Blog Hop: Cheese Please

My dear friend of Sybaritic Pleasures is trying to start an international foodie blog hop after becoming frustrated that the many she encountered were goofily limited to a specific region or country. I thought I'd try to tackle these as another creative endeavor and hopefully start stretching my kitchen skills again. The challenge is simply enough: Cheese, Please

 I'm a day late getting this post up to actually participate but I'm not going to worry about it. I played with my new camera for the photos so it made me late while I figured out how to use the new software to get the photos OFF the camera. I still have quite a bit to learn.

Randomness: Things on My Mind

Here's a random post of things sitting on my brain taking up space at the moment, accompanied by a semi-creepy amalgamation picture because I felt like it.

Boozie Blackforest Brownies

Every year for our Oktoberfest party, I make some kind of dessert. I never make up my mind about what I want to make until a few days before the party, so it's always the guaranteed surprise. (Beer, brats, obatzda, and homemade soft pretzels are always a given.) I have made blackforest inspired cupcakes a few times, German chocolate cupcakes, and faux apple strudel in the past. This year, I had a lot of personal family things I had to deal with during the two weeks leading up to the party and was feeling stressed, so we decided to scale back a bit. I decided brownies would be a quick and tasty dessert for this year. However, being me, could I just make regular brownies? Of COURSE not! Thus I give you: Boozie Blackforest Brownies.

Yode-Lederhosen-hoo

1st Hauswarmen - Ballard
Me in borrowed costume

Six years ago I moved into my first solo apartment after a few years of house-sharing and a basement apartment that was mostly private but where had to go upstairs to use the kitchen. This apartment had a lovely loft ceiling and was only a short walking distance from the Ballard locks. I decided to hold an Oktoberfest themed "Hauswarmen" party. The next year, J and I moved in together in to a larger apartment in Magnolia and held another "Hauswarmen." We've kept up with the annual tradition of our own mini-version of an Oktoberfest since then.

The Sadness of Orange

I have had a good appreciation of a beautiful rusty autumnal orange for years, but last fall, orange made an unprecedented and unpredicted move up in my personal color ratings to second place. (First being maintained by my favorite of over 10 years: red.) That spring, orange started showing up all over the fashion-world and juicing its way into other facets of design. As I kept being drawn to it on the shelves and racks, I decided I wanted to feature orange as my accent color in my craft room, so the hunt began for the perfect shade.

Designing for a Sybarite

I've had a lot of projects going on lately and I haven't been getting most of them finished before I start the next. The logo I was designing for my friend had to be put on hold as she had a second logo she needed more urgently. I thought I'd lift back the cover and show a little of the process I went through.

Putting the Veggies to Bed

Cottoniversary Chronology

The fortunes of hindsight make it easy to say, "I didn't understand then, but looking back, I can see how that unfortunate event was necessary for this path."

Spring Surprises & Working in the Yard

I have been enjoying the slow discovery process of what is already planted in our new space. Spring brought many a surprise, some identifiable and some unknowns. While I may not have been posting, I have been taking pictures and we've been busy when the weather allows it!

New Blog Crush (and DIY Confession)

I have my regular blogs that I visit daily (most of them only post about once a week, but the day of a new post changes). Today, Not Martha had commented on a link to another blog, saying that she loved what he had done with his apartment, but mostly that she was bookmarking to remind herself that some favorite window shade was back at Ikea. It intrigued me enough that I clicked over...he had me at his first sentence,

"Thus far, it has taken me roughly two months to redo the horrendous caulk job in my bathroom."

Daniel, of Manhattan Nest, goes on to round out the paragraph with,

"What should have taken no more than a few hours has been stretched into a drawn-out, casual sort of affair, with long periods of rest punctuated by short, manic spurts of activity. So far I’ve succeeded in scraping away and replacing all the caulk around the top of the tub, but have been unsuccessful at working my way down to the floor. Don’t even bring up that spot between the sink and the wall or you’re dead to me. " (emphasis mine)

A man who knows our life!! What was supposed to be just stripping out molding caulk and replacing turned into a discovery of 2" of black mold on the sheetrock behind the surround, so we had to rip out all of the surround, a third of the sheet rock, and replace. We started our shower repair on President's Day (February 20th) and it's almost Memorial Day and we're not done. Granted, just after that I went down to Portland for my mom's major surgery and it was a stressful time. Plus, we had many steps we needed to do outside and with Seattle weather, that severely limited what weekends we had available to do certain tasks. Each step has incurred one or two curveballs, requiring umpteen trips to McLendon's for materials and advice. By the time we hit May, we're just so sick and tired of the stupid project that neither of us wants to acknowledge we're in the home stretch! We just don't want to deal with it anymore, even if I miss having a bathtub and our upstairs bathroom put together and fully functional. However, maybe by finally admitting to it here, the guilt and embarrassment will be enough to get us to finish it this weekend. Maybe.

When that ever happens, I'll celebrate by a little pictorial review of the process.

