Archive   |   April, 2010

blogwatch: where we’ve been clicking this week

Posted by in surfing

chiveflowers1

ShelterPop gives a helpful tutorial on growing chives, and makes a convincing argument for growing your own. Chive flowers in salads? Beautifully delicious!

We’ve been on the hunt for retro-inspired, decorative concrete screen blocks for quite a while now. The search is over, thanks to RetroRenovation.

MadMen actor Vincent Kartheiser (who plays Pete Campbell) lives without a toilet in a 70 square foot wooden bungalow in Los Angeles. His extreme minimalism is for real, and it’s in response to his MadMen celebrity. At BoingBoing.

The New York Times featured some more comfortable and realistic minimalism this week too, detailing how a Seattle artist converted a 250 square foot garage into a fabulous little home for $32,000(with a cute little love story attached!).

We’re planning a trip to IKEA after spotting these galvanized hanging planters, a steal at $4.99. Via Remodelista.

We love orchids. We love terrariums. We love helpful how-to’s. CasaSugar’s got all three things in one post. Awesome!

Five things that are bound to clutter up your day, via Unclutterer. Helpful list, indeed (especially for those of us who are guilty of ALL five)!

CakeSpy has us dreaming of April in Paris (as we’ve been wont to do of late) with her recent post, highlighting her visit to a patisserie in each of the 20 arondissements.

– Megan B.

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pretty prints for green-thumb moms

Posted by in gardening, giving

toolsCBwateringcan

vaboxes

Know a mom who’s a garden guru? Make her Mother’s Day with these gorgeous printed garden tools from the V&A/Wild And Wolf collection. Available online at the V&A Shop or domestically at Aldea Home, the collection features a garden tools set including a cultivator and trowel, a watering can, and secatuers outfitted in Daisy, Anemone, and Cray prints by famed English textile designer William Morris. Gardening gloves in Celia Birtwell’s Pretty Woman print are also a great gift for Mom this Mother’s Day. Snag a pair for $20 at Anthropologie or check out the expanded collection, including gardening tools, $38, and watering can, $56, at Kate’s Paperie. — Sarah C

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post off: what food do you like that you used to hate?

Posted by in decorating

brusselssprouts

That’s an easy one for me to answer: Brussels sprouts. The truth is, I’m not sure I even used to hate them, only that I used to refused to eat them — they just looked like small, stinky cabbage to me. (I love my mom, but a childhood of German and Irish cooking — read: boiling — probably contributed to that notion.) Flash forward to Christmas 2009, when my pal Bay did a simple Brussels sprouts stir-fry with some balsamic vinegar. Suddenly, I can’t get enough of those crazy, tiny cabbage. Have you had any food revelations lately? — Mary T.

Photo by Flickr member Esteban Cavrico

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etsy find: paint-by-number race horses

Posted by in decorating, shopping

racehorse

This Saturday is the 136th running of the Kentucky Derby. Despite being horse-obsessed throughout my childhood, and currently living within an easy drive of Lexington, I lack the singular focus I once had. However, these great vintage paint-by-number horses from Etsy seller vintagehaven took me back to a time when all I thought about was horses: Horse racing. Horse books. Horse stickers. Horse hooked rugs. Horse paint-by-numbers. You get the point. This Saturday, though, my thoughts will once again be dominated by horses. That, and our now annual treat of Derby Pie. See all the vintage paint-by-number horses that Etsy has to offer right here. — Sarah L.

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real life test kitchen: forkheartknife “quickles”

Posted by in cooking

pickle group

I’ve been keeping tabs on forkheartknife, the blog of Sierra Laumer, one of the proprietors of a soon-to-open Cincinnati restaurant that will also be known as forkheartknife. I love Sierra’s energetic style — and also her food — so I asked if I could share her post on making pickles. Be sure to visit her site for other great (and sometimes surprising) recipes — beet bi-products pizza comes to mind. — Mary T.

Today I made a load of pickles for a tapas and Italian bites dinner:
- Carrots in a spicy brine of chili oil, rice vinegar, sugar, salt, and spices
- Asparagus in a brine of Italian white wine vinegar, garlic, lemon zest, sugar, salt, and spices
- Beets in a pretty classic pickling juice
- Cukes pickled with fennel frond, dill, garlic, and jalapeno
- Red onion with my sherry vinegar
- And OKRA! in a pickling brine

I make a lazy pickle, or “quickle” (because I like making combo words, too). I don’t have a granny to teach me the fine nuances of canning, so I use a jar with a tight lid and keep everything in the fridge for safety.

To pickle something, I use the basic guidelines of 2 c. vinegar, 1 c. water, 1 c. sugar, and 1/4-1/2 c. salt. I play around with adding dried seasonings to the brine — you can adjust the final pickle profile by adding more mustard seed, dill seed, fennel seed, curry powder, cinnamon, paprika, ginger, cloves, star anise, etc. And sometimes I’ll add fresh herbs, jalapeno, garlic, or onion. Click for quick tips on making quick pickles. (more…)

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