Food and Drink – Page 15 – Karla's Cottage

Downey Hugs

By Karla Nathan / August 25, 2011

This week is the anniversary of my mom's death, and would have been my dad's birthday too. I'll always miss them, and often find myself reaching for the phone to tell Mom something, even after all these years. I especially miss Daddy during garden season, he loved to talk tomatoes with me.

When he died, there was some unpleasantness with his wife's family. She has Alzheimer's and there were a lot of issues about what to do and who should handle it. Not to go into sad and messy details, but there was nothing we could legally do to take care of her, and it ended on an ugly note.

But on my recent trip to Indiana, I did work up my nerve to go see her, and look what I got!!

My dad's ashes!!

(My stepmother was frail, but remembered me and welcomed me with open arms. I'm so glad that I went to see her.)

The ashes were an unexpected and emotional gift. My sisses and I toasted our dad, then divided his baggied remains three ways. Before he died, he had asked me to sprinkle some ashes on his garden, my garden, and the rest in Florida, at his favorite place.

So, it looks like we'll be planning a Sister Trip to Florida to fulfill his wishes!

(this photo is from my Mom's 75th birthday party)

I've got some photos to come of my bedroom, breezeway, and bathroom redos. But first I wanted to post about the Downey Dinner I went to in Indiana earlier July. Daddy would have liked that.

Of course, the food is always magnificent. I can never resist home baked bread, sugar cream pie, and home made noodles.

And its great to catch up with aunts, uncles, and cousins that I only see every few years or so.

But one thing that I really enjoyed about the reunion was seeing all of the hugs.

Every where I looked, there was a hug going on.

We might not see each other all the time, but when we do, we like to show our affection.

This is a family tradition that has carried on into my own branch of the family tree, too. My son, Ry, never leaves the room without giving me a hug or kissing me on the top of the head. And Sugarwings is a full speed hugger. When she sees her Pop Pop or me, she'll speed across the room and give us a full force, diving in, hug.

We might not come from a wealthy family, its mostly farmers. But what I inherited from our Downey clan is better than money.

A love of growing things, down home style food, and big hugs!

Sugarwings 5th birthday

celebrations, fairies, family, Food and Drink, parties, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / August 17, 2011

Thanks for your interest in photo editing. I know I said my next post would be more tips and tricks, but I wanted to show you pictures from Sugarwing's birthday party first. The soft color editing tips will be on Friday instead.

We had quite a week with our fairy child. We took the entire bunch of 7 grands and their parents to a water park in Kansas City on Thursday to celebrate a few of the birthdays, then my husband and I snuck our little one away for a weekend at a Holiday Inn water park (we had a free Priority Club room to use) and a day at the zoo in KC too.

She's pretty proud of her two wrist bands from the parks and refuses to take them off.

She also had a sleepover with me on Sunday night, and since I got to have her most of Monday, we decided to throw a party. A fairy tea party luncheon with Pixie Pie.

We got up early on Monday morning and started baking cupcakes, then made mini pizzas by rolling out the dough and cutting it with a star shaped cookie cutter. The stars were topped with Trader Joe's marinara sauce, cheese, a broccoli nose, red pepper slice smile, and green pepper eyes.

I'd show you photos, but when a soon to be 5 year old works the cookie cutter and makes the faces, they aren't always recognizable as smiling stars. They just kind of looked like pizza blobs. But she loved them anyway.

Next, we set the table with pretty dishes and linens, got the tea pots out, and put on our fairy dress up gear.

It wasn't quite time for Pixie Pie to arrive, but Sugarwings was pretty excited and wanted to sit at the table and wait there for her.

Waiting can be the hardest part.

We were trying something new that day, some all natural rock candy sugar. It made the tea even more fun to stir.

When her cousin arrived, the girls scampered up the stairs to get her all decked out in her fairy wear too.

I think that Sugarwings is wearing my all time favorite selections in this picture. She layered herself in multiple skirts and a lady bug costume, along with great ruby slippers from Aunt Sissy. Of course, the water park wrist bands just make the outfit.

Did you notice that Pixie Pie is soon to be a big sister? Her mom is due any minute, and is expecting a boy. I hope he likes tea parties.

