Preserving Watermelon, or what I took on our Trip to Michigan

Posted on July 17, 2012 by Tasha

This last month or so was the first time in a long time I got to really settle in at home in the summer. To me, one thing that settling in means is buying a lot of fresh food, and cooking it up. Plums just appeared at my farmer’s market a few weeks ago, and my husband loves watermelon. Plus, I was testing out recipes for raspberry jam, in advance of picking black raspberries as they come into season at my friend’s secret raspberry picking spot. So, I found myself about to leave town, in the phase known as “eat the fridge,” with a bowlful of plums, 3/4 of a fairly good orange watermelon, part of a jar of jam, etc.

At first this really bummed me out because I cannot stand to waste food, I pride myself on planning so that we’ll eat everything, and it seemed like a bit much to just chow down.

Then I got to thinking, isn’t this the original reason for preserved foods, because you can’t eat everything while it’s fresh? The plums we’re pretty easy, canned into a delicious compote (more about that later).

Watermelon, though? A quick search produced this article on The Hip Girls Guide to Homemaking and this one on Mother Earth News. I basically followed their advice. Cutting the watermelon into quarters longways definitely made it easier to slice it thinly, and to take out lots of seeds, although more appeared as it dried. The flavor of these was actually really good, Bryan likened it to watermelon mixed with butternut squash. I’m still on the fence about whether it was good enough to do again, mainly because it took forever in my oven, where forever is about 5 hours at 170° F, the lowest setting. After letting it dry overnight, I had to heat it up again because cooled, it was stuck irrevocably to the broiler pan I used as a drying rack. By the time it reached the “not tacky” stage recommended in Mother Earth News, it was a struggle to get it off the pan, even warm, without leaving about half behind. The top photo has the most picturesque shreds. If you happen to have a dehydrator though, it’s a no-brainer, you should definitely try some watermelon.

The thing that I’m most happy about this whole escapade though, was instead of seeing all the food we had as something that had to go before we left, I started thinking of it more like an ongoing process, that tied the food to our trip and to our return. After I started thinking this way, I bought a loaf of bread, used part of it to finish up the jam, took part of it with us, and froze part to eat when we come back. I’m looking forward to some French toast with plum preserves!

I’ve also been inspired to think about unconventional road food this summer by Kimberley’s series on The Year in Food. As we sat on the plane, eating fresh bread, carrots & cheese (the last ones left in the fridge, washed and/or sliced and packed to go) and shreds of dried watermelon, I was a happy camper. Having my own food, especially interesting food, definitely takes away some of the sardine can/cattle drive feeling of flying these days.

As I type this, we are getting ready to head over and set up for the Ann Arbor Art Fair, in 103° weather. The dried watermelon is all gone, finished up at the last show. But writing this post and thinking about our food adventures is putting me in a good mood, hopefully one that will last!

DIY Envelopes

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Tasha

Really, why didn’t I think of this ages ago? But actually, my lovely aunt Barbara introduced me to this idea at our craft retreat, which she in turn got from one of her teachers. I have made a few handmade cards, and looked for envelopes to fit them, but it never occurred to me to just make one! And, you can use all kind of cool recycled paper. The kind that is too pretty/interesting to just put in the bin. I going to use this map and guide from The Art Institute of Chicago, mostly because it has the word “varoom!” on it in big letters.

I’ve had this red envelope for quite a while, I love the shape and the old-style closure. You can use any envelope you like as a pattern, just peel it apart carefully so that you have clean edges to trace. You can also buy plastic templates in various sizes, or print out paper ones from lots of online sources, search for “envelope template.” I like using an envelope you already have to start, since it’s right here ready to go.

In any case, check out the placement of your envelope on the new paper to make sure any motifs you really like will be where you want them. Either use a paper cutting blade (hence my very old cutting mat is my backdrop today) or trace around your envelope and cut it out with scissors. Use a bone folder, or similar hard but not too sharp object, to score along the folding lines.

Fold in the sides and stick your envelope together using glue stick, paper glue or ATG (borrowed from the matting and framing part of our studio).

For a simple envelope, you are done! Just glue the top when you are ready to mail. Ridiculously easy.

I wanted to recreate the loop and tie closure from my pattern envelope, so marked the position of the circles from the original when I cut it out. I traced a penny on heavier paper, and used two thicknesses glued together for each circle. I used metal brads and a bit of top stitching thread, tying the thread in a knot around the brad, and slipping the knot under the paper circle before sticking it through the envelope. Gluing an extra circle on the back for reinforcement seemed like a good idea as well.

I also think it would look great to glue or sew on a big snap to close the envelope, or a use buttons and loops, or make a reusable envelope out of something hefty and sew it together, or make your own folders . . . sometimes I think the measure of a good idea is when it gives you ten other ideas at once!

At our retreat I made a big map-velope which has two layers to make it sturdy, plus some small ones, to hold business cards, etc. And of course you can decorate them!

I hope this gives you a bunch of new ideas, too!

(If you want to keep up with all my new ideas you can now Follow my blog with Bloglovin Actually, you could before, but now I am officially claiming it.)

Creative Retreat Projects

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Tasha

So, I thought I would share a few of the projects we made this year at my fabulous family and friends retreat. Each year all the women in our little circle get together and create and share and cook and eat, and magic happens. Not like spells and potions (unless you count margaritas!), but a real feeling of this time being more than the sum of its parts, allowing us creative expressions that it can be so hard to find in everyday life.

This year thanks to the generous donation of time and effort by a friend of my aunt’s, we got to try encaustic, an ancient technique of painting with wax that I have admired in the work of some of our art show friends for some time. I was so excited to try it out, and impressed by how everyone jumped in and made art. Really, playing with warm wax is pretty irresistible.

We also got to make lip balm (beeswax again!) and flavor it ourselves with oils. Plus knitting, screen printing, a field trip and making envelopes!

Even if you don’t have your annual craft retreat put together (yet!), one thing I find keeps me sane all year round is just a little creative time every day. I started setting aside an hour a day for sewing in college, and I was really shocked how much more I got done. Now I work on creative projects a lot of the time, but I found that I still need a little bit of the day that’s just for me, that I can spend however I want, regardless of whether the product will ever make money or even appear on this blog. Even 20 or 30 minutes when I’m busy, to just put my brain on a different track, leaves me refreshed and thinking outside the box again.

What do you think? How do you structure your creative break time?

(PS There’s still time (until tomorrow morning) to win a Fiddleheads hat.)

Summer Spark Batik Dress

Posted on July 2, 2012 by Tasha

I finished this dress on time! Just barely. I know that sewing on a deadline is not my friend, but in this case I had backed myself into corner, since I really wanted to finish in time for my annual family and friends women’s craft retreat. You see, last year at the same event we batiked fabric (which was ridiculously fun) and I dyed this panel with this sundress in mind. I should at least be able to sew one dress in one year, right? Well, sure, but a whole lot of other projects of various types jumped ahead of it in line throughout the year, until I found myself headed to retreat 2012 with the mostly-finished dress and my hand sewing kit. I finished the hem in the car on the way over.

When I got there I tried it on again. Although I had carefully tested out this pattern in a previous version, I decided that the darts from that version were a little out of hand. Although I liked the fit, the darts just took up a lot of the bodice, and I thought that they might not look so good with the sparser print of my batik fabric. So I decided to convert the darts to gathers. Lesson 1 from this project: darts and gathers are not the same thing! Although they both take up excess fabric and fit it into a smaller area, darts control the release of the excess up to a certain point, while gathers release it all right away. Although I liked the gathers at center front, the ones under the bust were clearly not working, they created a big poof of fabric right under (definitely not at) the fullest point of my bust. There’s no picture of this, it looked ridiculous.

Since I had already sewn the gathers, and my sewing machine was hundreds of miles away by this time, my idea was to hand sew a few of the gathers closed, essentially creating a few small darts to release the extra fabric where I wanted it, which hopefully would not look too jarring. I tried it out by basting the darts in place. Have I mentioned I love basting? It’s just a collection of fairly loose, impermanent stitches, but it’s one of the sewing world’s most perfect tools. I truly don’t understand why anyone complains about it, it’s so wonderfully precise and useful, and you can see exactly how something is going to come out before you commit to sew it, without the distortion of pins or clips.

Anyway, I basted my new tiny darts in place, using the places where the gathers naturally wanted to make a deeper fold. I tried on again, then hand sewed them in place. I used all tiny backstitches, which was probably overkill, but for such a small seam it didn’t slow me down very much, and I wanted a similar look to the rest of the machine-sewn seams on the dress. If I was at home with my machine, I could also have taken out the gathers, planned and measured for the darts, sewed them in place and stitched the bodice down again. To be honest I’m not sure it would look much better, although it would look more precise and even on each side. However, I have been comfortable with this dress having a handmade, not-so-perfect look ever since the very first flower I drew in wax (note the splotches/wax drips).

Checking out the final result, I am overall thrilled. Probably what makes me the happiest is that I was able to plan the print on the fabric in a way that worked how I envisioned when I went to sew the dress! It also makes me happy to look at the little bits of hand stitching on the inside, for some reason I can’t explain I love that look, when I worked at a museum I used to spend much longer than necessary checking out hand stitching on antique garments. I will tweak the bodice a little more in further versions of this dress, it still has a funny wrinkle or two, but as I said this project was not meant to be a showpiece and I think it looks cute. I wore it all day, on a retreat field trip to the fiber festival at El Rancho de las Golodrinas and then out to dinner with the whole group. One of my favorite things about custom-fit clothing is how comfortable it is – I could easily have also worn this dress to sleep in, but restrained myself, after all it was pretty dusty out, and the dress doesn’t need that wear and tear.

I realize as I’m working on this post that some of these pictures have quite a different color cast, some are from my iPhone on the trip which may explain it. If you are curious, the laundry line picture is probably the closest to the real colors.

Although I don’t have a specific project like this to be ready for next summer, I am so hoping I have learned my lesson about timing and leaving things until the last minute. We shall see.

Grateful Giveaway Part 1

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Tasha

Hello! I am back at home, and feeling pretty good about things. First of all, I just spent a week with some of my favorite women in the world, making all kinds of amazing things and stretching myself to a rare extent (more about this a little later). If that’s not enough to be grateful for, I came back to flowers and a love note from my amazing husband. Overall, I’m feeling pretty good about the life I’ve chosen. So I thought I would share the love by giving away two of my Fiddleheads hats (and two more to come later)!

I have these extra hats because of a bad situation which is slowly resolving. A long time ago now I sent some of my wares, including these hats, which were a brand new idea at the time, to a store in another state which turned out to be scamming artists and taking the money for their own pockets. The slightly better part of the story is that artisans, communicating through Etsy, figured out what was going on, and the shop was shut down and contents seized by the attorney general of MO. The much better part is that after much, much time in bureaucratic limbo, I was finally notified that they had “determined some of these goods to be” mine (maybe because they had my name and phone number on the tags?). And after so much time had gone by that I had given up again, I received a box in the mail with a fair number of bags (appearing on Etsy this fall) and hats inside! I doubt I will ever get any money out of this, but getting my unsold stuff back feels like a huge win.

When I first started making these hats, I didn’t realize how stretchy they would be, and I had more sizes. Bryan always laughs at me for forgetting things I’ve made, I forgot that I used to make four sizes instead of three, and I forgot that I started out writing all the fabric tags myself! I now think these two would fit around 3 – 9 months, on average of course. As you can see there’s a classic blue and pink, each one with two tones, and more texture in the lighter color. They are made from all recycled cashmere, making them super soft, eco-friendly, and washable. I have made every one of the now many many of these that are around the country and the world, and I still love this design.

One of these would make a perfect gift for someone having a baby soon, as it should still fit when winter rolls around up here in the Northern hemisphere.

All you have to do to win is leave a comment! Tell me which hat you would like and (yes this is for my marketing, small biz needs it too) what change having one of these would bring to your life/experience. Open to anyone around the world, so tell your friends! I will close the contest in just over a week, at 9 am Friday June 6 Arizona time. I’ll choose a random winner for each hat and ship them out soon thereafter.

Hope you’re having a grateful week!

Unplugging for a Week of Creativity

Posted on June 19, 2012 by Tasha

One of my favorite weeks of the whole year starts tomorrow. It’s a time when the ladies of my family and friends get together and let our creativity loose. We learn new skills, cook and eat good food, and generally have a blast hanging out together.

I’m giving myself permission to unplug for this week, ignore my laptop entirely if I choose to, and just dive in to the experience.

I’ll be happy to share more about the event when I get back. See you in about a week!

