Updates from September, 2011 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Emilily 5:33 pm on September 19, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Bitter melon   

    Dinner 

    Here is a picture of my first official dinner at the new apartment. Previously, I had been too lazy/busy to do any real grocery shopping, aside from bread, cheese and eggs, which I could live on quite happily, but don’t make much of a meal. This is a Filipino dish (I cannot pronounce the name, not even phonetically) with ground beef, eggs, tomatoes, shrimp, onions, garlic and bitter melon. I don’t know if you have ever had bitter melon (Briana once had a pleasant experience with a bitter melon, you should ask her about it) but it tastes exactly like it sounds. However, the bitterness wears off once you cook it down, and it adds a nice layer of flavor to cut the heaviness of the beef.

    20110919-183302.jpg

     
    • Carmen 7:12 pm on September 19, 2011 Permalink

      Well that looks pretty delicious and I’m a big fan of Filipino food so I would probably like this. Although I can’t say I’ve had any experiences with bitter lemon. I did accidentally smell a durian once and I had an automatic gut reaction that I thought the building was going to blow up because to me it smelled like propane gas. I was urging everyone to leave the building and call PG&E. They were like “calm down whitey round eye, its just durian”.

    • Briana 9:44 am on September 20, 2011 Permalink

      As I recall, you shoved it in mouth while I had a line full of customers and it was one of the worst experiences of my life! It instantly sapped all the liquid from my mouth and all it left behind was the inability to swallow and a horrifically bitter flavor. Definitely a story to remember and one I still tell to this day! ;)

  • Emilily 2:42 pm on September 13, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , iPhone, wordpress   

    Blogging from the phone 

    This is an experiment to see if posting from my phone will work. I am at the doctor’s office with my dad, hanging out in the waiting room.

    Okay, well, problem #1, there is no page scrolling on the screen. So you type a few lines, then everything you are typing goes down below the screen and you can’t see it. You can still type, but it is invisible, forcing you to blindly trust the apple spell checker, which often likes to replace what I have typed with phrases like “what the duck.”

    I think my dad is coming out now. I’ll upload a quick pic!

    p.s. I saw you started a post on shoes. You should definitely finish it, since I am like a 7-month fashion time warp and have no idea what shoes I need to buy with this wad of cash burning a hole in my pocket!

    20110913-154134.jpg

     
  • Emilily 11:19 am on January 14, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    yuck 

    Okay, I know you can’t see this photo very well, but basically it is a picture of Burger King on a lovely sunny day in McKinleyville. I tried to zoom in on the marquis, which was the reason for this picture, but it is still fuzzy. It reads “TRY NEW BK BURGER SHOTS.” What?!?!

    I looked it up online, and apparently, they are trying to promote their new sliders, but whatever marketing genius came up with the term “burger shots” needs to be fired. Immediately. I mean, not only is the idea of “shooting” any form of a burger completely nauseating, but they come in a “six-pack” because, clearly, just one alcoholic-beverage reference was not cool enough.

     
    • Carmen 12:06 pm on January 14, 2010 Permalink

      Mckinleyville – so progressive.

  • Carmen 1:07 pm on January 1, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    Last skills acquired in 2009… 

    Right before the end of 2009 I learned how to saber a champagne bottle!  This is a useful skill to have especially if you happen to be riding a horse and someone hands you a bottle of champagne to toast your nobleness. Well obviously you would just bust out your trusty sword and slide the blade upwards with a smooth, swift motion hitting the top lip of the bottle at its weakest point and the top shears off. Of course the force of the bubbly keeps any glass from entering into the bottle but if you do it right there are no extra pieces of glass anywhere.  Brilliant!

     
    • Nurse Ratched 4:37 pm on January 1, 2010 Permalink

      Being a mom, maybe not your mom, but somebody’s mom, I instantly see danger in this practice. I see slices in esophageal tissue, a hasty trip to the ER, swollen membranes, difficulty breathing and the like. I understand the principle of the bubbly forcing the shards of glass up and away from the point of impact. However I think it must be said that principles are abstract rules that should never be confused with proven science. All in all I think it safe to say that saberizing a champagne bottle can be hazardous to your health. So was it tasty?