After lunch, I turned them loose with cupcakes, icing tubes, and sprinkles and let them go. It quickly became Sprinkle Palooza, we were knee deep in tiny, tasty, tidbits that made crunchy sounds when we walked through the kitchen.

When I was a young mother, I never let my poor boys go wild with the sprinkles like this. I was probably on too tight of a budget to allow such waste and on too tight of a schedule to clean up the mess. And too tightly wound myself to be able to relax and just enjoy the show of sprinkles and icing flying everywhere.

Its so nice to be a grammy. I can't imagine anything better. I wish I'd been as happy go lucky with my sons as I am with these girls. I have to say, all the arthritis and creakiness and backaches and wrinkles are worth it. Getting older is getting better. I love being a little old lady.

Oh, the boys and I had fun when they were little, of course. I was the master of finding free things to do. If there was a grocery store grand opening, we were first in line to get a balloon and free hot dog and play any carnival games they offered. We hiked, we swam, we pinched pennies and saved up to have special treats. But life was harder then, I was a single mom with three jobs for a while, times were tight, time was scarce and money even more so. I spent more time worrying than playing and didn't realize how fast it would all zoom by.

But with Sugarwings, I'm old enough to know how precious and limited these times are.

Sugarwings might be a bit spoiled by all she gets to do and the places she gets to go, but she doesn't act like it, she is the most appreciative kid around. She always has a big smile and an "oh my goodness" or "thank you, Grammy!!!", or a "thats sooooo cuuuute" ready whenever we do something special. And she flings herself at us with unlimited joy and wraps us in her arms. Her middle name is Joy and it is perfect for her. She overflows with it.

And we still are careful about spending, all of her dress up clothes are from garage sales and goodwill stores. We buy sprinkles by the truckload, but mostly with 40% off coupons at Michael's.

She might be a bit over indulged by grand parents who are smitten with her, but honestly, I think that I am the one being indulged, not her. I love every minute of it.

Its hard to believe she is five now. I've been invited to walk to school with her on her first day tomorrow with all of the rest of the family, and I'm just not sure that I can do it. I might just sob thinking about how fast she is growing up.

But I also can't wait to go through each and every stage of it all with her. Today she was planning her future wedding. She will either marry a blue M&M or Prince Navine. I sure hope that when that day comes, I get to help design and set up her reception. And I also hope that we are still best friends then like we are now. Because it will be here before I know it, I can almost hear those wedding bells.

Grandma Downey and Aunt Alma

family, Food and Drink, free images

By Karla Nathan / August 2, 2011

This week, I'm heading to Indiana to see my sisses and their families. While there, I am attending the annual family reunion of my dad's side of the family. We always call it the Downey Dinner (I grew up as Karkie Jo Downey)

My sister, Bobbie Sue, has been collecting recipes all year from cousins and aunts to compile a cook book, and I got to make the cover for it, and named it "Downey Dinners".

She has filled the pages with old family pictures, stories, and illustrations, and I can't wait to see it all together. When I get to Indy, we'll be assembling the books, and then bringing them to the big event to pass out to relatives.

For my cover, I did a small pencil sketch from a photo of my Grandma Downey, as she was holding up a fish she had just caught. I changed the fish to a wooden spoon, added an apron to her dress and set her in front of a table filled with bread dough in progress. She was renowned for her home baked bread. (Bobbie Sue inherited her skills in bread making, I did not)

I had to add a cigarette hanging out of her mouth, because that is how I always remember her.

After I finished the sketch, I scanned it, edited it in sepia, then printed it on mat photo paper.

Next, I used Copic markers to add some color, and white ink to add highlights, then cut out the image.

My cuz, Paula (who was in our tag book swap), sent me a scan of her dad's grade school report card with Grandma's signature on it. I used this as the background for my tinted drawing, and then layered it over some kitchen-ey old wallpaper, inking the edges of each layer for depth.

Then, I scanned it again, and added the words in Picnik.

(feel free to use these images in your own art, if you'd like. I'd be honored to see Grandma Downey in someone's journal or on a tag somewhere!) Just click on the picture to open in a larger window, save to your computer, then print.

