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From tumblr of La Belle Dame Sans Merci

recycled art: dictionary paper

Enamored with these prints on recycled dictionary paper. So enamored that I got myself four of 'em as a late xmas present to me. You can find them here and right now if you buy three, you get one free! I had a hard time choosing just four.

speaking of xmas, one last thing.

Looking through some of last year's pictures, I ran across these.
This was my Christmas last year, Curacao 2009.
I post these pictures as a contrast to the snowy picture in the previous post. Also, because I like remembering the warmth and my time with these lovely ladies.





So much has happened since then!

the day after xmas

It started snowing yesterday, and even though I don't like snow, it was pretty. Also, I can't help getting a teensy bit excited for snow because Rusty loves it so. Here he is on the balcony taking a break from his snow dance/prance.

This Christmas season, more than anything else, I am truly grateful for my family - original family, new family, new husband. We had both sides come together, there was good food, we had a tree, there was snow, and there was presents. For some reason I just couldn't get into the holly-jolly, red-and-green razzle dazzle, jingle bells kind of spirit this year, but who cares? I am so grateful and I am at peace, and that's really all that matters.

website of the week: the sartorialist

To take a quick break from christmas-related posts, I thought I'd share about one of my favorite blogs, the Sartorialist. It is a blog by Scott Schuman, fashion photographer, who takes photos of fashion on the streets of big cities around the world. The photos are interesting, eye-opening, inspirational, and timely. Sometimes there is a story. For me, this blog is mostly about abstract inspiration and attitude. Like Schuman says, its not about trying to imitate what you see, its about thinking of contrast and color and shape and texture, and maybe being inspired in a total different direction.

Being inspired influences the way you feel about yourself, as well as your self-expression.







This is what Schuman says about what he is trying to do:

"I thought I could shoot people on the street the way designers looked at people, and get and give inspiration to lots of people in the process. My only strategy when I began The Sartorialist was to try and shoot style in a way that I knew most designers hunted for inspiration. Rarely do they look at the whole outfit as a yes or no but they try and look for the abstract concepts of color, proportion, pattern mixing or mixed genres. I’m always really happy when I meet a designer and hear that they use some of my photos for their inspiration boards. At the same time I’m also really touched when I get emails from everyday people who say they have been inspired to see themselves and others in a new and usually more accepting way. "






If you scroll back far enough you can see posts that where he shares old vintage photos that readers have sent in of their fashionable grandparents and great-grandparents. LOVE.



Pictures from the Sartorialist.

DYI ornaments

A few weeks ago there was an ornament exchange at the Clinch parlor. All the attendees made 15 of their own ornaments and then brought them to the exchange to trade amongst ourselves. End result: a variety of really cool hand-made ornaments to take home. I made my ornaments out of glittery yarn, tacky glue, spray mount and balloons. A little messier than I'd expected, but it was an easy process. 1. Blow up small balloons, wrap yarn all around it, secure the ends of the yarn and then apply watered down glue all over the balloon and yarn. 2. Once it dries, apply another coat of glue, pop the balloon and remove it from the center. 3. Apply spray mount and then dry until hardened.

peppermint bark

Making peppermint bark at home was fun and surprisingly easy. It turns out the hardest thing about peppermint bark is getting the materials together because they may not be things that you usually have laying about the house. There are variations of this recipe but I chose the simplest version and they turned out great. Materials: wax or parchment paper, a double boiler, white chocolate pieces, peppermint extract and lots of candy canes. I melted the chocolate, added a few drops of peppermint extract and pieces of crushed candy cane, and then poured the mixture onto parchment paper on a cookie sheet. It went in the fridge for 45 minutes and then I broke the hardened chocolate into wedges. So pepperminty, so delicious. The most taxing part of the whole process was probably getting that piece cloth to stay on top of the jar while I tied a ribbon around it.

we-are-married christmas tree

This is our first Christmas as married people, and that is pretty much what motivated both of us to get our butts out there and finally get a tree. I guess being married itself isn't a reason to get all glitzy for Christmas, but it is a good reason to start traditions. We settled on a small to medium-sized tree, 5-6 ft tall, and had a super easy time transporting it back to the house. My personal favorite thing about a christmas tree is the idea that it is considered perfectly normal to haul a live TREE into your house. I love that. Ken's favorite thing about a christmas tree is the party atmosphere.

In regards to decorating the tree, Ken thought we should go with blue lights and somewhat of a blue-ish theme, inspired by our friend's xmas tree last year which was topped with a blue Father Christmas (the original Clause wore blue, apparently). I wanted something special for our tree topper, so when I found the pair of peacocks at an art store- eureka!

My most favorite thing about the tree is that almost all of the ornaments are handmade. I had made ornaments out of glittery yarn and glue, kind of in the shape of an egg, and when I put them all up I realized that it looks like the peacocks are laying gold and silver eggs down our tree.

an ode to tomatoes, and its sauce.

The tomato.

Picture from smittenkitchen.

I thoroughly appreciate good italian tomato sauce. And I love a good home-cooked italian spaghetti, when its done right. When it's not, the whole dish can taste like watery ketchup carb-dump. So when I realized this past year that I can try my own hand at making tomato sauce, I indulged. I adore tomatoes and I like cooked tomatoes even more. When I was in Seoul during the winter a few years ago, in order to help combat the bone-chilling cold, I used to boil a tomato (place whole tomato in 1/3 cup of water and boil) until it got soft and sprinkle some sugar on it to eat as a warm snack. K. thought it was strange, but it is oh-so delicious. Also, tomato sauce is one of the best platform to simmer all sorts of different kinds of spices and flavors, and when you get the combination right it can be heavenly. Paired with a good Cabernet, I'm all set.

The sauce.

Before I go into how I personally make my tomato sauce on a regular basis, I want to share from whence I evolved my philosophy about tomato sauce. Not too long after my affair with cooked tomatoes, a friend told me about this concept of cooking with three basic ingredients from a great book by Marcella Hazan, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. This book is basically the Italian counterpart to Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I could harp about both, but the relevant thing to note here is that Hazan suggests a recipe so delightfully simple I had to try it immediately.

Picture from smittenkitchen.

The recipe calls for three ingredients. That's right, THREE. Tomato, butter, and onion. It's like something out of a magic book. How can that make sauce? And yet it does. Put tomatoes (28 oz of whole peeled tomatoes from can, San Marzano, if you can find them), 5 tablespoons of unsalted butter, and 1 medium-sized (peeled and halved) yellow onion into a saucepan over medium heat. Bring sauce to high simmer, then lower the heat to keep the sauce at a low simmer for about 45 minutes. Stir occasionally, crushing the tomatoes with a wooden spoon. Remove from heat, discard the onion (or not) and enjoy over pasta. That's it!



As simple as it was, the sauce truly was delicious. Apparently, the butter and the juice of stewed onion is all it takes to transform tomatoes to something velvety and lush. You get to really enjoy the tomato for what it is, and you also get to enjoy how easy it was to make it. The taste of the sauce manages to remind you of how fresh and sweet tomatoes are in the summer, while being so appropriate for the winter when canned tomatoes abound.

What this sauce taught me was that tomato sauce has to be about amplifying the wonderful depth of a tomato. I have since then tried all sorts of different things with my sauce, but here I'll share the steps I usually take to put it together. For me, onion and garlic are key, and I add in the meat because meat is key for the husband.



I always start by sauteing garlic and onion. Then I brown whatever meat I am using. Ground beef is okay to use, but italian sausage is my favorite. I think it goes better with the tomato sauce and adds a lot of flavor. Ideally, I would mix half spicy and half sweet italian sausage together.

