Fearlessly Phobic Cooking -- Corn Chowder!

Better late than never, right? I promised this blog months ago -- and I do my best to never break a promise (I make no promises about keeping promise-ishes though).

This is my super yummy corn chowder -- which has been adapted a great deal from a recipe I found in "A Kitchen Witch's Cookbook"; enough so that I feel I can claim it as my own now. It's just hearty enough to be perfect on fall days, but light enough for spring or early summer. Truth be told, it's almost a veggie chowder... but I digress.

What you'll need:

A stick of butter
Celery
Carrots
Potatoes -- in this version, I used some weird fingerling-red potato hybrid. It was pretty tasty and gave the soup a nice color.
One medium onion
Lots and lots and LOTS of garlic (have I mentioned how much I love garlic)
2 cans of creamed corn
1/2 bag of frozen corn
black pepper
sea salt
milk

A non-reactive soup pot

Melt the stick of butter over medium heat.

Oh, that's GOOOOOD!

While the butter is getting nice and buttery, mince the onion and toss it into the pot. Throw in some garlic -- just for the heavenly aroma.

Not pictured -- garlic. Because I was too busy huffing it.

While all that's sauteing in the butter, dice your celery...

Blurry celery! It's art!

Potatoes...

Bite sized potato goodness!

And carrots. 

The carrots tend to cook slower than the potatoes and celery, so you want to slice these pretty thin.

Toss those in the pot, too. Give it a good stir and cover the whole mess up. Let it cook 'til all the vegetables are fork tender -- about ten to twelve minutes -- stirring occasionally to prevent the veggies from sticking to the bottom of the pot.

Oooh! Pretty colors!

Now go ahead and toss in about a half bag of frozen corn and both cans of creamed corn. Add some more garlic. And now add a little more.

Pretend that's garlic -- that's how much you want to toss in there. OK, that's how much you want to toss in there if you're ME. But I'm garlic crazy.

Give the whole mess a good stir. Stir it a little bit more while you're sticking your face right over that delicious garlicky steam. Once you've gotten your fix, add about two cans worth of milk to the pot:

It's blurry, but you get the point.

Add some salt and pepper -- to taste -- and let that hang out on low heat for about fifteen minutes or so, stirring occasionally.

Oh, yeah! That's GOOD!

Serve it up to your family (or yourself. I won't judge... it's THAT good) with some crusty bread:

Bon Apetit!

A sneak peak...

I'm introducing a new line of fun rings, bracelets, earrings and barretts to the etsy shop (not that I had an official line to begin with, but still)

I'm so excited!

These are the first batch of rings... Definitely steam. Definitely girly. A perfect cocktail ring or just something fun to dress up an otherwise drab corporate wardrobe (I plan on wearing one tomorrow).

Stay tuned for more updates!

Fearlessly Crafting

I have so, so many themes running through this blog. But you know what? That's OK. One of these days, I'll get it all organized and coherent, but then again. Maybe not. This blog is kind of like the physical manifestation of my brain -- a hodge podge of thoughts and ideas and plans. I dig it.

For Christmas this year, I put together a little "take care of yourself" Brion bag for all my girls. There was handmade organic vanilla sugar scrub; handmade organic peppermint lip balm. There were candles (less homemade) and a handmade soothing peppermint eye pillow/muscle relaxer.

This tute is quick. Making these little eye pillows is super easy breezy and so totally worth it! They can be used as-is for a soothing rest-for-the-eyes or warmed up for a few seconds in the microwave for a little relax pack on a sore neck or back.

Added bonus: no measuring tape required! (I'm so bad with measuring)

Let's begin!

Step one: Find an adorable kitten who thinks she's way more helpful than she actually is. Removing her from your sewing table (repeat as necessary):

Meow can helpz sew?

Step 2: Gather your materials. For the project you'll need a sewing machine. Liner material (I used a material that's like a windbreaker. Don't ask me what it's actually called) and outer material (I used a soft flannel). You'll also need rice and an essential oil of your choosing.

Step 3: Cut the fabric and liner material into a rectangle. Make sure that it'll be wide enough for you to turn right side out a couple of times.

Step 4: Using a zigzag stitch, sew the liner to the back side of the fabric by sewing three sides together. Leave one of the short ends open:

Step 5: Trip off the excess above the seams. It'll make a smoother finish when you turn the pouch right side out:

Step 6: Turn the pouch right side out:

Step 7: Fold the pouch in half, right sides facing together (your liner material should be on the outside) and, starting from the raw end side, sew three sides together, leaving one short end open to turn the tube right side out:

Step 8: Turn the tube right side out:

Step 9: Top stitch the closed end for that little decorative flair (added bonus, it acts as an extra closure so there's no rice leakage):

Step 10: Fill it with rice to desired stiffness. If you want a looser feel to the pillow, use less rice. About half-way through filling the tube with rice, add a few drops of your essential oil. When you're done filling the rice, sort of shake the tube around to spread out the essential oil more evenly:

Step 11: Top stitch the open end (probably best to do it a couple of times, just to make sure there's no rice leakage) and Voila! You have an eye pillow!

Happy New Year!

If you're Mayan, you're probably counting down the minutes to doomsday. Of course, I have my thoughts about the end of the world -- mainly, that they have the date wrong (it's really hard to peg the right date when the type of calendar we use has changed so much in the last few hundred years). Being an avid student of history really kills the whole "the world is going to end" buzz for me. It's kind of a bummer, really.

