Bread and Penguins

The weekend was pretty great...good food for sure. We have this nice kitchen that we've been working on since March so Jared has been piping up lately that we need to make 'really awesome' stuff. It's easy to guilt me (maybe from the tiny bit of Irish Catholic in me...) so Saturday night I made a 'red beans & rice' variation that had some kick from spicy chicken chorizo sausage. I had made bread that morning and it went perfectly with it...hmmm! Sunday we continued the yummy food trend and made a huge BLT salad with baby spinach, nieman ranch uncured bacon, tomatoes from the garden, cheddar chunks, and an avocado dressing (avocado, olive oil, rw vinegar, orange juice, chopped basil, s&p) - delicious!


The bread I made Saturday morning is the easiest thing EVER! It's an Irish soda bread and has 4 ingredients - 4 cups flour (I use white whole wheat), 2 cups buttermilk, teaspoon of baking soda, teaspoon of salt. Mix it all together in a bowl, turn it out onto a floured surface, knead for 30 seconds and shape into a round. Then plop onto a tray with an 'x' cut into the top, then bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes. I then wrap it in a damp towel and let it rest for 8 hours (the hardest part as you just want to dig in...but it really is better with rest (aren't we all?).

We also worked a bunch more in the kitchen. Jared got the rest of the cabinet handles installed and put up most of the remaining toe kick and filler (we ran to ikea wednesday so we were ready for the weekend). I got the tile wall ready for grouting and worked on designs for the kitchen curtains. I have some fun ideas for them. I'm thinking of quadrupled layered sheer blue linen I got for a song several years ago; patchworked with 2 lovely amy butler fabrics in small hints. It's going to be a bit of sewing...because even if I try to go simple it always becomes complicated!


I added Maurice the penguin plush to my shop today! He's a really cool penguin - fun and playful enough for kids, but also perfect for home decor (like a pillow). I just love him - he actually looks really good in our living room, but I'm not going to tempt myself by keeping him out there. So he's hanging with other plush pals in my studio until someone adopts him.


I'm working on some new Wooly Flora felted brooches today and have some mural work to do this week. I'm also dreaming up new plush ideas...baby penguins - yes! - and another very intriguing plush idea that I'm oh so excited about. Will have lots to show hopefully soon...have a beautiful day...I know it's Monday but it'll be okay! :o)