Sweet & Spicy pt. 1

Geez Louise its been a long time since I've been here.  I've got about a dozen small works in progress that I want to share with you but they're still works in progress and I want to wait until they're finished to show all the pictures.  This is double motivation to get them finished. 

One project that is partially in progress is our Christmas gift baskets.  Every year Noah and I compile a basket full of mostly homemade goodies to share with our friends and neighbors.  This year, we decided our theme would be Sweet & Spicy.  The baskets will include apple & cinnamon candles made by Noah, some homemade candy, firecrackers (saltines with spicy stuff on them, basically) and some homemade hot sauce.  The hot sauce was what we worked on today. 

We have 4 chili petine bushes growing in our backyard.  They were planted there by the neighborhood birds.  Since I love things that grow stuff I can eat, I've pretty much left them alone.  Well, Noah's mom mentioned that when she was a kid, her mom used to make a hot sauce out of them and kept a little pitcher on the table with it.  It was sort of a general, all purpose condiment.  It is this hot sauce that we decided to include for our gift baskets. 

We found adorable little swing top bottles at Hobby Lobby on sale for $2.  This is usually still expensive for me, but they were so cute I couldn't pass them up.  Then I double checked the recipe online and found that this sauce is definitely a historical South Texas table necessity.  How neat! 

Anyhoo - the directions are pretty easy.  Pick about a bajillion chili petins.  Seriously.  I counted and we used over 2000 and we still have one empty bottle that we'll have to fill next week when more of the chilis ripen.  Boil your containers like we do when canning.  Then heat some vinegar just until it starts to steam.  Rinse your chilis and pack them pretty well into the bottles.  Pour the warm vinegar over the chilis.  Close and let cool.  Wait a couple days then start to use it.  Noah's parents have had theirs for about 3 weeks and they say it is HOT!  A couple drops will spice up just about anything.  So basically, these little bottles of hot sauce cost us about $2.03 each.  It would be almost free if you just reused a bottle that used to have store bought sauce in it.

Here's what they look like -

 

Pretty, right?

 



I'll have more updates in the next few weeks, I promise.  See you on Thursday!

~Heather

Corrugation

Dear sister,

I originally brought up corrugated tin ceiling in the bathroom area and Jamie shot me down with a "People might say it looks like a bar bathroom." Which considering we live in Texas and lots of bar bathrooms have corrugated tin ceilings and walls and stalls and all sorts of other stuff adorned with corrugated metal. I agreed - it's possible.

So I found this:

And it would be lovely. But we're having to hold off because it's going to cost about $120, plus we have to polyurithane them, and buy a brad nailer.

 

 

So, I was showing him my pinterest board for the Master Bedroom Project Redo and he stopped me on the corrugated tin ceiling photo. He seemed less concerned it was going to look like a bar bathroom this time around.

 

What do you think? Can we get away with it?

 



I'm thinking we might be able to get away with it. And if it looks horrible - I could always paint it.

Love -E

Dear Sister,
You should totally do it!  Either you found that website via one of my pins, or great minds think alike because I discovered that site about 3 weeks ago when I was looking for options for making my own washer/dryer pedastal.  I love my front loading washer, but I hate that I have to crouch down so far to empty & load it.  I wasn't willing to dish out the extra $80 to buy a pedastal when I bought the washer, and I found this cute thing on that website that you linked below. 

I'm kind of hoping I'll be able to make it out of mostly reclaimed wood.  I have some old 4x4 pieces from fence repairs that I'm going to see if they are in good shape.  If I can get enough 2x4s out of the pallets I picked up from school, I may be able to get away with just needing to buy plywood and trim.  This is my big project for June.  I'm hoping it only takes me about a week to get it done.  I may get your help for the miter cuts on the trim, though. 

Anyhoo, I don't think you're crazy.  Unless maybe I'm also crazy.  Which is possible.

Love, Heather

Creative in another way

Dear sister,

I might be nuts.

I'm becoming more convinced I must build something. It's not an ark, but it's darn close.

I'm looking at this:

Confirmation - yep, NUTS...

I want to make my own bed.

Here's where it all began. It's amazing. Go there. But be warned, you may want to build an ark.

-E

Loquat Love

So, yesterday at volleyball I got a giant bag of Loquats from Kim. I'm not terribly familiar with the fruits, so I decided to look on the interwebs for some fun recipes. I found a great website at www.loquatworld.com that has recipes, including the following one for loquat wine. I am either going to make jelly or wine with the batch in my fridge. I'll let you know how to it turns out.

