architheque

This dresser is wants to be treated to a fun new green coat. Along with a taller sister, the pair is $50 somewhere near Portola Valley.

I’m supposed to be giving a furniture refinishing tutorial to a DIY group I belong to. If this were more local, it would have made a great demo project. Lots of straight lines, very little intricate detail, easy to sand down, but not at all boring. Too bad gas is $4 a gallon!

Someone already had a similar idea, and look what they’re charging for it - $500, without even a new paint job. You can do better!

I’ve seen a few references lately to being a good cook = not being afraid in the kitchen. Specifically, going with the flow and making the best of your mistakes. That’s what this soup is. It started as a pilaf style couscous…and somewhere the water to couscous ratio took a really bad turn. Now it’s soup! And good soup at that.

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What do you guess this is a picture of?

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I was washing dishes this morning and realized this is the view from the kitchen. It made me happy.

Summer is coming.  Are you ready?

Now here’s a novel idea: using an ingredient for what it’s intended for! I had bacon ends in the freezer, bok choy in the fridge, and leftover potsticker wrappers. Building on the success of the previous bacon and bok choy recipe gave me these potstickers, which were so perfectly salted that no soy sauce was required. (Yay bacon?)

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Took the labels off my toothpaste and face wash.

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So here was the experiment (and a scientific experiment at that!): Take potsticker wrappers from the refrigerated case at the Vietnamese grocery store. Add three types of cheese from the Hispanic grocery store. Fry half, boil half. Taste. Judge.

(From right to left)

Cheese One: Don Francisco Queso Fresco, Whole Milk (large wheel)

Cheese Two: Los Altos La Cubeta Queso Fresco, Whole Milk (molded)

Cheese Three: Rancho Grande Sierra Fresco, Skim (large wheel)

I thought cheese one would win, as it was the closest in moistness and texture to ricotta cheese. I was rooting for cheese two, as it was the only one that didn’t come shrink-wrapped in plastic. I threw in cheese three because it looked firm and different and I needed an underdog.

Each potsticker wrapper peels off the stack ready to go. Put a dab of cheese on one side, wet the edges with a damp finger, fold over, and crimp with a fork. Flip it and crimp the other side for good measure. If boiling, drop in rapidly boiling salted water for three(ish) minutes. If frying, lay in a pan of very hot oil for thirty(ish) seconds until crisp on one side, flip and fry second side equally.

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I pulled the lid off, and lo and behold, I have seedlings! Failed to properly mark them, though, so I no longer know which end is what. Give it a few more weeks, though, and I’ll be able to id them based on more mature foliage. I’m excited though (maybe improperly so). I planted both basil and cilantro, and those are the two herbs I have the hardest time keeping alive when bought as mature plants. I’m hoping raising them from seeds will somehow make them hardier and harder to kill.

Related Posts: Hope, Faith, and Gardening

I’m on the prowl for a desk and this one looks charming.  What I like about it is that not only could it serve as a ladylike computer desk or makeup vanity, it could also be a console table with a mirror hung over it, a landing strip in a large foyer, or the base of a DIY bathroom vanity (wouldn’t that be gorgeous?!).  I could see it with a half-inch piece of white marble cut to size on the top for real oomph.

It’s going for $125 - and I assure you, if I had the extra room in my budget it’d be mine already.  Get it before it’s gone!

Double thumbs up. Ten out of ten. Five stars. I don’t know how to recommend this recipe any harder. First wonderful thing about it: it takes hardly any time at all. Second wonderful thing about it: the sauce is so dang good. (And it can be used with just about anything, including satay.) Third wonderful thing about it: any green stir-fry-y vegetable will do, fresh or frozen.

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The war on plastic food storage just got one more champion. I hadn’t gotten rid of these plastic containers yet because they truly were the most water-tight storage I owned (and I may still keep them for the freezer). But I wasn’t happy with them for day to day use from fridge to microwave, as I try to never put plastic in the microwave. I’ve been using Crate and Barrel lidded glass bowls, and while I love them dearly, I must be truthful that they’re not leak proof.

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“If you were a son of mine, I wouldn’t want you to be an architect, because it’s a tough way to be in the world. Look, my son who graduated from law school three years ago makes more than I do after 40 years of working.”

- Peter Eisenman

Ooh, ouch.

When you consume massive amounts of design/homegood blogs on a daily basis, it’s a little like watching TV and absorbing the advertising. I saw this post on bud vases on Apartment Therapy last week. Over the weekend I was at a BevMo and saw this tiny bottle of vodka near the register. Brain immediately made a connection. Now if I can only get someone over here to drink the stuff, then I too can have a darling tiny blue bud vase. (For the record, the vodka was $5.99 - the same price as the AT vases, but naturally getting the vodka too increases your “score!” factor.)

Gardening is probably the very definition of “Hope springs eternal.”

Here’s hoping this tray turns out cilantro, spinach, basil, and morning glory seedlings in a few weeks.

Also, I’ve realized the planning and doing of growing my own food is quite meditative for me, in a get-sweaty-and-dirty kind of way. I have absolutely no thoughts in my head at all while working, not even what the next step should be. It’s lovely medicine.

A fabulous breakfast: rose flavored lassi. I’ve never made it - this glass was courtesy of leftovers from a chaat picnic. But I think this summer I’m going to learn. Maybe if Indu sees this post, she’ll advise me whether any plain unsweetened yogurt will do or if I need to hunt down some Indian style curd at a market. Indu, what say ye?

I haunt Goodwills. When I’m in the neighborhood of one, I always go in if I have the time. Sometimes to browse for myself, but more often with an eye for generating extra income (a habit born before the eBay/Paypal conglomerate started jacking casual sellers with heavy fees). The problem is, sometimes I get attached to things I originally bought to flip. Like this Le Creuset wok I picked up yesterday from the Goodwill down near Liza’s house. It’s in excellent condition. I paid $12.99 for it. It looks like I can probably flip it for a very nice profit.

But of course the more I look at it, the more I want to keep it. I start wheedling with myself, “When are you ever going to be able to afford such a nice pot at this price?” Nevermind that I have a huge cast iron wok already, stashed in the upper stratosphere of my kitchen that I haven’t used since I got my nice chef’s pan. This one’s a more convenient size, right? And it’s prettier.

Then again, extra cash during tax season is pretty too. Ah, choices.

*Edit: I went ahead and put it on eBay before I could change my mind again.  Once someone bids on it, I can’t retract it, so that ought to solve that.  Hopefully.  Here’s hoping I don’t spend the next month pining for it after it’s gone!

Part of the leftovers from that last dinner party was an excess of homemade whipped cream. Not something I eat generally, and I was at a loss for what to do with it. I decided to make hot chocolate, from scratch. I used the recipe off the Hershey’s cocoa powder box, with whole milk, which I’d also had for the party.

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Obviously the moment you embark on a no-spend month, a hundred things will present themselves at your door as “gotta haves.”  I saw this in a Red Envelope catalog last night and positively sighed.  Isn’t it lovely?  Thankfully, the price tag is high enough to deter me from being bad.  I’ll add this one to my “look for on sale” list and my “Hey, my birthday is in June!” list.

It does remind me of the gold necklaces I love at Rare Device.   I swear I’m going to get one of those if I ever get to wear my sari again.  But Nora Kogan’s pendant is actually better, because it slides on the chain rather than being fixed.  I don’t know about you, but for me fixed pendants always end up traveling sideways and looking funny.

I am in love.

Oh, gorgeous. Can you see this at the entry to some crowded public space, like the zoo, where people have to wait around outside for entrance?

