Foodie Friday: Citrus water

A couple years ago I was traveling for business and was lucky enough to stay at a Four Seasons Hotel property. If you've not stayed at a Four Seasons, let me tell you they are fancy dancy - mainly because of the little things they do to make their guests feel welcome.

This particular day was terribly hot - unseasonably so. And after a long day of running through airports, finding baggage, running down transportation TO the hotel and getting there, it was a welcome surprise to find a large pitcher of citrus water. It's so refreshing on a hot summer day!

I brought the idea home to share with you today.

You'll need a lemon, a lime and an orange, a pitcher or glass drink dispenser, water and lots of ice. I cut up my fruit so that I'm left with lots of round slices, taking the seeds out as I go. This is especially important if you're using a glass drink dispenser as those seeds can clog up your spout!

Layer your fruit slices in the bottom of your pitcher - I like to layer them in alternating colors to make a pretty display. Save the last several pieces to line the sides of your pitcher. Pour in a little ice and anchor them to the sides of the pitcher in that ice. Continue filling with ice to the top of the pitcher and then fill about 3/4 full with water. Allow that to sit several hours - it's actually better if you leave it overnight - so that the citrus flavor can infuse the water. When you're ready to serve, add more ice and pour into glasses! You can garnish with a sprig of mint for some extra panache.

This is a wonderfully easy party drink that your guests will love!

Inspiration Thursday! Finding inspiration.

"We live, in fact, in a world starved for solitude, silence, and private: and therefore starved for meditation and true friendship." -- C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

Sometimes you have to find your solitude to find inspiration. I'm thankful to have found true friendship though I'm often searching for my solitude.

Vintage Wednesday: Can you tell the difference?

Here we have two unassuming little salt and pepper shakers. Probably Haviland made in the 40s or 50s. What's so special about them? Well let's take a look.















Look closely. I've given you a couple different angles. See anything different? Maybe the holes? Yup! The holes! Look at your salt and pepper shakers at home. Usually the salt shaker has fewer holes than the pepper shaker, but in these they have the same number of holes. What's different is that the holes are LARGER in this pepper shaker. Pretty cool, huh? I thought so!

Working Tuesday: Finding a Supplier

The secret to the best designs are the materials you use to make them. The secret to selling pieces is not only the design, but the price. The key to both these things is finding the right suppliers!

I love bead stores as much as the next beader. It's exciting to see the array of color and feel the weight of the stones in your hand. But once you understand what it means that a bead is 6mm instead of 4mm or the difference between aventurine and aquamarine, you don't have to hold a bead in your hand to know it's for you. And you certainly don't have to pay outrageous bead store prices.

One of the best places to go for diversity of supplies and price is Fire Mountain Gems and Beads. And the best part is, the more you get, the cheaper your final per item price. So if you need a cheaper choice than the bead store, try Fire Mountain!

DIY Monday: Polishing Silver

A couple weeks ago I posted about finding this lovely silver pin for 25 cents at a local community yard sale. I like the "patina" (darker, aged look) of the piece, but wanted to polish it up a bit. The only problem is that the many nooks and crannies make it difficult to effectively polish. So I turned to the aluminum foil method to get into all the tight spaces!

First, find a container in which you can completely cover your object with water. Cover the bottom of the container with aluminum foil, shiny side up. Pour in 1 Tbsp. of baking soda and 1 Tbsp. of salt and then cover the item with boiling water. The boiling water is important because it speeds up the molecules that help remove the tarnish quickly (someone really smart figured that out, not me). You should smell a bit of a sulfuric smell and see the foil start to turn a darker color.

I don't leave the silver in for a long time as I worry about the salt pitting the silver, but it works wonders in a pretty short period of time. Don't forget to use tongs to take the item out of the water - both will be hot! Next week, I'll show you a non-chemical way to finish polishing up your pieces if there's any tarnish left!

Weekend Wanderings: Midnight Monument Tour

Let's face it, there's never really a bad time to see the monuments - maybe unless it's 97 degrees and the Mall is over run by tourists - but their majestic beauty still shines through. But the monuments take on a different feel at night. There's a reverence that falls with the night and it's often accompanied by a hush or quiet whispers. There may still be a hoard of tourists, but somehow the quiet still creeps in as you approach.

