Our apartment is currently in transition – we have two couches, no dining room table, one chair stripped to it’s frame, and a lighting fixture on the floor.  Before getting married Andreas and I picked out furniture for our new apartment. Andreas will tell you that our purchases were very thought through because it took me three trips to the furniture store to pick a couch.  It is important to me that my home reflects our style, personality, and how we choose to live our life.  And our red overstuffed micro-fiber couch just wasn’t doing it for me any more.  So after a a few discussions (ahem…perhaps persuasions is a better word) we are changing it up a bit. Our new couch arrived on Friday and I love it – clean lines, smaller frame and white (white, I know but it comes with a 5 yr stain guard protection plan). Now if only the other couch, ottoman and lighting fixture would sell and then we will have room for a table.  Problem is I cannot find a table I like – but I do know the chairs I want – aren’t they beautiful?

There will be more white coming this weekend – heaps of snow is what they are calling for.  Humph… I should not be surprised, this is Kansas after all where we say “if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes.”  Maybe it’s okay to bundle up one more weekend, it will be my motivation to finish those wool socks since my deadline is quickly approaching.  And it gives me reason to make this and with all this snow talk and my heater going I’ve been craving this with something from here.

Happy Weekend!

Oilcloth Tablecloth

Oilcloth inspiration board & coasters

I’ve fallen in love with oilcloth all over again.  My mom thinks this is crazy since she is grew up with oilcloth, and then it was considered common and trite.  But there is something about the way oilcloth feels – soft, bendable and of course one of it’s best features it wipeable.  My first experience with oilcloth was my Orla Kiely purse…all I can say it is one of my favorites purses and it still looks like the day I bought it.

Apartment Therapy had a great post about oilcloth and now it’s all I’m thinking about.  The only unfortunate there is not a very large oilcloth selection.  Sure there this is the typical checkered, stripes, 50’s and 60’s flower prints and even some crazy polka dots, but my grand plans call for more variety.  Not that I need to add to my “to-do” list, but I started to research how to making my own oilcloth.  Crazy, I know.  But I think the desire for oilcloth aprons, outdoor seat cushions, purses and small makeup bags (the list could go on and on) will eventually win over.  The instructions call for the fabric to dry in the sun for days, so perhaps its a good thing that we just entered our rainy/tornado season.

The home-made ravioli part deux was a little more successful then part one.  The dough was made, it was still hard but a little less yellow; then it took me forever to roll out the dough, and when boiled it tasted a tad rubbery. Let’s just say that I will not be making any home-made pasta until I get my hands on one of these.  Plain and simple, there is a reason why this machine exists.  Backup dinner number two: quasi bruschetta with a kicking marinara sauce.

No, this is not a volcano you made when you were six that erupted and spued white foamy stuff down the side – quite the contrary.  This is the start of home made ravioli, or at least the attempt there of.  I have an obscenely large amount (thank you, Costco) of ricotta cheese in my frig that needs to be used; I can’t even remember why I purchased it, perhaps lasagna.  What else is made with ricotta cheese, ravioli of course!  It is actually fate that I make ravioli because the same day I thought about making the ravioli, there was a recipe for homemade pasta dough in Tastebuds. Fate, I tell you.  I even did additional research since I have never made my own pasta – I glanced at other recipes and watched a couple tutorials on youtube.  I followed the directions to a “t” and instead of soft and creamy dough, I ended up with a hard yellow lump – yellow from me adding too many eggs to soften the hard lump.  Dishearten I pulled out the dinner back up – eggs and rosti.  At about 9pm I was still festering over the fact that I had wasted four eggs and I decided to boil a piece of my hard lump, just to see.  Surprising it tasted like pasta, a little eggy, but let’s pretend I was making egg-noodles.  So tonight I am going back and going to attempt this again, because I am smart and homemade ravioli cannot be my demise.

Happy weekend all!

Hello lovely.

