A Grayer Place...

My sisters and I found ourselves making a beeline to the antique stores this weekend.  I suppose to anyone outside our family, shopping after having just lost our grandfather so unexpectedly might seem shallow.  But to us, antiques were the most immediate way to feel closer, not only to the grandfather suddenly no longer with us, but also to our grandmother and the rest of our family currently gathered in Vermont awaiting us.  

I spent a lot of time examining the influences my grandfather has had on me this weekend, and time and again I came back to my love of antiques being one of the biggest.  I am comforted to realize that this love permeates absolutely every aspect of my life. From the lamp that has been on my bedside table for as long as I can remember to the ring that Nathan will put on my finger at our wedding, Papa's love of these objects has clearly become my passion as well.

On trips and in life, Nana and Papa always made time for the treasure hunts.  They taught their grandchildren to see that every antique has a purpose and a story that adds to its value. Papa's interest in antique lighting inspired us to see the history in every old find.   His passion inspired all of us to find ways to do what we love and to surround ourselves with things that others have loved.

It is because of him that I know how to tell the difference between hand blown and factory made glass.  It seems a small thing really, but it represents all those times he took the time to share his interest with me.  All those times I tiptoed through his shop, trying my best to be graceful, while asking about oil lamps, shades, and electric wiring come to life every time I run my finger across the bottom of an old lamp. 
 
My grandfather was a fascinating man.  He was resourceful and determined.  He was talented and creative, and he was brave and proud.  And the world will be a grayer place without him in it.

Shoe Showdown

I'm currently deciding on my wedding shoes. You'd think that our wedding, being the nontraditional venture that it is, would make for an easy time of choosing an appropriate shoe.  In truth, I am finding it to be a challenge.  First of all, since the wedding is outdoors, I can't go with heels. So I am limited to wedges or flats. I would prefer them to not be completely flat.

This is one pair I ordered: Sophia by Seychelles.  They're pretty comfortable, will fit into the color scheme, and I will probably wear them again (although I don't really own any yellow clothes, and I will definitely be needing a tan). 

I also ordered: Bette by Seychelles.  The picture shows them in something of an aqua color, but I got them in off white.  Though they are completely flat, I was surprised by how much I liked them on.  Very comfortable and although they look somewhat frou frouey, they don't look over the top on.

 
And, I ordered (thank goodness for those free returns from Zappos): Chiara by Franco Sarto.  These look a little Pepto Bismal-esque, but in person it's more of a blush color.  More the heel height I would prefer, but not loving the color and the shoes aren't perfectly comfortable (although I could probably stretch them on my shoe stretcher to fit perfection).

Finally, my favorites: Grape by Franco Sarto.  A 3 inch wedge heel with tiny perforations.  I love that this could be my something blue, I love how cute they look on my feet, and they are super comfortable!  I would probably also wear these a lot afterward.  My only concern is that these are pretty substantial wedges for trotting about in a field...

Luckily though, I have a full year to return them for a refund, so I have lots of time to decide.  And, of course, I can keep looking.  This is by no means the end of my shoe shopping (I always love an excuse!)  Any opinions on these?  Also, if you come across any cute options as you are surfing the web or even doing some live shoe shopping, let me know.

Easiest Peanut Butter Cookies

I guess today I am living by the words, "if you can't stick to your own diet...ruin someone else's too." Sorry.

I always chow down at least 3 of these cookies as soon as they come out of the oven. I force myself to give away all but a dozen of them because if they are in the house, I WILL EAT THEM. (Last time, I took a giant bag of them to the gym...Yes, I see the problems with that plan.) It certainly doesn't help the situation that they are so incredibly easy to make, and I almost always have all of these ingredients on hand...

2 c. peanut butter (The brand makes a clear difference; I usually use Skippy, but I've had it with Peter Pan too, and it was fabulous.)
2 eggs
2 t. baking soda
2 c. brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix ingredients together and drop spoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Do NOT flatten. Bake for 10 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before removing from cookie sheet. Meanwhile, heat 1/2 cup heavy cream in microwave for 1 minute. Add 1 c. dark/bittersweet chocolate chips and mix until completely melted. Place a small dollop of ganache on each cookie and allow to cool completely.

Captain Hook Would Hate My Living Room

Up until a few weeks ago, I only had one of these. But then I came across a few more, and I realized how much I love them as a group!



