Best Soup Recipe - Cheddar-Ale

Finding that I had three completely different recipes for Cheddar-Ale soup and none of them were vegetarian I experimented with the best elements of them all and made a vegetarian version that has to be the best soup I've ever had. Dipping vegetables and bread into it like fondue was also a fun way to use the leftovers. Here is my recipe:

1/2 stick of margarine or butter
1/2 of 1 large yellow or white onion, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
3 carrots diced
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups milk (I used 1%)
1 3/4 vegetable stock
12 fl. oz. of ale (approx. 1 bottle)
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 1/4 sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Put large pan over medium-low heat on stove. Melt butter and then add onion, celery, and carrots. Let cook (and stir occasionally) until softened, about 10 minutes. Then stir in flour and let cook for approx. 3 minutes. Increase heat to med-high and stir in milk and vegetable stock. Simmer until thickened (took me around 5 minutes) and stir throughout. Put this mixture into blender and puree until smooth.

Put puree into stockpot and set over medium heat. Add ale and mustard then let simmer for 5 minutes. Stir grated cheese into mixture 1/2 cup at a time slowly. Serves 4-6
Enjoy!!

LOST Season 3 Finale

Still reeling from the season finale 'Through the Looking Glass' LOST aired last week I decided some wardrobe updates were called for. To my luck, a stack of canvas grocery bags have been sitting in my home looking drab, and a bottle of unused black paint was hiding in a corner cabinet. So after printing out the Dharma Initiative logo, I created a makeshift (and rather flimsy) stencil and got to work. The Others would probably be down with my bag (or not.) At least I'm keeping busy this weekend.

Needing more of a fix I searched Flickr to see what other people created in homage to LOST. What I found was the most amazing cake featuring the polar bear, black rock, Dharma shark, and more all on the island surrounded by water. Also these great fish biscuit cookies with instructions on how to make your own fish biscuits here: LOST Fish Biscuit Cookies Info

Kiel Mead Necklaces

Brooklyn based designer Kiel Mead creates jewelry inspired by everyday objects. I came across this necklace fashioned after a matchstick and couldn't believe it was only $40.00 over at Areaware! All of his items are handmade and some of his other designs for sale include a gold retainer necklace (my favorite but slightly more expensive), forget me knot rings, and car key rings.

Growing Business

Creating a clever and unique business card is a common goal we all share. So imagine my glee when I found these green cards from Inhabitat today. They look like a standard card, but add water and they start growing alfalfa or cress from the side opening. I would love to have one of these guys growing on my computer desk. The company also sells a Landscaped business card that grows in a mini-garden pattern across the face of the card.

New headboard, well first headboard

My bedroom looks pathetic at best. In the past year I've been purchasing furniture to fill out the living room and dining area (since it is a small apartment and barely fits a two person table) and avoided spending any time in the bedroom. So now I need a headboard, which has been difficult to find because not only do I have a full size bed, but I don't want anything wood or metal (the metal is flexible since I've found some nice modern headboards made of steel.)

West Elm has a pretty good selection of headboards that are not to steep in price. I'm really liking this handwoven rope headboard (only $329). Someone was selling the exact same headboard on Craigslist months ago for $100 and I was reluctant to buy it since I was building up the living room at the time. Talk about 'buyers remorse' reversed! Every day I check Craiglist to see if someone just happens to be selling the bed but its been a futile effort so far.

Etsy Everywhere

If you haven't checked out the website Etsy yet, you don't know what your missing. But you should! It's a place that sells all things handmade, and the makers of the goods are the ones selling directly to you. Each artist sets their own prices, which are usually far below retail, and you get a deal on photography, art, jewelry, clothes, handbags, dishware..... (the list goes on and on.)

My Etsy store, TomorrowGirl is full of original art and one-of-a-kind penny necklaces. The necklace idea started after a visit the Dixieland Stampede (Dolly Parton'sBranson, Missori) where I got my first souvenir penny. The penny sat around for a year until I decided to give it a purpose and refashioned it into a necklace. After being asked where I got it by too many people to count I decided to start making more. In the next few weeks you'll see penny bracelets starting to appear in my shop as well!

Cheap framing

I've been meaning to get around and frame this giant french Smashing Pumpkins subway poster that I got on ebay a year ago. But it was so big. And I didn't my apartment to look like my room in college.

Then I saw this picture when flipping through a CB2 catalog:


I headed over to Michael's to get some LP frames but I found some scrapbooking frames on super sale (they were only slightly smaller than the LP frames).... and voila!