Big Wall, Big Problem

I have what you might call a "problem wall" in my apartment. The first thing you should know, is that my ceilings are pretty high. I love having high ceilings because it means there is a lot of light and also that I can wedge more into my hall closets than you could ever imagine. The down side is that I am too short to change lightbulbs even with a step ladder, and also that the walls can look a little bare.

The issue with the "problem wall", which was over my kitchen table, was partly that it was tall, and partly that it has the buzzer for the door, the electrical panel, a light switch and a mysterious pipe. So, nothing normal would cover all that up. After a little thinking, this is my problem wall, now:

This is the wall before (the only before pic was from when I was apartment searching,  so there are paint supplies and things, but you can see all the obstacles).

The main issue is that the light switch is not flat, so hanging a picture was out of the question (also, I don't really use that light switch anyways because the overhead light is ugly). I initially thought I'd get a canvas and paint it, and I did get a canvas that seemed huge at the store (2x3). But once I was at home I realized that a. 2x3 was not as big as I thought, and b. that I am not a painter and no matter what I did it looked like something an 8 year old made. So, on to plan B! I decided to make a frame and stretch fabric over it.

First stop: fabric.com where I also bought all the fabric for my quilt. You can see some of the things I was considering on my pinterest, which is the best thing for documenting shopping options I've ever found. The main hurdle was that this is really part of the living room, and the living room has tons of color, and a number of framed things as you can see (although the bright light from the windows makes it a little difficult to see what they are). I wanted something light and clean looking, so I tried to pick something that would coordinate with the light colors of the pillows and in the rug (not more red!).

This is what I picked- in real life it is more blue/grey then purple.

Then it was off to Home Depot where I bought 4 pieces of wood, each 48 inches long. To do this, I got  1x2's (as a side note if you are a wood buying newbie- the size it says it is won't be right. that is because you can get raw cut wood that is full of splinters and is actually 1 inches by 2 inches (or 2x4 or whatever) but when they smooth it down, obviously it gets a bit smaller). All I cared about was that the wood stuck out far enough from the wall to cover the light switch. The 1x2's were 8 feet long so I got a nice man at Home Depot to cut them for me, which he did for free. I also bought some nails that didn't look thick enough to split the wood, but did look long enough to go all the way through and into the other piece.

Then I nailed them together.

Then, I got excited so I put it up there to see how it would look. The red you can see is some tissue paper I taped together which I put up to check out spacing- as you can tell, it was a good idea because one of the main things I learned was that my initial idea about how big it needed to be was wrong. The tape is because I thought the fabric might sag, but it turned out to be a waste of both time and tape.

The first key step here was to IRON THE FABRIC and WASH THE FLOOR, otherwise it would be dirty and wrinkly, which is not what you're going for, here. Then I tried my best to line up the pattern with the edge, and went around and glue gunned the fabric. For some reason I cannot fathom, the wood did not seem exactly straight, but I soldiered on. If I had picked a less geometric pattern, I'd never have noticed, but, lesson learned. One of the benefits of this is if I get sick of the pattern, I can easily glue a new one on!

And... here it is!

Spring Has (Finally) Sprung!

And my sun deprived West Coast transplant self could not be more thrilled about it!

Cauliflower Fried "Rice"

One of my go to use-up-leftovers meals is fried rice, because honestly, there is almost nothing you can't throw in there. This only increased once I discovered the frozen packs of Trader Joes brown rice, because the one leftover I *don't* normally have on hand is rice. This takes that idea, and shakes it up a bit. If you're watching your carbs or looking for a way to get in some extra veggies, this is the recipe for you.

The basic idea behind this recipe is that rather than rice, you use riced cauliflower. I was mildly concerned about my ability to pull this part of the recipe off, but it didn't end up being a problem. BUT, you must must must have a food processor.

Stuff you need:

-veggies (whatever you like- peppers, pea pods, bamboo shoots, carrots, green onions, green beans, broccoli, whatever)

-protein (chicken, tofu, beef, whatever. should be cooked).

-flavoring (ginger, garlic)

-soy sauce (or, Braggs liquid aminos)

-oil (vegetable, or sesame. I do not recommend olive oil here.)

-2 eggs

First, take raw cauliflower (I used a whole head and had lots of leftovers, you could use half). Chop into florets, (and chunks of stem) and throw in batches into the food processor. Chop, and put in bowl. If you overload the food processor container, the big pieces won't get cut up and you'll get annoyed. So, do it in batches. I also had some baby carrots, so I threw those in with the cauliflower for kicks. I could have also julienned them.

