I love stepping into this shower....the door is the Enigma by Dreamline
Ok, I’ve had several of you ask about the completion of the bathroomthat was being redone….It is now finished, except for a couple of details(deciding what to hang on walls artwise-there has been a teensy bit of disagreement over this)….but finished. I love the white subway tile. Classic…don’t think I’ll get tired of it, and the gray grout makes the tile stand out(besides being practical).
Shelves at the back of the shower...mirror glass in cabinet doors..
And I’m determined that these shelves will not become overrun with shampoos and conditioners, like before(should be easier now that my daughter the product fiend, lives elsewhere)…
Love the way the pebbles feel under your feet....
Here's how the bathroom cabinets turned out....
Glass from Chaudron Glass in Baltimore…such a cool place–post about it here.
the pattern is called "Rondelle"....
I want a larger mirror...and on the wall is to be determined...
The mirror I recycled from the bathroom in it’s previous state(still like it)…got a different wall-hung sink..larger and more contemporary looking…nice ledge to put things on!
My daughter painted this canvas...I think I like it here...
And as you can see, I mixed metals…(something I did in the kitchen makeover as well)….it’s just more interesting than everything perfectly matchy-matchy…as long as you don’t overdo it. Used the polished chrome for most things, and the sink faucet and shower hardware in wrought iron finish. And yes, I bought everything including the shower door(which weighs 400 freakin’ pounds) online…..except for the cabinet doors-from Chesapeake Kitchens….and Chaudron glass.
Ok, let me put it out there that I’ve never, ever made my own cat food. But I am one of many who sighs deeply when looking at the price for a can of the stuff. The things MY CATS will eat…range in price from around $.50 for a small can( will serve two of them for one meal) to $1.30…or more(Wellness at Whole Foods-$1.50, Newman’s Own-$1.40). That can add up over the course of a year.
At the EXPO East show here in Baltimore, I stumbled across a booth for Wild Kitty Homemade Cat Food kit-website here. All you have to do is lightly cook a pound of ground whatever…beef, chicken, turkey(you can also add raw meat, if your cat is on a raw diet)…and add the packet from Wild Kitty. What’s in it? Accoding to the ingredient list….pretty good stuff, like clams, chicken liver, rice bran, broccoli(when’s the last time your cat ate his broccoli?), wheat germ oil, natural taurine, spinach, coral calcium, and so on…..And Wild Kitty says on its website that owners of indoor cats will notice an added bene….almost no smell in the litter box!
This makes a little over a pound of cat food....
If I am to be honest, I’ve had this packet for over a month…and I have yet to actually use it. But I promise to make up some this weekend, and let you know how Baby Girl and Muffy react. They are, by any definition, picky eaters. The cost of 4 packets(to which you add meat) is $14.95…..but that makes, ummmmm, 4 plus pounds of cat food. That’s a lot. Don’t make me do the math. Here, kitty, kitty, kitty…
Ok, I had a couple of days off this week…in the middle of the week…with nothing really planned for those days. Unusual for me. And lovely. And for at least one of those days, I think I put together the perfect schedule….Step one: start the day nice and slow…
A little iPad, Today Show, and green tea....bliss!
Step 2: a little tv….got to watch Regis and Kelly….can I say I will miss Regis? They have this odd, cranky chemistry that is gonna be hard to replace with someone younger and cooler.
Oh Regis...waxing poetic over something....
Step 3: Take daughter to lunch….always good to catch up with my girl. She had the gumbo…I had the grilled salmon salad(and a glass of wine-at lunch!)
Good eats in Canton...love Langerman's...
Step 4: Pedi at About Faces in Canton.
How decadent is a mid-week, mid-day pedi??
My toes really needed some attention, and I had a gift certificate to pay for it. How fabulous is that?
the color: "You Don't Know Jacques"
Step 5: Make another cup of tea at home, and catch up on magazines and catalogues. They’ve been waiting patiently… for a look-see, or the recycling bin.
Neiman Marcus gift book.....oooh, lovely.
Step 6: Lazy girl’s dinner…carrryout!Went to the new Manchurian Rice in Harbor East….they were pretty fast. Chicken and mushrooms, and Mongolian Beef…both delish(served on real dishes of course…all the better to fool you with).
Wow.....it's good they have a powerful fan system.....
Step 7: Glass of wine and catch up on Rachel Zoe Project…..
Oh, Rachel...you're a Mommy(with a baby in Chanel!)
