless gifts, and well intentioned but completely unnecessary and useless items purchased by us. The third category is a much rarer specimen: the necessary and useful item.

Bibs definitely fall into that third category. And we have loads of them for our drooly, teething, new-to-food kiddo. But where to keep them?

Solution: a hanging hoop bag!

I saw these at Always a Project and thought it was a pretty nifty idea. I didn't follow the tutorial, opting for something a little more simple and slap-dash. Though the tutorial definitely has a better, prettier finish, I'm pretty happy with my results anyway.

And now the bibs are corralled. Huzzah!

Old news: apples

2011-12-02T11:53:00.001-06:00

I hate trying to post after having not posted for, uh, let's just call it quite some time. It feels like whatever material I use to get back into regular (I very much hope it will be regular, but I don't dare to promise) posting should be good. Extra good, even. But that's kind of a lot of pressure. So I'm just going to pick up where I left off and give you a very outdated post about apples. Because we made our first-ever orchard trip at the beginning of October and, holy cow, how did it get to be December already?

So...apples.

We got them. And we made stuff out of them.

Pies. I use the recipe for uncooked apple pie filling and deluxe butter pie crust from the Joy of Cooking and like them very much. (Best pie crust ever. Butter is awesome. In my little world, shortening-heavy pie crust recipes are for people who care more about "flaky" than flavor. Which is obviously insane.)

Applesauce. For the baby, so it is unsweetened and silky smooth. She isn't eating it yet, so I can't report on the success of the venture at this time.

Wondering what to do with all the peels? Crispy apple snacks!

I had lots of peels from the applesauce (no food mill plus target audience of baby equaled peeling the apples) and didn't want them to go to waste (even composty waste). So I spread them on a cookie sheet, sprinkled them with cinnamon, and baked them at 200 degrees for a couple of hours. Once cooled, they were crunchy and yummy. Though the long, bent, crispy strands did sometimes remind me of giant bug legs, which was unfortunate. I was pretty (crazily) happy about the apple peel snacks. I felt very thrifty and resourceful. I like that.

Anyway...I hope to be back soon and more often. I'm working on things. Truthfully, it's not that I haven't had things to post, as evidenced by the fact that I've been sitting on these photos for more than a month. And it's not that I haven't wanted to post. But the past few months I've felt as though I can either make the time to post, or I can make the time to DO the things I would otherwise post about. It's felt hard to make room for both. But I do love sharing here, so I think I need to work on making that time a bit more regularly than I have been.

Halloween!

2011-11-02T21:17:00.002-05:00

Making Halloween costumes is one of those little "when I have a kid" things I have really been looking forward to, so, even though Adelaide is not quite six months old and much to young for real trick-or-treating, she was all dressed up for Halloween. ~~Adam~~ Adelaide decided she should be Ohio State's mascot, Brutus the Buckeye. Well, I can do that.

I couldn't find a shirt with big red and gray stripes, so I turned to some freezer paper stenciling. It went pretty well. I painted the front and the sleeves with red stripes, but I left the back plain.

The "BRUTUS" on the front is done with iron-on letters from JoAnn's. They didn't really want to stick (I assume the fabric paint is mostly to blame for this), but they didn't peel off completely. I'm calling that a success.

The most challenging thing was, as you might imagine, figuring out how to do Brutus's big nut head and little cap. I considered making a big, stuffed nut head, which would let us get away with using a regular Ohio State cap. But in the end, I made a snug brown hat (using Sew Liberated's Sweet Pea Pilot Cap pattern/tutorial, which is free and awesome!) and stitched up an improvised mini-cap. I am pretty proud of the improvised mini-cap, largely because I thought of it around 9:00 p.m. the night before Halloween and managed to execute it before bedtime.

Just add some red pants and little black sock shoes (already in the closet! score!). Oh, and don't forget the little towel Brutus always has with him (I just cut a strip of leftover terry cloth from this project).

Cutest Brutus ever, if I do say so myself.

Fall

2011-10-25T21:00:00.000-05:00

I love fall. Or, rather, I love my idealized version of what fall will be each year. It will be chilly but not too cold. There will be lots of beautiful crispy-crunchy leaves. There will be lots of soup and baking and sewing. It will be lovely.

In reality, fall has been mostly too cold and too busy, there is never enough time for all the projects I have in mind, and the leaves have been an annoying, soggy mess.

But there have been some gorgeous days, sunny and cool. And there has been some soup (though not enough...can there ever be enough?) and some baking (there can definitely never be enough). There has even been a little bit of sewing (which I'll show you soon). Add to that a trip to the country for pumpkins and apples, an outdoors-loving little one who is crazy about the fall leaves (including trying to eat them), and as much laughing, smiling, tickling, fun and cuddling as this family of three (three! it never gets old!) can fit in. It has been lovely.

How do you like them, uh, potatoes?

2011-10-08T09:00:00.000-05:00

Remember how I decided to plant potatoes in a sack this year? No? See the beginning here. And the end here:

We harvested the potatoes a couple weekends ago, and the results were somewhat mixed. On the one hand, the potatoes look good! On the other hand, there were precious few of them. That photo is the entire potato harvest, my friends. Judging by where the potatoes were in the potato bag, it looks like only one, maybe two, of the five seed potato chunks actually made potatoes despite the fact that all five appeared to produce healthy greenery. Hmmm. So, factor in seed potatoes, a couple bags of dirt/compost, landscape fabric, thread, and my time, and you have possibly the most expensive potatoes ever.

But it was a fun experiment. And we'll probably do it again next year. After all, I do still have most of a roll of that landscape fabric.

Dressing up the table

2011-09-25T20:47:00.002-05:00

I am not really a tablecloth person. I like the gleaming expanse of wood that is an unadorned table. Maybe a little something in the center, a branch or a flower in a little vase or bottle. But covering up the table with a whole tablecloth always seemed like a waste of a perfectly nice tabletop to me.

That said, I made a tablecloth. Because sometimes the table just needs a little protection, and making one tablecloth seemed a whole lot easier than making several placemats. And it was! This could not have been easier. One piece of fabric (a lovely home dec print from The Needle Shop), two hems, the end. Yeah, that's right, only two hems (one at each short end), because I left the selvedge alone, with it's pretty little frayed-but-not-fraying edges.

It's a project that's been on the list for months. The fabric has been sitting on a shelf guilt-tripping me since the spring. So hooray for small victories, however untimely!

Fun on the Internets!

2011-09-20T15:02:00.000-05:00

Thing 1: I am on Pinterest now. Check it out, yo'. Or don't. That's cool too. I am really liking the ability to "pin" things from anywhere on the web and keep it semi-organized. I used to just star or tag a ton of stuff in my feed reader, but it was really hard to find saved stuff and only worked for stuff on blogs to which I subscribe. Or I'd add things from a million shopping sites to my Amazon wishlist, but, again, hard to find saved stuff and only worked for a limited type of thing. Enter Pinterest! Where I can basically dump the complete contents of the web into groups of things I like! Magic! Magic, I tell you!

Thing 2: I am also on Polyvore. Right here. Kind of fun, but I find it less useful/inspiring/awesome than Pinterest. So there's that.

Thing 3: I have been living under a rock, apparently, and have just now come across My Drunk Kitchen. I find it very entertaining. Yes, I do.

The problem with books

2011-09-13T19:58:00.000-05:00

The problem with books is that they make me want to ditch all the practical, everyday things I am supposed to be doing with my time. You might be tempted to believe that the problem seems to be with ME rather than with books, but I assure you that you are mistaken.

I went to the library last weekend. God, I love libraries. Lovely places just bursting with books (and movies! and music!). And they let you take things home! For free! And if they don't have a book you want just hanging around, they will have one delivered from another nearby-ish library. Also for free! It is a magical place, I tell you.

But the point is, I checked out some "just for fun" books. And started reading. And didn't want to spend any time over the weekend without a book in my hands. And, to be frank, the book I was reading wasn't even that good (it was fine, but not great, not a real page turner). But reading is just so delicious.

Speaking of delicious: cookbooks. Specifically, the newest addition to my collection: Love Soup. Now, you might think that a cookbook would not give me the problem mentioned above. After all, cooking ends with food. To eat. Which is pretty darn practical. But then why did I spend all my post-baby-bedtime time last night looking at cookbooks and even cooking food, only to realize around 8:30 that I had no plan for dinner? I do have an interesting little eggplant and roasted garlic dip as an appetizer for tonight. (Why did no one tell me roasting garlic was so easy? Seriously, people. I needed to know that. I could have been roasting garlic all this time, but I have not been!) And I have plenty of new plans for future (soupy) dinners.

Another problematic book I'm dealing with right now: Wee Wonderfuls. So much awesome! Why would I want to spend time sewing nice practical things like a tablecloth or curtains when I could be sewing the cutest little toys ever? I hope Adelaide likes stuffed toys, because she's going to be getting some.

Though I am proud to say I actually did pull myself away from my bookish world this weekend long enough to sew the tablecloth. Which is good, because it was terribly easy and should have been done long, long ago. But more on that another time.

The wee hours

2011-09-07T13:40:00.001-05:00

Before, I started my day around 7 a.m. I rolled out of bed, had a bite to eat, showered, and dressed. Then it was out the door to the train.

Now my day starts at a time I used to consider the middle of the night. It is still completely dark. She wiggles, she grunts, I get up. A diaper is changed and some quiet smiles are exchanged on the changing table.It's nice that she's so happy on the changing table; it makes being elbow deep in someone else's bodily functions much more pleasant. Then we snuggle up in bed for a feeding. And she goes back to sleep. I usually do not.

I am up. I am making my way downstairs, still in the dark. It is silent. It seems as though the entire neighborhood is still asleep. There are bottles to fill and pack for day care. There is a lunch to pack for myself. Sometimes there is diaper laundry to fetch from the dryer and pack in the day care bag. I get my bags (bags! it is always plural now) together and packed for work. Still dark. Still quiet. Checking the weather, showering, laying out her clothes for the day. By now, Adam is up and getting ready. The sun is up too. No longer the wee hours; it is morning. Time for her to wake up for the day. She wiggles, she grunts, and she opens her eyes. Then she smiles. Oh, that smile! Time to feed again. Followed by a few precious minutes of play time, baby smiles, and lovely babbling before Adam must whisk her to her room to get her changed and dressed and out the door for the trip to day care, while I finish getting ready for work and walk to my train.

Somewhere in there, I sneak in some breakfast. I must. I am a breakfast person. In the winter, often oatmeal. In warmer months, usually granola. Varying brands of storebought granola, which I find adequate but overly sweet, definitely nothing to write home about. Every now and then, as a treat, my very favorite storebought granola (Milk and Honey, so yummy!), originally from a cafe in our old in-the-city neighborhood. And now, for the first time, homemade granola. I made some over the long weekend and, just like that, I am hooked.

I used this recipe (scroll down to the end of the post) as a template, but I changed a few things. No pumpkin seeds, added flax seeds, honey for the sweetener instead of the options listed, no almond extract, extra cinnamon. So good! And easy! Really and truly. I already have big plans for substitutions and variations. And just like that, the wee hours are made a little bit brighter.

Dinner last night (with terrible photos)

2011-08-31T20:59:00.000-05:00

Sloppy (lentil) joes.

Potatoes and cabbage in the crockpot.

The best brownies ever.

The sloppy joe recipe is for the crockpot too, but I used the stovetop variation. Also, last night was actually sloppy joe leftovers, because that recipe makes a lot. (And I forgot to take an on-the-bun picture every darn time we ate them. Drats.) I think it makes about 10 sloppy joes. That's a lot of sloppy joes for two people. I'm starting to feel weird about the phrase "sloppy joes" because I've typed it too many times. Adam had the genius idea of adding ground cumin to these before reheating them on night two. Much improved. Not that they were bad before, because they weren't. But they were definitely more yummy with cumin. Also, I left out the bell pepper.

The potatoes and cabbage were decent. I'd make the dish again. But next time I'd remember to put the garlic in at the beginning instead of saying "Oops!" a half hour before dinner and rushing to saute some garlic on the stovetop and throw it into the crockpot several hours too late.

