Busybusybusy

I hate being too busy to sit down and enjoy life and laze about. I really really dislike being too busy for that!!!

Unfortunately, this is the case! I just started a 4 week clinical training period and man, my schedule is going to kick my ass -- it's already ruined a lot of plans! 

And this Saturday is my big(ish) Christamas party, so all of the little free time left is going to preparations. And I have so much to blog about in these creative endeavors! I will try my bestest to find time on Sunday when things die down a bit to catch up and share! 

Thanks for reading and Happy Thanksgiving, if you celebrate it!

Meringue madness

Hi, I'm Anneli and I am obsessed with meringue.

It's been a long process, starting with pavlovas (this summer) and falling into meringue cookie drops and Halloween meringue ghost madness.

I fear there is no end, I have already made them twice in the last week! ...But it's just so darn FUN!

As you can see, I have been experimenting with different piping techniques and food coloring. Really, it's a lot of fun!

And I am assuming the meringue madness isn't coming to an end anytime soon...because I found more inspiration. So much inspiration in fact, that I am having a hard time coping with it, lol!

Thanks to Martha! (and thanks to my Mama for bringing these over!)

OMG -- MERINGUE BOXES!!!!!!! And a whole chapter in this Christmas book about MERINGUE! You should have seen the look on my face last night! Hahahaah...

An assortment of meringue cookies. Piped into the shape of poinsiettas, cocoa added for chocolate meringue and then dusted with cocoa powder (which makes it look less like a turd, I think). Pinks, greens, piping dreams...

And a whole page of how-to. Look at that assortment! Ideas galore! And see those middle pictures, that is a tart bottom! Think -- a meringue crust for something luscious and fruity inside! I love it!

If you were wondering, here is the cover of the book. It's from 1997! The MS living magazine underneath it is circa December 1998. The wreaths book is from 1996, it's also full of beautiful ideas and pictures. Oh Martha, you know how to do things right. 

Honestly, the magazine was full of outdated ads (ahem, pentium prosessor II, Cindy Crawford as a model etc), but Martha's ideas are just as classy today as they were then. In fact, I might even say, she was ahead of the times! Things in these books/magazine are even trendy today! 

Oh my what a weekend ahead of me!

Crocheting, perhaps meringues and tomorrow is a big craft expo! I promise to try to not pee my pants if I see something amazing!

Thanks for reading, hope you have a fun weekend! :)

November sunshine

We have been suffering through a typical November: foggy, cold (but not as cold as usual) and dark. This is the month when the darkness really slaps you in the face and you wonder why you have chosen to live so far north. But, as my title suggests, there are some sunny days. Today is one of them. I am hoping it doesn't end up like yesterday, where it was sunny until about noon and then the gray, oppressive clouds rolled in. It's not looking very promising, but I am hoping to stay optimistic! 

I love sunny fall days, it makes me even love the brisk walk to school and home. The grass, the dry leaves and cars were all frosty. The puddles were iced over. It's pleasant somehow. 

It's haul your butt home, drink tea, and crochet weather!

I love days like today! (It helps my mood greatly when I only have to be at school for less than an hour in the morning). 

I am thinking of painting, or perhaps playing with some oil pastels today. I have some Christmas gifts that need to be done by the first week of December to make it through the mail on time. I think it's the burden of being creatively active; people expect homemade gifts and I at least feel weird buying anything I could make myself.

I also bought this yarn that I am going to crochet a Christmas gift with. I love the color! 

Let me also share some home improvements... These are mainly related to putting holes in the walls, lol.

We rearranged the bedroom a bit, placing the desk and this shelf opposite the bed and under the now hung picture shelfs from ikea. Now I can display and change out my paintings as I please! :) We are thinking of getting another one of those little shelf cubes to display more family photos and adding more storage for my crafts and stuff.

 (Note a little tree that has made it out of the Christmas box to see if it can survive another year of the cat...)

This hanging pendant (?) was a gift from friends. I love it, it's so romantic at night and it's perfect for the white and pink bedroom! 

This shelf cube (these are all from ikea and we have what feels like a million, lol) is in the entryway. It's junk and shoe storage and desperately needs two more boxes to conceal all the newspaper and junk mail we get. Above it though, we hung our much loved Totoro puzzle. I really want to make more, it was a lot of fun!

This picture is also from the entry. The front door is to the left of this painting. I love this piece, it's my dad's interpretation of Odilon Redon's Butterflies. 

And a snippet of the living room... These are those pictures from Japan that we took and blew up and now they are framed and hanging above the couch. I love it, it makes me giggle to see our pictures so prominently displayed. :)

And a bit of Christmas has found its way into the living room... The Christmas curtains are up! 

