sugar stiches

Happy Birthday Peeper!

2012-02-09T07:18:00.000-06:00

Tana, I will always view you as my sister and as a best friend. I am so lucky to have been able to grow up and share so much with you. I love you so much! Happy Birthday! xoxox

girl vs. boy dinner

2012-02-08T09:01:00.000-06:00

I haven't made anything lately. I wanted to bake something the last couple days, but a load of work paperwork that's due and frequent trips to take care of friends' dogs have filled most of my time. Yesterday Eric and I walked to WF to eat dinner and I thought it was funny that we both went separately through the store and came back with almost identical meals in a girl version and a boy version. Eric got a creamy oyster chowder and I got a kale white bean soup. He picked out a fresh white ciabatta roll and mine was multigrain.

Hope your week is going well! I'm enjoying eating again, although my stupid rash has appeared on my face again. Sigh. Back to the doctor.

Happy Friday!

2012-02-03T09:36:00.000-06:00

Um, this is a GREAT Friday because this means tomorrow I will be eating food again! Wooo!

Today marks Day#5 of my juice cleanse. Most was smooth sailing, but I had a terrible headache, fever, and nausea on Day#3. It started mid-day and went through the evening. I went to sleep at 7:30pm and woke up feeling normal the next day though.

I miss eating! I don't know how people do this for an entire month. crazy. I can't wait to cook and eat with Eric again. He may be eating some strange raw meals with me this weekend though.

P.S. My rash has been rapidly fading this week! It started a month ago and was showing little to no improvement prior to juicing.

Juicing Day #3

2012-02-01T08:13:00.000-06:00

Juicing is going well. This morning my breakfast was blueberry, meyer lemon, and apple juice. Yum. Lunch will be tomato, cucumber, broccoli, kale, spinach, lemon, carrot, apple, cilantro and spirulina. Not the most delicious, but not too bad either. I had to go to Whole Foods to get some juicing ingredients and that was torture watching everyone eating. The worst was going to the bank and walking by pizza places.

I think Friday will be my last day juicing. This is so expensive and I miss cooking and eating with Eric.

Juicing

2012-01-31T08:47:00.001-06:00

I'm attempting to juice (only) this whole week. I made it through Day 1! Woot! I feel great. I've thought about juicing before, and anyone who watches the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead will want to do a juice fast. My motivation has come from this strange rash on my body right now. It could be a nutritional deficiency, an allergic reaction, or an overabundance of candida in my body. In any case, I quit using any products with sulfates in them and the juicing will help clear out toxins.

If you don't know much about juicing, it's fascinating to read about. Drinking fresh juices that are loaded with nutrients and enzymes, without fiber to slow digestion, gives your body a chance to divert lots of energy from digestion to cleansing.

You can read lots more about this stuff online. So far, I really do feel great. I did get pretty hungry at 4pm and at night yesterday, but it's totally manageable and I still had mental clarity. It's much different than being starving and irritable; you feel stable (and trust me, I can't do any work when I'm hungry.) I drank a ton of juice yesterday. I made kale-beet-apple-carrot-spinach-ginger, grapefruit, and some other green concoctions. I did put garlic in one of the last juices I made yesterday. It tasted fine, but burping the flavor up later is gross. Ew.

Although drinking any pre-made juice isn't recommended for the fast, having some OJ around gave me a nice break from having to juice so many things all day. In the morning I did a big batch so I could take juice to work. If you have to do this, I read that you should crush a vitamin C tablet and mix it in to help the juice from oxidizing. You really want to drink the juices immediately after juicing for the health benefits, but we all have to go to work..

Note: If you're interested in doing a juice cleanse, make sure you read all about it. There is a component that you must do during the process that clears your toxins...I won't talk about it here, but it's completely necessary.

(Legally) Drinking in the Street

2012-01-29T14:22:00.003-06:00

One day on a walk Eric and I stopped at a little liquor store to buy a can of beer to take home. The cashier asked Eric if he wanted a paper bag and Eric answered yes because we were walking home with it. The cashier asked which way we were headed and we were surprised to find out that it's legal to have an open container in the area of Austin we were in! What?! It's actually legal to have an open container in many areas of Austin, excluding the springs and areas downtown where the bars are. Our walk home is totally in the legal zone! We opened the can and walked openly with it home that day.

Last weekend we walked to Whole Foods and got a beer and a glass of champagne "to-go" and walked home. When you get a beer on tap at WF, they actually ask you "for here or for walking?" (I think they are referring to just walking around the store.)

Now if we go out, we take a beer with us to the bus stop for the wait! (I think we did this once before we knew it was legal..really funny now thinking we were being shady.)

Refried Black Beans

2012-01-24T08:15:00.001-06:00

(Oops, forgot to mention: Keep the liquid from the black beans - that goes in with the black beans.)

Austinite's love for breakfast tacos is ridiculous. You can find breakfast tacos at most coffee shops, gas stations, and of course the taco shops and the real deal Mexican spots. I'm in love with any bfast taco that comes with refried black beans or avocado or Mexican mashed potatoes. Eric and I make some nearly every weekend, and it's definitely guaranteed if someone is hungover (sorry Mom!). Eric makes a mean taco with bacon, potatoes (cooked in bacon fat) and egg.

It would be cliche to say now that my stomach is rumbling at the end of this post, but it really is..off to eat breakfast (wish it was a taco!).

friday!

2012-01-20T08:29:00.000-06:00

2011 recap, a little late

2012-01-17T18:57:00.002-06:00

This is a little late, but I was just now able to access my photos since my laptop started to die (my new computer arrived Friday and I'm in love.)

2011 was a really fun year with lots of baking, breakfast tacos, music festivals (SXSW, ACL and FFF!), girls' nights out, cute Sunday family dinners, picnics, visiting our families, swimming, and traveling.

The boy got lots of baked treats.

We drank tons of espresso thanks to mom's gift of an espresso machine.

South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival falls during my spring break every year and this past year may have been my most fun spring break, including spring breaks I had when I was a student. I could walk from our place to venues for free shows and there were so many places giving away free food and drinks. Austin's downtown is completely taken over by the festival; it's so much fun to walk around with all the people everywhere.

We rearranged our tiny apartment a ton.

We went on lots of walks in our cute neighborhood.

We had lots of date nights with friends and celebrated lots of birthdays.

I traveled to Sweden with my Aunt Elaine and met her truly incredible Swedish friends.

I got a cruiser so I could quit using my road bike for commuting.

We had lots of delicious dinners (Sunday Family Dinner, the official name) and brunches with Eric's family.

I saw my good friends in South Carolina and also got to meet this sweet little girl.

We had lots of girls' night outs (although our friend Greg got invited a couple of times..we started calling it Girls' Night Out..Plus Greg).

A best friend visited from Florida and we hosted a really fun Christmas party.

And on the final day of 2011, Eric asked me to marry him.

Puffy Pillow Pancakes

2012-01-15T16:18:00.002-06:00

Oh gosh, these are so good. I'm not a pancake person and I don't recall ever wanting to make pancakes on the weekend. This morning I stumbled upon this post on a blog and was convinced this might be a pancake I would like. These are absolutely perfect. I've never had pancakes this fluffy! The baking powder and vinegar are the trick to the fluffiness.

Recipe (Taken and slightly adapted from the Post Punk Kitchen Blog)
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center.

Measure the milk and add the vinegar and ground flax seeds. Using a fork, vigorously mix the ingredients until foamy.

Pour the milk mixture into the center of the dry ingredients. Add the water, canola oil and vanilla and use a fork to mix until a thick, lumpy batter forms. DO NOT OVERMIX. Just mix until incorporated --mine had many small lumps throughout. The less you mix, the better they will be, I promise.

Preheat the pan over medium-low heat and let the batter rest for 10 minutes. Don't skip this step - the resting is crucial.

Lightly coat the pan in oil. Add 1/3 cup of batter for each pancake. Mine were ready in two minutes or a little less to flip, although the original recipe said 4 minutes on each side (take a peek on the underneath for yours).

I will never use another pancake recipe again. Not that I had one to begin with because I never make pancakes...but now I will!

Cure your own salmon

2012-01-12T20:55:00.000-06:00

This is just another thing to add to the wait, is it really that easy? list.

