Craft Idea: Grapevine Vintage Button Wreath

I spent the afternoon lunching with a friend in Santa Monica, and after we wandered through a huge, expensive (Santa Monica beach-side) antique mall. A creative find there that I love was this vintage button grapevine wreath. It would be easy to duplicate in a favorite color and would lend whimsy and femininity to your doorway.

What I thought was great about this wreath was that it wasn't hastily hot glued, but was carefully wire-wrapped, so it will withstand lots of usage without buttons falling off. This would be really easy to do with a grapevine wreath as opposed to a foam core. The gold wire used with the white buttons elevated its sense of formality. I also loved the big finishing bow at the top.

Where do you find inspiration for crafts you make at home? Do you often have a camera with you to photograph great ideas? Please leave a comment on the blog.

The Los Angeles Breakfast Club

My friend Damian, who has a new law practice, has come up with some creative ways to network in the community. This morning he took me to meet a great group of people at The Los Angeles Breakfast Club.

The Breakfast Club was founded in 1925 as a men's riding group of movie stars and political leaders. Over the past eighty or so years it's evolved into a social fellowship group from all walks of life that sponsors a weekly breakfast with featured speakers on a variety of subjects. Participation in the club's Foundation is encouraged but not mandatory, and networking is encouraged. The Breakfast Club meets each Wednesday morning at 7A just outside Griffith Park on Riverside Dr. in Los Feliz. Breakfast is free to first time visitors, just $6 per person after. For full membership, annual dues are $100 per year.

I found the atmosphere to be comparable to my grandpa's small town IL Lions Club--everyone was truly welcoming. Today's program featured a presentation and sing-along of "Tin Pan Alley Classics" from the great American songbook. The narrator did a great job of setting the time in history and including entretaining anecdotes. Next week will be a presentation on a volunteer organization. The majority of people did seem to be retirees but there was an interesting mix of entrepreneurs as well. I brought along my Longaberger catalogs and was proud of myself for taking a step towards self-promotion. Oh, and the funniest part of today's event? The buffet breakfast caterers were none other than the chefs from Capri Italian Restaurant, who were on Kitchen Nightmares last week....

Do you have a small business or service you offer professionally? How do you network within your community? Please leave a comment on the blog.

Recipe Corner: Couscous with Pineapple & Chestnuts

I'm on a pantry challenge to use up what I've got. So tonight's dinner was couscous left over from ingredients for a baby shower, made with half apple juice for sweetness, tossed with a can of pineapple, and finished with roasted chestnuts.

The chestnuts were meant as a holiday treat from Trader Joe's, but we never got around to them. Instead, I flew them home to family at Thanksgiving and ended up driving them back to my kitchen after the new year. The directions on the box had two variations, so for convenience I chose the microwave version. They were soft and had a grainy texture. I was expecting the crunch that comes to mind when you hear the phrase "roasted chestunts," but of course that requires an oven. I think I will try them again next year, but follow the more involved side-dish recipe on the box, rather than the simple roasting.

This experiment made a lot more than I had expected--I'll be eating the leftovers all week. I'm out of eggs now, and most cheese, so it's getting harder to come up with nutritious meals from my cupboard, but I'm not willing to give up yet!

What are your go-to recipes from staples when you don't want to go shopping? Please leave me a comment on the blog.

Kitchen Nightmares Taping with Gordon Ramsey

Wednesday I attended a taping of Chef Gordon Ramsey's show "Kitchen Nightmares," where he remakes a restaurant from top to bottom. I attended the re-launch of Capri Italian Restaurant in Eagle Rock. It's a local, family-run joint adjacent to Occidental College, so it's not haute cuisine. The atmosphere strives to be warm and inviting in a pizza-and-spaghetti kind of way.

I have a lot of respect for restaurants that allow the show into their space, as they can expect to be torn apart by Chef Ramsey. We ended up with an ideal spot, a table of four right next to the kitchen, so had a great view of both Chef Ramsey and the taping in the dining area. I managed to sneak a couple of photos, but wasn't allowed to document much of the evening.

I attended as part of the Meetup "Foodie Connection" group, so we were given an early seating. A friend of mine registered with the group just to RSVP for the event, so I knew one person at the table, but got to meet a few new people with common interests too. It made for a great mix of lively conversation during the long wait for service. I was not in a talkative mood, as I'd just lost my cousin Sue Martin to cancer the night before, but celebrating with a new adventure seemed a fitting way to honor her memory. Sue would have loved to hear all about it, so I'm writing to her here on the blog.

