we can't let them win

There's no way to make this look pretty.

But we needed some plastic bag storage ASAP as they were threatening to overtake our wee kitchen (so sometimes we forget our reusable bags because we're not perfect, ok?!). A scrap of crazy (ugly?) green fabric from the stash and a few minutes later yielded this handy-dandy back-o'-the-door plastic-bag-holder.

The picture sucks. But our under-sink area is much more tolerable, so I'll take it.

By the way, I LOVE using up stash fabric. It's like using up random or almost-old ingredients in a smorgasbord dinner... like finally finishing a jar of tomato sauce, or half of a bell pepper or like some weird condiment you bought on a whim one time. Use. It. Up.

zen, baby

Forgot to tell you! There are now Yoga Mat Slings for sale in the Etsy shop. Loosen the loops, slip your mat in & you'll be on your way.

saturday shoes

So I DID find a lake and brought my SPF & some magazines & sun tea. Only cost: Mom made me wear water shoes. Fair enough.

is this... summer?

I can't remember the last time that our forecast looked like this. Especially during this particularly cool summer of rain and clouds. 90s?! (Too hot for me but at least it's summery.) Sun?! NO RAIN?! So strange, so strange. I fit in my long run earlier this morning, but now I'm thinking I need to find a lake and set myself up there with SPF, magazines and sun tea.

i love me a quiche

A Spinach Quiche

Ingredients:

• frozen pie crust, thawed
• 1/2 to 2/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup spinach, cooked
• 2 tbsp chopped onion
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• two eggs
• 2/3 cup half & half or milk
• fresh sage & rosemary (or other herbs to your liking)
• salt and pepper
• a dash of paprika

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Grease up a 9" pie plate and unroll your pie crust into it.
3. Layer half of your allotted mozzarella on the bottom.
4. Saute the onion and garlic until soft. Add in the spinach.
5. Plop spinach mixture into pie crust.
6. Beat the two eggs and half & half together. Add in fresh herbs and seasoning. Pour egg mixture over the spinach.
7. Top with the remaining cheese.
8. Sprinkle with paprika if you'd like.
9. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until Clean Toothpick Time.
10. Serve warm or at room temperature.

(Adapted from/inspired by a photocopy of a page from one of mom's cookbooks.)

troy recap & sneak peek

Great weather. Cute booth assistant. New farmer's market shorts. Lovely borrowed booth display props from Mom. Top Model Fiona. Craft apron that matches my new clutch. Slow first half, busy second half. Back home by mid-afternoon for a nap, a never-ending twilight run around our Capitol, pasta dinner & then a date night.

You know we took more pictures, and that you can find them at flickr. I shouldn't even have to tell you anymore.

i know hot dogs are gross, but...

Here's something you don't see a lot of on here. A meat-topped meat dinner entree.

Well we may roast our veggie kebabs and prance around with pounds of tomatoes and squash and eggplant but every once and awhile we like to indulge in some meaty, fleshy foods. Like this here Michigan.

I had never heard of a Michigan before the boy so kindly introduced me (come on folks, the FOOD not the STATE-- obviously I know Michigan the State and can also list through the 49 others in alphabetical order thanks to a particularly irksome song we had to sing in middle school (anyone know the tune? bonus points if you do)).

According to its Wikipedia page (so it must be true):

"a Michigan hot dog or, 'Michigan', is a steamed hot dog on a steamed bun topped with a meaty sauce, generally referred to as 'Michigan Sauce'... [they] can be served with or without chopped onions. If served with onions, the onions can either be buried under the sauce, under the hotdog itself, or sprinkled on top... Michigans are a particular favorite in the North County of New York State, and have been so for many decades."

So there you have it. A hot dog with a meaty sauce. Meat-topped mystery meat. Breakfast of champions. As Michigan sauce recipes are highly guarded and also seeing as we used a spice mix purchased in the aforementioned North Country of New York State that does not list individual ingredients, I'm not really qualified to provide a recipe. But trust that they are hot doggy, meaty goodness that you only slightly regret eating afterward but that you feel pretty wrong about eating two days in a row. Trust.

(I'm working through a bit of a backlog on flickr updates this week. Stay tuned for a Troy market recap tomorrow and an Etsy update announcement later this week.)

farmer's market shorts

So I'm pretty excited about wheeling out some of my goodies and hanging out in Troy tomorrow. Partly because I think anything so close to the Troy Farmers Market must be pretty boss, partly because I've got this inventory surplus here leftover from an abandoned early summer show and partly because I will definitely perhaps maybe probably wear my newly appointed Farmer's Market Shorts there.

(Isn't my stance here kind of funny? Looks like I've got the Bow Leg. Also maybe the Pigeon Toe, if you could see my feet. Ah, lovely.)

A few weeks ago I scored a pair of jeans on super-clearance at an already discounted thrifty consignment shop. For $2. They cost less than the Buffalo Chicken Wrap I intend to to eat tonight. They had crazy flared bottoms that were hyper-"distressed" aka splattered with bleach and purposefully wrinkled with an industrial iron. And, of course, about a foot too long for me. I promptly cut them off a few inches above the knee and have been in love ever since.

And they are perfect for a few hours at an outdoor market.

troy market, this saturday

Welcome to the land of plenty.

Visit us IN PERSON (Live! Unplugged! Like You've Never Seen Before!) this Saturday, August 8 at the Tight Knit! Market Saturday in downtown Troy, New York. We'll be hawking our wares from 10am-2pm alongside all sorts of coolsters including the food growers of the Troy Farmer's Market. More details are available, of course, over at the website.

PS- I should mention that we'll have some goods you've never even seen before-- you'll have to stop by to view for yourself! Also expect a long overdue Etsy update in the coming weeks.