I would have never thought to cure my own salmon, but some of my best friends recently did and it was delicious. It's ridiculously easy: generously sprinkle some salt on fresh salmon along with pepper and other herbs like dill or thyme, wrap tightly in saran wrap, place in a dish and weight the fish down in your fridge for three days. (We weighted ours down using 3 cans of black beans.)

That's it. Whenever I find out something like this is so easy, I feel cheated. This salmon tastes better than the smoked salmon and you'll buy at the store, and we only paid $3 for the package of salmon we used.

Happy weekend! Mine consists of happy hour, crafts, and maybe even a wedding magazine.

necklaces

2012-01-09T16:16:00.000-06:00

I made them out of the small wire pieces that are intended for earring making (what are they called? earring rods?). These things (at the bottom). I think the necklaces turned out really cute and they were relatively easy to make. Below is the necklace I gave to my mom as a Christmas gift. She actually thought it was a necklace I bought - very flattering, but I should give most of the credit to the nice box I put it in.

happy friday!

2012-01-06T10:55:00.000-06:00

The weather is gorgeous in Austin today, so I rode my bike to work. I'm in such a good mood getting to work when I get to ride my bike. Today Eric and I are going on a late afternoon picnic together in Zilker Park. We haven't celebrated alone since we got engaged so I bought some champagne and want to pick up some yummy cheeses before we walk out to the park.

Happy Friday!

Magnets

2012-01-04T14:20:00.001-06:00

Over the holiday break, I got together with some of my family and an old friend for a craft day. We made magnets from fish tank marbles (you can get some fancier ones in craft stores, but you'll pay a ton more) and cute paper. We used clear tacky glue to glue the marbles to the paper, and once the glue dried, we glued magnets on the back. We used some cheap black circle magnets on some and bought some super-duper magnets to use on the others. We used some scary powerful glue for glueing the magnets (E700 or something like that.)

They turned out really cute.

I think the craft day will stick as an annual event for the break, along with the "Christmas Sweater 5k Fun Run" that my brother organized. Which, by the way, left me incredibly sore afterwards. That was a wake up call to get back in shape and finally buy some new running shoes.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T09:18:00.008-06:00

2012! I'm really excited to get a fresh start on everything. Ironically, our apartment is the biggest disaster since we first moved in here. Our luggage and gifts from returning from Florida are dumped everywhere around the house. That doesn't sound too bad, but you really have no idea. I can't even walk in our bedroom right now.

Eric bought me a really nice juicer for Christmas, and I am planning to use it a lot. This morning I made some kale, apple, and beet juice. My body is in desperate need of a food makeover. I think I've had more french fries in the past month than I usually eat in months. Last week I even had french fries fried in duck fat for the first time (delicious).

The biggest news to be excited about is...

Eric proposed on New Year's Eve! Saturday was gorgeous. We woke up and went for a walk to Whole Foods to eat breakfast and then we continued walking to the pedestrian bridge. The bridge has been my favorite place in Austin since I've moved here. The bridge itself is pretty and the view on both sides is beautiful. We sat on a bench and he said a couple of really sweet things and then got down on one knee. A couple of runners saw and start hollering. It was super cute. I cried. The ring is an heirloom from Eric's side of the family and that's a green diamond (it looks more turquoise in bright light) in the center!

P.S. One of my resolutions is to post much more frequently on the blog!

DIY Photobooth

2011-12-19T20:42:00.004-06:00

Meg and I hosted a Christmas party last Friday at her house. We've been itching to have a fun party and really wanted to have the party while our good friend (and former college roomie!) Jess was in town. We made fun cocktails, had a white elephant gift exchange, and made a photobooth. A dance party even broke out around midnight (YES!). I was so shocked that almost everyone who came brought a gift for the game.

My gift for the gift exchange was a Four Loco shirt and a can of Four Loko. So bummer that you can't find the kind with caffeine anymore. Jess and I were running around in the morning one day to find a can for me, and it was pretty hilarious to check out with nothing else but a can of Four Loko at 9am.

I am SO HAPPY about the photobooth we had set up for the party!

(notice Kara in the last photo got my white elephant gift!)

The photobooth was pretty easy to set up. Meg and I found cheap props from Family Dollar and Walgreens. I was dying to find a big plastic reindeer or a flamingo at a thrift store, but I never did.

Camera: I used my Nikon D50 with the 55-200mm lens. Due to space (I couldn't back the tripod any more), I had the camera set to 55mm. You should set the focus to auto.

Lighting: I bought two of those cheap metal clamp lights. I used two 100 watt light bulbs. The rest of the room was pretty dim and this was enough light. Don't use your camera flash; you'll get shadows in the pics.

Our backgroud: $3 wrapping paper.

Setup: I left the camera on for three or four hour window during the party with the remote and timer on. A sign directed guests to pick the remote to take their pictures. I determined the max area someone could be in and still be in a picture and taped that box on the ground using masking tape.

The only tricky part was the lighting. The night before the party we spent a while moving the lamps around to find the perfect spots. We had one lamp on each side and ended up pointing them up towards the ceiling.

The photobooth was so much fun; we might have one again if we have a new year's party!

Oh, and the invite I made is worth sharing too:

(don't worry, that's not her real address)

The Ultimate Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie

2011-12-08T16:09:00.000-06:00

Tiff's Treats here in Austin make a ridiculous chocolate chip cookie. There's a hint of coconut flavor to them, so I was suspecting that they may use coconut oil. I found a recipe online that uses coconut oil and OMG they are the best and richest chocolate chip cookies (and SO chewy!).

Recipe adapted from cheekykitchen.com

Ingredients:
1/2 cup coconut oil
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tbs vanilla
1 3/4 cup flour
8 oz dark chocolate chips

In a large bowl,beat together coconut oil, eggs, and brown sugar. Add remaining ingredients, mixing together until just incorporated. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet in the oven at 400 degrees for 9-11 minutes, or just until the outside of the cookies have browned ever so slightly around the edges. I made mine large and took them out right at 10 minutes (a little spot or two on the cookies still looked goo-ey.)

Happy Friday

2011-12-02T08:05:00.001-06:00

yay, Friday!

John Waters tonight!

Vegetable Soup

2011-11-29T21:01:00.005-06:00

I made a huge batch of vegetable soup on Sunday in our crock pot. Several months ago I made a goal of trying to make a big batch of soup once a week. Other than this week...I think I only did this once. Sigh.

I was happy to use the chicken stock that I froze after Eric and I roasted a chicken. Something feels so right when you aren't wasting anything (we had a couple of old-ish tomatoes too that I wouldn't eat, but made it in the soup too!). I crammed as many fresh vegetables that could possibly fit in one large crock pot, and I added some chopped fresh jalapenos for a little heat.

This week is incredibly busy. I'm giving an exam in all of my classes this week, I desperately need to get my grades set up, and I need to finish writing final exams...but the end of the semester is so close...I'm happier than a student counting down.

P.S. The boyfriend loves this soup too......WIN! (His brussell sprouts and carrots usually end up on my plate.)

Beaded Collar

2011-11-25T08:52:00.000-06:00

This is what I've been working on for a couple weeks now. The idea came from Meghan Nielsen who made one (and posted a pattern) from this vintage inspiration.

I was going to sew my own collar, but I'm so glad I ended up using her pattern. The collar lays (lies?) beautifully around the neck. The beading took me 15 hours or so. I ran out of the pearls and had to go back to Michael's. They were out, so I had to head to another Michael's. And the number of knots the thread got while I was beading was ridiculous. Every night of the past couple weeks Eric will ask, "what are you going to do tonight?" and I would just look at him and he'd go, "beading?".

I took some pictures throughout making the collar, but I don't have that SD card with me. I sewed the scalloped collar from some heavy duty off-white fabric I had. If you're curious to see what the steps look like, you can go to the link I posted for where I got the idea.

P.S. I got a new camera lens! I'm so happy with it.
P.P.S. Happy Friday and late Thanksgiving. Eric and I are in Houston enjoying time with some of his side of the family.

happy birthday friday

2011-11-18T12:41:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday Kara! (don't worry Kara..that pepperoni and ricotta looking stuff is totally vegan.) Eric and I will be meeting up with our friends tonight to celebrate her birthday with lots of homemade pizzas and beer.

Lemon Scones

2011-11-15T10:19:00.002-06:00

I made lemon scones last night. They're delicious alone and ridiculous with a touch of honey butter (I forgot how much I love honey butter.) Recipe here.