Since they don't want to have the same audience on every episode of the show, you can only attend a Kitchen Nightmares taping once. I was glad that the evening I chose was not one of the first days of taping but was the relaunch night, when the restaurant has been improved by Gordon Ramsey and the bugs have supposedly been worked out. Still, it was the first night with the "new" menu, so service was far from smooth. It took over an hour and a half to get our entrees. The table next to us was served within five minutes.

I loved the new decor of the space, including the way the cash register was painted, and the line-drawing logo of the identical twins who run the restaurant. The tables were crowded in and waitstaff had trouble making it through the restaurant, especially with the camera crew in the way. The serving pieces seemed to overwhelm the table--especially the large oval platters of salad for the group. They didn't have a wine list. When we asked our server directly, she finally named a price-per-glass but neglected to tell us that wine was available by the carafe, which we would have done if we'd known. The appetizer of garlic knots came with five rolls for our table of four, and were doughy on the inside and oily out without much garlic flavor. The chef had a heavy hand with the pepper on our Caesar salad, though I found I was able to pick out edible portions. I ordered a mushroom-"stinky cheese" white pizza that was really yummy. But the best thing on the menu that our table sampled was definitely the apple calzone dessert, filled with warm walnuts and dried fruit.

Chef Ramsey was clearly busy troubleshooting all evening. He called the Chef-Owner out to the street and spoke to him in front of a camera in the middle of the service. While it was easy to see his frustration, there was no shouting match to be heard over the din of the patrons. We'd definitely gone more for the experience of the show than for the food, and it was entertaining to see it all unfold. I'll be looking for the episode to air to see the "before" portions of the restaurant when Chef Ramsey first arrived. There will definitely be publicity as there was a local news station crew taping there before we'd left as well.

If you get the opportunity, Kitchen Nightmares is definitely a fun event to attend. Email me for info on how to contact the show.

Bottle Cap Ornament

I just got a really nifty craft tool that I'll be using a lot this year! It punches holes in bottlecaps. You might know my grandfather had a local soda company in Southern Illinois from the 1930s-50s. In fact, I've made our logo into an ornament one year. We have a ton of our family label bottlecaps, and I've been wanting to figure out how to make them into jewelry. I can also put the caps onto pull chains for zippers or to mark flash drives, keychains, and....

....ornaments. My late uncle had a tradition of making an ornament for the family each year, and I have had fun taking after him.

I superglued my Grandpa's picture on the inside, covered with a protective silicone-like disc, then left it as a thank-you for my dad when I left town after the holidays. Can't wait to see it on the tree next year. I think I'll be using these as my extended family gift for next year.

What projects do you have in mind to work on for next year? When do you start your handmade gifts--at the last moment, or throughout the year?

For My Dad

I already posted the framing of card illustrations from my dad's hometown that I gave to my aunt and uncle for the holidays. I liked that one because as a quad framing, it was a single thing to ship and mail, and perfect for a setting such as my uncle's optometry office. For my dad, I wanted to do something a little more formal, with a bit more bling befitting a holiday decoration. I ended up making him this swag decor.

Unfortunately, I didn't have this finished by Christmas day. How many of your well-intentioned homemade gifts do you end up giving late or not at all? I hope I'm not alone in this predicament! I think my dad loved it anyway. My mom had to help out a bit with the bow. If you have any bow-making techniques, please leave me a comment on the blog!

My Present to Myself....

Now that I finished making everyone else's presents, I had a few moments to finish my own Chance & Claire Adornments! It took a lot of help from my mom to get the painting true to life. I wish I could have taken tole painting classes from my mom in the 1970s when she used to teach. These will be even more special to me because she helped me make them.

What did you give yourself for the holidays this year?

Duggan "Adornment"

I used a printable template from PetSmart to make the most adorable personalized ornament for my brother featuring his dog, Duggan.

The template allows you to upload your dog or cat's face, choose a fur color and texture, then create a downloadable pdf. Once printed, it's like origami and finished by simple folding and pasting. We did embellish the template with a little more painting to make Duggie's spots true-to-life.

What do you think of our final result? Have any online printables that you've used with success? please leave a comment on the blog with your tips.