And the brownies. Oh, the brownies. Have I told you about these brownies before? (Aha! A search of my archives reveals that I have not! The KH brownies were very good, but these are, I think, even better and easier. ) They are so good and fudgey. The first time I made them we only let them cool for an hour and they were tasty but way too gooey and fall-apart. This time I baked them 30 minutes (which is an extra five) and let them cool for four hours before cutting. Still tasty, but also structurally sound!

Also: I have the cutest little kitchen supervisor ever.

Sewing with knits: apparently not really my thing

2011-08-22T20:07:00.000-05:00

Before Adelaide was born, I had visions of sewing up lots of cute, functional rompers and pants and such using old T-shirts and the like. I had a small stash of old grown-up clothing to cut up for fabric. I even bought a couple of patterns to use.

As with so many things, I didn't quite get around to it pre-baby. And then I continued to not quite get around to it post-baby. Until the very end of my maternity leave, when I finally cut into this old shirt to make a pair of pants.

And I finally finished those pants last weekend.

Why would such simple pants take nearly a month to sew? There are a few possibilities here: (a) I am doing it wrong. (b) Knits are cruel. (c) My sewing machine hates me. (d) My sewing machine hates knits. (e) My sewing machine hates babies. Although I hate to admit it, I'm pretty sure (a) is the most likely option, though I will surely be on the lookout for any telltale signs pointing to (e), because you can never be too safe when it comes to baby haters.

Things I like about this project: I used the pocket of the polo to make a little back-of-pants pocket (extra fun detail, no extra work required!). I rolled the cuffs and just tacked them in a couple of places, which saved me from having to hem them, will allow me to easily let them down as Adelaide gets taller, and looks pretty cute to boot (but I think everything looks pretty cute on this kid, so who am I to judge, really). They also successfully perform the primary pants function of covering the legs and tush (so far).

Things I don't like about this project: Sewing with knits, generally. The not-matched-up stripes on the front side (I did much better on the back, at least). The part where I accidentally cut out one of the front pieces facing the wrong way and didn't have enough shirt fabric left to recut. So, though you can't see it in these photos, the fabric on one side of the front is inside-out.

The pattern is McCall's M6223, by the way. And it was easy to follow and put together, aside from my whole inability to cut and sew the fabric thing, but that is not the pattern's fault. Unless someone is willing to let me blame it on the pattern. Anyone? Anyone? No, I thought not.

Blueberries and other things

2011-08-17T10:25:00.000-05:00

I came home from the farmers market Saturday with a whole lot of blueberries. So we had blueberry pancakes for dinner on Sunday. And Monday night I made Blueberry Boy Bait. This leaves me with plenty of blueberries to make something else, but what? Muffins? Too many blueberries is an excellent problem to have.

But back to the Blueberry Boy Bait. I had heard of this a few years ago, somewhere out there in blogland, but I made it for the first time last night using the recipe from ATK's Family Baking Book. (This version at Smitten Kitchen appears to be pretty much the same deal. Also read the cute little story about the recipe's name/origin.) Verdict: Yum! Adam has requested that it make further appearances. So that's a winner.

Also, looking at the photos above reminds me that being back at work full time leads to nearly all photos being taken with totally crap lighting. This will only get worse as fall and winter come. Sigh.

For some reason my radishes have all been scraggly and tough and often inedible this year, which is extra lame because aren't they supposed to be like the easiest thing ever to grow? Boo. I've been getting plenty of carrots at least, but lots of them are a bit on the mutant side. Isn't that an odd-looking carrot? Still tasty, though.

And this is was the biggest, most bright-green caterpillar I've ever seen. It was just hanging out by the front door one evening.

The end.

Am I still here or what?

2011-08-09T18:58:00.002-05:00

Well, yes and no. It's been a busy couple of weeks, folks. Out of town two weekends in a row. Fun times were most certainly had, but traveling with the pint-sized wonder is extra exhausting, even with all the extra baby wranglers on hand. And last week marked my return to work, which has, of course, been a bit of a rough adjustment schedule-wise for the whole family. It's all led to a bit of a sewing hiatus (let's hope it's only a hiatus, anyway).

But here's something I stitched up before the whirlwind.

It's the Pretty as a Picture Dress from Anna Maria Horner's Handmade Beginnings. It is a bit too big for Adelaide still, so no on-the-baby photos yet. But soonish, I hope! It was a nice, not very difficult little project that used up some leftover fabric. That's the best thing about sewing for a wee one (well, aside from the gosh darn cuteness of teeny tiny things!). Almost every piece of clothing I've made for myself leaves me with enough leftover fabric to also produce an article of clothing for Adelaide. As long as we aren't always wearing matching homemade outfits, this is a good thing. Heck, even if we are always wearing matching homemade outfits I might consider it a good thing...you can't be too sure about such things with me.

Also, I started a post a hundred years ago about Dinner For Schmucks. Have you seen this movie? I can't say I'd recommend it, even with my love for Paul Rudd. Except...the mouse dioramas are spectacular! Seriously cool. You can see a bunch of the dioramas on the movie's official site (here, click on "Meet the Schmucks" and then on "Barry"). And it put me in a diorama kind of mood. I feel like I need to make one (or many) now.

In the kitchen

2011-07-20T22:03:00.000-05:00

Using up some end-of-the-carton strawberries in some strawberry lemonade (inspired by this post).

Enjoying the harvest.

Especially the fresh green beans with a little butter - soooo good.

And the salads.

And enjoying some of the neighbor's harvest too. Some sage passed across the backyard fence made its way into a very, very yummy (and easy!) pasta dish.

My version is a mashup of this recipe and one in How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.

Pasta with Brown Butter, Parmesan, and Sage

Ingredients
1 pound pasta
10 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped fresh sage
1/4 cup grated parmesan

Directions
Cook pasta.

Meanwhile, heat butter in a frying pan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Add salt and sugar and stir to combine. Continue cooking and stirring occasionally until butter is a light caramel color, about 10 minutes. Add the sage and wait for the bubbling to subside, then cook another minute or two.

Toss pasta, butter and sage, and parmesan.

A couple of food things

2011-07-15T08:27:00.000-05:00

Tried making these veggie burgers a couple of nights ago. They were not really a success. I thought they tasted ok, not great, but they fell apart all over the place and did not hold their patty shape at all. Adam: "What is in these that's different from your other veggie burgers?" Me: "Beets." Adam: "Oh. [pause] I don't think I like beets." It was a bummer because when we were in Columbus last fall, I tried the inspiration burger at Northstar Cafe and really, really liked it.

In a fit of...something, I also tried cooking up the beet greens (you can see them lurking behind the burger there). Again, not a raging success.

In better news: carrots from the garden! Woohoo! I did not thin them very well, so these two grew so close to each other that I couldn't pull one up alone because they were entwined. Like little carrots in love. So cute!

A pillow

2011-07-12T12:13:00.000-05:00

We're still working on decorating Adelaide's room. We had it painted and furnished before she was born, but we didn't have blinds or anything up on the walls. Then we got the blinds up and gathered some stuff to put on the walls, but a storm put a chunk of tree through the ceiling. Now that the ceiling is fixed, we're finally putting stuff up on the walls, and I'm working on sewing a few things for the room. Not that she cares. She doesn't even sleep in there yet. At this point, it's pretty much just the room in which we change her diapers.

First up, a pillow for the rocking chair.

I was feeling extra thrifty, so I started with an old, gross throw pillow that matched a chair we no longer own. I cut the stuffing out and used it and some old muslin to make a new pillow form. The pillow form kind of looks like a mess, but who cares, because it's going to be covered up anyway. At least it is mostly square.

So I sewed up a little envelope-backed pillowcase (like this one! my very first blog post!) and ta da! Decor!

And let me just confess here my utter love of ticking stripe fabric. I adore it. I wish I could use it for everything - clothes, bags, furniture, bedding - but that would look weird. But I bought a ton of this red ticking stripe to use in Adelaide's room, so I'm sure you'll be seeing more of it soon.

A blanket for the baby

2011-07-07T09:38:00.000-05:00

First, let me suck you in with a photo of The Most Adorable Baby Ever. It's probably in poor taste to say that about one's own kid over and over again, but that's too bad. Because I'm saying it.

As Adelaide has become better at napping, I've managed to find a little time in my days to get back into the sewing room. It has been so nice, and more relaxing than I had remembered. It feels so good to carve out a little me time again.

The first project I decided to tackle is one from the pre-baby to-do list. Like so, so many things on that list, I did not manage to get to it in the actual pre-baby period. It's a super simple blanket for playtime outside (this kid already seems to love being outside) or on the floor (this she is less fond of). No pattern, just a bunch of 13-inch squares sewn up with a half-inch seam allowance. And some batting sandwiched in there too, of course.

The minimalist quilting is just a few machine-stitched crosses in the seams (or, rather, near the seams, as I seem not to be that great at the whole "stitch in the ditch" concept).

And now some more cute baby. You're welcome.

Back in the swing of things

2011-07-04T12:02:00.000-05:00

Guess what y'all? I've been sewing! I know. You didn't think it would ever happen again. But it has. And I hope to have something to show you soon.

Also, I've been getting into the kitchen more. Well, I'd been getting in to the kitchen plenty, but I was coming out with peanut butter sandwiches or a bowl of chocolate chips or plates on which to put the carry-out or delivery. But lately I've been making homemade pizza! And baking cookies! And muffins! Hooray!

I decided it was time to try a new blueberry muffin recipe. This one is very, very yummy, but I wanted bigger muffins, ones that actually reached the top of the muffin tin, at least. So I turned to one of my very favorite cookbooks, ATK's Family Baking Book, and used their plain muffin recipe, with the additions of a cup and a half of fresh blueberries and a teaspoon of cinnamon. They are very good. And nicely sized. So these may be the new go-to muffins around here. Hooray!

Um, a picture of some lettuce

2011-06-15T21:16:00.000-05:00

Yeah, that's what I've got for you. A picture of some lettuce. I haven't been sewing. I've just started to get back to cooking (pizza! pancakes! both in one weekend! it's a miracle!). But gardening, that I've been doing.

We've been eating plenty of salad from the garden. It's just so cool to be able to walk out into the yard and come back with food for dinner. And the lettuce is so good! It's so tender! Love! As I was sitting in the dirt a few days ago, planting radish seeds where I'd already harvested radishes, I was really struck by how amazing it is that I can put a tiny little pellet in the dirt one day and it turns into food. It's really quite magical.

Harvest!

2011-05-31T17:51:00.000-05:00

Radishes always grow. That's why I like them.

And our new chairs finally came today! Hooray! Now the dining room is pretty much complete! Well, except for the curtains I still need to sew. But that's quite a way down the to-do list these days.

Whoops

2011-05-24T18:34:00.001-05:00

Today I was home alone with the kid again. Only day two for that. And, despite a serious lack of sleep last night, it was a rather nice day. A shower was taken, laundry was folded and put away, thank-you notes were written, and during one of Adelaide's naps I even contemplated starting up a sewing project. I say "contemplated" because upon walking into my sewing room, I was hit in the face with this:

Oh, yeah. Right. Well. That's no good.

As part of the getting-ready-for-the-baby effort, we had to clear out the nursery-to-be. Which meant stashing all that junk elsewhere. Some of it went to the basement, but some of it was designated to rest in the sewing room. Which meant new shelves and a total reorganization of the sewing room. Or, rather, which meant new shelves and getting about halfway through a total reorganization of the sewing room. Oops.

So instead of sewing, I did some clean-up work. Not that anyone would be able to tell by looking. So that's my project now: making room for some actual projects.

The state of things

2011-05-20T16:12:00.001-05:00

Well, Adam is back to work and I'm home with the kiddo. So far, so good, though I really miss having Adam around to take care of us both! Loving wearing Adelaide in the Moby wrap, though - she seems to love it, and it's the only way I was able to eat any food today! We're still trying to mostly take it easy around here, not doing too very much. And I'm trying to catch up with the internet (blog reading, flickr, and such), but golly it seems like I've been away for ages!

I hope to slowly get back to some sewing. My project list is still huge, filled with things I'd hoped to accomplish pre-baby with a few new tasks added post-Adelaide. And cooking. Eventually I'll get back to that too! So far we've been living off the things I made and froze and the kindness of family and neighbors who have stocked our kitchen pretty well lately. Lucky us!

And the garden...Some of the seeds are growing, some things are waiting to be planted (including my favorite: tomatoes! soon!). We are trying potatoes in a sack. I read about it somewhere and it seemed a lot easier to dump them out at harvest time rather than dig them up, so we're giving that a go. I sewed up the sack out of some landscape fabric from the hardware store. It looks like the potatoes are starting to grow a little finally, so that's good. If it looks like our method is working out, I'll put together a little post about how we did it.

Hello, world!

2011-05-15T20:32:00.000-05:00

Meet Adelaide! Born May 9, and the sweetest, cutest baby in the world. Not that I'm biased or anything.

Balsamic tomato sauce

2011-05-05T19:05:00.000-05:00

This is a really easy but filling and tasty pasta sauce that I've been meaning to post for a while now. Good for a week night when a jar of sauce from the grocery just won't cut it. I mean, I love me a jar of Newman's Own, but sometimes the situation calls for homemade.

Ingredients

1-2 tablespoons olive oil
3 medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed
2 cups cooked garbanzo beans
1 26-ounce carton of chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
2-4 ounces feta cheese

Directions

Saute garlic in some olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add garbanzo beans and saute for 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and vinegar. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Turn off heat and crumble feta over sauce. We use 4 ounces of feta because we like a lot of feta flavor, but if you want it to be more subtle, go with the 2 ounces. Stir. Serve immediately over rotini or similar pasta.

Overly detailed post regarding the no-shampoo thing

2011-04-28T18:00:00.003-05:00

I've been meaning to post about this for awhile. I've got a super-easy pasta sauce to post, but I keep forgetting to type it up when I have my recipe notes nearby, so that'll have to wait. Instead I'll go in for the possible overshare.

So...I don't use shampoo. It's been a year since I made the switch to a baking soda "shampoo" and a vinegar rinse. I had been considering it for a few months, but I was afraid of a greasy, horrible transition period. Then in mid-May of 2010, all in the matter of a couple of days, the following occurred. I bought Angry Chicken's eMailorder #11, which happens to contain baking soda shampoo instructions. My sister sent me a link to this video from Grist.com. I saw this post from Creative Kismet. And I ran out of my big bottle of commercial shampoo. How could I not give this whole not-shampooing thing* a go?

I know this has been going around the web for quite some time now and is unlikely to be a revelation to anyone at this point, but I found it really helpful to read other people's takes on the baking soda/vinegar haircare routine as I tried to work out my own. So just in case this is useful to anyone, I'll lay my routine out there.

Here's how it goes: I keep a squeezy water bottle and a spray bottle in the shower. In the squeezy water bottle I mix up a little less than two tablespoons of baking soda and a little more than two cups of water. Shake it up well before each use, squirt it all over my roots, massage it in, rinse well. That mix will last for three or four showers. In the spray bottle I mix up about one tablespoon of white vinegar and two cups of water. After I've rinsed the baking soda out of my hair, I spray the vinegar mix all over my hair, run my fingers through it a few times, and then rinse it out very thoroughly. That mix will last for three or four showers as well. The end.

At first, I tried leaving off the vinegar rinse, but I found that the baking soda shampoo alone left my hair a bit odd to the touch. Not oily or powdery or dry or anything, but stiff or slightly waxy, maybe? And I found that pouring vinegar on my head (either straight-up or diluted) left my hair feeling great, but the smell! True, the vinegar smell disappeared as the hair dried, but it takes so freakin' long to dry, and the vinegar smell during that time was not good. And then if my hair got wet again - say I got caught in a sudden downpour - the vinegar smell suddenly returned. Not okay. The spray bottle lets me use a lot less vinegar while still fully coating my hair, and that seems to be working. So there we go.

And it's really simple. I now keep a jug of vinegar and a box of baking soda under the bathroom sink for quick, easy pre-shower mixing (and for other nontoxic cleaning uses, because baking soda and vinegar rock my world). The most time-consuming part is all the thorough rinsing, which seems to take a bit longer and tire my arms out a bit more than rinsing out commercial shampoo/conditioner, especially with longer hair (like mine is now...when it was chopped off chin-length-ish it was much, much easier). I think the little bit of extra time/effort is totally worth it to avoid all those creepy chemicals, and the fact that it is super-cheap is a nice bonus.

*I absolutely cannot stand the phrase "no 'poo" used so commonly to refer to this. Even though it may be the least clunky way to refer to not shampooing with commercial shampoo, I just refuse to use it. So apologies for any clunky turns of phrase that may result.

Muffins again...

2011-04-23T16:18:00.000-05:00

I made more muffins for the freezer. This time blueberry, a flavor other people (such as Adam) actually like and want to eat. So not as many made it to the freezer as with the bran muffins.

Ok, so I ate some ahead of time, too. Yummy and worth it.

I use the Moosewood Muffins recipe from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics, but I use 2 cups of blueberries instead of a more exciting combo of mix-ins. And I don't bother with the streusel topping. This is my favorite blueberry muffin recipe, and I've tried several, landing on this one a few years ago. My only complaint is that the muffins could stand to be taller. But that's not much of a complaint. (This looks like the recipe, but seriously, just buy the book - it's a good one.)

Bran muffins

2011-04-12T18:48:00.000-05:00

Yeah, that's right. Bran muffins. I lead an extremely exciting culinary life.

It seems like a lot of people don't like bran muffins, but I don't know why. They are yummy, and I thought so even as a kid. Maybe it's the name? They need to be rebranded...someone should work on that.

This is part of my stock-the-freezer initiative. I think muffins are great snacks to make ahead for freezing, and I hope to get another flavor or two in there before Baby Arrival Time. Freeze them in a gallon freezer bag, pop them out one or two at a time to thaw (or be microwaved) as needed.

In the past, I have made the recipe my grandma always used, and they were good, but I decided to branch out and try the recipe from The Family Baking Book (this looks like it's the one). Really yummy! It calls for molasses (light molasses, but I had blackstrap on hand and used it) and a ton of yogurt. Oh, and it calls for raisins, but I skipped that because, well, yuck! I know I've said this before, but I love this cookbook. Really and truly. It has so many useful basic recipes, good instructions, helpful tips, and plenty of pictures. It may not be very glam (it and bran muffins have that in common, I guess), but it is definitely one of my most-used cookbooks.

A fine assortment

2011-04-08T16:50:00.000-05:00

My first Etsy purchase arrived yesterday. I can't believe it actually took me that long to buy something, what with having a huge "favorites" list that I started years ago. Why? Anyway...I bought some letterpress cards from Bumblebee Press to use as baby shower thank-you notes, and they are so cute! I am so happy with them, and so happy to have supported a small, crafty business. Hooray!

And now I'm on a bit of an Etsy kick, with a letterpress print for the baby's room already ordered and several prints for the kitchen and living room being strongly considered. And all the lovely wooden baby toys! I think I need to pace myself, though.

This weekend, much like last weekend and the weekend before it and the next weekend and so on, is looking pretty darn busy. There are lots of things, both baby- and non-baby-related to check off the to-do list in the next month. Some of it is really boring (such as many, many shopping trips to many, many places). But some of it is fun (sewing! cooking more food for the freezer! starting to get our hands dirty in the veggie garden!). So maybe that'll give me something to talk about other than my habits of consumption.

But for now, here's a list of stuff to check out. You're welcome.

House 8810 has lots of cute stuff that I want. Please. [via MADE]

Homemade Cadbury Creme Eggs. Pure awesome. If only I had time to try this in the near future. [via Craft]

I love the Muppets. And I love miniatures. So this is pretty much blowing my mind. [via Craft]

Still here!

2011-04-04T18:41:00.000-05:00

I'm still here, just tired and therefore not generating much post-worthy material. (Speaking of which, how fun is insomnia!?! Last night I woke up around 2 a.m. and didn't get back to sleep until very nearly 6 a.m. Awesome!)

One thing I did get done recently: baby toy!

Meet Henny Penny and her Six Chicks from Handmade Beginnings. I think there's an error in the instructions (either that or my tired, overtaxed brain just isn't working properly), because I'm pretty sure they say to cut out two hen bottom pieces but only talk about one when when sewing the body together. I followed the cutting instructions and only skimmed the sewing instructions, thus making my hen a double-wide. Oh well. She's sturdy like that.

This is a great scrap-using project. And I love the velcro idea. The little chick wings are velcro (loop side) so they can be stuck to the velcro strip (hook side) on the hen body. So cute!

My hand-sewing skills are suspect, as you can see by the wonky, pointy edges along the chicks' bottoms. And only a few of my little eyes are actually proper French knots...the rest are just knots. And I kind of pulled one out a bit accidentally after the photo session. But, hey, it's probably going to get covered in spit-up, drool and dirt anyway, right? Good enough.

Food for the freezer

2011-03-24T19:58:00.001-05:00

One of my before-the-baby-comes goals is to stock our freezer with some yummy homemade meals so that cooking isn't something we have to worry much about for the first little bit back home with the kiddo. And it'll keep us from ordering pizza or Chinese for every dinner, too.

Lasagna and soup are on the to-freeze list. And probably chocolate chip cookie dough. Yeah, that's right. The availability of dessert food is very important. And burritos. Those are in the freezer already. Go me!

So, burritos. I thought making and freezing some would be better than stocking up on a bunch from Trader Joe's, so over the weekend I made it happen. Last night we tested a couple and declared them a success! It was a bit of a make-it-up-as-I-went-along thing, but here's the gist of it.

Frozen Burritos

Ingredients

Large flour tortillas
2 cups uncooked rice
1/2 pound dried black beans
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup corn kernels
1 cup shredded jack cheese
4 tablespoons (or so) olive oil
2 teaspoons cumin powder (or to taste)
chili powder to taste

Directions

Cook the beans according to package instructions (you can used canned beans, of course, but I'm not sure what the cooked measurements are). Cook the rice according to package instructions. Let cool.

In a large bowl, mix together the rice, beans, garlic, corn, cheese, oil, and spices.

Place tortilla on piece of foil slightly larger than tortilla. Scoop filling onto tortilla. Roll tortilla by folding top and bottom ends in first, then folding in sides. Wrap up the foil tightly. Repeat until out of filling. I made 11 burritos, but this will vary based on how full you like your burritos and what size tortilla you use. Freeze.

We microwaved ours for 2 minutes and 30 seconds, flipped them over and microwaved for another 45 seconds. It worked for us, but this is probably pretty variable. Just keep an eye on things to avoid burrito explosions! Top with sour cream and salsa.

Dinner

2011-03-13T10:56:00.000-05:00

I have a huge file of recipes to try. Ok, two huge files: one actual file folder of paper print-outs, tear-outs, and handwritten things that lives with the cookbooks; one long, long list of saved links in my RSS feed reader. And it has been awhile since I've tried any of those recipes for dinner. For some reason, it's easier to fit new baked goods into the schedule.

But last night I did it! We feasted on Spaghetti with Lemon and Olive Oil with a side of Garlicky Mushrooms and Kale. Both were good. I was especially fond of the Garlicky Mushrooms and Kale, but I am a sucker for garlic, mushrooms, and kale, so that is no surprise. Both were fairly easy to make. And I followed the recipes to the letter (for the spaghetti I used the full 1/2 cup of lemon juice and the basil option rather than the arugula, though next time I'd like to try the arugula).

And since the spaghetti makes four big servings, we get another night of dinner out of the leftovers! The kale was supposed to be four servings as well, but I'd say it's more like 3. Or maybe my bunch of kale wasn't quite a pound. Which is a distinct possibility.

Anyway...verdict: yum!

Checking things off the list

2011-03-08T19:10:00.000-06:00

Extra cover for the Boppy? Check.

Because I'd imagine the covers need to get washed from time to time.

Apologies for the cruddy pictures. It is so freakin' hard to get decent light in the winter, especially if I don't get the photos taken on the weekend. Blech. Anyway...

I used some fleece for this, because it offers a bit of stretch to compensate for the very inexact pattern I drafted (super inexact it would seem, what with all the bumps and puckers once on the pillow, but it'll work) and because I had some leftover from the tree skirt.

I pretty much just traced the cover that came with the Boppy, but I didn't want to mess with a zipper, so I did an envelope kind of thing for the opening.

