Chocolate Stitches

New Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Claudia) — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 18:20:00 +0000

Hello All! Well, whoever happens to stop in from time to time :)

I've started a new blog called Boheme Latina in the hopes that it will spark my creativity more and maybe inspire me to post more regularly. While I like the name of this blog, I really wanted something that was a bit more representative of me.

I don't think I'll be posting much around these parts anymore, but I do hope you'll join me over at my new blog!

Lucky (Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat)

noreply@blogger.com (Claudia) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 19:27:00 +0000

Really like this song, so I had to share it! Cheesy? Yes. But love it either way!

Good Morning

noreply@blogger.com (Claudia) — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 16:05:00 +0000

Warm pumpkin muffins for a crisp morning. Hope you have a lovely weekend!

Vegan Pumpkin Walnut Bread

from Joy the Baker

makes 2 loaves or 2 dozen muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour (or whole wheat flour)
2 cups light brown sugar, packed
1/3 cups granulated sugar (I left this out, muffins were sweet enough for my tastes)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree, or just under two cups
1 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup water
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place a rack in the center of the oven. Grease and flour two loaf pans (mine are 8×4x2) and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together flours, sugars, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices.
In a medium bowl, carefully whisk together pumpkin puree, oil, maple syrup and water.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and use a spatula to fold all of the ingredients together. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl well, finding any stray flour bits to mix in. Fold in most of the chopped walnuts, reserving some to sprinkle on top of the batter once in the pan.

Divide the dough between the two greased pans and sprinkle with a few walnut pieces. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven. Let rest in the pans for 20 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack.

For muffins bake them for about 20 minutes or so. They are delicious warm!

Giant Fluffy Light

noreply@blogger.com (Claudia) — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 18:11:00 +0000

I came across this light fixture today.

I'm kind of diggin' on it. Don't know that I'd place it in our living room, but it might look nice in what will eventually become the office/craft room. You'll never guess what it's made from.

Check out the step-by-step here at Parlour.

From Gold to Silver

noreply@blogger.com (Claudia) — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 17:02:00 +0000

I knew that part of the living room DIY was going to involve the fireplace surround.

While it's not horrible, I knew it wasn't going to fit into the color palette we chose for the room. And to be frank, I wasn't a huge fan of the shiny gold facing. Just not feeling it. Sooooo...that meant that I had to find some way of covering or painting it. I couldn't think of a creative way to cover the gold up (didn't really try) and knew that we might want to use the fireplace even if it doesn't get cold enough around these parts. So I was happy to learn that they make a spray paint for high heat stuff. Enter this product.

But before I could get started I had to do some prep work, which involved covering any nearby surface with either plastic sheeting or the dogs' blankets. Yes, I said the dogs' blankets. They were nearby, dirty, stinky and I didn't mind if they got covered with spray. The dogs might have minded at the time, but they didn't get much of say. Don't worry. I bought them new doggy sized blankets to make amends. We're still friends.

Now, where was I? Oh yeah.

After covering our living room in said material and the fireplace with paper, I got ready to spray. But just as I was about to pull the trigger I noticed this:

Little insets that don't do much other than act as a decorative feature and a pain in my you know what. I'm not technically a perfectionist, but I wanted to do a good job. I put the spray can down and proceeded to fill in each hole with blue painters tape. That's what you see above and below. I filled 21 of those suckers before I could get going again.

I started at the top and worked my way down trying to lay an even coat. So there I am spraying away, moving from top to bottom. As I'm painting the bottom I stop and notice something.

Ugh. 21 more of those little inset thingies are also at the bottom. Yup. 21 more holes to fill. That's when I stopped and thought to myself what now? I did what any self-respecting "do a good job" kinda gal would do. I kept going.

Folks, I was tired and while I was only slightly annoyed by my discovery, I just didn't care. Besides whose gonna notice anyway? Well, just those of you who might visit me on a fairly regular basis. And even then, I think I can remove the paint from the insets. Not sure how, but I'll find a way!

So, after a few minutes I laid a second coat. The fireplace went from this:

To this:

Hiccup aside, I think it looks pretty dang snazzy. Now I just need to paint the mantel and this little project should be done! On to the next one. Kitchen cabinets...dun dun dun.

