Tuesday, November 9, 2010

save the words


Did you know that each year hundreds of words are dropped from the English language? Perfectly wonderful, useful words! If you're crazy about words, click on Savethewords and adopt one or two or bunches! Your only responsibility is to use your word in conversation and correspondence as frequently as possible to the best of your ability. I'm in! Here were a few of my faves:

amorevolous - affectionate, doting
aquabib - water drinker
gnathonize - to flatter
aporrhoea - B.O. aka body odor

and the winner...
foppotee - a simple minded person

Go ahead and adopt a few of your own!
You're such a smarty!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

swappin manly stories


Sunday Waffles

1 3/4 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
2 T sugar
3 eggs
7 T vegetable oil
1 . vanilla
1 1/2 c. milk

Preheat the waffle iron. Sift the dry ingredients into a medium sized bowl. Separate the eggs, putting the egg whites in a smaller bowl. Beat the egg whites until stiff. Add the egg yolks, oil, vanilla and milk all at once to the dry ingredients. Beat until there are no lumps in the batter. Fold the egg whites into the batter using a spatula. 1/2 cup of batter makes a 9" waffle. Lots of tasty variations....chocolate chips, nuts, berries, etc...



Have a great Sunday!













Wednesday, November 3, 2010

sailorglamarama wrap up...


Sailor Glam wrap up posts coming soon!
We had a crazy good time!




top pic - Allison V Smith
bottom - fun in the photo booth



Monday, November 1, 2010

fun runner


Are you free the afternoon of November 13th? Say 3-6 ish?
Yes?!? Then please sign up for my burlap table runner
class at Oil and Cotton in Oak Cliff.
Bring friends and a few copies of your favorite Thanksgiving recipe to
exchange with the group.
Class description and fee can be found here.
Wine and local cheeses will be enjoyed during class.


Sunday, October 31, 2010

dear dad,




You're the best dad ever! Happy Birthday!

xo, Shari



photos by allison v. smith


Friday, September 17, 2010

please pack your knives


Another great season of Top Chef is over. They've packed their knives and gone. This year's finale took place in Singapore and it was exceptional. It was incredible watching these chef's navigate their way through unfamiliar territory. Very impressive. I especially enjoyed the emphasis on fish and the street food of Singapore. It's worth looking up on Hulu if you missed it. Here's a simple and delicious salmon recipe if you're in the mood for fish. Enjoy your weekend!


Salmon Teriyaki - Betsy Eiseman, Lamplighter Family Cookbook

1/2 c soy sauce
1/4 c dry sherry
1/4 c light brown sugar
1 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1T finely grated fresh ginger
1 1/3 lbs salmon steaks, 1"thick

Whisk together soy sauce, sherry, brown sugar, olive oil, garlic and ginger. Pour over salmon and marinate for 30 minutes, turning once to coat evenly. Place oven rack 4 inches from heat source. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray lightly with nonstick spray. Remove fish from marinade and place on baking sheet. Broil for 10 to 12 minutes.

Note: This marinade is so tasty! This salmon is great paired with roasted asparagus. For color and added tastiness, top with chopped tomato and grated parmesan.



photo: Fulton Street fishmonger, 1964, mcmahanphoto.com

Thursday, September 16, 2010

the meat grinder


No, this isn't a post on Lady Gaga's putrid meat dress from the VMA. But rather, a post on recess. Didn't you just love recess as a kid?!? Our school playground did not resemble the razzle dazzle playscapes of today. No wood chips or squishy surfaces to cushion our fall. No brightly colored plastic equipment to prevent small hands from burning on hot days. Our playground consisted of a metal jungle gym, a bank of swings and the meat grinder. The meat grinder was a slab of black asphalt - the site for red rover, jump rope and all manner of horseplay. It was accurately dubbed the meat grinder because it literally shredded your tender young skin on contact. Hico Elementary recess wasn't for wimps! Aren't you just wild about this incredible swing for 12 made from recycled tires constructed by Jan Korbes in South Africa? Can you even imagine the fun?!? I want one now!



Tuesday, September 14, 2010

on two wheels



Skidding in on two wheels, here are some random shots from our Summer.



Red in Fredericksburg is filled with cool items in every price range.

Fantastic 3-D puzzle. You have to see it up close to appreciate it!

Great Wall O' Cutters. Der Kuchen Laden, Fredericksburg.

The girls love their cousin Karleigh!

The tooth fairy pays a visit to Harry.

Look at that sweet face!

Incredible mirror. Incredible store. Root Fashion and Aura. Fredericksburg, Texas.


Outside a restaurant at the height of Mel's latest outburst. Funny stuff. Austin, Texas.

Giant creepy baby head from a vintage store in Austin. There's a Twilight Zone episode in here somewhere.

City park bridge in Hico. I've been riding my bike, driving a car or running over this bridge my entire life. I finally noticed just how great it is.

Layers and layers of yumminess.

Monday, September 13, 2010

gator baby



This summer I made a quilt for a baby gator. This little guy was born to a couple of die hard Florida Gator fans and needed the perfect quilt. Here is the play by play of the aptly named quilt, Gator Baby.

Thankfully, I had wonderful school colors to work with! This is the maquette I presented to my client, friend and coworker, Beth. Whenever possible I make a maquette to convey my ideas. I thought the rugby stripe was great for a little boy and made a nice field for a big gator head.



