Fiesta Kind-of Chowder

The colors remind me of traditional Mexican colors so the name. They called it a chowder but with so little fat, it doesn't quite qualify as chowder in my book. To quote DH "It's WeightWatchers so it's not going to be the tastiest thing ever", but with the added spices and fat I think it's better than he gives it credit for (he ate three bowls). I think all the vegetables throw him off.

Adapted from WeightWatchers Summer Corn, Bacon, and Potato Chowder

1 Large Potato
2 T Olive Oil (or Butter)
1/2 C Celery (1-2 stalks), diced
1/2 C Onion, diced
2 C Sweet Corn
1 Medium Carrot, diced
1 Red Sweet Pepper, diced
1 T Garlic, minced
2 Links/6 oz Chicken Sausage, casing removed, diced (we used one that had sun dried tomato and spices)
Salt
Ground Pepper
2 t Paprika
1/2 t Chile Powder (or use 1 t Mexican Spice Blend)- Wash your hands after handling
2 1/2 C Skim Milk
1/4 C Half & Half (optional)
2 Scallions, chopped

Cook the potato. Cool/Drain. Peel and Mash.

Heat pot over medium-high heat. Add oil or butter, let melt. Add vegetables and cook until onions and celery are translucent/soft, roughly 5-8 minutes. Stir regularly.

Add meat and spices and cook for a minute or two. Add Potato mash, Milk and Half & Half. Cover and barely simmer for ~10 minutes. Serve garnished with scallions.

Additional Thoughts:
- I think an added green pepper would be a nice touch
- It needs fat that the original doesn't call for. Fat isn't bad, too much fat is the problem.
- The original calls for you to microwave the potato, I think it gives a weird texture. I would boil it instead.
- We used frozen corn since it's not in season. You can buy frozen roasted corn that I think would be excellent. If at all possible, use fresh sweet corn, there's no true substitute. I miss being able to drive past roadside stands all the time (that are on the honor system of course).
- Play around with the spices, I thought what the original called for was a sad combination

Chevron Skirt

Food and sewing posts are going to be lacking for the next two months or so. My internship is an hour-twenty at least each way (three days a week), my class is forty minutes away (twice a week), volunteering is twenty (once a week), and lessons are an hour-ten in the opposite direction (once a week). So it's going to be quick dinners, and very limited sewing.

A couple of months ago (had to have been early summer) I found a cute skirt tutorial for a chevron pleated skirt and decided that would be a good way to replace some of the printed skirts DH doesn't like.

The front two have been shelved for a couple months now. The parasol one reminds me of Kaylee and the dot one is just fun.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

The Facts:

• Fabric: Gray Broadcloth, Zig Zag Storm Twill
• Pattern: Crafty Cupboard's Pleated Chevron Skirt
• Year: Early 2010s 
• Notions: All Purpose White Thread, Blind Hem Foot, Regular Presser Foot, Zipper
• Techniques/Tutorials: Hemming an Inverted Pleat
• Cost: <$20
• Time: 10 Hours, ripped out a lot of seams trying to get the chevrons properly lined up
• Make Again?: Nope, no need for another skirt like this
• Alterations: My own measurements, omitted the pockets, used an invisible zipper

My hair is at an awkward stage.*

The fabric is pretty hefty on its own but it is a bit see-through on the white stripes, thus the broadcloth, it also messed up my chevrons a bit and so the pleats WILL NOT press properly. I'm not too happy about that fact. I'd also hem it a little longer and bind the seams with more of the broadcloth but I'm too lazy to do so now. Also, I would interface the waistband so it doesn't fold in half like it does now.  I am, however, proud of the hem, nice and tidy invisible hem (my first attempt at one actually).

* I'm growing it out on the off chance I can afford a few shows this summer. With hunters I could just smoosh it up in a hairnet but it seems like a bun is pretty much expected in dressage and my preferred cut is too short for even a fake bun without a ton of bobbypins.

Nautical Knit Top

I've been getting frustrated that there are so many cute dresses out there that could fit me, or I like the pattern for, but dresses are just so impractical. I have a decent walk each way to and from the metro this summer and while there is a shuttle from the HOA office to the metro, there is definitely not one to my internship (hoping I can get clearance to drive my car, I don't care if it's in DC traffic, it cuts my commute down by almost an hour). So this is sort of sewing therapy, a patterned top that could be practical.
I know I said no nautical but I saw the announcement of the fabric and had to get it. DH says it could be work appropriate with khakis or something but I'm not convinced- thoughts?

