Category: At Home

Sewing

Last night I broke out my sewing machine for the first time since I’ve lived in this apartment. Crazy, right? I just hadn’t had the opportunity or to make anything since the apartment came with curtains (yay!). Now, however, Doug’s co-worker is going to pay me a little somethin’ somethin’ for making him 4 curtains. And I definitely would like some extra grocery money at this point in my life. They gave me the fabric and yesterday I got to work! Cutting out fabric is my least favorite part of any sewing project ever. Well, I’ll probably finish them tonight. I forgot how insanely easy it is to sew rectangles–haha!

Anyway, This little project is making several things very evident:

  • Making curtains for my own house is going to be super easy when the time comes!
  • I really, really need to get a ironing board to press seams. These are gonna look a hot mess if the recipients don’t give them a good pressing before going up on the wall.
  • Plaid is GREAT for making sure to get straight lines. Just cut on one of the lines in the pattern!
  • I need to use my sewing machine more than once every couple years. It gets musty and stinky sitting in the sketchy cabinet in my office. (Even though it was in a sewing machine bag).

New Home Tour

The home tour has been greatly improved. Actually, that’s an understatement. Just go check it out and you’ll see what I mean!

Fake it ’till you Bake it

Inspired by my new friend Libby’s blog about teaching yourself to cook through trial and error, I made something experimental, cute, and ultimately fabulously delicious last night. Brace yourselves for…. baby lasagnas, or lasagnettes, and I called them:

I started with some Barilla lasagna pieces, soaked 5 min in boiling water (to speed cooking time). I didn’t have an appropriately-sized baking dish, so I used my little Corningware ramekins (so cute! so french!). I cut each lasagna piece in half so as to make a square. Then I sauteed one diced tomato and 1/2 diced onion with olive oil, dried basil and oregano, and fresh rosemary (be careful! a little rosemary goes a long way!). I also threw in some zucchini, ’cause we have a TON to use up (did I mention the zucchini was almost 3 inches in diameter?). The cheese I used was mozzarella and “Italian blend.”

The layers went like so: Pam (to prevent sticking), lasagna piece, tomato mixture, mozzarella cheese, zucchini circle. Lasagna piece, tomato mixture, cheese. I used the Italian blend on top because it browns prettier than mozzarella.

Throw in a pre-heated oven (350 degrees) and bake about 20 minutes! The ramekins will be hot. Just a disclaimer.

Did I mention it was delicious? One thing I learned though: it was hard to eat the zucchini circle. The flavor it added was good, but next time I’ll chop it up to make it more bite-sized.