Loquat Wine Loquat wine needs to age at least one year. Therefore, it would be best to plan in advance.
INGREDIENTS: 9 pounds whole fresh loquats with pits in place. 7 pounds if pits are removed. (Fresh, ripe picked is best. Wash before using.) 2 gallons boiling water Juice of 1 lemon (Used as an anti-oxidant) 5 pounds sugar 1 teaspoon yeast nutrient, if available 1 package wine yeast, if available 1/2 teaspoon pectic enzyme, if available 1 campden tablet, if available

PREPARATION: In a large container such as a 5 or 6 gal heavy duty plastic bucket or an earthenware crock, mash the loquats. Cover with boiling water, add lemon juice, and quickly stir for about two minutes. Cover with a clean linen cloth. Let rest in a cool, dark place, stirring daily for one week. You can also blend in 1 package wine yeast and 1 teaspoon yeast nutrient, if available. After one week, strain the mixture through a double-layer of cheesecloth into a large, clean bowl, discarding loquat pulp and pits if any. Combine loquat liquid with the sugar, stirring to dissolve sugar. You can also add pectic enzyme and crushed campden tablet, if available. Pour into cleaned container such a plastic bucket or crock and let stand another week, stirring daily. After the second week, pour the loquat liquid into 1-gallon glass wine bottles or similar container and cork loosely. Use fermentation locks instead of corks, if you have them. Let rest in a cool, dark place for 3 months. When wine is clear and no longer fermenting (bubbling), pour into individual bottles, cork, and age at least 1 year before drinking this delicious loquat wine. Will yield approximately 2-1/2 gallons or 40 servings.

Decorating Fun

My Dear Sister,
I'm super glad you had a good trip to New Orleans!! It looks like lots of fun stuff!

You've already seen this stuff, but I wanted to brag on our craftiness!

As you know, I did some redecorating at the house and put up your pinterest inspired Christmas present to me!

The hearts have my favorite places centered in the heart cut-out. I wanted to make the photos above and below the heart locations match where the photo was taken, but I was overruled as too OCD. I used a pinterest inspired tool to hang this arrangement because it was harder than it looks. I am here to tell you the best ever tool for haning pictures is this:

Details on how to use it are at this blog (which is also where this photo is from): http://mmscrapshoppe.blogspot.com/2011/07/picture-frame-hanging-tip.html

Go and hang in happiness!

I also hung this section with the same tool.

In addition to all this, I went to Hobby Lobby and had a custom cut matte made for the piece of artwork we picked up the last time we went to ArtWalk in Alpine. It came out pretty good if I say so myself. A piece of art, matte, and frame for roughly $70. Not too bad!

The art was done by a student at SulRoss. The frame was from Garden Ridge - Jamie picked it out. The matte from Hobby Lobby.

Next I get to frame this:

Oohh and you should check out the Painting with a Twist website...they have cool paintings to choose from and the next time I go, you're going with me! It was super fun...even though you don't really drink wine. Still fun.

I hope you had a good week off since it was Spring Break for you! Have a great weekend!
-E

Fun Stuff and Things

Greetings Dear Sister,

I haven't talked to you in a few days and I haven't posted here in ages. Time for a new post!

Noah and I went to New Orleans last weekend with a couple friends and had an amazing time. I need to drag you out there - you'd love it. We stayed here:

Its a historic house that has served as a hotel for quite some time. It's known for its elaborate cast iron fence, the possibility of ghosts and the past famous guests it has housed like the Clintons, Elvis & possibly Jean LaFitte (though I think that last one is questionable). The quirky hotel manager told us all about the ghosts, the guests and some snippets about the hotel's history. Now, I love historical buildings a LOT, but that's not what made me like this hotel. It is on Royal which is only a block off Bourbon but much quieter. It has a modern bathroom in every room, which, though tiny, was clean and very nice. The manager was incredibly attentive and kind. And it has on site parking (see the tiny driveway) which is somewhat rare in the French Quarter. This place was our home base for the weekend.

We ate these things:

And we ate some wonderful pieces of cake/pie from this adorable bakery:

We also heard some AMAZING music, walked around looking at the beautiful buildings and popping into interesting shops as well as browsing in the open air market. Basically, a good time was had by all. Its on my list of places to go to again (even though this was my 5th trip).