Weekend Links : The Alphabet

The alphabet, she inspires me.
And even though I have a leg up in that department, here are a few prime ways for everyone to have fun with all 26 letters.

Small fabric scraps can be used make a fabric alphabet, which is not only a fun learning toy (I love these big letters for toddlers, or smaller, magnetic ones for new spellers), but the letters can also be clipped to a ribbon and used for a birthday banner or bedroom name bunting.

You could also make a leaf alphabet. It's just about the perfect craft right now if you live somewhere with changing leaves. I have always appreciated creative alphabet books, and this project reminds me of Eric Carle.

Another thing that might be fun to attempt on your own, Garret Steider created a food alphabet, with prints available to decorate your kitchen and entertain your guests.

If you aren't in a crafty mood, but would still love to decorate with letters, whip out the cardstock and try these well designed free printables!

Finally, this fantastic alphabet montage might just shoot creativity straight into your mind.

More alphabet fun:
homemade alphabet pretzels 
 food alphabet on etsy
animal alphabet on etsy
whimsical German alphabet on etsy

(And if you're in the mood for reminiscing, why not watch everyone's favorite giant yellow bird being ridiculous? If you didn't watch Sesame Street as a child, this video is a very important part of your cultural education.)

Oatcake Fiction

 
    Nathanael and I enjoy reading to each other in the evening while dishes are being washed or pecans being cracked. Most of the time the book captivates us enough that we find other times to read, like having one person brush their teeth at a time, which is one of the current methods as we read Sir Gibbie by George MacDonald. It is best if there is some activity going on, because if we choose to read while just sitting, especially before bed, Nathanael needs to watch me carefully to make sure I am legitimately awake...actually even if I am the one reading, I may in fact be sleeping. During graduate school I read an entire chapter of Harry Potter to my roommate Lucy while she knitted, and despite the pages having been full of excitement I could not recall a single thing that had happened once I stood up to get ready for bed.
     Most of the books we read together are classic literature, and we especially enjoy the unabridged works of George MacDonald. His novels are the epitome of fiction which does not leave your brain to sit idly by, but engages it to play with philosophy, expand vocabulary, and envision situations and scenes rich with detail and feeling. I know some people who only read non-fiction, but I think they would appreciate a book such as Sir Gibbie, The Castle Warlock or Malcolm as evidence that edifying truth can often be more poignantly delivered through substantial fiction than through biography or historical reflection (though no author conveys the whole truth of course; some are much closer than others).

A friend gave us a neat little notebook where we record the books
we've read and movies we've watched...with ratings of course.

 
     Since George MacDonald was Scottish, his books are mostly set in Scotland with characters who enjoy Scottish fare, and quite often oatcakes. Nathanael would probably have made a good Scotsman back in the day. Of the 30% of Nathanael that is not water, about 60% is oats. We enjoy our oats in many forms around here. We nearly always have hot cereal, often have granola around for a snack, and sometimes we sprinkle oats into the crackers or sour dough bread. And whenever Nathanael needs to pack a lunch and we have no bread or convenient eaten-cold foods, he packs oatcakes and goes merrily on his way. Oatcakes are a plain food, and very healthy tasting, which I enjoy and Nathanael could eat every day. They're not junk food. I think they are an excellent medium for butter and jams, or savory spreads, but Nathanael delights in them just as they are with their roasted oat essence as the main attraction.

Scottish Oatcakes
from A Feast of Scotland by Janet Warren
1 1/3 cups Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
1/4 tsp baking soda
a pinch of salt
1 Tablespoon of Butter or Lard (Oil would probably work out alright)
6 Tbs hot water (approximately)
A bit of flour to dust the rolling surface; any variety will do.

1. Mix the oats, soda, and salt together.
2. Melt butter and pour into the center, then add enough water to make a stiff dough. Stir briefly with a wooden spoon.
3. Turn the dough onto a flour dusted surface and knead well. Divide in half, and roll each into an 8-inch circle about a quarter of an inch thick.
4. Cook the oatcakes in a dry, heavy based frying pan. They should take about 3 minutes on each side and be golden brown and slightly crisp. Alternatively they can be baked at 325F (160C) for about 30 minutes.
Serve with butter, honey and marmalade for breakfast or with soup and cheese for lunch.



