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SoWa Market

July 29, 2010 by Joanna LeRoy

Another thing I love about summer in Boston is the Sunday craft market in the South End, known as the SoWa Open Market. Now, if you’re in it for the antiques, don’t expect any bargains. If you’re in it for the food vendors and farmstands, I’m partial to the Copley Sq. Farmer’s Market on the weekdays, myself. Art and crafts? This is THE place to be. Seriously, there is so much to look at, such wonderful quality craftsmanship, wide variety of vendors… Just thinking about it makes me a little sad that I’m not going again this weekend, but I’ve got bigger fish to fry — namely the Newport Folk Festival! But more on that later.

One of the great parts about SoWa Market is that the vendors change week to week, so you can go repeatedly and still see something new each time. There’s usually some real eclectic things there. For example, you might see something like this:

Vintage Clothes Seller

Trailer Detail

A few stands over from the trailer was Josephine Plaszewski, a woman selling amazing lamps made from antique silver teapots and platters. I’m still kicking myself for not getting a photo, but you can check out her website. A few booths over was a man from NYC selling gorgeous terrariums and other plant art.

Prefer more traditional craft show wares? There’s plenty of hand-sewn goods, like this gorgeous pillow from Red Staggerwing Designs:

Look at that amazing running dog stitching in the grey parts!

Pillow back: That's a STITCHED design, not a print!

There was also a friendly woman from NH selling beautiful kids’ clothes made with all my favorite designer fabrics under the name little girl Pearl. I had a nice chat with the woman from Venezie Designs, who sells fabric, scrap packs and patterns. Apparently, she started off as a crafter until she realized she enjoyed buying fabric more than using it, and started her online fabric store. Hmmmm… Food for thought.

For all the hipsters out there, several vendors sell quirky silkscreened tees, ironic buttons, and wallets made out of mens ties and the like. For example, who knew until SoWa that I could get my boyfriend a t-shirt of a giant ape riding an ostrich? And more to the point, why would I? Because clearly he needed it.

Onward!

Or take a look at this lovely, which, yes, did come home with me — a wonderful artist’s representation of the old feminist slogan “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle” on a women’s grey v-neck tee. (both t-shirts from www.sharpshirter.com)

Bicycle close-up

And then there’s the straight up visual artists. I was happy to see a couple of encaustic artists, which I think is one of the coolest looking art forms. I’ve been looking for local classes for a while, and was thrilled to find that one of the artists there is actually starting up classes in Boston under Fiddlehead Arts! I was also happy to see Bumble Belly Designs at SoWa again this year (I found some great Christmas presents from her booth last year), and picked up a couple of small cards to frame. Aren’t they adorable? I love the maps in the background.

Cards by Bumble Belly Designs

I also picked up this great print from SepiaLepus, who, I just found out, lives in the same town as I do. I couldn’t resist the magnets as well, which are happily co-habitating on my fridge at the moment:

Print and magnets

Want more? Check out the websites of several SoWa vendors:

*bought an awesome wooden spatula from here – my new favorite tool!

**bought the most stunning pottery from them last year: a shallow bowl with a gorgeous dappled purple/pink glaze that looks like the belly of a rainbow trout

***i am DYING for one of her envelope rings. WHY must they be so pricey, WHY?

Wait. Did someone say “Newport Folk Festival”? Oh right. I did. I’m off to Newport! John Prine! Doc Watson! Richie Havens! The real treat for me, though, is one of the very first performers of the day — a young (19 years old?) gal from Texas named Sarah Jarosz. I read an article about her in the Boston Globe last summer, as she had just moved to Boston to attend New England Conservatory. It piqued my interest, so I looked her up, and the rest is history. New favorite artist for the year. She is truly amazing — period. Not just “for her age”. Amazing. If you like banjos and mandolins and guitars, Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch, you should check Sarah out. See you after Newport!

Posted in Crafts, Music | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments »

A full plate

July 26, 2010 by Joanna LeRoy

The farmer’s market is in full swing, as evidenced by my increasingly weighty weekly farm share. I’ve been up to my ears in corn, trying to get out of the weeds with all my greens, eating blueberries `til I’m…blue on the face…  OK, I’ll stop. I’ve been loving it.

Without any further ado, some pictures and recipes from the first half of the season:

Adolescent Carrots

Look at that gorgeous juicy red!