Blogkeeping - Comments

Well binaries, since there are SO few of you, I decided I don't need to try and protect the blog from comment spam. I have changed the settings to allow unregistered users to comment on posts since I have heard from two or three of you that you don't want to set up a free account with Google+ or the other options that were available. However, if somehow my readerships hits the teens or, God forbid, the twenties and attracts some obnoxious bot, the restriction will go back on.

Comments are now OPEN....PLAY NICE!

Plantas de Mayo

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Today was all about plants! We started off our morning going to the plant sale at Highline Seatac Botanical garden, specifically to see what was available from the Iris Society and then it was off to the annual Tilth Edible Plant sale at Meridian Park to do some damage to our pocket book.

Roasted Tomato Quinoa Salad

Sometimes you come across a recipe that is a game changer. Two summers ago, I came across a recipe from Martha Stewart and fell in love.

Searching for Grandma

My mother often seems worried or upset when I talk about my Finnish heritage, so concerned that I'm ignoring the other parts of the recipe that make up my ethnicity. It really has nothing to do with that at all, but is just the one that seems more prevalent and tangible to me most times. I can attribute my maiden last name, my skin tone, my slightly slanted eye in baby pictures, and my folded eyelids directly to the Finns and their Mongolian ancestry. I know my nose and high cheekbones are due to the 1/16 Cherokee passed on from my mother. Percentage-wise, I have more German in me than any of the others because I get it from both my mother and my father. However, German culture and heritage didn't play much of a role in our home. The predominant traditions and values were distinctly Midwest Norwegian. Perhaps because my mother's culture was so prevalent was why I more often talked about my Finnishness, to maintain a connection to that side.

Teaser

Ok, so I have a whole post written up about the Edible Book Festival but haven't managed to resize and plunk in the pictures yet. So while you wait patiently, here's a teaser pic:

And in case you didn't like that, here's an adorable picture of family snuggle time!

Socked Out

The semi-local (Portland) company, Sock-It-To-Me produces fun patterned socks, of which I own, at last count, 8 pairs. Each year they hold two design contests. The first is Portland only. The second is open to the rest of the globe. I got off my duff and entered 4 patterns this year, although I actually sketched up about 14 different ideas! I ran out of time to work up one more for entry so will have to save them for next year.

Library Books: A Love Story

One thing you may or may not know about me is that I am a book worm: I DEVOUR books. I have been this way since I can remember. I come by it genetically as my mom, dad and brother were always reading as well. My mom and dad read to me frequently. My mom tells a story of me when I was very young (maybe 2 or 3?) and she found me tugging the huge dictionary behind me with frustration. She asked me what was wrong and I wailed, "I want to learn to reeeeeeaaad!" Unable to wait, I must have moved on to making my own. My dad fondly remembers me "writing" stories through illustration. I would bring my papers to him and tell him the story and he would write the text on the back for me.

No Longer MIA

As I already knew, regular posting on a blog is a difficult task for me. I've had SEVERAL posts planned but settling down to write them is hard and finding the time to offload pictures and crop, etc is harder. Plus, sometimes life just gets in the way! I usually write my posts during slow moments at the office and then add the pictures when I get home. However, for the past 2 months, work has been a complete ZOO for me! It was unexpected and more than a little stressful.

That sounds like I'm making excuses, and maybe I am a little. However, some things are just facts. Several life events recently (and justifiably) took a front seat to blogging, which I bumped onto the Wait List. My mother was very ill (that will get a separate post if she okays my sharing) and her care and being with my family consumed my attentions. Between worrying for my mother and going crazy at work, I had little energy left at the end of each day.

More frequently than not, I always feel I'm just explaining circumstances but other people interpret it as making excuses. That brings up a common question of mine: what's the difference between making an excuse for why you didn't do something and simply explaining why? Is it intention? Is it something more intangible or something easily defined and concrete? I would love to hear some opinions on this!

Planned upcoming posts

• little photo retrospective of our "Dimanche Gras" party with the monster nephews
• sewing me-torial on the apron I made for my sister
• spring gardening
• lessons in permaculture
• the shower project aka first true adventure with DIY remodel/repair

Still Mourning From the Bayou

Ok, this post is probably more for me as I need some lunch and am not bothering to reread/edit, so read at your own peril.

From the Bayou was this AMAZINGLY EXCELLENT cajun food restaurant just one little ol' block from my college campus. I can't handle spice heat very well, but their food was SOOO GOOD it was worth suffering some of the burn and they had a salad that was so awesome that I would crave it! It had the best smoked almonds ever found (and if you know me, you know I'm not actually a big fan of smokey flavor so these HAD to be that good for me to crave them!) Yes, it's been closed several years now and the restaurant that took it's place (ostensibly with same chef and several of the same recipes) is now closed as well. On a lark, I hunted through the tangled webs of the inter as I knew the restaurant had shared some of it's recipes at one point. I managed to find some, and I'm copying them here below. On my search, apparently I ate there during it's early hey-day as Yelp reviews are bad, but all from several years after I left. Sadly, I never took pictures of their decor, I loved it. I wish I could have bought one of their artistic chairs! Wish I had found their red beans & rice recipe...and what those darn almonds were.

