a love letter…

19Oct09

i believe it’s about time for my yearly proclamation of unyielding love for a certain member of the cucurbitaceae family. yes, the orange food-making phase of fall 2009 has commenced. i’ve chronicled my love for pumpkins previously, so i won’t go on about it like an obsessive foodie, but just know… yum. this past weekend, after a few rounds of sinus meds, i decided that i felt well enough to make pumpkin walnut cranberry bread. maybe not the best decision i’ve ever made because, obviously, who’s going to want to share bread with you knowing it was made while the baker felt sickly? but definitely the best bread i’ve ever made. okay, it’s the only bread i’ve ever made. and quite frankly? i don’t think there’s a need to try making any other kind. i think we could live quite happily together, this bread and i.

i had to rehydrate dried cranberries in orange juice because fresh ones aren’t available yet. of course i had to drink the cran-orange juice after i removed the plumped cranberries because it would just be wasteful to pour it out. and it provided much-needed vitamin c and plenty of anti-oxidants. i think i’m going to start infusing all my orange juice with dried cranberries because it was the best glass of liquid sunshine ever.

i got to use my oft-neglected nigella mezzaluna to chop the walnuts, which made me more than a little dizzy with happiness. or it could have been the sudafed…

and my best ingredient investment ever ($0.24) made an appearance from its home in the freezer. there really is nothing like fresh nutmeg: the fragrant smell, the fine texture, the intricate wood grain appearance, the heat it produces after being grated. the best part of using a microplane? that final tap, tap, tap with the nutmeg to set free all the spice particles hiding underneath. it’s oddly satisfying.

if i had to be an advocate for any color, it would be orange.

i think the batter could have been divided into three loaves, but i only have two loaf pans, so… there’s no completion to that thought. i just have two. that’s it.

i didn’t have any turbinado sugar to sprinkle on the tops of the loaves, so i just used regular sugar. it added just enough sweet crispness to offset the tang of the cranberries, the slight smokiness of the walnuts, and mild subtlety of the pumpkin.

the result is a bread that tastes like fall smells. in other words, perfect. i just need a really cold day, some fall foliage outside my window, and a hot cup of earl grey and i will be one happy girl.

and yes, i might have gotten my anthropologie plates off the top shelf just to take a picture. and i might have debated between two before settling my own conundrum with the basic color theory knowledge that blue and orange are complementary.

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Tags: baking, cooking, pumpkins

three sneezes…

17Oct09

three consecutive sneezes is all i need to know that a cold is approximately two days away. it’s like clockwork, i tell you. three sneezes on tuesday afternoon; sick on thursday night. it never fails. though i’ve spent the last few days in a sinus-induced fog, i’ve managed to accomplish a few very important things.

such as rekindling a teen crush on pete & pete. how much did i love this show? as much as little pete loved petunia, that’s how much. i totally wanted to be pete & pete’s sister. my name would have been pernella. if i’m being truthful, i think i really just wanted red hair. i was reminded of this mid-90s nickelodeon awesomeness by listening to ciao my shining star, a tribute album of mark mulcahy’s music. how does mark mulcahy equal p&p greatness? mark mulcahy formed polaris, the house band who performs the show’s opening song, hey sandy. i spent more than a few hours yesterday becoming reacquainted with all the oddities of wellsville. as always, i’m strangely enamored with steve buscemi, who plays ellen’s father, phil hickle.

another accomplishment? writing a blog post, which is probably more amazing than artie, the world’s strongest man.

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a color…

08Oct09

quietly dreaming of an orange colored day…

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Tags: fall, orange

a good 4th with three…

09Jul09

a photo diary…

the whole reason for the trip… maybe best show ever? definitely best last song ever.

Filed under: family & friends, music, travel   |  2 Comments
Tags: austin, explosions in the sky, music, south congress

america’s independents…

04Jul09

happy 4th of july! i’m off to austin for the explosions in the sky concert. pictures to come… possibly.

