My bread

Something about making bread is exciting to me. Maybe it's because it seems so old school and because people don't really do it anymore. Maybe it's because people are often impressed that you make your own bread. Mostly I think it's because I seriously love bread. I could eat a whole loaf of rosemary bread in one sitting I swear. And when I say making bread I'm not talking about cheating. I'm talking no bread machines or Kitchen Aid mixers. Just your ingredients and a wooden spoon. (Side note I think wooden spoons make everything taste better.)

My mom and I took a bread making class from one of the bakers at Essential Baking a few months ago and while it was fun when I went home and tried their methods it just didn't turn out right. I didn't have a pizza stone to bake it on and I don't know if I put enough water in the pan below to create good steam and then I had to spray water into the oven right before putting the bread in. Whew. Yeah this was too much work even by bread making standards. Then we discovered Jim Lahey's method of baking bread in a cast iron dutch oven. It traps the steam in the pot and creates an amazing crust like the steam injected ovens of the real commercial bakers. This is by far the easiest recipe for bread that I have ever made.

 "My Bread"  by Jim Lahey. (Here it is on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/My-Bread-Revolutionary-No-Work-No-Knead/dp/0393066304 )

Vintage glassware and French 75's

My mother started collecting things for her "hope chest" before she was even a teenager. For those of you who don't know what a hope chest it's a chest that girls would put household items in for the time when hopefully they get married and need to run their own home. This practice might be a bit dated but I think it's cute. Now we generally go to college or live on our own before we get married so we end up with those items one way or another. Back when this practice was common people went from living at mom and dad's straight to being married with a place of their own. My mom started a collection of red "Moon and Star" pattern glassware as part of her hope chest and since it wasn't easy to find the collection grew slowly. This past weekend I made champagne cocktails for some of my favorite girls and I wanted something a little more special than my daily glassware to serve them. My mom said she had just the thing and she let me borrow these gorgeous glasses. I love the story behind them and the red glass makes everything seem so special and vintage. I think I might slowly have to start pilfering the rest of my mom's collection but I think she's ok with it.



 I wanted to make a cocktail with a vintage feel and when I came across this French 75 recipe I thought it was perfect. The French 75 was born in 1915 at Harry's New York bar in Paris. It is said that the drink has such a kick it feels like you are being shelled with a French artillery piece, the 75mm howitzer. Seriously, it is as powerful as it is delicious and much like your slutty friend they go down entirely too easy. The lemon juice cuts all the bite out of the gin and you are left with a seriously drinkable and highly alcoholic cocktail.

The recipe:

2 ounces dry Gin

1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon sugar (powered preferably)

5 ounces champagne

Shake the gin, lemon juice and sugar and then top it with the champagne once in the glass. Make sure to call a cab ahead of time and enjoy.

Coffee Table

Since Halloween is just around the corner I've been making periodic stops at the Ballard Goodwill looking for pieces to create my costume. Yesterday I stopped by and as usual I took a glance in the furniture section. I stumbled upon a really cute coffee table with folding sides. I love the curvy little legs and the oval shape. At the steep price of $7.99 I had to seriously think about this purchase....yeah right. I had the seats folded down in my bug and that table loaded up in about a minute.

Love how the oval shape works with the kidney shape of the couch.

Now I just have to decide on what color I want to paint it. Black is my go to but I was thinking white or gray or possibly a bright color. I've been really into bright yellow and magenta lately.

Door Handle Tie Back

The basic idea.

Recently I ran across the idea to use a vintage door handle as curtain ties backs on http://pinterest.com/. I have had curtains in my living room for oh about three years and for that entire time should I want a bit more light I pin the curtains behind the nearest chair. So while the shoving the curtains behind the chair method might work I think it's time for something slightly more official. My plan is to go to the RE Store in Ballard to find a great old door handle, get a couple screws and done. Should be pretty easy. If you have not yet discovered the RE Store it is amazing! http://www.re-store.org/index.php They have great old and vintage items for your home. Sinks, lights, doors, windows and a variety of stuff that just comes and goes. Most stuff isn't in perfect shape so you might have to paint or shine purchases up but I think it's worth it. A few years ago I scored an awesome old door with an inlaid mirror. It is still one of my favorite items in my condo.

Umbrella light fixture is complete!

 I bought the least expensive double bulb light fixture that I could find at Home Depot which was around $10. Since the junction box was already there in my bedroom all I had to do was get the light installed and figure out how I was going to attached the umbrella shade. My dad being ever so dad like came over and installed the light fixture for me mostly because he was scared I would electrocute myself if left to my own devices. Once we had the light in my dad came up with the incredibly smart idea of using the threaded metal piece that came with the light (which was supposed to hold up the light cover that I wasn't using). So we, and by we I mean my dad, sawed off the handle of the umbrella then epoxied the metal piece to the handle and this allowed us to screw the umbrella right into the light fixture.



Cutting off the handle.



Epoxying the threaded metal piece to the handle.

 And voila I now have a beautiful vintage umbrella light cover!

And we're done!

Umbrellas!

Yesterday was my lucky day. I wasn't expecting to receive either of the umbrellas that I bought on Etsy just yet and what did I find when I got home? Not one but TWO vintage umbrellas waiting for me! I was in heaven. After ripping open the boxes I proceeded to dance around with each of the umbrellas telling each one that I thought they were gorgeous. Don't tell the beige one but my number one umbrella love is the scrolly one with the orange edge. I'm obsessed. I want to pet it and hold it and ....imagine something like the scene in Tommy Boy where Chris Farley is in a restaurant petting a roll and eventually smashes it into a million little pieces. Well I was like that with my umbrella except for the smashing it part. I love it too much to smash it. Now the hard part is that I am going to have to mutilate the beautiful umbrella. I need to removed the handle in order to hang in from my ceiling. Sigh. It makes me so sad because I would love to be seen around town on a rainy day under the most gorgeous umbrella ever known to man but really I'm a native Seattleite so when do I use an umbrella? Yeah never. Either way my beautiful umbrella love isn't made from waterproof material so using it wouldn't work anyway. Luckily the beige one does appear to be waterproof so that works out well. I can't wait to get this project completed and spend my nights falling asleep under this gorgeous thing! 

During a break from dancing around with it.

Ahhh. I love you umbrella.

Birthday present

Have I mentioned I love flour sack towels? Well I do and I love an excuse to make something with them. My sister's birthday was last week (I know, I know) and I bought her a really cute Day of the Dead apron so I figured I should make a couple stamped towels to go with her present. I used really tiny letters to stamp LULU all the way across the towel. It just looks like a design from afar but when you look closer, I'm hoping, you can tell it's actually her name.

A closer look...