 I talk with my hands, this is what happens when I ask DH to take the pictures

The Facts:

• Fabric: Blue Nautical Flag Strip on White Jersey Spandex Knit from GirlCharlee (somehow I thought the horizontal repeat would be less, it all worked out though)
• Pattern: Fringe Festival Scarf T from HotPatterns/Fabric.com
• Year: Early 2010s 
• Notions: All Purpose White Thread, Walking Foot, Fusible Bias Stay Tape
• Techniques/Tutorials: 3 Hours Past's Hemming Knits
• Cost: <$15, not including the cost of the walking foot
• Time: Maybe 8 hours? I messed up a couple times so picking out the stitches took awhile.
• Make Again?: Probably not as is, it's a little too distinctive but perhaps converting it into a cowl? Mostly I just like the drape factor of the knit. Needs more waist definition
• Alterations: Faced the neck ties, smaller sleeve hem, shortened shirt by 3" (should have only done 2.5")

I'm divided about how I feel about it, I think better finishing on the hems and attention to detail would be nicer, and the tie is a little heavy. But I do like how drapey and soft the fabric feels.

I added bias stay tape/interfacing to the top and bottom of the neckties, the bottom hem, and the sleeve hems, though trimmed down since the fabric was just so drapey. I'm divided about the decision, it altered the drape but it made sewing so much easier. I know sandwiching between paper might have fixed it but I don't want to dull my needles that much.

I also didn't like that with the original you saw the back of the fabric.  This fabric is only printed on one side so there is a definite outside and inside. To fix this, I cut a second pair of necktie pieces  to make a facing and sewed it as regular facing. If I were to make it again, I would redraft the ties to be a curve on one side instead of a square end. Because it is such a busy pattern, I was lazy about trying to match lines. I didn't think I wanted those lines continued the whole way across my chest because it made it made everything a little lopsided but I'm not happy with how it looks like lack of attention to detail. I'm not sure why I really didn't like the sleeves on the Pirates Shirt and don't mind them as much here. They're pretty much the same. 

While the walking foot helps, the fabric still gets stuck and I have funny nubs along the seams. More practice will help a little with it but I think it's just not a knit-friendly machine. It was sold to me as good for wovens, especially pieced quilting so I'm not too concerned. I would like to pick up a couple of double needles to have on hand, and more stretch and ballpoint needles.

Banana Bread and Cookie Snakes

We had to bring snacks in for church this week and I was feeling particularly lazy (I had to make cookie snakes for a term project, presentation, I'll talk about that later) so we picked up a coffee cake and I made a loaf of banana bread. The banana bread is pretty straight forward, the cookies are less so.

Banana Bread

There are a couple of variations that I included in the recipe but not in the this loaf (the as-is loaf was a hit with my church so I'm not sure the additions are needed)


3-4 RIPE Bananas, mashed (this means going brown, not this side of green)
1/2 C Butter, unsalted, melted
1 C sugar, granulated (though brown would probably do well, too)
1 t Vanilla (or a combination of Vanilla, Rum extract, etc. This loaf has a 2:1 ratio of Vanilla to Rum)
1 Egg, beaten (in a separate bowl/mug)
1 Pinch Salt (regular iodized,  not Kosher/Sea/Flaked/Himalayan)
1 t Baking Soda
1.5 C Flour, All purpose
1/2 C Chocolate Chips, semi sweet (optional)
1/4 C Pecans, Chopped. (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a ~4"x8"' loaf pan (I use the wrapper of the butter since you don't need a lot of butter to grease)

With a wooden spoon, mix the mashed bananas with the butter in a medium to large bowl. Add the Egg, Sugar, and Extracts. Stir. Add Salt and Baking Soda. Stir. Add Chips and/or nuts. Stir. Add Flour. Stir.

Bake for ~45-60 mn (usually closer to 45). Loaf is done when golden on top and a skewer/knife inserted and pulled out comes out without goop and a few crumbs (clean means it's over cooked).

Let cool in the pan, uncovered. Can be kept for several days, covered, in the fridge. I would recommend pre-cutting/removing from the pan before serving since it can be rather soft.

Cookie Snake
Adapted from Peppermint Plum's Sugar Cookie

We were presenting on a museum that had an exhibit called "Why did it have to be snakes" (or something like that, it wasn't important to the project) and instead of a more complicated (to carry) treat, we decided to do cookie snakes. Here's how I did my batch:

1 C Butter, unsalted
2 C Sugar
2 Eggs
3 t Vanilla
1 C Sour Cream
1 t Salt
2 t Baking Soda
5.5 C Flour, All purpose
0.5 tube green gel food coloring
3 drops each, red and blue food coloring

In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients.
Cream Butter and Sugar. Mix in Eggs and Vanilla. Mix in Sour Cream. Incrementally mix in the dry ingredients (use 1/2 C increments or else your kitchen will turn white). Add the food coloring (or omit if you want regular sugar cookies). Mix thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate for >30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375. Pull cookie sheets, line with greased parchment paper or silpats.

