Crustaceans Galore

A while back, I bought a Groupon to go lobster fishing. There is nothing I love more in the world than lobster. Well, I mean, I love my husband and our dog and my family and so on, but lobster has been my favorite food since age two. So we boarded the boat and set to fishing (or hunting as I began referring to it).  Not very fancy though effective, lobster hoop netting is pretty simple.  Drop a baited hoop net, wait, and raise it up.  It's late in lobster season (October - March), and it was a full moon (apparently bad for fishing), so the boat's lobster catch was unimpressive: 3 on the boat, but one got thrown back for being under regulation.  Buuuuuuut, the love of my life managed to snag one of the two legal lobsters!  Plus, we caught 9 rock crabs.  We cooked 'em all up this weekend and have been feasting!  Crab benedict?  Sure!  Lobster with drawn butter?  Yep! Crab cakes?  Why not!

One of my other favorite moments was introducing Olive to her first lobster.  She was definitely confused. 

Crab feast!

Crab Benedict

Hibernation...or not

I know.  Busy busy, meow meow.  Nothing crafty happening around my place these days.  It's enough to just get us fed, the dog exercised, and the laundry done.  I hope I have the luxury of not working or at least not working a 40+ hour week at some point in my relatively young life.  Fingers crossed.

Until then, I'll just go make meatballs...

Shmallow Time

After hosting a birthday brunch for 30 on Sunday as well as hosting a family of four this weekend, it's fair to say that my reserves of energy are a little low.  Good timing with the holidays and all.  It has resulted in me desperately placing orders from my Amazon Prime account and keeping my fingers crossed that nothing gets lost. 

I needed to make a little treat for some folks around the office, so I decided some bags of hot cocoa with homemade marshmallows would be a good idea.  The marshmallows are in the fridge right now, but it was easier than I thought thanks to Smitten Kitchen's recipe. 

Get Quiet

It's been a big couple weeks.  Between work travel, the pending holidays, and some profound losses, I'm feeling....Well, I can tell you what I'm not feeling.  I don't feel like me.  I feel tired and sad and ready for a long, quiet break where I talk little and craft much. 

Being Jewish, I have spent many Christmas Eve's and Christmas Day's enjoying the quiet in a deserted city with just my sewing machine, some rented movies, and a bowl of homemade chili. Whenever some sweet soul would offer me a place to enjoy the holiday with their friends or family, I would politely decline as I loved the one day of the year when no one was available, there were no errands to run, and I was forced to get quiet and take stock.  

Now that I'm married to a man who is not Jewish, I've lost my special, private Christmas.  And I miss it.  So I'm taking moments rather than days to find the quiet.  Like this one at the beach this weekend:

the ellusive iPhone case

Rush is not big on "stuff". I bought some cheapy iPhone cases when we got our 4s, but they both cracked and fell apart. A while back, I found one I liked. However, Rush has been walking around with a really battered case because he just doesn't care enough to look for a new one. Sarah to the rescue.

Gorgeous. Leather. Durable. Manly. $38.

Thank you, J. Crew

The gift of giving

I love giving gifts. I love them big and small. Whether it's a new car (oh how I wish I could be Oprah!) or just a token to let someone know I'm thinking of them, I love giving gifts. I love listening to friends/etc and hearing little hints of things that they might like, and then I love tracking down the appropriate item!   

Well, I got a little foiled on a gift recently.  After a friend professed her love for mojitos, I realized that she and her husband didn't own a proper muddler, so I found a good one and prepared to surprise her.  Well, I shouldn't have told her, in the first place, that there was such a thing called a muddler.  She ended up buying one for herself.  Hmph.  

Anyway, I found a replacement gift and decided to make her some napkins as well.  Skip to My Lou has a great tutorial for mitered corner napkins. 

Ginghamaholics Anonymous

I think I have a problem. It's not the kind that's going to tear my family apart or anything (I think), but it's probably not good. I am addicted to gingham. I can't seem to stop buying it. I want one in every color. The funniest part of my addiction is that all of the shirts (below) were purchased in the last six months and ALL were bought in the boys' department. Yep, boys. Turns out, if you're about 5 feet tall and 110lbs or so, a boys' size medium is perfect. Crewcuts is the best, FYI. 

old 33

We celebrated my birthday this weekend exactly as I wanted.  We scooted out of town with Stinker in tow.  A little bit of biking, a little bit of wine tasting.  Perfection in general.

I started doing a little prep for a new friend's birthday.  It's her first California birthday, and it would be appropriate to celebrate with a little fiesta!  And I do loooove a monogram:

Thanks to Jordan from Oh Happy Day for the tutorial!

A smidge obsessed

Is saying "a smidge obsessed" a little bit like saying "kinda pregnant"?  In the sense that you can't be a little of either..  You either are or you are not.  And I am (NOT PREGNANT) consumed with the idea of making a bookshelf for our living room out of galvanized pipe and wood.  Morgan did a great job, don't you think?

What didn't I do?

I accomplished more on Saturday than I have in the last several weeks.  Heck, that feels good!

Bucket + Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze = Planter

And I installed drawer dividers for our silverware.  A few pieces of 3"x1/4" wood from Lowes, a little measuring and cutting, and some wood glue.  Done!

why do i do this?

Unhappy with the choices in my closet (too cute.  too dowdy.  too plain.  too brown.  too whatever), I ordered a dress for the wedding I am attending on Saturday, and it arrived today with no time to spare.  And of course, being petite, the dress is too long (despite what it looks like on the model).  So I must shorten it (blind hem plus lining - double the work) in the next 24 hours.  Plus, I have a dear friend in town, so we may be chatting over the sewing machine tonight.  Why do I do this to myself?  For the love of a pretty dress.

Zara

A for effort, F for outcome

Big fat fail last night.  I signed up to help in a charity bake sale and then made plans for the night before.  Unbeknownst (how great is that word?) to me, Rush also signed up to bake.  To ease the load on ourselves and the oven, I tried to get my stuff out of the way last night.  

A couple years ago, I found the most delic pumpkin cookie recipe.  The cookies are like little cakes, and the brown butter icing is 100% perfect on the cookies.  So that would be my contribution.  I gathered all the ingredients and set to baking.  And then something went HORRIBLY wrong.  The oven seemed to become possessed and shot up to almost 500 degrees (from the 375 I had it set at) and the cookies burned.  I fought with the oven to try to get the temp down and to stay down and burned the second batch.  Rush walked in the door to me almost in tears and also furious.  Nice combo.  

A for effort, F for outcome...

Just before the slaughter of these perfectly good ingredients...

Case of the Mondays

This weekend was fantastic.  I didn't do much of anything but summer finally decided to grace us with her presence, and it was incredible.  Waking up to blue skies does beat all.  

Dinner outside on Saturday night

Homemade Jambalaya

and i don't even like pears...

Came across this dispatch on Mccurdy Farm from Tartelette's visit to Portland, and I just sighed with contentment.  I love a good farm.  I have the utmost respect for farmers (heroes!), and a well-kept farm is one of the most beautiful sites.  Mccurdy Farm is the home of Clear Creek Distillery, makers of fine liqueur and brandy.  I love Tartelette's pics, and I try not to repost others' work, but it's just too charming to resist.  They put the bottles on the branch when the fruit is nothing but a bud.  Incredible!