Finally Outside comments: 149

We had really nice and strangely quiet little Fourth of July yesterday — Andy's fighting off some sort of hanging-on virus, I was really tired, and the pets were pretty stressed about the constant fireworks. Our sweet neighborhood friends Katie and Tim invited us for a little BBQ at their house across the street, and that was just perfect.

I feel like I'm starting to get back in the swing of things. I could use some help, though: Do you have a good 1) fish taco recipe and/or 2) spy-thriller-type book recommendation?

(I added the vanilla buttermilk cake recipe here! This was delicious, but definitely best the first or maybe second day. Eat it fast!)

July comments: 46

Thank you for all of your incredibly sweet comments about the new office. You guys always say the nicest things, honestly. Thank you. I will update yesterday's post with some details about where stuff comes from. And if you were wondering where that room is, it's the one on the other side of the French doors in my craft room. I know, I'm really spoiled. Andy had a huge computer in there for a long time, but my stuff, like yarn and bolts of felt and plastic boxes full of ornament kit supplies and all manner of random unattractive junk, including a broken dresser filled with fabric I didn't even want and other things we didn't know what to do with just kept making their way in there and piling up. It was like a sand dune. We would sort of balance things on top of other things until they slid off. He recently upgraded to a laptop, still uses the desk for his stuff (but doesn't actually have to sit at it to use the computer anymore), got rid of a ton of old stuff that was just taking up space for no reason, and now this is sort of a combo office/Posie storage annex. Greta (new assistant) has gotten all of the ornament kit stuff organized in the big white cabinets and down in the basement, and she is completely taking over the assembly of the ornament kits this year. What I will say about craft stuff is that it just takes up SO much space. But I think we're all really happy with the new office, even Andy (thanks babe!!!). The room hadn't really been overhauled in the past ten years, so it was way past time. I don't think I had any photos of the old version. Every time I went through it (a thousand times a day) I basically shieled my eyes from it, so I doubt I ever would have stopped to take a picture of it because it's hard to take a picture when you're running and have your eyes closed.

I made a good shrimp thing last night, I think. I sauteed two cloves of garlic (minced) in a tablespoon of butter, added the tomatoes from a can of stewed whole tomatoes (not the juice, just the tomatoes), added a teaspoon of sugar and some salt and pepper, and broke the tomatoes up with a spoon. Let them simmer and reduce for about five minutes or so, then added a bunch of peeled and deveined raw shrimp. Let those cook for a few minutes until they were pink. By this time the pasta was almost done (oh yeah — forgot to say, I started some thin spaghetti boiling at some point). I added about a half a cup of heavy cream to the tomatoes, simmered a bit more. Added a big handful of chopped fresh basil and parsely from the garden, and then spooned it all over the thin spaghetti. Anyway, it's not the prettiest picture of it, but I have to say that although I don't normally wing it when I am making dinner, this time it actually worked and was really good.

Just remembered about the vanilla cake recipe. Okay. Tomorrow.

New comments: 149

Oh, what a week. But how can I complain when we have this pretty new office to play in?

There are still a lot of empty drawers and shelves and baskets (just put the daisies in there until I figure out what to put in them) that have to be moved into, but it's been so hectic with other things around here that I'm still not quite finished with that. Think I'll just lie on the carpet.

***Here's the skinny on the goods:

Glass cabinets and desk: Hemnes collection from Ikea
White cabinets: Home Depot (ten years ago)
Baskets in and on top of cabinets: Target
Wicker chair and cushion: Ikea
Desk chair: Antique, from Stars in Portland
Rug: Overstock.com
Calico curtains: CountryCurtains.com
Gingham curtains: Retro Barn Country Linens
Pillow: I made it myself from this pattern!
Ceiling light fixture: Rejuvenation
Lamps on desk: Target
Bag on door: Etsy.com
File cabinet: Ikea

New Computer comments: 92

Wah! Had to get entire new computer after all. Writing from phone. Wondering why computer problems prompt discombobulation, then, in every other area of life. Discovered (for instance) while eating lunch in restaurant on Tuesday that shirt was on inside out. Thought "Wow, that's a first!" and instead of laughing felt slight panic, which was relief, indicating still actually care on some kind of level (though not very sophisticated one since "wearing clothes right-side out" probably comes just after "wearing pajamas" which comes just after "getting dressed at all" on the scale of civilized functionality) what I look like. All clothes on facing outward today. Progress.

Rainy Weekend comments: 81

Baking : : Movie night Friday (we loved it) : : Birthday lunch with dear friends : : New-neighbor BBQ with old friends : : Much embroidering and much crocheting at all other times : : More movies (this one and this one and this one) on cable : : Andy working : : Broken computer (needs new battery, on order) : : No email (kind of nice, admittedly) : : Recipe for cake is on my other computer, will share when new battery arrives : : Ham and egg sandwich for one on Sunday morning : : Still-raining Monday.

*Here is the recipe for the cake! It is frosted with Cloudburst Frosting, of course.

Vanilla Buttermilk Cake

4 eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
3 cups cake flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon + 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Spray and line bottom of pan with parchment paper. Spray again and flour.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt, in a large mixer bowl; whisk to blend. Add the butter and 1 cup buttermilk to these dry ingredients and with the mixer on low, blend together. Raise the mixer speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Mix eggs, yolks, vanilla and remaining 1/4 cup buttermilk. Add the egg mixture in 3 additions, scraping down the side of the bowl and mixing only until thoroughly incorporated. Divide the batter among the 3 prepared pans.

