Pretty enough to eat!
little epiphanies
daydreams, discoveries, declarations, and design
Posts tagged DIY:
A rainbow of twine!
Twine may not be something you think you need, but I can assure you that once it’s in your house, you’ll find all kinds of uses for it. Hanging frames, wrapping presents, making a clothesline - twine does it all! And this lovely set of 8 colors of twine from Williams-Sonoma could only add to the possibilities. Christmas garlands, anyone?
Wall of Ball Jars
A Delicious & Eye-Opening Guide to Edible Flowers.
This is a great list of flowers to use in cooking, from violets to nasturtiums. Unlike other similar lists I’ve read, this one actually describes how each flower tastes, which I find fascinating. For example, did you know that johnny-jump-ups have a hint of wintergreen to them? I didn’t.
I have yet to try most of these blossoms, but I can recommend from experience adding a splash of rose water to your gin and tonic for a flowery twist. Orange blossom water works great, too.
I love this. I wonder if I could make one.
I’ve Discovered a Cure for Hiccups!
I am delighted to report that last night, I discovered that hiccups can be cured by ice cream. I know, it sounds too good to be true, but it isn’t.
I was in the midst of a rather schmancy night out with my bf at Chicago’s swanky Wicker Park hot spot the Violet Hour (which I always want to type as Violent Hour, which sounds like the worst bar in the world). Suddenly, I was overcome with a monstrous case of hiccups. This happens to me just about never. I am prone to the singular, rather loud hiccup, but never an unstoppable string of them. But there I was, trying to relax in my extra-high-backed armchair and sipping my delicious hot buttered rum, absolutely unable to control the squeals and honks coming from my throat. It was the worst. When our bartender came to check on us, I couldn’t even tell her how much I loved my two cocktails without sounding like a drunk in a cartoon.
Our cabdriver couldn’t help but laugh at me on our ride back to Lincoln Park, and when we pulled the ice cream out of the freezer at home, I was still hiccuping like a madwoman. Then it came to me. Maybe cold will freeze the spasms in my throat. I let my next bite of ice cream go down real slow, and lo and behold, it worked. Instantaneously! Not a single hiccup escaped me after that, I am happy to say.
I feel that it’s important to spread this bit of news to as many people as I can. It may be a cure that’s already out there, but it wasn’t one I’d heard of, and it sure beats the pants off the others, as far as deliciousness goes.
That’s right, Downton fans. Now we can all print out and play with our very own Dowager Countess paper doll with changeable facial expressions. We can act out the tension between Mary and Matthew, even deciding how severe Mary’s expression should be. The possibilities are endless with this (rather beautifully designed) set of paper dolls, which I am actually considering printing out. (I would suggest to anyone who does that they glue each sheet to cardboard before cutting out the dolls and their accessories, so that they can actually stand and the clothes don’t curl up. Man, I used to be really into paper dolls.)
My only worry is that Thomas’s bloody hand might fall off. But then again, doesn’t he deserve it?
Making popcorn in a plain old brown paper bag. It sounds so easy. And yet, we’ve all been fooled into buying boxes of folded up chemical sacks, the kind that smell great but leave a nasty film on the roof of your mouth. All this time, we could’ve been buying kernels, throwing them in a paper bag, and seasoning them ourselves! It was news to Jenna, who told me about it, it was news to me, and maybe it will be news to you.
Here’s a very simple recipe, which, as with all of my favorite recipes, involves a stapler.
Plain Brown Popper Recipe
Total Time: 8 min
Prep Time: 5 min
Cook Time: 3 min
Yield: 1 serving
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup good quality popcorn
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt or popcorn salt
- Sprinkle jalapeno seasoning mix
- Paper lunch bag
- Stapler
Directions:
Toss the popcorn with the olive oil, salt, and jalapeno seasoning mix in the paper bag. Fold the top of the bag over and staple the bag twice to close. Place the bag in the microwave and microwave on high for 2 minutes to 3 minutes, or until there are about 5 seconds between pops.
NOTE: Popcorn salt is a super-fine salt that is designed especially for sticking to food such as popcorn. It has the taste of regular table salt, but its granules are much finer.
(Source: foodnetwork.com)