Narnia anyone?

noreply@blogger.com (Claudia) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 15:42:00 +0000

photo courtesy of Maple Seed Renovation

I found this very cool idea on Apartment Therapy today as I went looking for armoires on their site. Pretty cool, huh? If I was a kiddo I would totally want a secret room.

Love, love this.

Let's dance!

noreply@blogger.com (Claudia) — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 20:46:00 +0000

Because it's Friday

The Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Claudia) — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 02:20:00 +0000

The weather has been A-MA-ZING around here and this past weekend was no exception. We took a break from home stuff and headed downtown for some churching and had lunch while we were down there. It was A-MA-ZING. Did I mention that already?

1. Stop Sign!, 2. Cactus on the roof of Whole Foods, 3. Taking a stroll, 4. Street Sign!

Home Makeover

noreply@blogger.com (Yaya) — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 23:36:00 +0000

It's been quiet around here since we moved into our new/first home. We've been busy unpacking, painting, and most importantly laying new floor. It's been a busy 2 weeks since we moved in and we have done a lot to make this place our home. My hope is to share the makeover on this bloggy blog of mine in order to keep friends and family up to speed with what we're doing.

Today, I thought I'd share a few pictures of the floor N, a good friend, and my father-in-law put in last weekend. It was two long days of nothing but floor, and while some minor cosmetics are left to finish, it looks A-MA-ZING!

Here's the before of the kitchen because that's all I could find on my computer right now:

Here's the after with our lovely new floors with our shiny new fridge:

I couldn't find a shot of the living room before, but here's the after:

The lighting is kind of crummy, but you get the jist. See those little squares of color on the wall on the left? That was this weekends project. Choosing a paint color and slapping it on the wall left of the fireplace.

We chose Behr's Silver Sateen. If we like it, we'll most likely paint the whole living room in that lovely shade of gray.

Hopefully, the next house post will be of a painted living room!

Today though, we had a "No working on the house day". We visited a new church, grabbed some lunch downtown and enjoyed this crazy gorgeous weather. Oh yeah, and we bought a fab new sofa. More pictures to come!

Chaos

noreply@blogger.com (Claudia) — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 23:55:00 +0000

In case you didn't know, we're moving. And with moving, comes packing. With packing comes chaos. Well, at least it does in our house.

You see, typically I'd just throw things in a box, not label it and hope for this best. This time however I thought I'd be a bit more organized.

Well sort of. This time I'm throwing things (nicely wrapped) in a box and labeling them. Ok, so it's a general label like "kitchen", "office", or "bedroom". And when I say "nicely wrapped" I mean wrapped within an inch of its life (if needed) in newspapers, packing paper or towels. I am not an expert packer or organizer. I leave those things to the professionals... Or my mother-in-law. She's the master of organization. In fact when we moved into the apartment that we're in now, she organized our spices alphabetically. It rocked my world. It blew my mind. I loved it and have somehow miraculously managed to keep it that way. Seriously earth shattering.

So anyhow, our apartment is in chaos and I thought you might like to see.

Asia looking confused and worried.

Every time I see this I chuckle. I amuse myself.

Big Screen

noreply@blogger.com (Claudia) — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 01:52:00 +0000

Our weekend involved watching this movie

On this screen

Inside this venue

It was kind of awesome.

So...

noreply@blogger.com (Claudia) — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 22:27:00 +0000

So, it's been a while since I've...wait never mind. I'm not even going to start with that sentence.

Things have been a bit of a roller coaster here at Casa de Yaya, so the posting has been not so much. The roller coaster started with this new addition:

Yup. We went and bought ourselves a new home. In a new city. We're moving!!!

We are still waiting on some final "home buying" official things (technical jargon you know). It looks good from here, so I thought I'd announce the good news. If we don't for some strange reason get the home, we're going to have to find a place to put our new washer and dryer AND new flooring.

Needless to say, buying a our first home has led to some major purchases and has signaled the beginning of this:

I knew that color choices were varied, but man are there color choices! I'm looking forward to painting and decorating our first home :-) I just hope I don't drown in color samples!

The move is still about 3 weeks away, but I'll try to keep the blog updated as the decorating process begins. Yeah painting!!!

Game On

noreply@blogger.com (Claudia) — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 23:16:00 +0000

I got an email from my MIL:

Hmmmm.... Interesting post, intriguing challenge, excellent incentive. How can I pass it up? Not much competitiveness in my veins, true; but I do like problem solving. I have printed the recipe and will give it some thought. Here's the question: Can GF flour work in a scone? We shall see.

