tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70923850131550112602024-03-13T12:06:08.926-07:00Adventures in AnderlandFollow us down the rabbit hole as we embark on the curious adventures of home ownership, marriage, crafts, and cooking.Adventures in Anderlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08114944105936766686noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092385013155011260.post-59448984443377483002012-10-05T21:23:00.000-07:002012-10-17T09:34:44.305-07:00Blog Hop: Cheese Please<br />
My dear friend of <a href="http://sybariticpleasures.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Sybaritic Pleasures</a> is trying to start an international <a href="http://foodiebloghop.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">foodie blog hop</a> 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: <strong><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cheese, Please</span></strong><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R4e8ypk7VeQ/UG-sIkeRA3I/AAAAAAAAATc/BI9osgW1Olo/s1600/tomatochevrebruschetta.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R4e8ypk7VeQ/UG-sIkeRA3I/AAAAAAAAATc/BI9osgW1Olo/s1600/tomatochevrebruschetta.JPG" /></a></div>
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<i>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.</i>
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The first topic saddened me quite a bit! I LOVE cheese, but it no longer loves me! I have developed quite the digestive sensitivity to cow dairy, although I have discovered that goat seems to be fine and sheep in the middle. This challenge gave me a little added complexity of trying to come up with something new that used only chevre as the cheese since our move to the outskirts of Seattle has made it more difficult for me to obtain greater variety than that. <em>(Chevre is a soft goat cheese, often mild in flavor.)</em><br />
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Time was a-ticking and inspiration was not a-hitting. Meanwhile, too many tomatoes were sitting on the counter. We were hungry so I threw together a quickish dinner of bruschetta. This isn't a proper recipe as you can use just what you have on hand.<br />
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Roasted Lemon Cherry Tomato and Chevre Bruschetta</h3>
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<li>Half a bunch of homegrown lemon cherry tomatoes and spread out on a silpat lined baking sheet while the oven heated up to 375 deg F. </li>
<li>Drizzle <a href="http://www.sottovoce.com/Olio-DArancia-750ml.html" target="_blank">Sotto Voce Olio D'Arancia</a> over the top and then a little salt and pepper.<br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OSYeD9j38U0/UG-sHG1OU2I/AAAAAAAAATM/_OxiRNIEieY/s1600/halvingcherries.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OSYeD9j38U0/UG-sHG1OU2I/AAAAAAAAATM/_OxiRNIEieY/s1600/halvingcherries.JPG" /></a><br /><i>Note: We were given a bottle of this delicious locally infused olive oil as a wedding gift and I</i> <em>finally had to go buy a new bottle. I'm not a huge orange fan, but this doesn't come across as "orange," just lovely balanced flavor. While there, I picked up a bottle of the Olio Dorato to try and its even more stunning! Using infused oils is a great way to add some complex flavors easily and on the fly.</em></li>
<li>Chop fresh lemon verbena and mint from the garden and sprinkled over the tomatoes.<br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-h0cmlyLCOaw/UG-sHxean9I/AAAAAAAAATU/NubMqzAfh6E/s1600/sprinklecherries.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-h0cmlyLCOaw/UG-sHxean9I/AAAAAAAAATU/NubMqzAfh6E/s320/sprinklecherries.JPG" width="320" /></a></li>
<li>Roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes. I didn't really keep track because I was waiting for J to get back from the grocery store with a baguette and some basil. I just checked on them and pulled them out when they were all roasty and yummy looking but before they disintegrated and lost their shape.</li>
<li>Slice the baguette on the bias and toast both sides. Optional to brush a little olive oil before toasting. J started toasting before I could mention it so we had some with and some without. The ones with the oil were a little crispier instead of crunchy and colored up more prettily.</li>
<li>Lay the baguette on a baking sheet and layer with chevre, roasted tomatoes and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiffonade" target="_blank">chiffonaded</a> basil. and put back in the oven for 5-10 minutes.<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-506Qvw4egDU/UG-uuFPAnFI/AAAAAAAAATs/TstmRGEU4-Y/s1600/readytoroast.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="187" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-506Qvw4egDU/UG-uuFPAnFI/AAAAAAAAATs/TstmRGEU4-Y/s320/readytoroast.JPG" width="320" /></a></li>
<li>Drink with a glass of red wine.</li>
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Since this recipe isn't anything special or unique, I decided to be a little silly and conduct an experiment. I varied the order the ingredients were stacked on the baguette to see what, if any, affect it had on flavor. <b>We're not true foodies, but we like to pretend.</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZEMrX34qB1g/UG-tXNFOHxI/AAAAAAAAATk/te5h2glcH3M/s1600/bruschettatest.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZEMrX34qB1g/UG-tXNFOHxI/AAAAAAAAATk/te5h2glcH3M/s1600/bruschettatest.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Left to right as layered from bottom to top: TBC, BTC, CBT, BCT, CBTC</i></td></tr>
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We labeled each piece by the order it was stacked on the baguette, from bottom to top.<br />
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<ol>
<li>Tomato, basil, chevre - My first idea was to put the chevre on top so that the element could melt it and brown it a bit more. We both noticed the chevre flavor the most and didn't really notice the basil.</li>
<li>Basil, tomato, chevre - Oddly, by putting the basil next to the bread, we tasted all the elements with a nice basil finish.</li>
<li>Chevre, basil, tomato - As we bit in to this piece, it seemed the tomatoes popped their juices down into the chevre to meld a bit differently and had a delicate accent of basil.</li>
<li>Basil, chevre, tomato - Good tomato flavor, but absolutely lost any sense of the basil's presence. By sandwiching it between the bread and the chevre, the basil didn't seem to be able to reach enough taste buds to register.</li>
<li>Chevre, basil, tomato, chevre - Jokingly called the "too much cheese" because how could there be<i> too much</i> cheese? Well, we surprised ourselves and really felt there <i>was</i> too much cheese! The chevre completely overwhelmed the other two ingredients.</li>
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While we were eating and comparing notes, J realized I had forgotten to make the two variations with the basil as the top ingredient. Oops! I'm going to pretend I wanted to leave you a permutation to try for for yourself.<br />
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My final conclusion: my favorite was 3 with 2 being a close second. The first pop of the sweet and acidic tomato also releases a little more of its juice to trickle down in to the goat cheese, mixing in a way that added a slightly different flavor with the smooth and rich chevre. Somehow, the basil holds its own in this order and came through distinctly while still harmoniously.Adventures in Anderlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08114944105936766686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092385013155011260.post-39232558145978632472012-10-03T16:20:00.000-07:002012-10-04T12:29:41.501-07:00Randomness: Things on My Mind<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IBRjEabMQHc/UGzFVBRkm8I/AAAAAAAAASs/tvNQluGgp48/s1600/OnMyMind1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="135" mea="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IBRjEabMQHc/UGzFVBRkm8I/AAAAAAAAASs/tvNQluGgp48/s200/OnMyMind1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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.<br />
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The fact that it's been a year and we're no closer to getting all our <span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>books</strong></span> out of the boxes stacked in the garage. Granted, I guess it's proof we don't need most of them (although I know I've wanted some several times throughout the year but have been loathe to hunt) and should downsize. But we love books so...no. I'd like to do something that looks like <a href="http://www.ballarddesigns.com/tuscan-bookcase-set---5-piece/furniture/bookcases/10443?listIndex=3" target="_blank">this</a> in white<br />
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<a href="http://a248.e.akamai.net/f/248/9086/10h/origin-d1.scene7.com/is/image/ballarddesigns/T_WithZoom?$w400$&$src=MV165_main" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" mea="true" src="http://a248.e.akamai.net/f/248/9086/10h/origin-d1.scene7.com/is/image/ballarddesigns/T_WithZoom?$w400$&$src=MV165_main" width="320" /></a></div>
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and built more cheaply using Ikea bookcases like <a href="http://www.centsationalgirl.com/2011/11/bookshelves-complete/" target="_blank">Centsational Girl</a> did below. To go along the unused living room wall next to the dining room. Except I think I'd have them go all the way up to the ceiling.<br />
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<a href="http://1c6162ac207f6525cfd8-84665c880233094a565668f32cb79f8e.r10.cf2.rackcdn.com/2011/11/centsational-girl-bookcases-after_thumb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" mea="true" src="http://1c6162ac207f6525cfd8-84665c880233094a565668f32cb79f8e.r10.cf2.rackcdn.com/2011/11/centsational-girl-bookcases-after_thumb.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>First major harvest! Stupice, </em><br />
<em>lemon cherry, crimson sprinter,</em><br />
<em>and lemon cucumber. Sept 2012</em></td></tr>
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Also on my mind: <strong><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">tomatoes</span></strong>. As in the three stacked cooling racks sitting on the kitchen island along with the increasingly large amount spread on the counter. The racks are because some of the delicate skins were starting to split by having any of them stacked. I'm getting a little tired of eating them every night and it's not good for my system to have that much nightshade. So, next is to find a way to use them up in some sort of storable manner. Of course, I've only canned once under the supervision of a friend, so that increases the difficulty. So far ideas include:</div>
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<a href="http://kateinthekitchen.com/2012/07/16/tomato-jam/" target="_blank">Tomato Jam</a> - I find this intriguing. This recipe doesn't seem as stable though for the pantry, hoping Miss Sybaritic Pleasures emails me over her recipe STAT. </div>
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<a href="http://forkandbottle.com/cooking/recipes/tomatosp.htm" target="_blank">Roasted Heirloom Tomato Soup</a> - tomato soup used to be my FAVORITE until a few years ago. Sadly, the beloved red and white can stuff just started tasting all aluminum can to me. I tried the Pacific brand that comes in a carton, but it was too sweet. Even the fresh ones I tried at the Whole Foods deli were tasty but had too much dairy or were so acidic that I had an upset stomach later. I haven't tried ever making my own from scratch though, and I think roasting would bring a good flavor..maybe even lightly<a href="http://www.notmartha.org/archives/2012/09/03/smoking-tomatoes-at-the-palace-kitchen/" target="_blank"> smoking</a> them first?</div>
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<a href="http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/do-it-yourself/2012/08/how-to-make-big-batch-summer-tomato-sauce/" target="_blank">Good ol' tomato sauce</a> - The only time I tried making my own from scratch, it was too sweet and too watery and when I tried cooking it longer to reduce it, it became really bitter. Alternate would be <a href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/tomato-sauce-recipe/index.html" target="_blank">Alton's version</a>.</div>
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Then there's just oven roasting them and then putting in a bag in the freezer, or packing in oil (which would again require canning)</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LyBbm6Rc1S0/UGybryLS-DI/AAAAAAAAARs/z2WYShAOGtg/s1600/canont3i.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="166" mea="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LyBbm6Rc1S0/UGybryLS-DI/AAAAAAAAARs/z2WYShAOGtg/s200/canont3i.bmp" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>The box arrives!</em></td></tr>
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My <span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>new Canon DSLR EOS Rebel T3i</strong></span>. I have wanted one of these puppies for more than five years and FINALLY have one! Except...I don't know how to use it. I'm actually decent at framing photos, but I don't know traditonal photography as I've only ever had automatics (first 35mm and then digital). I'm aware of the existence of terms like F-stop, aperture, but not much about what they actually mean or how to take advantage of them. My learning curve is HUGE and while I am looking forward to it, at the moment its still just kind of overwhelming.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6KMUCY2e8es/UGyNfSvGPqI/AAAAAAAAARM/DNoA9Avipmo/s1600/yard1.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="149" mea="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6KMUCY2e8es/UGyNfSvGPqI/AAAAAAAAARM/DNoA9Avipmo/s200/yard1.bmp" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>2011 Leafpocalypse</em></td></tr>
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It's now officially <span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>October</strong></span> and fall and "pre-Halloween". This is my favorite month and yet, I'm not quite ready for it yet. We had some beautiful summer weather finally show up, but what with working in cubicle land, somehow I just don't feel like I really had my fill of warmth and sunshine this year. Sure, I had several weeks of poor sleeping before we got a portable A/C unit hooked up the bedroom, but I don't feel like I had enough out in the sun activities during the day. Oh well...now it's time to start tackling the leaves again.</div>
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I'm not going to start it this year, but I have started research and sleuthing and idea planning for decor. One of my favorite <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qrB9I3DM80" target="_blank">movies</a> is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpvdAJYvofI&feature=related" target="_blank">The Nightmare Before Christmas</a>. Years ago I handmade my own Sally costume (its too small now and time to make a new one). I want some of the pieces from the older Hawthorne Village TNBC collection as i like the aesthetic better than the new glow in the dark one. The primary piece being Cemetary Hill (pictured left). Halloween is my FAVORITE holiday and while the scarier/gloomy stuff is fun, I'm pretty sure I want to work on decking out our yard and home with a TNBC theme. I think I'll just content myself this year with a pumpkin carving.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R1D7JaIsJ_E/UGya8dbDEEI/AAAAAAAAARk/N0IFnEClp-w/s1600/tnbcpumpkins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><em><img border="0" height="236" mea="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R1D7JaIsJ_E/UGya8dbDEEI/AAAAAAAAARk/N0IFnEClp-w/s400/tnbcpumpkins.jpg" width="400" /></em></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>The first row are my top choices. I made the bottom far right several years ago.</em><br />
<em>All pumpkins from </em><a href="http://www.masterpumpkins.com/"><em>masterpumpkins</em></a></td></tr>
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And lastly, <span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>clothes</strong></span>. I've been whining a long time about this, but I'm massively tired of my warddrobe. Its time for a serious revamp! Since I bought quite a few pieces at the Nordstrom anniversary sale, I'm on a spending hiatus at the moment, but if I weren't these would be in a shopping cart right now.</div>
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This <a href="http://www.modcloth.com/shop/dresses/riviera-romance-dress" target="_blank">Riviera Romance</a> dress from Modcloth has been on my list for QUITE a while. The day I had month in my budget for it, I went to purchase and it was out of stock! It's red, the stripes across the hips are horizontal, it's organic cotton, reasonably priced, with a cute waistband, what's not to love?</div>
