Oooh...Ahhh...

Check out this slide show with interesting public gardens around the world. These are some of my favorites. (from top to bottom, Costa Rica, France, England).

Haven't You Always Wanted A Stuffed Elephant Shrew?

I've always admired the work of people who make soft sculptures, like Abby Glassenberg. Probably because I wish I was better at sewing. I can get by, but don't look too close, or you'll see a lot of tucks, and crooked seams, etc. I'm just a little too lazy to fix things when they go wrong. So over a year ago I found a pattern on Martha Stewart for making soft toys. It seemed relatively simple. I thought I'd try it out.
The thing was, I didn't want to make a lamb, or a chicken, or a pig. I wanted to make an elephant. I'm kind of an elephant fan. So I thought I'd just use the pig pattern, but alter it slightly to make it an elephant. No big, right?
I just used some scraps I had in my sewing room and got started. Everything seemed to be going well at first, but kind of went down hill. I got to the part where I needed to stuff it, but I didn't have any stuffing on hand, and I was feeling like it wasn't turning out well, so I just put it in one of my drawers, and there it sat. Sad and unfinished. Silently mocking me for my lack of sewing skills.
Fast forward to now, and I decided to finish it. Because I'm having a baby. Have I mentioned that? Yes, I'm having a baby. We're thrilled. And I wanted to make a toy for the baby. I bought some stuffing and some jingle bells to make it rattle, stuffed away, and hand stitched the opening closed. Now I could get a good look at the completed piece:





It kind of doesn't look like an elephant. This is what I was going for:



It kind of looks like a cross between a mouse and an elephant. Like this:



So if anyone asks, I totally made an elephant shrew on purpose, and the big ears are just use of my artistic license.

This Necklace Has Yet To Be Named

Oh, I have been a lazy blogger! I apologize for that. I actually made this necklace like two weeks ago, but just never got around to taking some good pictures of it. I got the idea for this one laying awake in bed one night, and made it the next day. I usually just start making a necklace without laying it out first, but this one required a little more planning. And even after that I did a little editing on the fly to get it the way I wanted. The stones I used (in order, starting from the light yellow going to the deep red) were citrine, carnelian, pink peruvian opal, tourmaline, and garnet.

p.s. I made those peanut butter cookies from the previous post. Phenomenal, and quite easy. Two thumbs up!

A Bevy of Beauties

I signed up to bring dessert to a work party at the end of this month, and I have about a googillian recipes I've been wanting do try. Maybe I'll bring a dessert platter with some of each of these. You know, so I have an excuse to try them all.

Four Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

Lime Melt-Aways

Hazelnut Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

Oreo Truffles

Is it obvious that I've been spending entirely too much time on tastespotting?

Janice Necklace

My good friend Janice is getting married in August, and I am so happy for her! Janice and I met while "working together at H-E-double-hockey-sticks". Her words, not mine. Mine probably wouldn't have been so forgiving. I'm pretty sure I only lasted as long as I did because of her and one other friend I made there.
She requested a custom necklace for her special day, and I was thrilled/honored to make it for her. She sent me pictures of her dress and pretty much gave me free reign to make whatever I thought would look best. Here are some pictures of what I came up with:



Jan, I hope you love it, and I can't wait to see you at your open house in Utah!

Edit: My mom pointed out that I didn't tell you what kinds of beads I used! Can't believe I forgot that one. This piece is on sterling silver wire and has pearl, rock crystal, moonstone, Czech glass beads in silver, clear and clear AB finish.

Now That Billy Mays is Gone...

Who will fill his shoes?

Pure Genius

You better believe I'll be trying this recipe:

New Coche

Well, my old car had a good run, but it was starting to have problems regularly, so we decided to trade it in for this:
A 2006 Jeep Liberty. We bought it through my husbands work, so we were able to get a pretty good deal. It's got a lot of bonus features like a built in DVD player, heated seats, and, my favorite, a remote start, so you get get the heat going in those cold winter months. Lovely!

Back in April I had a sister's weekend in Vancouver. Lots of talking, shopping, and eating delicious food. We had lunch one day at a place called Pizzacato, and Nancy and I split a pizza called the "Al Grecco" with red onions, lamb sausage, feta, garlic, marinated tomatoes, and Tzatziki sauce on the side. It was divine. I very much wished I had gotten a whole one all to myself. It gave Nancy the idea that we should make Gyro style burgers sometime. Well, that hasn't actually been tried yet, but I just came across this recipe on tastespotting. Now we really need to try it!

