Recipe Fridays!

Beignets

from Williams Sonoma

Many of you who read this blog know that I went to college in New Orleans. The years I spent there made an indelible mark on me: the food, the music, the flavor of the city and its people.  I've ridden the countries oldest streetcar and caught plastic beads thrown by a celebrity. I've walked along the Mississippi and placed a rock on a Voodoo Queen's grave. I will always miss the city and yearn to go back.

One of the things I took away with me from my years there were beignets; sweet, chewy little donuts covered in powdered sugar. The jkind I usually make come from a recipe book written by the great Brennan family of Commander's Palace fame. That recipe makes a rather wet dough that is messy to work with; I think I will give this one a try next time I make these delicious little treats;)

Ingredients:

Makes 32 beignets.

2/3 cup warm water (115°F)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
2 1/2 tsp. (1 package) active dry yeast
3 to 4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 egg, lightly beaten
Peanut oil for deep-frying
Confectioners' sugar for dusting

Directions:

In a 2-cup measuring cup, combine the water, granulated sugar, salt and yeast. Let stand until frothy, about 10 minutes.

Measure out 3 1/2 cups of the flour into a food processor. With the motor running, slowly add the yeast mixture, processing until fully absorbed. Add the cream and egg and process to form a soft dough. Add more flour, 1 Tbs. at a time, until the dough cleans the sides of the work bowl and is no longer sticky. Continue processing for 1 minute to knead. Place the dough in a lightly oiled sealable plastic bag, seal and refrigerate overnight.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and punch it down to eliminate air pockets. Using a floured rolling pin, roll out the dough into an 8-inch square about 3/4 inch thick. Using a sharp knife, square off the corners. Cut the dough into sixteen 2-inch squares, then cut the squares in half on the diagonal to form 32 triangles. Transfer to a lightly floured baking sheet and let rise, uncovered, until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

In a heavy saucepan or deep fryer, pour in oil to a depth of 4 inches and heat to 375°F on a deep-frying thermometer. Add the pieces of dough, a few at a time, and deep-fry, turning as needed, until golden, about 1 minute. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels to drain.

Sprinkle generously with confectioners' sugar and serve hot.

Stand Up . . .

I like this. For the subject matter, which is near amd dear to me, but also for Zachary Levi and Zac Efron.

To find out more about Stand Up to Cancer, visit the website.

Black Widow Coming Soon . . .

We're coming up on Chicago Comic Con 2010; there's just a little over a week to go! Woo hoo! I guess that means I'd better finish my costume;)

This year by popular demand I'm going as Black Widow from Iron Man 2. So far, I've assembled the navy blue unitard, utility belts, gun holster, gloves, and boots. I need to add piping to the suit, paint the belts the correct colors, fix the gloves (sadly huge at the wrist), and attach the S.H.I.E.L.D. patch I made. I'll take pics as I progress, and post them here, of course!

Now, if only I could look as tiny as Scarlett in my unitard . . .

Worth 1000 Words . . .

via We Heart It

Sometimes, a picture says it all. Fighting through a tough week, dealing with feelings of abandonment and isolation, and still trying to get over someone.

Here's hoping the week gets better.

The Eyes Have It . . .

So, I've somehow managed to give myself an eye infection. Don't know how, but seeing as I spend every weekend blowing paint and God-knows-what-else into my eyes, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. I should actually be surprised it hasn't happened sooner; I have been doing this for four years, and if my lungs are spotted all different colors from the airbrushing, I shudder to think about my eyes. So this weekend, per doctor's orders, I will not be able to wear my contacts. As a faery I tend not to see adults but this weekend it will be even worse than that: I'll be the blind faery, bumping into children and walking into trees, falling off of rocks and slipping out of every perch. You think I'm exaggerating, but I'm a negative 7 in my prescription, which is pretty bad; I've had glasses since I was in third grade. Unless I have a seeing-eye dog, things are definitely going to be interesting.

I went to the grocery store yesterday before getting home to put on my glasses; I can't imagine what the people in the store thought, seeing me bending over the produce and staring at the cilantro from three inches away, trying to find the good bunches to feed my rabbits. It's probably best we don't talk about how close I needed to get to the beef jerky in order to see the price; that's a private matter between me and Mr. Jerky.

I certainly take seeing for granted. I won't after this weekend; I just hope I don't end up seriously injuring anyone besides myself.

Favorite Site Tuesdays(on Wednesday!): Pinup Girl Clothing

Jessica Wiggle Dress

This week's favorite site is a new favorite that I kinda can't believe I hadn't stumbled across before now: Pinup Girl Clothing. I think the pics speak for themselves: sexy retro clothing to fit all shapes and sizes and hug every curve in the best way. And the site features some of my favorite designers, like Trashy Diva (another favorite on this blog!) and Deadly Dames, and the wonderful photography of Laura Byrnes.

Ava Dress in Jade Green

How Joan Holloway is this? I can definitely see myself in this dress; locked and loaded, ladies!

Military Secretary Dress

Pair this with a little Army hat and you've got a perfect outfit for a patriotic pinup shoot. Yes, please!

