This California Girl Returns Home!

This Cali Girl is back on her home soil!  (Well, close enough, anyway.)  A change in jobs brought us back to my home state and to the Bay Area.  Kris is now working for the CRAY installation in Oakland, associated with the UC Berkeley Campus.  The whirlwind world tour whirled again!  Last Thursday morning, we got in the car at zero-dark thirty, as my father would say, and left Miami, ending up at my folks house very very early Saturday morning.  Talk about a long drive!  We carved out 1200 miles in the first day, cut across a corner of Alabama, finally stopping for some sleep in Shreveport, LA.  We spent dinner and the next night at my grandparent's house in New Mexico, where we got to see my Uncle Jeff and my cousin Jesse and his family for a couple hours, stopped off at the Grand Canyon to spend a few hours with Kris's Uncle Steven, who works there so showed us all his favorite vistas, and lit out before sunset to land home.  It was a long trip for us, a very long trip for the monster, who handled it very well from her perch in the back seat on top of all the pillows and blankets, and it was so very awesome to cross the border into California and know that we only had a few hours left before we were home.  We spent two nights at my folks' house and got to see my brother and Rachel, Ralph and Sabrina, and Kirby before we relocated to a two-week Extended-Stay America to stay at while we find a place to live.  We found ourselves right on the Alameda Marina and also found that there are currently a couple of houseboats for sale....Hmmm!  One hour wandering around town by our lonesome after heading back up and picking up Kris from his first day, we met a gal and her dog on a little walk who revealed that she lived in the marina on her boat with her husband, she told us who to talk to about the marina and the houseboats, etc.  One hour and we'd already met boat people!  We get lucky.  We're so thrilled to be able to start putting away a little savings towards a boat and being able to spend weekends sailing down in Monterey and being closer to both our families.  During his interview trip, Kris went out and found a pizza parlor and had already made a few friends who remembered him upon our visit last night for a couple beers and some pizza to unwind.  After Kris's first day of work we really just only wanted to grab some fast food and call it a night, after finding a few Ingress portals, of course!  But last night was awesome, to meet the people that Kris had told me about and try the pizza, which was awesome, and get a feel for where we're going to be living!  I was extra excited this morning to realize that we'd be living back in a big city that was full of so many different cultures with so many different cuisines.  I like the idea that we're going to be living right near San Francisco without living in it directly, as the traffic coming up here was just interesting enough not to want to do every day.  I'm so excited to be able to see Alcatraz and Angel Island, the Navy Pier, all the museums I went to as a kid, Chinatown, and everything!  It's going to be such a blast to re-discover everything and to show it all to Kris.  
Our Miami friends sent us off in style, with a little WOB party, new glasses and shirts to take with us, and we decided to pass the WOB cape along to mini-Chloe, otherwise known as Mila.  Her owner, our friend Joaquin, wanted me to make her a cape as well, but I had no idea how I was going to make a cape for a four-month old fluffball of a poodle who was going to grow so I decided that she could grow into the original and that I could make a new one for Chloe with the shirt that Eileen had given me a while back.  So we had a changing of the WOB dog ceremony and little Mila was paraded through the bar.  We're going to miss everyone there, our friends Yvi and Andres and everyone else we met, who were so totally awesome and of course we're going to visit with our WOB shirts in tow as often as we can, of course.  Miami was fun to move to and explore and make new friends in, as we seem to make the best friends wherever we go, and to make the holidays so much easier to visit family.  My dad was about to send my mom out for Christmas as we were deciding to make this transition so I had to tell him to hold off on buying the plane tickets and since I haven't been home for Christmas in three years, it's going to be good to be there.  Relocating is always interesting but we seem to be off to a good start already, and I'm looking forward to finding a more permanent place to actually unpack and organize and do it all again.  I'm pro at it, at this point!  
On with the day, but of course there will be more news as it happens!  Have a great week! 
Happy Positive Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes, everyone!
Enjoy,

Allie H.

More Red Beans & Rice!

