Because 2 days is never enough.

You may have noticed that Mindy and I have not be frequently contributors to our blog over the past few months. Mindy has an iron-clad excuse (infant) and I don’t have anything nearly convincing.  This summer, I just wasn’t feeling the urge to make stuff that I generally feel. But, as soon as the weather turned just mildly more crisp, I got the inspiration back.  All I could think all last week was how much I wanted to bake a pie that weekend.

Well, I’m here to tell you that it pays to dream big. My childhood fantasies have all come true and I did, indeed bake a pie. But not just any pie.

The Tartine Cookbook is unparalleled. Pretty pictures, good design, but most of all phenomenal recipes that let me recreate the out of this world sweets at the Tartine Bakery in San Francisco. The secret for the apple nougatine tart is to carmelize the apples in butter and sugar before you put them in the pie.  Not surprisingly, butter and sugar did quite the trick on this pie.

Delicious. And I think I turned a new leaf on craft procrastination. I’m ready to take on the big guns, like the baby quilt that’s basically ready to file neglect charges against me.

It’s official – I have finished knitting the baby blanket (and successfully completed birthing class), so the baby can now arrive!

Erik picked out the colors for the blanket, which is knitted in Blue Sky Alpaca organic cotton.  The great thing about this pattern is that it forced me to learn how to pick up stitches on a completed work since the ruffled edge is knitted after the rest of the blanket is complete.

Now I have to get used to the idea of my beautiful blanket covered in baby spit-up.

Jess, Kate and I had a fun-filled adventure at the Renegade Craft Fair in Williamsburg not too long ago. We strolled the crafty aisles and ogled the goods after consuming brown rice crispy treats (with cranberries, almonds and flax) from the beloved Treats Truck.

There were definitely some recurring themes, the most prominent being mustaches. That’s right – mustache jewelry, mustaches on t-shirts and notecards, etc. And it also seems safe to say that squirrels are the new owls.

Needless to say, all three of us walked away with some great purchases. One of mine was a felt patch featuring a cute marsupial with it’s offspring. It seemed especially appropriate for me to use it as a way to customize my Ergo baby carrier (which will be my way of making myself into a marsupial).

Note from Jess:

Check out some photos here.

The photos feature the mustache meme and other common indie-crafter motifs like perched birds, ironic t-shirts, and fonty cards.
Speaking of birds on wires, Mindy and I were particularly taken with these and each bought a necklace.

(I temporarily lost my little pouch with the business cards I picked up, so I’ll try to figure out who makes all this stuff and post it when I get the chance)

Neighbors Project is about mobilizing new generation of people living in cities who are bridging the gap between newer and older residents in our neighborhoods. The Neighbors Project disseminates tools, technical support, and inspiration to help this happen. My friend Kit is the CEO and my friend Jeffery is the President of the Board.

One neighborly project of the Neighbors Project is the Food and Liquors project, which is based in Chicago and is working to encourage neighborhood bodegas to sell more fresh produce and neighbors to shop there more. As a fundraiser, the organization put together the Bodega Party in a Box kit, which includes, among other nifty treats, a cookbook with recipes from food bloggers around the country.

As I mentioned, I’ve got friends in high places at the Neighbors Project. Hence, I’m a “food blogger from around the country” now. And, if it weren’t exciting enough to be published in this great looking 44-page book, I’m also in Conde Nast Traveler online.

Check out the Neighbors Project and order your Bodega Party in a Box now!

And… as seen in Conde Nast Traveler online:

Banana Bread Pudding
by Jessica Arnold of 3DayWeekend
Clinton Hill, Brooklyn

In order to make this banana bread pudding, you’ll first need to bake banana bread. You’ll only need one loaf for the bread pudding, but it’s nice to have another loaf. If you’re anything like us, you’ll find a way to enjoy the remaining loaf (like hot out of the oven, with some butter).

Serves 8 to 10
Drink with coffee or tea

Ingredients:
2 loaves banana bread
Custard
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
5 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Garnish: 1 banana (optional)
Bourbon Sauce (optional, recipe below):
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 tablespoons bourbon, or more to taste

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs.
3. Cut banana bread into one-inch cubes (it’s okay if it crumbles).
4. Add milk, cream, sugar and vanilla.
5. Add bread cubes and allow them to soak for half an hour, gently pressing the cubes into the custard occasionally.
6. Pour mixture into a baking pan or casserole dish.
7. Optional: Slice a banana into coins, and layer coins on the top of the bread pudding. If garnishing with bananas, bake the bread pudding covered with a sheet of tin foil until the final ten minutes.
8. Bake until set and golden on top, about 45 to 50 minutes.

Bourbon Sauce Directions:
1. Melt butter in small sauce pan.
2. Whisk together sugar and egg and add to sauce pan.
3. Whisk constantly over low heat until thickened (about 10 minutes).
4. Allow to cool and add bourbon.

Serve Banana Bread Pudding warm with sauce drizzled on top

I’ve been wanting to hang a bulletin board above my desk for a while now, but I could never find cork board that was appealing.  I looked online for nice cork squares but they cost more than I wanted to spend.

