Project:  Sparkling up a thrift store skirt then designing a handkerchief skirt to wear with it.

Starlight Parade

After finding a pretty pink and purple skirt at one of my neighborhood thrift stores, I used my sewing machine to attach sequin trim.  Use sharp needles and be prepared to swap in fresh ones!  Attaching the trim was time consuming because there was a lot of hem to bling-ify, but it was pretty straightforward to tack it on with a zig-zag stitch.  Some of the tutorials I reviewed called for a straight stitch, but it was too tricky to keep the sequins lined up under the foot for me to use a straight stitch.  The zig-zag stitch casts a wider net so as long as the stitch made it over some part of the sequin I was happy.  I am seriously considering getting a sequin foot for my sewing machine because I know I will have future projects that call for sequin trim.

The skirt was worn in the Starlight Parade, where my troupe had gone gypsy to blend in with the other dancers.  We were asked to be as shiny as we could because we needed to stand out in the night. I wore lots of junk jewelry because I am notorious for dropping things and do not want to lose any of my good jewelry.  We all wore gold streamer belts and wove glow-in-the-dark necklaces into our hip scarves so we could sparkle even more.

Two and a half miles of walking and dancing later, we still shone, albeit wearily.  Confidentially, it is more exhausting to wait for the sun to go down and the parade to start than it is to walk the parade route, as we had to be in place hours earlier.  The great thing about being part of this parade is that it is the closest I will ever get to being in the Main Street Electrical Parade, and the crowds are awesome!

I was so enamored with my new skirt that I wanted something to go with it.  I found a couple of yards of a sheer fabric at SCRAP not long ago, and it was sitting in my stash waiting to be incorporated into a project.  The colors looked nice together, so I went with it. I used this accent overskirt tutorial from Sheikhani as a jumping off point.  Since I didn’t have enough fabric to make 8 equal sized squares as the pattern calls for, I went with squares of varying size.  Here is an approximation of how I cut my 60″ wide fabric:

Both skirts + coin belt

I also cut a casing for the waistband using black fabric leftover from making the coin belt.  Once all of the pieces were cut out, I used my serger to hem the edges, carrying a shiny pink thread along with the regular thread. I sewed a sequin-like banded trim onto the bottom two edges of each diamond, then I arranged and pinned the pieces along the waistband.  I am glad that I tried it on before sewing it together because the larger diamonds needed to be trimmed down so I wouldn’t trip over them.  After the diamonds were sewn to the waistband, I closed the waistband casing, leaving an opening to thread the elastic.

I am really pleased with the effect of the layered skirts!  These were really easy projects to complete, too.  Sewing the trim onto the thrift store skirt took about an hour, and sewing the handkerchief overskirt took a little over three.  Hooray for new costume pieces!  I am really getting into sewing for belly dance costumes – better make room in my closet for more!

My first solo performance!

A couple of months ago my dance instructor issued a “rookie challenge” for our bi-monthly performance at a neighborhood coffeehouse. The challenge was for any dancer who hadn’t soloed yet to choreograph and perform a two minute piece.  I have been belly dancing off and on since 2006, but this is my first year of performing.  I accepted the challenge then took it one step further and designed my own costume as well.

A quick trip to the thrift store yielded a long purple velvet skirt and velvet patterned blouse in similar colors. The blouse was a terrific score because it already had a ruffle and a shiny jeweled button adornment. I also found chains of plastic jewels that were originally part of a chandelier. I seriously considered hacking the skirt to change how it drapes, but in the end laziness won out and I decided it was fine as it was. The coins came from a scarf I already owned but was falling apart and shedding beads and coins every time I wore it. I also had a stash of black plastic beads.

Before

While making the hip scarf took the most time, the blouse was the tricky part.  I banished the shoulder pads, seam ripped under the ruffle to free it, then cut away all of the fabric below the under bust line after keeping 2 inches for seam allowance.  I serged edges on the ruffles then along the bottom of the blouse before sewing a casing for the elastic. The end result was a lovely crop top with a dangling belly-button covering ruffle.

I cut the hip scarf out of polyester, then finished the edges with my serger.  I used tailor’s chalk to outline where the trim needed to go, took some measurements, then started making the crochet trim.  All of the plastic chandelier jewels came connected to each other with split jump rings, so when I separated the jewel chains I left a single jump ring on each one.  The coins were connected to the jewels using the jump ring, which made assembly super easy. It also meant that I didn’t need to string beads ahead of time.

Row 1: Chain until necessary length reached. Turn.

Row 2-3: Half double crochet for entire row.  Turn.

Row 4: *Half double crochet 3.  Thread a bead on the loop then secure a jewel with a Lark’s Head knot.  Re-start the loop from the most recent stitch.*  Repeat between * until you reach the end of the row.  Bind off.

Close-up detail of trim

I made four rows of trim, then sewed them onto the hip scarf with a zig zag stitch.  It makes a very pretty sound when I dance with it!  I also made a decorative hair clip, but it has gone missing since the performance so I don’t have any pictures of it yet.

The music that I danced to was Hely Meli.  Overall I am incredibly pleased with the costume and my first solo.  I remembered all of my choreography, and by the second round of the verses I was feeling really good.  Looking forward to future performances and costumes!

Whole chickens are less expensive per pound than cut chicken, and using as much of it as possible is a challenge I haven’t tackled before. I broiled it last night basted with olive oil and sprinkled with spices. However, since I misjudged the cooking time, it wasn’t finished by dinner. It went in the fridge overnight after I siphoned off the liquid chicken fat (also refrigerated) from the pan.

This morning I took the chicken apart, separating the skin into one pile and the meat into a bowl. The meat went back into the fridge to await its fate as chicken pot pie this evening. I will use the chicken fat as a binder in the crust for the pot pie.  The skin went into a 350 degree oven on a cookie sheet for ten minutes until it got really crispy.

I have been stashing vegetable scraps (onion, celery, carrot, and cilantro leftovers from other recipes) in the freezer for the last month. The chicken carcass went into a big stock pot with the vegetable scraps, 8 cups of water, peppercorns, bay leaves, and a garlic clove. It has been simmering for four hours so far, and I hope my neighbors are salivating over the yummy smells. Once it has simmered for another hour, I will strain it, refrigerate it overnight, remove the excess fat, then freeze the chicken stock for future use.

I have made bacon-rosemary crackers before with bacon drippings, so making chicken crackers didn’t seem too far fetched. I used this Olive Oil Crackers recipe as a jumping off point because I was intrigued by using my pasta machine to roll out the dough.  The last couple of times I made crackers it was difficult to roll the dough uniformly and extra thin, so using a pasta machine makes lots of sense.

I altered the olive oil cracker recipe mentioned above in the following ways:

• Used chicken fat in place of the olive oil
• Added a tablespoon of ground dried rosemary
• Added a teaspoon of fresh ground pepper
• Added 1/3 cup of finely chopped chicken skin “cracklings”

This recipe is also different from the last one I tried in that it uses half semolina flour instead of all regular flour.  With the cracklings in the dough, 5 was the lowest setting the dough could get to on the pasta machine.  I definitely recommend using a pasta machine to roll out cracker dough – very excellent aesthetic and texture results! The finished crackers, while an excellent vehicle for dip, don’t have a very distinctive taste on their own. I thought for sure that the chicken would lend a hearty flavor to the crackers, but that wasn’t the case.  Next time I will use fresh herbs and more of them.  Herb flavor is easily lost in the flour, so I need to double the amount of seasoning. Since the cracker flavor turned out so unimpressive, there is a very good chance that they will get ground up and used as coating for (you guessed it!) oven-fried chicken. Bacon fat definitely makes a tastier cracker than chicken fat.

The first batch!

Aaron and I took a class last month at Mr. Green Beans.  It is a terrific “domestic arts” shop on Mississippi that focuses on coffee roasting, but also offers materials and classes on cheesemaking, soapmaking, preserving, and fermentation. After a really informative class where we were encouraged to ask lots of questions, we were sent out into the world with a pound of green beans and an instruction booklet that contained an overview of what we learned.

As my friends know, I’ve never been a huge fan of coffee from the large chain that shall not be named, although with enough cream and sugar nearly anything is drinkable. As our instructor pointed out, the one thing that can be said in their defense is that no matter where in the world you are, you know exactly what to expect from their coffee because they strive for consistency.  Of course, the same thing goes for the world’s largest hamburger chain.

While coffee from some of the local roasters taste better because there is a shorter amount of time between the bean roasting and my coffee pot, as the companies grow in size and distribution they suffer from the same issue of striving for consistency in their well-loved varieties.

Aaron has been asking me to find a popcorn popper as recommended in the class so we can start roasting our own beans. I had been putting it off until I really noticed the drastic taste difference between a pound of locally roasted beans and a pound from a nationally distributed mid-quality roaster. That was all I needed to spur me into action, and I purchased a popcorn popper off of eBay.  It arrived today!  Since the beans should have some time between roasting and brewing, I made a batch this afternoon so we could have fresh beans in the morning.

Following the directions from the booklet, I made sure that everything I needed was on hand within easy reach, including a fire extinguisher (just in case). Since we do not have a lot of natural ventilation in our small kitchen and the hood above our stove does not vent outside, I brought in our window fan and set it to exhaust. This worked really well!  I also opened some windows in other parts of the house. My home will smell like roasted coffee for several days (such a bummer, right?), but I did not set off any of our smoke alarms. The popper’s shipping box was the perfect size to catch the bean chaff during roasting.  It just needed a couple of strategic cuts to make it fit flush against the machine. So far, so good!
I also set up a cooling station with a bucket, a metal mixing bowl, and a metal colander. After this picture was taken I added metal skewers under the colander to give it more stability.

Measured 1/3 cup of beans? Check. Put them in the roaster? Check. Camera ready? Check. I started the stop watch timer on my iPod, plugged in the popper, and I was in business! The roasting of the beans is measured by when they crack, and the first crack for this batch came in about 4:30. The total amount of roasting time was 9:30. I don’t have a thermometer to test the final bean temperature, but the ambient temperature was 44 degrees with 73% humidity.

The video is a quick glimpse taken towards the end of the roasting. Between setup and cool-down this process only took 20 minutes of my time. If our coffee in the morning is any good, it may be a while before we buy roasted beans again.

Postscript: The coffee was absolutely amazing!!!

Fresh pita chips and hummus from scratch - yum!!!

I am trying to purchase basic “building block” ingredients as often as possible, which drastically cuts down on our grocery bills. It decreases the amount of preservatives in our diet, and just flat out tastes better. It also encourages me to be more creative in the kitchen.

When I see items such as prepared hummus in the deli section, I remind myself that the ingredients are inexpensive, and the bulk of the cost is paying for the preparation of the item.

The tricky part is determining where to draw the line between “I can do this myself” (of course I can!) and “It is easier to purchase this.” I found a terrific recipe to make pita bread that I have successfully used several times, but overall I think it is easier to purchase it from the Mediterranean market in my neighborhood. For $1.29 I get a bag of yummy lightweight bread.  The pita bread at the mainstream grocery stores is too dense for my taste and clocks in above $2.99 a bag.

More often than not I make pita chips from the bread. Just brush it with olive oil then  sprinkle on sea salt and fresh ground black pepper. Bake at 350 degrees F for ten minutes or until golden brown.  When it has cooled, break it into pieces and enjoy it with hummus. Many thanks to Lila for teaching me the basics of making hummus! I use a mini-prep Cuisinart to make mine.

Roasted Pepper Hummus
1 can garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas)
2 roasted red peppers (from a jar is okay too!)
2 garlic cloves
1 lemon, juiced
1 t cumin
3 Tb tahini
2 Tb olive oil
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper

Drain the can of garbanzo beans, and reserve the liquid for later. Add everything but the reserved liquid to the food processor. Blend until smooth.  If needed, use the reserved liquid to thin the hummus. Taste and add additional amounts of the ingredients as needed.

Chill until ready to serve. I suggest preparing it at least several hours before serving in order to give the flavor time to “bloom”.