Odd Etsy Item of the Week

This week's Odd Etsy Item comes to you from...Me! That's right folks. I've been talking the big talk for a while now, and I finally got the guts to post my stuff on etsy. Check it out here. And for all you loyal fans out there...a give-away! Comment on this post by 12:00pm Friday, the 18th and you could be the winner of a new pair of earrings! Should you be the lucky one, you'll get to choose between these

And these

I wish I could tell you what that blue stone is, but I'm afraid I don't know. The top pair is accented with pearl, and the bottom pair has topaz. Tell your friends, and help me spread the word! Let me know what you think of the shop.

Make Sure it's Really Good...

This post may sound a little like an Austin style rant, but as a caveat, I would like to say that I enjoy Ina Garten. She seems like a very nice lady, and the food she makes generally sounds appealing, otherwise I'd stop watching her show. That being said, she has some eccentricities that crack me up. Today she was making Asian Marinated Salmon, and the marinade had three ingredients. I kid you not, as she was adding each ingredient she said the words "really good".

"Start out with three tablespoons of really good Dijon mustard. Add one tablespoon of really good soy sauce, and as you whisk those together, gradually add one cup of really good olive oil."

The mustard and the oil I could maybe justify, but really good soy sauce? Is there such a thing as really bad soy sauce? Does the distinction need to be made?

I've also decided that they must have some really interesting hardware stores in the Hampton's, because she manages to buy everything under the sun at the hardware store. Today she was using a food mill, talking about how it was one of her favorite kitchen tools, and she said "And the best part is, you can just pick them up at the hardware store." Really? I'm pretty sure they don't carry food mill's at Home Depot or Lowe's.

The other day I was watching an episode where she was making something with mozzarella in it, and she said "And make sure it's really good mozzarella, not that rubber stuff you buy at the grocery store". Huh? Where else am I supposed to buy mozzarella? Probably the hardware store.

Hot Air Balloons Make Me Happy

I caught the tail end of an episode of "Deserving Design" last night and this was the nursery they created for a baby boy.



Cute, huh? That chair is actually a gilder, and apparently the crib will convert to a "big boy" bed. Nice. But my favorite part are those hot air balloons. I think I want a few for me!

Handmade Christmas

Well, the word on the street is that the Christmas cards I sent out got pretty beat up in the mail. It's a bummer, but hopefully yours was one of the few that made it out alive. If not, here's what they were supposed to look like.

Of course, these were the ones I liked least, since I didn't send them out. Every one was different, with different shaped ornaments, paper, and card color. I hope you enjoyed them, even if they were a little worse for the ware. Lesson learned: Stick to using 2-D on your Christmas cards!

Photography is Art

Yippie! Karla and I just signed up for another class from the infamous Brian Niven through UVSC Continuing Education, and I'm pretty excited about it. Photography is Art meets Mondays from 5:15-7:15 for five weeks between March 17th-April 14th. Anyone care to join us? It's sure to be great!

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a Happy New Year! We spent the evening with family playing games and watching movies while enjoying all kinds of delicious snacks. It was so nice to have time off work, and to spend it with friends and family. I was particularly excited for 2008 to come so that I could put up my new calendar.

It's even prettier in person! It puts a smile on my face every time I glance over at it. It's definitely helping me get through this first day back at work in a while.

And now a random question for all the readers out there:
I made a cheesecake (Tyler's Ultimate Cheesecake, actually, but without the lemon zest, because my husband is anti-citrus zest) and baked it in a water bath. I always surround the springform pan with foil when I do this to prevent water leaking into the cheesecake, and usually this works fine, however this time for some reason, there is a dark deposit of some kind on the pan that held the water. I'm assuming it is somehow from the foil, but I don't know, and I can't seem to get it off. So far, I've tried soap and water, comet with bleach, and baking soda. Any suggestions for getting my pan clean? Your ideas are much appreciated.

Odd Etsy Items of the Week

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! I definitely did. I'm back to work today, but most of the free world decided to take the day off, so needless to say it has been pretty slow. I've been doing some surfin' to kill the time, and I noticed Etsy has a new feature. Shop Local. It's pretty fun to see all the talent coming out of just your state or city. Be sure to try it out. Who knows, you may even find a local Odd Etsy Item of the Week, like me! Please, allow me to introduce Tara Robertson Pottery. She's got some really great pieces, including these little pigs.