    • Carmen 6:23 pm on January 1, 2010 Permalink

      Yeah I’m wild!!!

    • Tuesday 5:22 pm on January 4, 2010 Permalink

      What up with that?!!

    • Emilily 7:09 pm on January 4, 2010 Permalink

      I am really impressed by this skill. I told my parents about it, and they had the same reaction as Nurse Ratched, namely, that you could potentially be sipping glass shards along with your bubbly. While I admit this seems like a valid concern, sometimes there is probably no way around it, like when you are swinging from the mast of your pirate ship, ready to celebrate your exploits, and all you have handy is your cutlass, your peg-leg, and a one-eyed monkey…

    • Carmen 7:16 pm on January 4, 2010 Permalink

      I have been coughing up blood lately, is that weird?

    • Emilily 7:24 pm on January 4, 2010 Permalink

      No, I am sure that is perfectly normal, especially for people who have been drinking glass shards. You should probably take some Advil or something for that.

  • Carmen 8:09 pm on December 31, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags:   

    Happy New Year! 

    Well, this is my first drink of the evening… its called The Blue Moon.

     
    • Atom Ant 5:44 am on January 1, 2010 Permalink

      How appropriate. The next blue moon we will see in December will be 23 years from now. Well, that’s what I heard anyway. Some say that a Blue Moon is the second moon in a month. Others say that a Blue Moon is the forth moon in a season (3 months) and at least one person says that the drink above is a Blue Moon. What ever it is… i say happy new year and bottoms up!

    • Emilily 10:27 am on January 4, 2010 Permalink

      I have heard the first – that the Blue Moon is the second full moon in a month. Hoooooweverrrrr…I just looked it up on Wikipedia, and it appears I was wrong. Wikipedia says it is the 13th full moon in a year, an explanation I like better because thirteen is a prophetic number on its own, so it makes the Blue Moon extra eerie.

      Hmmmm, there’s actually a ton of really cool information on this article, so I’m going to do a post on it instead!

    • Carmen 10:52 am on January 4, 2010 Permalink

      Finally!

    • Emilily 11:13 am on January 4, 2010 Permalink

      I know, right?!

  • Emilily 8:47 pm on December 8, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: muffins,   

    muffins! 

    blackberry bran muffinsI tried another bran muffin recipe this past weekend, and they turned out pretty delicious. I got the recipe from Dylan’s mom Irene – she sent some home with him after Thanksgiving, and I think I ate about 4 a day until they were gone!

    The (modified) recipe was originally from this great blog, Farmgirl Fare. It’s by this woman who one day packed up her California lifestyle and moved out to a remote, 280-acre farm in the middle of Nowhere, Missouri. I think I can relate to packing everything up and embarking on a new adventure! I also like the name of her blog, because it reminds me of The Princess Bride (Farmboy) although I doubt this has any relation to her blog at all. Anyways, there are a ton of healthy recipes, pictures of her farm animals, and a smattering of gardening tips and photos. I think this weekend I might try a batch of these blueberry breakfast bars, but with persimmons instead, since they’re weighing down the trees in the front yard.

     
  • Carmen 11:58 am on December 8, 2009 Permalink | Reply  

    My beautiful Grandma… 

    I found this picture of my grandma (on the right) and her sister.  Isn’t she lovely?

    louise

     
    • Emilily 8:28 pm on December 8, 2009 Permalink

      Oh she is! I can see some of your grandma’s features still.

  • Carmen 8:15 pm on December 4, 2009 Permalink | Reply  

    Top floor of bloomingdales from my phone with tiltshift 

     
    • Emilily 1:08 pm on December 5, 2009 Permalink

      That looks beautiful, like a magical sparkling waterfall raining shopping happiness! Maybe that’s where the free-designer-clothes-fairies come from!

  • Emilily 11:50 am on December 3, 2009 Permalink | Reply  

    blog business 

    I just noticed the time on my post last night was not adjusted for stupid daylight savings time. It was not 12:15 am, it was 11:15 pm. I’ve just changed our settings to reflect this. Obviously, WordPress agrees with me in that daylight savings is nothing but a useless annoyance.

