Cat Tested

One of the things that I have learned while adventuring is quilting is that it is better to have extra squares then not enough squares.  When you don’t have enough squares, it can ruin a project or create some creative solutions.  Having too many squares hurts nothing and gives peace of mind.

I was recently trying to organize my quilting supplies and I came across a bag of extra squares.  The squares were of various prints I had used when making a couple of quilt toppers.  There were not a huge amount of any one print. At most there are three squares with the same pattern on them.  The toppers I have been making were of various themes and the miscellaneous squares were not cohesive for repurposing for a new quilt topper.  (Yet, If I get enough miscellaneous squares it is going to be a scraps quilt, but it is going to be a while before I get there.)


Dib cat is my sewing buddy and often times I end up moving his cat tree near the table so he can supervise without laying on my squares. (This only works about half the time, but half the time is better than none of the time.)
Looking at my extra squares and then at the charming Dib cat, inspiration struck.  Dib needed a new cat bed. (Let's be honest, he needs a new cat tree, but that is a project for another day.)

  One of the most recent quilts toppers is for my nephew for Christmas.  It is full of dinosaurs smashing buildings and robots.  It is mostly a green base and lots of fun.  Dib is kind of like a fury monster. He likes to knock things off of tables and destroy boxes with his teeth. If he was large enough he would totally knock over buildings.  

With eight squares and some quilt batting I was able to make Dib a new cat tree bed in ten minutes. (Cat Tree beds are a square foot and my squares were six inches.)  My new  sewing machine has several fancy stitch options, which I was excited to try on the trim.  Dib decided that the bed was passable and promptly laid on it.

If you have a couple of scraps left over, I highly recommend using them for the greater cat good.

I Work with Monsters

For the most part, I like everyone I work with.  Then something happens that makes you question whether or not you really know the people around you.  After all what sort of person would do this to cake?

This is clearly the work of a monster. My only conclusion is that someone is a monster at work and is very good at hiding it.  Maybe a werewolf.  Do you think that werewolves like red velvet cake? This might be a weird werewolf ritual.  I am not 100% sure. It would make sense for werewolves to be into red velvet cake. Maybe it is a cake to celebrate a newly turned werewolf and they had to cut the center out to conceal their identity.  If so, then that definitely proves that who ever cut this cake is a monster and that I work with a monster.  

Comfort Food: Peanut Chicken

I had this idea that I was going to write this epic post about recipe that is a frequent flyer on the dinner circuit in my house. It was going to patriotic. It was going to be swoon worthy.  It was going to disclose the secrets of comfort food. It was going to involve peanut butter.  In fact I was going to make the recipe to make sure I had all my measurements to correct and that I wasn’t missing any steps, since I can make this recipe practically in my sleep.

Then tragedy struck.  Not major tragedy that change the entire course of lives, but more of a dinner tragedy.  My recipe of ultimate comfort food, the one that I could do in my sleep, I totally fucked up on. 

The problem was simple.  The soy sauce and the Worcestershire sauce are in the same shape bottle and they both have a red cap.  Being on auto pilot and not paying attention to what I was actually pulling out of the fridge, (because why would the bottle locations change) I totally dumped half a cup of Worcestershire sauce in my recipe. I then had to scramble to mellow to taste of Worcestershire sauce and make it be friends with the peanut butter.   It may have one of the least spectacular meals I have ever made.  It was a pretender to the throne.  One bite and you knew it wasn’t the infamous peanut chicken, but more of something that had aspirations of being steak and failed. 

The lesson here isn’t that you should always identify your ingredients before you put them in the sauce, but more of don’t become complacent.  Focus on what you are doing even if it something you have done a thousand times before, because maybe that thousand and one time will be different.

Peanut Chicken  

Use the big stir fry pan or a wok.  This is going to make a lot of food. 

2 1/2 Cups Chicken  Cubed

1/2 Cup Diced Onion 

1/4 Cup Diced Peppers

1 Tablespoon Minced Garlic

1/2 Cup Shredded Carrots

1/2 Tablespoon Chinese Five Spice

1 Tablespoon Chili Garlic Sauce

1 Tablespoon sesame oil

1 Tablespoon chili oil

2 Tablespoons olive oil

Sauté everything together until the chicken is cooked through and the carrots are limp. 

Add

1/2 Cup Soy Sauce

2/3 Cup Chunky Peanut Butter

1 Cup of Chicken broth (Water can be used in a pinch)

This should make a rather liquidy sauce.  If it is super thick, add more chicken broth.

Add

2 Cups cooked rice

Brown rice, white rice, doesn’t matter.  Perhaps not wild rice, that doesn’t hold the flavor as well.   Mix everything together until warmed all the way through and then serve.   The sauce should mix and cover all of the rice.  The meat and vegetables should be mixed in evenly, kind of like a fried rice. 

This is one of those foods that also holds well in a crock pot for hours if you were to make a double batch.   It is spicy, yet savory and has all the comforts of home. 

Round 2: A Better Review

I am terrible at leaving Etsy reviews.  When I sit down to write a review my brain goes utterly blank. Then about a week later, inspiration will have struck and it is too late.  This is the unfortunate case of what happened with my last review. 

Recently I purchased some lovely soy sauce dishes from CeramaicsbyHitomi.  When it came time to write the review, I said something bland and it didn’t truly give a great description of the products I received.  I just used my purchase and thought that I should take the time to write a better review and give a little more back story as to why I was even looking for the dishes. Let’s call this my Ground Hog’s Day review do over. (I know it isn’t Ground Hogs Day, but we are close.)

I had been searching for some replacement soy sauce dishes for a while. I know it is not the intended purpose, but I find that soy sauce dishes are the perfect size dish for serving canned cat food to my spoiled rotten cats.  My cats get canned food as a treat and because they are a little round and the rear I portion control what I give them. Soy sauce dishes give them the right amount without it getting all over the place.  