Recipe Corner: Ann's Artichoke Spread

We've made it a family tradition to have appetizers for dinner when we open Christmas gifts. One standard is an artichoke dip that came from my aunt Ann. We usually have this with chips, but I like the leftovers as a sandwich spread too. It's so easy to whip together and bakes in only twenty minutes. It's got just the right zing (though I always add extra cheese, but that goes without saying). It's easy to customize too: if you don't like mushrooms, leave that out and throw in some olives, or whatever your preference.

What are your favorite appetizers? I'd love to see some recipes in the comments thread!

Carlinville Panorama

This is a much, Much delayed post, because I had to make sure certain family members did not see it before the holidays! To share a bit of my homemade holiday with you, here's a gift I made for my dad's brother and sister.

When I went home last December, there were beautiful art prints of some town landmarks hanging in a coffee shop. They were out of my budget, but there were greeting card sized versions of the same prints, so I was able to get each landmark, and frame them together in a single grouping.

The old movie theater, the gazebo from the center of the square, and the old jailhouse, are all centerpieces of Carlinville, IL. When we would drive to my grandparents' from our home in Chicago, the contest was to see which person could first spot the spire of the county courthouse as we approached town. I love this artists' versions of each.

Easy Photo Ornaments

I used my mom's die-cutter last holiday season to cut out a bunch of frames, and made some laminated photo ornaments for presents this year. I did about forty of them for less than twenty bucks, and was able to send a token something to extended family to let them know I'd been thinking of them.

Homemade Pizza, Down to the Crust

My dad was told by his doctor recently that he has to lose weight in order to become a candidate for necessary back surgery, so we're trying to find a balance this season between celebratory foods and healthy eating. I sent him a cookbook last month, and we used it this week to make some avant garde pizzas. It was one I came across at the Culinary Historians of Southern California's annual cookbook sale in the summer, published in 1993.

This was the first time I'd ever made pizza dough from scratch. I doubled the dough recipe so I could leave some in my folks' freezer for next month, when all the visitors have left. I made the dough one evening and the pizzas the next, since I knew there would be a lot of vegetable prep.

We chose one savory pie and one sweet for our first experiment. The savory was an eggplant and olive with tarragon and Jarlsburg pie on whole wheat crust. While I used the cookbook as inspiration and a guide, I was a little too impatient to measure out as I should, so I'm sure my pies weren't as "skinny" as promised.

Still, I'm introducing my dad to more and more whole wheat products, and getting my family to eat more vegetables and less meat. This recipe called for low-fat Alpine Lace cheese, and the closest swiss I could find in the shredded section was a Jarlsburg. I only put olives on half, because I can't stand them. And I dusted the pizza stone liberally with cornmeal for an extra crunchy-textured crust. I used a jarred pasta sauce--Classico's Sundried Tomato Alfredo--on both pies to save a little time and add moisture, though if I wanted to make a "skinny" pie I guess I didn't need any sauce at all since it wasn't called for in the recipe.

I have an eggplant dip that is part of my party/entertaining repertoire, but it's basically a roasted eggplant that is then pureed--there's very little prep to it. So I have minimal experience in working with eggplant generally. That was how I stretched my skills most with this recipe.

(before baking)

(after)

The sweet pie was half inspired by the cookbook and half from one I have often at California Pizza Kitchen, a pear and blue cheese pie with walnuts and Parmesean on whole wheat crust.

Besides adding the tomato/alfredo sauce to this, I added a cup and a half of Parmesean cheese. I wanted something different than the swiss on the savory pie, and I thought a dry aged cheese would pair well with the fruit. I didn't read the recipe once I'd gone shopping, and I forgot about the cinnamon or sauteing the pears. I did drench them in lemon juice after slicing so they wouldn't brown up while waiting as we ate the savory pie first. This made a perfect dessert pie.

(before baking)

(after)

What's your favorite pizza combo? Please leave a comment on the blog.

Whole-Wheat Pizza Crust

From "Skinny Pizzas" by Barbara Grunes

24 servings
makes 2 12-inch round crusts
or 2 9-inch x 12-inch rectangular crusts
or 12 6-inch to 7-inch round crusts

1/2 teaspoon honey
1 cup (scant) warm water (110 degrees F or warm to the touch)
1 package active dry yeast
3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon good quality olive oil

Proof yeast by stirring honey into warm water in measuring cup or small bowl. Sprinkle yeast over water and stir until yeast dissolves. Let mixture stand in draft-free area about five minutes or until yeast begins to bubble.