This show is my guilty pleasure that I can only watch alone, or with my daughter…who understands me. I mean, it’s so MAJ…..obvie.
Step 8: Go to bed a little early and read my other guilty pleasure….The Faefever Series by Karen Moning. Seriously, I’m a little ashamed of liking these books so much, so don’t tell anyone. Please.
There was a neighborhood bonfire and soup/stew cookoff this past weekend…and while I didn’t get my offering there in time for the judging…I thought this soup was a real winner…Stein’s Sweet Potato Soup, a recipe from the Stein Erikson Lodge in Park City Utah. But what makes this one different is the addition of chili peppers. Sweet, and spicy…just the way I like it.
Yes, it's just as fabulous as it looks....
Stein Erikson is a former alpine ski race and Olympic gold medalist….born and raised in Norway…he won the gold medal in the giant slalom in 1952, and was considered skiing’s first “superstar”. But he headed for the U.S., and opened the Stein Erikson Lodge in Park City-here. I was lucky enough to stay there for Great Country Inns, back in the day. Drop dead gorgeous place(if you are ever in Park City, go see it, and have lunch)….and the food there absolutely rocks it. Stein was a really interesting guy to interview (and not bad to look at, let’s be honest).
Great skiier....and really nice guy...
But I digress, back to the soup….the recipe is pretty easy really. The most complicated part is roasting and peeling the chili peppers(and that ain’t hard).
Pretty simple, really....
Ingredients are listed on the recipe above. You simply saute the carrots and onions together for a while, add the chicken stock and the sweet potatoes and cook until tender(and I added a bay leaf and a big clove of chopped garlic).
SImmer the potatoes for 20 minutes or so until tender...
When everything is tender, stir in your roasted peeled chilis…
Roast at 400 until blackened, then sweat them in a paper bag. Peel.
Simmer a few minutes, and puree the batch, season to taste. Dat’s it. If it’s still not hot enough for you(and sweet potatoes can take some heat), add a splash of Sriacha or Tobasco. Done. Slurp. Enjoy.
Ok, let me just say that I have seen Sriacha sauce sitting on the tables of many Thai restaurants(though it’s actually made in California at Huy Fong Foods), and never tried it. It just looked….so RED…so incendiary….so….dangerous??? Oh, the shame of that cowardice….and the time lost.
A puree of fresh red jalapenos, vinegar, garlic powder, sugar and salt….I now use Sriacha constantly. In Maine, I made(more like made up) something I saw onJoseph Leonard’smenu(my son’s fav restaurant in the west village)….roasted brussel sprouts Sriacha. So I humbly offer my own version. Wash, trim and half your sprouts….and preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Oh, my beloved Kitchen Aid roasting sheet....
Toss them with olive oil and salt….and spread out cut side down on a roasting pan. Ok, they don’t all have to be cut side down, but it pleases my sense of order…you know it is. Flip over about 15 minutes in and give them another 10 or so in the oven, until they look like this.
All nice and golden....lovely...
Sriacha time!! Squeeze it on…you can always add more later, if you like really hot stuff….
Toss them to coat evenly, and serve to delighted eaters!
Love the bits of red chili sauce on the green.....so pretty
Even if you think you don’t like brussel sprouts(and I kinda always avoided them, as I had only experienced the oversteamed, drippy, dreary variety-ugh)….these will be a revelation. Seriously. They’re that good.
It’s Friday people! SO put some Sriacha on something this weekend….(a recipe follows for Sriacha Wings….my Friday gift to you-oh, and mayo mixed with Sriacha makes a nice dipping sauce)….be nice, don’t throw rocks, maybe buy a pumpkin…and come home safe, ’cause we miss you! ♥
In Maine last weekend, I had the luxury(it is a luxury if you don’t have one) of a gas stove. Nothing fancy about it, but cooking with gas, I love love love. ..especially for roasting peppers. And the lovely Jennifer loves Poblanos….and who could blame her. Smokey, not too hot…they’re lovely. So to roast, you just blacken them all over, then pop them into a paper bag to “sweat”them(which makes them easier to peel) and after they cool, take the skins off. Do not attempt this while they are still hot….I have burned my fingers, getting a little over zealous.
Peel them, and don't forget to seed them....
I reduced some wine and a little vinegar in a saucepan, the added cold pats of butter, salt, and the poblanos, and little chopped cilantro…and we served it alongside of steaks we grilled…only it was pretty fabulous on the lobsters too.
The turf part of steak and lobsters....
It was my son’s birthday dinner, and really it was kinda perfect….beautiful view, great food, nice wine, and presents of course.