My Aunt Alma had sent me a recipe for my very favorite pie and I offered to do an interior page with it. At the time, we were going to divide up the book and cousins were all going to do some of the pages, but Bobbie Sue was brave enough to take on over 130 pages on her own. I did end up still doing this one page, after all. But it was a very last minute project. I was hoping to find a better photo of my aunt, but none was available right then, so I had to use a snip from a group shot. Its a little blurrier than I would have liked.

This page went together really fast, maybe 15 minutes because I was running out of time to get it to the copy shop Saturday afternoon. I used a favorite wallpaper background, the photo of my aunt that I slipped into a mat from an old album, the recipe card she had sent to me, and a clipping from that day's paper that just happened to mention that Sugar Cream pie was the Hoosier state pie. Who knew? And how serendipitous that it happened to be in my local Lawrence, Kansas paper the day I was making the page.

I finished it off with a hand drawn vine and rushed both pages off to the UPS store to be copied. I think they do the best job for the price. I'm always happy with the color and quality there.

Before I head East for my trip, I want to announce the latest winner of the $15 online dress form tutorial.

Debbie of Romancing the Bling

If you'd like a chance to win one, please leave a comment on any post. If I draw your name and you are already taking the class, I'll send you a kit full of vintagey goodness to make the doll from.

Please forgive me if I dont' have time to answer comments. I will keep up with dressform tutorial orders and can send you the passwords from my Ipad. I'll ship all order from the Boutique on Thursday the 11th.

Tru-Blood premiere party at the guncles

celebrations, family, Food and Drink, guncles, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / July 2, 2011

Uhm, did I mention that the guncles and I had a good time? With lots of silly fun? The weekend went fast, but we managed to pack in a lot of goofiness, including a Tru Blood mini marathon.

With HBO Go on my Ipad, we were able to watch the second episode of the new season after the premiere. So, of course, we made a PARTY out of it!

Because everything is a party at Randy and Kevin's house!

I drew some Tru Blood labels that we added to some empty bottles, and we drank out of red, crystal goblets, and painted our faces to look like vamps.

Since the guys bought my plane ticket, I wanted to treat them to dinner. We talked about getting dressed up and going out, but decided it was more fun to get dressed as vampires, watch our favorite show and eat in. So, I bought some lobsters and we had the best meal ever.

Crusty bread, still warm when we bought it, a crisp lettuce wedge with Kev's home made dressing topped with a chopped, fresh tomato, and giant, lovely, delectable lobsters.

I was disappointed in fairy land on the show, were you? I've come to terms with the fact that the show doesn't follow the books. And since they do stay true to the actual characters themselves, I don't mind, and actually enjoy the surprises that the show wouldn't offer if it did follow the books.

But man, the fairy land is NOT what I had hoped for at all. And Bill is King?

But that's okay. I still love me some Sookie and am a loyal fan.

I love me some guncles too.

Every night, the suppers were so good. One night was seared scallops in a vermouth and heavy cream redcution.

And another meal was grilled flounder with fresh asparagus and fingerling potatoes roasted in butter and onions. See why I was worried about my zipper still working? Did I mention homemade German chocolate cake?

Oh, and please remember, that there is a giveaway for one of my Mini Dress Form online workshops. If you win, and have already purchased the $15 class, I will send you a kit full of vintage goodies to make the dolled up dress form with.

Happy Birthday Rich

celebrations, family, Food and Drink, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / June 7, 2011

My husband had a birthday this week and Sugarwings helped me bake him an ultra healthy, low fat cake to celebrate. He has high cholesterol and really works hard at keeping the numbers down, but he also has a sweet tooth. So I came up with a guilt free cake for him. Well, semi-guilt free, at least, healthier than a double fudge chocolate cake anyway.

We took fat free, cranberry/orange muffin mix, and added 1/2 cup of applesauce, 1 cup of blueberries, 1/4 cup of ground, golden flaxseed, 1/2 cup of shelled and finely chopped pistachios, 3/4 cup of chopped pecans, and 3/4 cup of toasted coconut, then about 1/2 cup of water.

While it was in the oven, we cleaned and sliced strawberries. Then, I covered them with 2 spoonfuls of organic brown sugar and a 1/4 cup of lime juice.