Now, chop up your add ins. I had on hand some cooked chicken, onion, pepper, and ginger. This could be anything you have around. The only constraint would be that if your leftover meat (or tofu) is marinated already, of course you should make sure the flavors are compatible.

Now, heat up some oil (I used sesame oil). And, saute the veggies that need it (here, onions, peppers, and ginger). Once they were cooked, but still a bit crunchy, for texture, I threw in the chicken to heat it. Then, I poured in the cauliflower mixture. Now, just lightly beat the eggs in a little bowl, and pour over the cauliflower. This sounds weird, but it really provides an important binding component to the dish. (If you're vegan and know what would accomplish the same binding action without using eggs, I'd be very interested to hear, but personally I don't know because normal egg substitutes like flax seeds don't seem quite right.). Toss everything around in the pan until the egg is cooked, and add the soy sauce while you're doing it. Always remember that you can always add more soy sauce, but if you put in too much you're stuck with it.

Now...serve up!

This was really satisfying but healthy. It also made a TON and froze really well. Give it a shot!

Easy Tomato Soup + Mini Grilled Cheese = The Perfect Lunch

A few weeks ago I heard a lot about some very fancy grilled cheese (shoutout to YJP!). Let me tell you, you can only hear so much before you have to take action. Fortunately I had a day when I worked from home and was in dire need of a delicious lunch.

I wanted soup but didn't have any on hand so had to put it together on the fly with stuff from the pantry. I started out with a medium sized onion which I cut in slices and caramelized- this took about 20 minutes, so I just kept working and stirred occasionally. I also threw in 3-4 cloves of peeled garlic and let them caramelize as well. Once they were all nice and dark brown, I dumped in a large can of crushed tomatoes, and sprinkled in a little oregano and basil, salt and red pepper flakes. I covered it, and then waited until the tomatoes changed from bright to dark red. Once they seemed well cooked, I used the immersion blender and pureed it. 

Next come the sandwiches....

Usually I am a cheddar cheese on wheat bread grilled-cheese purist. However, this day I had a little baguette and muenster cheese, so that's what I used! I sliced the baguette into small pieces. I also sliced up an apple for crunch. After buttering the pieces with earth balance, I put on the muenster and apple, cooked and flipped.

I have to say, I loved the tiny sandwiches. First of all, they were good for portion control, second of all, they were just fun- they'd be especially good for kids. I also loved the quick and dirty soup- I think that even though there were only 3 ingredients (onion, garlic, tomato), caramelizing the onion helped give it a little extra depth, and since the tomatoes were tart it also helped mellow the soup out a little.

Overall, a perfect lunch on a cold day!

Fresh Avocado Summer Rolls

It is finally starting to feel at least a little like spring around here, and my pale, mildly cranky (with the weather) vitamin D deficient self is beyond excited about it. Part of what I'm excited about is getting a little more fresh produce- I am pretty sure I was not properly appreciative of California's constant abundance of fresh delicious fruit while I was there.

Anyhow, lately all I want to eat are things involving cold veggies- salads, sandwiches, and now... summer rolls! I got this idea in my head and had to make it happen immediately. The first challenge was finding the proper wrappers. At the first store, all they had were frozen spring roll wrappers. I bought them, however, after immediately panicking and googling it with my phone on the sidewalk, I determined that they were the wrong thing and are really meant for fried/baked spring rolls. What you actually want are rice paper wrappers. They are dry and should be on the shelf in the Asian section. These are the ones I got, but there are apparently many brands:

You can put almost anything you want in there. Your favorite veggies, chicken, shrimp, tofu- whatever! Anything you can put into long thin slices. I chose cucumber, red pepper, carrots, and instead of one of the protein choices, used avocado. You'll also want some type of herb- mint/cilantro/basil- I used cilantro. The important thing is to chop it all up ahead of time because you're going to need to move quickly.

Now- the rice paper will be very dry and stiff when you take it out of the package. I filled an 8x8 pyrex pan with warm water. Submerge a sheet until it is soft (not tooooooooooo soft, or it'll break. it'll also keep getting softer so if it feels a tad bid stiffer than you'd like when you first take it out, that's ok). I had a variety of badly shaped rolls, but when making the most successful ones, I  just immediately folded the rice paper in half, put the filling in the middle, then rolled it around the veggies as tightly as possible. I'm not going to lie, it was kind of hard to get it tight. I'm imagining it is similar to attempting to role nice looking sushi. They were all edible, but the half sized ones were definitely the most sturdy.

