A Little Anna Maria Can Surely Spruce Things Up!

My couch pillows were looking kinda sad.

So, my philosophy is, when a pillow is lookin' sad, recover it!





A close up.




Recovering pillows is super easy. Just remember to pre-wash the fabric so when your stinky dogs lay and drool all over the pillows, you can just throw them in the washer and they will be good as new!



I love Anna Maria's bright colored fabrics. They all seem to go together so well. So, I took all the Anna Maria fabric that I had and got to covering! I even patch worked one pillow so all the fabrics I used would blend together. I am going to patchwork one more to tie it all together but, man, patch working takes some effort!

I recovered these little pillows to a new favorite show of mine, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. If you have not seen this show, you must. It is adorable! Jill Scott is amazing in this series. I am looking forward to reading the books. My vacation to Santa Fe is nearing so I think I may take a few of the books with me. Ah, Santa Fe. I can't wait!!

Also, in other exciting news, the lineup for ACL posted today! Ben Harper (I predicted correctly!! yippeee), Dave Matthews, Sonic Youth, K'naan, Mos Def, Michael Franti, Toadies, B-52's, Lily Allen, Eek-a-mouse, and get ready....Pearl Jam!!! I have been wanting to see them in concert since like 8th grade. OK, who is going with me??? This is a fun, fun, fun festival and family friendly!

Chalkboard Quote Of The Week

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"

Feeling Like Some Falafel

I love Egyptian food. Hummus, shwarma, tabbouleh, eggplant, tzatziki, pita bread, falafel....yum! There is a great Egyptian food restaurant here in Funky Town, King Tut. I especially love falafel and they have the best! I could eat it everyday. So, I tried making it. The recipe I used was not a traditional falafel recipe but it was still pretty good and the cucumber yogurt that went with it was great! The yogurt makes a lot, but if you want a little snack later, just dip some pita wedges in it. Next time, I am going all out and giving a traditional falafel recipe a try. But, this was tons of fun to make!




Falafel Pitas with Cucumber Yogurt Dressing:

• 1/4 cup minced red onion
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 (15 1/2-ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
• 1 (1-ounce) slice whole wheat bread, torn into pieces
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg white
• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 (6-inch) whole wheat pitas, split
• 1 cup arugula

*Combine first 10 ingredients in a food processor; pulse 6 times or until well blended (mixture will be wet).

*Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Spoon about 1/3 cup chickpea mixture per patty into pan; cook 4 minutes on each side or until golden brown.

*Line each pita half with 1/4 cup arugula, add 1 patty to each pita half, and spoon 2 tablespoons Cucumber-Yogurt Dressing into each pita half.

Cucumber Yogurt Dressing:

• 1 cup plain fat-free yogurt
• 1/2 cup diced seedless cucumber
• 1/4 cup minced red onion
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

*Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Cover and chill.

Cheers!

Our Thyme Garden Part 2

On Saturday my mom and I went back to the Thyme Garden open house. They have an open house every six months. We went this past October and it was wonderful. The box lunch this year was a cold cucumber soup, herbed pecans, chicken salad sandwich, and an orange peel sugar cookie. It was fantastic! I was a bad blogger that day because I did not take pictures. While we were there eating a fantastic lunch and wandering through the garden, I got myself some Mexican Marigold (which they put in the chicken salad), Orange Mint, Daisy's, and Rose Geranium. Jeff started working on making a flower bed for me this weekend. I am going to give a go to a veggie garden!

So, with all this herb inspiration, I came home from the Thyme Garden and made cookies!

I used this little spotted egg in the recipe. I thought it was cute so I took a picture. I know, I'm a dork.

I made Lavender cookies and Rosemary, Thyme, Walnut cookies.

This little package of cookies found itself on my parents doorstep yesterday afternoon.

I hope everyone has a good week!

