Easy Japanese Curry Recipe

It's beginning to feel like fall around here. In just a matter of days the temperature dropped by twenty degrees. And with the cold weather, I'm starting to crave comfort food such as spaghetti, shepherd's pie and Japanese curry. I never thought I would think of Japanese curry as a comfort food but some how it won over my heart or should I say stomach?

Japanese Curry Recipe
adapted from the S & B recipe
makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients:
4 cubes of Golden Curry sauce mix
2 cups of bite sized carrots
1 onion chopped into bite sized pieces
1 lb of chicken chopped into bite sized pieces
2 Tb of cooking oil
3 cups of water

1. In a large pot fry chicken and onions in oil till chicken is browned and onions are translucent.

2. Add carrots and water and bring to a boil for about 10-15 minutes or when chicken is cooked.

3. Take pot off heat. Add 4 cubes of the curry (half of 8.4oz box). Mix until the curry cubes are dissolved.

4. Simmer for about 5 minutes.

5. Serve over rice.

* Optional - we like to eat our curry with raisins, pickled ginger, and chopped apples. If you're the adventures foodie type, you might want to try this.

Winner of the Mushroom Clothespins Giveaway

Congratulations to Southerner who is the winner of the mushroom clothespins!

As always, thank you to everyone who participated in the giveaway.

Mushroom Clothespins Giveaway

If you read this blog, you know that I like to shop at Daiso. Often in the comments I read that many of you wish you had a Daiso close by. So, to bring a little Daiso your way, I purchased these cute mini mushroom clothespins to giveaway to one lucky winner.

How to enter

Leave a comment at the bottom of this post no later than Monday, September 27th, 2009. One entry per person. Please leave your email address in the comments if it's not linked to your profile. The email address is only used to notify the winner, I do not save the addresses. I'll choose one winner at random and post their name Tuesday. Contest open to everyone. Good Luck!

This contest is now closed.

Craft Project: Giant Candy Corn

Here's the phone conversation that went down before I made this giant candy corn.
DH (Dear Husband)

Me: Where are the orange soccer cones?

DH: In the trunk of the car, I'm afraid to ask why?

Me: I need them for a post? How much did they cost?

DH: You're not going to ruin them are you? I need them for soccer practice.

Me: How much did they cost?

DH: One or two dollars each, why?

Me: I'm going to make one into a giant candy corn.

DH: (Silence)

Me: What?

DH: I knew I didn't want to know.

I'm afraid this is what one has to deal with when they're married to me. And I can't say this is the first time I've confiscated an item for a craft project. A few Halloweens back, I dyed one of his white dress shirts yellow to make a Curious George costume. I'm sure there's been other incidents but I just can't seem to remember them. Oh well.

How to Make Giant Candy Corn

Supplies:
Plastic Orange Cones - can be found at your local sports good store
Yellow & White Acrylic Paint
Foam Brushes

1. Paint the top of the cone white and the bottom of the cone yellow. Yep, it's that easy. If you want the lines to be perfect and clean, you can mark off the sections with painter's tape.

2. For each color paint 3 or 4 coats on the cones. Let dry about 10 minutes in between each coat.

*Optional - to prevent risk of the paint scratching off, coat with clear acrylic spray.

So what do you do with giant candy corn you might ask? I envision these lining the walk way to the front door on Halloween night. Maybe place some flashlights inside the cones so they glow. Or, you could just run soccer practice with candy corn cones. It's really up to you.

When my son came home from school and saw the giant candy corn his exact words were, "I know what that is. Dude, it's candy." But what I really want to know is why is he saying "dude"?

What I'm Knitting

My Sister in Law just had her first baby so I knit up this hat/baby booties set for her. Baby hats and booties are one of my favorite things to knit. They're easy to make and require little time commitment (my favorite kind of projects).

The pattern I used for the baby booties is from the book "Knitting Pretty" by Kris Percival. It's one of my favorite patterns.

As for the hat, I used this pattern omitting the eyelets. I thought it needed a little something extra so I added some curly ribbon on top.

My daughter knew I was making something for the baby so she wanted to make something for the baby as well. I suggested she make a card. That's a picture of the card with her trademark "smiley face" which always has a giant belly button underneath the mouth. Cracks me up every time.

Last, I wrapped the gift and used one of Amy Karol's gift tags. Now, if she would just make one that read " I spent all my extra time making this so if you don't like it let me know, I'll buy you something instead". Tell me I'm not the only one that feels this way?

Ohdeedoh: Big Blog Family

Today you can find me over at Ohdeedoh as part of their "Big Blog Family" series. Hope you'll stop by.

How to Make a T-shirt Headband

A while back I saw a tutorial on Instructables on how to make a t-shirt necklace. Best one I've seen so far, in fact. I would link to it but the tutorial has been taken down by the author. Anyhow, the necklace was the inspiration for this headband. Simple directions below.


Supplies:
L or XL t-shirt, preferably cotton jersey
Ruler
rotary cutter

Lay t-shirt flat. Cut one inch strips from the sleeves with the rotary cutter. You should be able to get 8-10 strips out of one shirt.

Stretch the strips until they naturally curl up like the picture above. This also makes the perfect sized headband for the most part.

Place seven or eight loops together. Match up the seams from the shirt.

With an extra t-shirt strip, wind it around all the t-shirt loop seams. Tie in a knot. Tuck the loose ends into the knot you just created.

Should look like this when you're done.

Christmas Crafts with the Cricut

Today you can find me over at Starving Crafter creating Christmas crafts with the Cricut (say that 3 times fast). Included in the post is a tutorial on how to make this spinning ice skater card. Click here, for the post and directions.

