brazilian cheese puffs

i was mindlessly browsing my facebook feed one day when i clicked on a recipe for brazilian cheese puffs that popped up from a friend of a friend.  if you have ever been to an allyoucaneat brazilian steak house, you've probably had these breads, served with a bunch of sides.  they are delicious and addicting, and i always find it hard to save room for the meat to come.

i have made these puffs no less than three times, with resounding success.  extremely simple to make and super delicious, the hardest part is finding the tapioca flour, which isn't all that difficult.   i recommend bringing a batch or two to a potluck-- i did a couple of times and they were devoured quickly.

the recipe is from my new favorite food blogger, kirbiecravings, who, coincidentally, also lives in san diego.  browsing through the rest of her blog, i've found myself developing a huge blog crush as her restaurant reviews and recipes excite me to the point of salivation (think i'm going to have to buy nutella in bulk from costco now).  from what i can surmise from her posts, we have fairly similar tastes in food-- and while it may appear from the general content of my blog that i am more partial to crafting and traveling as hobbies, i really love food above all else.

i think i want to make this next.  or this!  or this... oh boy. 

a friendly encounter

hello, friend.

so nice of you to drop by and visit.

thinking of you easel card

nothing like a handmade card to make your day brighter.   i just received this card out of the blue from a dear, personal friend back in texas- thescrappybug on etsy.

i feel so special.

i am always so impressed with her paper craftiness.

i wasn't smart enough to figure out on my own that it was an easel card.  

it's the little things in life.  really.

temporary wall decor

temporary, easily removable wall decor that i put up because i was tired of looking at a blank wall.  

supplies: 

two thumbtacks.one long piece of string.mini clothes pins.several of my spoonflower samples.

that's all! i may remove the fabric samples and replace them with cards i've received instead.  or add another layer underneath. or get bored of the whole thing and remove it entirely.  

happiness in a jar for 12.99

i had a craving for something sweet, and as usual i wasn't about to ignore it.   
i found myself in whole foods where i stood for at least twenty minutes trying to pick the perfect dessert.  i went with a tiny, overpriced coconut cake.    

but before i managed to leave whole foods, i was distracted by a small, beautiful bouquet in a mason jar in the floral section.  there was no price tag.  i was very curious what it went for.  the florist was not in sight, and i waited patiently for several minutes for someone to come help me. i was greeted by a scruffy farmer looking guy wearing flannel and a cap...   like really scruffy. 

"hi, did you need help?"

"yes, i was wondering if this mason jar bouquet was for sale, and for how much?"

scruffy farmer man examined the jar. 

"it's not priced, and i don't know when this was made. but the water looks fresh, so maybe today?  the florist is gone for the day, so i can't ask.   if you want to buy it, i could price it for 12.99 for you. i don't think i can go any lower than that."

"i'd be willing to take it for 12.99."

scruffy farmer man fiddled around through a bunch of papers to get the price code. handed me a card with the information on it. 

"uh, do you want a ribbon with it?"

"sure, why not?"

scruffy farmer man fumbled with some box under the counter. i heard crashing noises followed by a lot of swearing about bad quality construction.  he emerged with a box of ribbon for me to select, and spent many minutes awkwardly trying to replicate a bow that the florist has out as a sample.   

"this is the best i can do. i'm sorry it looks like a ...bow tie."

"oh it's fine, really, i think it looks great. thank you."

for some reason i found this entire encounter amusing. it probably had something to do with watching the scruffy farmer man try to tie a delicate bow with his big hands.  you're probably scratching your head right now and wondering what the point of this story was.

none, really, aside from sharing the beauty of my mason jar flowers.   ranunculus is one of my favorite flowers ever.  

aren't they beautiful?  i just couldn't pass them up for $13, although i probably shouldn't have spent the money.   there was a time when i thought fresh flowers were a waste.  but ever since i lived in finland, with the long winters where most things are sleeping or dead, i have loved having fresh flowers around.

how often do you have fresh flowers at home? 

buy a narwhal + unicorn shirt

my friend tree saw my last post and shared with me this T that she received at a party (i think)... screen-printed... at the party... sounds far fancier than any party i ever go to.

it's pretty funny and cute, so i thought i'd share it with you too.  in case you want to buy one.  they donate gross proceeds to a non-profit supporting domestic violence survivors, so if you get one, you can also give yourself an extra pat on the back for contributing to such a worthy cause.


monkeyandseal.com

hug a narwhal

because narwhals are better than unicorns.

i've never quite understood the fuss about unicorns, when there is a far superior and NON-mythical animal with a fancy horn in existence.   i mean, whales are already more awesome than horses... add a long spiral horn, and really, how is this even a competition?  truly, i am stumped.

i am not sure what triggered this idea initially.  it was some conversation many, many moons ago with my bff- these days, bffbf-  that inspired me to come up with the slogan 'hug a narwhal' and 'better than a unicorn' accompanied by a simple drawing of the neglected animal.

i felt compelled to turn them into t-shirts.
and that's how i came to learn how to screen print (the photo emulsion method), but not before i over-burned my image on to the first screen and had to start over.  that made me pretty cranky, but once i made a successful screen and test print, i created this.

i realize it's a silly t-shirt, but i was pretty excited.  i also made myself a long sleeved t-shirt to putter around the apartment in.  i forgot to take a picture.

i went on to buy another screen (which, btw, michael's craft stores no longer carry, something i had to learn by driving all around san diego. i eventually bought one off of amazon.) to make version two.

i  gifted these to my foxy model along with chocolate malt sandwich cookies.  they were delicious.  i accidentally ate half the batch a few. 

i found the instruction booklet in my speedball screen printing kit a bore, but found this tutorial by lilblueboo very helpful.   if you're interested in screen printing for the first time, i suggest you take a look there first.  if you don't really feel like collecting all those supplies, you can leave out the glass and get away with not using pushpins.  i just taped my transparencies on the screen instead of placing glass on top and it worked fine, and while the pushpins are helpful, they are not all that necessary.

so, i have to know- what do you think is better? the unicorn or the narwhal?