It's a rainy morning here. I go into work later on Tuesdays and Thursdays because I teach an evening class on those nights. It's always really hard to go get up and leave on mornings like this after you've had three hours to relax in the morning. I almost end up running late to 11:30 meetings because I can't pull myself away from something I've started, and I never run late.

espresso dark chocolate chip biscotti

2011-11-08T07:54:00.000-06:00

I've made biscotti once before (here) and switched the recipe concept slightly. I read the blog Angry Chicken, and she commented that she completely cuts out the oil when she makes them. I did a compromise between that idea and the normal amount of oil; I used about 1/8 a cup of oil when a normal recipe calls for a 1/2 cup.
(If you completely cut the oil, you are probably limited to only dunking to eat them, but I like some nibbles without dipping into milk or coffee.)

Here's the recipe I used:
2 cups flour (I used half white and white wheat)
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon instant espresso
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/3 teaspoon lemon extract
1/3 teaspoon vanilla extract
really good dark chocolate chocolate chips
a dash of milk

You follow the standard steps like you can find here. They are basically twice baked cookies. You bake the two blobs, let them cool for about 15 minutes, cut them into slilces and then bake the slices more (at a lower temperature.)

* Recipes suggest that when slicing, use a serrated knife. I thought it was much better to use a sharp chef's knife and just press down very hard. The serrated knife seemed like it was going to crack the biscotti and took more effort.

FFFriday!

2011-11-04T07:33:00.001-05:00

Happy Friday! Eric and I will be at Fun Fun Fun Fest all weekend. I can't wait to see M83.

jalapeno cilantro sauce

2011-11-01T09:09:00.001-05:00

I'm currently in love with the fresh jalapeno + cilantro flavor. There's a banh mi sandwich that I love to get from a trailer that has lots of mayo, fresh jalapeno, and cilantro. Eric and I were with some friends for happy hour last Friday and tried some chicken sliders that I think were ground chicken, mayo, cilantro and slice of jalapeno. YUM.

Last night I cooked some white fish (frozen), made this sauce and made tacos. I used butter lettuce to make a lettuce shell and Eric had tortillas. Both were so good.

You can find various recipes for a sauce like this, but ours went something like this:

2 cloves garlic
3 jalapenos
3 handfuls cilantro
2 tablespoons mayo
3 tablespoons greek yogurt
1 teaspoon white vinegar
sriracha
salt + pepper
lime juice

Just put everything in a food processor. This is delicious on fish, tacos, burritos, you name it.

fresh squeezed grape juice

2011-10-30T19:45:00.003-05:00

I am perfectly okay with grapes going bad in our fridge. YUM.

friday

2011-10-28T08:36:00.001-05:00

happy friday!

2011-10-21T08:21:00.001-05:00

Eric and I roasted our first entire chicken this week. I never realized it was so easy. I watched this video to teach me how to cut out the backbone and take out the breast bone. We stuffed sage and slivers of garlic under the skin and slathered a little olive oil on the outside of the skin. Delicious and so cheap.

Today I'm going to a work happy hour and then going to see the band Battles with Eric. Then I want to do a whole bunch of laying on the couch reading a book.

Built by Wendy Boatneck dress

2011-10-17T19:09:00.001-05:00

Fairly simple boatneck dress from a Built by Wendy pattern. Her pattern calls for using a few different color fabrics for the four front pieces, but I just used all the same fabric. I tried to match up the fabric in contrast (shown below.)

I wish the neckline was more boatneck-ish, but I'll keep that in mind if I make this dress again.

happy friday

2011-10-14T08:00:00.003-05:00

Asparagus and Ricotta Pizzas

2011-10-05T20:18:00.002-05:00

Asparagus and Riccotta Pizzas, Recipe from Real Simple Magazine

1 pound pizza dough, at room temperature (I made my own dough from the pita/flatbread recipe I use)
cornmeal, for the baking sheet
1 pound asparagus, halved crosswise and lengthwise
5 ounces mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups ricotta
1/2 cup grated parmesan
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and black pepper
2 cups arugula/spinach
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Directions

Heat oven to 400° F. Shape the dough into 4 balls and place on 2 cornmeal-dusted baking sheets.
Dividing evenly, top the dough with the asparagus, mushrooms, and garlic, then the ricotta, parmesan, and 2 tablespoons of the oil. Season with salt and pepper. Bake, switching the pans halfway through, until the crust is golden brown and crisp, 25 to 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, toss the arugula with the lemon juice, the remaining tablespoon of oil, and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Top the pizzas with the arugula just before serving.

Recipe taken from Real Simple magazine.

Favorite Antique Fair Finds

2011-10-04T10:02:00.000-05:00

Orange beaded necklace, thrown in as a deal with other items

Set of six yellow tumblers, $1 each

Earrings, in a bundle deal for $5

favorite find: Leather boots, $35 (bargained down from $40)

Happy Friday!

2011-09-30T10:15:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday! I'm just recovering from being pretty sick the last couple of days. I caught whatever sore throat/fever/achy/ear/head thing that's going around. I actually slept 16 hours between Wed. evening and Thursday afternoon. Dang. And last night I went to bed at 9pm. I feel fairly normal today thanks to all the sleep (and lots of hugs from the boy.)

Tomorrow morning the girls are meeting up early to go out of town for an antique fair. I'm hoping I can come home with a purse and some jewelry.

Happy Friday!

Carmelized Onion Tart

2011-09-25T21:38:00.004-05:00

It's SO GOOD.

We went to brunch at a friend's house this weekend and brought this and a couple of other little things. The tart is very easy to make and OMG it's good. Everything at our brunch was delicious. Our hosts even made a fun punch of honey water, champagne, and rum (very good and refreshing.)

We went out the night before and I woke up early to get everything made for our brunch. It wasn't easy getting out of bed early but it was rather strange/amusing to carmelize onions at 9am while someone is passed out twenty feet away from you sleeping on your couch (you're not going to sleep through that one!).

Carmelized Onion Tart with Apples, recipe from Real Simple Magazine

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 medium onions, sliced
2 Gala apples, cut into small pieces
salt and black pepper
2 sheets frozen puff pastry (from a 17.3-ounce package), thawed
1/2 cup creme fraiche or sour cream (go for the creme fraiche!)

Directions

Heat oven to 400º F. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden brown, 12-15 minutes. Stir in the apples, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper and cook until just tender, 2 minutes.

Place each sheet of pastry on a parchment-lined baking sheet and prick all over with a fork. Spread with the crème fraîche, leaving a ½-inch border. Top with the onion mixture and bake until the pastry is crisp and browned, 30 to 35 minutes. Cut into pieces before serving.

Recipe taken from Real Simple.

Friday!

2011-09-23T08:21:00.001-05:00

So yesterday was an interesting day. The day started off like the previous two days: every 20 minutes I would refresh the Austin City Limits music festival website, because at random on one day between Tuesday-Friday they would post a limited sale of their "souvenir tickets" for ACL 2012. They are only $50 opposed to the usual $185. Well yesterday it happened and I totally missed it. I had checked about 10 minutes before and when I looked several minutes later, it had already happened and it had sold out. Apparently the tickets sold out in three minutes! And guess what? Eric got two!!!!!!! He caught it and actually got through. My day was totally made (very few people win these!) Their website says about the souvenir tickets: "Get one and you should buy a lottery ticket that day!", that's how lucky it is.

And in the evening I was invited to get a drink with Meg and Stephanie. I ended up declining because I still had a stack of exams to grade. So I stayed at work after my evening class grading exams and came home and graded more....only to find out later that they saw Elijah Wood and Dominic Monaghan at the bar they went to. WTF !! I guess you can't win it all in one day.

No big plans tonight except cleaning our place. But I'm a little interested in going to the area where the film festival is happening in Austin.

Anywho, HAPPY FRIDAY!

terrible blogmaster

2011-09-19T21:49:00.002-05:00

I missed a Happy Friday. I could have made an awesome one for ACL. sigh. I'm sorry I haven't blogged in while. I was swamped making preparations for ACL, having a couple friends in town, and going to ACL. Normal life will resume soon.

Happy Friday!

2011-09-09T08:02:00.005-05:00

The boy and I are going to two of my university's soccer games tonight. I have a ton of soccer players this semester and I've become really fond of them. I announced that I was coming to the women's and men's games tonight and they freaked out. Cute.