Intriguing, no? Is it just me, or do these guys have an expression on their face that says something like "Ah Munna Eat Choo!"

Handmade with Love

Since I work at BYU, I receive a copy of "YNews" regularly to my inbox. Most days I skim over the articles and throw it away. But the last issue I got had something that stood out to me. This article talks about how the Harold B. Lee Library had scanned 575 diaries from their special collections and have posted them to the Internet. The part that stood out to me was this picture of Hyrum Smith's diary.

The caption under this picture read, "Lucy Mack Smith hand-decorated this diary for her missionary son, Hyrum." I actually got a little emotional when I read that (which, for any of you who do not know me, is not normal). I felt a connection to this woman. This diary said so much to me about the kind of mother and woman she was. She took something mundane and made it beautiful. She added this beauty to remind her son of her love and support. She was just like missionary moms today, who make things like scrapbooks and packages for their sons and daughters. I tend to think of handmade items from long-ago as being made out of necessity, and though that was part of it, there was more to it. They were made out of love, just as all handmade gifts are. I finished my handmade Christmas cards* today. Sorry they will be a little late, but remember, they were made with love, just for you, from me. Merry Christmas!

* For any of you who's address I may not have (this means you, MarySue!) please send me an email with your address, so you can get a little handmade love! angelajewell (at) gmail (dot) com

Up and Down

I watched "North and South" last night. It's a BBC miniseries, and I had seen the first episode with my mom and sister about six months ago, but had to leave while they watched the other three episodes. I borrowed it from my friend a few days ago, and finally had some time to sit down and watch it. All four hours of it. No wonder I don't have my cards sent out or my neighbor gifts made! It was so good! I highly recommend it. While I was watching it the girl I borrowed it from stopped by with her husband to drop off their neighbor gift (everyone else is on the ball but me!). When I told her what I was watching she said her husband refers to it as "Up and Down". Silly boys. Brian actually watched quite a bit of it with me, and I'm pretty sure he liked it.

C is for Cookie

I really like this recipe/idea from Elise. These might make good neighbor gifts. Yes, it's true. I haven't made neighbor gifts yet. I'm seriously behind this year. I haven't even sent out my Christmas cards yet! It'll happen, you just might get it a little after Christmas. I thought I'd help extend the celebration and festivities for you this year.

Merry Christmas to You!

Don't worry, I set up my decorations and took these pictures over a week ago (probably more like two weeks ago). I'm just now getting around to posting about it. The tree is real, I made the banner last year, and thank you, mom, for the cute little village.

An Experiment Gone Terribly Right

In my "About Me" at the bottom of the page, I mention that I like to make food, but I don't think I've ever posted about food yet! Silly me. Fortunately, I have a patient husband who lets me experiment and orders pizza when an experiment turns out not-so-good. On Saturday I had an experiment that turned out oh-so-right, so I thought I'd share. For some reason, I had never tried cooking pork before. All the other delicious parts of the pig, (ham, bacon, sausage) yes, but not pork, so I decided to give it a try. I bought a couple pieces of pork tenderloin (which always makes me think of this commercial, "You can't tell us what to do, Lord Chicken Breast!") and had a go. It turned out so tasty that it was all eaten before I could take any pictures. You'll just have to make it yourself to see what it looks like.



Apple Glazed Pork Loin



Ingredients:

2 Tbsp oil

1 apple, peeled and cut into bite-sized dice (I used a Macintosh)

1 sweet onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 pieces pork loin

salt and pepper to taste



Combine oil, apple, onion, garlic, and nutmeg in frying pan over medium heat. Saute until apple pieces are soft enough to mash with spoon. Salt and pepper both sides of of the meat and move the saute to the sides of the pan. Place pork in pan so meat has direct contact with the pan, covering top side of meat with the saute. Cook about 10 minutes on that side, then move the saute to the side of the pan again, and turn the meat over, putting the saute back on top. Cook another 10 minutes, or until meat is cooked all the way through. Both sides should have nice carmelization. I suppose you could, but we didn't eat the saute, it was just to flavor the meat, and boy did it! Very tasty and a nice change from the usual. Let me know if you try it!