ooey gooey homemade pb, a tutorial

1. Gather the ingredients: peanuts. (Ok, you'll also need a splash of canola oil for spreadability purposes.)

2. Put peanuts in food processor. Process.

3. Keep processing. It takes awhile.

4. Add a splash of canola oil (or your favorite oil) to improve spreadability. Use your judgement on this one, I think I ended up putting 1-2 tablespoons in. Process some more.

5. Scrape & jar it.

So... jury is still out on this. The plus side of it is being to forgo all the creepy chemicals in regular commercially produced peanut butter. Is it cost effective? Well, it's no worse I guess. I believe the peanuts cost $3 and change and I used the entire container to produce this jar's worth of PB. Compared to a jar of Skippy, we're about even I think. (Maybe, I don't know PB prices off the top of my head.) Compared to a jar of commercially-produced "natural" PB it's probably cheaper. It tastes... ok. I used salted peanuts but it still isn't all that flavorful. Again, tastewise I'm guessing it's similar to the natural kind you can buy in the organics section.

I'm passing a sample off to a professional PB taster soon and will post an update with that opinion.

Cool points for this project probably outweigh efficiency/ deliciousness/ etc. points. But that's ok, because cool points are what I live for and I'm at a lifetime high of 13 points. Every last one counts.

(My Springtime Swap package is on its way to Oregon! And it is not a jar of homemade PB, don't worry.)

cookie jar is half full

Wishing you a full cookie jar & a spring-y weekend.

(Update: For the cookies, just add two very ripe mashed bananas and a cup of oatmeal to your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. Delish.)

guilty as charged

The short list of guilty pleasures:

• cadbury mini eggs
• buying holiday junk for 70% off at joanns
• hair products
  
• checking blogs & celebrity gossip
• mexican food
  
• lord of the rings, harry potter & twilight
  
• baking baking baking
  
• america's next top model marathons
• fresh flowers

(inspired by marta's write club, week 03 prompt 02)

onion sprout

Did you know you could eat the sprouts from an onion? Was that obvious to everyone but me? Because when I see a sprouting onion, I think "trash can" not "cut up those sprouts and eat 'em". Apparently they are just like onion greens, green onions, whathaveyou. We were using some green onions the other day for a soup and threw in these other guys. Haven't succumbed to any sprout-related disease yet.

sight for sore eyes

There are still a few magazines and catalogues left that I love finding in my mailbox, here's hoping they stick around.

Between them and my Google Reader subscriptions, I've got more than enough eye candy for awhile. Though I do have my eye on Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross. Have you seen it? I flipped through it this weekend and it's most gorgeous. The kind of book that yeah it has creative projects, clear instructions, yadda yadda but you also sort of want to make your life look like the pages. Ya know? Plus, everyone in the world is saying how great it is. So I must have it.

Update:
Ok, probably everyone knows this already but now that the Craft: Magazine print edition has gone bust (RIP), you can access a digital version of the magazine for FREE. Woop woop. Even the archives. You flip right through it like a magazine and can print out what you want. So in addition to the Craft: Blog, you can get the magazine and all its wonderous instructions for making LED Hula Hoops and Fancy Cocktail Hats. Plus I found an article all about casseroles. Freebie goodness.

a little spring in your step

(Click to enlarge)

1. braids on glamour, 2. garance dore, 3. the sartorialist (3.7.09), 4. toast spring 09, 5. march no. 3 bird by fern animals 6. wellies from j.crew, 7. flowers in bloom greeting card set by susan himmel, 8. 5th avenue slim leg pants by ny&co, 9. toast spring 09, 10. shirt by j.crew, 11. poster children from readymade, 12. fashion checkbook clutch from amy butler's in stitches, 13. the canary dress by holly stalder, 14. beach waves hand-painted mini wedge heel by craft:tastrophe, 15. toast spring 09, 16. toast spring 09

For this spring season:

• long necklaces, chunky necklaces, MORE necklaces
• bright yellow
• and turquoise!
• slim pants
• flowers blooming
  
• scarves for the hair
• another haircut?
• pink lips
• ruffles
• muddy walks
• rain boots
• garden fever
• braids
• breezy button downs
  

one last vintage apron

And here's one last apron from the vintage collection. Enjoy. For some reason I feel like a little kitchen soldier in it. A soldier a la The Nutcracker. I know, that doesn't really make any sense at all but everytime I put it on that's what I think of. So strange, so strange.

vintage apron debut, citrus

I think this is one of my favorites. A bit similar to the Short Pleated Apron of In Stitches, no? Also, apologies for the schleppy pictures. These things happen.

paddywagon

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
(Celebrations of the past and more past, celebrations of the present.)

vintage apron debut, turquoise

A pretty apron for your Tuesday.

vintage apron debut, red

I've inherited a nice collection of vintage aprons that hithertofore have been used sporadically and kept wrinkled on my closet shelf. I'll debut them here this week.

cozy out

Happy weekend! We are supposed to have some nice weather up here so I'll be soaking in the sunshine as much as possible. Gotta get that vitamin D.

(Soon it will be too warm for neck cozies, I hope. Here's a navy plaid one, custom order.)

housekeeping things

So I changed the layout of my blog. ANXIETY. I know, it's barely noticeable. Like, not a big deal at all. Basically just switched over to the narrower format that everyone in the whole world has because I was despising how my old one looked on widescreen computers... which isn't a problem on most computers but on some it just looked bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S. So if you were one of the people viewing it from a widescreen and you also thought it looked nutso, fear not. After weeks of nail-biting, I've made the switch. And I'm serious, I was really fretting. Apparently I have nothing more important to worry about these days. Just my blog layout.

If you have thoughts on this, let me know. And those of you with an actual opinion about my blog layout, we should get together sometime and sweat the small stuff. Because you clearly don't have enough going on in your life.

(No but really, let me know if you hate this new look or if it looks bananas on your fancy shmancy computer.)

There may be more ridiculously subtle changes in the coming weeks. If I can conquer this mental hurdle I have with blog changes.

ps- I really hated when teachers/professors started class by saying, "OK, I have a few housekeeping things to take care of before we start," and then they would talk about upcoming events and email glitches and FAQs. I don't know why, just kind of annoyed me.

a day in the life, nouns

alarm clock

shower
towel
lotion
clothes
comb
makeup
vitamin
goodbye kiss
cereal and milk
hairdryer
coffee mug
keys
scarf, gloves, hat
marketplace on wamc
w o r k
leftovers
40% off coupon
sugar-free pudding cup
sneakers
ipod
treadmill
combination lock
street lamps
junk mail
staircase
pjs
panini
fizzy water
television
afghan
toothbrushes
deadbolt
flannel sheets
storytelling
sweet dreams

(inspired by marta's write club, week 01 prompt 01)

next up: a day in the life, pictures