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Pie Fail!
We are taking part in a CSA this year for the first time ever. It’s from a local farm just down the street from us (or, as per my new bike computer, approximately 2.6 miles from our house). Tomorrow we get our third installment of the 10-week program. Above is week two’s bounty.
It’s exactly what you might expect such a thing to be. Farmer Tom is a warm, friendly man who wears an Australian rancher hat atop his head; he has shaggy-haired staff members that use as few fertilizers and chemicals as possible on his haphazardly planted and overgrown strawberry patches. Cheery girls staff the farm stand (with the occasional grumpy teen that can barely muster a “hello”). Old rickety barns and run down vehicles pepper the path to the Pick-Your-Own areas.
We get a nice mixture of fresh picked items that are packed for us in an eco-friendly reusable bag, and each week we are given containers to pick our own fruits and veggies that are in season. For the last two weeks the PYO items include these:
So far, I’ve turned these into 7 jars of strawberry preserves, which are mutually adored by Ryan and me. It’s from my favorite canning resource, the Ball Blue Book of Preserving
Since the preserves, I’ve also made two strawberry rhubarb pies. Tonight’s pie turned into a pie FAIL experience. See below:
Can you see the drippy, sticky mess that overflowed into the oven and smoked like crazy, driving Ryan to remove the smoke detector from its ceiling perch and curse (gently) my decision to put a soupy over-full pie into the oven? If you can, you only saw half of it! What the picture doesn’t show is how this pie dribbled its way all the way to make a big puddle on the floor to make an even stickier mess. Eesh.
The good news is that the pie, once removed from the oven and cooled, was amazingly delicious (even though I had to do some juice-ladling to save it from a soggy future).
The even better news is that we’re getting one more week of PYO strawberries. I’m not sure I’ll want to make a third strawberry rhubarb pie, so I’m eager to hear your favorite strawberry recipes. What’re you making these days, or, what would you do with multiple quarts of strawberries?
Posted by robyn on June 28th, 2009 under cooking, random | 4 Comments »Just so you know…
Banjo and I are friends again. And I threw out the carpet!
Posted by robyn on June 25th, 2009 under banjo, random | 5 Comments »Small sunny joys
It’s been all doom, gloom and a big rainy mess in these parts for what feels like almost all of June. I caught a small bit of sun in pictures during this stormy, rainy period we’ve been having (and apparently will endure for several more days. Ick).
I’m trying to see if I can turn my thumb green once again this year. I’ve had several failed attempts at this same goal, but this year, just maybe it will stick! Or perhaps I am starting to find the plants that I’m not able to kill very easily. So far I’ve planted 3 tomato plants and two pickling cucumber plants (to help offset the money to buy cukes for our pickling endeavors). I’ve never tried growing vegetables in the past, but so far, so good! Two of the three tomato plants have already begun to yield many, many tomatoes. See?
These are the Orange Blossoms. It appears they’ll be early and plentiful! Banjo observes wistfully in the background.
But now confession time! Today you can definitely subtract Green Thumb Points from my record: this afternoon I checked on the tomatoes, whose branches have grown like crazy with all this rain, and by the time I was done, I think I’d snapped 3 branches. Oops. Oh well. (Worse: this is not the first time this has happened).
Is it any wonder I can barely keep plants alive?
Posted by robyn on June 23rd, 2009 under banjo, crafts, random | Comment now »
Did you have to?
I think Banjo and I are fighting. You might wonder how I could be mad at this precious, crazy specimen of a dog with floppy ears and an eager tongue…. Well, I’ll tell you why. One day last week, Little B busted into the craft room, went straight over to my carpet, and decided to throw up aaaaaaall over it. Just like that. Like it was a great new present that she couldn’t wait to share. We cleaned and cleaned and cleaned, but I think the carpet is doomed for the dumpster. It is decidedly Not Good in the craft room right now.
I also think we’re spoiling B too much and she’s getting less disciplined. We need to channel our inner Cesar Milans over the next little while and get her back into shape.
Despite the current room situation, I managed to whip up a custom Macbook cover for a friend (hi Tom!) who has a wife that loves him (hi Julz!) and wanted to give it to him for Father’s day. I forgot to photograph it before I released it into the wild, but it contained the following components: Man colors, an appliqued street sign, and monkeys (they were on the inside). It was really a first attempt at designing for a guy. When you take the pretty flowery fabrics out of the picture, it’s not so easy, but it’s a start.
Oh! And I found a “door” for my closet. It was briefly our shower curtain, but I repurposed it when I realized that my closet door fantasy was not going to pan out anytime soon (sad news). I found it on sale at Anthropologie, and it’s one of my favorite Marimekko prints (happy news!):
What are your favorite fabrics for designing for guys? Oh, and another question. How do I get out the folds/creases from this shower curtain? I’ve washed multiple times to no avail… scared to put an iron anywhere near it, since it’s 100% polyester. Ideas?
I’m off to watch the elimination show of So You Think You Can Dance. I adore this show. You should watch it if you don’t already.
Posted by robyn on June 18th, 2009 under banjo, random | 5 Comments »Zippered Pencil Cases
A new family of zippered pencil cases have arrived over at my Etsy store!
Each of these little cases is made by hand and ready to take up residence in your bookbag, on your office desk, or in your purse!
Posted by robyn on June 2nd, 2009 under crafts, sewing | 3 Comments »
Etsy Store Filled Up With Goodness!
Great news! I’ve got a big shop update over in Etsyland, filled with patchwork belts, pencil cases, and padded laptop sleeves like the one above. If you’re interested, you can take a look-see over here…
I think one of my fave items in the store is the above padded laptop sleeve. We are a wee household of two, but our appetite for computers is suitable for a family of 12, it seems. I think we can safely rationalize this addiction since we are both programmers by trade. (Isn’t this the natural thing to do? Can’t we just call the amassing pile of obsolete technology “professional research?”)
Either way, as a fabric addict AND computer addict, I’ve found that there is no better way to tote around your laptop than in something as head-turning as a homemade padded laptop cover. I’ve been using one for a while at work (I have to go from one building to the next constantly for meetings, and the laptop folks always get on me about carrying around my laptop unprotected, so…. what’s a girl to do?)
I know I’ve told you about these covers before here and here, but I’ve finally made some of these for sale! It’s designed specifically for the new 13″ Macbooks. There are a few different patterns in the shop for your perusal! Want the one pictured? Here you go!
Posted by robyn on May 31st, 2009 under crafts, sewing | 3 Comments »
Craft room makeover - part 5
Things are starting to come together with the old craft room. Are you sick of hearing about it yet? Never fear… it’s ALMOST done.
In the process of getting digital subscriptions to bunches of magazines, there are now hundreds of these old translucent plastic magazine holders available at work. It’s been on my to-do list for months to do something with them. Finally I brought a few home and visited my local Paper Source. After about an hour and some strategic use of glue stick and scissors, voila! Much cuter magazine holders (sans magazines at the mo). With some leftover paper, I framed a bit of the yellow polka dots, which I love. That Paper Source knows what they are doing. I always envision that if I ever lose my job, or maybe if I have a midlife crisis someday, I’d like to land a job there. It’s always so serene and inspiring.
Want to see how the closet turned out?
The Elfa closet system was easy to install and looks great! It sure beats the old version of this closet, which was a miserable mess:
Now I’ve got everything organized in my mesh baskets and shelves. Behold home dec fabric:
And quilting cotton:
And wool felt (why do I have so much wool felt?)
And, of course, some yarn:
Finally, I brought back my shelving. The closet and these two shelves equal all the storage in this room. That huge armoire in the above picture? GONE. So far I’m loving the space and am on the lookout for a small chair so I can entertain non-canine guests.
The sad news is that I still have no closet doors - white or stained. It may never come to be! It might be curtainland for the closet. We’ll have to see if we can hack something together that is narrow enough to let me open my mesh baskets when the doors are open all the way.
If you look closely enough, you can see the illuminated statue of David in my neighbor’s yard, under that gazebo-like structure. It’s my nighttime view! Lucky me!
Posted by robyn on May 20th, 2009 under crafts, random | 6 Comments »
I want to ride my bicycle
It’s been a while since I last posted, and I know I’ve failed to keep you up to date on the craft room progress. Partly that’s because I’ve been busy, and partly because progress in craft room land has essentially slowed to a stop. All that’s left to move back in are the awful odds and ends that I don’t know what to do with and can’t bear to throw out, but don’t really want to keep, either (WHY do I have 3 enormous bags of Poly-fil stuffing? Where will I put those 6 (6?!) spare curtain rods? Where will all those horribly disorganized MBA folders and papers go?)
