domicile

Birthday Blessings

Kitchen Aid Birthday Bliss
Originally uploaded by emira

The middle of November brings a whole slew of birthdays into my world. Friends, my sister and mid-month my own. My birthday also marks Mr. Pluto and my anniversary. He's the very special birthday gift that has kept on giving for twelve years now. And, while I find myself overwhelmed with the awesome thoughtful gifts each year brings, I have to say he kind of takes the cake. This year, however, he's got some really strong competition. My darling business partner, co-author and excellent all-round friend-extraordinaire, Ms. Lauren Bacon, orchestrated a mass-gift buying splurge to acquire a KitchenAid stand mixer, in red of course. Oh and isn't she a beauty?! I've not been shy about my lust for one of these babies, which has been long building but heavily fueled by my friend Melanie who continues the constant refrain of "and then you just put the ingredients for the cookies/bread/icing/etc in and just walk away" like she's casting a spell before my eyes. If the joy of a shiny red KitchenAid wasn't enough to cause a girl to swoon, the joy in knowing how many of her darling friends pooled together to make it happen is practically knocking me out with happiness. You'd think that Pluto might be a bit jealous with all this inanimate object lust going on around here, but fortunately he got one of his favourite things in the world out of the deal: a box. Of his very own. Which Martin has decorated, put catnip in, and generally spent far too much time letting Pluto attack his hands/legs/feet from within the box. So he's getting over it. Besides he knows that when bedtime rolls around and he's snuggled up in the crook of my knees, he'll purr his way back into the top of my affections.

Is that a credit card in your freezer?

My mom has a dear longtime friend who, over the years, has been known to go into a bit of credit card debt here and there. Often paying off her Visa with her Mastercard, she would let these things run away from her for a while and then take drastic measures to pull it all back under control. Tried and true strategies like freezing your credit card in a glass of water, or having other people "babysit" it for a while until the bills are paid off. These days that kind of strategy doesn't work so well. I rarely pull out my credit card when making impulse purchases, as I make most of those online and I know the numbers off by heart. Danger Bay.

My latest transgression: fabric on Ebay. Who knew!? I had hear rumours of course, but last Sunday night I went on a hunt for a particular colourway of an older Amy Butler print that I wanted to make some of the holiday gifts on my list. I started with the usual online retailers -- ReproDepot and Purl Soho -- but when they didn't turn up what I was looking for I thought "what the heck, why not try Ebay". OMFG. Seriously. The fabric! The options! The colourways I thought were gone! And. Right now the Canadian dollar is kind of trouncing the US buck and that meant a potential wealth of savings. The more I bought, the more I could potentially save! So compelling. I held back to only 4 yards (with combined shipping of $3 no less), but I'll admit I'm starting to get a bit itchy for more. Then, I go and read at Hilary's blog this week that she's been buying Japanese fabrics from Etsy and now I think I may need to see if the bank will change my credit card number so I can bury it in the garden until next spring and safely refrain from getting in over my head.

Reversible Apron Completed

  sunday dinner 
  Originally uploaded by emira

This isn't exactly a detailed view of the completed apron, but rather an apron in use kind of shot. I finished it this morning before noon (thanks to the "fall back" of the clocks giving me an extra hour this morning). Then, after a trip to the grocery store and some time cleaning up in the garden, I put it on to make dinner, prep some food for the rest of the week and generally get down to the rest of the weekend's household chores. As far as aprons go, this one is a winner. I like the fact that the top is pretty full coverage (handy when cooking stainy things like tomato sauce and some beets I steamed tonight) and it's long enough to wipe my hands on as I switch from cutting something to stirring something else.

I think I'll try making some matching pot holders, though I may be brave and try the slightly more complicated Amy Butler version that comes with her Cafe Apron pattern as they seem a bit sturdier than the ones in the Lotta book.

Perfectly Impractical

I have a thing for clogs. I love them. They're comfy. I love the look of them, the sound of them on wood floor and I adore the many variations on the basic form. Like this one here. How great is this? I was looking for a new pair of clogs as a possible birthday treat and stumbled upon these. I am now fixated. Sadly, they do not ship to Canada, and buying shoes on line is risky enough without introducing additional shipping nuttiness. But still. So pretty! Also, it's November. In Vancouver. These are not Vancouver November shoes. They are, however, great shoes to day dream about on rainy days.

