Dumplings.

I haven't shared too many culinary adventures here yet.  A few but not many.

Last time I was grocery shopping I picked up a copy of Food and Wine. Something I hadn't done in a long time due to the growing household expenses. But I just couldn't resist this one. The cover featured mouth watering spicy grilled shrimp ( I don't even really like shrimp) that were not to be ignored.

I have yet to make the shrimp but another article/recipe caught my eye. The article is written by Frank Bruni, famed former NYT Food Critic. He takes his turn in the kitchen and writes about the triumphs, tricks and sometimes fails.

The recipe is Ricotta Gnudi with Chanterelles from Nancy Silverton's Mozza Cookbook

This recipe was easy and adaptable. The first batch I followed the recipe to the letter. It was lovely. The second batch I employed my mixer to do the "heavy lifting" and this time I rolled and cut them without the rolling-into-a-ball bit. They looked a bit more rustic and gnocchi-like but tasted just as wonderful. I also had some fresh peas and cherry tomatoes on hand and added them to the mushrooms. These dumplings are delicate so the less stirring and handling the better. Even though I'm not a fan of non-stick pans I found sauteeing the gnudi with the mushroom mix a better choice than stainless because the gnudi tend to stick to the stainless pan tearing your delicate little dumplings to bits.
 A squeeze of lemon really lifted the flavors in this dish.

I topped with some freshly grated parmesan and poured myself a glass of cold white wine.
I suggest you do the same.

The full article and recipe can be found here.

We're Back.

We would have been back yesterday but with more house guests, a request for a trip to Target (twist my arm) and a computer that had a mind of it's own I had to let it go. So here we are back on track.

And yes, we finally completed #7 . If I'm going to be totally honest it was a little dark for what I had in mind at first. But having lived with it for a week + I like it alot now.  I've already been scouting fabric for curtains (but that's not on this year's list so it is also not a priority - there's no harm in looking).

Here is the dining room before in all it's chaotic glory

 ( I also sew in here which makes it 10x more chaotic)...

Prepping...

During... 

Posing...

and after.

A couple of notes at this point - I plan on taking down those dated curtain rods and replacing them with black rods instead, reframing the artwork (brought back from a gallery in Australia by G.) in black gallery frames and possibly rematting them and I always wanted to make small pillows for each of the parson dining chairs, but again, maybe next year.

This is the fabric I'm considering for the curtains.
Also want to try to make an area rug I saw here with this canvas.

I designed this buffet (below) and had it made by a furniture maker with wonderful results. It really didn't cost much more than a store bought item and it came with all of my specs (fits perfectly under the window) and customization (drawers, metal feet). Well worth it in my opinion. It houses our fancier glassware, an extra set of silverware and many other various item ( too many to name). I placed these books here to get them out of Iris's reach but really like how it looks and will probably keep it like this.

Yes those swollen wood doors and ugly fan are due to the fact that we don't have air conditioning (mountain weather suits us just fine).

2012's To Do List is just dying to get out.

{ this moment }

a friday ritual - a single photo - no words - a moment I want to pause - savor - and remember

inspired by soulemama

Sorry for the silence. We've been relaxing after the holiday weekend and working on some projects around here. We'll be back on Monday!

{ this moment }

a friday ritual - a single photo - no words - a moment I want to pause - savor - and remember

inspired by soulemama

2011 TDL: Checking In

Well here it is again with just a few more things checked off.


1. purchase mushroom growing supplies and make preparations for logs

2. pot rack for kitchen
3. organize phone and message center in kitchen
4. clean and organize under kitchen sink
5. purchase supplies for maple tapping for next spring
6. new couch for living room and general living room design
7. paint dining room
8. figure out a better situation for shoes/recycling by the front door
9. finish reorganizing and clean dressing room
10. clean windows

11. start and finish handmade gifts for Jenny, Helen, Becky, Melissa, Allison, Carol, Sarah and Pat.

12. new lighting for Iris's room

13. organize and backup iphoto

14. clean out pantry and wipe down shelves and bottles (ANTS!!!)

15. find and purchase vintage ceramic egg holder

16. sort through wardrobe and donate, trash or repurpose

17. learn one new knitting pattern

18. learn one new crochet pattern

19. paint giant urn and candle stick holders

20. finish mending and repurpose projects

21. plant salad greens, tomatoes and kitchen herbs

22. keep blog up to date

23. start etsy shop

24. buy more vintage and hand make more of our clothing

25. run in at least two 5k's 

26. organize baby's outgrown clothing

I crossed off #21 even though I didn't plant any salad greens. I have to let myself off the hook for that one. That window of opportunity was consumed with baby-learned-some-new-tricks-and-mommy-needs-to-babyproof time. I did get my herbs in and we were gifted a tomato plant. 

