Blueberry Lemon Curd

When I saw a great sale on blueberries the other week, I snatched up a couple boxes right away and decided to experiment with it. I love lemon curd, so why not add blueberries? I think all would have been fine except that the recipe I used called for WAY too much butter (ahem, 6 Tblsp.) which pretty much overwhelms the tart flavor of the berries. So sad. Plus, I probably should have strained out the skins so that it wouldn’t be lumpy, but that’s where all the nutrients are and part of me can’t waste those. So anyway, I have three jars of this stuff which will probably be best baked into something (given all that butter) and if anyone feels the need for some buttery blueberry lemon curd, you are welcome to it. At least it looks very pretty in the jar, right?

Little League

Hard wooden bleachers, cool evening air, the smell of popcorn and laffy taffy and dust and sweat, bright overhead lights punctuating the brilliant glowing sunset. Around me, people sit on their blankets and pillows, wiggling children squirm up and down the bleachers or beg to go play in the sand pile on the other side of the field, beg for money to buy another ring pop. Cars parked near the woods or the playground to avoid fly balls. Conversation, laughter, jibes, what is the score? What’s up with the ref? How many innings? I’ll pay your kid $5 if he’ll hit it over the fence this time. C’mon boys, get it together! Everyone knows everyone. From the dugout and the outfield, excited voices chant, “Swing batta, batta, swing!” They have black makeup under their eyes and for tonight, their friends on the other team are their ultimate enemies. They’re tied for first place in the league and every point counts.

My mom and grandma sit on the row in front of me. My dad keeps score near the fence and reminds the batters of the lineup, pulls discarded bats off the field, searches for missing gloves. I fidget on the hard wood seat, trying to find comfort in the weather-worn slab beneath me. I was prepared to be bored, for my attention to wander (will I see anyone I knew from high school?), but there is tension in the air. It may be only Little League, but this is deeply serious and grandmothers are getting bitter. Cheering and clapping, groans and yells reverberate around the stands as luck shifts from side to side. 14 years ago I watched my younger brother from these stands and willed one of the boys on his team to fall in love with me – or to at least hold my hand.  Now my youngest brother is playing and I just hope he doesn’t strike out. Thankfully, he gets on base. How can six innings last two hours? The lady sitting next to me used to give me Tootsie Roll Pops when I was very little and accompanied my mom to the grocery store. She’s a grandmother many times over now. I had no idea she could be so feisty.

The innings finally wind down. In spite of myself, I count every ball, strike, and out. I clap my hand to my mouth when the excitement gets too high, throw my hands up into the air and yell. The score is 13 to 12. We won. The little boys line up to to slap the other team’s hands in a false show of sportsmanship. Bryce stands before me, beaming and stinky, Mountain Dew in hand. He’s coming home with me to spend the night and informs me that he has already downed a Red Bull and another pop. Oh boy.

Flapper Inspiration Results

After searching for inspiration for my character as a wealthy socialite flapper at the 1920’s themed murder mystery party we attended last weekend, I ended up making this hair clip. Peacock feathers, a brooch from Michael’s and voila, instant flapper! Happily, I never did end up murdering anyone, despite my apparent proficiency with Tommy guns. You know I can never remember to take photos of myself, but here’s one of the whole gang courtesy of our delightful hosts.

HIJACKED!

To all of Katherine’s loyal fans, stay tuned for an important message from her husband, Sean…

Greetings!  I am “borrowing” Katherine’s computer for the night.  For months now, I have seen post after post about birds, ribbons, aprons and all other things girly.  You’re only getting half of the story!  Today, I will set the record straight and give you the guy’s perspective!  Today’s topic:  technology at Disney.

Katherine touched upon some neat things we experienced at Disney but I was fascinated by the amounts of technology that went into the rides.  Many were customizable in some way, so that each rider had a unique experience.  For instance, Spaceship Earth played an animated cartoon featuring characters personalized to each rider based on a photo taken earlier in the ride.  Toy Story’s Buzz Lightyear ride provided a laser gun to blast away targets, left/right control over your car, and it even kept score!  It was like being in a video game.

