exit, pursued by bear

how I make my life more complicated.

I have an uncanny habit (which I believe I inherited from my father) of making most anything more complicated than it necessarily should be.

Here's how the latest incarnation of this wonderful little habit of mine played out ...

I've been meaning to make this green curry recipe ... well, basically since FOREVER. I think I originally read about it on this blog (one of my faves) -- but I can't seem to find it ... Regardless, I'm pretty sure that's how I heard about posie gets cozy in the first place.

{photo from posie gets cosy}

That little curry recipe is pretty popular. I've also seen it floating around here (love this site) -- be sure to check out her "my red pot" flickr set for pics of the curry. We have the same pot -- in fact, I first read about Target's Chefmate enameled cast iron "holy grail" -- on not martha. I think I even commented on that particular post ...

ANYWAY. Crazy blog world -- so insular, I kinda love it. (You can sort of see how I manage to complicate things, right? My thoughts jump all over the place!)

For whatever reason (probably inspired after browsing one of these above sites), I decided to finally make the green curry recipe. So I read ALL about it (again) on not martha and again on posie gets cozy. In the aforementioned "my red pot" flickr set, I noticed that she had made chicken and dumplings:

Quick Chicken and Dumplings"> {Quick Chicken and Dumplings from Betty Crocker}

Now, chicken and dumplings is not exactly a dish that has ever appealed to me. Nor is it something I've actually ever eaten. It sounds very American to me and with an English mother, there's a lot of "typical" American meals that have never found there way to my plate.

But for whatever reason (it may have been exceptionally dreary and chilly that day?) the chicken and dumplings looked REALLY good to me. So I decided that I'd get stuff to make that while I was at the store getting ingredients for the green curry. Fine.

Well, except ... in that particular recipe is for "quick" chicken and dumplings -- you use one of those cooked, rotisserie chickens that you buy in the grocery store. Except I didn't know when we were going to be able to eat it, because of our schedules, so I didn't want to buy a rotisserie chicken and have it just sitting around.

My solution? Roast my own whole chicken! So now I have to get stuff for THREE meals: green curry, chicken and dumplings and roasted chicken.

{Perfect Roast Chicken from Martha Stewart}

I found this recipe while browsing around marthastewart.com, it's actually surprisingly easy. I figured I could handle it after having tackled a 15 lb turkey ...

First up in the parade of recipes was the green curry. I made it one week night -- it was awesome to come home after working 12+ hours and start deveining ^* shrimp! Why I thought this was a good weekday meal ... I will never know. We ended up eating really late, but the green curry was really yummy -- even Jeremy liked it, which I was a little worried about since he's not a huge curry hound like me.

We didn't tackle the roast chicken until last Saturday. I bought a 5 lb chicken (so cheap!) and planned on serving it with mashed potatoes and veggies. But of course I didn't start roasting the darn thing until some ridiculous hour, so we ate around 10:00 PM (Again! At least it was the weekend this time). The only mishaps involved me roasting the chicken upside down (whoops!), so the back was lovely and crispy -- but the chicken breast itself was super juicy (I've heard of people cooking their turkeys this way, I can understand why). Also I spent all that time fussing over the gravy (pan drippings, straining, etc.) -- only to put it in a little serving jug and COMPLETELY FORGET ABOUT IT. I saw my delicious gravy waiting for me on the kitchen counter when we came in with our plates after dinner. Oh well ... gravy with leftovers, right? ;o)

Monday night was the last stop on this little recipe journey of mine -- it ocurred to me as I was making the dumplings that since I've never had this dish, I wasn't exactly sure what the consistency was supposed to be like. I think I may have over-cooked the dumplings (they were kind of biscuit-y) -- but they were still very good. Jeremy was extremely skeptical of this dish (he hadn't ever wanted to try them before) -- I think his reservations were primarily fueled by his dislike of the word "dumpling." However, we both deciced that this particular meal was quite yummy -- and perfect comfort food for cold, rainy (or snowy!) winter days.

So there's my saga of how I wanted to make green curry and ended up making several other meals in addition to it. Also, some brief insight into the completely random way in which my mind works. Fascinating, isn't it? ;o)

* Those of you who recently had a debate with me about what exactly you're removing when you "devein" shrimp (you know who you are ...) - looks like I was wrong. And while "poop!" isn't really described in Wikipedia's definition, I think "digestive track" is much closer than my claim of "blood!" I salute you!

holiday fun.

