Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for February, 2010

Eating, writing and ‘rithmatic

Posted in Food Links, tagged , , , , , , on February 28, 2010| 4 Comments »

So today was a baking sort of day.  I’ve found myself at a bit of an impasse with my sewing project as I battle back and forth with the pressing debate of to buy a serger or not to buy a serger?  How badly do I want to avoid having to do french seams on this whole project? And so I bake.  It’s as good a way as any to work through a dilemma.

Breakfast was blueberry scones.  YUM.  There’s an entire stick of butter in there, so it really can’t help but taste good.

Moving into the afternoon, it was time for some good old fashioned bread out of the bread machine.

I’d been experimenting with modifications to a simple white bread recipe, and this final version has become my standard go-to bread for the machine.  I can be down to next to nothing for groceries in the house and always have the ingredients on hand; and when there’s not much food in the house, there is certainly nothing better than good bread!  Here’s the recipe:

Jo's Yogurt Bread

Jo’s Yogurt Bread

  • 3 T. melted butter
  • 3/4 c. water
  • 6 oz. plain, non-fat greek yogurt (I use a single container of Chobani)
  • 3 c. all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 c. wheat flour
  • 1 T. sugar
  • 1 t. salt
  • 1 package ready-rise yeast (2 1/4 t.)

Put all ingredients except for the yeast into the bread pan in the order listed.  Make a well in the dry ingredients (about 1″ deep) and pour in the yeast.  Cook on basic bread cycle setting for 1.5 lb. loaf.  Be sure to eat the heel while still warm!

After bread was done, it was time for a dinner of garlic chicken sausage in white wine with orzo and diced tomatoes:

Next time I think I will nix the tomatoes, add basil and more parmesan, and finish with butter instead of oil.

While I’m on the subject of food, I should take a minute to brag about the wonderful meal I had last night at Garden at the Cellar.  I started off drinking “The Crule,” which I will have to assume is French for “Ginger Cosmo,” as it was simply vodka, cranberry juice and ginger beer.  Excellent combination, which I will definitely try to recreate here at home. With five of us there to celebrate my sister’s birthday, we got to taste a lot of different little plates including:  Chicken & Thyme Croquettes with Smoked Pepper Aioli, Glazed Short Ribs with Quinoa, Grilled Brussels Sprouts & Parsley Salad, Bacon-wrapped Dates with Goat Cheese and Curried Apple Hash, a handmade Chorizo “plate of the day,” and finally, a Duck & Fig Flatbread with Goat Cheese, Scallions & Arugula.  It was hands down all as good as it sounds.

Dessert brought us to Cafe Pamplona for cappuccinos, chocolate mousse, and a few rounds of word games.  I think my sister should have birthdays more frequently.

So there’s the writing.  As for the ‘rithmatic?  I think it’s time to go balance my checkbook.

Read Full Post »

Minor setback

Posted in Crafts, Sewing, tagged on February 22, 2010| 3 Comments »

So, this weekend’s crafting adventures would have gone much more smoothly if I had had this:

Pattern pieces have been cut.  More to come…

Read Full Post »

Project #1!

Posted in Crafts, Sewing, tagged , , , , on February 20, 2010| 5 Comments »

I am craving spring.  What else could explain why project #1 is a bright green, short sleeve shirt made out of cotton voile?

The pattern is “Prairie Girl” by Favorite Things, and the fabric is from Anna Maria Horner’s “Little Folks” line of fabric (see link at right under People; she is one of my absolute favorite fabric designers)

Prairie Girl Pattern by Favorite Things

I’ll be making the shirt on the left, although depending on how that comes out, I can certainly see myself continuing on to do a dress or two.  Needless to say, based on my last post, I will NOT be making the optional “dickie.”

And here’s the fabric:

Little Folks cotton voile in Meadow, by Anna Maria Horner for Free Spirit Fabrics

Yes, that’s my cat, Zoe.  Expect frequent cameos by Zoe in this blog.  I can’t help myself; it’s genetic.  (A side story:  for my one year anniversary of quitting smoking, I bought myself a lovely silver Victorian locket.  People who know me well asked, “Are you going to put a picture of Nate in it?”  People who know me even better asked, “Are you going to put a picture of Zoe in it?”  Sorry dear, the cat wins.)

