Tomato Paste

I don't know where I got this tip but I like it (warning: old lady tip ahead). This one is for all the years that all of us have opened a can of tomato paste and used one or two tablespoons, then put the can in the fridge and waited til it got super moldy and disgusting and then threw the whole thing away. Here's a better idea!

Spread out a piece of saran wrap

 Measure out 1 tablespoon piles of paste on the saran

Cut the saran and roll up your little pastes like tootsie rolls

 Throw them in a baggie

Throw the baggie in the freezer - now you have measured tomato pastes ready for whatever you're cooking and you can just go from freezer to pot with them. And you're not a waster! And if you're really good, you recycled the can too! 

Recipe

The weather is getting colder so I've been in the mood for soups and stews and comfort food. This recipe is easy, tasty and as healthy as you want it to be. It calls for chicken-apple sausage, but in the past I've used sweet italian sausage which has been great, and this time I used turkey sausage because we are on a little diet right now. So far, no matter what I change, it's always good.

Cabbage and White Bean Soup with Sausage

Bon Appetit - 2008

Makes 8-10 servings

4 T olive oil - divided

12 oz fully cooked chicken-apple sausage (about 4), halved lengthwise, then cut crosswise in 1/2-inch thick slices

4 C thinly sliced green cabbage 

3 leeks (white and pale green parts only), halved lengthwise, then thinly sliced crosswise

2 C baby carrots, cut in half lengthwise, then halved crosswise

2 T tomato paste concentrate 

2 T chopped fresh Italian Parsley

1 T chopped fresh rosemary

8 C low-salt chicken broth

1 15oz can cannellini (white kidney beans), rinsed, drained

Get your ingredients together and get all your chopping done first. This is what's called being a good sous chef. Be ready! Notice that I am a HUGE recipe cheater - I'm using turkey instead of chicken-apple sausage, and I'm using ground turkey instead of sausage - doesn't matter.

  Directions: Heat 2 T olive oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. 

 Add sausage (or ground turkey in my case) and saute until brown, about 5 minutes.

Add cabbage; saute 2 minutes. (I actually used a whole head of cabbage - and I like to use Savoy cabbage but there wasn't any at the store - so i used regular green cabbage which was fine).

 Transfer mixture to bowl and set aside.

 Add remaining 2 T olive oil to same pot. Add leeks and carrots and saute at medium until soft, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes (I usually do more like 10 minutes).

Add tomato paste, parsley (I used curly parsley since I have a ton of it in the garden right now and I like it), and rosemary and stir for 1 minute or so.

Add broth, sausage/cabbage mixture and beans and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 40 minutes (or not that long - you decide). Season to taste with salt and pepper.  EAT, then eat again  the next day.. and the next......

Here's the final - enjoy!

Walnut Update

Remember when I won the walnut war against the bluejays? My reward was a wagon full of walnuts that were sitting in the barn yelling at me to do something with them before they were wrecked. So on Sunday, I got after it.

Here is my step-by-step guide to dealing with walnuts - and remember - this is MY guide - other people may have different guidelines and they are probably way easier, but this is my own little thing that works - or has worked for me on a small scale. If I were dealing with over a thousand little buggers I might get some proper equipment, but right now this is fine for a "family-size" pile of nuts.

When you pick the walnuts some of the husks are still sort of greenish and some are already starting to breakdown and turning black. Give them all some time to breakdown more (like a week or two), but don't let them sit in water. If you're squeamish, you might not like to see this part. There are tiny little worms that live and eat in the outer husks and help do the decomposing work. That's why the bluejays like them. They will be all over the place, don't get grossed out, it's the circle of life - deal with it.

1. Get your nuts out of the barn. Find a sunny spot to sit, and prepare yourself to take the husks off. Wear old clothes, maybe some gloves, maybe a bucket of warm water to rinse the walnuts in. This takes way longer than you think. 

 2. Start to take the husks off. Most of them will fall right off, they are pretty rotten and inky so you can almost squeeze the walnut right out.

 See!

