Design...Stat

Let's Have a Picnik

2012-02-17T08:55:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite sites is closing down ironically on my birthday, April 19! Until then you are allowed to use its fun premium features which is sooo exciting! These are some old examples of how I used the site! Enjoy, have some fun, make some art!
http://www.picnik.com/app#/home

Suspense!

2012-02-17T08:49:00.002-05:00

I know I have alot of crafts pending right now and I wish I had more to blog! But I want to give you the full experience when I am done. Here is a sneak peak of my crafts for the upcoming Baptism for my little guy (don't you love nonpariells?)and a close up of some jerry-rigging we needed to do to make a sconce work in a old weird house that is wired like crazy!!!

Contemporary Art in an Unlikely Venue

2012-02-14T13:25:00.002-05:00

Jeff Koons

I just got back from a six day stint at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital at the Westchester Medical Center. The baby had breathing problems steaming from the RSV virus. All that is far to medical for me and it was a terribly scary experience, but when he started feeling better it became easier for me to appreciate my surroundings. For the first five days I enjoyed taking a look at all of the dolls that were on display in the Judy R. Rosenberg doll collection that were displayed in a long hallway on my way to get something to eat each day. Clearly you would need a lot of space to collect all those dolls, and I don't have any collections to speak of. But I am always comforted to see my Grandmother's little figurines on display.

Judy R. Rosenburg Doll Collection

When we were finally transferred from the floor of the PICU to the Pediatric Floor, I began to notice a spectacular collection of prints on display in the hallways. One kept catching my eye and as I got closer to the tag, I read that it was a Jeff Koons print hanging near it was a Murakami print! How exciting for me. I tried to cruise around and look at the other images without appearing to be a wackadoodle parent. There was a vast collection, and it was all very happy and wonderful. What a wonderful environment for the children and a seriously fun contemporary art collection. Here is a link to more info on the hospital's collection via the NYTimes
<3Anna

The Bump Out Continues

2012-02-07T09:30:00.001-05:00

Just a quick preview of my labor of love. In old houses there are alot of layers. Alot of layers of wallpaper, alot of layers of paint, alot of layers of grime on the wood floors. I love the story and the history of each generation painting a new layer on the walls- BUT what I never will understand is when you are putting another layer of paint on your walls, why would anyone paint right over the outlet plate cover and then the outlet- not once, not twice but several times! Do they say to themselves "Hey- lets paint over these tiny slits in my wall that provide me with electricity, that will be good for my appliances" So here I am scoring the paint around the outlet and then prying it off without damaging the plaster walls! Not an easy task for me (a bull in a china shop).

I will be buying new outlet covers and my wonderful dad knows how to switch out outlets! ..... To be continued.............. ;0 Megan

Snack Pouch

2012-02-06T16:28:00.004-05:00

My Little Man has to bring a snack each day to his pre-school. For awhile I have been just slipping things into a ziploc bag and trying to remember to save it and use it again each day. I fail at this. So, I decided I needed to make something specifically for his snacks so I could cut down on my waste. This spawned the snack pouch!

I decided I needed to have the word "Snacks" embroidered on it... just one small problem, I don't know how to embroider. I didn't let this stop me! I just thread the needle with some embroidery floss and went at it. I'm sure there is a correct way of embroidering things but since we are talking about a pre-schooler's snack bag I figured I'd be safe in just going for it. The orange color I was using had been left over from the blue booties. I thought little goldfish would be cute on the bag because he always likes goldfish mixed with almonds for his snack! I just drew the little fish on the bag with colored pencil and stitched back and forth to the outer edges of the line I had drawn.

I wanted a secure closure so I decided to sew a velcro closure. It's really tight and nothing will be falling out. I'm a little weary that crumbs might get stuck in the velcro but I'm hoping they will wash out when I wash the bag on the weekends.

This was really simple to put together. You basically cut a rectangle double the size of the actual bag you want. Sew your velcro on the top of each side. Then with right sides together just sew up the sides and secure your seam with a zig-zag stitch. Done!

<3 Anna

I'm linking up here:
Craft-O-Maniac
Sumo's Sweet Stuff
Polly Want a Crafter?
Sew Can Do
Making the World Cuter
Marvelously Messy
Sew Chatty

The Bump Out

2012-02-03T08:52:00.001-05:00

That is what I call the room in my house that bumps outside the regular footprint of my house- The Bump Out. Its pretty much the best room in the house because of the three big windows right next to each other but very awkward because of a weird dividing wall. And I know you are all wondering, but YES that mirror is attached to the wall! No getting that sucker off!

