Under Construction

Photos (proof that I am the worst housekeeper you know)

Both nothing and everything going on and I'm feeling simultaneously overwhelmed and uninspired (isn't it annoying how those two go hand in hand?). How 'bout some photos? A few from my iPhoto album.

Salt crystals (aka what happens in a pan of pickling solution when you leave it on the stove for a week while you're on vacation). They were so beautiful I hated to wash the pan.

Self portrait (and, it's official, my child does not have a single shirt without spots on it)

Disturbing (now this may scare you away from the blog forever because this is really odd...but we have had a slug infestation. Indoors. That phone is there for scale.  The slugs are disturbingly large and only come out one at a time and only at midnight. Is this the most bizarre, disgusting thing you've ever heard of? WHERE ARE THEY COMING FROM??)

Score! (got this fab casserole dish for $3 at the thrift store. And the apricots were free from my neighbor)

Now that you know what a horrible housekeeper I am (slugs! unwashed pans! unclean shirts!) and hate me for my good luck (thrifting find! free apricots! adorable child!) I'll leave you to your Wednesday.

Sunday afternoon

Typed yesterday:

At noon she wandered into the living room where I was typing away on a project for work. Her binky was in her mouth, her blankie was in her hand. I reminded her that those items were only allowed in bed and when I checked 5 minutes later she was sound asleep.

She woke up hungry but I didn't have much inspiration to cook. We snacked on the few ripe cherry tomatoes in the garden. Then she sat down at her play table (which was already set for three) and polished off some applesauce, tried a few bites of peanut butter sandwich, drank some water and Mr. H cajoled her into eating her zucchini.

At the library she saw the other kid using the computers for some sort of educational video game.  After 20 some minutes she finally tired of watching the animated characters jump around while she had no idea what to do.

We checked out our three books and got stuck at the exit while she watched everyone returning books to the slot. Then she returned our books.

When we got home Mr. H was almost done mowing so I turned the car around and told her we were getting treats. At AM/PM she spent quite a while ogling the always off limit selection considering several brightly colored, unknown candies. She settled on a Ring Pop.

We got home again an Mr. H was grateful for the vat of Diet Pepsi. She chomped through the Ring Pop leaving puddles of purple drool on the ottoman while I typed this entry.

It's hot outside. I should be doing real work. Happy weekend!

Taken last weekend:

I still have some stories to tell from our trip to the lake but I sort of forgot how work piles up when you take a week off. I'm planning to catch up by mid-August!

Evolution of an obsession

Earlier this year I lucked out and got mailed an entire case of FREE Haagen Dazs ice cream. Five pints of their newest flavors. My favorite was the salted caramel, a flavor I'd never tried or considered. Yum!

Fast forward a few months and I was in San Francisco discussing places to eat with my resident foodie friend and learned about Bi-Rite ice cream and their famous salted caramel ice cream. Yum!

Skip ahead to last weekend when I arrived home from vacation with a sudden compulsion to make caramel and found this recipe for Fleur de Sel Caramels (aka salted caramel). OH MY GOODNESS they are yummy.

I took the suggestions from many of the comments and added a scant teaspoon of vanilla to the cream mixture and increased the salt (I used kosher) to a heaping teaspoon. I also sprinkled a little pinch of salt on top.  These were really good (if I do say so myself). I'm thinking Christmas gifts or Christmas party favors or yummy mid-July snack for me.  I found the recipe very easy and pretty forgiving; I'll definitely make it again.

One tip, I stored them overnight in a plastic ziploc (we have ants) and noticed they took on a plasticy taste that they didn't have when I was just storing them in a bowl (in the microwave).

And finally, I love Ross (the store). I decided I needed a mini cake stand (you know, to display caramels for myself in my microwave and then take their photo as any good blogger would do) and Ross had the perfect one for just $5. Hooray!

Cutting boards--for veggies only!

EMama is on a roll. She won the cutting board!  And when I visited her blog I saw that she recently won another Pay it Forward contest. That's a lot of paying forward. Congrats, EMama!!  