After the cake was cooled we poked holes all over it and topped it with the strawberries and lime juice. (It was an ooey, gooey, moist cake!)

Over that, we added this mix, which is what really made it yuumy:

1 cup of Dannon Greek 0 fat plain yogurt- That stuff is so thick and rich, you'd never know it was low fat!!
1 block of low fat cream cheese
1 cup of fat free sour cream
1 tsp real vanilla
1/4 cup organic powdered sugar
splash of lime juice

That was fluffed with the blender and dolloped over the berry covered cake, then spread. To top it off, we served it with low fat Cool Whip.

Sguarwings had 3 pieces and shared a bite of hers with the birthday boy. I didn't feel bad about her eating so much cake since it was mostly fruit, nuts, and yogurt.

She also shared some messy kisses.

And thought it was funny to wipe the cream cheese topping off of his face afterwards.

Maybe all three pieces didn't make it into her tummy, she looked like she was wearing quite a bit of the dessert, so went right into the tub after.

Ps- all of the bird cage charms I listed in the Boutique sold out right away, so I have replenished the supply. If you are in the Bird Song Tag Book Swap, don't worry, I have plenty of pretties to adorn the books with! I've ordered more charms to paint too.

By the way, we are at about 120 swappers. I have room for a FEW more, since I haven't started making the covers yet. Email me if you are interested. Details HERE.

(I will be away, so please forgive me if I don't get right back to you)

Shopping at the Habitat for Humanity Restore

family, Food and Drink, parties, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / May 24, 2011

What a lovely weekend we had, but then any weekend with our Sugarwings is just the best. We spent Saturday morning at the Farmer's Market where I loaded up on fresh veggies and Sugarwings found a little "house" to play in.

At my cottage, I try to cook healthy things, local ingredients,vegetarian a few days a week, chicken and fish the rest, organic when I can afford it, or when it really matters. I think we eat okay around here.

But no matter how hard I try, I'll never live up to my son's family's guidelines for healthy eating. These guys are all natural. Recently they have gone vegan. So, we tried out some vegan doughnuts at the market, and I just don't think they were all that great. Just because its vegan doesn't mean its good for you, it was still a deep fried, greasy hunk of dough.

Sugarwings liked it, but she loves anything with pink icing.

Her parents are nice about letting me bake with her and give her treats, and don't insist on me following a strict diet for her at our house. I think they trust me to not let her fill up on Koolaide and junk food, and to feed her stuff that is good for her. So, they'll let me give her some sweet treats or a piece of chicken when she stays with us.

I like it when people are true to their own beliefs but don't try to force them onto others.

I like my kids.

Adam is working on opening an energy/healing center. He has the spot rented and is fixing it up, as greenly as he can. So, after the Farmer's Market, we went shopping for supplies. At the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store, he found big rolls of carpet for only about $10 each, and will be stapling those to the wall for sound proofing.

Now, that sounds a bit like a shagadellic 70s look, doesn't it? But that is only the first step. Over the carpet, he will mix tinted plaster and clay-mud and trowel it on. It should look really nice, I'll get some pictures of the walls when it is done. Its "dirt cheap", green, and arty. I'm looking forward to seeing the process.

We also went to see the Doo Dads over the weekend. They are a band that plays rock for kids. And they have TWO bubble machines on the stage. Sugarwings and Pixie Pie were entranced by the bubbles.

And all the girls danced their hearts out.

Very little work got done this weekend, and Paper Cowgirls is fast approaching. It will get done, I still have two weeks, but I am starting to feel a little wriggly worry in the back of my mind. Once I get something completely done, like all of my kits packed, or the instructions written for the class, that feeling will pass. At this point, I have a lot of started, but not completed things going on.

The mini dress forms class that I am teaching in Texas, will also have an online class. I'd like to have it online before I go to Paper Cowgirls so I can give the link to all of my students there. That way, when they get home, they will have access to a refresher course if they need to finish their mannequin later, or make a few more of them.

My plan is to offer the class two ways. You can buy a (limited supply) kit in the Boutique and get a free link to the online classes. Or you can furnish your own supplies and just buy the instructions (they will include some images of vintage papers to download).