Soarin’ was an interesting experience for us, because standing in line before the ride was more exciting than the ride itself!  Five big-screen monitors filled one wall of a hallway.  You ended up standing in front of the screen and then it would present the audience with a game – usually a competition between the five groups.  The best one we played was this game where each group was a bird.  To make the bird go left, everyone in front of the monitor had to lean their body to the left.  I took a quick video of one of the games they played where they had to clap their hands together quickly to break bouncing blobs of paint:

The Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor wasn’t a ride, but it was entertaining to watch.  A big screen monitor in the front of an auditorium presented monsters performing stand-up comedy.  The innovative part was that the monsters were all animated like the movie, yet they were able to interact with the audience.  So, behind the scenes someone was talking, while the technology quickly allowed the animated monster to follow with the appropriate lip-synch movements, as well as facial cues (confused, smiling, etc.)

Personalized experiences are the wave of the future.

Ack!  I think I hear her coming.  Now returning you to your regularly scheduled blog…

A Grown-up Summer

Summer used to be like watercolors – bright and flowing and aimless. There were always many, many plans, but always the laziness and heat were the dictators of those long, long days. It was just a time between happenings. A time to get bored with that coveted “doing nothingness.”

But my grown-up summers have been summers of change. Last summer was a graduating and getting married and moving summer. This summer is the one of stepping outside of my cozy little marital nest to experiment with servanthood and community. I’m teaching Sunday school, I’m tutoring three children in a home that bodes to break my heart, and we’re searching for a home in which  to plant ourselves outside of our reclusive little apartment by the end of the summer. There seems to be more traveling, more family gatherings, more weekend invitations. To be honest, I don’t like being around people so much. It makes me tired and cranky. But, I’m thankful for the nudge into the world; thankful that maybe I can change and be changed.

Posts might be sparse for a week or two until I become adjusted to my new routine, but I’m still here and thinking of all of you. In the mean time, please let me know what you’re all up to. Tell me what’s inspiring you and how you’ve been using your summer days. I could use some fresh perspective and I would love to hear from each of you!

Flapper Inspiration

On Saturday I transform into a flapper with mob connections escorted by a sneaky golfer in argyle socks. One of us may be convicted of murder. We have a very eclectic lifestyle. I need to prepare for my role of course, research the era, live and breathe flapper. If I could put a cigarette holder between my lips without exposing myself and my fellow role players to carcinogens, all would be the bees knees. But, the next best thing is Flickr and Etsy.

Images: Finsbry, Liaison, Lushie Peach, Erbo Retro

P.S. Lots of photos this week and not much substance. Wanna know why? ‘Cause I’m freakin’ out of my mind busy, that’s why. But I do love you, dearest bloggy readers. Truly. And one day soon, I shall have something very special for you. Just you wait and see.

Comfy Camping

Don’t these little campsites from the Laura Ashley catalog and Chicago House and Home look delightful? I love the idea of taking indoor furniture outside on nice days to create a sort of outdoor living room. Wouldn’t it be great to cozy up for a good read in an armchair with a nice breeze blowing around you?

Summer Scenes

Some of my current Flickr favorites. Enjoy!

 Images by Minato, Manganite, Keep Calm Carry On, Futuro Woman

Toronto

Here, ladies, are the promised photos from our anniversary weekend. We managed to cram all of the major sites into just two and a half days, and since being together is always our favorite thing, we had lots of fun. The view below (by Sean- the rest are mine) is of Toronto as seen from the top of Casa Loma, the castle that sits right inside the city. I have quite a fear of heights, particularly narrow stairs, so by the time we had climbed down from the castle tower I was literally shaking. Didn’t stop me though!

Can you believe we toured this entire castle, gardens, stables, 5 floors and all in an hour’s time? We were pretty proud of ourselves (and sweaty too).

The Royal Ontario Museum, on the other hand, was an entire day’s undertaking. I was particularly enamored of these little guys and all of the other exceptionally well presented exhibits in the natural history portion of the museum. A close second favorite were the rooms depicting various eras of European furnishings. Unfortunately, my camera batteries decided to die just beforehand.

We also managed to take in a bit of the essence of Chinatown and especially Kensington Market before our introverted personalities became entirely too overwhelmed with the noise and people. This little, almost impromptu looking, parade that we saw at one point though was a fun diversion between museum visits and long walks and subway rides to our various destinations.

Our first night, we ate dinner at this fabulous Thai restaurant which was crammed full of people, so I didn’t feel comfortable taking photos. Let’s just say that the mango chicken dish (with one chili pepper out of a possible 14) was amazing. I’m still searching for a mango that can compare to the ones I had practically every day in the Philippines, but that meal was a refreshing approximation. We also had our first Richtree experience after an evening of bookstore shopping. I don’t know if I can explain it. We were expecting a cute, quiet little bistro a la Paris and were very confused upon being ushered into this giant, lush market/restaurant with, um, artistic flair I guess? But as you can guess, I was not disappointed in my strawberry shortbread with vanilla sauce.