Do you read to each other in your family (or with your roommates)?
What's on your summer reading list?
I would love some good recommendations! (And yes, we read non-fiction too!)

A bounty of Dill

Nathanael and I have been having a very fun time sharing our harvest with our friends and neighbors. When we have given them beans, peas, carrots, spinach or even beets, everyone is ready to share with us how they plan to use them. When it comes to herbs, however, particularly dill, most people have looked in the bag and said, "So how do I use this one?"

   I have to admit I am sort of in the same boat. I love dill, but I don't have a plethora of ideas to utilize it. My first thought is always pickles, but I do have a friend who always makes dill omelets. Our neighbor from Romania recommended tossing dill with other vegetables in a salad, and my dear walking partner from Iran told me she makes dill rice to go with fish (which I recommend by the way, especially with a flavorful brown rice and butter). But, despite the beloved fish and dill combination, I was really looking for a dish to recommend to everyone that would use things they already had...because we really have a ton of dill.

  

If I were a Black Swallowtail Butterfly (also known as Parsley caterpillar), I might spend my whole life surviving on the stuff, and wandering around looking resplendent. 

Papilio polyxenes asterius

These guys were rawists...dill-ists in fact, but had no recipes to share with me.

Inspired by the enormous bunch of dill I gave her, my friend Hannah discovered just the thing I was looking for. A very basic dill potato recipe from Veg Recipes of India. It is simple and quick, but also a perfect way to really appreciate the flavor of dill. The amounts are imprecise; you could spice it up, or add other root vegetables if you wanted to be creative*, but leaving it basic will also please your palate.  

Dill Potatoes yield 4-6 side servings
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 big bunch of fresh dill leaves, chopped (about 1 cup or more when hard stems are excluded) 
3 to 6 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/8 inch rounds
5-6 medium cloves of garlic, crushed or chopped
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
salt and black pepper to taste

1. Heat a large, heavy bottomed pan. Add the oil, and once heated add garlic and saute for one minute.

2. Add potatoes and saute for a few minutes until they begin to soften, perhaps 6-7 minutes.

3.  Add dill leaves and spices, mix well. Then, add salt and 1/2 cup to 1 cup water, cover, and cook gently for 8 to 10 minutes. If the water dries up add more.

4. Remove the lid and cook until liquid has evaporated and potatoes are very tender.

Serve as a side dish, or with dal and rice or chapatis.

*Dill and carrots are related so they are also a delicious combination. Prepare them similarly, adding about 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds to the oil at the beginning, a bit of ginger with the garlic, and some powdered cumin and coriander with the other spices.

What recipe comes first to your mind when you think about having boatloads of fresh dill?

Golden: Orange Goings On

Between last week and the beginning of this one there has been a bit of orange here and there. 

We devoured a perfectly ripe cantaloupe (after it was refrigerated to optimum coolness), and yesterday finished planting our three varieties of cantaloupe in our garden...I hope they are as tasty as this one was.

I played play dough with a wonderful two year old friend, and while we were making creatures she went into the kitchen to ask her mom for some seeds. Then she crafted this friendly orange snake. (Name those seeds for bonus points!)

 And we also enjoyed carrot pasta sauce, one of our favorite and simplest foods, so I took the opportunity to update last year's recipe post with some fresh new pictures to make you hungry.

And check out Flex Family Arts today, where Amanda likes to blog about etsy shops which haven't had a lot of traffic yet, and today she's featuring Harmless Color with a shop interview!

Golden: Flame Throwing

Don't have time to candy your peels, but still want to put them to use?
With all this talk of citrus lately, I thought I would show you something my Mom showed my sisters and me when we were little (we never played with fire, so it was no danger). Every so often, when we were eating oranges she would get out a candle.

 

Look at all of that great smelling oil squirting out.

And to think, it would have just gone to waste.

Did your Mom teach you this?

