I think it's going around...

Chloe singing: Oompa feber! I bet you're jumpin' around. Oompa feber! I bet you're jumpin' around.

(To the tune of Boogie Fever)

And if you haven't seen Despicable Me. Go. Now.

.

Inspiration...

So I was over at the Project Run & Play Stripes and Dots Linky Party when I discovered Shaffer Sisters blog and an outfit so cute I wanted to make it for Wub right then and there. Unfortunately it was 10:30 at night so that wasn't going to happen. I Pinned it.

The next day I dug through my stash for  the black and white polka dot and then crossed my fingers, made a wish and looked to see if I had white bias. Whoo hoo!

\

I drafted the pattern from a t-shirt. Minus hand sewing the buttons it took me

 about two hours from draft to button holes. 

My favorite bit (aside from the Wub) is the way the polka dots line up so perfectly.

Like I planned it.

I didn't, it was luck.

Wub would say I'm not s'posed to tell you that. Just pretend it was all part of the plan.

50's Vintage with a 70's Retro Twist

 I have to admit this really wanted to be a little bit of a fail. The Peter Pan blouse was adapted from a 1956 dress pattern (that I'm totally making her Easter dress from.) I added 4 inches at the waist to give it proper length and it still wasn't quite long enough.

Then for some reason when I drafted the pants pattern I totally disregarded seam allowances. And yes, I did sew the entire pair of pants minus hems and waistband before I realised.

In my original vision the pants were going to high waisted to compensate for the short blouse and the only floral was going to be secret pocket lining.

I decided actually being able to put the pants on Wub was infinitely more important than "vision". I ripped out the side seams and added a two inch wide strip of the floral fabric.

This was going to be her Thanksgiving outfit. She wore the blouse. The pants sat there reminding me of my lack of skill until last night when I decided to finish them up. (Sound familiar?)

I sewed in the elastic waistband this morning and put it on Wub.

Not a fail at all.

And yes that is the exact same fabric I  used to make her Jammin' Jammies. The green was her alternate choice for her Christmas skirt. We couldn't decide between the brighter green with a gorgeous sheen or the Grinch green "lemon" fabric. 

A Pair of Mooses

So...I love Little Tikes chairs. There is something about the shape of them that immediately cheers me. We bought our first two at GW for a dollar apiece. The second set was $2.00 each and when I found a third set for $2.00 each I realised I was becoming a Little Tikes hoarder.

What to do? What to do?

Give them away as birthday gifts!

Erm...they're a bit rough...

and yes, we really did pay $2.00 each







                  I know! spray paint!
I bought one can each of Rustoleum Ultra Coverage (Works Great on Plastic!) Primer and Cinnamon Brown

But what else?

Good ole' Martha, sure I think she's a deplorable human being, (Everybody should raise chickens my foot.) but she does make some good craft supplies like these paints which work on plastic.
I used the Satin finish because I didn't want a lot of extra gloss. I'm sure these colors have fancy names but I'm too lazy to go dig them out to find out what they are. Let's just say Black, White, Dark Brown, Medium Brown and Sky Blue.

To begin I gave the chairs a good hard scrub with a kitchen sponge and hot soapy water.

Outside the chairs and I went with a plastic tarp to protect the porch.

Then I sprayed each chair with a good coat of the Primer (Sorry no picture but just imagine the next picture white and you'll get the idea)




After the primer was thoroughly dried I sprayed the chair with a few coats of Cinnamon Brown. I let the paint dry in between coats. For two chairs I used the entire can and I still had a few thinnish spots. I would have been more worried about it if I hadn't wanted to decorative paint over the base coat.

 Next I used the Sky Blue and defined the head and ears on the front and back of the chair.

I allowed it to dry before going on to the next part.

Using a dry scruffy brush and both Dark and Medium Brown I placed dabs of paint on the body then used the scruffy brush to blend them into fur. It took a few tries to get the effect I wanted but once I got it down the painting went very quickly. For the time I avoided the face and neck. 

