So

I just lost a week's worth of freelance teaching work because of f**king jury duty. That's about 1/3 of the work that I have lined up for this summer.

Wish I had something fun and crafty to share, but the gods are not smiling today :(

This is...my best op shop find

Or antique shop rather. I've been wanting a bicycle for so long now, one with vintage lines and a basket. A brand new one is way out of my league, price wise, which is why at $79, I knew that this was a gem I could not pass up.

Presenting, my new ride:



So pretty!



::Swoon:: I'm in love!



I don't know anything about it except that it's marked "Sears". A little air in the tires and she was good to go. I've been out with it twice now, and I have to say that the only thing that's lacking is a comfortable seat! Somehow, even with my ample bum padding, it manages to grind my sit bones like no other. I have a bit of a sore bottom! I might be over-sharing there, but it's true!

Being on a bicycle makes me feel like I'm twelve all over again. It really is a lovely form of transportation. Exercise, check. Fun, check. I think what I like the most about riding a bike is that it's fast enough to get you to your destination in a timely manner, but it's slow enough to let you take a good look at the world around you, to feel the breeze on your face and breathe in the summer.

The Last Few Days...In List Form

Dear Sweet Blog, Oh summer has been so fun, and there is so much to share, but I've been so busy enjoying it all that I haven't been able to give all of these topics proper posts! So here it is, in bite-sized list form...Cheers, Sarah.



1) I'm working on my first garment for myself, the Juliet from Zephyr Style. Knitting this with Knit Picks Andean Silk in Barn Red. This yarn is heaven! So far, so good.



2) Our 2nd Wedding Anniversary was this past Tuesday! It involved: Sleeping late, breakfast at Betty's Kitchen, bathing suit shopping (ugh), new CDs, Duffy and She and Him, (Verdict: The latter is better than the former, but I knew that before I purchased them), gourmet chocolatey, marshmallowy, caramelly goodness, Boylan's soda, amazing new vintage store in Portsmouth, (more on this later), Somerville, getting lost, arriving at Magpie just as it closed, Diesel Cafe, old school photobooth, crepes, kisses and one more day of love love loving this awesome man that is my husband!



3) Enjoying, and sharing, the taste of good, *mostly* local food: Amazing hot milk sponge cake with strawberries and whipped cream, finished off the frozen corn from last year in a smoked salmon corn chowder, Amy's Mail Order Banana Bread recipe, fresh peas and did I mention the strawberries? I can't get enough.



4) Dim photos here, it's been rainy in New England, rubbish for blogging! Thrift scores: All the Fire King was bought at a yard sale across the street from my house for the grand total of a dollar. I couldn't believe it! The bake ware pattern is "Blue Heaven." The type case I picked up on the curb, also down the street. A little wash and a few staples to the back and it will be good as new. It will be gussied up a la Ali Edwards soon.

5) I have a bicycle! Which I haven't been able to photograph/ride because of all this darn rain! She's a beauty! Vintage, blue, basket on the front, headlight, larger basket rack on the back. I'm in love! And also a little wonky with my riding skills! I've been pining for a bicycle, specifically a Cape Cod Blue Amsterdam. I'm so close to the grocery store, bank, post office, etc, that it is ridiculous to take the car to those places, especially with the ever rising price of gas! If I get a ton of use out of this bike, then I'd consider looking into an upgrade, but this was a much more affordable starter bike. Pictures soon - so cute!

That is all for now...except if everyone could send me some good job karma that would be awesome. Figuring out my employment situation beyond this summer has not been going so well. I'm off for a little more knitting therapy!

This is... my most favorite outfit that expresses my individual style

Wowza! When I saw this week's theme for "This Is," I thought - what a stumper! How could I possibly choose just one outfit. The fact of the matter is that I can't, because I don't think of myself has having any one particular style.

Fashion-wise, I think I'm sort of a cultural chameleon. I adapt my style to the time and occasion. Sometimes I wake up feeling like a dirty hippie,



and I dress accordingly, then other days I want to look like a 40's pin-up girl



and my look does a 180 degree turn around.