*Attempt at your own risk. Adult supervision recommended 

(But it's about as dangerous as burning a candle in the first place.)*

Button Pouch Tutorial

 

For the Button Pouch I made for Lucy, I chose two vintage grain-bag fabrics a friend had given me, and I went back and forth with the purple plaid, and whether I should applique an elephant on the front. 

"Purple elephant or no purple elephant...purple elephant or no purple elephant?" 

In the end I opted for something a little more subtle.

Golden: Candied Grapefruit Peels

**At the end of February I won a sponsor spot on the fun and creative blog Cross My Hooks, and today I am the featured sponsor!

 Go check out the post, and have a look at my mini button in the right column of her blog. If you like it, and think your blog readers might enjoy Harmless Color, you can grab the html for it at the very bottom of my blog.**

Candied Grapefruit Peel is a great way to use something which would otherwise be wasted: the grapefruit rind. I know a choice few people who use the zest of a grapefruit in recipes instead of lemon or orange zest, but for me the wonderful grapefruit essence is often (depending on the recipe) overwhelmed by its bitterness.

Weekend Links: For artists of every caliber

As some of you may have noticed, this week I added a brightly colored button in the right column linking to a blog I stumbled upon lately and thought some of you might enjoy.

All Sewn Up is written by a Mom named Melissa (not my sister, but another fun lady by the same name) from Massachusetts, who shares tips she uses to make her household more environmentally friendly and frugal, as well as some occasional recipes and craft how-tos for old and young.

She also has a fun All Sewn Up etsy shop where she sells colorful, non-toxic, olive oil dough to encourage the imaginations of kids who love to play with dough. She's developed a recipe which is a little more advanced than your typical salt-dough, leaves your hands smooth and soft, and requires no refrigeration! Go check out Melissa's neat shop!



This weekend I also want to share with you some links I've found lately, which will be especially fun for those of you who love fiddling around with interactive websites. And even if you don't typically consider yourself an artist, these links just might draw a little skill out of you. (I found the first two on the blog How About Orange?, and the last one I found on my own.)

Tartan Maker allows you to create the plaid of your dreams by moving just four little knobs and choosing three colors. And for those of us who are as distractible as a goldfish, it's hours of fun!

Design your own Wallpaper by x3 studios is perfect for those of us who fill most of our browser's "bookmarks" with places to find neat wallpapers. With intuitive controls (and no registration necessary!), you are enabled to create desktops to suit your style and color preferences, whether they be simple, modern, sophisticated, neon, or grunge. The four examples above are from the gallery featuring other users, but I did come up with my own creation using this website...the header for the blog!

 Pancake Week by Boris Kustodiyev

The Emerald Necklace by Viktor Borisov

Finally, for the want-to-be globe trotter who has no funds, the most famous art museums of the world at your fingertips. Google Art Project allows you to go on virtual tours of museums, click on the most popular works and view them in minute detail (even closer than you would be allowed to get in person), and also has information about the artists, collections, and related works in an information bar on the right. It is a work in progress, but so far 17 museums, and hundreds of paintings, are up for viewing. The two I chose, Pancake Week by Boris Kustodiyev, and The Emerald Necklace by Viktor Borisov, are from The State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow; a museum I visited during my semester abroad. Click them, and be amazed by the unbelievable detail which is yours to view.



Yes, google may be taking over the world, but we love it, don't we?

Red: My Quick Meal

I could not have a red series on the blog without sharing my recipe for tomato sauce with you. First because it is a great quick meal, and is exceptionally adaptable. Second, because this is one of my top three go-to meals when I'm not feeling creative (I always have the ingredients). And third, because if you are eating pre-made sauce you're just missing out.

I am biased, yes, because as I grew up my Mom (who has completely Italian ancestry on both sides) was constantly making sauce and creating some delicious dinner for us with it. Pasta, homemade pizza, calzones, lasagna (the only casserole she made), and even homemade crepe-like manicotti a couple of times. And now that we're not small picky children anymore she's been telling us about eggplant Parmesan, polenta, and rice lasagna.

My first taste of pre-made sauce was at my grandma's house, and my little self didn't know what was wrong with the meal, but I knew something was missing, just like something was up with the bread because the "butter" was actually margarine...

