angry chicken

box of Clementines

I really like citrus. I have discussed this before, I know. But I have to talk about this again. I keep buying boxes of Clementines. We are on our 3rd now since Christmas, and eat them constantly. I have here my favorite breakfast which is maple syrup and homemade granola (from this recipe cheat sheet) and then plain yogurt and a Clementine on top. I had never had orange with granola until last year and it's so good. Very refreshing. Sometimes I use a regular orange, but I never take the time to segment it all fancy, I just peel it and then hack it up and throw it in. Pete's not about the membrane on oranges, but I like them just fine. The girls are split. My brother is actually very uncomfortable with membranes or anything fibrous in food. I actually thought he was going to hurl when he helped the girls carve pumpkins this year. He's what I call a bio-phobe. Like, his worst nightmare ever is seeing potatoes with eyes/roots growing on them. It's hysterical. He's all about computers, so I guess this sort of makes sense? I grew up with incredible pride that I, his little sister, could gross him out so easily. Which I did often. Wow, sorry if I ruined this breakfast for you. I am pretty sure there are certain words you should never use when writing about food and membrane is probably one, but what else to call that orange part? Plus, it's funny.

Okay, the polka-dotted aprons keep coming in for Tie One On! I will try to finish the gallery this weekend, when the e-mails stop coming. . .and the new theme will be up very very soon. Thanks you guys!

they didn't beat me.

I made the lollipops. I have been thinking about these for about 4 weeks now. Reading, checking books out of the library, going to find molds and flavorings. . .all that. There was a failed burnt to heck 1st batch, and this is batch #2—a success.

I am super happy with these molds. I wanted a thick lollipop with crisp edges—so they almost looked like tinted ice cubes. The plastic molds I found were too shallow and didn't have a hard edge. These were way more money, about $8 for 6 shapes or something (the plastic ones are only about $1) so I felt like a dork, but I am happy I stuck with my vision. Re-reading this, I am a tad embarrassed I am writing about my "vision" and how it relates to lollipops, but it's a blog.

Now they are tucked in glassine wraps tied with baker's twine. The pink ones are very lightly flavored blueberry (long story involving a 3 year old) and the green ones are sour apple. I hope to give these as little Valentine's Day treats and then have some extra for decorating cakes/cupcakes, which was the real reason I wanted to figure out how to make these. For this cupcake. Too cute. And I got a different thermometer, too. Mine had to be submerged way too far to get a reading—so far that I was afraid the syrup would boil over, so I took care of that. Now onto toffee. Why do I torture myself? I am still trying to get into old pants.

***update: Thank for the lollipop love! Here's some info:

Natural Dyes and flavorings: Nature's Flavors and Seelect have both flavors and colors. I got mine in town at either whole foods or wilds oats, I think, I have had them probably way too long.

The molds: I can't find the info! I know, lame. I threw out the packaging and I haven't found them online. I got mine at the Decorette shop here in town (Tigard location) Maybe we should call them? (only one of us should-ha!)

***update #2:

Ginger found the molds! Thank you!! They are here. They are called Sweet Creations Lollipop Molds. Probably available elsewhere, too.

Baker's Twine: From the Martha Crafts Line at Michael's. Hands down my favorite product of hers to date. I love this stuff so much, I think I have every color.

What's floating in there?: I placed some sprinkles in some of the molds before filling them. They turned out pretty cool. Mariko told me to try this, so I had to.

I didn't make this cake.

Pete's birthday was Sunday and this incredibly cute cake was brought by Melissa to celebrate the occasion. Wow! I made an ice cream pie (photos soon) so this was just perfect. And look at it! It's from the Bakery Bar and is a carrot cake with a cream cheese frosting— not too sweet at all. Just perfect. It's a 6" round with 4 layers. I think I might have to try this size. 8" rounds are my go-to cake pan size because I love the height they give, but now I am thinking I want even more. Height that is. Pete made out pretty good. He got some kill Pumas and some smart-wool socks. Not terribly exciting, but still good. He's actually playing out tonight. After a long hiatus he is playing live music again and I am so happy. The guy is a genius. A music major who picked up brainy software development on the side (?) He has missed the music side of life for awhile now and I have missed it too, vicariously through him. He is the best Dad ever, one of those guys that is 100% with the girls when he is home—which is how I get all my Amy stuff done. But, I feel guilty, or I have felt guilty, that he's had so little time of his own for the last few years, so now that he's playing music again is so very cool. Putting the 3 girls to sleep by myself while he's out playing is laughable. The last gig he had they were still up when he got home, on the couch, reading—but hey, at least no one was crying.

