Who knew something seemingly so complicated was actually quite an easy and toddler-friendly kitchen project to do together? Our neighbor (who has a plot at our local community garden) had more basil than she could use, so she gave us a bunch. It was finally my opportunity to try making pesto myself.
I first did a bit of internet research and although we have a food processor, I decided to take the advice of this site and chop the basil by hand (Jax is scared of the noise of kitchen gadgets). It didn’t take very long, actually, and was the perfect activity to do while Jax smashed the pine nuts with the mortar and pestle.
What you need:
~a big bunch of basil (see photo below)
~pine nuts (about 1/2 cup)
~olive oil (about 1/4 cup)
~freshly grated parmesan cheese (about 1/8 cup)
What to do:
Smash the pine nuts with the mortar and pestle and finely chop the basil leaves.
As soon as Jax sees the camera he wants to reach out and “see Jax” on the screen.
In a bowl, combine the nuts and leaves and add olive oil and parmesan until the pesto reaches the desired consistency.
The pesto is ready to use!
We used it on chicken breasts pan fried with a tad more olive oil. The beauty of such a recipe is that it doesn’t matter if the proportions are off or if some of the leaves and nuts remain whole in the finished product. You can leave out the parmesan (recommended if you want to freeze the pesto) or replace the pine nuts with walnuts (something my sister swears by). You can use it like a meat rub, as we did, or mix it in to simple pasta. Jax loved the chicken, albeit without the chunky parts of the pesto. But a success all around, I’d say.
In these couple of semi-less-hectic weeks before the semester begins I’ve decided to plan Jax’s second birthday party. Last year’s theme worked out well for a baby who was mainly interested in things that moved and were brightly colored. This year, Jax has provided us with so much inspiration, since he is old enough to express his likes/obsessions. So what is he into these days?
~Farm animals: The noises they make, the hay and grass they eat, the fields they hang out in.
~Barns: He is exceptionally excited about the barn-shaped tool shed our neighbors have in their backyard.
~Gumby: Who would’ve thought? We tried to make it to age 2 without any TV, but I know I’m not the only parent who’s had to accept that The Plan doesn’t always work out in reality. Sometimes keeping the kid safely away from boiling water and hot oil in the kitchen takes priority. Why Gumby though? Of all the kid shows on Hulu, this is the one that stuck. “I want to watch Gumby and Pokey” is the evening dinner-prep hour request.
~The Farmer’s Market:For the past couple of weeks, every other sentence that comes out of Jax’s mouth is “I going the farmer’s market.” Literally. He’ll be playing with his firetruck and have the little fireman say “I going the farmer’s market. See you ater.” He’ll have the baby pig tell the daddy pig that he’s “going the farmer’s market.” When asked for specifics, Jax tells us he’s going to get cucumbers and tomatoes. It’s crazy sweet.
~Garbage Trucks: This has been an obsession since April, when Grandpa Ron took Jax out onto the balcony of their Florida condo to see the garbage truck collect the garbage. His passion for “wabage” and garbage trucks hasn’t waned. When we go out for ice cream, I swear the most exciting part for him is throwing away everybody’s napkins.
~Tractors: When we were in Ohio in June Jax got to play with Seth’s matchbox cars from when he was growing up. There is a tractor in the collection and it’s a favorite. Keeping it in my purse has made certain outings a tad more manageable.
So given these interests, and the fact that there will be other children there with parents who may not have introduced them to Gumby yet, and who may not find it socially acceptable to spend two hours pretending to throw away napkins, can you guess what the theme will be?
It’s been quite a summer for us and I finally have about a week of downtime before my postdoc position begins. I am determined to finish the projects I’ve daydreamed about while finishing my writing and letting the house and yard and sweet little Jax fend for themselves!
Some of these took more time than others. Some things we’ve been working on:
A little project for my little nephew. I’m not finished yet so I can’t reveal any more about it!
I made this craft table and chair set from found items and decoupaged scrapbook paper. The only issue we’ve had is that because I used non-toxic milk paint, the finish is not very durable. You can see from the multicolored stains that we’ve done a lot of various painting projects!
A 5-minute craft organizer for under $10: That’s an inexpensive towel rod from Home Depot, some industrial S hooks, and metal buckets found for a dollar. If you wanted to make it a 30 minute project, you could paint it to match the decor. We’re all about function for the moment!
We also had a momentous month, with my finishing my dissertation and Seth contributing to the cover story of the current issue of Fortune. Whee!
It’s been too busy to write, and I have a feeling the rest of the month will be more of the same. Don’t you hate blog non-updates like that? I’ll be back eventually, but in the mean time have 2 months (to the day!) to my defense, am teaching an intensive summer course, have some awesome friends visiting, and am spending every spare minute I can possibly grab to cherish my dear family and friends. The best is that I get to chase this wonderful little boy – from the sand to the ocean to the river to the aquarium to the carousel to the dirt in the flower beds.
We just got back from a week in Ohio having fun at many wedding festivities in honor of my brother-in-law Jared and new sister-in-law Kendra! Now it’s back to the madness of teaching summer school and those final dissertation revisions/edits/additions/rewrites (did I mention I am submitting it to my committee in about a month? and defending in mid-September?!) But let’s relive some of that wedding fun in pictures now, shall we?
Commenter #12, Mary, who thought “Carnival” would look cute on her granddaughter.
Commenter #10, Sara, who had many favorites, but particularly liked the country-looking flower prints that would match her wardrobe.