Came across this little gem while browsing one of my new favorite blogs: The Square America Christmas Spectacular!!

Square America is a site full of "vintage snapshots & vernacular photography" -- their "Christmas Spectacular" has photographs divided into five different categories: Season's Greetings! (A Modest Selection of 64 Strange and Wonderful Real Photo Christmas Cards), A Visit from St. Nick (A Roughly Chronological Arrangement of Some 60 Photos of Santa from 1918 to 1984), Holiday Grab Bag (A Selection of 135+ Photos of Trees, Toys, Tots, and Assorted Christmas-y Goodness), A Very Kodachrome Christmas (40 Slides from the golden era of Kodachrome), and Happy New Year!

Here are some of my favorites from "Holiday Grab Bag":

{classic!}

{Love those seams}

{magical tree}

{might be my favorite}

{another beautiful, ethereal-looking tree}

{I have always wanted one of these vintage tinsel trees --
our neighbors have one JUST like this, so jealous!}

This site has been cracking me up -- I'm going to have to go check all the photo albums next time I see my parents and see what hidden gems I can find.

look what just arrived ...

These darling Peppermint Fairy Stitchettes arrived in the mail today ... can't wait to try them out!

{"Peppermint Fairy Stitchette" fromwee wonderfuls, $8.00}

... and her friends!

Love the reindeer! And the penguin! And the gingerbread house! Oh goodness, I love them all! I'm going to have to find something to stitch these on to ... I think they'd be perfect on a cushion, ornaments, or maybe even frame them ...

And I still have these wonderful freebie elf stitchette patterns to make as well! I want to embroider these in color, but they do look great in redwork and so cute on stockings:

{Elf Stitchette Embroidery Patterns - free download available here}

I almost forgot -- the Acorn Fairy Stitchette came as well today!

{"Acorn Fairy Stitchette," from wee wonderfuls - $8.00}

... along with her woodland friends (couldn't resist those squirrels):

Hillary has the cutest stuff -- love her site.

stitchy updates!

So! I was able to find some silly little plain, white cotton cocktail napkins! I called like 15 places here in town and scoured numerous more web sites ... Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn BOTH had them online, but only PB had them in stock at my local store:

{Success! Classic Hotel Cocktail Napkins: Set of 6, $12.00 - Pottery Barn}

I'm a little miffed because they were more expensive than some of the other options I had looked at, especially considering you only get six, so I had to buy two packs (I've got nine reindeer to embroider!). I'm trying to justify the extra "in-store" cost on the basis of convenience and because I didn't have to pay for expediated shipping (since I wanted them now! No waiting for me! Instant gratification!)

I have a vacation day tomorrow -- and I'll be running around with errands for most of the day -- but I'm hoping to at least get the designs transferred so I can begin stitching this weekend. Yay!

Two Wishes

Now that I have Tara's approval -- I had to share one of her engagement pictures! I spied this today, while reading her alter ego's ("altar ego?" heh.) post on Weddingbee:

{photography by Punam Bean, via Tara at Two Wishes}

First of all, her photographer is amazing -- you have to go check out the rest of the pics: here or here. And Tara looks gorgeous -- that green coat! Perfect for a redhead :o)

But really caught my eye was the location -- Tara and "Mr. T" began their e-pic session at the South Street Seaport, right where I used to live my second year of school. And look! Peeking out of the corner there is my old apartment (it's the tall, moderny-one that looks like it has silver and teal windows).

I miss New York. That was a great apartment. Crap location for a commute, and it certainly wasn't my favorite apartment. But my 28th floor corner unit had THE most amazing view of the Brooklyn Bridge, its surrounds, and the entire city. I'll have to see if I can dig up a picture :: sniff ::

Love! Tara, thanks so much for letting me share! :o)

more snuggles.

Had to share this photo today because it just made me smile:

Here's the Lou and the Norm in their car seat on the way back from our French Bulldog Meetup's "Howliday Pawty" this past Saturday. They are not usually this snuggly with one another -- but a chilly (and exhausting!) morning makes for agreeable bedtime companions.

stitch on.

I'm in the process of organizing the 100+ assorted photos I took and uploaded last night -- so in the interim, here's a quick look at my first embroidery project after an EXTENSIVE hiatus:

The pattern (and tea towel) came from Sublime Stitching's "stitch it kit."  (I also have the book, which is completely awesome and worth getting both if only for the additional patterns. But I really like the weight and feel of the book -- plus, more instructions and pictures! Alas, mine is not signed ...)

I am total crap at iron-on transfers patterns -- mine are always REALLY dark, get smudged, move around ... Is my iron too hot? Am I pressing too hard? In my first attempt at transferring the little cherry-topped bundt cake in the middle, I managed to transfer the pattern onto my iron board cover as well as the towel itself. Whoops!

I think it makes the cover more cheerful, but Jeremy teases me about it every time he pulls out the board to iron ;o)

The alignment is a little off and the stitching isn't perfect, but I'm quite pleased with it overall! And I really like my French knot cherries -- that was my first attempt at that particular stitch.

A closer look ...

Please excuse all the wrinkles (it desperately needs to be ironed) and the rather crap photography. I really need to make more of an effort in that department ;o)

The project I'm currently working on is a few embroidered designs on a canvas tote bag. I'm going to use the bag to hold all my embroidery stuff. I'm almost done, and I'm rather anxious to be finished because I can't wait to start on some festive Christmas designs!

I ordered this pattern (Reinder Games 3996) from Acme Notions, and what I'd really like to do is embroider some reindeer onto small cotton cocktail napkins. Aren't they cute?

They remind me of the reindeer pattern at Pottery Barn:

{Reindeer Table Linens, Pottery Barn}

I think the Aunt Martha pattern is even just a little bit cuter than the PB one -- plus, they'll be even more special to me if I make them myself. Not to mention cheaper! I'd ultimately like to do napkins and a matching table runner -- but the runner might be a little bit much for me to complete in time for the holidays ...

The only snag is that I've had a hard time finding plain, white cotton linen cocktail napkins (10" square). I've found these online at CB2 -- which are perfect -- but it'd be so much easier for me to find something that I wouldn't have to have shipped to me. Restaurant supply, maybe?

christmas-y.

For a while now I've been meaning to share some of my favorite etsy purchases. I think one of the things that's been holding me back is my fear that everyone will think I'm some crazy spendthrift ;o)

But honestly, apart from a few notable exceptions, the majority of what I snagged has been under $20. Under $20 or right at $20 is like my impulse purchase comfort zone.

Since we finished most of our holiday decorating this weekend, I thought I'd share a Christmas-related etsy purchase -- this festive holiday banner from Storia Home (I'll post some pictures later of the banner in its "natural habitat," i.e. our living room):

{Merry Christmas Banner in Whimsy Colors from StoriaHome via etsy: $20.00}

Here's a close-up:

My banner was a custom order based on one of her previous orders (you can scroll through her sold items to get an idea of some of her work). I love it! The glitter and the vintage paper are great -- and it's a definite inspiration piece for me. I'm thinking of trying to re-create this idea for other future holidays/celebrations.

inspiration board.

Just caught this over at With This Ring -- I love that splash of red! It's great when black, white/ivory and green are re-invigorated all over again with a sharp accent color. I hope Darci doesn't mind me sharing!

{photo from a reader of With This Ring}

Yay for black, tea length bridesmaid dresses! And for lovely satin shoes with a divine, saturated color. And finally someone else who's pondered about a polka dot and a damask combination ... in moderation, of course ;o)

Love it!

holiday style.

I always look for this dinnerware every time I'm at Target -- but ever since it was released in stores, different pieces have consistently been sold out. You can usually find it among the holiday/seasonal items in housewares. Looks like it's a popular item online too :o)

{Benjoix Dinnerware Collection: $69.99 at Target}

Of course, there's also this set -- it's available now online AND cheaper ;o)

{Damask 16-pc. Dinnerware Set - Black/ White: $41.69 at Target}

I really like both designs pretty equally -- but I'm much more a fan of the more casual cereal-type bowl, rather than the wider/flatter soup bowl that's shown in the cheaper version.

And who can resist some seriously cute holiday penguins?

{Glitter Penguin Dinnerware Collection: $23.99 - $27.99 - now $13.99 - $16.79! at Target

Unfortunately, I think Jeremy can easily resist the penguin's siren call ... and while cute, it's probably not exactly practical. Maybe I can tempt him with a cookie jar or some fun acrylic glasses? ;o)