Thursday, March 31, 2011

Cucumber Sushi
Serves 4

4 sheets of nori (dried seaweed), cut in half
4 cups sushi rice, cooked according to package instructions
1 cucumber, cut into long sticks
Soy sauce, to serve

Place the nori on your work bench.
Spread about 1/2 cup of rice on top.
Place cucumber sticks lengthwise on the rice.
Roll up into a cylinder.
Cut into bite-size pieces.
Serve with soy sauce.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Your Mission 03.25.11

Your weekend mission,
should you choose to accept

1) Clean out your closet and Donate 10 unwanted limits.
2) Buy yourself a new book to read.
3) Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young. - Henry Ford

To view more weekend missions click here
Create by Faith Ford with love
{photo via flickr}

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Zig Zag Accordion Streamers

Zig Zag Accordion Streamers DIY

Picnic

Picnic Essentials
Bring a blanket and stock a basket with all the basics: plates, forks, spoons, cups for drinking and soup, a cutting board, and knife (for safety, stick an old wine cork on the tip and wrap it in a towel). To make cleanup easy, pack a roll of paper towels, moist towelettes, and a garbage bag for the trash.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Your Mission

Your weekend mission,
should you choose to accept

1) Make a Prayer Box. How to make a Prayer Box
2) Do you have a favorite butterfly memory from your childhood?
3) If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies. - Author Unknown

To view more weekend missions click here
Create by Faith Ford with love
{photo via flickr}

Thursday, March 17, 2011



This Friday, March 18th will be a Bloggers Day of silence. No post, nothing but silence. This Day of Silence will be in memory of the victims in Japan. This will personally be my last post, I'm officially signing out for the weekend.

love & peace, FF

Magazine Tear-out

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

My morning ritual is something along the lines of rolling out of bed, making myself a pot of tea and sitting down at my desk to organize my thoughts and schedule for the day.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Happiness

happiness

Q: I have a problem reaching my goals. I'll get excited about a career opportunity, then lose interest. Why?
A: Many people who have trouble achieving their dreams eventually realize they're stymied by fear; that may be the case for you. To ease your apprehension, try the following: ID your anxiety. Are you afraid of striving and failing? Of succeeding and being envied? Of leaving your friends behind when you advance? Are you worried that your dream job, once realize, won't match your expectations? Come up with a backup plan. Write down your worst-case scenario and how you'd deal with it. If you don't get a particular job, you could pursue other possibilities. Or if you do get it and feel overwhelmed, you might seek out a mentor. Also, it can be helpful to remind your-self that you wouldn't have been offered the position unless you were qualified. Dive in. Once you know why you're hesitating and have a strategy for coping if your concerns come to pass, you'll be equipped to forge ahead fearlessly.

Lanterns, Candles and blooming sunflowers light up this New York City patio

Friday, March 11, 2011

Your Mission 03.11.11

Your weekend mission,
should you choose to accept

1) Enjoy a Pancake dinner.
2) Forget e-mail & texts, hand-write a heartfelt note to a loved one.
3) If you don't like the road you're walking, start paving another one. - Dolly Parton

To view more weekend missions click here
Create by Faith Ford & Olivia Frisbie with love
"A full bar makes a forgotten corner feel instantly cozy. I love the small bottles of soda, tonic and tomato juice." - Miles Redd

Thursday, March 10, 2011

I'll Drink to That

"Putting this simple carafe and cup set on a tray next to your houseguests' bed is the extra touch that makes visitors feel not just welcome but pampered."

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Carrot Ginger Dressing

Carrot Ginger Dressing
(makes about 2 cups - total time 15 mins)

Ingredients
1/2 lb carrots (3 medium), coarsely chopped
1/4 cup chopped peeled fresh ginger
1/4 cup chopped shallots
1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon Asian sesame oil
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water

preparation

Pulse carrots in a food processor until finely ground (almost puréed). Add chopped ginger, chopped shallots, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and salt and pulse until ginger and shallots are minced. With motor running, add vegetable oil in a slow stream.

Transfer mixture to a blender. Add 1/4 cup water and blend until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. Thin dressing with additional water if desired.


Recipe via www.epicurious.com

Feng Shui


Home are divided into eight segments, representing the key sectors of our lives. To see where these fall in your place, match up the front door on the map with your own front door.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

I layed in bed this morning and finished, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, by Amiee Bender. It's a clever little novel about young Rose Edelstein who discovers at the age of 9 her magical gift: she can taste the emotions in food - especially in her mothers baking. The gift turns out to be more of a curse - leaving the novel with a bit of a sad feeling just as the title reads.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Lemon Lavender Cookies
(Prep Time: 15 mins - Total Time: 30 mins)

3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest t. juice from 1-2 lemons
2 tablespoons juice from 1-2 lemons
2 teaspoons dried lavender (optional, but then they'd just be lemon cookies)
1 3/4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 cubes
1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1) In a food processor , process the sugar, lemon zest and lavender until the sugar looks damp and the zest and lavender are fully incorporated, about 30 seconds. Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt, then add to the sugar mixture; pulse to combine, about 10 1-second pulses.

2) Scatter the butter pieces over and pulse until the mixture resembles fine cornmeal, about 15 1-second pulses. In a measuring cup, beat together the lemon juice, egg yolk and vanilla. With the machine running, add the juice mixture in a slow stream (should take about 10 seconds) and continue processing until the dough forms into a ball, 10 to 15 seconds longer.

3) Turn the dough and any dry bits onto a clean work surface and gently gather into a ball. Working quickly, roll the dough into a cylinder about 12 inches; long and 1½? in diameter. Center the dough on a piece of parchment or plastic wrap and wrap tightly, twisting the ends together to seal. Chill the dough until firm and cold, about 45 minutes in the freezer or 2 hours in the refrigerator.

4) Preheat the oven to 375°F Line baking sheets with parchment paper or spray them with nonstick cooking spray. Seriously. Even if you think your pans are non-stick pans, and even if you?re out of parchment paper and don?t feel like running to the store in the middle of all this. Line the sheets with parchment paper! Otherwise your delicate cookies will stick to the pan and crumble when you try to remove them.

5) Remove the dough log from its wrapper and use a sharp knife to slice the dough into 3/8 inch; thick rounds. Place the rounds on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them 1 inch; apart. Bake until the centers of the cookies just begin to color and the edges are golden brown, about 10-12 minutes (the original recipe says 14-16 minutes, but 10 minutes was perfect for me, rotating the baking sheet halfway through the baking time. Cool on sheets about 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe via www.food.com