12 posts tagged “things i like thursday”
Along with dreams of being an architect, I also went through a phase of wanting to be an interior designer. I then realized that what I really want is a huge house and unlimited funds to decorate and redecorate at will. I could spend days browsing design blogs and planning future rooms. Some of my favorite design blogs of the moment are decor8 and how about orange.
I am endlessly fascinated by color. I am in love with chocolate brown living rooms, white and blue kitchens (via decor8), and eerriinn's green nursery.
While I typically decorate in cool colors, I love to see people who can incorporate orange into a room. This summer I was loving the combination of orange, lime green and turquoise (the color scheme of O's birthday parties), as seen in this new line of aprons and towels. And particularly relevant now that autumn has arrived, how about orange recently linked to a "what color orange are you?" quiz. My result:
Speaking of color, and the vanilla walls of our current home .... I just came across this quiz from Edy's, "what vanilla are you." It was perhaps the most accurate assessment of myself from an internet quiz to date:
Realistic and practical, you see the world for how it is.
You know what it takes to succeed in life...
And you're happy to help others reach their goals.
It's true, I absolutely insist that my vanilla be real.
Vanilla with a Kick. Vanilla Bean.
Nothing slips by you because you’re on your game at all times. You know what’s right and what needs to be done and you take charge to make sure it happens.When it comes to vanilla ice cream, the perfectionist in you demands that it taste exactly like vanilla ought to taste. If it doesn’t have the obvious presence of real vanilla, it won’t pass your test.
Your vanilla is Edy's Vanilla Bean. You’re most likely to swap spoons with other Vanilla Bean lovers or entertaining Vanilla enthusiasts.
Wait a minute, are you Monica Geller from Friends? Or maybe Alan from Two and a Half Men?
Like many who like to cook, I collect cookbooks. I have a few by my favorite celeb-chefs, trusty standbys, and an assortment picked up as travel souvenirs.
My favorite was a gift from my Italian grandmother when I was sick with mono my senior year of college, "Eat This..It'll Make You Feel Better!" by Dom DeLuise. It was inscribed, "You know your Grandpop and me, always thinking about food no matter how sick we are." It was the most personal gift she ever gave me and even though I really couldn't eat for a month, I read it cover to cover. It has a lot of cute stories about Dom and his old famous friends. The stuffed artichoke recipe became a favorite - I probably made it once a week the rest of that year. (Ah, fresh California artichokes - and roommates who appreciated them!)
When we graduated, I made each of my roommates a cookbook of the various recipes I used to cook for them, including the artichokes and my aunt's (in)famous chicken marbella.
Sadly, the cookbook shelf is one of many areas in the house that has yet to be properly organized since our move last year. (At the peak of first trimester nausea.) I tried to weed out a few to make more room but only came up with two I could let go. Soon to be replaced with four more, I'm sure.
This past weekend, our CSA farm hosted an open house and potluck dinner. Fun time, amazing food.
My Grandpop (the one on the left in the previous post) once told me to never trust a man who didn't drink coffee. I will concede that some (but not all) of my less successful relationships were with non-coffee drinkers. You can imagine my reluctance to tell Grandpop that the husband didn't drink coffee. Fortunately this is a problem I have managed to correct over the past five years. I lured him in with a mocha frappucino, then mochas, until he finally broke down and just drank a cup black this past winter. He still prefers mochas, but he can drink it straight when he has to.
Chocolate was my gateway to coffee as well. Growing up, the only time we had coffee in our house was when my Grandmom and Granddad (on the right below) came to visit each August, and drank their instant Sanka every morning. My own relationship with coffee started on a high school retreat, when friends and I used hot cocoa mix to make our own "mocha" drinks. From there, we went on to collecting cans to pay for black forest mochas at Coffee People. In college I discovered the fun of alcoholic coffees, namely Irish Cream iced coffee. Post graduation I moved to DC, where Starbucks dominated the coffee landscape. I had an elaborate system of rules under which it would be acceptable to drink S'bucks but eventually gave in and embraced the omnipresent establishment. Moving to our current neighborhood last year put us closer to a local establishment, and a second opened last year, but I still find myself returning to S'bucks too often. In an attempt to cut down on sugar, I have recently given up caramel macchiatos (except for on Tuesdays - my Mondays) in favor of a double tall organic cappuccino. I also challenged myself to go the summer without a frappucino (tastes of the husband's are still allowed, of course), which I've actually managed to achieve thus far despite the cruel introduction of such tempting flavors as orange mocha.
My sister recently wrote to warn me that my home drive-through Coffee People has recently, tragically, been converted to a ... S'bucks. The family had sold out to an outside firm a few years ago, but they had kept my signature roasts (Black Tiger). Now, I guess it's time to discover a new caffeine source as I can hardly justify drinking S'bucks when in the Northwest. I've been wanting to check out Stumptown, so I guess that's on the agenda for our trip. I imagine I'll pass at least half a dozen S'bucks* on the way there.
* S'bucks is my personal shorthand for "Starbucks Sucks" - the "bucks" reference is purely coincidence.