Butterscotch Macadamia Nut Cookies

2011-09-08T09:35:00.003-05:00

Last night seemed like the appropriate time to bust my (non-intentional) non-baking streak. I had half a bag of butterscotch chips in the freezer, some macadamia nuts, and no chocolate chips. A small bag of macadamia nuts from Central Market's bulk section ended up being $4.00 and I couldn't decide if it felt like wasting them to put them in a cookie..but I have no regrets. They're delicious.

I still haven't finished the purse I started. I can't get the purse frame onto the top ledge (hard to explain, but one of these.) I quit working on the purse and starting knitting a scarf. And like most weeks of the past month, I've been watching lots of Mad Men.

Butterscotch Macadamia Nut Cookies

1/2 cup butter softened
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 1/2 cup quick oats
7/8 cup unbleached white flour
7/8 cup toasted macadamia nuts
1 cup butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 375F. Toast the macadamia nuts. Beat the butter, salt, sugar, baking soda and vanilla extract. Beat in the eggs and then the flour. Add oats, nuts and butterscotch chips. Drop onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool on a cooling rack.

happy (girl's night out) friday!

2011-09-02T08:11:00.000-05:00

Girl's night out tonight!

homemade items in action

2011-09-01T09:31:00.002-05:00

I think classes are beginning to settle (i.e. I'll have more time to make stuff.) Last night I began working on a new purse, but finishing it is throwing me for a loop. I'll post the purse as soon as it's finished.

In the meantime, here a couple of old items I made and am documented wearing:

soft cover-up original post

spotted last year during SXSW and featured on The Style Co-op (Photos above and below compliments of The Style Co-op)

My post about making the flower hairpiece and their post featuring it.

doodles for the office

2011-08-28T14:54:00.001-05:00

Well, I don't really have anything for ya. We've been doing a lot of cleaning this weekend and last night we went out. I did make some doodles yesterday for my office. Now I'm off to a bbq for a friend's birthday..a bbq on the hottest day of the entire year. I don't know if you can sense my excitement or not.

(We ended up skipping out on the picnic yesterday because of the heat.)

Happy Friday!

2011-08-26T08:25:00.001-05:00

Happy Friday! Tomorrow Austin is having an SEC picnic in Zilker Park. Me, Meg and Sean will be reppin the University of Florida and I'm hoping that Eric will tag along too. The picnic should be fun/funny.

I promise to post something on the blog this weekend!

happy friday!

2011-08-19T08:53:00.001-05:00

Happy Friday!

Am I ready for classes to begin Monday? Why no, no I am not. I'm trying to quickly put together my syllabi and all that. My office is a disaster because I got approved to move into a much bigger office, so I quit cleaning up my office because I knew I was moving...

I just feel like laying around all day reading instead of getting all of my stuff together for Monday's classes. I'm reading two books right now: The Death and Life of the Great American School System by Diane Ravitch and A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon. Diane Ravitch is a really remarkable education historian and educational policy analyst. I've been oblivious to most things happening in education because of how far removed I am from what's happening in the K-12 system. I went to a good high school and never spent any time in any K-12 after I finished high school. Then I began teaching college in South Carolina where most students came from good high schools. My new position here in Austin faces some students who have come from weaker high schools and I also have made good friends with a colleague that taught high school for many years. She really got me thinking about the state of education and recommended this book.

Haddon's book is an easy fiction read. He is the author of The Curious Dog in the Night-Time, which is an adorable book. You could finish it within a few hours. I love that book. I remember one of the exact spots I used to sit on the University of Florida campus reading the book and laughing out loud.

Two of my friends want to start a book club next month. I'm excited. The rules are so far are: (1) you read the book before the get-together at the end of the month (2) the get-together must have wine (3) there must be food inspired by something in the book.

Have a good weekend. I need to go work on my syllabi...

wine & cheese dinners

2011-08-18T18:05:00.008-05:00

We've been doing this frequently. I am so in love with aged goudas and stilton blue cheese. After a full belly of tasty bites and wine, we usually go out downtown. Last Friday night one of the friends came back to our apartment around 2am and ate the leftover cheese by the grabful. I laughed so hard when I woke up the next day and heard that story.

back in town.

2011-08-14T11:55:00.002-05:00

I'm home. San Diego and South Carolina visits were lovely. Above is Riley, the daughter of my good friends Danielle and Ty. She is the happiest baby I have ever seen.

I haven't made anything since I've been out of town. Hopefully this week..if I can pull myself away from my recent Mad Men marathons (it's available for streaming on Netflix now.) This is the last week before classes begin, eek. Lots of meetings and such. :/

out of town for a bit.

2011-07-20T08:19:00.000-05:00

I'm at a math teaching conference right now...I get back in town to Austin tonight, get to hang out with my brother and his wife (they are in Austin for a conference), and then tomorrow Eric and I fly out for San Diego. We stay in SD for 10 days and then I fly straight across to the east coast where I get to see some of my best friends.

I don't get back into Austin until August 9 and I don't think I will be able to post much until then. Have a great next couple weeks!

Happy Birthday Brad!

2011-07-15T09:06:00.000-05:00

Love you so much! Have a good birthday!

DIY hair bun piece

2011-07-14T14:40:00.000-05:00

My hair won't make a bun like this on its own. I wear my hair up almost every day of the summer and my hair makes a pathetically tiny bun due to being fine and not super long (3 inches or so longer than my shoulders?). If you have long hair (or thick hair), then this project is of no interest to you.

Do you remember something from the 90s that looked something like this?

I owned two of them in middle school I think. They were velvet material and I think my mom ordered them from QVC. The QVC commercial demonstrated making a french twist and different buns easily form their weird looking hair contraption.

I recently have been in CVS and Target and was wishing I could find one of these again. No luck of course. People would look at that thing and laugh. A scrunchie looks cooler than that thing.

CVS does sell something similar, and less geeky looking, that seems like two slap bracelets, connected, covered in velvet. It essentially does the same thing, but is a HUGE pain in the ass. I bought it, and it snaps constantly as you are trying to roll your hair before assembling the bun. It slaps on your hands and it hurts. Eric hears me whining in the bathroom and steps in to see what's wrong and I have to say "I'm just trying to put this stupid thing in again.". Occasionally I successfully get it in, then get dressed and completely mess it up...and have to go through the process again. I get slapped repeatedly and ending up getting frustrated and an array of curse words get said.

Make Your Own Weird Hair Bun Contraption

Materials: at least 6 regular size pipe cleaners, two 11 x 3 in. pieces of fabric in a color that won't boldly contrast next to your hair
Tools required: scissors, sewing machine, needle nose pliers

First: Cut your fabric. The length should be around the length of a pipe cleaner. (Cut two 11 x 3 in. pieces).

Second: Twist two pipe cleaners together. Don't do this too tightly so that you would be losing a lot of length. Repeat with another two. Now attach both ends to form one big loop. Make sure to use pliers to push in any wires that might poke you.

**Read rec. at the bottom of post.**

Third: Take one of your pieces of fabric and fold in half lengthwise. Cut a slit in the middle about 1.25 inches. Repeat with your other piece, trying to make the slits in the same place and of the same length.

Now take two new pipe cleaners and twist them together. Take one end and attach to the other to form a loop. (The loop should end up being roughly around 2.5-2.75 inches in diameter.)

Fourth: Open up both pieces of your fabric and lay them on top of each other, good side to good side. Now sew a shape like a giant enlongated almond. You want to be fairly close to the edge at all times, except when close to either end. Make sure you meet in the middle like shown below.

Now both of your pieces should be sewn together and you're staring at the wrong side and there's an open floppy slit in the middle.

Fifth: Trim off excess fabric.

Sixth: Turn it inside out (use that open slit in the middle to do so.) Shove your large loop of pipe cleaner inside and put it fairly snug to the outer edge. Then place in your smaller loop of pipe cleaner. The spots where the wire should be are shown below. (The stitching you see in the interior comes in a later step.)

Seventh: Now sew a zig-zag stitch on both ends of the slit. (This will prevent it from fraying and becoming a larger opening than you want.) Don't sew over any pipe cleaners!

(Again in this photo you see some stitching in the interior that you haven't gotten to yet.)

