First eggplant, now okra

Another vegetable which I previously dismissed has been reclaimed! I've grown up in the south generally despising "southern vegetables" - okra being at the top of my list.

I had a bag in my CSA box a couple weeks ago though and knew I needed to do something with them. I found a lovely recipe for Indian-style okra on All Recipes and thought I would try that.

SO. GOOD.

You just melt butter in a skillet. Chop on onion and saute it until tender. Slice the okra and throw it into the mix. Sprinkle on cumin, coriander, ginger, salt, and pepper. Cook that for a few minutes - stirring often. Serve and enjoy!

I was quite sad when okra did not appear in my CSA box the next week.

You can find the full recipe with actual measurements and specific times here: Indian Style Okra

The Empty Space in My Bedroom

Here are a few pictures of what I have done so far in my bedroom.

Bedspread/Curtains/Pillows are all from Khols. It is not a color scheme I was looking for - but I fell in love. I made the headboard out of some MDF, quilt batting, fabric, and a staple gun. I wish I had taken "process" pictures, but oh well. I plan on doing something similar in my guest room - so when I get around to that I'll take pictures. The mirrors on the side of the headboard are from Kirklands. Lamp is from Steinmart. The cushion on the chest at the end is covered in the same fabric as the gold on the headboard.

I found the dresser at a consignment store and the beautiful print at a thrift store. The things on top are totally different now - I really should take an updated picture. I have some antique books up there now.

Just a close-up of the pretty lamp :)

So, yes, that's all pretty - but when I'm sitting in my bed I see this:

So I've been brainstorming what to do with the space - here is my original sketch:

The "big" frame in the middle will be a copy of my family tree. I'm having a calligraphist re-write it for me on pretty paper and such. Around that I'll put a collage of family picture in sepia tones. I have a few antique frames that I've collected from ebay - and am continuing the search.

The hardest thing to find is, of course, the chair. I don't' have much space there. I need it to bee green and/or gold, and I want an antique style (I drew a wingback - but I really want more of the style that is in the print over my dresser) - and I don't want to pay hundreds of dollars for it! ha.

I have the lampshade I want on the lamp on the table - but I still need the table....and the lamp. I also need the tall vase - which I believe I'll put in the corner by the dresser rather than where it is sketched at.

I'm kind of use to the white walls of the apartment - but I'm thinking about starching some fabric up on that wall - - if I happen to see the perfect print I'll probably buy it -but otherwise the white walls don't bother me all that much.

The calligraphist's samples should be coming in the mail any day now - so my next project is to figure out who to kick off the family tree so that it all fits in the frame I have....or break down and get the whole thing and just buy a new frame.

I'll keep you updated!

Magazine Boxes

This project did not turn out quite how I hoped and I may re-do it eventually. For now I'm going to leave it alone though and I thought I would still share it with you.

I ordered some plain white cardboard magazine files from IKEA. They look like this:

Not too exciting, eh?


So, I found some wrapping paper that I thought would match my living room to cover the boxes. I picked one with a pattern just to make my life difficult in covering the boxes. So that the pattern would line up I traced out the end of each box onto the paper - for the two boxes that would be on the end of the row I also traced the visible side panel. I outlined the hole on the front of each box to help me line up the paper on the box correctly when it came time to glue.




Then, cut out each strip of paper and glue to the boxes (I used modge podge). If you're using a patterned paper - be very careful to line up the pattern. I messed up on the first one as you may be able to tell.




And, then you have a pretty little set of boxes on your shelf to hide away all those magazine you keep around for some reason.





Ok, so what I didn't like about my first attempt at this so that I know for next time (I still have some extra file boxes) or so that you don't repeat that mistake:


The paper was too thin (you see all the cardboard bumps) and not very bright and interesting on the shelf. If you're looking for something kind of understated - that would be good - but in my mind I wanted something that popped a little more. I was hoping the blue butterflies on the paper would've sparkled more.


I'm not very good at small details - so - I should've gone with coordinating papers rather than trying to match a pattern so the imperfections were not so noticeable. I also think I will cover all four sides of the boxes next time rather than just the visible ones so that I have more diversity in where I place them/how I group them.



Let me know if you try this and how your's turns out!

I take back everything bad I thought about eggplant

So I was not very fond of eggplant. It looked funny. Felt funny. Smelled funny. Was a disappointing shade of dirty white that turned brown and old-looking fast once peeled. It doesn't really have a redeeming quality in and of itself.

However, I am getting two to three eggplants per week and I need to do something with them! So I went in search of some recipes. I stumbled across one on www.allrecipes.com with the rather presumptuous name of Eggplant Croquettes. I just called them "Eggplant Patties" in my head as I was making them as I did not think eggplant deserved such a dignified name.

I followed the recipe with the exception of adding cumin and baking the patties rather than frying them. (10 minutes on each side at 350 F)


oh. my. goodness.


Croquettes they are! These things are delicious! I was lazy and did not take pictures (thinking it wouldn't be anything to write home on the blog about anyway) but they are amazing! Go! Try them! If you're local I'll give you an eggplant!


As this is the single domestic - I did not cook up the whole batch but froze a few of them to enjoy at a later date.

I think I found a new favorite meal.

Ratatouille

I went looking for what to make with my eggplants from my CSA box and found a recipe for Ratatouille. Despite the fact that the movie of the same name rather creeped me out with the whole rats in the kitchen thing, I thought I would try out the recipe.

It's a VERY easy recipe. You just chop up the veggies and throw them all together. I did have to add some tobasco at the end because it wasn't spicy enough for me - so I think next time I'll throw in some peppers to the veggie mix.

I cooked up some plain white ricce to serve alongside of the dish and it was quite yummy!

Here's my new thing - recipe cards with all the info! Enjoy! Is it readable? I may have to try a different way of uploading the image. Let me know!