Maybe its the communications major in me, but I just love a good reference book. And lucky for me, I recently landed two of the best references around for a domestic adventurer like me. Even better, the books were gifts so I didn’t even need to drop a dime for all of my new knowledge!
First up we have the Domino: The Book of Decorating. I know I’m not the first blogger to rave about this book, or the very missed Domino Magazine, but this book really is the best. It’s chock full of decorating ideas for all kinds of rooms and spaces, plus it has a great section called “The Decorators’ Handbook,” which goes into all kinds of fun details about the different options for window treatments, furniture, headboards, bed skirts and throw pillows.
It also has a whole resource section in the back, listing some of the best places to shop for different home decorating needs. Oh, and did I mention that the layout is gorgeous?
Then we have the Food Lover’s Companion which is a dictionary-style book that provides definitions for basically every food, drink or culinary term that you can think of. For a semi-wordie/foodie like me, this is a dream come true. Now when I’m not sure what creme fraiche is, I can look it up! And it even has the phonetic spellings! (Be still my heart.)
Do you see how thick that book is? Love it. Now I’ll never have to ask my husband which cut of meat is best, or search the world wide internets for a description of leeks. And even better, I’ll be able to share all of my new knowledge with you as I go.
Do you have either of these books or any other resources you use regularly? I highly recommend both!
P.S. Extra special public thanks go out to my dad and my friend Suzan, who were the bearers of these gifts!
I have covered the last bit of orangey oak cabinets in our house, and it feels good. After I painted the kitchen cabinets, I wasn’t sure if I could ever bring myself to paint cabinetry again. The results were so good, but the work and patience required…well, I wasn’t sure if I had it in me.
But after painting the bathroom and hanging the curtains, it was clear that cabinet eyesore needed to be covered.
I’ve had a few readers ask why I wouldn’t just pull down the mirror and lighting and replace them with a framed mirror and new fixture. While I agree that those two things could be done on the cheap, our long term goal is to put in a vanity with a double sink. When we do that, we’ll need an even bigger mirror and a new light fixture. So, we’re opting not to waste the time and resources now on something that would need to be changed/updated later. It is a budget bathroom makeover, after all!
So, until I can have my dream vanity, mirror, light fixture and faucet, we’re going to hope that white paint makes everything better! Back in my design plan I talked about painting the vanity black. But once I had the curtains up, it was clear that white was the best choice. Do you think that I was right?
And to remind you, here is what the cabinets looked like at the beginning with that yellow paint on the walls…
And after…
Now the room just needs to be warmed up with some fun accessories that I have in mind, including bath mats, a DIY towel holder and some pops of color.
As for the painting process, you can check out the kitchen cabinet painting post for more details. But here’s the quick and dirty for you:
- I removed all of the doors and mirror panes and cleaned up the wood by gently sanding by hand and clearing the dust.
- I learned my lesson from the kitchen and used two coats of oil-based primer. A light sanding between coats is recommended.
- I only needed two coats of a satin white latex paint (compared to 4 in the kitchen!) so the double primer coats worked well.
- This process happened over 5 days or so, letting different coats dry over night, etc. This project definitely takes patience!
Be sure to let me know what you think of the transformation and then let me know about projects that you have going on at your house! Are you planning to cover up any eyesores soon? Have you battled orange oak cabinets in your house like I have?
You have to give me credit; I’ve been doing pretty well in my battle against bread yeast. I won on the pizza dough and tied on the oatmeal molasses bread, but I still needed a competitive advantage. My parents always said that if I did well in school, I would go far. So, I took their advice (for the first time in my life) and went to bread making class at the Stonewall Kitchen Cooking School.
First, let me just say that bread making class was far better than any other education I’ve received because it was fun, they fed me amazing food and let me drink wine. If only grad school was that good!
The set up was amazing. Even though my friends and I arrived fashionably late and had to sit in the back, we still had a fantastic view thanks to the bright lighting and two large-screen TVs that captured baker Mary Ann Kane-Nudd’s every move. I felt like I was watching a live cooking show!
Before class started, I made my rounds to the front of the room to soak in all the bread we would be learning how to make…
Amazingly, all of these products were made with one single sweet dough recipe. Can you imagine me making those sticky buns or bread that isn’t flat?? You remember how my cinnamon rolls looked, right? I knew I needed every second of this class.
One of the things that I loved about the experience was that it was not interactive. That’s right, I didn’t have to lift a finger. Not only did I keep flour out of my hair, but I was able to sit back, take notes, relax and laugh. The great instruction from Mary Ann and the great view of the process was exactly what I needed. I took diligent notes so that I could replicate the same bread beauty in my own kitchen.
Wine makes note taking much more fun. Oh, and so does food. When we saw this plate coming towards us, we thought it was for the whole table to share. Nope; we each got one!
So, what did I learn? Here are a few sound bites that really stuck with me:
- Even if you aren’t making sweet dough, add a bit of sugar to your dissolving yeast. Sugar feeds the yeast and helps it dissolve faster.
- Temperature has an effect on the amount of flour that you need. For example, you might need more flour if your kitchen is hot and humid. So, it is important to add your flour gradually. Focus less on measuring the flour and more on feeling the consistency of the dough.
- Not sure when the consistency feels right? Me neither. But I learned that the consistency is right when you are kneading and the dough no longer sticks to the counter or your hands without adding more flour. You should be able to poke your finger in it without a sticky mess coming back out (don’t worry, this dough wasn’t baked after we all touched it!).
- If you don’t put salt in the bread dough, the bread won’t brown. Oh, and add the salt last, just before you add flour because salt slows down yeast’s progression.
- Your dough has risen enough if you stick your finger in the dough and it doesn’t pop back up when you remove your finger.
- When rolling dough (like for cinnamon rolls or pizza dough), make sure to let it relax. If the dough keeps shrinking back, let it sit for a minute; the dough will relax and then you can roll it out some more!
With the single dough recipe, we watched Mary Ann make stollen, challah, a Swedish tea ring, monkey bread, cinnamon rolls, and sticky buns. It was amazing. Now all I have to do is try this recipe at home and test all of my new skills. Bread yeast has nothing on me now!
Have you ever taken a cooking class? It was so much fun that I would like to take everyone I know. If you live anywhere York, Maine (or even 4 hours away like I do), it’s worth taking the trip to Stonewall Kitchen Cooking School. If you go, let me know and I will meet you there!
Is it bad that the most elementary recipes are my favorites? And by elementary I mean recipes for the foods I used to eat in elementary school…like these cheesy soft pretzels.
One of my friends recently asked for some kid-friendly recipe suggestions and these pretzels were the first thing to cross my mind. And once this favorite childhood recipe popped into my head, it wouldn’t go away. So I just had to ask my sister for the recipe and make them this past weekend.
I made a few tweaks to the recipe. First, I used orange-colored cheddar cheese. As a native Vermonter, orange cheddar is the strangest thing to me. But for some reason I was compelled to buy and use it. I guess I thought that orange cheese would make the pretzels look a little bit more fun. I also doubled the size of each pretzel, making them big and fluffy.
I think this recipe would be the perfect substitute for a dinner roll at an informal dinner party. Or, they could be the perfect football party snack. Truthfully, they are more like a biscuit than a traditional soft pretzel. So, don’t expect a true soft pretzel texture!
Here’s how you can make them…
Cheesy Soft Pretzels (printable version)
makes 8 large pretzels
(original recipe)
INGREDIENTS:
1.5 cups flour
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (2 ounces)
2 TBS butter, softened
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 egg
Coarse salt
INSTRUCTIONS:
Mix all ingredients except egg and coarse salt in medium bowl with fork until soft dough forms. Smooth dough gently into ball on floured board. Knead 10 times and divide the dough in half.
Start with one half of the dough and roll it into a rectangle that is about 10×5 inches. Cut lengthwise into four even strips. Repeat with the next half of the dough.
Fold each strip lengthwise in half; pinch edges to seal.
Twist each strip into pretzel shape. Place seam down on greased cookie sheet.
Beat egg in small bowl with fork until blended. Brush pretzels with egg.
Sprinkle lightly with coarse salt.
Bake 15 to 20 minutes at 400 degrees or until golden brown. (If you want thinner pretzels, roll each rectangle to 12×8 inches and cut into 8 strips of dough.)
Really, is there anything that is much better than bread and cheese? These pretzels offer the best of both and are super good when served fresh out of the oven. Enjoy!
You can get my attention pretty quickly if you use the word “dare” or “challenge.” Apparently I’m a little bit competitive. So when Living with Lindsay tempted me with her 5 Dollar Challenge, I couldn’t say no.
What is the 5 Dollar Challenge? Well, Lindsay has dared us all to go the dollar stores of our choice, pick out $5 worth of merchandise and create a spring decor item for our homes. Doesn’t that sound like fun? I’ve yet to make my trip to the dollar store for inspiration, but in the meantime, I’ve taken a stroll across the world wide internets to see if anything strikes my fancy. I’m hoping some of the following finds will fuel my search…
Like these framed coasters…
…or this tin can herb garden…
…or maybe a nice fresh wreath to replace my tired looking winter door swag (which blew off in a recent wind storm)…
I’m feeling like this will be the time for me to delve into the copy of Martha Stewart’s Encylopedia of Crafts that I scored back at Christmas!
So, are you up for the challenge, too? Anyone can participate and you don’t have to have a blog! Here are some of Lindsay’s ground rules:
- Create a new Spring decor item for your home using only $5 worth of items purchased at a dollar store – i.e. Dollar Tree, Dollar Store, Everything’s $1.00, etc. The $5 does not include sales tax.
- You may use the following supplies if you already have them on-hand – paint, glue, paper, fabric, tools.
- On or before March 25th, post a tutorial for your new craft on your blog. If you don’t have a blog, you can email your photos and written tutorial to Lindsay.
Want all the other nitty gritty details? Just head on over to Lindsay’s blog. Be sure to tell her if you are participating and feel free to tell her that I sent you!
Good luck and happy crafting!
(Photo sources here, here and here.)
I had a new brand of perfume this week: eau d’onion.
You see, I made caramelized onions on Wednesday night for this green bean dish. I might have had the heat a bit too high, because the onions did blacken a bit more than caramelize. The smoke detectors might have gone off. (But the onions still tasted good, I swear!)
I was regretting my menu choice when I got to work the next morning and all I could smell was onions. Somehow the onions seemed to permeate every fiber of my clothing, every strand of my hair and every skin cell on my hand (despite the fact that I was freshly showered and wearing clean clothes from my closet).
I emailed Chris about my issue; here’s how the conversation went:
Me: I smell like onions today.
Chris: Me too!!! Yuck! [you know it is serious when he uses exclamation points]
Me: Do you??? Do you think our whole house smells? [you know I'm worried when I use lots of question marks]
Chris: Totally. My co-workers even said so. I can smell it. No more onions. Caramelized or otherwise.
Me: That is so bizarre.
Chris: Not really when you think about the fact that we had an onion inferno in our kitchen…
Onion inferno? Really? Maybe he was right because I returned home from work and class 12 hours later to a house that still smelled a lot like caramelized/blackened onions.
A little Google research resulted in an all-natural home-freshening method that goes something like this:
Add a tablespoon of cinnamon and a teaspoon of nutmeg to a pot of water
Add oranges, lemons, or any citrus you have on hand.
Boil until your house smells good.
And your house will smell good. In fact, it will smell amazing…kind of like orange spice tea. I might try this on a regular basis, even when I don’t burn onions.
Do you have any home freshening solutions? Do share, as we all know this won’t be the last time I burn something smelly.
In addition to painting this past weekend, our budget bathroom makeover made some serious steps forward.
You might remember that our initial design plan featured some pretty, modern curtains a focus point. Let’s be honest, with that linoleum and eye-sore of a vanity, we needed to draw the attention elsewhere…like up to the ceiling and over to the window AND the shower curtain!
I was initially just planning to use a plain white shower curtain, but I loved the idea of extending the look of the curtains over to the shower. So, surprise, surprise…I added a DIY shower curtain to the mix!
After painting the walls the nice grey-blue shade of Behr’s Pensive Sky, I pulled out the sewing machine and got to work. You’ll have to forgive the fact that I haven’t gotten very good at photographing while sewing. Truth be told, I get going so focused when I’m sewing that I forget about all of you. Maybe when I get better at sewing you can have some pictures. Deal?
I tackled the window panels first. Knowing that I would simply use the curtain clips (I love that look) I used the same process as I did with my white guest room panels, which goes something like this:
- Determine the desired finished width of each panel and cut the fabric at least 1.5 inches wider (for seam allowances). Make sure your fabric is about a foot longer than what you want your finished panel to be.
- One long edge at a time, fold over the raw edge (about 1/4 inch) and press well. Then, fold this edge over one more time, so that it looks nice and finished. (Be sure to use the steam setting on your iron and the edge will pretty much stay in place.)
- Then, focus on the top edge. Fold this one over about 1 inch the first time, then 2 inches the second time. Sew straight across the top and everything will stay in place for the moment.
- Next, hang your curtain on the clips. Fold the bottom of the fabric to your desired length and mark accordingly. Go back to your iron and press as needed, following the same steps as the top. Sew across the bottom and call it good!
- (If you have flimsy fabric, you will probably need to sew along all four edges.)
When you’re all done, admire how nice the fabric looks against the freshly-painted wall and new bamboo shade.
I was pretty tired at this point on Sunday evening, but I decided to forge forward.
I knew that I wanted to use my remaining 18 inches of fabric on either side of the shower curtain to mimic the window treatments, but I wasn’t sure what to use for the white fabric. Well, as luck would have it, I found a beautiful high-thread-count flat white sheet (twin sized) at Goodwill while I was trolling for other finds. It was perfect (after laundering, of course)!
I cut the fabric into two panels and, with right sides together, sewed one on each side of the sheet. I folded/pressed the fabric at the top and bottom and sewed across so that the seams matched up with those on the sheet. Some hemming was required, so I used the same technique as the curtains (hanging, folding, marking sewing.)
I had searched throughout our little rural Maine town for some ceiling mounted hardware for the curtains (like these), but I couldn’t find them anywhere. I contemplated ordering them online, but for $5.00 I got two brushed nickel rods at Lowe’s and mounted them as close to the ceiling as possible. The finished result isn’t as sleek as I imagined, but pretty close!
Of course, when you peek inside, the regular fabric liner is hung at a normal height.
In case you need help deciding how much of an improvement this is, let’s compare the before and after pics.
Here we have the before:
And after:
I’m dying to know what you think, so let’s hear it! Are you like my husband and think that maybe the floor-to-ceiling fabric is a little overwhelming? Do you think I should split the shower curtain so that it opens in the middle? Or, do you like it just the way it is?
Psst…I’ve you’ve missed any part of this on-going makeover, be sure to check out the previous posts! And stay tuned, because there is much more to come!
This post is linked up to:
Want to see how I went from this…
…to this?
I can’t say I blame you.
Just head on over to the Goodwill of Northern New England site where I am guest blogging from time to time about my Goodwill finds!
I’m back with another review of one of The Pioneer Woman’s world famous recipes. I happened to catch P-Dub on TV last week where she was making her cinnamon rolls. I decided then and there that they would finally be on our weekend menu. The question is, could I succeed at making them as well as she does?
It would include another battle with yeast, after all.
Based on these two pictures, you would think that I did okay.
Not too bad considering I totally forgot to add the baking soda, baking powder and salt to the dough. Oops.
I also clearly rolled my dough out way too thin. Here you can compare my pre-baked rolls to P-Dub’s:
Erin's just-rolled cinnamon buns
The Pioneer Woman's picture perfect cinnamon rolls (photo courtesy of P-Dub)
The Pioneer Woman is clearly a superior photographer and cinnamon roll roller.
Despite my follies, my rolls cooked up nicely.
…and improved ten-fold when I added the to-die-for-easy-to-make maple icing.
Do you know what my favorite thing about this recipe is? It’s not the gooey frosting, the cinnamon goodness, or even the insane amount of butter…
Nope, it’s the dough…yeast and all…which tastes super delicious. While eating the rolls (yes, I had more than one), I couldn’t help focus on how the dough was the perfect balance to the gooey goodness. I think I would have been happy eating the dough on its own.
And, for the record, can I just say that I think that bread yeast might be warming up to me. We actually might be friends soon. Okay, maybe just acquaintances, but we’re making progress!
Have you tried The Pioneer Woman’s cinnamon roll recipe? If so, were you as bad of a roller as me? If not, you should probably hop over to P-Dub’s blog to print the recipe and head straight to your kitchen!
Psst…want to check out my other Pioneer Woman recipe reviews? How about my battle with bread yeast? Enjoy!
I spent all day yesterday in the bathroom. Painting, of course. And while the weather was grey outside, I didn’t mind spreading some of Behr’s Pensive Sky all over the formerly sunshiney walls.
I’m putting the after picture first, because I can.
Much better than before, right?
Once I get the cabinets/mirror painted I will really be feeling better!
Because I heard such rave reviews about Behr’s Ultra Premium Plus from Kim at NewlyWoodwards (her kitchen looks amazing), I decided the bathroom was a perfect place to give it a try. This product is a paint and primer all in one, which boasts a nearly full coverage after only one coat. So, I was ready to zip through my room.
Unfortunately the sunshiney yellow gave the Ultra Premium Plus for its money. The paint definitely did not want to stick to the previous homeowners’ choice of satin finish. If I wasn’t careful when cutting in around the doors and vanity, my brush would wipe off the paint that I had just put on!
After a few trials and error (I even tried sanding the yellow paint), I found that I needed to put on a super thin coat first, let it dry completely, and then use a nice thick coat. Two coats on all the required cutting-in meant that my quick project took a good portion of the day…
All of that being said, I do think this brand of paint would be my first choice if I were painting on new drywall, or even on a flat paint. I know this because when I got lazy and paint ended up on the ceiling, it did not come right off. In fact, it did not come off at all!
On the plus side, this paint is so thick that if it drips on the floor or trim, it chips right off. We DIY, we learn, right? And either way, we have much better looking walls in our first floor bathroom!
Have you tried the new Behr paint? What do you think of the new color? We are getting much closer to the complete budget bathroom makeover reveal!
Psst…I’ve you’ve missed any part of this on-going makeover, be sure to check out the other posts! And stay tuned, because there is much more to come!