Meanwhile, mix flour with salt and oil in a food processor fitted with a steel blade, or in an electric mixer with a dough hook. (To mix dough by hand, use a bowl and a wooden spoon.)

Pour in yeast mixture and process until a soft, almost sticky dough is formed, about 5 to 10 seconds. If using an electric mixer, mix three minutes or until smooth dough is formed. If mixing dough by hand, mix ingredients until a smooth, slightly sticky dough is formed, about three to five minutes.

Knead dough by hand on a lightly floured surface or pastry cloth until smooth. If dough is too sticky, add flour by the tablespoon until it reaches the desired consistency. Put dough in a bowl and cover lightly with oiled plastic wrap and aluminum foil or a kitchen towel.

Let dough rise until it doubles in bulk, about 45 minutes to an hour. Punch dough down and let stand five minutes. Knead for a few minutes more on a lightly floured board or pastry cloth. Dough is now ready to use.

Note: You can add various flavors to the crust to give it an extra special flavor. For example, you can add two tablespoons of honey mustard, lemon rind, curry powder, pesto sauce, and/or dried rosemary.

Eggplant, Black Olive, & Cheese Pizza

12 servings

1 large, well-formed eggplant (about 1 1/2 lbs.), trimmed, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds, unpeeled
1 tablespoon good quality olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 Basic Pizza Crust (12-inch)
2 tablespoons celery seeds
canola oil or non-stick cooking spray
1/4 cup black olives, sliced, drained
1 cup low-cholesterol Alpine Lace cheese, shredded
3/4 teaspoon tarragon
1/4 teaspoons each: salt, ground black pepper

Sprinkle eggplant slices with salt to remove moisture. Let stand 20 minutes on paper towels. Rinse eggplant slices and pat dry with paper towels.

Heat olive oil and garlic in large fring pan over medium heat. Saute eggplant, covered, gently about 2 minutes on each side. Eggplant will be cooked when golden brown and soft.

Prepare dough according to recipe; when kneading, mix in celery seeds. Use a rolling pin or knead dough by hand on lightly floured board. Shape dough into 12-inch pizza pan that has been lightly oiled or sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.

Arrange eggplant pieces with garlic decoratively on pizza crust. Sprinkle on black olives, cheese, and seasonings.

Bake at 425 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Pear & Blue Cheese Pizza

12 Servings
(6 individual pizzas)

1 Whole-wheat Pizza Crust
Canola oil or non-stick cooking spray
1 tablespoon margarine
4 large, ripe but firm pears, cored, sliced thin
3 tablespoons lime juice, freshly squeezed
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 oz. blue cheese, crumbled

Shape and stretch dough by hand or with rolling pin on lightly floured pastry board. Divide into 6 individual pizzas, 6 or 7 inches each.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Spray frying pan and melt margarine. Toss pear slices with lime juice and cinnamon. Saute pear slices only one minute.

Arrange pear slices on pizza. Sprinkle with blue cheese.

Bake about 10 to 15 minutes or until pizza crusts turn light golden brown. Remove pizzas from oven and cut each in half. Serve hot.

Displays I Love

Even when I'm not spending, window shopping can be fun--my sense of design and display are stimulated by the holiday season.

I love this department-store display. What have you seen that has struck your fancy this season? Post links in the blog comments to pictures of what's attracted your attention.

Poor Quality Snafish Photo Mugs

About a week ago I made a photo mug on the website Snapfish for free through an offer from Hershey's, after reading about the offer from The Frugal Girls. I was so excited to make a souvenir from a great pet photo as a present to myself! I chose an image from this past Halloween.

The deal actually only cost me $2.99 total for shipping, and my mug came in today's mail--pretty quickly for a promo, I thought. But I'm so glad I didn't actually order this as a holiday gift for someone else, because the quality of the mug is poor. The image was crooked, and after one washing some of the paint is already chipping off near the top of the photo!

Since it was a "free" offer I won't be complaining or returning the item. But because I know these probably are popular gifts, I wanted to review the product. If you're thinking of getting a mug with the kids' picture on it for grandma or grandpa, you might do better going down the block to your local Walgreens.

What custom photo gifts have you given as gifts, and how/where did you create them? Please leave a comment on the blog if you have an experience to relate.

