Shopping hiatus, week four

Going strong. But I have to admit that I'm amassing a list of things I would like to buy when the hiatus is over.

Like new sunglasses. The sun arrived abruptly yesterday and I was reminded once again that new shades must be purchased. Easy, right? No, no, no. I wear glasses. Incredibly strong glasses with thick lenses because I pretty much only see vague blobs of color when I take them off. The last time I shelled out for prescription sunglasses (5 years ago) it cost me $400 and I haven't been willing to do it again, despite the fact that those glasses are now worn to shreds.

Until now. I think I could happily live with any of these options, even if they aren't necessarily meant to be sunglasses.

{1, 2, 3, 4, 5}

The best part is that they are all under $30, even when you throw in the tinting. Genius. I really do love Zenni Optical.* Just make sure that you ALWAYS click to see the larger image. Some pairs that look like solid colors in thumbnail view actually have crazy patterns on them.

If I were purchasing right now I'd probably get click happy and end up with all of them. Instead, I have until the end of the hiatus to mull over my options, and I'll probably end up selecting two pairs, so that I have a back up.

*Back in December my regular glasses broke, well before my insurance was willing to cough up for a new pair. Luckily, I remembered a post that Caroline had put up a few months earlier about Zenni Optical. I went to my optometrist, got a print out of my prescription and then jumped online and browsed. I ended up purchasing four pairs for less than I usually spend on one. They arrived within 2 weeks. It was fabulous.

Guest posting, this week

Guys, I'm guest posting over at 100 Layer Cake this week. I was a wee bit intimidated because, well, everything they post is lovely and I'm not a wedding expert. Repeat, not a wedding expert. Not even married yet.

But it was so much fun (and I have a new appreciation for all the work those girls do on a daily basis). I'll be posting about DIY related stuff, naturally.

My first post is up now. You can download my DIY reality check flowchart, which I have to admit I'm massively in love with, even if I am the one who created it.

And if anyone has wandered over here from 100 LC, welcome! Come browse through the DIY index or the food index, depending on what you feel like. Or just check out some pretty flowers.

The weekend, briefly

The weekend somehow managed to be incredibly quiet and furiously busy. It just sort of slipped right by and before I knew it I was sitting on the couch, still sewing up orders and it was Sunday at midnight and I had watched all of She's All That on TV even though I swore to Dustin that of course I was turning it off, or at least changing the channel and who did he think I was anyways, that I would watch a silly movie like that (when I've probably already seen it 5 times)?

Whew. But there were nice moments leading up to that.

I was glad to see a reappearance of afternoon light - my very favorite kind.

{quiet afternoon, jalousie window}

We had old friends over for dinner and I made a berry crostata for dessert (which is a fancy way of saying that I piled a bunch of berries on some pastry dough and folded the edges over).

{berry crostata}

I went shopping for spring fabrics (not breaking the hiatus, because everything is for the shop).

{spring fabrics}

And then I worked.

{work}

D amused himself in the kitchen, with great results (sundried tomato + prosciutto + burrata on baguette for lunch, Deb's tomato-butter sauce on pasta for dinner).

{fancy tomatoes}

And I snacked on an ungodly amount of pickles. It's a terrible addiction that I mostly fight by rarely purchasing pickles of any sort. This weekend I just gave up and gave in.

{pickles, jar}

Behind schedule...

Whoops! The weekend got away from me and I forgot about daylight savings time and now I'm behind on everything. If I manage to make it through the morning without spilling coffee all over myself, things will start looking up.

Taking a sanity day - back tomorrow.

Friday flowers

You'll notice that you don't see roses on here often. I'm not very fond of them - I joke with D that if he ever brings home a dozen red roses I'll know that we have to break up immediately, because they are so not me.

But frilly garden roses with actual scent and non-uniform shapes? Those get me. They are real roses, heavy with full blown, droopy petals, perfect for gathering by the armful and carrying in from the garden, treacherous with thorns and spiky dark green leaves.