Of course I have been laboring over what to do with this room (as you can see from my paint samples on the wall). I will have lived at my house for 3 years in June and the house hardly looks lived in. I labor over paint color and where to put nails in the wall- BUT! I have finally bought new sconces, a stencil to paint on the wall, two paint colors and some frames. Here are some "before" pictures above and in two weeks I will hopefully be able to post "after" pictures!!

I have also included my image board and as you can see I have yet to decide on frame arrangement. I love the haphazard look almost as equally as I love the very order look! Decisions! Decisions!!
- Megan

Make Your Own Taco Seasoning! mmmmm!

2012-02-02T14:42:00.011-05:00

Every Tuesday in our house is "Taco Tuesday" which is really fun and Little Man loves it. He also is starting to grasp the days of the week a bit so I'll say, "we're having tacos tonight" to which he replies excitedly, "it's Tuesday"! I also found it easier to feed him dinner if I stick to a schedule of things I know he likes. One day a week I will try something new that way I know what things I can rotate in or not. It makes it a lot easier and stress free eating.

In a move to cut a lot of preservatives and the yucky stuff I don't know how to pronounce from our lives I decided that one way would be to make my own taco seasoning because let's face it this body doesn't handle MSG very well! I cruised the Internet and settled on this recipe. It was a little to spicy for Little Man so I modified it a bit and seriously it does taste like a taco should! If you want all the spice make sure you add more red pepper and add black pepper according to the recipe above. Did you know it was cumin that made a taco smell like a taco? I did not know this!

Chicken Taco on whole wheat shell... Little Man refers

to this as a "burrito" because according to him all

soft shelled tacos are burritos. I have learned to

only serve hard shell tacos on "Taco Tuesday" soft shelled

burritos are for another day :)

This recipe is for a really mild toddler-friendly version. This is a portion for five different taco nights! So you can make a bunch and store it in your cabinet. When you are ready to use, Spoon out 2 tablespoons of your mixture and add it to your 1lb of browned meat(or cooked chicken) and add 2/3 cup of water. Cook together for about five minutes. It's delicious!

1/4 C. plus 1 Tbsp. Chili Powder
1 1/4 tsp. Garlic Powder
1 1/4 tsp. Onion Powder
dash of cayenne pepper (add more if you are spicy and you can also use flakes)
1 1/4 tsp. Dried Oregano
2 1/2 tsp. Paprika
2 Tbsp. plus 1 1/2 tsp. Ground Cumin
1 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. Sea Salt (any salt would do)2 tsp. of Coriander (because I'm obsessed with it)

-Anna

BTW Little Man does not eat "salad" which is lettuce, or tomatoes! I didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea! His taco consists of black beans, meat, and cheese. I sneak grated carrots into his meat :)

Links:
Fireflies and Jellybeans: Show off your stuff party
House of Hepworths
Delightful Order
Marriage from Scratch

What is this Trickery?

2012-02-01T17:13:00.002-05:00

Don't worry, it's not just you, it's been a really long time since we've blogged here. For awhile I thought I would start a new blog because I was a little embarrassed that it had been so long here. Whatever! That's how we roll! I hope everyone has had a nice year! We have a total of three babes in our midst now... two from me and one new little man from Megs!
We have a lot of fun stuff to share with you, and I've learned a little more about blogging. So, please join us and have fun reading along! :)

Impossibility Remains Impossible! An Update

2012-02-01T16:35:00.001-05:00

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Well, for the past few weeks I have been working when I can on my Impossibility Challenge which was to sew a dress. I decided to challenge myself a bit more and instead of a sleeveless frock I stepped it up and picked a pattern with sleeves. I found this wonderful english tan corduroy... I was excited.
Here's what I did, it's not pressed and I didn't finish the hem

Front

Back

Looks ok right? I was feeling pretty good about this. That is until I tried it on, and I use "try on" here as loosely as I possibly can. You know what, "loosely" is really the worst word I can use. In no way would this ever in my wildest dreams fit me. Not if I lost 15 pounds... maybe if I was Kelly Ripa, not a 5'10" size 10! I checked again and looked at the pattern to make sure I wasn't out of my mind. It says size 10! Maybe it's a junior size 10! I'm pretty bummed, but know that I tried my best and took my time to follow the instructions. I even watched a youtube video about making sleeves five times!

