Shinhatsubai!

for you, some links

"I mean to live a simple life, to choose a simple shell I can carry easily -- like a hermit crab. But I do not."
-- Anne Morrow Lindbergh, from Gift from the Sea

I've got tons of tabs open, so I thought I'd pass some of them on.

eat:
Slashed Chicken with Herb Butter at Ezra Pound Cake
Pastor Ryan's Bread from The Pioneer Woman
Ham powder from Food & Wine sounds tasty
Spicy Guinness Mustard from Saveur
Sweet-and-Sour and Superfast Salt-and-Sugar Pickles
Lime-Yogurt Mousse
Toraji Namul (marinated bellflower root)
A great article on canning from The New York Times

drink:
I've got a new bottle of gin (and Whole Foods' tonic water made with cane sugar), ready for summer cocktails.
A pitcher full of Gin & Tonic
Gordon's Cup
Cucumber Juice

read:
The Case for Working With Your Hands
Speaking of reading, here's my profile at Goodreads.

make:
DIY surf hairspray from Not Martha
Picnic blanket at Design*Sponge
Pintuck pillows at The Long Thread

nest:
a slideshow of Modern Rustic style
I can't stop looking at this sneak peak featuring The Jewels of New York.

wednesday afternoon miscellany

Christmas wishlist:
Simply Breakfast: More Please
3191: A Year of Mornings
Uh... Kindle? Pretty please?

Christmas craft:
Clothespin church tutorial at Bloesem
Origami stars at  A Foothill Home Companion
DIY cereal gift box at Green Upgrader
Little birdie advent calendar and a candy wreath how-to at Skip To My Lou 
Martinmas laterns at Uncommon Grace and Mayfly

not-necessarily-Christmas cooking (The "I've got two chickens and a new-to-me vintage roasting pan from Nana" edition):
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Pot-roasted chicken and vegetables
Zuni Cafe's Roast Chicken
Thomas Keller's favorite roast chicken

Christmas listening:
The New Possibility: John Fahey's Guitar Soli Christmas Album (thanks to Angry Chicken)
December, George Winston (A childhood favorite, though I didn't realize it until now)
Light of the Stable, Emmylou Harris (so very nice)
and the supercute A Lovely Way To Spend Christmas, from Kristen Chenoweth

remember this

Go read this post at Memoria Arts.

" Christmas is STILL about Emmanuel. God with us, in the messy, angry, stampeding, dirty world that had little time to notice a wee babe in a manger. Even when we don't pay attention, even when we rush, the miracle that happened 2,000 years ago is still resonating in quiet whispers. " 

- "When the Shoe is on the Other Foot", at Memoria Arts ~ Life in the Making

roundup

 

mending the Christmas whirligig

contemplating:
Light Keeper
Bread Meeting
(from Holy Experience)
Are You Good at Waiting? (from Go To Bethlehem and See)
I'm a Recovering Unconscious Consumer (from Five More Minutes)
The Story of Stuff
The Waste No Food Challenge (from The Non-Consumer Advocate)

loving:
This Sara Crewe homage (at The Unicorn Diaries)
listography
twitter

cooking and eating:
These paper baking baskets (at Wild Yeast) are genius. I don't know why it never occurred to me to make my own!
Veselka's Cabbage Soup (from Smitten Kitchen) looks nice and warming.
This mushroom casserole (From 101 Cookbooks) will be on the table tonight.
Magic Coffee (from Study in Brown) sounds tasty.

Christmas crafting:
"Joy" snowflake trees (from The Long Thread)
Nordic house ornaments (from Orange Flower)
Little house ornament (from Pimp Stitch)
Fabric tree tutorial (from Resurrection Fern)

saturday specials

Oh my goodness. These Halloween stories from Cakies are so awesome.
untold story of oz
little red riding hood 
The Star Wars scene from Thompson Family-Life is quite amazing, too.

Have you been following the  NieNie Dialogues?  Each entry nearly moves me to tears. But reading things like this open the floodgates. God is good.

PS: Don't forget to fall back!

weekend miscellany

This week:
Finally updated my eyeglass prescription.
Roasted a chicken.
Chilled with lots of books and DVDs from the library.
Got a killer deal on Kashi at Target.

How was your week?

save:
Creation vs. Consumption
$50 Monthly Grocery Challenge
35 Ways to Save on Your Grocery Budget
Price Books 101

enjoy:
The Art of Display
100 Japanese Foods to Try

weekend miscellany

craft:

• Indy-style bullwhip made from duct tape. This is so cool, I might need to make my own and play Indiana Jones in the backyard. I'm not too old for games, right? Maybe I'll just pass this on to some kids that I know.

• I've been making pleated bags, getting back in the crafting gig. I bought a ton of corduroy for dirt cheap, in lots of great colors like charcoal and navy and grey. 
  pleated bag links:
  Etsy
  a simple tutorial
  more tutorials at U-handblog

etc:

• Real Simple blogs. I've stopped subscribing to Real Simple, in an effort to curb my magazine addiction. But every so often, I cave in and buy an issue. The blogs (and the website as a whole) are a good online stand-in for the real thing. 


• Speaking of Real Simple, this "How To Fold Anything" feature is awesome.


• Heard of Mygazines? Like I mentioned, I have a weakness for glossies. I think it's brilliant, but I don't know how the publishers feel...

eat:
I made a birthday cake for my boss the other day. I'm quite proud of it, though the photos I took at midnight don't do it any justice. I used a recipe for a devil's food cake with chocolate ganache from Martha's Baking Handbook. Instead of peppermint flavoring for the ganache, I used orange flavoring. It was a delicious triumph. And surprisingly easy, since it was my first officially decorated cake.

the chicken soup post

Not quiet literal chicken soup. The house is full of the smell of it, though. Trash Day Eve is always "Clean Out the Fridge" day, and oftentimes it means chicken soup. I've got the odds 'n ends of various veg simmering away on the stovetop, along with the remains of a rotisserie chicken.

But back to the point. Here are some odds 'n ends links to clean up my bookmarks a little. Like internet chicken soup. Get it?

to do:
Mini fridge-magnet planter made with a credit card. Sweet! I've got a few cards headed for the trash right now. Since it's way too hot for my taste to garden outside (and besides, we're still in a drought), this is a cute (and tiny) alternative.

Rolled hem hankies. These look so nice, and I have lots of fabric I can use. I can see a stash of these coming in quite handy.

Paper flower tutorial at Dozi Design. What more can I say?

Oilcloth lunchbag tutorials here and here. I have some oilcloth laying around (who doesn't?), so this will be a cinch.

miscellany:
Books: Keep it or pass it on? Criteria at Unclutterer.  Cookbook clutter is addressed here, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to face that issue just yet.

Keep Calm in charcoal from sfgirlbybay. Argh! I already have it in red, and I recently bought a mini version for my dad, so I can't really justify another one. But, charcoal!

Mystery on Fifth Avenue at the NYTimes. Found via notmartha.  So amazing. Ever since I was a kid, I've been leaving trinkets and notes behind in the houses and apartments we lived in. I read about it in a book somewhere and the idea stuck with me. I've lived in about 20 houses and apartments in my life, and at least half of those have a note from me stashed somewhere. This house is a much grander version of that, of course.

new to me:
uncommon grace
garfield minus garfield
bread & honey
puhti
journey mama
s t i l l