Ho ho ho home.

I hope you all had a very fine Holiday Season.

I know we did.

If I could die and come back as anything, it would be a Le Creuset 12-piece cookware set.

This would mean that I would have to divide my self up Voldemort style, which would mean that I would never die.

My mom has helped me in my journey to obtaining said cookware, and I received a Dutch oven for Christmas!

Presents are so good when you become an adult.

Love, Lucy

Tiny Tots in Terrific Tights

 I hope when I have babies that I have a gaggle of girls, so that I can put them all in tights, maryjane's, and tiny tot peacoats.

Love Liz

Sexy Cardi

This is my next project. I am stating it here, so that I might be held accountable, if I get lazy. I have a plain cardi I bought for less than 10 bucks. I am going to add some amazing rosette details (the plan when I bought said cardi) and ta da! Sexy Cardi Perfection!! When finished I will post the picture. So don't let me forget.

Love Liz

Orange and Clove Pomanders

When I think of past Christmas’s, one memeory is most prevalent. We had an oblong table (which my parents still have) that was full of delicacies we had received from various people. For a family who rarely even saw soda pop, this was extremely grand. Along with that I remember Pomanders lining the table with aromatic scents and striking designs. I also remembered last night as I was making these illustrious pomanders, that I had planned on sneaking out to see Santa that Christmas Eve night. I was going to hide out under out massive wood table. But that never happened.

Short story long, Orange and Clove pomanders are very dear to my heart.

These are very simple pomanders to create, and lend their hand beautifully to your creative mind, and all the places it can reach. The only down side is that your thumb and pointer finger get a hair achy after an hour or so of pushing the cloves through orange skins.

In my opinion, they smell marvelous and look remarkable. The process can be either tedious or cathartic, depending on if you have a billion things looming around that need to be done. Also if you have good conversation or good music to listen to while you work, the process is even more enjoyable.

Merry Christmas!

Love, Lucy.

Rolls and Jam

Our mom makes a certain kind of rolls every Thanksgiving.

They are so delectable, and this year she gave our neighbors rolls and jam, because she is so good like that.

I just wanted to toot her horn for her.

-Love, Lucy

Terrific Tights Tuesday

I am totally slacking on my sewing/cooking duties. Its lucky for all of you that Lucy is such a home maker. Sad for me and mine, considering I am not. However, I will do the daily feature, until I get my butt in gear, take pics, sew and so forth and so on. For example: I have the best idea for a shirt, I am itching to make it, when I am sitting her at work. Then I get home and have to do a million things and my shirt is pushed aside. It does feel neglected. So sad. Having said that, I feel like these socks and leggings speak for themselves. Especially the black leggings, they are after all fleece lined! holy smokes and Merry Christmas!

Easy-Peasy Bread Sticks

Here is the breadstick recipe I promised you. It’s almost identical to my sister-in-laws, only its not. It’s a modification of a breadstick recipe, from my mom’s favorite cook book. Enjoy these and love the fact that they are vegan, if you are vegan, and even if you aren’t. The great thins is, they don’t require too stuffy of ingredients.

 (We watched Little Women not too long ago and I loved that the bread they gave The Hummels was circular, so we made them in that fashion!)

Easy-Peasy Bread Sticks

Modified from Managing your Meals by Winnifred c. Jardine

*Ingredients*

• 
  
   1 TBS active dry yeast
  
  
  
• 
  
  1TBS of honey or sugar
  
  
  
• 
  
  1 TBS Oil
  
  
  
• 
  
  1 ½ Cups warm water (115 degrees) just so you know if the water is too hot, it will kill the yeast.
  
  
  
• 
  
  1 tsp salt
  
  
  
• 
  
  3-4 Cups all-purpose flour , you still want your dough to be pretty gooey, but not too gooey
  
  
  

*Directions*

1) In a large mixing bowl, or a mixer, soften yeast and sugar (or honey) in warm water. Let stand for around 5 minutes.

 2) Stir in oil and salt.

 3) Gradually add flour, mixing and scraping the sides.

 4) Let mix/knead in for a few minutes.

 5) Depending how fluffy you want your bread to be you can let stand for around 20 minutes, punch down, and stand for another 20 minutes. Or you don’t even have to.

The braided one has been punched down, and the donut one has not. Can you tell the difference; they are just a little different in puffiness.

Brush with a beaten egg to make extra glossy, to impress all of your neighbors or guests.

*Bake at 400 degrees *

15 minutes or until golden-delicious!