Eighth: Take both top flaps of your slit, turn them slightly in toward each other, press together, and sew a stitch. Do the same for your bottom two flaps of the slit. This gives the slit a slightly larger opening (don't make it too large!) and some reinforcement for the open hole. It's difficult to make a nice seam here. No one will ever see the middle (we just want to prevent fraying.)

Ninth: Sew a couple of loops that will hold your pipe cleaners in place. See picture below. (Outer stitch loop shown below, but I left off the inner.)

Finished product:

How to use thing:

** I regret not having a little more wire on the two ends. When you tuck them under, it's much easier with more wire. When I make another, I'll add some additional wire to the ends of the loop (the outer loop---the inner doesn't need any more.)

LONGEST POST EVER, my apologies.

sesame flax crackers

2011-07-09T20:08:00.001-05:00

I adore healthy crackers but rarely buy them because of the cost. I had a big bag of flax seeds and a small bag of sunflower seeds sitting around so I really only needed to pick up some sesame seeds. I ended up getting them free from Whole Foods because the bulk code I wrote down didn't ring up at the register. I think the cashier felt bad for me because I waited a really long time for the woman ahead of me to get her $440 groceries rang up, several crinkled coupons scanned, and use a gift card that wouldn't work...EEK

These are really easy to make. I adapted a recipe I found online. The recipe was far away from me, so I was going off memory and accidentally used 6 tbs of ground flax seed instead of 3..So I just took out about 3 tbs of whole wheat flour to try and counter that. These are sort of too healthy tasting. Next go round I'll do some white flour and some whole wheat and definitely not go over on the amount of ground flax. But, if you are using them only for the purpose of dipping them into hummus, dip, or peanut butter, you can get away with this exact recipe.

Sesame Flax Crackers
1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
6 TBS ground sunflower seeds
6 TBS whole sesame seeds (I did 5T sesame + 1T black sesame)
3 TBS ground flax seeds
1 tsp poppy seeds (if you have them)
1/4 tsp salt
5 ounces water
1 1/2 TBS honey
2 TBS canola oil

For glaze: 2 TBS honey + 2 TBS warm water + salt

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl..(picture before liquids dumped in)

..until a ball is formed.

Knead the ball for 3 minutes and then let it rest for about 20-30 minutes. Preheat your oven to 350F. Roll out your dough and cut the rolled dough with a pizza cutter or use a cookie cutter. Grease a cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes, flipping halfway. (Mine seemed ready in a little less time - take them out when golden brown.) After taking them out of the oven, brush with the glaze and and sprinkle with salt. The crackers will get crispy after cooling.
***
I haven't been eating many regular meals since the boyfriend has been out of town this week. Luckily he's about to be walking through the door any minute!! And dinner is already made and ready to eat.

friday

2011-07-08T08:18:00.001-05:00

Everyday Whole Wheat Bread

2011-07-06T13:19:00.000-05:00

Everyday Whole Wheat Bread by Eating Well. Recipe here.

This is such a good bread for toast or sandwiches. After the bread cooled (and we sampled), I sliced it, put it in a bag, and stuck in the freezer. In the morning I pull out the slices I need to pack lunches. The slices defrost pretty quickly and the bread tastes the same as it did the day it was made.

This bread is no-knead! I used white wheat flour because I was out of whole wheat. I've made it once with the whole wheat flour and it's very good too.

Thanks Amy for sharing this recipe with me!

4th of July cookies

2011-07-04T13:31:00.003-05:00

I pulled out the playdoh extruder again to make some flag cookies. (See the first time I made pixel cookies here.) Things got sloppy, so the result is flag blobs.

Beginning the stacks:

Finished stacks:

Sliced:

I had issues with the dough melting even though I had kept it in the freezer. They got pretty sloppy, but the end result was still sort of cute.

Happy Fourth! I'm taking a lazy day after having some drinks last night at a fun BBQ.

Happy Friday!!

2011-07-01T08:23:00.001-05:00

Happy Friday!! Last week while my parents were in town my dad was interested in going to the outdoor store Cabela's. Mom and dad had heard our ramblings of really wanting a kayak one day (nowhere to store that now) and bought us something that we could keep in our apartment now--an inflatable boat. It's really cute. Eric and I live really close to the springs so we already have been down there a couple times this week to paddle around. Wednesday evening we saw a bird swallow a fish whole that was too big for him and for a couple of minutes after swallowing his stomach kept jerking! We stopped for a little bit too to watch people swing off of the rope swing.

Here's our little boat:

They bought us a portable air compressor too that plugs into a cigarette lighter, so it's blown up in a just a couple of minutes.

Frozen Treats

2011-06-29T14:21:00.000-05:00

Making and eating lots of frozen treats. Yesterday I had frozen grapes for the first time. I can't decide whether I like them or not.

Mom and dad just left yesterday from their visit. I felt like they got a pretty good idea of what Austin was like while they were here. Sometimes people visit and I feel like they didn't get the whole Austin feel during the visit.

Lots to look forward to this week: Friday evening a work party for Eric's work and we have Monday off! Austin can't have fireworks this year, so I guess we will have to make up for that with extra food?

(I know this is a stretch here, but I'm going to tag this frozen banana under "popsicles".)

Spoiled Students

2011-06-28T13:11:00.008-05:00

My summer class is small enough to get my baking leftovers! We're about half way through the summer course right now. The class meets every day (Mon-Fri) and I'm starting to run out of ideas to stay perked up during the class since I see them so often. I try to bring in a little math puzzle for us to talk about half-way through the class to break up the lesson and homework monotony. Having a lesson and then having them work on worksheets or homework in groups isn't giving us enough variety anymore. On a positive note, I'm starting to leave the office much earlier now. I'm only getting paid for teaching one course, but I was staying and working in my office for half a day...way more than I was getting paid. Not that I care much about the hours vs. pay, but I have so much things I'd like to do at home.

The cupcakes are from this recipe.

happy friday!

2011-06-24T08:08:00.000-05:00

The inspiration for today's Happy Friday comes from the dozen of fruit flies I saw in our kitchen this morning.

Asparagus Salad (in Sweden!)

2011-06-23T12:35:00.002-05:00

One night in Sweden our friends made my aunt and I the best salad:

- asparagus, cooked, but still firm
- boiled eggs
- bacon
- avocado
- melon (green)
- cherry tomatoes
- raw mushrooms
- lettuce
- lime wedges
- balsamic vinegar + lemon olive oil

I loved it. I think I ate three servings of salad...Mmmm. And they served us fresh bread and had a big block of some Swedish cheese out that we could slice as we go. And champagne!

And you get to watch the sunset as you eat. Perfect.

Eric and I made this salad last night for dinner, with a couple of variations. It's so good. (I don't have pictures from our version last night.)

nutella + greek yogurt popsicles

2011-06-20T23:27:00.001-05:00

I'm in love. The frozen nutella tastes like a fudgesicle but much better. The rich and sweet nutella is perfect next to the tart yogurt. Idea stolen from here.

Eric and I are rewatching Freaks and Geeks. I never watched it until recently; the show got so much hype I figured it was way overrated (perhaps like the band Wilco..). But man it kills me that there isn't more than one season of this show.

I didn't bake bread this past weekend. Sunday I slept most of the day before Sunday Family Dinner because of our late(/very fun) night.

Father's Day

2011-06-19T16:55:00.000-05:00

Happy Father's Day! I'm a little late in the day to be posting this, but my dad was out of town (and away from internet) today.

Dad and me at my brother's wedding last summer.

Notice the wedding band on my dad? My dad's always working on a project - welding, building something out of wood, helping a neighbor tile their floor...He's always making something. Over the years I've had him help me build things and as soon as I say, "dad, I have this idea I think I need your help on..." he responds, "ohhhhh boy..". My ideas were usually complicated when I was younger. They've gotten more practical over the years, right dad?

Happy Father's Day to one of my favorite people in the whole world. I love you so much!

pencil skirt

2011-06-17T08:25:00.001-05:00

I made a new pencil skirt from some thick red fabric I bought recently. The fabric has a nice texture (quiltish?) and some stretch. I started using the pattern I also used to make this skirt, but I went away from the pattern almost immediately. It didn't have the narrowness I wanted for a pencil skirt. I took it in quite a bit and added belt loops.