In other news, last week was National Bike To Work week. I’ve been biking consistently to work during the non-winter months of the year for the past 4 years, and each year I’m getting a little more hard core. I’ve bulked up on the gear, so now I can get my butt out of bed on 35 degree mornings during March and April and ride. Earlier this year I bought pannier bags so that I wouldn’t have to wear a heavy backpack. This past week saw a box arrive from REI with (discounted! clearance!) Winter Lobster gloves that will hopefully remedy my constantly cold hands once the weather turns cold again. My route is 14 miles each way making for a 28 mile round trip. While my company found out about this too late to form a team, some of us did register with the Bay State Bike Week website and pledged our mileage. My week was mostly a success, with the exception of the first flat tire of the year AND a dented rim. Sad, but it ended with a nice coffee where I got to meet some fellow commuters, so that was fun!
Trouble is, on those days where I ride, I’m basically done at the end of the day and don’t want to do ANYTHING - not craft room reno, sewing, and obviously not mowing the lawn! - nothing. I collapse on the couch like a pile of goo, and succumb to Dr. House, America’s Next Top Model, or other sedentary distractions. By the way, both shows came to shocking conclusions in the last week or two. What will I do all summer?
Soon: More pics of the craft room, including my awesome closet system and overhauled magazine holders (I can see you shaking in anticipation!). And since I’m almost done, I may actually get to start sewing again. Perhaps now would be a good time to sew loads of stuffed animals so I won’t have to find a spot for the poly-fil?
Posted by robyn on May 19th, 2009 under crafts, random | 3 Comments »Weekender Bag - Off to Maine!
Well, the Craft Room Makeover has to take a hiatus. I’m going to Maine! And I’m taking one of my most favorite bags along for the ride. The Weekender! And doesn’t it go so well with Asparagus? (You will get very sick of this color, if things keep going this way on my blog!)
We’re going to celebrate a very special birthday this weekend, and I can’t wait to have a mini vacation for a couple of days.
See you when I get back!
Posted by robyn on May 1st, 2009 under crafts, sewing | 4 Comments »Craft Room Makeover - Part… 4? - Odds and ends
I’ve decided that mornings are the only times that I can get Asparagus to look like Asparagus. AND, it’s when the Craft Bunny comes out!
Perhaps if you’ve been in the craft room or are just an astute photo observer, you’ll notice that this wall, last I posted, was being painted Willow Herb. Well, my friends, welcome to my persistent capriciousness. I wasn’t happy with the first paint color (Silver Traditions, which should really have been called Lavender Traditions), and wasn’t happy with Willow Herb, either. The two different wall color thing just wasn’t working, so now it’s all Asparagus. And I love every square inch of it!
So, the good news is that all the walls and all the trim - floors, and window - is done. It’s bright white, which I love. It sets off the Asparagus nicely (which apparently now deserves a capital A). The above picture shows part of the little wooden stool that, at the beginning of our home painting several adventure years ago, I took on as my painting stool. And… I promptly got paint all over it, because I am a disaster when painting. Little did I know that this was a prized possession of Ryan’s that was meant to be paint-free. Oops! With no other immediate options, he has now graciously lent this stool to all current and future painting.
The bad news is that I have to change out four electrical outlets from ugly brown to white because I am picky like that (don’t worry, I’ll turn the power off!). I already switched out the telephone wire fixture thingy, and this made me feel quite handy. However, in the process, I managed to break our telephone jack in another room. Oops! After some Internet research, I think I know how to fix this. Thank goodness for the Internet.
Next on the list? Closet door installation! I’m moving away from heavy sliding doors, and going to the bi-folds, people! This is a big deal, and will relieve much frustration with not being able to see much in the closet at any given time. But of course in my home, where nothing is the standard size, this may not be as easy as it seems. It will involve some dismantling, and, of course, table sawing.
I think I’ll be buying these Elfa drawer units for inside the closet:
(Picture from ContainerStore.com)
So I need to crowdsource my next move: What should I do with the closet doors? Paint white or stain medium or dark brown? Or something else? Please chime in with your wisdom and guidance!
Posted by robyn on April 28th, 2009 under crafts | 4 Comments »
This is Banjo & I:
I'm Robyn. Thanks for stopping by! This is my craft blog.
Contact me at robyn [at] dognamedbanjo [dot] com.
