Roasted Garlic and Rosemary Bread

My husband took me to a restaurant for my birthday last year where each table gets a whole head of roasted garlic to spread on bread.  I've always liked garlic, but the experience at this restaurant got me hooked on roasted garlic...now I use roasted garlic for almost everything!

When we were having our friends over for dinner, I wanted to serve bread that compliments my homemade Italian-inspired food.  One of the breads everyone in my extended family loves is rosemary bread made with fresh rosemary from my yard.  Why not combine rosemary and roasted garlic?

It was a hit and everyone at the table devoured them---I only got one piece!  The combination of fresh bread and roasted garlic dipping oil was hard to beat. 

This bread is easy to make.  First, roast a head of garlic.  Mash about half of the roasted garlic cloves and mix with 1/4 cup of your favorite olive oil.  Add chopped fresh rosemary to your favorite pizza dough or plain Italian bread recipe when you mix in flour.  After rising, place a baking stone in lower 1/3 in oven and set the temperature at 450F.  When the oven is preheated and ready to go, divide the dough in halves and flatten each dough---thick disk if you like doughy bread, thinner if you prefer crispier bread.  Stab the dough with a fork about 20 times.  Place the dough on pizza peeler.  Spread roasted garlic-olive oil to the top and sprinkle with sea salt.  Bake until the bread turns golden brown. 

 

This bread is great for sandwiches, too!  The sandwich in a picture above is a spicy hummus and sunflower sprout sandwich.  

Necklaces with Little Lampwork Beads

My preteen niece asked me to make 14 necklaces to hand out to her friends on her birthday.  I agreed to make only simple beads since I had less than a week to work on them.  I'm grad that she didn't ask me to make 14 amigurumi! (which I would have said NO).

Her mom offered to pay me for these necklaces so I asked her to go to Red Cross website and make a contribution to Japan tunami relief fund.  It's not a large amount, but small grains of sand can accumulate to form a huge desert, right?

Hedgehog Amigurumi

It's been already a year since I started crocheting amigurumi.  I made this hedgehog about 2 months ago and forgot to introduce him. 

I'm not sure if it would look better if I stitch a little brown nose on this guy...

There is no pattern to share at this moment...I didn't write down exactly how many stitches I crocheted for his body.  That's what happens when I crochet in a car.

Earring Rack and Earrings

The necklace stand is still intact and helping me stay organized.  My earrings were next things on my "things to organize" list.  I found a simple photo frame with a slot for two sheets of glass in the middle at TJMaxx.  The generous depth of this frame allowed me to run three lines on one side and two sets on the other side to accommodate earrings with various lengths.

After attaching eyelets, I realized that I didn't have suitable wire for this project.  I could have ran to the hardware store nearby...but sometimes it's fun to experiment and try to use what I have at home.

After trying everything in my toolbox and supply box, I decided to go with hemp string and polymer clay beads I made about the time I bought the hemp string years ago.  The Gorilla glue was used to keep strings and beads in place.
 

 This baby blue-red pair was the first pair of earrings I ever made with my own glass beads.

 The multi-colored cube beads came from a craft supply store. 

These polymer clay beads were coated with away too much shiny coating.  I learned that I prefer polymer clay's natural look.

I've had these beads (top and bottom) for a long time.  Right after purchasing these beads, I found out that some people make their own beads(!!!) and jumped right into the wonderful world of lampwork beads. 

Coffee Soap

My coffee supplier brought his new and improved version of coffee soap to the farmers market last December.  This soap is huge, it's about 4x2x1 3/4 inches!  It contains coffee grinds and brewed coffee from his popular Cowboy Joe's blend and was manufactured by local soapmaker Back 2 Botanicals. 

 

This soap is much darker than the soap I bought from him last summer (pictured below on top of rocks) and it almost looks like a huge chocolate bar!  It foams nicely and has irresistible smell for a coffee addict like me.  The coffee guy said it was designed to be a bath soap but I love using my coffee soap in the kitchen sink.

Just in case anyone wonder why my soap rests on a bed of rocks, the river rocks are not just decorative.  The rocks keep the soap from getting slimy.  It works great on a flat soap dish like this one in the picture. 
I hate slimy soaps!

Glass Plates

A week before moving to Arizona last year, I took a plate making class at Wired Designs Studios in San Antonio, TX.  I needed a way to relieve stress associated with moving and selling a house.  Making things and exercising are definitely my favorite stress relievers.  When I was looking for a large plate to serve tart bites, I saw the plates I made last year and realized that I haven't blogged about them. 