I think Pandora has a sick side to it. Have you noticed this? Like every once in awhile it will throw in something completely random, like Captain Beefheart. *edit-pete has confessed he added this to our list on pandora. but still.

aprons and stuff

It's Friday and I am happy about that. It's not been a bad week, but I am looking forward to getting some help around here. I have some projects in mind—some crafting and some cooking. I had a failed batch of lollipops and I am determined to not let beat me. Reading the thermometer correctly will help immensely, I think. I didn't have it submerged enough last time and so my sugar syrup turned black while never getting to the hard crack phase on the thermometer. Oops. It's just sugar and water, right? No biggie. Not like the 4 eggs and 2 cups of sugar I wasted when I forgot to put the flour (the flour!) in my pumpkin cake last weekend. That is still irking me, actually. Oh, cooking with the girls can be fun and so not productive. I blame them, for the record.

Here's my apron for Tie One On, the theme being Polka-dotted Lovelies. It's for a young girl, and I thought it would be a great gift with the cookbook there. That's my copy, which is well used. I love this cook book. I think there is a sewing version too, but I haven't seen it in person. This fabric is by Grand Revival and the ruffle is from my trim basket.

other stuff:

-Julie over at Booga j reviewed a bread baking book that has been calling out to me. You have to read bout it, it sounds so cool!

-The bloggies!!! I am honored to be nominated in the Best Craft/Art Blog category along with the other great blogs, not martha, PostSecret, posy gets cozy, and apartment therapy. I just had thai food with Alicia last night and am now planning on T.P.-ing her house, you know, as a gesture of friendly competition. And I got a chance to talk to Megan of not martha fame this summer, and she was so cool and swell, I feel totally comfortable driving to Seattle to T.P her house, too. This is my 3rd year being nominated and I think I have come in last each time. I assume so, because they list the winner, and then the other blogs. . .and I am always listed last. So one can assume, that, you know, I am last. So my goal this year is to be second to last. Vote! I always feel so excited to see the other nominated blogs are out there. I am going to check out the music ones for sure. I can only listen the Fraggle songs a bit longer around here before I go all hyphy.

 

someday I will make one.

Here's another book I recently picked up, again a Japanese craft book. ISBN978-4-277-49061-0. I have yet to try a project from a Japanese craft book, but I am game. There are diagrams in this book and it seems reasonable enough. It's more of a thick pamphlet, not a book—it was only $3.95. I love the big-trivet-for-your-hiney thing. If I had one I'd feel like I were sitting on the coolest hot pad ever.

I have to try it 'cause I can run to a local crochet expert if I get into trouble. The last time she helped me crochet I was very pregnant and mentally impaired. I promise to do better this time.

Okay, can't find this book online either, sorry. If anyone can, please post it in the comments. It's published by Ondori. Again, I get my books here in town, you can read all that info in my FAQ.

In keeping with my recent theme of pouring over books at night but not actually starting anything related to their contents, I have been spending way too much time over here at this wallet draining needlework bookshop, The Mad Samplar Books. Ouch. If you like used or rare books of the needlework variety, sorry in advance.

picnic at hanging rock-ish

I just got this book and am smitten. It's all about altering t-shirts, sweaters, and whatnot by adding lace, doilies, and bits of trim. The photos feature all girls, but of course I want to dress like this, too.

So elegantly cool. That crown there is just a circle of lace. Brilliant. And the doily on the strap is perfect.  Bloomers make an appearance too, so I felt compelled to take this book home with me.

The photos are so lovely. These girl look so real. Albeit a bit moody, but hey, that's real too, you know? It sort of reminds me of a more casual Flora and Henri. The ISBN is 978-4-12-390158-1. There are no patterns in this book because it's altering existing clothes, so there's just illos with generic ideas. It's all in Japanese, of course. I can't find it online right now, but I know you sleuths can. Here's an image of the cover. (I get all my Japanese books here locally, you can see more info in my FAQ.)

And thank for all the eMailorder #8 love!! Don't forget to show to paper cuts in the Mailorder group on flickr, I can't wait to see!

eMailorder #8!

It's here! Please head on over to kingpod to get yours now. In this special PDF issue you will get 4 paper cut designs, along with helpful directions and a mailorder recipe. I hope you enjoy cutting these as much as I did

Print these out at home on any color paper you like. Now you don't have to worry about transferring the paper cut design. How handy! And, what a lovely Valentine's Day gift these would make!