So now it's a collection. Nathan rolled his eyes at my declaration last night, but I can live with that. He may initially doubt my chic genius, but the fact remains that he loves the eclectic design style of our house. He sees the beauty in the old beat up stuff I love. I truly knew we were meant to be together forever when he came home with an old water-stained trunk he found in the alley. Better than flowers!

Anyway, there are so many cool little vintage alarm clocks out there, but they're pretty hard to find, especially working ones. It makes me want to apprentice myself to a clock repairman, so that I can learn how to fix those less expensive non-working ones. So far I've been lucky though, all of these work great (although you can't tell in that first picture because I hadn't set them all yet)!

Something Old, Something New

I have been mulling this necklace over in my head for months now. I've had the buttons from my grandmother's button tin for years, just waiting for some special way to use them. This necklace inspired me to start making jewelry last year mostly because I hadn't seen anyone making anything like I was picturing. If you can't find it, make it yourself. I had the basic idea of what I wanted: a pearl necklace connected to the vintage buttons in their respective settings, but it just wasn't quite right.

I sat down yesterday determined to figure out the puzzle. I think I initially stayed away from adding more of the intricately detailed buttons because I thought it would be too much, but it turns out that it's exactly what the necklace needed to become truly special.

It's funny, this is how all my favorites come about, I mull and I dwell and then all of a sudden I come up with the exact right thing and I put it all together in one sitting. It's just exactly what it was meant to be.

One thing I particularly like about this is that, except for three of the buttons, all of the buttons could actually be taken out of the necklace sometime in the future and used as buttons again.  I feel like that's the ultimate in the reuse, recycle, reinvent philosophy. 

Soup for When You're Snowed In

I was going to make this an entry with my top five recipes, but I realized that I have so many more than just five favorite recipes right now. I thought to myself, "heck, I could fill a list with just my top five soup recipes." So I decided that's just what I'll do. It's cold out. The buckets of snow that greeted me this morning certainly encourage me to head home tonight and start up a pot of one of these. So why not share them with you now? My other fave recipes will hold until next time. As you'll see, most of my recipes are sort of a taste and adjust as you go along, so feel free to do the same if/when you try them.
(small t.=teaspoon, big T.=tablespoon)
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Chicken Avgolemono (Lemon Chicken-That's Greek, I think.)
2 Chicken Breasts (bone-in makes for a more flavorful stock)
3-4 c. water (add more later you don't care for a thick soup)
1 chicken bouillon cube (more if you have boneless, skinless Chicken breasts)
1 teaspoon lemon pepper
1 c. brown rice
2 eggs, beaten
1 lemon, zest and juice
1 T. fresh chopped parsley
1/2 c. frozen peas
salt and pepper, to taste

In soup pot, cover chicken breasts with water. Add bouillon cube and lemon pepper. Bring to boil; simmer for 20 minutes. If using bone-in chicken breasts, remove them from pot and take meat off the bone. Add meat back into the pot with 1 c. brown rice. Bring back to boil; simmer 20 minutes. When rice is cooked, remove 2 cups of broth to blender. Add eggs, lemon juice, and zest to hot broth while blender is on low. Return to soup pot. Add parsley, peas, and more water (and possibly an additional bouillon cube) if preferred. Mix.
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Mexican Chili
2 chicken breasts (bone-in makes for a more flavorful stock)
4 cups of water
1 t. lemon pepper
1 t. ground cumin
Bring to boil until chicken is cooked (approx. 15 minutes). Remove chicken from water, remove skin, cut up, remove bone. Add the following:
1 t. lemon pepper
1/2 t. chili powder
1/2 t. cayenne pepper
1 can northern white beans, liquid too
1 can black beans, liquid too
1 can corn, liquid too
1 can green chilies
1 sm. can whole tomatoes, chopped, liquid included. (This way tastes better than buying the already chopped ones, I promise.)
4 heaping T. chopped cilantro
1 lime, zest and juice
1 tablespoon tequila
salt and pepper, to taste

Place in bowls for use as toppings:
4 stalks chopped green onion
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 c. grated cheddar cheese
tortilla chips
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Sausage and Kale Soup
3 cups water
1 cube beef bouillon
1 lb. hot Italian sausage
1 onion, chopped
1 bunch kale
1 pkg. dried shitaki mushrooms
1 c. sliced button mushrooms
1/2-1 t. red pepper flakes (optional)