Bake the cake layers for 28–32 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes clean and the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan. Let the layers cool in the pans for 10 minutes; then carefully turn out onto wire racks, peel off the paper liners, and let cool completely.

comments: 52

Thank you for the Midsummer sampler orders (and thank you for the sweetest wildflower book, Rae Jean)! We are sleepy folk here this morning. It's been a really busy week, actually. We finished the "new" office and it's making everyone really happy (especially me). Built all the furniture and moved the yarn over into its new home and some fabric too, and more to do there when time allows. In the clean-out of the old stuff, I found the almost-finished punch-needle pillow project I'd started over three years ago (remember this?). Made a pillow for the new chair in the "new" office. I'll take some photos next week. Agreed to work on an embroidered cover for Random House for a young-adult mystery novel that's coming out next year and have been either reading the manuscript or embroidering test pieces non-stop. Did some fussing in the garden and hilled the potatoes (thank you for the advice there), weeded the beds, and almost fell over with excitement because I grew this candy-striped Chioggia beet after all (isn't it pretty?). Baking a vanilla cake today from the recipe my little sister (the pastry chef) gave me and can't wait to see if it works. I'll keep you posted. So inspired by all the lovely little Swedish cooking films here. Hoping to go see Moonrise Kingdom tonight. It will be good to get out a bit.

The puppers is currently charging back and forth across the living/dining room waiting to be taken to the park. Her enthusiasm for mornings is unequalled, but I'm going to grab another cuppa joe and see if I can match it. Unlikely, but I try.

Midsummer Morning comments: 44

Over the weekend the weather was so nice, and I said really strange things like, "I'm hot!" and "It's hot out here!" [pointing to the yard] and "It's hot in there!" [pointing toward the house]. WEIRD. Ah, but it did not last. Today dawns chill and pale, but since it's the longest day of the year we have a lot of time to turn that around, and they say it will happen. Sun, it seems, will be ours today, and I intend to celebrate.

I finished the pattern for my new sampler and it pleased me very much! A downloadable PDF pattern and chart for the Midsummer Sprigs ABCs cross stitch sampler is now available here in my web shop. This sampler was inspired by the book The Paper Garden by Molly Peacock and the cut-paper flower mosaics made by 18th-century English artist Mary Granville Delany. Mary Delany began making her gorgeous collages at the age of seventy-two, and over the next sixteen years (until her eyesight failed at age eighty-eight) created over one thousand botanically accurate paper flowers. This sampler is my tribute to her work.

I would love to have done a kit for this one but I have a lot of different things going on right now and something had to give. If you don't have a counted cross stitch shop in your area and need supplies, I highly recommend calling Jeannine at Acorns and Threads (503-292-4457), my amazing local shop here in Portland. Jeannine and her staff can get you set up with fabric and floss. This pattern calls for a LOT of different colors of hand over-dyed floss from one of my favorite suppliers ever, Weeks Dye Works. (The WDW Retailers page can help you find their flosses in your area, too — but I would call any shop they list and ask them if they have these flosses before heading out.) Since I truly intended to kit this sampler, I was not very conservative in my design and used quite a large palette. If you like counted cross stitch, I don't think it is ever a bad idea to invest in as many hand over-dyed flosses as you can manage. But they are more expensive than DMC flosses, so if your budget only allows for buying a few at a time, I've included my DMC conversions for every color in the pattern, and indicated which WDW colors I would substitute first with DMC floss and get more or less the same look.

The fabric I used is 28-count Cashel linen in black from Zweigart. Their web site is under construction but the linen can be found at Acorns and Threads and also from many on-line retailers who sell it in fat-quarter cuts. (You need an 18" x 18" piece for this sampler, so a fat quarter at 18" x 27" will work great.) If you have trouble finding anything, just let me know and I will help you!

Black can be a little tricky to stitch on, but Jeannine (without whom I probably never would have started cross stitching, way back many years ago when I first moved here) gave me a tip when I started this last spring: Put a white dish towel on your lap and then you will be able to easily see the holes in the fabric. It really works. And that reminds me, if you are new to counted cross stitch, you may want to read my tutorial on it to get you started.

Anyway, it feels good to get this finished and I really hope you like it! The sun has just come out here in the past few minutes, the birds are singing out my window now, and it looks to be a glorious morning. What a lovely world we have. xoxo

Dinner Picnic comments: 63

Friday night at the river beach, Sauvie Island, 6/15/12.

Ah. Sunshine. comments: 51

Oh yeah. Bring it.

Wood Buttered comments: 44

I gave all of my wooden utensils and cutting boards and bowls a nice conditioning yesterday. They were parched. Wood butter (spoon oil) is good for this. I keep a jar in my pantry at all times, and just add more beeswax and mineral oil as necessary. I guess we try to do it every six months or so. I also oiled the entire surface of the table. The first picture is before oiling and the second and third pictures after (for what it's worth). Everything now has a beeswaxy sheen. Pretty.

I have no idea if you're really supposed to use it on furniture, but this table is a workhorse, so I fed it. You might want to research it before using it on yours.

It's so cold here. It's 63 degrees in the house. I'm wearing winter clothes and, obstinately, sandals.