Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Onions...It's What's For Dinner


Yes I did just eat 9 onions for dinner...but they're called "calçots" and they're my new favorite thing. We first learned about them on the Spain - On the Road Again series. And now I've noticed them on menus all over the place. (I never did see or eat them when I was in Spain, however)

Basically, they're grilled green onions (I broiled instead). I'm sure they taste better dipped in aioli or romesco-esque sauce, but I just used olive oil and salt and pepper and they were delicious. And while I ate them as my main, they're more of an appetizer.

As a sidenote, the onions came from our friend, Bill's, garden. He has this giant garden that my mom and sister (and I, when in San Luis) raid on a regular basis. This year, we decided to "sow" what we "reap" and so we spend the morning helping Bill in his garden by raking and tilling and staking and trellising and shoveling and maybe eating a couple strawberries and learning alot about making a garden (not that we were total novices, but...). Already growing were artichokes, onions, brussel sprouts, sweet peas, and strawberries. I got a big bag of fava beans from Bill's father-in-law, which I forgot in San Luis (drats!! I know my dad will do me proud with those beans).

Man, it was fun, rewarding work. I can't wait to see what we did to his garden - yipes!

Monday, May 04, 2009

Savannah Sites

Some of my favorite photos from Savannah:








Maybe this one will turn into a quilt someday...

Saturday, May 02, 2009

Back in the Saddle

My absenteeism is due to an awesome east coast adventure to NYC, Philadelphia, DC, and Savannah. Photos forthcoming (maybe).

It took me a couple days to get back into the groove of life. Luckily, I still haven't had to go back to work yet so I have some time. I only started sewing again today.

Firstly, my little train-lovin' guy is turning 4 in a couple days! He needs a proper shirt for the occasion, especially since it happens to be National Train Day and the party will be at the train station. Remember when I got this fabric last time I was in NYC?


And while we were in Savannah, I was inspired to make this:


The town has recently been overrun (in a good way) by the Savanna College of Art and Design. They had this store just for the students to sell their art. I was inspired by these pillows, which have hand-embroidered chairs on them (got the ol' wheels turning, that's all I'm sayin'). And I was going to hand-embroider the bicycle, but For whatever reason decided to try machine free-motion embroidering instead. I kinda like it. Of course, it's not in a pillow form or anything at this point - I just got excited to blog about it.

It needs something though...like tassels dangling from the handlebars or a basket with flowers or something. Ideas? Maybe I'll make a few more. It literally took me 10 minutes to make. Gotta love that.

Ok, nap time. Stay dry out there!