Game on!!

The Orange and Oat Scone Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Claudia) — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 23:02:00 +0000

A couple of Sundays ago I was sitting around dreaming of what I might bake for snacking on in the week ahead. Cookies, muffins, and breads came to my mind. Nothing really got my tastebuds going until I remembered a scone recipe that I had stumbled across on the site 101 Cookbooks.

101 Cookbooks is a wonderful blog dedicated to "natural, whole foods and ingredients - vegetarian recipes that are good for you and for the planet." Heidi Swanson does an amazing job of posting fantastic recipes that are both good and good for you, plus her photography is beautiful.

That Sunday, I decided I wanted to make scones and new she had posted a scone recipe before. As I searched through her site I came across three scone recipes, Raspberry Mega Scones, Maple Syrup Scones and Orange and Oat Scones. I decided to try the Orange and Oat Scones, mainly because of the addition of the oats and the yummy orange zest. Let me just say that I made the right decision!

Below is my feeble attempt at photographing the process...

When I first made this recipe I was afraid that I would overwork the dough and come out with a dense, dry, mess of a scone. It's just what I do when I bake...freak out. I'm much more comfortable around cooking than baking, but I haven't let that stop me from trying.

Anyhow, the scones were the farthest thing from a mess. They had am amazing flavor that I credit to the burst of orange zest and the chewiness of the oats. They also weren't overly sweet like some scones can be. They were a perfect snack or smoothie accompaniment for breakfast. N and I have really enjoyed this scones. Yum, yum, yum.

Now you might be asking yourself, "So what's the challenge part?" Well, last week when we were visiting N's parents I mentioned to my MIL that I had found a wonderful scone recipe. She gave me a look that basically said, "thanks" and not in a good way :-)

You see, recently she's discovered that she's gluten intolerant and has had to say good-bye to her favorite food group...bread. Actually, she hasn't given bread up she's just learning to bake gluten free for herself, while still baking her usual yummy breads, cookies and muffins for the rest of us gluten gluttons. In fact, she's chronicling her journey into gluten free baking on her new blog The Gluten-Free Baker. This my dear friends is where the challenge comes in...(cue evil laugh).

Since my MIL gave me a less than happy look at the mention of my recent scone discovery, I thought I'd challenge her to create a gluten-free version of these scones for herself. Now, my MIL isn't a competitive person by nature (so she claims), but she did give birth to 3 very competitive children and I'm hoping that may have rubbed off a little.

So what do you say Elzbee? Are you up for the challenge? There is no deadline and you have as many attempts as you need to get it to your AND my liking :-) In addition, it'd be nice to see your progress on that fancy new blog of yours.

And in case you may not be feeling the draw of a friendly competition, I thought I might entice you with a prize befitting to your knitterly side. A trip to our favorite yarn shop where I will treat you to some fiber goodness (within limits of course!)

If you agree, feel free to leave a comment. Let the race begin (hopefully)...

Orange and Oat Scones
Recipe from 101 Cookbooks

3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup turbinado sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) cold butter, cut into small pieces
2 cups rolled oats
zest of 1 orange
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup coarse turbinado or Demerara sugar, for sprinkling
2/3 cup dried currants (I've also used golden raisins)

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine the flour, 1/2 cup of turbinado sugar, baking powder, and baking soda in the bowl of a food processor. Add the butter and pulse 15-20 times or until it looks like sandy pearls. (If you are working by hand, cut the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter.)* Transfer the dough to a bowl and stir in the oats and zest. Stir in the buttermilk and currants until just moistened.

Bring the dough together with your hands. If the dough is still too crumbly, stir in more buttermilk a tiny splash at a time, but try to avoid over mixing. After bringing the dough together, gently pat it into an 8-inch round. Cut into triangle shapes (see photo) and transfer to the prepared baking sheet with some room between each scone. Sprinkle the tops with coarse sugar. Bake for 12 to 15 minute or until the bottoms are deeply golden.

Makes 8 extra-large scones, or 12 to 16 larger ones.

* I actually prefer cutting in the butter by hand, because I can control how quickly it incorporates.

