from jean & glen’s garden
st. paul, mn
september 9, 2012
expired polaroid 600 film

hello! i’m back from my august break, ready to fill you in on what’s been happening over here. first things first: jenn and i went to the minnesota state fair on the first night. stormy weather threatened to ruin our evening, but we stayed dry…

this is some crazy ride, the highest one at the fair, and it kept stalling the first few days, leaving its riders stuck with no way of knowing when and how they will get down. sounds really fun.

i did the same thing i do every year: buy fried cheese curds right away. and then i eat almost all of them, leaving me too full to sample everything else (i had no problem getting multiple glasses of beer into my tummy, tho).

another high ride, and probably too high for my fear of heights, but what a great view!

this is how our local brewer, summit, served beer on a stick. genius!

i was about 3 beers in when i took this shot: it was 90 degrees and crazy humid. and yet, these stylish ladies thought the best footwear to pair with their shorts were rubber wellies over thick socks. the people watching never disappoints…

the turbulent skies made for great picture taking. there were more shots after this, but like i mentioned above, beer was consumed and the photos got progressively less interesting (with the exception of the photo of state’s largest boar, i can never resist that 1200 pound fatty, mostly because his man parts are just so ginormous! like volleyballs!).

aaaaaanddd, welcome to september! the rest of the month will not be as crass, i promise.

june 21, 2012
masu’s spicy ginger plum margarita, minneapolis mn
expired polaroid 600 film

salt water taffy that i brought home from boston. didn’t think i really liked taffy until recently…

and that’s it, i promise to stop posting about boston. (for now!)

happy weekend, happy easter!

i generally do not photograph my meals, but the eats were so good in san francisco that i brought out the biggest and loudest camera i had with me before i dug in:

latte & double pain au chocolat & a spot at the sun-drenched window at tartine friday morning.

spicy tuna & veggie futo & sapporo at flying ninja friday afternoon.

grilled cheese & veggie soup at outerlands with sonya on saturday. hot ginger lemon apple cyder took the chill off and i’m going to dream about that grilled cheese for years.

not pictured: miette’s fleur de sel caramels, which i quickly became addicted to. i finished off what i brought home with me last night in a oh-my-god-these-are-so-amazing-and-my-day-was-shit binge that left me in a sugar coma for over an hour.

happy weekend! have good eats!

i like to give a handmade gift every year, and i really try hard to make it a gift that will get used. many of the things i’ve given to people in the past have been “stuff”… and i feel bad when people think they need to hang onto that stupid gewgaw that i gave them 14 years ago. so i lean towards edible gifts these days.

for xmas 2011, i made 2 batches of cherry & almond granola and “packaged” it in 3/4 liter mold jars from weck. i may have baked it a little too long, but it’s still pretty good and i’ll make it again for myself.

i like to give functional gifts, too. i gave a few people sake soak: a small bottle of sake and an orange, with instructions to draw a hot bath, and add sake and sliced oranges. sake is supposed to help moisturize dry skin, which i find hard to believe due to the alcohol content… but it’s still really fun to soak in sake with orange slices!

and i love it when i get yummy gifts in return: my sister also made cherry & almond granola (great minds?) and she gave me a jar full of cookies that she made. jenn made me magic salt (with garlic, sage, and rosemary) and now i put it on everything i make. and chandler sent me a jar of apple butter. i made scones last weekend and man, i had no idea apple butter was that good.

i’ve been feeling full and loved!