If you didn't win, sorry, but I did put the final bell pepper cutting board up for sale in my etsy shop.

Michelle had the great idea of a garlic or onion shaped board reserved for cutting pungent foods. If you think this is a good idea too (and might buy one) let me know. I'm thinking if there's an interest I may list a few more different shapes (and different woods) in the shop.

Finally, while we're talking shop, the picnic blanket is up for sale at Handmade Parade. I'm hoping to make a few more of those this month but I can't find any flannel sheets so it's currently one of a kind!

Lake report

Weather: excellent
Relaxation: complete
Potty training: done (no kidding! the kid is suddenly, consistently, amazingly wearing big girl (or boy in the case of her Lightening McQueen's) underwear). You could knock me over with a feather. Today has been harder than yesterday but I think she's got it.
Internet connection: spotty
Book Reading: Finished Eat, Pray, Love in 48 hours (thanks, Kristy, loved it)
Number of times I've borrowed my mother-in-law's nail clippers: 6

You can still enter the cutting board giveaway (previous post).

See ya later. Over and out.

Peppers

I made this wooden cutting board for my sister after a conversation about telling "veggie" cutting boards from "meat" cutting boards.  My sister is a vegetarian with meatetarian roommates so it seemed like she should have a dedicated cutting board.

The BEST part (in my opinion) is the fact that I mailed it as-is. No box, no wrapping.  I woodburned her address on the back (with a soldering iron so don't knock the penmanship), affixed postage and dropped it in the mail.  Hers was a test run and it arrived safe and sound--ready to wash and use.

I have enough wood glued up to make two more of these so I thought I'd send one for my next round of Pay it Forward.  I'm heading out on vacation for a week so, leave a comment before I get back (next Saturday) and you'll be in the running.

And as a consolation prize since, unfortunately, you might not win, a recipe (the obsession with food preserving continues--I just took pickles out of the hot water bath):

Jalapeno Jam (adapted from this recipe)
1 large (or 2 small) green bell peppers
15 fresh, medium size jalapenos
1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
pinch salt
5 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 bag liquid pectin (about 3 oz)

Remove stems from jalapenos and remove seeds from all but 4 of them. Very finely chop jalapenos, bell pepper and some vinegar in a food processor (use gloves with the jalapenos!).  Dump puree and remaining vinegar in a non reactive (non metal) pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.

Stir in sugar and salt and bring to a hard boil over medium-high heat. Boil one minute stirring constantly then turn off heat and immediately add pectin.  Stir well and put into sterile half pint jam jars. Process in boiling water bath for 15 minutes.  Remove and let cool on a towel. (follow other directions for specifics of processing if you haven't done it before)

This made about 5 jars of jam for me. It was pretty spicy but was delish on a cracker over cream cheese.

Enjoy!

PS If you're going to comment anyway, feel free to share a random/stupid fact about yourself. I'd love to know more about you.

Pay it Forwardpalooza

Janelle really outdid herself with the Pay it Forward gift!  She must be a card making machine! Look at all these cards (even after Biscuit stole several out of the photo)

She also included a cute little notebook and some twisty crayons for Biscuit--Biscuit has already filled several pages with scribbles.  And the notepad for me is perfect! I am always looking for a list making notepad by the phone and now I have a cute one!

In addition to ALL the paper goodies there was some yummy lotion and lip balm and a Sudokhu book that I can take on my vacation next week.

Ok, sorry, enough bragging about my luckiness with this package.  Thanks to Swistle for hosting the fun. And Janelle, Taryn will thank you too because after seeing this haul I threw another little goodie in her package.

Stay tuned tomorrow for another chance to win Pay it Forward here at Under Construction.

