Doing Stuff

September 2, 2010 by Cedar

These past few weeks have been crazy. I have been doing so much and seeing so many people that I have hardly had the time to sit back and catch my breath. Between my brother coming to stay for a few days, a friend in from Dublin, starting school, and some other big surprises, I really have felt quite out of it and not entirely myself. Russ and I seem to have gotten out of the habit of doing ‘things’ and have turned into even bigger homebodies than ever before.

In my (very little) spare time I have been working on painting. The class I am taking at school is another painting course, so I have lots of time every week, both at home and at school, to work on my paintings.

Somehow through all the madness Russ took a day off from work so we could go to the Del Mar races. Here is a snapshot from before the races started.

Currently I am trying to get back in the swing of things. I have ignored my garden for quite a bit, and it really needs some tending to. I have put off baking bread for several weeks, and greatly miss the smell of fresh bread filling the house. I also need to get back in the habit of cooking our own meals. We have been getting take out several times a week just because it is so easy. Hopefully in the coming weeks I can start to get my life back to a more normal state.

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I’m Back!

August 24, 2010 by Cedar

Hello all! Firstly I would just like to apologize for my unannounced blog break. I probably should have said something, but I didn’t. Oh well. I have recently realized just how much time I waste spend online, and have been trying to cut back on the time I spend in front of a screen.

That’s my story. More regular blog posts will now resume.

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Painting Blog

July 17, 2010 by Cedar

*EDIT* In an attempt to have more time in my day I have quit this second blog….though I am still painting like crazy. To see my latest go to my website; CedarTaylor.com.

Sorry for the lack of updates this week. The heat here has really been overwhelming. I wanted to bake bread (and post the recipe, as per request!), but it is just too darn hot for anything of that nature right now. Supposedly it is cooling down considerably on Monday, so I will try to get that up this week.

Did you know that I love painting? Well I do, and I really don’t do it nearly as much as I would like to. Last week I decided to set a challenge for myself, which I have been busy with all week. I am trying to finish one oil painting every week for an entire year. I started a second blog to chronicle my journey. I would love to have you guys follow along over on A Year of Paint.

Here is the piece I need to finish by tomorrow night for the first week of the challenge.

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Categories: Blog Stuff • 2 Comments »

Our Homeostasis

July 11, 2010 by Cedar

I want you all to meet two of the most wonderful people in my life.

This is my brother Roderick, but we call him Roddy. He’s a cheese making goofball who loves rocks and fossils. He and I can talk about food until the sun comes up.

This is his beautiful wife Kyle. She is a fun loving exercise enthusiast whose kind hearted demeanor is enviable. She is incredibly creative and always has fun activities planned.

Together they are currently residing in Portland Oregon, though at the end of the Summer are moving down to Los Olivos California where my brother has been offered a teaching position at a school. They are very active, love going on backpacking adventures, and are always exploring local spots. They cook together and love exploring new and interesting vegetables from the farmer’s market.

Anyhow, the reason I am introducing them to you is because they recently started a blog called Our Homeostasis, which they both write for. It is only a few weeks old, but I have been actively reading, and anxiously waiting more posts and more of their beautiful photography. My brother who was the one who got me interested in making my own mozzarella (and hopefully other cheeses in the future) has already shared a few of his cheeses.

Boiled peanuts and berry muffins.

A cheddar cheese Roddy made.

So go check out their blog, Our Homeostasis, subscribe, and leave lots of comments! Don’t forget to tell them I sent you!

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Categories: Blog Stuff • 3 Comments »

Obsessed with Dishes

July 6, 2010 by Cedar

***This post was lost in a recent server change, luckily I had the post backed up, unfortunately I lost all the comments. ***

I usually prefer not to make so many posts in a row about the same thing, but I think it is clear that I am obsessed. I can’t stop buying dishes. Every trip to the thrift store in the past two weeks has resulted in more plates, glasses, and serving dishes. Luckily the cost of all of the following together was right around $10….so my dish addiction is still under some sort of control!

I found this amazing Mikasa Light ‘n Lively serving platter yesterday. There is a small chip on the underside which is totally noticeable from the top. For $1.50 I can live with a chipped Mikasa dish!

Some colorful and fun floral juice glasses.

Snowflake Pyrex casserole dish.

This Pyrex pattern is probably my favorite. I had a small nesting bowl in the past, but it was the one thing that broke during our move. I can’t even tell you how happy I was to find this set. Eventually I want to get the two larger bowls that these nest inside.

