"Doing" vs. Doing

Not too long ago, I was lamenting the fact that I didn't get to "do" anything on my one free weekend in a while.  No movie, no happy hour, no museum visit, no cool flea markets, or parks.

But then I went back through my Instagram feed and realized that I "did" quite a bit.  Maybe I need to re-evaluate my idea of "doing".  Living in a big city like NYC makes me feel like I'm constantly missing out on EVERYTHING.  If I haven't hit every major cultural high point one weekend, I feel like a complete and utter failure.  

There are a lot of other things to DO, though.  Sometimes it take a little reflection to realize how full your days really are.

 Finally installed this mirror.

 Finished some handmade gifts.

 Tested out my grandmother's much-prized pierogi recipe.

Finally got around to putting together (and painting and staining) my new dressers from Ikea.  Inspired by this Ikea Hack.

What about you?  Do you ever feel pressure to "have fun"?  

There's a long weekend ahead of us - what will you be "doing"?

Handmade Holiday

Well, that time is upon us.  I leave work today for NJ to spend some time with loved ones and then I'm on vacation for a whole week!  Woot!

 

This year's holiday continues to be a scaled down one.  A few years ago, my immediate family (brothers, mom and dad, and sister in law) decided that we would all draw a name and buy one gift instead of five.  It was the best decision we ever made and tell that anyone who will listen to me.  It somehow makes the whole gift-giving process 100% more relaxed and exciting.  (Who am I going to get this year?!  Who got me?!)  Trust me, if you haven't already, suggest the idea to your family.  They just might heave a huge sigh of relief!

 

I do like to make homemade gifts for a few special people and I turned to the old reliable recipes I've been using for a while now.  This one, this and this.  So easy!  My favorite part is finding cute packaging.  The best find this year? 1/2 lb. coffee bags at the Container Store.  39 cents!  And they look so fancy.  

I hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday.  This year, especially, there feels like there is a lot to reflect upon.  Make sure you tell your loved ones how much they mean to you and keep the spirit of the season in your heart.

See you next year!

 

1st Annual S.H.A.C. (Sunnyside Holiday Apartment Crawl)

Last weekend, my brilliant friend, Danny, put together an apartment crawl in our neighborhood.  I'm always listing the fact that I have so many people I know within a 10 block radius the #1 reason I love my 'hood.  The only problem is, I never see any of them!  

Danny came up with the idea of a bunch of us all visiting each others' home in one night.  We started at one apartment and, after about an hour (or one cocktail) moved on to the next place!  It was genius.  You only had to worry about having enough booze and food for about and hour and clean up was minimal!  

The only problem was my house was second to last, so everything I made had to be done ahead of time - I really wanted to spend next to zero time prepping once the party arrived at my place.  

This is what I came up with.

Meatballs in Marinara Sauce (made that morning and kept warm in the crock pot)

with homemade sourdough bread, courtesy of The Man

Endive "Boats" with Blue Cheese, Toasted Walnuts and Pomegranate Seeds

Chocolate Ganache Tart with Whipped Cream

Want my super secret meatball recipe?  It's a crowd pleaser!

For the Sauce:

2, 28oz cans of crushed tomatoes

10 Tbs butter

2 med onions, peeled and cut in half

2 tsp kosher salt

For the Meatballs:

2 1/2 lbs. of ground beef and ground pork, the combo is up to you as long as it equals 2 1/2 lbs.
1c grated parmesan cheese
1c seasoned Panko breadcrumbs
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 cloves of garlic (I grate these with a microplane)
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes 

1/2 tsp salt (this is optional, sometimes I even leave it out if I'm using a stronger cheese like Pecorino Romano)

2 Tbs chopped basil or parsley or  a mixture of both

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and start on the sauce.  The recipe is this one.  It sounds crazy, but it's the only sauce I make now and The Man says it tastes like his Grandma's, so that's pretty much they highest compliment it could get.  You just put everything in a somewhat shallow pot (I have a 6 qt dutch oven that works perfectly) and let it simmer as low as possible.  By the time the meatballs are done, the sauce will be too.