On a clean surface, powder lightly with powdered sugar. Pull a baseball sized lump of dough from the fridge. Roll into 1/3" wide lengths. slice them ~6-7" long and on the tray, create your snake. Good rule of thumb we found is: 2 Squiggles is a worm, 3-4 is a snake, even squiggles are intestines. Taper one end into a point and create a lumpy "head" at the other end.

 

This batch was more than 6-7", they expand too much for what I wanted

 Bake for around 5 minutes, though they may take longer. Watch for the top texture to change but pull before the edges brown. A little tan is okay.

See? Expand too much.

Let the cookie cool for 1-2mn on the tray then pull silpat to cool more. Then transfer to paper plates or whatever to cool completely. At this point your can freeze or ice the cookies. To freeze, place in a tupperware type container and put parchment or waxed paper between layers.

Icing
Barely Adapted from Alton Brown's Royal Icing

One of my teammates just picked off the icing and ate that so I guess this wouldn't be in line with the royal icing I grew up using for gingerbread houses

Yellow Gel Coloring
3 Egg Whites (if you can find pasteurized egg whites, use that- roughly 6 T, I think)
~4 C Powdered Sugar
1 t Vanilla/Almond Extract (whatever flavor you feel like really)

If you are using unpasturized egg whites then I've been told you just need to heat them in a saucepan until warm (careful not too cook though) or you can risk salmonella, whichever. Moving on.

In an electric mixer, combine the egg whites and vanilla on medium speed until frothy. Add the powdered sugar in small ammounts until all combined. Mix on medium-high until stiff peaks form (8 minutes or so). Immediately transfer to sealable containers until ready to use. Make sure to have cookies are room temp before icing.

If you are adding coloring (I use 3/4 tube of yellow) add that into the frosting and mix thoroughly. Transfer to a piping tube. I may recommend 1-1 1/2T of liquid to thin it all out since it was a little too firm for my liking.

These were the rejects because of the wonky stripes/eyes but you get the idea.

I used one of those writing gel tubes for the eyes, they got everywhere, oh well, the "directors" thought they were adorable. 

Custom Bookcase... I mean Shoe Rack

I've been meaning to post this since the peplum post but with Boston and then what happened in West, other things took priority.

I could not get words right this past week- this shoe rack was called everything BUT a shoe rack.
Anyway, DH seems to be on a mission to replace as much possible of our furniture with DIY pieces. And for this piece at least, this made sense.

A couple weeks after we got back from our honeymoon we went on a shopping spree at BBB (they call it 'registry fulfillment' or something like that) with gifted gift cards. And around that time we realized, we needed a shoe rack (or three) so we bough a hanging one for the shoes that don't often see the light of day and a rotating tree for those that are in regular rotation. The problem with this is that DH has huge feet, huge as in twice the size of mine (which are normal- sized at least, how they are actually put together is another matter.)

So more often than not, the tree would tip over from the weight imbalance, and it never fit his shoes well. Never-mind it didn't fit our Geeks-living-in-Hunt-Country aesthetic (that's the best I can come up with, there's a lot of traditional hunt country colors with WWII homefront propoganda and dance posters with special touches like matching Rohan and Gondor inspired pillow shams and a giant vintage - 60s are vintage now, right?- roll-up map of the North America).

We haven't found the perfect wall for it at our new place, I don't think DH likes it that much.

Finally sick of the perpetually tipping tree and the weather getting warm enough that he wouldn't always be taking up our front foyer space with wood working tools (it still happened some days) DH set up to build us a custom bookcase shoe rack. We passed the old tree onto my brother so he and his roommates would stop piling their shoes by the door and DH went off to Home Depot (which is super convenient here, much better than driving across the city like in Waco).

He used all 1 x 12 pine boards so after getting the cuts done there, it was mostly assembly. He calculate that allowing for a lip at the top to keep boots from tumbling off the sides (yes, three out of the four pairs are mine and I use them all on a somewhat regular basis), he can have even spaces between the top and bottom and still allow for three pairs of his giant shoes across as well as enough depth that she's not shoving them against the wall when he puts them back (my stipulation).

It was his first experience with stain... and he failed to ask for my parents' - especially my mom's - advice (she loves refinishing furniture, saved my grandma's hope chest that was previously painted a very fashionable 60s/70s aqua). So it ended up a bit streaky at places so it's been edged in the same paint as Olive's House. However, we're pretty happy with it. It certainly keeps the area much neater.

Olive wanted to say 'Hi'

Summer Print Peplum Top

I'm trying something a little different with my formatting, hopefully it will be easier to read.
Also, it's been too cold to wear this top, thus the delay in pictures. Techinically, it's still too cold, I threw a cardigan over this for church today.  Anyway, it applies to Project: Professional.