We got to the end of our weekend and realized that we had not taken a single photo of ourselves together. How awful is that? And I looked really cute one day too. Oh well, at least you can see how good looking my husband is crouching over the glass floor in the CN Tower. There was a baseball game going on below us.

And so ends our trip with a lovely view of the sunset from the top of the tower. Except that this photo was taken on our first night, but with a horizon like this I had to use it for a cliche ending. So here you go: Sean and Katherine lived happily ever after. The End.

Excited About Book Covers

I’m really glad that these classics designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith for Penguin books will finally be available in the U.S. this November. They’ve been sold only in the U.K and Canada for awhile now and I’ve been trying to finagle a way to get my hands on them solely for the gorgeous hardback covers. I own versions of many of the titles already, but perhaps one or two will make their way onto my Christmas list.

So This is Love…

via Patrick Q

…A husband who holds me while I cry for no good reason and list all of the reasons I can think of to be sad (ranging from, “I wish I could hold a kitty” to “Why can’t I be perfect?”) – so as not to waste the tears of course, who lets me cancel our evening plans because I “look fat and ugly” while insisting that I’m not, who brings paint brochures home from work just so I can daydream over them, who doesn’t get mad when I am consistently dramatic one evening and refuse to eat and then change my mind several times, who goes to the store to buy tampons for me and returns with a bottle of organic tea and a bouquet of hydrangeas.  Thank heavens for a man with patience and reason! Did my mom pray for this ability in my future husband? I bet she did.

Bianca and Family

Oh look, oh look! (Can you tell I’m excited?) Forget Toys ‘R’ Us. These are the kinds of toys I’ll want to buy for my kids and let’s face it, I’ll probably actually want to play with them too. There’s an intense amount of wonderful vintage-style furniture and toys for children at Bianca and Family.

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Image by Amalia Ulman

Did you ever read that children’s book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day? I don’t particularly remember what the story is about, but as I was thinking over my day that title was the first thing that came to mind. You know. Haven’t you ever had to make a last minute drive into the city even though you’ve never ever driven in a big city? Haven’t you ever been unable to find the right building and then unable to find parking nearby? Haven’t you ever finally parked and walked until you found the building only to discover that it was closed just as you arrived? And then, haven’t you ever been unable to find your car again? Or have you walked around the city for an hour trying not to cry as you frantically searched for it? And when you found it, haven’t you also found a parking ticket because your meter ran out while you were searching? As you drove away, wasn’t there a detour that made you lost again? And weren’t you late for another appointment? Have you ever had someone scream at you in their car and shake their fist at you because you were stuck in a long line of traffic at a red light when they felt the need to cut in front of you? Oh, well I have.

But then too, I had to go to the city because – secret’s out – I’ve finally gotten a job of sorts and had to get a background check. And, I learned what it’s like to drive in the city. If it wasn’t for this day, I wouldn’t have seen that fruit stand on the side of the road on my way back so that I could stop and get a beautiful quart of strawberries. I bet with all that walking and no time for lunch, I lost some of the weight I’ve been meaning to demolish. Plus, there was a beautiful package of paper roses, an anniversary gift from my in-laws, waiting in the office when we got home. And really, Sean was very sympathetic and not at all angry when I told him about the parking ticket. So all in all, it wasn’t so bad.

Perfect House

The outside of this house perfectly fits what I want in a home. I love the old, architectural elements, the hedge and fence, and the chimney of course. It’s so small and sweet. Why aren’t all houses built to look this nice?

Click photo for link.

Maps and Robots

Inspired by these I decided to make Sean a little booklet for our anniversary. We had agreed to go with the traditional gifts of paper to celebrate our first year since we’re both sappy enough to enjoy those sorts of things. I presented him with a deck of Uno cards (get it?) while he gave me a vintage book entitled Marry for Love (by Allene Corliss) and best of all, my very own letter from the World’s Smallest Postal Service. I couldn’t have been more excited.

I made this silly card for his birthday too. Ignore the message at the bottom.

Photos from Toronto to come soon. Thank you all for wishing us a happy anniversary. It was very happy indeed!