Bountiful Basil

And last but not least, behold, the terrifying STRAWBERRIES GONE BAD (aka The ‘Roided Ruby):

Strawberries on Steroids

One of the joys of the farmer’s market for me this year has been trying out fresh cheeses as well. A special favorite has been fresh ricotta, which has been making appearances in several places. The first time I brought some home, I was feeling a little cheeky in the kitchen and put together the following dish of strawberries, ricotta, basil, sea salt, pepper and a store-bought balsamic glaze called “Blaze.” I should mention that I LOVE this stuff and use it all the time. Highly recommended. Unfortunately for me, the dish itself was prettier than it tasted.

Fresh, fresh, fresh!

Then, of course, you can’t have fresh basil and ricotta in the house without making pizza!

Ricotta-basil pizza

I make the dough in my bread machine, then do a miserably amateur job of tossing, stretching and hanging the dough before ultimately beating it into a large jelly roll pan (more like a focaccia). Cover with sauce, shredded mozzarella, fresh ricotta, basil (I do a chiffonade), and a Spanish cured black olive to top off each mound of ricotta.

This pizza was amazing, albeit primarily because I finally nailed my crust recipe. It came out with just the right balance of crunchy/chewy golden perfection. Let’s hope I can repeat the experience. Like to try yourself? Here you go:

Pizza Dough

  • 1 1/2 c warm water
  • 2 T olive oil
  • 2 t salt
  • 4 1/4 c all-purpose flour
  • 2 t sugar
  • 2 t yeast

Add to bread machine in order listed, making a well in dry ingredients to pour in the yeast; run dough cycle.  Make pizza in large (18×24) jelly roll pan, and cook for 20 minutes at 425.

Posted in Food Links | Tagged , | 6 Comments »

Site update

July 25, 2010 by Joanna LeRoy

Just a quick note to let you know about a couple of new pages I added to my blog. Check them out! They’re right up there at the top!

These will be updated on an ongoing basis. I have a love of lists and organization, proving that I really wasn’t adopted or a moon-baby (as my sister used to like to tell me), but rather am a true, bona fide Farina/LeRoy. “To Read” is in the works. I thought about adding a “To Buy” page, but really, that’s just too dangerous, methinks. So I’m going to pass on that one. For now.

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Summer time thieves #2

July 18, 2010 by Joanna LeRoy

As promised, part two of “Where has the summer gone?”:  the always fun (and dangerous) fabric shopping. Now, I should preface all this by saying that I truly do not NEED any more fabric. I have plenty. P-L-E-N-T-Y. But, there’s been what I like to call extenuating circumstances.

Extenuating circumstance #1: a trip to NYC!

I don’t think I have words to say what a fabulous time I had. Dear old friends from childhood, friends from college, new friends, and of course the best boyfriend in the world, not to mention more booze than you can shake a stick at. Plus some amazing food as well, of course, but more on that (with photos) in a later post.

Work’s been extremely busy, so we ended up rolling into Penn Station around 10:30 Friday night without a plan for the weekend, other than one: I would finally get to visit what I imagined to be the mecca of all fabric lovers, Purl Soho. The pilgrimage took place the next day in the midst of a sweltering New York afternoon. After filling our bellies in the Lower East Side, we took a long, lazy walk over to Purl Soho, where my non-sewing friends kindly browsed the store with me for a few minutes before excusing themselves to congregate at a bar around the corner to watch the US get knocked out of the World Cup.

I was left in peace. Too overcome by the bolts of fabric surrounding me to notice the coolness of the air conditioner, I made my way through the store in a trance-like state: eyes darting, fingers touching. One lap around the store, then two, slowly converging on my prey. My credit card said no, but my fingers felt the soft drape of the Liberty cotton lawn — begging to become a beautiful summer shirt to accompany me through the rest of these hot summer days — and my heart said yes. I would do it. The fabric would be mine.

Now, I of course don’t have a *pattern* yet, but…details, details. Part of me thinks I’ll just do a simple tank top, using the pink for straps and edging; the other part thinks I should hold out for something a bit more substantial, with flirty cap sleeves, and the pink used for a waistband insert.