However, #26 is DONE. It actually took less time and containers than I thought (about an hour when you factor out the baby-chasing time). I was originally going to buy 8 containers but when I went to buy them I thought I better just start with 6. Storage is at a premium in this house so I have to be careful not to shoot myself in the foot by overpurchasing storage solutions. Sounds looney, right?

Anyway, this was my inspiration.

And now I have this...

It's hard to see the labels but they are in order of size. One container houses socks, bibs, boppy covers, bassinet sheets (all organic cotton), etc.

Six containers with room to grow (pun intended).

The purple bag on the right is the stuff I want to keep for either my sister, best friend or even for the nugget herself. There is a coveted Bob Marley onesie, the onesies people painted at my shower, things I personally purchased, amongst other things.

She's proofreading my labels. 

Progress.

This is getting ridiculous! Apparently It's not just the vintage gods smiling on me but the fabric gods as a whole.  I was handed this entire bolt yesterday by a family friend.

It's a simple print. I'm not sure how many yards it is exactly but the number 15 is scribbled on the top. I see a picnic/beach blanket, some kind of roll up bag for tools or brushes or maybe some farmer's market bags I have been itching to make.

I also picked up my gallon of paint for the dining room project (#7 on the 2011 TDL). I purchased Rendezvous by Olympic (Zero VOC of course).  There is very little wall space so I should be able to bang it out in a couple hours. I'm treating myself to more babysitter time today so I'll try to tape off the room that way I can just start painting when the opportunity presents itself.

#9 is STILL in progress. Here are some before and during shots below. I don't like the white curtains in this room. They just sort of disappear so I'll probably put the ones I had in there back up. It doesn't look much different than the before shot but some organization has taken place. I've purged a bunch of clothes and shoes (#16), put a shoe organizer on the back of the door, organized all my reference books and art/craft supplies and hung an organizer from the coat rack.

Before.

Believe it or not there are 2 storage ottamans under those clothes. There trash now.

I keep my long dresses in the actual closet.

During.

If you look to the left of the book shelf those bins are  the beginnings of #26.

Lots of shhhhhstuff on the floor still.

Obviously this room is doing double duty as a closet and a place to store all my sewing/craft/art supplies. But hopefully someday I'll have this or this.

Gratitude.

This past 5 days has been full of moments of gratitude. My mother and sister coming to visit us and offering plenty of helping hands, treating myself to a babysitter so that I could do some REAL cleaning around the house, visiting my father for a belated birthday/father's day and loving that he lives on the beach and still surfs at 60 years old.

Tearing up toilet paper with Aunt Nicole.

My mom and sister live in Florida in winter and Jersey in the summer. My sister had not seen Iris since she was born and I was excited for them to meet again. My mom was able to visit a few times this winter. It is always such a relief when she is her. She is a huge help folding laundry, chasing nuggie around, helping me run errands and babyproofing the house. She loves her one and only grandchild and it melts my heart to see them together.

Iris's reign of terror.

Having a 9 month old who crawls and pulls up on anything she can get her hands on is tiring and sometimes downright frustrating. I have had to rethink my whole gameplan when it comes to getting things done. I literally can barely do anything while she is awake. She does not like to be contained anymore (i.e. exersaucer, johnny jump up). She wants to move, explore and taste everything. I can hardly blame her. That is why I have decided to treat myself to a babysitter for 2 hours a week (maybe not every week) just so I can get some things done and keep myself... afloat. She feeds the little nugget her lunch, takes her on walks and generally makes sure she doesn't hurt herself or crawl off a cliff. It's the best $20 I've spent in a while.

It was also Iris's first time on the beach (well technicaly her second but the first time was just for a photo). We forgot our camera so sadly there is no documentation. I plan on updating my technology and am getting an iPhone in August so I'll have no excuse and I won't have to lug around my giant Nikon (especially onto a beach where it can get sandy). She wasn't a fan of sand but she did like the water. It was nice to get some sun and some sand between our toes. My dad is a real beach guy still surfing, boogie boarding and paddle boarding at 60 years old. I love that he is so enthusiastic about the outdoors. It always makes for a fun visit.

My best friend was along for the trip to my Dad's and stayed at our house for 2 days after. SLUMBER PARTY!!! It was fun to lay by the pool, read some magazines, watch Trueblood and drink some wine with her. We needed that. We don't live far from eachother (in fact I could ride a bike to her place if it weren't so damn hilly around here) but we live in a small town so it's nice to just be out here in the woods and away from the sometimes-all-to-familiar-faces of town.

You didn't think we'd leave her out of the pool lounging did you?

For all of this... I am grateful.