The Apron Progresses

  stitchin' 
  Originally uploaded by emira

On Sunday night, I had the chance to cut out and start on the reversible apron from Lotta's book. I picked up the fabric at Fabricana on the weekend, so I was all ready to go. It's a pretty simple pattern to cut out and it leaves plenty of room for personal embellishment. Before you can sew the two apron sides together you need to  decide how you're going to customize/decorate it. I started with my solid side, put on a pocket using the reverse side's fabric and then decided to add some embroidery. I've been itchin' to embroider since having the joy of being on a panel with Jenny Hart last Spring. (As a side note I ordered some patterns from Sublime Stitching a few weeks ago in hopes that I might be able to use a bit of embroidery on xmas gifts this year). I bought myself an embroidery hoop this week and where I can carve out time in my 10-12 hour work days I've been plugging away at it. It's not turning out too badly. I'm hoping to have a bit more time this weekend and if not, then next week. Currently, my goal is to finish the apron (which is truly a very simple pattern, I'm just waaay too busy lately) for my birthday. That's two weeks.

Calendar Season

  Diana Fayt Calendar 
  Originally uploaded by emira

Time to order calendars for next year, and like most years I'm overwhelmed with the awesome choices the interweb offers. (I don't even bother looking at calendars in real life any more, knowing that I'll have a hard enough time choosing online). So far I've already ordered a Camilla Engman one (for the office) and I may need to have the Diana Fayt one again is looks so very charming in the kitchen. (Plus since I can't afford a Diana Fayt bowl this is my second runner up).  Port to Port Press is putting out a calendar soon, and a quick search on Esty shows so many awesome options.

Mmmm books

A few years ago, I found myself not reading as much as I wanted to. I think this had much to do with moving into our new home and all the time, energy and drywall dust that created, but still I wasn't too happy about it. Then a dear friend started up a bookclub, which I gleefully joined and that got things rolling again as far as reading was concerned. Now, if I don't have a book on my bedside table that I'm engrossed in, I feel at a loss.

While I was in Victoria recently I had a chance to visit my absolute favourite bookstore Munro's. If you've never been and you're ever in Victoria you must go. The end. It is, to me anyway, what a bookstore should be. That is: filled with books. No tchotchkes, no cds, no in store Starbucks, just mainly books on dark wooden bookshelves with gorgeous high ceilings. If I ever have the time, I'll spend a few hours with a stack of books in a chair in Munro's weighing my options. And, sadly, I always need to put some back. Last time I was there, I reluctantly put back Peter Reinhart's new Whole Grain Breads cookbook, mostly because it was too heavy to bring home in my one small suitcase on the ferry, but I've kind of regretted it ever since.

As I mentioned a while back now, I've been experimenting with making bread, and I'm happy to report I'm getting somewhere. Still, bread is a bit of a mystery to me. I'm not sure where I can play with recipes and where I can improvise, and frankly it kinda scares me to contemplate. Reinhart's book however, provides all kinds of theory, history and technique to each recipe. And photos! Photos of what it should look like, photos of what you don't want and really photo, after glorious photo, which for the newbie bread maker like me seems like a brilliant idea. That, and as the name implies, it's all about whole grains. I first heard about the Whole Grains Bread cookbook over at Heidi's site, so I wasn't surprised it was such a great resource.

Speaking of 101Cookbooks and recipes, she's got a recipe up from the new How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, Mark Bittman book. I'm pretty curious about this cookbook too, as I've always felt pretty left out of the How to Cook Everything love.

On Aprons. Again.

  gardening apron 
  Originally uploaded by emira

I promised plenty of apron talk this month, and I have to warn you we're a month out from month's end and I'm still in the thinking/planning stage and not the actually doing stage.

So here's the thing. I have a chance to be near my favourite fabric store this week and the two books containing apron patterns that I ordered have yet to arrive. I'm pretty sure I want to make the Lotta apron (as seen here, but I need to know how much fabric to buy. Does anyone have Simply Sewing? Can you send me the fabric requirements? I'd so appreciate it.