Sailor Girl Nautical Bikini

Oh my goodness, I have been looking for a retro swimsuit like this forever! Love, love, love!

If you're anything like me, Pinup Girl Clothing will become a new obsession;) Turn on some Big Band swing and head on over; you won't regret it (but your pocketbook might!)

Through the Rain . . .

I started packing last night. It was a strangely upsetting and ultimately cathartic experience; there were times when I looked at everything I had and wanted to throw in the towel, and other times it felt freeing to pack things away and look at empty shelves. Every full box seemed a tiny victory.

I tackled books last night, first on my packing list. There are three shelves in my living room full of my books (alone with others scattered throughout the house); my sister's books make up less than a quarter of all the books we have. I started by eliminating books I knew I didn't need and would never read again, leaving them for my sister and A to do whatever they wanted with them. Then, I started packing what was left. Eleven boxes later, 80% of my books are packed.

As I was going through the books, I found one of my journals from my college years. I don't normally keep journals; over the years I have tried, but I was never faithful in my entries. But, this journal was from the year I lived alone. The year everything went south, and I broke down. The Bad Year. I found myself paging through it, reading things here and there, marvelling at times over how ridiculously pompous I sounded; I tried so hard to sound grown up and rather antiquated back then. Then, I found the entry from the Bad Night, the night I went crazy, the night that was a watershed for me, that showed me I could not crawl out of the hole I was in without help. It was scary reading that entry, remembering how I was feeling, though it was like seeing it through a pane of rain-covered glass, no longer distinct. Even my handwriting throughout that entry changed, starting out my regular, ordered cursive, and slowly devolving the more upset I became. Reading that snippet of memory was eye-opening; I have come a long way since that night, and I am in many ways a truly different person now. But I am also still the same in many ways, still alone, still emotionally needy with a tendency to cling too much, still repulsive to most men while at the same time being pretty frightened of them. I can't say I liked revisting those entries, but I suppose I needed to. It showed me how far I've come and how far I still need to go.

It was a little exhausting packing last night, physically and emotionally, and there's still so much to go. Let's hope it isn't all this tough.

What about you, dear readers? If someone were to find them long after you were gone, what would your old journals say about you?

 

The Sketchbook Project . . .

Thank you, Christina at Down and Out Chic for introducing me to this (if you don't already read her blog, you should!)

I know this blog tends to focus mostly on the headpieces and costumes I make, and it's easy for me to forget that before I worked with a sewing machine, I was at home with pencil and paper. It's been more than a year since I painted or drew anything; not so much because I didn't feel inspired, but I suppose just from plain, old-fashioned laziness. I look at the three blank canvases laying around my house, or the blank sketchpads, and I just sigh and shuffle them somewhere else. In my mind I see landscapes of vibrant colors or muted watercolors of purple and grey, but they stay there, in my head. But, any gift should be used, and I have let this stay dormant too long.

I was inspired and excited then to discover The Sketchbook Project. Art House Co-op in conjunction with the Brooklyn Library will be collecting moleskine sketchbooks from now until January of 2011, and for $25 they will send you a blank book with just one instruction: fill it up. There are a list of themes to choose from, or else you can let them randomly choose one for you, and the themes are brilliantly open: "In Flight", "The view from up here", "Capture the Flag", "Dirigibles and Submersibles", "it will be fun, I swear". There are 24 themes and each one is inspiring and evocative in some way. Which did I choose? "Nighttime Stories" of course. I can already see the pictures forming in my head and cannot wait to get started; a blank sketchbook is like a box without a label, full of the possibility of being.

Some previous sketchbooks

What's even cooler is that the sketchbooks will go on tour in March of 2011, and after that will be available to be checked out from the Brooklyn Library. Each book comes with a barcode label so that you can track your book and even see how many times it gets checked out! The tour is heading to cities like San Francisco, Atlanta, Portland, Austin, and even Chicago (my book will be there even if I'm not!). As the site says, it's like a concert tour, but for sketchbooks;) I'm breaking out my pencils and pens and paints right now . . .

Check out the Sketchbook Project and sign up; I'd love to see some of the things my readers do, and i'll try to post some scans of my entries as well.

Because the sky is blue . . .

This weekend was a strange series of ups and downs: lots of wonderful interactions with children, but a few things that were fairly stressful and upsetting. I know there are weekends like this, where things feel off and it is sometimes a struggle to keep going;  at one time I was chased by someone who wanted a picture and followed me through gardens and over rocks, with no sense of boundaries or personal space. There were so many people there on Sunday that I spent a lot of time perched in trees or on balconies, because it was impossible to move without being hemmed in on all sides. There are weekends when I deal well with this, but this last weekend was not one of them.

There were some lovely things too, of course: a little girl who tackled me for a hug, and one who kissed me right on the cheek; Puck's flirting with the Queen via juicy tomato; Petals taking a nap on me while we were gathered around a sleeping troll; four faeries playing catch with a ball of energy. Moments like these make the frustrations or upsetting things fade into the background, and remind me why I am so privileged to work with these amazing people and to be doing what I do.

It will be difficult coming to the end of the Season. I am starting to miss it already, good and bad, highs and lows.