Simple Organization

DIY Sewing Kit.

Having a well organized home is essential to my sanity. When odds and ends start piling up without a permanent place to put them, I can become a little difficult to live with...muttering under my breath about the mess, stomach aches, and crankiness. My poor husband.

So imagine my delight when I saw this oldie-but-goodie DIY from Martha for organizing my sewing supplies. It's compact, neat, and fits everything you could need in one place. And you can actually see what supplies are inside (much better than my mish-mash of tins exploding with random spools of thread and needles). This is now officially on my list of organizing projects this week!

Link Love

Tuesday Inspiration.

Creature Comforts
You can always count on cute packaging from Creature Comforts



Mixed Plate
Dogs in ties make me smile

Thoughtful Day

All this snow makes me long for beautiful spring arrangements

TangBaby Etsy Shop

It would make my day to receive a piece of cake mail on any occasion

Don’t think outside the Boxty.

Recipe.

My love of anything potato is no secret. I have to actually work at not having a potato side dish with every meal. I am always thrilled when St. Patrick’s Day is around the corner because it is time to break out the Boxty (box-tie) recipe.

Boxty is a potato pancake that can be served with any meal. It is great with sausage, bacon and eggs in the morning or as a side to Irish Stew. A more formal meal might warrant a creamy sour cream sauce. If you are having guests over on St. Patrick’s Day you could make mini versions and serve as appetizers with your mug of icy cold green beer.

One has to love a dish that is so delicious it has inspired the following Irish rhyme, “"Boxty on the griddle, boxty in the pan, if you can't make boxty, you'll never get a man."

Grilled Romaine Salad

Recipe.

Everyone needs a little variety to appease their palate. Why not try a super easy and delicious spin on your normal salad. I started seeing this trend pop up in restaurants but never tried it at home until now. What a surprise, it only took about 5 minutes and there is something really tasty about the combination of charred lettuce paired with a vinegary or creamy dressing.

You can buy romaine hearts already prepared at the grocery store which makes this dish even easier than all the cutting and chopping it takes to prepare a green salad. The dish would also be great for entertaining since you can prepare the dressing ahead of time, grill your romaine hearts and set aside until ready to serve.

We grill year around at my place, but you can also make this dish on your indoor grill as well. The only difference is that you won’t get the charred grill marks but the taste is equally delicious. This is a fantastic way to add a little variety to your normal routine or if you are looking for an easy side to impress a few guests.

I use this recipe from myrecipes.com.

Wrap It Up

Kitchen Supply.

I have a great love of artisanal cheeses. Soft, semi-soft, stinky, nutty...it doesn't really matter. However my husband does not share my love. So when I buy a beautiful piece of fancy cheese, I'm always afraid that it's going to go bad before I can eat it all. As much as I'd like to eat an entire block of cheese in 2 days, my calorie count says "no way."

I spotted these specially designed cheese wrappers from Murray's Cheese in Bon Appetit this month and I think I'll give them a try. They are supposed to allow the cheese to breathe but stay mold-free. If these papers work like they are supposed to, I will be so happy to make 2010 the year of guilt-free cheese exploration!

Special Sauce

Recipe.

I'm a firm believer that when entertaining it isn't necessary to make every single food item from scratch. Stick to your strengths and embellish store-bought items to make the overall presentation still impressive and special.

One of my "secrets" to making a special dessert in a pinch is to have a good homemade sauce on hand to spruce up store-bought desserts. This month's issue of Bon Appetit features a recipe for Caramel-Orange Sauce. They recommend serving it over their recipe for Ricotta Cheesecake...I'm sure that's an unbelievably delicious combo, but I have other ideas in mind.

Make the sauce a couple of days before your dinner party and reheat before serving. Then I'd use it to top whatever suits your fancy. Perhaps Hagen-Dazs Vanilla Ice Cream or Mrs. Fields Cheesecake or even your local grocer's pound cake. Just serve everything on a pretty dish and no one will be the wiser that you didn't slave in the kitchen for hours.

Colored Bubbles

Fun find.

As a kid one of the exciting things about summer was it meant you could spend countless hours outside blowing bubbles. It never got boring! That’s probably why nothing much has changed with bubbles in the last 60 years…until now.

Tim Kehoe has finally perfected stainless colored bubbles. To get to this point, he has stained his face, his car, several bathtubs and a few dozen children. His perseverance paid off as Popular Science awarded Zubbles, a Grand Prize innovation award and even called it the “toy of the decade.”

If you have a children’s party in your future this is guaranteed to be a hit. You may want to jump on the bandwagon sooner rather than later as they are now being produced in limited quantities and are available here.

Link Love.

Tuesday Inspiration.

Crow and Canary
This Dude and Chick card should bring a smile to any child of the 80’s.

Matt Bites
Blood orange caramels…I’m officially intrigued.

Shauna Younge

This lavender dessert buffet is stunning!

Atelier Abigail Ahern

Dark grey walls. Stunning chandelier. White Saarinen table. Drool.

Red Hot Mixer

Registry Must.

If I didn't already have my very own Kitchen Aid Mixer, you better bet that I would be sprinting to the store to buy this 90th Anniversary Limited Edition Candy Apple Red version. With a color and finish like a Vintage Corvette, you will be the envy of the neighborhood. Brides of 2010...add this to your registry and know that I am SO jealous!!

Sarah's House

TV Show Obsession.

You always hear how important it is to have a diversified portfolio. I feel the same way about my TiVo line-up. I like to balance a healthy dose of cooking shows, comedies, dramas, brainlessness (hello Housewives of any city), and interior design/home repair. My current obsession is HGTV's Sarah's House.

The concept of the show is that she purchases a home that needs TLC from top to bottom and transforms the entire she-bang one room at a time under very real budget constraints. I have a background in interior design, and it is so nice to see a show that highlights attainable remodeling/renovation goals in a cohesive overall scheme. And Sarah's style is fresh and fun to watch. I highly recommend that you add it to your TiVo line-up as well.