(i really need to start running regularly again.)

happy weekend!

tomorrow is thanksgiving! thought i’d share some goodies from 1960. look at the gold fruit above! and the orange turkey! is that cornbread in the shape of corn cobs? lima beans on the side? yum! let’s eat! the spread is from the cookbook betty crocker’s party book. my version is a facsimile edition of the original 1960 cookbook, which my grandmother and/or mother had, because i remember the photos and illustrations from childhood.

for those that are looking for a crafty turkey day project, may i present the thanksgiving gilded fruit centerpiece? according to the party book, you’ll need:

• can of gold spray
• fresh pineapple
• variety of fresh fruits and nuts
• greens

if you need me to write out the rest, then… well… you shouldn’t be buying gold spray or wasting a pineapple. you can figure it out, i’m sure.

and since all the yummy food blogs are focused on pie right now, i’d like to share the recipe betty has on the menu:

frozen pumpkin pie

9″ baked pie shell*
1 cup cooked or canned pumpkin
1-1/4 cups sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup whipping cream, whipped
1 pint vanilla ice cream

mix pumpkin, sugar, salt, spices. fold into whipped cream. spoon ice cream into baked pie shell. top with pumpkin-cream mixture. freeze at least 2 hr. serve.
*i’m assuming this is a frozen crust.

and since it’s 1960, everyone gets a cigarette after dinner. huzza!

see you all on monday. have a good turkey day!

it’s autumn and in minnesota that means everyone makes at least one trip to an apple orchard before it snows. on saturday, i took my editor* out to lunch, and then we went to apple jack orchards. we marveled at the turkey, oogled squash/pumpkins/gourds, and ate yummy apple goods.

and apples! we each bought 1/2 peck of honeycrisps. fall is the only time i will eat apples, and my 1/2 peck will not last long. hopefully it’ll keep the doctor away…

*my editor is also known as my bff heather… she reads my blog every weekday morning and sends me emails when i make errors. she caught 2 gaffes last week, and she makes me look like a better writer than i am. she also contacts me if i haven’t posted by noon, to make sure i’m still alive. she’s the greatest editor ever.

monday was warm and sunny and windy. we met for salads and and garlic-y french fries and wine and we sat outside to enjoy one last summer evening. as the sun went down the wind blew the lettuce off our plates and it brought in a cool front… by thursday morning there was frost on the ground.

autumn is coming, and i’m ok with it. (i think.)

happy weekend!

jenn and i went to the state fair on saturday night:

our first priority was beer. i had been up since 6am to put on the yard sale i’ve been avoiding all summer, and i was ready for a drink.

then, food. i had cheese curds, jenn got the cajun deep fried pickles served with a side of ranch.

then we wandered for a bit: we looked at cakes and breads in the creative activities annex…

then we watched a clogging demo. the old guy was so cute! then we toured the fine arts building…

more food! jenn got a pronto pup.

i’m pretty sure my fear of heights will keep me from ever experiencing the sky ride skyglider.

the midway men’s club: the best place to refill your beer. theirs is the cheapest!

more food: i had a cheese chilito at mexican hat. i think jenn got a taco. we both agreed that if we ended up working at a food booth at the state fair when we’re retired old ladies, life wouldn’t be so bad.

the midway at sunset… we stayed away from the rides. the food and beer in our tummies ensured that we wouldn’t attempt rides like we were 12-year-old kids.

butter heads! each of the dairy princesses get their head carved in a 90 pound chunk of butter. i think they all look the same, but with different hairstyles.

not pictured: the pretzel we shared, my friends dan & nick singing at the farmer union, crop art, the dnr fish pond, heritage village, animal barns, the horse poop i stepped in (it was dark!), freddy krueger at the haunted house, the giant slide… a small part of me wants to go back! i don’t feel like i saw or ate enough…

it’s the last friday of the month, which means today’s post is a part of merry go round, a group of 11 artists/craftwomen from around the world that gather to share their thoughts on the same topic. this month’s topic: do you ever take a holiday from your craft/art?

and i say: yes! if you’re a regular reader, you’ll know that i really haven’t done much this year in terms of new products. i’ve been producing my tried-and-true, i’ve done some custom jobs, i’m still using my polaroid cameras… but i have taken a break creating new goods.

i do have ideas, but i haven’t had the time or energy to see them through. i hope that will change at some point, but until then i try to be gentle on myself and remind myself that it’s ok to take a holiday. and some nights, it’s nice to just sit outside and catch up on reading.