Red: Cape Cod Cranberry Pie and The End of an Age

 

Remember how I told you of my love for cranberries?

Well, I have more to tell.

Organizing and Revamping

 

This week I have been reorganizing...everything really. 

It occurred to my last week as I was being bothered by an unruly shelf, that if I am a scientist and an artist, I should really also be an inventor, if even in very small things. And so, this week I set about reconfiguring things in small ways and solving problems in the most well designed ways(both functionally and artistically)  that I could think of on short notice. (Yes, it's true...we have guests coming and that is part of the sudden motivation.)

     In the bathroom, we have some built in shelving which once had doors (probably before I was born). For hours I tried to decide which fabric I would choose to sew little panels to cover the least used (most filled) shelves in a decorative way...but finally I came across some woven striped dish cloths we had never used. I hammered them up, and they are not revolutionary, but the bathroom looks much more tidy without exposed bottles everywhere.

    For the bedroom I am contemplating shoe storage options (let me know if you have some great ones), and considering one of those cloth over the door shoe racks. I have always considered them ugly, but I was thinking I could probably make one in a small amount of time, using some sturdy recycled khakis and some fabrics I would like to see every day. We will see if that goes anywhere.

      Now that the shop is open (check out the grapefruit marmalade added today), the blog too will be receiving a new look. So say goodbye to this one, and look forward to a little less *ehem* clutter, and a little more fun.

    And finally, (you may laugh) I did something about the plastic grocery bags that were slowly spreading through the kitchen cabinet like The Blob. Again, I considered making something, like one of those fabric bag holders, but just didn't have space for something floppy. So, I tore the wrappers off of two empty oatmeal boxes (the 42 oz ones) to reveal their simple cardboard brown, and decorated them a bit before stuffing them full of an unbelievable number of plastic bags. So even though it may sound silly, I though I would share with you how oatmeal boxes turn out to be quite attractive for storage.

 We make a lot of granola and hot cereal around here.

 

 ^This picture makes it look a bit like a cup of coffee from a cafe.^

So, simple and silly? Yes. 

But helpful too.

Red: Fruit Bowl Rejects

 I love fruit, I really do, but if you stayed with us for a few days or weeks you might notice that there are always one or two runt fruit neglected in the fruit bowl. I am not sure how it happens, and it doesn't seem to be caused by the initial appearance of the fruit, but slowly, after an apple or pear has been sitting just longer than it should have, both of us lose all desire to eat the given fruit and the remaining ones sit until they're ugly.
My solution to this problem is to cook that fruit! Usually into a breakfast food. In the past couple of weeks our hot cereal has contained both spiced apples and pears, and in the past I have put an old apple or two into a soup with wonderful reviews from tasters. Bananas usually end up in bread or peeled, in the freezer, waiting to become smoothies.
   The last time I had extra granny smith apples around, however, I really wanted to do something memorable and scrumptious, so my vote was muffins. And cranberries. I have had a magnetic attraction to cranberries all my life, and I just love eating them any way I can....as you will see as our red series progresses. When I was little, my grandmother always bought two kinds of canned cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving: jelly and whole berry. I usually ate most of the can of whole berry myself, until grandma began making the cranberry sauce homemade each year as her contribution. How could I go back after tasting that freshness? I now make cranberry sauce for myself multiple times a year to eat on my yogurt, in sandwiches with peanut butter, on toast, or just on a spoon.
    Cranberries are not only beautiful, tart and magical, but they are also recommended to help maintain your urinary tract health. (This is where I took a ten minute detour from writing to explore the Ocean Spray website and its recipes.) And did you know that Wisconsin, and not New England, is the world's top cranberry producing region? I didn't realize how much less popular cranberries would be after moving away from those places. But alas.
 

To make these even more red you can use red skinned apples, but choose a tart, firm variety if you can. Do not use red delicious. Actually, a large portion of fruit bowl neglect can be avoided if you just don't buy red delicious in the first place. If you have neither apples nor cranberries, you can substitute just about any non-citrus fruit into this recipe, but if they are frozen do not defrost them before baking or they will taste funny and  you will end up covered in goopy muffin. This was the first time I used cupcake wrappers on muffins, and I recommend it particularly because the high fruit content makes these a little...not crumbly, but having more perforations lets say.