     
  • Emilily 8:08 pm on November 15, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags:   

    picture template 

    new orleans project testSo here’s another picture template I made! It is a lot less complicated than the last one, but I think will still work for short projects, and also is a nice way to post three images and a little type. Plus, it can be vertical or horizontal!

    Just to see how it looked online, I’ve posted my last three pictures from New Orleans. This is the Mississippi River from Jackson Square. I am not sure what that is across the water, probably just more Louisiana?

    I am not sure if you can tell, but along the bottom of the template I drew some graph paper. I might have to make it larger or darker for it to really show up…I guess if you just wanted to show three images, you could use the template at full size (this is medium size) and then the graph paper would show. It occurred to me that with the orange type in the banner, the graph paper, and the clean orderly arrangements of everything in P2, we have a sort of Rhodia notebook theme going on!

    graph paper2

     
  • Emilily 8:40 am on November 14, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: dieline   

    nice package 

    So yesterday (yes, this is a banked post!) I was standing at the water cooler, chatting with two of the engineers from our office (I know, how cliche) and we were talking about what snacks and beverages we were going to have in our booth at next week’s trade show. We always have Red Bull, water, Hershey’s Minis, and Quaker Oatmeal Bars. Sometimes we have a keg on the last day of the show. The staff is pretty evenly divided between those of us who snack on the oatmeal bars and water (me, about 89% of the time), and those who consume the Red Bull and candy, but everybody likes beer! Another thing we agreed on was that we really need to try some of those energy drinks with the alcohol already in them – not because they’re going to be any good, but because they are horrifyingly fascinating. I’m going to equate them to shooting a gun – there is great potential for bodily harm, but despite one’s better judgment, curiosity wins out. (Speaking of not listening to one’s better judgment, it was also at a trade show that I tried one of those 5-Hour Energy drinks and had an incredibly bad reaction to the toxic levels of niacin it contained.) But back to the alcoholic energy drinks…is there any other (legal) substance that can give you a buzz and keep you up for the next 24 hours? (That was a hypothetical question, but the answer is: NO, and for good reason.) So, with my opinion of these so-called beverages as nothing more than highly toxic sludge improperly marketed to teenage binge drinkers firmly in place,  I hopped on the internet and did a little research. And the result? I totally have to try this. Why? Not because my opinion of alcoholic energy drinks has changed, but because I like the packaging.

    So how much of a sucker am I? There are four pictures below. The leftmost two are energy drinks currently on the market, one called Sparks that looks like something a 15-year-old might be able to score at his/her local 7-11, and one by Monster featuring new Nitrous Oxide technology. Technically, I think this one may not have alcohol, and I don’t think they’re trying to imply it’s like a shot of espresso and a whippit; I believe they’re just trying to give their disgusting, foul-tasting brew the foamy frothy consistency of beer on tap. Somehow I am offended by the mere fact that they are trying to improve this crap. Now, for the next two. The first one is called Mojo, and looks like one of those anti-oxidant infused water bottles you might find at Whole Foods. All of a sudden, I am not bothered by the fact that it is 7% alcohol and has 2.5 times the caffeine as the equivalent amount of coffee. It’s French, and comes in three flavors: Tropical Fruit, Star Fruit, and Dragon Fruit. ‘Nuff said. The next one (far right) is a concept drink called Tagged, and the smooth, matte aluminum bottle makes me pray the proposed state ban on alcoholic energy drinks doesn’t nip this pretty baby in the bud.

    sparksn2o monstermojotaggedxxxxxxxxx  xxxxxxxx  xxxxxxxx  xxxxxxxx  xxxxxxxx  xxxxxxxx  xxxxxxxx  xxxxxxxx  xxxxxxxx  xxxxxxxx

    On another note, I found Mojo and Tagged through a Google image search which led me to a great blog called Dieline, featuring what else but package design! It was just a happy accident that through a post about my complete and instantaneous lack of free will when faced with a nice package that I stumbled upon this website, but it pretty much reads as a shopping list for…everything. I mean, look at this wine bottle! And these tampons…seriously? A non-repulsive tampon box? The only way that box could be improved upon is if you could also use it to bludgeon people. And, last one I promise, this rum bottle looks like it was designed by the same lettering artist who did that Wired article on pirates.

    Dude, nice design just makes me happy, and gives me hope for humanity.

     
    • olga 5:26 am on November 15, 2009 Permalink

      Yes yes yes, we are nothing but two legged cows that are easily milked, bilked and put out to pasture with our smartly designed bottles, boxes and bags. The powers that be are busy bovinizing humanity seeking to produce a vast herd of homogenized consumers. Driven not by what we need but what we can afford. If only we had lead a commercial free childhoods. If only we had been raised by wolves is more like it, then and only then would we buy what we need and not what we see and want because of the pretty or smartly designed packaging.
      P.S. I really like the “Tagged” aluminum matte finish, I would buy that!

  • Emilily 1:40 pm on November 11, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: cake   

    viral cake 

    whole cakeSo, I probably mentioned to you that a few weeks ago I contracted a nasty computer virus while looking up a recipe online. I don’t know if I mentioned what kind of recipe I was looking up, but it was a rainbow cake, and for future reference, if you are ever thinking of looking for a rainbow cake recipe, don’t try to link to the site that says “Nazi Rainbow Cake”, even if you’re like “what the heck is a Nazi Rainbow? I just have to check out this nonsense...” Anyways, there’s no need to hunt down a recipe for rainbow cake, all you need is two boxes of Betty Crocker yellow cake mix and an ungodly amount of food coloring. I know, you don’t have to tell me, yellow is not a flavor, and food coloring is not food. But this cake is not about the toxic sickly-sweet sponge that you end up with, it is about the gorgeous, amazing, never-before-seen-in-nature colors!

    red orange yellowthe first cutcake cut

     
    • Carmen 2:18 pm on November 11, 2009 Permalink

      oooh pretty! pretty cancerous!

    • Olga 3:52 am on November 12, 2009 Permalink

      Sometimes a rainbow is just a rainbow? That is some cake Emilily! So when you say a lot of food coloring… how much exactly.. say for instance does it take to make the purple? 1/2 gallon of red and half quart blue?

    • Emilily 4:05 pm on November 12, 2009 Permalink

      Yes, I too thought a rainbow was just a rainbow, but when I gave the remainder of the cake to Dylan to take into his office, he sent back this picture and a message from the tool makers at his work: Dylan, we enjoyed the cake. Please tell your boyfriend thank you.

      viral cake

    • Carmen 2:55 pm on November 16, 2009 Permalink

      hhaaaaaahahhh!

  • Emilily 5:17 pm on November 9, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Halloween   

    Humboldt Honeys 

    Well, my Halloween was a complete bore (I spent all day/night cleaning my old apartment) but it looks like my little brother had fun!

    For future reference, you can always identify a bona fide Northern California drag queen by the pit hair and choice of footwear.

    DSC_7622DSC_7621

     
    • Carmen 11:09 am on November 10, 2009 Permalink

      wow.

  • Carmen 1:54 pm on November 8, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: french toast   

    Sunday morning food styling… 

    Max made french toast with apples!

     
    • Emilily 4:11 pm on November 9, 2009 Permalink

      That looks delicious!!!

  • Carmen 9:10 pm on October 28, 2009 Permalink | Reply  

    Speaking of tea… 

    Thanks to my sister I’ve been drinking alot of this green tea called Kukicha or Twig Tea.  Its really good and tastes like a forest or something, I can’t quite put my finger on it.  After a little research I have read that it is a balance between bittersweet and umami (one of the five generally recognized basic tastes sensed by specialized receptor cells present on the human tongue, some people would refer to it as savory).  Its also macrobiotic and it supposedly balances the acidity in your body!  Not only does it alkalinize your body it also is a good source of calcium, zinc, selenium, copper, manganese, and fluoride! I could go on and on, but really its just tasty.

    Photo-on-2009-10-28-at-18.55

     
    • Olga 3:39 am on October 29, 2009 Permalink

      So I’m reading your comments on the twig tea… zinc, yeah ok, copper, good, manganese, healthy, fluoride SCREECH HALT WHAT!!! FLUORIDE? You mean the very same that the Germans used on prisoners of war to keep them docile and dumbed-down? That fluoride? Or the fluoride that causes bone cancer in rodents? How about the fluoride that causes brain damage due to fluoride toxicity? Are you drinking that fluoride? If you think I’m over reacting to the dangers of fluoride Carmen.. you have nobody but yourself to blame. I took your suggestion about podcasts from http://www.howstuffworks.com I can not say enough about their podcast! I love it, I listen to it every day on my way to work. You should listen to the one on fluoride, you might think twice about adding more of that toxic mineral to your diet!

    • Carmen 9:47 am on October 29, 2009 Permalink

      Whoa, wow, ok ok I will do that! I assumed it was the fluoride put in the water in Texas that made my teeth so strong but I obviously don’t know that much about fluoride. I’m really glad you’ve been liking the podcasts, you must be learning alot! I’ll have some more podcast recommendations for you soon. Until then I’m gonna keep drinking this tea even though it might have fluoride in it. It comes from twigs! How bad can it be!

    • KRISTOPHER DUKES 5:38 pm on October 30, 2009 Permalink

      That sounds lovely, but I’m a sucker for matcha. Matcha’s powdered green tea leaves that you mix with water to create a beautiful jade tea with froth.

      Or you can just snort lines of it.

      XXXO,
      K

  • Emilily 2:09 pm on October 22, 2009 Permalink | Reply  

    Heh heh. Our tag cloud says BREAKFAST bunnies

     
  • Carmen 12:15 pm on October 21, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags:   

    Speaking of apps… 

    I also downloaded the TiltShiftGen app which allows you to take a picture and then render it to look like you are looking at a miniature mock up of the real thing.  It works really well and the photos look super cute.  Go get it! You will like it!

    (i did not take this pic btw)

    tiltshift pic

     
    • Emilily 1:29 pm on October 22, 2009 Permalink

      These apps looks super cool. I am definitely going to buy this TiltShift Generator, and look into those Bloom and Trope (and Air?) apps.

      Hey – does this mean you have an iPhone now?!?!

    • Carmen 9:51 pm on October 22, 2009 Permalink

      I’m testing out Max’s old iphone but i’m still using my tmobile dash as my main phone. In December I’ll be making the switch!

    • Emilily 10:33 am on October 23, 2009 Permalink

      Awesome! There is an app that will let me track your phone with GPS, so we can always see where the other one is! That will be fun! Or is it creepy? Nah. Fun.

    • Carmen 11:20 am on October 23, 2009 Permalink

      it will only be creepy sometimes.

    • Olga 2:07 am on October 24, 2009 Permalink

      There is an app for that Emililyly! I just found it and downloaded it. It’s called “Loopt” I downloaded Trope and Bloom too. They give me something to do during meetings. ( on silence of course) Trope works for doodling.

  • Emilily 1:40 pm on October 13, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags:   

    Eggs en Cocotte…sort of 

    So I was inspired by your egg cook-off, and hungry, and working from home today, so I decided to try my own eggs en cocotte! I used cippolini onions, bell peppers and oregano, and gruyere cheese for the top. Since my toaster oven has a broiler setting, I browned the cheese, but I should have cleaned off the edges of my dish because it looks a little messy. Also, sadly, I broke my yolks. I almost challenged my fear of runny eggs by leaving them whole, but then realized I did not have any bread to soak up the liquid chicken juice, so I went ahead and cooked them firm. I think next time I will be more adventurous with the yolks, but overall, yummy!

    en cocotte 01

    en cocotte 02

    en cocotte 03

     
    • Carmen 2:25 pm on October 13, 2009 Permalink

      oohhh, well done! That looks great and I think the breaking of the yokes might be a good idea. I think i’ll try that next time.

  • Carmen 9:23 pm on October 11, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags:   

    failing better… 

    Little did I know, there was an Eggs en Cocotte cook off happening at my house this weekend.  As you know, I made it on Saturday and then Max made it today.  I have to say there were good and bad things about each one.  Max made his with red onion and tomatoes.  I really liked the tomatoes but the downside is that the water from the tomatoes cooks out and makes it kind of runny.  Where Max has me beat, however, is the use of power tools to finish it up.  If you recall, I recommended using your broiler to brown the cheese at the end… turns out you could also use a heat gun commonly used for drying/melting paint.  You just got learned.

    m.gunm.eggs

     
    • Olga 10:30 am on October 12, 2009 Permalink

      There just no end to what you can do with a power tool in hand.

    • Emilily 10:44 am on October 12, 2009 Permalink

      Dang, that does look nice and toasty on top! I agree, a blow torch or flamethrower of some sort is an integral kitchen tool!

  • Carmen 11:26 am on October 10, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: ,   

    Eggs en Cocotte 

    I love breakfast. (ok, and lunch and dinner) I’ve been trying to perfect Eggs en Cocotte for years now and I still can’t make it perfectly but it has gotten better over years at least.  I fail better at it nowadays. Its takes a long time to make but the end result is so cute and yummy that it makes it worth it – most of the time… unless you mess it up and then breakfast becomes a frustrating event that makes me want to cry.  Aaannyways, today was successful.  You can make it with alot of different ingredients.  Today I chose leeks, but in the past I have made it with bacon and onions or mushrooms or fennel – you could get imaginative.

    Chop the leeks up real fine and saute them for about 15 minutes (do not burn them like I did!).  Grate a little bit of nutmeg into the leeks while they’re cooking, add salt and pepper.  Then put the leeks into buttered ramekins, crack a couple of eggs in each one, add salt and pepper.  Then put the ramekins in a casserole dish and pour boiling water into the casserole dish to surround the ramekins, and then put it in the oven!  Half way through put some parmesan cheese (or gruyere) on there.  I think it takes about 20 minutes at 375 degrees but its kind of something you need to decide on by watching it, its tricky.  Sometimes the center will still be runny while the rest is perfectly done.  I like to take it out at that point and finish it up in the microwave for about 20 seconds.  Voila!  (one thing I would change is maybe to cook it in the broiler (if you have one, which I don’t) so the cheese gets nice and toasty)

    P1010853eggssteam

    done

     
  • Emilily 1:04 pm on October 3, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: ,   

    marshmallows! 

    done

    So I decided to try making my own marshmallows for this camping trip, since I don’t really like store-bought marshmallows, but I love the whole s’mores ritual. I did some online research, and read some cooks’ reviews, and finally found a recipe I decided to try my hand at. It turned out brilliantly! Rather than re-print the recipe (which I don’t think I can do anyways) I will just refer you to the Smitten Kitchen’s marshmallow post. Her writing and pictures are almost too perfect to even try and replicate, just check it out, it is a lovely blog. (And like she mentions, these are probably the messiest things ever, it is like making tar…tar that is tempting you with its sugary aroma to lick the beater, to stick your fingr in the bowl for just a taste…needless to say, marshmallow is difficult to get out of hair.)

    Here is how I made my yummy and melt-in-your-mouth sweet and sticky marshmallows. And here is a question for you – how would you describe a marshmallow to an alien without sounding like you were talking dirty?!

    startingcooking sugar gelatingelatin again in panstirring 1stirring 2stirring 3

     
    • Carmen 4:56 pm on October 4, 2009 Permalink

      I’m really amazed that you are trying to tackle something as weird as marshmallows. I didn’t even know what marshmallows were made out of until now. Can you imagine the person who invented it? Probably alot of trial and error…………….well, after a little research… turns out, as I’m sure you knew, original Marshmallows come from the mucilaginous root of the Althaea officinalis plant. I’m pretty sure mucilaginous means a sticky consistency, high viscosity. The root of the plant was used for sore throats and other parts of the plant were used for all kinds of medicines. That is, until they figured out that sugar is the best medicine. Thus, the confectioners delight was invented. And thats exactly what I would say to the Aliens.

  • Emilily 12:48 pm on October 2, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: ,   

    buon appetito! 

    So, as you know, I am car camping in Joshua Tree this weekend, which is apparently a far cry from the Survivor-esque backpacking we did when I was a kid. I remember tramping through the mountains with a 50lb backpack, eating little packages of freeze-dried astronaut food, and spending countless hours packing my tent and sleeping bag into ridiculously tiny waterproof bags. This weekend will be different – a little more civilized, I suspect. I’ve packed my french press, for starters!

    Anyways, we designed a menu about a week ago, and everyone was responsible for a few meals. The fare includes corn cakes with preserves, Mia’s dad’s fresh french bread, cherry pie, grilled sausage sandwiches, a full English breakfast spread, and my home-made marinara sauce, below!

    Marinara layers

    I may have mentioned it before, but I have a mild obsession with making pasta sauce. I LOVE pasta sauce. The pasta itself, I could take it or leave it. But a good pasta sauce, just give me a spoon and I’m happy…well, some chianti wouldn’t hurt, either. My sauce is pretty basic, with some exceptions – I like to use heirloom tomatoes, I think they have a richer flavor, and I use a dark brown molasses sugar instead of….well, I don’t know what kind of sugar a traditional marinara has, but I think it has some?

    (p.s. I have to apologize for the picture quality, my little kitchen is dark and cave-like, especially at night.)

     
    • Carmen 4:42 pm on October 4, 2009 Permalink

      This looks delicious! How long do you cook it for?

    • Emilily 12:35 pm on October 6, 2009 Permalink

      You cook it for…ages, and then some. The longer it simmers, the richer it tastes and the better your kitchen smells. But add the caramelized onions at the end, otherwise they turn to mush and overwhelm all the other herbs. Also, I save about half of the basil and toss it in at the very end. (The other herbs I use are italian parsley and oregano, both fresh, and a few generous pinches of red pepper flakes.)

  • Emilily 10:38 am on September 30, 2009 Permalink | Reply  

    the great legitimizer 

    Let me warn you now…this might get long. But I promise it will eventually come back around and explain the title.

    (More …)

     
    • Carmen 11:04 am on September 30, 2009 Permalink

      Ah thats a beautiful vision, i love it. Hopefully someone is already working on this but if not, I’m sure you could get some funding and only work on that for the rest of your life (because it really would take that long). You’d be famous forever if you really did that. They’d call it the Hawkins Romance Dictionary. And in the last minute that you finished it, you are 99 years old and can barely see, you write the last word on the last page… and then a computer program is invented that completes it in a minute – Oh! man! Thats just like those old Twilight Zones.

      No seriously, I think instead of writing the dictionary you write a fiction novel about a girl who writes this dictionary – just think of it! it could have love and loss and intrigue and spies and best of all a bizarre and encompassing love of words that brings the greatest of heights and the greatest of tragedies with it. Oh geez, it practically writes itself. You better get on it.

  • Carmen 10:09 am on September 29, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags:   

    progression of a sunset… 

    Last night:

     
  • Carmen 12:35 pm on September 28, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags:   

    Final Bunny House 

    Well, it only took 3 weeks to finish…

    003

     
    • Emilily 1:20 pm on September 29, 2009 Permalink

      I like it! Now to get to my room, I have to go up the rabbit hole!

    • Carmen 2:55 pm on September 29, 2009 Permalink

      that sounds a little dirty but then again anything with the words up and hole in it sound dirty to me. maybe i have a problem? Anywaaaayys, no, you don’t have to go up a rabbit hole to get to your tower, the tower shaft is in a different place. i like how this comment will make little sense to anyone else reading it.

    • Emilily 9:35 am on October 1, 2009 Permalink

      heh heh, you said shaft.

      (I just figured this post hadn’t deteriorated enough yet)

    • Carmen 9:41 am on October 1, 2009 Permalink

      yeah, i’ve been waiting for you to take advantage of that perfect joke set up! high five!

  • Emilily 12:59 pm on September 25, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: ,   

    I wont to create my OWN font! 

    I couldn’t help it, I know, that was an absolutely terrible word play. I should be ashamed…and I would be, if not for the fact that I know my sense of humor can and has done much worse.

    I was reading the ilovetypography blog this morning, and they have a few articles on creating your own font. I think I am going to give this a shot – I love drawing, fonts and words – what’s not to love about putting them all together?! Well, I can answer that – the expensive font developing software programs one must buy. So I think I will create my own font that no one else can use because it won’t be a font, it will just be a bunch of Illustrator drawings. Okay, you can use it too. I just really love the idea of creating your own font, then making a poster with it…it’s art, words, and a message on potentially so many layers.

    I’m not sure if you follow ilovetypography as fanatically as I do, but here is something I know you will appreciate: the Font Police! This is a blog devoted to bad use of fonts, improper typesetting, and just some general abuses of signage. Finally, a way for me to punish that stupid store downtown that has a sign out front in some godawful version of curlz that says: Fantasys’ Jewel’s. I mean, seriously, I don’t even know what they are trying to sell in there, it could be baby seal pelts, I simply cannot get past the horrible font (which you can’t see, obviously, in this post) or the bizarre use of apostrophes.

    FNmackinaw3Lastly, here is an interesting notebook company. You subscribe to their Field Notes collection, and receive 10 three-packs, in assorted colors, of their fine notebooks, in graph, ruled or mixed. Lovely and functional! They had me with the graph paper option, but the little color wheel in their logo sealed the deal.

     
    • Carmen 6:05 pm on September 26, 2009 Permalink

      Ok, I think we both agree that your word play doesn’t make any sense, but its ok, we can still be friends.
      I looked at all the links, I like the Field Notes the best. I have a thing for notebooks, just like you I assume. I went through the ordering process to get the three different versions of the Notes and then it told me I would have to pay $5.50 for shipping (when the 3 pack of Notes is only $9.50), suddenly I couldn’t stand the thought of paying that much for shipping. I think I’m spoiled from Amazon Prime (i love it!). So, it ended there. But I admit they are very pretty and I want some.

  • Carmen 10:25 am on September 25, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags:   

    last night… 

    So I was all dressed up ready to go to a dinner party with a “french peasant” theme.  Here was my outfit: basque

    Strangely it didn’t go over so well.  Apparently people are not familiar with the French Basque Peasants and their traditional “basque-horn” head-dress.  Who knew! Needless to say it was a little embarrassing to walk in and realize that only the food was supposed to be french peasant themed.  Luckily I travel with an extra outfit at all times for just such an occasion!

    I met some lovely people and ate alot of good food.  Max made seafood bouillabaisse, which is one of my favorite dishes in all the world.  Everyone there made delicious food and it was hosted by the guy in rabbit hat and cigarette looking pensive.

    007

    And at the end of the night we took some portrait shots.  My brain is not working so good today so I’m just going to post these pictures and go get a glass of water.

    013

    Our generous host, Mr. Scott012

     
    • Emilily 11:39 am on September 25, 2009 Permalink

      Well, I can see your confusion – people really ought to specify if a dinner party theme is meant to be dress-up, or just inspire the menu. I guess we were going in the right direction with the french fry outfit after all, although I fail to see how a basque head-horn would not be a welcome addition to any dinner party, themed or not.

      Also, when I saw you in the bunny hat, I though, oh, how convenient, it’s both a pet and a costume change!

  • Carmen 9:16 pm on September 21, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags:   

    Honeymoon cocktail… 

    Only 4 ingredients – its delicious…

    2 oz Calvados, half oz cointreau, half oz Benedictine (made by monks!), and a half oz of lemon juice. Garnish with a burnt lemon (see pic below… its magical!)

    ingredsflaming-lemon

     
    • Emilily 9:36 am on September 22, 2009 Permalink

      Burnt lemon? From that picture, it looks more like your lemon just went nuclear!

  • Emilily 12:42 pm on September 16, 2009 Permalink | Reply  

    It’s here! 

    Picture 002

    The embosser has arrived! I tried it on the thinner card stock, and it worked really well.

     
    • Carmen 1:41 pm on September 16, 2009 Permalink

      WWWooooahh. That looks flippin nice! I better get to stamping!

    • Ma 6:02 pm on September 16, 2009 Permalink

      Yes, it looks really cool. Are you two forming a company?

    • Emilily 6:12 pm on September 16, 2009 Permalink

      We’re making business cards for the blog. We have a logo and everything!

  • Carmen 2:24 pm on September 14, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: ,   

    Speaking of food… 

    Here is my cute little snack!  I made some carrot bread since I’m home sick today. (My first carrot bread)  It turned out pretty good I have to admit.  It goes well with tea.

    P1010786

     
    • Emilily 3:27 pm on September 14, 2009 Permalink

      Oh that looks delicious!

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