I’ve been waiting tirelessly for you.  There was one point, a very low point – almost flooded with tears, that I thought you might not ever come.  So I decided to be proactive – I publicly voiced my concerns and my fears.  People talked like you were coming, but I am not so easy to sway.  I need proof – hard evidence.  And today, you provided just that.  It was too good to be true – I drank ice tea, put on my shades, read a magazine and basked in your glory.  I even pulled out the truest sign of confidence, my flip-flops.  I have been told, this utopia I relished in today is not here to stay.  I was fearful of this, but I ask that if you must leave, please….oh pretty please do not be gone long.  Or else I will have return to my old ways – grumpy, irritated and with deeper trust issues.

I will patiently wait for you return,

Lindsay

It’s only 9:37 pm on Sunday night and I am ready for bed. Usually, Sunday evening my head is swarming with last minute to do before the week begins – but not tonight. I am thinking my two best options are 1) to watch a episode of Mad Men or 2) curl up in bed and read continue reading The $64 Dollar Tomato.

This weekend I stole away some time to work on a couple projects. I am still plugging away at knitting Andreas’ wool sock. I think I would be finished a little faster if I was not trying to teach my self how to knit continental style . I might give in and finish using the English method, because let’s be honest time is running against me. If both socks aren’t finished by April 1st, they might as well be a Christmas present this year. Somehow I have myself convinced that if I only were using these, my knitting would speed up 10x. Sigh…we’ll see how desperate I become as April approaches.

I spent the better part of Friday and Saturday working on my newest project – coasters. I have never been a fan of coasters – they always seemed too…too something that I can’t describe, maybe that is their problem. But when I saw these, I had a mini coaster revelation and starting dreaming up coasters made of linen/cotton/broadcloth with hand-printed/screen-printed designs. I carved the designs out of a lino block and used block printing ink to stamp them onto the linen. I am super thrilled with the way they printed! I don’t have a picture of the finished product but I am itching to make more this week, so pictures be will cominh. I could see myself becoming slightly obsessed with making these – a mini coaster sweat-shop, perhaps.

By the way, I just received my second issue of Martha Stewart Everyday Food. Why has no one told me about this magazine? It is simply divine – the recipes are easy, simple, not overly time consuming and delicious. Once I realized this was such a treasure, I googled to see how long I had been missing out – since 2004!! This is when some of my OCD tendencies start to come out, because I began searching online to see if there is a way to purchase the back orders…like all of them. I haven’t found anywhere yet, which is good because I am pretty sure Andreas would ship to me to Siberia if I order 60 ( 12 months x 5 years) food magazines all at once. Ahem…but that doesn’t mean I won’t keep searching for them.

Perhaps it’s wishful thinking or maybe it’s because St. Paddy’s day is just around the corner, either way I have been noticing a lot of green lately. Green makes me hopeful – of the warm weather to come, the days growing longer, new life peeking through and Saturday morning farmer’s market. I am so looking forward to planting my first balcony garden this spring. I was very diligently in picking out flowers that like part sun and shade and that would not grow too tall- it was a very difficult. All the varieties made me want to go purchase a plot of land and sprinkle wild flowers seeds all over; as a comprise for now I might go volunteer here this summer. So here is my line-up: cherry tomatoes, marigolds, impatiens, dianthus, pansies, and impatiens. Each morning I have checked on my mini green house that I planted on Sunday – I know, I know, most of the packets said it would take 7-14 days for the seeds to germinate but I just have to check. Much to my surprise, my marigolds have already sprouted! I was thrilled and took lots of pictures of my first sprouts, but now I am worried. Why did they sprout so early? I have kept them out of direct sunlight just like the instructions said, but maybe they still receive too much sun? Is the apartment too warm? It said to keep the box in a warm location but maybe its too hot and it sped up the process? (Keep in mind, I spent 20 minutes trying to find the perfect place that is out of direct sunlight but warm, not super easy in the middle of Arctic-like temperatures (maybe not exactly Arctic). So we’ll see what happens to my little sprouts.

I have been thinking about my grandma, Mimi, a lot lately. She was an avid gardener. She and my grandpa spent countless hours in their garden – pulling weeds, mulching, pruning and watering. I have loads of memories from that garden – we spent the best summer evening on their porch eating watermelon, chasing fireflies and playing in their garden. I am looking forward to connecting with my grandma this spring and summer, as I take care of my much smaller balcony garden. And I know, if I were to call her and tell her about my seeds sprouting early, she would say ” just wait and see. It’s probably more than fine.” So I’m going to do just that.