I promise I looked more put together at church- the wind was gusting all morning and I gave up.
 (Also, that boot top is part of our latest home improvement project I still need to get pictures of)

The Facts:

• Fabric: Blue and White Italian Printed Cotton Voile (Gorgeous Fabrics, I think I got the last of the blue/white and the green/white listed afterwards has already sold out), White Poly Cotton Batiste (Fabric.com- the Voile is *very* sheer on its own, may use this again but also found a 100% cotton bastiste I may use instead for a pearl embellishment top I want to try, it just presses so nicely)
• Pattern: Salme's Peplum Top, I considered their Pussy Bow Top, but I thought the bow was too blousy for me and maybe a little too themey with my summer internship (the institution's collection has a heavy maritime focus, so no sailor suit like tops for me)
• Year: Early 2010s 
• Notions: All Purpose White Thread, 19" polyester sky blue invisible zipper (shortened), Clear button
• Techniques/Tutorials: Fashion Incubator's Post on Linings and Facings, Coletterie's Tutorial on Facings with an Invisible Zipper
• Cost: <$30 (Birthday GC from friend, batiste was on sale, bought the zipper as part of a lot from a dry goods store near Ephrata, Button was collected from a scraped RTW top)
• Time: Maybe 8 hours? Divided into 15-45 minute chunks over two weeks.
• Make Again?: Possibly, with a less voluminous peplum (maybe pleated), maybe try a wider, and notched neckline

 

Other thoughts:

• Because of the style of directions, the zipper insertion, and the hemming of the peplum I would say that this is definitely an intermediate project
• The actual pattern sews up very well (but you do have to add your own seam allowance, in the directions they assume you use 1/2" which I trimmed down significantly after stitching)
• I probably should have used french seams in more places than the shoulder to prevent fraying
• I added the peplum before sewing the side seams because of the lining, and added lining for the peplum section
• I ignored the basted line for hemming, it just messed me up, instead I just pressed it very clarefully
• Full peplums like this I think work best for people who already don't have a large waist to hip difference, it just adds volume unnecessarily. I like the idea of a looser hip on a fitted top but I need to go about it in a different manner.
• I took the shoulders up by a full inch on the front and the back, without this, the front keyhole would be too low for professional wear. This did make the neckline much closer than it was designed to have
• There is still a little side-bra showing but it's not too bad and if it bothers me in the future I can redraft the arm holes.
• Instead of a ribbon, I made a little tube of the voile, reenforced with stitching along the top and bottom lengths, this was less noticeable since I used a clear button
• I *love* how finished it all looks completely lined, even if it more than doubled how much time it took to sew the whole thing together
  

In all, I'm pretty happy with the top. It's patterned, which is something that's missing from my wardrobe, and can go between a couple different levels of dressiness, though obviously not barn or storage area friendly.
 

Olive wanted to know why I wasn't paying attention to her (believe it or not she had a bath less than 12 hours before this was taken, she just likes looking scruffy)

*I don't know what it is but close to 75% of our class uses a Kindle or iPad instead of paper Bible. I can't imagine everyone uses it to flip between translations (there are certain translations have Strong's# automatically linked but others that have translations that I feel are more loyal to the original text but it's just me being weird) but it does mean we're much faster at finding the verses, though DH was apparently pretty good at Bible Drills growing up.

How I do Menu Planning

It seems like every blog has a food planning entry so I thought I might as well do one as well (and it's still too cold to go outside in my peplum top, which has been finished for weeks; at this rate it will debut at DCLX at the end of the month). We go by weeks generally, we have a large enough pantry and fridge that we can keep everything, this wouldn't work with a dorm (unless you're like DH and manage to sneak a full size refrigerator up the elevator, past several CLs, and store in the suite all year).*


Step 1- Figure out what days you are making something and if there are any stipulations (fast, late, etc)

Step 2- See if there are any meals you forgot to make last week (it happens, don't worry) or food that's nearing the end of it's shelf life (do the float test for any eggs, please, don't guess)

Step 3- Go through your favorites/pinterest board(s)/recipe books/recipe box and pick out recipes you like and fit your time. Keep in mind how many servings each recipe makes for your household (generally with DH it's 2 for every 3 it says in the recipe depending on the source, my Scandinavian cooking books tend to be closer to 3.25 for ever 3, go figure)

Step 4- Spell out all the ingredients of each recipe. Then eliminate those you already have on hand.

I didn't do it here, but list what kind and how much of each ingredient

Step 5- Look at what you need beyond what is needed for the preplanned meals

Step 6- Combine all meals into a department by department list (try and list them by how show up in the store, I can do it for HEB and Harris Teeter but still can't get Trader Joe's). Remember to mark how many you need, and if you need it for more than one recipe

Step 7- print, email, whatever. Make sure you have it at the store.

*I'm not kidding, and this is before I knew him or he would have gotten my "disaproooval" face.