Bits & Pieces

Leftover flowers from the baby shower last weekend!

Sneak-peek at an illustration that will be in next year's calendar

Sooo, sorry about that extended absence. I'm not quite sure where time has gone recently. Each week, I briefly think "hmm, I should blog," and then I forget that thought again until the next week. Life is busy and good! I'm up to my waist in planning new holiday things for my shop, while simultaneously trying to put together a nursery (and other rooms of the house...slowly...), and trying to have a little fun too. With baby girl due soon (9 weeks to go, eep!) it feels like every weekend is spent on one project or another. September is usually the start of the holiday season for my shop, so it will be interesting to see how that will go this year. I plan to shut down my shop for 3-4 weeks when she is born, to get our bearings, and will hopefully be able to open again sometime in October. That's the plan anyways! 

I've weirdly had zero regrets about moving so far. It's definitely a different change of pace in upstate NY compared to Brooklyn, but we've adjusted pretty quickly. The only thing that really makes me sad-faced is not being able to just walk anywhere at anytime. There really isn't anything walkable from my house, in terms of coffee shops or restaurants, just residential neighborhoods. But hey, everything is a pretty quick 10-20 minute drive, so it isn't that bad. 

My family threw me a baby shower this past weekend and a fun time was had. I'm usually one to shy away from events that put me at the center of attention, but it was a pretty laid back picnic with close family. NO STUPID GAMES! Hehe. 

Okay, promise to share more tidbits soon. xoxo. -Michelle

Dill Flowers from my little deck garden.

The start of the nursery...

Lazy Summer

I can't stop eating blueberries and cherries! Summer fruits are the best. And I basically just want to curl up with my kitty and a good book for the rest of the summer...

xoxo,

Michelle

Summer Days

So Summer is officially here and with it brings the unbearable hot days and high humidity in this concrete jungle I live in. We've been having crazy thunderstorms lately, usually early morning or late at night. The kind of thunderstorms where you suddenly have a lake in your backyard in ten minutes flat. Crazy! But then the sun comes back out and dries it right up and melts anyone that dares step outside. 

But still, I'm trying not to let the sun make me lazy. I went and did some work at Champs on Friday, treating myself to a giant iced coffee w/ soy milk and a cookie. Yum! Nik and I took the ipad and went to a few different coffee shops (for some more icy beverages!) on Saturday, and just played many games of chess, checkers, and othello, basking in the AC of the cafes. Super-fun (and I won them allll!)  We shall defeat you Summer!

The season of pickle-making begins! We got a bunch of pickling cucumbers in our CSA on Saturday, so I promptly turned them into some dill pickles on Sunday. I also roasted some beets and threw some jalapeños and onions in a jar to make some spicy pickled beets. I just use a simple refrigerator pickle recipe, so I can eat them in a week or so (and they don't usually last long around this apartment!) I love the way newly pickled things in jars look; so pretty!

Summer Food

Crazy-big haul.

I love the dog days of summer, where there is so much abundance at the farmer's market.  My fruit and veg haul was crazy huge this past week, so we have been having super-summer dinners all week. So so good.  These are the things I savor (literally!) and love about summer.  Nik and I helped distribute the shares for our CSA this past saturday, and it was a fun people/dog-watching morning in the park.  There was a little pup amputee with two rear wheels instead of legs that basically broke my heart.  So many Great Danes live in my neighborhood, and I just cannot fathom what kind of apartments these owners have that hold such gigunda dogs...

I froze a lot of stuff, corn and zuchini and pesto, in preparation for the dead-zone of winter where I will be craving some fresh veggies that don't have a root attached to it.   I love pulling out fresh corn off the cob on Thanksgiving day! 

A peek at the CSA pickup

I was the fruit lady, handing out peaches and melons.

Eggplant wings (basically just breaded eggplant smothered in a hot bbq sauce), watermelon, and a salad with cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, red onion, and avocados (red wine vinegar/olive oil/salt/pepper dressing)

Sauteed tofu and onions in spices, corn on the cob, and green beans

Spoonflower Swatches

Hello!  Summer seems to be slipping by rather quickly, as of late, and all of a sudden it is August. Yowza.  I can't wait for Fall though; Bring on the hoodies and apple cider and crisp leaves and pumpkin-flavored everything!  I had an old friend visit this past weekend, and we had a blast.  Coney Island,  The Museum of Natural History, LOTS of walking around, way too much sunshine, good food and beer, and great talks.  I love reconnecting with old friends that I haven't seen in awhile, and feeling like no time has passed since you last saw each other. Yay friends!

I've been a pattern-making fool lately.  Well, for a few months actually, but I was saving up patterns to get test swatches printed via Spoonflower.  Finally got some back yesterday and I'm pretty psyched about them!  Most of them I put up for sale on Spoonflower (you can have a little shop on there; super-neat!) and a few I'm keeping to making a nifty new product for my shop and for upcoming craft shows.  If any of you are on Spoonflower, I would love to connect with you on there and see your patterns.  Such a great community there and so fun to be able to print your own designs!

Staying cool

Beach time!  Nik and I combatted the horrible heat wave last Thursday by packing up and heading out to  Far Rockaway, to the beach.  The weather was a million times more tolerable out there, and downright lovely, if I might say.  100 degrees F in the city that day, but it was a breezy day at the beach with the perfect water temperature and some killer waves.  We spent the day jumping in the waves, soaking up some Vitamin D, and eating ice cream and chips/guac from the boardwalk (Babycakes has a pop-up bakery there for the summer, with lots of ice cream, brownie ice cream sandwiches (!!), doughnuts, and cupcakes! Exciting!)  We're already plotting when we can go back...it's fun that we can both take off work during the week so we don't have to fight the crowds that flock to the beach on the weekends. 

It's the dog days of summer, am I right?  Stay cool!

Vegan Chocolate ice cream, from Babycakes! 

Chips and guacamole 

Waiting for the train to come

Summer Sale!

Hello lovelies; I hope your weekend was sun-filled and relaxing! I had a great time away from the city, at Nik's parent's house, and am feeling refreshed to work and get down to business this week. Lots to do!

To start off this lovely week, I decided that I'm having a SUPER-SUMMER SALE in my shop!  You can enter the coupon code SUNANDFUN at checkout to save 20% off your order.  Sale ends Sunday July 17th (midnight EST). Woo!

xo,
Michelle

Happy B-day Miles and Sweet Summer Days

It was my sweet kittie cat's birthday on the 4th of July. Yep! 4th of July baby!  Miles turned 9 and spent the day celebrating kitty-style (sleeping). Nine years he has been with me...they fly!

I went outside to sketch yesterday afternoon and it was absolutely gorgeous. I need to do that more often, or at least do it while the temperature and heat is still bearable.  Nik and I are going to visit his parents in PA this weekend and I'm pretty excited to get out of the city. A change in scenery always does one good!

Happy Holiday Weekend!

Summer fruit season is the best!

I sometimes forget about holidays like the 4th of July, Memorial day, Labor Day, etc. since I work for myself.  Actually, I'm usually only aware because the Post Office will be closed and I have to plan around that.  Nik likes to work these holidays too (since his office is quiet and he can get stuff done) and he can just take a swap day for any random day off then.  Thus, I don't really celebrate these types of holidays, since I'd be celebrating by myself anyways! 

I can definitely get behind long summer weekends though, and I plan to enjoy this moderate NYC summer while it lasts.  I'm working at the shop on Governors Island this Saturday and plan to soak in the sun (and get some work done) the rest of the weekend.  

Have a sun-filled weekend!

xo,

Michelle

Toasted tomato sammich! (and pasta salads)

So, toasted tomato sandwiches might be my favorite summertime meal, at least breaking the top 5 (corn on the cob, breaded and fried zucchini, salted cucumbers, and fresh berries, peaches, and cantaloupe are prolly the others!)  I used to eat these all the time as a kid in the summertime, although these days it is a slightly more grown-up version. I got some amazingly awesome heirloom tomatoes in my CSA last weekend, so of course this is where they end up (note, I could prolly eat heirloom tomatoes like apples, so so so so yummy!)  Sliced tomatoes, a little smear of veganaise, all on lightly toasted whole wheat sourdough bread (also from farmer's market), and I'm a happy girl.

I have also had some fun pasta salads lately, because it's too hot to cook (blahblah) and my CSA finally took it easy with all the lettuce, so I can eat something else.  Check out these hypnosis-like radishes I got!   Also, fresh-cut peaches are amaaaaazing in pasta salad! Seriously! 

Summer of green things

So, the overload of veggies has begun with my local CSA. I'm up to my ears in lettuce! Not that I'm complaining; I just think back to six months ago when I was SO SICK of potatoes from my winter CSA. Haha, when it rains, it pours. But this does mean that I have had salad every single day, lunch AND dinner for the past week. I'm good at mixing things up though. I will usually do some sort of baked/sauteed/marinated/fried/etc. tofu or tempeh, with different seasonings, as the main protein in the salad. Fresh fruit is amazing, especially when it mixes with a vinaigrette dressing (this week, it's cherries, last week was strawberries.) Nut and seeds and whatever other veggies my CSA gives out also join in. I usually will rotate dressings (I usually make my own), with a ranch, oil/vinegar, salsa-ranch (!), or some sort of peanuty-asian-style (Nik isn't as fond of this, so not that often *sadface*). The above salad has a marinated tempeh (Shoyu, liquid smoke, a little peanut oil, pepper, and enough water to cover in pan-cooked until all liquid is gone and slightly crisp) on it and a simple ranch dressing (veganaise, a little soy milk to get the right consistancy, pepper, and a few shakes of basil, oregano, parsley, garlic and onion powder.) Yum!

Also, I only discovered this last summer, but I TOTALLY love fried green tomatoes. A little nooch, a little flour, a little cayenne and salt, YUM!!!

Strawberry-Raspberry-Rhubarb Crisp

It's that time of year again, when my summer CSA starts and I get butt-loads of fruit! I started the season off pretty well with lots of strawberries, raspberries, and rhubarb. Helllooooo crisp! This was gone pretty much instantly. I kept it pretty simple, just cut up fruit mixed with agave (I overcompensated actually, thinking that I needed to put a lot in to cover the bitterness of the rhubarb, but the sweet fruits did a pretty good job on their own.) The topping is just a mixture of quick oats, brown sugar, a little Earth Balance, and a little flour. Baked at 400F for 40 minutes and it was done. I missed fresh summer fruits so much! Good riddance winter and spring!

Hello Spring, Hello Sunshine

Hello Sunshine
Watercolor, dyes, pen/ink on watercolor paper


Hello Spring
Watercolor, dyes, pen/ink on watercolor paper


Two new prints in the shop! I can't take this "hinting at spring" thing that's going on. I put my winter coat in the closet, and dammit, I'm not bringing it out again (of course, this means that I'm freezing walking to work in the mornings in my spring coat).

*sunshinesunshinesunshine*

Summer Food

I made a plum bbq sauce early this week with some CSA fruit. So yummy! I used the recipe for apricot bbq in Veganomicon, just replacing the apricots with plums. Had it over some baked tofu, with breaded and fried zucchini, and some swiss chard with garlic butter.

Homemade veggie burgers! So yummy! There are carrots, radishes, mustard greens, onions, scallions, chives, garlic, celery, and TVP in there. Fresh organic corn on the cob to accompany.


Homemade ice cream! Chocolate PB:

Super-blueberry: