More Bees & Bread

This Saturday my high school class is having its 20th reunion (thank you to the lady from the park who acted shocked when I told her and said I looked 29. I guess the face lift really paid off) and I'm sad to say I won't be there. Yes, I'm one of the few people out there who loved her high school. I had dedicated and interesting teachers, and really cool friends. I should mention here that I didn't go to public school. My school is a pretty well-known private Brooklyn school that does things like have Bertolt Brecht Day, where we ate German food and performed his plays. We had a smoking lounge too, and you were allowed to smoke in front of the school, but if you were in 7th grade, you had to go around the corner to smoke so no one would see you (the school goes k-12). Mike Diamond from the Beastie Boys was a senior when I was in 8th grade and he would throw french fries at us eighth graders who dared to try and smoke in front of the front door with the seniors. It was good times all around, and I hope to make the next reunion.

Yes, more sporadic posting I'm afraid. I've been working on designing the new Rose & Duke line (entirely sewn from scratch children's clothing, that won't be sewn entirely by me for once) and researching manufacturers. Aside from that, there's been a little more stitching going on for Abby:


I bought the blank tea towel fabric from reprodepot, and sewed some ric-rack along the bottom edges. I also got some great amigurumi patterns from a new friend over at Ravelry (I sent her a really good Japanese pattern book for her to copy from in exchange for the patterns she designed and sent me copies of). I made a marshmellow man and a sour apple.

The apple is missing his leaf and the marshmellow man is supposed to be a cupcake, but I think he looks more like a toasted marshmellow instead. He reminds me of the marshmellow man that I got as a gift when I bought something from Chet and Dot.

MY OVEN SUCKS. I have a thermometer in there, and sometimes you have to turn the heat to 550 to get it to reach 450 and sometimes you have to set it at 420 to get to 450. There's no telling what will happen once you put the bread inside. In addition, my dough rising is pretty incosistant as well. I don't know if it's the crazy Texas weather which changes so quickly, or if something else is going on, but half the time the dough is nice and wet and it rises perfectly and looks like this
and when it comes out this wet and flat on top, the bread comes out like this This is the light wheat bread by the way. I've also tried the olive bread and my favorite, the Chris Kimball (of Cook's Illustrated) sandwhich bread:
This is super tasty, but like all the other loaves- not very tall. I have no idea how to get a taller loaf so that one can eat a more normal-sized sandwich.
I also got a wild hare and tried my hand at homemade orecchiette (which is a bitch to remember how to spell) because the recipe in the recent Italian issue of Gourmet sounded sooo easy. While it wasn't necessarily difficult at all, it took forever. I spent half of a nap (Harlan's nap) cutting and pressing each little piece together. It tasted really nice with some Romano cheese, chopped parsley, and oven roasted tomatoes from the Whole Foods olive bar. The texture of the orecchiette was soft but not sticky or slimy. I think however, that I will continue to buy it from now on instead.

Well Hello Dolly

My paltry posting habits are due to the holiday season, I swear! I've been working away on ornaments for this ornament swap and this one (as if I don't have enough to do, but I couldn't turn down a good swap). I'll post pics a week after I send them out. Also, I am replenishing the Rose & Duke stock because I'll be selling again in a couple of weeks in the Guerro's lot on S. Congress. Please stop by and say hello if you are in town, there will be lots of handmade goodness for sale.

We enjoyed a peaceful thanksgiving at Jen and Kevin's with Jen's delightful family. You betcha that I brought some desserts. I made a batch of pumpkin chocolate chip squares (for some reason I forgot to photograph these). Everyone always goes berserk on these and they are quite easy to make. I also took a risk and went with Martha's recent recipe for pear cranberry pie with a lattice top. I used a plastic star from Harlan's shape sorter toy to cut the starts out of the crust. The pie was good but too heavy on the cranberries unfortunately.


At the last minute I decided to throw in a chocolate bourbon pecan pie, because every thanksgiving table needs a good one. I made this one from a combination of recipes and it came out more like a soft cookie on a pate brisee pastry, which may not be exactly what I was going for but still tastes a lot better than a fistful of baby corn or cuchifritos (deep fried pig ears).


I did not want to work on anything I had to do during the vacation, so instead I made a couple of doll dresses for the baby dolls at Harlan's Montessori school. When I picked him up last Tuesday a couple of the kids were playing with the dolls, and I noticed that their only outfits were totally falling apart (and were pretty crummy to begin with). It made me sad. Next I'm going to make them a couple of quilts for their wooden cradles. I can't believe I forgot to photograph the back sides of the dresses, but I did. They are totally open, with two covered buttons and red velvet ribbons on the other side to hook over the buttons. I used a combination of these two patterns. I would like to make them some sweaters so if anyone knows of any patterns for doll sweaters please let me know (knit or crochet).


P.S. I went to the City Wide Garage Sale last weekend and was basically just overwhelmed by the crowds. We only stayed a brief amount of time, but I did score three vintage aprons for $2 each. While I don't wear aprons and bought these to scrap the fabric for other projects, I feel badly cutting them up because they're just so darn cute. What can you do?

Yellows Blues and Reds

Violette Crumble Double Corn Peach Muffins:

1 cup buttermilk, warmed
1/2 cup plus 1 tbl cornmeal
2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 tbl zest from organic lemons (probably 2 lemons- non organic rinds are pretty bad so skip the lemon if you can't find organic)
2 eggs
splash of vanilla
3 ripe peaches, skinned and cut into chunks (blueberries also work great)

1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Warm the buttermilk on low heat and add 1/2 cup cornmeal, mix & set aside.
3. Whisk remaining cornmeal with dry ingredients.
4. Cream softened butter, add sugar, then lemon zest, then vanilla, then eggs.
5. Add soaked cornmeal and buttermilk.
6. Add dry ingredients and mix until just blended.
7. Add peaches.

Fill muffin trays (this makes about 12 muffins) and place in oven. Check after 18 minutes. Tops should be lightly golden brown.


A good thing to use the de-skinned lemon on is a nice Violette Crumble Quinoa Salad:

Juice from 1 lemon
1 cup quinoa
3 beets- I used three different types, but they all tasted the same
Chopped pecans
Dried cherries
2 scallions
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper

1. Boil, skin, and slice the beets. Marinate them in some lemon juice and olive oil for a couple of hours.
2. Prepare quinoa (follow box directions or boil 2 cups water with quinoa, turn heat to low and simmer about 20 minutes until all water is absorbed).
3. Chop up scallions, and throw it all together. Mix in more olive oil and lemon juice to taste.

Our bedrooms walls are my favorite Tiffany blue:
I bought these Anthropologie knobs for the closet doors. Too bad you can't really tell in this shot.

Harlan's crib is still beneath my favorite collages from One Good Bumblbee:


Not yellow red or blue but still new and very cute: Decole mushroom timer and magnetic picture holder, placed upon stove top:


Looking for some really beautiful music? I just bought this CD:

Perla Batalla sings in Spanish and her voice will send chills down your spine. I bought the CD after hearing her rendition of Cucurrucucu Paloma, one of my favorite songs ever.

Looking for a fantastic read with pictures that will also help fill you in on recent Iranian history?


Read Marjane Satrapi's Autobiographical graphic novels Persepolis 1 and 2. I just finished the sequel and must say that I enjoyed it even more than the first book. In the sequel Marjane leaves Iran to live in Austria during the 80's as a teen and boy did she have some good adventures.

Warning, contains profanity!

Isn't this a nice shot? I made a pile of stuff to sell on ebay one morning and decided to shoot these vintage glass findings inside this teacup before photographing them separately to sell. The past couple of weeks I have been focusing on business- new felt applique designs, selling more ebay stuff and keeping up with the hand embroideries even though I am trying to phase them out. I dropped a bunch off over at Artez'n and did a custom order today. It's a juggling act, that's for sure.

This is a sticky toffee pudding that came all the way from jolly old England! I saw the wonderful recipes in this month's Marta Stewart Living, and really wanted to try and make one for Valentine's day. The sticky toffee pudding sounded like the best and easiest to make. One day last week I was at Key Food and passed the shelf over by the deli that houses the English goodies. I always have to check it out to pick up some nice cookies or a can of Devon Cream to pour over my cereal in the morning (kidding, but not really). Imagine my surprise when I saw a collection of canned puddings! I had to have one. I didn't make it on V-day, but we enjoyed it a couple of nights earlier instead. I have to admit that the frosting was a let down. Not only was it rather gelatinous despite having been boiled inside the can for forty minutes, but it tasted quite tinny. The cake itself was moist and brown sugary and quite figgy. I can only give it one thumb up. You'd think I would know better considering it came in a can, but if there's one thing I've always coveted it's English desserts. When I was last in London I filled a small suitcase with packaged goodies from Mark's & Spencer. I had all kinds of little fondant covered cakes and marzipan filled cookies. They were all mind-blowing and like nothing I have found stateside unfortunately. For V-day we laid low since we agree that it's pretty much a Hallmark holiday. We also laid low because I fucked up and thought V-day was the previous day during which I procured and cooked a marinated flank steak, potatoes, and haricot verts with shallots and pepper. I also made my favorite chocolate cinnamon buttermilk cake. Even my little valentine got to eat a piece after his dinner. He pretty much gobbed down the frosting immediately and then threw the cake on the floor and screamed and held out his hand to indicate "MORE FROSTING RIGHT NOW PLEASE". Here is he enjoying his fudgey valentine goodness:



I did make Joe an awesome gift which I will photograph and post when it's finished. Yes, it was not completed on time, because I have yet to figure out how to manage my time. I embroidered a drawing that Joe made for me a few years ago, and I am going to sew the edges and back it with some patterned fabric inside a frame when the embroidery is done.
We've also had a rough ride recently with the landlord. I may have mentioned that I had to pay his Con Ed (electric) bill in January to prevent the lights in the hallway and the heat in the building from being shut off due to his negligence. I received a letter from Con Ed saying that by law I could pay the bill and deduct it from the rent. I left Landlord a message saying I would pay the bill unless he called me back and he never did (surprise surprise). When I paid the February rent I deducted it (almost $1,000) and included the bill. Well, he didn't take too kindly to my generosity. I got home from my friend's house last Friday and picked up the phone to hear Landlord muttering something vaguely obscene sounding. I honestly couldn't hear him at first. He's a chronic monotone mumbler, almost like a cross between land shark (classic SNL) and Frankenstein. "What?" I asked. And then he raised his voice so I could hear him crystal clear, "Give me my motherfucking money bitch or get the fuck out!" I froze, not being accustomed to people talking to me like this unless waiting for a subway. Like a maroon I said, "What?" for a second time. "Give me my motherfucking money or I'll call the cops and throw your ass out. I'm sick of you and your husband and all the motherfuckers in the building complaining. Give me my motherfucking money!" I hung up. I called 311 who connected me to the police and they came by within a few minutes (I guess it was a slow day). The officers told me that Landlord should be thanking me for paying his bill and that under no circumstances could he call them and have me thrown out. They also advised I put a deadbolt on the door since he's let himself in before. FF four days. Suddenly the apartment is freezing cold, particularly in the bedrooms where the baseboard heat no longer heats up despite the thermostat cranking up to 85. Our neighbors are having the same issue. Luckily the living room heat is on, although it doesn't go above 65. I had Joe leave Landlord three messages about the heat and needless to say he has not called back nor has anyone been by to fix the heat. I'm pretty tired of living here. We're going to Austin next Friday for Joe to take a teaching certification test and I'm looking forward to seeing all my old pals. I will post before then with some crafty goodness. For now, I'll leave you with one more cute Bub shot just in case my tale of harassment has gotten you down:

The elephant in the room

I'm full of good news this Sunday. The jerk whom I sold the boots to on ebay dropped his claim against me, although my negative feedback stands. I suppose I should just be happy that I don't have to deal with a refund and reselling the boots, but the whole thing just left a sour taste in my mouth. I don't know why but I am consistently disappointed when people act immorally. I celebrated the good news yesterday by making some peanut butter chocolate chip cookies:

These sure hit the spot. What's better than a homemade one of these? Not much, except perhaps a completed WIP:

How cute did he turn out? Pretty cute, although I will admit that it was tricky to sew the underside to the main portion of the body and it came out a bit wonky, especially around the trunk. I am going to try another because I think it's such a great animal that I plan on selling a few once I have the seams all straightened out. The giant houndstooth corduroy comes from good old reprodepot and the the felt on the back of his ears is from Brooklyn General over in Carroll Gardens. I loooooove this store so much, not only because it is owned and run by one of my wonderful midwives, but because they carry all the lines of fabric I love the most (Denyse Schmidt, Heather Bailey, etc.) and they also have deadstock vintage fabric and tons of other crafty goodies. They have a fantastic yarn selection too. I could pretty much just move in and be happy. In fact if I did, I could even give birth there pretty confidently (not that I plan on a repeat of that experience any time soon).
In apartment news, my landlord's wife and son moved out of the ground floor apartment a couple of weeks ago and now there is absolutely no way Con Ed or Keyspan will ever get a chance to read our meters. To add insult to injury there is no one taking out the garbage or changing the lightbulbs in the hallway. I attempted to take care of the garbage by buying some giant thick hefty bags and went to put them in the trash cans, but the cans are so full of decomposing food and sneakers and circulars that the smell almost knocked me out. I quickly tossed a bag on top of the compost and figured that the other two tenants and myself could just place our garbage in the remaining area and then we could drag the giant bags to the curb on garbage night. Problem solved right? The only problem with this scenario is that several bags of garbage piled in one large bag is pretty fucking heavy. I wasn't able to life it at all. To add salt to the wound of insult that already was added to injury the landlord rang our doorbell one night last week at 10:30 PM to get our phone number. This is a habit of his. He has rang my doorbell at inappropriate hours to get my phone number at least four times in the past eight years, so I was not surprised. In fact once when I didn't answer he LET HIMSELF IN and knocked on my bedroom door! Gross! Anyhow, this time around Joe went out to deal with him and told him about the garbage and the meters to which Landlord replied with a typical grunt (I swear he is a Neanderthal that could make serious bank up at the museum of natural history). Joe also told him that I paid his $987 Con Ed bill so that they would not turn off service in our halls or the empty apartment with the boiler that supplies our heat and hot water. To this he replied, "No, I think I paid that already." Oh, my mistake! I guess Con Ed sent me a letter telling me I had a legal right to pay the bill and deduct it from my rent just to mess with the landlord. And now for the piece de resistance: The windows. Mr. Landlord was also at our door to inform us that the infamous windows would be replaced on Saturday. The coldest day all winter. We told him absolutely not, so instead he is coming next Saturday. Don't even get me started. Well, I like to end these posts on a pleasant note, so here is shot of my sweet Bub in his tub.

