Pricky Pear of a Pincushion!

We're into crunch time for my grad program... we've also been thrown a curve ball waaaaaaay out of left field that changes just about everything for next year. Fun.
To de-stress a bit, I decided to try one of my sewing patterns that has been collecting dust lately. I love cute pincushions, and this seemed perfect! Put some "19th Century Pharmacy" on TVO and away we go!

This is one of Heather Bailey's lovely designs! This pattern also includes an apple, tomato and strawberry! It can be purchased either here, at her online shop, or where I got it here in Toronto, here at The Workroom. I also got the fabric squares that I used to make my Pear from The Workroom! It's a wonderful place, I recommend it highly.

After sewing away for a while, which included accidentally sewing the wrong sides together at one point (possibly going to prove that I shouldn't watch TV while sewing, and that stitch rippers are a worthy investment into a sewing kit), I have this lovely piece of functional fruit.

I think my embroidery needs a little work, but I'm quite pleased with the finished product! I put some old coins in the bottom of it to make sure it would be bottom heavy. I'm glad I did, since while I was stuffing it initially it seemed a bit floppy, especially when the leaves went on. I love how the two toned look came out, although I think I want to make another one with just the green fabric, I've got enough of it left to probably do it.

Amazing DIY found online!

Small note today.

I WANT TO MAKE THIS!!!

This may be a good project for my pyrex mugs that aren't doing much right now... one of them is an ipod holder, but other than that, they are collecting dust.

Grace Bonney, who runs the lovely website and blog, Design Sponge put up this DIY lamp! All I need to do now is find a drill! And a lamp kit; might help.

Paper crafts, a recycled wreath!

I was bored. I needed to do something with my hands. I had a pile of magazines lying around. I was also perusing my big list of website links for crafts and projects. This, seemed a perfect solution!

Lisa over at the The Red Thread Blog gives a lovely tutorial for a paper wreath, using wrapping paper left over from her advent calender project. I started perusing through the fashion mags I had lying around, and came up with this!

Purses and earrings and shoes, oh my!

I had some pretty Gold ribbon lying around in my stash, so I used that to create the bow and loop to hang it! I am very pleased with the final product, spending an afternoon stapling away while watching TV was very satisfying. I also found a picture of Greta Garbo in one of the magazines, and she takes pride and place near the top. This is on my bedroom door now, a hint of femininity to disguise the disaster zone that lies within. My room's a bit of a disaster since class started again.

Happy Fat Tuesday!!

It's a bit late, but I think I'm just turning into a night person anyway. Nonetheless, pancakes!

Ingredients for my Mom's homemade pancakes

(makes a lot, about a week's worth f breakfast if you're eating about 2-3 a day)

Wet:

2 1/2 cups of Milk

1 egg

2 tbls melted butter

Dry:

2 cups of Flour

4 tps of Baking Powder

2 tbls of sugar

pinch of salt.

-Mix together dry ingredients in one bowl, and the wet ingredients into another, preferably the container you plan to store the batter in.

-Mix the dry into the wet in small batches. Stir thoroughly to eliminate lumpy bits.

-Place batter in the fridge over night.

-To cook, heat non-stick frying plan on medium heat. Stir the batter once more before use. Ladle out batter unto centre of the pan and tilt the pan to allow excess batter to fall over edges of pancake. Cook to desired doneness (it's a word now, get over it), and serve. 

*Fruit in the batter should not be stored in the batter overnight. It's much better to have it freshly put into the batter, and just as you pout the patter into the pan. I threw strawberries on today's serving because I had them and had forgotten about them until I opened the fridge again for the Maple Syrop.

Risotto!

I actually made risotto. Yep.


I consider this a hard recipe in the sense that I've heard some horror stories about how easy it is to screw up. Once again, I must thank Canadian Living for the recipe! I added mushrooms, they weren't there originally, but I think they make it better.

Smoked Cheese Risotto

By The Canadian Living Test Kitchen

roll over and click star to rate

This recipe makes 4 servingsTop of Form

Ingredients

2 cups vegetable broth 2 2cups cups(500 mL) (500 mL) vegetable broth or sodium-reduced chicken broth
2 tbsp butter 2 2tbsp tbsp(25 mL) (25 mL) butter
1 tbsp olive oil 1 1tbsp tbsp(15 mL) (15 mL) olive oil
1 large shallot , (or half small onion)diced1 1large shallotshallots, (or half small onion) diced
1 small clove garlic , minced1 1small clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp salt 1/4 1/4tsp tsp(1 mL) (1 mL) salt
1-1/2 cups arborio rice 1-1/2 1-1/2cups cups(375 mL) (375 mL) arborio rice
1/2 cup white wine 1/2 1/2cup cup(125 mL) (125 mL) white wine
4 oz smoked cheese , (such as provolone, mozzarella or Gouda),shredded4 4oz oz(113 g) (113 g) smoked cheese, (such as provolone, mozzarella or Gouda), shredded [I used smoked Gruyere, works great for this recipe!]
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese , (approx)1/4 1/4cup cup(50 mL) (50 mL) grated Parmesan cheese, (approx)
2 tbsp minced fresh chives 2 2tbsp tbsp(25 mL) (25 mL) minced fresh chivefresh chives or parsley

4-5 mushrooms of choice, either White button or Crimini are good, chopped 

Preparation:

In small saucepan, bring broth and 2-1/2 cups (625 mL) water to boil. Reduce heat to low and keep warm.

In large saucepan, heat 1 tbsp (15 mL) of the butter and oil over medium-high heat; saute shallot, garlic and salt until softened but not coloured, about 3 minutes. Chuck in mushrooms and stir.

Add rice, stirring to coat and toast grains. Add wine; cook, stirring, until almost no liquid remains.

Begin adding 4 cups (1 L) of the broth mixture 1/2 cup (125 mL) at a time, stirring after each addition and letting rice absorb most of the liquid before adding more, about 20 minutes in total. Taste before adding last cup (rice should be loose, creamy but not mushy and still slightly firm in centre).

Add smoked cheese and remaining broth mixture; cook, stirring, until smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in Parmesan cheese and remaining butter. Sprinkle with chives, and more Parmesan if desired. 

Cool eh? Check out my attempts to be fancy by adding a flourish of green onions. 

Soooooooooo good. Really pleased with how this turned out. Keeps well in the fridge as well.

On a side note, two of my friends got married recently. We're all quite thrilled and proud of them for tying the knot. And for providing a sushi free-for-all as part of the reception. It also provided my new favorite quote about sushi. The groom and his family are East-Indian/Trinidadian and the bride's is Chinese. The groom loves his Chinese and Japanese food, specifically sushi, but it's not for everyone.

Groom's friend: Dude, do your parents even like sushi?

Groom: No. But they're gonna!

 Congratulations Keith and Sally!! All the best for the future!