Hawaiian Shaved Ice Recipe

Lately the weather has been hot around hear, 95 today to be exact. To cool down I decided to make Hawaiian shaved ice. My husband lived in Hawaii for a year and he often talks about the shaved ice there. Actually, most of his Hawaii memories revolve around food but I digress. I figured there was no reason why we couldn't recreate his favorite shaved ice dessert at home. So I made cones for everyone. Simple directions below.

Hawaiian Shaved Ice Recipe

Ingredients:
Ice
Syrup (any flavor)
Canned Azuki beans ( you can purchase this at most Asian markets)
Condensed milk

To make the shaved ice you can go with the easiest route and use a shaved ice machine. They're actually quite reasonable and with summer coming to an end, I'm sure you can find one on clearance. If you don't own one and have no plans on running out to the store to buy one, a standard blender works well too. The texture will just be a little different, not as fluffy.

1. Fill a cone 1/3 with azuki beans.
2. Fill the rest of the cone with shaved ice.
3. Pour flavored syrup over ice.
4. Drizzle condensed milk over ice. Enjoy

*optional - you can also add ice cream on top of the beans or fresh fruit. Since there are so many options, there's really no wrong way to make shaved ice. Get creative and have fun.

There's also a good tutorial on how to make flavored syrup with Kool-aid packets over at Skip To My Lou.

Personalized Party Eating Utensils

Eat, drink, laugh and be merry with these fun eating utensils. They're easy to make and guaranteed to add a personalized touch to any party. Simple directions below.

Supplies:

Standard wood burning tool - can be found at most craft stores

Bamboo Forks - I purchased a set at Daiso, 10 for $1.50. If my memory serves me right, they also had spoons and knives.

With a pencil write out a word on the handle. If the spacing doesn't look good just erase and start over. Now just take the wood burning tool and trace over your word. Done.

* I recommend practicing on some scrap wood first to get a hang of the wood burning tool.

Party Ideas

Use utensils to double as place cards for your guests.

Let your serving utensils do the talking by functioning as food labels. This would work best with small items such as hors d'oeuvres.

The Alameda Point Antiques and Collectible Faire

Over the weekend I got a chance to attend the Alameda Antiques and Collectible Faire (aka The Alameda Flea Market). Located at the former Alameda Point Naval Air Station, it over looks San Francisco. There's roughly 800 vendors there. So, if you're on the hunt for a specific collectible, this is a good place to start.

The Alameda Antiques and Collectible Faire

I thought these little cardboard face discs were cute and would be fun to incorporate into a craft project. I'm always on the look out for unique items for crafting which is one of many reasons why I enjoy flea markets. I also find antiquing great for inspiration, it really gets the creative juices flowing.

Antique printing blocks

This vendor had a lot of fun items such as watch components, vintage typewriter keys, old keys, bottle caps, etc.

As I was focused on the antiques, my husband was focused on the food. We stopped by the Feel Good Bakery booth . My husband decided to try the bread pudding. The employee working at the booth was kind and gave it to us for free. It was a random act of kindness that was much appreciated.

Photo from Paris Parfait

At the market I was on the hunt for vintage seltzer water bottles in aqua. I found only two and they were a little pricey so I passed on purchasing them. Perhaps next time I'll have better luck.

What do you like to search for at the flea market?

Book Review: Bend The Rules With Fabric

Bend the Rules with Fabric
By Amy Karol

I just received Amy Karol's new book, "Bend The Rules With Fabric". She also wrote "Bend The Rules Sewing" and is the author of the popular blog, Angry Chicken. Noticing a theme here? The past three books I've reviewed have also been authored by popular craft blog publishers. How nice to see all these craft books emerging from the craft blog community, right? Now, about the book...

Bend The Rules With Fabric features 25 projects (16 sewing/ 9 non sewing). But what really makes each project unique is the fabric techniques paired with them. The techniques taught in the book include, paint with fabric, technology with fabric, dyeing fabric, and fiber on fabric (18 methods total). Which means each project can be personalized using the fabric methods. What I personally like about all the fabric techniques is that one can get a lot more out of their fabrics and supplies. The techniques help you to be resourceful and creative at the same time. To get a better idea of the projects/fabric techniques, check out the pictures below.

Whole-Cloth Quilt
Fabric Technique: Painting With Dye

Drawn Bookcover
Fabric Technique: Drawing with Thread

Dotted Shoes
Fabric Technique: Drawing with Paint

Keep Crafts Contained with TV Trays

My children love to play with these plastic beads. And if you've had any experience with these beads plus kids, you know what a mess they make. Days later, I'll find these tiny beads in every nook and cranny of the house (drives me crazy). After trial and error, I've found TV trays are the best way to keep projects like this contained. They're great for any kind of bead work. The different sections come in handy to sort the beads. They're also cheap and easy to store.

Crafter Barbie

Recently I pulled my Barbies out of storage for my daughter. It got me thinking about Barbie and made me wonder what if there was a "Crafter Barbie"? What would she look like? So I did a little brainstorming, listened to this, and put together the picture above. I thought she should wear something that reflected other crafters/designers. So, I chose a print by Jessica Jones (How About Orange) which I found quite fitting. I think the print even has that Barbie feel: bright, vibrant, and fun. I decided she would come with a sewing machine, small craft supplies and a craft tote bag. Maybe there would be life size paper and stickers to play with as well.

I don't know about you but I would totally purchase Crafter Barbie if she existed. Would you? Just for fun, what would your Crafter Barbie look like? Or would she even be ''Crafter Barbie"? Maybe it would be "Knitting Barbie" or "Blogger Barbie"?