annaramma

Roasted Broccoli Goodness

This kickass broccoli was super duper easy and perfect with sautéed sablefish (finished with a touch of Soy Vay).  

Roasted Broccoli

1 large head broccoli

2 peeled cloves of garlic, halved

1-2 T. oil

salt & pepper

1. Cut florets from broccoli head and rough cut stems.

2. Toss with oil, salt & pepper on a baking sheet.

3. Roast in at 425 degree oven for 20 minutes or until the edges brown and they start to smell a little smoky.  

The Soy Vay runs onto the broccoli?  Nothing wrong with that.

Frugal Friday: Untangling

Am I the only crazy person who actually enjoys untangling things.  I spent at least and hour picking apart my shade cords and it was so satisfying.  

Someone actually suggested that I just throw out the shades and get new ones (they were inexpensive).  What?!  Why would I waste perfectly good shades when I could just spend a little time to fix them.  

Though there are all kinds of thrifty projects and crafts, the thriftiest thing is to avoid buying or making something new.  

Maybe it's a little crazy and obsessive, but an hour of satisfying untangling saved me over $100.

More fascination

Cobbling together several photos, How-Tos and mental pictures, I came up with the fascinator I envisioned earlier this month.

The materials and tools were pretty straightforward:
- a comb base
- stripped coque feathers
- a few craft feathers for fill
- curved peacock feathers
- glue gun
- needle and thread



I started by gluing together groups of feathers.  This makes it much easier to experiment with the composition on the comb.  Once I decided how I wanted them to lay along the side of the comb, I stitched them one with carpet thread.





Once I built up the general shape with groups of feathers, I used the tips of craft and coque feathers to cover the thread.  Tiny dabs of hot glue keep the feathers in place, but I made sure not to let things get blobby.



And here's the final product.  The comb stays securely in my hair.  It also allows me to angle the feathers to be more or less over my eyes.  Overall, I count it a success!

A good time was had by all

English tea, scones, clotted cream, jam, Champagne, bibimbop, soju, whisky, more Champagne and chocolate cake . . . all the necessary ingredients for a 30th birthday.  Yum!

Crap Store

I know "Crap Store" may sound harsh or judgmental, but what exactly would you call a place with a window like this?  Just look at it!  It's a splendid mess!  Look at all those bits and bobs.  There's definitely some rhyme and reason to it (check out the kitty and unicorn sections), but . . . well, wow!

Even better, I'm not even sure that this is an actual store.  There wasn't a sign or store hours.  I didn't see any proprietor and there don't appear to be any prices.  Maybe this is overflow from someone's house?  

No matter how it came into being, this is a pretty impressive undertaking.  All the collecting and sorting and arranging.  It even looks like they dust now and then.  I'll be checking back soon, maybe I can speak to the mad genius who put all this together (including custom shelves).  Who knows, I might even be able to bring home a unicorn (or a mermaid riding a dolphin) for myself.

It's all about the cream cheese frosting

I love carrot cake.  But it's a conditional kind of love.  I love carrot cake as long as it's accompanied by cream cheese frosting.  Ohhh mama, I love cream cheese frosting.

So when I ran across this great recipe for Carrot Cake Pancakes it sounded so fantastic and tasty.  What could be better than pancakes with frosting?  Oh and with the carrot in them, they're totally healthy, right?

I made a few little modifications to the recipe just to suit my tastes.  After shredding the carrot, I popped it in the microwave for 90 seconds to steam.  The cakes still had a little texture to them, but weren't actually crunchy.  I also added some extra milk to the cream cheese mixture.  I wanted it to be more of a glaze than a spread.  Good stuff.

Now not to start any controversies, but there were a couple additions I considered: raisins and pineapple.  I am pretty clear on avoiding raisins in carrot cake, but a little crushed pineapple could be a good thing.  I'm thinking a little dollop in the pan before you pour the batter.  Then you would have a little caramelization on the bottom.  But maybe that's straying too far into pineapple upside down cake territory?  

Fascinating

I have a black tie event coming up and I want to craft myself a fascinator.  I have perused the many beautiful custom fascinators out there and I think I have a fairly good grasp of what's needed. 

I've purchased a few stripped coque feathers, but I should have just about everything else hanging around the house.  I'm thinking I need:
- a comb base
- felt for covering the base
- a silk flower (or maybe not)
- coque feathers strategically placed
- a few craft feathers for fill
- perhaps a peacock feather eye as an accent
- beads and other vintage bits for decoration
- glue gun, or would E3000 work best?

A little bit of trial and error, and I should have something pretty respectable.  I'll keep you posted.

It's beginning . . .

Halloween marks the beginning of the holiday season for me. 

I don't just mean the crazy-ass Christmas season commercial bonanza, but a whole series of other celebrations.  In no particular order there's:

- my birthday
- a four day weekend (woo hoo Veteran's Day!)
- Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday)
- Christmas and Hannukah celebrations
- a five day weekend
- lots of crafting and baking, finding the perfect tree
- decorating
- watching A Christmas Story and White Christmas
- Christmas with the family
- two weeks of vacation
- wrapping presents
- the quiet of the day after Christmas
- New Year's Eve with good friends
- CrabFest (truly one of the best made up holidays ever)

Do all these celebrations stress you out?  Do you find yourself thinking: what the hell do I bring to all the parties?  Why not just make a whole bunch of mini-bundts using Joy the Baker's recipe?  I'm thinking this would be delicious and welcomed by just about anyone.  I bet it would freeze beautifully.  Pick up a few bakery boxes, a little ribbon and you'll be everyone's favorite guest.