{garden roses, counter}

They're hard to find (unless you are blessed with space for your own rose garden) so when I saw a small bucket of these sitting off in a corner at the farmer's market this weekend, I quickly snatched them up. I could only afford three, but the saleslady nodded knowingly, said, I'd take quality over quantity any day. We exchanged sage smiles. I left the neat bundles of roses by the dozen, buds tightly shaped, each one identical, without a second glance, clutching my precious paper wrapped trio with gnarled, thorny stems, inhaling deeply.

{garden roses, trio}

Reading, lately

Loved, loved, loved The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery.

{reading, lately}

I fully admit that I picked it off the shelf because of the title. I was a teensy bit unsure of where the book was going in the beginning, but I fell into it fairly quickly. It's sweet and funny and unusual. The ending wallops you out of nowhere, which I always love.

I also love that the people who gave it bad reviews on Amazon almost universally mention that they found it pretentious. I found the pretension purposeful and intentionally hilarious - I guess we all read things differently.

Do you ever go to Amazon and read other people's reviews after you've finished a book? I try to never do it before I read something, because I like to come to it without any idea of what I'm getting into.

Lemon-ginger muffins

I have issues with muffins. I think they're sneaky - masquerading around as health food when they're usually nothing more than cupcakes without frosting. Don't get me wrong - I love cake in the morning, but I like it straight up and honest and fully frosted. If you're waiting in the line for coffee, agonizing over the donut you really want and the lowfat muffin you feel like you should order, go ahead and buy the donut. Nine times out of ten you'll find that it has fewer calories, I kid you not.

Of course, there are exceptions. Muffins are handy for grabbing on the way out the door early in the morning, so I'll often make these uber-healthy ones. This weekend I wanted something a bit more decadent but not as toothachingly sweet as your average muffin. I had a large chunk of fresh ginger in the fridge, so I started searching around for a good recipe.

{baking}

I know you don't frequently see me lighten up recipes, but there are occasions where it's justified. You won't even miss the extra butter and sugar in these babies, I promise. They have a tender crumb and the most perfect balance of fresh lemon and ginger flavors. I added extra yogurt to make up for the lost butter and subbed half the all purpose flour with whole wheat pastry flour. We gobbled them up. The ginger plays especially well with homemade apricot jam.

{lemon-ginger muffin, with apricot jam}

Fresh lemon-ginger muffins (makes 16, heavily adapted from this recipe)

• A 2-ounce piece unpeeled ginger root
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon zest with some pith
• 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt
  
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line (or grease) 16 muffin tins.

:: If you have a food processor, process the ginger until it is in tiny pieces. And yes, 2 ounces of ginger is a pretty substantial hunk. In my picture above, I used the entire piece of ginger. I was skeptical about leaving it unpeeled, but it was fine. Or, hand chop it into fine pieces. You should have about 1/4 cup. It is better to have too much ginger than too little.

:: Put the ginger and 1/4 cup of the sugar in a small skillet and cook over medium heat until the sugar has melted and the mixture is hot. Do not walk away from the pan - the sugar will melt quite quickly. Remove from the heat and let the mixture cool completely.

:: Put the lemon zest (because the recipe calls for zest with a bit of pith, I didn't use my zester but instead sliced off pieces of the lemon peel, leaving a bit of pith on, as seen here) and the remaining 1/4 cup sugar in the food processor and process until the peel is in small bits. Or, sprinkle the sugar over the zest and chop by hand. Add the zest and sugar mix to the ginger mixture and set aside.

:: In a mixing bowl, beat the butter slightly, then add the lemon and ginger mixture. Add the eggs and beat well. Add the yogurt and mix until blended. Add the flour, salt and baking soda and mix until just combined and relatively smooth.

:: Spoon the batter into the muffin cups so that each cup is about 3/4 full. Bake 15-20 minutes. Serve warm.

Nutrition facts - 129 calories per muffin, 4 grams of fat (2.2 grams saturated), 19.9 grams carbs, 1.1 grams fiber, 7.8 grams sugar, 3.4 grams protein