Me, in Mimi and Pawpaw’s garden, circa 1990.

The cooking grove that is – this weekend was filled with good recipes and good food.  I was not planning to cook this much, it just kind of happened.  Friday evening we gobbled down deluxe BLT sandwiches and ice tea. I heart BLTs – it reminds me of summer and since we  had great weather it seemed fitting.  No basketball game is complete without pizza, so Saturday afternoon we watched the KU game with the best homemade pizza.  Andreas had been asking for chocolate chip cookies, so Saturday evening I whipped up a batch (I never use to whip up cookies, it feels so domestic).  I am making him take the remaining cookies and three diet cokes to work tomorrow so I am not tempted.  On Sunday, which is soup day at our house, I made a great minestrone and finally tried the no knead bread recipe.  Numerous people had raved about this recipe so I had to tried it.  It’s a keeper – crusty on the outside and soft on the inside.

Oh, there were other important things happening this weekend besides cooking – pantry shelves were built, holes were puttied, shelves painted, some knitting, an ass kicking by KU men’s basketball team, seeds planted and a spring-forward nap.  There were some things that didn’t happen this weekend as well – we still have to pink chair (Andreas promised to have mercy for one more week), one wool sock still in progress, my kitchen…read above and you get the picture, and dirty laundry is still waiting.

The weather man just reported that on Tuesday it is suppose to be 74F and on Wednesday…32F. I have no words.

I think it’s time we had this discussion, actually it’s been a long time coming.  You see, I do not know if I am strong enough to handle your unpredictability anymore – back and forth, warm or cold, snow or heat.  I’m beginning to go batty and I do not want to become one of those that constantly complains about you.  I want to be able to count on you – to trust you.  But when you change your mind so drastically and so quickly, it is hard to trust.  I didn’t want to be the one to have to tell you this, but there are others that feel this way too.  So please would you make up your mind? I would be forever indebted.

Yours Truly,

Lindsay

Yes, the weather here has been crazy, it snowed four inches last weekend and yesterday it was a balmy 74F.  If I have to change out my shoes and jacket one more time (it’s suppose to snow next week)…I might have a fit. But it’s the weekend – well the start of the weekend and I am ready! No major plans to speak of but I am ready for great weather and to have Andreas home for two full days, all to myself.  I do have three lofty projects that are on the to do list: finish one wool sock, re-upholster a chair (purchased at Goodwill for $4.98 – sporting a dusty rose 70’s fabric – imagine it next to my red couch) and plant my seed starter box.  I think it’s doable – the chair is priority because I have seen Andreas starring it down and I know exactly what is going through his head, “I can put it in the dumpster while she is gone, she’ll notice but is too short to retrieve it.” And rightfully so because it is ugly right now, but if the chair turns out how I have it pictured in my head, Andreas I just saved you $95. So for the sake of the chair, a marital spat and good taste, it’s priority.

Bonne weekend!

This weekend I had an idea – a brilliant idea. I worked on my idea all week – gathering supplies, scouring the internet for instructions and techniques, sawing wood, jumping every time I used the nail gun and today was the day it was all suppose to come together.  And it didn’t.  Something went wrong, I think I know what happened, but still…ugh.  I’m not giving up, but for today I’m going to join Gracie on the couch for the rest of the afternoon and finish writing my business plan, maybe with a little knitting on the side.  I’ll have to go out tomorrow gather more supplies, possible cut a little more wood and try again.  This is what I signed up for being crafty and all, right? So I’m going to call this a process, trial and error if you will.  

Since I’ve been a little sidetracked with my idea the past few days, I realized it’s almost been a week since I’ve made dinner. I have this love/hate relationship with cooking. When I’m in the groove of cooking, planning out meals, making grocery list, allocating time in my day –  I’m fine and I really enjoy.  I enjoy to the point of being a little ambitious at times, I’ve thought about making my own tortillas.  But I’m out of the groove and now it just seems like work. Why can’t cereal or toast or yogurt be a substitute for meat? I have a couple peppers that are nearing their end, so I’m going to put on my apron (always makes me feel a little better) and make this tonight.