Some of the most romantic moments can be found on the steps of the Jefferson pondering the wisdom you've just read inside the dome. Some prefer the coolness of the fountains inside the Roosevelt as you wander through the eras of his Presidency. And my heart swells as I see the men who've died for our country remembering their brethren as they walk through the Vietnam, Korean or WWII memorials.

When's the last time you visited the monuments at night? You might think about planning a trip.

Foodie Friday: "Light" Chicken Marsala

Ingredients:
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 stick butter
5 boneless chicken breasts
1 pack fresh sliced white mushrooms
1 pack fresh sliced baby bella mushrooms
1 bottle Marsala wine

Rinse your chicken breasts and cut off the excess fat. On a cutting board, use a meat hammer to flatten out your meat. Start at one end of your chicken breast and move toward the other side working from the center out. Turn your breast over and start again on the other side until your chicken is thin. If you don't have a meat hammer, you can use the side of a saucer and work from one side to another.




In a skillet, heat your butter and oil until it starts to pop. Gently lay your chicken breasts into the oil and allow them to cook several minutes on one side, then turn and allow to cook for several more minutes.





Continue to turn and cook until both sides are brown and then lay your browned breasts aside on a separate plate.



Drain your oil from the skillet and place the mushrooms in your pan. Pour the Marsala over the mushrooms and bring this mixture to a high boil.



Allow this to simmer until you have a thickened sauce (the wine will start to caramelize as it cooks down). Add the chicken breasts back in the mushroom and sauce mixture to heat them back up.



If it seems like it's taking a long time to cook down, when the mushrooms start to shrink you can pour off the liquid into a separate saucepan and bring it to a rolling boil to help boil down the sauce.



With tongs, pull out your chicken breasts and lay them on your serving plate and then pour your mushrooms and sauce over the breasts. Serve with red potatoes for a delicious meal!

Inspiration Thursday! Web Design

I love ephemera. The color, the texture, the fonts, the design. Love it. I think that's why I love doing print work. It's making the ephemera of tomorrow. Finding the eye catching picture that tells your story in a glance. Finding the fonts that convey a tone that carries your words.

But the new world is what's called "new media." It's the Internet. Web design. Banner ads. And the standards change on a dime. What's clean or sleek or cool today, will probably look dated tomorrow. It's exciting and challenging. And there are people who are brilliantly leading the way into this new world - defining it as we speak.

One place to go to get a glimpse of where this world is going is Delicious CSS. When I struggle with design for a client, when I am looking for the best elements to meet their needs, this site can be a source of inspiration. Check it out. See if you find inspiration here too!

** All photos property of Delicious CSS.

Vintage Wednesday: Caring for Vintage Napkins

When preparing for a dinner party or afternoon tea, I want to make sure my linens are fresh and ready to go. There are definite dos and don'ts in the care of linens. I wanted to share a couple tips on how to make these vintage beauties shine.

First, be sure to wash your linen napkins in a mild detergent and wash them well. I like to soak mine in Biz overnight and rinse them out in cold water. I keep a clean white hand towel next to the sink and lay each napkin one on top of the other as I rinse them out. I then roll up the towel to help drain the excess water.

To ensure crisp napkins, I like to iron them dry. In order to keep from crushing the embroidery, you should determine the front side of the napkin, lay it face down on a clean terry towel and iron them from the back side. That way the embroidery will be cushioned in the terry and not be smashed with the weight of the iron. Be sure to keep the iron moving at all times to make sure you don't scorch your linens. If you do, throw it back in your Biz mixture and let the scorch mark soak out.

I like to keep two sections on my towel - one for a dead wet napkin and one for a partially dry napkin. I initially put the napkin in the wet section and after a couple passes, move it to a drier part of the board to finish ironing the water out. Sometimes the moisture looks like it's gone but the napkin feels a little damp, I just fold it and lay it aside to allow it to finish air drying. Voila, perfect napkins without starch!

Working Tuesday: Precious Metal Clay

I've been intrigued lately with the possibility of working with Precious Metal Clay (PMC). I've always loved the work of silversmiths. There's something about the intricacy of design that pulls me in every time. I've always wanted to know how to make what I love and this is no exception.

PMC allows even the most amateur of artists to make completed silver pieces. It combines microscopic particles of precious metals (silver, gold, bronze, copper) with a moist binder that makes it work like modeling clay. Once the clay has dried, you fire it at a temperature that allows the particles to melt together while the binder burns away - leaving you with a beautiful 99% pure finished piece.

Since I grew up watching my Mom sculpt, and did some myself, the thought of sculpting isn't daunting. I've picked up some Fimo clay recently to being playing around with sculpting ideas. You can even mold the PMC, so any finished pieces I make with FIMO can be made into a mold for future metal charms or rings or whatever I can think up. You can even make molds of antique buttons and create silver buttons if you so choose. So many possibilities!

** Photos are property of the artists. Click on the photo to see the source along with more examples of PMC artwork!

DIY Monday: Making a Paper Ribbon

A couple weeks ago a friend asked me to help her wrap a present (I have a reputation). Problem was, we had no pretty ribbon to finish it off - we only had wrapping paper and tape. After fretting a while about what to do, I remembered a friend of mine who used to always make her own ribbon.

To do this, cut a strip of your wrapping paper and fold it in half lengthwise so that you can cut the paper into long strips two at a time. Continue cutting thin strips until you have 10-16 strips to use for your bow. Then put the wrong side of the paper against the sharp part of your scissors and holding it against the edge with your finger begin to slide the paper against that edge for the length of your strip. You should do this carefully so that the strips don't tear. This should make your paper strips begin to curl.

When you've finished curling your strips, begin to layer them on top of a folded piece of tape until the tape is covered and apply this to the top of your package. Add another piece of tape and continue to layer strips until you have a full bow. Top the center with a finished curl to make it pretty!

Weekend Wanderings: Avalon

In Celtic legend, Avalon was known as "an island of the blessed" - a beautiful place where awe inspiring things happen. Lest you think this is only a mythical place, let me tell you about a modern Avalon where you can recapture the dream. It's somewhere around 4 hours north of the DC area and it's "cooler by a mile." It's Avalon, NJ.

Avalon is a beach town without the commercialism. It's more a community full of local restaurants where you can get fresh crab, home made ice cream shops and local hardware stores. Just up the beach from Cape May, Avalon is a quieter place to get your beach on. And if you're craving the souvenir stores and hum of tourist restaurant options, Cape May is just down the road.

We're lucky enough to have a friend who owns a house on the island who invites us up regularly. I've been able to see the island in the middle of the season as well as off season when you might literally have the beach to yourself. My favorite weekend, though, is the island-wide garage sale weekend. You can go to a local store and get a map of all the sales on the island that Saturday and you never know what you'll find as you explore!

So if you're looking for an alternative to Dewey, Rehoboth, the Outer Banks or Myrtle Beach, I'd say this is a lovely option worth finding!

Foodie Friday: Summer Fruit Salad

One of my favorite things about summer is the fresh fruit. Some evenings a fruit salad is our dinner because there's such a plethora of fruit. Here are a few tips on creating a delicious summer fruit salad.

Ingredients:
Fresh pineapple
1 pound of strawberries
Pint of blueberries
3 bananas (optional)
1/2 bunch seedless grapes (optional)
1 orange
Honey (optional)

If you've not yet read my May 28th post on preparing a fresh pineapple, be sure to go back and take a look! Cut up your pineapple and put it in a bowl. Cap and cut your strawberries and add them. Rinse and pick through the blueberries taking out the bad berries and stems and add them as well. You can also cut up and add several bananas and some green seedless grapes as well.

Now here's the key to a little extra bit of sweetness. Cut an orange in half and juice it. This is an easy task if you have an old fashioned reamer! Pour that juice over the top of the fruit mixture along with several Tablespoons of honey. Toss the whole thing so the honey and orange juice mix with the fruit. Put it all in a pretty bowl and serve!

Inspiration Thursday! Baby on the brain...

One of my secret dreams is to become a "real" photographer. You know, one who actually knows what all those terms and buttons mean on that snazzy DSLR camera? Okay, so it's not so secret, but it's still a dream.

Once I actually DO know how to use the camera, I'm gonna be an expert, right? Take fantastic pictures? Well, I AM dreaming, right?

If I do take fantastic pictures, I hope to emulate these twin sisters from Nebraska - Kelley Ryden and Tracy Raver - who take unbelievably wonderful photos of newborns. They even hold classes to teach photographers from around the world to take photos of these newborn wonders. In the meantime, I look longingly at their blog and dream of the day when I too can create works of art as wonderful as these.