Christmas goodness

I ended up giving soft tree gifts in trios: One large felt white tree, one red felt tree with a single vintage black silk and wire leaf, and one Tiffany dumpster felt tree with embroidered white stars. I like the way the look as a grove.

Next I got to work making us stockings (better late than never). I cut them out with pinking shears from some lovely wool felt.

I sewed a vintage red velvet flower and black silk leaves on to mine. Joe liked the idea of holly leaves and berries so his have some made from felt and vintage buttons. I made Harlan's with a festive tree and star, complete with an antique gold leather covered button that my grandmother gave me a pack of years ago.

Next, I got super busy in the kitchen. All of Saturday was spent baking and making nougat.

Homemade candy and cookies are always appreciated as gifts, aren't they? Joe had to run off to Target to buy me a candy thermometer, and even then the nougat required two tries. I followed the recipe from Martha's holiday magazine issue, and as I have found in the past, her recipes are not always properly edited. What would you think if you read the following?
"Cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, about 5 minutes. Wash down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush to prevent crystals from forming. Reduce heat to medium-high; cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture reaches 242 degrees on a candy thermometer, 3 to 5 minutes."
I took this to mean that after stirring and cooking for five minutes I should reduce the heat and cook another 3 to five minutes until 242 degrees was reached. Well, it turns out that the only thing necessary to remember is the 242 degrees as an end point. My candy thermometer reached 242 after the candy boiled for only about five minutes, and so after cooking another three minutes I had to dump the whole first batch and redo it. Oh well, live and learn. It came out so soft and marshmellowy, I had to keep it in the fridge once I cut and wrapped up the pieces. Perfection.
Next I baked four kinds of cookies from the holiday issue of Everyday Food. It was all cookies. I had seen the little magazine on the check out line at Pathmark a few weeks back and saw that a great looking recipe for giant ginger cookies was inside. I have been searching for the perfect ginger cookie recipe for a while, and for some reason I did not buy the magazine. Lo and behold, the entire issue was published online so I was able to download a bunch of recipes for free. Perhaps Martha did this for me to make up for the vague nougat direction. Thanks Martha!

After the ginger cookies were complete, I moved on to the black bottom coconut squares. When I finished baking them and allowing them to cook I had to perform the requisite poison test and discovered that they were a bit dry. To jazz it up I melted some Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate and smeared it across the top. I think it may have been overkill, but the end result was like a fabulous, high quality Mounds bar.

The pumpkin chocolate chip squares followed (sorry, no photo, I packed them all up before I took out the camera), but I can assure you that they are divine. Soft and pumkinish and very, very, chocolatey indeed. Last I made a batch of chocolate espresso snowcaps and I ended up using ground coffee from Tillie's instead of the instant espresso called for. The cookies tasted extremely coffeeish but combined with the intense chocolate flavor this worked out O.K.

I thought that since we were on the topic of chocolate that I'd show you the great Japanese chocolate candy I got for Joe's stocking at the Sunrise Mart. I went there in search of the elusive green tea Kit Kat. No luck. Instead I found these lovelies which don't taste half bad considering their origin.

A merry Christmas was had by all, and everyone loved all the goodies I made. Harley J. even got to have a ginger cookie and some pumpkin square. He thinks he's hot stuff now that he can pull himself up and do a victory dance. It amazes me how much that kid smiles. I hope it lasts forever.