Food Bloggers LA

Trolling Facebook does have its benefits. I just discovered a FB group titled Food Bloggers Los Angeles. Uniting the food blogging community of greater Los Angeles, they meet monthly for education, inspiration and good eats. Of course I jumped in with both feet, attending this month's Christmas gathering. Can you imagine the sorts of dishes food bloggers would bring to a potluck?

I was migrating from party to party that night (Did the Christmas season seem extra short to you too this year? I think we were shortened at least one weekend by having the holiday fall on a Saturday this year), so my stop at the FBLA event was an early one. And in Los Angeles, being on time to a party is a *Party Foul*. So, I helped the hosts set up for the event, and about thirty other party guests showed up five minutes before I had to leave.

Despite the circumstances, I met several great people--including having plenty of privacy to get to know the host, Greg of Sippity Sup. Coming from the film industry, far too many of my friends are work contacts bordering on friends. As an escape, I write a blog, and read other online blogs. Introverted? Maybe a little. So I was proud of myself for getting out of my comfort zone to meet some strangers in real life.

And now I'm back in my comfort zone, my living room, reading all the blogs of the wonderful members of FBLA, salivating, bookmarking recipes, and counting down the days till my next culinary adventure.

Have you used your hobbies to meet people and make friends? Do you find most of your friends stem from your work life? Leave me a comment with your experiences on the blog.

Shortbread Reindeer

These cookies were exhibited at the LA County Fair. They're such darling reindeer I had to share the idea.

Shortbread wedges are decorated using mini pretzels, brown m & m candies for eyes, and of course a red m & m for Rudolph's nose! Too cute.

Let me know if you use this idea this holiday season, and send me your shortbread recipe.

Marina Del Rey Holiday Boat Parade

I had a great time at this year's Marina del Rey Holiday Boat Parade. The night opened with a spectacular fireworks display. I have only a small Cannon PowerShot digital camera, and rarely use the video function as it's not really meant for that application--you get what you pay for in that department, I've always thought. But the fireworks reflected in the water over the beautiful boats at the dock took my breath away, and I wanted to share the experience, mostly with my folks. So here's the last half of the (fireworks) show....

And in case the video doesn't import, a still showing my view....

I got a couple decent shots of the boats before the parade. The theme this year was "A Rock 'N Roll Christmas." Most of the boats took off from the theme in some way, but a few were just seasonal or pretty.

The huge green elf on this boat caught my eye, and I thought the wording read "elves rocks." If you watched long enough, you'd see the second "e" in the word "elves" change to an "i." It wasn't till much later that I saw the huge Elvis form lit up, and by then my camera's battery had died. This is the float that won the grand prize in the boat parade contest.

It was fun to watch the crews prepare the boat and take off from the dock. Especially the crews dressed like elves and Elvises.

The atmosphere was enjoyably festive, but the beginning of the parade seemed to have wide gaps between boats. There were a couple of hosts emceeing the night, but they weren't provided with musical accompaniment. To fill the gaps, they kept asking children to come up to the mic and sing Christmas carols, softly and off-key. That got old with nothing to watch on the water.

Chance and Claire enjoyed the atmosphere and crowds. Eventually the crowds grew to the point that I was a bit fearful of the pups getting stepped upon, and with my camera dead anyway, half the fun was gone for me.

So we ditched the parade in favor of dinner at Mendocino Farms. I tried their seasonal Vegan Mushroom Confit Sandwich, with vegan mushroom braised seitan “wheat meat” with pickled Portobellos, almond romesco, and baby spinach on toasted ciabatta. It had a bit of a kick that I didn't expect, not being familiar with a "romesco". I'd eat it again but like it better with half the amount of confit spread and a couple slices of swiss cheese. It was fun to try both a new restaurant and foods that I was unfamiliar with, and the dogs got some practice on their down-stays while I ate. I wouldn't have known about this place but for a daily deal on Living Social. Group buying sites not only save me money but expose me to new experiences.

Did anyone else go to the parade this year? If you have photos to share leave me a comment on the blog so I can check them out!

P.S.

I just uploaded pictures off my iPhone, which I used after my camera battery died (darn video function!). Here's a poor shot of the Elvis, all lit up:


You can see how huge he was, even in comparison to the Elf on that boat (see earlier pictures), and how much fun it was to watch him dance!

This year definitely renewed my enthusiasm for this event. I'll be back for more next December!