I'll let you know when its ready to roll.

But for now, I'd better get back to work on it while I can, because I never know when I'll get an opportunity to go play with the grand fairies. When that happens, all work stops!

A Springtime tea party

fairies, family, flowers, Food and Drink, Sugarwings, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / May 16, 2011

The weather around here has been weird, which means, its a typical Kansas Spring. The air conditioner was in use on Monday and by the end of the week we had the furnace back on again.

Sugarwings spent some of the weekend with me and we were both sick of the cold weather, so we cheered ourselves up with a Fairy Tea Party. A big part of the fun was setting her table and planning treats that our guests would like.

We made cupcakes together, then I put her to work making cherry tomato and cheese kabobs on colorful toothpicks. (she preferred to make her tomatoes connected with multiple picks, and her platter of snacks looked more like an erector set than kabobs)

I let her pick the flowers for the centerpiece and she chose all yellow, which is odd for her, she loves pink even more than I do. But I think she made a good choice for the table cloth and the teapot that she chose.

Our guests were Pixie Pie and Lola (which means Grandmother in Filipino, Lola is Grandpa Ardell's widow). All day, while getting ready for them, Sugarwings refused to call them by their names, she would only refer to them as "our guests".

And after they left, she set and re-set her table for guests to come again.

The goodies went over well. I don't have a single photo where someone isn't chewing. Everyone was pretty engrossed in the meal. (that is Sparkle in the background waiting patiently to clean up the floor under the table after the meal is over, Agnes Rosebud and Twinkle aren't that patient, they are under the table already.)

The girls might think that tea parties are all about the food, but I am sneakily teaching manners as we chow down. They learn about passing the food around, pouring their own cream, and sharing food, but not sharing the spoons or double dipping. As well as polite conversation and asking each person how their day was.

There might have been a little bit too much sugar in the tea, so we bundled up and went outside to run some of the energy off. It sure looks like Spring with all the iris in bloom, but it was too chilly for me.

Promising them a bubble bath got the two little girls to come inside again so I could get warm They were happy running full speed through the garden trails while I shivered, but a chance to play in the big tub convinced them.

And a warm bubble bath was good for them too, they were cold and sticky.

Thanks for all of your sign ups for my Birdsong Tag Book Swap!

And there is room for more. Scroll down to the previous post for details if interested.

Happy birthday happy birthday – cha cha cha (as Sugarwings sings it)

celebrations, flowers, Food and Drink, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / May 6, 2011

What a great birthday I had yesterday! Carol and Debbie treated me to lunch at Julian's in Brookside, owned and operated by one of the cheftestants on Top Chef Masters. And I am such a TV junkie, that I'll eat up anything served by someone on one of my "stories".

Luckily, this place was cute as a button and over the top delicious.

Friendly, casual, and affordable too. Celina Tio, from the show (and formerly on Iron Chef) greets everyone at the door and is nice as can be. Pretty too. The TV show doesn't do her justice, she's much cuter in person.

I had some things to deliver to Carol and Debbie and we decided to meet for lunch. I said, why not Thursday, since it was my birthday, so the poor girls might have got a party ambush. But I love birthdays and am upfront about telling everyone its my day.

Thanks for all the happy birthday wishes! I had some prime baby holding time too, so it was a good day.

I'll leave you with some photos of what's new in Boutique. I've added a few millinery blooms, and have photos taken of more to add.

For the whole month of May, I'm giving you free shipping (United States) for all millinery. Pay as normal, and when I pack up and ship the item, I'll refund your shipping fees.

There will be more blooms added next week too.

I'm just out of time today, we get Sugarwings tonight. So, no more working, time to play!

Flocks of fun

bird song art event, Food and Drink

By Karla Nathan / April 30, 2011

Have you ever made cake pops? They are way too much fun. I saw them in a book my hairdresser showed to me, and was instantly intrigued. I looked over the details, and it seemed pretty simple, so I tried them immediately when I got home.

I made mine slightly different from the cookbook (by Bakerella).