Then I work on the sauce. I start by mixing whatever combination of tomatoes I have on hand. A mixture of regular tomato sauce, diced canned tomatoes and tomato paste is usually standard, but I always like being able to add cut-up pieces a fresh tomato or smooshing peeled plum tomatoes into the mix. After bringing it to a gentle boil, I let it simmer and start adding in all of the spices. Some salt and pepper, a couple of basil leaves, a little bit of sugar, small dashes of the red pepper and parsley flakes, maybe a little bit of oregano, and a dash of olive oil - tasting as I go. In the spirit of experimentation, other things I've tried adding are bacon bits, beef bouillion, and wine. I add in the cooked garlic-onion-meat and continue to let it simmer so that all the flavors can mix in together. Usually I also like to add in a vegetable if we have it around - my favorite is zucchini. Coat some cooked pasta or spaghetti with the sauce, sprinkle some grated parmesan cheese, and voila!

The meatball.

Yesterday, I decided to try another variation by trying my hand at making meatballs, for the first time. I found a pretty basic recipe and modified it a bit. I first mixed 2 eggs, 1 cup of Romano and Parmesan cheese, 2 cloves of garlic, and salt and pepper together in a bowl. I toasted 6 pieces of white bread and made 1.5 cups of bread crumbs and added it into the mixture. I then put 1 lb of ground beef and 1 lb of ground pork into a separate bowl, and added in the breadcrumb mixture. I mixed the meat with my hands (because using a fork or spoon for too long makes the meat stringy) while slowing adding 1 cup of lukewarm water. Adding water might seem strange, but it makes the meatball really juicy. The mixture should be moist, but the consistency should be so that you can form a ball of meat.

I got a saucepan hot with olive oil, and placed the meatballs into the pan. You have to watch the meatballs to make sure they get cooked and browned on each side (i used a spider to rotate the meatballs). Once they were appropriately brown on the outside, I stuck them in the oven at 375 degrees for about 5-19 minutes to make sure they cooked all the way through. After they were done, I placed them into the 3-ingredient tomato sauce to simmer and served over spaghetti.

The meatballs turned out tasty- slightly crispy on the outside, moist on the inside and melted cheese in the in-between. These meatballs may make another appearance in another non-tomato dish.

xmas gift idea: Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl was and is one of my favorite authors, so I think its great that Harper Collins Publishing have these unabridged audiobooks available, which have apparently won Grammy Awards. The Roald Dahl Audio CD Collection would make a fantastic Christmas gift for anyone who loves these stories. This particular collection has five of his stories, read by the author himself.

fancy green beans

We are always looking for new ways to eat our vegetables so I was happy to come across Paula Dean's recipe for fancy green beans. It's tasty, delicious and easy! And yes, bacon is involved.



2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 pounds fresh green beans
2 slices bacon
1/2 cup red bell pepper strips
1/2 cup thin onion wedges
1/2 cup whole cashews or sliced almonds


In a small bowl, stir together the teriyaki sauce, honey, and butter.

Fill a bowl with cold water and ice cubes.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the lemon juice. Drop in the beans and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, or until beans are bright green. Drain the beans in a colander and then plunge them into the iced water. Drain again and set aside.

In a skillet, cook the bacon until very crispy, crumble and set aside. Saute the bell pepper and onion in the hot bacon fat for 2 minutes. Add the beans, cashews, and bacon to the skillet. Add the teriyaki-honey sauce and toss gently.

Thinking of summer

As much as I love Christmas, I do not love winter and I do not love the cold. Yes, it is snowing today but I am sorry to say I am not excited, and it just makes me anxious for summer even more. I will do a season-appropriate post soon but in the meanwhile, an hommage to summer via athingfor with lovely inspiring photographs:




1. [Monte Carlo and Cap Martin, Monaco (Riviera)] (LOC),
2. April - abstract oil painting byYangyang Pan
3. Fabio Bartelt,
4. Postcard From Paris



1. Summer, please return by Irene Suchocki,
2. Flowers from Tea, Butterflies & Friends' flickr photostream,
3. Tim Walker for Vogue UK Jan 2007 see more @[d]r via Vive Le Chic! ,
4. Home by Simon Whitmore

so, it's back to studying again.