You could dip this in any variety of sauces, but I decided to make a simple peanut sauce (because I can't resist a peanut sauce). I used 3 tbsp peanut butter, 3 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 tbsp sesame oil, and a squirt of sriracha (if you use regular natural peanut butter add a dab of honey. if you use peanut butter with sugar in it, then don't). This made a lot of sauce- definitely enough for two people.

(I wanted to cut a roll in half to take a lovely picture, but was afraid my rookie-rolls would fall apart, and it was my dinner, so I had a big interest in being able to eat it). 

The combination of the peanut sauce and the crunchy veggies and the creamy avocado- SO GOOD! I can definitely imagine these being a staple in the summer when it's hot out and the idea of turning on the stove or oven is overwhelming. They were really fresh and good- try it!

Cheater 'Eggs in Purgatory': Seriously, it Does Not Get Easier Than This!

You may remember this shakshuka (aka Eggs in Purgatory) from a few weeks ago:

It was delicious, and pretty easy, but it did involve some amount of chopping and having the right veggies on hand. I have now discovered a miraculous short cut that will change this from 'delicious brunch item' to 'emergency weeknight dinner'. What is this magical ingredient, you ask?

I bought this by accident, and it is now going on my grocery list forever. Here is what I did in version 2:
1. dump can of tomatoes in non-stick pan along with 1/4c water
2. sprinkle with smoked paprika (which is soooooo good) if you have it, or else cayenne. and salt.
3. cook tomatoes until they turn from bright red to darker, stirring periodically
4. make 2 holes, crack in 2 eggs.
5. cover pan and cook until egg whites are firm
(optional- grate some cheese on top)
6. Eat.

2 ingredients, 15 minutes, healthy dinner... this is what weeknight staples are made of!

Chickpea Avocado Sandwiches... nomnomnom

This is one of these recipes that I have been looking forward to making, and now that I did I can't imagine what I was waiting for. Behold, smashed chickpea and avocado sandwiches, from Two Peas And Their Pod. Basically, this is a really good (vegan) alternative to other salady sandwiches, and even if you don't care about the vegan-ness, the lack of mayo is definitely a plus for a lot of reasons.

This is all you need- a ripe avocado, a can of garbanzo beans, chopped garlic, salt, pepper, juice of half a lemon/lime. Now, you're going to want to rinse and drain the beans really well. I also tried to rub them around between two paper towels, and get as many of the skins off as possible (similarly to when I roasted them).

Now, just mash it all together! You want a variety of sizes of bean pieces.

That is basically all there is to it- just fix it up with your sandwich additions of choice (here, arugula and red pepper strips). If you want to save the rest of it, just squeeze the rest of the lemon on it and it should keep the avocado from oxidizing.

I really liked it, I'm sure I'm going to make this again!

Instagram... woo!

Ok, so I think we can categorize my entire Twitter experience as a complete failure. Well, not really, because I still like to read other people's tweets, mainly when I'm bored and waiting somewhere and wanting my phone to entertain me. But, I'm just not the tweeting kind.

So, you'll notice that the top of the page the twitter tab is now gone forever (no big loss), and has been replaced by Instagram. Because, I may not be able to keep up with tweeting, but what I CAN do is take a million picture of my dinner and my cat, so instead of fighting it, I'm just going to go with my strengths!

Savory French Toast- A New Spin on Brunch

This weekend I had bread, eggs, and avocado, and found myself trying to think of something to make. Of course, there is always scrambled eggs and toast, but I wanted something a little different. I finally landed on some form of French toast, and this is what I got!

First, to make French toast, you basically take 2 eggs, beat them well, and if you have it (and, it's better this way) put in a little of whatever type of milk you have on hand. You could definitely use only egg whites, just use a bit more so the volume is the same. Then, soak the bread. Be sure to move it around so all the parts of both sides are in the egg mixture for a while. When the egg is all soaked up, you're ready to cook! If this was sweet French toast I'd sprinkle with cinnamon, but instead I sprinkled with salt and pepper.

Now, you heat a griddle, or a good sized frying pan, and spread around your butter product of choice (I used Earth Balance). I don't really think cooking spray is going to work here. Drop the bread on the pan, and cook until the bottom is brown, then flip. You want it to be brown on each side, but you don't want to cook it longer than you need to or else it'll be dry.

Now... the toppings!

I went with a trio of toppings.... 1. smashed avocado (yes, that is like half an avocado, I didn't want to waste it! as a side note, in order to preserve the other half the avocado, rub a lime or lemon wedge all over the cut surface and it won't turn brown) 2. salsa 3. cheezy mixture- mine was a wedge of laughing cow cheese smushed up with a little salsa. you could also use cottage cheese, or ricotta, or cream cheese- any soft cheese to add some creaminess. Since there is no syrup, you want to be sure you have enough topping to make it all moist.

This was slightly weird, but really pretty good- it was definitely a nice change of pace from the usual scramble I always make, and it definitely highlighted the avocado (mmmmmmmm avocado. when I was a child, I was afraid of avocado and refused to eat it- I now refer to those as 'the lost years'.). 

If you were having a brunch, you could even make the base French toast recipe, and then provide different toppings (sweet vs savory) for people to choose from. If you're going to make a lot of French toast, I'd stick with the 1 egg/bread piece, but you can soak more pieces in a 9x13 pan.

Give it a try!

Easy Decorating Idea: Colorful Framed Paper

I got this really easy decorating idea from Pinterest (as usual). Unfortunately, (also as usual) someone didn't pin it carefully, so it isn't possible to track down the originator of the picture and cite them here (I also can't get the embedded pin to center itself- ah well).

Source: tumblr.com via Yellowfish on Pinterest

Having just recently wrapped up the painting of the dresser, I've been thinking about the state of my bedroom. It was fine, but there was kind of a lack of coziness, I think because of all the white wall. I have tall ceilings, which I love, but it does mean there is a whole lotta wall to cover! Here it is, before:

Meh.

I went to Michael's to see what there was to see, and it turned out they were having a sale. I found the frames I used for 5 bucks each- I wasn't really willing to risk too much, because for all I knew this was going to look ridiculous. My criteria were: black, relatively thick frame, and the mat had to be included. 

Michaels also has a large paper selection, which is good, because picking out the paper was pretty challenging, actually. I noticed the original picture had a mix of sizes of patterns and colors. It also had to match my quilt. I tried to pick patterns that had some unique and some repeating colors so that every color was in at least one other panel. Fortunately, paper is pretty cheap (usually about 50 cents per sheet, but today 6 for $1, can't beat that!). So, I bought a bunch of extra just in case. The other perk here is that you can always switch up the colors later if you want a new look.

Be sure to clean the glass in the frames before putting the paper in. also, for geometric patterns, really make sure it's straight or else it'll look sloppy. (It was really hard to take these pictures without glare obscuring the patterns).

Other than picking the paper, the next hardest thing was clearly hanging them evenly spaced along the wall. Really, I don't have any magic solution for this, it involved a lot of measuring and remeasuring and making teeny dots on the wall and then doing math on my hand and swearing while I stood on the bed. But finally, I got them up!

Overall, I'm pretty excited about it! It didn't take that long, it brightened things up, and things look a lot cozier!

A few new things in the shop!

Well, the title pretty much says it all...

First up, this little fish, which I realized is yellow and I should probably keep for myself as my mascot, but for now, it's up there!

 

Little Fish Necklace

Then there is this necklace, which I actually made out of old watch pieces that I bought when I was making my Steampunk Butler Munny

 Steampunk Gear Necklace

And finally a new version of my teardrop line of earrings, but instead of beads, made with more little gears

 Gear Drop Earrings

There are a few more....go on over and check it out!

Eggs in Purgatory

Well, there has been some blizzard cooking going on around here for the last few days. I'm not even going to show you my one millionth attempt to make bread (other than my faithful beer bread). I actually was so irritated that it didn't work (why why why won't my bread rise in the oven???) that I made a second, only mildly better, batch. But, what DID emerge from all of this is what I think will be a new go-to recipe that I'm pretty excited about.

I went to brunch this morning and on the menu was "shakshuka", basically eggs poached in a tomato mixture. The version I had was based on tomatillos (side note: spell check would like me to change 'tomatillos' to 'automatism'), so was green and spicy and delicious. I knew I had to try to make it myself!

I didn't have tomatillos, I actually only had cherry tomatoes, but this recipe does not seem to be very picky.