While I'd like to say that the white trim around the opening was a design choice, it is actually a practical measure to make up for the fact that I forgot to give enough overlap to the two pieces when I drafted and cut. Whoops. I think it works ok like this, though. (But, seriously, I cannot remember anything these days. I live in a slight fog. It is nuts.)

Simple soup for the sick

2011-03-05T09:52:00.000-06:00

I threw this together the other day in an attempt to cure my sniffles. Actually, just simmering it on the stove seemed to help clear up my head. Drinking it was nice too.

It'd fill one big mug or two normal-sized mugs.

Simple Soup for the Sick

Ingredients
1 teaspoon olive oil
3 scallions, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 teaspoon grated ginger (fresh or from a jar)
2 cups vegetarian chicken broth*
1/8 teaspoon (or to taste) cayenne powder

Directions
Heat the olive oil in a small pan. Saute the scallions, garlic and ginger for about 5 minutes. Add broth and cayenne powder. Bring to a boil. Simmer on low heat 10 to 15 minutes.

*Or you can use actual chicken stock, obviously. I do not. I like using the Better Than Bullion vegetarian chicken variety.

It's a bib!

2011-02-28T11:05:00.000-06:00

I have not been checking off many projects on my sewing-for-baby list, have I? I finished up a few more reusable wipes the other day. And I made this bib. And that's been pretty much it lately. I can't quite wrap my head around the idea that this is the third trimester, and when this little time period is up, there is going to be an actual baby. Here. Living with us. For real. I mean, I'm excited - so, so, so excited and happy - but it just doesn't feel quite real yet. Put that together with the other to-do list (house and yard projects, researching and buying baby stuff, blah, blah, blah), the fact that I have been sick this winter so much more than usual (I'm home sick from work right now, in fact), and my attempts to thoroughly soak up all the last of the just-me-and-Adam time we'll have for a longish while, and it adds up to not a lot of sewing going on.

Anyway, back to the bib. It's another one of these from Amy Karol's Bend-the-Rules Sewing. I actually still have the one in that old post. I decided my top-stitching around the tight curves was too wonky to give as a gift. I did a bit better this time, but darn is that curve around the snaps tough! Otherwise it's a really nice, simple thing to make, though.

And I love this fabric. I still have a goodly amount of it hanging around after this bag and the latest bib, so I think I'll use some of it to crank out a few more bibs. Looking at this bib actually makes me want to get working on the rest of that sewing-for-baby list right away! If only I could keep my eyes open and stop sneezing!

So, it's still winter then?

2011-02-23T19:33:00.000-06:00

Adam's birthday was Monday, so there was the baking of the chocolate cake. I went with the same cake as last year, what with that being the only chocolate cake I've ever made that turned out yummy. It turned out yummy for the second year in a row, so I think I'm going to go ahead and call that my go-to chocolate cake. I did switch it up on the icing front, this time going with the recipe on the back of the Nestle cocoa box (also here). It was, again, okay but rather too sweet for my taste. I'd like something more chocolatey, less sweet, and still really easy. Any recommendations?

Most of what should be my sewing time has been devoted to sitting on the couch, either watching DVDs and feeling really freakin' pregnant or planning the garden for this spring. I'd like to pretend it's been weighted in favor of the latter, but, well, it hasn't. We are really excited about the upcoming gardening, though! I worked in the family garden as a kid, planted a couple of containers with lettuce and tomatoes when we lived in the apartment, and have been studying up over the winter, but I feel like we're pretty much flying by the seat of our pants here. But it will be fun, and we'll learn some things, and if we get a few tomatoes out of the experiment I'll consider it a rousing success. Now if only it would warm up! I don't have the patience for our long-lasting winters. I'm ready to get gardening!

Finally, some more sewing for the baby

2011-02-15T19:22:00.000-06:00

We're going to try cloth diapering with the kid, so to go with that whole thing I made some reusable baby wipes this weekend. Easy, easy, easy. And pretty cheap.

These are terrycloth on one side, flannel on the other, zig-zag stitched together on three sides. The fourth side is open so I can stick my hand in like a mitt. (The fourth edge of each individual fabric square either is the selvedge or is zig-zag stitched to avoid unraveling issues.)

I was going for 8-inch squares, but my measuring and cutting were pretty slapdash and wonky (everything was a bit crooked and I ended up with some mysterious 7.75-by-9-inch pieces). I fixed that up somewhat with the zig-zagging and the trimming after, but not all of it. And it doesn't matter! Because these are going to be used to wipe baby bottoms! Perfection is not necessary!

With about three months until expected baby time, I am feeling way behind on my sewing plans. The whole being tired a lot coupled with extra clumsiness (on top of my usual clumsiness - yikes!) and a crazy foggy brain is just not helping with that to-do list! But paint colors have been narrowed down! And we bought a carseat! Hooray! And I am going to do more sewing! (How many exclamation points can I use in one paragraph? Oh well, I'm excitable. Baby stuff!)

A few crumbs

2011-02-09T16:10:00.000-06:00

Snickerdoodle blondies! All the yum of snickerdoodles, even less effort! I made these this weekend and they were a hit. A note about the recipe, though: "Pour dough – it will be thick – into prepared baking dish and smooth it into an even layer" really threw me. My dough was thick like regular snickerdoodle dough. So there was no pouring or smoothing to be had. I was worried that I'd mismeasured something, but I went ahead and just pressed the dough into the pan. It turned out great, so don't worry if you run into the same thing.

Also made/eaten this weekend: The buckwheat tabbouleh I've posted about before. It is really good. You should try it.

A guy at work brought in cupcakes today, which was soooo nice and really took the edge off this morning after the below-zero-windchill walk to work. They were from Crumbs, and they were good. And huge. I have seriously never eaten a bigger cupcake. (Good as the Crumbs cupcake was, though, Sugar Bliss is still my fave.) And speaking of cupcakes in the Loop, I often pass The Cupcake Counter on my walk to work but have yet to give in to temptation. So, anyone been there? Reviews? (Does anyone from the area even read this thing? Perhaps not.) Three cupcake places in such close proximity to the office is a dangerous thing. It is probably for the best that I'm usually too lazy to go all the way down on the elevator and outside to get something during my lunch hour.

Snow day!

2011-02-03T19:40:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was the first time I've played in the snow since, well, I don't know, but it's been years. The blizzard came through as predicted, but we were lucky enough to be tucked away all safe and snug at home for all the worst of it (and to not lose power at any point!). Plus, we got Wednesday off work. Excellent.

There was baking and lounging and sewing and playing in the snow (and for Adam there was also clearing the massive amounts of snow from the walk and the driveway, but I was lucky enough to escape that task). All in all, a very satisfying day off, made all the sweeter because we were "trapped" at home with no plans and no errands - a license to take it easy and enjoy ourselves.

Why, yes, this is an announcement.

2011-01-24T19:01:00.000-06:00

Latest project: tiny little pants.

Because, yeah, there's going to be a baby around here.

These are the Basic Baby Pants by Rae over at Made By Rae. Super easy. Of course, whether or not they fit the kid when it gets here remains to be seen, but they were fun to make anyway.

I have tons of baby-related sewing planned...I'll be happy if I get even half of it accomplished. Most of my sewing time is still being taken up by the curtains. But planning and working on cute (or even not-so-cute but functional) projects for the kid is very happy-making, so I'm sure I'll fit it in whenever I can. It's a good time to daydream about the little one on the way (not that that's not happening all the time anyway), and it feels useful and busy in a very good way. The baby is due in early May, which seems simultaneously still so far off and coming up so very soon. ("Plenty of time for lots and lots of projects!" Followed immediately by "Oh my goodness, I really need to start and finish all of these things right now!") And Adam and I could not be more excited to add another member to our little family.

Snack bags

2011-01-22T10:09:00.000-06:00

I've been meaning to make some of these for a long time. A couple of years ago I tried sewing some snack bags with velcro closures, but they were a pain: a pain to sew, a pain to use, a pain to repair as the velcro slowly but surely fell apart. Then, over the summer, I saw this tutorial from Amy of Angry Chicken. Fold-over top! Brilliant!

Geez, you can really see how much I need a new ironing board cover in these photos, eh?

I don't have a serger, so I hemmed the top and bottom edges and pinking-sheared the inside seam allowance. I didn't use pretty fabric (can't spare it! or so I felt as I thumbed through the piles), just some plain leftover stuff from napkins I made ages ago. But they looked too boring, so I did some fabric-paint stamping. Not perfect, but fun!

And now I can stop with the awful plastic baggies for my nuts and raisins. Hooray! I feel so much better.

Improvisation

2011-01-16T11:32:00.000-06:00

In search of a dinner plan a few nights ago, I wanted something easy and healthy and that could be made with things we had on-hand. So I improvised some soup, which isn't something I've really done before. I've always at least had a recipe to sort of base things on, even if I don't follow it to the letter. But not this time. How exciting! Thank goodness it turned out tasty.

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Soup
6 servings

1/2 medium onion, diced
5 cups vegetable broth
2 sweet potatoes, cubed
2 1/2 cups cooked black beans
1 cup frozen corn
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onion in a large pot until soft, about 7 minutes. Add broth, sweet potatoes, beans, corn, and spices. Stir well, cover and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer 20 minutes (or until sweet potatoes are soft). For a thicker soup, put about 1 1/2 cups of the soup into a blender and puree, then add back into the pot and stir well (or just stick an immersion blender in the pot for a wee bit). Taste and add more salt and pepper as needed. Serve hot.

Because the neighbors are probably getting tired of seeing us all the time

2011-01-09T17:22:00.000-06:00

Curtains. We finally have some. Only on one window so far (and the smallest size window at that), but that's something, right?

We bought the fabric for these this summer. But then there were issues finding curtain rods. Then there were issues (many, many, many issues) with the curtain rods we bought (thanks for nothing, Pottery Barn). Then it was busy holiday time. But finally, curtains have appeared.

These were pretty easy to sew. They were a pain to cut. I think it's tough to work with that much fabric (I forget how much the whole wad is, but it's more than 10 yards) while laying it out, smoothing it down, measuring, and such. But the sewing was fairly easy and painless. The fact that they are unlined makes it easier. The fact that I decided the tabs should have snaps for easy curtain removal made things harder, but not too much. And I'm happy with the snap decision. The curtains were really easy to put up this way and will be really easy to take down for washing or ironing or whatever.

There are more and bigger windows to go in the living/dining room. So this is what I'll be up to for a while.

Baked tofu

2011-01-06T21:06:00.000-06:00

Remember this tofu recipe? Probably not, but that's ok. I forgive you.

I really, really like it, and it's fairly easy as-is, but sometimes I like to go an even lazier route. And now I will share that lazier route with you. Bake the tofu instead. It actually takes just as long, but the baking does not require the constant supervision that the stovetop does.

I just press and cube the tofu as usual, whip up some marinade (see below), shake the marinade and tofu together in a lidded container and let it sit for a few minutes, lay the tofu out on a silpat-lined baking sheet (hold on to the remaining marinade!), and bake at 400 for about 35 minutes. I like to bake until my tofu is dark golden and chewy, but you might prefer it a little less done, so check at 25 minutes. Then, because this is the lazy way, I microwave some broccoli or other frozen green and dump it, the baked tofu, the remaining marinade, and maybe a tablespoon or two of sesame seeds onto some cooked rice (or barley or quinoa or whatever is handy). Ta da! Dinner! Not as good as the original recipe, I'll admit. But easier. And still pretty good.

Sesame Ginger Marinade

4 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons grated ginger (fresh or from a jar)
1 large clove garlic, minced
3 tablespoons soy sauce

Hello again!

2011-01-03T10:41:00.000-06:00

And Happy New Year!

Oh, how I love the holidays. It always seems too early to take down the tree, put the received gifts away in proper places rather than keeping them piled around the living room, and eat the last of the cookies and candy.

Speaking of cookies...I made some. This year I went with the M&M cookies I posted about here, my standard sugar cookies, Oreo truffles, pecan balls (Mexican wedding cookies or whatever you want to call them), and gingerbread people. It's a bummer (for you and the blogging, not for me and the baking/eating--it's awesome for me and the baking/eating) that so many of the cookie recipes I use these days are from the America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book because I can rarely find them online and the ATK website is paid-subscription. The book is great, though. Highly recommended.