Next, I went in search of reference. I didn't have to look any further than Sadie's bookshelf for our well loved copy of The Enormous Crocodile, by Roald Dahl. Gators and crocs; crocs and gators, I know there are differences, but this illustration happened to work perfectly for the project at hand. Admittedly, my first sketch resembled the Claussen pickle pelican, sans the funny hat. Alan came in and saved the day with a subtle adjustment. Thanks Alan!


Pupil practice and finished eye.

Ric rac teeth. Great idea Deb!

Sweet backing.



I chose a quilting pattern called Toothache to mimic the jagged teeth. We also added the baby's name and other particulars for a personal touch. Thanks for the great project Beth! Tons of fun.


Friday, September 10, 2010

bubbles

I hope you enjoy bubbles in some form or fashion this weekend!

Kids of the 70's? Just for you, as in me. In it's entirety. You're welcome!



Want to mix up your own?
This link has lots of recipes.



photos 1 and 2 by Julianne Swartz via Pia Jane Bijkerk, Sis (my niece) aka Mary Eloise by her Mommy, Sofia bubbly from geekdreams/flickr


Thursday, September 9, 2010

one month countdown


Sadie's Bat Mitzvah is one month from today. Updates over on Sailor Glam.

the sho(far) must go on*

Last nights funnel cloud was no match for a sanctuary full of Jews ready to ring in 5771. Bring it. This bunch has seen it all and more.

Since apples dipped in honey are a customary treat on Rosh Hashanah, I decided to make baked apples for dessert tonight. According to the Michigan Apple Council, these are the best apples for baking:
Cortlands
Jonagolds
Jonathans
Rome
Golden Delicious
Winesap
I could only get my hands on Jonathans and Golden Delicious.

Baked Apples

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Core apples and place in a baking dish. Pour small amount of water in the bottom. I added vanilla beans to the water. Put some brown sugar in the hollowed out cores. Drizzle with honey. Bake until apples are soft, but still retaining their shape.
Top with whipping cream and glazed pecan pieces.


Happy New Year!
*a little Jewish holiday humor. What's a shofar you might ask? Click here.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

hiatus + headlines


I went on hiatus. I didn't really mean to. I just needed to. Summer projects and bat mitzvah updates coming soon. Five more weeks! Tonight, I'm fascinated by the work of Lauren DiCioccio. Incredible! Her obsessively detailed handiwork lends permanence and beauty to yesterdays fleeting headlines.
Stunning.



via laurendicioccio via a cup of jo on her fabulous friday links!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

i am the half blood prince


Harry Potter, the boy who lived, is alive and well in our household. House pillows in Sadie's Etsy shop, rereading the series, collages of favorite movie moments and great anticipation of the November release of Deathly Hallows, Part 1. Here is a magical film that Sadie made yesterday.
The song is alohomora by pogo.



Friday, July 23, 2010

golden tan of a lifetime

Have you listened to the Summer Job Series on NPR's All Things Considered? Listeners are invited to share their stories of memorable summer jobs. Have you ever heard of corn tasseling or wondered about the people who play your favorite characters at Disneyland? There are some great story tellers out there! Click here to read the transcripts. Here's the story I submitted this morning. I would love to read it on air!


Golden Tan of a Lifetime

When I was growing up in Hico, Texas, where the population was only about a thousand at the time, high school kids could either haul hay or work at the Koffee Kup Kafe, which is what I did. Once I mastered the mile high meringue and discovered the perfect ratio of vanilla syrup to Coke and perfected the precise art of cutting a multi-tiered club sandwich, I decided I needed a change of scenery. I found it one summer, along with the golden tan of a lifetime, at a tree nursery just outside of town. Five mornings a week, our rag tag crew piled into the back of a beat up Chevy pickup at crack thirty, a.k.a. 6 am, and our supervisor, Leon, drove us out to the fields. It was a scene straight out of Cool Hand Luke. He dropped us off at the end of a mile long row of pecan trees and picked us up at the other end in the afternoon. Each of us had a spool of twine we fashioned as belts and all day we trudged down the row, tying each tiny pecan tree to a wooden stake, in three places, to help it grow straight and strong for selling.

Did I mention that summer was a record breaking scorcher?!? 100, 101, 102 degree days. Consistently. Once I forgot my thermos of ice water, but thankfully, Leon always left a big orange water cooler in a central place for anyone who needed it. Anyone ended up being one person, my crew mate Cecil, who treated the jug like his personal hydrating station. With filthy hands, he dipped in his tin cup and chugged it right over the open top of the cooler. I watched in horror as the water dripped down his face, through his grizzled beard and back into the jug, brown as lake water. I never forgot my thermos again.

There was romance in the field too. The highlight of my day was catching a glimpse of Scott, a football playing college boy home for the summer. That fall, I went on to accompany his parents to watch him play in West Texas, stopping at every Wendy's from central to West Texas. But that's another story for another day.

Even though the work was monotonous, the camaraderie was enjoyable. A friend and I always worked one row apart, facing each other, and tied at the same pace so that we could chat the day away.

As it turned out, that camaraderie was the most productive thing about the job. Right at the end of summer, as we finished our work day, a fierce Texas thunderstorm blew in. Sheets of rain and buckets of hail battered our little saplings, and our summer of work was torn to bits.


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