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I have yet to find a cute sweater dress that isn't too bulky looking on me and that also doesn't contain any wool. The <a href="http://www.modcloth.com/shop/dresses/afternoon-reading-dress-in-black-and-white" target="_blank">Afternoon Reading Dress in Black and White</a> looks awfully cute.</div>
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Two more pairs of <a href="http://www.shoes.com/en-US/Product/EC1269341-5153537/Corso+Como/Black+Leather/Womens+Littleton.aspx?campaign=Corso%20Como&catalog_name=web&CMP=KNC-adwordspla&cpc=adwordspla&gclid=COC7sO6L6LICFWXhQgodXUAAnA&partnerid=adwordspla" target="_blank">Corso Como Littleton</a> mid-heel pumps. I managed to get the pewter pair on an Hautelook sale and finally wore them to a wedding recently where I stood the whole time. They were comfortable, looked cute, and I could still walk after I took them off! So, I really need to get them in black and nude. I have no black pumps and the nude Franco Sarto ones ended up being too tall. Size 8 if you're wondering ;-)</div>
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I'm on the hunt for a wide brown belt, "corset style" as they like to call them. When I've come across them, they've either been too small for my widening waistline (boo Anthropologie!) or I thought they were too pricey. The amount of times I've reached for one recently in my closet though to finish an outfit and come up empty-handed means I need to bite the bullet when I find one I like again. This one was from an Ideeli sale that has now ended. I liked how the braiding would echo the detailing on my riding boots.</div>
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I've had these two outfits below sitting on Pinterest for quite a while. Those brown boots could be siblings with my riding boots! Looking for component pieces to do my own version, I've come across two dresses finally. The lace dress is cheaper but the shirt dress is cuter and more versatile. I already have the sweater in a lovely autumn orange.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Left two inspiration photos from Tumblrs via Pinterest. Left dess with buttons, <a href="http://www.modcloth.com/shop/dresses/gimme-an-a-piary-dress" target="_blank">Gimme an A-piary</a>. <br />
Right lace dress, <a href="http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/lush-lace-dress-juniors/3404630?origin=category&contextualcategoryid=0&fashionColor=CREAM&resultback=782" target="_blank">Lush Lace Dress</a>. <a href="http://www.eddiebauer.com/catalog/product.jsp?ensembleId=43421&&categoryId=21291&categoryName=SALE&pCategoryId=3&pCategoryName=WOMEN&gpCategoryId=1&gpCategoryName=EB&catPath=~~categoryId=21291~~categoryName=SALE~~pCategoryId=3~~pCategoryName=WOMEN~~gpCategoryId=1~~gpCategoryName=EB&viewAll=n&pg=1&sort=SORT_PRICE&colorId=216&colorId=871" target="_blank">Donegal Cable Cardigan</a> in Cedar Green.</td></tr>
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Adventures in Anderlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08114944105936766686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092385013155011260.post-38336049035767322212012-10-01T19:15:00.003-07:002012-10-01T19:17:22.554-07:00Boozie Blackforest Brownies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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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: <b>Boozie Blackforest Brownies</b>.<br />
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These brownies turned out delicious. The addition of the extra liquid from the kirsch and the two methods of cherry inclusion made them super moist to the point of being a little "gooshy." Rather than feeling mushy in an unpleasant way (which I had feared), they ended up just feeling decadent. They transformed from a normal modified brownie into something completely unique.<br />
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While making the cream cheese frosting, I found I was having a hard time tasting the kirsch. I tried adding the smallest amount of almond extract (a capful, which is between 1/8-1/4 tsp) and suddenly the kirsch flavor popped out at me. A hint of almond extract has a magical property of really heightening certain flavors in desserts, especially cherry.<br />
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A few words about some of the igredients. Morello cherries are a dark red variety of sour cherry. If you don't have a TJs or are unable to find morellos, you should be able to substitute any preserved sour cherry in light syrup. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirsch" target="_blank">Kirsch</a>, or <em>kirschwasser</em>, is a clear brandy made from distilling whole morello cherries, including the pits. I personally taste more of the bitter-almond flavor from the pits than the fruit flavor. Kirsch itself is NOT sweet.<br />
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Boozie Blackforest Brownies</h2>
<em>Recipe modified from <a href="http://www.hersheys.com/recipes/recipe-details.aspx?id=5008&name=Best%20Brownies" target="_blank">Hershey's Best Brownies</a>. Yield 32 brownies.</em><br />
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Brownie Ingredients:</h4>
<ul>
<li>1 jar of Trader Joe's Morello Cherries (24.7 oz)</li>
<li>1/2 c melted unsalted butter</li>
<li>1/2 c vegetable oil</li>
<li>2 c sugar</li>
<li>2 tsp vanilla extract</li>
<li>4 eggs</li>
<li>5 Tbl kirsch</li>
<li>2 c sugar + 2 Tbl</li>
<li>2/3 c cocoa</li>
<li>1 c all-purpose unbleached flour</li>
<li>1/2 tsp baking powder</li>
<li>1/2 tsp salt</li>
</ul>
<ol>
<li>Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13" pan.</li>
<li>Reserving the liquid, drain the cherries. Separate 2/3-3/4 of the cherries, wrap in a paper towel to absorb excess moisture and put to the side.</li>
<li>In a blender, puree 1/4-1/3 of the cherries together with the liquid.</li>
<li>Bring the puree to a medium simmer in a small saucepot and stir in 2 Tbl sugar and 1 Tbl kirsch.</li>
<li>Reduce the puree to 1/2-1/3 of its original volume.</li>
<li>In a large bowl, mix the butter, oil, 2 cups sugar, extract and 4 Tbls kirsch until thoroughly combined. (medium-low speed if using an electric mixer)</li>
<li>Add in the eggs and mix.</li>
<li>In a separate bowl, mix the cocoa, flour, baking powder, and salt.</li>
<li>Slowly add the powdered ingredients to the first bowl in 1/4 or 1/3 batches, stirring after each addition.</li>
<li>Take your reserved cherries and roughly chop them.</li>
<li>Stir the chopped cherries in to the batter and pour into your pan and even out.</li>
<li>Gently pour the thickened cherry puree over the top of the brownie batter, going back and forth in a zig zag pattern. If the puree has cooled, it may be too thick so just rewarm until it is of pouring consistency. Using your spoon, gently swirl the puree through the batter.</li>
<li>Bake for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle (go through a non-cherry puree area) comes out mostly clean with only a little crumby brownie clinging to it.</li>
</ol>
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Frosting Ingredients</h4>
<ul>
<li>2 - 8 oz packages of Neufchatel (low-fat cream cheese)</li>
<li>6 Tbl softened unsalted butter</li>
<li>1-1/2 c powdered sugar</li>
<li>3 Tbl kirsch</li>
<li>1/2 tsp almond extract</li>
</ul>
<ol>
<li>Beat all ingredients together on medium-high speed until smooth.</li>
<li>Spread on top of cooled brownies.</li>
</ol>
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Optional Topping</h4>
<ul>
<li>16 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips</li>
<li>4 Tbl unsalted butter</li>
</ul>
<ol>
<li>Pour the chocolate chips into a microwave-safe, nonplastic bowl.</li>
<li>Heat the chips in the microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring thoroughly after each one. </li>
<li>When the chips are almost completely melted, add in the butter for the final heating.</li>
<li>Stir until thoroughly combined and all lumps are gone.</li>
<li>Spread on top of the cream cheese frosting. <em>Optional: sprinkle with slivered almonds<br />Note: I find it easier to spread the chocolate if I have popped the brownies into the freezer for 10-20 minutes to stiffen the cream cheese.</em></li>
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<strong>To make a non-alcoholic version:</strong><br />
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<li>In the cherry puree, replace the kirsch with 1/4 tsp of almond extract.</li>
<li>Omit the kirsch from the brownie batter.</li>
<li>In the cream cheese frosting, replace the kirsch with 1/4 tsp each almond and raspberry extracts. (You can use 1/2 tsp of cherry extract if you can find it.)</li>
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PS - taken with my new Canon Rebel T3i! I'm going to have a looong learning process ahead of me on this!</div>
Adventures in Anderlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08114944105936766686noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092385013155011260.post-82955124530665153982012-09-11T13:47:00.003-07:002012-09-11T13:48:45.971-07:00Yode-Lederhosen-hoo<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iT9nLf2K7KE/UE-fxOOrswI/AAAAAAAAAP0/2LPXRKy-1G4/s1600/hauswarmen1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hea="true" height="174" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iT9nLf2K7KE/UE-fxOOrswI/AAAAAAAAAP0/2LPXRKy-1G4/s200/hauswarmen1.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1st Hauswarmen - Ballard<br />
Me in borrowed costume</td></tr>
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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. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hauswarmen 5 in my new dirndl</td></tr>
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Last year was the 5th one, a number that nicely marked being held in our first home. I had decided to up the ante a bit by finally <a href="http://www.ernstlicht.com/sort/Dirndl/Dirndls-c80.htm?start=20" target="_blank">ordering a pretty dirndl</a> to wear (the Christl dirndl in Royal Blue). Given that lederhosen are made from leather, J didn't want to spend the money for some trachten of his own so I worked furiously on sewing a pair of lederhosen for him. Alas, I ran out of time on the lederhosen and they were put aside to be worked on for the next year.</div>
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Hauswarmen - Oktoberfest 5<br />
Cousins</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Part of the feast from Oktoberfest 5: caramel apple jello shots,<br />
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bun bits to hold brats (in the crock), homemade soft pretzels,<br />
Obatzda (cheese dip) and veggies</div>
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In my Internet research from last year, I came across quite a few postings on forums from people seeking the same information as I, but with no luck. <a href="http://madebytrisha.blogspot.com/2010/08/how-to-make-your-own-lederhosen-step-by.html" target="_blank">This tutorial</a> is all that is out there, and is sufficient for a simple, one-time use costume, but I wanted J to have something that at least felt more on par with my dirndl.</div>
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Part of what was taking so long on the lederhosen last year was trying to figure out how they are traditionally constructed. The only tutorials I could find online were for faking up a pair from existing pants, but I wanted them to look pretty authentic with the front flap closure instead of just a zipper. I finally came across a great listing for a vintage pair on Etsy that had good up-close pictures of the front flap both opened and closed. With my mom's help via the magic of the Internet, we puzzled out what had to be the construction.</div>
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Unfortunately, I didn't leave myself enough time to finish sewing them before this year's party either. Well, I could have finished them if I hadn't decided I want to take out the stitches and add in piping...and then I decided I might as well put in pockets now rather than have to take it apart next year to put them in. Sigh, I guess I wouldn't be me if I didn't take a project and make it MORE complicated than I need to, and with something that requires learning a new skill!</div>
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I do plan on continuing on working on them this year after the party (which is this weekend) so that I won't forget to work on it until NEXT September and run into the same lack of time all over again! When I am finally done, I intend to post up tutorials on the whole process and fill in that little knowledge gap on the Internet.</div>
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Until then, I thought I would at least share my final sketch showing the basic construction.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click for larger image until I can figure out<br />
how to put in a printable PDF.</td></tr>
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Adventures in Anderlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08114944105936766686noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092385013155011260.post-31403994797799290522012-09-07T16:06:00.001-07:002012-09-07T17:24:19.963-07:00The Sadness of Orange<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">
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.</div>
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I didn't want the crazy hazardous shade used for warning signs and road construction. While I love the deep oranges, they make me want to snuggle up with a mocha or hot chocolate, a book, and Ivan, not exactly conducive to crafting. I wanted an orange with depth and leaning towards red but that was also vibrant and energizing. One day, while browsing the Internet, I stumbled across it, the perfect shade! And *gasp* how amazing am I for being on trend without even knowing it? Pantone apparently declared the 2012 color of the year the exact shade I had been hunting: <a href="http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/category.aspx?ca=88" target="_blank">Tangerine Tango</a>.<br />
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A little while later, while browsing through Sephora, I came across an end cap display: apparently Sephora paired with Pantone to create a limited edition line of Tangerine Tango products. I had already found myself a stellar orange nail polish to paint my little piggies and didn't feel the need to have 4 more similarly colored bottles with different finishes. However, I started lusting after the box in which the polishes were packaged. While it featured the aforementioned color, it was covered in delightful little squares crossing the orange spectrum! I lamented on Facebook about not knowing someone who worked at a Sephora and could keep an eye out for a damaged out box sans polish they could rescue for me. Not terribly long after, this arrived in the mail from a friend. (She even told me she made sure she found the box in the best condition at the store when she bought it.)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thank you Jasmine!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The plants by the BBQ|<br />
finally blossomed during<br />
this time...and look<br />
what color the lilies are!</td></tr>
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I promptly took the coveted box down to McLendon's to find the closest matching paint color. I decided upon Tawny Day Lily. No, I wasn't going to paint the walls of my craft room. I prefer to do my artwork in a room where the walls are very light and neutral so their current soft pale gray color is staying. The reason is that if the walls were orange, the light that bounced around the room would be affected and not give a very accurate idea of the color I'm selecting for a project. Therefore, my plan is to incorporate the orange as delightful pops here and there. My plan for this particular pint of paint was intended for a bookcase. We had a large oak-veneer bookcase in the garage that I had been intending to repaint as it was rather ugly. After researching what my guru Lindsay shared about painting furniture, I rolled up my metaphorical sleeves and got to work.<br />
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Spray paint primer was a total no-go for me. I followed the directions on the can, together with the tips and tricks I had gleaned from the Internet, yet after three light coats and 2 cans, coverage was still poor and hazy. Back to the store for a can of Zinsser 1-2-3 primer, a paint tray, and new roller brush cover. MUCH better (and faster!). To the right you can see after the first coat of orange was applied. Unfortunately, this was in July when we were having SUPER hot weather, and the paint was drying so fast that I couldn't keep a leading wet edge and coverage was still a little uneven and streaky. Initially, I had planned to keep the top part of the permanent shelves white, but later decided to make them orange as well.<br />
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All told, it probably took me about 6 weeks to get the bookcase painted to my satisfaction. I had to wait for it to neither be raining nor too hot, to have a good chunk of time so I could get an entire coat done. That darn orange ended up requiring about 3-4 coats per surface to get it thick, creamy, and even! That was with a semi-gloss finish, too, which is supposed to be more forgiving of brush strokes.<br />
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Finally, the day had arrived! My beautiful bookcase was just as I had envisioned and ready to go up the stairs to my craft room. And <strong>then?</strong> <strong>And <em>THEN?!</em></strong><br />
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<strong><span style="color: orange; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">THE SADNESS OCCURRED</span></strong></div>
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I'll bet you know what I'm going to write next. Yup. The bookcase would not fit up the stairs. Its beautiful size, intended to house my myriad (and currently messy) supplies, was its downfall. See, our stairs are an L-shape and the curve on the landing couldn't accomodate the length and width of this tawny beast. While the height on the main floor was ample to allow for the bookcase to be carried up on its side, and there was even more space on the second set of stairs, the ceiling height over the landing is low. Too low. No matter how we tried, the geometry was plain. I found myself swearing and wishing Richard would mistakenly open a door at that moment, allowing the extra space to make the turn, but alas, no time and space-bending conundrum occurred. So I did what any reasonable person who had spent a good many of the precious, beautiful and far too few gorgeous sunny Puget Sound summer days outside painting would do: I sat down on the stairs and had a bit of a cry.</div>
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It's around this point that J unhelpfully mentions that he had HAD the passing thought that we should check to make sure it would fit up the stairs. Stupidly, I hadn't. I figured if we had been able to move a queen bed up those stairs, a bookcase would fit as well. <em>Lesson learned, the hard way.</em><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ivan inspects the sadness of orange</td></tr>
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Later that sad week, I went to Ikea and bought the Hemnes bookcase. We carried the box upstairs where I assembled it in the room. I've left the back off for now. Trying to find the time (and heart) to buy some more orange paint to paint the back panel. It won't be quite the same as it will just be the back and not the entire interior or shelves.</div>
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Adventures in Anderlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08114944105936766686noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092385013155011260.post-15993721845443743272012-08-15T16:37:00.001-07:002012-10-03T11:18:55.335-07:00Designing for a SybariteI'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.<br />
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It began with a vocabulary lesson when Awanthi told me the name of her new foodie blog: Sybaritic Pleasures.</div>
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<b><a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sybarite?s=t" target="_blank">sybarite</a></b> (ˈsɪbəˌraɪt)</div>
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<i>-n</i> a devotee of luxury and the sensual vices</div>
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<i>-adj</i> luxurious; sensuous</div>
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She was working on a quick and dirty logo and came down to trying to decide between these two:<br />
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While not bad, they were the only things she could create easily from free online programs. I actually liked the lips but felt she needed something a little more unique, something no one else could easily mimic through the same processes. I decided I would use it as an opportunity to practice my Illustrator skills a little bit more.<br />
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Thinking about those sensual lips from her prototype logo, I immediately envisioned of a pair of full lips, teeth biting in to a luxurious and decadent piece of fruit. Mango seemed lovely but might read as a peach or slice of cantaloupe. When I think of figs, I think of exotic decadence so I chose that as my initial concept.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First design</td></tr>
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I admit to being a little impatient and didn't feel like drawing all the little fiddly bits in the fig, so found a good photograph online and imported it and then modified it. I wasn't sure that the fig itself translated well. I'm still new to envisioning things in a more vectorized style and I couldn't think of a way to illustrate the fig to be in the same style as the rest of the logo. I wanted to do vibrant colors to catch the eye but a fig needs to be in more muted tones to be recognizable so it was back to the drawing board.</div>
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I decided to change from a profile to straight-on. Instead of a fig, I thought I would do a lovely black grape to evoke the hedonistic imagery of someone reclining on a Roman sofa while eating or being fed grapes. Here are some examples from around the 'net if this doesn't sound familiar to you:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>Hedonism Bot from Futurama<br /><a href="http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/3q0dhc/" target="_blank">source</a></em></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em><a href="http://www.satgourmet.com/category/holidays/festivus/" target="_blank">source</a></em></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em><a href="http://www.superstock.com/stock-photos-images/1828R-55009" target="_blank">source</a></em></td></tr>
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I didn't think a whole grape bunch would look good, so I went with a single grape being bit, sort of like the last photo above. I decided to make a dark red grape.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>Second design, version 1</em></td></tr>
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Ignore the slightly nicotined teeth. My monitor at home doesn't show the really light colors very well and I was trying to add a little depth to the teeth so they wouldn't be flat white and clash with the gradients in the lips. Awanthi liked it but thought it was a cherry. I agreed, it looked too much like a cherry and I didn't like the ambiguity. </div>
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We decided to use the picture below as the inspiration to try a blackberry instead.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.glossaccessories.com.au/Portals/0/blackberry%20lips.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" mda="true" src="http://www.glossaccessories.com.au/Portals/0/blackberry%20lips.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em><a href="http://glossaccessories.com.au/DoitYourself.aspx" target="_blank">source</a></em></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vKdpCljhZS0/UCsx2QRDSNI/AAAAAAAAAOk/09Z-_rJkmkg/s1600/blackberry1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="191" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vKdpCljhZS0/UCsx2QRDSNI/AAAAAAAAAOk/09Z-_rJkmkg/s200/blackberry1.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>Version 2</em></td></tr>
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A blackberry was a good challenge thanks to all the little spheres (drupelets) that make up the berry (not a true berry, but an aggregate fruit - thanks Wikipedia for the little lesson!). Each drupelet catches the light differently thanks to the planes on its surface and the added difficulty of the way they cast shadows on each other. Since each drupelet required quite a bit of time and finesse, I didn't want to do the entire berry only to find out Awanthi didn't like it. I worked out the basics of the blackberry shape and then set about creating the background/edge drupelets. I shared that progress with her at that point to see if she preferred the direction the logo was headed. She and I both liked the way the blackberry was looking so I continued working on completing the middle and front drupelets. </div>
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Since one reason I took on this project was as a self-teaching lesson, I'm really glad our favorite look used the blackberry. It was really hard and I redid several of the drupelets a few times. However, every few spheres, I figured out a slightly better way to use the colors and the gradient mesh. Let me tell you, gradients in Illustrator are MUCH more difficult than in Photoshop or InDesign. The difficulty comes figuring out how to manipulate the mesh to get smooth color transitions between more than two colors. I still ended up graphically cheating in some sections, specifically the highlighted white spot areas. I became too frustrated trying to get such a precise blend and so created a separate object for just the highlight and layered it on top of the blackish/purple sphere. I call this "cheating" because I'm sure it's not the appropriate or elegant way to resolve this, but since I'm only concerned with the final output, there comes a time when I've figured out as much as I can on the "proper" way to do it and just figure out a way to "make it work." Tim Gunn would be so proud!<br />
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In working on the blackberry, I did advance my understanding of the nature of the gradient mesh. I used this new knowledge to revisit the mouth construction. I hadn't been happy with the way the gradient was working originally. I couldn't figure out how to also apply a separate gradient to the top lip to create the fuller look like the bottom lip. It turns out the problem went all the way back to my construction! I had made the lips as one solid object and then layered the teeth, gums, and black interior on top. The answer was that I needed to create the top and bottom lips as separate objects to have more control over the gradient mesh. The last step (after seeing the logo on my work monitor) was to give her a good teeth whitening. I removed the light yellowy-brown gradient and used a barely blue gradient instead. Blue brightens the appearance of the white while still allowing for more texture on the tooth.</div>
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<strong><span style="color: #674ea7;">Final thoughts</span></strong> All in all, I'm really happy with the way it came out! The only thing I don't quite love is that I feel I achieved a great amount of realism on the blackberry, but the mouth is a more vectorized style. However, I didn't want to add in the little lip creases to the lipstick that would have made it more lifelike. So far, she has only used the logo for her profile picture on her Pinterest account. She has yet to decide how (or if) she wants to incorporate it into the actual blog. Speaking of which, I <em><strong>highly </strong></em>recommend you pay regular visits and see what delicious recipes Awanthi has cooked up and shared on</div>
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<a href="http://sybariticpleasures.wordpress.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">The Epicurean Pleasures of a Self-Confessed Sybarite</span></a><span style="font-size: large;">.</span></div>
Adventures in Anderlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08114944105936766686noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092385013155011260.post-34361702530584121982012-07-25T17:22:00.001-07:002012-07-25T17:23:13.930-07:00Putting the Veggies to Bed<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<em>This post was written 6/20/12 but somehow I forgot to attach the last picture and hit post! Here it is, belated:</em></div>
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The first major task we took over for our yard, besides the never-ending weeding, was to work on our edibles. Every year, we like to go to the Tilth Edible Plant sale in May. Their plant starts are largely nursery grown, which mean our "babies" have needed tender attention. We put them in the garage at night and carried them out each morning for their yard time. Meanwhile, we turned our attention to building them a home.</div>
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Sometime back in April, my sister came to help us out in the yard (her smaller yard having been exhausted of weeds) and when the rain and wind kicked up, she obliged by driving us to Lowe's to buy the wood for our vegetable bed. It's a lot easier to transport eight foot long lumber in an SUV than wedging it in a Mazda 6 or Protege. The lumber sat in our garage for too long, but finally near the end of May, we started building. We followed <a href="http://www.vegetablegardener.com/item/2606/build-your-own-raised-beds#instructions" target="_blank">these instructions</a> when constructing our bed(s), except I wanted to make the long boards overlap at the end for a square corner. We skipped putting any sort of hardware cloth in the bottom.</div>
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We decided the best spot for our vegetable beds was on the south side of the house where they would get full sun. I wanted to put them in the yard space between the fence and the driveway so that in the future when we get a dog, we can let it run around the yard and have no fear of it nosing into the food. We planned for only one bed but figured there was space to expand in future years for one or two more. We spaced the bed about 40" from the fence as we think in future years, we'll dig up along the fence and use it as a support for growing peas.</div>
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I went to task of digging up the lawn for the area under the bed. Wow, I never knew that was such hard labor! I dug up a 4 x 4 foot square patch and was exhausted and had to stop for the day. I turned the sod pieces upside down with the grass down and put them in a pile until I had time and energy another day to loosen and regain as much of the soil as possible. (I had read that you want to stack sod upside down or the grass will just start growing and glue your pile together.)</div>
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Meanwhile, we ordered and had delivered a HUGE pile of vegetable garden mix from Cedar Grove Compost. We thought perhaps they had given us some extra for free as it certainly seemed a lot more than we needed. <br />
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We finished digging up the lawn and then used the reclaimed dirt from the sod chunks and a bag of topsoil we had to make it as level as possible. I thought we were supposed to line the bed with black plastic to help make it last longer as it would keep the soil and its organisms more separated from the wood. After lining half of it, Jeff thought we shouldn't line it as he didn't really find any references online to doing that. (I think I got the idea from <a href="http://www.diynetwork.com/outdoors/tips-for-a-raised-bed-vegetable-garden/index.html" target="_blank">this picture</a>.) So we decided to do a non-scientific test and leave it half and half.</div>
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Unfortunately, I ended up with a horrible headache the day we were starting to load the new bed with dirt. When I was finally able to crawl out of our bed, J demonstrated the technique he had invented to more easily spread the dirt from the (shiney new) wheelbarrow into the bed. He used the rake and wedged it under the lip of the wheelbarrow to tilt it at an angle.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>Left: HUGE pile of soil from Cedar Grove; Right: J showing me how</em><br />
<em>he wedges the rake under the wheelbarrow to make it easier on the back.</em></td></tr>
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The vegetable bed looked so great...and the pile of soil was barely dinted. We scratched our heads until we realized we had calculated how much we needed based on 3 feet height (I think I dreamed up that number based on the fact that they were three boards high, even though they were only 1x6) instead of 17". That meant we ordered a little more than double. J drove to the store and bought some more lumber and quickly made a second bed. This time, we decided NOT to dig up the lawn under it, so we'll see what, if any, difference that makes.</div>
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The second bed looks better than the first, partly because J knew what we were doing this time. However, the other reason is because it didn't get moved about constantly. Learn from us, only move your bed once or twice if you can help me. We were constantly moving the first one up on end and back down as we tested things, made measurements, prepared the ground, etc. Sitting in the rain and with all that movement, half the boards somehow wiggled loose despite being screwed instead of nailed.</div>
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Something we forgot when it comes to buying most vegetables - usually there are more than one plant to the pot. In the past, we've only bought tomatoes and two peppers. They only have one plant to the pot. We ended up needing that second vegetable bed since there were six brussel sprout plants in the one container, six chard, six cucumber (and we bought two)! It turned out to be serendipitious that I miscalculated our soil needs. We were able to give all our vegetables homes and still have enough left over for our herb spiral, which is our next major yard project.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>Ta-Da! The vegetables all tucked in their new beds.</em></td></tr>
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</div>Adventures in Anderlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08114944105936766686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092385013155011260.post-76912654121028536552012-06-27T17:15:00.000-07:002012-06-27T17:15:08.775-07:00Cottoniversary ChronologyThe 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."<br />
<a name='more'></a>For me, that unfortunate event was my first bout with unemployment in 2004. After many months of searching and applying and working odd temporary jobs to make ends meet, I finally gave up on Tacoma and expanded my search to Seattle, knowing that if I found a job there, I would move rather than endure an hour commute each way.<br />
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I was offered a job at a wholesale framed art company in Georgetown and moved up to Renton. A year later, I was training our new coworker in July. After a week, my boss told me I was training my replacement! They moved me to another department (where I ended up being much happier). <em>That replacement employee was J.</em><br />
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We flirted off and on over the next six months but neither of us wanted to date someone from the office. New Year's Eve I noticed I was spending an awfully long time primping to go out with "friends" and realized it was because I wanted J to notice. In a rapid succession, I admitted to myself that this had moved beyond a fun flirtation/crush into serious feeling land.<br />
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I spoke about the dilemma with my stepmom who offered me life changing advice: Which was more important? Not dating someone from work in order to avoid potentially uncomfortableness/messiness if it didn't work out? Or not taking the chance and potentially missing out on a person who could possibly be my match? When put that way, I realized that it was more important to not risk losing him through inaction or fear. We started dating <span style="color: #8e7cc3;"><strong>February 2-3, 2006</strong></span>.<br />
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We had our ups and downs. Like any <em>real</em> couple having a <em>real</em> relationship, we had misunderstandings. We learned each other's language and how to communicate through the difficult times. I realized after four months of dating that I loved him. I think around the six month mark, my brother asked me if I could see myself marrying J and my simple reply was "Yes. I just have to wait for him to get there."<br />
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J proposed on <strong><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">August 3, 2008</span></strong>, our 2.5 year anniversary (not planned on his part). That was one of the most blissful days of my life.<br />
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That September, we moved in together to begin saving money for the wedding.<br />
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<span style="color: #8e7cc3;"><strong>Two years ago today</strong></span>, J and I were married. That day, nothing could bring me down. I felt bursting with love for everyone and everything. Today, I woke up feeling an echo of that. (Ok, that's a little literary hyperbole, I woke up and promptely walked into the doorjam, that's the first thing I felt.)<br />
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I feel so blessed to have him in my life and as my husband. I look forward eagerly to what further adventures await us along our journey through Anderland!<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LgULKEJMylI/T-uh5nIVlmI/AAAAAAAAANQ/hifK1yGrDbs/s1600/2ndAnni.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LgULKEJMylI/T-uh5nIVlmI/AAAAAAAAANQ/hifK1yGrDbs/s1600/2ndAnni.jpg" vca="true" /></a></div>Adventures in Anderlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08114944105936766686noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092385013155011260.post-52320643158264463482012-06-19T15:30:00.000-07:002012-06-19T15:38:11.073-07:00Spring Surprises & Working in the Yard<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">
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!</div>
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<em>A batch of red tulips popped up amidst the Creeping Jenny</em><br />
<em> by the back deck stairs leading to the yard.</em></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>Left: Unidentified bulb that my MIL calls "star flowers"</em><br />
<em> scattered in the south lawn and beds. </em><em>Right: Detail of a delicate</em><br />
<em> daffodil of unusualy coloration. There are a few of these on the south side.</em></td></tr>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5g3cn-vtI6o/T9-4QZp6ubI/AAAAAAAAAME/qyqBaBN5Uiw/s1600/bluebells.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><em><img border="0" height="213" rca="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5g3cn-vtI6o/T9-4QZp6ubI/AAAAAAAAAME/qyqBaBN5Uiw/s320/bluebells.jpg" width="320" /></em></a></div>
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<em>The large front beds (and lawn) become drowned in bluebells. There are</em><br />
<em>SO many that </em><em>I will toss any bulbs I find when I work on those beds.</em><br />
<em> The dark blue are</em><em> most prevalent but there are a few pinks</em><br />
<em> and even fewer whites here and there.</em></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tiu5TCoGo4I/T9-4mqfQ_nI/AAAAAAAAAMM/kBGkoLxCFh8/s1600/flowers_unknowns.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><em><img border="0" height="213" rca="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tiu5TCoGo4I/T9-4mqfQ_nI/AAAAAAAAAMM/kBGkoLxCFh8/s320/flowers_unknowns.jpg" width="320" /></em></a></td></tr>
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<em><strong>Mysteries!</strong> Left: Some kind of stoney crop that amazed me with this profusion.</em><br />
<em> Planted by the </em><em>basement door, almost hidden behind the sage/mint-like bush. </em><br />
<em>Right: Unknown flower in Lilac Bed</em>.</div>
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<em>Good thing I didn't finish weeding these beds on either side of the stairs</em><br />
<em>leading to the driveway! </em><em> Turns out these are pretty flowers, not buttercups</em><br />
<em>or </em><em>Herb Robert like we thought. </em><em>Left: Dicentra, </em><em>native Bleeding Hearts</em><br />
<em>left of the stairs. Right: A variety of California Poppy right of stairs </em><br />
<em>(I'd only ever known of the orange kind with silky petals).</em></div>
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We have been very busy focusing on our outdoor spaces and several times, I have found myself questioning the insanity that led us to want a large yard. Oh sure, it's wonderful to have enough space that we can have flower beds, vegetable beds, grassy play/lounge area, plus grilling "living" area, but it IS overwhelming to try and take care of all that! It is constantly getting away from us. Two months ago we made our front beds look BEAUTIFUL and now, they are a righteous mess again. Sigh. As is often true of Seattle early summer, we get a few days of sun that we can try and get some work done and by the next batch of sun (separated by longer stretches of misting rainy gloom), we tackle a new spot but the old spot is already looking shoddy! It's bad enough that I am now willing to forgo a completely organic yard space. I just can't keep up with the weeds. So I think I'm giving in and going to give <a href="http://www.preen.com/products/preen-vegetable-garden-weed-preventer" target="_blank">Preen</a> a try, but ONLY on the front flower beds that contain no edibles. Although, in searching for a link to tag this with, I just discovered they offer an "organic" version made for your edible plants that's safe for kids and pets. It's a little more pricey, but I would rather spend a little more money to use a less toxic version in our environment.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>Bottom: Approximately 2 weeks after weeding, a few crept in but the </em><br />
<em>bluebells exploded and made it hard to keep it up. </em><em>Top: Around 4 weeks later, </em><br />
<em>weeds exploded even worse! Circled bush is to provide a comparison point.</em></td></tr>
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Around mid-May, we ordered 4 cubic yards of dirt from Cedar GroveCompost to use for our raised veggie bed and spiral herb garden. After filling our bed we realized we had WAY too much dirt...and then realized our miscalculation was based on the mistaken brain-hiccup that our bed would be 3 feet deep, not the smaller 17" deep. J ran off to the store and bought more wood for a second bed, which ended up being needed once we started planting our baby <a href="http://anderlandadv.blogspot.com/2012/05/plantas-de-mayo.html" target="_blank">Tilth starts</a>. We still have plenty of dirt, more than ample for the herb garden once we can get that built.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6Pm-crlt9TQ/T-D8VlMGmaI/AAAAAAAAAMo/24WGdohUSPA/s1600/makingbed1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" rca="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6Pm-crlt9TQ/T-D8VlMGmaI/AAAAAAAAAMo/24WGdohUSPA/s320/makingbed1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>Left: Tearing up sod for area under bed 1. Why is grass such a pain?!<br />Right: J shoveling up new veggie dirt delivered from Cedar Grove to fill bed 1.</em></td></tr>
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After painstakingly weeding the bed containing the lilac tree over the course of two days, I had J spring for a nice big bag of the cocoa shell mulch. I wanted to surpress the weeds in that area and hey, it might as well smell super-yummy at the same time! I was so happy looking at my hard work until about 4 days later, some little creature dug up a pile in one spot and created a little heap in another. I smoothed it back out, but now I can see the dirt mixed in with the shells in those two areas instead.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>Lilac Bed: Weeded area spread with cocoa shell mulch to help </em><br />
<em>supress weeds while the </em><em>ground covers fill in. The plant in the </em><br />
<em>center front</em><em> is a strawberry and it's acting quite prolific!</em></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BttwrB2N8yU/T-D9N3ZuLZI/AAAAAAAAAM4/BzJ_h45y7uE/s1600/tsqc_tease.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" rca="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BttwrB2N8yU/T-D9N3ZuLZI/AAAAAAAAAM4/BzJ_h45y7uE/s200/tsqc_tease.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>Sneak peak of logo sketch</em></td></tr>
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In other news, I am working on two freelance projects. The first is a redesign and rebuild of a website I built about five years ago. The second is designing and creating the logo for a friend's fledling cupcake company. I'll share those projects once they've been "released."</div>
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P.S. I have unfortunately proven my suspicions correct: I am not a consistent blogger. I have all these planned posts in my head, but somehow, I can never seem to do all the photo editing to accompany them! (However, I always TAKE all the photos to accompany the post.) I think I need to teach J how to photo edit, then he can do the pictures and I can do the text. Bam! Family teamwork, right? Right!</div>
</div>Adventures in Anderlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08114944105936766686noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092385013155011260.post-73437654461642796782012-05-22T11:41:00.000-07:002012-05-22T11:41:15.134-07:00New 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, <a href="http://www.notmartha.org/archives/2012/05/22/links-the-home-66/" target="_blank">Not Martha</a> 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,<br />
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"Thus far, it has taken me roughly two months to redo the horrendous caulk job in my bathroom."</blockquote>
Daniel, of <a href="http://manhattan-nest.com/2012/05/08/slow-and-steady-but-mostly-just-slow/" target="_blank">Manhattan Nest</a>, goes on to round out the paragraph with,<br />
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"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. <strong>Don’t even bring up that spot between the sink and the wall or you’re dead to me.</strong> " <em>(emphasis mine)</em></blockquote>
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.<br />
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When that ever happens, I'll celebrate by a little pictorial review of the process.Adventures in Anderlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08114944105936766686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092385013155011260.post-22085911679404667342012-05-09T12:05:00.001-07:002012-05-09T12:12:48.276-07:00Blogkeeping - CommentsWell 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.<br />
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<strong>Comments are now OPEN....<span style="background-color: #ffe599;"><span style="color: #a64d79;">P</span><span style="color: #674ea7;">L</span><span style="color: #3d85c6;">A</span><span style="color: #45818e;">Y</span> <span style="color: #cc0000;">N</span><span style="color: #a64d79;">I</span><span style="color: #674ea7;">C</span><span style="color: #3d85c6;">E</span><span style="color: #45818e;">!</span></span></strong></div>Adventures in Anderlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08114944105936766686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092385013155011260.post-50437306371391071922012-05-05T22:30:00.000-07:002012-05-09T12:31:00.573-07:00Plantas de MayoHappy 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.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://home.astound.net/~kenww/my_garden/reddish_pacific_coast_iris.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="185" src="http://home.astound.net/~kenww/my_garden/reddish_pacific_coast_iris.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>This is what Claire will resemble</i><br />
<a href="http://home.astound.net/~kenww/my_garden/reddish_pacific_coast_iris.jpg" target="_blank">Source</a> </td></tr>
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The Iris Society had a small offering as this is not their main sale, which occurs next month in Bellevue. However, that sale only offers bearded iris and not the kinds I'm interested in. We adopted a lovely light lavender-blue dwarf "sapphire gem." Of my main interest, Pacific Coast natives, they only had two varieties so we bought one of both. The PCN varieties are unregistered so the names are just what they King County Iris Society has decided to call them. One of the KCIS volunteers explained to us that iris have three colors of pigment cell layers. Both of these were predominately yellow with white highlights. "Claire" also has a lovely dark burgundy accent while "Obscure Sunset" has a pretty red-violet tone. (Or I have the descriptions mixed up with the names, we'll just have to see when they blossom, which might not be until next year.) I'm looking forward to the Iris Society's garden tour at the end of May. One volunteer I met says he sells a lot of PCN, and he's actually just one neighborhood away from us.<br />
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After a quick stop at the Tangletown <a href="http://www.zokacoffee.com/" target="_blank">Zoka</a> (my favorite coffee company although I don't like the rebranding they recently did) for treats, it was off to "our" park for the <a href="http://seattletilth.org/" target="_blank">Tilth</a> sale. This is the 30th year they've been doing the sale and it's really become popular in just the past three or four years we've attended. This year, they were handing out color-coded wristbands to mitigate the flow (although we arrived past the morning rush) and they provided maps to the layout of tables and plants.</div>
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The variety of plants and long rows of tables can be overwhelming. Luckily, we do our homework beforehand so that we reduce the emotional overload to that of a kid in a candy shop. :) The Tilth website has PDF lists of the herbs/flowers and vegetable starts that are planned. We print them out ahead of time and each go through and mark what we find appealing. Sadly, not every plant on the list necessarily makes it to the sale as sometimes they seedlings fail or are not healthy enough. However, it does provide us with a game plan.</div>
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First, we tackled the herbs and edible flowers. For one, they're right at the entrance and for another, we are stricter on what we want. We may not be able to put in our herb spiral this year (rocks are ridiculously expensive to buy!) but most of the perennial herbs will be able to be transplanted to their final location when we are able to build it. This year, we stuck to our list well, with only two plants we left for spur of the moment decision making (the agastache we bought, we passed on the catmint). Here's what we brought home this year (with my comments in italics and the Tilth descriptions below):</div>
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<ul>
<li>Apricot Sunrise Agastache - <i>this isn't something we've bought before but we both liked the description and were interested in its decorative aspects as well as attracting beneficial bugs and hummingbirds</i></li>
<ul>
<li>This perennial offers unusually-colored flowers; a sunny orange apricot. The abundant flower spikes attract many beneficials including hummingbirds! The blooms are also edible and make great cut flowers and the foliage smells like a combination of mint and licorice. Plants get 18"-24" tall and wide.</li>
</ul>
<li>Lemon Basil x2 - <i>this is one of my favorites, especially when paired with tomatoes</i></li>
<ul>
<li>This is an exciting addition to the world of basil: a basil -- a basil with a lemon/citrus fragrance and flavor which makes it particularly good in vinegar, with fish, in salad dressings & sauces, and in oils. Great in pesto and other standard basil dishes, too. There is no herb more useful than Basil. In a warm, south window, you can grow basil indoors in winter.</li>
</ul>
<li>Thai Basil</li>
<ul>
<li>Strong licorice-anise flavor. 12-18" fine-leafed plant with purple stems, seed heads and flowers. Good container plant as well. 60 days to harvest.</li>
<li><i>Side note: we've learned to just buy a Geneovese (the classic basil) at Trader Joe's each year. It's a little cheaper and the plants always start significantly larger than what ours can even grow to by the time TJ's has them.</i></li>
</ul>
<li>Borage - <i>another one new to us this year. I'll admit I wanted it in part thanks to always coming across it in older literature, but the blue flowers also sound pretty and its always nice to give the bees some love</i></li>
<ul>
<li>The bright blue, star-shaped flowers (which bloom most of the summer) make borage one of the prettiest herb plants. The leaves are large and leathery and covered in soft spikes. The flavor of the leaves and flowers resembles that of cucumber. The plant will grow to a height of about 18 inches, and spread about 12 inches. Beloved by bumble bees.</li>
</ul>
<li>Flashback Calendula -<i> I wanted this for medicinal salves and this particular variety sounded stunning</i></li>
<ul>
<li>A unique calendula for those tired of plain orange. The undersides of these petals are dark burgundy,the tops vary from orange to yellow to light pink. Two foot plants glow in the sun. Calendula attracts beneficial insects and is a great cut flower. Classic pollinator plants, Calendula also are great additions to skin care lotions</li>
</ul>
<li>Lemon balm - <i>I can attribute my fondness to this plant to my stepmom</i></li>
<ul>
<li>Wonderful lemon-scented herb used in teas or fresh bouquets. Attracts beneficial insects and is a must for the organic garden. Spreads by underground runners and is best grown where it can be contained! Make sure to cut back the plant after flowering but before the seed matures to prevent reseeding</li>
</ul>
<li>Sweet Marjoram - <i>Somehow when we got to the other side of the table, we thought we hadn't picked one up. When I got home and was cataloguing what we bought, I found two! Oops. I like marjoram for use as a milder substitute for oregano.</i></li>
<ul>
<li>Grows to 12", slowly spreading by creeping roots and stems. Marjoram is sometimes overlooked as an important culinary herb. With a flavor similar to oregano but much sweeter and subtler, it can be used in similar dishes. Very good with fish and meats. Its subtle flavor can be lost with cooking, so add to dishes towards the end of cooking time.</li>
</ul>
<li>Candy Mint Peppermint - <i>(mmm...I don't like spearmint, so this is what WE use for mughitos. Oh and we had planned to buy Moroccan mint as the website said it was a peppermint, but once there, it was labeled and smelled distinctly spearmint)</i></li>
<ul>
<li>A spreading perennial with mint-flavored leaves. Dense clusters of white flowers in summer. Preferred variety for peppermint flavoring in cooking. Spreads by underground runners and should be planted where it can be contained.</li>
</ul>
<li>Barbecue Rosemary - <i>This variety has the nicest flavor, not strongly camphorous.</i></li>
<ul>
<li>Very upright, can grow to 4-6 ft tall, but takes to pruning well. Great rosemary flavor, use the stalks as skewers for grilling. Prefers full sun and well-drained soil. Blooms blue in early spring.</li>
</ul>
<li>Pineapple Sage - <i>This is the J plant, he became enamored of it at the first sale we went to. It makes a tasty and unique variation on a mojito, although we have yet to ever see the flowers.</i></li>
<ul>
<li>Sun, well-drained soil, mulch in winter. This showy sage is laden with beautiful scarlet flowers in the fall that attract hummingbirds. The velvety green leaves give off a distinct pineapple scent when rubbed. Ht 2ft - 3ft.</li>
</ul>
<li>Salad burnet - <i>I've been wanting to try this classic.</i></li>
<ul>
<li>An herbaceous perennial with cucumber-flavored leaves, salad burnet is a must for any salad! This low-growing herb has unusual red ball-shaped flowers. Salad burnet is drought tolerant once established and grows in full sun to part shade.</li>
</ul>
<li>Coconut Geranium - <i>J was interested in getting one of the fun-scented geraniums this year. Of the ones he was interested in, this was the first we encountered. I rubbed the leaf and instantly salivated, so we didn't even bother looking at the others!</i></li>
<ul>
<li>The small, rounded leaves have crinkly edges and form a dense mound. The fragrance is coconut. Small, lavender flowers bloom in clusters. To 1 ft tall. Tender plant</li>
</ul>
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Sadly, the white spike lavender didn't show up on the tables. It was the only lavender I planned to add this year. Despite the planning, I just realized that somehow I didn't grab the Greek oregano! Our container one is barely limping along after two years of vigorous growth. Plants we skipped this year that I am interested in trying in the future: angelica, bay, comfrey, dill, echinacea, feverfew, savory, shiso (I didn't see it, it was on my grab list), and sorrel. Our thyme is growing happily and is excited to move from its planter. We do need a regular sage plant but that wasn't a priority for me this time around.</div>
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While we brought back our tray from last year, seeing the list above, it might not be surprising that we had to buy a second carrying tray this year before we were even able to enter the vegetable area! Veggies are the plants that overwhelm us a little and we're still very much new to trying to grow some of our own. We've had difficulties with tomatoes (not enough sun on our apartment balcony) and J's mom usually grew our cucumbers for us. In general when selecting the varieties, we try to go with shorter time periods since our warm/hot weather is too unredictable and we want to get produce, and I always aim for the heirlooms. This year, I was primarily interested in growing a lot of our own greens, especially the darker ones that we've fallen in love with through the braising mix we regularly buy from Full Circle Farms at the Ballard Farmer's market. This will be our first year that we've ever grown them, an adventure indeed to see if we will have the skill to harvest for salads without overharvesting (and still have enough for our plates).</div>
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<ul>
<li>Mizuna - <i>I like the milder flavor of the Japanese compared to the "regular" mustard greens.</i></li>
<ul>
<li>45-50 days for large leaves or 20 days for baby greens. Mizuna is a Japanese mustard green that has thin white stalks and frilly, fringed light green leaves. Mild but flavorful, this green is good steamed or raw in salads.</li>
</ul>
<li>Purple Mizuna - <i>This was too pretty to leave behind.</i></li>
<ul>
<li>35 days. Almost too beautiful to eat! Lacy, purple-streaked dark green leaves with a slight peppery-mustard flavor and it is slow to go to seed. Adds color and bite to salad, soups and stir fries. Plant in a container to wow the neighbors.</li>
</ul>
<li>Catskill Brussel Sprouts -<i> J wanted to try growing brussel sprouts. <span style="color: #8e7cc3;">*Edit 5/9 - J told me that he realized after we had spoken to the volunteer that "Rents Due" was the nursery it had come from and he noticed it also said "Catskill" on the stick. However, he didn't want to tell me within earshot of the volunteer because we had just corrected her twice and he didn't want her to feel bad!</span></i></li>
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<li>90 days. Open pollinated. Selection from a private stock of Long Island Improved, a treasured American heirloom. Produces very high yields of 2" diameter round green Brussels sprouts. This variety has strong, stout stalks and closely spaced small sprouts. Easy to pick. Excellent freezing variety. Bred by Arthur White and Joseph Harris Company in New York and released in 1941.</li>
</ul>
<li>Fordhook Giant Chard - <i>We elected to try this variety due to the description saying it's highly productive.</i></li>
<ul>
<li>60 days. Open pollinated. An impressive chard with large, frilly, dark-green leaves. The white stems are strong and thick, yet tender and crispy; chopped, they make a wonderful addition to a gratin. Plants can grow over 2 feet high but still fit well into a small urban garden. This variety is so productive and delicious, you'll be sharing it with your neighbors!</li>
</ul>
<li>Lemon Cucumber x2 - <i>This is my single must have every year! I fell in love with these at the farmers markets. J's mom grew them the past two years for me since we didn't have enough sun. Now I can finally grow my own and she won't have to constantly pester me to come over to get the batch that's ready!</i></li>
<ul>
<li>70-75 days. Heirloom. Dating back to the 1890's, this old variety is a favorite among many cool season gardeners. 3-4 foot, semi-bush type plants bear loads of apple-shaped cucumbers with lemon-colored skins. Thin skins and mild, sweet flesh make them a joy to eat whole right from the garden! Best harvested when the size of limes. Hermaphrodite - Flowers contain both male and female reproductive parts, which means abundant yields in the garden!</li>
</ul>
<li>Astro arugula - <i>We decided to try this instead of the roquette due to the last sentence...</i></li>
<ul>
<li>38 days. Open pollinated. A mild flavored arugula with rounder, fuller leaves. Cold hardy, heat tolerant and fast growing, you can start cutting fresh greens within a few weeks of transplanting. Especially good for picking in the baby leaf stage.</li>
</ul>
<li>Purslane - <i>Sounded fun to try</i></li>
<ul>
<li>Open pollinated. 50 days. Purslane is a delightful green that can handle the hot and fry conditions of summer. The succulent leaves are filled with nutritious minerals and are a refreshing addition to fruit salads in the heat of summer. Try it with watermelon, feta cheese and olive oil for a taste sensation!</li>
</ul>
<li>Red Russian Kale - <i>Sadly, we also wanted the Lacinato, but they didn't have any of that variety.</i></li>
<ul>
<li>Heirloom. 40 days for baby greens. Red Russian Kale has lovely cut leaves and purplish-red stems that make this plant gorgeous in the garden or on the plate. The plant grows over a long season and can be harvested through fall and sometimes over winter and into the following spring! Kale is an easy plant to grow and is really good for you.</li>
</ul>
<li>Australian Yellow Leaf Lettuce - <i>We decided to go with all lettuces that were loose-leaf.</i></li>
<ul>
<li>Heirloom. 50 days. Almost neon in brightness, this chartreuse yellow lettuce will add an impressive color scheme to your lettuce patch. It is very slow to bolt, staying tender and mild into the summer. Considered a "loose-leaf" type lettuce, you can harvest outer leaves and let the inner leaves keep growing for a continual harvest all season long.</li>
</ul>
<li>Deer Tongue - <i>We were both intrigued to try this.</i></li>
<ul>
<li>Heirloom. 45-50 days. Hardy and stout, this lettuce is known for it's prolific growth. To harvest, you can cut the leaves off one at a time and fillyour salad bowl as you need to. Triangular, tongue-shaped sturdy green leaves earn its name.</li>
</ul>
<li>Lemon Drop Cherry Tomato - <i>This was a J pick.</i></li>
<ul>
<li>80-90 days. Open pollinated. Indeterminate. We are excited to offer the winner of the 2010 Seed Savers Exchange Tomato Testing award. Delicate and unusual, yellow-green fruit deliver a refreshingly sweet-tart flavor while the plant continues to produce in the garden even in cooler weather conditions. Grow it this year and discover why ‘Lemon Drop’ is truly a winner!</li>
</ul>
<li>Green Zebra Tomato - <i>One of my favorite heirloom varieties that I usually buy in store.</i></li>
<ul>
<li>75 days. Heirloom. Small indeterminate plant. Small round 2-3" golden green fruits with forest green stripes. Green Zebra </li>
<li style="display: inline !important;">is a Northwest favorite because of its combined earliness, cold tolerance, unusual color, and unique flavor characteristic </li>
<li style="display: inline !important;">of green tomatoes.</li>
</ul>
<li>Crimson Sprinter Tomato - This was supposed to be Mountain Princess, and apparently I managed to grab the interloper amongst the pots of the ones I wanted. </li>
<ul>
<li>65 days. Semi-determinate. Brilliant candy-apple red color and strong performance in cool conditions for early season harvests. Medium-sized 5-7 oz fruits are abundant and ripen nicely on the vine. Developed by Professor T. Graham of OAC, Ontario. Crimson Sprinter is the earliest maturing cultivar to carry the famous 'crimson gene' with notably high lycopene content.</li>
<ul>
<li>This was supposed to be Mountain Princess - 68 days. Heirloom. Determinate. A cool, short-season variety that hails from the mountains of West Virginia, 'Mountain Princess' is very early and very productive. The round, 4 to 6 inch fruits make great slices for sandwiches or drizzled with olive oil and a little salt and pepper--delicious!</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<li>Stupice Tomato</li>
<ul>
<li>60 days. Heirloom. Indeterminate. Cold-tolerant, red, slightly oval, 2 inch fruit grow on vigorous 6' vines. Great flavor for such an early tomato. Bred in the former Czechoslovakia. Stupice is a long-time favorite with Seattle gardeners, you can't go wrong with this one!</li>
</ul>
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I really wanted to get the Forellenschluss, a rare Austrian heirloom that was just a GORGEOUS dappled maroon on green, but J said we had too many lettuce greens. Next year I won't give in. We skipped peppers this year since we had rotten luck last year and weren't able to harvest a single fruit. We also decided to skip any squash or pumpkins as our tray was once again full, they like to have a lot of space, and we only are building one bed this year. Other plants we wanted from the list but didn't find: Persian Cress (similar flavor to watercress but doesn't have to be grown in a bog), Red bor kale (dark purple), Isis Candy cherry tomato or the Oregon Cherry, and Tigerella tomato (oddly, now isn't on their website list but was last Wednesday when I printed it) which is an English heirloom of low acidity, high and early productivity and a pretty red/yellow stripe.</div>
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Whew, what a list, eh? We also bought a great book produced by Tilth, The Maritime Northwest Garden Guide, that looks to be a great resource specially attuned to our area. We both liked that it's organized by month to tell us what we should be doing when. I was particularly pleased to see that they even divided Western Washington & Oregon into further micro-climates and give advice on amending the general planting information based on your specific location.<br />
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Wow, if you made it to the end of this huge post, you must either REALLY find gardening interesting or REALLY like us. Chances are it's the former. (And I'm sorry that I didn't take photos at the even, especially of that lovely forellenschluss! I was too involved to think to pick up the camera phone and snap pics.)</div>Adventures in Anderlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08114944105936766686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092385013155011260.post-60082925727558244002012-05-03T22:18:00.002-07:002012-05-03T22:18:30.458-07:00Roasted Tomato Quinoa SaladSometimes 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.
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The original recipe is Roasted-Tomato Tabbouleh and the first time, in rare form for me, I actually followed it to the letter. It was delicious and easy. Sometimes I subbed in couscous for the bulgur wheat for a faster meal. Then came the day I used quinoa as the base. Eureka! This has become a staple recipe in our household, one that's great as a side dish or as the main meal.<br />
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A word about quinoa: this grain-like seed has come into vogue recently, thanks in part to the gluten-free fad diets* and also because it has a high nutritional value. It is an excellent source of non-meat protein (18% of it's nutrition) and supplies all 9 of the essential amino acids (the building blocks of protein) humans require. (Read more about it at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinoa" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a> or <a href="http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?dbid=142&tname=foodspice" target="_blank">Whole Foods</a>.)<br />
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Quinoa (pronounced <b>keen</b>'wah) can be found in three colors: white, red, and black, although I have only been able to find the black when in a tricolor mix. The white has the mildest flavor and is easily substituted in many recipes calling for rice, bulgur wheat, couscous, etc. The flavor is best described as lightly nutty, with the red being stronger. In my experience, the red also takes a little longer to cook and is easier to use when you want a little more crunch in the dish.<br />
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Most directions will tell you to cook the quinoa in a 1:2 ratio with water, but every time I have done that, the quinoa is overcooked. Quinoa is done cooking when the seed becomes transparent and you can see the little plant germ (it looks like a comma). Overcooked quinoa has the germ completely sprung free of the seed, and oftentimes it has separated completely. The quinoa will be slightly mushy when you bite in to it. Through trial and error, I find the best results when I use<b> 1 cup quinoa to 1-2/3 or 1-3/4 cup water</b>. I usually cook my quinoa in the rice cooker, but you can cook it on the stove top. Simply add the water and the quinoa to a pot and bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer and cook covered until the water is completely absorbed.<br />
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I've now made this recipe enough times that I don't even follow the directions any more. Another great thing about this recipe is that it's <i>very</i> forgiving. You don't have to be exact on measurements and you can easily substitute ingredients depending on what you have on hand or what strikes your fancy. Don't cheat on the tomatoes though. In fact, I have yet to ever make too many tomatoes, we always wish there were more!<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Roasted Tomato Quinoa Salad</b></span><br />
based on this<a href="http://www.wholeliving.com/130325/roasted-tomato-tabbouleh" target="_blank"> recipe from Martha Stewart</a><br />
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<b>Ingredients</b><br />
1 cup quinoa<br />
1-3/4 cup water<br />
6-8 Roma tomatoes or 5-6 tomatoes on the vine<br />
1 large bundle each parsley, mint, basil<br />
1/2 medium yellow or sweet white onion<br />
3 cloves garlic (or more)<br />
olive oil<br />
vinegar (balsamic or raspberry red wine)<br />
salt & pepper to taste<br />
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Main dish variation: carrots, celery, use the whole onion<br />
Side dish variation: lemon or lime juice<br />
Suggested variations: for Italian flavors, use balsamic and substitute oregano for the mint. Cilantro and marjoram also work well.<br />
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<b>Basic Directions:</b><br />
<ol>
<li>Get the quinoa cooking. It will take 30-40 minutes. Turn the oven on to 450 deg F.</li>
<li>Slice the tomatoes into approximately 6 wedges and then cut the wedges in half. Set aside in a bowl.</li>
<li>Finely cut up the herbs, put 1/3-1/2 in with the tomatoes and place the remaining herbs aside.</li>
<li>Mince up 2 cloves garlic and add to the tomatoes.
Mince remaining clove and set aside.</li>
<li>Drizzle the tomatoes/garlic/herbs with olive oil and vinegar, sprinkle with coarse salt and pepper and toss to coat thoroughly.</li>
<li>Spread the tomatoes in a single layer on a lined, rimmed baking sheet and put into the oven for 20-30 minutes. You can cook a minimum 15 minutes, but longer is better as it gives more time for the tomatoes natural sweet flavor to intensify. Stir once halfway through roasting.<br /><i>Trust me on the lined part. You can use parchment, aluminum foil, or a silicone mat. Clean up will be sooo much easier.</i></li>
<li>While the tomatoes & quinoa cook, dice half an onion and add to the reserved herbs and garlic.
</li>
<li>In a large bowl (you can use the one you mixed the tomatoes in earlier), combine the cooked quinoa, roasted tomatoes, reserved fresh herbs/clove/onion. Add olive oil, vinegar, salt & pepper to taste.</li>
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<i>Main Meal variation</i></div>
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<ol>
<li>While the tomatoes are roasting in the oven, dice an entire onion, 3 medium-large carrots, 4 stalks celery. Roughly chop up several cloves of garlic. (Tip: chop up the celery leaves and add to the fresh herbs to add at the end.)</li>
<li>Sautee in just enough olive oil to prevent burning on medium heat until vegetables are cooked through.</li>
<li>Toss all ingredients while still warm and serve.</li>
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<i>Side Dish variation</i><br />
<ol>
<li>Let all ingredients cool, toss together with the juice of one lemon (or lime). Serve cold.</li>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">*This is not to imply that everyone who eats gluten-free is doing it as a fad. A suffers from celiac disease.</span></i>Adventures in Anderlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08114944105936766686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092385013155011260.post-47939881466455580992012-04-26T17:30:00.001-07:002012-04-26T17:34:06.997-07:00Searching for GrandmaMy 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.<br />
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My father grew up in a small town in Washington, to a family of Finnish descent and he would tell me stories passed down by his much older brothers about life on the family farm. My oldest uncle on the paternal side, was quite fascinated with geneology and traced our linneage back to the 1600s. He gave me a copy of the tree and while it's in a box, I love the idea that the rolled up scroll of history and connections is over 3 feet long. Unfortunately, this eldest uncle who was active in the local chapter of the Finnish Brotherhood, who spoke Finnish proficiently, and traveled frequently back to Finland and met our current Finnish relatives, passed away while I was still in college about the time I was wanting to learn more.<br />
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For some reason, the concept of family heirlooms and family history and culture has always been important to me. Maybe it's something I picked up on from my mom because she was adopted and so I always had the knowledge that there were pieces of history from her biological family that would always be missing. My mom and one of her sisters were adopted at a young age by a couple who lived in one of those tiny farming communities in Minnesota. (Yes, <em>tiny</em>, 400 population at the time, 2 block main street with only one stop sign.) Like many small Minnesotan communities, this one was strongly Scandinavian, with Norwegian being the heritage of my mother's family.<br />
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Both of my grandfathers died before I was born. My paternal grandmother had Alzheimer's and sadly, scared me when I was a child. I know from my parents that Grandma B loved me very much though. I always wish I had been able to get to know these relatives. I would jealously listen to my friends talk about their grandparents and would feel so sad on "Grandparents' Day" in elementary school when grandparents were invited to come have lunch with us. This is not to imply that I had no living grandparents, that's not true. I had my maternal grandma, but she lived in Minnesota. I saw her once a year during the summer and while she was my grandma and I loved her, the distance made it too hard to feel very close. My cousins who lived in Minnesota were the lucky ones who got to know her very well. Recently, my mother gave me the box that held my baby book. Tucked inside were many cards I received when I was very, very little. Seeing all those cards from my grandmas made my heart tear up as I realized I could feel the love still 30 odd years later.<br />
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I crave these connections to my roots, something that manifests in part through one aspect of my pack-rat issues. For instance, now that we have a house, a rather odd item needs to be retrieved from storage at J's parents house: a scythe. When my father had to downsize from a split-level, 4 bedroom house with 2 car garage to a 2 bedroom condo, this was an item I couldn't stand to see go away...even though I hadn't really seen it before. Why? Because it came from the family farm and dated to somewhere in the early 1900s. It was used on that farm, and while we don't know if the aluminum handle was a replacement for a wood one (making it date earlier), I wanted it. Eventually, I plan to hang it on the wall out of reach in the garage or perhaps on the outside of the garage under the eaves where it can be seen from the garden. The only other thing I have from my father's side of the family are two teacups and saucers that had belonged to my grandma.<br />
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My mother has been working to downsize over recent years, which means she brings me boxes upon boxes that I can't refuse. However, I have NOTHING that belonged to the one grandma that I was able to know a little. I don't think I was asked if there was anything I wanted when she had to move from her apartment to a care center. Regardless, after she passed away a few years ago, I asked my mother if there were a few items of Grandma O's that I could have. Sadly, it was all gone.<br />
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When I think of my grandma, a montage of images pass through my mind: playing Pit and not knowing for sure whether she passed us the good wild card because she got confused or if she did it on purpose, the large glass grapes that sat on the console table under the window, the time she served me rice pudding which I had never had, and which was burned and I hated but I said nothing as I didn't want to hurt her feelings, the Chia pet sculptures in her storage room, how her old wrinkled face would crinkle and the sound of her laugh, and the music boxes.<br />
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My grandma had several music boxes. I don't know if they were Swiss or German, if they were antique or new-ish. They were little Alpine houses with fuzzy bushes and little deer and painted details. I have no idea how much time I spent as a child looking at them, listening to the music (I can't recall the tunes now), and lightly and delicately running my tiny fingers over the shapes, feeling the bumps of the greenery on the flower boxes. I can remember at least 2 distinctly, I believe there were 3 but perhaps 4. I know one had a water wheel and I remember deer and I think a little water pump with trough and a 2-story one. When you opened the lid, you could watch the little bumps on the cylinder flick the metal tabs that made the note. They would get dusty and I would use my fingers to rub the dust out of the nooks and crannies where I could. Sometimes, I wish desperately that I had just one of those boxes today. Nothing represents all that "Grandma O" was to me as those boxes.<br />
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I've debated off and on if I want to hunt for and buy one that looks as close to my fuzzy memories as possible. On the one hand, I want a token piece of Grandma. On the other, I will always know that it's a "reproduction" and not actually one of hers. Every once in a while, I'll browse Etsy looking at the ones being sold there. I have yet to see one that matches well enough so I guess I don't have to face the decision yet.Adventures in Anderlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08114944105936766686noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092385013155011260.post-8749314541359191972012-04-12T13:06:00.000-07:002012-04-12T13:06:51.768-07:00TeaserOk, 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:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7cm7dhSFwP0/T4c1oI9TlKI/AAAAAAAAALA/Qv54fhtEJ0w/s1600/lppteaser.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" qda="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7cm7dhSFwP0/T4c1oI9TlKI/AAAAAAAAALA/Qv54fhtEJ0w/s1600/lppteaser.jpg" /></a></div><br />
And in case you didn't like that, here's an adorable picture of family snuggle time!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ji9UpRALwWE/T4c1mKBTlxI/AAAAAAAAAK4/ce5c2ISZHHc/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" qda="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ji9UpRALwWE/T4c1mKBTlxI/AAAAAAAAAK4/ce5c2ISZHHc/s1600/photo.JPG" /></a></div>Adventures in Anderlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08114944105936766686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092385013155011260.post-84086701232061222222012-03-30T15:38:00.002-07:002012-10-04T12:32:16.977-07:00Socked OutThe semi-local (Portland) company, <a href="http://www.sockittome.com/cart/index.php" target="_blank">Sock-It-To-Me</a> 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.<br />
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I have to say, I'm <em>really </em>fond of two of my designs. Sadly, however, the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151476017390026.825079.237573925025&type=1#!/media/set/?set=a.10151476017390026.825079.237573925025&type=1" target="_blank">release of the finalists</a> on Facebook today revealed that none of mine were selected. Usually when I enter a contest, I look at the finalists and think mine didn't even come close in quality, execution, or concept. <strong>Looking at the positives</strong>, at least I can say that I think my skills have improved (and maybe my confidence) enough that this is the first time I feel that my two favorites are at least on par with those selected. In all honesty, I still like my two favorites better than almost all the ones they did select as most of them this year aren't something that would entice me. This wasn't an exercise in futility either as I used this contest as an opportunity to work on my Illustrator skills. I am pleased to say that I learned more about layering and grouping options and finally started understanding clipping paths.<br />
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Rules for entry: no more than 5 thread colors, 5 entries max per person (note, these are quick edits of the pictures I had shared on FB, so I'll try to upload nicer looking images out of Illustrator soon!)<br />
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My favorite design: Blaaack Sheep</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_n9n0TLsM9M/T3YzVK5vXyI/AAAAAAAAAKI/6DSaMs8rEVw/s1600/sheep.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" dea="true" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_n9n0TLsM9M/T3YzVK5vXyI/AAAAAAAAAKI/6DSaMs8rEVw/s200/sheep.jpg" width="196" /></a></div>
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My second favorite design: O'zapft is!</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uKrDG1nh3uw/T3Y1soMvuPI/AAAAAAAAAKY/-0V_MlblvM0/s1600/ozapft+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" dea="true" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uKrDG1nh3uw/T3Y1soMvuPI/AAAAAAAAAKY/-0V_MlblvM0/s200/ozapft+copy.jpg" width="196" /></a></div>
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Design 3: Strawberry Fields</div>
Originally, I wanted this design to feature both solid strawberries and and half strawberry slices. However, due to the nature of sock design, you can't do shade blends and it turns out that bi-color strawberry slices are VERY hard to draw and not have turn out to look like vulvas. I was tempted to put little green stitches/dotted lines as a diagonal pattern but A thought it was better plain so I left well enough alone.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-23Gsp4-CBeI/T3Y11HEdqoI/AAAAAAAAAKg/bVuxLJ6Y_X4/s1600/strwaberryfields.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" dea="true" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-23Gsp4-CBeI/T3Y11HEdqoI/AAAAAAAAAKg/bVuxLJ6Y_X4/s200/strwaberryfields.jpg" width="197" /></a></div>
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Design 4: Scurvy Warrior</div>
I like the idea of a citrus sock and this went through at least 3 or 4 layouts. I liked the idea of having stripes as well as the citrus slices and this was the best I came up with at the end of the night. I'm still not sold on this design but felt it wouldn't hurt to submit. (And I can't tell thanks to my crummy monitor, but on mine, this sock is composed of lovely, soft and kind of retro-70s feeling colors. On Facebook, they look eye-bleedingly bright.)<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yqDT_vM0t1A/T3Y15kQu60I/AAAAAAAAAKo/6V8jwE_HBwA/s1600/scurvy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" dea="true" height="312" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yqDT_vM0t1A/T3Y15kQu60I/AAAAAAAAAKo/6V8jwE_HBwA/s320/scurvy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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And if you're curious which of the finalists I do like, they are: the sloth, the leiderhosen (although I like my Oktoberfest better as it's more a universal sock), the constellation (I will BUY these if they make them, this was one of my ideas but I decided not to execute one as it would be less interesting from a learning Illustrator standpoint), and the alphabet ones. The firebird is pretty but I most likely wouldn't buy it. While the water lily is pretty, so many of their socks are on blue or teal backgrounds and it's just not a color I'm drawn to wearing on my socks a lot.Adventures in Anderlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08114944105936766686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092385013155011260.post-47859974845544340312012-03-29T14:46:00.003-07:002012-03-30T11:48:44.221-07:00Library Books: A Love Story<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">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.</div><a name='more'></a><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I have a distinct memory of going to the library with my dad when I was maybe 5 or 6. This was the "old" library in town, it shared a tan brick building with the police department and therefore, always had several police cruisers in the parking lot. Somehow in my young mind, this served to impress upon me the <em>importance</em> of books and reading: a treasure so valued that it was located next to the police so that they could better protect it for all of us! I still have a brief image in my mind of the double doors, the 3 steps down, the central check out desk and the kids section just behind and to the left. The bookcases were maybe 2 or 3 shelves only, of light blonde wood, and stuffed with books. I would pick so many books to check out that my dad would have to help me carry them...the stack was usually about 2/3 of my height!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c2m15YjPU8s/T3X89-Dx_BI/AAAAAAAAAJw/kI8jeRkMDXI/s1600/NBlibrary_dixon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" dea="true" height="156" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c2m15YjPU8s/T3X89-Dx_BI/AAAAAAAAAJw/kI8jeRkMDXI/s200/NBlibrary_dixon.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>photo by K.B. Dixon, </em><a href="http://paperfort.blogspot.com/2009_01_01_archive.html" target="_blank"><em>source</em></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">This love affair continued over the years as my check-out stacks grew slightly smaller and the books themselves thicker. Our town had built a beautiful new brick building with lots of windows that was much larger than the old space. (I can't establish when the library was built, but the closest I can place it is 1987-1989.) The library was one of my sanctuaries during the tumultuous teen years. I found peace amidst the shelves. I hid there to do my physics homework when my mom insisted on filling the house with jarring ragtime music on the piano that reached every nook. (And I tested the attic, basement, and back bathroom!) Dewey and his system gave an order to my chaos for a few brief moments in my world and I would wander the stacks, breathing in that distinct library book perfume. </div><br />
I realized in college that one reason I was oddly strong for being a non-athlete was thanks to reading. During summers in high school, I would walk down this steep hill and the 10-15 blocks to the (new) library. I would have to bring a bag or backpack as I would check out my usual quantity of 10+ books and needed help hauling them back. I weighed those bags on at least one occasion to discover I was lugging more than 30 pounds. <br />
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Sadly, college managed to temporarily break us up as all those textbooks and required reading and the general stress of this time in my life left me mentally burned out. I would only read complete fluff during the summer, namely The Cat Who series. My university's library didn't evoke the same sense of peace. Trying to study there, I found the noise of other students jarring, the vibrations and sounds from the central air system defocused me or put me to sleep. <br />
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After college, other than the new Harry Potter books as they came out, I read very little and seemed to have amnesia regarding the library's existence. I don't think I stepped foot in a library between 2003 and 2006. Then entered J into my life. He not only breathed new air into my world, but he reminded me of the joys of the public library. When I moved to Ballard, I started using visiting the library regularly again. While I loved the design of the building (particularly the living roof), the venting for the underground parking garage causes half of it to have a loud and distracting humming, and in one corner it even causes vibrations. Our move to Magnolia brought me back in contact with a library I could love. It was quite small, smaller even than the library protected by the police during my childhood. But it felt like the Pacific Northwest, it had no annoying buzzing, and it felt like neighborhood and community. This library was the perfect distance from our apartment and I regularly used it as an excuse to go for a walk, a nice destination where I could rest and read the periodicals and use the bathroom before returning home.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T7zDAqFfLC0/T3X9-7zkKBI/AAAAAAAAAJ4/oMNm9_CCPxY/s1600/libraries.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" dea="true" height="148" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T7zDAqFfLC0/T3X9-7zkKBI/AAAAAAAAAJ4/oMNm9_CCPxY/s400/libraries.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>Left: <em>Ballard Library's Living Roof, </em><a href="http://www.hydrotechusa.com/ballard1.html" target="_blank"><em>source</em></a></em><br />
<em>Right: Magnolia Library, </em><a href="http://www.blogger.com/"><span id="goog_929193628"></span><em>source<span id="goog_929193629"></span></em></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Now we've moved again and I have a new library to learn. I'll admit that the joys and burdens and learning that comes with new home ownership has left me with little contact with this new location yet. It actually spans the river, you can stand on its front side walk and lean over the edge to watch the salmon spawning (an amazing view we discovered last season) in the Cedar River. I've only been inside to pick up holds, but I think I like it. It has it's own aura and personality that I have yet to get to know, but sadly, I might lose that opportunity soon as the city is in the midst of major discussion/plans to build a new library building.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FdCzp_e2oYg/T3X_lFWIUPI/AAAAAAAAAKA/WbGWcoIBEL8/s1600/Renton-Public-Library-over-Cedar-River-Renton-Washington-City-Government-Website.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" dea="true" height="214" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FdCzp_e2oYg/T3X_lFWIUPI/AAAAAAAAAKA/WbGWcoIBEL8/s320/Renton-Public-Library-over-Cedar-River-Renton-Washington-City-Government-Website.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>Renton Public Library</em> <a href="http://www.opednews.com/articles/Citizens-Fight-to-Save-Lib-by-John-Iacovelli-120307-449.html" target="_blank"><em>source</em></a></td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div></div>Adventures in Anderlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08114944105936766686noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092385013155011260.post-45010574952824970252012-03-27T16:58:00.002-07:002012-03-27T17:01:36.177-07:00No Longer MIAAs 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. <br />
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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.<br />
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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: <strong>what's the difference between making an excuse for why you didn't do something and simply explaining why? </strong>Is it intention? Is it something more intangible or something easily defined and concrete? I would love to hear some opinions on this!<br />
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Planned upcoming posts<br />
<ul><li>little photo retrospective of our "Dimanche Gras" party with the monster nephews</li>
<li>sewing me-torial on the apron I made for my sister</li>
<li>spring gardening</li>
<li>lessons in permaculture</li>
<li>the shower project <em>aka</em> first true adventure with DIY remodel/repair</li>
</ul>Adventures in Anderlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08114944105936766686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092385013155011260.post-86020321597537851342012-02-15T13:29:00.000-08:002012-02-15T13:29:37.047-08:00Still Mourning From the BayouOk, 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.<br />
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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.<br />
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<div class="body_content"></div><div class="body_content"><strong>MINI JALAPENO MUFFINS<br />
FROM THE BAYOU, PARKLAND</strong> <em>(RIP)</em><br />
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8 whole pickled jalapeno chilies<br />
1 tablespoon jalapeno pickling liquid, plus more to taste<br />
1 1/4 cups yellow cornmeal<br />
1 cup all-purpose flour<br />
1/4 cup sugar<br />
2 teaspoons baking powder<br />
2 teaspoons salt<br />
2 eggs<br />
3/4 cup milk<br />
2 tablespoons honey<br />
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Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter 2 (24-cup) mini-muffin pans. <br />
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Cut the stems from the jalapenos and pulse them in a food processor to finely chop. Add the pickling liquid, and process to make a smooth puree, scraping down the sides as needed. You need 1/3 cup of the puree; save any extra for another use or discard.<br />
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In a large bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, and stir to blend. <br />
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In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with the milk, 1/3 cup jalapeno puree and honey until well-blended. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and stir just to blend. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pans, not quite to the top (about 1 tablespoon per muffin). <br />
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Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 12 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool slightly before serving warm. Or cool completely and seal in an airtight container until ready to serve.<br />
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Makes 4 dozen mini-muffins or 2 dozen regular muffins<br />
Source: The Northwest Best Places Cookbook Volume 2 by Cynthia C. Nims, web source <a href="http://www.recipelink.com/mf/11/7916" target="_blank">here</a></div><br />
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<strong>From the Bayou Crawfish Etouffee recipe</strong><br />
<br />
1/4 pound butter <br />
4 cups chopped <br />
2 cups chopped green peppers <br />
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh chopped garlic <br />
4 cups sliced mushrooms <br />
1 1/2 teaspoons flour <br />
Salt and pepper to taste <br />
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper <br />
4 dashes Tabasco sauce<br />
1 tablespoon garlicpowder <br />
2 cups whipping cream <br />
1 cup half-and-half <br />
1 3/4 cups tomato sauce<br />
<br />
Melt butter in large heavy-duty pot. Add onions, peppers, garlic and all seasonings. Saute, stirring occasionally until onions are translucent (15 minutes).<br />
<br />
Add mushrooms and sauté for 5 minutes. Add flour and mix thoroughly for 1 minute, stirring often. Add whipping cream and half-and-half. Cook until cream thickens but does not boil, stirring often.<br />
<br />
Add tomato sauce and cook for 15 minutes. Add desired meat, seafood or crawfish. Stirring often, cook until meat or vegetables are done. The longer you let the sauce cook, the more flavorful it becomes.<br />
<br />
Source: tribnet.com, via <a href="http://www.recipegoldmine.com/ccf/from-bayou-crawfish-etouffee.html">recipegoldmine.com</a>Adventures in Anderlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08114944105936766686noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092385013155011260.post-84081229739687329552012-02-14T10:34:00.000-08:002012-02-14T10:34:41.371-08:00Happy Ferris Wheel Day!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/397015_317577364955346_123737884339296_838166_1573970663_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/397015_317577364955346_123737884339296_838166_1573970663_n.jpg" width="400" yda="true" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">by Matt Kloskowski </td></tr>
</tbody></table>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.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
J and I finally started dating many years ago on the weekend of February 3-5. The next week, I realized that Valentine's Day was upcoming and that most people would feel a ridiculous amount of pressure trying to figure out what was the right amount of gift/activity to do for a new relationship. Seeking to head off the waste of time interior debate for J and any potential anxiety, I launched into my soap box speech about the day and my feelings for it.<br />
<br />
Whenever I've been required to do some sort of V-day activity in class or as a wing activity in my college dorm, I refused to play along and went my subversive way and made some variation of an I Love Oregon craft as that's my home state and Feb 14 is the anniversary when Oregon joined the good ol' Union. Through high school and college, I celebrated by wearing black and watching a violent movie such as <em>Reservoir Dogs</em>.<br />
<br />
I haven't liked Valentine's day since the 6th grade when it stopped being just another holiday to get candy. If you're single, all the mass marketing of the day helps too many people to feel like a lonely loser. If you're in a relationship, there's too much pressure to spend on money trinkets or vast "romantic" gestures, etc. Kind of a lose-lose for the majority of people. I would rather celebrate a day that's personally meaningful any other time of year: a first date, a first kiss, the first "I Love You," a silly date that you both love simply because of its mathematics, etc. Halfway through my tirade, J developed an odd expression on his face. It took me a little bit longer to realize I might have stepped in it..."What's wrong?" I hesitantly asked. "Oh, you like the day, don't you?"<br />
<br />
J explained that he had been excited because he had never HAD a girlfriend on Valentine's Day and had been looking forward to finally having someone to do something with/for. I felt like a heel for stomping all over but couldn't back track well enough, "We can still do something if <strong>you</strong> want! I just didn't want you to feel ridiculous pressure like <strong>I</strong> expected anything." But it was too late, he knew how I really felt.<br />
<br />
A day or two later, J said, "I know, let's celebrate Ferris Wheel Day!"<br />
"Ok!" I replied enthusiastically, "When is it?"<br />
J smiled, "February 14th, the birthday of the inventor of the Ferris Wheel." and I just laughed.<br />
<br />
We ended up celebrating that first Ferris Wheel Day by ordering a pizza and watching a non-romantic movie (admittedly I don't remember what movie it was). We realized pizza was a perfect food to represent the Ferris wheel - it's round with supportive spokes from the central axle. To this day, this is what we celebrate. This year, J has been very adorable about it...announcing almost two months ago that he knew where we would be eating our pizza this year. "It's a new place opening in January. It has a picture of a monkey! AND it's wearing a FEZ!!" Who could argue with that?Adventures in Anderlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08114944105936766686noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092385013155011260.post-18987113553939363512012-02-13T11:38:00.000-08:002012-02-13T11:38:55.184-08:00Lemon Love<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_sLRBvr6RQPU/TF0A0m0j5fI/AAAAAAAAKi0/tUK3yh9Wu9Y/s1600/lemontisaneherbs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="170" sda="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_sLRBvr6RQPU/TF0A0m0j5fI/AAAAAAAAKi0/tUK3yh9Wu9Y/s200/lemontisaneherbs.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kahakaikitchen.blogspot.com/2010/08/lemon-herb-tisane-with-elderflower-kick.html" target="_blank">image source</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>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.)<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>Anyway, on to my epiphany. I have a love for the special lemony herbs. I find myself drawn to their crisp citrus scent and sharp herbal taste. I think my stepmom awoke this awareness when she introduced me to lemon verbana. Each year at the Tilth plant sale, I have to rein in my fingers from snatching every lemony planted. An added bonus is that many lemon-scented herbs are considered good for a host of health issues including digestion and depression. <br />
<br />
I think I shall make a little spot, perhaps near my future miniature lavender field, for a geometric lemon herb showcase. I like the checker board looks like this one below, but since several of these plants will grow tall with central stalks rather than ground cover, it probably won't work quite as well. When I mentioned it to J, he thought a tesselated pattern* would be fun, like Escher's salamanders, but I think the pattern would get lost unless done with only ground covers.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Io-65Qowe6o/Tzlgyn4KIII/AAAAAAAAAJQ/e-uWxaBqbjc/s1600/checkerboard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" sda="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Io-65Qowe6o/Tzlgyn4KIII/AAAAAAAAAJQ/e-uWxaBqbjc/s200/checkerboard.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://egardens.blogspot.com/2009/01/grass-patterns.html" target="_blank">image source</a> <br />
check out the rest of the post for some fun grass designs</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Plants I know I want:<br />
<ul><li>Lemon Verbana <em>Aloysia citriodora, Aloysia triphylla - </em> I've bought this plant twice but can't seem to winter it properly, it seems I will have to keep it in a pot and find somewhere to winter it inside but away from the cat.</li>
<li>Lemon balm <em>Melissa officinalis</em></li>
<li>lemon thyme <em>Thymus x citriodorus</em></li>
<li>lemon basil <em>Ocimum xcitriodorum</em></li>
<li>lemon grass <em>Cymbopogon citratus</em></li>
<li>Lemon-scented geranium (maybe)</li>
<li>Lemon mint (maybe)</li>
</ul>Looking through my plant list though, it appears many of them do better in containers so this may not be the best plant collection to use for the geometric garden. Back to the drawing board!<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*Yes, I realize a checkerboard is a tesslation.</span>Adventures in Anderlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08114944105936766686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092385013155011260.post-3007194210032977742012-02-11T14:56:00.000-08:002012-02-11T20:31:51.727-08:00Project Reveal: Jewelry for my Seestar<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>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!<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
One of the first things I discovered on Pinterest was<a href="http://molliemakes.themakingspot.com/blog/make-a-thimble-necklace" target="_blank"> this cute necklace</a> made from a thimble and pearl-headed pins. I liked how it turned out but was nervous it wouldn't be in my sister's taste. Joann's was having a 50% off notions sale just when I was ready to start this project so I stocked up on thimbles and bought two different brands of pearlized pins because they had different shades. The only thing I did differently from the tutorial in the link was that I used wire cutters to trim the lengths of pins as they stood too tall from my thimble. In order to get varying heights, I would have had to pull them up even higher from the thimble bottom and it would have been more unbalanced.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h-A7xovnFjQ/Tzbsf0jqvrI/AAAAAAAAAIY/QPIx20_H-NQ/s1600/thimblepot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h-A7xovnFjQ/Tzbsf0jqvrI/AAAAAAAAAIY/QPIx20_H-NQ/s320/thimblepot.jpg" width="252" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Happily, she loved it and put it on immediately!</span> </td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
For the second necklace, I used some of my sister's own art without her permission. However, since it was a gift for her, I was sure she wouldn't mind (and she didn't). This was my third idea but actually turned out my favorite of the three...probably because I love my sister's painting style.<br />
<br />
I started with a 1" wood disk from the craft store and painted it completely white. I resized my sister's picture to fit and used a 1" hole punch. Using a little craft glue, I attached the picture to one side of the wooden disk and then brushed a thin layer of glue on top to protect the ink. Then I covered the entire top with a thick layer of Diamond Glaze and let it dry over night. One note, I try to smear a little of the glaze around the side edges as well to give a more finished look. Using my Dremel, I drilled a small diagonal hole from the back to come out through the side (and not mar the front). I attached a jump ring and then decided to add a little more whimsy. I took some thin silvery-white wire and twisted it into little curlicues. I put a dot of glue in the bottom seed bead to help hold it on the end and then threaded more beads (pearlescent white and clear over a silver core). I found this great little button in my crafting supplies and decided it could look easily like a snowflake. Ta-Da!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UYJwrCqAhSI/TzbuYKL9afI/AAAAAAAAAIg/1XpJhgGydPc/s1600/Cass_snowman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UYJwrCqAhSI/TzbuYKL9afI/AAAAAAAAAIg/1XpJhgGydPc/s320/Cass_snowman.jpg" width="301" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Snowman copyright Marmalade Press</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
My third necklace turned out the least exciting even though it was my first idea. I wanted to make a colorwheel. I took the same 1" diameter wooden disk (several come in a package) and painted several coats of white on it. Next, I took some artist's tape and cut a very thin strip which I broke into several lengths. I arrayed them on the disk to create wedge shapes and painted them in with the 6 primary and secondary colors.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mqOgwjYMDdM/TzbwUY1RBHI/AAAAAAAAAI4/gd5AdRvKiaU/s1600/colorwheel1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mqOgwjYMDdM/TzbwUY1RBHI/AAAAAAAAAI4/gd5AdRvKiaU/s200/colorwheel1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">However, when I took the strips off, the edges still had bled a little and were uneven. (My red paint was more watery than the rest.) I also didn't like the stark white lines as it made it feel more like a Trivial Pursuit game piece.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iFpfK0iYUfQ/TzbwppZIYqI/AAAAAAAAAJA/w-JlzrCRQgc/s1600/colorwheel2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="184" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iFpfK0iYUfQ/TzbwppZIYqI/AAAAAAAAAJA/w-JlzrCRQgc/s200/colorwheel2.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I decided to do thin strips of the tertiary colors to cover up the white, but what to do in the center? From a paint perspective, where all the colors mix is black, but I didn't like the idea of a black dot in the middle. Instead I repainted a little white dot there. I thoroughly coated with Diamond Glaze and after it had dried for a few minutes, I carefully dropped a Swarovski Elements 3MM AB Hot Fix crystal in the center. I didn't want to apply it under the glaze as I figured it would dull the sparkle. The next day, I used my Dremel to do a diagonal hole like for the snowman and added the jump ring. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QcEeQAw7To0/Tzbx2gctk3I/AAAAAAAAAJI/Kr4PpsupNcQ/s1600/colorwheel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QcEeQAw7To0/Tzbx2gctk3I/AAAAAAAAAJI/Kr4PpsupNcQ/s320/colorwheel.jpg" width="279" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Overall, I like it although it isn't as "cute" as the other two necklaces. I wasn't happy with the shade of purple but oddly, even though I painted over it several times with lighter shades, it stubbornly remained dark. Also, that ribbon I used looks white in this light and pale lavender in other lights. I wish it were a more obvious lavender/purple as that color represents creativity and inspiration.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Adventures in Anderlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08114944105936766686noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092385013155011260.post-33403922327072305802012-02-08T16:25:00.000-08:002012-02-08T16:26:17.102-08:00Garden: First plansOne 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:<br />
Me: Ugh, I'm weird!<br />
J: Why this time?<br />
Me: I'm getting anxiety about going to the Flower & Garden Show!<br />
J: Yeah, that's weird.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>I've never been to the F&G before, so I don't know what to expect. In my mind, it's a* utopia of all the verdant shades Nature has provided and my once a year opportunity to buy all the plants and gleam all the knowledge I can in the one day we're attending. If I don't show up with my ideas firmly and thorougly planned, I'll ruin the opportunity and our garden will be a sad attempt for the year. <br />
<br />
This is way too much pressure to put on myself, I realize this. Yet, I can't help worrying that there will be so much that I'll either be overwhelmed and hide in a shadey overgrown corner of a demonstration garden like a little timid forest creature, or I'll get too excited and buy plants willy-nilly, spending too much money on flora to which I'll provide a slow and torturous death.<br />
<br />
The simple answer to all this is: CHILL OUT! The more reasonable answer is: this is NOT the only time and location when I can purchase gardening needs or learn. Our garden does not have to be perfectly established this year and can be done slowly through the years. RELAX. Well reasonable person, sane me recognizes this, it's more a question of crazy-yard-happy me listening. In fact, my plans for this year are to "simply" focus on the edible aspects of our garden this year.<br />
<br />
Several years ago, we saw the beautiful herb spiral at the Tilth Demonstration Gardens next to Meridian Park and we both fell in love. Cooking with fresh herbs is something that delights us both and we are excited to expand our balcony container garden to a larger and more permanent home.<br />
<br />
My other project is to build our raised vegetable beds. I'm so excited to have home-grown veggies and greens but this is one area I need to try and rein it in and not go overboard with what I eventually want to grow each year.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QFJRZEYAdGI/TzMPJford7I/AAAAAAAAAIQ/LeCPtPeDY2k/s1600/plan1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="312" sda="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QFJRZEYAdGI/TzMPJford7I/AAAAAAAAAIQ/LeCPtPeDY2k/s400/plan1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's my not-to-scale sketch of our yard. The large green circle is the potential<br />
herb spiral site. We want to be able to see it easily from the kitchen and deck, but<br />
not be shaded by anything (that may be too close to the lilac tree). The tiny circle<br />
in front is for my required Tropican Rose Bush. Mom had one on either side of our<br />
front porch during my growing up years. The green square is the planned raised<br />
vegetable bed location - outside the fence so that our future dog can't get to it.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
One frustration I'm having is regarding materials. We only have sedans (J's being larger than mine) and no good way to haul materials easily. J can rent a van from work if need be, but that is dependent on usage schedules. While transport is only a minor inconvencience, obtaining the materials is more of an issue. I really would like to find the materials for super-cheap or free, and preferably with previously used rocks and lumber to give them new life and be more eco-conscious. We decided we want to build our herb spiral with medium-sized rocks to match the two raised beds at the front of the house. However, while I often come across salvaged brick, small to medium are rare. I also feel this odd moral issue with paying for rock. All those gorgeous stone walls dividing up the UK are from rocks pulled out of the farming ground. Surely someone has rocks they want to get rid of? I'd also like to repurpose lumber to build the veggie beds and not use new. So if you know of someone with these kinds of materials taking up space in their yard, let us know!Adventures in Anderlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08114944105936766686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092385013155011260.post-17563419908985310652012-02-01T13:01:00.000-08:002012-02-01T13:01:37.177-08:00Planning the Summer House ProjectsNow 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. <br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<strong>Back deck</strong> - we get a lot more morning frost here and it makes the back deck dangerously slippery, even when you know there's that quarter inch of hoar frost and ice. <em>Summer Project #1</em> - mix grit into the paint and repaint the deck to make it a little more non-skid. Maybe rebuild the stairs if we have time since both sets are uneven in height from stair to stair. Also, there's a path outlined from the deck to the garage that I want to finish by fitting with flagstones.<br />
<br />
<strong>Back Entry</strong> - this area still needs a major organizational revamping. With three of us dumping our coats, shoes, and bags here when we come home and it also being the only convenient space to corral in-process laundry, it frequently becomes a nightmare of clutter and mess. We have a space to drop mail and a place to hang coats, but our shoes (boots mostly) keep overflowing our little shoe bench and there's no good place to put purses and bags. One help will be when I get additional hooks screwed to the top coat rack. The current little knobs aren't deep enough to hang anything on. I want to install a curtain rod above the back door and hang a curtain in front of the side that doesn't open. Some day, I'd like to install a removable grid to make the large glass insets look like a French door, but then you could clean one large glass instead of all those little panes.<br />
<br />
<strong>3/4 Bath</strong> - this is A's space so while she lives with us, any decorating is up to her.<br />
<br />
<strong>Kitchen</strong> - We're doing well on organizing this space. I can't find drawer dividers that I like, so on my project list is to custom make some for the utensil drawers (2) and the junk drawer. <em>Summer Project #2</em> is to put up our pot rack above the island, which will clear up between one and two cabinets, allowing for better organization of those area. <em>Summer Project #3</em> - change the microwave mounting and venting. Whoever installed the microwave left around 28" of space from the top of the stove to the bottom of the microwave. There's not enough clearance to use a stock pot on the back burners and stir the contents. Also, currently the microwave only sucks out steam from below and then spits it out above the microwave and provides little to no actual venting. We will be installing a venting duct to send that air outside and have three ideas on how to modify the cabinets to hide this ducting.<br />
<br />
<strong>Dining Room</strong> - fix broken arm on new lighting fixture and install above table. Refinish dining room table. Repair broken pane of glass in display cabinet, add additional glass shelves.<br />
<br />
<strong>Office</strong> - install cafe-style curtain rod on top and bottom of door with curtain across glass pane to provide a privacy filter. This room is J's domain so I leave any other planning of decor for it to him!<br />
<br />
<strong>Front Room</strong> - this is the space that gives me FITS. It is long and the placement of the double-wide archway into the dining room, the front door, and the fireplace leave one whole end poorly utilized. In some world where cost wasn't an issue, I'd like to build stairs there to go down into the basement (which will someday be dug out a few additional feet and finished off). Sadly, the curtain rods I loved from our apartment are about three inches too short to go above the long windows in the front room. The difficulty will be in finding rods that will stretch those lengths (and be as beloved as my old ones that I plan to move to the kitchen). While I still like the curtains we used in the apartment, they are too dark now for the soft yellow walls and white trim everything. I will probably solve these energy and heat-saving issues when the cold weather is gone, since that's the way the world seems to work!<br />
<br />
<strong>Front Porch</strong> - <em>Summer Project #4</em> - rebuild the front steps. They are dangerously uneven in height and the first step up is way too tall, it's difficult for the average person to use. We have plenty of walk way so we will stretch the run out a little longer as well to allow for better rise. <em>Summer Project #5</em> - I don't think we'll honestly get to this one, but we want to build a custom screen enclosure that will allow Ivan to come and go through a window out on to the porch for his summer air, smells, and sounds.<br />
<br />
Moving upstairs....<br />
<strong>Upper Stairs</strong> - I fell on these on Thanksgiving and gave myself an enormous bruise, a bruise so deep it took at least four days to completely come to the surface. Sadly, I wasn't the first person to fall on these, either! So, these instruments of danger need to be rebuilt to be perfectly even in the rise and run of each step (they aren't). We will probably have to take a little space away from the upper landing to make them safer. <em>Summer Project #6</em> and possibly the most important.<br />
<br />
<strong>Bathroom</strong> - Project #7 - install a venting fan to reduce moisture after showers. I would also love to build one of these little cubbies into the beadboard next to the toilet, but that will be some future year.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://remodelista.com/img/sub/product_image_121974_bu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" sda="true" src="http://remodelista.com/img/sub/product_image_121974_bu.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://remodelista.com/products/hy-dit-toilet-plunger-storage-cabinet" target="_blank">source</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yfekB59BsK4/Tdzz8ygaw2I/AAAAAAAABlE/X9tPjSkS36E/s1600/27809749_SHOvqFpX_c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" sda="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yfekB59BsK4/Tdzz8ygaw2I/AAAAAAAABlE/X9tPjSkS36E/s200/27809749_SHOvqFpX_c.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://honeyandfitz.blogspot.com/2011/05/clever-built-in-storage-ideas.html#axzz1lAK5h7sf" target="_blank">source</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><strong>Craft Room</strong> - this will get it's own entire series of posts. However, no large "fix-it" projects. The first project is for the weather to warm up so I can finish spray painting my large bookcase! I was only able to get the primer coat on before the weather became too cold for spray painting. Without my bookcase, my poor room is a disaster with disorganized boxes and materials everywhere!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><strong>Master Bedroom</strong> - Nothing here regarding construction. At some point, I would like to upgrade the attic/crawl space access from just a hole in the ceiling with cover to one of those nice pull-down stair contraptions. However, that's definitely a "someday" project and not a concern for the near future.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Goodness, looking at all this, it's going to be a BUSY summer, and that's not even including our designs for our yard!</div>Adventures in Anderlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08114944105936766686noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092385013155011260.post-30945594206548448782012-01-26T14:20:00.000-08:002012-01-26T14:20:02.159-08:00The BinariesSo...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.Adventures in Anderlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08114944105936766686noreply@blogger.com0