I went into a store Saturday morning looking somewhat frantically for a discounted roasting pan and rack for Sunday’s ham. I found one, a decent KitchenAid model in a mirrored finish that will be hell to keep clean. But I also found one of my holy grails: a copper skillet that was not 7″ diameter nor two hundred dollars. Maybe it’s not chef quality, but for forty dollars I will take it. Now I can finally dump this awful Teflon pan.

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It is true: Safeway flowers suck.  These tulips lasted two days, though I had been careful to select a bunch that had not yet opened.  But while their visit was short, I did appreciate them dropping in.  I could write something philosophical and justify this post for the “living mindfully” tab, but I’ll just say this instead: It’s important, on a multitude of levels, to bring living things into the home.

I am in the process of joining a CSA that will put a bouquet of flowers in my box for an extra $6 a week.  I’m thrilled.

Got up at the crack of dawn to bake Easter morning biscuits. ‘Cause what’s Easter with out a ham biscuit?

Took my twenty biscuits and nine pounds of glazed ham to a hike/potluck and thoroughly enjoyed the day. I hope you had a lovely Sunday too.

Here’s one that may take some work (and some upholstery know-how) but would be extraordinarily cute in a modern sunroom. Haggle the above set down to $350. Sell off the coffee table, side tables, and side chair for $150-200. Take the frame of the sofa out back and lacquer it in shiny red or yellow or other such modern hue. Have new, boxier cushions covered in a light linen oatmeal or charcoal. Voila! You’ve now successfully riffed a Design*Sponge idea and saved a ton of money doing it. With squared off cushions, this baby could look really chic and would make a stunning daybed.

This color scheme (and this) is nice too if you want to go more luxurious. If it were solely for my portfolio and not for living, I’d reverse it and make the frame chartreuse (slightly brighter) and the cushions cream.

(I am totally going to have to learn how to upholster so I can start doing these makeovers for less than the price of my first newborn.)

(And OMG do you see the prices on that Pieces website!?!)

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Blue: Modern Classic No. 1
Yellow: Toscana

I was having a party. I needed some thermal carafes. I had three days. An online order would never make it in time. I couldn’t bring myself to buy the usual. What was I going to do?

Go to TJMaxx of course. Buy one adorable German-made carafe. Then go to Marshalls and buy another. Both for $9.99.

Ever since, I’ve had hot water at work to see me the whole day through. In fact, sometimes when I come in in the morning, water I’ve forgotten from the afternoon before is still warm. They’re that efficient.
Life is good.

So I was at the laundromat this weekend, taking the very good advice of another patron to hang up my shirts right out of the dryer, even if it did mean awkwardness in the car. I’m humming and hanging and squinting under the fluorescents, when I notice the above.

Does all my clothing being blue, green, or black mean that I’m a smart lady who knows what she looks good in, that I’m too obsessed with my favorite color, or that I’m in a serious style rut? If I’m allowed to vote in my own election, I pick the first one! I take all kinds of colors into the fitting room. The blues, greens, and blacks are all that ever come back out. Can’t help it; I look fine in a good blue.

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A super quick dinner to use up the leftover ricotta in my fridge.  Added bonus: it’s really really good.

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I had a dinner party at my house Friday night. It was awesome. As I was desultorily cleaning up Saturday morning, I realized I’d learned a few things.

First is not why you should have a party at your house, but why you should have said party on a Friday rather than a Saturday. The reason? If you have it on Saturday, you will spend all day cleaning and prepping. By having it on Friday, I had to split my cleaning and prepping among the weeknights prior, and I had to be smart about it because I had limited time and energy after a full day at work. I spent maybe three hours getting ready - compared to the eight or nine I would have spent on a Saturday. Nobody at your party can tell the difference, so why not take the less effort/time route? Plus, when I woke up Saturday, my house had been dusted, vacuumed, and all decks swabbed, so I had no Saturday chores! I had the whole day to myself!

Second, here are good reasons to have the party at your house instead of your friends’:

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