I stumbled upon CeramicsbyHitomi by accident.  I was looking for a gift for my best friends birthday when the ceramics shop came up as a suggestion. It was love at first sight.  I loved the bright orange and the grey spots on the set of soy sauce dishes.  It is almost as if some one took two of my favorite colors and made something beautiful out of them.   

The entire process with the purchase was seamless.  The shop owner contacted me to verify I had received my purchase and that it arrived in  one piece. They are not perfect pieces.  If you know anything about pottery and glazing, they can be snags and pulls in the glaze that can ruin the beauty of the piece.  There are a couple of imperfections in the piece, that were notated by the creator, however the small pulls in the glaze don’t distract from the beauty and functionality of the dishes. 

One of the things that I look at when I purchase from any one on Etsy, is if I would purchase the item again.  I would whole heartedly agree to purchasing additional items from CeramicsbyHitomi.  They are exactly as described in honest detail, they arrive in a reasonable amount of time and the vendor is an absolute joy to work with.   If you are looking for something unique, functional and beautiful, check out CeramicsbyHitomi. 

I love Erma

When I think of Pinterest, typically I think of craft ideas, food recipes and an endless meandering through word porn and fashions wish lists and art appreciation.  What I do not think of is comics.  My husband is an excellent resource  on finding new comics. Most of the time he has already found and purchased the exact eclectic graphic novel that I didn’t know existed and couldn’t possibly live with out.  Which is why it took my by surprise to find a comic that I adore on Pinterest. 

I love Erma by Brandon Santiago.  Erma is terrifyingly cute and actually makes me want to watch more horror movies, so that I can truly enjoy some of the nuances in the humor. I love the story lines, the weird trivia and the tongue in cheek nods to the classic horror genre. 

If you need a smile, I highly suggest checking out Brandon Santiago on Twitter, Instagram or even order one of his graphic novels.

Twin Peaks- In Quilt Form

My brother in law loves the television show Twin Peaks. The release of every new episode sparked conversation on what was happening and what it really meant.  I won’t go super fan girl on the show, but I do enjoy the show. It is weird, interesting and it is the kind of show that makes a person think. It wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea. This is when I had a moment of inspiration.  

I strive to give unique gifts that reflect thoughtfulness during the holidays and lately I have been getting into sewing projects more and more.  I decided to combine his love for Twin Peaks with my love for textile manipulation. I decided to make a Twin Peaks quilt.  

One of the hardest parts of any quilting project outside of creating a pattern is choosing the fabric. You get a mental picture in your head as to what you want the fabric to be, and then the challenge to make it work. I decided to break the quilt up into two themes. One theme being the town of Twin Peaks and the second section the Black Lodge.  

For anyone that has watched the show, they know that the Black Lodge is in the center of Twin Peaks. I decided to have the Black Lodge theme section capped on the ends with the Twin Peaks themed sections to represent this. 

For the Twin Peaks section I tried to take into account the whimsy of some of the beloved characters and running themes through out the show, without drowning in small the details.  The final fabric choices for Twin Peaks ended up being: Pinecones, Fish, Donuts, Cherry Pie Filling, Coffee.  I created a pattern of twin triangles to mimic twin mountain peeks using the the Pinecones and filled in the area around it with the remaining details. As a special nod to my brother in laws favorite lines, I made a point to surround the fish with coffee.  

Pete Martell: Fellas, don't drink that coffee! You'd never guess. There was a fish... in the percolator! Sorry...

The Black Lodge themed section was the harder of the two sections to create.  The initial idea was easy, create the black lodge emblem.  The application was anything but easy.  I knew that I wanted to use black and white chevron and red velvet, but the other fabric was harder to define.  I eventually decided on Stars,  Smoke, Red Oil Slick and Crushed Darkness to go with the chevron and red velvet.  That way different aspects of the Black Lodge could be represented. 

Giant: The owls are not what they seem.

I had a lot of fun coming up with the concept for the quilt and searching for fabric.  The process sparked lots of conversations between my husband and I.  Without his contributions and acting as a sounding board, this might be a totally different quilt.  One of the joys about this project is that it inspired other themed quilts that I can’t wait to start working on and. Learned a lot in the process.  

Pizza Chicken - A Compromise

The Year of the Pizza Chicken

Sometimes dinner takes a little bit of creative compromise.   

Me: What do you want for dinner Christmas Eve?

Jon: 🍕

Me: We are not having pizza.

Jon: 😢

Me: Beef, Chicken or Pork?

Jon: 🐔

Jon: ...🍕🐔

Me: I’ll figure it out.

And this is why I have Pinterest.  I found the perfect combination of Pizza and Chicken that would look good on Christmas Eve dinner plate.  The recipe by Simply Stacie was wonderful to follow.  

My husband took the lead on the prepping the chicken by pounding it flat and then rolling it with the stuffing.  Simply put, the Chicken is laid flat and then filled with a combination of red sauce, pepperoni and cheese. It is then rolled and then topped with more sauce pepperoni and cheese. The cheese rolled into the sauce prevents the chicken from being dry and the pepperoni adds a savoriness to the chicken.  The chicken went nicely with garlic rice and sautéed spinach and carrots.  It was the perfect meal for a semi fancy meal. 

In honestly it was one of the simplest recipes I have ever done, since all I did was the filling and turn the oven on. In fact two out of three people at the table seemed to love the recipe and mentioned that they wouldn’t mind eating it again, which I consider a win for a holiday experiemnt.  If you are looking for something different to fix that leave you with a flavorful moist chicken, I would recommend Pizza Stuffed Chicken.