Category Archives: Crafting

May 10 2013
Leave a comment
Books, Cooking, Crafting, Food, Uncategorized

On Life-Changing Things

Do cute new aprons count as clothes?

So, as I’ve mentioned here before, I made a New Year’s resolution not to buy any books this year until I’ve read the books I already have. I’ve done pretty well sticking to that plan, although I still haven’t made my way through “Lipstick Traces.” But the doing without a constant stream of Amazon boxes has got me thinking.

Every time I think I *need* a book it’s because I think it will somehow alter my life in some amazing way. Sometimes that happens (see Patti Smith’s “Just Kids”). Other times, not so much (see Bez’s “Freaky Dancin’: Me and the Mondays”). The books keep piling up, and life pretty much keeps rolling along.

With the book habit off limits, my life-improvement habit might have turned to another passion — food. I’ve tried a variety of healthy eating plans with weird limitations or wacky ingredients, and none of them have ever stuck. But somehow, the bread-making hobby we started a while back has rubbed off on us all and we’ve been generally eating in a healthier, manageable way. (Generally! Please do not tote up the calories we consumed at Smorgasburg. And I didn’t even tell you about the eggs mayonnaise we had at Reynard!)

Before food, there was the craft-supply habit. There’s always some new tool that promises to be a game-changer or some great deal on a bag of assorted geegaws that are bound to come in handy. But there came a day when I realized that just trying to sort through and find the supplies for a new project was so exhausting that I didn’t even want to make anything. So I did a major de-stash and have been keeping all that pretty much in-check.

As I was pulling my Spring clothes out of storage the other day it occurred to me that I have taken to “fixing” my life with clothes of late. We all know that everything will fall into place if we find that one perfect jacket or pair of shoes. Right? But I’m afraid my poor closet will explode before I find that magic article, so I am making a late-year resolution to only buy something new when something old wears out.

In the meantime, I’m hoping the time I save hunting down various life-changing items can be put to better use actually doing something life-changing. Or maybe I’ll just spend it making another batch of tortillas.

Tagged , , , , ,
Feb 12 2013
Leave a comment
Crafting, Food, Restaurants, Travel

Feasting Before Fasting

If we drive to Buffalo for fresh paczki, can we justify a trip to NOLA for King Cake?

You probably already know it’s Fat Tuesday, the last hurrah of fatty feasting before the Lenten fast begins on Ash Wednesday. But you might not know it’s also Paczki Day!

If you’re of Polish descent or from a town with a strong Polish community, you’ve likely been celebrating Paczki Day long before I discovered the tradition. For the rest of you, dear readers, it breaks out like this: if you’re celebrating Mardi Gras, you eat King Cake. If you’re observing Paczki Day, you munch on paczki — Polish pastry filled with fruit preserves.

This year, we decided to observe both celebrations with a King Cake from Baker St. Bakery and “buttercream” paczki (pronounced “POONCH-key”) from a local grocery store.

While we enjoyed our treats, we found the King Cake a little underwhelming in the flavor department. And although the boxed paczki included some lore via a note from Herbert Holinko, the fellow who helped start Cincinnati’s Paczki Day tradition, they were no pre-feast a high note.

So, the consensus around here is that next year we’ll give making our own King Cake a stab. And since even the wonderful Polska Chata here in Rochester has their paczki shipped in from NYC, we’ll schedule a Buffalo run to Mazurek’s Bakery to give fresh paczki a try. I hear you can get paczki at Mazurek’s year-round if you visit on the right day!

Head Update

I finished The Head! The Headache was probably the most complex of the inserts, and it’s not quite firing on all cylinders. But I am resisting the instructions to “retire to a darkened room with a couple of aspirin” and instead beginning work on a paper maneki-neko.

Tagged , , ,
Feb 01 2013
Leave a comment
Cooking, Crafting, Restaurants

Cured

Making time for date night.

Visiting Cure.

Visiting Cure.

Date Night

It was a fairly quiet weekend in these parts. The Mister and I started out with a Friday date night. So often our going out focuses around a concert, which is always nice, but this evening we centered around plans to check out a new restaurant.

We started out with a stop at Joe Bean Coffee Roasters on University Ave. We had sampled their wares at the Brighton Farmers Market over the summer and were impressed by their simple brewing method and incredibly tasty results. I do have a tendency to pour cream in every cup, while the hubby touts his preference of “coffee-flavored coffee.” During our first stop at their booth, I took his advice and forewent the cream, and I’ve gotta say I didn’t miss it.