There's the cafe sittin' poetry talking hipster in me,



and the part of me that just wants to dress like a five year old child.



I think that growing up in a tradition of theatre and dance has greatly contributed to the way I dress. It's still all dress-up to me, only now it's more elaborate and complicated and reflects "who I am" that particular day.

And of course - I must mention my holy triumvirate of style - head scarf, big dangly earrings, huge sunglasses.



Rarely am I ever seen without at least one of these accessories on! It's a must!

Thanks for reading - this izzers!

One Local Summer :: Week #3

Something local...and something not quite local



My 100% local entry is simple this week, folks, sausage and eggs.

Local Ingredients:

Sausage - Kellie Brook Farm
Eggs - Lasting Legacy Farm

However, I did make another dish, that was not quite challenge worthy, but might be of interest to my fellow New England locavores.

Fusilli with Pak Choi and Sausage - my take on a recipe from Alice Water's The Art of Simple Food, (I don't work for Chez Panisse, I swear)!

Local ingredients:

A large bunch of pak choi aka bok choy, rinsed and chopped
1/2 lb of Italian sausage, casings removed
1 large onion, chopped

Non-local ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil
Salt
Black pepper
Pinch of chile flakes
1 lb of fusilli

Add olive oil to pan. Form the sausage into small patties and cook over medium heat, until cooked through. Remove sausage and cook onion and pak choi. Add about 3/4 cup of water to cook greens. Season with salt, pepper, chile flakes. Cook until greens are tender. Add sausage back into pan and break up into small pieces, if you wish.

Cook pasta according to instructions and serve with greens/sausage over the top.

This was so delicious that my husband cleared about 3/4 lb of pasta in one day. I *think* he liked it!

Happy cookin'!

This is it - and it's all a blur

I've been quiet the past few days, because it's my last week at work. As we busily prepare for our end of the year performance, I've been quietly preparing myself and saying my goodbyes.



The kids are not making this easy!



Tomorrow is our final performance of the year and my last official day of work. I am going to miss these kids so much, but as a good friend of mine said, there will be new children and families that I'll share my gifts with. That doesn't make it any easier right now, but it's slightly consoling.

I have much to do in the next few days, so this space might be a little quiet for awhile. Hopefully I'll return with a smile and something crafty.



Until then, cheers!

One Local Summer :: Week #2

This is my second post for the One Local Summer Challenge. The premise is to make one meal per week out of entirely local ingredients, except for salt, pepper, spices and oil.

Oh Alice Waters, you make my life and my kitchen better every day!

My entry for week two of the One Local Summer Challenge is from the pages of Alice Water's The Art of Simple Food. My husband bought me this cookbook for Christmas, and I absolutely love it. Within the next few days I'll be modifying a recipe from the book to make (local) sausage and pak choi over (non-local) fusilli pasta. YUM! On today's menu we have Turnip and Turnip Greens Soup:



Local ingredients:

Turnips and greens from Wake Robin Farm
Kate's butter
Onion...hmm don't remember!
My own thyme
Home-made chicken broth from a Lasting Legacy Farm chicken

Non-local ingredients:

Bay Leaf
Salt

In Ze Kitchen du Cost - Local-Ish Recipes

I've been cooking up a few new local-ish recipes that I thought I would share with you here.

beet greens, shallots, sun dried tomatoes and garlic waiting to go in the pan...


The first has become a delicious new favorite in our kitchen Beet Greens over Polenta by Matt Armendariz via Design Sponge. I substituted the pancetta with bacon, which I could probably seek out locally, but I didn't in this case. I bought the beet greens, garlic and shallots at my farmer's market from Wake Robin Farm. I highly recommend this recipe if you're looking to add a little more leafy greens to your diet. It is simple and tasty.

sip this with a straw and it will be gone, lickety split!