For the meatballs, you just mix everything up with your bare hands, so that it's just barely mixed.  You don't want to over do it.  Then I use a scoop to make 50 perfect meatballs.  I'm a little OCD that way, but once I started using the scoop there was no turning back.  Just scoop them out and round them a little in your hands and plop them on a cookie sheet.  You'll need two cookie sheets.  Once they're all dished out, give them a generous drizzle of olive oil and bake for 20 minutes.  

Take them out of the oven.  Take the onions out of the sauce and throw them away.  Put the meatballs in the sauce and you're done!

The Chocolate Tart is even easier and you make it ahead of time and keep it in the fridge.  Use the crust recipe from here.  It never, ever fails.  Let it cool and then fill it with chocolate

For the ganache:

12 oz dark chocolate (I use 70%), chopped

1 c heavy cream

4 Tbs butter, cut into pieces

Put the chocolate and butter into a heat-proof bowl.  Bring the cream almost to a simmer and then pour it over the chocolate/butter mixture.  Let it sit for about a minute and then stir it up so that the chocolate fully melts and it looks all smooth and shiny.  Then pour it into the tart shell.  Tap it a few times on your counter so that the surface it totally even and smooth and put it in the fridge until party time!

The Endive Boats don't need an explanation do they?  You separate the leaves of the endive so they make little boats and then fill them with crumbled blue cheese, toasted walnuts and pomegranate seeds.  I love these because they're basically finger food and they taste light and refreshing.  I will give you my super secret honey dijon vinaigrette recipe, though.

For the Vinaigrette:

1 Tbs Dijon mustard

1 Tbs honey, (If you happen to have super fancy black truffle honey from a trip to Tuscany, awesome.)

1 Tbs white balsamic vinegar , white wine vinegar, or sherry vinegar (Don't use regular balsamic for this because it won't look pretty when you dress the salad.)

3 Tbs walnut oil 

1 tsp water

Make the vinaigrette and store it separately from your Boats.  You can make the Boats ahead of time and wrap them in plastic wrap and store them in the fridge so they won't wilt.  When the guests arrive, unwrap and drizzle with dressing. 

Taa DAA!  You're welcome!  

I hope you have some fun plans for the weekend, maybe a party or two? 

Enjoy!!

** Those clementine are left over from the party.  Oranges always make me feel Christmas-y, in a Little Women kind of way.  Am I the only one?

Somethin's Cookin'

December 1st is tomorrow and, today, it seems, the sense of foreboding or melancholy or whatever-it-is-that's-been-bothering-me, has come to a head.  For the last couple of weeks I've been plagued by some very un-Christmasy thoughts.  Thoughts that were very Bah Humbug and very, well, not me.

I couldn't figure it out.  I didn't have the holiday spirit and I always have the holiday spirit and then it hit me - this was what some people call stress.  That feeling of having too much to do and not enough time to do it all in.  On top of the hype of Black Friday that seemed to creep in well before Thanksgiving, pile on the multitude of blogs that I flip through during the day (don't tell my boss) where perfectly adorable bloggers are decking the halls and making homemade salted caramels and wearing vintage frocks and, well, I'm quite primed for a melt down.

Then I remembered this post, from earlier in the month (Seriously, read it.) and I told myself to take a deep breath and pick two.   Honestly and without irony, I literally choose two things I can do from this list each night and let the other ones go without feeling guilty. 

Here's the list:
gym

cook dinner

clean up after dinner

make (sew, bake or knit)

quality time with the man (this means eating dinner at the table and talking, instead of watching TV or choosing a movie that we both want to watch together)

If It means giving up the gym one night so I can finish up a project or putting a project on hold so we can linger a little longer over dinner with a glass of wine then so be it!  It's a small list, but I'm also adding to it some Christmas cheer.  

Here's another list.  A list of holiday goodies I want to make as gifts, instead of buying into the holiday crush of consumerism.

linen napkins

coffee cozies

building blocks

hot chocolate

candied citrus

I'll try to get to them all, but if I don't, then that's OK, too.

That time of year

The apartment is all cosied up with Christmas decorations and the remnants of a little holiday party from last Friday. I set the table with a red cross-stitched table cloth that my father made as a child. It was a long train ride from Trenton, NJ to Altoona, PA , where my grandmother's family lived, and needlework was how she kept my father busy. I think it's kind of amazing. The ruffled plates are from the same grandmother. She had a vast collection of milk glass and it became mine when she passed away, last year almost to the day. It makes me infinitely happy to have it and to use it. At least it's not sitting in a box in someones basement.