The small plate is 5x5 inches and the large plate is about 9x9 inches.  I nicknamed them red avocado or devil's avocado plates.  I'm still not so sure what kind of food will look appetizing on funky plates like these.

Itty Bitty Nutty Treats

About three hours before a hobby-related meeting both my husband and I had to attend, I found out that everyone was bringing a snack to share.  My husband forwarded me all emails except the one with important details about the meeting.  It figures.  I looked in my fridge and freezer and came up with an idea: little citrus-mixed nuts tarts.  The short dough I had in the freezer and stewed grapefruit zest saved my day!

The same short dough I used for apple-cranberry tarts were used again.  What I love about this sweet short dough is that it tells when it's ready---it's done when the edge turns golden brown.  For the stewed grapefruit zest, I scraped off the zest of 5 grapefruits using a julienne peeler (not a zester) and cooked the zest with sliced flesh from one grapefruit, water, sugar and honey until the zest is softened a little.  I confess, I didn't measure any ingredients.  The only reason I made this zest stew is to save the grapefruit zest for later use when I made grapefruit sorbet.  I hate wasting anything!

I blended about 1 1/2 cups mixed nuts (mostly almonds and some brazil nuts, cashews and pecans) with 1/4 cup sugar and approximately 1/3 cup sweetened zest in food processor at fine-chopping (mincing) setting.  I tasted zest-nut paste to make sure it doesn't need more sugar or zest.  After lining a mini-muffin pan with short dough, I added one scoop of the filling in each well using a small melon ball scoop.  The tarts were baked at 350F for 25 minutes. 

These little tarts are dangerous for someone like me who loves citrus and nuts.  I had to ask my husband to take the leftovers to work.  Otherwise, we'll end up on Biggest Loser!

Grapefruit Sorbet Recipes

Last Sunday, my bro-in-law gave me 15 huge grapefruits off his tree.  Although my original plan was to juice them and keep it in freezer for later use, I had to (yes I HAD to) experiment with some grapefruit (that's what I do when have a lot of ingredients to play with).  When it's possible, I try to make something my husband can eat using ingredients he wouldn't normally go near.  This time, I decided to make grapefruit sorbet.

Those grapefruits were juicier than I expected!  It only took 4 of them to get 3 1/2 cups of grapefruit juice.  I used both sugar and stevia to cut down on sugar while sustaining the desirable consistency.
Result? My husband loved it!

 

I was satisfied with the way sorbet turned out, but I wanted to make another grapefruit sorbet recipe with a little twist.  How about a 'pink' grapefruit sorbet without artificial food coloring? 

Click on "Read more" for recipes.

Necklace Display Stand

I was storing my necklaces in a drawer but it was getting difficult to keep them organized.  The best way to organize necklaces or anything with a string is to hang them on a display stand or a wall unit with hooks.  When I need something is usually the right time to make something.  I drove over to an antique mall in town and started looking for what ever I can use as a base for a stand or a wall decor to add some hooks on.  The reason I didn't go to my usual destination when I have a project---DIY stores---is that I wanted to create something rustic.  Materials from hardware stores would look too new and shiny.  Besides, it's more fun to dig up old stuff at an antique mall.  I never know what I can find.

After walking through entire building, I had to decide between a pair of wooden squares with paint chipping off and an old wooden tool I had no idea what it was used for (I assume it was used to press or pound something).  I couldn't decide right away and I ended up getting both. 

The mystery tool seemed like a better match for decorative handmade nails from Mexico I picked up from an import store.  Sora wanted to show off his pole dance moves but I was ready to hang my necklaces (Sorry, Sora!)

Yay! No more tangling strands!  The next thing on my list is an earring rack/organizer. I'll get to it when I have an idea for it.

Update 1/30/11
I was just told that this is a mallet used for woodcarving.  I can sleep better tonight.

Handspun Yarn Scarf

The brown-peach 2-ply yarn I spun in December now has a new life.  I knitted a skinny scarf with the yarn and crocheted the ends with brighter peach single-ply yarn.  It's a very simple scarf--- cast on16 and repeat k1 p1 until the scarf is long enough.  I had just enough yarn to make this scarf!

As soon as I finished my scarf, however, daytime temperatures here rose to 65-78F and it's been too warn to wear it.  Of course, I'm not complaining.  Stories about massive snow storms and deep freeze many northeastern and midwestern states are experiencing this winter sound like news from other parts of the world.  I remember how much I hated falling on my butt when I was walking to elementary school in winter.  No more icy roads for me! 

Handspun Thick-and-Thin and Supercoil Yarns

Every time I visit Kathy's ranch shop, I learn something new.  Last time, I enjoyed watching her spin super-coiled funky yarns and beautiful thick-and-thin yarns from batts she made with leftover fibers in multiple colors.  Although I only use a hand spindle, I wanted to try these techniques.  I randomly added some thick-and-thin and supercoil in two of my latest yarns.

The bright purple string is not part of this yarn---I use short  pieces of yarns from crocheting projects to tie hand spun yarn for washing and drying.  I don't like wasting anything!

The hand spun yarn in purple-gray base was spun with navy-blue cotton thread.  The dark cotton thread tones down some crazy bright color patches in the yarn.  

I used a bright leafy green colored cotton thread for the olive-gray-brown yarn.  Because of its darker, fall-to-winter colors, I don't think I'll be using this yarn for a while, unless I decide to make something for next winter.  It's been nice and warm in the desert in daytime, I'm ready for some bright colors!

Japanese Bookmarks

As a result of downsizing, we're still going through boxes and sorting the stuff to keep, donate, or discard.  I found a handful of used Japanese stamps and beautiful chopstick bags in one of the boxes and a sheet of laminating film from another.  It was a case I made something out of necessity.  I was reading a book and I didn't own a bookmark (bookmarks magically disappear for some reason), and I needed something to replace a receipt I was using as a bookmark.

I don't remember where these chopstick bags came from---probably a restaurant or a hot spring resort in Japan.  These are handmade with real dried flowers.  I added chiyogami (an origami paper) on the back.

Used Japanese stamps also got a makeover.  I had just enough laminating film to make 4 bookmarks. 

 These bookmarks will make reading books even more enjoyable.  Happy reading!

Kitty Cat Shrooms

The lizard cat toy is starting to look tired after multiple violent attacks by two cats.  I crocheted two mushroom shaped catnip toys and gave them to the monsters on Christmas morning.  These shrooms hold a lot more catnip than the lizard toy.  Entire shroom cap and most of the stem is filled with catnip! 

My cats tend to hold cat toys with their front legs and scratch with back legs.  I make their toys a lot bigger than the store-bought cat toys so that they can grab and scratch a little easily.

Bigger toy means more nip inside.  There's very little fiber stuffing in these shrooms.  I hope I didn't OD my cats. 

Crocheted toys are tough enough to take continuous beating.  I usually use leftover yarn from other projects so it doesn't cost much to make catnip toys.  Now I keep a big jar of catnip at home and I'm ready to make one whenever my cats need a new one.

I forgot to take pictures of mushrooms before giving them to my cats. This is how they looked a week later.  I wonder if crocheted toys are strong enough for dogs.  I might make one to try it on my brother-in-law's puppy.

One-Eyed Alien

Deciding what to give my preteen niece for Christmas was easy since she requested a necklace with handmade lampwork beads.  She chose a necklace with green beads as I expected.  It was a bit of challenge picking a right gift for her younger brother.  Then, I remembered what my niece said when she saw Octy.  She thought her brother would like an alien like Octy if it didn't have big lips.  A picture of an alien with a big open mouth popped in my head and I started to crochet according to my sketch---I usually draw a simple design on a scrap paper.

This is the finished one-eyed alien.  He became cuter than I thought he would be.  I almost kept it for myself!

My nephew was surprised that I made it for him.  I'm just soooo happy that he loves the squishy alien!  I think I'm going to crochet another one to add to the alien family.

Year of the Bunny

My life is back to normal after spending holidays with my extended family.  My desire to welcome a new year in a bunny suit has to wait another 12 years.  The New Year's Eve party I went wasn't exactly the kind of party for a bunny suit.  As soon as I got home on New Year's Day, I found a card from my sister in my mailbox:

It appears to be a handmade card and I absolutely adore it!  This is the cutest card I've ever received! 

Wait, I can use Photoshop to make it look like her goth bunny(my sister has a 8year-old pet bun):

Ever since I saw a picture of a goth bunny on Cute Overload, I've been a big fan of goth bunnies and other animals with built-in eyeliners.  Oh, I can't forget to mention about an emo bunny who stole many people's hearts as well a few years ago.  Go bunnies!

I hope 2011 will be a joyful and exciting year for my friends and family.