Recipe Sketch: Vietnamese Noodle Salad with Pan-Marinated Tofu

Posted on June 16, 2012 by Tasha

Last summer when we were at the Cherry Creek Arts Festival, I fell in love with this salad. Instantly it was the only thing I wanted to eat on a hot day – it’s cool, it’s nutritious, the lovely clean flavors of the sauce and herbs on top make it so refreshing. I’m pretty sure I got it (from a local restaurant’s stand at the festival) all three days we were there, and I’ve been seeking it in other cities ever since. This week, I was sitting on the couch, thinking about all the other things I have to do and wondering what on earth to make for dinner, flipping through my recipe book, when I remembered this salad – being home in warm weather was the perfect time to try making it myself!

Vietnamese Noodle Salad

Noodles: I used very thin rice stick noodles. I’ve also seen this served with slightly thicker clear or white noodles. Whatever kind you can find, check the package directions, boil just until tender (usually only a few minutes), then rinse under cold water.

Veggies; any or all of the following: shredded carrots, thin sliced bell pepper, cucumber, zucchini . . . almost all of the versions I’ve had include bean sprouts and shredded lettuce. Tip: rinse bean sprouts in a generous spray of very cold water to get them at their tastiest and crispiest. For my version, I sauteed the bell pepper and zucchini strips briefly over high heat, just to get little caramelized edges, then let them cool. If it’s really hot out, you could just leave all the veggies raw and avoid turning on the stove!

Pan-marinated tofu: this seems like a good time to include this technique, which I use pretty much every time I make tofu. Start with extra-firm tofu. Cut it into slices, rectangles, triangles, whatever you like. In a large skillet, heat a generous splash of peanut oil (sorry about the no-measuring for this part, I just don’t!) over medium heat. When it’s getting hot, add in a splash of soy sauce, a splash of rice vinegar or lime juice, and a small spoon of brown sugar. Stir around until the sugar dissolves, then add the tofu. Stir the tofu around, then shake the pan occasionally while the liquid evaporates. Keeping the heat on med-low, and stirring when you first put the tofu in will help keep it from sticking to the pan. Once the liquid is gone, a nice caramelized crust will form on the tofu – yummy! I haven’t found a better way than to flip each piece over once the bottom is brown and crispy. If there are patches of sauce left, steer the flipped pieces onto those. You can also add a little more of the marinating ingredients if necessary. When both sides have a lovely golden crust, you’re done! Flip the tofu out onto a plate to cool. I did this one day as an experiment, and I have done it every time since, when I make tofu for Pad Thai, curry, etc. Side story: once I was hanging out with my brother while he was grilling brats. He said it’s the juice dripping down from the meat and being shot back up by the fire that makes it taste good. Sometimes I think of this technique as giving the tofu some tasty juice of its own. Ok, back to the noodle salad.

Herbs and peanuts: whatever veggies and other ingredients you choose, this and the sauce are key to the flavor of this dish! Coarsely chop a generous handful of fresh mint, basil, and cilantro. Finely chop some raw or roasted unsalted peanuts.

Sauce: start with equal parts maple syrup, soy sauce, lime (or lemon) juice, and water. For one person’s lunch-size bowl, use about a tablespoon of each. Taste and adjust. You can also add a clove of minced garlic and/or a little hot sauce if you wish. What I love about this is the clean clear flavors, but some friends liked it better with a LOT of hot sauce. Hat tip to theKitchn for what to put in this sauce!

Assembly: put the bean spouts and cooled noodles in the bottom of a bowl. A wide shallow bowl would be ideal, since the sauce tends to sink to the bottom (otherwise, stir it up). Top with veggies, herbs, tofu and peanuts, and pour sauce over the whole thing. Enjoy!

Variations: I made it the next day with an fried egg on top, also super tasty but not quite as cooling. Of course you could add stir-fried meat as well, or practically anything else you like. Pickled vegetables? It can easily be vegan, gluten free, or not, really the sky’s the limit here!

Enjoy! I can’t go without mentioning the dessert I made for this meal, roasted strawberry coconut milk popsicles from The Year in Food. Dude. These were incredible! I’ve been dying to make them and I was so happy I finally could. My only note would be to lightly crush or grind the cardamom. I love it when a recipe opens up whole new ideas, I never would have thought to roast a strawberry. My whole house was filled with an explosion of strawberry jam smell so wonderful that I couldn’t stand to spoil it by cooking anything else at the same time. They look cool too, I couldn’t resist taking my own picture! Anyways. Get out there and eat some summer!