I took about 25 pictured of the table, all of them blurry, but you can get the basic idea. All warm red and orange and creamy white. Very festive, indeed.

I'm at my parents' house today and will be for the next 4 days. I had a little moment of panic when I realized that I brought my current knitting project but failed to print out the pattern! I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my free time now. It's a feeling kind of like floating in space with no anchor.

For the moment I'm watching TV and sitting on the couch with the family's dog, Ella, faithfully at my feet. Some programming genius knew I needed some comfort today and there is a West Wing marathon on right now. Is there anything cosier than curling up with Josh, Leo, CJ and the gang for a few hours? I think not.

Be grateful for the little things this holiday. Give from the heart and honor the past. Start new traditions with people you love. Keep things in perspective and keep things positive. A new year and a new opportunity to start fresh is right around the corner, so no matter what this year has brought you, there is the promise of the New Year lighting your way.

Happy holidays, everyone, and thank you for being a part of this blog, and of my life.

I've been doing a lot to get into the Holiday Spirit this week. I think it's working.

Tuesday night, the NYC/SNB ladies wrapped presents for Children of the City, a very worthwhile charity. Only a few of us braved the snow that evening, but we were well rewarded with Glad Tidings!

I bought a one pound bar of chocolate at Trader Joe's in Brooklyn. It was supposed to be for candy-makin', but I couldn't resist busting into it right away. Oops.
I also bought a crate of clementines that I've been enjoying all week. They look very festive in a bowl in my dining room.

I've also been having a really grand time selecting items for my etsy favorites, but every time I go to check on them, one more has sold before I had the chance to buy it!!
I like to think that all of my friend who read my blog are buying them up for my Christmas presents. A girl can dream, no?

Yikes! It seems like, the last thing I remember is that it was the day after Thanksgiving, and I was talking about Christmas gifts.....
Then, I blinked my eyes and now it's December 16th! Christmas is next week!!!

I've been very, very busy the last month. Too busy, it seems to post anything here. I don't like to post without pictures and it's been nearly impossible to take pictures in my new place.
(Busy = getting home too late = no pictures).
These, however, are pictures of what's been keeping me so busy. Curtains. Lots and lots of curtains.

This is my roommate's bedroom. He has two windows that I made four, eight foot panels for. They're totally lined and have hidden tabs on the back that create cool pleats on the front when you put a curtain rod through them. It's kind of cheating, but it's cute.
The room is a pale gray color and the curtains are gold, with a white leaf motif, the fabric from Ikea. They're fully lined, but still let in a good deal of light. This was taken on Saturday around 11am without a flash. The (east facing) room is fairly dark, but you can see the sunlight struggling through.

This is The Blue Room. The Office/Wardrobe/Crafting Room. The Multi-Purpose Room. The It's -Good-To-Have-3-Bedrooms Room. This room and the gray bedroom are separated by french doors, so I wanted to create a real sense of privacy, but in a way that didn't feel static.
Enter the hospital curtain track. This was a project that took over 2 months to complete. I ordered industrial medical supplies online to get the type of rack with rollers that I could mount to the ceiling. I never ordered enough of what I needed at one time. But now it's finished and I am incredibly triumphant!!!
This fabric* I purchased online and I was amazed at how it matched the walls. It's hard to see in the picture, but around each motif, between the brown and white, is the exact color blue of the wall! Amazing.
Each panel is over eight feet long and nine feet tall. Fully lined, so that from the gray room you see only white. They hang straight from the ceiling to the floor and can be pulled back from the middle of the room to allow for the french doors to be open. Whew!

I've also been busy crafting, but they're all gifts so I can't share. I have: 2 knit hats, 2 sets of fingerless gloves and two eye masks from Amy Butler's In Stitches (which is a great source of holiday gifties).

*I have over 2 yards of it left. The fabric is 52" wide. I paid $15.95/yard and would be willing to work out a trade or a deal if anyone is interested in it. It's really beautiful, but I can't imagine using it for anything else in the apartment, now that it's on the wall.