I was busy yesterday adding more Christmas touches to the living room. Well, starting to anyway. I thought the couches looked to boring with their usual pillows and the contrast between every day and seasonal was blaring. ---> crochet cushion covers!

The color scheme was inspired by this sweater which is large enough to serve as a back for probably two of the pillows. I am thrilled! I got these 9 squares done in one long sitting last night and now I just need to sew them together and add a border! I still plan on making 2 more cushion covers, probably using this same color scheme since the yarn is so thick and works up quickly. I am thinking a large granny square for the smaller pillow, and for the larger one perhaps a granny stripe. I love everything granny - it's usually done in a flash if you can just sit down and concentrate long enough! 

Well, as you can see, I have a lot to do today! Fortunately the sun is still shining and it's just past noon! 

Thanks for reading post #101. Teeheehee!

Father's day (100th post!)

My dad is rather lucky. Not only because he was blessed with three beautiful and smart children, but also because he gets to celebrate Father's day twice a year! In the US, Father's day is in June and coincides with his birthday. In Finland, father's day is today (2nd Sunday in November). 

The flags are out and I believe the stores are closed. 

With my father in mind, I baked this cake.

Due to his apparent celiac disease, the cake has to be gluten-free. I do this by using special gluten-free flour (it's actually wheat starch). And because we baked those raspberry lemonade bars yesterday, we had no eggs left. This brought me to a slight dilemma; what can I bake that is egg-free? I immediately thought of my favorite chocolate cake recipe, but I didn't want to do anything chocolate-y (weiiiiird, I know). This lead me to search for vegan cake recipes! If you are ever out of milk, butter or eggs, search vegan! 

I used this recipe, but added the zest of one orange. I think I baked it on the slightly almost done side, I was just feeling a bit antsy I suppose to get it done!

I drizzled the cake with a bit of fresh squeezed orange juice and covered it in drained, crushed pineapple (1 small can). Then I added some orange slices to the top, because I was planning on just dolloping some whipped cream on it. 

Then I had a better idea! 

I finally tried this rosette piping tutorial! I have been wanting to use it for so long now, and I am so surprised at how easy it was! I can't wait for the opportunity to do this again! Next time, I think I'd like to use a stronger frosting, maybe buttercream. The whipped cream was a little loose to work with.

For dinner, we are making mexican rice casserole. This is made up completely from my head and only because we didn't have the amount of potatoes that I remembered. 

It was so good, it was all gone in one sitting. Fortunately I remembered to take a picture while there was just this much left!

I boiled rice for 6 till it was al dente. I cooked 400g of ground beef with 1 onion and 1 bell pepper and half the bag of frozen corn we had left over (about 200g). I added 1/2 packet of taco seasoning and then mixed the rice and meat together. Then I added some grated cheese and 1 diced tomato and mix it together. Into the buttered dish it went, I poured about 2.5 dl of cream on it and then baked it at 200c for about 35 min. Tasty! 

I think it would have been really good with some pickled jalapenos on top or mixed in, but I didn't want to add them since my mom doesn't like them. Hot sauce made a difference though, and everyone can add as much as they like.

I love you Isä! Hope you liked your father's day!

And thank you for reading! This is my 100th post, I am amazed I have come up with so much to say and share...and so thankful for the every day occurrences that I have begun to cherish thanks to blogging.

Not only that, but my photography has grown in leaps and bounds, too! :)

Happy 100th post, blog.

Citrus and such

Can I just say that I looooove the weekend? It's the best part of me week, every week. 

We cleaned yesterday (the house needed it so very badly) and then sat ourselves down to a lovely meal of oven roasted potatoes (tossed in 21 season salute, oil and salt) and some large homemade meatballs. It was divine. And for dessert we had the last of the chocolate chip cookie pie with ice cream. Mmm... Sorry, no pictures though! (Too tired after all that cleaning!)

Let me share that new stuff I promised in my last post! :)

New Christmas star, from Ikea. It's red and gorgeous and casts stars all over the room in the dark. :)

There is my new valance, Vallila "punaposki". I have been searching for quite a while for some apple-themed curtains for the kitchen, but the fabrics I wanted were kind of expensive and I would have had to have sewn it myself. That's why I was so happy to find these -- and they were on sale! :)

I finally bought one of these from Ikea! I have wanted a tier plate for serving baked good and other goodies at parties! I plan to use it to serve cookies at the upcoming Christmas party I am having!

These are two of the frames we bought...we're finally hanging up some of our Japan honeymoon pictures! Yaaay! (these are going above this couch with a picture shelf from ikea)

Randomly on to the next topic...

The hubby and I made these this morning since we were having company in the afternoon.