The pecan balls and the gingerbread people are both from the book. I love the pecan balls and make them almost every year. I could only find the pay version online, though. The gingerbread people are another story. I managed to find the recipe here. They're ok. I mean, they're good for gingerbread people. Softer and tastier than the usual. But gingerbread people are just not my faves. Fun to make and decorate, yes, but always the last cookies left hanging around after the holidays. I have some leftover icing in the fridge, though, so I think I'll just pile the remaining gingerbread villagers high with icing, which will make them 100% more enticing (to me anyway). So I've got that going for me!

'Tis the season

2010-12-24T08:13:00.000-06:00

Wishing you and yours all the best this holiday season!

There is rice all over my sewing room floor.

2010-12-17T16:17:00.000-06:00

This draft snake was a super easy project.

Just patchwork up some fabric scraps until you have a 37-inch by 9-inch rectangle. Then fold the rectangle in half (making it 37-inch by 4 1/2-inch) with right sides together and sew along the long side and one short side using a 1/2-inch seam allowance. I used pinking shears to trim the seam allowance a wee bit at this point for extra not-unraveling power. Turn the draft snake right-side out.

Next fill it with rice. Turn the unfinished end in a 1/2-inch and sew the draft snake closed (you can hand stitch this, but I had Adam help me hold the snake up so I could run the end through the sewing machine). Ta da! Draft blockage!

Another plus: this gave me a chance to use some more of the hedgehog fabric I love but never seem to use.

I way overpurchased on rice, though. And I'm not a great pourer, even using a scoop and a funnel. So there is most of a 20-pound bag of rice leftover, and I need to vacuum.

Hooray! It's a tree skirt!

2010-12-10T17:45:00.000-06:00

Finished. Finally.

(A post from last year about the tree skirt's in-progress-ness is here.)

Almost...

2010-12-07T17:18:00.000-06:00

Yikes. I did not mean to go so long without posting. I really though I'd have the tree skirt ready to show-and-tell by now, but I've been sickish (coughing up a storm for days and days) and have been moving slowly. But soon! The tree is up, so I must finish the tree skirt!

Turns out I do still remember how to sew...

2010-11-23T18:54:00.000-06:00

My winter coat is a 10-year-old (at least) boxy, black pea coat from the Navy surplus store. Its cut isn't flattering; its wool isn't soft and pretty; it collects scarf and sweater fuzz balls at an alarming rate. But it is soooo warm, and I've become somewhat attached to it. And so I will keep wearing it until it falls apart, I'd imagine.

This weekend, I decided it was finally time to take care of the pockets. They have been holey for ages, but at some point in the past couple of years they disintegrated into a mangled knot of fabric. And, after my recent period of non-sewing, I thought it might be a good idea to start off with a small project that wouldn't really be visible. Perfect.

So simple. Just measured the pocket hole, drew up some pockets, sewed them together by machine, and stitched them in by hand. Not the prettiest hand stitching in the world, but definitely serviceable. And aren't they cheery?

Oh, and geez, this time of year is awful for photos. Yuck. Getting home when it's dark out is just no good.

unrelated wee little bits

2010-11-17T11:08:00.000-06:00

As you may have noticed, I have not been sewing. I have not sewn in months. But it is time. The curtain rods are here, if not quite yet up, so I need to start on the curtains. And I need to restart work on the tree skirt very soon if I hope to have it finished (I'm going for really, truly finished this year!) and ready to put under the tree at decorating time. I find it difficult to focus on Christmas-related projects before Thanksgiving, though. I like to deal with on one holiday at a time, and I'm just not in the right head-space for Christmas yet. But when you're trying to make stuff for the holiday, you really do need to start earlier. Bleh. Oh, and while I'm making a sewing to do list: draft snakes for the back door and the one window for which the storm window won't close.

On to some other stuff!

How did I, with my deep love of miniatures and dollhouses, not know this place existed until now? Like the Thorne Miniature Rooms, only more so! So great! [via Loobylu]

This is from months ago, but I filed it under "awesomeness" in Google Reader (really, that is a category I actually use). I need to make one (or more) of these (er, Adam, if you're reading this, that means I need to have you make one of these) to house knick-knacks and doodads.

Also, I've been sneezing up a storm for the last few days. I am not usually much of a sneezer. No other symptoms. What the heck?

On shopping and eating

2010-11-03T20:29:00.001-05:00

Obviously, there were lots of cool places on the London/Edinburgh/Dublin trip, but when it comes to cool gift shops there is a clear winner: the gift shop at the Churchill War Rooms.

We are not very gift-shoppy people, but we left there with some cool WWII reproduction prints to hang on the walls. And a "Make do and mend" keychain. But I have a bit of a WWII-homefront obsession, so there were also tons of things I very nearly bought (including some quite tempting reprints of WWII home-front-related books such as ration cookbooks and a guide for English war brides headed to the U.S.). The war rooms themselves are pretty cool too. [edited to say: Upon reading through this, I realize I used the word "cool" WAY too many times in those few sentences. But what's done is done, and I'm letting them stand, but with apologies.]

Other shopping highlights: Chocolate bars from Rococo Chocolates. (The woman working at the counter was the nicest shopkeeper ever and gave us samples. We went to the one in Belgravia.) Yarn from a knitting boutique in Edinburgh. Though it is difficult for a novice like me to figure out what to make with one skein of yarn picked at random with no plan in mind. Hmmm.

And the all-important food category: Of course, the area isn't really known for having great food. And some of our experiences definitely confirmed that (we had maybe the worst Italian food ever at some place near Westminster Abbey, and the smell of heavy unpleasant bar food hung thick in the air of Edinburgh). But we also ate a few meals I'd be more than happy to repeat.

So, if you're ever in the area, here are some recs. We ate a very yummy lunch at Mildred's, a vegetarian restaurant in Soho. And we had a tasty dinner at Henderson's Bistro, a vegetarian restaurant in Edinburgh (though I cannot recommend the cherry pie). Another really good dinner in Edinburgh was had at Ristorante Gennaro, an Italian place. And I also really loved Wagamama, a chain of noodle places. We visited Wagamama toward the end of our trip when I wasn't feeling too great and the Moyashi Soba was just what I needed, like chicken noodle soup for vegetarians, only better. Upon returning home, I had a dream that a Wagamama was opening up in the Chicago area and the level of excitement actually woke me up.

The Tower

2010-10-30T20:53:00.000-05:00

Today was a rough day. We had a big list of around-the-house projects and errands, and it just seemed like each one of them was ten times more difficult than it should have been. Frustrating and exhausting. So now seems like a good time to revisit one of my favorite parts of our recent vacation.

I loved the Tower of London. Partly this is because the Tower is very, very interesting. Partly this is because I am a very low-brow historian (meaning I cannot keep actual history in my brain at all, but I get really excited to see places associated with the characters from The Tudors; pathetic, I know).

The Tower of London is huge, which I was not expecting. I mean, I didn't think it was small, but I didn't realize it was basically its own little village. The yeoman warders and their families actually live there (complete with bicycles and doormats and patio furniture that you can see if you look down off one of the high walkways). There are museum-ish parts and historically restored rooms (some lived in by prisoners, some lived in by royalty...and some lived in by royalty who became prisoners) and a chapel and the crown jewels and extensive grounds and on and on. Easily a half-day adventure. It was amazing.

Also: New blog masthead! Definitely too cold now for the bare-feet-in-the-grass header of this summer. (And thanks to Adam for the new photo, which he took in Dublin as we walked across the campus of Trinity College. And for some of the Tower photos above.)

Back home

2010-10-27T09:04:00.000-05:00

We returned this weekend from a fantastic trip to London, Edinburgh, and Dublin. So that's what I've been up to. Of course, that only accounts for a couple of weeks of my month-long absence, but so it goes.

I hope to have a post or two about the trip in the next few days. But for now, I have a little project we undertook before we left: compost!

"Build a compost bin" has been on our to-do list since we moved, so it feels good to finally have that checked off. For months, every vegetable peel and egg shell I've thrown into the garbage has been accompanied by a ridiculous level of guilt, so I can finally cut that out. And eventually we will be able to spread our very own compost over our very own vegetable garden, which just makes me so very happy. Hooray!

Fall

2010-09-28T18:00:00.000-05:00

Wow, it is full-on fall around here, it seems. There's an extra blanket on the bed and this weekend we bought our first rake.* And apple cider from the farmers market. Yum! And it's time for chili! I've been cooking my beans in the slow cooker, and it has been awesome. I soak them for a few hours after work in the evening, then I let them sit in the cooker (on low) overnight and I have cooked beans in the morning! Very exciting.

1. recycled sweater slippers, 2. homemade bread, 3. plaid flannel shirt ... the beginnings, 4. vegetarian chili, 5. favorite socks, 6. green bean soup

I haven't been sewing at all. Because I am lazy. Well, and because I keep waiting for our curtain rods so I can sew some much-needed curtains for the living room. I don't want to start another sewing project only to have it interrupted by the need to sew curtains. But I'm beginning to wonder if curtain rods will ever come. We received part of the order yesterday, only to open the box to find the wrong items. Excellent. So maybe I should start some other sewing projects soon because it seems like the wait for curtain-sewing time could be a long one.

Another area in which I have been slacking: baking. I have some new books to try out, with some really yummy-looking stuff bookmarked, so I need to get cracking.

*Raking leaves is a new thing for me. My family never really raked leaves at my parents' out-in-the-country house, but now our suburban neighbors all have nice, tidy dead-leaf-free lawns, so I guess some raking is in order. But probably not too much. Because it seems kind of silly to me.

A few things

2010-09-14T19:06:00.000-05:00

1. These zucchini pancakes were pretty good. Of course, I think that nearly anything topped with tomatoes and sour cream is delicious. Until this summer, I had never cooked zucchini before. Can you believe that?

2. Renegade Craft Fair was in Chicago this weekend. My time and budget were limited, but I couldn't resist a pretty little ceramic bowl from Kyla Toomey. (It's one of these.) She also had some lovely and unusual soap dishes that I'm wishing I'd have brought home with me.

3. Also at Renegade, one of my favorite Wicker Park restaurants had a food stand up. Score! The spicy chickpea burrito reminded me how much I love Mana Food Bar.

4. Arugula, sliced tomatoes, salt and pepper make such a good salad. I love that arugula is spicy and flavorful enough that I don't need to drown it in salad dressing in order to eat it.

Long (but never long enough) weekend

2010-09-08T20:42:00.000-05:00

A football-game-watching, architectural-site-seeing, camping-in-the-woods road trip. Plus my birthday.

Photos:
1. A late-night stop for donuts in Columbus, Ohio. Because it is always a good time for donuts, especially after a victory. (Other Columbus food recs: Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream, where I had a surprisingly delicious scoop of the sweet corn with blackberry, and Northstar, with a super veggie burger and the best ginger ale I've ever tasted.)
2. The view from Kentuck Knob (we also went to Fallingwater). Rolling hills and old built-on-the-hillside towns are such novelties for a prairie girl.
3. Two of the rangers at Fort Necessity. All dressed in British soldier gear...they end the presentation by firing one of the muskets!
4. and 5. Happy birthday to me! A pretty blue vintage Schwinn with fenders and a basket! Thanks, Adam!

Summer soup

2010-08-28T08:43:00.000-05:00

I can't believe I had never made gazpacho before. I had eaten it plenty, but I'd never made it. Ridiculous. Because it is perfect summer food.

I like it chunky, so that's how this makes it. But if you like your gazpacho a bit soupier just put a cup or two of the chunky stuff in the blender and then add it back into the bowl.

Chunky Gazpacho
makes 4 good-sized bowls

Ingredients

6 medium tomatoes
1 medium cucumber
1/2 onion
2 large cloves garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons vinegar
salt
pepper
1 avocado
lime (optional)

Directions

Core tomatoes and cut into 1/2-inch chunks. Peel cucumber and cut into 1/4-inch chunks. Finely chop the onion and garlic. Add tomato, cucumber, onion, garlic, oil and vinegar to a large bowl. Stir it well. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir again. Use the spoon to squish everything in the bowl. For best result, refrigerate mixture for a few hours or overnight. Close to serving time, peel and pit avocado and cut into chunks. Add avocado to bowl. Stir well. Serve each bowl garnished with a lime wedge for squeezing.

By the fire

2010-08-23T20:23:00.000-05:00

I miss the weekend already. Sigh.