at the top of my pile? aimee‘s newest awesomeness: the stew book. she hand-lettered and doodled all the recipes from our october weekend in northern minnesota. and if you’d like the full recipe for my yummy egg bake dish, let me know. there’s lots of cheesy goodness within, balanced by a tomato or two to make it good for you.

see what everyone else has to say:

laura at blue terracotta
monika at red 2 white
ruth at birdland creations
kim at vilt a la kim
sara at crafts of texture
samantha at vintage is for lovers
mariana at florcita
agathe at le bar du vent
mitsy at artmind
bethany at dirksen dabbles

happy weekend!

french silk for me, maple nut for my bff. july 10.

last sunday i made butternut squash soup with a new recipe, and i really didn’t like it. the apples made the soup sweeter than i like.

i’ve started to prep my holiday 2010 gift but i can’t show you yet, as most of recipients read my blog and i don’t want to ruin the surprise! so instead, i thought a little wrap-up of some of the things i’ve made over the last few years might spur a little d.i.y. creativity for you:

• vanilla extract
• spiced hot chocolate
• salt scrubs
• circle wreath
• decorated ceramics
• wine tags
• sea salt caramels
• sugar and spice candied nuts

i’m headed to manhattan today for a little shopping and to teach workshops at red bow studio. see you next week!

well, summer flew by and my plan to visit the farmer’s market every weekend was a big fat failure. i’m a single girl cooking for herself with a regular rotation of quick and easy meals and man, i’m so boring and don’t deviate from the menu much. don’t get me wrong, i love cooking and i don’t eat processed foods, but i just don’t make the time for trying new recipes anymore. but this week is different: jenn asked me to meet her at the st. paul farmer’s market yesterday, and this week i will eat well: broccoli, green beans, red potatoes, popcorn, butternut squash fettuccine, and acorn squash.

and next weekend, i will go back for beets, carrots, onions, eggs, cranberries, a pumpkin, and more fettuccine… i just need to remember to go. will someone remind me, please?

…fresh cantaloupe with a splash of orange blossom water and a drop of honey.

happy weekend!

this sweet cosmic plate in olive green is perfect for transporting veggies from the grill to the table, or load it up with meyer lemon grain salad with asparagus, almonds, and goat cheese. available from etsy shop sedimentary sentiments (aka mudhandchan).

(i’ve already got 4th-of-july-weekend-brain.)

photo credit: sedimentary sentiments etsy shop 

pizza at black sheep with jenn for lunch. the beet salad was amazing, even if a little salty, and the coal fired pizza reminded me of being in brooklyn, ny.

lunch was followed by a visit to i like you.  go: there are lots of great local artists/crafters and very affordable goods.

happy weekend!

i hope you had a good easter weekend! despite feeling a little under the weather, i enjoyed a beautiful easter sunday with kristin‘s family… a little wine, yummy food, happy children, an easter egg hunt, good company… and she sent me home with some of the eggs she dyed with silk ties. i had never heard of it before, but googled it and found a how-to from martha stewart. it seems such a shame to crack them open, but i do need to eat more protein for breakfast…

i also had a little pARTy on friday, and i’ll have those photos ready later this week. happy monday!

last saturday i drove west to dassel, minnesota, with my oldest friend. her dad made us shakshuka for lunch, which is really really good, you must make it! we sat in the kitchen while we ate and chatted. i had seconds. and then he fattened us up with homemade ice cream.

after lunch we went upstairs with her mom and dug through her hope chest. pulling out each of the family’s embroidered heirlooms and photos and hearing the stories was so wonderful. i’ve got a few heirlooms but there’s no one left to tell their stories, so hearing others’ stories is such a treat.

then we took a trip into town, hoping for an open antique or pottery boutique, but the only signs of life were the pick-up trucks parked in front of the town watering hole. nothing else was open. it made me re-think my dream of living in the middle of nowhere. but then i realized that if there wasn’t much to do outside of the home, maybe i’d sit and read more! for now, i’ll just visit.

happy weekend!