3. Rinse most of the gunk off while still outside, then bring the nuts inside to the sink for a little scrubbing. I want them to look pretty so I do this little extra step so that people will think my walnuts are beautiful. Other people don't care - but I grew up watching Martha Stewart, so there are extraordinary measures that I have to take... I just have to.

4. Lay the little suckers out on the counter until they dry. If you don't do this, you can get moldy walnuts that taste like crap. If you make sure they are thoroughly dried - they will last for a year or two. These won't last that long because we will eat them all up. See how pretty they are. 

New Chairs

I got these chairs on Craigslist last week for $40 FOR THE PAIR. Yes, I know - they look a little shabby - but they are a great shape and I'm going to bring them back to life. See the chairs in their original glory below and also some of my ideas for upholstery. What do you think? 

I like the bold pattern ideas, but I also like the solids. Then again, maybe I do solid chairs and patterned drapes, or .... I dont know yet. But I'm excited about doing it. I got the fabric samples at HouseFabric.com where there seem to be loads of choices, and the prices are fair. These ranged from $9.95yd for the solids up to $27.95yd for the prints.   Now I just have to do it. Wish me luck!

Painting Project

Well, it's only taken a year and 2 months - but I finally got the bedroom wall painted! I think the trauma of painting the whole rest of the apartment was so exhausting that I had to take a break - that turned into a really big break - like the entire summer.

Anyway, I documented the before and after - and I left the bed unmade and the nightstands a mess so you'd really get a feel for how BEFORE the before was - just a shitshow - but, ahhhhh, the after. So soothing, so peaceful, so prettttttty. 

Next step, get some art on the walls, get a proper dresser or wardrobe (you can't see that problem from your view) - just trust me - it's not great over there on that side of the room, but it will be.

The details: I'm a really big fan of Sherwin-Williams paints. They are more expensive than the brands you find at Home Depot, etc, but they are really good. They practically have the consistency of pudding so they don't drip and splatter, and they go on thick, so you never need more than 2 coats. Also, the depth of color is really nice and it's fast drying and basically really good stuff. And, if you sign up with them, you will get loads of discounts on paint or supplies. I got my paint at 25% off, and supplies at 15% off. I already have all the brushes, rollers, etc, but I did get more Frogtape. Again, my favorite. All the other tapes have been ok, but just ok. Frogtape does what it's supposed to, it seals the edges, and you don't EVER get that leakage of paint. Everytime a great line - love it!

Here are the pics - I know - lookin' good!

The dreaded before - what a dump!

Furniture moved - tape taped. Not much room here to work with.

Just got the first bit of paint on - love the color already. It's a sort of
pale blue but with a tiny bit of gray in there too.

Just about yanked the tape off first - but here is the taped and painted version.

Bed's made, things are put back, looks awesome!

Just needs artwork

View with the drapes. Love how it all works with the
head and footboard - the drapes and the head and footboard were
 last winter's sewing projects! Sorry, I didn't document those little DIY's.

Another view!

And last one, toward the bathroom. Love the color!

Go Hawks!

We are fair weather fans of the fairest variety. In fact, we never watch sports on TV, unless its golf or the Superbowl or that American Ninja show - does that count as sports?  Anyway now, this season, we find ourselves on the bandwagon of enthusiasm for this years Seattle Seahawks and we're actually paying attention to what's going on. 

I'm not going to pretend that I know shit about football - I just enjoy the culture of watching, yelling, eating...I mostly try to yell kind of in a low voice since it's common for me to yell at the wrong times, or during an instant replay because I don't know it's a replay - and I'm an idiot. Hence the low yelling - I try not to embarrass myself. Whatevs - I'm having fun.

The latest realization though is that we have NO GEAR. NOTHING. How are we expected to be "FANS" with no gear. I'm going to fix that and surprise the hubby with a little Seahawk's swag. I went to the Proshop on the Seattle Seahawks website - here are some choices out of a kazillion that I found there. Women's choices. The men's choices are the normal stuff - I barely looked at those. 