If I gain 50 pounds I am totally blaming the internet

I swear, I read a recipe online and I must make it IMMEDIATELY.
Cases in point from the last week:
Chicken Tikka Masala from Posie Gets Cozy
Clafoutis (cherry and plum) from Posie Gets Cozy
Cold(ish) Peanut Noodles found via NotMartha (I didn't add the sesame seeds and it was okay)
Carrot and Beet Salad from Chocolate and Zucchini
and then, tonight, Amy at Angry Chicken posts about rhubarb pie after I had JUST been talking at work about how much I love rhubarb pie. Fortunately my rhubarb plants aren't ready to harvest so I was spared the IMMEDIATE need to make pie.

Instead I made pudding.  Rice pudding has been an obsession for the last several weeks. I found the recipe in Everyday Foods (March 2005 issue) and made it several times. Tonight I realized I had lost the recipe so I went off memory. It went okay so now I'm going to type it here so I can find it again.
2/3 cup white rice (don't substitute brown rice--trust me)
6 cups milk (lowfat okay)
1/3 cup sugar
some vanilla
dash of salt, maybe?
Flavor
Option #1: zest of a lime (or two) and 1/3 cup shredded coconut
Option #1: 1/2 tsp ground cardamom and add 1/2 cup chopped pistachios at the end
Cook over medium low heat, uncovered, until it looks done (30ish minutes)

If someone happens to have that issue of everyday foods do you mind telling me if I'm leaving out something critical? It tasted fine but....

So anyway, now I've even got my sister (who normally doesn't cook at all) into the internet food trend by introducing her to Orangette. My sister advises that Orangette's Chocolate, Banana, Cinnamon bread is fantastic even though it sounds kinda gross to me. She and I agree that Orangette's Butternut Chickpea Salad is fab!

If you're looking for a cooking recommendation, go with the peanut noodles (maybe sub tofu for the chicken if you're a veggie type). Hot, spicy food on a 106 degree day is kinda silly. Mr. H told me so (but he also loved the Tikka Masala.)

Actually capturing the mythical "evening light" in a photo shoot. Hooray!

Ok, maybe you can't really tell but I thought the light looked cool. I was trying to get some photos of a picnic blanket I made for Handmade Parade. Right now I've got some cards and book clocks up for sale over there but next month will be picnic stuff.

Biscuit kindly did a test run and found the picnic blanket suitable for teddy bear picnics. Even the stripy back was okay.

The blanket is also foldable.

This is one of those projects that came out exactly like I wanted (after I had a fight with my sewing machine over the binding). I have been saving the thrifted sheets for ages (gee, do you think I like yellow?) and I love the stripy sheet on the back. The "batting" is a thrifted flannel sheet making this blanket a perfect weight for picnics. If it gets cold at your picnic, you can snuggle up. Not likely here as it's going to be ONE HUNDRED AND SIX degrees tomorrow. You'd think I'd be used to it. I live in a hot part of the country.

This is the first project in a while that I'm kinda hoping doesn't sell--I really like it--but I DO NOT need more quilts. Especially in 106 degree weather. So it'll be at Handmade Parade in a week or so.

Stay cool, wherever you are!

Winners all around!

It seems Swistle's Pay it Forward contest was a giant success. I'm super excited to have won the contest over at Yaya's Mom (so stay tuned for another PiF on this blog in the near future). And the winner of the jam was....

drumroll....

Taryn at TVDesigns. I'm quite excited because it looks like Taryn is a sewist so I can send her some fabric goodies with the jam.  Hooray for Pay it Forward!

As a consolation prize (of sorts) I drew up some jam lid designs and created a pdf. Just fill in the blanks with your jam flavor and info and attach it to your homemade jam. I made a few for the typical jam jar size and a few for wide mouth jars. It would be especially fun to print these on sticky paper to adhere to the jam lid but if you only have regular paper the ring holds the label onto the jar.

You can download the pdf here: Download resizedjarlid.pdf

Also, note that it includes a space to write a reminder to return the jam jar once the jam is gone. If you share your jam it's always nice to get the jars back (from local folks) so you don't have to buy new every year.  The return info is hidden by the ring on the jam jar.

Exhibit A:

Well, we are just back from only one night away but the house situation is b-a-d and work is tomorrow so I'll leave it at that with apologies for potentially poor pdf quality. Not the best scanner....