julia fait une omelette

nouvelles découvertes

I was at EtsyRain over the weekend and got to see some beautiful things that were made right here in Seattle!

In no particular order, these are the ones that stood out:

Thea Starr  -  who makes these stunning hair accessories - I may have splurged.

greenbelts - who makes leather jewelery, dog collars, napkin rings..etc.  The rings are very cool.

Maluhia Designs - who makes the cutest bags and clothing for children.  I really wanted to buy this little scooter dress for my niece!

Hasenpfeffer Incorporated - make the cutest dolls I've ever seen out of recycled materials.  One of the bears was made out of old man golf pants.

Dave Sheely Designs - who makes super cool resin jewelery.  I'd run out of money at this point.

Mette - This wasn't at EtsyRain, but I love her work!  A friend of mine from Vancouver makes these ADORABLE little dresses for girls.

The next big show will be Urban Craft Uprising July 10 & 11 at Seattle Center Exhibition Hall, don't miss it!!  This is just before my birthday, so if anybody wants to come buy some cool stuff, I wouldn't object!  lol

frasques récentes

pizza à la maison

The Dough

 Unbaked Bacon Pizza

 Baked 

 Andouille Sausage, Ricotta, Feta

I despise Mondays.  There's nothing worse than a Monday - unless you're on a tropical vacation and have a Mai Tai in your grasp..Mondays suck.  The only good part is driving home from work, plopping my butt on the couch, putting my feet up, and forgetting the day.

This was an unusually GOOD Monday..I made homemade pizza - crust/sauce/ricotta, AND the Stanley Cup Playoffs were/are on.  My 2 teams lost their games yesterday - I think I'm over it now - screaming at the TV really helped.  Dear neighbors:  There is no one in the house abusing me, I just get really emotional when I watch hockey.  Sorry about that.

Pizza numero uno: simple bacon and pepper pizza.  YUM.  The bacon needs a little fine-tuning I think in order to achieve a crust that isn't over-crisped, but it was still sinfully good.  The crust was saturated and crisped by the fat, and the bacon was slightly crunchy.  Bacon pizza...please come back one day!

Pizza numero dos: Andouille sausage, feta, homemade picante sauce and homemade ricotta (!!! holy shit !!!) I was worried that the ricotta wouldn't hold up to the bold ingredients, BUT the little fluffy ricotta clouds actually gave it the perfect balance.  It added a really nice subtle, mellow element to the BAM and the PAF!  It was so good.  You can drool now.

The Best Pizza Dough

3/4 cup hot water
3/4 cup milk
4 pinches sugar
1 tbsp (1 packet) yeast
1 tsp salt
3-4 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp rye flour
3 tbsp wheat flour
approx. 4 - 5 Cups white flour

• Add all ingredients except white flour into a mixing bowl and mix them up.
• Add white flour until it turns to dough, not gooey any more, but doughy.
• Heat oven to 100º then turn off.
• Put a towel over mixing bowl/dough and put in oven for at least 1 hour to allow dough to rise.

Should make enough dough for three or four or five thin crust pizzas.

Cook pizzas in 450º oven until crust starts to turn golden-brown/sauce is a-bubblin'


Slightly larger batch:
1 1/4 cup hot water
1 1/4 cup milk
6 pinches sugar
1 1/2 tbsp (1 1/2 packet) yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
5-6 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp rye flour
4 tbsp wheat flour
5 1/2 - 6 Cups white flour

le dernier txoco à txori

I just LOVE a family style meal!  It's always a great opportunity to meet new people and to sample food that you might not ordinarily order from the menu.  It was Txori's last Txoco, but it will be etched on my palette eternally.

A 'txoco' is a gastronomic society traditional to the Basque country of Spain.  Its members are drawn from all sections of society, and they themselves organize the shopping and cooking. Mealtimes are relaxed with controversial subjects like politics usually avoided. But although most of the txocos allow women to join meals as guests, some stick to the all-male tradition - arguing that txocos offer men an escape from the Basque matriarchal culture.  ~ BBC News

We bid a warm and fond farewell to Txori and all the beautiful food we've put away.  Carolin, you are a genius, and we look forward to your future ventures!

histoire délicieuse

The owner of Harvest Vine asked us if we'd be interested in sampling some of what might be on the brunch menu.  There was no hesitation on our parts..

The food was divine!  The chef made pastry after pastry after pastry in her teeny home kitchen, in her teeny home oven.  I was blown away.  The 'crack buns', as she called them, were crack-a-licious.  I wish I had all the proper names of the dishes - but I don't - in which case I won't even attempt to go into any detail.  I'll let the photos speak for themselves.  Being such HUGE food fanatics, this was a dream come true.  It was inspiring to be in the company of such a talented chef (and hilarious).

Here's a sampling:

blogs et sites que j'aime

http://sweettidings.blogspot.com/
your daily dose of homemade

http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/
free downloads, tutorials, inspiration, giveaways, etc.

http://www.whorange.net/whorange/
wacky, fun, my cup of tea

http://www.notmartha.org/
my all-time favorite

http://makingitlovely.com/
hard to resist

http://williamrugen.com/blog/
my friend bill's photography - very talented

http://cocokelley.blogspot.com/
home, fashion, everyday design

http://designismine.blogspot.com
so lovely

My new favorite thing to eat....FAGE Greek Strained 2% yogurt!!!!! It's so thick and creamy, the perfect strawberry concoction doesn't hurt either. You MUST try this! It's a tad more expensive than the average CRAP yogurt, but that's the price I'm willing to pay for YUM.

rallier "meant to offend"

The Los Gatos Gordos put on a really great rally this weekend in Seattle.  The title "Meant To Offend" says it all!   There had to have been 40-50 bikes (always seems like a lot when you look back at the super long line of bikes at a traffic light.)  Saturday's ride consisted of Bikini Barista coffee shop hopping..ooh la la.  The winner in my mind was by FAR the best least dressed at Knotty Bodies Espresso in Ballard.  The photo says it all.

où est mon shillelagh?

j'ai vu un super-cool citroën 2CV en chemin au café

le printemps est ici!

Actually, we've had such a mild winter that most of it has felt like Spring.  The only difference is that daffodils are in full bloom, as are the cherry blossoms, crocuses, camelias....

Early bloom = CRAZY ALLERGIES.

Tomorrow I'm helping host a baby shower for friends.  I'm very excited to be doing it, and I'm thrilled that it's a man-friendly occasion.  They don't want stupid baby shower games (yay!!), just a fun party.  We're picking up a keg of Maritime beer (yum!!), making my mom's famous carrot cake, have to whip up 60 party favor boxes, and then can relax at the partay. 

faire votre propre sténopé

This is WAY cool!! I had to share it!  Step-by-step instructions on how to make your very own pinhole camera.