What I loved about Purl Soho was the simplicity. It was smaller than I expected (as were most of the places I visited in New York–I underestimate the limited real estate there), but it was absolutely a store of quality over quantity. (I feel compelled to add that they’ve recently redone their online store as well, and the quantity matches quality there. Yowsa.) The store has a stunning layout, and is a true feast for the eyes. I also picked up a couple of packs of high-quality wool felt in an assortment of colors, plus some shot cotton solids and a couple of beautiful prints to make handbags that have been designing themselves in my head:

I took a deep breath, hid the receipt in the far reaches of my bag, never to be looked at again, and rejoined my friends at the Broome St. Bar for a couple of good English pints. Ahhh. What an afternoon.

Extenuating circumstance #2:  fabric.com sale

I believe I’ve mentioned previously that my favorite fabric designer is Anna Maria Horner. She creates gorgeous fabrics in bright bold colors and modern designs that I just adore. SO, of course when I read on the Brown Paper Packages blog that fabric.com was having a major sale that included some of Anna’s fabrics, well… Justification is such an ugly word, so let’s say that I took advantage of an excellent opportunity:

Cool colors

Warm colors

And finally, for good measure, I’d like to introduce you to Owlie, who just felt the need to pop in and play with the fabrics along with me. I made him over the winter from a kit I purchased from Fancy Tiger. I had intentions of eventually posting some sort of step-by-step post on how I made him, but he just didn’t want to wait any longer for an introduction. Hello, Owlie.

And last but not least, a collection of fabrics for a pair of new pillowcases:

Oh. I’m sorry. When I said “last but not least,” did that sound like that was the end of my fabric shopping adventures? Oh, no, my friends. Oh no.

Extenuating circumstance #3: link to new fabric store + coupon + glass of wine = forgetful spending

So I finally banned myself from buying any more fabric once I discovered that I forgot that I had placed a particular order of fabric. Bad, bad, bad. But did I mention cute, cute, cute? Check out these lovely Japanese fabrics from Crybaby’s Boutique:

Too cute!

And there we have it (OK, well not completely, I actually got a couple of not-pictured knits while I was at it). Phew. Now that I’m officially banned from buying more fabric, perhaps I’ll get some sewing done? Or are there MORE summer time thieves lurking around the corner? Perhaps something to do with my ultimate distraction? We ARE in the middle of farm share season after all… Once again, to be continued…

Posted in Musings, Sewing | Tagged | Leave a Comment »

Summer time thieves

July 17, 2010 by Joanna LeRoy

Has it been a month already? Really? How did that happen? I’m going to chalk it up to “Time flies when you’re having fun” and leave it at that. It’s a much nicer way of looking at it compared to other alternatives.

So what have I been doing? I can’t say that I have lots of fun completed crafts to show you, or even lots of delicious food pics. (I could potentially show pics of my slowly expanding stomach, but I’ll spare you). So instead, let’s take an honest look at what I’ve actually done with the past month of my life, starting with time thief number one…

Reading: Lots and lots of reading. No wonderful novels, or even summer fluff novels (which I generally can’t stand anyway), but BLOGS. Wow, is it obsessive once you get into it. I finally settled on using Google reader to follow all of my blogs, and am now up to a count of 58 blogs that I follow daily (need to update my sidebar one of these days). I’ve got a great little app on my Droid that lets me follow my reader there, so I generally catch up on my reading during the 2 hours I spend commuting each weekday. And there’s still computer time required to keep up to date on reading, leave comments, bookmark projects I’d like to try, fabrics to buy (more on that later), giveaways to enter…and so it goes.

Then there’s the magazines: Bon Appetit, Cooking Light, Cook’s Illustrated, Saveur, Food & Wine, National Geographic, Fitness, ReadyMade, & Smithsonian. Recipes I want to try get dog-eared as I read through (see 2 hour commute comment), then the index pages get pulled out, marked up, and filed in my recipe index binder, and the magazine gets filed. My current backlog is about 1.5 feet high.

And finally, there’s the craft books. Interweave had a “hurt book” sale last month, with unreal prices on slightly damaged books (must say, I didn’t notice a thing wrong with them when they arrived), so these three lovelies got added to my collection:

I Love Patchwork! 21 Irresistible Zakka Projects to Sew by Rashida Coleman-Hale

Customizing Cool Clothes: From Dull to Divine in 30 Projects by Kate Haxell

Printmaking + Mixed Media: Simple Techniques and Projects for Paper and Fabric by Dorit Elisha

I’ve also discovered that the Boston Public Library has quite the selection of craft books, and am currently making my way through the following list:

So far, Pretty Little Presents is on my “to buy” list, Super Crafty is already back at the library, and The Handmade Marketplace is being toted around in my bag like a good luck charm.