Erik and I were in a long line at the new Ikea in Brooklyn recently and while we were waiting I noticed a bin full of trivets near the checkout counters.  The trivets were made of cork, came in packs of three, and were only $2 a pack.  A bulletin board in the rough!  I bought two packs of trivets and hung them above my desk using self-sticking foam mounting tape.  Voila – a funky homemade bulletin board for cheap!

Our dear Mindy is about to have a baby.

In order to celebrate this joyous occasion, we had a small shower for her friends and family at my house. We naturally emphasized the handmade for the festivities.

The lovely and talented Kate helped me with the invitations, providing inspirational genius and supplies, including an introduction to Speedball Speedy Stamp Blocks. I’m used to the old linolium block, which I love/hate. I have made some great prints with lino, but have also dug my carver deep into my hand on pretty much every project. The speedy stamp is, well, speedy. And injury free!

For the party favors, I hunted some thrift shops in Manhattan for old (cheap) teacups and made some “tea-lights.”

Mindy and her mom, Joan, made some delicious finger sandwiches, chocolate chip cookies, and the Tartine shortbread cookies that could break your heart. Add some ginger scones and strawberry rhubarb compote and ricotta, honey, fig crostini and I think my stomach was as big as Mindy’s by the end of the party.

Being the official 3dayweekend baby is a pretty big job, and there’s a scary possibility that this kid will be wearing a tragic, knit wardrobe and playing with odd, homemade toys. But we’ll have to wait until August 2 to find out (or will we???)

I have been extremely remiss in posting blog updates, but I have a good excuse – I’m pregnant!  Or as my friend Alyssa says – I am working on the ultimate craft project.  One that spawns many other craft projects along the way.

The first completed baby project is a stuffed duck that I knitted.  I am embarrassed to say that I started knitting this duck for a friend’s baby (who is hardly a baby anymore) and by the time I picked up the project again it only made sense to make it for my baby.  (How convenient!)

My brother, Stephen, was visiting last week.  When he saw the duck he got excited that I had knitted a Ferdinand replica.  As soon as he said “Ferdinand” I immediately remembered that I had a stuffed animal duck when I was a kid named Ferdinand.  I totally forgot about him until Stephen mentioned it.  Unfortunately neither of us remember how Ferdinand got his name, but it really is the perfect name for a duck.

Meet Ferdinand (#2)…

You know you’ve reached maximum craft-dorkdom when, upon getting stuck home on Friday night, you think to yourself, “cool, now I can make that potholder I’ve been thinking about!”

Yes, friends, this is how I spent my evening. And, yes, it was glorious.

I used some leftover quilt batting (from that quilt I still haven’t finished) and some fabric I had lying around from various other projects to craft a really fantastic potholder. If I do say so myself.

The only bad news is that in drawing my own pattern, I didn’t leave enough room for a seam allowance and, consequently, the thumb area is a bit constricting. It kind of cramps that opposable thumb style that humans rock so smoothly. Well, Karl and I have been practicing and I think we can still accomplish all our basic pot-holding needs required. And I’ll just correct the pattern next time around.

Once upon a time, a girl bought some beautiful steel grey alpaca yarn at The Yarn Tree on Bedford. And from it, she made a fantastic cable-knit hat. Which she lost on an airplane. Then, to console herself, she made a matching shorty cable knit scarf with a cloth covered turquoise button that her boyfriend bought for her. This scarf was the best thing she ever knitted. People complimented her on it constantly, expressed amazement when they discovered she made it herself. She was in love. She tried to get more of the grey alpaca wool to make another matching hat, but found out it was discontinued. This only intensified her bond to the scarf.

Then, one terrible day, it was gone. It was torn brutally from her life at a high school where the girl was visiting for work. (okay, not that brutally, since she just left it in the office, but still)
This weekend, the girl tried to recreate another shorty scarf. It was so ugly that it’s picture won’t grace this blog and it will promptly be unraveled. This only served to remind her how much she loved the first scarf.

The scarf is greatly missed. Not a chilly New York day goes by that she doesn’t think fondly of the scarf and bitterly of her loss. These photos are the only evidence of the scarf that exist in her new, empty world.

Farewell fond scarf! May the high school student who found you in the Principal’s office appreciate your loveliness.

Monsanto, as a large producer of “recombined” milk (the “r” in rBGH), wants to suppress the “rBGH-free” label at the state level so consumers don’t know the milk is recombined.

“Consumption of dairy products from cows treated with rbGH raise a number of health issues,” explained Michael Hansen, a senior scientist for Consumers Union. “That includes increased antibiotic resistance, due to use of antibiotics to treat mastitis and other health problems, as well as increased levels of IGF-1, which has been linked to a range of cancers.”

Canada, Australia, and parts of the EU have already banned Monsanto’s recombined milk outright. In order to stop the same thing from happening in the US, Monstanto aims to change the labels on milk to hide the issue.

“Absolutely nothing good could come from a ban on rBGH-free labeling,” concludes Hansen. “More information is a good thing, and all these state actions are anti-consumer, restrict free speech and interfere with the smooth functioning of free markets.”

Consumers have a right to know what’s in their milk, and dairies have a right to tell them.

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