Closet Cleanout

It's time for some good ole fashioned spring cleaning! Granted it's not spring, but a girl can dream, right? Basically I have as of late become really annoyed with my closet...it's too jammed packed and I don't even wear half of what is in it.

Case in point:

 

Therefore this weekend I decided everything must go! And by everything I mean the things I do not wear anymore. So I thought I would share this adventure with you. This is not so much a "how-to" (I'm not going to tell you how to run your life) as a "this is what I did this weekend." And by this weekend I mean for like an hour after I got sick of waiting for the power to come back on at the stadium during the Superbowl...ain't nobody got time for that!

Aaaanyway, upon starting this endeavor I decided that I would stop being so damn sentimental and get rid of these things I've been hanging on to for years. For instance, do I really need three, yes THREE pairs of floral patterned flats? One of which never really fit to begin with and I would only wear when I could handle the pain of the skin on my ankle being slowly torn off. No, clearly not necessary.

 

I'm sure I also do not need 15 pairs of jeans, when I only wear about 5 of them.

 

But cleaning out the closet also allowed me to rediscover clothes I had forgotten about. One big tip I would give about this sort of thing is to try everything on! You may be surprised by some of the gems you had forgotten were in the back of your closet.

 

My technique overall became to make three piles. 

1. Donations

2. Items to upcycle into either new clothes or some other craft project

3. Items to just throw away

I like to donate as much as I can, but sometimes old clothes can be reused to make something totally cool and awesome. I usually keep clothes that have a pattern I really like and I will figure out something I can make with them. Like this dress that I bought a couple years ago, that I'm pretty sure I only wore once because it never really fit right. But I kept it because it was super cute. I have finally come to the realization that it just will never fit correctly, but the pattern is adorbs, so I will find something to turn it into.

 

Now I know I mention throwing things away, which sounds awful. But there are certain things you really should not donate, like undergarments. Don't do it. It's gross. No one wants used undergarments. I mean it. Throw that shit out. Okay, end of rant.

Overall I ended up with a good sized bag of clothes to donate and a couple of items to hang onto for crafts. I feel mildly better about my closet situation. I'd show an after picture, but to be honest it doesn't really look that much better. So just imagine a really organized, pretty closet and pretend it's mine. Maybe that will be a project for another time, but that's a BIG endeavor.

~Jessica

The Breakfast Shot

Last weekend I visited my mom in Erie, PA. They are known for a few things. Their beautiful Presque Isle peninsula that contains 21 miles of recreational trails and 13 beaches, a high Italian-American population, which results in delicious restaurants and chocolatiers, like Serafini's and Stefanelli's, and no tax on clothing, so obviously great for shopping. I didn't grow up there, but spent so much time there visiting family as a child, I often felt like I did.

This most recent trip though, I discovered something miraculous at Eduardo's Tavern. It is called a "breakfast shot." Wow. It literally tastes like pancakes with a side of OJ.

The Breakfast Shot

Ingredients
1.5 oz Jameson Irish Whiskey
.5 oz Butterscotch Schnapps
2 oz OJ

Pour the Jameson and Butterscotch Schnapps in a shot glass. Drink the shot. Sip the OJ as a chaser.

Om nom nom durnk.

Love,
Kelly

Designer Arsenal: What's in the Bag?

On this edition of Designer Arsenal, I will be simply talking about supplies. There are a few supplies that I like to keep on hand at all times just because they seem to be the supplies I need the most.

 

First off, I always have rubber cement around and double stick tape. These two work on most items, and as long as you are not using the permanent kind of double stick tape, these two do not have to be permanent adhesives, which if you are mocking things up or just playing around with something that can come in handy.

 

An Exacto knife is a designer's best friend. They are excellent for cutting out just about anything. But I implore you to be very careful with them, they are extremely sharp and I have seen some intense Exacto injuries. So make sure those fingers are out of the way.

 

When you are using an Exacto you will need a cutting mat and most likely a ruler (for cutting straight lines). Both things are good to have on hand regardless. I actually have two cutting mats, one large and one small. I think I only got the small one when I was in school for traveling purposes, so it's not really necessary to have multiple. 

 

I like to make boxes for mockups so I keep a bone folder on hand. It's not a totally necessary tool, but it sure does make things easier. I know I talked about them before, but they are basically for scoring edges so that you can fold materials easier.

