Happy Halloween!

As you can see Moose is less than impressed...however, his disgruntled-ness has provided us with much entertainment! This was the only photo of about a dozen I took where he doesn't look like he's in extreme pain! Poor Moosey!

Anyways, here's the pumpkin I carved and the Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Cinnamon Icing cupcakes I made for the potluck lunch we had at work yesterday.








And if I had a large property with a large budget I would set up my yard like this and wait for tricker or treaters in style!


From Country Living

I shake an angry fist at you Seattle!

So for the second time in 9 months one of my tires went completely flat while I was on the road! I've been driving since I was 17 years old and in all that time never once had I encountered a flat tire and yet somehow I've now managed to get 2 in less than a year! Moreover, I had never once gotten a chipped or cracked windshield and again in less than a year that too happens to my car twice! Aaaarrrrgggghhhhhh!!!!

Dear Seattle,

Clean your streets!

Love,
Robyn

Et Bon Weekend!

Art, baby, art

I think its been well over a month since I said I would post some cute and sweet baby/kid themed Etsy-found artwork. And today I'm very inspired to create such a post as my friends Amy & Chris have just announced
that they are expecting a little one at the end of April! So exciting! A big congratulations to them!!!

So here's to celebrating a new bundle of joy and the talented folks of Etsy-land!

Penny People




www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5058067


Nella Designs




www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5587246

Made by Girl


www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5352520

John W. Golden





and for the older kiddies (I also think these would have an excellent use and application in the office setting!)





http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=64040

Le Canot Rouge - because every Canadian child should have a print of a beaver or moose...!


www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7806937

Bella and Boo






www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5108910

Sarah Jane Studios





and a personalized family tree!


www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5317715


Yay Amy & Chris!!!!

Update on Urban Cheese Craft - there's a blog!

Hellz yes!!!!!

http://urbancheesecraft.wordpress.com/

And there's recipes!!!

Jane and the rest of the Boutette ladies, this one's for you!!!!!


Yuuuummmmm, mozzarella

More Etsy awesomeness

Hello and happy Friday!

Its a very soggy gray and dark day here in Seattle. The rain can't decide between pouring, misting or drizzle. And the sky hasn't gotten any better than early evening dusk. Ah, yes, fall/winter settled upon the West Coast!

However, all is not lost! The perpetually bright and shinny spot, Etsy, has not disappointed! A feast for the eyes over there these past few days. Here's some gems I found and hope you enjoy!

How awesome!!! Make your Goat's Cheese and other cheese delights kits!!!




www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6800381

From PaperDoll Woodshop - a super cool and cute magazine rack



Also from PaperDoll Woodshop is this rather fantastic antler frame and I'm thinking I may just have to buy it for a photo of my Moose!


www.paperdollwoodshop.etsy.com


And I really really want this clock - but in black - doesn't Her Majesty look lovely? Thank you Naked Decor!


www.nakeddecor.etsy.com


Bon Weekend!!!

Happy Birthday Beth!

Today is my little sister's birthday! Although she is no longer little and even owns her own house, she's still the kid who wouldn't stop talking and could talk a mile a minute, who would laughed hysterically at the banana song, loves turnips and went for years only ordering chicken fingers at restaurants, and who, thankfully, no longer steals my clothes!

Happy Birthday Bethie!!!! I hope you had a great day!!!!



In other news, yesterday was Thanksgiving in my home and native land and as always (or at least since I moved from home in 2003), I had a group of people over for dinner to celebrate. And not surprisingly we have a ton of leftovers! In order to move away from turkey sandwiches and turkey and potatoes,I'm going to throw together a turkey based soup tonight and hopefully by Friday we will be turkey free!

The day the internet ran out

Do you ever have those days when you feel like you’ve seen everything on the internet, like the internet just ran out of websites and stuff to see and do? That’s me most days, I get the urge to announce “Aaaaannnndddd done. I’ve seen everything on the internet that isn’t pornographic or violent in nature”. I don’t, of course, because that would annoyed my coworkers but I do have the urge nonetheless to stand on my chair and shout. Today happily was not one of those days – today was a great internet cruising day! Yes, my life is that full…!

So today’s internet finds come through the really great blog How About Orange (www.howaboutorange.blogspot.com) – Jessica is incredibly crafty and a lot of her projects are right at my level, beginner. Check out these two neat-o projects:

How to make a bow from a magazine page


Photo from How About Orange

Spooky packing tape transfers


Photo from How About Orange

Through her website I also stumbled upon Megan over at Plum Pudding (myplumpudding.blogspot.com) and her DIY cleaning kit! She collected a bunch of recipes for make-your-own cleaning products which are very environmentally friendly and I’m looking forward to trying them out and seeing how effective they actually are. Here’s a soft scrub recipe – I wonder what the aspirin does????


Soft Scrub for toilets and tubs (and more)
1 cup baking soda
3-5 drops tea tree oil
¼ cup liquid castile soap
2 aspirins, powdered

Mix all ingredients and add enough water to make a paste. Store in a squeeze bottle. To use, apply with a sponge, scrub and rinse thoroughly.
From Make Your Place by Raleigh Briggs, 2009.

And now to switch gears from germ removal to birthdays (a natural conversational bridge) - this is pre-emptive birthday shout out to Carisa! I hope you have a super duper day tomorrow! If you lived here in Seattle, I would bake you this cake:

A Root Bear Float Cake from Joy the Baker



Yuummmmmmmm! And Bon Weekend!

Jamie Oliver, you disappoint me...

Dear Mr. Oliver,

Can you please tell me what you were thinking when you instructed us culinary novices to add 700 grams of long grain rice to our jambalya for only 15-20 minutes? And what exactly made you think that it was a brillant idea to mix 70% dark chocolate with dark beer and cocoa powder and only use 5 tablespoons of sugar to sweeten a bread pudding that consisted of a whole loaf of white bread? Seriously? What exactly was running through your intentionally deselved hair topped head? Explain.

Not so in love with you right now,
Robyn

Ok, here's how my angry letter to young Jamie began - on Friday and as previously posted here, it was my husband's birthday. We decided to be fiscally responsible this birthday season and dine in instead of out. So in my daily scouring of The Times (London) I found Jamie's recipe for jambalaya and after reading the list of ingredients I thought it would be a great birthday dinner for Mike. Unfortunately, a well cooked jamabalaya did not result by following his directions. Apparently 15-20 minutes was sufficient amount of time according to Jamie for long grain rice to cook....well, its not. By the time the rice was almost cooked (adding an extra 45 minutes to his 20 and it was still somewhat el dante) it was 9pm, the vegetables and meat were practically pulverized and I was getting fed up. I'm not sure if the time was a typo or if the recipe was an adaption of a slow cooker recipe or if in Jamie-land rice cooks really quickly but in normal world, rice (not instant rice or with the help of a rice cooker) takes at least 50-60 minutes. I would like to try this recipe again as it is an inexpensive meal to prepare for a large group and it had really good flavour but I think I would cook the rice separately and then mix it in with the rest of the food and let that all simmer together for 15-20 minutes. Maybe that's what he meant to say but unfortunately was left out.

Here's what ended up on our plates (apologies for the crappy photo)



As for the second item in my letter - the chocolate and beer bread pudding for which I posted the recipe here a few weeks ago and put on my list of 30 things to do by the time I'm 30 - well, I can cross it off my list and out of my life - a little dramatic perhaps but it is deserved. I followed the recipe to the letter and end up with a soggy pile of very bitter and acidic tasting bread. The sauce was very lack luster and by following his directions of letting the bread sit in the cream/milk for 30 seconds, it absorbed way too much liquid and even after leaving it in the oven 10 minutes longer than what was called for, it was still very soggy. It was probably one of the least enjoyable desserts I have ever had. Truly. I will likely not attempt it again but if I did, I would use a less dark dark chocolate, perhaps 52%; I would add more sugar; I would add a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg; and I would replace the beer with either Baileys or Kahlua - probably kahlua. Anyways, here's what the yucky mess looked like (and again apologies for the crappy photo):



So yeah, Jamie is not on my favourites list at the moment. I think he and I need a time out. Too bad Jamie, we could have been great together!...

Happy Birthday to the Sailor of the Quarter

This is Mike around the age of either 5 or 6 and today is his birthday! But wait, there's more - yesterday he found out that he was named (for a second time!) Sailor of the Quarter for his command! Double whammy! I'd said his new year is starting off rather well wouldn't you? :)

As the Navy blocks blogspot.com (boo), I can reveal the menu for this evening's birthday dinner that I began to prepare last night. We'll be feasting on Jamie Oliver's Jambalaya (a recipe from his latest book), a green salad with lemon dressing, some sort of bread which I'll pick up on the way home and a chocolate cake a la Hines (there was no way I could get off work early today to bake from scratch). I'm excited and a little scared of the jambalaya - it calls for chorizo (could that be any more riddled with fat???!!) and 2 red hot peppers...H2O will be on standby. And of course, in keeping with my tradition of not always thinking things through, I'm hoping it turns out alright because I've never made this recipe before. Awesome. I'm also excited for him to open his pressies and I hope he likes them!

And speaking of birthday's today is Gandhi's 140th birthday! Shout out to him. I wonder what he would think of us and the state of the world today...?



These super cuties are school children in Bhopal, India who yesterday were taking part in birthday and cultural celebrations to mark Mr. Gandhi's big day. I think they're too adorable!The photo is from Reuters.

So Happy Happy Birthday to my Hubby and Gandhi! xo