Finishing

noreply@blogger.com (Claudia) — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 01:24:00 +0000

Now that I'm all done with grad. school I've found this magical thing called "time". It's amazing! If you don't have any, I highly recommend that you go out and find some. It'll rock your world. It may require you shifting some priorities around, but it's totally worth it when you get something like this:

Technically, this dress was mostly done about a year ago :-) However, I never really finished finishing it. There were these two small gaps where the zipper meets the collar and I just never got around to it until a month ago. Now, I'm not a sewing expert so the finished product isn't perfect. I don't know that I'll wear it out too much as a dress, but I hope to at least to wear it as a tunic over jeans or something. The print is a little um busy/loud, but hey that's ok!

Overall, I'm just happy it actually looks like the picture in the pattern, which is Built By Wendy 3835. I'm hoping to get some more sewing practice in this summer with clothing. To help on along the way I picked up a copy of Sew Everything Workshop by Diana Rupp. It's actually been a really interesting read, since her passion for sewing really comes through in her writing. I've also managed to create a bit of a pattern stash already :-) Now I just need to buy some fabric to go with them!

Oh, and here's a Capone fix for family and friends!

Our Little Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Claudia) — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 21:43:00 +0000

This year N and I decided to try our hand at container gardening. I had dabbled a bit last year with a homemade upside down tomato planter, but didn't get much fruit. I also had 2 varieties of basil and those did well, but that was about it for my try at gardening.

This year we decided to try again and we went all out by planting 3 varieties of tomato (Patio, Brandywine, and Porter), red and green bell pepper, rosemary, and 2 varieties of basil. Yeah, we went a little overboard.

Last month I posted this picture:

Well, with some TLC our little garden has given us this:

Not only this, but our basil is doing really, really well. We've already made fresh pesto once and it was delicious! And, I haven't killed our rosemary plant :-) The last two I had ended up dying from powdery mildew. I'm guessing not enough sun and air circulation.

The photos pictured above are a variety called Patio Tomato which is specific for containers. Our Brandywine has been a little less productive in that it has produced quite a few buds but hasn't set fruit. It looks like we may have a couple of them setting, but we'll have to wait and see. The Porter we planted later, so it's only now growing flower buds. Again, we'll just have to wait and see!

So far, we're really pleased with our little experiment and hope to keep enjoying fresh goods!

Back to Work

noreply@blogger.com (Claudia) — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 02:26:00 +0000

It's tough to get back to work after a long weekend...

Happy Memorial Day

noreply@blogger.com (Claudia) — Mon, 31 May 2010 20:26:00 +0000

We're taking it easy this Memorial Day by staying home and enjoying the comfort of our little home. Hope you are enjoying your Memorial Day, wherever you may be!

I'm a Master

noreply@blogger.com (Yaya) — Wed, 26 May 2010 00:49:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I received my graduate degree with my family cheering me on from the audience. It's been 20 years in the making and boy am I grateful to have reached this milestone! Trust me it got a little sketchy last semester when I didn't finish on the planned for date. I had some ugly cries along the way, but with the encouragement of family and patience from N, I finished!

Love you Mami!

Now, it's back to work, guilt-free crafting, and reading books for pleasure. I have free time again people! Since my last post I've finished 2 knitting projects and a sewing project, so I need to post some pics soon.

For now, I think I'll just sit hear and enjoy some guilt-free lounging because you know...I'm a master.

Hey!

noreply@blogger.com (Yaya) — Tue, 25 May 2010 02:22:00 +0000

Just a quick post to say that I'm hoping to get back to blogging soon! I was busy finishing up my graduate program, which was a giant time suck. But I'm happy and grateful to be done and hope to get back into this blog and back to knitting and well...life in general!

For now, here's a picture of one of the things I've been up to...

A Onesie Project

noreply@blogger.com (Claudia) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 03:53:00 +0000

This past weekend, a couple of friends and I got together to throw our friend Sara a baby shower. She's two weeks from her due date, so we were cutting it close!

When we started planning the party we discussed the usual like food, invitatio

ns, and of course what to do at the shower. Most of the time baby showers include some sort of game that is either not fun for mom-to-be or the guests. The thing is nobody seems to speak up about it! It's true! I mean seriously, do you enjoy guessing what type of baby food (which is supposed to resemble well you know) is in a diaper?