One of the very best things about the house vs. our old apartments is having our own outdoor space. It is so nice. Especially on a lovely (reasonably cool) summer evening. Delightful.

We cooked dinner outside here for the first time. We need some practice. It was tasty, but we made a bit of a mess with a couple of the quesadillas (refried beans, corn, zucchini, tomatoes, cheese, yum!). Fire is hot, don't you know, and that can char a tortilla pretty darn quickly. Live and learn. Dessert is easy though. What is the point of having a fire if you aren't going to toast marshmallows? I don't even like marshmallows, but I love toasting them. Lucky for me, Adam loves s'mores and is happy to let me take care of the marshmallows for them. Then I nibble on the chocolate. Everybody wins.

Pancakes for dinner

2010-08-17T20:29:00.001-05:00

I came home from the farmers' market this weekend with a bunch of blueberries, far too many to eat plain. Thus, blueberry pancakes for dinner. It could have been pancakes for breakfast, I guess, but I rarely seem to be that on the ball that early in the day.

I make my mom's pancakes. Always. I never stray. My mom's pancakes are one of Those Things. To me, they are the only pancakes. Bisquick? Dear lord, no. The light and fluffy pancakes at your favorite brunch place? Still going to have to go with a no. I love pancakes, but I love only these pancakes.

I don't know what exactly it is about them. The recipe is simple enough. So is the method. They aren't particularly "light and fluffy," which seems to be what people always say they are looking for in a pancake. I mean, they're not heavy and dense or anything, but I've had lighter and fluffier (and much worse, in my opinion). And yet, I consider these the best pancakes ever.

(That beverage up there...that is a beermosa. Like a mimosa but, you know, with beer. Inspired by the beermosa Adam had with brunch once at Handlebar in the old 'hood.)

My mom's pancakes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large egg
milk (approximately 1 1/4 cup)
blueberries (or other mix-ins such as chocolate chips)

Directions

Mix dry ingredients thoroughly. Add oil, egg, and about 3/4 cup milk. Stir. Add more milk as needed. You want the batter to be pourable but not runny. It usually works out to about 1 1/4 cup for me, give or take a bit. Sometimes my first pancakes come out too thick and I have to add more milk to the batter so the next ones will come out better. It's an art, not a science.

Heat an electric skillet to 325 degrees. (You can use a regular skillet, of course, but I never have. Mom always used the electric for pancakes, so I never bothered trying anything else.) When skillet is hot, add about 1/4 tablespoon butter and spread it around with spatula. Pour batter in 4- to 5-inch circles. Then throw your blueberries into the poured pancakes. As you cook, bubbles will begin to appear in the batter. Once there are a lot of bubbles all over (see photo above), use spatula to flip the pancakes. Cooked side should be golden (see photo above). Continue on other side until pancakes are cooked through (this should only be a couple of minutes).

Serve immediately with butter and syrup.

Which contains what you will see in the perusal of it.

2010-08-11T19:45:00.000-05:00

I am reading Don Quixote (I have been reading it on and off for a couple of years now...that sucker is long). It has a title for each chapter, of which there are many, and that (the post title up there) is the name of one of the chapters. Best chapter name ever.

Now, on to the business at hand: I made something. I know. You can hardly believe it. You thought perhaps I would never manage to make anything ever again. Well, ha! You were wrong!

This dress is based on the dirndl dress pattern in the BBW Dresses book. I am happy with the cut/fit of the dress, and I am pretty happy with the basic look of it. But last night, as I finished the neck facing and the hemming of the sleeves, I wanted to murder my sewing machine. Things were going not so well. So it is finished, but I am not at all pleased with last night's work. Those parts are a bit of a mess (as is a bit of the ribbon stitching, to be honest), though Adam assures me I am the only one who will notice. That'd be nice.

I had a whiney paragraph here about my dissatisfaction with my sewing skills, but I reread it just now and it was annoying and ridiculous, so DELETE. I just need to be more patient, pay more attention to the details, and get back on the horse. Ready, set, GO!

Two quick things

2010-08-05T10:33:00.001-05:00

The thing about cleaning without creepy chemicals: Let me tell you a little bit about the magic of baking soda. I was cleaning the bathtub the other day. There was a lot of serious scrubbing involved, and it was not going well. Then I remembered that baking soda is supposed to be a good mild abrasive, so I sprinkled some baking soda in the tub and tried again. Holy cow. It was amazing. Just a bit of wiping with the sponge, not even real scrubbing, and the baking soda took all the grime right off. Just baking soda, water, and a sponge. I was so darn impressed.

The other thing: This is just about the cutest book trailer in the world.

Happiness is a freshly painted wall

2010-08-02T19:54:00.000-05:00

We painted our walls! We have walls! That we are allowed to paint! And we painted them! I cannot get over it.

Adam and I are newbie painters, so my mom and sister came up for a weekend paint-a-thon, and I'm pretty sure I will have to rope them into doing so for all our future painting projects. (If you are reading this, you guys, I will resort to bribery or kidnapping if necessary.) It really went so, so smoothly.

So now the living and dining rooms are a lovely, peaceful shade of green, and I am very happy.

We used Benjamin Moore's no-VOCs Natura paint. So far, so good. The smell was minimal (like you only really smell it when it is fresh and wet and you are right next to it) and it went on very nicely. So, as long as it holds up reasonably well, I'll be a very happy camper.

Now I just need to sew some curtains and a fitted slipcover for the couch. Yikes.

A perfect solo dinner

2010-07-20T20:40:00.000-05:00

I was planning on giving you something a little better than this, but I got home from work late and then was all caught up in a camera battery fiasco (don't worry, problem solved now), and next thing you know, this is what you get. Popcorn.

I do love popcorn, though. I could happily eat it every day. So on nights such as this, when Adam is out and I am feeding only myself, I often end up with popcorn. Yum!

My parents didn't get a microwave until I was in high school (maybe? this is fuzzy, but it was definitely late in the game), so I started my popcorn-making career trying to do it in a pot with oil. I never had much success with that method. It always burnt. It tastes good when people can manage to do it right, but I am not one of those people. But then came the air popper! And it was magic! When it came time to move out, I took the family air popper with me. It is the only way to go.

Airpop some popcorn, add some butter (which I can now happily melt in my cute little butter melter) and salt (fancy-pants salt is nice, but regular salt is good enough), and I am in solo-dinner heaven.

Back in the swing of things

2010-07-16T09:45:00.000-05:00

I have finally started up the sewing machine again! Hooray!

It feels good to get back into the swing of things. When I take a long(ish) break from sewing, I tend to forget how much I like it. Then when I start back up and am making noticeable progress on something, I have so much fun I can't believe I don't make time to sew every day. Of course, that only applies until I get into a fight with my fabric/thread/machine/pattern, but it's nice while it lasts.

And there's nothing like a fresh space and fresh supplies to put a person in the mood to make, make make! I'll show you the fresh sewing space soon, once it's ready for its close-up. But there's nothing keeping from from a little show-and-tell (well, mostly just show, I guess) with some of the fresh (to me) supplies right here and now.

Top to bottom: 1. Elastic, which is useful though not so exciting, but I love the little metal packaging on this. 2. Cotton bias tape with little gold metallic dots. Love! I am now flush with bias tape and hem tape and such, but this was the most awesome member of the group. 3. Bits and pieces Grandma salvaged from larger items. This is but a small part of a bigger collection. She is cool and thrifty like that. 4. Lacey trims. Again, part of a much larger collection.

And project ideas are already lining themselves up in my head. But they must wait until I finish the dress I've already started! (Probably.)

Darn, darn, darn

2010-07-13T21:14:00.000-05:00

I darn my socks.

They aren't nice socks. They aren't expensive or handmade. They're just some plain, boring, regular socks from some department store. And I don't darn them all that well (though it's not for lack of trying). But I darn them anyway. They were just normal almost-perfectly-good socks sitting there with holes in them, and it seemed like the thing to do. I suspect that this is one of those things where a person either immediately thinks something like, "Why, yes! But of course!" or else is left wondering why the sock-darner is so weird.

Those of you who fall into the former category will be happy to know that now, after a visit to my parents' house last weekend from which I came away with a new (but decidedly quite old) darning egg, I'll at long last be properly equipped.

Linktacular!

2010-07-09T15:57:00.000-05:00

I'm still trying to get my act together on the whole doing-and-making-things front. But I have managed to devote some time to clicking around the web. Very important business, that.

A small list of not-very-related items:

I was lucky enough to stumble upon Alice Cantrell's etsy shop today and I am smitten with her beetle nature study and her eggy postcards. The beetle study very much reminds me of my high school zoology class and the hundreds of insect specimens (kept among a vast collection of specimens of all sorts) in Mr. Coate's classroom. I'm sure I still have that zoology binder, full of the notes and sketches I made to prepare for his specimen identification test, stashed away somewhere.

I have been on a years-long search for the perfect recipe box. These boxes are pretty, as are the recipe cards. Actually, most of Rifle Paper Co.'s stuff is pretty great. [via DesignSponge]

And I want a bell jar or ten. I love them, but I am having trouble finding exactly what I want. I am particular like that. So the search continues.

Also, I would like a treehouse. Please and thank you.

I have requested (and received, thanks Mom and Grandma!) many birthday pies in my life. Because pie is the best. (But don't get me wrong. I am not at all a cake hater. Cake has icing, after all, and icing is one of the most fantastic edible substances on Earth. But I am somewhat more devoted to pie.) This lays it all out. (Warning for those with delicate sensibilities: there is cursing involved, and not just a little bit.)

Settling in...

2010-07-06T12:06:00.001-05:00

We are getting settled in here at the new house.

Having fun with all the things that are so new and different about having a house after living in apartments for so long.

Things like our own yard! Complete with our very own outdoor spigots (that may not seem exciting, but I assure you that it is).

And our own bugs (non-city bugs are so much more enjoyable than city bugs).

And our own buried treasure.

It is so great, you guys. Really.

Incapable of multitasking.

2010-06-30T14:35:00.000-05:00

We still don't have an internet connection at the house. Which is probably for the best because it has helped keep us focused on more necessary tasks like unpacking, buying a lawn mower and mowing the lawn so our new neighbors don't think we are bad people, unpacking, making all sorts of address-change-related phone calls, unpacking, buying a washer and dryer so we can wear clean clothes so our coworkers don't think we are dirty, unpacking, trying to feed ourselves,* unpacking, sleeping, and unpacking.

We are supposed to have an internet connection, but last night we could not make it work. So we'll fiddle about with it again tonight and hope that my magic computery skills** can fix it. If not, I will spend Friday on the phone with our phone/internet provider's tech support of doom. I guess it could be "tech support of quick and efficient helpfulness," but I'm going to stick with "doom."

But don't give up on me! I really will be back to normal sometime! Probably!

*We are finally, just now, making it into feeding ourselves territory. Sort of. We have been subsisting largely on eating out, stuff from the freezer aisle of the grocery, and baked goods from other people. The blueberry bread that one of the neighbors welcomed us with? That was both my breakfast and my lunch for several days. Then it was gone. Luckily, my family showed up bearing cherry crisp, so that has been both breakfast and lunch this week. That and cold pizza. But last night I made pasta! Well...I cooked up some dried pasta and heated up sauce from a jar. But that seems like a step in the right direction.

**My magic computery skills are not magic in the "Oooh, I'm so good with computers! You do not have my skills, so they will seem like magic to you!" sense. They are more magic in the "Hmmm. Maybe if I click this and jiggle that...Oooh! That worked! I don't know why, but I bet it was magic!" sense. Just so you know.

Reasons and excuses

2010-06-15T15:48:00.000-05:00

So, I've not been much with the sewing or cooking or crafting or posting lately. Obviously. But there actually has been good reason: our first house! We've been looking for quite some time and have finally pulled the trigger. The process has been exhausting, but I'm quite excited, as you can imagine. .

So posting will continue to be light for a bit while we finish packing up, move, and get settled. But I will be back at full force eventually (and I hope rather soonish), I promise.

Things and such

2010-06-08T17:41:00.000-05:00

We picnicked on the Millenium Park lawn for the free She and Him concert last night, and much fun was had by all. Such catchy tunes with a bit of an old-timey feel, plus how could one not love Zooey Deschanel? And there were lots of people dancing in the crowd, including a few high school girls who looked like they were maybe having the best time ever. Fun, fun, fun. And the weather cooperated wonderfully.