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Facebook and a Mikasa Bowl

June 29, 2010 by Cedar

Last week I started a facebook page for my blog. I like being able to connect with my readers in different ways, and facebook is a really great way for me to get to know you all better as well. I would love it if you go and follow along.

Short post for today, but I also wanted to share the wonderful Ben Seibel Mikasa dish that my brother and his wife bought for me. They are such dears. After my last post they found this Mikasa bowl in the vintage shop near there house and bought it for me. Isn’t it just lovely?

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French Toast with Blueberry Sauce

June 27, 2010 by Cedar

Lately I have been obsessing over dishes (again) online. Up until Christmas time last year when I got started on my Raffia collection (which is now two pieces away from being complete to me) I have always had ugly and boring Ikea dishes.While I completely adore my Vernonware Raffia set, when it comes to entertaining, I would really like to have different options for different occasions.

All week I have been looking up Mikasa Ben Seibel dishes on etsy and ebay. I love the huge and bright floral prints from the late 60’s and early 70’s that was on so many wonderful sets of dishes. They are so festive and fun, and would be so lovely to eat from outside on a warm Summer evening. I think I am going to start collecting them, but in mismatched prints. I just love all of the prints so much, and I love how eclectic they would look together around a table.

Yesterday when Russ suggested a trip to the thrift store, I jumped at the idea. I was determined to find some amazing dishes. I didn’t even really look at anything but dishes, and I found this set of four dessert plates for $2.95. While they are not the incredible and colorful Ben Seibel ones I have been looking at, they are Mikasa, and I think they are pretty fantastic. The set says Mikasa Ivory China, Riviera on the bottom. I looked them up online when I got home, and had a hard time finding any more from the set, but I am okay with that. I think they will look great for a dinner party paired with a pretty solid colored plate, or another black and white set.

This morning I made French toast with blueberry sauce and served them on my new plates. I made the blueberry sauce last weekend and have been serving it over vanilla ice cream for dessert for a few days.I loosely followed this recipe.

  • 3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 cup orange juice
  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 2-3 tablespoons cornstarch or flour
  • a pinch of ground cinnamon
  1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the blueberries, 1/4 cup of water, orange juice, and sugar. Stir gently, and bring to a boil.
  2. In a cup or small bowl, mix together the cornstarch and 1/4 cup cold water. Gently stir the cornstarch mixture into the blueberries so as not to mash the berries. Simmer gently until thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the almond extract and cinnamon. Thin sauce with water if it is too thick for your liking.

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Categories: Finds, Food • 6 Comments »

Mint, Lavender, and Tomatoes

June 20, 2010 by Cedar

A lot of my recent days seem to be caught in daydreams. I have a habit of thinking of something and then spending hours researching it online and figuring out what I would do with it, or how I could shape my life around it, or how it would fit in to the grand schemes of silly ideas I have.

Recently I have been thinking about school. I have been going on and off for the past three years to the local community college taking art classes and general ed. I am pretty close to being able to get my associates degree, which would be nice to have, but then where would I go from there? Bachelor degree? What would I do with that? I have no real intentions to work outside the home, and I hate the idea of going into debt for my education. I sort of like the idea of going to the community college forever, and don’t feel I need a degree to better my life (at least at this point). This drives my dad mad of course, but hey, it is my life.

Anyhow, on to what I have been reading up on lately–nursery technologies! They offer all sorts of horticulture certificate programs at a neighboring community college. I have been so fascinated lately with growing things, and actually looked into the programs a few years back. I have talked to Russ about it a lot too, and he likes the idea. If all I ever do with the knowledge I gain from the classes is for my own personal use, either now on my little balcony, or in the future when we have enough land to do some serious plant/vegetable growing, then I will be happy.

Besides reading up on different horticulture classes that the school offers, this weekend I have planted a few things. Friday I bought three different kinds of mint (I could not find mint seeds anywhere this year!), chocolate mint, spearmint, and pineapple mint. I had never tasted the chocolate or pineapple mint, but both were delicious. Russ and I agreed that the chocolate mint was our favorite of the three. Yesterday we also transplanted some tomato plants that my neighbor was growing in a pot into a small plot of land on the side of our complex.

On Friday when I bought the mint I also bought some lovely lavender, which I re-potted that afternoon. Before I had done much research on lavender I had purchased a packet of lavender seeds at the market, and tried several times to get some lavender started. I later found out through my gardening books that lavender is extremely difficult to germinate. I decided to buy a small lavender plant at the garden store, though I still really want to succeed in starting lavender from seeds….just for my own stupid self satisfaction.

I hand washed my work gloves after planting the tomatoes and left them to dry on our fence. It was unintentional but it sort of looks like the left glove is flipping us the bird. Sorry, I promise it wasn’t on purpose!

While we were working on replanting the tomatoes I had two loaves of bread rising. The recipe I followed was a new on. I have had a bit of bad bread luck recently, but these loaves turned out beautifully.

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Categories: Garden • 5 Comments »

Cardamom Biscotti

June 15, 2010 by Cedar

A while back I subscribed to the the Martha Stewart cookie of the day E-mail that is sent out everyday. I hardly ever click on the E-mail, and most often send it directly to the trash box. There are a few recipes that I have clicked on, based on the title alone (pecan lace cookies, rose water madelines, buttery pecan rounds, etc.), and have saved them to make at a future date. One day last week I got a recipe in my inbox for cardamom biscotti. I am obsessed with cardamom and it has been years since I had any biscotti,  so I went to work on these tasty cookies right away.

That same day I finished up reading I Capture the Castle. I was completely obsessed with that book while reading it (and still am). I read over 200 pages that day, because I just couldn’t tear myself away from it (well except to work on the biscotti, and eat some!). Maybe tomorrow or the next day I will make another post all about the book.

Anyhow, here is the biscotti recipe.

Here is the recipe I followed (copied and pasted from the Martha Stewart Living website).

  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • Salt
  • 3 3/4 ounces blanched almonds, ground (about 1 cup)
  • 1 tablespoon cardamom pods, husks removed, seeds crushed (1/2 teaspoon)
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs plus 1 large egg white
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place rack in center of oven.
  2. Sift flour, baking powder, and a pinch of salt into a large bowl. Mix almonds, cardamom, and 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar into flour mixture. Beat eggs and vanilla, then mix into dry ingredients until well combined.
  3. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. Roll dough into a 9-by-2-inch log. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Press gently to flatten top. Bake until pale gold and lightly cracked, about 30 minutes.
  4. Lightly beat egg white, then brush onto biscotti. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Bake 15 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes on baking sheet on a wire rack.
  5. Transfer to a cutting board. Using a serrated knife, cut dough into -inch-thick slices. Place slices, flat sides down, on baking sheet, and bake until golden brown and crisp, 15 to 18 minutes. Transfer biscotti to wire rack, and let cool completely. (Biscotti can be stored for up to 3 days.)

Also, here is the top half of the pink dropwaist dress I bought last week. I forgot to get a full body shot, so I guess I will have to wear it again soon!

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Categories: Food • 2 Comments »

Wall Hangings

June 9, 2010 by Cedar

Since we moved to our new apartment I have been kind of lagging in the decor area. Not that I didn’t have my walls decorated, but before this week I had just thrown some of my own paintings onto the nails that were in the walls when we moved in. I think I was waiting until I got some more furniture, and got all the rooms arranged accordingly (no, we still don’t have a sofa!) to decide where I wanted everything to hang, and how I wanted it to look.

After a recent thrift store trip (I have been thrifting like crazy the past few weeks!) I picked up a few pieces to put together a small grouping of art pieces. My favorite newly thrifted piece is the Siamese cat print by Fritz Hug, though I am also really obsessed with the two headed chick print in the first picture by Emily Martin of The Black Apple (which I bought a few months back, but just finally got it into a frame). My wall (as well as my home!) is a constant work in progress, as I am always picking up odd little pieces from estate sales and the thrift store, and I change my mind so quickly about how things ought to look. I am incredibly happy however that our walls are starting to feel a bit more home-like.

In my spare time lately I have been reading a ton. Every time I have gone to the thrift store as of late, I have been making an extra point to look at ALL the books. I am not joking when I say that I can easily spend 30 minutes or more going through the titles, flipping through pages, or reading the inside flaps of all the books–well except for the bottom row which is reserved for trashy romance novels–not really my cup of tea. I just started reading I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, which I am thoroughly enjoying so far. Other books now beside my bed waiting to be read include The Egg and I (I have been wanting to read this one for years!),  Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, and Revolutionary Road (as you saw in another post!). These have just been added to the increasingly large pile of ‘to read’ books. Looks like it is going to be a very mellow Summer!

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