Though... part of me wishes that the world -- at least the materialistic, consumeristic, Jersey Shore worshiping part of it -- would come to end. I would love nothing more than a return to simplicity. Less TV and more talking. Fewer hours in front of an X-box and more time in front of campfires. My wishes are grandiose in their simplicity.

So, it's the beginning of the year -- traditionally when people make a whole bunch of resolutions. I always say I'm not going to make any resolutions (because I'm horrible at follow through), but then I do anyway. Usually right at the top of the list is "actually follow through on my resolutions", which I never do. Have I mentioned that follow through is not my strong suit? So I decided to change it up. This year, I'm going to focus on a theme. Yeah, I'm totally having a theme party kind of year.

My theme: fearlessness.

In case it wasn't obvious, I'm actually kind of neurotic. Usually about stuff that centers around anything having to do with being embarrassed or making mistakes. I'd say I was borderline phobic about making mistakes (it's the oldest child syndrome I'm rocking. Damn birth orders). So this year, I'm going to take more chances. I'm going to be bold and say "yes" more. I'm going to wear neon pink tutus and horizontal stripes (suffice it to say, this rubenesque girl doesn't do horizontal stripes). I'm going to be silly and foolish and truly enjoy life.

That isn't to say that I don't truly enjoy my life -- because I do. Oh, lords above! How I love my life! I love my trolls and The Boyfriend™ and our family. I love the life we've created and are creating. I love that The Boyfriend™ can talk me into staying in bed all day -- and The Trolls are totally down with it. I love my new green kitchen and I love cooking for my boys in it. I mean, there is just so much I love -- and am immensely grateful for -- and I want to get down and dirty and revel in it!

And not care if I'm acting a fool. As inspiration (and gentle kick in the ass) I am going to read, every day, Neil Gaiman's New Year post:

"My New Year Wish"

..."I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something.

So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or live.

Whatever it is you're scared of doing. Do it.

Make your mistakes, next year and forever."

Hear! Hear! Neil.

2011 a Review in Pictures

Some scenes from over the past year. These moments make me feel immense gratitude for the life The Boyfriend™, Trolls and I are building together.

I have one more day left of my mini vacation and will do my level best to catch up before midnight on 12/31. In the mean time, I am going to relish the moments we're enjoying - right now - as a family... Rekindling our Massachusetts vibe.

The best laid intentions...

So, here it is a week before Christmas (almost to the day) and I'm still nowhere near complete with the making and the shopping.I'm having exactly zero luck talking myself into being productive, either. I know I should get on with the elving -- I'll feel better, if I do -- but I just can't quite get there.

It's because Christmas is evil. I kind of wish I was a Jehovah's Witness, so I could just skip over the whole Christmas thing. OK... not really.

The fact that Christmas is a week away -- and 2012 just a couple of weeks away -- makes me feel old. Time is just going by too quickly and I desperately want it to slow down. I want to cherish the precious time I have left with The Trolls and ingrain all the seconds and minutes into my memory so, when they're off living their own lives, I'll have them close still.

It's a mom thing.

Speaking of parenting -- the State of Florida (which, the longer I live here, the more I believe is just America's trashcan) -- has been interfering. Not in hugely grave ways, but enough that my desire to home school The Trolls on a farm somewhere in the wilds of New England is reinforced. I literally have to sign a note that declares that I don't want The Nugget to be seen by state doctors to bring his weight down.

I ask you -- do either of these boys look like they're obese? According to Florida, The Nugget is. Because his BMI was something ridiculously high. Because the kid is solid muscle. No, seriously. He's been able to do chin-ups since he was two. He can pick his brother up. He's got a right hook that should be classified us a lethal weapon. So, because of his age, weight and height, I'm supposed to make him lose muscle weight so he can be classified as "healthy." This is coming from the same county and state that thinks it's completely reasonable to make young children start learning at 7:45 in the morning -- and wonders why their tests grades keep dipping. Here's a clue: they're TIRED. But I'm not allowed to let my kids get a few extra minutes of sleep (or myself, for that matter) without a truant officer showing up at the door. Yeah, that happened. The Monkey was five minutes late to school one too many times, it appears.

No, I'm not winning the mother of the year award any time soon.

OK -- now that  I'm done ranting, I'm going to get some elving done before I have to get ready for the Christmas party at work. Crazy, busy time of year.

Inch by Inch

The Etsy shop is growing! I've added more items -- earrings, for now -- and will be adding more very, very soon! The Boyfriend™ fixed my loaner sewing machine, so after I'm done being a little one-man Christmas sweatshop, I'll return to making my fun and whimsical fabric jewelry.

I plan on making the investment -- time and money-wise -- to get more traffic to my page. However, I definitely want a bigger selection up there before I start directing a ton of traffic to my Etsy shop. In the mean time, I'll promote it here and on my web page -- www.samandsady.com.

I have some other updates that I'll get up here in the next couple of days -- including: how I lost the Mother of the Year Award; why I'm considering a career change (to waitressing, actually); how The Best Friend® abandoned me to make herself happy; and the great Christmas Tree Debacle... OK. It was neither a debacle or much of a story, but I'm wicked excited to have the first real Christmas tree I've had since I moved to this godforsaken state (and it's officially The Boyfriend™'s first real tree, period).

Until I can get back to the computer, I leave you with this outtake from this year's Christmas card: