Just because...

I am mad about this fabric! Please note Mr. Squidleys in the framed picture.  He adds to the whimsy.

Patterns are LAMO

If you can appreciate the mechanics of design, than who needs patterns.

This isn’t Project Runway bitches. No one is judging or measuring your pieces. You should sew with reckless abandon. I prefer the ‘free style” approach. As long as it looks good, who cares how you got there.

Although I have only been sewing for a relatively short period of time, once you have the basic skills to build upon, the rest is very simple. I used to be terrified of sewing machines. Now I spend hours with my sewing manual and trying out different stitches.

There is nothing more fulfilling to me than sitting around my dining room table with my good friends, a sewing machine, and a pile of fabric and bottle of wine. What more does one need (perhaps a nice wedge of cheese and some crusty bread and perhaps maybe a tapenade or two)? With a solid foundation, these newly acquired skills translate beautifully in to just about any project.

I recently acquired a whimsically delightful book entitled “Bend the Rules Sewing” which is perfect for the ADD minded. It’s basically the IKEA of sewing books. It doesn’t judge you and encourages this gorilla style approach to sewing. The philosophy behind the book is you have to be good enough to know when you can bend the rules.

That certainly translates into the way I approach life. How about you?

Below you will find a simple repro retro apron I made last night.  It took two hours and I enjoyed every minute of it. 

xo,
Mimzy

Tart-tastic!

Recently, I took a baking course at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts http://www.cambridgeculinary.com/

I learned the art of making pâte à choux (puff pastry which can be both sweet and savory) and pâte brisée (pie crust) used for Frangipane and Fresh Fruit Tart, Lemon Tartlets, Praline Sweet Potato Pie, Cranberry Crumb Pie, and Cherry Pie and the list goes on and on!

Having the pleasure of experiencing many savory tarts from Petsi’s Pies http://www.petsipies.com/, I decided I would try to recreate their roasted vegetable with goat cheese tart.

Although simply delightful, the goat cheese was a bit heavy and bland. I thought that a Bulgarian feta (creamy with a hint of salt…think mellow feta) might be a good match. Still, the consistency wasn’t quite adequate. I threw an egg in, but still, I wasn’t satisfied.

Enter Ricotta

That was my answer! A half cup of Bulgarian feta, a half cup of ricotta, one egg, some nutmeg, and some Maldon sea salt Formaggio Kitchen http://www.formaggiokitchen.com/ and I was getting this party started!

Maldon salt is a salt like no other! It is as close to unicorns and rainbows as you can get. http://www.maldonsalt.co.uk/

These are not my words…but just for some context:

What makes Maldon Sea Salt so special?

The pyramid-shaped salt crystals, characteristic of Maldon Salt, are fragile enough to crumble easily between the fingers and have a totally different taste from the regular grains of table salt. It is an interesting exercise to taste common salt alongside Maldon Salt. The common salt sits uncomfortably on the tongue and has an underlying bitterness. Maldon Salt is milder, has the flavor of sea spray and is free from the chemical tang of common salt. Unlike most salts containing additives to stop them caking in damp weather, Maldon Salt is a completely natural product, retaining valuable sea water trace-elements

Anyway…if it’s not a staple in your kitchen it should be.

I made my pâte brisé. I don’t have the emotional distance to explain the process here, but there are plenty of recipes and videos online that would do a far better job explaining the process than I could. It’s not that it’s difficult; it’s just one of these things you need to experience on your own (like child birth).

So, I mixed up some magical Bulgarian feta (do I need to keep capitalizing Bulgarian?) and ricotta. I blind baked my pâte brisé and then took a little spatula and poured it in evenly.

I roasted seasonal vegetables and artfully arranged them and cooked uncovered for about 45 minutes.

Suggestions:

Zucchini

Squash
Purple Onion

Roasted Red Peppers

Kalamata olives

Hello. Is there anybody out there?

I realized I was using Facebook as a forum for show and tell. I had the foresight to not want to be that girl. Therefore, I decided to unleash my craftastic mayhem onto the masses. 

Since restraint is not in my vocab, I decided this would be a good outlet for me. Kind of like group therapy without the clay. So....here we go!