Friday, August 27, 2010

Recipes - Mint Lemonade

lemonade


I'm using the word recipe really lightly here guys. This isn't an exact science and lemonade is one of those things that everyone has a different taste for.. So, these are my very loose guidelines on how to make it!

So, let me start out by saying that there are about a zillion different ways that you can fix lemonade. I've tried a few of them out and I always find that my favorites are the ones you get at county fairs that are shaken and simply involve a fresh squeezed lemon, water, and sugar. It's just a really nice lemonade that's equal parts sweet and sour and just the right consistency.. So, that's what I was trying to do with this recipe. Simple summer county fair lemonade, but with a little extra fanciness.

I have one of those 1L Weck carafes that has the sealable lid. This is great for both fridge and picnic use and I got mine for $8 from Heath Ceramics (the one at the Ferry Building) but, I'm sure you can find them even cheaper somewhere else... This is a really great thing to use for shaking your lemonade so that the sugar dissolves, but certainly - make do with what you have!

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IMG_8675

Ingredients:
- Lemons - I'd say 1 lemon per cup - I used 5 lemons for my 1L carafe - so I went a bit over .. but you can decide if you like it more mellow/more sour
- A few bunches of mint - you can use as much or as little as you prefer
- Sugar, to taste (I probably used about a cup for the 1L carafe)
- Water

What you'll need:
- Knife
- Lemon squeezer
- A deeper mortar and pestle ... or just a pestle and a bowl (the pestle is pretty important, it's going to be really hard to do your smashing without it, I've tried just using a wooden spoon and it's just not the same)
- A container with a good lid for shaking the lemonade, tupperware would do
- A sieve - this is handy for seed removal

llemonade

To Make:
Rinse your mint in cold water and break it off the stems. I recommend cutting or ripping it down into smaller pieces, otherwise you're going to have a precarious drinking experience later with the large leaves. Set that aside in your mortar, or bowl.

Slice and juice lemons. Add the juice to the mint and add sugar.
Now smash it all to bits taking extra care to try and grind up that sugar into a syrup as best as you can.

Pour that into your carafe, add water until you reach about 1.5" from the top - and shake until you can no longer see sugar crystals.

IMG_8698


That's all... I feel silly for even posting this it's so simple. But, its good and it's a lovely way to spend a summer afternoon!
You can get even fancier and add blueberries when you're smashing up the mint! Or skip the mint and just do blueberries!

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Thursday, August 26, 2010

Lomo (and digital) Adventures - Lands End

Golden Gate Bridge

The very, very first time I went to San Francisco my boyfriend took me to this really nice little park called Lands End. It was literally the first thing I did after I landed (well, besides In N Out) and I haven't been back since. This past Tuesday was a pretty magical day. In fact, it might be the day I'll mark down as my favorite in all of my San Francisco history. It was hot. Like, 90s hot. And it stayed that way through the night. No fog, no mist, no wind. Just perfect East Coast summer weather, minus most of the humidity. It was a total freak show day because of course it's back to grey cold windy miserableness. But, in honor of the sun, I made mint lemonade. (a lazy recipe of sorts to come) and we went bak to Lands End for a crystal clear view of the Golden Gate Bridge. It's was perfect.



Lands End



Lands End





Westley

I'm wearing some tapestry flats from etsy and a 30s pink voile dress from ebay. There's a panel of horizontal pintucks all through the center and little lacey bits around the arms and neckline. It was cheap, but there were some issues - an unfinished hem and terrible blue ink stains all around the arms... After soaking it for 3 days in hot oxy clean baths the ink came up and I finallly got around to fixing the hem on Monday night. It's a size too big, but I don't care one bit!

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Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Lomo Adventures: Fort Funston

My dance card has been full the past few weeks, it's been so nice! But, that also means I've been seriously neglecting this blog. There was a flurry of activity last week in my etsy store when I cleaned out my closet - but, it's been slow again the past few days. Not to worry - I have lots of photos for this blog and lots of dresses to come!

We'll start backwards and work our way forward! These photos were from a really nice afternoon spent with some friends visiting from NYC. The weather in San Francisco was sunny and lovely but when we got out towards Fort Funston it was so grey/windy/chilly...









hang gliders





There were all these funny hang gliders that kept buzzing in and out of the sky. It seems like fun, but I have a fear of falling.. being hooked into one of those seems like one of the worst things I can possibly imagine!

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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

The World of Interiors - Old Bags

There's a magazine store in my neighborhood that sells back issues of popular magazines and my boyfriend has amassed this beautiful stack of old copies of The World of Interiors. I think it's safe to say that it's probably my favorite magazine .. but I never look at them. Funny to say something is your favorite but never even thumb through it. But, it's like they're too good and I know I'll get crazy obsessive over it. I even have the stack on the very top shelf to keep myself away.

Well, I think it's time to get over my weird thing, give the book shelf a makeover and get those magazines a good home on the bottom shelf. I'm hoping to do a little weekly series (maybe bi-weekly though?) of scans from the stack.

To start it off we have an article from 1984's May issue.

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2

The World of Interiors - Old Bags

4

The World of Interioirs - Old Bags

5

The World of Interiors - Old Bags
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26 years later (this spread is older then me!) and these bags look like something that would still be featured today. I guess that's why I like World of Interiors so much. A steadily beautiful and classic aesthetic that transcends time and trends... Well, except that backdrop. Kind of wish they would have stuck with a more neutral color - but, whatever.. it was the 80s.

(for the complete scan of the article, please go to my flickr!)

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Monday, August 16, 2010

Wrapped up In Books - The Frolics of the Fruits and Vegetables

Here we have the last of it - Elizabeth Gordon's Mother Earth's Children; The Frolics of the Fruits and Vegetables, published in 1914. Here are some of my favorites, but make sure you take a peek at that link! Too many funny/cute little anthropomorphic edibles!

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Endive and Celery
Endive and Celery
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Carrots
Carrots
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Miss Cucumber
Miss Cucumber
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Sugar Cane
Sugar Cane
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Brussel Sprout and Horseradish
Brussel Sprout and Horseradish
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Hubbard  Squash
Hubbard Squash
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Garlic
Garlic

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Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Jack London State Park

This past Sunday my boyfriend, Westley (the pup!), and I scooted out of San Francisco and drove up to the Jack London State Park in Sonoma for a much needed warmer weather afternoon. There were errands to do in the city in the morning, and terrible traffic trying to get to/over the Golden Gate Bridge so we got there with only 2 hours to spare before the park closed. I took photos with my lomo but I haven't been having much luck with it lately. Two rolls wasted on dead batteries (including photos from this day) and then I forgot to change the ISO setting when I put a new roll of film in on Sunday - so I can't imagine any of those photos are going to come out well - but, we did take some digital photos!



Jack London State Park







Jack London State Park via LC-A+

Jack London State Park via LC-A+
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Jack London State Park via LC-A+
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It would have been a perfect two hours if it weren't for the little burrs all over the paths that got stuck all over Westley. I must have pulled at least 50 out of his fur on the car ride home!

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Monday, August 9, 2010

1929

2
. . .

3


I don't know who these ladies are - I found their photos in a shirt box with some black construction paper photo albums that belonged to my grandmother. I'm guessing they must be old friends. I really like them though - and I really like that the pictures were probably considered mess-ups.

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Wrapped up In Books - Bird Children

More from the Elizabeth Gordon series! Bird Children was published in 1912 and it's the 2nd of her little anthropomorphic trilogy. It's past my bed time though, so I'll leave you with some of my favorites ! (and if you want to view them larger, take a peek at my flickr!)

birds3
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bird1
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bird2
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>birds5
. . .

birds4


(Please let me know if these photos work and if they do work - are they cropped in your browser? I'm playing around with different photo sizes and I know everyone sees things a little differently depending on what browser you're using!)

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Friday, August 6, 2010

Summer Homes

When I was in Massachusetts I got major hungry eyes for lake side, clothes line living. Like, bad. I have a few nice photos from my maternal grandparents when they were first married that I have to scan in that involve a black scottie pup named Bootise and some equally humble and charming clothes lines ... but, I just want to share with you some photos that I can't stop going back to. As if the fine little day blog wasn't lovely enough, she now has the most perfect summer home.













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