Have a great weekend! I actually have today off for Juneteenth. I think I'll bake some bread, go the gym*, and meet up with Eric and his work buddies for happy hour. Tomorrow we are joining in for "BBQ & Barbarella": we're joining several friends to drive out to Lockhart, TX for the city's famous BBQ and then reconvening in nighttime for dancing at Barbarella downtown.

*Eric and I joined the YMCA down the street. I hadn't been exercising hardly at all for a couple months or longer and the weather now has made it very difficult to go outside and run.

friday!

2011-06-17T07:32:00.001-05:00

Missing Sweden Weather

2011-06-16T12:38:00.002-05:00

The high every day while I was in Sweden was 65°. It's been sweat city since I've been back in Austin.

It's unfortunate that the time of the year I have the most free time lines up with the time of the year with the most unbearable weather.. I can't complain though. The class I'm teaching right now is actually great; I have eight students now and all of them are very attentive. I don't think I've ever taught a class where I say "hey, try this problem on your own" and 100% of the class actually works the problem (when it's for their own good and not being graded.)

Cherry Muffins

2011-06-14T18:53:00.012-05:00

3 & 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 & 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt (I actually used 1 scant tsp. kosher salt)
2/3 cup canola oil
1 & 1/2 cups brown sugar, tightly packed (I used light brown)
2 large eggs
1 & 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 pinch ground cinnamon
1 & 1/4 cups buttermilk
2 cups of pitted, coarsely chopped cherries (I ran out of cherries and had to sub some strawberries)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line muffin pans with paper liners and spray the inside of the liners with baking spray. This recipe will make 9 jumbo muffins or 12 regular size.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg into a medium size bowl. Add the brown sugar and whisk it in thoroughly.

In a large bowl, mix together the oil, eggs, vanilla extract, almond extract, and buttermilk. (I did this by hand, and my muffins turned out great, but Reinhart instructs doing this part in your mixer. You decide!)

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir just until the dry ingredients are absorbed.

With a portion scoop, fill the muffin cups about halfway full. Using your hands, sprinkle on that a couple tablespoons worth of the chopped fruit and gently pat it down into the batter. Scoop another glob of batter atop that. Sprinkle the remainder of the fruit over that. If any batter remains in the bowl, dab it equally over the top of the muffins. It's fine if some of the fruit is exposed and not buried in batter.

Sprinkle the tops with coarse sugar or granulated sugar if you like.

Place the muffin pan on top of a baking sheet, and bake for 10 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 375 and bake for 10 minutes more. Check the muffins to see if they're browning too quickly; if they are, cover them lightly with foil. Bake the muffins until golden brown, and until the tops spring back when lightly touched. Mine took barely 30 minutes to bake. I also checked them with a toothpick inserted in the center to ensure they were fully done.

Let them cool in the pan, on a rack, for a few minutes before attempting to remove to the rack to finish cooling.

Happy Friday

2011-06-10T09:19:00.001-05:00

Green Juice

2011-06-08T22:07:00.001-05:00

I've wanted a juicer for about a year now and one of my aunts mailed me one she picked up at a garage sale. Eric and I love Odwalla's Superfood drink.

I made my own using kale, spinach, a granny smith apple, a gala apple, a handful of baby carrots, half of a lemon, and a couple pieces of pineapple. It's so good. Mine wasn't quite as sweet as Odwalla's; if you are going for the same taste, you would want to throw in another granny smith.

happy friday

2011-06-03T08:00:00.002-05:00

Teaching a summer algebra class that started on Wednesday. There are only six students in the class! :)

Sweden Post #1: Adorable Apartment

2011-06-02T14:46:00.002-05:00

Thanksgiving 2010:
Aunt Elaine: I want to go to Sweden. Are you interested in going?
Me: YES
...

When my Aunt Elaine was in college, she studied abroad in Austria. While she was there, she met a Swedish guy named Lars. Lars and my aunt kept in touch throughout the year and the following summer my aunt stayed in Sweden for a couple of weeks and got to spend time with Lars and his family.

Lars had been planning to come to the states the following year, but during that year he was killed in a very bad car accident. He was only in his early twenties.

My aunt recently reconnected with his family and mentioned to them that she was interested in visiting the country again. My aunt picked up on my interest in going and began making plans. Lars' sister, Kerstin, let us stay in her and her husband's apartment in Stockholm. Kerstin is married to Mats, the same guy she was dating when my aunt visited Sweden 35 years ago!

The entire family is incredible; they are some of the nicest and most welcoming people I have met. Our trip was so special, mostly because of them.

Kerstin and Lars' mother is Ulla, and we visited her a couple times during our stay. I fell in love with her apartment immediately. Oh my gosh, her color pallet, her furniture, her decorating..perfect. Here are some photos below. The photos barely give her apartment justice.

Ulla and my aunt Elaine.

(Don't I look like my aunt?)

Strawberry Mint Sangria

2011-05-31T14:08:00.003-05:00

I'm back from Sweden! Our trip was perfect. I'll wait to give details until I do some Swedish posts. I have pictures and food to share with you from the trip, but it will be a few days before I can go through all of the photos.

I also spent a few days in St. Louis, where two of my aunts live. Yesterday was my cousin Denise's daughter's fifth birthday. Hannah cracked me up when she went to blow out her candles. She looked bummed (see picture at the bottom.)

Aunt Elaine picked out a recipe for Strawberry Mint Sangria. Here's our version of the recipe (we used Aunt Elaine's homemade limoncello instead of brandy.)

2 cups of sliced fresh strawberries
1/2 cup of mint leaves
1 1/2 ounces limoncello
740ml dry white wine
12 ounces club soda

Combine the strawberries, mint leaves (give them a gentle crushing before combining), and limoncello in a glass pitcher. Add the wine and chill for at least 2 hours before serving (or up to overnight.) Pour club soda on top only before serving.

(We didn't measure anything, so who knows what amounts we used of our ingredients!)

It's a great light, refreshing summer drink. If you want the drink more boozy, all you gotta do is add more limoncello!

Oh, and here is Hannah getting sung Happy Birthday:

on vacation

2011-05-17T14:56:00.002-05:00

I'm in Sweden until the end of the month. I might post a couple of pictures before I'm back, but if not, expect posting to return on June 1.

Nutella Cupcakes

2011-05-13T15:33:00.000-05:00

Nutella Cupcakes, recipe taken from here

Makes 12
10 tbsp. softened butter
3/4 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
~1/3 cup Nutella

Preheat your oven to 325F. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners.
Cream together butter and sugar, adding in eggs one at a time, until fully incorporated. Add vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix together the (sifted) flour, salt and baking powder. Then stir the flour/salt/bp mix into the batter iuntil no flour remains (don't overmix!). Fill each muffin liner 3/4 full with batter. Top each with a large dollap of Nutella. Swirl Nutella in with a toothpick, making sure to fold a bit of batter up over the Nutella.
Bake for 20 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

friday

2011-05-13T13:51:00.003-05:00

Petits Pains au Chocolat

2011-05-09T08:12:00.004-05:00

Yesterday we had a family brunch for Mother's Day. Amy had everything laid out to make little chocolate croissants.

Recipe modified from epicurious.com:

2 sheets frozen puff pastry (one 17.3-ounce package), thawed, each sheet cut into squares
1 egg beaten to blend with 1 water (for glaze)
(good quality) Chocolate chips

Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Line a single row of the chocolate chips on one edge and roll up dough tightly, enclosing chocolate. Place pastry rolls on baking sheet, seam side down. (We pinched the seam slightly in hopes of none of them popping open during baking.)

Preheat oven to 415°F. Brush tops of pastry rolls with the egg glaze. Sprinkle lightly with sugar. Bake until pastries are golden brown, about 15 minutes.

So easy. I have never made my own puff pastry, but can't really motivate myself to think about it when the result is so delicious with the store bought dough.

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T09:45:00.000-05:00

Happy Mother's Day to my momma, the one who taught me how to sew and bake! I grew up with her sewing me clothes and she even sewed several of my prom and homecoming dresses while I was in high school. Love you lots mom.

friday

2011-05-06T08:12:00.003-05:00

2011-05-04T10:22:00.003-05:00

seriously.

Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins

2011-05-02T20:07:00.003-05:00

~~Great~~ Excellent* muffins. I love adding instant espresso powder to desserts and baked goods. The result is richer without tasting the espresso. Amy gave me this tip a couple years ago when I was baking brownies and now I'd never bake brownies again without it.