I really do wish it fit because it looks exactly like what I wanted. I'm going to have to pick myself up and try again. Get right back on the horse. This pattern will be shelved.

Stuffed Initials and Children's Art

2012-02-01T16:34:00.003-05:00

Monday, January 23, 2012
One of my favorite artists of all time is Cy Twombly. His art has a child-like freedom and abandon that I have always responded to. It has always made me strive to reach that place in my own work. So, when I stumbled on this picture of the interior of his home my heart just lit up. For some reason I completely respond to this image. I don't actually like Roman heads and pink carpets... do I? I think what I take away most is living with your artwork and letting your personality surround you in your home. It's not important for your room to be something others want to live in because YOU have to live in it! You might as well be happy with you.

"Roman Classic Surprise" Vogue, November 1966
featuring the artist Cy Twombly and his family in their home

I have a shameful admission and it is that after 3 1/2 years I still have not hung anything on the boys' walls. Well I take that back, I hung one picture above their dresser. It's really shameful. When we were initially getting the room ready we painted it this fun yellow/green that resembles a margarita. It was so bright and light in there that I just found myself lost as to what to do next. Now that my son is a drawing and painting machine I thought the most logical next step would be to display some of his work.

Little Man's new wall decor

So, I decided, along with some framed artwork, that I would make him some stuffed letters to hang up. He's learning how to write and he loves to know all the different letters. He's especially proud of his own initials! Also, the Little Man's favorite color is purple so I definitely wanted to find some fabric that had some purple in it. I went to the craft store and stood in front of their little packs of quilting fabric for a LONG time! Then I saw a kind of tied dyed looking fabric that I knew he would love it! I thought it would be fun to pair it with some polka dots because he already has those on his valances (and I love polka dots)! I knew that they didn't quite match but I went back to Cy's room in my mind and said the heck with it and got both!

For the letters I just got 8.5x11 piece of computer paper and drew and cut them out. I pinned them to my fabric (after ironing the fabric). I sewed them together stuffed them and finished them off by hand sewing the opening. I wanted to kind of solidify that they were meant to go together and hide the edges by hot glueing some ribbon around the outer and inner edges.

He absolutely loves looking at all his work and his initials. I love how bright and playful it all looks and I am so proud of his cute little drawings of an elephant and a truck with flowers! I also left a sticker he had stuck to the wall above the "B" because for awhile that's all he had up there and he did it himself!

Link Parties:
Sarahndipities
Sew Can Do
Everything Under the Moon
The Southern Institute: CreativeMeMonday

The Blue Booties

2012-02-01T16:33:00.003-05:00

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

My booties have brought a lot of laughs to the house. My husband gets perplexed when I make things that most people would clearly just buy. I laugh in my head because I know that I secretly planned to make them blue and orange (like his favorite basketball team, Syracuse) to immediately trigger his mind to like them even though it may have been ridiculous for me to make them (and he did make a comment that he liked the blue and orange)! I must say I had an extremely enjoyable experience planning and making these and they are pretty cute!

One of the first "prototypes"

I designed my own little pattern pieces, first out of the felt because it was just easier for me to visualize and cut them while pinning. I had a few "prototypes" and tried to just cut the pieces down to where they looked good to me. I wanted a "shell toe" front piece which I'm not sure actually worked out. Once I had my pieces looking good I took it all apart and traced the pieces on paper and scanned them into my computer just in case I ever wanted to make another pair.

Orange bottom... look out le bouton

Since The Baby is just learning to walk I still needed a soft bottom shoe. After walking the aisles at the fabric store I settled on burlap for the bottom because I loved the orange color. There is some non-slip paste I can buy that you get if you want to make your own rug which I think I'll try on the bottom because they do slip a bit on the ceramic floor. I also added an elastic on the inside of the shoe to try and help it stay on his foot. He still pulls them off but he would any shoe.

I think these were successful! I think I'd make a few changes if I wanted to make another pair, but once I got everything down it didn't take me long to make the final pair. I hope you like them too!

Links:
Not Just a Housewife
The Southern Product Queen
Rae Gun Ramblings
It's Overflowing
Chatty Chics
The Shady Porch
Uncommon Designs Online
Clean & Scentsible

2012-02-01T16:31:00.001-05:00

Monday, January 16, 2012
As usual this weekend had me starting a billion different projects with a completion of none! But I'm ok with that because each activity has a promising end! I began my Impossibility project of sewing my new dress. Which I decided to make out of a tan corduroy. So far so good... I think. I know a few things that I've done wrong so far but this is a learning process so I'm ok with that.

While in the sewing room I decided I also wanted to try and make the baby some booties. He's just starting to learn how to walk so he still needs a soft bottom shoe he's not really ready for a sneaker or anything like that. I haven't seen anything in the stores that I feel like spending $50+ bucks on, so after a suggestion from one of the moms at Little Man's school, I thought I'd take a stab at it. It's starting to come together.

The bootie pieces out of felt and burlap

Pretty much the only thing I finished was a pom pom for my son's hat. If you've ever wanted to know how to make a pom pom... here's how:

Tracing a circle out of two cardboard pieces with what else? A sippy cup

With your two pieces of cardboard together you begin winding your yarn
around the circle through the whole in the middle

This is what it looks like when wrapped up

Then you put your scissors in between each cardboard
piece and cut the yarn

Wrap the end of your yarn around the middle and
tie a knot (this holds it all together)

Snip the cardboard and slide it out

fluff it up a bit and now you have a pom pom!

I hope everyone had a nice weekend!

What's Happening

2012-02-01T16:30:00.001-05:00

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Just a quick note on this lovely (chilly) Saturday.

The first discussion for the Happy Homeys Book Club is up. There is still plenty of time for you to catch up and start commenting anytime. The book is wonderful so far!

Also if you are in the Hudson Valley, stop by Millstreet Loft's Riverside Gallery to for the Preview Reception for The Big Draw from 4-6 PM. You can see hundreds of small works by local and national artists, including mine (I submitted two so hunt them down)!

A Keeper: Beef Burgundy

2012-02-01T16:29:00.001-05:00

Friday, January 13, 2012

It is safe to say that I love pretty much anything that contains wine and mushrooms. For my next cooking adventure I decided to try a stew that contained just that, Beef Burgundy. I again used a recipe from the Soups, Stews, and Chilis cookbook.

My husband and I joke because I'm actually not that great at being a chef. It's really not my calling. You have to be clean and tidy and keep your workspace workable... have a great palate and taste things... know what you are doing. I am a slob. I hate tasting hot things. I like salt. I do not know what I am doing.

So, I've been trying to go against my inner being and clean up the kitchen as I go and leave things looking not like a bomb went off but as though it took me only minutes to create dinner and not five hours. There is a problem with doing this... the husband comes home to a tidy kitchen... nothing to see here, eats Beef Burgundy and tells you to put it in the "keeper recipes" log in your brain. This keeper recipe log is really small at the moment. It contains tacos, meatballs, white bean chili, and fried chicken. To add Beef Burgundy to it would be, well, not very practical. I could see pulling it out maybe once a month (or maybe twice a year) but either way it was tasty.

There were a few things I had never done before in this recipe. Buy salt pork? Cut salt pork! It look like a hunk of bacon and my arms hurt after trying to cut it into 1/4" matchsticks. While I was cutting I unfortunately came across a surprise that let me know just what part of the piggy was going on here. That was not cool.

Make an aromatic bouquet. Well that sounds lovely! I liked this part. I really like cheesecloth and I like that these things weren't going to be floating in my beef burgundy. I didn't feel like picking the carrot out from my son's stew this night.

Buy burgundy wine. Bless his heart (I like when I say things like that it makes me sound like a great grandma), the boy at the wine store who had to give me a lecture that burgundy was just a region of France and assured me that this bordeaux wine was the same as burgundy and would be fine. Why couldn't he have just given me a bottle of wine that read Burgundy in big black letters on the front? That's what I wanted. And I really didn't want to argue with him but I knew it was not the same. If it were why wouldn't my trusted Cooks Illustrated say bordeaux? They would have... boy.

I tried out my new rice maker that I received as a gift from my Uncle whose time in Japan left him as a rice junkie.

Anywho, it turned out deliciously and it will be tagged as a keeper recipe.

Et Voila:

Imagine the Impossibilities

2012-02-01T16:27:00.005-05:00

Thursday, January 12, 2012

So, I have to be honest, the first thing that came to mind when I heard about the Impossibilities Challenge was wallpaper. I have a hallway that I believe was once wallpapered before. I think it is a plaster wall and it has a very strange texture. I painted it a lovely shade of gray (my favorite color). I painted right up the stairs meeting up to a nice buttery yellow. It's been a few years now and the paint is chipping all over the place. It's disturbing and upsetting mainly because I do not like house painting even a tiny bit and the thought of picking up a roller again is heartbreaking. I'm also not a big fan of wallpaper, I should actually say that I'm not a big fan of wallpaper that has fruits and eggplants and strange vines on it. That is what I was faced with in the house when I first moved in. Miles and miles of wallpaper. I fought with it so much it made me cry.

The fact that I would even consider hanging wallpaper back up is mind boggling, but I've decided it's the best decision. I went to the wallpaper store and informed the woman that I wanted something simple and gray. The first thing I picked I guess had glass beads involved and she basically told me no. We came up with this textured paper that has a checkerboard pattern on it.

I know I'm not taking any big risks with this one, but I really just wanted a gray wall so I think this will look nice. She raised her eyebrows at me numerous times when I told her I would be going up the stairs with it and doing it myself. So, after much debate with my husband I have decided to already abandon this impossibility and make it a very possible goal by hiring someone to do it for me and making all the bad dreams of cutting angles and wallpaper paste disappear for good. With all of the painting I have done in this house I will enjoy having someone else do it for me this time.

So, what's next? Finish Gone With the Wind? Maybe sometime in my thirties.

What I really really want to accomplish is sewing. It's been my life dream to know how to sew. Sure, I can make my sons their Halloween costumes but I struggle. I have a grandmother that is an expert, why do I not know? So, I have been sneaking away to get a few lessons from her, we are making a button down shirt. She assures me that once I'm done with that I will have a lot of useful knowledge under my belt. But she lives a couple of hours away and we haven't even gotten to the arms yet.

I need to do something now to keep this dream alive. So, by the end of January, I will be sewing myself a dress... no sleeves... little aggravation... just a little jumper. That's it. I will have to escape up to my "craft hole" (that's what I call because of the slanted ceilings I bump my head on and this crazy dark blue carpet). If I can pick up just an ounce of confidence I think it will be the start of something great!

My stack of vintage patterns I buy on Ebay and my fabric

So Cheers to conquering the Impossible! Let's Go 2012!

Green Striped Men's Hat

2012-02-01T16:27:00.004-05:00

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

I think my husband was getting a little jealous with all this hat making (before The Little Man Hat I had made two for my sister and sister-in-law). He requested a gray hat and a green stripe using the green from Little Man's (Aslan Alpaca Basil). So while in Saratoga over winter break I stopped byCommon Thread on Beekman Street. I bought some gray Invernal yarn and it ended up having kind of a green cast to it so it was pretty perfect. It's a very cozy, warm and modern and he actually likes it (which is kind of amazing)!

This one I did totally by measuring not row counting. I still used the size 5 circular needles and a set of double sided needles as well.

I cast on 100 stitches and k1, p1 the ribbing for 2 inches (I wanted it a thicker ribbing just because of the shape of his head)
I measured his head like I did here so I knew how long the hat needed to be before I started rounding it off (about six inches).

Then I just knit(in the knit stitch) for 3 inches until I wanted to make the green stripe. I made the stripe about 1/2inch long, five rows.

Then I changed back to my gray yarn and knit 1 1/2 inches before I began my spiral decreasing in the same manner as here. Where I *(ktog2 k23),repeat from *. Next row *(ktog2 k22), repeat from *. and continued to decrease in that manner

Et voila:

Wouldn't you know it, but after all this hat making I actually lost my own hat. I guess I have my next knitting project!

Avocado and Bacon 'Chos

2012-02-01T16:26:00.001-05:00

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

I have an overwhelming love for nachos. I think one of my favorite inventions might be the scoop tortilla chip. Really, I mean it, it's just so little and bite size and you can fill it with anything. I think there should be a restaurant with a menu filled with nachos... the possibilities are endless. I'm going to try my best to figure out all the different things you can put on a chip and make it taste yummy.