This recipe for Rhubarb Citrus Soda is from my newly acquired copy of Cooking with Shelburne Farms. (If you click on that link, it's currently available new and used from $2.95 - I got my copy a few weeks ago for .99 cents!) This is definitely one of my new favorite cookbooks. Not only does it contain recipes, but it's interspersed with stories of local people who work in and around the Vermont farm. The format of the book is interesting as well. It's broken up into sections by nine ingredients that are indigenous to Vermont; milk and cheese, maple, greens, lamb, mushrooms, game and fish, pork, root-cellar vegetables and apples. These sections make the recipes very applicable here in New Hampshire, as our local food economy depends on many of the same products. The tasty looking recipes combined with the insightful stories really make me want to go visit Shelburne Farms! I don't want to infringe on any copyrights by posting the full recipe here, but if you've made natural sodas before, you could the ingredients are rhubarb, water, orange juice, lemon juice, honey and seltzer, plus I garnished the finished tonic with my orange mint and the first strawberries of the season!

Tonight is Stitch n' Bitch and tomorrow I'm going rock climbing at Pawtuckaway with the hubby and best bud, Allison. Cheers everyone!

Chipping away at the almighty gifts-to-make list...

Hello! Quickie post today - my latest finished object:



Aside from that, I've been busy with lots of lying on the beach with my hubby. Tough life, eh?

Hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine as much as I have been! Cheers!

This is...my favorite travel memory

When I was nine years old, all I wanted to do was to be a Radio City Rockette. I think I saw the Rockettes perform for the first time at the Macy Thanksgiving Day Parade on television. Holy moly did I think that they were glamorous - and being a Rockette instantaneously became my little life's goal. ** Let's ignore the fact that I never took tap dancing, and I was barely four feet tall at the time, I had a DREAM! **

On Christmas morning that year I had just finished opening all my gifts, when my mom asked me to go look in the tree. I saw an envelope, with my name on it. EXCITING! Oooooh!!! Inside were three tickets to see the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular featuring my beloved Rockettes. I was going to New York City for THREE WHOLE DAYS!

That was the first time that I ever went to NYC, and so many details just stick out in my mind from that trip: Eating apple puff pastry and strawberries in a huge brandy snifter with whipped cream on top at the Russian Tea Room, buying a fancy red hat from a street vendor in Times Square, the sobering memory of my dad giving a man on the street our huge leftover deli sandwiches. I remember that man's gaunt face and how grateful he was for those sandwiches. I think that was the first time that I really saw what poverty was and I still think about that man from time to time and wonder if his situation ever got better. Then, of course, there was the magic of Radio City, the show and NYC itself, which is so bright and big and magical when you're nine and you're so tiny and small. I can think of no other vacation that filled me with such wonder!

Bits and Bobs of Random Goodness

Let's catch up, shall we...

:: Knitting ::

Knitting is definitely my gateway drug *cough* craft addiction which has opened my world to all of the crafty goodness that currently occupies my life...and the majority of my apartment! I have recently re-fallen in love with knitting because of the amazingly awesome, though slightly sinister time-killing, Ravelry. I'm a little obsessed...

I finished the Broadripple Socks,



And last night I started the Umbilical Cord Hat from the first SnB book at 11:00pm...and finished in a crazed knitting stupor roughly around 3:00am!



The hat is one of a few I'll be making for the upcoming baby showers in my life. I'm might do a little embroidery embellishment on them, we'll see.

:: Christmas Gifts ::

Speaking of baby gifts, I finished another teddy bear! Two down, one to go! This one is wonky and a little asymmetrical. I like him - Matt thinks he's ungiftable. I think Matt's silly! What do you think?



:: Shopping ::

I've made some fun Etsy purchases in the last few days. First off, I bought a golfer window decal for my dad for Father's Day. Secondly, and not to be missed, my sensational artist blog friend, Flossy-P, has made some of her works available in form of a super affordable post card! I was able to purchase two of my all time favorites, String Theory and the set Looking for Love/Sometime Soon. Very exciting, indeed.