-Love, Lucy

Christmas Jars

(First: I have been using my phone camera, because that’s what I have, and its convenient. Sorry the pictures look so crummy.)

 Marianne and I don’t have too much room in our kitchen for storage. And there are some things that I want to have handy and not in the depths of our dark cabinets.

So I thought to store stuff in Mason Jars, because they are good looking (to me) and they are clear, so you can see into them.

And then I realized I wanted to put my tea bags in the jars, but I would need a way to differentiate the kinds. So I decided that I would use chalkboard paint, and paint the lids, so I could know the contents of the jar, and that they could be changed.

I bought Chalkboard spray paint because it was the least expensive, and required less manual work; just point and shoot.

We got it at Home Depot for $5, among their other spray paints. The paint itself was there too, because it comes in a smallish box, and not a bucket like the rest of their paints.

Can lids don't have anything grabby for the paint, so you need to start off a little at a time.

A couple of spurts at a time, gives you a nice base coat, and then you can spray as much on as you want.

And voila; its a Christmas Miracle!

Dress them up with ribbon or twine, or just leave them.

I think they would make excellent gifts for neighbors.

You could put anything inside, and write something on the lid, which they can erase and reuse.

The gift that keeps on giving!

- Love, Lucy

Merry Monday!

I hope you all had a superb weekend!

I am very happy this fine Monday, because Christmas is so close.

I love the Holiday season, and I am not ready for it to be over.

All the cheer, people, Christmas movies, and Christmas songs.

I have much to share this week, so I hope you are all ready.

Also my Mom and I were looking at a Martha Stewart Christmas book on Saturday night, and have some things conjured up to do this week, so there will be plenty to see next week as well.

Love, Lucy

hap Hap hAp haPPY: Magnificent shoes Monday

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

If I could wrap anything in a bow and give it myself it would be Christmas. I mean I know that technically Holidays are super depressing. Already, I feel as though there is nothing but sad news on TV. People loosing their shiz, because of the holiday season. I think that has something to do with not ever having seen these Shoes!!! I love them.

Love Liz

Tuppence a bag

[saksfifthavenue.com]

I am the business of looking for a new bag.

I really want something epic, a statement; you know?

Only I really can’t afford a $600 handbag or a $600 anything aside from tuition.

But I like this one because it’s red, and because it has ruffles.

(Sigh)

[anthropologie.com]

Albeit cheaper, $168, I still can’t afford this bag from Anthro.

I like its green hue, I think that would be a fun unexpected color for a handbag, and of course this has ruffles. I don’t appreciate its small 5" strap drop however.

I like to keep my bags safely on my shoulder, and at a safe distance from my arm pit.

Then you have these two, both from Urbies.

Both of which are $68; which I would be willing to pay for a good handbag, only we all know Urban can be a little on the cheep side. And a lot of customer reviews I read about this brand Deux Lux, is that the bags are less than durable.

The good things are, they both are fun; the black one is good for obvious reasoning, being its basically one huge ruffle. However, it looks like its an arm pit hugger, and I just don’t think I can do that.

The grey one is good, but it has metal hoops around the strap, and that always remind me of those rings people used to put their shirts through in the 90's.
(Also they both look big enough to house baby seals. I don't need anything that big. Just big enough to host a book or two, knitting needles and yarn, a wallet, reading glasses, maybe a cookbook, a tiny bag for stuff like chapstick and bobby pins, and I suppose a baby seal now that I type it all out.)

[shopruche.com]

If you are still reading this... I love you!

Sorry this is so wordy, I just have a lot of feelings, feelings that I feel I can’t always bang out here.

This purse I like, a lot. I like its green shade, and the leather, or faux leather looks supple and buttery. Its from an online boutique I would like to keep to myself, for only myself, but wont, called Ruche.

This bag is only $38.99, a pretty agreeable price, considering the alternatives.

This also, has the hoops. But you know.

Decisions are the worst. Can you help me?

-Love, Lucy

Marshmallow Garlands

I have this vague memory of seeing something like this in the window of Anthropologie one winter. I have no idea if this is actually accurate, and I am certain that they accomplished it much more efficiently than we did, but here it is, our Marshmallow Garlands!

There is no tutorial or anything like that, because I am sure you can think of a better way of attaching them, if you wanted something like this for a decoration.

We did it a few different ways.

We used a needle and thread, and threaded them through.

We did some like presents, and wrapped the thread around, this way was less sticky and seemed to hold better.

PS. More would look better, but they are oh-so time consuming (took almost all of One Fine Day) and kind of tedious.