Best Ever Apples-Cranberry Muffins  yield 12 muffins
(Based on Best Ever Muffins by Better Homes and Gardens)
1 3/4 cups sifted all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 well beaten egg
3/4 cup milk (or yogurt and a tiny bit of water)
1/3 cup salad oil or melted shortening
1/2 cup diced tart apple (cut to berry size)
1/2 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, rinsed (do not defrost if frozen)

Sift dry ingredients into bowl; make well in center. Combine egg, milk, and oil. Add all at once to dry ingredients. Stir quickly just until dry ingredients are moistened. Add fruit and gently mix until just combined, do not overbeat. Fill greased muffin (or cupcake wrappers) pans 2/3 full. Bake at 400F for 20 to 25 minutes (at a slightly lower temperature if you or your oven tend to overbake things).

Enjoy.

2010 Handmade Christmas Gifts III

    It is difficult to decide what to give people for Christmas. 

You know this.

I always appreciate the challenge, but as the family grows my brain gets more and more baffled by such decisions. Therefore, each of the gifts in this post was inspired by a blog I came across. Before I started planning Christmas gifts for 2010 I read a blog or two here and there, but once I realized how many ideas I would need to come up with I began intentionally (perhaps frantically) seeking out craft and sewing blogs to inspire me. As it turns out, the craft blog world is tightly interwoven, so once I found a few that had good ideas, they led me to others. The three family members listed here were the people I had the hardest time brainstorming for, but I am happy with how each of the projects turned out for them. Probably my greatest resources in discovering superb project ideas (besides google, of course) were the annual Sew Mama Sew Handmade Holidays gift idea lists.

 Projects #8 and 9 Hand warmers and Foot warmer for Micah

These rice filled hand warmers can be microwaved briefly, and then placed in your jacket pockets to keep your hands toasty. They are also good for soothing ear aches without making your whole face hot while you nap.
I followed the hand warmer tutorial on the blog no big dill, then made them a little fancier by adding stripes of 5 fabrics instead of choosing just one. These hand warmers will smell particularly good because they are filled with popcorn rice, a splendid local aromatic variety.

 

I used the same technique and designed a foot warmer bag, which will be nice for cold afternoons or nights. I chose to make it long and narrow so it can also be used to warm sore muscles, and especially sore necks. This one is filled with both rice and beans, but if you make one you could fill it with rice, beans, or even feed corn (like they did on no big dill with their foot warmers).

Projects #10 and 11 Flat Iron and Curling Iron Travel Cases for Megan

 

 

 I was really excited when I came across the tutorial for these hair iron travel cases (there actually are two there in the second picture). I think they are perfect to help my stylish younger sister travel neatly, without melting any hairspray bottles, or arriving at her destination to a knot of cords. As you can see I used the same combination of materials as I did on the art tote for my Mom, but I added navy bias tape to give it a little different spin. I found this tutorial on the blog Crap I've Made. It doesn't really have my favorite name, but I found some other interesting tutorials there, including rubber cement dyed eggs, and a fancy laptop sleeve.

Project #12 Charging Station for Gabe

 

 

This charging station is basically a pocket that hangs neatly on your phone or camera charger box while it is plugged in to the outlet. This is especially useful when the only available outlets are in hallways or other high-traffic locations where there are no places to set your phone, but you'd rather not put it on the floor. I found this pattern on the German blog sew-mad (I don't speak German, but she writes her blogs in both German and English). It was simple and fun to make because thick interfacing makes the station stiff enough to stand up on its own. The middle picture of it shows you that I used the button hole stitch to embroider the edge of the circle, which was the most time consuming part for me because Nathanael's Singer 15-91 from the 40's does automatic button holes. This means after every third of an inch I had to turn some knobs and readjust the fabric, which is why the stitches are a wee bit wiggly after my three times around the circle.  I was pretty excited when I was finished with this one...but I really liked the finished product so I might just make another.


I have a few gifts left to show you from Christmas 2010, so don't go too far!