Little Sickie

Our dog has Pancreatitis*. This really doesn't have anything to do with anything, but here's a picture of our little sickie, who has been confined to the kitchen (which you will understand if your dog has ever had Pancreatitis). Abby made Yukon a sign with says "No Yukon**" to remind him that he can't leave the kitchen.


Today has been a long day. Using the steam carpet cleaner before 8:00 am is usually a good indicator that the day will be bad. I'm looking forward to Nick getting home in about an hour and then I can start cooking dinner, which is relaxing for me.


I'm also getting ready to start my next project, which is going to be a Quiet Book for one of my friend's daughters.


Hopefully all of you are having better days than me.

*Who knew dogs could get Pancreatitis--apparently it's very common.
**The sign has all the correct letters for Yukon's name, just not in the right order. She did know how to write "no" all by herself, which I find impressive as she hasn't started kindergarten.

What's for Dinner?

I spilled Diet Coke (it just splashed, so "spilled" is perhaps exaggerating) and it ruined the computer keyboard earlier tonight, so Nick went and got a new keyboard. It is one of those curved ergonomic ones and it's really hard to type on. I feel like I'm having to re-learn to type.

Anyway, I've been meaning to post this week's menu. This week isn't anything spectacular. I'm not in a fancy cooking mood and many things seem to be conspiring against me and have been delaying dinner. This week is more simple, but still has some family favorites.

Sunday
Salt & Pepper Pork Chops
Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Garden Green Beans

Monday
Giant dinner salad with my home made dressing
Fresh baked baguette (that I made myself and was very proud of)

Tuesday
Hamburgers
Corn on the Cob
Sauteed Mushrooms
Tater Tots
(not my best night)

Wednesday
Seven Layer Taco Casserole (from The Frugal Chef http://thefrugalchef.com/2009/03/seven-layer-taco-casserole/)
Fruit Salad
If you've never looked at it, I'd check out The Frugal Chef website. She has a ton of recipes to look at and you can also sign up for a weekly email with a new recipe

Thursday
Leftover Seven Layer Taco Casserole
Fruit Salad or Green Salad

Friday
Ziti with Spinach, Cherry Tomatoes and Gorgonzola Sauce (from Cooking Light, September 2008)
Green Salad

Saturday
Eggs Baked on a Bed of Sauteed Mushrooms and Croutons (from Weeknight Kitchen with Lynne Rossetto Kasper, March 5, 2008)

Much of my dinner issues this week has to do with this really nasty road construction near my house--it keeps making me late. Also I am feeling extra lazy this week. Hopefully next week I will feel more inspired.

Pressies

I finished up these personalized tote bags for my best friend's children and now they are all packed up and ready to go across the sea. After that, they will be driving to France. These bags will be well traveled soon!

I had a lot of fun making these--I'm not sure which is my favorite. I love the way the car turned out for James', but I also love Katie's flowers, Emily's butterfly and the soccer ball (which was so hard to draw) on Ben's.

These will be available as a custom order item in my Etsy shop: http://www.giupettos.etsy.com/. Come and visit me.

Now I'm off to the Post Office!

First (and probably last) Green Beans

This year I started my garden from seeds, planted in tiny newspaper pots (which I made myself). All the little seedlings lived on the dining room table, which gets the best light, from mid-March to mid-May. This was my first attempt at starting from seeds. I did something wrong, though. A lot of my seedlings died during the transplanting process, so I started new seeds outside in the containers. My green beans were my pride and joy, though, as they didn't die and it looked like we were going to get TONS of green beans. I had looked into canning vs. freezing and everything. I had been watching them to see when I should pick them, and I had decided that yesterday was the day. When I went outside though, I saw a tragedy. In about a 24 period some creature ate holes through almost all of the leaves. It ate a lot of the green beans and ate holes in the green beans that it didn't eat. These are the the sad, remaining green beans (which we ate anyway--and they were good). I looked for the creature, but it appears to have eating my green beans and moved on. I also looked for something on all my other plants, and thus far, everything looks okay. It was a sad day for green beans, though. This is why you shouldn't count your green beans before they are ripe--I think that I cursed them with looking into the canning/freezing options.