Bring water and bouillon cube to boil in soup pot. Remove from heat, throw in dried shitakis and let rehydrate. Chop kale into 1 inch pieces. Retain stalks. Brown Italian sausage. Remove rehydrated mustrooms from the water and slice thinly. Strain water to ensure there is no sand or grit from the mushrooms left in it. Add sausage and sliced Shitakis to the water. Saute onions in sausage pan. Add button mushrooms and kale stalks. Cook until lightly browned. Toss into soup pot. Add red pepper flakes if desired. Bring to boil.
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Loaded Baked Potato Soup
2 potatoes
1-2 carrots, chopped
1 vegetable bouillon cube
4 slices bacon
1/2 onion, chopped fine
1 tablespoon butter
4 cups milk
1 cup light cream
pinch of rosemary, sage & marjoram
1 clove garlic (Combine with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in mortar and pestle to create paste.)

Top with:
shredded cheese
sliced green onions
chopped tomatoes
bacon

(If I'm feeling really lazy, then I skip the whole making the soup from scratch thing and substitute in a can of Campbell's Cream of Potato Soup with 1/2 can of heavy cream and 1/2 can of milk. Continue with seasonings and toppings, including bacon.)

Scrub potatoes well and nick out eyes and dark spots. Do not peel. Dice into cubes; add potatoes, carrots, bouillon cube, and 1 cup water to saucepan. Cover and cook 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low and cook covered until potatoes are tender but not mushy, about 20 minutes. Cook 4 slices bacon in a cast iron saucepan. (If you cook more strips of bacon, discard all but 1 tablespoon of the bacon grease before next step.) When finished, set aside bacon and saute onion until tender in bacon drippings. Add butter, milk, cream, and seasonings to cast iron saucepan. Cook mixture over medium heat until very hot. Do not boil. Add potato mixture to milk mixture when it is hot. Cover and simmer on low heat for 30 minutes. Before serving, garnish individual portions with shredded cheese, chopped tomatoes, green onions, and crumbled bacon.
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Hot and Sour Soup (Another recipe for when I'm feeling lazy.)
1/2 lb frozen shrimp (approx. 10-12)
1 package Hot and Sour soup mix
3 c. water
1 lime, zest and juice
5 dried mushrooms, reconstituted and sliced thinly
10 springs cilantro, torn up
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 t. lemon grass, minced (the frozen chopped kind works well for this)
1 T. fish sauce
1 t. garlic chili sauce
1 serving of rice noodles, soaked in warm water until reconstituted (ramen work too)

Bring water, Hot and Sour soup powder, and shrimp to boil. When shrimp has just turned pink, add in all the other ingredients. Bring to a simmer.
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Worst Comeback Ever

Nathan and I were walking to the L the other morning when we passed a big guy just as he windmilled his arm in a windup reminiscent of a first pitch. Only instead of pitching the styrofoam cup in his hand into the nearest bin, he tossed it in a snowbank. Normally, if I say anything at all, it's sort of a passive aggressive mumbling to myself that wouldn't intimidate even the meekest of litterers. This time, however, it was so extremely ridiculous, that a "that was a shitty move" burst loudly from my mouth. Luckily, Nathan was also in the middle of a very sarcastic "Really?" so I could be relatively confident that he had my back should the big guy get shirty. It got even more ridiculous though as we heard the guy's comeback over his shoulder as he swaggered on, "Let God pick it up."

Huh? I don't know how styrofoam, a man-made, entirely chemical-laden product, would have any presence on God's radar. I mean, if God's not going to get involved in war, famine, or the division of Isreal, why the hell would He take care of litter?

I guess if the guy was going for a comeback to end all comebacks, that one was effective because I am still somewhat stuck on it. Even now, I don't know what I could possibly have said back. Perhaps, one of the following:

No, I'm pretty sure God wasn't the last one to use it, you were.

Sorry, God's busy cleaning the graffiti off the bus stop shelters right now.

If God is responsible for trash, then what are you still doing walking the street?

Will you be my mixtape penpal?

Nathan told me that a coworker of his is really into music and that her taste is a lot like mine. After first asking what he thought my taste in music was ("Well, I know you like girl singers." -Oh, how well my beloved knows me.), I decided to make her a CD. Admittedly, it's a bit of a stab in the dark being that I haven't met her and am learning about her from my somewhat less-than-observant fiance, but I do have a current "go to" list of favorite songs that, if I'm honest, I would put on any and every CD I make. Thought I'd share them.

I'll just list my top five right now...

Bon Iver -Woods


Anya Marina -Vertigo



fun. -All the Pretty Girls


Matt & Kim -Daylight


Chromeo -Night by Night