Happy Ferris Wheel Day!

by Matt Kloskowski

Many of you may be asking yourselves, "Ferris Wheel Day? Isn't today.." Nope, maybe for you it is, but not for us! I'll explain so as to wipe that look of confusion off your face.

Lemon Love

image source

Yesterday near the end of our outting to the Northwest Flower & Garden Show, it struck me while looking at a charming little garden built by a local high school in a grid pattern alternating grass with items of interest. I keep laughing about the fact that one reason we loved our house was the huge amount of yard space, and yet as I plan and dream of gardening, I keep wanting MORE land! The problem is I love so many styles of gardening and want to have a space for each, but that would mean absolutely no yard left to play in! I love a formal ornamental French garden with it's pretty geometric patterns edged with boxwood, the tumbled flowers and natural exuberance of the English cottage style, quiet romantic shady spots with the trickle of water over rocks, herb spirals, vegetable beds, the list continues. The challenge comes in finding a way to make little spots for each in our yard but still have it look cohesive. (Let's also ignore that all this gardening is in my head, I'm not exactly sure I will be that good at the actual physical labor all this requires.)

Project Reveal: Jewelry for my Seestar

So I've been working on several projects lately but couldn't share what they were or the progress as they were to be presents for my sister. Now that I've given her three of the four presents and shown her the in-progress fourth, I can share them here!

Garden: First plans

One major reason we wanted a house and were willing to move out of the city that we loved in order to obtain it, was because we wanted a large yard. We wanted space to do all the things: flowers, herbs, foods, and play. We know what we want to do and the approximate location for each, but now that winter is past its heyday, I find Spring approaching with fearsome rapidity. Actual conversation from last night went something like this:
Me: Ugh, I'm weird!
J: Why this time?
Me: I'm getting anxiety about going to the Flower & Garden Show!
J: Yeah, that's weird.

Planning the Summer House Projects

Now that I FINALLY have a house to full on decorate, I'm stalling. I know we won't be moving again in any forseeable future so I don't want to jump into any rash decisions or doing things just to have it done. Most of our focus has been on organizing and finding homes for our belongings. No home is perfect and much as I love ours, there are quite a few projects I identified after moving in. Today I'll give a little run-down on my challenges I'm facing in each room and my large list of "summer" home fix-it projects.

The Binaries

So...Jeff's favorite blog/podcast team  (TBTL) affectionately calls their fans/followers "The Tens." This would be because they counted their followers as being "in the tens." With that inspiration, I've decided to call my readers "The Binaries." Why? Because I think I can count you easily with 1s or 0s.

Inspirations & Modifications: Dorothy Party

I frequently will see blog posts about themed parties (sigh, nothing fills my dramatic and crafting soul like a themed party!) and think about the things I would change or do differently. I may not have the budget, or the appropriate occasion, to recreate these parties in my version, but I enjoy the brainstorming challenges. So this will probably be the first of what will probably be a regular feature: IandM posts.

Snowpocalypse 2012 - Part 1

The Puget Sound area was hit with a snowfall on Sunday, Jan 15. We had about 2-3 inches at our house, had fun playing in it and seeing how Ivan liked the snow on the deck (he didn't, it was too deep for his liking). Monday we bravely drove off to work in the slush. A larger dump was forecasted for Tuesday night/Wednesday day, but I scoffed and said I'd believe it when I saw it...and woke up to a beautiful wonderland of white everywhere and thick flakes falling from the sky. I made myself a tasty cup of Theo Sipping Chocolate and after a quick picture, settled at the table to watch the the magic fall from the sky and drink the molten goodness.


Feeling so inspired, I decided to finally try my hand at making homemade marshmallows!

Weather Delays

You may have heard, we had quite the weather last week! Snow dump, followed by ice storm, followed by more snow! You would think I could get a blog post up with the two days I had to stay home. Alas, while I have a whole blog post written, I still haven't stuck in the illustrating photos yet and so it sits saved in my drafts! And thus we see why I will never be a blogging goddess!

Speaking of blogesses..I came across a new blog love today. I found Lindsay via a pin on Pinterest with directions how to paint a laminated piece of furniture. Lo and behold, she has a variety of great posts on home decor and DIY! Therefore, to tide you over until I integrate the pictures and post about my first time making homemade marshmallows, I share with you Living With Lindsay.

New Year in our New Home

On NYE, we had several friends come over to play board games. Fun, socializing, snacking, and hilarity ensued. We played a game from Greg's seemingly infinite assortment called "Dixit." If you're familiar with Apples to Apples, it's very similar but instead of words/phrases, your cards have wonderful illustrations. (Top card on the left being one of the universal favorites: the purse monster) I think these would be excellent cards for creative writing or storytelling exercises! We watched the countdown fireworks on the Space Needle and shouted "Happy New Year" and popped our little streamer corks into the air...after we figured out it was midnight. See, Komo is stupid and doesn't put any sort of CLOCK on the screen so you just have to sort of guess that the fireworks mean a countdown and that when the top goes, that's midnight? Or that the fireworks are working perfectly and it's on time? Oh well!