Moving on from the green beans.... I have been making these little bags for my best friend's 4 children. Three out of the four have their birthday's in August, so this year I decided that everyone gets their present at the same time. They are getting ready for vacation, so I'm making each child a little themed bag and am filling it up with art supplies and treats for the trip. (I used some of Abby's creatures for photography proposes.) They are driving to France.* (They live in Wales, so driving to France is an option and actually they are taking a ferry boat across the English Channel.) The trip should take them 13 hours, so new toys are always appreciated. I'm thinking about offering these little bags as a custom item in my Etsy store. I'll take pictures of all four of the bags together once I finish the last one.


*I love saying "my best friend is driving to France. I've been working it into as many conversations as possible.

I am the Birkenstock Contessa

Opa! I am the Birkenstock Contessa!!! One of my favorite things about having my blog is that I can take pictures of the food that I make.* Tonight's dinner was Spanakopita from the Barefoot Contessa's (Ina Garten) new cookbook "Back to Basics." I was so proud of how mine turned out that I had to take a picture with the cookbook. They were also REALLY tasty**. We had homemade Greek yogurt with fruit and honey, instead of a salad, but we kept with the whole Greek theme. If you like Spanakopita, give these a try.

Now back to making a soccer ball applique out of felt for my best friend's son's birthday present. Soccer balls*** are really hard to do out of felt, especially when you can't draw. Hopefully Ben's bag will be done soon and I'll post pictures.

*I don't think that my family truly appreciates pictures of what I made for dinner. Perhaps you don't appreciate it either, but I'm proud of myself.

**As they should be given the amount of butter and cheese that they contain.

***Or footballs, since he is in Wales

What's for Dinner?

I hope that everyone had a great Fourth Day of July!* Abby is spending this week with Nick's parents, so I'm just cooking for Nick and me this week. Here's this week's menu:

Monday
A feast of Trader Joe's frozen Indian Food and frozen Naan
I am feeling really lazy today, since we just got home last night. If you have a Trader Joe's near you, I would give the Indian Food a try.

Tuesday
Steak Frites with a Shallot Pan Reduction (from Cooking Light, September 2008)
Green Salad

Wednesday
Dinner Spanakopitas (from Back to Basics by Ina Garten)**
Greek Yogurt and Fruit

Thursday
Pan Bagna or THE BEST SANDWICH EVER (from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois)

Friday
Chicken Shawarma (from Cooking Light, July 2008)
Chopped Vegetable Salad
Greek Yogurt with Honey

Saturday
Honey Glazed Spiced Pork Chops with Chipolte Mashed Sweet Potatoes (adapted from The Most Decadent Diet Ever by Devin Alexander)
Green Salad

On anther note, the Pointy Kitties were a big hit with Baby Natalie and I did get a bag made to use as wrapping paper. I made that in the car on the way to our Fourth Day of July celebrations and discovered that although I can't read in the car because it makes me sick, I can embroider. Our family all lives far away, so this will make for better car trips for me.

I'm starting a project this week that will go in Giupetto's Etsy store and that I'm also going to be giving to my best friend's kids for their birthdays--more on that later.

*"Fourth Day of July" is Abby's way of saying it and I think that it sounds a lot more festive.
**Yes, I was supposed to make these last week, but they didn't happen because I got a migraine that night.

Happy Birthday from Pointy Kitty

I decided to make Pointy Kitty for Natalie's first birthday. When I finished the first Pointy Kitty, he looked lonely, so I made him a little friend.

I love these guys--they are one of my favorite things now. I was excited to finally find something good to make out of the polka dot fabric that I bought as a remnant in February. I did all the sewing by hand, which was fun to do again. It was nice to take a machine break. I am thinking about making the Pointy Kitties a ball to play with. I'm also going to "wrap" them in a little tote bag for Natalie to carry her "babies" in.

If you want to make your own Pointy Kitty, you can find the pattern here: http://weewonderfuls.typepad.com/wee_wonderfuls/store/pointykitty.html