I'm telling you this to distract you from the fact that I still haven't finished the dress I'm working on. I'm making progress, but not quickly. I just haven't been in much of a sewing mood lately. But you know who has been in a sewing mood lately? Everyone who submitted an apron for the latest Tie One On theme, Alice in Wonderland. I didn't enter this time, but there's a bunch of very sweet stuff in the gallery, so take a look. Yes, that is another attempt to distract you.

And here's another attempt: Stuff I like on the internet!

This quilt is really great (both the look and the sentiment). Remind me why I haven't tried making a quilt yet? Oh, right. The amount of work involved.

This sciencey stitchery is super awesome. I want some. [via Craftzine]

And I really want this nightgown, too. Well, not this exact nightgown, given that it is supposed to be for a smallish child. But something quite like it. I would feel deliciously old fashioned, and it would be delightful.

Of birthday cards and other stuff

2010-06-02T19:41:00.000-05:00

We spent Memorial Day weekend on our first roadtrip in the new car. We went down to Springfield to see my sister and visit some Lincoln sites. Then we spent some time with the in-laws and celebrated our niece's birthday. I made a card, because that is how I roll. Super easy and, I think, pretty darn cute. Just machine-stitch some ribbon to that thing and call it a day. Excellent.

Also, on my Friday off, I spent a bit of time watching Julie and Julia (with the Netflix "watch instantly" thing...love that). Honestly, I was not that into the Julie parts. They weren't bad or anything, they just didn't catch my fancy. But I loved the Julia parts! Loved! And how great were the Valentine's Day postcards Julia and her husband sent out? So freakin' great. (See one here. Just click the small picture to enlarge it.)

Summertime...

2010-05-28T13:50:00.000-05:00

Blah, blah, blah, long time with no post, blah, blah, blah, reasons, blah, blah, blah, excuses, blah, blah, blah, the end. Moving on...

Summer is here! It suddenly went from jacket weather to summer dress weather, and I love it! I am most definitely a summer girl. The only downside is that I hate it when it's too hot to use the oven comfortably. But it's worth it to be able to run around in skirts and flip-flops. Speaking of which: new blog header! I've been meaning to change from the old fall/winter one for a month or more, but I finally got around to it. Go me.

I have today off, which rocks. I had planned to spend the whole day working on a dress I started last weekend, but I don't think that's going to happen. I'm just not feeling it today, and I don't want to force the sewing. That's no good. So the dress project will take a little longer than I thought, but that's ok. Today has a lazier vibe, I think. I feel like doing a little much-needed housework, reading a bit, and maybe watching a movie or something. Yes, that sounds quite nice.

Also, we bought a car! This is my very first car ever, so I feel like it's a big freakin' deal. We've been relying on public transportation for so long that the ability to go somewhere without checking bus and train schedules feels extremely odd. I mean, if cat food is on sale or something, we could buy more than one giant bag and not have to worry about how in the heck to get it home! The excitement! Of course, I'll be relying on the train almost every day anyway, and I actually love public transportation (even the CTA with all its many, many flaws), but still.

Oops.

2010-05-17T18:08:00.000-05:00

Holy moly, it's been nearly two weeks since my last post. I'm still here. I haven't been abducted by alien life forms or anything.

I've got this whole list of sewing and cooking projects...I just haven't actually managed to do anything on the list yet.

It's been busy around here. Too busy. You'd think I'd at least still have some food to post about or something...I mean, we do have to eat after all. But no. It's either been boring, usual stuff (I've made chocolate chip cookies at least twice) or epic failure (rarely do I take one bite of something and think "Well, I definitely won't be trying this again," but that happened a few days ago with a lentil dish).

I did learn not to listen to the instructions The Joy of Cooking gives regarding brushing egg yolk over a tart crust before blind baking it. Unless you want to spend fifteen minutes post-baking trying to pick apart foil and crust, only achieving moderate success (which means I was able to salvage about half the crust, the rest was permanently attached to the foil). At least the berry filling was yummy.

In less whiney news: I am getting ready to modify and cut into a new dress pattern from Built By Wendy Dresses, so here's hoping the "getting ready" part gives way to the actual modifying and cutting very, very soon.

Crime and punishment...no, wait, not punishment, just cookies.

2010-05-04T18:01:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, Adam had a nice day planned that took us all over the city, including a trip to the Glessner House Museum down on Prairie Avenue. The house was very cool, and I am madly in love with the kitchen/pantries (yes, pantries, plural...gosh, I love a pantry). But one of the best things about our visit was that I bought this book!

The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death combines some of my very favorite things: miniatures, mysteries, odd historical artifacts. Frances Glessner Lee grew up in the Glessner House. Later in her life, she created these dollhouse-sized crime scenes, complete with clues and murder victims, to help train investigators. They are kind of creepy, I guess, but entirely fascinating, and I would love to take a look at them in person.

In completely unrelated news, I made these snickerdoodles. They were pretty good. They stayed nice and soft for as long as they lasted. I think melting the butter helps with that. But I have decided that I really prefer a snickerdoodle that includes cream of tarter. So the search for the perfect recipe remains ongoing.

The shirt and I both survived.

2010-04-29T19:35:00.001-05:00

The spring/summer shirt is now totally finished. Thank goodness. Because I am so ready to move on.

And I even made it in time to enter Made By Rae's Spring Top Week. Score. You should look through the flickr pool, because there is lots of great stuff from lots of great people.

The shirt's vital stats: seersucker, modified from the basic shirt pattern in Sew U, took forever, tried to kill me

Who's the boss now, snaps? Huh? Who's the boss now?

2010-04-27T18:05:00.000-05:00

After some agonizing, I realized that sometimes you just have to bust out the hammer and beat those unruly snaps into submission.

Whew. I feel much better now.

Can you hear me sighing ridiculously from where you are?

2010-04-25T09:55:00.002-05:00

Wow, so it's been more than a week since I posted. For one thing, I've been overly busy in lots of non-blog-related ways. But also, and more to the point, my latest sewing project has been going less than fabulously. In fact, it has been going pretty disasterously.

I started this spring/summer shirt nearly two weeks ago. It is based on the basic shirt pattern in Sew U (see here for my version), but with a lot of variations. I should have finished it last weekend, easily.

But every little thing has gone awry. And it is still not finished. I made the neckline too deep, so I had to add a fix-it design element. The fix-it design element required some top-stitiching that seems to have done something else rather wonky to the neckline that I haven't quite figured out how to fix yet. For awhile I was having some tension-adjusting issues with my machine (which are all better now, at least). Then, nearing the point of completion, I started to put the snaps on. And discovered, rather too late, that the decorative fronts of the snaps I am using don't properly fit/work with my snap press, causing shirt carnage as shown below.

Yesterday's highlight was when, in an attempt to pry the poorly set snap off the shirt, I managed to stab a small screwdriver up under my thumbnail. Bleeding was involved.

So that's where I've been.

Hodgepodge

2010-04-16T18:38:00.000-05:00

I am working on a summery shirt from some of my new fabric. Hope to finish that up soon. But for now: other stuff!

This tapestry is pretty amazing. For real. It has everything: Stitching! Pictures! Words! Life story! Loads of detail! Is there anything not awesome about this?

If you are in Chicago and want a cupcake, let me suggest Sugar Bliss. One of my coworkers brought some cupcakes in this week, and they were amazingly delicious. Seriously. So, so, so good. So many places have tasty frosting, but dry or flavorless cake. Not these. These were perfection.

Mac and cheese from a box (Annie's) mixed with cut up veggie dogs and sauted kale (sauted the kale with some garlic and a splash of lemon) and heavily seasoned with salt and pepper is trashily delicious. Who knew?

On a less awesome, more anxiety-inducing note: Neurotoxins in veggie burgers! Nice. One more thing to remember while at the grocery. And I know that this is but one not-good-for-me ingredient among many, many such ingredients, including tons I don't even know to be worried about. But, really, isn't that insane? I mean, it really should not be so hard to buy food that doesn't have creepy stuff in it. Sigh. One more reason to try to make every damn thing from scratch.

A few notes from the weekend.

2010-04-12T16:44:00.000-05:00

My mom and one of my sisters came up for a lovely visit this weekend.

I made them some strawberry streusel bars from The Family Baking Book. Yummy!

We made a pilgrimage to Vogue Fabrics in Evanston. Wow, that was a lot of fabric. So much more apparel stuff than JoAnn's. And totally reasonable prices, too. So now I'm all ready for some spring/summer sewing! Yay!

My sister cut my hair. A risky endeavor, but I'm pleased with the results. (Thanks, Rach!) Of course, it'd look better if I bothered to blow-dry it or something. But let's be realistic...that is not going to happen.

It was so nice out! It is definitely, finally, solidly spring now, thank goodness.

Assorted ramblings, not one photo included

2010-04-06T15:45:00.000-05:00

It was so darn nice out for most of the past weekend. It was just lovely and perfect.

We hosted a tiny brunch on Sunday, which was a perfect excuse to make this again. (Again? So soon? Yes. Because I love it.) I also tried these potatoes, which seemed a bit risky (an untested recipe, and with capers, an ingredient I was not sure I would even like), but which turned out to be pretty tasty. And a frittata with spinach and feta. And lots and lots of fruit. I was pretty proud of myself because things all seemed to be ready and on the table at just about the same time, something that I rarely achieve. It's usually more along the lines of "Here is your veggie burger, and your potatoes will be done in about twenty minutes. Should we have some salad, too?"

You know what Cadbury should do? Make a dark chocolate version of the creme eggs. One of my coworkers suggested that today, and I am totally on board. I love the filling as is, of course, but a dark chocolate outer would be a nice change. [so ends my discussion of Cadbury eggs for the year...probably]

I am so in the mood to be sewing some more spring/summer clothes for myself. And this coming weekend holds a trip to a not-JoAnn's fabric store, so I should be able to stock up on some supplies! Yay! I just love not-JoAnn's fabric stores. Really and truly, I do.

Gingham summer dress

2010-04-03T18:13:00.000-05:00

I finished the dress today. Aside from the part where I didn't remember to take the time to match up the plaid at all, I'm quite pleased. I have a feeling it will get a lot of wear in the hot summer months.

So, I used the Built by Wendy Dresses book for this. In case you aren't familiar with the book, here's the general idea: You get three basic patterns (a shift dress, a sheath dress, and a dirndl dress) and then a whole bunch of ideas and instructions for ways to change those basic patterns up to make exactly the dress you have in mind. Pretty darn cool. My dress is based on the shift dress pattern (which I picked because I didn't want to make a trip to JoAnn's to buy the zipper that a more fitted dress would have required).

The V-neck ended up a bit deeper than I care for and a little wonky in places, but it works as long as I put a layer underneath. Next time I'd definitely try something a bit more modest.

And gingham...I love gingham. I think it is so freakin' cute. But it (or at least the version at the JoAnn's nearby) is a big pain to work with. It gets stretched out of shape so easily and it unravels like a son of a gun. Plus it is super-thin, so it requires a full lining.

Totally unrelated side note: How cool is this?

Disproportionately about sweets

2010-03-31T18:05:00.000-05:00

Oh, the weather has been so great the last couple of days! Sun! And warmth! And no coat! So exciting. Now if only it would warm up enough for flip-flops.

I'm working on a summer dress right now. It's from the Built By Wendy Dresses book (a book for which I have so many plans!). I'd hoped to have it finished by now, but I get distracted. But soon!

Ever since I made the super easy/tasty Oreo truffles, I've been thinking of other things I can cover in chocolate and call candy. I decided that chocolate chip cookie dough truffles would be perfect, because I want a "legitimate" reason to eat cookie dough. Well, my first batch of filling wasn't quite right texture-wise, so I rolled it into balls but didn't bother covering it with chocolate. I've been eating balls of cookie dough straight out of the freezer all week. Nice. But I plan to give the cookie dough truffle thing another go this weekend. I'm sure there is a recipe for something like this out there, but I prefer doing things like this the hard way. Just because.

