This Week in Crafts

Week of February 14, 2011

Let's see...

On Monday I made yummy treats for Valentine's Day.

Chocolate covered strawberries and hazelnut biscotti.

On Tuesday I whipped up a sparkly barrette for Iron Craft Challenge 7: Midas Touch.

On Wednesday I picked up embroidery again and nearly finished the piece that I began a looong time ago. All I need to do now is complete the "Stitches I Know" portion.

On Thursday I whipped up a aromatherapy sachet birthday present for my friend. To be honest I had intended on turning this project into a tutorial post, but I abandoned my original design for a much simpler one and I didn't feel up to documenting the whole process. It didn't turn out as polished as I had envisioned but I like it just the same. (I even made one for the cabinet where we keep our kitchen trash and compost bins. Latest stroke of genius by far.)

Filled with dried lavender. Smells heavenly!

I didn't do much on Friday or Saturday (except blog about my trip to the farmers' market and Lucky Ju Ju's).

Today, I at mac n' cheese. Glorious, glorious mac n' cheese. I arrived at Homeroom--along with my friend Christina, my brother Tristan, and his girlfriend Kelly--a little before noon. Homeroom was already full of locals eating up cheesy macaroni, but thankfully our wait was minimal (about 15 minutes). Seating was cozy and the mac was cozier. I'll just let the pictures speak for me:

Christina's choice: Classic Mac--good ol' cheddar cheese sauce. So yummy!

Spicy Mac (today's special) for Tristan--a traditional mac n' cheese with a spicy jack cheese instead of cheddar. Lots of spice of all kinds that gradually changed in composition as it lingered on the palate.

Kelly got the Trailer Mac--mild cheddar sauce with bits of hot dog topped with potato chips. (To anyone from Sacramento: this tastes exactly like a grilled cheese dog sandwich--potato chips and all--from Vic's Ice Cream.)

And I got The Exchange Student: Cacio e Pepe--Homeroom's take on the classic Italian pasta featuring a sauce of pecorino cheese and cracked peppercorns.

I also got some roasted carrots (gotta eat my veggies!). They were a little oily, but were roasted perfectly.

The kids split a homemade oreo for dessert. Sorry, no picture: I was quickly slipping into a mac n' cheese induced coma. Next time...next time. Promise.

want more? read my yelp review of Homeroom.

Week of Crafts

Sorry about the delay in getting this post up. I completely forgot to do it last night and it just occurred to me that today is Tuesday. Here's why: I worked nearly 11 hours yesterday to put on our Annual Stakeholders Meeting and didn't get home until 9pm. As for forgetting that today is Tuesday: I'm attending a volunteer management training session on Thursday and so I made today my day off. Understandably, my internal calendar is all mixed up. At any rate my crafty to-do list is ample this week. Here is what I would like to do:

Tuesday (also known as tonight)

• Make ice cream! Cook's Country sent me a "complimentary" issue; it has great recipes, including one for easy chocolate ice cream. According to the recipe all I need to do is melt chocolate, some dissolved espresso powder, condensed milk, and vanilla extract, and then mix in soft-peak whipped cream. Then you pour it into a air tight container and pop it in the freezer. We'll see...
• Finish my project for Iron Craft Challenge #6-Iron Craft Winter Contest. I've been working on it since Saturday and I'm really excited to share it with my fellow Iron Crafters on Flickr. Sorry, no sneak-peak pictures. You'll have to wait until tomorrow when I post it on their Flickr group and this here site.
• Start (and hopefully complete) and order for some Heart "Felt" Valentines.

Wednesday

• Install, photograph, submit, and post my project for the Iron Craft Challenge. (Super excited to do this one!)
• Pop the Valentines order in the mail.
• Continue to scan the recipes that I've been working to digitally preserve.
• Make the pizza dough recipe published in one of Cook's Illustrated latest episodes.

Thursday

• Choose a page and fill it with posts.
• Clean up my desktop and upload pictures to my Flickr. I've been exploring groups and members on Flickr, and I have some pictures that I want to contribute.
• Get Valentine's in the mail.

Friday

• I'm sure I have something...I just can't remember it right now.

Saturday

• Make chicken stock.
• Do some crafty stuff.
  

Sunday

• Check out Homeroom--the newest, neatest restaurant in Oakland. Why such accolades? Their menu and culinary emphasis is macaroni and cheese. *be still my heart.* My first trip to Homeroom will be with my dear friend Christina and I am so extremely excited about it. I love mac 'n cheese so naturally this will quite possibly become my favorite place in the world--besides my mom's kitchen, of course. I'll make sure to bring my camera along. Stay tuned for a Homeroom/mac 'n cheese post sometime in the near future.