Work in progress photos to follow…

Read Full Post »

Carefully Edited Slices of Life

Posted in Musings, tagged , , on February 16, 2010| 13 Comments »

As with most things, the idea for this blog came about as part of a larger journey. My thinking at this point in time has been profoundly influenced by my recent explorations, and in particular by a stress management class I took last summer at the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine.  One of the basic concepts behind mind-body medicine and cognitive-behavioral psychology is that your perception has an enormous impact on your mood, your relationships, and the body itself.  Changing that perception, of course, is easier said than done.  This blog is about not only changing perceptions, but creating them.

But it started earlier than that.  There’s more to it than that.  I think it may have started back in the early ’80s when I first picked up our clunky beige rotary phone and called my grandmother for the recipe for Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies.  Or maybe it was with the crooked scarf I cobbled together with great love over an eight-year period for my best friend.  (A prolific crafter, I am not).  Or, more likely, it started before I was even born, when my great-grandmother and Marion, her cousin and best friend, first began taking crewel classes from Betty Sweet in Jaffrey, NH.  Whatever the genesis, my love for all things creative — sewing, needlepoint, singing, playing guitar, writing music, baking, cooking, and of course eating — is an integral part of who I am, passed down through the generations of my family.  (Don’t think eating can be creative?  I beg to differ…)

Fast forward to this past weekend when a dear friend and I took a jaunt up the Maine seacoast to Alewives Fabrics, a small store in Damariscotta Mills.  Both of us being of the crafty ilk, we know our way around a fabric store…and a credit card.  Several hours later, we left, high on good intentions, bundles of joy tucked under our arms.  For those who don’t know me, you will quickly learn that any time I refer to a “bundle of joy,” chances are that I am talking about a passel of fabric or a warm dish out of the oven, and not a small child.  While we couldn’t put a finger on why or how, we were sure that somehow these packages would help move us one step closer towards living the lives we’d always dreamed of.

We spent the next day cozied up in a bookstore surrounded by piles of craft books and warm mugs of chocolately coffee, happily sifting through potential projects and occasionally exchanging eye rolls as we ran across items involving use of the unfortunate word “cozy” (as in “tape-measure cozy”) or worse, “dickey.”  For the most part, though, we were taken as always by the beautiful styling of the books, filled with photos of big farmsteads and little bundles of joy, of the tactile, edible and human variety.  “Why not us?” we asked.

Why NOT us?  If perception is everything, then perhaps all I need to obtain an idyllic life is a new perspective.  I dream of being able to dedicate myself full time to creative endeavors, to live in a rural area in my old farmhouse.  You know, the one with the barn converted into a studio.  Maybe some livestock will be on hand, which my doting husband will take full responsibility for, and I will simply visit them to deliver a good long scratch on the head and a couple carrots to munch on.  Money will be no problem, and I will never feel stressed, or worry about deadlines, or bills, or health…

But that’s just fantasy, right?  I think the answer is yes and no.  Those beautiful craft books weren’t created in a day, or by a single superhuman — one look through the acknowledgements should clear up that misperception.  And yet there’s a multi-million dollar industry that launches superstars who perpetuate the belief that we should be able to do it all, all by ourselves, all at the same time.  But this is all image, and it takes an enormous team of people to create that image.

So why do we buy the fantasy?  For me, the pull towards the domestic arts is about a deeper, instinctual urge to surround myself with things that are wholesome and good, that were crafted with care and attention to detail.  I believe that the proliferation of craft books and magazines, blogs and online shops, workshops and retreats all reflect this common urge; that ultimately, we are yearning for lives that are wholesome and good — lives that are crafted with care and loving attention to detail.

I’m tired of waiting for the fantasy.  How much of my dream can I find in the here and now?  With this blog, my camera, and a bag of good intentions, I hope to find out.  My lofty goal here, then, is to show the power of perception, and how the careful editing of our lives, our actions, and our memories can bring the fantasy to life.  I will edit my life through a positive lens and shift my focus to all the beauty in my world, and the beauty I can bring to it.  My not-so-lofty goal is to push myself to continue to produce art, crafts, and food so that I have something to share here on my blog.  The happiest outcome I can imagine would be to show you that a picture-book life is not so out of reach after all.

Read Full Post »