Banana Bread

So my chemise still isn't done. Trust me, I know those pearls aren't going to sew themselves on. But all the lace is attached! So you will just have to wait until tonight, I'm sorry.

In the mean time, here's that banana bread recipe to appease you.

 Preheat oven to 350*
2 c. all purpose flour
1 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
Mix these three ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.  

1/2 c. butter (should be very soft, I let mine sit in a metal bowl on the stove while it preheats)
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 1/2 t. vanilla (you should make your own vanilla. no excuses. it's super easy and 100% better)
Mix these in the largest of the three bowls you will use. Should be a dark sloppy paste when it is mixed.

2 beaten eggs
4 mashed over ripe bananas
(1/2 c. nuts or more, should you feel the need, I don't)

Once you've beaten your eggs, add them to the butter, brown sugar mixture. Stir well, then add the mashed bananas. Mix again. On the final add in, in goes the flour mixture. Don't over mix, you should be stirring just to moisten all the ingredients together. Once that's done, in it goes to your bread pan, a 9" works great, we just use our terrine pan. Throw it in the oven and set a timer for 30 minutes. Turn it after that, then keep an eye on it (check every ten) until you can stick a butter knife down the middle and have it come out clean.

Side note on making your own vanilla:
You need; vodka and three vanilla beans, oh, and a ball jar. That's it.
Fill ball jar with vodka until almost at the top, then add vanilla beans. Do not cut up beans or scrape out seeds. Put away in a cool dark spot for 3 months then try to remain calm. Your world will change in three months. Count down the days. Seriously, you should be looking for an epic recipe (like the one above for instance) to celebrate with while you count down the days on your Google calender.When those three longs months have passed, it's done! You can strain it, but we just leave all that vanilla-gritty goodness all in the jar and measure out what we need.


No need to thank me, but I've just changed your life.
 

Weekend Recap

Alright, it shames me to admit, but several things just did not happen over the weekend. The two main things being the Blessing of the Animals and finishing my Think Pink project. But I am so close! I'll finish tonight and get pictures up by tomorrow morning, I promise. And it looks so good you'll forgive me; I'm sure of it. I'm all assembled, and just have to finish the hand sewing bits.

And the reason I didn't accomplish either of the items mentioned above? Mike and I went out of town for the day on Sunday and didn't get home till late last night. Hooray Day Trip!! Our friends invited us on a hike, a picnic, and then to go apple picking since they had a rental car for the weekend. Who are we to resist such an invitation?

We hiked up Mount Tammany in New Jersey, it's about a two and a half mile loop. Of death. The view was great once we got to the top, but I'm clearly not cut out to be a hiker, everyone else seemed fine. I felt so guilty being at the end of the line the whole time that I was hurrying to catch up and just didn't enjoy myself on the way up or down. But for those 10 minutes at the top it was wonderful. Here's a shot of the Delaware Water Gap from the top.

Beautiful! We were standing there watching hawks soar below us. It was wonderful to get out of the big apple for the day.

Speaking of the big apple, wait till you see how many apples we brought home with us! Later this week we have plans for a pie and the rest will become apple butter. We bought about 35 pounds, enough to fill a boat and tote bag from L.L. Bean (don't worry, our bag isn't monogrammed, we're not those kind of people).

And here's a photo of the always dashing Mike, pulling double duty as picker and bag carrier while I waste time taking photos. We stopped at Longmeadow Orchard in Hope, NJ. The apples at this orchard were really sad. In the past three years we've been picking in the area, we've never seen them with this much blight and worms. I've been reading about how bad a year it's been with all the rain and the hurricane damaging crops, but I hadn't seen it first hand yet. It's so unfortunate. Our CSA announced this past week that they wouldn't be offering winter shares this year due to the weather. I guess when root vegetables get too much rain too fast they rot really quickly once they hit storage. So no winter CSA for us.

Oh well, so now to close this post with some good news! We also made banana bread last night! The change your morning kind, which I might be enjoying at this very moment and it's helping me keep a positive outlook on this rather early Monday morning. Maybe a picture and recipe to follow this evening? We'll see how far I get on my project first!

Think Pink Teaser

Okay, as promised here's my inspirational photo, which I can proudly say Mike saw and told me it was rather sexy (lucky him, right?!). After taking this picture, I decided my project needed something extra. So I stopped in the garment district on my way to meet up with the Sew Weekly crowd for dinner and picked up some really nice black lace to help kill the massive amount of pink.

I'm all cut out and ready to assemble this weekend, I'm hoping I can get everything finished by Sunday night. Look who's helping me out already!

Gotcha Morelle. Look at her "who me?" face. It's like she hears my patterns rustling in the wind and comes running, only to sit on whatever project I want to be working on. It's impressive, really.

And most importantly, I had a WONDERFUL time at dinner tonight with the Sew Weekly group! It was great to meet everyone and hear everyone's real voice! Thanks to all for great conversation and for splitting that bottle of sparkling wine! Oh! And least I forget, I also walked away with a pattern left over from the swap they had that afternoon. I'll have to move it to the front of my to-do list in honor of our evening out.

Now I'm back home with Mike, who informs me that even though he had hamburgers for dinner, he had whiskey afterward so he's safe to kiss! I don't eat red meat or pork, so he usually cooks those items when I'm not around to complain. But seriously, why cook it if I can't eat it?!

Au Revior for now! (That was for you Oona and Vicki, and I want you both to know I spelled it "avoir" before I realized that was the verb "to have" and had to look up the correct spelling.)

Friday Excitement

Good morning!!

I have 423 things to be excited about today, but I'm only going to tell you about three of them, and quickly since I still have to get ready for work!

1. Tonight I'm getting together with the Sew Weekly hits NYC crowd for dinner! I can't wait to meet everyone and see what they are all wearing.

2. It's FRIDAY! That alone is exciting all by its self.

3. Inspiration struck last night like a hot iron on fabric. I have my first challenge cut out and a plan in my mind. Let's see if I can pull it together this weekend, shall we? My teaser for you: pink (duh, right?), pearls, gold chain and a ton of hand sewing. I would have a photo of my palette for you, but I need to recharge my phone first. Maybe later?

I'm sure it's the coffee talking at this point, but I just realized, I need to wear something fabulous and homemade today since I'm meeting up with everyone! Crap. Now it's off to hunt in the closet, wish me luck! 

Blessing of the Animals

So my plans to head upstate this weekend and go apple picking may have to hit the back burner.

As it turns out, this Sunday is the annual festival service of the Blessing of the Animals at St. John the Divine (the giant cathedral on 110th st). I think Morelle cat could really use some blessing, since I'm sure her nine lives are close to being up. Or I might just do her in myself if she gets her paw stuck under the fridge again...

Here's what the website says about it: Visitors can expect to see a great variety of animals process up the nave, including a yak, a tortoise, baby swans, and a macaw. Directly after the service, Cathedral Clergy will be available for blessings at the Fair on the Close. The Fair’s themes – celebration of Creation, compassion, and faithful stewardship of the Earth– align with the vision and work of this beloved Saint.

The service starts at 11:00 am and the Fair is at 1:00. I don't know if we can go to the service since there are no more advanced passes left, but the fair sounds like an adventure I don't think this household can miss!








I found the picture on http://harlembespoke.blogspot.com/2011/09/see-blessing-of-animals-at-st-john.html from a past blessing. I really want to see some crazy animals! Where do you keep a camel in this city?!

Shameless!

Consider this a shameless self plug, and a helpful kick in the pants for me.

I've also got a digital portfolio of sorts I'm working on. You can find it here on tumblr:  www.svojta.tumblr.com Feel free to poke around, there are some pretty cool projects I've worked on over the years. And if I know people are looking at it, I might actually finish updating it sometime soon.

Let me know what you think, or if you have any ideas to help with the look of things.

 

Bias Cut Beauty

My most recent project has involved this little number. (Modeled by me, the last time I wore it; which may have been a good two years ago to a Kentucky Derby party in DUMBO.)

Which is the problem; the last time I wore this dress was two years ago! Don't get me wrong, I've tried it on since then, with the idea being to wear it out of the apartment. But I never make it that far. You see, the dress just doesn't fit that well and I don't really like the design of the bodice. I found it while thrifting (for only $4! and it's made by Jcrew, whom I adore and can't afford normally.) in the lower east side one sunny afternoon and couldn't resist, even though it's two sizes too big.

So my Sunday afternoon solution? Turn it into a skirt! I simply love the fabric and the fact that the skirt is cut on the bias. I'm rather bias obsessed at the moment, it just drapes so lovely and looks so nice, I don't know why more skirts aren't cut that way.























And here we are!

My updated, beautiful skirt!

A close up and the not quite as glamorous "model shot" as I would like. If you like those awkward photos people take of themselves, this is the blog for you! I could have asked Mike to take it for me, but that means having to overcome my embarrassment at wanting to pose in the following ways.

On a side note, aren't those shoes great?!!?


To turn this lack luster dress (with an invisible zipper in the side seam) into a skirt, I simply seam ripped out the zipper until I was an inch below the waist seam, where the skirt was sewn to the bodice; then removed the bodice from the skirt. I cut up the bodice fabric to make the waistband (matching stripes mind you, I hate when projects look homemade) and used the cotton lining of the dress as the lining for my waistband. Over all it took about 2 hours, since the waistband is three pieces and the lining is in four to keep my grain straight. I interfaced the waistband, understitched so you wouldn't see the lining (which is white, the same color as the stripes) and was good to go! The best thing about this project (aside from how cute it looks) is that I was able to leave the zipper in the side and just cut it down to fit inside my waistband!