A brief note to special Mailorder subscribers-

The last issue for subscribers was #7. . .so you have them all. I know, number 7? This is because the first subscription round was 3 issues, and the second was 4. . . hence the silly 7 number, so this # 8 is a new issue and a pdf only. No worries, the red envelope has not gone away, we are just trying some different formats for fun and excitement. Like, we need more around here.

naan too hard.

Naan! Why haven't I tried making this before now?

This was my first time making naan and I think I got the recipe here, but I looked at a few, put the laptop on the kitchen counter, and then just went for it—and this was 2 weeks ago, so lord knows. It was terribly fun grilling these and they froze well. I had to freeze them because the recipe made about 16. I made pizza for the girls on them, but because I called them naan first and then pizza second, they were rejected. This resulted in not my finest mothering moment, but oh well, Pete and I ate the heck out of them. I should try making them with whole wheat flour or white whole wheat flour (has anyone tried this type of flour?) so I can feel 35% better about stuffing way too many carbs in my belly. Yum!

I should have used this book, which we love, but I can't find it, which is ridiculous because it is huge. Not the type of thing one would lose. I know for awhile it was a structural part of a makeshift desk (don't ask) but that has been dismantled, so it could be anywhere. It looks like it's out of print, but powell's has one left. Here's some at amazon, too.

bloomers

These bloomers were requested the week before Christmas and were sewn later that day when I was totally insane. I used my go-to kid pants pattern (I don't have the pattern # in front of me, but really, any one will do fine) and just made them shorter, added the lace on the hem, and some ribbon (not functional—decorative only) on the side. The ribbon bows are stitched down, so they can't come untied. This minimizes issues that may arise which could result in not leaving the house anytime soon, at all. They are for the oldest daughter, but a request has been made by the middle child as well, although it's fleeting.

These are perfect for under dresses along with Heidi and Little Bo Peep style dress up. And, they match her dolly's bloomers, so there you go. Matching the dolls has gotten very important. Ask Grammie. She has been slaving away sewing a matching jacket for Sadie to go with the jacket Santa (Grammie) made for her dolly. Of course, there was a doll sized muff too, and when Sadie got her jacket to match, Delia asked where the matching muff was. Tough crowd. I love this so much—sewing doll clothes and matching clothes for the girls and all that, but sometimes I wish for the days when they would only wear pajamas and lifevests (for real) or I just want them to wear yellow jumpsuits everyday and be done with it. Like in Bottle Rocket. Or Devo.

stuff that looks like other stuff

I love these cups from crate and barrel. I snoozed and didn't buy the larger ones and now they only have these petite (but not as useful) espresso size. Still, I really dig them. The whole ceramic-looking-like-a-disposable thing kills me, like these containers at yoyo ceramics, thanks sarah. These porcelain dishes that are cast from take-out containers as molds are stellar as well.

And how much do I love The Curiosity Shoppe anyway? A whole lot. Much time is spent there cruising around and also reading their shop blog. I love it when cool shops have blogs. And restaurants, too, like Little Red Bike Cafe. Oh, and speaking of Portland restaurants, we had a lovely dinner at Cava the other night. It's Amy and Randy's new restaurant.You can see their drool worthy menu here—please get the profiteroles. Please. It's the nicest place to hang out, I highly recommend it. And they have a kids menu too, although the only kid we had with us isn't eating grilled cheese yet and thankfully was asleep most of the meal.

swedish christmas braid

Grammie always made a Swedish Christmas Braid for Christmas morning. I have been making them for our family for about 5 years now, more or less, and they are a favorite holiday tradition of mine. I usually make it on Christmas eve and then leave it out overnight for french toast in the morning, or just with butter and jam. I love the idea of baking it fresh in the morning, but there is no way I can get up that early. I guess I could do the first rise and then braid it and then put it in the fridge overnight. Then I could take it out and do the second rise Christmas morning. That would work. But this requires a bit more brain power than I seem to have during this time of year.

Here it is as french toast yesterday. I froze it. And I have to eat it with jam.