The stuff (generally speaking):
1 tomato, chopped (or, a bunch of cherry tomatoes)
1/2 bell pepper, chopped fine
onion, chopped (I only had spring onions, and used 2)
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
2 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp paprika
salt to taste
oil for cooking veggies
2 eggs
bread, to sop things up

What to do with it:
This amount of veggie worked for 2 eggs, if you want more eggs, increase as needed.
Pan selection is actually relatively important- since the egg will be cooking in the tomato mixture, not on the bottom of a pan, you want a pan that is small enough that a reasonable amount of veggies will pile deep enough to sit the egg in.  I used my little cast iron pan that I normally use for eggs.

Heat the oil, put in the garlic and onions for a minute, then throw in the tomato, pepper, and spices. Cover, and let it cook together until it tastes like the tomatoes are cooked. Honestly, all of my vegetable volume selection was geared towards filling the pan, but keep in mind they will all cook down a bit too. Once they are cooked, clear a spot for each egg and crack it in gently. Turn down the heat, cover, and heat. You really want to be sure the white gets firm, but the yolk should be soft or runny. I did a lot of poking the white with my finger to figure this out.

What's really good is that the yolk kind of runs into the tomatoes and makes them really rich and delicious. It's also good to have some bread handy, to sop up the tomato and egg.

This is one of those things that I can imagine being really flexible- you could probably throw in almost any choppable vegetable, and I'm sure you could make it with canned tomatoes, which puts it in the magical realm of things you can make on the fly with stuff from the pantry. You can also get away with pretty minimal oil which makes this both delicious and healthy! I'm sure I'll be having it again!

In Which I Take 3 Months to Paint One Dresser

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Now, I'm not sure what made me develop a sudden and passionate hatred for my dresser when I moved, but... I did. In retrospect, this was probably fueled more by obsessive reading of crafty decorating blogs and Pinterest rather than by anything about the dresser itself, whose main crime was not matching my new wardrobe and being a little boring.

I was a little nervous about ruining what was in reality a perfectly fine, functional piece of furniture, so I read a lot about how to paint Ikea (and other laminate) furniture, and finally got to work (yes, this process began in September).

Step one was to drag the boring dresser into the living room where there is a bit more room (followed by step one and a half: mourn new apartments lack of balcony).

Step 2 was to realize that I did not own a drop cloth of any kind. What I DID own was a ton of plastic grocery bags- normally I try to be conscientious about bringing in my own bags to the store, but the moving process made that go haywire, so quite a few were laying around. I elected to cut them flat and tape them together, making an upcycled drop cloth.

From my reading, it was clear that sanding is absolutely necessary, as is priming. I bought some very fine grained paper, dismantled the dresser, and got to work. Here I am, dutifully sanding (which takes forever, by the way). After sanding get rid of the dust with moist cloth and let it dry.

For primer, I felt like everything I read recommended something different, so finally I just asked the guy at the hardware store down the street. I ended up with Bulls Eye 1-2-3 and if there is anything wrong with it I haven't found it yet.

Then, (reading more), I decided to make the makeover a little more interesting by using specially designed overlays, which you basically glue onto the drawer front with wood glue (or, I used Liquid Nails) and then paint along with everything else. Of course, I decided this after I had already primed, so then I had to prime the overlays too. The hardest part by far was centering them! You'll notice that the drawers are lined up so I could make sure they looked the same.

Then, I painted it white with acrylic paint. Unfortunately, at this point I hated it even more than I had before, but I dragged it back and used it like it was for a few months because I was tired and I wanted my living room back (there appear to be no pictures of this dark period).

Basically what happened was that as a total paint-newbie, I didn't know that "white" as we think of it is not really absolute white, but has a little bit of tint in there. The plain paint at the store is WHITE. Really, really, insanely white. My dresser was the blinding white of overly bleached teeth. Actually, it was kind of like this Friends episode:

After living with the blinding white for months, finally, when I was thinking about what I wanted to do on Super Bowl Sunday (which clearly was not going to be watching football), I decided to tackle it again (see, at least some tackling was happening).

At my little hardware store, they don't mix paint. So, you buy some tint and mix it yourself. I bought some Rust-oleum Painters Touch Semi-gloss white, squeezed in the tint, and stirred it in, and I imagined it being a nice gentle color, sort of like the rug you can see in the pictures. Well... it turned out that the paint dried a MUCH more intense color than I'd imagined. But, it's growing on me... now it's kind of a bright spot in the room and looks really cute and perky- definitely much more personality than its original incarnation... (yes, for the photo it is temporarily still on a bit of dropcloth, just in case the very bottom wasn't dry and wrecked the wood floor, but I was super excited and wanted to document it).

At the very least, it sure does match the quilt!