:: Cooking ::

Still with me? I made the Asparagus and Morel Bread Pudding sans the morels from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Very tasty, and it made a TON! Oh my, has it been more than a week since I've sung the praises of this book?! If you haven't read it, please do. It will likely change your life, give the warm fuzzies, make you feel like you can change the fate of the planet by doing your little bit.

Made the Rhubarb Crisp from Slow Food by Alice Waters again. Came out scrumptious, again. **EDIT** I just popped over to my mum's blog and she's posted a delicious looking recipe for Rhubarb Bread. I'll have to give that one a go!

So that's what I've been up to - how about all of you? Having a productive week?

Until next time, cheers!

One Local Summer :: Week #1

This is my first post for the One Local Summer Challenge. The premise is to make one meal per week out of entirely local ingredients, except for salt, pepper, spices and oil. I try to eat 80% local most of the time anyways, so I thought that this would be easy. Ha! With the long winter behind us, we're experiencing a bit of a delayed growing season here in New England, so my first post for this challenge is a tad boring.

I present to you - a local salad.



Local items:

Mixed Greens and radishes from Nelson Farm
Maple covered walnuts from Sugar Momma's
Spicy Basil from my porch
Honey (in the dressing) from J. and L. Frink

Non-local items:

Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil


Simple and refreshing!

Loved

Oh my, yesterday I felt very loved indeed!

At the end of my Ballet 1 class, two of the children presented me with this GIANT bouquet of a dozen gorgeous roses and mums, plus a "we'll miss you" card. These little girls are eight years old, and they gave me big hugs and said, "You're a great teacher, we'll miss you!," then bounded off on their merry way. It brought tears to my eyes, it was almost enough to send me running into my boss' office screaming, "TAKE ME BACK, I'M MAKING A TERRIBLE MISTAKE!!!" I love my kiddos, it's going to be so tough to leave them behind.

On the way home I was feeling very contemplative and thoughtful about the decision to leave my job. I was a bit moody about saying goodbye to my little ones. When I got home I opened my mail box to find a package...from England. Now, I only know two people in England, Matt's good friend, renaissance man, Noah Charney and Gemma. I concluded that Gemma was much more likely to send me a package, (since Noah is probably off frolicking in Italy, researching stolen paintings), and indeed what a package it was!!!

She sent me: A package of little, Japanese(?), panda bear biscuits filled with strawberry jam, chocolate covered pretzels for Matt, a pair of HUGE purple, rhinestoney sunglasses, in a hand sewn case(!), two equally huge, fun necklaces. Oh my love for large sunglasses and big plastic beads knows no boundaries! This girl knows me well! I'm modeling the jewelry and glasses, at right, and doing my best to look like a "ghetto superstar" or whatever it is those young whipper snappers are calling the cool folk these days.

Gemma also included a lovely card, and I'll quote from it, because it was exactly the thing that I needed to read at that very moment. "You are totally doing the right thing, there is no good time to follow your dreams and you are so brave to do it!!"

Thanks for believing in me Gem! You are a dear, dear friend!

The Game

Hello! Can you believe that it's June? I can't freaking get over that! That means that I'll be unemployed in like 13 days - WHOA!

Anyways, I've been kinda super crafty lately, but Matt stole the camera from me for the weekend. The nerve of my husband...actually wanting to use his own camera! Hmpf! In lieu of taking pictures of my own craftiness, I did this fun visual meme on Flickr.

The concept:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name? Sarah
2. What is your favorite food? Sweets
3. What high school did you go to? Saint Thomas Aquinas High School
4. What is your favorite color? At the moment, green, orange and red
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Patrick Dempsey. I loved him even when he was skinny and scrawny in the 80's. The nerds always turn out hot.
6. Favorite drink? Coffee
7. Dream vacation? Madrid (I had trouble with this one, in retrospect I'm thinking I should have put Portland or Austin)
8. Favorite dessert? Creme Brulee
9. What you want to be when you grow up? Artistic Director/Choreographer
10. What do you love most in life? My husband (I love that this came up, because my husband provides an endless supply of free hugs!)
11. One Word to describe you. Artistic
12. Your flickr name. GeekxNerd - I made that jar!