Anyway, Joe Bean was celebrating being a finalist in the Good Food awards by offering up samples from a bunch of other contestants and favorite local businesses, so we figured we’d check out their shop. The place was packed, but we did manage to sample some bourbon cask aged chocolate, a roasted cocoa bean still in its husk, and a pork sandwich topped with roasted root vegetables from The Good Food Collective. Plus we got to visit with one of our favorite local wine guys, Jerod fromLeonard Oakes Estate Winery.

We never made it around to see the Hedonist Chocolate folks (thank goodness my good friend had already hooked me up with a birthday gift supply) or the local bakeries who were there, but if attendance is any measure, this evening was a success for Joe Bean.

Next, we headed over to Cure at thePublic Market for dinner. We’re big fans of the market, and happy to see more things going on here. On evenings, during the latter part of the week, Cure takes over the Java’s coffee stand next to Flour City Bread Company to serve upFrench bistro fare and craft cocktails.

There’s a gritty, pop-up feel to the dimly lit place with its industrial lighting and rustic table of linens and supplies. The staff is hip and artfully dressed, but very approachable and attentive.

On the bummer side, the tables are pretty close, and we managed to have coughers on both sides, but that’s to be expected during the Winter months.

The food was served for sharing — tapas-style and tasty, ‘tho pricey. We were wowed by the marinated mussels and the accompanied Asian sesame oil-spiked slaw. The pear tart with salty caramel drew raves. The charcuterie plate was full of tiny delights, but we couldn’t help but think that we could put together a similar array at a fraction of the price with help from VM Giordano Imports European Cheese Shop down the way.

All-in-all Cure was a fun adventure. Here’s hoping they lead the way to more night time establishments popping up at the market!

Later…

Pretty as pie.

Pretty as pie.

The rest of the weekend, we spent around the house for the most part. The hubby worked on perfecting his homemade pizza crust and dished out a traditional pie on Saturday followed by a brilliant Hawaiian on Sunday. We all raised our glasses to the bread man, Chet Fery, in thanks for his help in learning how to make some killer crusts.

Head and shoulders.

Head and shoulders.

Meanwhile, I continued work on my head. I have the basic structure done. Now it’s on to the inserts. First up, the Vacuumist.

Picture credits for the glorious pie belong to the Mister.

Tagged , ,
Feb 01 2013
Leave a comment
Cooking, Crafting, Music

Sauced

Perfecting our pizza crust and playing with paper.

The Mister's tasty pizza.

The Mister’s tasty pizza.

I met my mother for a lovely lunch at the Highland Diner this past weekend. I used to live right around the corner from this Rochester landmark and spent many an evening there. The menu has changed quite a bit since those days, and I think the breakfast offerings are some of the best in the area. Mom and I both enjoyed the lobster eggs benedict — two poached eggs on English muffin halves with lobster, bacon, and hollandaise sauce with sides of fresh fruit and potatoes. The portions were so big I made two meals out of mine!

After lunch, we took a quick jaunt to Marianne’s Consignments. Marianne is a peach of a lady and her shop is always welcoming. I like meeting the other customers as much as I like the great bargains and cool vintage finds.

I once eavesdropped as Marianne and a spunky senior citizen discussed the virtues of cashmere. “Well, I’m off to Montreal for an anarchist book fair!” my fellow shopper declared as she left the shop.

Father John Misty.

Father John Misty.

Saturday night, the Mister and I headed out to the Club at Water Street to see Father John Misty. I knew we were in for an interesting ride when I saw the band passing around a bottle of Knob Creek as the show began.

Lead singer Josh Tillman was all lanky, swiveling hips and sweet twisted lyrics, leaving many a gal in the audience weak in the knees. The brazen flirting from the crowd was over the top even for a rock and roll front man“You can finger pick me!” one gal called out. But Tillman was quick to notice that his requests for a handkerchief to daub at the stitches on his recently injured nose brought outerwear versus the undergarments thrown at rock gods in days of yore.

I had expected more of a reverent, quiet show based on what little I had heard of the band’s recent album, but these guys really rocked the house. Definitely worth a look if they make their way back through the region.

I rounded out the weekend by spending the day making Sunday Gravy from “The Sopranos Family Cookbook.” It took most of the afternoon, but it was worth the effort! We have enough home made sauce for several meals, along with some delicious stewed meats and I think I have a new go-to meatball recipe, as well. Plus, the Mister used the sauce and his newly-acquired bread maing skills to make the lovely pizza shown above.

The Head.

The Head.

I did fit in a little time to work on my paper head, too. I’ve been doing a little bit just about every day. It’s been fun to see him take shape. Next up I’ll figure out something fun to do with the Gilda Radner paperdolls my mom gave me for my birthday.

Picture credits go to the Mister this post, except for the head shot.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.