Book worming

I had a good, long two-week visit with my parents for Christmas this year. I had been saving several books to read during this time and dove right in the minute I got on the plane. There's something about having a decent stretch of unscheduled time to read a book in. Yes, we had plenty of holiday prep and planning and cooking to do, but really, when you're away from your own house, that leaves plenty of time to snuggle down in a nook somewhere and get lost in a story.

The book I started on the plane was Swamplandia! by Karen Russell. Yes, the cover got me right away, and then the story quickly followed suit. It is such an original story of a desperate family who runs a gator-wrestling theme park on an island in the South. It's strange and sweet and sad.

The next book I jumped into was The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I had been looking forward to this since the early fall and absolutely loved it. I devoured it over the course of about 36 hours, including middle of the night jaunts and wee early in the morning page-turning.  It's a beautifully magical love story that just kept getting better and better. I wanted to live within this world.

And last but not least, Julia Child brought me home again. My Life in France by Julia Child with Alex Prudhomme was a treat. Her upbeat nature and good-heartedness shines through on every page of adventure and eating. I picked up so many pearls of wisdom, not so much about cooking but living life fully. A true joy.

I also spent plenty of time flipping through this gorgeous new cookbook: Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan. I've already tried four of the recipes, each more wonderful and Frenchy than the last.

And this one: For Cod and Country: Simple, Delicious, Sustainable Cooking by Barton Seaver. The book is arranged by season featuring fish available at their peak and includes alternate selections based on regional. Really well-organized and well-written and the two dishes I've tried rocked the house.

But wait! One more: Vera: The Art and Life of an Icon by Susan Seid. I am so inspired by the designs of Vera Neumann but knew little about her as a person. This book is a wonderful balance of storytelling with words and photos. Lovely lovely and springy to get my designer's heart racing.

When I got home, I had a slew of books waiting for me at the library, too, so I've continued my reading spree — hooray for winter! As always, I keep a running list of books I've read here on the blog. It's one of the tabs at the top of my main page. I don't review any of the books there, but sometimes it's just fun to poke through them to get ideas. I hope you find something you might like!

Honey Oat Muffins

The smell of these muffins baking is powerful stuff. It smells sweet and warm and oh so nice on a snowy winter morning. I seem to bake a lot of muffins this time of year. I think because I feel like baking for the warmth of the oven and the heavenly smells, but am also feeling a little lazy. These muffins will do you right.

Honey Oat Muffins

via Food & Wine

3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup canola oil
2 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray or vegetable shortening, or fill with baking liners. 

In a large bowl, mix the oats with the whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, coriander and salt.

In another bowl, whisk the honey with the buttermilk, canola oil and eggs. Pour the honey mixture into the dry ingredients; mix just until combined.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups and bake for about 18 minutes, until they're golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. 

Let the muffins cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then transfer them to a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Note: I experimented with half the muffin tray filled with liners and half greased with vegetable shortening. I was worried there wasn't enough oil in the recipe to keep the muffins from sticking to the liners, but both methods worked equally well. 

Animated holiday card

Back in October, I had the opportunity to work with an animator for the first time. We put together a holiday card for Zuckerman Spaeder LLC, a law firm in Washington, D.C. It was so much fun to see my drawings come to life in very simple animated form. It was also an interesting process to think about movement and how the scenes would piece together. Each of seven scenes was tied together by a triangle form that mimics the firm's logo. We also did a printed piece in black and white with just a bit of blue and the triangle die-cut. Here's a look at a few of the stills from the finished piece. You can see it in its entirety here.

METAL fabrication, art, design and more

Have you heard about or been to METAL in Ann Arbor yet? It opened last April, but it wasn't until a few weeks ago that I finally explored its inner workings. The shop deals in all things metal, including everything from fabrication and design to a gallery of artists' works and vintage metal finds. While I didn't tour the workshop areas, I spent well over an hour examining its shop and gallery. It's definitely one of those places where there is so much that more and more and more reveals itself to you as you wander. Have a look…

220 Felch Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48103
Monday – Saturday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Fennel-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Fennel Wedges

Oh my goodness, this is a good one. I got two new cookbooks for Christmas that have completely rekindled my interest and excitement about cooking and being in the kitchen. This recipe is from neither of the new books — ha! The fennel seeds with the pork is a wonderful combination that smells like sausage while it's cooking, while being quite a bit healthier. And the fennel wedges become nicely caramelized and melt in your mouth. I served this over simple mashed potatoes. I left the skins on and mashed with some skim milk. You don't need to overly season or butter them because the sauce is very rich and flavorful. You could also serve with white or jasmine rice, egg noodles, couscous, or just about any grain.

Before I move on to the recipe, I want to direct your attention to the tabs at the top of the page here under the banner. I've added a recipe index there for your (and my) convenience. I've been wanting to do this forever and took some downtime over the holidays to cut and paste it all there. It still needs a bit of tweaking in terms of categorization, but it's a start. I welcome your suggestions and ideas on its format and hope that it proves useful to you! 

Fennel-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Fennel Wedges
Adapted from Epicurious.com

1 tsp fennel seeds
1 lb pork tenderloin

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 yellow onion, trimmed and peeled
2 large fennel bulbs, trimmed, reserving 1/4 cup of fronds

2 Tb extra-virgin olive oil

3 garlic cloves, smashed, then roughly chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 Tb unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 tsp fresh lemon juice, or to taste

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.

Crush fennel seeds with a mortar and pestle (or wrap in a kitchen towel and crush with bottom of a heavy skillet). Add salt and pepper and stir to combine.

Pat pork dry, then sprinkle with crushed fennel seed mixture. Pat mixture gently to make sure the pork is well coated.

Cut onion in half and then into 1/2-inch wedges. Cut fennel bulbs lengthwise into 1/2-inch wedges.

Heat oil in a 12-inch oven-proof heavy skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Brown pork on all sides, about 6 to 8 minutes total, then transfer to a plate. Sauté garlic, onion and fennel wedges in skillet until fennel is golden brown, about 6 to 8 minutes. Add wine, stirring and scraping up brown bits, then stir in broth and butter. Put pork on top of fennel and transfer skillet to oven. Roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted into center of pork registers 145 to 150°F, about 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer pork to a cutting board and let rest 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, transfer skillet to stovetop (handle will be hot) and boil, stirring occasionally, until much of the liquid has evaporated. Stir in lemon juice and fennel fronds, chopped. Thinly slice pork and serve over fennel with sauce.

Happy New Year! Imagining what's ahead…

Hello all and happy new year! I've had a nice long visit with my family down in North Carolina over Christmas and after several days settling back in at home, I've gone into full nesting mode.

Since moving into our new house in July, we've had little time to do any major projects. We had a slow drawn out move getting into the place and then seemed to be immediately bombarded with distractions throughout the fall and holiday season. Many good things, for sure, but right now I can't get enough of just being in our space and having a little time to breathe and imagine the possibilities. I've been adding inspiration photos to my Pinterest boards like mad. This seems like a particularly good time of year to dream and scheme, and it's helping recharge my creative juices. I'm very excited for 2012 and look forward to its ups and downs and in and outs. Thanks so much for coming this far with me — I hope you'll join me on the ride into tis next phase! Now, on to the imaginings!

First: The bedroom. It is a long narrow space that just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. We found out from a local antique dealer who grew up on the lake that our house was built to house caddies for the neighboring golf course. (Yes, we live in the Caddyshack!) So I imagine it wasn't designed for lake views, but rather to sleep the greatest number of people at any one time.

I hesitated showing you the room's current state—ack!—but it gives you a sense of the challenge. A previous owner continued the log cabin-y feel in every nook and cranny possible, including the closet along the back wall of the bedroom. I think its log overkill, beside which it is very poorly constructed, holds little and is on the one wall where you could place the bed to have a view of the lake. (Be it a partially obstructed view because a tree grows through the deck right in front of that window!?!? Love that the tree stayed, but…)  There are no doors on the closet right now because they were beautiful old doors with great hardware and we used them to replace split louvered doors that had been installed on the bedrooms and bathroom. We still need one more to replace the split doors still on the back bedroom (below right).

I'm pretty sure the room, which is about 10 feet wide by 20 feet long, was two rooms at one time. You can see a seam running horizontally across the room in the above photos. And there are two doors in the center of the interior wall (above left), one of which has been filled in with a handy, though again, poorly constructed "built-in" bookcase facing into the living room.

photo by Bob Travaglione

After much figuring and reconfiguring, the latest solution we've struck on is building a loft. The idea seems to be sticking. My first searches brought up many kids rooms and dorm-style lofts, but I think it can be done in a very simple, yet adult way. With some more digging, I'm turning up lots of inspiration, like this image above from Plattsburgh, Missouri. Or the rustic one below.

via A Beautiful Mess

Pretty dreamy, right? Obviously we have lots of details to figure out, but I'm excited to plan and make it happen. I'm think a rolling/sliding barn door would make the perfect entry, too. We wouldn't lose precious floor space for an inward-swinging door, and it would allow us to add a nice splash of color in the living room. (I absolutely love the feel of the white log walls, but it means we have to be creative about ways to add color.)

via Nordic Rooms

left: via Nestegg  right: via Pine Tree Home blog

I love the clean lines and geometry of the photo on the left. And the right shows an interesting idea of having the door slide behind a bookcase when it's open.

A girl and boy can dream, right? You can find more inspiration on my "Home" board on Pinterest. Wait 'til you see what we have planned for the kitchen!

DIYpsi views

A bit overdue, but here is a look back at DIYpsi from a couple of weeks past. It was a great indie art fair at the Corner Brewery mid-December and drew many familiar faces, both behind and in front of the tables! It was an intensely cold weekend, but the skies were clear and blue and the mood was festive. The top photo shows one of Cre Fuller's amazing Tin Angry Men.

Deets was there with this happy fellow and Nests was just behind me with her perfectly curated vignettes like this little chair.

Chuppy Love was as sweet as ever. Just look at those lil' faces.

It was so great to meet Andy, aka  The Foraging Florist, who makes amazing petri dish wonderlands,  beautifully crafted wreathes and more. 

And it was just perfect rounding out the show season with the Dang Argyle as my neighbor again — hooray for crafty pals!

And a little look at my setup that day. That's it for now, folks! Hope you are enjoying a quiet week of relaxation — I know that's my plan!

Merry Christmas!

Last chance! shoppers delight!

Whew! I haven't told you a thing about these shows yet, have I? Not to worry, I will — it's been grand! … but in the meantime, one more final showcase showdown: DIYpsi. Corner Brewery. Ypsilanti. Saturday. Sunday. crafts. arts. galore. do it. be there. shop away. get it on.

DUCF 6

Detroit Urban Craft Fair this weekend. 

Need I say more?!?! 

Handmade Holiday Workshop

Last Sunday, I spent a wonderfully peaceful and crafty afternoon at Maker Works in Ann Arbor with Siobhan from Blue House and a lovely group of crafters for a holiday workshop. It was cold and dark and rainy outside, but inside there was a jolly warm room full of smiling faces eager to make some handmade holiday ornaments and decorations. We had come up with three different projects, but by the end of the day there were many more variations and ideas flowing. Here's a look:

If you want to come and get in on the making, too, Siobhan and I are planning a second workshop session of holiday making at Pot & Box on Thursday, December 15 from 6 to 9 p.m. For more info and to register, email bluehouseannarbor@gmail.com.

First snow

 Pretty, pretty morning.