All Mine

repost from 8/2009.  I can't wait for warmer weather again.




I grew the tomatoes and the basil. I baked the bread. And I ate this delicious, garlicky, fresh, bruschetta.

Half Square Triangle quilt - pinned

While the laundry was doing its thing last night, I sandwiched and pinned my HST top.

I used Sharon Schamber's method of using two pieces of trim to roll the top and backing.  It worked really well.  I was successful on the first try.  Even though my boards are a bit too long, they were pretty easy to manage.  I started to use the herringbone basting stitch that she demonstrates, but I couldn't find my perle cotton thread.  I did a couple of rows with regular thread, but decided to switch to quilting safety pins.  We'll see how good of a switch that was once the quilting begins.  It should be easy, but boring to quilt - just straight lines on this one.

I think this is the best picture, although it doesn't really show much of the quilt.

Happy Valentine's Day

I did practically no sewing or crafting for Valentine's Day other than sewing up some paper envelopes for the Niece and Nephew's gifts.  I bought them the most adorable matching outfits from Children's Place.  Perhaps they will wear them for Easter.

I took some heavy, natural tissue, the kind used to wrap breakables, some hot pink tissue paper, and some scrapbooking letter stickers.  I folded the clothes into a neat stack and made sure they would fit in one sheet of tissue.  I then used a glue stick to attach a hot pink heart I cut freehand and the letter stickers to spell out their names.  I made a quick trip around three sides with hot pink thread and a basting stitch, inserting the clothes before sewing the last side.  Here are the packages ready to be mailed.

 

  

And what's inside:

I did cook, though.  I even drug the grill out of the garage in 10 degree weather to grill some NY strip steaks.  I roasted some Yukon Gold potatoes with some onions, steamed asparagus, and made Hollandaise to go over it.  There is nothing like a steak off the grill.  We drank a Coppola Claret, which was really delicious. 

It was the first time I made a Hollandaise sauce as far as I can remember.  It was so, so, so good.  By itself it tasted salty,  but on the asparagus, which I had only salted a bit to steam, it was perfect.  We had some leftover, so for breakfast, I toasted some English muffins, layered the potatoes, asparagus and a poached egg on top and covered it all with the leftover Hollandaise.  The sauce broke a bit, but still tasted good enough to make this a decadent breakfast.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures.

Not Your Usual Sandwich

repost from July 2009
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My parents and grandpa visited last weekend. My mom was telling me how much my nephew, who is 4, likes to bake cookies and be in the kitchen with her. Creating a foodie indeed. After they left, I went about googling apron patterns and found several rough estimates from an assortment of bloggers. I whipped up an apron for my nephew and my niece. Since I was having lunch with a friend the next day, I made one for her daughter, too.

The Nephew

Some smart blogger suggested D rings so kids can "tie" their apron themselves.

The Niece - backed in the dark pink of the ruffle

The Friend - backed in light blue with white ties and ruffle

And since The Niece loves to play in her kitchen, I made her a sandwich, a bag of chips and some cookies out of felt. Thanks to Snazzle Craft for the patterns. Click to see more detailed pics.

Bier Markt and Bar Cento

I realized I never posted about our trip to NE Ohio.  After visiting the West Side Market, we tried to go to the Great Lakes Brewing Company.  I'm sure we would have had a lovely meal there, but the wait was crazy long.  So we went back around the corner to the Bier Markt and Bar Cento.  I'm not really sure why this 2-in-1 restaurants are 2-in-1 and not just two.  Or one.  They have one menu, the same entryway, the same kitchen.  But whatever.

We were seated right away in the outer, foyer-ish area of the restaurant.  I understood why it seemed so entryway when we were told that the building used to be a department store.  It was nicely decorated for Christmas, and the booth was large, comfy and quiet.  The interior room was long and rather narrow.  The bar and kitchen ran along the left side and the tables seemed warm and cozy.  The host tried to seat a few parties near us in the outer area, but most declined and asked for a table inside. I was fine with our quiet spot, but can understand why they preferred otherwise. Here's the view from our booth.

And a blurry shot of the interior area:

The food was delicious. We started with a cheese and salumi plate that included house pickled vegetables, a glass of wine for me, Warsteiners for them.  We devoured it in no time.

LBK and I had the burger, which was very good.  Juicy and well seasoned.

The In-laws had pizzas - the Sunnyside, which was the best thing on the table,

and the pizza bianco, which was also good.

We definitely enjoyed our meal here and would recommend it.

Eat My Shorts

repost
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LBK asked me to make a cake for work since they finished their project. It's their project group's logo. I used two 10" squares, trimmed a small triangle off one side and reattached it to the top.
I wish I had piped the name instead of trying to do a transfer. It didn't work so well. It's okay though and I'm sure they will love it.

Satisfying a Craving

re-post from January 2009
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Friday night, I wanted to go out for dinner. The day ended crappily and I wanted to be served. To have dinner delivered to my table and the empty plate whisked away when I was done, never to be seen again. To eat pumpkin ravioli at a nearby semi-romantic, slightly nicer than casual place. To sit in the company of adults, to cherish time with Pav. Who was not in the mood to go out. Our going out/staying in preferences just didn't align.

So Saturday, after going to a bridal shower nearby in the afternoon, I made my own damn ravioli. I used the food processor to make the pasta dough and the Kitchenaid attachment to roll it out.


Pumpkin ravioli with butter and sage sauce, pecans and pepperoncini



With some sauted rapini and a bit of white wine, it really hit the spot.