Okay, while there are some less than appetizing shower games, there are also some fun games. I have to admit it, but for the most part is seems that mommy-to-be and guests are subjected to games that they don't even like or have grown tired of after countless parties. So, knowing this I thought maybe we could try something different. I figure if you are going to point out a problem, you should offer up a solution :-)

So, I offered up a cute onesie project that I first saw on Pepperknit. Freezer paper stencils. I got a resounding yes from my fellow party planners and the project was set. Kate, the hostess, did a wonderful job of getting all the supplies and even provided a pre-made demo for the guests.

Each guest was able to make one onesie for Sara's baby boy and the onesies ranged in size from newborn to 9 months. We wanted to make sure baby had enough cute handmade gifts to last him a while.

I have to admit that some of the guests seemed unsure about the project, but in the end once they saw how cute the project turned out I'd like to think they enjoyed it. If not, well....oh nevermind.

My friends and I had a great time and enjoyed playing with paint and sketching cute animals for Sara's baby boy. So, without further ado I give you the completed projects!

CAUTION: CUTE OVERLOAD

This is my zebra. I'm kinda proud of it!

I won't go into the details or how-to, because Minty did a great job. Just follow the link above for fabulous instructions. I will however say that you should definitely try this at your next party if you are looking for something new to try!

Happy Valentine's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Claudia) — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 22:16:00 +0000

Yes, I like Valentine's Day. I realize it's corny, gushy, and all that but I don't care. I enjoy the day in all it's over done pink and red hues. I don't expect a huge to do from my sweetie and neither does he from me. We enjoy getting each other a card or something yummy (like chocolate croissants for breakfast!), but are just as happy enjoying a quiet day at home without much fanfare. Or, like today, spending it with friends over some food and laughter.

So, Happy Valentine's Day to my love, my family and my friends!

Pasta with Peppers and Mozzarella

noreply@blogger.com (Claudia) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 02:01:00 +0000

Need a quick meal? Look no further than this simple, quick and yum recipe. I made this for dinner tonight with the help of my sous chef hubby.

The colors made me smile and made the dish look so enticing. And it delivered in flavor as well! The peppers give the dish a sweet flavor and it's balanced out with the creamy mozzarella.

It's a keeper in our home!

Pasta with Peppers and Mozzarellafrom Real Simple Magazine, August 2008
Serves 4

Ingredients

12 ounces short pasta (such as gemelli or penne; about 4 cups) I used wheat gemelli pasta
1/4 cup olive oil
2 red bell peppers, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 bunches arugula, thick stems removed (about 6 cups) substituted spinach, it's what we had
12 ounces bocconcini (small balls of fresh mozzarella), cut in half, or fresh mozzarella, cut into bite-size pieces
kosher salt and pepper

Directions

Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water, drain the pasta, and set aside. Wipe out the pot.
Heat the oil in the pasta pot over medium heat. Add the bell peppers and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until the peppers are tender, 5 to 7 minutes.
Add the arugula, bocconcini, the cooked pasta, the reserved pasta water, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring, until the arugula is just wilted, about 1 minute.

2010

noreply@blogger.com (Yaya) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:18:00 +0000

I've been meaning to post something to welcome in the new year since the new year began, but I just couldn't seem to get the words right. Every time I attempted to post something, my words just seemed trivial or contrived. Even now, as I type this post I know that I don't have the right words to express the last decade, the last year, and the last month properly.

So much has happened!

All I know is that a new year is ahead full of hope and new stories waiting to be told. I hope that the story that I tell this year is a good story. Not necessarily a better story, because that would mean that the past one wasn't that great when it was. I just want to tell a good story. Not that I don't want to tell a great, fabulous, or amazing story either....I do.

But sometimes, it's ok to just keep it plain and simple.

So, I guess that's really it. That's all I need to say.

I want to tell a good story...

Happy New Year and may you all tell a good story...

Asia & her babushka

noreply@blogger.com (Claudia) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 02:52:00 +0000

Hey there. Haven't had a chance to post because the blackhole that is my exit paper is sucking all of the life out of my soul.

Too dramatic?

Well, ok so it isn't sucking all of the life out of my soul...it just feels like it. They say "laughter is the best medicine", so I figured I'd post this lovely photo.

I'm sorry Asia.

The photo was taken Thanksgiving day in my mom's kitchen. Asia and Capone were circling the kitchen like little doggie Roombas, and at one point Asia was pulled aside and her bandana scarf became a source of entertainment. Big meanies!

Thanks for being a sport Asia. You always know how to make me laugh!