 

I also like to cut out more complicated shapes (for some reason) but am no good at cutting circles with an Exacto (sidenote: I went to school with a girl who had a natural talent for cutting circles, so she was great to have around but you can only ask someone to do your cutting for you so much). So I keep a circle cutter on hand. The one I have is a little cheaper and a bit hard to use, but if you spring for a fancier one they work quite well and you no longer have to worry about cutting out perfect circles.

I also for some reason only make things with rounded corners. I dont know, I just like how they look better, so if I have the choice, I make my corners rounded. Therefore I also keep a rounded corner cutter (probably not the official name, but thats what it does) on hand.

 

There are other supplies I keep on hand such as a variety of pencils and pencils in various weights, acrylic paint, charcoal pencils, colored pencils, various paint brushes and erasers. I will probably post about that stuff later on, but it's a little more specific to me personally and my interests rather than general supplies.

~Jessica 

Rosemary just needs a little Thyme: A Bread Story

I want to be one of those people that cooks bread in a hearth. Instead, I have a rented oven with an inaccurate thermostat. BUT, I do have a thermometer that lets me know what the hell the thermostat is up to these days.


Ingredients:

4 cups unbleached bread flour
1 tsp active yeast
1 tsp granulated sugar
2 tsp salt
1 stick melted butter
1 1/8 cup warm water
2 tbsp freshly chopped rosemary
2 tbsp freshly chopped thyme

Mix all dry ingredients together in a very large bowl.

Add chopped herbs to melted butter. Mix wet ingredients in small bowl.

Stir together for several minutes, then move in with your hands.

Knead until the dough no longer has CRACKS everywhere. I'll say it again. CRACKS. I love Mean Girls. This bread does not rise much, so shape into the desired form. Cover with Saran wrap. Let the dough sit for 1-3 hours. Cut an "X" in the center.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place bread on middle rack. Cook for 20 minutes, then place aluminum foil over top to prevent the top from burning. Let cook for a remaining 20 minutes.

This bread is very dense and savory and delicious. It has a thick crust and chewy center. Very tasty. I gave some to my work buddies, and let me just say since we're amongst friends, it got rave reviews :)

Love,
Kelly

Chicken Pot, Chicken Pot, Chicken Pot Pie!

It's been really f-ing cold lately. Like really, unbearably, terribly cold. In summation: "It's cold in the D!" (yeah, I said it). Therefore I want filling, warm, comfort food. Enter the Chicken Pot Pie. Downfall of this amazing comfort food is it is not usually that all that good for you, so I was reluctant to make it. But then I found this awesome recipe from one of my favorite food blogs Eat Yourself Skinny and had to try it. It is a slimmed down version of a chicken pot pie. Happy? Yes. Excited to try it? You bet. So let's do this.

What you need:

1.  1 cup fat-free half and half

2. 1 cup fat-free chicken broth

3. 3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

4. 1 tsp. poultry seasoning

5. 1 tsp. thyme

6. 2 cups roasted skinless chicken breast, cubed

7. 1 (10 oz) package frozen mixed veggies, thawed

8. 4 green onions, chopped

9. 1 tsp. salt

10. 1/4 tsp. pepper

11. 1 can (7.5 oz) refrigerated reduced-fat biscuits

You will also need 5 (6oz) ramekins (the recipe says it makes 5, but it only made 3 for me, I dunno maybe my ramekins were bigger than 6oz)

First off, preheat your oven to 425F.

Then chop your shit (and by that I mean the onions and chicken)

 

Part of what made this recipe so great was that we had leftover chicken anyway, so I didn't have to worry about cooking it. 

After everything is chopped, in a medium saucepan whisk together the half and half, broth, flour, poultry seasoning and thyme. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer...continue to whisk for about 4 minutes until the sauce has thickened. Remove from heat and add your veggies, chicken, green onions and salt and pepper. Cover and set aside.

On a lightly floured surface roll out the biscuits into about 4 inch rounds. Spray each of the ramekins with cooking spray. Evenly fill the ramekins with the chicken mixture. Cover each ramekin with the rolled out biscuit. Press the dough to the edges of the ramekins to hold in place, then cut 4 holes in the top of the dough.

Place the ramekins in the preheated oven and bake for 12 minutes. Now I say 12 minutes as that is what the recipe I followed said. BUT mine burned. Thats right, the dinner I was SO excited about, burned. 

 

I was extremely sad, to say the least. SO I say do more like 10 minutes...or just really pay attention. Remember all you are doing here is baking the crust, the rest is cooked already. 

In spite of burning the edges of the crust a bit, the rest was still very good. And I would never have guessed it was slimmed down from your typical pot pie. So I would definitely do this again, but just pay better attention to the baking portion.

 

~Jessica