They are raspberry lemonade bars from Annie's Eats. If you haven't checked out this blog, now is the time! I love it! Really do-able recipes and very inspiring. :) Unfortunately for us, we had just a bit too little raspberry to work with, so they didn't come out as gooey as I would have hoped, still tasty though! 

By the way, I served these with whipped cream on the side, too!

Using lemonade as a segue way...

I've also been very into citrus still lifes. Please forgive me for the onslaught of citrus. Lol!

Can you tell I have been reading up on photography and trying to use the camera to its fullest potential? I guess you can expect to see more random and spontaneous photo shoot shots.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy your weekend!

I'm coping, how about you?

We've been discussing mental health for the past few weeks at school, and I have learned some really valuable but also worrisome things about my own mental state.

I'm easily overly-analytical so I should take my own thoughts with a pinch of salt sometimes I think (and chill the fudge out!), but what I have also learned is how I have started to use this blog as a coping mechanism in my life. I find that when I feel stressed, overwhelmed or just down in the dumps (mostly about school), I end up blogging. I realize, it's because I can focus through the blog on things that make me happy and things I am good at. 

I saw a pin on pinterest (I realize this cheapens anything I say, but oh well) that was one of the vintage style ladies saying something along the lines of "I'm good at a lot of things, unfortunately none of them generate income." 

That blows. It's exactly how I feel. 

I feel like I am hitting my head against the wall repeatedly with this choice of profession because I honestly don't enjoy it as much as I would like to enjoy something I should be doing for 40 hours per week, every week, year after year. Yet, I have come so far in my studies (only 1 year left to go!), that it would be a shame to turn back now. It's been a sinking feeling in my stomach for over a year and now that we've come to the final push of starting our bachelor's thesis, the sinking feeling has become all out despair. It seems like so much work to even bother with, especially since I have no intention of doing the work for long (in a dream world less than 1 year) once I graduate. 

I really would like to do work that I can enjoy. But what do you do when you want to just work from home and crochet, paint, take pretty pictures and bake all day...with no market for anything you produce...and being a housewife isn't an option either?

Fortunately there is hot tea, cozy pajamas, puppies that love me, and half of this chocolate chip cookie pie left. Those are my coping mechanisms, what are yours?

Thanks for reading, I'll try to be in a better mood next time. 

(I have new curtains and stuff from Ikea to share!) :)

Crochet Christmas Wreath

Ta-Dah!

Here it is, the crochet Christmas wreath!!!

Fortunately, the wreath base was much smaller than I remembered, so I only had to make one more holly leaf that I was griping about in my last post! Yay! Laziness prevails! :)

I am quite happy with it, I'm even prematurely ta-dah-ing it! It still needs a large green/gold/red Christmas ribbon tied to the top so I can hang it and complete the festive look I had in my head. 

OOOh, I love completing stuff, even if it is small!

I have also found that I am in an incredible mood to paint today, which brings me to the dilemma of: school vs no school.

I am leaning towards no school, because we only have it for 2 hours this afternoon and I could much more efficiently use my day to paint the several flowers I can see in my mind. And ya know, this mood to break out the oil paints doesn't knock every day, I should take advantage of it while I can! :)

As for food, you know I cannot help but share... This is what we ate on Sunday - Chinese! I love when we get it, because we usually get it with my parents so we get 4 entrees and then we can share all of them, so you're plate ends up looking like a sample platter. :)

(it looked way more appetizing in real life...)

Oh, and I am seeing some chocolate chip cookie pie in my future tonight, especially if I have time to stay home and make it. ;)

Thanks for reading!

Lazy Sundays

Today has been a lovely lazy Sunday, spent on the couch crocheting. My mom came over to keep me company, but there is such a content feeling of peace at the moment, she's fallen asleep on the couch! Of course, how could one not, when there is a fuzzy bear cuddling at your feet? Look at that face! Love love love!

We enjoyed french toast with my mama's homemade apple sauce this morning... That is when I began deciding what to crochet today. 

I chose the holly pattern from Lesley Stanfield's 100 flowers to knit and crochet. It's such a pain in the butt that book! The most beautiful and inspirational patterns, yet once I start crocheting something, I get so frustrated and swear I will never make another. 

However, now that I have completed one leaf, I may as well make more. I am thinking they would look nice on the red wreath base I bought last week for the door. I have searched the interwebs for more little crochet patterns that would look nice on it, but I am so boring -- all I think is classy is the holly pattern! Ugh, this means I have to make 6-9 more of these stupid frustrating leaves! I hope I can stay motivated! Lol!

I have been crocheting one project obsessively lately though. In fact, I just ran out of the yarn this morning! 50g already worked out! It's kind of a shame that it's a gift for my mom, who I know reads this! Therefore, I can't post pictures of it! I will say, whatever it is, it's gorgeous and she'll love it! :) I know I do!