I tried this recipe again today and I wasn't so much focused on the finished traditional product as I was just getting the beans right this time.  We've tried them twice, and they've still somehow come out almost crunchy.  No bueno.  I actually followed the package directions on the kidney bean bag (funny how that works!) and guess what?  They came out lovely.  The package told me to soak a one-cup bean to 3-cup water ratio for 6-8 hours or overnight.  I ended up soaking them for about 18 hours since I didn't want to fuss with cooking them last night.  I checked them occasionally, and while a few of them were splitting, they seemed to only be getting a tiny bit softer.  But I guess that's just the way they work because right around 9:15 this morning, I drained them, rinsed them, put them back in the pot with 4 cups of water per cup of beans soaked this time, brought them to a boil, lowered the heat, put the lid on and walked away for two hours.  Okay, I hovered for the first fifteen minutes or so because the residual heat was so much that with the lid on, there was still a steady boil going on even though the heat on the stove was all the way down to 2.  It finally calmed down and I could move onto more immediate tasks like clearing my email inbox and showering.  Somewhere around 30 minutes left I decided to season a bit (which I probably should have done at the hour mark, but oh well.  Next time.)  I threw in a bunch on minced dried onion, garlic powder, two beef bouillon cubes and a couple splashes of Liquid Smoke.  I know my measurements were probably a little off to the amount of beans but they came out pretty decent, I think.  Last minute rice and heated up the pulled pork I did in the crock pot yesterday afternoon and that was lunch!  I've never "pulled" a piece of pork before and it was interesting but after a few minutes I got the hang of it, under the watchful eye of the puppy, of course, hoping I'd drop a piece on the floor for her.  Next time, for the beans, I think I'm going to throw in actual chopped onions, seasonings, bell peppers and let the simmering process cook them to a perfectly soft texture and a little bit of hot sauce.  See if I can't get it a little more authentic to the flavorful recipe.  But at least now I know how to get the beans cooked right!  No more crunchy, chewy kidney beans for us :)  It's going to stay on my go-to budget recipe that's easy to prep and easy to cook.  

Oh!  The pulled pork.  My mother-in-law, Toodie, showed me when she was visiting last time what she does to make a quick meal while you're out running errands all day-she puts 1-2 pork butts on a plate, sprinkles both sides with Lowry's Seasoning Salt, puts them in the crock-pot and pours 1-2 cans of root beer over them and lets them cook on low for 4-6 hours.  Mine was 1 pork shoulder, so a little less meat, and we didn't have root beer but we did have just enough Coke and I found a few recipes that accepted that as a substitute, and also called for a tablespoon of Liquid Smoke (Toodie's method may have called for that as well but I can't remember..I should have written it down!)  Somewhere around the four-hour mark I pulled it it, cut it up into a few pieces, shredded it apart with a fork and dropped it back into the crock-pot.  If Toodie's feeding a huge crowd she leaves the BBQ sauce on the side  but if it's just the family crowd she pours in some Sweet Baby Ray's, buys some soft rolls to toast and make sandwiches with and calls it done.  Since I was going with Mexican style today I left the sauce out but of course, tasted it, and it was a teensy bit dry but when I reheated it today it was pretty good.  It's so easy.  Let your appliances cook for you!  :)  
What has everyone else been cooking lately?  Share!
Happy Cooking!
Enjoy,

Allie H. 

Solar Powered Steampunk Makes the World Go 'Round...

I received a neat little package today in the mail when I immediately recognized the handwriting I couldn't wait to open it!  My super glam girl  Rachel at Patina Perfected sent me quite possibly the most awesome earrings I've ever owned, ever!  I'd sent her these cool bottle caps from World of Beer a while back asking, pretty please, would she make me some sweet earrings out of them because they have the coolest sunburst design on them with their logo for the beer and I am so ecstatic at the result!  I'd merely asked for her to make them long and match any jewels or baubles to the beer caps and they are PERFECT! I love, love, love them.  She also included a handful of her business cards because she does, and they look like little Patina Perfected Trading cards (the easier to pimp out her business with-I've been handing out my business cards with her info on the back since I'd run out of hers!)  The front of them proffer pictures of her various creations and the back has all of her contact info and shop listings on Etsy.  She touts her jewelry line as "Romantic Whimsy with a Steampunk Twist" and these new earrings definitely fit the bill as they're so sweet and funky!  She can be found on Facebook as well and if you "Like" and follow her you can get special offers and sneak peeks.  It's worth the look, at least.  All of her creations come in cute little boxes nestled carefully in a sweet little bag that you can use to store them in or recycle for whatever you like.  Considering I've gone the purple route lately they might be cute to keep my store of business cards in...Hmmmm...Check out the unveiling process below!

