It's All About Food

Another week flew by... I still have a few of the CAS cards to share from last week, but didn't make anything new this weekend. Instead, I was busy cooking and doing a few more house projects.This ladybug card is very simple, but still kind of cute and great for notes to friends. The background is embossed with Cuttlebug Swiss Dots. The scalloped border would be a sinch with square Nestabilities or a punch, but I didn't have either in the right size and resorted to cutting with my rectengular Nestabilites twice to make a sqare. Finally, the ladybug is stamped twice and popped up for a 3D effect. All in all though, it took me about as long to type this up as to make the card, so that's a big plus.

Supplies (All supplies are Stampin'Up! unless otherwise noted) :

• Stamps: Cute & Curly
  
• Paper: Very vanilla, Dill Blossom DP by SEI
  
• Ink: Mellow moss
  
• Accessories: mini clip, ribbon
  
• Tools: Punch

I finally made ice cream for the first time this year - coffee with a hint of Baylee's. Yum! Tried out a tandoori chicken recipe. The flavor was great, but to my surprise it wasn't spicy at all so I'll have to add a few more serrano peppers next time. The favorite had to be the Sourdough Rosemay bread. I got some sourdough starter from my friends (thanks, Jud) and it was finally ready to use this weekend. I found a basic sourdough recipe online and adopded it by adding fresh rosemary and some italian spices. Mmm, the smell alone was phenomenal. I could have baked it in the oven for a nicer loaf shape, but since it was just for me I let the breakmaker do all the work. I'm so glad i bought it, I've been using it at least once a week and its super easy - dump all the ingrediants in adn 3 hours later... Magic - a fresh, fragrant loaf of bread. To finish off the weekend, I prepared frosting for tomorrow's class, as usual, and some cupcakes for later this week.

Ok, so it wasn't all about food this weekend, I actually did a brick Saturday morning (bike+run). It may have been a first one this year, which shows how little I've been training. I need to check if Jack's Generic Tri still has open spots and maybe sign up to give me some motivation. It's a very short tri, so I'm thinking that even though I'm out of shape, I should be able to finish it. It's only two weeks away, so I'll have to hurry.

Basketball Layout and Banana Muffins

A friend of mine graduated from college last weekend (yep, I'm talking about you Amy). It's hard to imagine it's been 3 years since I got my ECE degree at UIUC. The finals, the stress, the winter. I was really happy when it was over, but now that classes are behind me, I wish I had a reason to go visit more often and do the things that I didn't have time for when I was there such as basketball games, football games, bar hopping, etc. For a while I still had a few friends and contacts in Champaign, but Amy is the last person I knew who still attended the school. Makes me feel a little sentimental... and a little old :)

As a tribute to UIUC, here's a layout I did in October for SCS virtual scrapbooking night.

It's a 12x12 page with a faux leather technique created by embossing paper through Swiss Polka Dot folder. Since the the folder is small, I had to emboss two pieces and glue them together. The stitching was done with thin ribbon. What I love most about this page are the pictures - someone dressed up our Alma Mater in a jersey - brings back fond memories when UIUC went to basketball finals in 2005.

Supplies (All supplies are Stampin'Up! unless otherwise noted) :

• Paper: Pumpkin pie, night of navy, blue/orange dots DP from My Mind's Eye
• Ink: Really rust (for faux leather look)
• Accessories: Making memories tag, night of navy and brown ribbon, Cuttlebug embossing folder, punches, BasicGery alphabet, die cut, Illinois sticker
• Tools: Cuttlebug embossing folder, scalloped edge punch
  

Now for some cooking experiments. This year I've been getting more and more into making muffins. They're easy to make and what I love most about them is that they freeze really well so I can make a few batches at a time and freeze a portion of them. A few weeks later just pop them back into the fridge for a day or two and then into a microwave or taster oven right before eating.

Last night I tried a new recipe, Quick and Easy Banana-Oat muffins.
I think I made a few mistakes such as putting too much bananas and taking them out a little too soon, but all in all these have some potential, not bad at all for how healthy they are compared to other muffins. The recipe calls for lots of bananas and oats, whole wheat flour and very little sugar and oil. Next time I need to experiment a bit to make them raise more. If you have some muffin recipes you like, let me know, I'm always on the lookout for new ones.

~Olgy