The recipe I used for these muffins is found here.

*Edited this post the next day: These are awesome. They should not be described as "great".

"dress" with a surprise

2011-04-30T14:41:00.004-05:00

I have really been itching to sew something, but I don't have any usable sewing fabric at the moment. I went through my items that need to be redesigned and picked out this hideous old urban outfitters pilgrim dress. (see the picture below*).

I kept it as a dress, cut off the sleeves and cut a deep V in the front and back, but after sewing all the hems, I wasn't into it. So I hacked off the top, added an elastic waist and made a skirt.

The secret is...I didn't make the top, it's actually a

I used to do that when I was younger and I forgot about it. But I LOVE sweetheart strapless tops (and sweetheart strapless dresses.) This is the lazy way out. You have to tie the back very tight though and be careful that something doesn't happen (or your top falls off!).

Here's how to do it:

*P.S. Here is the hideous pilgrim dress. Yes, YES I actually wore it before. Dear god. I wore this? Don't judge me too hard, I was a graduate student at the time. (That cuts me some slack, right?). I got it on clearance for $10 at UO. No wonder it was on clearance.

happy friday (and last day of teaching!)

2011-04-29T06:43:00.002-05:00

Ah, today is the last day of class. This week has been so busy. Students are continually streaming in and out of my office. So many are always convinced that a miracle can happen during the last week or so of the semester when they haven't cared about the class previously.

Next week finals! Then a break. (I am teaching a summer class though.)

HAPPY FRIDAY

P.S. Sorry for a lack of posts. I've been swamped at work helping to hire someone new and wrap up my semester and Eric and I have had several things on our calendars in the evenings.

2011-04-24T15:23:00.003-05:00

My cousin Tana is staying in Kenya for several months to help film a documentary. I imagine her first day getting over there was something like this:

Song: Jamba Bwana by Kenyan musician Teddy Kalanda Harrison

Happy Thursday!

2011-04-21T07:58:00.001-05:00

I have tomorrow off, so today is Happy Thursday!

Tonight Meg and I are going to see Cut Copy at Stubb's.

perfect Sunday afternoon.

2011-04-18T19:37:00.001-05:00

Barbecued meats, homemade sides and rolls, red wine, friends and Scrabble.

play me, I'm yours

2011-04-17T00:14:00.002-05:00

I'm loving the pianos around Austin. (Thanks Luke Jerram.)

FRIDAY

2011-04-15T06:49:00.003-05:00

YESSSS FRIDAY! What a long week. I got observed in my classroom on Tuesday, and it couldn't have been much worse. My students worked on a group worksheet with some challenging problems and then I asked each group to explain the correct answer. ONE out of the five groups got their problem right, and their explanations were so off base. It was embarrassing. I would ask prompting questions to have them get on track to get the right answer and they couldn't answer my basic questions. I thought some of the brightest students in the class could save the rest of the class at times, but even they failed me that day. Sigh. They are one of my weakest classes I have taught so I try not to take some of what happens to heart.

A highlight of my week was going to Jeffrey's with Eric, Kathy, and her boyfriend Chris. We decided to go because it's Restaurant Week in Austin, making dinner there a little more affordable. (Jeffrey's is, by the way, rumored to be George Bush's favorite restaurant in Austin.) The food was delicious. I had the Crispy Oysters Split appetizer, the Flounder Pecan Meunièr entree, and the Passionfruit & White Chocolate Semifreddo dessert. Everything was delicious. One of the appetizers didn't make it out, and when it did, it was the wrong one (which we didn't even say anything, but they figured it out.) They brought out the right appetizer and later another small mistake happened (not sure what it was), and the manager came over and personally apologized to us and let us know she would be sending us glasses of champagne and an extra dessert. They sent out all of that, AND a beautiful cheese plate too! We were so incredibly stuffed that we couldn't even eat the cheese plate, but they boxed up all of our leftovers for us. We had a great time and I was genuinely impressed by how great and personable our experience was.

I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend. I hope you have one too.

eyeglass cleaner recipe

2011-04-13T17:12:00.002-05:00

We go through quite a bit of eyeglass cleaner around here. All you need to make the cleaner is:
2 parts water
1 part rubbing alcohol
a few drops of dish soap

(For the small squirt bottle I use, I only add one small drop of dish soap.)

Riley

2011-04-11T10:33:00.004-05:00

Riley got my package and look at her wearing the little headband I made her. So cute.

(you really should click on the picture to enlarge it. her expression cracks me up.)

walks

2011-04-10T07:13:00.016-05:00

We've been going on a lot of walks to play with our new camera.

^boy getting sick of me snapping photos.

easiest purse in the world

2011-04-09T15:30:00.020-05:00

I stopped by a large garage sale this morning full of old restaurant items like wine glasses, plates, coffee cups, decor, and bar stools. I ended up buying three thick tablecloths in pretty colors and a large vase.

I wanted to make a dress out of one of the fabrics, but I don't have any matching zippers around. I threw together a little purse instead. The outside is leftovers from the curtains I made for the bedroom and the inside is from a yellow thick tablecloth.

To make one, you just sew two bags separately - the outside fabric and the liner.

And then you put the liner bag inside the outer bag. (You put the liner bag inside the other inside out..)

Next you can make your button strap.

Then sew your button strap in as you sew the outer seam that sews the liner to the bag.

and sew your button on..

Done!

friday

2011-04-05T21:55:00.014-05:00

Happy Friday.

Tonight I get to see Penn and Teller! Eric's mom and stepdad treat us to all sorts of neat shows at the Paramount Theatre. Since August, they've taken us to see Omara Portuondo, Jon Oliver, and Ira Glass. Tonight is Penn and Teller and in a couple weeks they're taking us to see David Sedaris! (!!!)

AND I got to meet Ira Glass too because they were invited to a small event before his show..

swoon.

photo compliments of the Paramount Theatre.

cupcake pincushion

2011-04-05T17:31:00.006-05:00

My friend Lauren made me this pincushion. She used a silicon baking cup as the base. (She also gave me a jar of her homemade hot sauce, which I can't get enough of, and a jar of the pear butter she made too!)

I normally only post things that I make, but her little pincushion was too cute.

P.S. Lauren, if you're reading, I am sorry I haven't written you back yet. I promise I will.

went for it!

2011-04-04T20:36:00.003-05:00

Tonight I bought a used Nikon D50 DSLR!

Better blog pictures soon. (I have to learn to use it though..) Above is a quick photo Eric snapped of me.

happy friday!

2011-04-01T06:46:00.009-05:00

Happy Friday!

Today was full of good surprises. I responded too late to a craig's list bike over a week ago. She told me that if something fell through with the person buying it, she'd let me know. Knowing that wouldn't happen, I kept looking other places.

I gave up after a while.

But today I checked my email and the first buyer never showed! So today I got my new bike. I'm SO happy to have something to commute with. I hate commuting with my nice road bike. I still have on the seat that I biked cross-country with, and that seat is SO hard. And narrow. How in the hell I biked for so long and for so many hours on that thing is beyond me. Oh wait, there were dozens of saddle sores (sorry) and my butt was always sore at the beginning.

Here's my new commuter:

I love it!

My other surprise is that I got invited to a BBQ by someone I recently met! Eric and I are going to bring some ground venison to make burgers and the pita I baked last night (yep, another batch!). It's a little more like flatbread. If I rolled it out a little thinner, I think that would make it more pita-ish. The bread makes the best lunch sandwich bread! Eric has requested I start making it on a regular basis.

The sandwich I'm making for us tomorrow is a mock mopac sandwich. (The mopac sandwich is an Austin Whole Foods sandwich that comes on flatbread and is loaded with chicken, pepperoni, provolone, chipotle mayo, and guacamole. It's pressed, too. We love it.) I have everything except the guac. I know, I know. But it's still SO GOOD. I bought a half smoked chicken at WF a couple days ago and that's the chicken I'm using in the sandwiches.

I'm rambling. Have a good weekend! Don't be fooled today!

pita bread

2011-03-29T20:29:00.004-05:00

I made pita bread for the first time. I used this recipe. It was very easy and from the beginning to end, I was done within two hours (including the rise time.) I used 2 cups unbleached white flour and 1 cup white whole wheat flour.