 Here, when I saw the little light bulbs through the bag, I literally squealed like a little girl.  Thank goodness the guys had already come for lunch and gone again! 

 And here they are, looking fabulous!

Her photo-finish Perfected business cards.  Adorable, right?!

I never even thought to incorporate the energy theme and she added these sweet little light bulbs.  I'm freaking out, they're so cute!  It's official, I now have WOB earrings with a cool twist :)  Dare I wear them with my new shimmery skirt?  They're at least going to ROCK with jeans and a tee.  It's the little things in life that make me happy~

What new little surprises in your life have you received lately that have made you giddy?  Please share!

Happy Treasures, everyone!

Enjoy,

Allie H.

P.S. Come look!  It's Patina Perfected's contact info, all right here! Check her out and say hi :)

Here's My Skirt!

I don't know anyone who can take a cell phone photo of themselves without a full length mirror and have it come out good so I waited for Kris to come home and had him take one for me.  The first is, of course, so you can see where the skirt hits and the second one is how I'm wearing it today!  I know it's a little blurry but I'm feeling very shimmery today :)

 

Happy Shimmering, everyone!

Enjoy,

Allie H.

Apparently Wednesday is for Sewing...

It was time for a craft.  I've been going through a current little snag of writer's block and something creative had to be done.  I've been trying to amass enough bravery to tackle one of those paneled t-shirt skirts I've been wanting to do for years but I can't find the one t-shirt I want to include in it.  I did, however, run across a dress from one of my Broadway Revues at the Wharf that I was lucky enough to keep (probably because I was one of the only tall skinny girls who would fit into it!)  I've got a couple like those but this one was glittery, spaghetti-strapped and v-neck.  Very theatre or costume party glitz.  I haven't worn it since and when I picked it up and held it up to me I thought, "Skirt!"  Yup, I converted it.  Not the best sewing job in the entire world but I'm pretty pleased and once I summed up the power to grab my scissors and cut the dress into two very uneven lengths, there was no going back.  And it took me quite literally 20 minutes.  I held it up to me to figure out where the waist was going to be, eye-balled the pins all the way across and went to town!  I put a few pins in place the secure the alignment of the lining material and flipped the skirt inside out, folded a quick hemline all the way around and pinned in place, and went to the machine.  Yes, I know I used blue thread.  I can't find my gallon-sized ziploc bag of color-wheel inclusive colors.  I'm pretty sure it's the same thread I used for Chloe's WOB cape.  Keep in mind that this dress was very clingy on me with a bit of stretch to it so I thought I'd go ahead and sew, and if I needed to come back with some elastic later to tighten up the waist I could, but I think from the way it's fitting, that it will be just fine.  And yes, I remembered to take pictures this time!  I'm learning, I swear.  Check it out.

 I know it seems like a VERY small amount of fabric leftover from the top but this dress, hanging on me, was was about five inches off of the floor.  And I was determined to make it floor length so I needed as much fabric as I could get!

 I was pondering folding it over again but I'm currently having fun just wearing it as it is.  If I find more than a bobbin full of black thread, I'll put it on my to-do list.

And here it is!  I'm pretty happy about how it came out and I figure I can dress up or down.  I think it would  be perfect with a black t-shirt or tank top and flops for a casual day when I'm feeling the need for a little sparkle :)  Makes me want to hit some thrift stores and see if I can find some more dresses that need separating from their tops.

What is everyone else crafting this week?  Share your posts.

Happy Up-cycling!

Enjoy,

Allie H.

Nostalgia Food

I am so glad that I finally found this recipe!  Does anyone else remember that wonderfully yummy olive spread that Safeway used to spread on their Italian-style deli sandwiches?  I used to get that particular sandwich all the time because I loved that spread.  Kelsey and I would get them all the time on our way home from dance show rehearsals at MPC or take them to munch on at the outdoor Forest Theatre in Pacific Grove, where bringing your own picnic was not only allowed but celebrated.  The posh crowd adult crowd (well, more adult than us) would even bring their own bottles of wine.  And then quite suddenly, Safeway changed their deli menu and quit using it.  Or, at least, they quit doing it at the Safeway store closest to both my house and my parent's house.  Which was really, really sad.  I've been searching the internet occasionally over the last couple years when i crave it and not finding anything that seems quite right.  (And admittedly, part of me forgot that there was a cream-cheese layer to help hold the olive mixture in place, but the second I saw it on my screen, I started drooling in remembrance!)  Part of me also wants to mix the two spreads together and eat it with a box full of crackers, but as it was designed as a sandwich topping, I'll try to stick to the plan.  You could also pop a baguette in the oven and get it nice and crispy and serve it as an appetizer, but I'm looking forward to cream cheese and olives and salami being all wrapped up in one package again with Italian ham and a little kick of yellow peppers.  And since there's no Safeway around here, even if I beg them to bring it back, it wouldn't do me much good, so the fact that I've stumbled across something that sounds so incredibly close makes me absolutely ecstatic   

Safeway's Olive/Garlic Spread

GARLIC SPREAD
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons parsley
2 tablespoons white onions, chopped (I'm going to call this optional because I don't rightly remember it being included, but do as you like!
2 garlic cloves
OLIVE TAPENADE
2 garlic cloves
1 (6 ounce) can black olives, drained
3/4 cup kalamata olive, pitted
3/4 cup pimento-stuffed green olives
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
Directions:
GARLIC SPREAD: Add all ingredients into a food processor. Process until smooth. Remove to a medium bowl or spread generously on toasted baguette slices. Wipe the work bowl and blade clean.
OLIVE TAPENADE: Add the garlic and the black and kalamata olives to the work bowl. Pulse a couple of times until minced. Add the green olives and pulse a couple of times, leaving larger chunks of the green olives (for aesthetics). Remove to a medium bowl and stir in the vinegar and olive oil. (Additional balsamic can be added to cut the saltiness, if desired; keep in mind that the garlic spread will also help cut the salty flavor.) Spread the garlic layer on your choice of bread/toast/baguette first and then spread a layer of the olive mixture, eat as is or follow with your sandwich makings.

I hope that if you haven't had this in the past, that you consider it, either on sandwiches or as an appetizer topping.  It's not something to be ignored, I promise!

Happy Nostalgia Cooking, everyone!

Enjoy,

Allie H.

Another Furniture Freebie Find!

I know I'm not usually a "two post per day" blogger but I forgot to share!  On our way to Kris's first follow-up appointment a couple weeks ago we stumbled across a pile of rejected furniture & objects down by the trash in the garage.  Included in the pile was a small free-standing cabinet with a drawer up top and two shelves and the drawer was stuck, not closing all the way for some reason.  Kris took a look at it and tipped it to one side, and we heard something rolling around behind the drawer.  My hand just barely fit and I pulled out a 5-container paint set.  Drawer closed perfectly, problem solved.  I wiped it down, inside and out with Clorox wipes and it was ready to go.  I carried it to a few different spots in the living room until I settled on the short wall right outside the guest bathroom.  The drawer is holding the extra kitchen towels and on the shelves I tucked away some extra sodas and a set of Chinese dishes for four, and matching Marilyn Monroe party plates and highball glasses that our friend Noel gave us for our wedding.  I'm still determined to find some sort of bar cart with room for glasses but for now, at least, that gets them off the counter and out of the way when they're not being used.  On top of it now are our business cards and a couple of knick-knacks that were also on the counter that desperately needed to be moved elsewhere.  But I was mostly stoked because it was free and in perfect shape and it almost matches the color of the dark nightstands we have so if I change my mind eventually, it will go with out bedroom, as well.  
Happy Furniture Finds!
Enjoy,

Allie H.