Red, White, and Blue Ice Cream

So Nancy tried to pretend that she made the red, white, and blue ice cream for our family 4th of July festivities, but, actually, it was me. She made the cute cookies, I made the cute ice cream. So I'm stealing her picture of it to post here, and recipe's are below. It was delicious, if I do say so myself. Think of it like Neapolitan ice cream, but red, white, and blue instead of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. And I found the templates for the flags here. Enjoy!

To keep it separated in the pan, I made the red and the blue first, with a bread pan where the white went to hold the sides up, then put that all in the freezer so it could set up. Once it was hardened, I took the bread pan out, and put the white ice cream in it's place.

Fruit Ice Cream Base (make 2 batches, one for the strawberry rhubarb, and one for the blueberry)

Ingredients:

6 large egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups heavy cream

1 pinch salt

2-3 cups fruit puree

In a medium bowl lightly whisk the yolks together with a 1/4 cup of the sugar. Set aside.
In a non-reactive saucepan combine the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar, 1 1/2 cups of the cream, and the salt. Heat the cream mixture over medium-high heat until just boiling. Remove from the heat; whisk the eggs constantly while gradually pouring the hot liquid into the yolks. Return the egg mixture to the saucepan.
Cook the mixture while stirring constantly with a wooden spoon in a figure 8 motion, over medium-low heat, until thickened, about 5 minutes. When the ice cream mixture is properly cooked it coats the back of the spoon, is satiny thick, and free of any bubbles on the surface. (The ice cream base will taste slightly egg-y.) When the mixture is thickened pull it from the heat; add the reserved 1/2 cup cream, and strain it through a fine strainer into a medium bowl.
Set the bowl of ice cream base in a bowl of ice and whisk until cool. Add the fruit puree.

Freeze the mixture in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions. (Take care not to over churn the ice cream or it can have a grainy texture.) Place the ice cream in the freezer to set up for at least 1 hour. Serve.

Strawberry Rhubarb Puree Ingredients:
1/2 pint strawberries, washed and quartered
1 stalk of rhubarb, chopped
1 cup water
1 cup sugar

Combine water and sugar in pot over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Add strawberries and rhubarb to syrup and let simmer until softened (about 30 minutes). Process mixture through a food mill (if you don't have a food mill, use a blender and a fine sieve).

Blueberry Puree Ingredients:

2 cups blueberries

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

Combine water and sugar in pot over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Add blueberries to syrup and let simmer until softened (about 30 minutes). Process mixture through a food mill (if you don't have a food mill, use a blender and a fine sieve). I added blue food coloring at this point so the end result would be more blue than purple, but that's optional.

Cheesecake Ice Cream

Ingredients:

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup sour cream

6 oz cream cheese, room temperature

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a food processor, or with a hand mixer and a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar and beat until smooth. Add sour cream and beat until smooth. Add heavy cream and vanilla extract and beat until smooth.

Freeze the mixture in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions. (Take care not to over churn the ice cream or it can have a grainy texture.) Place the ice cream in the freezer to set up for at least 1 hour. Serve.

Online Fabric Sale

Lot's of cute fabric and notions on sale here.

Found out about the sale here.

Crazy Eights!

Aarean tagged me, um, a while ago. And I'm lazy, so just now getting to it. But at least I'm actually doing it, right?

8 things I am looking forward to:
1. Work off on Friday
2. Patio of Fire!
3. Celebrating the 4th with family
4. Monday, July 6th
5. My Family Reunion in July
6. Dinner (I just need to figure out what it is first)
7. Fresh peaches and blackberries from Grandma Bellow's tree
8. November 13th

8 things I did yesterday:
1. Woke up
2. Ate waffles that the rock star made me
3. Got ready
4. Went to church
5. Made shrimp po boys for dinner. Yum.
6. Made delicious cake mix cookies
7. Ate said cookies, and took some to friends
8. Went to bed

8 things I wish I could do:
1. Turn off the TV when there's nothing on (which is most of the time!)
2. Get myself to go to bed on time
3. Grow productive vegetable plants
4. Have a raspberry bush in my yard
5. Travel more often
6. Make gellato as yummy as the stuff in Florence
7. Paint, draw, sculpt, etc like a pro
8. Grow a money tree (stole that one, Aarean)

8 Shows I watch:
1. Hannah Montana (totally true, I love the Disney channel)
2. So You Think You Can Dance
3. Good Eats
4. Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations
6. House
7. Ace of Cakes
8. The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brian

8 favorite fruits:
1. Raspberries
2. Pineapple
3. Strawberries
4. Mango
5. Peaches
6. Crisp Apples
7. Blackberries
8. Kiwi

8 Places I'd Like to Travel
1. Anywhere
2. I
3. Have
4. Never
5. Been
6. Before
7. Sounds
8. Good

I tag...Anyone interested in being tagged. You're it!