Using a liner brush and a combination of Black, Dark, Brown and Medium Brown I defined the shape of the head and body using quick short brush strokes to add some definition and a fur look.

Then I painted a face. I thought about trying to somehow make the face so it was facing the seat part but realised I am just not that clever of an artist. So, face on back of chair. 

You'll notice in the next pictures that he has highlights in his eyes. Q-tip, dip in white, make dot in eye, Simple enough that even a four year old could do it. And she did which is why there is no picture. Can't help the four year paint and take pictures.

For the antlers you will need two ball point pens, dismembered.

You only need the shaft and little soft protective cap on one end. These came from the Dollar Tree and were absolutely useless as writing implements. After I removed the ink tube they were perfect as antler holder uppers.

You will also need brown felt. (One of the craft squares will be plenty) Some heavy duty fusible interfacing and an iron. Cut 2 appropriately sized, antler shaped piece of fusible interfacing. ( I thought about making you a printable file but then I decided to save some trees. I also realised if you are not the type of person who can free hand an antler, you are most likely not the kind of person who's going to try this anyway.)  Fold your felt in half and using the interfacing as a guide trace around the antler shape making the felt antler about a 1/2 inch larger all around. Cut out the antlers. (You'll end up with four.) Cut 2 strips of felt about 1/2 wide and 3 inches long. 

Next make an antler sandwich. Take one piece of antler felt, the interfacing, the felt strip (Keep the strip centered on the interfacing. This is what forms the pocket for the antler holder uppers/dismembered pens to slide into.) and the other Antler shaped piece on top.

Press according to your interfacing's directions. 

  

Next sew around the edges of the antler leaving the bottom edge open. Next sew a rectangular "pocket" around the 1/2 inch felt strip. Back stitch at the top and corners to reinforce. 

Mark 2 dots near where the ears join the head. Using a heat tool melt a hole roughly the size of the antler holder upper/dismembered pen. test as you go. you want the pen to fit snugly in the hole. 

Once you have the hole the size you 

need it to be, test fit  your antlers.

Trim away any excess felt to make the antlers look nice.

Once you are sure of the fit and trim you can go ahead and glue. I used Beacon Quick Grip. Use whatever permanent waterproof glue you have. Place a small amount inside the pocket you sewed on the antler.

Also add some glue to the hole you made in the head.

Slide the dismembered pen into the antler pocket then push the assembled antler into the head. 

Voila! One absolutely adorable Moose Chair!

Actually...

two...

And in case you think I forgot...

Our dear Katherine at work came up with what has to be one of my all time favorite alcoholic beverages. It's a delightful combination of rum, ginger ale and lime or lemon. She calls it a Perfect Storm and I agree.

When I came across this idea on Pinterest for an "instant" maragarita my mind immediately took away the tequila and added rum and ginger ale instead. Tonight we had a wee drop with dinner...delightful!

The Perfect Ice Storm
You will need:

Lemon or lime sorbet
Ginger Ale preferably Schweppes
Rum
Lemon or Lime Wedges

Place one or two scoops of sorbet in the bottom of your glass. Squeeze the lemon or lime wedge over the sorbet. Pour a jigger (or more if you are kind of a drunk) of rum over the sorbet and fill with ginger ale.

Enjoy!

They're waffle-y delicious!

Funny that the last post was a gadget  driven recipe. But ever since I got the waffle iron I've wanted to experiment with different uses. So...

Waffle Latkes!

Preheat your waffle iron to medium heat.

2 medium potatoes shredded
2 Tablespoons flour
1 egg
1 tsp salt
few grinds black pepper

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.

Lightly grease with waffle iron with fat of your choice.

Spoon potato mixture into hot waffle iron.

Use a wooden spoon to spread the mixture evenly. Close the iron and if you have the spinning type flip it over.The waffle maker will most likely hiss like a rabid cat. That's okay, it's all the moisture from the potatoes working it's way out. You may even get some of the "batter" leaking out.