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Tags: fireworks

directions are for following…

07Jun09

on my second trip to london, i was determined to find great fabric and make something that would always remind me of being there. fabric was my souvenir for that trip and i found some great patterns at cloth house on berwick street in soho and at peter jones in sloane square in chelsea. almost two years later, and i’ve just made throw pillows for my couch. nice.

wait, i take that back. i did make something with the cloth bag from cloth house. i loved the design and added it to my wall of embroidery hoop frames.

the rest of the fabric, though? not so much. one of the fabrics was this great green apple oilcloth. i’ve been keeping my eye open for good oilcloth projects and i came across one this week.

the oilcloth grocery tote from the purl bee seemed to be the perfect project as i would not have to buy a single thing to complete it. and it was a tote bag. do you know of my love for tote bags? i am helpless against their appeal, which is tremendous.

after looking through the pattern instructions, i quickly calculated that i would have enough for two bags – hoorah! as with all my fabrics from london, i only purchased one metre (british spelling just because), as i wasn’t sure what would eventually be made with it.

i set about cutting the oilcloth (with an annoying fold line!) and organizing my sewing station. i was very proud of myself at this point. that would change quickly enough…

my first cock-up was when i cut the strips for the handles 2.5″ x 15.5″ instead of 2.5″ x 18″. luckily, i had only cut two of the four handles and i still had enough to correct my mistake.

i cut the bottom of the bags using a rigged string & pencil compass, which worked pretty well. i kept thinking that there didn’t seem to be enough fabric in the main panels of the bag to cover the circumference of the bottom, but oh well, just listen to the music and keep cutting. sigh.

the rolled hems turned out very well and i did all four main panels quite quickly. this was so easy and fun! huh.

i got one bag’s main panels sewn together before i realized that my dimensions were backward. the pattern calls for 15″ h x 18″ w; i had constructed everything on the basis of 18″ h x 15″ w. big time expletives. could i salvage it and make it work? of course not, unless i wanted to undo all the rolled hems and have sideways apples. ahem. if you know me, you know sideways is not an option.

needless to say, i stopped taking pictures at this point. i went over to my other beloved apple and found a hack. i could still make the totes, but i’d have to have a different bottom. i researched other patterns before accepting that the easiest fix was to construct a traditional tote bag bottom. i ended up squaring the corners in this manner. problem solved. no cute circle bottom with french baguette sticking out, but good. and practical. and cute.

they’re a bit wrinkly from the fabric being folded for almost two years, but i think i can live with that.

now, if i can just remember to take them with me to the grocery store…

Filed under: crafts, sewing   |  2 Comments
Tags: oilcloth, reusable grocery bags, tote bags

thrifty goodness…

31May09

some new thrifty finds for you today.

i got this canister at an estate sale yesterday. the house was full of nice stuff (nice means things that were too expensive, even at 50% off). i didn’t find anything in the ladies’ part of the house (fox stole, anyone?), but found this in the husband’s study. it’s an enamelware tin and it’s a bit tacky and a bit twee, no? it was chock-a-block full of several decades’ worth of matchbooks and hard candy. price: $0.50.

i picked up these plates at the local thrift store. i love the milk-glass look and the funky orange-brown-yellow color combination of the owl-eye-esque circles. price: $0.64.

i spied this book in my library’s ongoing book sale and grabbed it, holding tight. is this not the prettiest cover? it reminds me of lovely german folklore and hannah’s beautiful clothes. i had to clean it up a bit, but it was well worth the price:$1.00.

sometime last year, i decided i wanted matryoshka doll curtains. it didn’t pan out (thankfully?), but i still have a touch of nesting doll fever. again, i spied this lovely girl at the estate sale in the husband’s study. they are authentic dolls from germany and i giddly counted out the ladies: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7…

8! Eight little dolls, with the littlest measuring no more than the tip of my pinkey. this was my big splurge of the day: $17.50.

these girls weren’t really a thrifty find. i got them in london on portobello road, but i didn’t want them to feel left out.

i plan on spending the rest of the day on a new project: a stop motion film. i’ve spent a few days trying to come up with a storyline, materials, music, etc., and still have no firm plans, but there’s nothing better than chaos for creation, right?

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Tags: estate sales, matryoshka dolls, thrifting

london :: day three

25May09

*editorial note: i started this post over a month ago, so it’s not as irrelevantly timed as it may seem.

i have to say, day three in london rocked my socks off. i have a deep love for camden, cultivated through many, many books set in north london, especially those by my favorite author, nick hornby.

love the wikipedia description: “it is well-known for its markets, liberal attitude and associations with popular culture.” indeed, it is.

i don’t know how we missed the markets the last time i was in london, but somehow they eluded us. this time, i stepped out of the tube station and straight onto the bustling high street. it seems corny, but as soon as i was there, i felt like i had found a missing part of myself. it’s the same way i felt when i went to liverpool. this makes me wonder how many parts of myself are unaccounted for.

camden high street is chock-a-block full of shops of all kinds: music, piercing, tattoos, clothes, shoes, furniture, and, of course, souvenirs.

the street fashion was crazy, which was amusing and, at the same time, made me feel middle-aged in my jeans, converse, and black t-shirt. the converse were pink, though.

um, the food was outrageous. in one of the markets, it was international delight with moroccan, chinese, thai, indian, italian, mexican, greek, and on and on and on food stalls. i had a huge chinese takeaway for under 3 quid.

i headed down to the lock after lunch and watched the boats from the bridge.

just past camden lock and around the corner was my dream street.

hello, loverly domiciles. i want to live on this street. the purple house will do just fine, thank you.

i headed over to covent garden for the afternoon in search of some quirky pint glasses, but to no avail. there were some pretty impressive street performers, though, including the living statues that lined the path to the market.

one of the best parts of covent garden is the london transport museum. there’s no need to go into great detail on my love for the underground, but just know that it’s deep and it’s real. i spent the better part of the afternoon wandering around the aisles of the gift shop, delighting in all the nerdy underground goodness.

i went to the punch & judy pub for a pint and after three sips of london pride, i was buzzed. let’s just say it was a happy afternoon after that.

i ended the afternoon at another of my favorite london spots: trafalgar square. i love just sitting on the steps to the national portrait gallery and watching people.

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Tags: camden, camden market, covent garden, london, trafalgar square, travel

doing the iPod shuffle…

19May09

so, i totally stole this from facebook, to which i am now totally addicted, there’s no way to deny it. i’m turning my iTunes to shuffle (technically, it is almost always on shuffle. my friend gives me a hard time about not listening to albums all the way through, but that’s how i prefer my music – random) and i’m listing the first 25 songs and i promise not to skip the embarrassing ones. in fact, they will be denoted with an asterisk (*) for your gloating pleasure.

format: number. song – artist – album

1. re: stacks – bon iver – for emma, forever ago

2. burn your life down (live) – tegan & sara – live session (iTunes exclusive) ep

3. casimir pulaski day – sufjan stevens – come on feel the illinoise!

4. here comes santa claus – trey johnson – homemade christmas compilation

5. electric feel – mgmt – oracular spectacular

6. can song – sonic youth – goo

7. field day jitters – tripping daisy – jesus hits like an atom bomb

8. play for today – the cure – staring at the sea: the singles 1979-1985

9. fight test – the flaming lips – yoshimi battles the pink robots

10. on the flip of a coin – the streets – everything is borrowed

11. like spinning plates – radiohead – amnesiac

12. *blueberry pie – bette midler – for our children

13. nice ‘n’ easy – frank sinatra – gold frank sinatra

14. pet sounds – the beach boys – pet sounds

15. that was the worst christmas ever! – sufjan stevens – sufjan stevens: songs for christmas

16. back in your head – tegan & sara – the con

17. when you sleep – cake – prolonging the magic

18. it’s almost a trap – architecture in helsinki – fingers crossed

19. *the trouble with love is – kelly clarkson – love actually soundtrack

20. swedes in stockholm – tokyo police club – your english is good/swedes in stockholm – single

21. yuko and hiro – blur – the great escape

22. still remains – stone temple pilots – purple

23. leash – pearl jam – vs.

24. right by conquest – the fiery furnaces – widow city

25. raincoat song – the decemberists – always the bridesmaid: vol. 3

overall, not too bad. i cringed each time a new song came on fearing i would have to divulge a guilty pleasure.

oh, go on, i’ll give you one for free: sara by starship. i honestly don’t even know how i got this, but i don’t always skip to the next song when it comes on…

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Tags: itunes, music

elle aime

18May09

have you ever wanted to live somewhere else? not just in another city or country, but in a different time, a different world? and not just live, but live (i could so easily spin off on a linguistic tanget here).

lately, i find myself wanting to live and live in a world directed by jean-pierre jeunet. i would seriously entrust him with the characterization, plot, mood, set, and script of my life. i love his artistic eye and the wit, joy, sorrow, beauty, and life his films portray.

i especially love this short film, where dominique pinon’s character simply states what he knows about himself: what he likes. what he doesn’t like.

if my life were narrated in french, what would j’aime? when people ask me what i like, i always uh, um my way through a less-than-eloquent reply. i should know these things without hesitation.

i want to cultivate a pleasure for the small things in life and i don’t think you can take pleasure in simple things unless you can recognize what makes you heart flutter a bit. so i’ve decided to start a small journal of these things as i come across them. things i know about myself. things that i like.

the things can be simple or profound, i’m not picky. i just want to keep a record of myself for myself. and maybe for someone else. i would love to look at my family & friends’ lists and see what makes them happy. the little oddities in life that make them smile.

so, elle aime. she likes. we’ll see.

Filed under: movies, personal development   |  3 Comments
Tags: jean-pierre jeunet