For this recipe I modified my taco night avocado mixture (which I will be posting soon). The only thing I left out here is the onion mainly because I didn't want to chop one.

I began the avocado filling by slicing up a tomato into little chunks. Then I sliced my avocado into little pieces as well and added them to a bowl. Then I added a dash of pepper, a generous pinch of salt, a 3-4 teaspoons of coriander (one of my favorite spices which I use constantly because I can never use cilantro fast enough before it goes bad). And a few shakes of garlic powder. Gently mix it up so that you don't completely crush the avocado. Then you just place a spoonful in each chip.

This was going to be my complete filling for my chip (and probably would have been tasty) until my husband was making a BLT and I decided I too must have bacon! Why not throw some on these little guys? Sounds good to me! I had him make me a few slices and just chopped it into bits. Drizzled the pieces on top of the avocado mixture.

Then came the cheese. I piled a generous amount of cheese on each chip like a little nest of grated up goodness.

Popped them in the oven for five minutes at 350F and out they came. But wait they needed something... sour cream! Yes, yes, that was perfect!
Et Voila:

These were scrumptious! (yeah I'm not losing any weight)!

I added this recipe here:

But the Dough Was Pretty

2012-02-01T16:25:00.001-05:00

Monday, January 9, 2012

I don't know where I went wrong here... I don't know how I could have possibly messed up blueberry muffins but I think I did somehow. Any suggestions...gentle now gentle... on why these didn't brown?

My obvious thought was that I didn't cook them long enough. When I did the toothpick test they were perfect, but I threw them back in anyway. After five minutes they still weren't turning brown. So, maybe they are meant to be whitish? They are pretty, but actually aren't that appetizing without that brownness to them...you know what I mean? They look more like biscuits with blueberries! They offered some additional recipes for glazes and a cinnamon sugar topping that I think you would have to use if making these again.

On top of it all the blueberries were really tart (which of course the editors of Cooks Illustrated warned me of but I didn't read thoroughly... they said for sure in the winter to use frozen wild blueberries), Whoops! Bust!

What did go right was that the dough was really lovely looking and my ice cream scooper was amazing at filling the cups which is usually a big mess. The muffin was really moist and tasted delicious beyond the tart blueberries. Most of all the house smelled lovely. So that's something to take away! I will try them again for sure.

Sneakster Dinners: Spaghetti and Magic Meatballs

2012-02-01T16:24:00.001-05:00

Friday, January 6, 2012

By Golly I easily found another delicious way to use kale! I hate seeing things go to waste in my fridge so when I used half a bunch of kale in the hearty tuscan soup, I was thinking about other ways to use it. Last night was meatball night and I always like to sneak "good" things into mix meats. Usually I grate some carrots into my meatball mix so why not chop some kale up like parsley and use that too? I only used about 4 or 5 leaves because if things get to crazy it will instantly be rejected by Little Man. So, I removed the stems, chopped it up and threw it in!

My pretty much no fail meatball mix is so easy it hurts me to write it:

1pound ground sirloin (I buy two pounds at the beginning of the week and use half for taco night and half for meatball night)

1 egg

A pour of Worchester Sauce (Count to Three)

3 or so handfulls of Italian Style dried bread crumbs

1/4 to 1/2 cup low fat grated parmesan (that's what I keep in the house but sometimes treat us to a chunk of the real stuff and just microplane a 1/4 cup in)

1 Carrot washed, peeled, and microplaned(grated)

three shakes of garlic powder

pinch of salt & pepper

and the new addition 4-5 stemmed and finely finely chopped kale!

Ball them and brown them in the frying pan using olive oil and roll with your tongs (a new way I tried to ball them this time was to use the ice cream scooper my mother in-law got me from a pampered chef party. I usually use it for cookies but thought it was worth a try. They were all pretty much the same size this way).

Pop 'em in a baking dish or on a cookie sheet and into the oven at 350F for about 30 minute or longer... you cant really hurt them to much.

I really wanted to make a quick spaghetti sauce to go with them and it is certainly hard for me to pass up Smitten Kitchen's Tomato Sauce recipe that we probably all know by now. She suggests using San Marzano tomatoes but we prefer Tuttorosso. It's pretty much all the effort and time that I had at the moment and I think it's delicious.

The Smitten Tomato Sauce is so yummy (and by the way delicious on chicken parm)

onion tomatoes butter that's it!