The recent wave of recalls and warnings from China has ignited worldwide concern about the safety of Chinese products, potentially mucking up a global system built, in large part, on outsourced manufacturing. As a result, companies are trying urgently to figure out how to do business here, without risking their reputation, consumer trust, or customers’ lives.
Mattel may have some of the answers. In the 1990s, critics charged the company with running sweatshops in Asia. Now, independent analysts, and even watchdog groups, say Mattel may be the best role model for how to operate prudently in China. - NYTimes
We get this:
I do feel vindicated in my ban on character toys, but I confess to having bought more than a little random crap we didn't even need, especially at Target. I suspected the marketing geniuses at Target were reading my blog when, shortly after coming clean on Owen's cutesy nickname, I discovered monkeys in every section of the store. From the bins of cheap useless junk in the entry way to bed, bath and dinnerware, monkeys were suddenly the hot item.Mattel will recall nearly one million toys that were manufactured in China because they might contain excessive levels of lead paint. The plastic preschool toys from Fisher-Price included popular characters like Dora, Big Bird, Elmo, and Diego, among others from Sesame Street and Nickelodeon. - Portfolio
Unfortunately, simply buying wood toys doesn't avoid the problem. I picked up the Melissa & Doug peg set O plays with daily, to see it too was made in China. Haba toys (some), via Oompa.com (great site!) "made under supervision in China." At least that site generally lets you know which are made in Germany and which aren't, but that was an eye-opener for me to not even trust "European" wood toys without double-checking.
Local critic Tom Sietsema's weekly chat is my must-read, and I read San Fran's Michael Bauer to see what's happening out west. I had to ax Slashfood from my gReader because of too many worthless posts, but I still check their "in 60 seconds" food section recaps from the Times, Boston and LA.
And now that we've joined a CSA farm share, I generally prefer reading about local farmers to watching the Food Network these days.
I was drooling all day in anticipation of this post. As I mentioned previously, cheese is one of the four Italian food groups, and definitely my favorite. One of the best things about the neighborhood where I live is that we have our very own cheese shop. I don't make it there as often as I did before my cheese-addict friend moved away, but they have just started biweekly wine & cheese happy hours (free samples!) so I think the kid and I will be stopping by tomorrow night.
Cheese is a necessary component of any party I host, although the hubby is picky so I always have to have a "safe" cheese (cows milk, not stinky) for him. A cheese plate was the feature attraction at my baby shower (thanks J!), and for our Italian-themed baptism party I ordered the Italian sampler (pictured): Crucolo (cow), Pecorino Toscano (sheep), Armentizia Caprini (goat), and Castelbelbo (cow/sheep/goat) .
One of my very favorite cheeses is Humboldt Fog, by Cypress Grove Chèvre (CA). It's a mild, melt-in-your-mouth creamy goat cheese that's slightly sweet with a layer of ash that gives it a slight bite.
For mass-produced cheese, we stock up on Tillamook Reserve Extra Sharp and Smoked Cheddars when in Oregon. Grocery stores here only carry their plain and kosher cheddars. A great thing about Tillamook is that even though they've gotten huge and no longer get all their milk from their own cows there in Tillamook, all their cheeses are growth hormone free. And if you visit the plant, you get free samples and cheese curds. (And a CMC alum is an executive there.)
There is a man at our farmers' market who makes amazing goat cheeses and mozzarella. Unfortunately his goat cheeses are made with raw milk, so I can't share them with the kid yet. I have been gradually introducing him to good cheeses though. He gets mozzarella fairly often, occasionally bufala, and most recently we tried a Cypress Grove goat milk cheddar - excellent for grilled cheese.
I was shocked and dismayed to see that there are no Vox groups dedicated to cheese, so I started one myself. If you enjoy a fine cheese - stinky or not - please visit the group and share!
I mentally started composing this on Thursday, anyway...
One of my favorite hobbies is baking. I grew up sugar-deprived (we rarely even had it in the house) so I have done my best to compensate since leaving home. In college, I assisted a pastry chef, which is where my dream of opening a pastry shop originated. Of course, actually having to be around that much sugar all the time probably wouldn't be that appealing. I love to entertain and will nearly always have a home-made dessert. Unfortunately that's a greater challenge with a baby around. I unashamedly out-sourced the dessert for the Monkey's bris (Costco cake) and even for his baptism party (cupcakes). But I did make chocolate-covered matzo for the latter party, so at least there was one thing home-made on the menu. Food = love, at least according to my Italian Great-Grandmom. Although ironically, the only dessert I remember her serving was ice cream, store-bought.
Yes, I have an addiction to baby food. Just kidding. Making baby food, on the other hand, turned out to be a lot of fun. I'm proud to say that the Monkey has never had jarred food. We did succumb to Gerber finger foods - crack puffs etc. - although we later discovered he likes plain puffed corn and rice nearly just as much, and it doesn't have the added sugar. Now he's on to table foods so I'm trying to make healthy meals we can all eat together. It doesn't happen every night, or any of the nights I work, but my goal is to make two good meals a week. We joined a CSA this year so at the very least I have to use our weekly veggies.