Throw in the daily e-mail and Facebook checks, and well, it all adds up to more reading than I realized. And that’s just the beginning of things I find to waste time with! Come back tomorrow for the next time stealer of the summer: Shopping for fabric. Beautiful pics included for free! How kind of me.

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Zoe vs. Cow

June 13, 2010 by Joanna LeRoy

I’ve been doing my city-girl best to get my country on as of late, and I do declare, I’m doing a good job. I’ll be sharing some more fun market finds with you later this week (there is a Celtics game to watch tonight, after all!), but I couldn’t wait any longer to share some photos from last weekend when my boyfriend and I headed up to Brattleboro, VT for the annual Strolling of the Heifers event. The long and short of the event is that they walk ~80 cows (and goats and horses and sheep and oxen and people) right down Main Street. How could I not go? (How could ANYONE not go, really?) Check it out:

"BrattleBURRO kicks ASS" Love it -- Ha!

"Annie"

I want to steal the flowers for a front door wreath!

At the PETTING PEN post-parade.

Unfortunately, our grander plans to continue up further North after the parade were cut short by the TORNADOES that decided to hit Vermont that weekend. Since when does Vermont get tornadoes? Anyway, we decided it would be in our best interest to head back to Boston post haste after the parade, and so we did.

While I may not have livestock at my little urban homestead, I sure do have an affectionate kitty waiting for me whenever I open the door. And no tornadoes.

And the verdict? Zoe wins, hands down. Once again.

Posted in Events | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment »

I scream, you scream…

June 8, 2010 by Joanna LeRoy

…for the BEST ice cream EVER! OK, well it’s frozen yogurt. But really, it’s THAT GOOD. And the best part? You can make it yourself! Borders be damned, this treat knows no geographic boundries.

Without further ado, the recipe (and then on to photos, because that’s why you’re here really, isn’t it?):  Lemon-Blueberry Frozen Yogurt

A word of advice, having made this recipe several times now:  listen to Jeni when she says “I never make frozen yogurt as a low-fat replacement for ice cream.” It’s still very good if you don’t use whole-milk yogurt as the recipe calls for, but crosses the line from very good to speechlessly good once you up the milk fat content in the recipe. This last go round I had to use non-fat yogurt simply because my grocery store wasn’t carrying any full-fat plain yogurt. I blame this on America’s diet-culture fueled fear of fat, but I’ll spare you the rant. Just go full fat and serve yourself a spoonful or two less, ‘kay? You’ll thank me.

Lemon frozen yogurt fresh from the machine

Cooled blueberry sauce

Layering the sauce and yogurt

Cover and freeze an additional 4 hours (or as long as you can stand waiting)

I like to serve in Irish coffee mugs with a long spoon!

Yummy goodness

Posted in Food Links | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments »

Leftovers, as promised

June 2, 2010 by Joanna LeRoy

Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention as — abracadabra! — yesterday’s leftovers turn into today’s grilled slices of ciabatta, warm mushrooms, and shaved Ombra cheese right before your eyes!:

Fantastic! (My kingdom to not have killed my parsley plant five times over already, but that’s another story…) Even without the parsley, the leftovers were better than the first go round. The Ombra cheese was a much better pairing, although it probably doesn’t hurt that Ombra is just about my favorite cheese ever.

This past weekend, I found myself down at my favorite Boston specialty shop, Formaggio Kitchen. Last time I was there, they were out of Ombra, so I instead went home with a well-aged Gouda (with the delicious little crystallized bits — swoon!). As stunning as that was, I was nonetheless super excited to see the Ombra back in stock this visit, so I was sure to snatch up a wedge along with some other goodies:

Two of these are also old favorites of mine:  In the middle, there’s Formaggio’s homemade crostini made from day old Iggy’s bread. The cranberry walnut bread makes an amazing crostini when rubbed with olive oil and herbs! To the right are the “Chocolate Salty Oats” cookies from Kayak Cookies. Huge, thick chocolate cookies loaded with oats and the occasional chocolate chunk, topped off with sea salt. Outstanding.