Here is what I did:

First, bake a white cake, let it cool, then crumble it in a large bowl.
mix in a half a can of white icing (the cookbook called for a whole can) with a beater
Form small balls, I got 36 from one cake, warning- these are calorie dense!
Keep in fridge till needed, then pop a few in the freezer for 10-15 minutes before dipping.
Melt almond bark in a deep, narrow dish. I used a measuring cup.
Dip one end of lollipop stick into melted bark, then freeze them.
Have something set up for the balls to drip and dry on before you start dipping them in the almond bark. I used an upside down egg carton, with holes punched in each egg shape.
Don't leave the balls in the freezer too long. That is why I stuck them in there in shifts. If they get too cold, they fall off the stick. I worked in groups of 8 or so at a time.
I formed the balls into bird shapes right before sliding them on the stick and dipping them. The stuff is like play-dough, so you can form simple shapes very easily.
Let dry, then decorate. Sugarwings and I have a vast sprinkle collection, so I had lots to chose from. Bakerella has lots of ideas, and themes. I kind of made up my own. She also has lots of recipes and flavors to try. I stuck with white.

After the topping set up, I wrapped all of my baby birds up gently and stored them in an air tight bowl, then froze them till my guests arrive for Birdsong.

My home is beginning to look like an Alfred Hitchcock movie, birds everywhere! Here are the name tags I made for the event, all ready to go. I hope our antendees like them.

Sorry I won't be answering emails or comments, but I will be taking breaks to read them. And I will have a gift for you from the event, I'll draw a name from all the comments this week and next.

Happy birthday Dorkie babies! (and Diane too!)

celebrations, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Food and Drink, holiday decor, how to's, parties

By Karla Nathan / April 12, 2011

Today is Agnes Rosebud and Button's first birthday, so I invited Beth and some friends over for a craft day and birthday cake.

The four legged guests had a very special treat- left over grilled trout covered in homemade organic yogurt. I made up "cupcakes" of fish in festive papers, then iced them in the yogurt and added a colorful pick.

(I wish I could remember who gave me the cute vintage puppy image to use- its on the hats and the cupcake picks)

Spring is finally here! I spent a giant, achy chunk of the weekend working in the yard, doing clean up and planting flowers. So, since the patio was looking spiffy, all of us sat outside on the porch to have our pitch in lunch between craft projects. (and between working on taxes- its great to have two accountant friends come by and help out when tax time rolls around!)

While it looks like I might have had a totally frivolous day, making party hats and fish cakes for dogs, we got a lot accomplished too. Taxes got filed for my son, Ryan, The Other Karla learned how to knit, Beth made book covers, Connie and Diane made cards, Shanna made an Easter Basket, and I finished a swap for Birdsong.

Plus, it was a beautiful Spring day to spend with friends, so the work didn't even feel like work, it was just plain fun.

Plus, we had a second birthday to celebrate, it was Diane's special day too. I whipped up a double duty gift for her, this tussie mussie is used as the wrap for the roses I gave to her and also works as a birthday hat.

To make it, I printed a pretty page of French text on card stock, curled it up into a cone, stapled it in place and trimmed the edges off straight. Then, I inked the opening with black ink, and punched a hole in each side to pull a ribbon through to use as a chin strap or a hanger.

After that, I added rose that I cut out in a oval shape to the front center of the cone, and pulled some pretty lace through the cone, so that it dangled out the small hole at the point. Then, I glued that into place, and wrapped the point in ribbons and lace.

Before the party went to the dogs, we had ice cream cake for the two legged guests. I experimented with making an ice cream cake, and boy, was it fast, easy and delicious!

Here's how:

In a round casserole dish, I simply layered thin slices of strawberry pound cake with Breyer's Vanilla Bean ice cream and fresh pureed strawberries.

Then, I smooshed it down into the pan, covered it, and froze it over night.

To get it out of the pan today, I sat it in a shallow bowl of hot water, till it loosened from the casserole dish, then plopped it over upside down onto a cake stand and sprayed canned whipped cream all over it and added sprinkles.

I think I might make this in lots of different ways. Think of all the goodies you could layer in ice cream and freeze. This summer, I'll keep my eyes open at garage sales to find a nice shaped mold to make these in too.

Aren't birthdays the best days?