Cook the latke for about 10 minute. The ready light on my waffle maker actually came on at about 10 minutes so that was perfect. If yours comes on before the 10 minutes do a quick peeky check. If the latke looks brown and crispy and the interior seems done you are good to go. If not ignore the green light and continue cooking for a few minutes more.

Remove from the waffle iron and separate into sections. Serve it with whatever you like on potato cakes. We like ketchup or brown sauce. Enjoy!

Hot Roast Chicken

Gadget Driven.

I don't often cook things that rely on gadgets to insure they turn out right but this is definitely one of them. It's also definitely worth the investment.

The recipe itself came about quite by accident. I had been accustomed to starting out my roast chicken at 450 for 15 minutes then turning the oven down to 350 to finish cooking. One day when I was tired and distracted I forgot to turn the oven down after the timer went off. Because I do use a probe external thermometer I was a wee bit surprised when the 175* degree alarm went off so quickly. However the resulting chicken was a-mazing. Super crispy skin and succulent juicy meat. Now it's the only way I fly. (ha ha)

Gadgets
You will need:
A good quality probe thermometer with external alarm
A heavy duty pan of appropriate size to roast as many breast halves as you need. (I usually roast three or four and use my beloved 10" square cast iron skillet for the task.) Just make sure whichever you use it can withstand a 450 oven. It would also be nice if it could go to the cook top afterwards.)

Ingredients:
Skin on, bone in chicken breast halves
For each breast:
1 teaspoon butter softened
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 clove garlic finely minced
1/4-1/3 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/4 teaspoon sage
1/4 teaspoon thyme
heavy pinch of salt
pinch of black pepper
(Multiply ingredients by amount of chicken breasts you are using)

Preheat oven to 450.

Mix together all of the butter ingredients and set aside.

Gently loosen the skin of the chicken and place a heaping teaspoon of the flavored butter under the skin. Smooth out the skin to distribute the butter and completely cover the meat. Place in a heavy duty pan, skin side up. Repeat with remaining chicken. It's alright if the breasts slightly overlap but don't crowd them in.

Rub the outside of the chicken with any remaining butter and sprinkle lightly with salt.

Decide which chicken breast is the largest. Insert the probe of the thermometer into the thickest part of the breast. Set your temperature alarm for: 135 (At which point you would put your roast potatoes in the oven or start your brown rice.) or 155 (at which point you would start your Gadget Driven extra easy home made mashed potatoes{recipe coming soon}or your white rice.) once the first alarm goes off reset the temperature alarm to 175. (You can also start with 175 if you aren't making a time consuming side dish.)

Once the temperature reaches 175 remove the chicken from the oven and place on a cutting board or platter to rest while you make...

THE GRAVY!!!

If you used a pan that can be put on the cook top go on then put it on the stove over medium heat. Other wise scrape your pan dripping into a skillet and place it over medium heat.

Add 1 cup sherry or dry white wine.
Simmer for a minute or two then add:
2 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon of dried rosemary
Bring to a boil and cook two to three minutes.

Thicken with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch dissolved in 1/3 cup water.

Recipe can be doubled or tripled.

You can also flavor the butter mixture in any fashion you like:

Coriander, orange peel and cardamon
   or
Garlic, red pepper flakes, oregano and basil
  or
Sesame seed, ginger and soy
  or
Lemon peel, parsley and garlic
  or
Lime peel, chili powder and cilantro
  or
Lemon peel, curry powder and garam masala
  or
Hoisin sauce, ginger and garlic,
   or 
Hot sauce and garlic
  or
Brown sugar, lime peel, red pepper flakes and ginger

Really the combos are endless.


*Look I know that FN chefs say chicken is just fine at 160-170 but I am a child of the 1970's. For years I couldn't even eat chicken unless it sucked all of the moisture out of my mouth for fear of terrible chicken diseases. I will admit if you take the chicken out at 160 that the meat is definitely juicier. I will also tell you that there will be pink near the bone and I cannot eat chicken that is pink near the bone. It's psychological, I know but it makes me happy AND at 175 the chicken is still really moist and juicy. So if 160 makes you happy then go ahead, 160 it.)