Cook on stovetop for 45 minutes squishing the tomatoes and stirring every once in a while.

My husband does not like chunky sauce so I always whip it a little for him to get the chunks out.

Cook the meatballs for a bit in the pot

Et Voila:

The response was, well, amazing. Little Man ate THREE meatballs and the Baby ate TWO! Really! They are decent sized! My husband and I really enjoyed them as well. Dare I say that kale will be added to the grocery list? At $1.05 for the bunch I don't see why not!

I'm thinking the butter and parmesan pretty much counter-acted the kale and carrots... but OH WELL it was TASTY!

Spiral Top Little Man Hat

2012-02-01T16:23:00.001-05:00

Thursday, January 5, 2012

I taught myself to knit my junior year of college following along a little starter kit from Walmart when I wanted to to add some fiber art to my resume. Which of course never really ever took shape other than the idea sitting in my mind. For years I have started little projects here and there, my husband always joking that I have never actually finished anything. I should have figured out a long time ago that scarves take a long time to knit! So, as this winter season approached I decided I must accomplish a smaller goal and that would be to start knitting hats, shorter timeframe to make and also consistent with my skill level. I wasn't sure I was going to find the look I wanted by searching the internet so I decided to just wing it a bit and after picking some fun colors of alpaca (I drove a ways to find a nice yarn shop: Out of the Loop), and would write the pattern out as I went.

So, the big thing about this and really all knitting projects I fail at is the counting! I just have way to much raging through my mind and I without fail loose count. Because I've been knitting for awhile I can kind of use visual clues but the easiest way to make this hat is really just keep a measuring tape near by and just knit until the measurement is what you want. It makes the knitting process so much more fun if you do the least amount of counting possible.

For my little man's hat it was important to measure from the bottom of his ear (I wanted the hat to cover them) to the part of his head right before it starts to round in. For him that was 5" he has a rather large head. If you'd like to try this pattern make sure to take that measurement. It will make your hat fit just right.

Supplies:
#5, 3.75mm circular needles (I use the bamboo ones)
A set of double sided needles the same size
Knitting/tapestry needle
Measuring tape/ruler
I changed colors so I need three balls of yarn but you can easily make this hat with one color and one ball of yarn. I used alpaca because it was so soft and warm

Get it Started:
Cast on 100 stitches *(this may vary as well. This hat fits my little man who is almost four years old, but the diameter would also fit my husband, it's pretty universal. So, if you know for sure your recipient has a super tiny or uber large head just add or decrease your cast, but try and make sure that it is divisible by 4 that will be important later when thou are rounding off).

Here We Go:
*Remember you are knitting in the round so make sure that your casts are not twisted and begin with your first knit in the stitch with the knot

Ribbing
Beginning with the color you want the majority of the hat to be

Rows 1-12 (or until the ribbing measures 1.5"): K1, P1 and repeat

Hat Body

Rows 13-28
Continuing with the same color
K in the round for the next 16 rows or until it measures 2"

Rows 29,30
Change to your second color (in this case I used green)
K in the round for the next two rows

Rows 31,32
Change to your third color (orange)
K in the round for two rows

Rows 33,34
Change to your original color (blue)
K in the round for two rows

Rows 35-40 Repeat the last six rows
Total of twelve rows

You are going for this striped look:

Rows 41-50
Continue with your original color for 10 rows about 1.5" or until your hat measures the length you measured from the ear. In my case a total of 5" from the bottom of the folded ribbing to the beginning of where I'd round off the top of the hat.

The Spiral Top:
Continuing with the same color
*at some point it will become to hard for you to continue on your circular needles at which time you will knit with your double sided needles to make your life much easier

Row 51
(K2together, K23)and repeat another three times until you are at your starting point

Row 52 (K2together, K22)and repeat in the same manner as above

Row 53 (K2together, K21) repeat x3 total 4 and you continue for approx.the next 15 rows decreasing your number of knit stitches until you have eight stitches left.

At which time you use your tapestry needle to finish Now you just take care of your strings and your done!

*to help your ribbing stay in place you could stitch it or take out your best friend the iron and show it whose boss(follow your yarns instructions you may need to cover with a towel)

*this looks like a lot but it's really fun and easy once you get your rhythm so stay with it and cover your entire families' heads!

*On a side note I think this hat needs a Pom Pom! I will link up to that post once I add it!

