bread

Bread baking is going pretty well – I’ve made 13 loaves so far this year (that’s 12 of them above.)

bedroom peak

My bedroom is (finally) approaching being done, and I figured this one corner is now finished enough to share, although I’m still thinking about painting the chair black.

The wall color is Benjamin Moore’s Temptation (1609) and I *love* it. It’s a charcoal gray with a lot of pink, purple, and blue undertones, and is gorgeous both during the day and at night. I was a little nervous about such a dark color, but my room gets so much light, especially in the morning, that it never really feels too dark. I’ve lived with it for about three months now and continue to be really happy with it.

The art on this wall is: [lower left] screenprint by Cricket Press, [lower right] painting by Annie Galvin, [upper right] painting by Zachary Johnson (whose website doesn’t seem to be up right now.) the clock is from IKEA.

(click on the photo to see it larger)

additional resolution

have more dinner parties

(that’s my lovely roommate on the left, who made the world’s best spanakopita last night)

hand tooled

these are the perfect summer heels:

it’s like a vintage high heel had a baby with a cowboy boot, and that baby came out awesome. Unfortunately they cost as much as I’m going to spend registering my car next month.* And I have a feeling are the kind of shoes that never show up in thrift stores.

found via Mighty Girl

*no one tells you, or at least no one told me, that when you buy a new car not only is it going to cost a ton then, but insurance and registration will cost a ton for quite a while. Luckily for me I really love my now-three-year-old Rav4, since I’m going to be driving it for approximately another 17 years.

oranges

The world’s smallest orange tangerine tree (the fact that it pretty much hasn’t grown at all in the 2+ years I’ve had it probably has something to do with the fact that I’m terrible at remembering to fertilize it) produced a whopping seven pieces of fruit this year.

Growing food is so satisfying.

edit: looking back to last year (this is why I keep a blog) apparently the yield is actually up from five, and the tree does look at least slightly larger. Maybe next year we can hit 10, i.e. the amount of these things I eat in a day.

Mac’n'Cheese

OK, this is some of the best Mac’n'Cheese I’ve ever had. I love M’n'C in all of it’s variations, from Kraft Easy Mac right on up to super-fancy-expensive restaurant versions, because, well, noodles and cheese. Hard to go wrong there. That said, it tends to be the kind of dish that’s so heavy and greasy and cheesy that you will (temporarily) vow to never eat cheese again. This recipe fixes that. It’s cheesey-noodley-awesomeness without the heaviness. Also, if you use all non-fat ingredients (except cheese. Please don’t use non-fat cheese, because it’s disgusting and tastes like plastic) it’s actually pretty low calorie. Also: don’t leave off the breadcrumbs.

Light Macaroni and Cheese (serves ~6)

• 1 egg
• 1 cup low/non fat cottage cheese
• 1 cup low/non fat sour cream
• 1/2 cup non fat milk
• 1 small or medium onion, grated
• handful of sage, finely chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper
• 2 cups (8 oz) grated medium or mild cheddar cheese*
• 4 cups cooked noodles (8oz uncooked)
• 3/4 cup Panko bread crumbs
• 2 tbs olive oil
• pinch of salt, pepper, and paprika

1. pre-heat oven to 350
2. Mix together the egg, cottage cheese, sour cream, milk, onion, sage, salt and pepper and cheese.
3. Stir the cooked noodles in well, making sure they get a good coating (I like spiral noodles better than elbow macaroni because I feel like they take the coating better, but feel free to use the noodle of your choice.)
4. Pour then press down coated noodles into a greased 2qt baking pan
5. Mix bread crumbs (go for the Panko here, it’s awesome) olive oil, and spices together – spread as evenly as possible on top of the noodles
6. Cover with foil. Bake for ~40 min covered, then ~10 min uncovered, until top is lightly browned

*feel free to use another kind of cheese, but I’d advise against anything too strong, as you don’t want to overwhelm the tanginess of the sour cream.

adapted from The Chef and Photographer

Resolutions

I don’t usually make New Year’s resolutions, but for some reason this year I changed my mind. I’m really excited about 2010, I just have generally good feelings about this year. So here we go:

1) start posting in this space regularly again, at least once a week

2) start making art, of some type, again, something I haven’t done consistently since leaving art school 6 years ago

3) in an effort to master the art of baking bread (or at least get good enough to make several types of bread well,) bake 100 loaves of bread this year. the photo above is loaf #1.

4) actually finish decorating the house. I mean, it’s been 3.5 years. Also, actually get the basement organized so that I can a) move some of the stuff out of the house that I don’t use very often but want to keep and have easy access to and b) utilize the giant work tables I have down there. Which will help with #2.

4b) once my bedroom is finished being decorated/organized, keep it *clean.* or at least *clean-ish* Also – spend more time in there.

5) finally finish losing the weight I gained in college. I lost 2/3 of it in 2007 & 2008, and then pretty much stalled out in 2009 (but didn’t gain anymore!) Time to finish the job. Do this despite have fresh bread in the house twice a week from #3

6) practice regular random acts of kindness towards both other people and myself

nativity

love this Alexander Girard/House Industries nativity set

totally out of my price range, but great nonetheless. Available for $420 through Heath.

Plum Houndstooth

This dress would not look good on me, but I love it nonetheless. Someone else please buy and wear the hell out of it this holiday season:

Limited Edition Women’s Belted Lady Dress in Plum Houndstooth $39.99 from Target

light up

I’m totally digging this light-up black-ocean globe:

although I’d paint the base bright pink. Really, how hot would that be?

Replogle Orion 12-inch Diam. Tabletop Globe, $84.99