Kind of subtle $29.95

Sweatshirt $54.95

Gray Tee 34.95

Leggings (are not pants) $44.95

Long sleeve Tee 39.95

Standard Mens style sweatshirt $49.95

Completely slutty halter top $124.95

I'm thinking one of the long sleeve tee's or the sweatshirt - definitely not getting the slutty shirt - and yes, if you are interested, it's also available sleeveless - real halter style. Oh God.

Online Shopping - Where the Deals are

You should see my inbox every morning, day, night, middle of night, all the time. It's freaking loaded with the latest newest awesome offers, begging me to shop now for great great great great great great deals – and it’s nobody’s fault but my own that I get so many emails – I obviously signed up for these services at some point in the past. Now, I’m shellshocked- the offers never stop coming and I can’t keep up. And, I realized something else this weekend too! While trying to shop for a handbag in a real store - I was just pissed that everything I wanted wasn't on super sale. WTF? I'm brainwashed into thinking I can only buy designer goods at discounted prices. Nordstrom must really love that. So I thought this might be a nice time to talk through some of these discounted fashion sites. I’ll just go over the clothing sites right now, maybe later we can discuss all the furniture sites out there calling my name. Here we go.

Gilt Groupe – They just recently revamped their site and while I’m not convinced it’s as easy to navigate as it used to be, I'm ok with it. I’ll figure it out because Gilt Groupe is awesome and I like them. Here’s why. When they feature something on their site to discount – it’s really a good price, not like some others that I will get to later that don’t really offer discounted pricing unless you are buying an off size or super ugly item that will never sell. These guys mean it – good stuff at good prices, sometimes designer (high end) and sometimes independents (not as high end), and they have women’s, men’s, house stuff, travel (see their sister site Jetsetter), and baby stuff. I’ve ordered piles of things over the last couple years – and it’s all been good quality. They also have a return policy where they will take things back and most often give you a credit toward your next purchase – also good because there will always be something coming up that you will like.

RueLaLa – Also awesome. They have similarly good stuff for the whole family – and usually an excellent choice of nicer brands. Me likey. And they do sample sales at times to reduce their inventory - at even better than usual prices.

ShoeMint – I’ve ordered a few items here – just to check out the shoes, because frankly they have some really cute shoes at very low low prices. I had to see for myself if the product was good or not. I got some really cute silvery loafers – I like them but they are sort of stiff and I haven’t gotten them broken in enough and they hurt like hell – but still…..very cute. I also got some wedges – for around $40 bucks – and while I think they will only last one season, they are super cute too. I think the price/quality deal is pretty fair. Inexpensive for only ok construction and quality. I haven’t seen tons on this site that I love, but I still think it’s a good option for inexpensive shoes.

HauteLook – This site is operated by Nordstrom, but it’s not super obvious or super Nordstrom-y. They have deals on brands that are pretty straight forward, I think the prices are really good, I've only ordered a couple of things here, but I like it because Nordstrom tends not to mark things down very much, but this site does, and it's kind of like your own version of Nordstrom Rack but you don't have to pick through a bunch of dirty racks to find anything good. It's all right here.

The RealReal – Holy crap – this site is awesome. It’s a treasure hunt of high end fashion – a consignment site of models and rich ladies throw-aways. For handbags, gently used shoes and clothing – you can find some great things here. Check it out. They do a pretty nice job of close-up photos, so you really can see what you're getting and what the flaws are. The only downside is that models all have super skinny bodies and giant feet - so good like finding your sizes. But when you do, then HELLO DOLLY!

Bluefly – Remember when this was the first site of this kind and people were talking about it. Well, for the longest time I couldn't understand why anyone ever liked it. I’ve never once found that their prices were worth the time to look through the stuff– their discounts were always pretty lame compared to others. I have never purchased anything here and probably wont. I have noticed recently that since all the other good sites have come online, Bluefly is starting to better their discounts to keep up. I'm not sure that will work for me though - I'm still a little bitter from past years and lousy discounts here. But feel free to check them out if you want.