I Dream of Onions...

...grilled pearl onions. A new friend of ours brought the onion/veg dish to a communal dinner a few weeks ago.
She brought these babies, cubed peppers of different colors and some cherry tomatoes. All she did was peel the onions (more later), add the cubed veggies, pour a tablespoon or three of olive oil over the veg to coat, and give it a shake of some season salt, grill them either on skewers or in a grill tray and...viola. I could eat JUST the onions, they are THAT good. David and I fight over the onions, they are that good.

Onions. They come in a little mesh bag in the grocery store. Our Kroger has them hanging above the packages of salad and things. You take them home, boil some water and throw the onions in a for three minutes. Put the onions in cold water and peel them from the root. This is the easier of the two ways. The first time I made these I peeled each one by hand, had tears ROLLING down my cheeks, and it took forevah. The picture of the onions is actually post boiling, pre-peeling.

Serve the grilled veg with a little grilled fish or chicken, maybe some Israeli Couscous (trader joes-you've GOT to try it with a little chicken broth rather than water) and you have my favorite new meal. The paper top to the package of onions suggests putting them in a vodka cream sauce (YUM) or in beef stews (maybe).

BTW, I am NOT an onion eater. I do NOT eat onions on salads when served, I pick out raw onions, the only onions I eat are cooked onions in sauces or grilled onions on burgers or steaks, so this recipe suggestion is not coming from some onion freak.

I Know, I Know...

I said I would blog each day and some days I write 2 blogs, and others (like yesterday) I don't even write one. Let me get you up to speed...

Yesterday we sold our house! Woot! I was a little busy with the "serious" talks and offers/counter offers, faxing, printing aspects, but the bottom line is we sold our house and each have signed on the bottom line of the contract! The house won't close until mid-July, but we are almost through! A one home owner again! Woot!

Today, I finished Sam's teacher gift...a tote. I put file folders and empty binders on the inside, water bottles and snack in the outside pockets on the left, and pencil cases and other supplies in the outside pockets on the right. I wrote a little orange tag and note and tied it with a yellow grossgrain ribbon and left it in the teachers room for her.

I worked on Owie's felt today for the majority of the day, and also sewed/altered a curtain for my sister-in-law and ran it up to her so I wouldn't forget/loose it in the pit of a sewing room.

And JH...here is a horrible picture of the wrap skirt. It is SUPER easy and I can take pictures of the tie mechanics if you need them, that was the only remotely tricky part. I wore mine on Sunday with a cami and funky green sweater to church.

Here is another picture of something fun...my grandmother always picked up driftwood and took it home and polished it. Some of her drfitwood was massive, some really small, some looked like birds or other objects, and some weird just plain weird. When my Mom and Dad arrived the other day she had this little piece in her suitcase. I love it! It matches my beach bathroom so well!

Street Fair Cash

Made $100 cash tonight. I plan on using it for my date this weekend.

David bet me 100 bucks I couldn't find the piano books he has been searching for days for...I found it within 5 minutes.

:)

I Found A "Snazzie" New Blog

Yesterday I called my sister whilst at the fabric store and asked her what I was getting/making Owie (her grandson) for his (2nd) birthday this year. Laura reminded me that I had found some really cute felt food recently on a blog, and since I HEART sewing felt for my little man O, I should be sewing some food.

I googled felt food and found this really cute new blog Snazzle Craft. It's kinds of one of those blogs that has a bunch of "re-use your kid's clothes and make them into something else to wear, strange mohawk hats of fleece, funky purses to make" blog. I thought you'd all enjoy since I have no pictures to show (yet) of the felt food (in progess). And darn-it I am going to spoil the surprise for my sister this time and just take the pictures and post before she sees the food in person, before I forget to take the freaking pictures of the cute costume stuff, like last Christmas.

Today I volunteered at Bubba's school, and came home and sewed like a crazy woman because for some reason I forgot that I needed to make Sam's teacher something nice as an "end of year/you've been really great to make him feel so comfortable in the classroom" present. I decided on tote filled with school supplies.

I Have A Date!

Yesterday, as I was starting one of my multiple walks thru the neighborhood with the dogs...our neighbor accross the street came over and asked me if I wanted to go to the Yellow Springs Street Fair with her this next Saturday! My neighbor, Lynn, has been really great to us and is a fount of information regarding local things to do. (Kind of the JVH of the neighborhood).

Yellow Springs is the original hippie Berkley-like town that is super hip and fun. Antioch University was the home of Yellow Springs.

But Lynn invited me to go with her next weekend to the street fair. And I am SO excited. I L*O*V*E that kind of food gluttony, funky street craft fair thing. And it is much more fun going with a fellow junkie.

Lynn is probably in her 50's and a fun, Keen wearing, hip person I would love to get to know.

Yeah!

Past, Present and Future

Past reading...Funny in Farsi. Very very good. I LOVED this hilarious book about a young girl and her family moving to California from Iran in the 70's. Each chapter of the book is a funny story regarding family members. You must check it out from the library!!!

Present reading...A Homemade Life. My sister recommended this book to me and my Mom went out and bought it. While Mom is out of town I am reading the book and really liking it. It is also stories from the author's life (and kitchen table) and includes recipes. Most recipes look really yummy, I am dying to try the pink cookies (a favorite of mine from the U district in Seattle) but I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, I am still reading for now. Molly Wizenberg, the author, is the author/creator of the Orangette blog.

Future reading? I recently picked up "the Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" from the library. I have only read a page or two, and wasn't completely taken. I will try again soon. It comes highly recommended. I hope it is as good as they say...

I HEART my new serger

Yesterday was very successful, even without the computer. I managed to finish my green polka-dotted wrap skirt (McCalls 5430)...pretty basic. I L*O*V*E the way it turned out, but when I took a picture of it hanging on the hanger, it looked flat and weird.


Then, I moved on to a summer dress. (New Look 6775) I have had the fabric for years, a cute turquoise and white florally-hawaiian print....
I made the dress in a sleeveless version. I am in a bit of a quandry over the belt sitch, since otherwise I may be looking like I am wearing a potato sack. For now, I have a belt made from the same fabric. This is an old pattern, I have made two of the short sleeve shirts in past years.

I also made a sleeveless top from Simplicity 2593, a suggestion I got from Angry Chicken's blog. The fabric was this tissue weight navy print...but frankly it was a pain to serge.

And on that note?! Can I just say that I HEART my new serger. What did I ever do without one? I promise I will take pictures of the new sewing "studio" soon, but for some reason my camera is not taking pictures well...I actually tried putting some of my newly finished sewing projects on and having H take pictures...but my hormones took over and it was a crazy mess with unmade beds in the background...me throwing a fit...but I digress.

My Computer

D installed some software on my computer this morning to read a gel (some geeky science thing) and now he's asked if he can take my computer to work with him! What am I going to do all day?

Actually, I was planning on sewing today, but I do like to have my computer with me so I can stream or listen to something while I work. I will have to go and get one of the kids boom-boxes (you know what I mean) or something.

I know. I am a wiener. I'll have to sew and focus and post on my successes later!