Commenter #3, Lucia, whose daughter has strawberry-themed outfits to match “Petite Fraise.”
I know I said there’d be three winners, but taking the above clips out of the pile still left me with more than I can use at the moment, so I doubled the fun and picked three more:
Commenter #4, Stacy, whose daughter will wear “La Vie en Rose Encore” for the 4th of July
Commenter #7, Emily, who picked one of my personal favorites, “Deauville” inspired by the beaches and umbrellas of that French city.
Commenter #5, Alyson, whose vintage style will soon be accessorized by “Vintage Floral” and “Belle Epoque.”
I’ll e-mail you for your mailing addresses. If you don’t hear from me before seeing this post, feel free to e-mail me at rachel (at) craftyrachel.com.
But wait! There’s more! Winners, let me know if you like any of the following new styles instead and I’m happy to send your new choice instead of the original one.
#11 + #12: Just Beachy, Big and Small
#13 + #14: Fête d’été, Big and Small
#15: Golden Girls
#16: Georgia
Thanks to all who commented. I appreciate the feedback! Happy weekend.
This is something I should have started years ago to keep track of my teaching materials and ideas, but better late than never. I’ve just started a blog about teaching French at the university level, and it’s called (in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way) En français, classe! My goal is to create a resource other instructors can use and maybe even someday contribute to. Check out my About page over there to read a more complete explanation of what I hope the site to be.
There are still a bunch of things to fix, like having drop-down category boxes in the toolbar, and making that header image a tad shorter so you can actually see some of the content, but these things can wait. I just wanted to get this going as I prepare to enter the academic job market post-defense (which, by the way, is scheduled for mid-September!) – What better way to show my teaching philosophy and methods than to refer potential employers to this blog? Now I can write about what I’m doing anyway, and it gives me a more productive break from the dissertation than, say, catching up on every craft and design blog I can think of.
This is a classic chair update, nothing too fancy or unusual here, but it’s so quick and easy, I thought I’d photograph the process and encourage others to take on a similar project. You can do this in an afternoon (including drying time), and the actual active time is only about an hour or so. That means that instead of taking coffee/snack breaks, just take a quick painting break and it really takes no time at all.
Before: We picked up these two chairs at a now-closed antique shop in Cold Spring. I think we paid around $10 each and the seller believed them to be from the 1920s. They were cool and rustic-looking, but had some issues, one of which was smelling kind of stale. I knew those chair pads had to go.
The wooden parts are pretty beat up, especially in the cut-out backing and around the bottom where feet have weathered away the corners.
So let’s get going! First, I took off the seat, which was really easy. I turned the chair over and just had to unscrew four screws.
Next, I sanded it down so that the paint would adhere better.
I used white furniture paint and brushes, but would probably recommend a spray paint for an object with so many nooks and crannies.
The first coat will look terrible, but after 3 coats, it wasn’t looking too bad. I let it dry about an hour in between coats.
While the paint was drying, I dealt with the seat. See how there are 2 layers of fabric? That checkered layer is actually a napkin from Pier I. I figured it out as I took it apart: its still had its original tag with a $3.50 price. The orange layer is probably original, and below that was that old-school stuffing that just falls apart. I’m not sure what it’s made of. Animal hair of some sort? Anyway, I pulled out all of the staples and upholstery tacks and got down to the wooden base.
All clean and ready for new padding.
I just took the wooden seat to a sewing store that cuts foam to size and had a new foam pad (2 inches thick) in minutes. I discovered a place that does this only minutes from our house, so this was really an easy step in the process.
I measured the old fabric for size. I figured I needed a square about 22 inches wide.
So I measured my new fabric and laid the foam and seat on top to make sure I was giving myself enough clearance for the new pad height. I think most upholsterers use more than just the foam padding in this process: they would at least add a layer of batting to the top, but I was keeping it quick and simple.
By the way, the fabric is a Japanese print I found at Purl Soho a few months ago (no longer available there) and bought specifically for this project, since it has a heavier canvas-like weight. It’s by Nani Iro for Kokka and called “Antique Label.”
I used these tacks to attach the new fabric to the seat with a hammer. One package contains 24, but I actually needed 28, so I used some of the really old upholstery tacks I recovered from the old padding and used them on some of the parts that wouldn’t show as much (not that any really show being underneath.)
I used the same technique to do this as you would to stretch a canvas: Start in the middle on one side, then the middle on the other. Then turn 90 degrees and tack the middle right and middle left. Work this way slowly extending to the corners, leaving the corners for last.
All attached.
Now all I had to do was reattach the seat to the chair with the four screws I had taken out at the beginning.
The rain couldn’t keep us from having a picnic by the river and then checking out the Heritage Crafts day at Van Cortlandt Manor. The event showcased crafts like dying wool, making butter, working with tin, blacksmithing, and open air cooking. It seems all we do each weekend is visit some sort of historic farm or museum! When you’ve got a toddler who gets excited about a haystack, and you’ve got a membership to Historic Hudson Valley, it’s really a no-brainer.
Walking down the hill to the picnic grounds.
Throwing stones into the river.
The blacksmith demonstration.
Was the sausage in the foreground there as decor or was it their lunch?
Playing the triangle.
Abercrombie & Fitch pose.
Jax interrupted his run to the hay to point out the “airplane sky” he probably thought didn’t fit in with the 17th-century surroundings.
New favorite game: jumping or falling down objects or stairs to be caught. He’s very trusting!