-Love, Lucy

A weekend

This weekend was full of things to do, and we made out pretty well.

Made bread sticks and drank tea, while listening to Christmas music.

My Sister-in-Law Katherine has this amazing dough recipe, which I will share if I get her permission.

We also decided (Marianne and I) that we were going to make bread on Saturday or Sunday, and have it for the rest of the week. We ate most of our breadsticks last night with our Pesto, so you live and you learn. And you learn that you should make much more breadsticks than you think.

We rearranged some things in our kitchen.  That beauty on the top shelf (next to the amazing 70's slow cooker) is a food processor!

We just got it for $17, and I like to look at it and think of all the tarts and pesto I can process with its help.

We also put our cute pots in our open shelving. We like their colors; its like a pot party on our shelves!

Other things:

2 Christmas parties

1 Baby sitting session

Movies, movies, movies

Cooking

Shopping for groceries

Spying bearded hotties at Whole Foods

T-shirts, for a great project you will want to stay tuned for

-Love, Lucy

Sofia's Chicken Paprikash

Yummy, right?

Right.

I found this recipe through MSN's cooking section delish.com via another website called eatingwell.com, and then I modified it a hair, because I am just like that.

 

*Ingredients *

 

•  2 chicken breasts
• [they suggest boneless and skinless, this is all good and true. We accidentally got chicken breasts with a rib. DONT due that unless the recipe calls for that. It is so nasty cutting away that bloody bone away from the already nasty chicken. Gross enough to make you go veg.]
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large green bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 2 teaspoon(s) hot or sweet paprika
• 1 1/2 cup(s) canned crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• [I used bouillon, I always use bouillon.]
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• [I did fresh lemon juice, because I adore fresh lemons.]
•  1/4 cup sour cream 
•  2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• [I dont have fresh herbs on hand, and cant really afford them, so I just used the dry stuff, because its all the same to me.Thats not true, but i just tell myself that until I can figure out a way to grow herbs in my apartment during the winter.]

 

*Directions*

 

1) Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook, turning occasionally, until browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

 

2)  Add bell peppers and onion to the pan and cook, covered, over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add paprika and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds or so. Add tomatoes, broth and lemon juice; bring to a boil. Return the chicken and any accumulated juices to the pan; reduce heat to a lively simmer. Spoon some sauce over the chicken and cook, turning occasionally, until the sauce is reduced and the chicken is cooked through, 6 to 8 minutes.

 

3)  Remove from the heat and stir in sour cream. Serve sprinkled with parsley.

 

ENJOY!

- Love, Lucy

 

 

Sin City Tacos

We got this recipe from Robert Rodriguez. No, we don't know him, but on his DVDs- in the special features, he includes a 15minute cooking school. These tacos are not only easy and fast to prepare, but they are so good!

Ingredients:

1 tomato

1 bell pepper

1 jalapeno

1 dz eggs

1 bg frozen potato's

1 bag small flour tortillas

Prep and Cooking:

Heat a large skillet with butter or oil and add potato's, when heated. Then dice all vegetables, set aside. When potato's are golden, add veggies. Sir occasionally until veggies are done. Then let your pan cool down a bit and then add the eggs (as many as you can eat, we did eight for two, but that's because we are big eaters) and tomato's. This helps your eggs to not burn and dry out.

Then warm up some tortillas and enjoy!

Like- I am here in this picture! I added some green salsa to the delish taco mixture, to give some pazzaz! Also, silver nail polish goes with everything, didn't you know.

-Love Liz

Welcome to our kitchen!

If you were to hang out with me, it would probably be a lot like hanging out with your grandma (only funner.) I like to nap, cook, knit, sew, bake, you name it! That's why my sisters and I decided to create a blog that is all things good, girly and gleaming.

This is an adventure to say the least and we are oh-so stoked to be doing this, there are so many things you can look forward to seeing on this blog; and if nothing else you can bask in the goodness that is the life of college students pretending to have more money than they do!

- Love, Lucy

I am personally excited for this here blog! We tend to do fun things, create fun things and we are just totally fun! So sit back relax and enjoy eating our TEACAKES! Also Lucy totally is a grandma but funner, because most grandma's don't like to party naked, but Lucy does.

- Love, Liz

After some careful consideration, Lucy decided we should document our path to adulthood. Which really, how can you blame us. Becoming and adult is a big deal. We pay rent, we feed ourselves and no longer require diapers... so who wouldn't want to know of our adventures. I mean aren't you already intrigued? Okay, even if you are not perhaps this is more for us. Either way we are excited.

-Love, Marianne