I wish I still had some of these leftover!

They are lemon bars made with this recipe. I thought the lemon flavor wasn't intense enough for my taste, but they were still delicious and they are all gone. I served it with some simple whipped cream, it added some rich creaminess. They were dessert on Friday, after the enchiladas. I'll have to post a how to for my enchilada recipe (it's a good excuse to make them again!). 

Well, back to crocheting... Teeheehee, nothing's better than a lazy Sunday, just ask the cat!

Thanks for reading! Hope you are enjoying your Sunday, too! :)

Sugar cookie dilemmas

So yes, in my last post I was contemplating baking sugar cookies. Now I have done it!

I have been trying to find the best sugar cookie recipe... my word, the internet is full of them -- search but beware!

I tried recipe a couple weeks ago for soft, chewy sugar cookies and they were horrible! I think the fault was entirely my own, so I won't say where I got the recipe from (that, and I don't really remember which one it was --oh bugger in case I try using it again!).

I got back on the horse today (I really really have wanted to use my fall cookie cutters) and tried another recipe. This one is from Annie's Eats and it's her Christmas sugar cookie recipe. I liked it, it was easy to work with, easy to make and has easy ingredients (except for the almond extract, I skipped that for obvious reasons).

I liked it, I was happy. And I forgot to take a pre-baking picture. Sorry!

Then I decided I wanted to decorate them prettily. Since I had used almost all the powdered sugar in the cabinet for the dough, I thought "hey, why not try making colored sugar and decorating with that?". So I found this recipe, halved it and shook the jar like they instruct you to do. Oh gee, they didn't have gel coloring, did they? I had to mix it with a fork, but that's fine, too. (I am telling this so you won't shake a jar in vain for  minutes on end like a moron...) Lol!

Then I came to my next dilemma - how does one decorate with colored sugar? Aha, they must use an egg wash and then sprinkle it on top... wrong. At least, it turned out like this.

Oh noes! And that was two sheets of cookies! Argh!

Then I decided, they must sprinkle it on without the egg wash...and it turned out better, but still wasn't was what I had had in mind. Now I'm confused, how do you decorate cookies with colored sugar?

Thanks google, I found an answer that satisfies me!

At eHow.com they say you can sprinkle it before baking and be done with it, or then bake the cookie and then brush it with syrup and water and then sprinkle the sugar on and tap off excess (sounds like applying glitter).

Well, I tapped the excess off of my baked cookies too. So ha.

And if you were wondering about what the salmon casserole (from my last post) looked like on this inside, here ya go! A picture of my dinner tonight! :)

Thanks for reading my cookie ramblings. Perhaps there is more to blog about this weekend, food related or crochet related. We are having enchiladas for dinner tomorrow night, my favorite!!!

Tasty salmon

The weather calls for indoor activities and if you happen to be like me and listen to your ipod while cleaning, this gray weather inspires reflection. 

Isn't it funny how certain songs can conjure vivid memories of certain days or remind you of people from that time in your life? I am so grateful for everyone I have had the pleasure and displeasure to meet in this life so far, they've all played a part in who I am and the life I lead today.

Oh reflection, not always the best way to pass the time for an analytical person...

I have thoroughly enjoyed this week back at school, I feel like I have so much time for myself for once! 

We've eaten well; Monday was bratwurst and sauerkraut. Tuesday we ate this oven baked salmon with boiled potatoes and a simple salad.

I seasoned it the way my sister does: butter, dill and some salt and pepper. However, I did all Trader Joe's 21 season salute, which is a salt free seasoning mix with EVERYTHING that my husband's mom special ordered from a certain California aunt. It's a pretty good seasoning mix, I see why she likes it!

And Wednesday, the leftover fish became a salmon casserole. So easy to make, just layer salmon crumbles and potatoes with dill in between and pour some cream or whole milk...Bake and voila!

(We're also eating this for dinner tonight)

Today I went and stopped by a little thrift store on the way home and picked up the base for a Christmas door wreath. I also found some ramekins, 4 for 1.20 euros! Finally -- RAMEKINS! Lol! I see pizzookies in my future...

I also stopped by the store next to it and walked away with fuses, toothpaste, a snickers and...yarn! I can't show you or tell you what I am going to do with it though, it's going to be a Christmas present for a certain someone close to me. :) 

Now I am going to continue cleaning, make some tea, and contemplate making sugar cookies. (I think I will).

Thanks for reading!

 ("May joy come to this home, a good year to prosper, long life for the host and for the hostess a wide rear")
Finnish heritage and flea markets <3 Lol!