I first discovered Kayak Cookies at the Food & Wine festival at Foxwoods in 2008. I mention this only as an excuse to write about the Pain D’Avignon booth that included the cookies in their display. For my Cape Cod relatives — please go visit Pain D’Avignon on my behalf!!! Let me see if I can scrounge up a photo so you can see exactly why I’m pretty much convinced that this bakery is the mecca of bread.

Getting back to my recent trip to Formaggio, however, let’s just admit that both the crostini and cookies are long gone, and move on. The last item in there is a French salted caramel. Haven’t quite figured out what I want to do with that yet, but I’m thinking that may warrant some homemade French vanilla ice cream.  Yes, yes…ideas are brewing now…  Hmmmmmm.

to be continued…

Posted in Food Links | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment »

Lunch at the farmer’s market

June 1, 2010 by Joanna LeRoy

I’ve set a fun challenge for myself: for the entire run of the 2010 Copley Square Farmer’s Market, I’m going to eat lunch exclusively from the market (twice a week on market days). I should probably not refer to this as a “challenge,” as it’s actually the highlight of my week, but this way I can get a sense of accomplishment along with the enjoyment.

It’s not entirely a hedonistic experiment, though:  I do believe in the whole “eat your view” and “vote with your dollar” mentality. So in support of my local farmers and in encouragement for them to keep up the good work, look what I got to eat for lunch today!

It’s one of those meals that’s almost too perfectly simple, just the way I like it. The sandwich, from the Iggy’s stand:  Fresh bread, slabs of Niman Ranch ham, thick slices of cheddar, and butter. Mmmm. I think this may become a once a week tradition.

The other treat you’re looking at (which, much to my chagrin, will NOT be a weekly tradition…) is a slice of wild berries & cream tart from the Danish Pastry House stand. One of these days perhaps I’ll grow that proverbial hollow leg. Until then, this will be a “sometimes” food as they like to say. Today was as good a “sometimes” as any, I believe.

To round out my urban farm experience, all I need to do is direct my browser to www.hencam.com, and kick up my feet while I eat. Seriously, please click on the link — it’s awesome. I’ll wait. Be sure to check out the Goat Cam too.

Don’t you love it? Getting back to the market, though: I picked up a couple things for the house while I was at it, meaning dinner was just as good as lunch!  Check it out:

Ciabbata Bread from Iggy's

Beautiful Lupine from Stillman's

Bread, Shiitakes, Mediterranean Marinated Goat Cheese, and Spring Mix

Saute the shiitakes with butter, thyme, salt and pepper...

...pop open the goat cheese, slather on the ciabatta...

...and assemble sandwich.

Enjoy!

Very, very good. The goat cheese is the “Mediterranean Marinade” from Crystal Brook Farms. A fantastic cheese, but I think next time I’ll go for something more along the lines of a sharp cheddar or a parmesan for this particular sandwich. The goat cheese doesn’t need anything more than a cracker to be properly enjoyed.

Come back tomorrow for leftovers!

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Finally…a craft

May 31, 2010 by Joanna LeRoy

Truthfully, this project has taken much longer than it should have. Technically speaking, it started back in the fall of 2008 when I went out to Detroit to visit Haberman’s Fabrics. No wait, I meant visit my mom & step-dad… Visiting parents aside, there’s a couple of things I always look forward to when out in Detroit: Haberman’s, a visit to Pewabic Pottery, and — a new addition to the list after my last visit — Motor City Brewing Company. (I know this is supposed to be a crafting post, but let me digress for one second here and say: Nut Brown Ale brewed in-house served with a roasted pear, fig, and gorgonzola pizza??? HEAVEN! Now no more about food…)

That particular Thanksgiving visit in 2008 was my first visit to Haberman’s. What a visit! My mom and I were in there for hours, and, amazingly enough, SHE was the one who had to drag ME out of there (another first, to be sure). I left with a beautiful selection of fabrics, including those slated for the apron project I’m sharing with you today.

The apron pattern is from the book A is for Apron. Fantastic book — I highly recommend it, and have several more patterns I’d like to take a stab at. I finally started working on the apron this past January, and then it sat on my ironing board for a good 2-3 months once I put together the patchwork strips, because I just wasn’t convinced about the fabric selection. I just felt like it was a little too…precious. What do you think?

Check out the duck lace!

Towel tab

Back side: muslin lining

Pocket detail

Posted in Crafts, Sewing | Tagged , , | 4 Comments »

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