Just waiting for some food and drink...almost dinner time!
Presents to open!!
And it’s hard to know what to buy for a guy who lives in limited space in Manhattan(I made a vow long ago never to buy them anything that sits on something), and has almost everything he wants(ok, except for the 2 million dollar brownstone)….so for the most part, I opt for gift certificates(those are the little scrolls in the pic above)…for restaurants, clothes, blow drys(for Jennifer, obvie)…services for the most part, not things that take up space. Oh and the “ribbon” on the package above is actually a knit necktie from Bonobos.
One does want a hint of color....
He is currently loving colorful socks…a look I love. Have yet to talk the hubby into this trend, but a pop of color is just so cool…love it. (And socks don’t take up much room, and they do wear out!)
speaking of a pop of color....
And it’s sooooo Friday. And while the leaves aren’t changing there like they were in Maine, the weather will feel like autumn this weekend. So put on a sweater, cheer on your favorite team(go Ravens and War Eagle!), take a nice long walk, and maybe roast some marshmallows over an outdoor fire….and come home safe, ’cause we miss you! (Next week, the bathroom reveal…it’s been a couple of dusty, trying weeks.)
You know….it’s just been one of those weeks. Dry eyes….construction dust in the house…cough, cough,…trying to get sinks, shower doors, tile, etc., in on time, so everything can stay on schedule, and have workers out of the house before house guests from England come in for a week’s stay….plus job-work, and doing a presentation at Expo East Natural Foods convention tomorrow at the Convention Center….you know, the usual.
And then last night driving home, thinking, ok, there is nothing to eat in the fridge..honey, it’s scrambled eggs-again….a big semi truck to my left, is turning left. The very end of his trailer clips my side mirror and knocks off the back of it. And kept going….probably didn’t have any idea he had hit something.
So I take off after him…he finally stops….his girlfriend leans out the window yelling at me with attitude about how” nothing happened and what am I talking about, you’re crazy, etc“…..I just start taking pictures. That cooled her jets a little. The guy gets out to talk to me…he is much nicer(hey, it’s his job in the balance here—his company’s name is on the truck, and the truck number). I explain I have no interest in getting anyone in trouble for anything, but I do want my mirror paid for…he aplogizes for the woman he called his fiance. Anyway I will get the mirror paid for…talked to the company this morning…but I so wish I had given him some life advice, which would be, “Buddy, whatever you do, DO NOT marry that woman. Can you imagine life with that screamer? Get out now.” But I didn’t.
Why won't you open?????
I get home, trudge up the front steps, and my housekey, which is in the lockbox for the contractor to come and go, is now stuck inside. I’ve opened this box several times before with the code, but tonight…it is frozen. So I sit on the steps in the fading light, waiting for the hubby to get home and let me in, so I can cook some amazing(jk)scrambled eggs, and in the meantime…I am now scrambled eggs for the mosquitos. Sigh.
Picture me right here....
So it’s been that kind of week….but tomorrow afternoon, I will depart this vale of tears for a long weekend in Maine with my son and the lovely Jennifer. It’s gonna be delicious lobster, great wine, and sitting on the dock by day and by the fire by night. Can. Not. Wait. When I get home the bathroom should be almost finished….I’ll let you know how it comes out…fingers crossed! Oh, something good did happen this week…look who came by the WBAL newsroom! Love the Calster….
I’ve had this “little issue” now for several months… I wake up at night, and my eyeballs feel like dry little orbs covered with a sandpaper lid….no moisture at all to blink. I’ve been handling this uncomfortable problem in one of several high-tech(not) ways…pull my eyelids up and blink without the lid touching the eyeball to get some tears started…dip a finger in the glass of water on the beside table and put a drop in each eye(so hygienic)…or, and I feel terrible admitting this…spit on a finger and put that in my eye. Hey, it worked. But not doctor approved.
And I have to thank a viewer for kicking me enough to go have this seen about. She wrote: “I am a loyal watcher of Channel 11 News, but I’ve noticed that Donna Hamilton’s eyes are often red and bloodshot…her eyes are too pretty to be red!” Ok…I know my eyes are kinda pink on occasion, especially if I fill in on the 11 pm show(I’m normally asleep by then!), but I didn’t think viewers could see that. Thanks HD.
I bought the ultra...the tears are a little thicker for night...
