Mom, you'll appreciate this

The weather is finally getting cold enough for these to come out:

Well I try not to wear them outside the house, the stairs looked clean enough :)

Ohh, we had few storms last week, nothing bad in the city, but my daisies are almost gone, the mums however are still hanging on.

Grillin' in the Ham

Not having cable, PBS is the most watched station. One of their sub-channels is Create, and the other day, we watched Primal Grill - good recipes, but the chef uses all sorts of expensive grills. Debating what to do for lunch, Tom fired up the grill, and we had buffa-cue shrimp, buffalo shrimp on the bbq. Yummo! How convenient that there's a tree branch to hold the second set of tongs! Lol. Since the grill was going, hot dogs inevitably made it...

Tasty treats: Cookie bars

I often have sweet tooth cravings but the other day, every recipe that I looked up called for eggs, and I had just ran out. Bummer! Then I saw a raspberry cookie bar recipe on the graham cracker box and it didn't need eggs. I adapted it - used strawberry preserve instead of raspberry, pecans instead of walnuts. Of course, coconut flakes were present!

Yes, I'm a nerd

Tom says that I look like an engineer when I wear them - I got fitted for safety glasses, since I'm wearing my glasses more often now. So this is what they look like; they have guards on the sides, so that I don't splash acid or tuberculosis in my eyes. Lol!

Organization tid bits

BB&B model

The house has a lot of closets, but I needed a solution for loose items. I had seen this online, and saw in at Jen's house. So I decided to try it too - Big Lots had one that was just $8.
Except that I put a twist on it. The pantry closet door is narrow, so I cut the organizer along its height and created two organizers. One is on the pantry closet door, and holds random spices that would otherwise just get lost on the shelves. Plus the shelves now look tidier and can hold boxed items.

I used the other half in the baking closet, to hold mixer attachments, piping tubes and tips, cupcake paper etc... I cut a section at the bottom of the organizer (this particular organizer had 4 pockets per row), so I had one row of 4 pockets. I cut one pocket out, and used a fridge magnet to put that pocket on the fridge to catch loose ends. I hammered small nails through the row of 3 pockets on the inside of a bottom cabinet door to hold measuring cups and spoons. It didn't make sense to have those in the baking closet, since I use them almost every day.

This holds the marker for the grocery list :)

Crafts I'm proud of

 1. Reusing a coffee tin to make a vase:
Coffee is a staple at the house, so when I used the last bit of coffee, I was left with an empty coffee tin. And a craft project ensued... just needed a few leftover scraps of paper, and accents/embellishments...Voila!







2. Grocery list
I created a template for items that I usually get at the grocery store and organized them in categories (produce, frozen, seafood, canned food, etc...). I printed two and put them backside together, and laminated the whole thing. It created two grocery lists (recto verso) and I can use a Sharpie to mark what I need. When I get back from the store, I  use rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball and clear the list. I tend to shop at a regular store like Publix, but also at warehouse stores like Costco, so I can keep the two separate. I also include a paper clip in a corner, so that I can clip my coupons that I will use during that trip, so I'm not fumbling through them at the register. This is nifty, as long as I don't leave it at the store... thanks Kelly for saving this one! 

3. Fridge display
On the way back from Denver, I really liked an article on the oil spill and the ecosystem, and knew that I wanted to put it on the fridge. But I hate putting something on the fridge, knowing that it can get dirty, ripped, or curled due to moisture and the fan. Now that I don't have access to the laminator, I just use a page protector.This one is a 12x12 scrapbook page protector.






4.  Nail cover
The landlords are very particular about how to hang pictures, and a miscalculation on my part left me with a picture hanging with the nail showing. I wasn't very happy. I struggled to find a solution, until I saw this:

polka dot pompoms

I googled how to make paper pompoms, and found a Martha Stewart guide, modified it to make a smaller one, less fluffy and made a purple and gold (of course!) nail cover

5. Painted stemware

So easy to do, I don't how why I didn't do these earlier. Just a few stencils and glass paint. Originally I was going to use them as actual drinking glasses, then decided to use them as candle holders.

The Pumpkin Patch!

My bff Grace and her hubby Geoff came to visit from Memphis last weekend. We caught up over Mellow Mushroom and Blue Monkey martinis on Friday night, but the main part of the adventure was the Old Baker's Farm on Hwy 280 after lunch at Crazy Cajuns.

It happened to also be the Cotton Picking Festival, complete with Civil War reenactment and guns for hire. There was also a corn maze!

The men with their pumpkins and the girls with theirs.

Tom was proud to have found his pumpkin.

Tom: This is the One!

We <3 the Whitings! Come back and visit us soon!

The pumpkins are sitting on the balcony, waiting to be carved. I will update this post once our creations are ready! And yes, Tom, you can keep all the pumpkin seeds!

Update: Pumpkin seeds have been roasted. We also saved some of the flesh and it calls for giraumon (sauteed pumpkin) or gratin giraumon (pumpkin au gratin). And the carved pumpkins overlook the balcony menacingly - mine of course has glitter :)

New to this

My story is getting old - I'm a Mauritian (from the country of Mauritius: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauritius), who came to the US to study. My first home away from home was Baton Rouge, LA, and became an avid Tiger. Any occasion is a good one to taunt someone with Geaux Tigers! Fast forward to 6 years later... I'm still studying and taunting, but have moved to Birmingham, AL. I decided to join the blogsphere to post fun adventures for the loved ones, far far away. I can't remember and recap all the things I do when I talk to my family once a week. I'm always left with oooh, I forgot to tell Dad about the orchids I saw... So hopefully this will help. One of the things that really has my attention right now is cooking (when I have time) and I'm hoping to have a few pictures and recipes here. I will also try to have some craft projects - I'm no Martha Stewart, but some things do turn out pretty cute.
So mom, you don't need an account (no Facebook, myspace ect...) to see this page :)
With love, from my screen to yours (hehe, adapted from Paula Deen)
K