And it's Cadbury Egg season! (I know some people think it is Peeps season, but I firmly believe that Peeps are an abomination.) My Cadbury love encompasses both the creme eggs and the candy-coated mini-eggs. Just like when I was a kid, I still like to bite one hole in the end of a creme egg and try to suck out the filling. It is never a very successful venture, and it always ends with chocolate all over my mouth, but I cannot help it. That is the way the creme egg is meant to be eaten. The mini-eggs I am able to eat like a proper adult, well, aside from the need to eat them in the proper order, sorted by color.

You should be eating this right now.

2010-03-28T10:41:00.000-05:00

This coffee cake is so, so, so good. It tastes just like homemade cinnamon rolls (some of the most delicious food ever, especially my mom's), but it is really, really easy. And what could be better than that?

Adam, after eating his first piece: "You will be making this again."

And I will be.

Off the needles!

2010-03-24T19:07:00.001-05:00

I finished my first knitting project!

I keep calling it a scarf, but I guess it is a "slouchy cowl" (or so says the pattern, anyway).

Once I got the hang of it, knitting was quite fun. And I love the seed stitch pattern...aren't all the little bumps lovely?

The yarn was Misti Alpaca Chunky, which is amazingly soft. Plus, I love how chunky yarn on big needles (size 17) knits up so quickly.

Knitting is just so freakin' cool. I mean, I poked some yarn around on some sticks and it turned into fabric. How awesome is that? So awesome.

Mushrooms and other things

2010-03-19T20:25:00.000-05:00

I really and truly plan to actually make something (or actually make something, as I have not yet decided what) this weekend. Now that I've put it in type, I have to do it, right?

Other things:

The weather. I am going to complain about it. (I really have been whining about this all day to anyone who will listen. How tiresome. My apologies.) It has been really nice all week...while I've been at work. And now the weekend comes and tomorrow is supposed to be cold with freezing rain and snow. Not cool, weather, not cool.

Thyme. I discovered it sometime last year. (That is sad, I know. How did I go so long without knowing how perfect thyme is?) And now I am madly in love with it and like to sprinkle it in its dried form wherever I can. I especially like to sprinkle a teaspoon or so into my eggs while they're frying (in delicous, delicious butter, thank you). Yum!

Also, with butter and thyme: mushrooms.

Mushrooms and Rotini

Ingredients
1/2 pound rotini
4 (or more) tablespoons butter
1/4 cup onion, chopped very fine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound of mushrooms, sliced medium-thin
3 teaspoons dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
salt and pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
Cook and drain pasta as directed.

Meanwhile, melt two tablespoons butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and cook until onions are soft and translucent. Add thyme and one more tablespoon butter. Add mushrooms, nutmeg, and another tablespoon of butter. Cook until mushrooms are done (all soft and slippery like they get...sorry about this rather pathetic description). Add more butter if desired (it will be even less healthy but even more delicious with another tablespoon or two). Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Toss the pasta, mushroom sauce, and Parmesan together and serve immediately. (Or, as in the photo above, you can plate the pasta, serve the sauce over it, and sprinkle the parmesan on top...but I have decided that the tossing is easier and better.)

Disjointed and mostly outdated ramblings

2010-03-15T15:08:00.001-05:00

Did anyone else feel a bit smacked in the face by the clock change this weekend? We had to catch a train out to the suburbs early on Sunday morning, meaning I had to wake up at 6:45. On a weekend. The torture. But it was made worse by the fact that it wasn't until I had already been in bed for a bit that I jumped to my feet with a panicky "Oh my god! Daylight Savings Time!" as I realized that we would be getting even less sleep than originally anticipated. Bummer.

I was clearing out some folders on the laptop and found a couple of photos I meant to post but had forgotten (or decided not to use, maybe? I don't remember). But I've got nothing better for today, so here they are.

This is a birthday card I made for my brother a couple of weeks ago. I like the silver paper I used for the cupcake wrapper, but the rest of it is kind of eh. I was reminded how much I really don't like using glue sticks because I cannot help but smudge and smear glue on stuff (my fingers, the tray I was working at, the wrong sides of the paper I'm trying to use...pretty much everything within reach, really). While looking for paper and a glue stick to use for this, I found some origami paper and instructions from ages ago (I think I was in middle school). I tried to make some stuff. It did not work out, so I did not take pictures. How do people get origami to work? Magic? Better instructions? Significantly more vast amounts of patience than I possess?

And this is how I used up half a block of cream cheese that was hanging out in my fridge. I suppose it could have been used for a variety of necessary cooking activities--making something for us to eat for dinner, for one. But I was hell-bent on cream cheese icing. So I made some chocolate shortbread (from The Family Baking Book, if I am remembering correctly, and I may not be), which was merely okay on its own, and the easiest cream cheese icing ever (half a block of cream cheese, a teaspoon of vanilla, and a bunch of confectioner's sugar to get it to the proper consistency). Lazy and delicious. That was a while ago, though, because lately my sugar fix has been coming from the Girl Scout Cookies.

Wow. Are you totally impressed with this post or what? I know. The organization and edification astound you. You are welcome.

I have been...

2010-03-11T17:40:00.000-06:00

too, too busy on the weekends and too, too tired/lazy on the weeknights to do much of anything creative lately.

loving the relatively warm weather (in the 50s!) but cursing the rain and humidity.

knitting furiously in hopes that I can finish this scarf thing (still on my first project) while there's still an opportunity to wear it this season. Thank goodness it is getting easier with each row!

thinking a lot about--but accomplishing nothing in the area of--sewing up some spring-ish clothes for myself.

saving my lunch money for the just-came-out-today eMailorder #11, because making magic potions is supercool.

eating Girl Scout Cookies like my life depends on it, especially Caramel Delights (or Samoas as they are sometimes called). Speaking of which, I need to try this recipe pronto.

In my brain lately

2010-03-07T19:02:00.001-06:00

Sometime last month, Adam and I visited the Art Institute. It's tough to try to see everything every time, so we always break off a few manageable chunks of museum to look at each visit. This visit we spent some time with the American folk art collection. It's not huge (not at all), but we both thought it was very cool. So I went to the library and checked out a bunch of books on American folk art and have been paging through them for the last few weeks. I've primarily been drawn to the cross-stitch and embroidery samplers and the landscape paintings. So good. I have grand sampler-stitching and landscape-painting plans dancing around in my head, but there's a whole bunch of stuff in idea queue right now, so we'll see how long it takes to spit something out. I'm guessing quite some time.

So, for your pleasure, here are a few extremely poor photos of some of the images that have been inspiring me lately. (You can click the collage to see a bigger version.)

Old-timey cooking fun!

2010-03-05T18:10:00.001-06:00

I can't believe it has taken me this long to get around to posting about this. After I posted about cast iron cookware way back when, my parents were awesome enough to get me some of the coveted cast iron loaf pans for Christmas!

I love these. They make perfect little loaves that pop right out of the pan. But butter that pan first! Do not be fooled by the "pre-seasoning," as that will not do at all. Your bread will stick. Seriously. Butter.

Also, the loaves are smaller than the loaves from normal loaf pans. I'm not sure by how much, precisely, but definitely smaller. Not tiny, though, not a mini loaf. I think these loaves are the perfect peanut-butter-toast-for-breakfast size. Here is a handy side-by-side comparison of the three loaf pan sizes I've got going on (the slightly large size, the very normal size, and the smaller cast iron size).

And a word about acquiring said pans. My cast iron loaf pans are from Lodge. My much-loved skillets are from Lodge, a company that makes all its non-enameled cast iron cookware in the U.S., so they seemed like the best choice brandwise in the cast iron loaf pan department. But this is where it gets tricky. Because you can't order their loaf pans from amazon.com. You can't even order them from the Lodge website. But you can order them by telephone from a Lodge factory store! Or, at least, from the one in Sevierville, Tennessee, which is the one my mom called.

March. It's better than February, but still...

2010-03-02T18:26:00.000-06:00

She may look happy that it is still all wintery out there, but I assure you that I do not. Enough with the cold and the gray and the slush, please.

I hate/love getting to the part of winter where I become insensitive to the cold. When it's still below freezing out and I'm taking my hat off and loosening my scarf as I walk because it's all making me too freakin' hot. On the one hand, damn you, winter, for being so long and cold that you dull my senses! But, on the other hand, at least I don't still feel like my extremities are going to freeze and fall off. I do appreciate that.

But this week, oh, this week it is supposed to get up into the 40s! The joy! So things are looking up.

Black and white apron

2010-02-28T15:52:00.000-06:00

Here's my submission for the latest Tie One On theme, Black and White.

This one was really easy and fun to sew up. I quite liked making the pleats, with all the straight, mindless stitching. Rather relaxing. And even sewing on the bias tape edging, which I usually have very poor luck with, went very smoothly. And I remembered to make the ties nice and long so they wrap around to tie in the front, which I much prefer but sometimes forget to account for. A very pleasant experience, this apron.

Better late than never.

2010-02-24T18:12:00.000-06:00

Edible cake isn't the only thing I managed to accomplish over the weekend, in case you were wondering. It was very nearly the only thing, but not quite. I also made up this little pouch for my sister.

See, the intrepid girl reporter needs a handy way to make sure she always has her necessary smallish items (such as extra batteries) on her as she dashes off to the reporter-type places she frequents.

The idea here is that she can clip this little pouch to her ID tag thingy, thereby never forgetting it. And it has handy little pencil-holding loops of twill tape, too! It is in the mail on its way to her now, so we'll see how well it actually functions in a few days.

Also, with this, I used my mock overlock stitch to finish the inside seams, and I like it. I really should use my not-just-plain-straight-stitching stitches more often.

Papercutting and a story about cake

2010-02-22T12:55:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was Adam's birthday! Happy birthday, darling!

Here's the gift I was hinting about last week: a special papercutting project! This is really the first papercutting piece I've done, and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. Though I did discover that I need a better knife for next time!

I may have mentioned this before, but every year I try to make Adam a birthday cake. He loves chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, so that's what I do. And every year the cake has been an epic failure. I mean, I will eat nearly anything with sugar and/or chocolate in it, and even I have not been able to eat some of these cakes. I haven't been able to figure it out, though I suspect that at least part of the problem has been overbaking.

Anyway, this was going to be year number six (I think...that seems right) of my chocolate cake attempts, and if it didn't work out, I was ready to finally give up and start buying his cakes from a local bakery or something. Because, seriously, how many times can a girl force her husband to eat really bad cake on his birthday just because she has a crazy thing about baking cakes from scratch?

So this year I decided to avoid the recipes in all my fancy-pants cookbooks and go with a more populist cake: the recipe on the Hershey's cocoa box, also available on the website. (I just saw this morning that Angry Chicken posted a link to this recipe over the weekend, too. If only I'd had her recommendation earlier, I could have saved myself years of heartache!) Hallelujah, we have a winner! It wasn't dry! It tasted good! Adam voluntarily had a second slice, and I didn't even prod him in that direction! Success is mine!

I also used Hershey's recipe for frosting (again, available on the cocoa box or on the website, on the same page as the cake recipe). It was pretty good, but maybe a little too sweet. I'll probably stick with this cake recipe in the future, but I might mix it up on the frosting front.

Linguine with Vodka and Herb Sauce

2010-02-17T18:56:00.000-06:00

We had some cream in the fridge that needed to be used up a few nights ago, so I made this for dinner.

Linguine with Vodka and Herb Sauce

Ingredients
1/2 pound dried linguine
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 large onion, chopped
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 teaspoons dried tarragon
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup vodka
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
Cook linguine per package directions. Drain.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and saute 5 minutes. Add garlic and saute another 5 minutes. Add herbs and saute another 1 minute.

Add vodka and simmer 2 minutes. Add cream and simmer until slightly thickened, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat.

Add drained linguine and cheese to skillet, tossing until sauce coats linguine. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot.

More hot pads

2010-02-15T17:32:00.000-06:00

Another Monday off work. Wow, I love that.

I made more hot pads. Now with finger pockets!

Someone over on Flickr gave me the idea to try these with finger pockets on the back. It's a fairly easy modification. Pretty much just cut another full circle instead of a middle piece and don't quilt down the side pieces.

Kind of cool.

But most of the afternoon was spent working on a little project for Adam's birthday. Since he reads this sometimes, it'll have to be super-secret until next weekend, though. Well, semi-super-secret. Here's a hint.