I used to avoid bread recipes that involved much kneading, but now I really like it. It's theraputic.

I used a trick to make the rising time faster: I turned on my oven, at the lowest setting, for a couple of minutes and then shut it off. I opened the door for a minute, then placed the bowl of dough on the oven rack. (You have to make sure the oven isn't very hot though - too hot makes the yeast cook!)

Favorite Old Posts

2011-03-27T15:22:00.006-05:00

Here are some of my favorite things I've made and posted:

DIY Dress Form
(Also look here for the beginning of the dress form)
DIY large art canvas
My favorite Happy Friday that I've made
The redesign Banana Republic vest
The cute videos I made for a couple of my math classes
Pixel cookies
and the wedding toppers for my brother's wedding! (here and here)

Built by Wendy skirt

2011-03-27T14:32:00.007-05:00

I haven't sewn a garment since last summer! (the dress for Chloe). When I was in Colorado last summer hanging out with Tana, I found some sewing books on clearance. One is "Sew U Home Stretch: The Built by Wendy Guide to Sewing Knit Fabrics". It's a great, simple book. It comes with patterns too.

I USED A PATTERN! This is the first garment I have ever made with a pattern. (I have only sewn a small purse with a pattern before.) I honestly hate patterns, but I'm getting over my hate. I just really hate reading instructions. It's part laziness, but mostly I just want to figure out things myself. That's one reason math is fun: you can figure everything out yourself! Don't give me the formula!

Ok, that being said, I always run into problems I wouldn't if I used patterns. I'm going to start using patterns more. Wendy's patterns and instructions in her book are simple and not frustrating. I can use those sorts of patterns. The skirt was so simple to make since I had instructions. Chloe's dress I made last summer was really fun to troubleshoot along the way and come up with my own plan, but it's so much quicker having a pattern.

Here's a shot from the back, with a different shirt:

The suspenders are permanently sewn on, but it's not that tricky to get into. My fabric has some stretch to it (the design is intended for that because there is no zipper involved.) My fabric is thick and heavy so that whole thing is very sturdy.

A little off topic: I'm mildly considering buying a fancy-ish digital camera. I have been toying with the idea for a couple years now but I haven't wanted to spend the money. Wouldn't you like to look at much nicer photos? Say yes so I can buy a fancy camera with less guilt!

Stuffed cow.

2011-03-24T22:52:00.006-05:00

Two of my best friends recently had a baby girl, Riley. They live in Charleston (SC) so I haven't gotten to meet her in person yet. Last week I sent her a package of a few little things I made for her.

The cow should have been simple enough to make, but my sewing machine went nuts multiple times and kept getting caught on the fuzzy fabric. I ended up having to hand stitch quite a bit. I attached all the limbs before sewing the body in an effort to not have much visible hand sewing. This was a bit awkward because all the limbs (after being attached) had to be shoved inside the body tube while you turn it inside out to stitch up the side seams. It worked though.

Momma and Riley:

Happy Friday!

2011-03-24T22:51:00.004-05:00

So happy it's Friday!

My spring break was fantastic, but returning back to work this week was rough. A professor was let go right before spring break and I have picked up one of his classes. It's MWF at 8am (ugh) and the class is really messy in terms of getting things ironed out. I have been very busy. (Don't feel bad for me though. I'm getting paid to do it.)

This weekend's agenda:

1. sleep in

:)

YouBars

2011-03-22T18:41:00.010-05:00

Have you heard of YouBar?

I hadn't until my brother made me some. (Maybe you didn't know my nickname was Mooch. It has been since I was 3 or 4 years old. Some members of my family still call me by this name only!)

You get to pick the ingredients choosing from a base like almond butter or dates and then you get to pick all sorts of add ins like protein powder, fruit, nuts, seeds, grains, etc. And, you get a personalized package! It's too cute. I thought mine was tasty.

My brother's was too chalky for me. He added too much protein powder (remember here I told you about his fixation with protein?). His nickname is "Coach C". He is a HUGE sports enthusiast, playing almost every sport existing. I think the nickname came more of a joke from teaching though. Instead of calling him 'Dr. Cicciarelli', you'd call him 'Coach C' from being......your thermal dynamics coach! (He's a chemical engineering professor.)

(SB Day Two, cont.) Cheddar-Sriracha Bread

2011-03-15T18:16:00.010-05:00

Success! There was almost a huge mishap (read below.)

The recipe is from The Sriracha Cookbook. The recipe from this book for the bread can be found online here.

It's delicious.

I made bbq pulled pork today. I went to the little grocery store down the street to grab a pork shoulder, but the only pork they had was a pork tenderloin. Although it's not recommended to make pulled pork from something so lean, it turned out awesome.

Pulled Pork with tenderloin:
1/2 pork tenderloin
1 cup ginger ale
1 onion
pinch of salt, pepper, cumin

I chopped up the onion and put it on the bottom of the crock pot. Then I rubbed the tenderloin with the salt, pepper and cumin and layed it on top of the onion. Then I poured the ginger ale on top and allowed to cook for 6 hours on high.

* Sometime in between I made bbq sauce. See my recipe for bbq sauce below.*

Then I drained the contents of the crock pot, saving the onions and pork. I put everything back into the crock pot. Using two forks, I pulled the pork apart, poured the bbq sauce all over, and cooked on low for and hour and a half.

SO good! The tenderloin was not dry at all. It was awesome and it really seems unnecessary to use a fatty piece of pork to make pulled pork now that I've done it with a lean piece.

We ate the bbq pork on top on a slice of the sriracha bread...IT WAS AMAZING! SOooo delicious.

**
BBQ sauce recipe: (I made half of this)
1 cup ketchup
¼ cup dark brown sugar
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 heaping Tbsp brown spicy mustard
3 Tbsp soy sauce
7-8 small squirts of Sriracha
**

**
MISHAP:

Right before you put the loaf into the oven to bake, the recipe tells you to spray water on all the oven walls generously and to spray the top of the loaf generously. No problem.

After I put the loaf in the oven, I saw the squirt bottle sitting on the counter. I started yelling "OH Noooooo........NOOOOOOO..." as I started to cry. We have two identical squirt bottles, both containing clear liquids. One is labeled "Bleach & Water" and the other is not labeled and contains only water.

Which one was sitting on my counter? Yep, the bleach and water bottle. Shit.

I looked up stuff about consuming small amounts of diluted bleach and it didn't seem like a huge deal. The top of the bread only got three squirts I think.

No traces of bleach smell or flavor were around and the bread was completely normal. Whew.

Spring Break, Day Two.

2011-03-15T12:12:00.015-05:00

Here's what I've been up to.

I wanted something fun to wear later this week when we are running around SXSW.

Here's another picture:

I'm going to wear it like this:

It was really fun to make. I spent over an hour making it..eek. I used floral wire (around 22 gage) and measured a loose ring around my head (the flowers, floral tape, and extra wire will take up thickness). I wrapped another three loops around to make a thick base.

Then I started attaching flowers with wire -

(Clip your flowers with at least an inch of stem, then wrap wire around the stem to attach to the base. Wrap floral tape over top if needed. I didn't use floral tape that often for these steps.)

You "stack" the flowers on top and arrange them as you go. When you need to add a flower to a crowded area (one full of stems wrapped wire already), I found it useful to trim the stem very short, wrap some wire around the base of the stem, and use floral tape to hold the wire to the base. This enables you to easily squeeze more flowers or leaves into a crowded space. See below:

Pliers are great for certain parts of making this head piece. You can wrap your wire tighter in places and your fingers start to go raw anyway without them.

** Edit ** Here's a photo of me and Meg wearing one. I ended up making her one, too.

***

And now I'm making Cheddar-Sriracha Bread. (It's rising now, hopefully I can post a finished picture later.) Mmmmm. I love spring break.

(P.S.: Tana, your cookbook holder rules)

HAPPY FRIDAY////////SPRING BREAK/////////

2011-03-09T13:35:00.004-06:00

oH this is a great Friday! Around 5:00pm today begins my SPRING BREAK!!

And Eric's birthday is Sunday (yay) and SXSW is next week (yay)!! This is my first spring break since I've finished graduate school where I'm not traveling.

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately. My computer has been "out of service" so I haven't been using the computer much. I have been sewing a little bit recently, so I'll post that soon. I'm hoping to be doing crafty projects over spring break too.