Girl Crushes
I doubt I am the only one, but I have a girl crush— two in fact*. One I’ve already admitted to on my blog previously, Molly Wizenberg, and the other is Lotta Jansdotter. Both of these ladies inspire me to create and remember to make things with my hands, and I thank them for that. Featured in this photo, coconut macaroons with chocolate ganache from Molly Wizenberg’s A Homemade Life and Lotta Jansdotter’s 2011 limited edition fabric calendar.
p.s. Ok, well maybe three— I have a growing crush on one of my yoga instructors… she inspires me not to quit!
Road trip
This past Saturday, the sun was out (!) so we decided to take the opportunity to get out of the apartment, away from the computer and take a little road trip up north. Usually I reserve day trips up north for the outlet malls or for korean food, but this time we decided to head into Skagit County and Whidbey Island to explore.
After a requisite stop to Dairy Queen, and plenty of eagle and swan sightings, we made our way up north and stopped at the Padilla Bay National Estuary Research Reserve. Part of the reserve includes a 2.25 mile shore trail/bike path that cuts through a dike. I didn’t take any pictures since we didn’t have time, but you can see some here. Next time I head up to these parts, this will be a must stop.
Later, we drove through the state park and ended up in Edison, Washington— a lovely little artist community that reminds you instantly of a movie set— with an artisan bakery, art galleries, a saloon and the Tweets Cafe all intersecting on one corner. At the very least the little neighborhood reminds you of a travel spread that would be featured in Sunset Magazine. (We first heard about Edison through an article BBFF was working on while at City Arts and wanted to return to.)
After grabbing a quick americano, we dashed off to Rt 20 to catch the sunset at Deception Pass and mussels at Toby’s in Coupeville before catching an 8:00 ferry back to Mulkiteo… not bad for an 8-hour day trip, and gave ourselves a well deserved pat on the back!
Smith Vallee Gallery
Wood shop
Window love at Lucky Dumpster
Knitta action!
More window love
Tweets Cafe
Bread Farm
Deception Pass
Buy me
I am not a crazy cat lady, I promise! And this is really good, whether or not you like cats. I first saw United Bamboo’s cat calendar in New York Magazine’s holiday gift issue and of course wanted to buy it for myself. It’s a pricey calendar, but I was able to get it from their website on sale. In my opinion, it’s worth the price considering the high production value. The calendar comes in a silkscreened butcher paper sleeve with french folded glossy pages blind debossed with dates. The debossing is subtle, but it matters little considering the textural quality of the pages in combination with the amazing photos. The back of the calendar also features a full year stamped in silver foil. (I apologize in advance for the poor quality of these images, but I had to share asap!)
P.S. For those of you interested in cat modeling, I did read online that United Bamboo had open auditions last year. Maybe next year Wiki will be Mr. January?
New knits
I guess I can hardly call this new anymore, since I think I started knitting these almost two years ago… but 2011 is all about starting and finishing projects. Here’s No. 1:
Pattern: Robin’s Urban Mitts from the long gone Hilltop Yarn Shop in Queen Anne
Yarn: I can’t remember! But the pattern called for Blue Sky Suri Merino, so I’m guessing that’s what I bought— in Fog. One skein for each glove.
Needles: #4 & #3 double points, cable needle
Pom how-to
Do you like pomegranates?
As a fruit, I love how their hard, ugly shell reveals tiny kernels of bright red sweetness. But in terms of cooking or prepping with at home, they are usually too expensive and messy to deal with. They are in season right now and they seem to be everywhere I look at the grocery stores—more than usual really—I guess we can thank all the healthy PR they get! Last week they were on sale and I decided to buy one to dress up some fruit salad and NYE champagne; I picked a nice, big heavy one that seemed worthy of my $3. When it came time to seed it, I cut right into the pomegranate without even thinking— staining my fingers and splattering my kitchen walls into a red pink mess. I realized I had no idea what I was doing— there had to be a better way to do this.
After searching online, I found the general technique is to cut the ends off and then divide the pomegranate into sections. Then in a bowl of water, peel away the seeds from the membrane and sift out the bits— this seemed still too messy, since it’s the cutting that enables the splattering. My coworker found a similar technique with minimal cutting and it works great. Check it out:
