Martha's Latest

The new issue of Martha Stewart Living is out, and while I don't often buy this magazine, I seem to always get it for Halloween and Valentine's Day. I like hearts year-round, so the cute stuff in here is worth the $6 for the magazine. I try not to buy too many magazines these days, but sometimes I splurge. Things I loved from this issue:


The melted chocolate filigree hearts that adorn this otherwise plain cupcake are really sweet and simple. It says to use a parchment bag or a plastic ziplock bag to pipe the filagree, but I tried the plastic bag and it was too hot to handle. It made my drizzles very...abstract in the recipe for peanut butter cookies below. You'll see...

I also loved the article on cake stands. Apparently Martha collects them, and since she's crazy rich she has a gigantic collection:


There were several pages of different kinds, ceramic, glass, milk glass, colored glass, it's amazing the array of choices. I don't have a cake stand, but I've been wanting one. Another "when we move" purchase. As of now, I don't even think I'd have room for a cake stand, so if we downsize in the kitchen by any amount, a cake stand will have nowhere to be! But I like the idea of presenting your food (cake isn't the only thing these babies are for) up on a pedestal.

By far though, the coolest article was about Darcy Miller, who has published books on weddings and is editorial director of Martha Stewart Weddings. As someone big into family history, preserving family history, and museums, this simple yet impactful display really caught my eye.

She has created a display wall in her home with shadowboxes and framed images. Among the regular old family photos are boxes with little keepsakes and photos.


Here's a close up:

One box has a picture from the delivery room, a pic of baby's first sonogram and the hospital ID bracelet. These are things usually kept in drawers and treasured but never really seen by anyone, so I thought this was great. Next to that is a box full of crayons that someone got too old to play with anymore, and another box with a little baby bathing suit! My Little Pony adorns the middle box as well.

Other things from the big wall include: a shadowbox with a bunch of baby sunglasses, with a picture of baby wearing them in the foreground; a picture of a kid in full swim-meet regalia with the winner's ribbon draping the front, a shadow box with tiny dolls in front of a picture of baby playing with them. I don't even have kids and I thought this was awesome! Of course, even the childless among us can do this for other things like concerts that were special, dates or trips where you saved a little souvenir. And the super modern vibe here can be played with as well. You could easily do this with a lot of vintage frames and boxes. Or use cheap wood boxes from Micheal's and glue vintage frames to the front of them to give it some cohesiveness.

This is a cool way to showcase the ephemera or items that are meaningful to you personally, but that nobody would find very meaningful without the juxtaposition of an image or other items for context.

I'm so doing this in the new place!


And now, for the cookie portion of today's post!




It's rainy and windy in Long Beach today, but not so cold that I couldn't walk my dog in flip flops. Either way, it called for matzo ball soup for lunch and home made peanut butter cookies. I used Martha Stewart's recipe, which is amazing. Perfectly soft and not dry like some peanut butter cookies can be. I just jazzed it up with some melted chocolate. Who doesn't love the peanut butter and chocolate combo? Whenever there are mini Reese's peanut butter cups in the house (once a year we get a bag for Halloween and proceed to pretty much eat them ourselves), they don't last long.


I realized that I had some super fine baker's sugar, which I have to use up before we move, so I used that in place of the regular granulated sugar. I don't know if it makes such a big difference in cookies, but the texture of the dough was very smooth. One thing I should probably buy is good vanilla extract. I use the generic brand from the grocery store and I just know the better stuff would add something. Do you use fancy ingredients like that? Is it worth it? Do you really taste the difference?

The Wikipedia entry on peanut butter cookies indicates that pressing the dough is important so that it bakes evenly, but claims that the cross-hatched fork tines way of doing so is not necessary. But then, how would you know it's a peanut butter cookie? It's like sacrilege not to do it, right?


If a cookie happens to break on the way from the cookie sheet to the cooling rack, that's not really my fault, but as the cook, I'm obligated to eat it. It's a safety thing, I think.


My addition is the swizzles of melted chocolate. I just melted semi-sweet chocolate chips and did some drizzling. The recipe says it makes two dozen, but I counted about 4 more cookies than that. I don't like giant cookies though, so maybe that's where me and Martha differ.

The New Office

The office is finally done. I had a good time redecorating and tossing all kinds of things. It has made for easier grading not having bunches of stuff towering over me. I took pictures at night and in the daytime, so the color is slightly different. Here's a tour:

The wall behind the desk is lime green


Also behind the desk is a small station for M. to paint
The bookcase has been sorted so that I don't have a wall of books. There are open shelves where I put my stuff so that it's not strewn about like before. Don't worry about the books, they are all going to my office at work.



I made the curtains myself. They are lined and rest just over the windowsill so that when we have sleepover guests they aren't treated to blaring sunlight in the morning.


I totally stole this idea from Brande, who stole it from a magazine. All my pencils, pens, markers, etc. are sorted by color in clear containers (cheap tumblers from Ikea). I put them on a lazy susan so that I could just take the whole mess to the desk when I wanted and they would be easy to access.


My desk is now floating in the middle of the room, which makes it much easier to work on big projects and sewing projects. If you notice on the bookshelf there is a shelf that is covered by the same material as the curtains. I covered a couple of shelves by making a tiny curtain and putting them on small tension rods. That way I can store my art supplies (paints, glues, etc.) but not see them all the time. Also I found a lime green desk chair for cheap at Target. The after Christmas sales have treated me very well.



Across from the desk are my bookcases all lined up, kind of like built ins, but there was this opening between two large ones. I didn't know what to do with it, so I painted a blue square and got a few block canvases. I painted over them twice and finally made a set that I liked. The bike on the left is pretty easy to figure out.


Here are close ups of the li'l ones.

I liked the little girl so much I made it into my banner.

So....now that that is done, I have actually enjoyed hanging out in there! I take my coffee in there in the mornings and just enjoy it, which is all I could ask for, really. What do you think?

procrastination

I have tons of leftover grading to do today in preparation for tomorrow. Monday is the day I promised my classes I would get all of their assignments posted, graded, and handed back. I hate this part, but it will be over soon.

What I really want to do is finish my x-mas crafts, make cupcake bites, and paint my office. Don't tell M. about that last bit. But I've been checking Design Sponge sneak peeks for a few weeks now, and I have the bug. Maybe the holiday responsibilities will intercede. I think it might be better to give it some time to mull over....

So ANYWAY, I am thinking either an orange and light blue scheme (remember my orange obsession? yeah, not over it).

Or a lime-y green, with white and black accents.


Which do you think would make for a more calming work space? I use the office for crafts, writing, and work. And I have a bunch of furniture from IKEA in birch in there. Take the poll!!!