Even though it is the. suck. that I have to take the bar again, praise Jesus for the way that things have fallen into place enough that I can do round two with a peace of mind. This time around, I'm changing up the study method so that I end up doing most of my learning through practice tests. Let this be the way.

To give me further peace of mind, I put up some old and new pictures I found recently on the wall next to the desk. They are pretty pictures and I like to look at them.



From upper left: Grandpa, mom and dad, dad's sisters, baby me at picnic, husband and me dancing.

winter pick-me-ups

I get slightly more excited about all things gold and silver glitter during the holiday season which is why sephora's "It looks like rain, dear" nail polish by OPI is my favorite right now. It goes on great and helps keep me in a festive mood.



Another current favorite is a polish with a reddish hue by Sonia Kashuk found at Target. Its a great shade of deep red, but its the name that makes me love it - "STOP WHINING". Perfect.



From the fancy to the practical, here's a quick shout-out to the things that help my skin survive the winter cold. My skin freaks out when the temperature drops below 40, and these are some of the things that have soothed its drying/cracking hysteria.

1) Kiehl's Ultimate Strength Salve for hands
2) Eucerin's Calming Creme for body
3) Burt's Bees Chapstick for lips
4) Neosporin's Lip Health Overnight Renewal Therapy, if you need extra mojo for chapped lips.
5) Gap's basic leggings for extra layering

poached egg.

Poached egg made and eaten about five minutes before writing this post. Egg topped with pinch of salt, shredded parm, olive oil and oregano.


I am a fan of eggs in general, but there is something really special about a poached egg. I love the idea of it, the asthetics of it, and the way that it compliments their particular dishes so perfectly. A poached egg is probably one of the more healthy ways to eat an egg because there is no salt, butter or oil involved in the process of cooking it. The idea of a simple food that is solid on the outside and liquid on in the inside is glorious to me. I don't know, something about the casing of a liquid, the delicate simplicity, etc. Plus, I personally enjoy all the poached egg pairings: eggs benedict, eggs florentine, eggs st. charles, or poached eggs on any kind of hash. Yum.

I have never made a poached egg before and for some reason had always assumed it would be wildly difficult. You know, one of those things left to serious chefs. But today, I ventured the task and found it to be very do-able and fun, in an obsessive kind of way. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that in this kind of a task, you either end up with a poached egg or you don't. It's hard to be an in-between poached egg, so when you successfully make a perfectly poached egg, it feels marvelous, as if you'd accomplished something grand.

Inspired by a food blog (paul and sharon's) entry about shrimp hash, I decided to make some hash of my own with slightly different ingredients. I sauteed chopped onions, garlic, and potato in olive oil until the potatoes were cooked, and then added in shallots, sweet corn, ham and avocado at the last minute. I then went about making the poached egg to top the dish.


Basic ingredients for hash, and for most of my favorite dishes in general: garlic, onion, potato, avocado, green onion.

Along with urban provincial's advice about the how-to, I looked up some more articles before I ventured a try. First, bring a saucepan or small pot with 2/3 of water to a medium-level boil. Don't let the water boil violently because it will most likely wreck the egg. Try to use a fresh egg because apparently, the fresher the egg, the better they poach. If you happen to catch an egg right as the chicken hatches it, you will have a much easier time. Otherwise, adding a little bit of vinegar to the hot water will help the egg stay together. Second, crack the egg into a separate bowl. Once the water is at a moderate boil, take a spoon and stir the center of the pot in order to cool it down just a tad and slip the egg into the water. Third, use a spider to handle the egg and maybe even hold it in the water while it cooks. The whites of the egg will eventually come together and cook. After about three minutes, take it out and enjoy!

I plopped the poached egg on top of the hash and drizzled it with some texas pete hot sauce. Delicious! Will definitely be making variations of this dish while practicing my poaching skills.