So I did see the doc yesterday morning(And I did not admit the spit part) and told him about the dry eye and red eye thing…he said even though my eyes FEEL fine in the daytime, they’re probably still dry, and the eye’s way of getting oxygen when there’s not enough moisture is for the blood vessels to dilate. Not pretty. So he recommended for a first try, artificial tears called Systane…to try at night and during the day…and if the nighttime trouble continues, he gave me a nighttime ointment, that I hope I won’t need.
And I’m adding some other things that I found on a website called the Dry Eye Zone….which has some interesting tips of dealing with dry eyes, including putting warm rice bags on your eyes, right before you go to sleep, to stimulate the oil protection….using an eye mask, and drops of course.
An eye mask helps keep moisture in...
The mask also helps to protect the eyes from ac or fans that might blow in your face. Last night, I used only the Systane Ultra and a mask…and it was much better than previous nights. I still woke up, but didn’t have to add drops, because my eyes felt pretty moist. Tonight I’ll give the rice bags a try. I’ll let you know how it goes!
Lots of us take our lunch to work every day…it saves money, definitely saves on calories(home cooking is almost always lower cal than restaurant food), and the recession-wise work through lunch…if you know what I mean. Enter the Indian Tiffin box.
Three layer stainless steel tiffin box.....
Tiffin is lunch. The word originated in British occupied India ….and in India still… the Tiffin box is a common sight..as you can see. …I’ve read about the Tiffin box is several books that are set in India recently…The Hundred Foot Journey describes the ingenious system: “These tiffin boxes–over two million battered tin cans with a lid…smelling of daal and gingery cabbage and black pepper rice and sent on by loyal wives…are sorted, stacked into trundle carts, and delivered with utmost precision to each insurance clerk and bank teller throughout Bombay.” And they are delivered by thousands of tiffin-wallahs….who almost never lose or misdeliver one. (Maybe the airlines could learn a thing or two from the tiffin-wallahs.)
Hard at work....the tiffin-wallahs...
But the tiffin box is making a modern resurgence here in the U.S. as most ofus don’t go out for two-hour restaurant lunches anymore(did I ever??)…and while I often head to the salad bar, I’m at the mercy of the person who puts it together that day. No chick peas? No edamame? No spinach leaves…only romaine? Now, I can get all my fave ingredients and put it all together in the tiffin, with my favorite oil and vinegar dressing in the dear little tiny container.
I may get the two layer one.....found it on Amazon...
You can find all sorts and variations of the tiffin online…one of the best deals was the one above, with only two layers at Amazon-here…$25…free shipping. Not bad for something that will last forever. And while an efficient tiffin-wallah(or dabba-wallah as they’re also known) won’t deliver it to me, and nor will it smell spicy…. I’ll have exactly what I want for lunch. No waste, no trash, reuseable. Love it.
Baby Girl is quite enthused about this project....maybe too much?
I love, love, love smoked salmon….would eat it every day if I could…but that stuff is expensive! So….ever think of smoking your own? That’s what we did this weekend… and it turned out better than I dreamed.
you can ditch the greenery if you like.... ...
But the results were delicious….You start with a brine….which means simply a salt/sugar based liquid in which the fish will cure for anywhere from a few to quite a few hours…in ours we just used a quarter cup salt(make sure it has no anti-caking chemicals-many salts do) and a quarter cup brown sugar. And the fish brined for a few hours in the fridge. Then you air dry the fish(this was when Baby got into the whole process), until it gets a weird film on it. The pellicle is supposed to be white, but ours never was. However, it was sticky to the touch as it’s supposed to be, before it goes into the smoker for a few hours. The result was really moist, very smokey…and fabulous…
Goya cracker, salmon cream cheese, and smoked salmon...
And I found a wonderful new bakery this weekend(new to me anyway)…my neighbor had given us some cupcakes a few weeks ago, as a thank you for helping do a little makeover on their garden.
Their "Harvest' cookie..oatmeal, fruit, nuts...totallty delish...
I had to know where they came from…and the answer was Touche Touchet, in Howard County…Columbia. I found my way there Saturday…and bought some sweet treats…including some harvest cookies, and their amazing cupcakes.
Key Lime Pucker...with a tart lime curd filling...
The Key Lime Pucker is maybe my fave…
Classic combo...chocolate and peanut butter....
…or the Chocolate Peanut Butter? They were a lovely end to the weekend, when you just need a little treat, you know?
Wash, trim and half your sprouts….and preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Squeeze it on…you can always add more later, if you like really hot stuff….
Oh, something good did happen this week…look who came by the WBAL newsroom! Love the Calster….
Hamilton's Habitat 