Let me know if you need help or get stuck!

A Very Hearty Tuscan White Bean Soup

2012-02-01T16:22:00.001-05:00

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

My first attempt at soup making began two nights ago when my husband requested the hearty Tuscan white bean soup recipe from Cooks Illustrated's: Soups, Stews, and Chilis. I liked the choice because it included things I had never done (soak beans, ingest kale) and I decided to add some chicken to the recipe to turn it into a meal for the whole family. The baby would receive some white beans, carrot and chicken from the soup and The little man would get a personalized bowl of soup heavy on the beans and chicken and minus the kale and tomatoes which were immediately rejected due to color alone.

The recipe called for dried white beans which meant that I had to sort threw them and pick out any bad ones I saw and then soak the pound of beans in a salt water bath that consisted of 16 cups of water and three tablespoons of salt for at least eight hours or up until 24 hours. Making sure to rinse thouroughly before adding them to the soup. They looked like this the next day when I was done soaking:

While the boys were taking there naps I chopped everything up and began to cook the bacon (the recipe called for pancetta but the butcher at the grocery didn't have it) in our dutch oven on the stovetop in the bit of oil for about eight minutes. When it started looking a nice brown I added the onions and celery and cooked for another twelve minutes:

I then added the garlic and cooked for about 30 seconds until it became fragrant (and boy was it!). I quickly added the broth, water, bay leaves, and the rinsed beans and turned up the heat to medium-high until boiling at which time I threw the cover on it and popped it in the oven to cook for bout 50 minutes.

I took it out of the oven and added the chopped kale, carrots, and diced tomatoes which really looked lovely together:

Then just put it back in the oven for another 30 minutes. Out it came, I pushed the sprig of rosemary down into it and covered the pot and let rest for 15 minutes. Then I uncovered and fished out the bay leaves and rosemary and chucked them. I added salt and pepper (frankly maybe a little too much pepper). The soup was done

et voila:

I baked a chicken breast for 40 minutes that I marinated in italian dressing chopped some pieces up into bits and added some to each of our servings: The rest of the soup I div-eed up for my husband's lunch and had about four servings left and threw it in the freezer so we'll see how that does on re-thaw.

I enjoyed this soup because it was pretty much a meal (we each had a dinner roll too), it got me to try kale which was actually kind of tasteless so I felt good about that and healthy, and although it seems like a lot written out it really wasn't hard. Next time I think I would add more bacon (I really didn't catch any of that flavor in my bowl and I'm a big fan of bacon). To me the skins of the beans were a little to noticeable so I'm going to do a little research on beans to see where I went wrong there.

Now what to do with the other half of the bunch of kale?

Ingredients:

4oz bacon (or 6oz pancetta)

1tbsp evoo

1large onion, chopped med

2 celery ribs, chopped med

8 garlic cloves, minced or pressed (I pressed but my fingers still smell)!

5cups low-sodium chicken broth

3cups water

1pound dried cannellini beans, salt soaked and rinsed

2 bay leaves

1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes drained and rinsed

1/2 bunch of kale stemmed and chopped into 1 inch pieces

2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1 sprig fresh rosemary

salt and ground black pepper

2010-05-12T14:54:00.000-04:00

An antiques blog that make your mouth water. She also has an online store!

This is a 1950s Jivaro Tribe Red Feather Belt found in Illinois. I think it would look absolutely incredible as a necklace. amazing. beautiful. Here are some other finds from the same trip:

You know I used to rock one of those shell necklaces!

Possibly my new favorite blog Erie Basin. (I'm pretty sure I first saw this via texturism again... my other favorite blog!)

Buttoning Patience

2010-05-12T14:39:00.000-04:00

I can not stop staring at these amazing installations by artist Ran Hwang. They are composed of buttons and they aren't glued so the buttons shift and have movement. I would love to see one in person.

Definitely visit her website so you can see the many installations and enlarged photographs. They are amazing.

Shatter!

2010-05-12T14:18:00.000-04:00

I came across these interesting photographs by Martin Klimas out of Dusseldorf. I love statues of girls in fancy dresses, but I love these photos of capturing them at the moment of being broken more!

Camp Vivier

2010-05-12T14:11:00.000-04:00

I am love with this little bag perfect for summer. An amazing shape and size by accessories designer Clare Guerrero Vivier