Real Live Art

  camilla engman in hallway 
  Originally uploaded by emira

One of the first big purchases Martin and I made together as a couple was a piece of art. We fell victim to two things: first, too much wine at the opening and second, it was a gorgeous piece of art that touched us both immediately. That piece was an original by a local Vancouver artist Jude Griebel and it now hangs in our livingroom. (Incidentally the house the painting now lives in was our second big purchase together, we take baby steps). The piece is called Further Towards the Forest, and you can see it here if you're interested. It tends to illicit strong reactions from folks. Many people don't like it. We adore it. But you already knew that.

Since we bought that piece we've slowly collected pieces from many of our favourite local artists. Among them Mia Hansen, Lori Joy Smith, and Renee Gouin. We typically pick these pieces up at openings and sales in town here and, with this new fangled contraption called the internet, we've been adding to our local art collection with some truly awesome pieces from a few webstars like Camilla Engman (that's one of her prints kind of poorly photographed there in the photo) and Abigail Percy. I fear I'm liable to get a bit Etsy happy and go overboard one of these days, though we've still got plenty of walls to fill, so I'm probably safe for a while yet. I recently snatched up a set of Camilla's prints, and while they're not exactly originals I just can't recommend them enough as they're a screaming deal (in my opinion) and boy do they make me super happy every time I see them. (Imagine how much I'll like them when they're actually framed!) I grew up with a lot of original art on our walls, most of it done by a close friend of the family, and while Martin and I are certainly not experienced collectors by any stretch of the imagination, it's a wonderful way to bring stories, beauty and friends into your home. If you've got a favourite local/rising star of an artist or count yourself amongst the talented, let me know. I'm always on the lookout...

And speaking of tempting beautiful things, Megan/Not Martha is a guest blogger over at Design Sponge right now. Among other things, she's got a piece up about window film. Megan has the Strossel geranium pattern in her kitchen which I much adore, and has used window film to great effect in her own place to block out nasty neighbour's walls while keeping light in a space. We keep meaning to do this in the kitchen so we don't have to watch the frat boy neighbours constantly trying to start their broken down cars while doing dishes. And as I think about it, this might be a good idea for Miss P's window which looks out on the neighbour's less than beautiful vinyl siding.

New Fall Shoes

  new shoes 
  Originally uploaded by emira

When I was a little girl my mom used to take me to the children's shoe store on Oak Bay Avenue for a new pair of shoes. They were always Buster Browns, they were always Mary Janes, each year I had a choice between black, navy and one year I believe there was a burgundy option. While I loved this ritual -- the new smell of them, the sticker and hard candy they always gave you at that shop, the anticipation that perhaps this year there would be something more exciting in the selection than last year -- I can't say I totally loved the shoes themselves. I believe I had a keen eye for the delight in the cut of cloth and pairings of colours that fashion and fabrics bring me today at a pretty young age. And, so, it kind of surprised me when I realized this Fall I was on the lookout for a pretty conservative/practical pair of mary janes to round out my shoe collection.

I'm not sure if it's just the change in the tides of fashion (certainly when I was a university student/raver in the mid-nineties these would never have passed muster), or perhaps the influence of my new love for all things flamenco (many have commented that these look like flamenco shoes), or a resurrection of childhood nostalgia but I'm rather smitten with the humble mary jane this season. That said, this particular pair have a flair that my five year old self would have given her baby eye-teeth for what with the flowers and all. The best part of these shoes? I didn't have to leave my house to buy them. Actually, that's not really the best part because I honestly love boutique shopping. But after scouring boutiques both in town here and in Victoria I still hadn't come up with a pair of shoes that met my current requirements for: pretty, comfortable (meaning a little heel was fine, but nothing over 2 inches and must have decent arch support), and laced with a hint of 5  year old mary jane nostalgia. This pair are from Zappos who finally, finally, ship to Canada. (How did I not know this by the way?) The convenience combined with the sinking American dollar/rising Canadian dollar meant my resistance faltered and the shoes were acquired. And my how I adore them. Though, they notably did not come with a sticker or a hard candy.