Cardamom, which is the spice in this braid, is a wonderful flavor to me. I like to use it in apple pies, but don't very often because it always disappoints someone. "Why does it taste soapy?" Hmmm. That's the nice version. "Why did you ruin a perfectly good apple pie?" is probably what is really meant. This also happens when I add orange rind to chocolate chip cookies. Which is pure heaven in my book. It's getting to the point now that I splint a batch in half, one with the orange rind, one without because I love the orange rind so much. I like to avoid making gender generalizations, but it's interesting to me that men seem the most offended by orange rind in my cookies. Or baked goods in general. The most upset I ever saw Pete in a restaurant was when his waffles came with orange rind in the batter, which wasn't described in the menu. I think not knowing it was in there is what did it, but still, he was pretty aggro. Grammie says women like citrus flavors way more than men. Grammie is the master of sweeping generalizations, a quality I absolute love about her, and I make my share as well. What's best is that we never remember saying these things, so when people quote us back to ourselves later we always say "Did I say that? I didn't say that. I must have been smoking crack." But, back to citrus. . .  is this true? I love citrus in baked goods and love lemon tarts and all that but the men I know really don't get all excited about a lemon tart. Or orange pound cake. But good ol' chocolate cake? Yup, that goes over big.

The Swedish Christmas Braid recipe I use I posted here on flickr last year for the December Tie One On submission. Oh, don't forget the polka-dot aprons for Tie One On are due February 1st! Perfect theme for Valentine's Day, huh?

fudge & sugarplums

Again. . . . I need to post some pre-holiday stuff here to play catch up before I forget.

Our holiday cards had a fudge recipe on it. An insanely easy fudge which is begging for customization. The recipe I used is from here and then I just added some mix-ins. I suggested adding cayenne (just a pinch) this year and called it "slightly naughty fudge" and it was suburb—but then later I made a batch that was even better (to me, of course, cooking being subjective and all) and I call it Salted Fudge.

I made a batch using the same recipe as above but used 1 part semi-sweet chocolate chips, 2 parts milk chocolate chips, added a bit of vanilla, a teaspoon of instant espresso powder, and then on top very lightly sprinkled my fancy finishing salt mixed with a tiny bit of cinnamon and sugar. If you try this, make sure and dust it right away, the fudge sets super fast and then the salt and sugar won't stick on top.

Oh good lord almighty. Really. This finishing salt is crazy because it doesn't even taste like salt. Okay, I could go on here, but for the sake of brevity. . . the salt makes the whole chocolate thing very complex and so amazing. It's one of those "oh, what is in my mouth? It's is so good, perhaps it's not even food, but a bit of chewable heaven" moments. I had several friends and family members experience this as well when eating this stuff.

An all time favorite pre-Christmas photo. Now I have four Sugarplum Fairies. Thank you Hillary, they love them so much and so do I. And look, I even let the girls play with them. I have to. I tried to hide them twice and got totally busted.

three sisters.

Some holiday catch-up:

My brother received his paper cut, framed for Christmas and my mom got this one. She was surprised, she didn't know one was also made for her. It was cut at the 11th hour, at 2 am, with not enough light, but I just couldn't stop working on it. It was framed in white, wrapped, and put under the tree—so I realize, seeing it now, I had forgotten exactly what it looked like. I found this very cool super thin crepe-like paper that was wonderful to cut and has a very small wrinkled texture. (Here locally at paper zone, portland peeps.)

It's framed in an 8" x 10" white frame with very little breathing space, the paper cut almost goes up to the edge. I'm not sure if I need to float these more and give them more room. Framing them floating with more space makes them seem more precious and I am not sure if I want this folksy craft style of work to take on a precious capital A arty feel when framed. . . I need to experiment more. At any rate, I love drawing and cutting these, so I will have plenty to frame and experiment with. I changed blades on this one—the sisters there are small, the smallest is about the size of a dime.

Inspiration of late:

I just found Little Circus Design (via Bloesem) and her work is making me very happy. It's not paper cut, I don't think, but has the bold graphic look I am obsessed with right now. Please look at this one. Amazing.

moist dirt.

Santa (my husband) gave me this insanely cool terrarium for Christmas. He got it here in Portland at Pistils and I love it so much. I have been admiring terrariums for a bit now (who doesn't love these things!?) and now I have one, which is perfect because I officially got rid of my 4 remaining houseplants right before Liddy was born. Long story. Something to do with yellow withered leaves making me crazy days before I went into labor. (It's the little things, right?)

I have seen several styles of these cool terrariums around but never seen this orb style that hangs.edit-I just saw one very similar in the new CB2 catalog. I need to stress again my love for this. There's an air cactus in there, which is so funny to me—because it looks all modern and cool but I associate air cacti with 1970s pet rock/Mexican jumping beans/chia pet fads. I am not sure why. Couldn't you buy air cacti in the check outline at the grocery store about 20 years ago?

There is so much out there in webville about these, how to make them, inspiring photos, etc. Here's a short list that makes me super happy.

-Hello Yarn's Flickr set with great info about her terrariums. I love her blog and shop so much and I want to be 1/8th as good at knitting as she is when I grow up.

-Stephanie's brilliant terrarium party favors

-The succulent terrarium Mellisa made Mariko (which I was tempted to steal. That would be funny, right? I'd give it back in a few months. I should really do this.)

-this really sweet and informative how-to video

-terrarium flickr group (only for pants, not lizards/frogs, etc.) edit-pants!!!!! okay, it should say plants, but this is too funny to correct. can you imagine tiny pants in terrariums?? Wow. That would be awesome.

-Martha Stewart kids terrarium project

-Ann Wood's amazing terrariums (just added this one, thanks cal!)

-very very small (eek! so cute!) terrarium at Cottage Living with nice how-to (thanks chelsea!)

marshmallows.

I did get around to making marshmallows before Christmas. I think I have been wanting to make these for about 4 years. I really like s'mores a whole lot. I actually didn't try s'mores with these, they were eaten too fast, but I might make some again real soon. These were super easy to make, but required another adult. I get really freaked in the kitchen with super hot stuff (like molten liquid candy) and the kids so we went to Grammie's. I used this recipe but forgot my brand new $9 candy thermometer I bought just for this project at home (curses!) so we just boiled it hard for 1 minute and it worked perfect. It really has to come to a rolling boil though.

I am digging this candy making business a whole bunch and want to try some brittle, toffees, and lollipops, especially for Valentines day. I love the idea of making candy because it just seems like something you can't make. . . but you can! Grammie used to make saltwater taffy with us when we were little and we'd butter our hands and pull the taffy. It was so fun. I don't remember eating it though. I just liked making it.

We dipped the marshmallows in milk chocolate, of course, and sprinkled with hazelnuts. Why not? Amazing. I will tell you I had a gagging moment when I shoved one in my mouth while cleaning up because they were too fresh, not quite set, and a mouth full of marshmallow creme with warm chocolate is a bit much. Especially with this size. I enjoyed them much more when they were cooled, even from the fridge. I froze about a dozen and they kept great. The plain ones I just sealed up and they kept really well too at room temp, but we only had them for about 3 days before they got eaten. I need to toast some. Or, I should say blacken them, which is how I like them. On fire.

The middle child photo assistanting.

Happy 2008!

I thought this photo was fitting for today—a blank slate for the New Year. Or maybe it's just a bit dorky. And hey, I am so glad you guys liked the Holiday Gifts tags! I still yelled random things at people when they were opening gifts, but that's what I do. I can't stop.

Anyway, I put together these chalkboard sets for the girls from Santa and I think they were my favorite homemade gift this year. The chalkboards, erasers (wool felt!) and little rulers I got from Casey Wood Products (thanks again for this amazing resource, Amanda) and it was all insanely cheap. I sewed a little bag to store the chalk, erasers, and rulers in. It closes with a bit of Velcro sewn into the inside. Very pleasing. I tried to get the girls to draw something for this photo, but the fun part is erasing, so leaving a drawing on the boards is not an option. Understandable.

Okay, so 2007. I love making lists and looking back, but my brain is so very soft that what is popping into my head borders on. . . .well, mental. I also realize that all these items are mostly from the last month, which shows my inability to remember anything. I like to call it staying in the moment, but it also could be called early onset of Alzheimer's.

Personal Excitement in 2007 (that sounds naughty!) in no particular order:

-Paper cutting
-successfully making homemade marshmallows (will post this soon)
-having a baby
-getting a new niece
-releasing my book and the awesome booking signing event that you all came out for
-fitting into jeans again (albeit, still 1 size larger than before kids. Ahem.)
-cake in a jar
-all the cool new blogs out there
-going to a movie last week, by myself. I saw Darjeeling Limited, which I really enjoyed.

Super Lame in 2007 (again in no order)

-the demise of Blueprint Magazine
-the demise of MS Kids (yes, that was more than a year ago, but it still upset me this year)
-the assassination of Benazir Bhutto (Horrible that I list such a tragic event in with magazines, but such is my brain.)
-worrying about all the lead/toy recalls. Good god.

Much has been left out. I just got a TON of new music and am so excited to get into it all. So, that should be on this list, but isn't. And I should list books too, but I am not organized enough. Oh well. I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's Eve and that your 2008 is crazy phat!

If you got Bend-The-Rules Sewing for Christmas, don't forget to look at the flickr group for amazing photos of completed projects and the awesome discussion section. There are now over 120 topics discussed (and there is a search option) and the book errata is on flickr too. (These have been corrected in the 2nd edition of the book, BTW.)