Happy Easter

I hope the Easter Bunny was good to everyone this year. I have very fond memories of Easters past. When I was a child, we would normally celebrate Easter at the Farm. My grandmother would boil like 4 dozen eggs and we would dye eggs all night long while Papa watched western movies. Then we would go to bed and wake up to the most fabulous Easter baskets and hunt for the eggs that we dyed the night before. My mom would always make little Easter bunny paw prints with her fingers and flour that lead to the eggs. It looked so real, so we thought then! We really thought the Easter bunny had been in the farmhouse! Later in the day we would have an Easter egg hunt outside in the orchard and us kids (which usually only consisted of me, my sister, and cousin) would frantically search for the coveted egg with a $20.00 bill in it. Well, at least I remember it being $20.00 but it could have easily been $5.00, who knows. Easter was always so fun and magical at the farm, just like most holidays when I was a kid. It is memories like these that really make me miss the farm. It was so special.

Over the past few years, for Easter, my mom has made hot cross buns. They are fantastic! I found these on my doorstep a few days ago. As you can see, I have already devoured one of them (and Mama, I did not even mind the raisins!)

Yesterday, Jeff and I went to his family reunion/family Easter get together. I brought Spinach Artichoke Dip. This recipe hands down is the best ever! I had the opportunity to use my cute little Pyrex baking dish so I went with it! The dip was a hit, as usual!

Cedella has taken to my little chick-a-dees. I caught her red handed (about 5 times in one hour)! First she bites the poor little chick out.

Then whacks it on the table and off on to the floor.

Mission accomplished!

Cheers!


Oh...I forgot...Easter waffles....

Socks Take Two

I'm done with the second pair and I love them! This is the best sock yarn ever. I am getting more asap!

Cheers!

What A Lazy Day For Me!

I have made a lot of progress on the second pair of socks I am knitting. I spent all day today (again with the all day knitting on Sunday) knitting these socks. Watch out everyone, there are socks for Christmas gifts in your future! I'm thinking that maybe I should try knitting sweaters now! But, maybe I am shooting a bit high with all my sock enthusiasm.

I also made my usual weekend breakfast consisting of eggs. When I asked Jeff this morning if he was hungry for breakfast he quickly answered "are you making eggs?" So, I guess I have gotten a bit predictable. Usually I make eggs and turkey sausage but, to keep things interesting today, I left out the turkey sausage and made a southwestern omelet. When I was mixing the cheese, black beans, salsa, and green onions (those cute little green onions were hand picked out of my garden) I thought all the colors looked so pretty, so...of course I took a picture.

My hollyhock is blooming. This is the first time that it has bloomed since I planted it last October. I never realized how pretty it would be!




I also picked up some basil and parsley at Central Market because this weekend was their herb fest. They had such pretty herbs and I could have bought more but I am trying to save space for the annual Botanic Garden Herb Festival (I know I have mentioned this before but my sister and I are in that picture in the right hand corner. That festival was about 2 years ago.).

Once again, it was another lovely Sunday.

Cheers!

Friends, Fun, And More Fondue!

Well, yesterday evening I was finally able to test out the vintage fondue pot I found months ago at an estate sale. Jeff and I got together with our longtime friends for a fondue night. After spending my birthday at Simply Fondue, we decided that fondue is tons of fun and something that we needed to do ourselves! So we had a sharp cheddar cheese fondue and a blue cheese fondue. Both were fantastic! We had chicken, apples, bell peppers, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, summer sausage, and bread for dipping. Oh, it was yummy. My little fondue pot worked like a champ!

For dessert we had chocolate fondue with homemade marshmallows and coconut macaroons from Central Market and also butter cream cake, pretzels, and graham crackers. The marshmallows and macaroons were so fluffy. I love Central Market.

Jeff and I brought along a bit of Sangria too. Sangria is perfect for this time of year (well, I guess it is perfect really for anytime of year!) Oh, my, we were stuffed by the end of the night but it was worth it! I should have taken more pictures but I was too busy eating!

Good food, good friends, and good fun. Just how a Saturday night should be spent.

Cheers!