A New Month, A New Challenge – Spark Your Summer

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Tasha

The thing I love about setting a particular goal or participating in a challenge is that it can push me to take something I am vaguely thinking about doing and make it something I am actually doing and concretely thinking about.

I loved participating in Me Made May’12 this last month. I was surprised by how much pride and self-sufficiency I felt wearing at least one me-made garment every day, even though I didn’t make anything new for the challenge! It also got me thinking about what I really wear and how I want my style to evolve. Although I’m not sure I would want to spend as much time thinking about my wardrobe all the time as I did in May, it really pushed me to better define my style (see this post), to figure out what I really need to make (pants!), and to meet some other sewers/thinkers/bloggers, all of which has been wonderful. In another unexpected spillover, after MMM ended I found myself coming up with new combinations of my not-self-made clothes to better fit my style – bonus!

So when my new friend Alessa, along with Ali and Sarah, announced a new challenge for June, I was pretty much in at the word go. Plus, this one is a little less involved, you just sew one special garment in June, something you’d like to wear all summer. It’s good timing for me, since I have fabric I batik dyed last summer that’s supposed to become a dress in time for a special event which starts June 20! I’ll be making my self-drafted sundress, with a few modifications from the first one. And, I’ll be home late tonight!! One thing I have really missed during MMM is my studio – sewing starts tomorrow!

Again, it seems to me that there’s no reason you have to sew to set yourself a helpful challenge for this month. What about a cooking one? An art one? What are your broader goals and how can you set a specific goal to help you get there? What would you like to do more of? Why not set aside a specific amount of time for that every week? Whatever you decide to do, I’d be willing to bet you’ll get some unexpected lovely side effects.

Take the Slow Road

Posted on June 7, 2012 by Tasha

When we’re cruising by on some interstate, all of America looks like a continuous chain of fast food and gas stations, and a background of changing landscapes.

Give me half a chance, though, a day or two when we don’t have to be somewhere in a particular hurry, and I will immediately choose the smaller highways, where speed is limited, giving you the added bonus of actually seeing the quirky shops, restaurants, and farm stands as they pass by.

The America we get nostalgic for is still out there; the lovely independent restaurants (Luisa’s Cafe in Harbert, MI was particularly good), the shops with hand painted signs you won’t find anywhere else, the local color and flavors that make each region unique (like this antique van? limo? parked at a fruit stand a little further up the Red Arrow Highway).

And then again, nothing makes me happier to be living in our current, fresh-food-abundant era than a taste of genuine 1950’s throwback road food.

It’s out there, go find it!

Recipe Sketch – Summer Tomato Bruschetta

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Tasha

About time for a post about food, don’t you think?

Although I haven’t had very many opportunities to cook on the road, we’re coming up on the part of summer where there is so much fresh lovely produce, it hardly needs actual cooking. We found some local heirloom tomatoes last week in Maryland, although they are from the hothouse, they put me in mind of late summer bounty.

Bruschetta is one of those foods that doesn’t need much of a recipe, you can vary it infinitely to suit your taste and what’s available. It’s also easy to present in a variety of ways; either everything mixed together to spoon on toast, or all the ingredients laid out for everyone to layer on their own. If you are just learning to cook, it’s a wonderful way to experiment with mixing flavors and proportions.

Summer Tomato Bruschetta

I like the bulk of mine to be tomatoes, the fresher and more colorful the better. Any size will work, bigger ones cut into smaller pieces will make the bruschetta more juicy than baby tomatoes cut in half.

I also like a lot, a lot of basil, it’s one of my all-time favorite favors. When we rented in Madison I would get a few little basil plants at the farmers’ market in the spring and keep them going though the season. If I’m mixing everything together, I stack the leaves, roll them up, and slice the roll into strips to sprinkle in. If you are setting things out buffet-style, whole leaves are fine.

This is tasty with cheese, but don’t feel limited to mozzarella! Try any kind you like, or what’s locally available where you are. My favorite recent find was a goat cheese with the soft texture of brie. I like not too much cheese, not to overwhelm the tomatoes, but of course you can vary it. A soft cheese will blend more with the other ingredients, especially if you mix it all in a bowl.

A little olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper will really bring the flavors together. You can set them out if you are doing make-your-own, and drizzle them on top.